Joe Tripician

Born: Joseph Tripician, November 14, 1953 (aged 60), Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.A.

Pen name: Joe Tripician

Occupation: Producer, writer, screenwriter, film director, songwriter, playwright

Language: English Nationality: American Education: American University; Columbia University

Period: 1970-Present

Genres: Biography, film, music, literature, memoir, politics, satire, science fiction, theater, TV, video

Notable Award(s): 1991 Emmy Award

Spouse(s): Cecilia Tripician (1999-Present)

Children: Helena Tripician; Olivia Tripician

Joseph Tripician (also known as Joe Tripician and Joe Trip), born November 14, 1953, is an American producer, writer, screenwriter, film director, songwriter, playwright and perform- er. He is best known for the documentaries Borders and Metaphoria and his book Balkanized

at Sunrise, based on Tripician´s memories of his trip to the Balkans in 1997. During his vast career, Tripician has worked with Jim Henson, Steve Buscemi, Jeff Buckley, Quentin Crisp, Lou Reed, Martin Sheen and others.

1. Early Life and Education

2. 70´s - Absolute Mania and Jim Henson

3. 80´s - Music Videos, Borders and Other Documentaries

4. 90´s - Metaphoria, Ozark Melody and Aliens

5. 2000s - From Balkanized at Sunrise to Moto Anjos

6. Personal Life

7. Influences

8. Notes

9. Awards and Nominations

10. Filmography

11. Discography

12. Bibliography

13. References

Early Life and Education

Joseph Tripician was born on November 14, 1953 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.A. His parents are Nicoli and Delores Tripician. He has two brothers, Bill and Carl. Tripician studied at the American University and has a MFA (Master of Fine Arts) from Columbia University.

70´s - Absolute Mania and Jim Henson

In 1970, while still in high school, Tripician formed the comedy group Absolute Mania that hosted a cable TV humor program in South Jersey also entitled Absolute Mania, but it ended abruptly after a sketch about the renown American musician Johnny Cash. In 1978, Tripician interviewed John Draper, aka " Captain Crunch", a so-called "phone freak" and "pioneer computer hacker". Between 1978 and 1979, Tripician also collaborated with Jim Henson, the famous creator of The Muppets. 80´s - Music Videos, Borders and Other Documentaries

In 1980, Tripician worked as editor of the documentary Memories of Duke, directed by Gary Keys and based on the biography of the famous Jazz trumpet player and composer Duke

Ellington. At the same time, he wrote and directed the short film Shrapnel Training Course, a parody infomercial satirizing the CIA. Later, Tripician produced and co-directed several music- al videos included in a compilation called Danspak which was distributed by "Sony Video Soft- ware" and released in three parts (1982, 1984 and 1986). Some of the videos included were Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don´t Stop), by Man Parrish; Pointy Head Gear, by Shöx Lumania; Jimmy, Gim- me Your Love, by "The Must", and Alien Girl, by Richard Bone, in 1982; I´ve Got A Right, by "The Lenny Kaye Connection", and Sweet Jane, a cover of The Velvet Underground´s song performed by "The Jim Carroll Band", in 1984 (that video featured a cameo appearance of the late American songwriter Lou Reed); Grace, by "The Ordinaires", Skintight Tina, by Charles Prince Charles Alexander, and Buttercup, by Stevie Wonder performed by Carl Anderson, both released in 1985. In 1984, Tripician and his partner Merrill Aldighieri had been mentioned in the Rolling Stone Book of Rock Video as one of the twenty top video directors in the world. In 1988, Tripician produced, edited and co-directed with Merrill Aldighieri, The Kissing Booth, a document-ary starring Quentin Crisp, among others. That year, Tripician and Aldighieri also received an award at "The Mill Valley Film Festival". In 1989, he wrote, produced, edited and co-directed, again with Merrill Aldighieri, a successful mixed genre TV documentary entitled Borders, starring Steve Buscemi and Robert Anton Wilson, and directed The Gun is Loaded, a short film starring Lydia Lunch. 90´s- Metaphoria, Ozark Melody and Aliens

