Washed Up

"So the story is about this woman - this young woman that lives on this island in Ireland... The village wakes up one day to find out that a shipwreck has happened and all of these things from the shipwreck has washed up on the beach..." That's how Tammy began telling me about the book she's now reading.

(For the rest of the talk, check out A Short Conversation about "Away" by Jane Urquhart to listen or download for free.)

Books. I love books. Books can have the power to grip your soul. It can have the power to transport and transform the Reader. Tammy is currently reading Away. And she's so taken by it that she's found a way to work it into her new song...

Meanwhile, I'm delirious. I'm sick and "away" myself. Thinking about this video is draining me. But I'm also whipping myself out of bed. I'm getting excited. Yes! Well, no. Now I'm tired. Boy, do I feel it now. Washed up, burnt out, good-for-nothing...and you can't even make fifty videos!

What? Relax! Gee, I'm so hard on myself. I'm just under the weather. I'll bounce back. Just wait.

Somewhere, I hear crickets chirping in the background.

It starts out as an Earth Hour concept. Can we do the Instant Video unplugged? Let's film a video in the basement that's completely candle-lit. We even suspend a candelabra with metal wires for Tammy's light. No cheating. Stanley Kubrick eat your heart out. I sloppily tape a magazine to the wall to give Tammy a place to look when she's singing the song.

I edit a complete basement-style Instant Video #49 that will now only show up on a future blooper reel. Blooper reel? That's it!

I'm not failing...I'm working on the Blooper Reel.

The next day, it's a completely different concept. Where going high-style here, baby. Make love to the camera with your eyes. I'm thinking about shooting Tammy's face like that Fiona Apple album cover. Something is working better. But still not quite right.

I think I need some ocean shots. I check out my regular first stop online: Internet Archive (www.archive.org) and I quickly found Hills and the Sea by Mr. and Mrs. Ray Garner and it seems to work. But my computer is getting so slow... What will happen next? Epic journey.

I may need a big big rest after this. We may just postpone shooting the 50th Instant Video until the live stage show at the Arlington on the 16th of April, have a bit of a break and work on the show. I'll work on putting together a blooper reel. It'll be...therapeutic.



Away (I Hear You)
by Tammy Lin Foreman

You're love it is the ocean
mysterious and deep
I dive right to the bottom
for joy my heart will weep.

They don't understand this
I hear them when they say
her body may be with us
but her heart it is away.

I hear you
I hear you
I hear you
...call.

I hear you in the dawning
and in the afternoon
I hear you in the darkness
underneath the moon.

My love it is the ocean
mysterious and deep
dive right to the bottom
for joy your heart will weep.