a TigerRAWk Film

Saturday, May 11, 2019

Bloodline Fest 2018

Bloodline Fest was held at The Well in South Bend, Indiana on Friday evening November 9th and Saturday Noevember 10th, 2018. I believe there was a church service as well on Sunday but I ended up leaving after things were finished on Saturday night. This project is the experience of the festival as I filmed it.

I decided to slightly change the descriptor regarding the filming of these projects. Instead just the information that I filmed the event (or that Elphie and I filmed it when that is applicable), I decided  to go with "as filmed by"...the reason being is how i filmed it is a different experience than my experience as a whole and certainly different from how others experienced the event. I think that will be how it will be credited going forwarded. It seems more accurate and appropriate.

Bloodline Fest, in a way, was a replacement for Take Hold Fest that had been going on during this weekend each fall for quite a number of previous years. I had gone to Take Hold Fest twice. Bloodline Fest brought in a lot of the same community and family of the music scene to gather together again much like Audiofeed Festival has done for the community that once attended Cornerstone Festival during the 4th of July weekend each summer. I am glad that there are folks willing to pick up the torch when it is handed off or dropped by others who cannot continue any longer for whatever reason. I feel there is a resiliency in this community and these opportunities to gather together for a music festival speaks to that.

I created this project with about as much simplicity as I could. After the work that it took to edit through and build the Europe and Upper Midwest trip projects, I did not have a lot of desire to put so much effort into additional production or effects for this project. The goal is to document the artists that I saw during the weekend music festival and that goal is achieved here. I was not familiar with a lot of the bands. I decided to capture one full set each day...both happened to be by artists that I am friends with:  P.F.C. Pierce on Friday and The Uh-Ohs on Saturday. They are both relatively new projects so I did not have much if any footage documenting them to this point, yet.

There are a couple additional clips documenting the trip to and from South Bend, hanging out after the Friday shows and starting the next day, the dinner break, and the haircuts by Gaffer Project during the fest. To these clips I added "No Hopers, Jokers and Rogues" by P.F.C. Pierce (who also played the festival) as the soundtrack.
Friday November 9th, 2018

https://youtu.be/-fc_GIlPyr4
I took the day off from work in hopes to attend all of Bloodline Fest and see some friends who were playing early on Friday. Before I could go, I had to run a Christmas errand to the Sweden Shop in the north part of the city. When I did get going toward Indiana, I figured I might be running a bit late but I also decided to stop at Albanese to get some Gummy Goof-ups so I definitely was running late. I also had to deal with the time change going from Central to Eastern time. I ended up missing the first set which was a cover set.

I also missed most of Good Saint Nathanael, who I was trying to make sure that I got there early to not miss his set. In my hurried state as I entered The Well, I missed the sign the showed where the stage was that Nate Allen was playing on. I found the other stages but was at a loss as to where to find Nate so I asked Calvin Maloney and was directed back toward the entrance and down the stairs. I rushed in as Nate Allen was beginning his last song of the set so I hurriedly got my camera ready and began filming. It is a bit shaky, out of focus, and all over the place at times. I was not able to get the whole song.

P.F.C. Pierce (full set)
Setlist:
1. No Hopers, Jokers, and Rogues
2. The Vagabond Son
3. Faithful
4. Working
5. Blue Collar Pilgrim
6. You’re Gonna Make It

I captured the entire P.F.C. Pierce set and due to the 12 minute limit, there are a few cut points between songs that aren't quite covered up. It was my first time seeing P.F.C. Pierce but I have a lot of footage of Nate from his days with Fight Before Surrender (F.B.S.). The week before I had traveled out to Ohio to say farewell to that band so in a way, it was a fitting way to see part of a rebirth from the remains of the band. It was a good set to introduce the new music and as always, a good time seeing and hanging out with Nate.


https://youtu.be/SiTjhk1AZko


https://youtu.be/MzgrtBPwKjQ
I have seen a few Qajaq shows over the last couple of yeas since they are in Chicago and connected with a lot of the same people I am. I hadn't seen them real recently so it was cool to see them and I think I captured a song I hadn't filmed before.
I could not get a good shot of Chris Bernstorf during his set due to the lack of lighting and the crowd. The lighting was intentional and it's a good thing to have such a large crowd so this is what I got.


