a TigerRAWk Film

Friday, October 22, 2021

Equipment Upgrade: Canon Rebel T6s with Audio Technica Microphone

https://youtu.be/UrChdMfRo-U
During our southern trip in the fall of 2021, we got caught in a downpour while walking around in New Orleans. We happened to be about as far as we could be from our hotel and in cemeteries. I ended up wet through and through. Elphie was the smart one and used a poncho.

I had my Canon Rebel T6 out as the rain hit and continued to shoot with it until it wouldn't work anymore. This was a very poor choice on my end. I put it away but not until after the damage had likely been done. Later, once at a restaurant, I pulled it out and tried to turn it on. I'm not sure if this was even more stupid or not but it is what I did. The camera made a lot of shutter noise...clicking a bunch but did not turn on. I put it away again and after getting back to the hotel, I tried to turn it on once again. This time, if I am recalling correctly, it would make one click and appeared to have "error" coming up in the view finder but it would not turn on. I took off the lens and took out both the card and the battery and left the door open with hopes it could dry out. I feel I was probably a bit fortunate in that I was able to move the footage and photos off the card using the computer card reader. In the morning, it turned on with the battery in but could not read the card. I took battery and card back out and packed up as we had driving to do that day.

Once at our destination that evening, I opened it again and hoped to let it air dry some more. The next morning I tried it again, similar result only now the screen simply went dark when I had a card in it. Otherwise, it turned on as though it had no other issues.

I had thoughts of seeing if it were possible to just connect a hard drive to the camera and using it that way. I also had thoughts that this might be a good time to look into upgrading to a camera that might have more functions and work better for video shooting.

I began searching out the next level of camera to see if I could find a body used or new since I already had lenses that ought to fit. I first was looking into the Canon Rebel T6i but then started thinking if it's not ridiculously more expensive, perhaps I should consider the Canon Rebel T6s. Both have many similarities but it did seem that the Canon Rebel T6s was technically better. Whether I have the capability to get all that it could offer out of it? I can't say...probably not but I figure why not at least consider it if I can find a decent deal?

Sure enough, I did find a better deal for a Canon Rebel T6s on eBay...less than the Canon Rebel T6i I had been looking at and nearly purchased.

I made the purchase and it came quickly...it turned out that it was shipped from Indianapolis so it didn't have far to come. As I looked it over, I realized it had a microphone input so I decided to use the coupon the company Roberts Camera sent with the camera to purchase a Audio-Technica AT8024 microphone which also shipped and arrived quickly. It should give me a much improved audio for my videos. It should lessen the camera noise and it also has compressor and other features that should work out great in the live concert setting.

I found that the camera takes a different battery than the Canon Rebel T6. This is a bummer in that I had recently purchased some batteries to use at Audiofeed which unfortunately did not happen. Hopefully I'll be able to sell them if I can't use my Canon Rebel T6 anymore.

At the original time of writing this, I had only decided to use it to shoot the recent full moon. I found that I could shot still shots while in video mode which is a feature I like. The lens in auto focus mode seemed to be very active and I hope that I can learn to lessen that...I figure it uses a good amount of battery if its being active. I shot the moon but was not getting access to change the exposure compensation. The next night I figured that out and shot again getting the shot as I wanted without the brightness taking away the detail.

So far, I've done very little with the camera. I did update the firmware. I tried to connect it to my mac using the cord I had from my Canon Rebel T6 but it did not recognize the camera. I also tried to set it up to connect wirelessly but that too did not seem to work. I figure I can research and get this working eventually. I know I can use the a card reader or computer with a card slot to at least access the footage or photos.

https://youtu.be/ooC4XNeUXA4
I bought some batteries on eBay that were listed a "genuine" Canon LP-E17 batteries with a charger included. This is the type that the Canon Rebel T6s needed (the Canon Rebel T6 uses LP-E10). They shipped from China but still arrived in a fairly timely manner. Other than writing in Chinese characters on the back rather than English, everything appeared to be fine with the battery. Size and the contact points all seemed to look the same as the actual Canon battery I had. I tested them in the camera and they worked so I didn't think much of it. I had them on hand for when I might need them while out shooting all day or at a music festival. While on vacation in Hawaii about four months later, I used the batteries. I went to charge them but nothing happened. I tried the charger that came with the batteries and still nothing. I tried the other battery I received with the camera with that charger but it didn't work with that battery either. I tried these "genuine" batteries in the charger that came with the camera and still they did not charge. I reached out to the seller on eBay as the return window closed hoping that I could reason with him. Long story short I seemed to have exhausted the avenues through eBay to try to get a refund so I took the dispute to PayPal and it was settled in my favor.

I purchased three Canon LP-E17 batteries from B and H Photography as well as a charger. I originally checked the Canon website hoping for better luck on getting actual Canon batteries but they were out of stock. When they arrived (quite quickly I might add) I tested them all in the camera as well as in the chargers. I even tested the one that wasn't working to see if maybe it might work but still nothing. Same with those batteries. I suppose I will just use the rest of the life of them then discard them.

I also decided at this point to order the Canon BG-E18 Battery Grip as well. After doing some price comparisons, I ordered through Amazon from a company called Paging Zone. Again, Canon was out of stock on the item. It arrived a couple days after the batteries did. It allows me to use two batteries at the same time for (hopefully) longer shooting times. When it arrived I also tested to make sure it worked with the camera. I attached it and everything seemed to work! The extended shooting time is awesome! I was able to get through entire days at Audiofeed 2022 without needing to switch out the batteries. This included capturing at least one entire set each day!

Since the original writing of this blog, I have shot using this camera at several concerts and I am very happy with the quality of the audio from the Audio-Technica AT8024 microphone. I just have to remember to turn it on when I am using it and turn it off when I'm done so I don't drain the battery it uses. Also if I'm not using it, I need to remember to unplug it from the input. I learned the downside to shooting still photos while recording video is that the video recording pauses while the still shot is captured. The audio of the shutter motion is recorded as well. I won't be using that feature too often.

I shot the sunrise on a frigid morning. I'm not sure the camera handled that extreme cold all that well as it shut off on me a couple times and the battery level seemed awful low for the amount of time I was shooting. I also had forgotten to change some of the exposure settings and so it was pretty washed out and over exposed at first.

I used the camera frequently in Hawai'i, experimenting with different things throughout the trip. I also learned about an app for my iPhone 8 called Canon Camera Connect that works using WiFi to allow access and to download footage and photos to my phone to share. I haven't experimented much with it yet but it seems there might be a way to remote shoot and perhaps otherwise control the camera from my phone or another device. I have not looked into downloading the app onto my computer yet...I just move the files off the card directly to the computer or by using a card reader at this point.

My overall feeling is that I think this camera ought to be one that can help me improve my video work as I continue learn how it works. I haven't tested it yet to see or even researched it yet but I hope perhaps that 12 minute limit is not built into this camera. If it is, so be it...I will live with it as I did before.

I have since learned that the limit for continuous recording is 30 minutes. At that point one will have to start the recording again. This is much better than that 12 minute limit!

I made the little video clip at the top of this post which shows a couple clips shot with the Canon Rebel T6s of the moon. I also included the final clip I got using the Canon Rebel T6 prior to its demise and another shot I did using my iPhone 8 while still out in the rain in New Orleans. I also shot the commentary using my iPhone 8 and used it to show the new camera.

