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Yard Dogs hits the big screen

 

The Yard Dog Road Show has been traveling the country by bus for nearly a decade, carrying musicians, burlesque dancers and a Sonoma sword Swallower named Tobias Weinberger, to gigs from Sonoma to Saratoga. While this colorful collection of characters reveal much of themselves on stage, the story of what these eclectic performers are really like happens backstage, on the bus, when no one is watching - except the camera of Flecher Fleudujon.

"The band kept going, I don't think anyone thought it would," Weinberger said. "But (Fleudujon) had all this footage. He's literally been filming the group since day one."

Fleudujon is one of the founding members of the Yard Dog Road Show, playing trumpet and offering up outrageous antics on stage. He is also a seasoned documentary filmmaker, who has captured the Yard Dogs from a small jug band on the side of the road to a nationally-known touring company that fills packed theaters from coast to coast. All of that footage will be complied into one tell-all documentary showing what happens behind the scenes, but the Yard Dogs need help to make that dream happen. (See the trailer here:)

The band has taken their project to KickStarter.com, a website dedicated to matching artists with donors interested in seeing their creative endeavor come to fruition. Here's how it works: the artist posts the details of the project, how much is needed to make it a reality and what perks donors will get based on how much the give. Donors can give any amount of money, but will only have to cough up the cash if the artist reaches his or her total goal for donations, ensuring the project will actually get finished before money changes hands.

The Yard Dogs are hoping to raise $25,000 by Aug. 5, money that will be used to cover everything from music publishing fees and video transfers to DVD manufacturing and film festival entry fees. As of Thursday morning, the group had secured just over $7,500, with 57 donors contributing to their dream. In exchange for contributions, the Yard Dogs are offering up everything from love at the $5 level to a producer credit on the film, show tickets for life, a custom made hat from member Teri Lynn Sage, a signed and framed Yard Dog Road Show poster, a copy of the DVD and more at the $10,000 level.

"Zebu is going to make people cornbread if they donate," Weinberger said, referring to one of the Yard Dog founders.

Through his production company Truth Serum Films, Fleudujon has traveled the globe, capturing the work of the International Extremity Project in Vietnam with "Working in Vietnam," and the roadside attractions of America with "Head Trip." It was only natural that he focus his camera on his friends and colleagues in the Road Show as they traveled the country by bus on numerous national tours. Weinberger said in recent years, it was obvious Fleudujon was planning on making a movie.

"That's when he (Fleudujon) started interviewing us a lot," Weinberger said.

Weinberger said he's only seen a very rough cut of the film, but it does give insight to the dynamics of the group and what happens when you take a bunch of artists, put them in tight quarters and let the camera roll. "People want to see what it's like," Weinberger said, adding that the movie shows the good and the bad sides of the group. "There are definitely some members who are more challenging than others."

Weinberger said once the film is complete, they hope to not only place it in film festivals, but also take it on their next national tour with them. "We're a little bit tired of just touring," he said. "It'd be nice to tour with a product."

To contribute to the project, click here.