https://youtu.be/Ll44wfurIGI
Gaffer Project was not originally scheduled to play due to a tour that they were on. Things happened with the tour and it worked out that they could play. It also seems a few bands dropped off Bloodline Fest opening the door for Gaffer Project. I am glad that they could come and some folks got haircuts because of it!


https://youtu.be/7AJ6iyXFwl4
I captured the last song of Analecta's set which is a long one and due to the pesky 12 minute limit I still have yet to conquer, there are a few seconds missing toward the end of the song. I captured a song earlier in the set but I liked this one better, 12 minute limit gap and all.
After things were done for the evening, I had to figure out where I might be staying for the night. It had been said that folks would be permitted to stay on site at The Well so that was my plan. We were told we could stay in the room upstairs which was being used for band hospitality so I found a corner for myself. I hung with a few friends for a while first though. This included an impromptu celtic jam from Royce and Riordan Hanly that I captured a short bit of towards the end. It had begun to snow and I moved my car a little closer to the building and where there did not appear to be any signs indicating parking restrictions before I laid down for the night.

Saturday November 10th, 2018
After getting up, I took my things out to the car then came back into the coffee shop. I decided to order a mocha at The Well to help wake me up and enjoyed that until the music started again to kick off the second day of Bloodline Fest with Christian Welch.

https://youtu.be/JXp7hB2QFd0
I think this is the first time I captured this part of Christian Welch's set.


https://youtu.be/6gTGWIEiGAA
The Lionhearted had to have guest vocals due to a lost voice so Rosemont sang and this is what I captured.


https://youtu.be/IqCG9OSTMQA
I'm not sure if this is a full song or if I started a bit late in filming Common Folk here but this is what I got.


https://youtu.be/L6dXtqTFz3s
My apologies on the name spelling mistake, Jack M. Senff.


https://youtu.be/M7Pf2famiak
Khamsin


https://youtu.be/g_c3syw5muI
i.feel.less


https://youtu.be/Cluuw5rcVpk
I feel like I might have cut off the end of the song that Rusty Vining was playing by mistake.


https://youtu.be/MlqUUeFdnM4
SPACESHIPS


https://youtu.be/UWN41skTRyY
I had just seen Dead Birds a couple weeks before and the first song I captured was the very same song I had captured those couple weeks before so I captured a second song. This is what I posted.


https://youtu.be/t40h8-q1Oyw
I know I cut this song off by Orlee early...they mentioned it after they finished because of the folks clapping before it was over. My mistake.


https://youtu.be/H3LdMLiNss0
Dad Jokes


https://youtu.be/yxEY5FQTYmo
Lenore


https://youtu.be/2XQK_Fn-puY
At dinner break I decided I wanted to get some Taco Bell and (most importantly) Baja Blast.


https://youtu.be/NEyLrtf2RNc
I returned before the Bloodline Fest Dinner Break Open Mic began. Again, I took the opportunity to document the celtic jam by Royce and Riordan Hanly during the open mic.


https://youtu.be/wi_KaIcZREw
Irae


https://youtu.be/v1F5pmjMSWA
The Uh-Ohs (full set)
Setlist:
1. Intro
2. Keep On
3. Giving Tree
4. Rose Tyler Lullaby
5. Cup Of Tea
6. Wannabe
7. Burn Burn Burn
8. Bootstraps

I decided to get the full set of The Uh-Ohs because I am familiar with them as friends and thought it would be fun. The 12 minute limit came into play so there are a couple quick gaps between songs.


https://youtu.be/VhUhQ_0UmJc
Bristletongue


https://youtu.be/NqhL8KCUCIE
Servants


https://youtu.be/F4keTnnjq_E
I have seen Families a lot over the years as well due to them playing Chicago within the community I associate with. This might be the first time I captured this song but I'm not sure.


https://youtu.be/r2oQv91gDiU
Mess


https://youtu.be/FC4FGb_K53o
Bringing Down Broadway


https://youtu.be/SCEWQtbCXPQ
The Gaffer Project does a thing where they give haircuts at shows that they are attending. Bloodline Fest was no different and a few folks got some haircuts. One dude documented here had his dreads cut.


https://youtu.be/zkT4I50f6Ig
During Kevin Schlereth's set, there was a marriage proposal. I included that at the end of this clip.