At this point I still have the Canon Rebel T6 in my possession and may try to see if there can still be use from it when I have time to mess around with it.

It was unfortunate circumstances that lead to this upgrade. It was money I didn't intend to spend at this time. But I feel some level of optimism toward what I can learn to do with this camera and having a microphone ought to improve the sound on live concert footage as well!

Filmed using an iPhone 8, Canon Rebel T6, and Canon Rebel T6s. Edited using Final Cut Pro on a Mac Mini. Filmed & edited by Joel A. Swanson

Thursday, October 7, 2021

The TigerRAWk Furnace Fest XXI (2021) Experience

The resurrection of Furnace Fest was supposed to happen last year, in 2020. COVID-19 changed that. It worked out better for me because I was able to go. If this pandemic hadn't happened, we would have traveled to Russia in the spring of 2020 and I don't see how we could have worked it out to go to Furnace Fest. When it got rescheduled, and travel out of the USA continued to be restricted, I decided to get a ticket. Elphie planned to stay in the hotel room. We ended up planning a southern road trip around the festival and it worked out to visit with quite a few friends as well and visiting five more states that I had not yet visited. There is another blog, Southern Trip 2: Electric Boogaloo, which will document the rest of the trip while this blog covers Furnace Fest.

This promo is one that I made somewhat quickly and probably could have done a whole lot better. I captured some old Furnace Fest footage from YouTube of Norma Jean and Andrew WK...both clips that really made me want to go to experience Furnace Fest so I felt compelled to include them in the promo. I manipulated the footage a bit using both the Bad TV and Bad Film effects along with sepia tone to give it an old look. I doubled up on the Bad Film effect to make it even more degraded. I added clips from the present day I had captured from Norma Jean, Zao, Beloved, and Killswitch Engage. I used the logo from Furnace Fest XXI as well as the black and white and colored illustrated maps. I used Bad TV effect as transitions between clips as well. I also included a couple clips from my arrival at the fest, the food court and merch area under the overpass and the fountain along with those music clips. Most of the editing I did using Final Cut Pro on a Mac Mini but the image files I used Motion 4 on my MacBook to make them zoom in. The soundtrack ended up just being the audio from the live tracks.

Due to restrictions on cameras at Furnace Fest, I ended up using my iPhone 8 to capture everything while I was there.

For each of the videos I captured, I decided I wanted to try something different as an intro clip. Instead of typing out information as I usually do, I decided to take the schedule and zoom into each artist using Motion 4. The effect didn't quite turn out as well as I would have liked. I added a text file which reads "filmed and edited by Joel A. Swanson" and "aTigerRAWkFilm" that is included with the artist intro clips.

Furnace Fest XXI Video Playlist
This is a link to the full Furnace Fest XXI playlist. Each video and more description below.
 
09.23.2021
After exploring a bit in Birmingham with Elphie, I headed to Iron City to catch what was left of the Official Furnace Fest XXI Pre-Show. I missed the first few bands. but made it in time for Remembering Never and Norma Jean. Both of these bands were not playing the festival which is why I chose that event and thankfully I was able to get in. I captured a clip from each band. I also happened to find Bryan Gray! I ended up standing near him just by chance ha! It was a good show. I captured the partial performance of "The End Of All Things Will Be Televised" by Norma Jean and it seemed appropriate enough. After it was over, I went over to Saturn for the Labeled Fest Emo Night DJ set from Josh Head of Emery and captured some footage of that while there of Josh spinning "Reinventing Your Exit" by Underoath. I also captured Brandon Ebel of Tooth And Nail enjoying himself while there. Both were fun events. I thought I might find a few other friends along the way but I didn't end up connecting with anyone else. I went back to Kings Inn, our hotel, moved as much stuff off my phone as I could in preparation for needing as much space as possible while at the festival the next day then went to bed around 2am.
Remembering Never LIVE during the Furnace Fest XXI Pre-Show @ Iron City (09.23.2021)
"The End Of All Things Will Be Televised" by Norma Jean LIVE during the Furnace Fest XXI Pre-Show @ Iron City (09.23.2021)
DJ Josh Head of Emery spinning "Reinventing Your Exit" by Underoath during Labeled Fest's Emo Night (a pre-show for Furnace Fest XXI) @ Saturn (09.23.2021)

09.24.2021
I woke up, showered, drank a bit of coffee while eating breakfast then promptly ate a sandwich for lunch. I guess I figured I would load up on food before entering the festival since one was not permitted to bring in outside food or drink. I latched a water bottle to my belt then headed out to the festival. It turned out we had more festival neighbors! I think there were probably several others but both rooms on either side of us had festival attendees. I walked to Sloss Furnaces where the festival was taking place. As I went I saw a funny sign that read "we love Fridays like Kanye loves Kanye." I figured perhaps because it was Friday it was up for that reason but I noticed it again on Saturday. The walk was a little more than 2 miles. There were several people on the Furnace Fest group page warning about the walk being dangerous and about "aggressive" homeless folks but it wasn't a bad walk. I never felt unsafe or concerned. It was mostly flat. I chose to take the overpass and walk through the ditch into the parking lot across the street rather than take another road with a potential wait on a train or go down a treacherous staircase...other folks apparently felt brave enough to do that...not me. I included some of  the clips I captured on my way to the festival in the promo video as well. I arrived and got in without much issue or incident. For as many people as were there and were coming, it was quite an efficient entry process. I didn't even get searched! The security guy seemed offended that I even submitted to the process ha! Once I had my COVID-19 vaccine card checked and I got in, I headed to one of the UnoriginalVinyl scavenger hunt spots I spotted from the overpass. I also checked out the food options and other merch. I got lucky in that Jesse Hawley had the phone number of one of the guys behind UnoriginalVinyl so I was able to go with him and get my hands on one of the first copies of Norma Jean's "Bless The Martyr And Kiss The Child." I ran into a couple other folks I knew as well.

