Backstage at the TriBeCa Film Festival
Friday in New York City, Glenn was given the Disruptive Innovation Award at the TriBeCa Film Festival. Here’s a look behind the scenes with Glenn at the event.
Friday in New York City, Glenn was given the Disruptive Innovation Award at the TriBeCa Film Festival. Here’s a look behind the scenes with Glenn at the event.
From the horrifying attacks in Boston, overnight car chases and manhunts, to finally, a suspect taken into custody on Friday, TheBlaze team was working hard to keep you in the know on all the stories erupting throughout the news cycle. For the first time in TheBlaze TV’s history, we were able to do this live, on air, all day. Here’s a look behind-the-scenes at what was going on in the Dallas studio and NYC newsroom to keep our breaking news coverage up-to-date and accurate throughout the day.
A couple of weeks ago, I left the New York office to travel down to Dallas for a few days and check things out. Aside from enjoying the warmer (and more hospitable) southern weather, I was able to tag along for a photo shoot with Glenn and other hosts on TheBlaze Radio Network. Photographer George Lange took some great photos. Here are a few (less professional) behind-the-scenes pics I was able to grab of the crew. Enjoy!
by Mark Mabry
Editor’s Note: In the article below, Mark Mabry describes what it was like to be around Glenn during the final months of Victor’s life. Mark is a writer, photographer, filmmaker, and storyteller with The American Dream Labs. He is currently working on The Man in the Moon and a yet-to-be-announced project. Mark and his family are also close with the Beck’s, allowing Mark to get a unique perspective on the personal moments in Glenn’s life.
“Take a few pictures of Victor, he is starting to get bad… you never know when his time will come,” was Glenn’s main request up at the Ranch last August.
So that week, I looked for my chance. Occasionally Victor would limp to the front law and lay in the sun. But mostly he laid by the door.
Glenn mentioned that he was going to start preparing the family for what was becoming apparent about Victor. He was nearing the end.
Not long after the trip I was perusing Vimeo, when I came across a video called, Last Minutes with ODEN. It was masterful, telling the story of a man and his dog with cancer. The man reminisced as he took ODEN in to be euthanized. The man was obviously not rich and the dog was all he had…
I sent him an email during radio… “Glenn, this might be incredibly insensitive to show you right now, but you may find comfort in it. https://vimeo.com/8191217 – Mark”
Typically there is a barrage of people that need Glenn to see things once he gets off the air. Nathan, Director of Creative Services, who sits next to me had just produced a great new show intro that he was anxious to show him. LJ, waited to give him some 1791 proofs as well.
At 11:01, strait from radio, he came up and walked over to my desk.
“What do you want to show me?”
“It’s a dog video. Maybe it’s not the right time…”
Nathan and LJ stood by, projects in arms.
“No, show me now.”
Tim DiDonato is Design Manager of 1791 Supply & Co. He has been with 1791 since its founding and is responsible for the research and design of the products. Tim is married to Glenn’s daughter, Hannah, and the two live with their rescue dog, Hans, and their cat in Dallas, Texas. Below is a glimpse into his typical day.
7:43 AM: I don’t set an alarm. I have always had a mental alarm clock. I literally wake up at the same minute every day. When I first relocated from New York to Dallas, I set an alarm clock for about three weeks, and now I wake up at 7:43 every morning without an alarm.
8:00 AM: Next I put the dog out. He is mix – American foxhound and Italian greyhound. We rescued him in Dallas, and his name is Hans. He came with the name. Someone at a dog park once asked me, “Did you name your dog after Inglorious Bastards?” I was like, “No, I did not name my dog after a Nazi.” After I put him out, I jump in the shower. By the time I get out of the shower, Hannah is up, so I get changed and get ready for the day. Since 1791 is a new brand, I really like to test out the clothes. I am always wearing my 1791 jeans with either a work shirt or a flannel shirt of some sort.
8:30 AM: I usually go out and play with the dog for a good 25-30 minutes. And then either Hannah or I, whoever gets to it first, make our lunches. We usually make PB&J’s and switch up the snack with either bananas or peaches.
9:00AM: We head to work around 9 o’clock. Our commute takes about half an hour. We listen to Sirius XM Patriot to hear Glenn’s show on our way. We used to leave at 8:30, but we realized we would just sit in dead stop traffic. Then we tried leaving at 8, but that was even worse. So when we leave at 9 there is no traffic. The people I need to talk to – shops, and factories, and stuff – aren’t open until 10:30 or 11 anyway, so it is fine for me to get in around 9:30.
9:30 AM: I normally get in and go grab coffee. I can never find the milk or sugar that I want, so I am usually running around trying to figure out why it is always missing. And then I head into my office. I normally write a list of the things I need to get done the night before, which helps me assess how I am going to go about the day. Since we are still such a small business, I really like to focus on the quality control end of things. Sometimes I have to write out purchase orders for trims we will need; or I will get in contact with our denim factories to see how things are going with production; or I am checking with our denim mill to make sure everything is being woven on time.
10:15 AM: I don’t really have a specific time I design. I am always just sketching stuff. Most of the time, when designers are working on a season, they lock themselves in a room until it’s done. But we are not on a fashion time schedule like that, so it is nice to have that freedom. I am always redrawing and re-sketching so that we can present it to Glenn. Glenn will tweak it a bit and ask about the ‘why.’ The ‘why’ is really important to us. We are coming out with a couple new products, so I have been ordering sample fabrics. As soon as they come in, we go to the pattern maker. We are working on some new shirting and women’s denim at the moment. We are really excited about that.
