Last Thursday (in Fragments) - "It was, in some ways, a total disaster"

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Certain that she had made a good painting at last, she pedaled home from the studio in the moonlight, fervent and giddy with glee.

Tape Extracts:

Don Chambers: The first month, so I had never shown a film at Flicker before, at the place we did the thing. And the first month I got there and they're like oh well this cable doesn't work and this one doesn't work and we don't have a laptop. So I ended up, like, at the last minute, an hour before the show started, I drove around and someone said that I could borrow their laptop and I drove over to their house and they weren't home anymore.

So, then I ended up going to my house and getting my computer, bringing it in and setting it on a chair and just showing the film on the computer. And I didn't even get there until after the show had already started. So it just kind of set this tone.

People seem to enjoy watching someone else in a slight state of panic. I found myself, I did, I found myself at least for the first three or four months...then there was sound. You know one month the PA just didn't work; halfway through the show, stops working.

And you're trying to do this show that I was really thinking of, I wanted to present, like, to create an atmosphere. So those interruptions for me were terrible, but from an outside point of view audience people were like: 

Oh that was great. I loved it that that happened.

Oh really, well I was panicking. 

That happened, that happened for the first six months. And it was nobody. I mean it was everybody's fault and it was nobody's fault. It was just the way the shows seemed to go. But, that also created you know weird, like, I had my schedule of the show printed out for every show, but I would get so flustered by something not working and then I'd forget something else that was actually key to something that happened later in the show because they did have within a two hour window they would have some things would happen early on that needed to be fulfilled later. And I would just forget about one part or the other. So, it was in some ways a total disaster that I learned a lot from.

You know, we're doing these things in one month. And it would take me three or four days to recover from the last one. And then I'd find myself, like, all right. I didn't have any kind of pre-scheduled I want to do this or that. I had, I had a few notes on one page here; building office stuff and it was kind of little what do you want to do next every month. But I didn't really have a... I didn't have any kind of timeline for what I wanted to do for the year.

I made a theme's page and that was based off of either a theme, a story for my life, or a trick that I wanted to do. 

Probably something I was reading at the time.

Well, the first one was hidden in plain sight and that was, the theme came about after I went out to Scull Shoals, John and I went out there, which is an abandoned town outside of Athens. It was abandoned at the turn of the 19th century. It was a town on a little river and it was flooded twice. And eventually the residents just gave the place up. So there's still some of the, there was a cotton mill there, there was a hospital there, there was like 3000 people lived in the town that eventually was abandoned. So, we went there to film that cause it's right outside Athens, not a lot of people know about it, and made a short, little film about it and that was the impetus for the first one, which was hidden. 

Don Chambers (from show recording): Well, we've been doing this for ten months now. This is our tenth and final month of the Last Thursday.  I think we're gonna need some duct tape. John can you grab some duct tape in the back, I think I left it on the shelf there. Always good to have duct tape for these shows. 

I want to thank you for coming out. So these last ten months, among other things, we've had poetry, films, painting, and scripts; readings, body doubles, Shakespeare, and a little bit of murder.  And finally tonight, with your help, we're going to try and recreate an early twentieth century, good ol' fashioned seance. We're going to try and conjure the dead. Anybody who is not comfortable with that, well you should have read the flyer.

Last Thursday (in Fragments) - "It started with a drawing"

The curtain rises on "[a] late evening in the future." Lit by the white light above a desk. Black-and-white imagery continues throughout. On the desk are a tape-recorder and a number of tins containing reels of recorded tape. A man consults a ledger. The tape he is looking to review is the fifth tape in Box 3. He reads aloud from the ledger but it is obvious that words alone are not jogging his memory.

Tape Exctracts:

Heather McIntosh: Kind of moved to Athens because of the music there. I love R.E.M. and Pylon and the B-52s. Playing in bands I was really fortunate to come into a crew of people that were like minded and making interesting things. You know, sort of experimenting in their own ways. Sort of, generation after,  the generation after those R.E.M., Pylon sort of bands. 

Don Chambers: It started with a drawing. Yeah, it started with A drawing. I really love the Beckett play Krapp's Last Tape

I had always wanted to do this soloish show, built around that play idea.

I just had, I have a drawing of a table, sitting on an empty stage, with one bare light bulb above it and a chair and some recording equipment on the table. And then maybe, you know, you bring in a guitar or something, but that was kind of how I imagined. 

