Monday 3 June 2013

Dirt, Dust & Desperate

When I bought a cardboard shack by the railroad tracks I knew exactly what I wanted to do to it. Tear out the whole inside and make it like a boat in the desert. Finnish style. That was the easy part. It was the giant yard that threw me a wild curve. Finally a dust storm blew in and required a massive clean-up. I called the contractor and told him to bring in the rocks.


image by mc2006/sxc.hu

They tore down the back fence and brought in the earth movers. It was all filmable. I got out my Canon and started to shoot. Two guys plowed up the weeds, dust, dirt and leveled the ground - the whole place, house included, goes downhill. Then they started laying in 42 tons of rock. I couldn't believe it but then saw the bill. It said 42 tons of rock.

Inspired, I added singing to my guitar lessons because by that time I decided we could make a music video. Eki is a musician and I had confidence that he would turn the raw material into something that wouldn't make us cringe. Pals were sceptical. They had never heard me sing a note. Or moved away from me at parties where there was group singing because I was so off-key. I thought it was nervy but but what-the-hell depended on Eki to pull it off.  When it was finished Eki said, "Not bad, next time do more closeups."  (see: "Tiny Ton of Trouble" on Youtube).

Q. Have you ever used Kickstarter to raise money for your projects?

A. No. But I've read a lot about people who have. And they've been successful. It's crowd sourcing and seems to work. You have to do a five minute video of the project and make your pitch. You have a limited time to raise the money (I think it's usually around three months). Maybe we'll try it for our next project. I'm sold.

Next month:  Eki Takes a Vacation. I hope.