On Tuesday, arguably the biggest Pat & Stu fan of all time went above and beyond to tell the world why she wants TheBlaze added to her cable lineup. She tweeted the following to the duo:
#Iwanttheblazebecause #GetTheBlaze @patandstu @stuontheblaze my song called “Request The Blaze (Pat&Stu)” youtu.be/o4te3nVi70I
— K A C E E marie (@KCMarie89) March 12, 2013
Watch Kacee’s video here:
Awesome.
The question we still have over at TheBlaze is: Did Kacee sing her request to her TV provider when she called to request TheBlaze?
We hope so. How could they say no to that?
Thanks for supporting TheBlaze, Kacee!
Keep singing (or sending) your requests in to your cable and satellite providers! Call 1.800.996.2529 or go to GetTheBlaze.com.
When Glenn announced that he would be launching a clothing line with American-made clothing, most in the media were left scratching their heads and many tried to mock. But now that he’s released 1791 Jeans, the fashion world is starting to take notice.
Outside Online, a website and magazine dedicated to encouraging active participation in the world outdoors, has written about 1791 Jeans in the “Plaid and Canvas” feature:
Yet, Americans are becoming more conscious about where their products come from (see: the “locally sourced” movement), and, in the case of blue jeans, it has aligned two very different sorts of people: Glenn Beck and menswear bloggers.
[...]there is something interesting about Beck telling his 27-year-old son-in-law, Tim DiDonato, who Beck hired to design for his 1791 Supply & Co., that “you have to find selvage.”
That was his one specification for the company he supposedly started after seeing a Levi Strauss & Co. commercial using “global revolutions and progressivism to sell their products.” Beck proudly announced that the jeans would be made in the USA, going on to say, “We make them from the same company that Levi’s gave up on,” which isn’t totally correct. Beck’s jeans are made by the same White Oak denim mill Levi’s still does business with, but the man wanted his selvage denim, just like almost every forward-thinking American menswear enthusiast.
Just Google “selvage denim” and you’re bombarded with dozens of results telling you it’s trendy, that hipsters like it, that menswear enthusiasts like it, and etc. While you’re unlikely to see Beck’s jeans worn by models on Milan runways, the timing of Beck’s launch came almost exactly a month after Alex Williams of the New York Times called the “Made in the USA” tag, “a signifier of old-school craftsmanship, even luxury.” The piece even went on to mention the plant used by both Levi Strauss & Co. and Beck, saying “the embrace of domestic goods has also moved beyond scruffy D.J. types in Brooklyn who plunk down $275 for a pair of hand-sewn Dungarees sewn from Cone denim from the company’s White Oak plant in North Carolina.”
Read the full article HERE
Jay Morales is the Managing Video Editor of the New York office and Continuity Supervisor. He has been with Mercury Radio Arts/TheBlaze since 2010, when he was hired as a video editor. In addition to managing the six editors in the New York office, Jay is involved in directing, shooting, and editing various projects for TheBlaze TV. Below is a glimpse into his typical day.
5:00 AM: The alarm goes off at 5 o’clock. I hit snooze. Then it goes off at 5:15. I hit snooze again. I try to get up around 5:30 to go to the gym. I go to the gym and come back about an hour later. In the morning, usually I get up and it is music right away. I really like music, so it is always on as soon as I get up. I get up and read my Bible app and my Pulse app to catch up on news, graphics, videos. It gives me a daily feed. And if I don’t do that as soon as I wake up, I usually will do it after I get home from the gym, or on the subway, or waiting for the subway.
6:30 AM: I have two pugs, Brutis and Wallace. If my wife, Angie, hasn’t fed the dogs, I’ll feed the dogs and get them all taken care of. I take them out, come back, and then battle with Angie for the bathroom. I try to take a shower while she does her hair and makeup – she gets mad at me if I steam up the bathroom. For breakfast, if I am running late, I will throw peanut butter on an English muffin, grab a banana, and bring it to work. Otherwise, I will have a bowl of cereal, or an English muffin with orange juice, or some toast.
7:45 AM: My wife and I try to leave together to catch the shuttle from our place to the subway at Columbus Circle. Then we take the 1 train a couple of stops. We get off at the same stop. I kiss my wife goodbye, and it’s off to the office.
8:15 AM: I get to the office anywhere between 8:15 and 9 o’clock. I like to get here early so I can just kind of get ready mentally. If I am working on a project, I like to have that quiet time to work on anything I was thinking about. I kind of obsess over it – over the process of the project. It never leaves my mind. I am always thinking about how can I improve it, what’s lacking, whether its color, story, whatever it is. If I am working on something, I like to have some time in the morning to pick that up before I get going and start checking in with everyone.
9:00 AM: Between 9 and 10 I make rounds and check in with everyone. I check in with all the editors – follow up to see how everyone is doing with their projects. I manage six editors now. I like to follow up with the producers to see what is coming next. Then I check in with Michele [Smiley, Network Operations Manager] and let her know what I have going on. She downloads me on anything that is coming down the pipe or any surprises, things that we may not have known about. We are just shuffling the pieces and saying, “Am I doing this? Do I have someone else who can pick it up?” And then I get back to my desk. I put all of the information into an email to the producers, the editors, Michele, and the Dallas edit team, so that everyone is on the same page. Sometimes people approach us with a project without knowing what else is going on, so it is a good way to keep everyone informed.
10:00 AM: If I haven’t had coffee along the way, I will have my coffee then. Depending on the day, it’s a Starbucks Triple Mocha. I hate ordering Starbucks the way they ask you to order it, like with the “Venti” and stuff. I just say large. Otherwise, on a normal day – if I have gone to sleep and everything else – I will just grab my Dunkin Donuts. I used to make my coffee at home, when my wife was drinking it too, but she is pregnant now, so she isn’t really drinking coffee. I used to make the coffee in the morning, have a cup at home, get to the office, have another cup, and then have my afternoon cup. But I have been scaling back on the coffee lately.
