Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys Music Video Part 3

Sorry. Cheap cliffhanger.
The cola jolt of sound I hear--
the angry "wonk" of displacement
is nothing more than the sweep broom
toppling from the stable area wall below.
The dopey top-heavy, unbalanced thing
sends my heart racing.
But w/ Stu still on the line,
I ultimately figure out the fusebox;
it takes a combination of switches thrown
to ignite all of two clamp lights.
But that is enough.
I have light.

I'm on the phone w/ Edrie in the car
when e. stephen's van roars down the embankment
behind me.
A steel black leviathan in the night.
Out pops e. stephen & his gal,
reminding me of Paul & Martina circa 1992.
Even the back of the van has the charnal smell
of dead spliffs & patchouli.
For all this waiting & heightened expectation
the sum total art department contribution is 2 trunks
& an electric leaf blower;
granted, inside one of the trunks are a couple of
magnificent metal cage sculptures
that I'll frame quite prominently--
a blind-eyed chimpanzee & a gorgon head
spouting fingertips & baby elbows for hair.
e. stephen is in the Pan 9 camp
he is a Walter & Edrie recommend.
Jolly enough on the phone & in person,
a bit of a Chatty Kathy, truth by told.
The first image that comes up on his website
is a nude self-portrait
a melange of melted oils & Christ pose...
I'm thankful I didn't do my on-line research @ work!

That is it. Once the sculptures are in place,
the trunks secured...
I lock up the barn for the night.
Crew call is less than 8 hours away
and I still have a long ride home.

*******************************************

I have that heightened blurry POV
waking Saturday pre-4AM.
I remember such precise disorientation
going waaay back to "What I Did..." principal photo--
maybe a week or so into shooting @ the old JP apartment.
I woke up & was convinced
that a group of older men were leaning over my mattress
murmuring to one another.
They were impossibly elongated,
long reeds in the dawn.
I was alarmed until I realized these figures
were nothing more than c-stands & the light kit
crammed into my living space
(we were shooting in the apartment that first long week).

So I wake up feeling like what?
Like I'm in some void cut-off from checklists & blogs...
a very real feeling that I'm the only person in the world
and time's shut off outside the window frame.
But my conscious mind knows better
and I shower & dress as efficently as possible.
Everything I'll need for shooting is lined up by my bed--
laptop, duffel bag, digital camera, misc. props,
winter jacket, etc. etc.
At the Dunkin' down the street I have my 1st coffee in months,
a delightful Spiced Pumpkin Latte.
Although I haven't been drinking coffee this past year,
shoot days are the allotted exceptions.
"Tea please," on a 14+ hour day requiring full Ted persona
ain't gonna cut it.
"Have a good one!" decrees the woman behind the service counter.
Oh--absolutely.

I call both John & Sasha en route back to Hubbardston.
One point of potential directional snafu occured to me the prior night,
an exit number I need to clarify w/ those driving out.
I get John's voicemail.
I get Sasha directly
and even though it's still 45 mins from call time
she's ahead of me!
She did miss the exit & is out by Rte 68 in Gardner.
I attempt to talk her back in,
get her planted in the right direction.
I feel like Lloyd Brides in "Airplane"--
ground control to imminent disaster.
The irony during all this
is I get lost.
Immediately after hanging up,
I spot my dayjob-- CCO posters in Gardner!
Somehow I overshot the exit off Rte 2A.
I turn around,
quite convinced I'll now pass Sasha coming back
from the opposite direction.

Cel phone service cuts in & out
as I make the turn onto the road.
I've made up for lost time but it's 7:20AM as I arrive @ the barn,
and I am not the 1st one there.
That distinction goes to Diane & Larry,
a couple of friends of the band who'll be helping out.
The sum total for crew is just (9)...
we're small but mighty.
Diane & Larry drove all the way down from Maine,
so I'm chagrined by my pole position @ #2.
My job-- my responsibility to be 1st.

Anyway, we open up the barn
& I am exhalted.
Despite threats of rain, sleet, & snow
we are greeted by beams of pure sun & dustmote,
streaking through the high back windows.
This is exactly what I wanted...
throughout the shoot, the band will be framed before those windows...
alluring backlight & leaf fall.
Or should I say-- production value?
That is one of my all time low-budget rules...
location location location!
Even if there's a rental fee or insurance waiver--
go w/ the geographic eye candy.
It'll elevate your project above the mumblecore
apartments & car rides.
We're shooting in a genuine New England barn, for Pete's sake!
Looks are cool.

The first thing I notice as I set up craft services
is that the 2nd Dunkin' I hit that morning
has short-changed us $20 worth of breakfast sandwiches.
Granted, we have muffins, fruit, toaster pastries, granola,
& coffee both Box O' Joe & work-in-progress
twin coffeemaker tricklings BUT--
it's often the little things that drive me nuts.
This is decidedly one of them.
Something that should not have happened but did.
I made two trips in and out of that 2nd Dunkin'...
I didn't dash out
forget my order.
Nope. All the bad's on Dunkin'.
Despite the late hour post-shoot
and my near exhaustation
I will hit several Dunkin' off the highway ride home
until I find the correct incorrect branch
(unfortunately not provided on receipt slip manager
cut out of register tape)...
I will get manager's name & number
& phone her 1st thing Sunday AM for a full cash refund.

I plug in space heaters.
I postion leaf bags.
Crew begins arriving...Sasha only a couple minutes late.
John a little more (my directional voicemail checked after the fact).
Then band.
We munch & slurp breakfast.
Unload.
I confer w/ Stu re. 1st set-up.
Shoot Day #1 begins.

TO BE CONTINUED