Wednesday
Finished with the audio dubs and Luci continues to transcribe.
Preparing a package for submission for another grant. This one is quite involved so it may take me a couple of days.
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Finished with the audio dubs and Luci continues to transcribe.
Preparing a package for submission for another grant. This one is quite involved so it may take me a couple of days.
Began making audio dubs for transcription. Luci transcribed all day. Wrote an approach letter to a big foundation. Fingers crossed again.
My mom, Ellie, has agreed to help us catch up on transcribing. We sent her 3 tapes. Our first “employee”! She rocks!
Watched “Atomic Café” and it was awesome! No narration, no interviews. All stock footage of the Atomic era. It’s amazing how civilized we’ve become since the 40’s and 50’s, but the residual fear tactics of government are apparent and show how far we still have to go. Maybe in November we’ll take another step toward civility.
Went for my follow-up acupuncture appointment this morning. She says I’ve made great progress.
Began making audio dubs for transcribing.
Spent most of the day with old friends and met some new.
It was also my Mom’s Birthday!
Spent the day catching up on emails and the like. Completed making video dubs of the Akron tapes.
Watched “Early Misgivings: A Film On Child Abuse”, a short doc from the 80’s on by Leonard Kurz. Really well done and insightful to the views of the time.
We left Ann and David’s at noon. We listened to a book on tape on the way out and it really made the time pass. We found a place on I-80 that had a huge selection of used tapes for cheap. We listened to “Clear and Present Danger” and Elmore Leonard’s “Killshot”. We quickly realized the classics are a little too boring to drive to. Espionage, spies and detective stories seem to be more entertaining.
We decied not to go to Pittsburgh for several reasons, but we’ll be passing by it again when we interview David Darr, so maybe we’ll stop then. We hit the Holland Tunnel at 9.
I parked in front of our house to unload everything at the door and as I went back down to move Buster to a safe spot, NYPD had the ticket book out and was writing us a welcome back to Brooklyn note that’ll cost us $115. I know parking at a hydrant isn’t legal (I had my hazards on), but anyone who drives in Brooklyn knows it’s the double-parking capital of the world. Definitely a financial burden we could live without.
We drove around Akron a little, picked up the equipment from Dianne’s and drove to Canton. Ann and David’s house is HUGE. They are renovating the entire place. It was a great way to unwind from the interview.
We got to Dianne’s around 10 this morning and began the last session of our interview. We talked for nearly 3 hours and went to lunch. They took us to a gourmet grocery that has a salad sandwich bar. It was delicious.
We all went our separate ways and met back up around 6 to go to their Wednesday night prayer meeting. We taped some B roll of Bud, Dianne’s husband and Pastor of Goss Memorial Church in the Kenmore area of Akron. We also recorded some traditional hymns with Dianne on piano and Janelle and Bud singing. Janelle did a solo song for us as well. They are all so very talented and cooperative. Their church is beautiful and sounded amazing. It was a perfect opportunity to get that “church” sound.
We all returned to their house for pizza and viewing of our 30-minute work in progress. They were impressed and after some conversation, we said our goodbyes and came back to the hotel.
We will leave Akron tomorrow around noon and travel to some friends in Canton, just south of here. On Friday, we’re going to swing down through Pittsburgh to get some B roll of the convention center where the steering committee protested the C&MA’s National Convention in ’95. This was the breaking point for the C&MA. They realized they had to confront them and begin to deal with the abuses that occurred at Mamou.
We got to Dianne’s around 9:30 and recorded for a couple of hours and went to lunch. Dianne brought her Mom over and we sat down with her for an hour. She did great on camera despite her shyness.
Luci and I are ahead of schedule and think we’ll be able to finish up the interview tomorrow. We have friends in Canton, just south of here and we’re planning to visit them on Thursday.
We met Dianne, the oldest Darr sibling for breakfast at Waffle House. Oh, how I miss Waffle House!
We went from there to her house and started setting up for the interview. Again, we had a huge picture window to use for light and the weather was on our side. We expected rain, but only got a little in the early afternoon. We recorded for a little over an hour and went to scout the church for Wednesday night prayer meeting and meet Mrs. Darr, their mom.
The church will be a beautiful location to record B roll as well as record some songs for the film. Janelle, their daughter will sing, accompanied by Dianne on piano. While at Mrs. Darr’s house, Dianne found some old Super 8 films from Africa her father shot. We can’t wait to see what’s on them. She also has some amazing black and white photos of the family in Africa.
We ate at the local Applebee’s and Luci and I both swear they put laxative in their food. Checked out the local flavor at the Wal-Mart.
Got through the Holland Tunnel around 1. Luci drove nearly the entire 8 hour trip. My back held up okay, but we took regular breaks along the way. Got to the hotel in Akron around 9.
Woke up feeling better than I have for a week. Seems that the needles worked!
Did the last minute, battery charging, trip-tik printing and equipment checking. Trying to stay relaxed and finish this healing thing before tomorrow’s trip.
Went to the acupuncturists (first time). She was really nice and the whole experience was great. A little dizzy afterwards, but feeling better. Went home and slept for 3 hours. Woke up and could still feel some pain. Laid around on my back all day.
John delivered the equipment to our house to spare me the lifting! I love doing business with friends.
Finally watched “Girlhood” on Discovery Times Channel. She really packs in a lot in an hour.
