Preview: My Life Story in One Minute
1999-2000. Media Reel & Spiritual Meltdown.
SUB-PLOT 1. A recurring theme in this documentary is 23 years of failed attempts to be a musician. I sucked. People cringed. Gigs were full of anxiety & humiliating rejection (you can see I'm tense in this photo). So instead I kept jamming at home for pure spiritual bliss for many years.
2000. I jammed at the ocean 250+ nights for pure bliss. It's so liberating to rock your soul where no one can hear you.
2001-2002. Jamming for Alzheimer's patients.
Spring 2007. My last ridiculous comedy project before I found my true purpose in life.
10.31.2007
The bad gig that sparked my epiphany to write a book to inspire people to jam at home purely for FUN instead of pressurizing it by practicing for public gigs. Just Groove.
2008. Researching these books for my own book changed my life forever. Skim the headlines of this slideshow I made:
10.31.2008
Inspired by that research, I started dancing for fun at home, then felt more comfortable dancing in public. At this show in New Orleans, the floor got wet and my sneakers could suddenly move smoothly, so I had the epiphany to invent "Sneakers that slide like James Brown's shoes."
​
SUBPLOT #2. James Brown becomes the biggest inspiration in my life, and a major recurring theme in the story ahead.
2009. Cesar the Colombian Cobbler & I made the first "James Brown sneakers" by cobbling leather soles to my sneakers.
Winter 2010
My mom broke her leg on Christmas so I stayed for 5 months to take care of her & write my book. For exercise, I grooved in the shoes every night for fun. When I got back to L.A. in May, people were shocked that I'd turned into a good dancer.
May 2010. The first videos I made in my first Groove Shoes, which I called "Slydurs" at the time.
August 7th, 2010. I tested my Groove shoes at Long Beach Funk Fest. People loved it & wanted shoes! It inspired me to start my shoe company. This video is from the following year 2011, but the reactions were the same in 2010.
Ridiculous "focus group" video we made to show that Groove Shoes make even the worst dancers better, lol.
My brother was old college friends with Nordstrom's CEO so he got us a big meeting there. They crushed my hopes by explaining the 99% of sneaker start-ups fail after millions in funding. They urged me to try to partner with a major brand.
When we made the first pair of Groove Shoes back in 2009, it was just a funny idea for my Halloween costume: NBA star Birdman Andersen. So in 2011 we filmed this video for fun.
January 2011: After I met a Nike shoe designer who could get us a big meeting at Nike HQ later that year, I started developing the fitness potential of Groove Shoes.
2.18.2011: I rocked my first great gig after 18 years of failed attempts. A dream come true, but I wound up deferring my live music dream for another 5 years to focus on the shoe biz.
April 2011: funny R&D session at USC Sports Science Lab to determine how many calories you can burn in Groove Shoes.
June 2011: We filmed professional videos of Women's Fitness in Groove Shoes, Men's Fitness, and spent the summer building this presentation for our big Nike meeting on 9.13.2011
October 2011: our Nike meeting went well but they asked for more authentication of the sports training potential, so I consulted with these two NFL trainers.
Nike owns Converse. An executive from Converse was very interested in our shoe concept, so we made this video to fit the Converse brand...
When our momentum at Nike & Converse slowed down, I start stressing badly. But I kept rocking my stress out every night at home I'd been doing since 1999. Here's a video with my glowstick guitar pick innovation...
November 2011: Strumming out my stress. The 2nd half of this video shows my full looping process if you want to see it.
In 2012, Nike fizzled out but I got connected to major execs at PUMA, so I laser-focused on PUMA...
Funny video we made about smooth soles:
My proposal for PUMA Groove launch ads:
November 2012. Glowing with hope after shaking hands with PUMA's President to start doing a deal. But then the CEO got replaced & my project died. Heart breaking.
In 2013, I obsessed on creating our own brand of shoes: GRV, which stands for Groove Revolution.
Summer 2013. After barely going out for 4 years, I finally found my spot: Funky Sole, inspired by James Brown! I danced my stress out there every Saturday for the next 3 years. It was a rare oasis of joyful energy in L.A.