I decided to head over to the Plug Your Holes stage and watch some of Across Five Aprils. Plug Your Holes stage was in a shed...it ended up being the spot I was at most of the festival. I wandered around a bit more then came back for the Narcissus set. I left after the set then realized it was where I wanted to be for the next set, As Cities Burn. It was a struggle to get anywhere that I could see well for this set. I had a pretty good spot during Narcissus. I captured "Terrible! How Terrible For The Great City."
https://youtu.be/DFPU9ODwAO8
https://youtu.be/amhpOm8k5nI
"Terrible! How Terrible For The Great City!" by As Cities Burn
https://youtu.be/C3yuXJsMbwk
I ended up leaving a bit early so I could see Silent Planet at the Level X stage and captured "Native Blood." I decided to capture the "no mosh" warning sign...I found it funny. I wandered over to the heartsupport stage to see some of Unwed Sailor's set. I noticed a turtle in the fountain pond as I  headed over to the Plug Your Holes stage to see Few Left Standing. After they finished, I went back to Level X stage for the last half of Emery and captured "Walls."
"Native Blood" by Silent Planet
https://youtu.be/JPgH5xKoFZw
https://youtu.be/r1yNpn0UhRQ
Few Left Standing
I decided that this was a good time to get dinner. I got in line for a truck that advertised a stuffed grilled cheese. It was stuffed with shrimp and crab. the truck was called Simone's Kitchen ATL. I saw Sean Huncherick and talked with him for a brief moment. When I got near the front of the line, I was informed that they were out of the stuffed grilled cheese. I ended up getting pizza instead from the Pazzo truck. While I ate the pizza, I realized I forgot my cord so I didn't have a way to connect my phone to the portable power supply I brought. I had 20% battery left and the entire evening to get through. I took measures to conserve power including going into airplane mode. I went to see Terror at Level X stage after finishing my pizza. I caught "Minute Man" by Stavesacre at heartsupport stage then watched Zao at Plug Your Holes stage.
"Stick Tight" by Terror
https://youtu.be/zOdndVuVV9E
"Minuteman" by Stavesacre
https://youtu.be/57v3Wb8H0i8
Zao
I went back over to heartsupport stage, capturing the fountain which had been turned on along the way. I captured "A Day And A Thousand Years" from Walls of Jericho. I went back into Plug Your Holes stage to see some of Converge then went to Level X for the rest of the evening to see Underoath, capturing "Breathing In A New Mentality." At this point I was down to 3% and had captured at least a clip from each band I watched! That was the goal so I was pretty pleased with that result!
"A Day And A Thousand Years" by Walls Of Jericho
https://youtu.be/xyhAVHxg9To
https://youtu.be/gZp9XEBSkRs
"Breathing In A New Mentality" by Underoath
As the festival closed for the night, I captured the people leaving along with the Sloss water tower. I captured some shots as I walked back to the hotel as well including city lights, a train passing by, and a colorful lit bridge. I somehow managed to keep the phone from dying! I made it back to the hotel with 1%! I moved the footage from the first day of Furnace Fest onto a hard drive and made a social media post of photos from the day before going to sleep. I discovered I had a cut my leg somehow. My body was definitely tired from standing and in need of the rest.

09.25.2021
Waking up, I essentially repeated the process of the day before...showering, eating breakfast and lunch and caffeinating. I broke a belt loop I had used for the water bottle so I had to figure out a new placement for it. I connected it to my keys. I walked again to the Sloss Furnaces. Once on the grounds I got some similar shots entering again with clips from the bands playing as I went by on the overpass. I found that the UnoriginalVinyl scavenger hunt was He Is Legend's "I Am Hollywood" but I didn't get insider tips this time. Others who were seeking the previous day were less interested. I ran into Justin Filizola as he waited in the Beloved merch line. Later, after he got his merch we were talking then ran into Sean Huncherick and checked the status of his pit injured wrist. Next, I ran into Chris Smith from the Ollie Mob, Audiofeed, and Grand Rapids Michigan as he waited in the very long merch line for Stretch Arm Strong. We chatted a few minutes and he told me how he scored a great deal on a VIP pass. We both wanted to see Evergreen Terrace so we both made our way to Plug Your Holes stage...he by way of the VIP entrance and I through the regular way. I found the UnoriginalVinyl folks had set up behind Plug Your Holes stage so I watched a couple songs from Evergreen Terrace then got in the line expecting to be waiting quite a long time. Tim, the guy who I bought the vinyl from the day before came to the back of the line and allowed me and a couple other folks to get our copies! I was then free to wander!
"Gerald Did What?" by Evergreen Terrace
https://youtu.be/RKtxn4dQJPs
I decided to go to the food truck and get my stuffed grilled cheese from Simone's Kitchen ATL even though it was early and I wasn't hungry at all. I just didn't want to miss out on it! It was great! I ended up holding it for an hour but gave in and ate it, hoping I'd not feel extremely hungry later. Thankfully I didn't! I watched He Is Legend play at Level X stage, capturing "The Seduction."
"The Seduction" by He Is Legend
I returned to the Plug Your Holes stage where I would remain much of the afternoon. I saw Hopesfall, Shai Hulud, and Living Sacrifice capturing "Reborn Empowered" before taking a risk of losing a good viewing spot to see a little bit of Mae's performance on Level X stage. I captured "Ocean."
"The Bending" by Hopesfall
https://youtu.be/P9EWOxpf0u8
"Set Your Body Ablaze" by Shai Hulud
https://youtu.be/aWtf3kIzs0M
"Reborn Empowered" by Living Sacrifice

"Ocean" by Mae
I made it back to the Plug Your Holes stage as Deafheaven was getting started. I was able to maneuver back to where I had been earlier which was as good of a viewing spot as anywhere. I debated trying to get a spot on the walls but glad I didn't. As Beloved set up, it was said that the walls were unsafe to stand on and if people didn't get down the show would be shut down.
"From The Kettle Onto The Coil" by Deafheaven
Before Beloved played, a couple of the festival organizers spoke briefly, including Chad Johnson. I captured Chad's speech and prayer and included it in the video of Beloved's set. Because this was one of the longest inactive bands that I knew of playing the festival, I decided I wanted to capture the full set as best as I could using an iPhone 8. It's not the best but I did capture it! I hope I wasn't too annoying to the people behind me also trying to see. I stuck around and captured a song from Stretch Arm Strong and watched a good part of their set.
Chad Johnson's speech and prayer then the full set by Beloved
"Outside Looking In" by Stretch Armstrong
I went over to heartsupport stage for the first time all day to see the end of Mineral's set. It was interesting. Some of the people seemed to be glaring toward the Plug Your Holes stage since it was so loud and had hardcore going on while Mineral played more quiet emo music. Further Seems Forever ended the evening on heartsupport stage and I captured "Pride War" as well as a special surprise Strongarm performance with Joe Musten (of Beloved and Advent) on vocals doing "Advent Of A Miracle." I thought I saw some friends, the Durbin's in the crowd but didn't get to connect with them, unfortunately.
"Palisades" by Mineral
"Pride War" by Further Seems Forever
https://youtu.be/Cji2dTM5FGs
"Advent Of A Miracle" by Strongarm (Further Seems Forever with Joe Musten of Beloved/Advent)
I went to see a little bit of Glassjaw as they were finishing up then did the same with Taking Back Sunday but I didn't capture any video of that. I began to walk back to the hotel. I captured some footage of the people crazy enough to use the treacherous stairs with no railing up to the overpass. As I reached the area where the stairs exit to the overpass, a couple was climbing over the barrier. I waited to give them room to maneuver over the barrier then just continued walking behind them. Their friend who had apparently made it up a while before them decided to do a dance and flash them...inadvertently also flashing me. That was certainly a strange and unexpected moment, ha! No, it was not captured on video. I did a slightly different route back to the hotel trying to find food options for Elphie. It was near a park where I encountered the only homeless person who asked me for anything. I once again moved the footage off of my phone to a hard drive and made my social media posts for the day before going to sleep to rest up for the final day of Furnace Fest.