https://youtu.be/lN2jyuws9HA
Idle Threat


https://youtu.be/nU_lR7a-qhk
I have worked with folks in Narrow / Arrow in other bands in the past when I was booking shows at Covenant. Jonathan Hape was on the first show I ever booked there and later in the year he brought the La De Les with him with whom Cody played. I like the sound of Narrow / Arrow and it was good to see them at the end of the fest.


https://youtu.be/fVtMklhpzLM
Patrick 'Danger' Quigley closed out Bloodline Fest with a few words and then after some goodbyes with friends, I headed back to Chicago. I was glad that I attended the festival. It was a good time and I hope it will be back next year and that I can come back as well.

Additional soundtrack is "No Hopers, Jokers, and Rogues" by P.F.C. Pierce.
Footage filmed using an iPhone 8 and Canon Rebel T6 by Joel A. Swanson
Editing done using Final Cut Pro on a Mac Mini by Joel A. Swanson.
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, May 6, 2019

LIVE Footage and Copyrights...


For the first time, thankfully, I have been given a "Copyright Takedown Notice" on YouTube. for my video of "London Dungeon" by The Misfits filmed LIVE at All State Arena on Saturday April 27th, 2019. The takedown was filed by Glenn Danzig. There were signs at every entrance stating that photography and video (including cell phone) was prohibited. I suppose that was enough warning that perhaps choosing not to upload and post the video would have been a better plan. I figured it wouldn't matter...I've been to other shows with the same kind of signs and other folks were getting video or photos and so was I...other footage was uploaded and shared online which I did as well. There was never any repercussions from doing this before (at least not yet). In this case, it turns out that I was wrong.

In these recent years I have been hearing of artists who don't want people taking photos during their shows or capturing video. One reason given is that they want you to experience the moment, not be consumed in your phone. I get that and I respect that.

For me, personally, I enjoy the moment but I also like to take a moment with me when I leave in the form of a photo and/or video clip. I try to be mindful of those around me when I do so...I try to not block the view of anyone else or have my phone or camera held over my head. I try to keep the screen brightness low to be the least distracting I can possibly be. I tend to choose to be toward the back so that there are not many people behind me, if any, to be distracted or have their view impeded by me. At most shows I only try to capture one song during the set so to limit any distraction I may cause. If I do decied to film more than one song or a whole set, I make sure I am in a place that I am not going to impede the experience of those around me. Again, I can only speak for myself but I try to be mindful of others during the live music experience that is happening.

I realize that there are others who are not mindful...trust me I definitely realize that and I am as annoyed by it as anyone. If they aren't impeding other peoples view, they are distracting from the show by being on their phone throughout the night (sometimes texting, not even capturing video) and not experiencing the moment. I definitely get that it is annoying and so I try to make sure I am not that person.

In other instances, it seems some artists just don't want footage out there on the internet (YouTube in this particular case) that they have not approved of or that they have not authorized. That is my guess is the case with Glenn Danzig with my video (and apparently others as there is "clear history" I am being told). With that in mind, I'm not sure that I will attend any other show that features Glenn Danzig or The Misfits.

In many cases I have had the opportunity to meet the people who are the artists that I capture in my live videos of their performances and a lot of them seem to appreciate that I do it. We are not too far removed from each other so we are able approach each other and therefore have a relationship that if they want to have a video removed, they can ask and some have done just that. I do not have such a connection to The Misfits or Glenn Danzig so I suppose for him (or his people) to personally approach me would have been very unlikely and perhaps not plausible. I don't anticipate that there would be strikes against my YouTube account from most other videos but if the copyright situation continues to escalate, then I would be forced to make some changes.

I acknowledge that these live performance videos are capturing someone else performing their art which they may have copyrights on. In that regard, most all of the videos I create would be open to possible strikes against my account if the artist were to choose to file a claim. If such action occurs, then YouTube would not be the place for me to continue to do that which I enjoy doing.

