Breakfast of Champions

Going to film festivals, especially in foreign countries, seems to lead to the forcible introduction to many new people...not that it is a bad thing at all but it can be a little strange riding in an elevator day after day with a stranger who you only know by their name tag, trying to smile and make conversation..it is especially hard in the film world where I find so many introverts that likely hide in their rooms all day watching, making or writing about film (looks in mirror)! With that being said, I have been extremely lucky to start each day here at New Horizons with a great group of film people as we begin with breakfast inside the festival hotel!

On our first morning here we descended to the lobby to be unexpectedly greeted by a filmmaker friend of Brent's, the lovely Ela Troyano! Ela has never been very forthcoming with information about her work, whether it is a serious humility or shyness I don't know but, after a google hunt, I found that she has made a ton of films including a documentary called La Lupe The Queen of Latin Soul  about the fascinating Cuban sensation La Lupe whose controversial sexiness, gay icon  & political exile status make her a subject fit for the best- I can only hope one day Ela will share more with us (especially since she has been a HUGE supporter of Gravity from the beginning!)! Sitting at her table was Mario Montez! I don't think I would ever have imagined that I would ever be, bleary eyed, eating eggs with the likes of a Warhol Superstar on an early sunny day in Poland! Lol! Mario, his partner, Ela and friends were here to present a live performance event involving the films of Jack Smith  (and from what I hear, a lot of wigs) at the festival and nearby in Berlin. Apparently Mario rarely gets on a plane so his appearance here is a huge deal, one that only the charm of (my pre-coffee brain is cloudy but maybe...) Marc (a curator at the Arsenal in Berlin) and Susanna (another unlikely breakfast companion, the star of many a Bruce LaBruce film) could have wrought (whom we also ate with this strange, strange morning)!

Other mornings yielded porridge with Anocha (whose film was a winner at New Horizons last year and who sits on the jury this year) and Paolo (who does a little bit of everything art/film in Venice) as the film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum sat nearby slurping up his cereal, trying to avoid eye contact and the poised Anja Breien sat sipping her tea nearby! The fest is almost over but I still have one or two more breakfasts here....what independent film personalities will I have with my coffee & kielbasa on this morning in Poland? Hmm? What a lovely (overwhelming) way to start a film festival day!

Sex, Dance and Rock & Roll (Then nap!)

Almodovar! I always want to chant his name like he's a soccer star or revolutionary....or something? I will admit, I haven't seen many Almodovar films....I saw Bad Education and some of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (which I bought in college at the local supermarket video store for 99cents!). His new film, The Skin I Live In, was all kinds of huge at Cannes (which doesn't mean much really....in fact a European programmer here schooled me that the highest ranked and the lowest ranked films are always the best of Cannes, interesting!) but did make me want to see what all the fuss was about. While watching Skin I thought of a phrase that really sums up what I have seen of Almodovar "a meandering sexual journey through the highs and lows of life." This one, a kind of sexual revenge thriller in the vein of Education, is pretty good...the story of a mad scientist sort of unfolds from the middle as Antonio Banderas (!) avenges and revenges all over the place with weapons and science and science as weapons all with (typical?) Almodovar confusion of sex and lust and love and family and identity and humor- a Freudian psycho-thriller-melodrama! With pretty outfits! And jokes! Almodovar! Almodovar! Speaking of chanting and untamed sexuality...

Nick Cave! At one point during his Grinderman show here at the New Horizons Film Festival he proclaimed that his face was gone and his body busted but that didn't stop the mad man from swerving and sexing his way across the stage in demonic lunacy, even when, literally, buzzing around like a bumble bee! We also met the (evil?) Warren Ellis, who is a band member of Jim White who recently drummed along to a few of our live shows, in the hotel lobby. He had nice jewelry, a wry smile and had to bend down about two feet to even get within earshot of us. Nick Cave always walks that thin line of humor and cool, I don't think anyone else in the world can sincerely sing about kittens like he does and get away with it but...years of hard, skillful song writing might have a ton to do with that! On top of the whole being sated with cool thing....and he was in a Wenders film for goodness sake! How cool can a person get? Speaking of Wenders....