09.26.2021
I more or less repeated my ritual of the previous two days...shower, caffeine, food. As I came down to begin my walk, the neighboring festival attendees offered a spot in their Uber. I offered to pay them something but they declined. It was nice to not have to walk. Once on sight, I confirmed that the rumors were true, the UnoriginalVinyl of the day was The Chariot's Wars And Rumors Of Wars. I met with Chris Smith and hung out with him for a bit then wandered around to see if I could find the UnoriginalVinyl guy again before he got set up behind Plug Your Holes stage. I decided to just get in line which was going into the Plug Your Holes stage. I captured footage of Holy+Gold while waiting. The line was maneuvered around a bit and so I watched Be Well while in line as well. I ended up meeting some RAD people (the Branam's) while waiting in line...which was maneuvered again outside of the shed and down the steps preventing me from seeing the band playing. I only ended up missing one band though! I was able to purchase and complete my Furnace Fest vinyl collection!
https://youtu.be/o0Ihcy__UKc
Be Well
I went over to the heartsupport stage and watched Bad Cop Bad Cop. This was the first punk band I got to see! I returned to Plug Your Holes stage and got to the spot I had been in the previous days to see Comeback Kid, Bury Your Dead, and Unearth.
Bad Cop Bad Cop
https://youtu.be/WeVbbM2U8BY
https://youtu.be/T0FGL4eCaoY
https://youtu.be/KwgkQcpEnmU
Unearth
I left to go see Face To Face on the Level X stage and watched the rest of their set. I then went to heartsupport stage again to see some of the Showbread set before returning to Level X stage to see some of the Hot Water Music set. It was time to find some dinner and so I looked for who had the shortest lines and what they were serving. I settled on "F-ing Great Tacos" from Tuff Love and they were quite good! Justin Filizola came by looking for what would be his dinner as well.
"No Authority" by Face To Face
https://youtu.be/xnuaiez_WLo
"And The Smokers And Children Shall Be Cast Down" by Showbread
https://youtu.be/j_uSqzPejMc
"Wayfarer" by Hot Water Music
I made my way over to heartsupport stage and tried to get a better viewing spot that I previously had while at the stage. I settled for being next to the sound booth and I think it worked out alright. The Juliana Theory was playing through Emotion Is Dead in its entirety (though they did move one song out of order) and I captured "To The Tune Of 5,000 Screaming Children." I did watch the whole set but ended up moving due to the need to use a port-a-potty about half way through the set.
"To The Tune Of 5,000 Screaming Children" by The Juliana Theory
I wanted to catch some of Knocked Loose due to all the talk about them but their set ended before I got over to Plug Your Holes stage possibly due to unruly activity, ha! I went to Level X stage instead and saw the last couple songs of August Burns Red. Though I had already seen it on social media, there was a sign announcing that the festival is planning to happen again next year!
August Burns Red
I came back over to Plug Your Holes stage to see Turnstile and again it was packed so I hung around outside the area for a bit. Later in the set, it seemed people had left so I made my way into where I could see somewhat and captured some footage. I ran into Justin Filizola again for a minute after where he declared that Turnstile is the future of hardcore.
Turnstile
https://youtu.be/152BB_5vF70
I decided to go back over to Level X stage to see the final set of the festival with Killswitch Engage. I captured the last song, "In Due Time" as well as the sign about the festival being back next year. I also captured the mass exodus of people again. I wandered around a bit then ran into Jonathan Magee who I met during the Electric Jesus screening in Chicago. He's from Georgia. I saw him briefly on the first day and throughout the fest. We talked a little bit then I was about to begin walking back after another restroom break and he offered a ride to the hotel!
"In Due Time" by Killswitch Engage
Back at the hotel, Elphie thought I was bringing a party back with me. She waited outside the room. Sorry, Elphie! I once again moved my Furnace Fest footage off my phone into the hard drive and made my social media posts before resting up for the return to the road in the morning.

I am glad I went to Furnace Fest. Though it could be a bit frustrating at times trying to see the bands with the bigger crowds, the no outside food rule, and the camera rule...it was a great experience! I'm not sure that I will be able to go again next year but I am glad to have had at least this Furnace Fest experience! I am glad it was able to happen despite some bands cancelling and despite having to put COVID19 related protocols in place for everyone's safety with the new Delta variant surge. It was nice to get to be in such an environment again!

Additional soundtrack includes "The Old Iron Hills" by Maylene And The Sons of Disaster and "Modern Day Prayer" by Twothirtyeight. I chose "The Old Iron Hills" due to mention of Birmingham and the band being based in the area and also having some Furnace Fest roots. That's the reason for choosing Twothirtyeight as well.

Footage filmed using an iPhone 8. Titles and other animations created using Motion 4 on a Macbook. Edited using Final Cut Pro on a Mac Mini. Filmed & edited by Joel A. Swanson


Monday, September 13, 2021

A Shared Life: Spring In Chicago 2021 - Apocalypse Edition Volume 2 Electric Boogaloo (April, May)

After our trip from the Midwest Sea to the Atlantic Ocean by way of the south, we returned to Chicago and our COVID-19 apocalyptic life with its restrictions on social events. Some things were beginning to be more open though...we even had the opportunity to eat inside a restaurant for the first time! This project covers just April and May. I figured the trip south at the beginning of April and the trip to the upper midwest at the end of May worked well as bookends to the season.
https://youtu.be/fQC0XxnSo9s

I continued with the apocalypse intro since we continued to live under restrictions due to COVID-19.

On Thursday April 15th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #396, Chicago prepared for potential civil unrest. A young boy, Adam Toledo, was shot and killed by police and the bodycam footage was being released. In Uptown, a plow truck sat near Wilson and Broadway as a precaution, apparently. On Sunday April 17th, 2021 - Apocalypse Day #398, Elphie got some clips of Stein bathing himself. On Wednesday April 20th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #401, I captured some clips of birds in the back yard including a robin and a mourning dove. I also captured what would be the last snowfall of the season. As I left work, I noticed a bunch of garbage trucks lined up along Broadway near Wilson and police activity. It seemed the city was once again preparing for potential civil unrest. Besides it having only been days since the release of the bodycam footage of Adam Toledo being shot and killed by police, the verdict came in for Derek Chauvin of guilty. On Thursday April 21st, 2021 - Apocalypse day #402, Elphie captured a clip of me rolling a toy wooden duck that my grandpa had carved. On Friday April 22nd, 2021 - Apocalypse day #403, I captured some footage of a memorial set up along the northbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive. coming home, I captured a wreck and at home, I captured some police activity next door...this became a bit of a regular occurrence. I tried to capture some good footage of the full moon on Monday April 26th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #407. The first clip was with my iPhone 8 and the other clips were with my Canon Rebel T6. The moon was so bright and there were tree branches in the way. I was trying to focus on the features of the moon but I was not successful on this attempt. On Tuesday April 27th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #408, there was a production being filmed in Uptown. This made it a difficult task to find parking. As I drove home, it appeared a production was being filmed on Lake Shore Drive going north just north of the ramp from I-55. This was blocking traffic. In McKinley Park, there was a protest going on at the Alderman's office regarding the police shooting and killing Adam Toledo. On Wednesday April 28th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #409, I captured low cloud cover over Chicago. On Thursday April 29th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #410, I turned 41. A second year of having a birthday in the apocalypse. At work, we went to Bad Apple to celebrate and I got some poutine. Back at home, I watched the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals! I found out it is Tristan Jarry's birthday too...and he got the win! On Friday April 30th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #411, I grilled venison steaks for another birthday meal.

