Diary

Over the next few weeks i'd like to share some moments with you... hmmm, well, that's the intro over.

South Woodford July, 2002
... this is my final installment, so i say 'a bientot' with two minutes and five seconds of summer sunshine in south woodford. i like the way it's dynamic and not, at the same time. thanks for dropping by. lance

Trafalgar Square June, 2002
...another nocturnal moment.
trafalgar square, a few nights after the jubilee celebrations and these three flat bed trucks are parked next to nelson's column, their hazard lights doing their own thing.
the music came after a chat with the musician richard thomas, about lo-fi ways of generating interesting sounds. i had great fun, slowly dismantling/destroying a cd discman to get to the good bit...

Concert May 7, 2002
...probably the best 'concert' of my life , 'turntable hell' at the queen elizabeth hall. i'd seen it advertised in 'the wire' (my favourite magazine in the world - 'adbusters' comes a very close second) but i knew nothing about the artists involved, so i wasn't too sure what to expect.

i went with a fairly open mind and a killer headache, but instead of macho scratching and noise-for-the-sake-of-it, what i got was an evening of the most wonderful swathes of sound/noise... a true joy to my ears... i've never ever been so inspired by a performance. i won't even try to describe it but it was brought to a tremendous climax by otomo yoshihide smashing the living daylights out of his turntable, to get the sounds he wanted - i was whistling and cheering him on with the rest of them.

so, my head's spinning as i leave... the heavy rain feeling like a continuation of the performance... i turn to get onto waterloo bridge, and there it is, just hanging from a crane over the thames... at least 40 feet tall and, i imagine, very, very heavy... perfect!! the music i've used for this film is a perfect foil to the sounds i heard that night. it may be one of those 'you had to be there' moments (sam, my film editor, looked a little bemused as i was telling her about the performance!) but this truly sums up how it made me feel... and i wanted to share it with you.

i think it's called an epiphany...

my first film is from my trip to tokyo in april. i go twice a year to make sure all's going well with the window displays of our shops in japan. it's one of the best parts of my job - there's no other place like it and i come back with what paul calls 'the tokyo tingle'. of course, there's no way to capture the combinations of sights, sounds, smells and tastes you encounter...that's what i love about it. i had created the music one night before my trip and, after seeing the footage, it was obvious that its randomness was perfect for this film. i think it sounds better on headphones, as the higher tones get right inside your head. so, i leave you with the wheel, my window over tokyo bay and a phone box in ginza.