I recently had to get a new computer hard-drive, and lost a big chunk of my organization/files/crap. Mostly this has been almost like a digital rebirth. I’ve called it my Tech Revival. One exciting thing I just found was all these old audio clips I started recording, mostly randomly, on my phone. Listening to them, I’m amazed at how quickly I’m transported right back to that exact moment. I think they provide an incredible reflection on this past year.
1. a recording of the floridian tropical downpour of rain, recorded August 29, 2010 at 9:13pm (ok, not quite part of 2011 but still counts): The rain in Florida is magical and torrential. Powerful like no other rain I’ve seen/felt/heard/been soaked by.
2. an audio note to myself, recorded February 6, 2011, 11:35am. In this clip, I am driving and speaking an audible list to myself. The first part references a to-do that causes me to move to NYC, and end up dedicating a majority of my year to Creative Time – a place where I met amazing people and artists and was really introduced to this whole new world. The other things in the list appropriately encompass almost everything else going on in my life and brain at that time. ending of course with “finish my plan”
3. an audio portrait of driving in the nissan maxima, recorded February 25, 2011, 9:00am. I remember recording this clip when I knew that my days of driving on long stretches of sunny sunny highways into the palm tree sunsets were numbered. I wanted to capture the sounds of the windows all down, the car making horrendous noises that are surely signaling its slow breaking down, and the one CD that was stuck in the radio that I didn’t mind at all playing over and over on repeat.
4. a clip of the mariachi band that was playing in the subway, recorded April 13, 2011, 12:09pm. I was coming back to Manhattan on the 7 train from a Creative Time staff meeting in Corona, Queens at the Immigrant Movement International headquarters. I thought they were very beautiful.
5. a clip of a longer interview with Ashley Young of Brown Girl Love, recorded April 20, 2011, 9:34pm. This is a longer interview, which is currently unedited (so don’t listen too critically). Ashley and I had set this up as a blog interview to discuss our blogs and visions and what we cared about in the world. It was a lovely discussion, which I had thought I had lost/erased. Happy to have found it and to edit it soon.
6. an audio portrait of the empty (old) Essex Street Market, 80 Essex Street, NYC, recorded October 12, 2011, 3:49pm. This was towards the end of the run of the exhibition (Living as Form) and I realized that I wanted to capture the noises and the feel of walking around this huge space with a life of its own. The street, the cars, the people walking by, the windows creaking, the lights buzzing.
inside the essex street market
7. a sampling of the musical offerings at the third night of Hanukkah, recorded December 21, 2011, 6:00pm. I went to the public celebration of Hanukkah put on by Chabad of Brooklyn at Grand Army Plaza near my house. Not only was there this rockin’ techno-version of vaguely Jewish tunes, but there was a giant 45 foot tall menorah (and a rabbi in a cherry picker to light it!), hot latkes passed around, at least 4 mini-vans with menorahs strapped to their roofs, and a million identically dressed Jewish children running around. It was so festive I couldn’t even suppress my festive spirit.
8. the draft voice-over for PEAK Technical marketing animation I’m working on, recorded December 22, 2011, 9:42pm. I’m almost embarrassed to include this one, but I think I need in order to complete the 2011 audio compilation. This is me reading through the voice-over script for the marketing animation I’ve been working on. These are kinda bizarre animations that our clients just keep loving and asking for more — no matter how many weird rainbows and flying text and flowers with money signs we throw in!
9. the reverberations of the bells at Riverside Church, Harlem, NYC, recorded December 25, 2011, 12:23pm: we went on a mini-tour of the historic Riverside Church in Harlem after the Christmas morning service. This was recorded on the 20th floor of the Church tower, and the subtle drone of the bells was beautiful, haunting and ever-present as we looked out on the city.
what a beautiful and audible year.