I want to be free to go in a lot of different spaces artistically and emotionally - you know, from a ballad to a dirge to a rocker within one space. That was the impetus of vaudeville, but THIS was kind of taking the vaudeville idea of doing something, a variety show, minus the slapstick humor. I kind of thought it is somewhere between vaudeville theater and Dada theater of the absurd, you know. And also a little bit of just like a living room show that's really intimate like the Victorian parlor shows where so-and-so would read a poem and then so-and-so would play us a song and then here's my flower arrangement that I did last week and now we're gonna eat some food. I like that eclecticism and that's more of what it turned into. I think. Bringing in other people and bringing in other friends to play and do...I mean, there was all kinds of different things that went on over the course of the year. There was some comedy. There was, you know, a murder mystery theme night. It kind of bounced all over, all over the place.

Garrett Tiedemann: So each month, I mean I know like one of the things you and John shared with me you were the posters, so was each month sort of driven narratively by an idea like the idea that within this performance and within this telling is a narrative to break out if you want it to?

Don: Not a straight, it's very thematic, but not a narrative. But I was, it would be... 

Garrett: You are presenting something or presenting a series of ideas that are cohesive within the moment. 

Don: Yes. Yeah. 

Everything, the magic the...I did some films as well and all of that for each month had to be. It all had. The ship had to be pointing in the same direction narratively.

It definitely shifted around and I don't know that I can step away, step back from it far enough to see if there was an overall tone to the thing that it created itself. There was also a hell of a lot of crazy mistakes that became...First, liked the first three months were just hell of everything that could go wrong did go wrong. 

Last Thursday (in Fragments) - Series Preview - Quote Me

In 2015 Don Chambers hosted "a music and other things entertainment" each month called The Last Thursday. Each month had its own theme and governed not only the types of content, but way of presentation for the evening. These evenings lived and died in the moment with very little social media promotion or archiving. 

In the second series of The White Whale we offer snippets of these evenings; providing first glimpses beyond the nights of what went down and why their existence foregoing online permanence is important.

Visit Don Chambers for music and more.

Tape Extracts:

I had a dream last night, I had a dream last night that I was talking with Tom Waits. And we were talking about something and I was referencing a book. And. He got out. He got out this really fucked up like brush, artist's brush. And he had some paint with him and he was looking at the book and in order to make his points he was just painting on to the book that we were talking about. So I've been doing watercolors while we've been talking in my notebook. 

I think I started off reading Simulacra.

Disregard it.

If you want, the other thing I'd throw out as a ridiculous idea is if you wanted to do some e-mail exchanges, if you felt like you needed more language, we could do e-mail exchanges and then you or friend could just quote me. Like, maybe a girl, but I don't know, if you feel like it. I don't know, it's morning and I'm not sure what we talked about. 

It's your burden now. You can have it. 

Go far. Go weird.

Offbeat: Life (2016 KCRW RadioRace)

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This piece was produced by The White Whale as part of The 24-Hour Radio Race from KCRW's Independent Producer Project. Features the voice of Don Chambers, a musician from Athens, GA. For more information on his work visit http://www.donchambersmusic.com/

Tape Extracts:

Everybody was trying to imitate everybody else because there was a set rule of this is how we're going to do this.

(narration from performance film) I went to the office that day only to see a sign tacked to the door. I was disappointed. I was confused, bewildered. So turned to the only man in town who I thought could help.

If you can get your ego out of the way and let it take on its own life then I think copy and imitation, I'm not afraid of those. You're looking for the ghost in the machine.

It started off with a film of Disneyworld. Like these were my personal films of my childhood in Disneyworld. At some point I had a friend of mine get up and give a lecture on why the Beatles ruined Rock and Roll. And then Pete sits back down and I was like "now ladies and gentlemen, Pete" and another guy came up dressed exactly like him, who does a good imitation of him, did the speech in an exaggerated form of what they'd just seen. This guy's good though, this guy, Curtis, my friend Curtis. 

The one year I was working at the bar and I stepped outside the bar and looked up the street and there was Vic Chesnutt on Halloween night, rolling down the street in his wheelchair with this acoustic guitar in his lap.

(narration from performance film) I was recently hired to copy the Encyclopedia Britannica. 

And it was Curtis doing Vic who he could do, he could do Vic Chesnutt better than Vic Chesnutt. Later that week they played a show. Curtis came out, introduced as Vic, Curtis came out and did a Vic song and then like halfway through the song Vic comes back with ropes on him as if he'd been tied up in the back. And Vic comes out and they end up doing the song together, but I swear Curtis' version of Vic was, what I remember was Curtis' version. 

(narration from performance film) Everyday was the same, and it suited me well.

I definitely am a strong believer in stealing. I'm a strong believer in trying to copy something as exactly as you can and when you go back and compare it to the original thing, and the part that didn't quite get that original thing, that part of it is you. I think borrowing and stealing, pull from wherever you can pull from. I think copying and imitation is a little tricky because copying is more of what I am talking about. 