Pina! I saw Pina! The new 3D dance documentary masterpiece by Wim Wenders! I tend to not like dance. Like really not like dance. But between Wenders' staging of performances (mostly in public spaces), the harsh physicality and meaning (a lot of feminism, questioning of modern man and warring/harmonizing with the elements) in Pina Basuch's choreography and the rich, catchy score I found myself really moved by dance for the first time ever. As a documentary this piece was crafted so masterfully too; voice over testimonials from the dancers in Pina's company to their nearly still pictures, some footage of the inspiring beauty in action, engulfing stagings of her work, all in 3D- there is a heartfelt joy you can feel from Wenders as he edits this portrait of a friend he obviously cared for so very deeply and whose work he so obviously respected, seamlessly integrating it into his own vision of her life. The whole time I was watching this though I just kept thinking "Wim Wenders needs to direct an opera!" Get on it Wenders! Please? O, wait! Upon researching...he IS in 2013! Wagner's The Ring of all things! This is going to be wonderful! Almost as rock & roll/dance/sexy wonderful as a light up bath tub! ooOOoo!

Bela Tarr, please make more films?

Not only did I finally get to see some films I also got to see some Polish sites! First off Bela Tarr's latest, and supposedly last, film The Turin Horse was breathtaking. A slow, difficult film that tests an audiences ability to be consumed by the boredom of menial tasks (even more than Jeanne Dielman people!) Turin really forced the huge crowd to remain rapt in anticipation for it's entirety. The film is framed within the context of the quasi historical event in which Friedrich Nietzsche (the philosopher best known for coining the phrase "God is dead.") saw a man whipping a horse which led to his severe mental deterioration and, eventually, to his death. But this is just a lose analogy for the core of the film: Man and God(s) are all debased and the suffering they inflict on everything is inevitable, harsh and will lead to some sort of end. Even the suffering inherent in the stark, mundane, everyday tasks that the film portrays through a father and daughter (the owners of the abused horse Nietzsche witnessed) doing things like cooking potatoes, feeding the horse, retrieving water from the well, become a comment on the horror of human life, of the slow, degrading existence that we are all forced to endure while other forces, such as nature (a constant wind pounds down upon the barren countryside) or God  (who might create those winds) push down upon us too. Shot in lush black and white with a swelling, engulfing string song pulsating underneath, this film is an intense wonder that I recommend but warn of the intentional toughness. Fittingly, a church I went to on the banks of the Odra river here in Wroclaw, just moments before seeing this film, exuded the same sort of tension that I felt during this screening.

A place of worship beseiged by religious persecution and war (during WWII bombs actually dropped on the roof of this church but failed to detonate leaving the ornate architecture intact), the University Church has historically weathered the bottom of humanity, attacked by the worst of human action, human action that strong beliefs had a hand in. I don't want to think things are as bleak as Tarr portrays them but watching this film while seated in a city Hitler had a firm grasp on, watching historical tragedy repeat itself and wars stretch on, I do start to wonder what could, on a mass scale, ever change the destructive nature of mankind and the beliefs he relies upon for guidance? But then, I see this beautiful film and the ornate artistry of the churches here in Wroclaw and I think "THAT is what can save us, that is what has been saving us all this time." So, Bela Tarr, please make another film?

You Win All The Points

Trying to get tickets to films at Era New Horizons is like playing a video game! You start with points. Points are deducted each time you see a film. If you miss a film you are signed up for you lose points. If you don't cancel a ticket you lose points. Tickets are able to be reserved early in the morning the day before the screening. But people seem to sit. And wait. And you watch as the little hourglass spins your fate and the number of tickets available quickly flickers up and down. If you are lucky there is no error. If you are unlucky there might be an error. Or worse. The ticket is gone! It is nerve wracking. And I am not winning. I got 2 tickets. But Brent is losing worse. He got one. And then another he didn't really want just to feel better.