Funky Sole's JOY made my James Brown obsession grow even more. I made this PDF in hopes of meeting his family:
Describe your image
Describe your image
The first video we made in first our GRV prototypes:
January 2014. My China trip to make GRV Shoes has a lot of great videos but this one is everyone's favorite!
March 2014. Our GRV launch video for Kickstarter:
April 2014. Great segment on GRV Shoes by KTLA News
Good press & endorsements for GRV Shoes
Fateful destiny with James Brown's family. Our shoe designer Q (left) was college buddies with James Brown's grandson Jason (center). We became great friends.
I went to Augusta for James Brown's birthday with his family
Groovin' with kids in Augusta on James Brown's birthday
I went to the James Brown movie with his family! Surreal.
Jason Brown had us customize his GRV Shoes for the Apollo Theatre with this badass image of James Brown:
Jason Brown doing his grandfather's moves in GRV Shoes
I couldn't raise the millions in funding needed to scale GRV Shoes, but I got connected to Adidas & Pharrell, so I obsessed on that next...
2015. Fed up with futilely chasing the major brands, I pivoted to cobbling our soles to customers' shoes.
2015. Launch ad for our new business: Groove Shoe Soles
2015. My mock-up of how I wanted our shop The Groove Lab to be painted. (I also lived here illegally 2012-2016, lol)
Mock-up of Groove Centers, the first concept I thought after I did all that research in 2008 that everyone should rock.
Ad with my footwork intercut with The Nicholas Brothers
Nov 2015. Groove Soles launch party at Funky Sole:
Pro dancer Guapo joined the GRV Team at our launch party, then started filming videos in our shoes.
New Year's Eve 12.31.2015 Guapo in Groove Soles. I was surrounded by new customers groovin' their shoes all night. It filled me with hope, but a rough year was ahead.
GRV was out of funding. I was alarmingly skinny, but kept rocking out my stress every night after work...
February 2016. Flat broke & way too skinny. I talk about the struggle on my way to Debbie Allen's new musical. Wait for the clips of Debbie Allen's dancers in our shoes:
Thank God my first $500 gig fell in my lap, with the sax player from BoomBox. This was a confidence builder.
Trying to get out of my loner hermit shell...
My first attempt at teaching a groove move: basic sliding.
April 2016. A friend invested 20k for marketing, the final funding GRV ever got. We set up a booth at WORLD OF DANCE and our shoes were a hit.
At the World of Dance convention, I befriended the founder of Electric Styles shoes, so we started collaborating.
Famous EDM shuffler Elena Cruz, sponsored by Electric Styles, loves dancing in Groove Shoe Soles, as do all EDM dancers.
Preview: My Life Story in One Minute
1999-2000. Media Reel & Spiritual Meltdown.
SUB-PLOT 1. A recurring theme in this documentary is 23 years of failed attempts to be a musician. I sucked. People cringed. Gigs were full of anxiety & humiliating rejection, so instead I kept jamming at home for pure spiritual bliss.
2000. I jammed at the ocean 250+ nights for pure bliss. It's so liberating to rock your soul where no one can hear you.
2001-2002. Jamming for Alzheimer's patients.
Spring 2007. My last ridiculous comedy project before I found my true purpose in life.
10.31.2007
The bad gig that sparked my epiphany to write a book to inspire people to jam at home purely for FUN instead of pressurizing it by practicing for public gigs. Just Groove.
2008. Researching these books for my own book changed my life forever. Skim the headlines of this slideshow I made:
10.31.2008
Inspired by that research, I started dancing for fun at home, then felt more comfortable dancing in public. At this show in New Orleans, the floor got wet and my sneakers could suddenly move smoothly, so I had the epiphany to invent "Sneakers that slide like James Brown's shoes."
​
SUBPLOT #2. James Brown becomes the biggest inspiration in my life, and a major recurring theme in the story ahead.
2009. Cesar the Colombian Cobbler & I made the first "James Brown sneakers" by cobbling leather soles to my sneakers.
Winter 2010
My mom broke her leg on Christmas so I stayed for 5 months to take care of her & write my book. For exercise, I grooved in the shoes every night for fun. When I got back to L.A. in May, people were shocked that I'd turned into a good dancer.
