THE BIG PICTURE





I've been busy transferring VHS tapes to DVD, using a machine that Gridlife loaned to me.

We made a lot of videos in the early 1990s, and there were a lot to transfer.

One of them was shot by me at a get-together before a Dead Can Dance concert, in December of 1990.

I was shooting the different guests, and asking them how the heat in their apartments was working.

Suddenly, the camera was turned on me (in black Louise Brooks hairdo, big black boots, miniskirt and perky hat from the Tweeds catalog). In those days, I was working for a local filmmaker, waiting tables, deejaying, making my own films and videos, and living in an illegal basement firetrap that rented for $295 a month.

Watching the video at home, for the first time in 19 years, I couldn't believe the things I heard coming out of my old self's mouth:

"Bla bla bla my landlord comes over unannounced bla bla bla I don't have any heat in my place, bla bla bla landlord bla bla freezing cold bla bla bla.

Two decades later later, nothing has changed....*

I may be slightly less obnoxious, but the exact same words are coming out of my mouth.

It was a sobering moment, to say the least.




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*Actually, I'm moving to a smaller, warmer place at the end of the month - and am desperately seeking cardboard boxes. If you have any, lemme know.