I like how democratic this system is, barley giving preference to anyone at all, but it seems really strange to be in a film festival and not be able to see many films? It is also an odd feeling to be able to see how many tickets to your film are remaining! Yesterday we sold out, then didn't, then did, then didn't, then finally did sell out the 450 seat theater in the local multiplex theater Helios! The projection was huge and beautiful, when I snuck in at the end I sat next to woman weeping into her scarf and the Q&A was filled with poignant, interesting questions including my favorite: Who is Leonard for you? Such a beautiful way to think of this film and filmmaking in general. Also, I just got an inside tip on showing up at screenings right before they are to begin and pouncing on abandoned tickets! YAY! Movies for me! Points deducted for ticket abandoners! Wait...and for me since I lose points seeing films? Hm. MOVIES! YAY!

Poland!

Just a quick post about being in Poland....WE'RE IN POLAND! Gravity is screening here as part of the Era New Horizons Flim Festival, an intense fest that has such great programming (including a special concert of Nick Cave as Grinderman which I cannot wait for since he, coincidentally, is the only thing I have been listening to lately)! Gravity screens at 16:15 on the 28th and at 13:15 on the 29th...the fest is so well attended that every screening I try to make it to has been sold out, including our showing today!?! Tomorrow I am going to plan an early bird ticket reservation attack and hopefully make it to see some of the great work being shown! Now, to the castles!

Ticket to Ride

Awhile back we met the lovely ladies of the Branchage Film Festival over in the states. The words bodacious and charming come to mind when thinking of them and their stylish (and interestingly programmed!) film festival hidden off of the coast of England and having them help bring Gravity to London made for the perfect gem of a live screening in this city!

First off, the screening was hosted by Black Rat Projects, a gallery in the Shoreditch section of the city, whose greatness I wasn't fully prepared for. I knew they worked with some of the best contemporary artists out there but it wasn't until I entered the cave-like former train depot (which still had a rumbling line above it!) and was confronted with some pretty intense work did I understand the true scope of this gallery. For goodness sake, I set my foley kit up in front of a Swoon! A beautiful, lovely, inspiring SWOON! Crazy! As many people as could fit into the space made for a small crowd huddled under the curved brick, listening to our final Gravity performance on this little mini-tour. I really thought the show went well and that the four piece band (made of Drew, Brent, John & Me) played great together for this one and, judging by the crying eyes, I think the audience felt the same! This was such a great end to our band travels and the warm hearts of London really made me want to stay...maybe we can come back for some tea sometime soon? Yes?

London Calling

London! We're in London! And so far the idea that people from Mozart to Bob Dylan have walked on these ancient city streets is really messing with Brent's mind, as is the jet lag I think! While the rest of the band napped Brent & I managed to walk around and see everything from a giant gothic looking clock (Big Ben!) to a royal palace (Buckingham palace!) to the local grocery mart (with little to no ingredients- the Brits: living up to their food quality stigma!) all while shooting around on the infamous Undergroud Tube system. It completely feels like a dream to me especially since, as Brent pointed out, the artistic history of this place in so ingrained in us without even realizing it; you can actually go to the library next to our hotel and see original, handwritten Beethoven scores, go downriver to see the site of the Globe Theater where Shakespeare thrived, go to museums packed with art history and then, (in my own little twisted brain) think of every scene in An American Werewolf in London! Such an unexpected, instantly recognizable, wide ranging influence on American culture...werewolves and all!

Swedish Dreams

I never properly talked about our Scandinavian hosts! Pether & Sebastian (and the lovely Johanna) were the people behind us coming all the way over here to do these shows. Part of Music Doc, a kind of extension of our old friends Rooftop Films, their organization sets out to screen films from all over the world in unique settings trying to bridge the gap of film and music to create a true experience in film going, a thing that seems to be more and more important with the increase in people holed up in their rooms watching films, alone on a phone!

