#dan witkowski

This week’s guest is another of those who is long overdue to tell his 40+ years of experience. Dan Witkowski and his company, MagicCom, has created unique magical experiences for the NFL, Coca-Cola, General Mills, the medical field and even the Whitehorse. Dan tells a lot of interesting stories from his experience of creating and producing not just one, but two halftime shows for the Super Bowl in consecutive years.

Dan has been an infrequent guest in the past having been on at least two convention report podcasts where he was attending and giving his assessment of the daily activities. So it was a delight to have a much more in-depth conversation with him here.

The quality of this recording is not up to the standard because it was recorded in the car using WiFi from a grocery store where I was parked. The power had gone out in my usual studio which meant that I needed to quickly find an alternative location. So the parking lot was the best I could do as we spoke to each other over a Skype connection.

Nashvilles by Dan Witkowski

THE PROJECT

Nashvilles is an exploration of the culture surrounding country music and its fans as it appears at a country and western themed bar located in Henrietta, NY just 15 minutes south of Rochester. Through the project I have been able to ask questions about American culture, exploring how the exhibition of passion towards an essential music genre reflects on themes such as patriotism. Country music has become far more popularized over the past 20 years due to artists performing in larger arena and crossing over into more mainstream genres. This has caused the music to expand regionally out of the South and West. Nashvilles exemplifies this shift, playing top 40 country hits over their speakers to a newer base of fans in upstate New York. The work does not follow a group of regulars or take you deeper into the personalities of this one bar. Rather, it asks broader questions of Country culture at large in relation to the way that this music has affected the fans American experience.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED

I learned most from this experience to be honest with yourself and your work, saying what needs to be said in the way that you are able to interpret it. Everyone will have a different opinion of your work. A critique will tell you to go one way and someone else will lead you in the opposite direction. Essentially it is your work and ultimately you are the one who will have to live with it. So be honest with yourself and honest with the way that you work. I have failed and been beaten down throughout most of this process. However, I have begun to find solace in my ability to be honest with myself. This is what I’ve gained.

TRUST

In my project, I had to build and gain trust each and every night I was at Nashvilles. There was the initial trust I needed to gain from the owners and staff at the bar. And then I gained the trust of some of the regulars. But the crowd changes every night. New faces and new personalities. Trust became a constant and changing force throughout the entirety of my process.

IF I WERE A FRUIT…

If I were a fruit I would be a kiwi. I do not know if I’ve ever had a kiwi but they are green on the inside and have relatively thin skin.

PORTFOLIO