May 2010. The first videos I made in my first Groove Shoes, which I called "Slydurs" at the time.
August 7th, 2010. I tested my Groove shoes at Long Beach Funk Fest. People loved it & wanted shoes! It inspired me to start my shoe company. This video is from the following year 2011, but the reactions were the same in 2010.
Ridiculous "focus group" video we made to show that Groove Shoes make even the worst dancers better, lol.
My brother was old college friends with Nordstrom's CEO so he got us a big meeting there. They crushed my hopes by explaining the 99% of sneaker start-ups fail after millions in funding. They urged me to try to partner with a major brand.
When we made the first pair of Groove Shoes back in 2009, it was just a funny idea for my Halloween costume: NBA star Birdman Andersen. So in 2011 we filmed this video for fun.
January 2011: After I met a Nike shoe designer who could get us a big meeting at Nike HQ later that year, I started developing the fitness potential of Groove Shoes.
2.18.2011: I rocked my first great gig after 18 years of failed attempts. A dream come true, but I wound up deferring my live music dream for another 5 years to focus on the shoe biz.
April 2011: funny R&D session at USC Sports Science Lab to determine how many calories you can burn in Groove Shoes.
June 2011: We filmed professional videos of Women's Fitness in Groove Shoes, Men's Fitness, and spent the summer building this presentation for our big Nike meeting on 9.13.2011
October 2011: our Nike meeting went well but they asked for more authentication of the sports training potential, so I consulted with these two NFL trainers.
Nike owns Converse. An executive from Converse was very interested in our shoe concept, so we made this video to fit the Converse brand...
When our momentum at Nike & Converse slowed down, I start stressing badly. But I kept rocking my stress out every night at home I'd been doing since 1999. Here's a video with my glowstick guitar pick innovation...
November 2011: Strumming out my stress. The 2nd half of this video shows my full looping process if you want to see it.
In 2012, Nike fizzled out but I got connected to major execs at PUMA, so I laser-focused on PUMA...
Funny video we made about smooth soles:
My proposal for PUMA Groove launch ads:
November 2012. Glowing with hope after shaking hands with PUMA's President to start doing a deal. But then the CEO got replaced & my project died. Heart breaking.
2013. I obsessed on creating our own brand of shoes: GRV, which stands for Groove Revolution.
Summer 2013. After barely going out for 4 years, I finally found my spot: Funky Sole, inspired by James Brown! I danced my stress out there every Saturday for the next 3 years. It was a rare oasis of joyful energy in L.A.
Funky Sole's JOY made my James Brown obsession grow even more. I made this PDF in hopes of meeting his family:
Describe your image
Describe your image
The first video we made in first our GRV prototypes:
January 2014. My China trip to make GRV Shoes has a lot of great videos but this one is everyone's favorite!
March 2014. Our GRV launch video for Kickstarter:
April 2014. Great segment on GRV Shoes by KTLA News
Good press & endorsements for GRV Shoes
Fateful destiny with James Brown's family. Our shoe designer Q (left) was college buddies with James Brown's grandson Jason (center). We became great friends.
I went to Augusta for James Brown's birthday with his family
Groovin' with kids in Augusta on James Brown's birthday
Went to the James Brown movie with his family! Surreal.
Jason Brown had us customize his GRV Shoes for the Apollo Theatre with this badass image of James Brown:
Jason Brown doing his grandfather's moves in GRV Shoes
I got connected to Adidas & Pharrell. The next chapter:
2015. Fed up with chasing the major sneaker brands, I pivoted to cobbling our soles to customers' shoes.
2015. Launch ad for our new business model.
2015. My mock-up of how I wanted our shop The Groove Lab to be painted. (I also lived here illegally 2012-2016)
Ad with my footwork intercut with The Nicholas Brothers
Nov 2015. Groove Soles launch party at Funky Sole
Pro dancer Guapo joined the GRV Team at our launch party, then started filming videos in our shoes.
Nov 2015. Groove Soles launch party at Funky Sole