Film screenings in alternative spaces are extra fitting for Scandinavia and Europe as well where the government supported arts funding seeks to foster the cultural growth of it's people and culture in general is accessible and welcome- if not craved (I mean we did play in a government sanctioned abandoned warehouse and to a rooftop of the most varied audience ever...!). Sebastian was insanely nice (pointing out interesting Swedish sights as he drove us between cities) as was his girlfriend the beautiful, funny, bright and awesome Johanna. I don't know how to begin to thank Pether for all of his hospitality, organization, friendliness and smiling that really made the trip an indelible experience that ranks among the best moments of my life! Thanks to everyone at Music Doc! Who knows, maybe they will show up on a roof near you!

People's Love

After a few dozen round-abouts and U-turns we finally made it to our show in Copenhagen, Denmark! We weren't in Denmark for that long but I did get a strange crash course in a kind of subculture there as our show took place in a factory lot that was filled with graffiti smattered warehouses that the government actually hands over to people for use. The factories surrounding Mayhem, the venue we played in, included artist studios, a Thai kick boxing gym and even an outreach center specifically for Arab youth, all spaces given to organizations by the city to create something positive in a place slightly on the decline. Our show was part of a small fest called the 4Hour Festival that included sets by a ton of local Danish electronic musical artists including the amazing Under the Sherry Moon featuring a (really weird) synchronized giant puppet dance of aging punk figures, a (really, really great) guitarist and a (seriously bad ass) woman on a mini guitar & keyboards who sang so passionately and with such unexpected beauty over the electronic booming that I was transfixed even without understanding the language!

The space was endlessly interesting too...graffiti was on everything, these crazy blow up chairs made from industrial plastic (and made into furniture with a shop vac!) provided seating for the show, a grill (that I saw someone fix by using the discarded metal from a medical arm brace found in the trash!) provided sausages (with traditional Danish remoulade!) and the general feel of the run down area trying to make something wonderful was hopeful in this dystopian industrial landscape hidden behind quaint rows of houses and bicycles (so many bicycles Denmark!). We seemed to have technical difficulty after technical difficulty so the show was a bit strange as microphones sputtered, guitar strings snapped and the projection seeped off of the screen but, that didn't stop the audience from applauding mid-film after a pretty intense rendition of the flood scene (with even me testing the percussion waters!). If anything this was a strange, sprawling show that I don't think we could ever repeat in the same way. As we drove away from our last Scandinavian performance the car was packed with all of our gear and a few huge industrial lights picked up in the back alleys of the abandoned factory space. We waved goodbye to Denmark and to this back alley place that we probably will never see (let alone be able to find) again! Goodbye kind Denmark!

Brent Green's Travel Photos!

Hammenhog was so inspiring that it even led to Brent taking photos! Which he NEVER EVER does!


Waking up at 5am and returning at 6am Brent took my new camera and, to my surprise, took the photos posted here...

I know being an animator and all means he takes tons and tons  of photos so I understand his hesitation but- look at these! Geez Brent!


Take more photos! For another (more beautiful) interpretation, here are the wonders of Hammenhog!

Build Your Own World

Where to begin with Hammenhog? The fact that we played in an old, abandoned American car dealership dating from the 1920s that has been reappropriated by artists into a music venue/artspace/home & store? That our hosts Camilla and Dag were both amazing, wonderful people who stretched out picnic tables for a beautiful dinner even with visiting family in attendance, let us stay in their adorable guest apartment filled with Scandinavian charm and had such a comforting way about them I think the whole band felt at home? That the velveteen vintage couches and brightly colored school chairs were packed with people in the audience in this very, very tiny town?  From the second we got out of the car in Hammenhog (stumbling onto a graveled car lot) to the second we left (filled with love and freshly baked cinnamon rolls made by a Swedish goddess in the housefront bakery across the street that sweetly played French music in the wee hours of the morning) we were all washed in a welcoming glow that I don't think any of us had every experienced before.