While what I am doing is capturing the live performance of other people performing their art, I feel that the video I create is a creation of my own as well...and in a way it becomes a collaboration. I acknowledge that most people viewing the video are not viewing to see how I well I filmed it or how went about capturing the video or how I edited it but simply watching to see the performance of the art, it is still something that I create. I create the video for the purpose of watching it again (and probably again and again and again even when I am a senile old man thinking about "back in my day...") and for the purpose of sharing it for others to see if they choose to watch them as well (the numbers tend to indicate that some are "hits" while others are not so interesting to others). I will still shoot live video even if the option of publicly sharing it is taken away.

When I first started doing this 13 years ago, I didn't have to worry about copyright claims. As time went on, the copyright claims have become something to navigate through. I have had some video projects blocked worldwide or in certain countries due to the music contained within the video. It is not usually the live performances but it is usually the music I have added in as a soundtrack of artists who have worldwide notoriety. In the past, I typically would chose to use music by people I knew or people who are lesser known in order to not find myself in that situation. While it is not the first time that there has been a copyright claim, even ones with the consequence that the video cannot be viewed in certain area, on live footage...it is the first one that earned me a strike and a takedown. Again, in consideration of this, if the situation escalates and more of my videos receive such strikes, changes will have to be made...perhaps no longer using YouTube or perhaps no longer publicly sharing the live footage or projects I create. 13 years is a long time...a lot of projects have been uploaded and posted in that time. My channel has been permitted to do bigger and better things in that time. I do not wish to start over nor have the time or resources to do so.

Another thing with regards to the live footage, as I stated earlier I have had some instances where folks have approached me to have videos taken down from public viewing for a variety of reasons. A couple cases in the last year were due to new music being released and the desire for the artist to have control over how it would be received upon release without any other form of the music being in the way. For me, that meant they were asking that I remove the live performances of that music for at least the time being.

I had an artist in the last week (as well as some others over the years) request to have videos removed from public viewing because of "re-branding" and/or trying to start with a clean slate (and others in the past have made the excuses of the band not being the same as they were then or having a change in sound/style...). I prefer to not remove these videos because they are a thing I have created (although it is of another person's performance of their art...refer a few paragraphs up if needed to see my thoughts on that).

I don't believe that the videos that show where an artist has come from will do any sort of damage to the new "brand" that the artist is apparently looking to achieve. I believe that there is value in showing ones roots even if there is a level of embarrassment. The exception to this, I suppose, is if there is some harmful views expressed....but I am pretty sure I would not share a video if I am aware that harmful views are being expressed in the performance. I don't believe a band who is changing in whatever way that they are changing will lose any fans if evidence of their previous work is found. If anything, the most dedicated fans would be the ones to find such evidence (and they will whether it is on my YouTube channel or by other means) and it would probably not only solidify their love...they would be the ones to share it with others, resurrecting it from a collection on a YouTube channel where it has sat over several years have only been viewed sparingly previously.

Ultimately, I suppose I am realizing in this that the artist has the right to request a takedown and that I should comply even if I don't particularly like it.

My intention in filming live performances has never been to embarrass the artist. It is a snapshot of a certain event at a certain time. For the most part these are public events that anyone else could have been capturing live footage at of the same artists. It just happens to be a hobby of mine and I hope that it is never something that would bother or embarrass someone else (To the one who requested a clip to be taken down due to their embarrassment, I find it strange that the clip was so embarrassing to you when you begged and pleaded with the venue I was working with at the time to book a night for you to share your music and performance...but so be it, I hope the best to you.).

So these are my thoughts on the copyright thing. These are my thoughts on why I capture live footage and how I view not only the performance as art in itself but my video being a collaborative creation of MY effort in filming and editing YOUR performance. These are my thoughts on the repercussions of doing what I do. If it becomes such that my account is shut down then the sharing publicly may come to an end with it.

https://youtu.be/UKFQLLWqIHk
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, May 2, 2019

A Shared Life: Elphie & Joel's Upper Midwest Road Trip (08.31.2018 - 09.05.2018)


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9ZwEF2QQpO6H_lfxQ5iptIdZdlZWIBo
Over an extended Labor Day weekend, Elphie and I decided to take an Upper Midwest Road Trip with the main goal of visiting North Dakota. This would knock off another state for Elphie leaving two left of the 50 that she has not yet visited (with plans to achieve that in 2019). I felt that since we would be just south of the border, why not cross back into Canada and add Manitoba to the provinces visited and Winnipeg to the cities visited...I also hoped to get some Poutine! This trip relied heavily on Atlas Obscura and Roadside America. We pretty much completely routed the entire trip based on interesting things we found, other than ensuring that we would get to North Dakota and Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Overall, I think the trip was great but I feel the video work still could stand improvement on my end using the Canon Rebel T6. I am still getting used to working with that camera and handling its weight compared to the iPhones or other previous cameras that I have used. I hope in future projects, I will see more improvement in this regard.

