So, what’s a dude my age, who looks like me; Whose mother would never let him play football because it was too dangerous, performing a rap about quarterbacks and the money they make?
Painting within the lines has never been my thing. Let’s say I’ve got a little Han Solo from Star Wars in me, “Never tell me the odds”, when I believe in something. Years ago, a therapist said to me: “Obstacles don’t get in the way of the path. Obstacles are the path”. Be in the moment with them.
Embracing that allows me to create unbound from expectations. Creatively, that initially took the form of acting, later writing and directing. But singing was my first artistic love. When my voice changed as a teenager, I felt like I ran into my own personal iceberg.
Thank God for rap and improved recording technology. I’ve been writing poems and lyrics since I was a kid. The films I was acting/writing/producing inspired a little song writing and gave me a reason to go for it. Just prior to I’m The Quarterback, I recorded a rap for the first time in years for the end credits of my short film, Like, Comment, and Share (LCS). That got the bug in me about music again. I had scribbled lyrics for I’m the quarterback down at some point, thinking it’s probably one of those ideas I will never get back to. But I liked it enough to at least write it down.
As we’re finishing LCS, I’m getting ready to leave my social worker job to devote more time to the arts. I’m thinking LCS could be my last short that I self-finance. I’m getting older and the turnaround time is a while, and they’re hard to promote. I am past trying to be famous or rich. I would like to be able to make a living being creative. I’m The Quarterback popped into my mind. I looked up the lyrics. It made me laugh. I worked on them some more. And said yeah this can work!
But I knew in order for it to fully work, to get the most out of the humor, it also had to be a video. So Crazy Old Head was born. I know I am funny looking and can play a disgruntled fan doing a cosplay rap, but I wouldn’t want to just look at me for a few minutes, so I knew I wanted to cast cheerleaders and players!
I was excited because the video would be much shorter than my films, cheaper to make, and faster turnaround. And fingers crossed, the best chance to go viral of anything I’ve done.
As for the target and inspiration of my humor – A quarterback is my favorite athlete of all-time (Phil Simms in case you’re wondering) so it’s nothing personal – But the money QBs make is out of control relative to what other players on the team make – (it’s not like I’m saying the owners should get the money.) I think the sports media has enabled this runaway train for a long time but now finally you do hear leading voices on ESPN, FOX, etc., commenting on it. Well, I commented on it in my comedic rap, and I hope you like it!
Big thanks to my video DP/ Co-Producer/ Co- Editor Jonathan Cocco and everyone who worked on the song and the video!
Jeff Schubert 