Talked to Dianne and finalized the finer points of the interview. Booked a hotel. Price is right (cheap actually) and amenities abound. Four miles from where Dianne lives.
The back is still hurting so in hopes for the quickest fix, I made an appointment with an acupuncturist who’s conveniently located around the corner from me.
Watched “Southern Comfort”. A twisted tale of transgenders in the deep south.
Reserved the equipment for the Akron trip.
Went to the doctor. She thinks I may have a slipped disk. Great! The pain has concentrated to the right side and radiates to my hip if I make a wrong move. Got some pain killers and muscle relaxers, as well as a prescription for acupuncture or physical therapy, whichever I choose. Came home, took some pills and spent yet another day on my back.
Still battling with the back. Made an appointment to see the doctor tomorrow. I have to get it feeling better before Sunday when we drive 7 hours to Akron.
Watched “All the Real Girls”. Enjoyed it, but really forces itself sometimes and some scenes are just absolutely unbelievable (bowling alley). To be fair: honest, intense and well-acted scenes outweigh the bad.
Yesterday was great. What started as 2 people coming to visit turned into something like a party. Pat McDonell was in town visiting his friend, May, and Jason Graham has returned from a job in the Bahamas. Brent, Jason Loan and Steve Moyer rounded out the party.
Beers and pizza evolved into an impromptu screening of sorts. Pat is working on several docs, but the short he brought was great. 3 Wakulla County fisherman trying to survive Florida’s net ban. He’s got some interesting characters on his hands. Can’t wait to see more. Think “Vernon Florida” without the turkeys.
Of course, I can’t shake the back pain and spent most of my day surfing cable and staring at the ceiling.
My back is feeling a little better, but still aches in a seated position. As I write this, I’m hurting. Will have to spend another day flat on my back although I expect some visitors to stop by later. Had to bail on the Cyclones baseball game I had planned to go to today. Really bummed. What could be better than watching a game with friends at Coney Island?
A full day of laying on my back. Watched “Everyday People” in the morning. An amazingly authentic film set in a restaurant in Brooklyn that deals with reality of race, gentrification and coping with surviving in the city. I highly recommend it. It’s playing all this month on HBO.
I also watched "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" on Showtime. It's all about the behind-the-scenes band of most of Motown's recordings, The Funk Brothers. If you don't like the music, it won't be as good, but if you're like me and grew up with it all being considered classic, it's simply amazing to learn that it was one band of guys who played on almost every track Motown produced. It's also an amazingly well-crafted film.
I had so many things I had to do today, but couldn’t move.
Word came in today from my supervisor that my request for an extension of my leave of absence had been approved! So for the next 2 months, we will frantically try and get the remaining interviews needed that will serve as the core of the film.
We went to a photographer friend’s opening at Niagara in Manhattan. Her name’s Kyra Kverno and has a very impressive body of work. Mostly live performance pics of rock stars.
On the way home, climbing up our backwards, super steep staircase, I threw out my back. Haven’t felt pain like this for quite sometime. I’m writing this entry days after laying flat bored out of my skull. Still bugging me, but slowly getting better.
Began dubbing tapes of the John Darr interview in Boston. Did a little research on tape stock. Something anyone should know with the Panasonic DVX100(A) camera (the one we’re using) is this: use Panasonic tape stock. We were gifted a bunch of Sony DVCAM tape stock and were warned that the tapes my damage our heads, but it was hard to resist such a durable and quality stock. We actually received mixed opinions on the subject and we used some of them anyway. And although we haven’t noticed any degradation, the following advice from Digital Media guru, Robert Goodman, came from the D-word website:
Sony cameras use magnetic heads with a different formulation that works best with a more abrasive tape. DVCAM tapes in a Panasonic or Canon camera will significantly reduce the life of your heads. These camcorders use a softer head formulation and require a less abrasive tape. The worst thing you can do is to switch between different manufacturers tape stocks because they all use different lubrication formulas. Sony and Panasonic's lubricants react badly to the other's lubricant.
So there you have it. A little advice that can make all the difference.
Wrote an initial approach email to a big, no huge, production company of documentaries in hopes of getting their attention/interest. We had a good reference and hopefully will open the door to a great relationship.
Spent much of the afternoon and evening discussing my anxieties about returning to work. My leave of absence is officially over tomorrow and I’m due to return on Monday. We have come so far in the 3 months and aren’t at a stopping point. If we put the production on pause, it may be 9 months before we can restart. Scary stuff.
Germany was great. Luci’s Mom’s birthday party was a complete success. The weather had been very rainy and cold leading up to Saturday and as if by request, the sun came through and warmed things up. It was a picture perfect garden party complete with tents and canopies, live music and a freestanding fireplace. I was the bartender, which was a perfect place for me to socialize and meet all their friends. We spent four or five days relaxing and went into Hamburg to meet with friends. All around a great time.
Didn’t get the work done for the film that I had hoped. Even though it was a relaxing time, somehow there wasn’t enough time to do anything like read or work.
I saw Amsterdam for the first time. We had a 4 hour layover there. What a beautiful city. Hectic, but somehow, laid back and relaxed. Got in late Tuesday night and up early Wednesday. Getting over the jet lag. We spent Wednesday relaxing with some friends visiting from Florida and others stopped by at night. It was a great day.
Back to work tomorrow.