Animating the map for the intro and "teaser trailer" was done in a similar method as previous projects. I picked the map using google of the whole area we would be traveling. I decided to have pictures of the various stops fly by...the idea was to be like wind blowing the pictures around. I also added in flags representing the places we were traveling to and from. The rest of the maps were zoomed in closer to locations we would be hitting on each day so the image would hopefully be somewhat clearer.. I used a silhouette car image to drive along the dotted line that I had animated on the map going to each location. I also manipulated the view to zoom in and out further. All the maps and animations were done using Motion 4 on a Macbook. The soundtrack is a clip from "Traveler (Mora Brothers Club Vocal Mix)" by Kevin Max.
We left after work on Friday, August 31st. It started as a bit of a hectic day and we got going quite a bit later than we had hoped, delayed in part by a thunderstorm rolling in as I was loading what we needed out to the car. Eventually I was able to get everything out to the car and we left while the rain slowed and headed north to Wisconsin. I chose to avoid tolls to keep our costs down. Our first destination was Madison, Wisconsin to see a plaque to commemorate Elvis Presley stopping a street fight by getting out of his limo and taking a karate stance. He died 52 days after this. I opened the soundtrack of the project with "Hound Dog" by Elvis Presley due to this being the first site we would stop at during the trip. The rain had stopped but there were a significant amount of large mosquitoes who wanted to eat us so we did not stay too long.

From Madison we drove a short distance to the town of Mount Horeb to see the trolls of the Trollway. As we got into the town, we didn't notice much in the way of trolls. One here or there but then we got in the center of town and saw quite a few. The town was founded by Norwegian settlers and trolls are of Scandinavian folklore so it became something the town would embrace. The town's welcome center had both the American and Norwegian flag and had "Velkommen" written on it which is welcome in Norwegian. We walked around for a bit checking out the wooden sculptures before heading out. I used "Vegetable" by Dark Valentine for the soundtrack.

It was quite late at this point so we made our way to our last destination that we had scheduled for the night...the Wisconsin Dells. We planned to pull off there somewhere to sleep. We found a Wal*Mart and parked then rearranged our things so that we could go to sleep in the car.


https://youtu.be/fgLRGyZTD5c
if blocked, follow this link -
https://drive.google.com/open?id=16xnFJDAbjggLO7ZDP2xG-3P9FdICYyy-
We woke up Saturday, September 1st to some clearer weather and got ourselves going to Plainfield, WI to try to find the grave plot of Ed Gein - a murderer who is the inspiration for Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs, among other characters. It took us a while, searching around the cemetery but with help of others who also were looking, we did locate it. A small plane would fly by from time to time as well. "Vegetable" by Dark Valentine continued to be the soundtrack for this part.

We headed to Athens, WI next to see a Geographical marker for the spot where 45 degrees latitude and 90 longitude meet. We passed by a junkyard to a farm field where we parked the car and took the short walk into the field to visit the marker. Afterwards, we drove over to Wausau to write our name in the book and get the commemorative coin. I used "On The Road Again" by Willie Nelson as a soundtrack for this section due to the nature of the trip of being on the road. I also included "Queen Of The Northern Soul" by The Trigger Code. Since we were in northern areas, it seemed that it would fit.

We then drove to Tomahawk, WI for a barbecue picnic with Carrie Lang, her husband and friends. I was able to get in a shower at this point before another night in the car. The food was wonderful and it was a good time hanging out before continuing our drive north through Wisconsin. We experienced the sunset as we drove toward Lake Nebagamon. We passed through a town called Phillips that had a concrete park with concrete figures which I noticed from the road but we didn't realize it was an Atlas Obscura site until after the trip was over. I used "Small Towns" by Triple Stitch as part of the soundtrack due to traveling through a lot of small towns and Triple Stitch being based in Minnesota.

