Last Thursday, another WACTAC member and I met at the Walker after traveling our respective bus routes to see Bill Daniel’s Who is Bozo Texino? A 56 minute long black and white film shot in super 8 and 16mm, Bozo Texino follows Bill Daniel as he travels the country for over 16-years by way of hopping trains. In his travels, Daniel encounters emblems and symbols, tagged in chalk. These signatures, penned by hobos and rail workers for over a century, provide a loose narrative arc to the film as Daniel tries to track down the man behind a particular drawing of a cowboy named Bozo Texino.
Daniel’s investigative style of film making allows the rail-riders he interviews to come through as individuals, but also help deliver the film’s message as a whole. However, this message is not as simple as most documentaries I’ve seen. The final scene of the film is a long shot of a field of discarded boxcars. The man behind the legendary “bozo texino” graffiti ends the film on an unexpected note when he remarks how one day he got tired of drawing the same emblem time after time and leaving his mark on boxcars eventually lost all meaning for him. In a Q&A session with Daniel after the film, he remarked how he purposefully allowed his film to conclude without explicitly stating a central message he had in mind. This gave me more to think about that anything presented in the film itself. Hopefully, filmmakers like Daniel continue to tell stories in new, varied ways that expand the definition of what a film can do and be.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdGSrLoC5vo[/youtube]Longplayer is a piece of music that is designed to last for one thousand years. It started on January 1st 2000, and if all the calculations are correct shall continue without repetition until December 31st 2999. It was created by Jem Finer who is also the founding member of the group The Pogues. Longplayer is based on existing music, lasting 20 mintues and 20 seconds in length, which is processed by a computer using a simple algorithm
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You can view the full flyer here.
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The Depot On Saturday Witt and I load up the tent in the back of the trusty Buick Century for the drive over to the The Depot in Hopkins (our only non-city venue and close to where I grew up in Plymouth). We finally figure out how to arrange the two parts of the platform so that we can tie them down securely to the roof! The drawback is that there is no longer a plywood spoiler up top. Witt has told me that I do not have to be there for the entire band showcase, which I feel guilty [...]
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlaI2RY-M74[/youtube] Artist Joe Discroll performs his song Just Once, I really like the live looping performance, how every piece mashing together creates a magnificent piece of ear heaven.
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Featuring Tapes ‘N Tapes, Eyedea & Abilities, and Total Babe Sunday, July 11, 1–9 pm Free Walker Open Field/Minneapolis Sculpture Garden Soak in the sun and take in the sounds of TAPES ‘N TAPES, EYEDEA & ABILITIES, TOTAL BABE, Justin Wulf, BubbleTeeth, and Wolf Mountain on the Walker’s rolling hillside. This daylong festival of music brings high school musicians into the mix with established bands, rappers, and performers. In addition to featured acts on the main stage, bring your best music mixes to trade in a MIX TAPE EXCHANGE (5:30 pm), create your own musical instruments in our ART-MAKING TENT [...]
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