On Saturday May 1st, 2021 - Apocalypse day #412, we decided to visit a few local Atlas Obscura sites we hadn't been to yet...at least not officially. First, we walked around near the Damen Silos. The gates are locked so we didn't get into it, though if we wanted to, I'm sure we could have found a way. We walked out to the river and back. After this we went to the Ghost Church. It is the remains of an Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church that had closed, been storm damaged, and caught fire. The facade remains but the rest is pretty much gone. Inside there is now a garden. The crucifix remains with a protective shield. It appears it had burnt in the fire leaving a charred Jesus. It looks pretty cool...kinda creepy too. We drove out to where the Lawndale Theater once stood but it is only an empty lot now. On our way back home, we passed several murals and other street art. When we got back home, we tuned into the Dropkick Murphys live stream playing their new album Turn Up The Dial and some other songs. On Sunday May 2nd, 2021 - Apocalypse day #413, I got a Chicago pizza from Falco's as another birthday meal. It was great! On Tuesday May 4th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #415, I found a stop sign that had been apparently hit by a car. Wednesday May 5th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #416, it was Cinco de Mayo and so folks drove around with Mexican flags on their vehicles. Thursday May 6th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #417, I encountered a wreck on my way into work on Lake Shore Drive. On Friday May 7th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #418, I moved myself into a new office at work. There were occasional conflicts with a co-worker (often over the air conditioner which happened to be right at my desk) in our small, shared office so two of us expanded into the next room. I spent the afternoon setting up the desks and getting everything moved in. On Wednesday May 12th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #423, we had helicopters circling near the neighborhood. On Saturday May 15th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #426, we celebrated Elphie's birthday by getting Pho at Dong Ky in Uptown Chicago. Kathleen joined us. It was our first time eating in a restaurant since the apocalypse began! On Sunday May 16th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #427, we joined Skot and Rachel and a couple other JPUSA folk on a trip to the Indiana Dunes. While there, I captured some footage to use in the music video I was working on for "Far A Bheil Do Gath (Where Is Thy Sting)"  by Leper. I captured more than I would need. Some of the footage I may consider for some other projects. I kept one particular outtake clip from what I shot for the video. We drove through Gary, IN for a bit but didn't explore, though I would like to do so again. We passed the City Church among other ruins of the city. We went to Furnessville Cemetery and an old Schoolhouse shop before having a picnic at the Indiana Dunes. I was able to capture the faint skyline of Chicago with my camera. After this, we found an old Swedish school and church called Augsburg Svenska Skola with a cemetery. This is where I captured most of what I used for the music video. Some of the graves were beyond the maintained part of the grounds. We went into another cemetery called Chesterton. There were some old gravestones there and one family had rats placed at their grave. Later, we tried to hike to another cemetery but couldn't find the road. We got ice cream at Bubbles then went out to a lighthouse in Michigan City, Indiana near what looks like a nuclear reactor. On our way home I captured some shots passing that nuclear reactor and other steel mills and the city from the Skyway.  On Monday May 17th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #428 I captured a shot of the CTA morning transit. I ended up riding the train to work due to the car having some trouble. In the afternoon, I met with Colleen to get some more shots for the Leper's "Far A Bheil Do Gath (Where Is Thy Sting)." We shot in Graceland Cemetery and I got to see a couple of the unique sites from Atlas Obscura. While there, we encountered a coyote! We got some good shots to use, including a couple shots by Eternal Silence which Skot made a painting of for one of the Leper album covers. I believe I saw the Inez Clarke Memorial as well but didn't get footage of it. Later, I got some shots of Justin playing synths in front of the boiler in the basement of Cornerstone Community Outreach. This same boiler was used in another Leper music video, 'Still I Crawl," that I shot and Skot edited. I did some close up shots later of myself playing bass in the backyard, which I used in the "Spezza Spezza Spezza (Chop Chop Chop)" video so this new video ended up having several throwbacks to previous Leper videos or releases. On Tuesday May 18th, 2021- Apocalypse day #429, I had the car back and as I left to go home from work, I encountered a guy who had rigged up his wheelchair with handles to pump instead of using his hands on the wheels! On Friday May 21st, 2021 - Apocalypse day #432 I captured a shot of the Demand Justice art installation along Lake Shore Drive across from the Buckingham Fountain. I hadn't noticed it before so unless I just missed it over the last year, it might be a recent installation. On Saturday May 22nd, 2021 - Apocalypse day #433, it was World Goth Day. We drove to Indianapolis, Indiana for some goth DJ sets including Naggaroth Wych and Gomez, our friends Natalie and Mark, as part of Dead Souls Gothic Lounge at Black Circle Brewing. The event was called Deadly Nightshade. It was nice to get out and be among other people again. It was an outdoor event. Since we were in Indianapolis, I decided I'd get Primanti Brothers...but found out that all the Indiana locations had closed. LAME! On our way back home we got dinner at Taco Bell then stopped at Meijer and found that they close at midnight. We thought they were open 24 hours. We had about 5 minutes! We sped shopped like Supermarket Sweep then headed home. As we came into the neighborhood we found that the Cermak Fresh Market parking lot was taken over by folks doing donuts and other silliness! On Sunday May 23rd, 2021 - Apocalypse day #434 we went out to Glendale Heights, IL to visit with Gale and see how we could help his moving situation. We thought we were going to help him by moving some of his belongings into our spare bedroom but he wasn't ready yet. We got to see a bunch of geese outside his apartment. This was our second visit...we had gone out earlier in the month as well to see what we could do to help him. As we returned home I got a shot of the cloud cover over Chicago. On Monday May 24th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #435, I got a clip of the Buckingham Fountain which had been turned on. Chicago did not turn it on during 2020 due to the pandemic and the attempt to keep crowds from gathering. On Tuesday May 25th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #436, we went to Tesfa Ethiopian Cuisine with Mikey and Christi for lunch. We met with them at JPUSA and that's when a decision was made to eat there. It caused me to have an extended lunch break! It was pretty good. The food was set up in such a way that you'd ordered and the entire table could share it. I tried everything. Some parts I liked more than others. On Wednesday May 26th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #437, the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey season came to an end in the first round of the playoffs. Bummer. Had they won on this night, it would have left me in a place of conflict as we had a visitor coming on Friday when Game 7 would have been played. Oh well.

I put out a teaser for the Leper music video project for "Far A Bheil Do Gath (Where Is Thy Sting)" in the morning of Thursday May 27th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #438. The actual video premiered later that evening. There is a separate blog about the video available here.

https://youtu.be/5hnnhtTQtww

We had a trip planned to North Dakota with Elphie's friend Debbie over Memorial Day weekend. She flew into town on Friday and the drive began on Saturday. This trip made for a natural season break between Spring and Summer.