We arrived in Lake Nebagamon after dark and unfortunately it appeared that the shed which houses the World's Heaviest Ball of Twine was closed and we were not comfortable trying to explore further in the dark on the creator of the twineball's private property.

We headed for Duluth, MN next. We crossed into Minnesota then found somewhere to pull off so that I could get some coordinates on the things we wanted to check out. As it turned out, I had pulled off next to the SS William A. Irvin which was on our list of things from Atlas Obscura so we took a look at that. Elphie needed some time to relax so I drove somewhere that was away from everything which involved crossing an interesting bridge. While she took her time, I looked into how to get to Uncle Harvey's Mausoleum. I explained that it looked possible but required parking that might be paid then walking a bit to where viewing could hopefully be possible. Elphie decided she would take some more time to relax and I walked out to find the Mausoleum. While it was dark, I did get to see it and tried to capture some footage of it and a sign with some information about it. We headed over to the Glensheen Historic Estate next which was being used for a wedding at the time. We snuck around the grounds of this place that is thought to be haunted. I also took the opportunity to put my hand into Lake Superior leaving Huron as the only great lake I have not yet touched.

We left Duluth, MN for Cloquet, MN where we planned to sleep in another parking lot. Elphie thought we could possibly use the lot of the Frank Lloyd Wright gas station which we checked out in the dark but I felt more comfortable using the nearby Wal*Mart again as it was open. "I had added "Girl From The North Country" by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash as a soundtrack here again using it for its reference to the north and Bob Dylan being from Minnesota.


https://youtu.be/1fbUpV-T-o0
if blocked, follow this link -
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mlrMKT56WhM391N0axWhnwf8MslkNR0O
We woke on Sunday, September 2nd, once again in a Wal*Mart parking lot, still in Cloquet, MN, and it had rained overnight. We got ourselves together then drove back to the Frank Lloyd Wright gas station to see it in the daylight. "Girl From The North Country" by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash continued as the soundtrack to begin this section.

We drove to Bermidji, MN through a few small towns and crossed over parts of the Mississippi River. Somewhere along the way, we saw a large wodden lawn chair. We arrived in Bermidji where there were two sites to check out from Atlas Obscura - the Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues and a fireplace with stones from all 50 states and other areas. We spent a bit of time here looking at the various Paul Bunyan "artifacts" and eating some lunch.

We headed toward Itasca State Park next to see the headwaters of the Mississippi River. I crossed the water as we walked to the headwaters while Elphie took a bridge. We got into the water at the headwaters which is where the river begins leaving Lake Itasca. There are rocks that I guess officially mark the boundary of where the lake ends and the river begins. I once again crossed over the river at this point as well. I also shot some footage of a thee dimensional model of the entire length of the Mississippi River and a few other things surrounding the area.

In this part of the project, I used "Big River" by Johnny Cash and "Black Water" by The Doobie Brothers due to both being about or mentioning the Mississippi River.

We would have liked to have spent a little more time there but had set a deadline for arriving in Ada, MN, our next destination. I actually ended up getting us there a little faster than anticipated. We crossed through White Earth Reservation along the way. In Ada, we spent time with Cynthia and Tina, some Audiofeed friends and had another barbecue picnic. Just down the road, one of Cynthia's friends had his basement set up as a small club so we went there when it got later and the sun had gone down and he spun some goth music. I captured a bit of that with some Depeche Mode playing from the system.

We drove to Fargo, ND afterwards where we would sleep at Tina's house for the night. I got gas on our way into town. I added in "Summer" by Il Neige to the later part of this section of the project because Vanessa lived in Minnesota and is Canadian.


https://youtu.be/C-a-gJekl-Y
We wpoke up on Labor Day, Monday, September 3rd, in Fargo, North Dakota but not in the car in a Wal*Mart parking lot but in a bed in our friend Tina's apartment instead. It was a nice change! We had some breakfast then went to the Fargo/Moorhead visitors center to see the Woodchipper from the movie, Fargo. There was one outside in the middle of a Walk of Fame so we checked out the Walk of Fame as well. Instead we saw the Woodchipper from the movie with a foot inside it along with other artifacts from the movie. It is interesting how the movie is called Fargo yet it is set entirely in Minnesota. Elphie purchased a hat and I ended up getting a free patch before we departed toward Canada. "Summer" by Il Neige continued as the soundtrack then I added "Blowin' In The Wind" by Bob Dylan next, again because he is a native to Minnesota and due to the windy conditions.