Being surrounded by people who are literally, as Brent says in Gravity, "building their own world," and bringing the whole world to their own little one in the middle of a place that is barely even one, made for a beautiful screening all round! Camilla, Dag, their lifestyle and that of their neighbors (ranging from ceramicist to farmer to school kid) who made up a bulk of the audience, were definitely an inspiration that reminded me of the millions of possibilities that can make a life, possibilities that I think all too often people (particularly Americans) forget. Sitting at breakfast with Camilla we talked about that, about how so many options of how to live are not taught to people at an early age, both of us discovering later in life that being an artist can be an expression/way of life too. Seeing her raise her children with the whole world in front of them ready to build their own was a vision of utopia, one that I find more and more as economies falter and alternatives are sought. Building your own world, despite its sense of self purpose, can extend to so much more and seeing the embodiment of this almost brings tears to my eyes as I think of all of the mini revolutions in every little barn, car showroom and factory space all over the world! Thank you so much Camilla & Dag for such a perfect Swedish retreat!

Museum Castle Zoo

Being that I insist on seeing many body of waters as possible while in different places....I dragged Brent to the seaside of Oresund, the body of water that separates Sweden from most of Scandinavia. On our way back from basking in the slightly salty mist surrounded by model blond haired children in raincoats we came across the Malmo Castle. I had assumed in was a history museum but it's size was so massive for such a small town that I decided to enter to see for myself. First off, the museum is housed inside of a fortress built in the 15th century, then rebuilt in the 16th century (making it the oldest building I have ever been in) and making just the architecture an overwhelming experience in itself. An entire exhibit that seemed to follow a ghost cat (?) around through the fortresses history, which touched on battles, prisoners & plagues to name a few was a highlight/alternative history telling that I really enjoyed. When we finally managed to escape the fortress (literally. the exits were few and far between) we entered into an expertly curated exhibit about the style of the 1920s.

The way this exhibit was mounted was probably the best I have ever seen! A simple scene creating beauty that immersed you into the era in a golden, gold leafed light, the simplicity and art that went into the actual production of this show made the care in curating visible, an art all its own, that I think rarely can be found in American museums. Then we managed to see a few Swedish fine art exhibits including GAN (a Swedish modernist painter) to Max Walter Svanberg (a collage artists and illustrator who was a member of the Imaginisterna sect of surrealists)....and just when we thought it was over...animals! This catle also housed a natural history museum with live animals, taxidermied animals (I saw a Dodo!), an exhibit on the history of human cell production, dinosaurs and, to top it off, a progressive exhibit about Eco Art. Despite the how overwhelmed I was, Malmo managed to make this museum a densely beautiful thing that I have a strong feeling is going to effect the way I think of museum spaces from now on- the craft in curating, the expanse of culture and, judging by the crowds, the obvious hunger to learn something new!

Jet setting or jet lagging?

The blog is jet lagged people, JET LAGGED! It is not an apology really...it is more like an "oh my goodness I have repeatedly crossed time lines (and even the international date line) in the past week"-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz-special points to anyone who can identify which country this photo is from! Perseverance. And caffeine!

Proof We Are Playing in Denmark!

Here! We are playing here!

Vis stort kort

Hello: Hej.