Additional soundtrack includes "My Dear" by The Castros, "Maple Leaves" by The Uh Ohs, "Slow" by Starflyer 59, "Stutter" by Flatfoot 56, "Church Bell" by Low and Behold, "Church Song" by Seth Martin, Romanticistic" by Leper, "Parasites" by NYVES, "It's Beautiful (Once You're Out Here) by Stavesacre, "Heavy" by White Lighter, and "Cold Wind" by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
This project was filmed using a Canon Rebel T6, CrossTour CR900, and iPhone6 and 8 by Elphie and Joel A. Swanson. Titles and animations created using Motion 4 on a Macbook by Joel A. Swanson. Edited using Final Cut Pro on a Mac Mini by Joel A. Swanson

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Midwest Sea To Atlantic Ocean: first trip post-vaccination (March 30th - April 11th, 2021)

 Due to COVID19, we did not visit with Elphie's family over Christmas as we usually do. We didn't visit with anybody. The last trip was Thanksgiving and hunting...only getting to see my immediate family. So we decided to make a trip at Easter to try to sort of make up for that. We were fortunate enough to get vaccinated prior to the trip which lessened the hassles of abiding by a quarantine upon our return to Chicago and my return to work. The timing of this trip being the very end of winter and beginning of spring creates a natural "break" in footage between winter and spring seasons as far as my video documenting goes. This trip, since it was longer than the usual Christmas visit, also allowed time for some other adventures. We took a drive to Florida through South Carolina and Georgia so I could collect a couple more states that I had visited. It was a nice visit and allowed after a very cold and snowy winter a chance to be in warmer temperatures...though the cold did somewhat follow us.

https://youtu.be/sMoM72KyTrg

I decided to name this project Midwest Sea To Atlantic Ocean due in part to songs I could use for an intro soundtrack. Flatfoot 56 has a song called "Jungle Of The Midwest Sea" and Thrice has a song called "Atlantic." I wanted to attempt to mix them together for the intro/trailer clip. I chose the ending choruses of each song, spliced them together with a "record scratch" effect and layered "record static" effect over the entire thing using the Soundtrack app in Final Cut Pro. I hoped that perhaps it might stop the copyright block on YouTube. I don't think it helped as I did get a copyright notice, but thankfully I was able to upload and post it without being blocked.

For the intro clip, I added flags from the states and attempted another way of showing highlight pictures while again sort of attempting the appearance of the pictures being dropped onto a table top. I used Motion 4 to once again drawing our route on screenshots I took from Google Maps. This time, since it was a trip there and back along mainly the same route, I made two separate files of the trip...one going south and one returning north. I added title text over the ocean and picked fonts that had a bit of a pirate like look to them I thought. I added in effects to give it a misty look fading in as well. Next I changed the sizes of the flags and arranged them in such a way as to not interfere with the route motion or the title text. The last thing I created was the picture montage. This will cover parts of the travel and flags but it will fall in as I pause the motion of the route video. All of these different elements were edited to be separate video files so I could manipulate the timing independently.

I began the editing process for this intro clip on Final Cut Pro. I slowed down the route map then paused it at each stop where photos were associated. I placed the flags in as we passed state borders, attempting to not cover the route or the text. I slowed down the title text file then duplicated it from the point after the fade effect ends to cover the rest of the route map file. At each stop I added the photos. These did cover the route, some flags, and some of the text so I faded it out before continuing the route to the next destination. My initial plan was to leave the photos stacked but it didn't really work out to do it that way without leaving much of the route covered. So as to not have an absurd amount of layers (well more absurd than it was already), I saved a file once I finish putting the flags in. I did the same after adding the photo files. I reviewed what I had created and felt somewhat pleased with the result (it still wasn't quite what I wanted but I also don't want to linger on this so I can get the project done sooner than later), I got to work on the soundtrack...again as I wrote earlier, using the final choruses of each song and splicing them together with a "record scratch" and "record static" effects throughout. I adjusted both audio tracks to fit the timing of the video. I'm not completely  happy with it either, but felt it was good enough to move on from at this point. I created a still by pausing the project as the first set of photos from Florida began fading out. This allows the text and route which is covered by the photos to somewhat be visible while also showing the sunrise photos. This is the still I uploaded to YouTube.

I created more travel route video files using Motion 4 and Google Maps screenshots to show where we went with a little more detail that are used throughout the project. I am working to keep this clips brief. I think there have been times in previous projects where I made these clips a bit longer than necessary so brevity is the goal moving forward. These files are a bit time consuming to create but I like having them in these clips so, for now, I will continue to utilize them. I have an idea of a change I'd like to do to the process...but I will experiment on that at another time.

https://youtu.be/YYBroQCLEeY

We left Chicago on Tuesday March 30th, 2021 - Apocalypse Day #380, after work. The plan was to drive to the Cincinnati area to spend the night at the Sheehy's before continuing to North Carolina. We encountered a significant traffic jam leaving the city before even getting to Indiana. There seemed to have been some sort of accident. We eventually got through that then taking the exit to get gas, we encountered a lot of police. I made my way into the Speedway to get gas...a lot more police came to the Love's gas station nearby where something had apparently happened. It distracted me so much that I pulled the gas nozzle out of my car before it finished filling so I spilled gasoline on the ground! Oops! We pulled into the Petro Truck Stop to get food at the Taco Bell/Pizza Hut. Elphie asked the officers who were standing outside what was going on at the Love's but they stated that they could not tell us. After waiting an obscenely long time, we got our food then made our way. The rest of the drive wasn't too bad. The GPS took us a strange way through Indianapolis where we ended up off the highway to get on the next one rather than merging where the highways come together...I think this is the second time at least this has happened and I'm not sure why but afterwards I researched what I can do instead of following this strange route. We arrived at 1:30am...we talked with Donna for a while then went to bed.

We woke, had breakfast and more chats with Donna, then left for North Carolina around noon on Wednesday March 31st, 2021 - Apocalypse day #381. We stopped at Meijer as we left to get some more Easter candy (we left what we had bought in Chicago, accidently) for Elphie's nieces and nephews. I picked up some Ale 8-One. I had missed this drink! The trip wasn't too bad. We encountered rain but nothing that really slowed us down. Headed into North Carolina, the GPS indicated a significant traffic delay so we re-routed a bit. Once we got around it (not sure if we saved time or not) we stopped at Blackwood's for some cherry lemon Sundrop and hoped to order a barbeque sandwich. We had thought we were told that the people who ran Blackwood's at one time worked with R.O.'s so we wanted to taste the difference. Turns out that we were mistaken in that belief (we were told of Black's) and they do not serve barbeque. R.O.'s happened to have a food truck sitting across the street so we got some R.O.'s then continued to Elphie's sister's house. It was good to eat some R.O.'s again! We settled in and relaxed the rest of the evening and spent time with family. That was good as well.

Thursday April 1st, 2021 - Apocalypse day #382, we celebrated one of Elphie's nieces birthdays at El Patron, a Mexican restaurant. One of her cousins was playing with the helium from one of the balloons and it was pretty funny. The food was good and it was a fun time overall.

On Friday April 2nd, 2021 - Apocalypse day #383, we continued the birthday celebrations with Laser Tag at The Bunker. After the Laser Tag, we ended up throwing axes for a while as well. The Bunker also ran the Ax Throwing an apparently a space where you can shoot each other with Nerf guns. We went well beyond our time limit and some of the other kids got a chance to throw who didn't originally sign up. I started throwing right handed after a while of doing 2 hand throws and left hand throws. Left is my dominant hand. It was fun...kinda tiring as well.

On Saturday April 3rd, 2021 - Apocalypse day #384, we visited with Elphie's mom and stepdad. We got our Christmas gifts that they were excited to give us. We visited with the neighbors and their new dog then got Bojangles for dinner. I tried their Mountain Dew Southern Shock for the first time. It was like a fruit punch. We hung around a while then when we went back to Elphie's sister's house where they decorated some Easter eggs. Her oldest nephew had friends over and they watched Godzilla Vs. Kong.

