Local director nets nomination for MTV logo network award
By Shel Bailey
At 29, Trip Ross has made videos for more than half his life. "The first one was in middle school," he says jokingly. "That certainly didn't win any awards." Today, the story is a little different. In December of 2007, Trip's music video for local artist Logan Lynn Burning Your Glory was nominated for the MTV Logo network's music video of the year. Other nominees included Christina Aquilera and Britney Spears. "We certainly didn't expect to win," Lynn says. "Isn't this the part where I say that it was great to be nominated?" The nomination did lend itself to national exposure as the lead story on Out of the Closet Television in March. Earlier this year Burning Your Glory was also nominated for best music video for ADD TV. "I don't feel so bad about not winning anything," Trip says during a break on his latest production for Misery Science, another Portland band. "We only spent three days on the project." Most videos take a little longer. "We've been waiting to see our Rockfest footage for almost a year," says Geoff of Western Aerial. "But he's done two others for us that have been great, so I guess we can wait a little longer." Trip formed the first version of Uncultivated Studios, his video production studio, in Kansas City in 1997. Since his move to Portland in 2003, his goal is to provide affordable video, web design and photography to "the underdog." Video production is expensive and in today's market, Trip realizes that a band really needs it to succeed. He's helped several local groups put their music to film, including Climber, The Buttery Lords, Western Aerial, Soylent Gringo and Courage. In addition to music videos, Trip also produces a local TV show called Empty Noggin. The sketch comedy show is written, edited and produced by a cast of local "weirdos," Nate Gancher, Rob Campbell, Greg Nibler and Shel Bailey. Empty Noggin airs every Thursday night at 2 a.m. on KPDX 49 and can be found anytime under the local section of Comcast On Demand. To see his music videos or sketches from Empty Noggin visit www.emptynoggins.com or unclultivatedstud.