Format: Digital music video. Length: 5 minutes 41 seconds.
“Names” was an advance first single from Yearbook, my second album. It was inspired by a lifelong obsession I've had with spelling peoples’ names correctly. This stems in part from the fact that my own name is so often misspelled (usually picking up a superfluous “d” to become “Todd”), but it also reflects a general desire on my part not only to connect with people in a deeper way—especially in these divisive times—but also to recognize and celebrate difference, even if it’s only a matter of one or two letters.
For this video, codirected with Charlie Theobald, I reached out to nearly 100 friends and colleagues for contributions. Their submissions—inspired in part by the British artist Gillian Wearing’s iconic work Signs that Say What You Want Them To Say and Not Signs that Say What Someone Else Wants You To Say, are the backbone of this effort, and I’m deeply grateful to everyone—from filmmakers like Apichatpong Weeresethakul and Mare Winningham to writers such as Louis Menand and Jorie Graham—for participating.
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CREDITS
Directed by Charlie Theobald and Tod Lippy
Featuring, in order of appearance:
Miguel R. Carrillo, Andrea Feldman, Andrea Dezsö, Alisha Holland, Alicia Walter, Alisa Eicher, Alison Gerson, Allison Freedman Weisberg, Alyson Shotz, Mathew Pokoik, Erin Blume, Aaron Fowler, Isabel Roxas, Isabelle Chrétien-Brocker, Sara Bader, Sarah Arena, Brooke Williams, Brook Rosser, Shaun Raviv, Shan Beck, Sean Mackowiak, Shawn McDonald, Josephine Craft, Apichatpong (Joe) Weeresethakul, Hilary Lloyd, Hillary Chute, Hilliary Turnipseed, Christian Holland, Kris Hernandez, Amee Spondike, Amy Miller, Julian Lynch, Julyan David, Bradley Goldman, Bradford Anderson, Ann Goldstein, Anne Watts, Juri Morioka, Jorie Graham, Karina Menchin, Carina Liebeknecht, Carolyn Honeychild Coleman, Caroline Duble, Louis Menand, Lewis Klahr, Emelie Kihlstrom, Emily Menand, Geoff Strawbridge, Jeff Hiller, Marc Chemtob, Mark Haupert, Stefan Hagen, Steve Henry, Stephin Merritt, Stephen Eichhorn, Stephan Krieger, Stéphane Gerson, Laura Kimmel, Lara Meyerratken, Tina Barney, Tena Alonzo, Alex Zivian, Alix Pearlstein, Elliott Sharp, Elliot Gerson, Mari Gunn, Mare Winningham, Jody Wood, Jodi Rodriguez, Jonathan Zenios, Johnathan Swafford, Hana Seligman, Hannah Gruendemann, Karen Shepard, Karyn Wagner, Michelle Elligott, Michele Scheinkman, Katherine Lee, Kathryn Gile, Catherine Craft, Carrie Welch, Kerri Scharlin, Cary Leibowitz, Alan Elliott, Philip Gefter, Philipp Engelhorn, Eric Warner, Erik Migdail, Todd Krieger
Written, performed, and recorded by Tod Lippy
Mixed and mastered by Kramer
Produced by Tod Lippy and Kramer
From the album Yearbook (2021)
©2020 Tod Lippy Music, BMI