On Sunday April 4th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #385, it was Easter! There was a nice dinner made and the kids did an egg hunt in the dark with flashlights. I decided it was a good time to wear some of my zombie clothes, ha!

https://youtu.be/WtdjyLyrlr0

Part of this trip was planned to be a road trip to Georgia and Florida so on Monday April 5th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #386, we took that trip with Elphie's mom. We headed south by way of Charlotte, crossing into South Carolina near the Carowinds amusement park.

We made our first stop at some Atlas Obscura sights in Columbia, SC that happened to be essentially in the same spot. One was Tunnelvision, a mural painted on the side of the building that looks like a tunnel through it. The optics could give a slight appearance that it might be a real tunnel and I tried to make it work with the camera. I also found that the camera had a lot of dust in it with these being the first shots of the trip using my Canon Rebel T6. I also took a shot of a tree that resembles that on the South Carolina license plate...but I'm not sure if it was the same species or not. On the other end of the parking lot stood the Busted Plug Plaza. It is a large fire hydrant. I also took a shot of another mural depicting farm work that was in the area as well. As we left Columbia, we passed a cemetery then stopped to pee at a gas station. I made a very slight detour to pass by the Never Bust Chain but we intended to stop there again on the way back through. It turns out we only missed one site from Atlas Obscura in Columbia. All of the sites we visited were created by artist Blue Sky.

After Columbia and a quick fuel stop, we visited a UFO Welcome Center in Bowman, SC. This is another Atlas Obscura site. It is essentially a pile of junk made to look like a space ship with a few other space related pieces around it. But mostly there is a lot of junk. Going into the UFO seemed a bit treacherous, but we did go in. I signed the guest book. The guy who maintains it was no where to be found. There was a sign requesting $20 tips. Perhaps had we given one, the guy would have appeared from somewhere. There was a television playing inside the structure and some snacks laying around. It was an interesting thing to visit.

We headed toward Georgia next, encountering a bit of traffic. We stopped in Hardeeville, SC at a Speedway for gas because the previous fill up wasn't a full fill up. We took US-17 into Savannah, GA which marks my 35th state visited. We crossed a high bridge and headed toward The Pirate's House in hopes to have a meal. We saw the mossy oak trees as we made our way through the town. Unfortunately, the wait at The Pirate's House was hours. We did some quick searching of other food options and ended up picking Spudnik - a gourmet twice baked potato restaurant. We all got the BBQ Porktato and we all seemed to quite enjoy it! We were fortunate to find free parking right outside the restaurant and it had outdoor seating as well. We decided to walk around a bit after. At first we had somewhat intended to go to the river but then decided to walk through the downtown area. We passed the First African Baptist Church which was organized in 1773 and has substantial history predating the United States and throughout the civil rights movement. In Franklin Park right across the street is a Haitian Memorial to those who fought in the American Revolution. We walked through the town for several blocks. We came across a statue for John Herndon "Johnny" Mercer which is a guy leaning on a fire hydrant reading the paper. He is a Savannah native music composer and founder of Capitol Records and the Songwriters Hall Of Fame. We walked on to Johnson Square and saw a monument for Nathanael Greene (Revolutionary general). In planning a trip later this year to Alabama, we found that Forrest Gump scenes where he is sitting on the park bench waiting on a bus eating chocolate and telling most of his life story were filmed in nearby Chippewa Park. I wish we had known this before! We decided after Johnson Square to begin to head back to the car. As we walked, our mind was on trying to find some dessert...but we were pretty full from the potatoes. We passed a cat café along the way, used the restroom in an arcade bar, then got to the car and began our drive to Florida.

We crossed into Florida, my 36th state visited, and then hit a Spiral Interchange coming into Jacksonville as we made our way to the Best Western Oceanfront hotel in Jacksonville Beach. We arrived at around midnight. I transferred footage from the trip to my computer then planned an alarm to wake up for the sunrise on the beach.

With sunrise being 6:47am on Tuesday April 6th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #387, I woke to my alarm at 6:30am and got ready to head to the beach hoping to film the sunrise. I brought my tripod to keep the Canon Rebel T6 steadier than I was able to do with the sunsets in California a couple years ago. It was a bit cooler than I expected but not too bad. I set up the tripod and got a shot of the moon prior to the rising sun. As I was getting the camera adjusted on the tripod and aimed in the right direction, I tried to adjust something and ended up turning it lose and I wasn't able to get it tightened. I missed the very moment the sun crossed the horizon for this reason and the footage is a bit shaky as I tried to keep it trained on the sun and as steady as I could. A couple times I let it drift above the sun, I think while getting shots with my phone. Unfortunately this didn't end up turning out as I hoped it would. After the sunrise, I finally did get the tripod adjusted and got a steady shot of the sun and the ocean. I walked into the water, which was my first time in the Atlantic Ocean! I took a cup and filled it with ocean water. As I walked, I saw a lot of shells and a few dead jellyfish. I tried drinking the ocean water through the Life Straw...apparently the saltiness of the water doesn't get filtered out. I took a shot of the hotel from the beach, showing the renovation work that prohibited us from having an ocean view that we had selected, then I went back and tried to sleep for a bit longer. I don't think I ever fell asleep. We got up and got some breakfast. We checked out and headed into Jacksonville. Elphie tried to call in a reservation for The Pirate's House in Savannah but apparently they were full for reservations. That wasn't the information we had been told the night before.

Headed back toward Jacksonville, FL, we went through the Spiral Interchange again. I tried to save the video of this but apparently the CrossTour CR-900 deleted it anyway. We stopped in downtown at the Treaty Oak where it was said folks made treaties under its shade...but it turns out that wasn't true! Only a story to preserve the tree! It is a massive oak tree with branches that end up touching the ground, perhaps growing into the ground as well. We didn't feel we had a lot of time in Jacksonville so we didn't explore anything else, but as we left, I noticed that we weren't too far from the abandoned Annie Lytle Elementary School. We ended up driving right by it on the highway! As I did with the Spiral Interchange, I tried to save the video from the CrossTour CR-900 of it but either I didn't hit the button or it was deleted by the camera prior to us finishing the trip.

We made a quick pit stop in Yulee, FL at Florida's Citrus Center and saw some live baby alligators. We got some alligator jerky as well. We left and crossed back into Georgia, getting a much better sign picture.

We stopped for a restroom break near Townsend, GA. Across the road was an abandoned Citgo station. I looked at Atlas Obscura and found America's Smallest Church was a mile a way! We decided to go check it out. Unlike the child's playhouse in Michigan, this is a small church which folks could go in for services and is active. Apparently it is rebuilt after a fire some years ago. Elphie rang the church bell. This didn't stop didn't really make the trip too much longer but was a fun unplanned stop.

We continued on our way and returned to Savannah, GA and visited the Colonial Park Cemetery. Some of the grave stones are said to be desecrated by the Union Army during the Civil War though it's not necessarily verified. The desecrations included changing dates on the stones. Those stones are attached to a wall. There are also victims of the Yellow Fever epidemic buried here. There are lots of old stones and mausoleums throughout including a number of broken and otherwise badly weathered stones. Again, I wish I had known about Forrest Gump being filmed in Savannah...Chippewa Park was about a block from this cemetery and would have been an easy walk to visit. While in the cemetery, I picked up some fallen moss and got a shot of that. It was very soft. When we left, we tried to drive along the river but found that road was one way in the opposite direction. We went up a hill on cobble stone and drove along that way before leaving Savannah. We decided to stop for dinner at Sonic. While there, waiting on our food outside, a passing train hit a transfer truck. We found later that there were no injuries...we also found this has become a regular occurrence in this spot! We got ourselves through the traffic and headed north.