It was a long drive on a long stretch of straight road to the border. Our car seemed to get louder than ever during this stretch while we were permitted to go 80mph. The border crossing was fairly easy this time and we spent a little time at the visitors center getting pictures and video of signs and flags. It was very windy. I added the song "When The Summer's Gone" by Ampersand (Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken) here because this trip in a way signaled the end of the summer season for us.

We continued our drive to Winnipeg and to the Travelodge where I booked a suite so we could enjoy the hot tub. It also had a pool. We took a few minutes to relax then went to find some dinner. Elphie decided she wanted Subway which was nearby and I figured I would try to get some poutine.

After getting Subway, we drove east to find the Longitudinal Centre of Canada near Lorette. We passed the new park that was made to commemorate the spot while looking for the sign so we crossed over the area twice before stopping at the park. As we left, the sun began to set so we got some good footage of it as well as some pictures.

We drove around a loop of Winnipeg in hopes of finding the "cement cemetery" to the west of the city near Rosser. We could not see it with the night setting in and with later resarch, it appeared we may have been a mile or so away from the location and even drove by where we might have been able to catch a glimpse had we been aware. We returned to downtown Winnipeg and I tried to get poutine only to find that Smoke's Poutinerie was closed. I dropped Elphie off at the hotel then tried another Smoke's location but it was also closed...apparently due to Labor Day. I was a bit bummed and ended up eating cans of ravioli then partaking in the hot tub. "Rockin' The Poutine" by KBDProductionsTV was used as a soundtrack to end this part of the project for obvious reasons.


https://youtu.be/SH_AM770jwQ
if blocked, follow this link -
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hqBeEi_DWq17qtZsxduo4XaTnohSAEhH
We woke up from our nice hotel suite at the Travelodge in Winnipeg on Tuesday, September 4th, and began our long drive back to Chicago...but not before I made another attempt to get poutine! This time I had success and I ordered the largest option available to go from Smoke's Poutinerie. It would be really nice to have a Smoke's in Chicago. Poutine is not the easiest thing to eat while driving but I did the best I could as we drove toward the border. We passed the Bell MTS Place where the Winnipeg Jets play as we left the city. We passed another stadium along the way and we noticed a little church in the grassy median between the north and southbound lanes of the highway when we were driving into Canada so we made sure to get video of that as we left. I continued using "Rockin' The Poutine" by KBDProductionsTV as the soundtrack for this part of the project.

Crossing back into the United States of America proved to be a more difficult experience than crossing into Canada or really any other border crossing that we have experienced to this point in our travels. Apparently, one of the border patrol agents thought capturing the signage and border building on video or taking pictures (by the passenger, not driver...just FYI) was suspicious so we were questioned then told to pull our car into what appeared to be like a little garage, leave all electronic devices in the car, and empty our pockets. We were asked about any fresh fruit we might be carrying on board and told it was illegal to cross the border with fresh fruits...even ones we had bought in the United States. Next, we were told we need to go in a little room while they searched our car and I hoped that they would leave my poutine alone. After they got done searching the car, they asked Elphie to show the clip she was filming as we pulled up to the border. They were satisfied that they did not appear in the video and they let us go (As it turned out, they did indeed appear in the video as I found out during the editing, ha!). I used the song "Dakota" by Bradley Hathaway in this part of the project simply because of the title.

We made the long drive toward Fargo and Moorhead where we planned to meet with Tina again so we could get some things we had left behind in case of any search issues and the border. It turns out that was good thinking on Elphie's part, ha! We met Tina at a Dairy Queen in Moorhead where the Largest Dilly Bar stands. We got some ice cream and hung out for a little while then, as we were trying to leave to make it to our other intended destinations, Tina convinced us to take a few more minutes in Moorhead to go to the Hjemkomst Center and see the Viking ship and church. They were pretty cool to see. As we left we checked the forecast because it appeared the weather might be taking a bad turn and we were hearing reports of a severe storm coming into the area. I used "Purple Rain" by Prince as the soundtrack with the return into Minnesota since Prince is a native of the state. I asked Elphie if she had any thoughts on a Prince song to use and she suggested this. I had thought of using this myself as well with the rainy conditions during this part of the trip and being in Minnesota.