In 1991, Tripician wrote, produced, edited and co-directed again with Merrill Aldighieri the video documentary Metaphoria that was awarded with an Emmy. The same year, Metapho- ria won awards at the "Chicago International Film Festival", the "Montreal International Film Festival", the "Sinking Creek Film Festival", and the "Cyber Arts Festival" in Los Angeles. In 1992, Tripician also edited several episodes of the TV news show The Wall Street Journal Report and directed with Aldighieri the musical parody We Bought the T-Shirt for The 90´s Next Election Special that was produced and aired during Bill Clinton´s presidential campaign. In 1993, Tripician produced, edited and co-directed with Aldighieri the short film Motel Room 19, adapted from playwright Edgar Oliver´s play, and worked as Co-Director of Graphics and Animation of the awarded documentary The War Room, directed by Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker. That documentary was also nominated to the Academy Awards. In 1994, Tripician was nominated for the "Intercultural Film/Video Fellowship in Media Arts" by the "Rockefeller Foundation". The following year, Tripician was the On-Line Editor of the awarded video do- cumentary The Conspiracy of Silence, directed by Neal Marshad and Donna Olson. In 1997, Tripician´s paperback book, The Official Alien Abductee´s Handbook, was published by “And- rews and McMeel". That book was the inspiration for Melodies for Abductees, which included the song Ozark Melody, composed by Tripician, Frederick Reed and American songwriter Jeff Buckley, who also performed it. Buckley died on May 29 that year. Tripician also co-directed with Jakov Sedlar the feature documentary Tudjman, narrated by the renown American actor Martin Sheen and based on the biography of the Croatian president, Franjo Tudjman. In fact, Tripician traveled to the Balkans, after being hired by the Croatan government to write Tudj- man´s official biography. The working title of that book was In Tito´s Shadow. Tripician´s experiences in that region were related in his book Balkanized at Sunrise. In 1998,Tripician co-founded the company iStream TV in New York City, which provided streaming video

services to a number of corporate clients. Tripician worked in that company to 2001. In 1999, he acted in the short video film "Marty: The Martin Scorsese Story", directed by Roberto Serri- ni. In that video, Tripician played the celebrated American filmmaker Martin Scorsese. Tripician´s works were also exhibited in famous galleries and museums, such as "The Guggen- heim Museum" and "The New Museum of Contemporary Art", in New York; "The Whitney Museum of American Art"; "The Laforet Museum", in Tokyo, Japan and "The Museum of Modern Art", in Paris, France. 2000s - From Balkanized at Sunrise to Moto Anjos

In 2002, Tripician wrote and performed a one-man show called Balkanized at Sunrise at the "Dixon Place Theater" in New York City, directed by Gigi van Deckter. A video of that one- night show´s performance was recorded, and excerpts can be seen on Tripician´s "You Tube" and "Vimeo" channels. Balkanized at Sunrise was also the title of his memoir published by “Smashwords" in 2010. Also in 2002, "New Riders Press" published a book about “Macro- media" entitled Flash MX Magic and written by Matthew David, Glenn Thomas, Joe Tripi- cian, et al. In 2006, Tripician wrote, produced, edited and directed the short video Princess of New York, starring Helena Tripician, one of his daughters. That year, a video compila- tion called Live from Hurrah´s New York City was released. It included musical videos such as Fascination, by "The Fleshtones", Charles, by "The Skids", and I Love May, by “Snake- finger". From 2007 to late 2008, Tripician worked as the Director of Broadband Services at "Medialink Worldwide", the public communications firm whose clients included companies such as "Philips", "Johnson & Johnson", "Bank of America", "General Motors" and "Nokia". In 2007, Tripician wrote, edited and directed the short video The Student, which premiered at the "Tribeca Film Festival". In 2009, he wrote, edited and directed Kitchen Sink Stories, a three-part web series. In 2012, the e-books My Night with Sarah Palin and Other Disturbing Stories (a collection of short stories) and Immortality Wars (a sci-fi detective novel based on "Nanotechnology" and the concept of "Singularity" proposed by Ray Kurzweil) were publi- shed. In 2013, the e-book Joe Tripician - Obras Seleccionadas: Volumen 1 (Joe Tripician - Selected Works:Volume 1), was published. It included Spanish translations of short stories and song lyrics written by Tripician, who collaborated on that book. The translations were made by Argentine teacher, researcher, writer and musician Pablo Martin Aguero. That year, Tripician wrote, produced, edited and directed A Pizza Chegou (also known as Pizza Run), another short film. In this case, it was filmed in São Paulo, Brazil. He is also in pre-product- ion on Moto Anjos (Moto Angels), his first feature film, starring Vinicius de Oliveira and Ma- ria Flor. Personal Life

In March 1999, Tripician married Cecilia Tripician. They live in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brazil, with their daughters Helena and Olivia.