As we entered South Carolina, after passing the state sign, we passed a wall that made it appear as though we were entering a gated community. As though the state of South Carolina was a gated community from its southern neighbors. I stopped for gas at the Speedway again in Hardeeville, SC.  We hit some traffic again in a similar area we hit it coming south. I struggled a bit at this point of the drive. I felt very tired. We took a restroom break and that seemed to help a bit. We continued...this might have been the longest stretch of continued driving for this trip. We stopped at a rest area just before getting to Columbia, SC. In Columbia, we stopped to properly visit the Never Bust Chain. It was across from the art museum and I got some shots of the sculpture outside. We left by going south a few blocks to see the Statehouse.

We returned to North Carolina and could see some of Carowinds lit up a little bit as we crossed the state line. After dropping Elphie's mom off, we headed back to her sister's house and pretty much went to bed after the long day of driving.

https://youtu.be/3h_FSbT5RwU

On Wednesday April 7th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #388, Elphie wanted to have a day with her nieces and nephews. After some were playing in the yard with a hose to cool off on the warm day, she sent me to pick up some Domino's Pizza and Krispy Kreme donuts. I was confused a bit at Krispy Kreme. I was told to pick up a box of assorted...apparently I was supposed to pick what goes into the assorted. I figured you get what you get when you order assorted ha! Elphie's nieces and nephews played with their silly string - a traditional Christmas gift Elphie gives each year. It turned out that two of the bottles were colored hair sprays...they still had fun with those as well. Later, the decision was to watch a movie...it ended up being Godzilla Vs. Kong again.

Thursday April 8th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #389, we met up with some friends to have Hillbilly's BBQ. It was good. Elphie was able to catch up with a friend she hasn't seen in quite some time and others came as well that we typically see each year. I ended up sharing an Ale 8-One with one who got super excited when he saw the bottle. Later, we took Elphie's niece and nephews to get ice cream. We tried to go to Tony's Ice Cream but it was already closed. We ended up going to Cookout. I shared another Ale 8-One with Elphie's brother before taking his kids out.

Friday April 9th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #390, we went to the Scheile Museum with Elphie's mom to see a Planetarium show. The presentation was on the constellations visible in the sky currently in that area. It was interesting. After it was over, we went into the petting zoo area. I think we were meant to pay but we didn't. We went to R.O.'s after this and had a late lunch and their version of cherry lemon Sundrop. In regard to the cherry lemon Sundrop, I think Blackwood's is the best I've had so far. We hung out there for a while with Elphie's mom. We got to see an employee assist an older man who appeared to have a seizure before we left. I bought a tub of R.O.'s BBQ Slaw to take back to Chicago. After this, Elphie's mom got tired apparently and was ready to go home. We headed back to Elphie's sister's house and prepared for heading back to Chicago.

Saturday morning, April 10th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #391 we headed out to begin our return to Chicago. We loaded up our things, heated some leftover pizza to eat as we went (and the dog apparently ate it), and made sure we weren't forgetting anything. We had our R.O.'s BBQ Slaw in the cooler so I could enjoy it at home! The first stop we made as we hit some heavy rain was in Asheville, NC to see Steve Weese. He had moved from Los Angeles and was now sort of on our way so we wanted to get a visit in with him. He showed us around his apartment. He had built a sound space for recording voice overs. It was good to see him.

We continued north and encountered a little more rain but wasn't as bad as earlier. We continued through the mountains, stopping near Knoxville, TN for another round of Bojangles. I got some more of the Mountain Dew Southern Shock to drink as we went. We encountered another big traffic delay and decided to detour but the detour we took I think probably took as long or longer than the delay. We ended up on some dirt mountain roads that were quite twisty. We ended up back at the Sheehy's around 11pm. Some folks had planned to come hang out but it got to be too late. We sat and talked with Donna and Mike for quite a while before going to bed. It was good to catch up more and this time with both of them.

We had breakfast and hung a bit more with Donna then began to head home to Chicago on Sunday April 11th, 2021 - Apocalypse day #392. We stopped in Southgate, KY to see Lisa and hang for a bit with her. It had been quite a long time. It was good to see her and catch up on life!

After this, we drove through downtown Cincinnati by a different route than usual then stopped at Meijer on our way out to pick up some more Ale 8-One before we left the region. It had been quite a while since I was able to enjoy some Ale 8-One and was very happy to be remedying that situation! I now had a couple of my favorite southern food items: Ale 8-One and R.O.'s BBQ Slaw.

We stopped in Indianapolis, IN next to visit with Mark and Natalie for a while. It was a nice visit as well and good chance to catch up. We gave them goodie bags taht Donna made for them. At some point, hopefully they will be able to visit with us in Chicago and Natalie can enjoy some venison stew! We then made our way through the rest of Indiana, seeing the windmills, and stopping at Meijer (again) for groceries then Speedway for gas. I decided to get a car wash as well. We made it hope around 10:30pm and unloaded.

I decided to put most of the end credits over the car wash segment of the video. I included the soundtrack list which went into the rest of the drive home a bit.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9ZwEF2QQpNjcNQNKQe_n4t_tz6YKY1B

It was a nice trip. It was good to get away for a while and see new places. After the winter, it was also nice to get out of the cold for a while. To do things more normally was refreshing. Mostly, it was great to see our friends and family again after a forced separation due to the pandemic apocalypse. Hopefully this trend continues rather than regressing.

I tried to pick a soundtrack representing bands from these states and songs that referenced the state, the south, or things the state is known for. While sorting through songs and bands, I ended up with a few more than I needed. I suppose that was a good problem, ha! I think what I used worked fairly well, overall. I tried to do better about mixing the audio in such a way as to not interfere with the audio from the video files and also not be so overbearing when I brought it back up at areas where the audio from the video files were not necessary.

The additional soundtrack for this project is "Jungle Of The Midwest Sea" by Flatfoot 56, "Atlantic" by Thrice, "Bird Song (Prayer)" by Jonathan Hape, "Carolina" by Bradley Hathaway, "Stampede" by He Is Legend, "Left With Alibis And Lying Eyes" by Emery, "The End Of All Things Will Be Televised" by Norma Jean, "Savannah" by The Castros, "Snowbirds And Townies" by Further Seems Forever, "Sunshine State" by Gasoline Heart, "Savannah" by Squad Five-0, "No Montage" by '68, "Peaches" by Presidents Of The United States Of America, "Peach Farmer" by 6'10, "Raised By The Tide" by Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster, "Southern Weather" by The Almost.

This project filmed using an iPhone 6 and 8, Canon Rebel T6, and CrossTour CR900 by Elphie and Joel A. Swanson. It was edited using Final Cut Pro on a Mac Mini by Joel A. Swanson. Animations, maps, and titles were created using Motion 4 on a MacBook by Joel A. Swanson.