Insomnia

The Boy can't sleep. Daddy and his camera aren't helping.

Length: 2:01

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Living Room Recordings #009: Song for Jackson

Another experiment in old-time music under low-light conditions.

Between tunes, Maggie launched into this simple ode to her cat, Jackson. By the time Barb joined in, the song was pretty much ended.

Later that year (2001) Maggie left town to ride the rails (not, as I understand it, just metaphorically). Don't know where Jackson wound up.

Length: 0:47

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Lake Calhoun

From The Boy's first encounter with a lake. He's "tinned out" quite a bit since his first encounter with a wading pool. That was ten months ago.

The 32nd Street beach at Lake Calhoun, just a few blocks walk from the main drag of Uptown in Minneapolis, features a swimmable beach and a most excellent tot park. The July heat wave had just broken a few days earlier, so there were no crowds in sight.

Length: 1:22

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Living Room Recordings #008: Goodbye, My Honey, I'm Gone / Ducks on the Millpond

Two tunes and a bit of discussion about talking while fiddling. From my evening with Barbara Hansen (fiddle, ADAE) and Maggie Brunjes (banjo, aDADE).

Barbara acquired "Goodbye, My Honey" from Bill Conley, via Rounder's Traditional Fiddle Music of the Ozarks, Volume III: Down in the Border Countries. On the recording the guitarist accompanying Conley plays a distinct B minor chord under the F# note at the middle of the B part of the tune, but at the time this video was shot both Barb and Maggie had reached the sixth stage of old-time music obsession, in which minor chords are to be disdained.

(Sadly, many fine old-time musicians never recover from this stage.)

"Ducks on the Millpond" I know primarily from recordings of Tommy Jarrell. Barbara's phrasing is different enough that she probably learned it from a secondary source, possibly Rayna Gellert's first CD. I doubt she remembers at this point.

Length: 3:47

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Science Vs. Nature #19

[Creative liberties taken.]

Another episode in the neverending debate.

Length: :40

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Living Room Recordings #007: Lonesome Blues

The first from an evening I spent with Barbara Hansen (fiddle, GDAE) and Maggie Brunjes (banjo, gCGCD). I'm pretty sure their source on this was the Leake County Revelers.

Back in spring of 2001 they were both living San Francisco and playing together an awful lot. Haven't seen Maggie in a while but I still covet her banjo, a Mike Ramsey model with an extra-wide (13") pot.

Length: 3:01

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2 Baseballs

From the FAQ of Ourmedia, a heroic band of true believers whose efforts and server space have made much of the new Matchbook Films possible (and yet, I surmise, may not be parents themselves):

Q: Can I publish the miles of video I've shot of my darling children?
A: If you must. Keep in mind, though, that Ourmedia spotlights creative culture, and so we prefer finished, edited works that others would care to view.

Does this video qualify as "creative" or "edited" or as something "others" would care to view? Do any of my clips about The Boy?

I understand the trepidation. Like tender, romantic love, the love of a parent for a child is nearly impossible to turn into good art. I can count on one finger instances I have witnessed.

I stayed up late last night to scan through a 60 min DV tape of my darling child. There was plenty there that captured his personality, that I will treasure in years to come when he is distant and hostile and I want to remember what it was like for him to enjoy my company. But I wouldn't post any of it here.

How is this clip any different? Why do I watch it over and over again? Is it merely because The Boy is my own?

In what context might this be art?

Length: 0:33

Click to view

SEE ALSO: the Special Edition edit of 2 Baseballs