I don't know if you've listened to the book on tape of Keith Richards' story, 'Life'. That's a really interesting book on tape. It starts off with a professional actor, British guy, reading Keith Richards' story. Then, about eight chapters in, Keith Richards reads a chapter of his own story. And Keith Richards doesn't sound nearly as Keith Richards-ish as the guy who was just doing it. I kinda wanna know who that is.

 Everybody is borrowing from somebody else constantly. You can't help it. It's part of being alive. 

 

Offbeat: Bellhop (#ShortDocs 2016 Submission)

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"We were lied to." This short audio work was produced for the 2016 #ShortDocs competition held by the Third Coast International Audio Festival. This piece was inspired by the "film noir" mini-movie produced by Manual Cinema. In addition to original music by Garrett D. Tiedemann there are music tracks by Manual Cinema within the mix as required by the competition for this year. To learn more about this year's competition and view the film inspirations from Manual Cinema visit Third Coast: http://thirdcoastfestival.org/competitions/shortdocs/2016

Tape Extracts:

I awoke from a dream. Trees lined the city. Night turned on. And we were still.

Kids playing.

(whisper) Why are they so loud?

There is no anxiety. No trace of despair. No pain. No regret. Or any sadness as one falls from great mountain heights. 

Instead the person who is falling often hears beautiful music while surrounded by superbly blue heaven that is filled with rosette clouds. And then suddenly, and painlessly, sensations are extinguished immediately from the body at the exact moment that the body makes contact with the ground.

I awoke from a dream. 

On these tapes was a man. A wall of a man. Held up.

(newsreel) Clearly this is going to have psychological importance.

In the story she asked the most fundamental questions. I work myself to keep from receding into the distance. To find her, playing in the streets, oblivious to the goings on of a tired old man. 

Fingers bleeding. Looking for a burial. Sunlight long in the distance. 

(deep voice buried in newsreel and other audio) Alright, we have to take him away.

Offbeat with Heather McIntosh

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Heather McIntosh talks about her upbringing and what choices brought her to work on the films Z for Zachariah and Compliance, cornerstones of her evolution and increasing prominence in the musical communities she lives. This piece was produced by Garrett D. Tiedemann. Music was by Heather McIntosh and Garrett D. Tiedemann. To learn more about Heather's work visit: http://www.heathermcintosh.com/

Offbeat with Brian Reitzell

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Brian Reitzell talks about his work on the show Hannibal and what went into the 3rd and (as of now) final season. Find his music for seasons 1-3 wherever you buy and listen to music. This piece was produced by Garrett D. Tiedemann. Music was by Garrett D. Tiedemann and This Line. To hear more from This Line visit American Residue Records.

Offbeat with Paul Fonfara

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Paul Fonfara is a local legend of the Minneapolis music scene, having developed the band Painted Saints and playing with bands like Dreamland Faces and Brass Messengers. This after long travels with Devotchka and Jim White on his way to the current musical travelogue. Shifting more to a film composer role he received a grant to develop a record and make the leap. The record became its own thing that speaks further to his composer sensibilities and why this is in many ways where he belongs. 

Offbeat: What is Alpha 1?

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What is Alpha-1? was originally produced in the Spring of 2015 for the Third Coast International Audio Festival ShortDocs Challenge. The story was trying to provide a small glimpse at the personal experience of the disease, which is still widely unknown to the masses. It is being released via The White Whale in prep for a collaborative episode with the podcast ARRVLS that will go further in depth with the experience of living with the genetics. Look for the ARRVLS episode next week.

Find the original post in the Third Coast library: http://www.thirdcoastfestival.org/library/1711-what-is-alpha-1

Aplha-1 is a genetic condition passed from parents to their children that may result in serious lung disease in adults and/or liver disease at any age.

For more information visit: http://www.alpha1.org/

Offbeat: Waiting for Charon

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"Waiting for Charon" was produced by Garrett D. Tiedemann for The Sarahs' Very Very Short, Short Stories Contest. The challenge was to create a 2-3 minute audio fiction piece inspired by one of 3 sentences. This piece was inspired by Mary Morris' sentence: “The Gem sisters slept in the order in which they were born.” It was mixed, edited, and scored by Garrett D. Tiedemann.

Tape Extracts:

On this as we pass.

On this as we pass.

On this as we pass.

As we say goodbye.

We bury them in the mud.

(child singing) In the mud, in the mud, in the mud, in the mud. (Indiscernible) scoop some mud in the mud.

A wise old owl lived in an oak.

The more he saw the less he spoke.

The less he spoke the more he heard.

Why can't we all be like that wise old bird.

(unknown woman) Hello? Yes. Hi, can you hear me ok.

(indiscernible voices and sound)

(unknown woman 2) I didn't say that right. Or did I?