The (evil) jet lag has taken hold! Please excuse any & all errors! I have no clue what time zone any of the Gravity band is in (physically or mentally) at this point but I do know I am awake and that my eyeglasses are so old I am not sure if going for a walk in them at 4am is the greatest idea (types slowly, mistypes, types again). I had always heard that Sweden was a very community centric place- co-ops, communal gardens, community use bikes etc.- but I guess I didn't realize the extent and comfort that this open-ness manifests itself in in daily life. There is a beautiful sense of calm that hugs you here in Malmo as enormous birds (fågel) and bunnies (kanin) hop past, a garden (within an expansive organic garden) solely dedicated to promoting insect growth/pollination/children's argricultural education suddenly appears, libraries that outsize any American multiplex (let alone library) permeate the city, parks for both children and adults ease into every path, cobblestone open air markets selling the freshest of fruit dot the cityscape...it really is a spectacular place! It makes me also finally get a grasp on the craft/design culture too, an extension of a do it yourself wonderment in the world makes for simple yet elegent living and a real care into valued things, or should I say a value system of caring not only in objects but in experiences, well being and human existence as well. I realize now that the contemplative beauty of every frame of every Bergman film really does reflect the aura of this culture, a culture I am so proud (and lucky) to be a part of for a few days!

The general feeling of contentment that I feel here makes me pretty excited for tonight's (July 22nd) show which is taking place in the tiny town of Hammenhog about an hour or two north in the Swedish countryside.  We will be playing at Garage Projektet which, from the descriptions I have been hearing, is a artist co-op/exhibition space/music venue in a town whose population is only a little more than double our first night's audience here in Malmo (we even made the Hammenhog community events calendar!)! More soon on Gravity's Scandinavian adventure!

Do Not Worry About the Shipwreck

You know you are in (yet another!) magical place when you are on a train from the airport, crossing a bridge over a huge body of water (which turns out to be Oresund, the strait between Denmark and Sweden) and a nice stranger turns to you, as you peer out the window with visible shock and jet lag, "Do not worry about the ship wreck. It has been there for months. No one can move it. Where are you from?" So far this interaction seems to hold true for all of my Swedish interactions which is great especially considering I think I spent about 30 hours on a plane before getting here?

Speaking of planes...Drew & John missed their flight...well, they didn't really miss it, the airline just gave their seats away! Yup! Apparently their years of tardiness were punished for in a punishment of epic proportions- such bad, bad timing airline! This means that Brent and I showed up to a show with no band! And barely any music making gear! Despite these HUGE obstacles we performed two of Brent's short animations and screened the theatrical version of Gravity- we had no choice! Whisked from airport to stage the crowd of 400 (!) slowly gathered atop a rooftop (pictured) in Malmo Sweden (pictured below) as the sun slowly descended below the horizon. The audience was amazing, I have never received so many hugs from strangers as I did from the audience of this screening! What a perfect welcome!

I do have to admit that hearing my own voice boom out over the landscape of Malmo from a roof after having been in a plane for over a full day is insanely disorienting! Sometimes I still cannot believe any of this is really happening though so...there is that too! The rest of the band is expected tomorrow so hopefully we can have a proper show on Friday in Hammenhog, more info on that show after the bands arrival!

Trolls!

The fact that our flight is delayed out of Australia is okay with me being that I am finding it really hard to leave this strange and beautiful continent! This country really is a pretty magical place that I can't even begin to describe...beaches, bush, desert, marsupials, high fashion, oceans, experimental film- it is all pretty much a wonderland that I had to see with my own eyes to even begin to believe!  And I am still not quite convinced it is real...a few more pics before we say goodbye!

It is pretty fitting that one of the hits of the Perth Revelation Film Fest, The Troll Hunter, (a fiction film about filmmakers stumbling upon an area of Denmark teeming with gigantic trolls which is being hailed as the Godzilla of Scandinavia) takes place in our next destination on our Gravity mini-world tour! We are right now on our way to Denmark and Sweden to perform at least three shows in the summer light of the Northern Circle. Here are some links to some info about these shows which are taking place in Malmo,  Hammenhog and Copenhagen over the next few days.

Koalas, The Frat Boys of the Trees

Are we seeing different stars here in Australia? I think we are!? That is insane! Being upside down really is an almost imperceptible yet constant sensation I feel down here. Not to mention the driving on the opposite side of the road...while dodging kangaroos to boot!


