R.I.P. Bo Diddley

I had a chance to see him perform live last year, AND I MISSED IT!!  I either had to work that day or I was sleeping.  Whichever way it was, I missed the chance of a lifetime.  The man was a musical genius and a true Rock & Roll pioneer.  If you want to learn a bit more about the man, of all sites the Big Cartoon Database has a terrific write-up over there.  One thing they hit upon is how Bo's song Bo Diddley was used in Ralph Bakshi's Fritz the Cat.  What amazed me about that is even though the song was a whole 17 years old at the time the movie was released, it still seemed to fit amid the other funkadelic music on the soundtrack.  That alone shows just how ahead of his time Bo really was.

Speaking of cartoons, I added one of his songs to my Busy Town demo reel.  The song I used was Diddlin'.  I think it accompanies the action quite well.

Busytown_demoreel_smaller
Uploaded by Daffyduckandthedinosaur

And of course, for good measure, here's a live performance from the man himself.  If you didn't know "what the big deal about him was" before, you'll certainly know after the clip is done.  Enjoy!

Bo diddley by Bo Diddley
Uploaded by ZZUPLOADER

dmgermain.blogspot.com presents: "Animation that didn't make it to TV" Theatre

I've been working on a show called Busy Town since mid June of last year. It's both been hard work and great fun at the same time. It's great seeing my animation on TV and everything. Unfortunately, though, some of it doesn't make it. Every once in a while I like to try something new or create something that would make the "On-Model Police" nervous. The following piece of animation is one of those scenes. Instead of simply discarding it I saved it and have put it online for all to enjoy.

Pigwill_crazytiptoe
Uploaded by Daffyduckandthedinosaur

This was originally going to be in a scene for the episode The Bank Note Mystery which aired on January 22 at 8:30 a.m. If you want to see the animation that DID make it to TV, you should have been watching at that time. Oh well, I'm sure it'll be rerun at a later date. Watch for it.

Let's get Busy Town

Right here, this is what has been keeping me busy for the passed few months and the main reason why this blog has not seen much activity. I've been an animator on Busy Town for the CBC. The first episode airs on October 29 at 8:30 a.m. Whoever in Canada is up at that time is definitely free to watch it.



Of course, I'm not the only animator involved with the project. People like Chris Hankewich, Carrie Thornhill, Sean Bartlett, Chris Steininger, and Mitch Kennedy (to name but a few) certainly do more than their share of the work as well.



Remember, that's Busy Town on CBC weekday mornings at 8:30 a.m. starting this coming October 29th. Check your local listings, if you live in Canada that is.