Bury them in the mud.

(indiscernible voices and sound)

(unknown woman 2) Ok, ok, I'm gonna stop because I don't know what else to say right now.

(unknown woman) Hello?

(unknown man) Yes, this is John.

(unknown woman) Yes. Hi, can you hear me ok?

(unknown man) I know why you're calling.

(unknown woman) I can totally hear you.

(unknown man) You did? Oh, you did?

(unknown woman) I think I'm doing everything right. Got a good signal.

(unknown man) I guess that's it then. Thanks anyway.

(unknown woman 2) So, I would just sit and stare out at the trees.

The Yokai Trilogy - Goodbye Yokai

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This episode is the end of season 1. We say goodbye to Yōkai and go brave into the future. Covering the final films - Funayūrei 4 and 5 we see a full circle narrative arise from the combination of fifteen films. 

The Yokai Trilogy - Let's Talk About Bees

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This episode is Funayūrei 3. Longest of the series at almost ten minutes. The film had a few stages of completion as it worked to become an extensive excavation of the life of bees and coordinates the narrative carried from the second through the third.

The Yokai Trilogy - Last Nine Seconds/In America

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This episode covers Funayūrei 2. Continuing the painterly approaches to image combination, this film also devolves into some of the most abstraction of the entire series with an ending that reframes the whole. 

Offbeat: Harlem 68 (2015 KCRW RadioRace)

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Sounds of Harlem in 1968. The story of one woman's experience during a time of great musical evolution. This piece was produced by Garrett Tiedemann and The White Whale as part of The 24-Hour Radio Race from KCRW's Independent Producer Project.

Tape Extracts:

So, sounds. You wanted to know about sounds, the music. Well...

I don't remember hearing a lot of the guys rehearsing. I mean, occasionally I could hear someone practicing. 

What we had instead were the sounds of fire engines and police sirens because it was Harlem in 1968 and things were poppin'. 

Kids playing outside. That was a big deal. 

There were the sounds of neighbors in the building. People playing music or watching TV. It was my neighborhood. You know like, 'these are the people in your neighborhood' kind of, from Sesame Street.

Friends went trick-or-treating for me, that was really nice and they brought be a bag of candy. 

There were all these jazz musicians who lived in the co-op where I lived and they all worked weird hours. Some of them came and went in limousines. I wouldn't get to hear them playing very often. Occasionally I could sort of hear someone practicing.

There was an apartment building that was under construction across the street and they had to use a pile driver to sink piles to help hold the building up and that reminded me of the pile drivers they used when they were building the highway nearby when I was like, I don't know, 3, and it was kind of like the relentless march of human progress.

The only musician I hear practicing was the kid who lived below me who would every weekend try to play the Star-Spangled Banner out the window into the courtyard. Oh god, did he practice, he was so diligent. I have to admire his diligence. Every weekend he would practice.

I kind of had to rely more on my ears to figure out where I was and what was going on around me. I felt like I was hearing the sound of time rushing by. 

We'd hear them because my dad would have their records. The musicians who lived in the co-op were out working so we didn't get to...it wasn't like you could hear them, you know, out the windows or something. 

So, that was, I guess, a little odd. Because like, you know, we'd play records from somebody who lived around the hall form us or somebody who lived in the next building or somebody who lived around the corner. I don't know, I never really thought about it. It was just like 'this is what they did, this was their job'. 

Mostly I just remember just kind of running into them when I'd be with my parents or with my mom and have them telling me like, my parents, my mom, who this person was and it would sort of register, but it was just kind of like, you know just one more grownup in my life. It wasn't a big deal, it was just like 'there's the guy who worked at the airport and there's the guy who works at the Tonight Show. That's the way it was.

I think my strongest memory of musicians is when I was very small and while making the rounds through the neighborhood with my mother; you know, going to the market and going to the dry cleaners and all that stuff, we would pass by Louis Armstrong's house and if he was out in the front yard my mom would say hello to him and they would chat over the hedge. But, I could never see him because the hedge was taller than me. So, I could hear that distinctive voice, but really rarely saw the face. But, I knew who it was. And, you know, I don't know how much I cared, you know all I cared about was getting a pastry at the Italian bakery at the end of our errands. 

 

 

The Yokai Trilogy - Discovering Buried Ideas

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This episode looks exclusively at the last film for Aokigahara and how it took making the feature film KliKt to excavate buried ideas feeding an understanding that informed the development of The Yōkai Trilogy's films.

The Yokai Trilogy - Unbalanced and Improper

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This episode presents a break down of Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' music video and launches into how to not make a film, yet derive a way of making from it. Professionalism be damned. It also ends with the last track of Aokigahara and bends closer to talking about the second record's films.