The show last night was spectacular! The audience was warm and loving, the band (despite the airlines best effort to destroy any & all musical instruments) was absolutely incredible and the whole Australian experience made our Gravity show near perfect! Thanks to everyone who came and to the Revelation Fest for having us, I can't imagine a better way to end our Southern Hemisphere stay!


Also...did I mention Brent & I saw koalas? O yes we did! Adorable, fluffy, slow-to-barely-moving koalas! Even though I have photographic evidence (a new camera! I got a new camera to replace the stolen one, yay! Bear with while I learn to use it...!) I still kind of don't believe I saw them...and neither does Brent who kept saying "They look like a calendar!"

Huge Like an Ocean

I haven't been able to see too many films while down here at the Revelation Festival...a combination of intense jet lag and distance to cinema is making it hard for me to imagine sitting in a darkened movie theater for hours without dozing off but, as previously mentioned, the program for the fest is pretty stellar! Jack Sargeant, the man behind the program here, is somewhat of a film programming legend, being the force behind tons of underground film festivals including The London Underground Film Festival and the Melbourne Underground Film Festival  Sydney Underground Film Festival to name a few.

Holli, Mike, Drew and John all made it to an event here called Revel8 that consisted of filmmakers shooting footage, the footage being scored unbeknownst to them and then screening the result sight unseen in front of a live audience- an effect that all of them said was amazing, a spooky exquisite corpse feel of strangeness! Other films, including the much applauded Of Dolls and Murder (which I am dieing to see and is about the evolution of criminal investigation focusing on the mini dioramas used to re-create crime scenes in the 40s, also documented in this beautiful book by Corinne May Botz), the found footage renegades/collagers Soda_Jerk and Secrets of the Tribe (a film about the questionable boom in anthropological studies in the Amazon in the 60s and 70s that may have done more harm than good, which sounds similar in scope to that of the recently released Project Nim) also seem like things I shouldn't have missed and am hoping to cram into our last day here somehow or at least keep on the radar for future renting/stalking! Now we prepare for our show, slowly testing out the ability of our travel worn gear that has not taken to kindly to equatorial flight....! More soon!

Magical Realism or Welcome to Australia

Today the Gravity gang swam in the Indian Ocean, saw kangaroos (they ARE real!) on a beach, explored unexplainable rock formations in a lush desert, ate shark and had a pretty beautiful, awe inspiring day in general! Even the last remaining instrument showed up after a long long journey (a journey that even took a huge chunk out of the stealthy hard plastic guitar case) completing a pretty perfect Western Australian day! Tomorrow (July 17th) we perform Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then at 7pm in the Astor Theater hoping to bring some of our own magic to this enchanted place!

I Love Perth

I can't seem to get a handle on the Revelation Perth International Film Festival (see jetlag)  but what I can understand about it is that the programming is awesome, filmmakers from all over the world are in attendance and the general idea of it (a festival consisting of films that are in some sense revolutionary, life changing or just plain eye opening) is pretty fantastic! The hub of the fest, The Astor (pictured), is a huge, beautiful sort of retro film theater in the Mount Lawley section of Perth (which seems a bit like Williamsburg Brooklyn with well-dressed fashion lovers of all ages drinking, eating fancy burgers and discussing design into the wee hours of the night). The opening night party really defines the sense of the fest consisting of tons of flowing drinks & snacks, a screening of Fire in Babylon (a film about a cricket team that managed to be political symbol in the 70s) and a music set of songs by Holiday Sidewinder and Jasper Fenton inspired by the films of David Lynch- eclectic, moving, bringing people together is what this fest is all about and what it seems Australia is all about too! Tonight I hope to catch a film or two and tomorrow I hope to see a kangaroo: eclectic, moving and bringing people together! Hurrah!

