If you woke up this morning with the question: “What has Pat Parra, Isiah Flores and Danilo Parra been up to?” Then today is your lucky day my friend, because all your wildest dreams and secret questions will be answered in this here blog.

When I found out that I was going to LA to film some more boxers and that my brother’s album was just mastered and finished, I said “Yo bro, if you come meet me in LA with Isiah Flores, then we will make you an awesome music video.” He said “I’m down.” So I went to a cafe, while waiting for a friend, listened to his album, and came up with music video ideas for six of his songs. I called my brother, told him the different music video concepts, and we both were feeling the same one. From then on it was like a 24 hour film festival how we did it. From casting, to filming, to completion.

We found some amazing actors in LA who knew the role and played the part. We then street casted a few beautiful women who also knew the role and played the part. Then we stole a lot of locations who looked the part and let us play the role. Some how things just came into place and everything was like magic. Check out the video below and see the behind the scenes pictures Pat took during the shoot.

Photos by Pat Parra

Music Video by Danilo Parra and Isiah Flores.

Boxing is 2011’s Vampire. What does that mean you might ask? Well, last year there were films and TV Shows dealing with vampires coming out every direction and out from all the media pores. There was no escape.

(Smokin’ Joe Frazier at his gym in Philadelphia)

It was in the magic radio waves that only a selected few could broadcast and everyone else gets to tune in on. Some cab driver in New York last year even said he was bit by a vampire/crazy person who was trying to suck his blood. But in terms of media, what did that mean about our society last year? Vampires are symbolic as blood sucking creatures. Well that’s pretty symbolic of the whole stock exchange and economic collapse. I think vampires in our radio waves are symbols of greed and how blood is transformed into money. War into oil. Like water like chocolate.

Now this brings us back to 2011 and boxing. Boxing is a symbol of the fighter in all of us. We all have one, it just depends on what we choose to fight and how far we are willing to go to get what we want. I think this reflects into current events dealing with the protests in Egypt. These are new found fighters that are putting their inner fighter outwards and showing that the people have the strength to change what they need to be changed. Boxing has already begun to infiltrate popular culture at full force this coming year with the film “The Fighter.” There is also a new television series on boxing that looks really engaging.

In my own work as an editor and videographer, I started editing a boxing music video featuring the XXs’ remix of the Gill Scott Heron album. I have also been working on a few webisodes I’m filming about the different legendary boxers from back in the day. One of which by the name of Smokin’ Joe Frazier. He was a true fighter who fought and stayed strong amidst the immense burden of racism he dealt with during his time. Muhhamad Ali gave him great grief as well, pinning him as “Unkle Sam,” and not staying true to his african american people and civil rights movement. But when you meet him, you see his one track mind that doesn’t allow fear or anything else get in his way. Referring to winning a record number of consecutive Golden Gloves and title matches he simply says ,”I just do what I have to do to get the job done.”

(Joe with his cane to help him walk. This is him attacking me with it. There is still a fighter in him.)

He speaks of his heart being strong and keeping his mind strong which enables him to have an easy time getting his body into shape. His training regiments were stolen in the “Rocky” movies. He worked in a butcher shop where he practiced his left hook on the hanging carcasses and part of his daily run while he trained in Philidelphia, took him up the famous stairs in Rocky. Smokey is a true fighter. But besides all this, maybe the real question is, what other ways will 2011 bring out our inner fighter? I’m thinking of just getting right to the source and boxing first hand. I have a big nose though, I bet it would break pretty damn fast. Ouch. Never mind.