We arrived in Alexandria after driving through some rain but it was dry in Alexandria. We saw Big Ole, the viking statue the accompanied a rune stone to the World's Fair. The rune stone is in the nearby Runestone Museum that was closed at the time we arrived.

We made our way to Belgrade next and I think it stayed fairly clear during that short trip. In Belgrade is the World's Largest Crow so we checked that out and the accompanying park around it. We arrived as the sun was setting giving us some nice colors to see as we drove.

We went to Darwin next to see the World's Largest Ball of Twine Rolled by One Man. Unlike the other twine ball we tried to see, this one was housed in a light up public building. We checked it out and the things sitting in near proximity that we could see in the dark before heading toward Minneapolis.

As we approached Minneapolis, Elphie got in touch with another one of her friends so we made a slight detour to see her. It seemed no one we were connected to in the Twin Cities area was available but it turned out that we had the wrong phone number for one couple Elphie was trying to reach. We rested a bit while Elphie caught up with her friend then we went to downtown Minneapolis to see the Mary Tyler Moore statue and crossed into Saint Paul to see the statue of Herb Brooks near the XCel Energy Center where the Minnesota Wild play. We also stopped by a bar that had a baby changing table with "place child sacrifice here" written on it but it seemed that the phrase had been removed.

We drove a bit longer to Rochester, MN to find a Wal*Mart parking lot to sleep in for the night and settled in for a few hours before another long day on the road back to Chicago. I started "Traveler (Mora Brothers Club Vocal Mix)" by Kevin Max to end this part of the project.


https://youtu.be/twoozv4UZWY
Wednesday, September 5th, we woke up and prepared to leave the Wal*Mart parking lot in Rochester, MN. Elphie went inside and ended up finding some Halloween stuff to buy saying she felt she should buy something since we slept in a few Wal*Mart parking lots on the trip.

This was a day of pretty much driving back to Chicago. We really only had one stop figured out for the day in rural Wisconsin. We ended up going passed the World's Largest Six Pack in La Crosse, WI, after we crossed the Mississippi River one last time. I failed to capture it on video because I didn't realize it was an Atlas Obscura site or had any real significance until later. It was silos of the city brewery made to look like beer cans. As we drove we went through a town and several other areas that had recently been flooded. We saw some major damage to roads and buildings but we thankfully could continue to pass through without too much difficulty. In the early evening, we eventually made our way to  the Gravity Hill in Shullsburg, WI and experienced the illusion of appearing to roll up hill. We entered Illinois near the town of Apple River and had to get gas. Our GPS then put us on an impassable road. I navigated us toward the highway to get us home.

We stopped for dinner at a Taco Bell near Freeport, IL. We drove through Rockford, Elgin, then into Chicago and home! At home we were greeted by Stein who seemed to be quite happy that we were back. I continued to use Traveler (Mora Brothers Club Vocal Mix)" by Kevin Max for the additional soundtrack on this part and on through the credits.

The trip went well overall. It was a lot of road time and the car has been getting loader and running harder but we made it through and saw a lot of interesting things. We were happy to see some friends a long the way as well. This was a good trip!


The Complete Project Soundtrack: “Hound Dog” by Elvis Presley, “Vegetable” by Dark Valentine, “On The Road Again” by Willie Nelson, “Queen Of The Northern Soul” by The Trigger Code, “Small Towns” by Triple Stitch, “Girl From The North Country” by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, “Big River” by Johnny Cash, “Black Water” by The Doobie Brothers, “Summer” by Il Neige, “Blowin In The Wind” by Bob Dylan, “When The Summer’s Gone” by Ampersand (Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken), “Rockin’ The Poutine” by KBDProductionsTV, Dakota” by Bradley Hathaway, “Purple Rain” by Prince, “Traveler (Mora Brothers Club Vocal Mix)” by Kevin Max

Footage filmed using a Canon Rebel T6 and iPhone 6 and 8 by Elphie and Joel A. Swanson. Editing done using Final Cut Pro on a Mac Mini by Joel A. Swanson. Titles and animations created using Motion 4 on a Macbook by Joel A. Swanson
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)