It is Oz

We made it to Australia! Yay! After an epic plane flight and an unexpected jaunt in first class, which (as we sipped complimentary champagne and stretched our legs out over the Pacific Ocean) we were all so shocked by we feared they would kick us out at any moment, we landed in Perth! Not all of our luggage made it safely though...including a bunch of much needed instruments but hopefully they will turn up before our show on Sunday and everything will be fine!

 At first I thought my extreme jet lag was the cause of everything being so beautiful here, the light pouring off of the trees, vivid animals scampering, the general friendliness, but, as I awake little by little I realize that no, it is not my sleep deprived mind, Australia is actually just that beautiful! While walking around downtown Perth I somehow managed to see a wild jellyfish, a fish, a duck and a parrot all in the same moment in the middle of a towering city of buildings!? Beautiful and crazy! Brent & I are headed out to buy some (also much needed) underwear that has managed to be lost in transit- more on the wonder of Australia soon!

A Nervousfilms Summer Reading List

Being that Drew FORGOT we are getting on a plane tomorrow (and on into the next day), Australia bound, I thought maybe I should publicly remind him via the internet! DREW, you hear me? We are leaving TOMORROW! We will be performing Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then live in Perth on the far, west coast of the Australian continent on Sunday July 17th! Make sure you pack!

In the name of this twenty-six hour or so flight (gulp) I thought I should recommend some summer reading since I am trying to decide what periodicals to pack! The Nervousfilms gang is actually quite the literary bunch! In fact, I often scare art & film people when they ask me what I like most about Brent's work and I say "The writing. Duh!" Speaking of which, I just saw that Mike Everleth over at Bad Lit (a very supportive organization for our filmic pursuits) has started an incredible venture: Bad Lit Press! Bad Lit Press is setting out to e-publish underground film screen plays, what a brilliant idea! I find that reading screenplays seriously helps you dissect how films are made and allow you to focus on the actual content of what the filmmaker is getting at (the thing that, you know, should be the most important part of any art, the content)- a stripped down idea of a directors vision. Keep up the awesome Mike!

Now, where were we...here is what the Gravity gang is bringing to read on our equatorial crossing:
I am bringing some New Yorkers (which include a new George Saunders story that I have been holding out on reading since he is the best living writer and I am disappointed in all other writing after reading his work. I mean it.) and The Master and Margarita (a favorite of Brent's that I always eschewed due to a human sized, bipedal cat but, after beginning, realize is an amazing parable of Communism written with a fluctuating voice/point of view unlike anything I have ever read!).

Holli McGinley is also bringing some New Yorkers in addition to A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (an author who seems to be  everywhere lately!), an unchosen Garrison Keillor (wait, he doesn't only live in the radio?), The Adventures of Kavelier and Clay by Michael Chabon and a Faulkner audio book, The Reivers. Mike McGinley just sent me a whopping  list too- Celine's Guignol's Band, Nabokov's Bend Sinister, William Saroyan's Madness In The Family- this is one intense summer reading list McGinleys!

John keeps flip flopping on what he is bringing but it seems to center around Foucault and post structuralist French theory. Yawn. Unless sleeping is what he is aiming for with these readings...? Theory gets in the way of living John, don't you know that? Sheesh! I was gonna say Drew is reading the opposite of what John is, Maps of the Mind ("parapschology occult ESP and all that crud," says Drew) and Lynch's meditative Catching The Big Fish but, in fact, these are just other kinds of structuring of the unknown, trying to find patterns where there might be some, trying to make sense of things to feel better about or smarter than them...both of you will grow out of this phase, at least I know I did, hehe!

Brent? I have no idea. He is off speaking at a media arts summer camp today so his packing is going to be a fast and furious late night ordeal! But, the last time I checked he was engrossed in Look Homeward, Angel by Tomas Wolfe, which came highly recommended by the lovely Brendan Canty, and The Demons by Doestovtsky...but, Brent is also writing a ton right now for at least three different projects that I know of which means he will be the writer among us readers on this long, long journey into night (and then day again)! Geez, we are going to have one suitcase of just books alone! What does your summer reading list look like??