Influences

According to Tripician, he is influenced by writers such as Terry Southern, Edgar Allan Poe, Elmore Leonard, J.G. Ballard, Robert Anton Wilson and Philip K. Dick; American TV of the 50´s and films such as Stanley Kubrick´s Dr. Strangelove or How I Stopped Worrying and Loved the Bomb, Luis Buñuel´s Belle de Jour and Orson Welles´ The Third Man.

Notes

In 1969, Tripician wrote a letter that was published in "Laugh-In Magazine" about George At- kins, the editor of that publication.

Bill Tripician, his older brother, works as Casting Associate for "Kee Casting". He collabora- ted in films such as Robert Redford´s Quiz Show (1994), Ron Howard´s Ransom (1996), Richard Donner´s Conspiracy Theory (1997) and Woody Allen´s Blue Jasmine (2013), among others. He lives in New York City.

Carl, Tripician youngest brother, is an attorney who lives in New Jersey. He is the father of four children. Joe Tripician´s nephew, Nalu, acted in the acclaimed films Lord of War (2005) and Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006).

Awards and Nominations

1984: Top 20 Music Video Directors Worldwide. Rolling Stone Book of Rock Video.

1988: Winner at "The Mill Valley Film Festival".

1991: Winner at the "Chicago International Film Festival", the "Montreal International Film Festi- val", the "Sinking Creek Film Festival", and the "Cyber Arts Festival" in Los Angeles. 2008: Official Selections at the "Big Apple 2007 Film Festival", and the "Nevada City Film Festi- val".

Filmography

1980: Memories of Duke (Editor).

- CIA Infomercial Shrapnel Training Course (Writer and director).

1988: The Kissing Booth (Producer, editor and co-director).

1989: Borders (Writer, producer, editor and co-director).

- The Gun is Loaded (Director).

1991: Metaphoria (Writer, producer, editor and co-director).

- The Wall Street Journal Report (Editor).

1993: Hotel Room 19 (Producer, editor and co-director).

- The War Room (Director of Graphics and Animation).

1995: The Conspiracy of Silence (On-Line Editor).

1997: Tudjman (Co-director).

1999: Marty: The Martin Scorsese Story (Actor).

2006: Princess of New York (Writer, producer, editor and director).

2007: The Student (Writer, producer, editor and director).

2009: Kitchen Sink Stories (Writer, editor and director).

2013: A Pizza Chegou (Pizza Run) (Writer, producer, editor and director) (Post-Production).

2014: Moto Anjos (Moto Angels) (Writer, producer, editor and director) (Pre-Production).

Discography

1997: Melodies for Abductees.

Bibliography

1997: The Official Alien Abductee´s Handbook. Publisher: "Andrews and McMeel". ISBN: 978-0836227604

2002: Flash MX Magic by David, Matthew; Baltzegar, Mark; Tripician, Joe et al. Publisher: "New Riders Press". ISBN: 978-0735711600

2010: Balkanized at Sunrise. Publisher: "Smashwords Editions". ISBN: 978-055749514

2012: My Night with Sarah Palin and Other Disturbing Stories. Publisher: "Smashwords Editions". ISBN: 978-0-615-61207-2

- Immortality Wars. Publisher: "Smashwords Editions". ISBN: 9780615600581

2013: Joe Tripician - Obras Seleccionadas: Volumen 1 (Joe Tripician - Selected Works: Volume 1). Publisher: "Smashwords Editions". ISBN: 9781301854233.

References

1. Joe Tripician Web Site: www.joetripician.com.

2. Tripician, Joe: My Night with Sarah Palin and Other Disturbing Stories. Publisher: "Smashwords Editions", 2012. ISBN: 978-0-615-61207-2.

3. E-Mails sent from Joe Tripician to Pablo Martin Aguero from 2012 to 2013.

4. "Smashwords": www.smashwords.com.

5. "All Music Guide": www.allmusicguide.com.

6. "Media Burn Archive": The 90´s Next Election Special, 1992.

7. "KEE Casting": www.keecasting.biz.

8. "All Movie Guide": www.allmovieguide.com.

9. "News & Documentary Emmy Awards 1992 ("Internet Movie Data Base" - "IMDB"): www.imdb.com. 10. Amazon.com (www.amazon.com).