TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

  

VIEWING ALL POSTS FOR: SEPTEMBER 2005

Sunday, September 25, 2005

10:50 AM
Posted by jodi rose

slightly overcast, promise of spring rain.
I love a break in the tedium of sydney weather - really my melancholy eastern european soul longs for misty grey skies and stormy elements - and all I get is sun, sun and more sun.
Hence the fascination with exotic cold climates - people keep telling me how much it rains in glasgow and it just makes me want to go there more. other connections are the fabulous designers timorous beasties who I must email for quote on green bridge project, lovely dancer anna who I met in helsinki and is alike a dark haired version of little my, and zoe up in dundee who does the magentic migration project. That and the new bridge being built - very glamorous. My pointless friend tells me there are plenty of parties over halloween, so my new guard outfit will get a scottish debut.

Bought the ticket yesterday, after a few hours of tinkering ending up with an air malev flight (hungarian airlines - excellent I wanted to fly them) klm and air france - thinking of having tshirts made for each itinerary - this time it's: sydney.glasgow.ljubljana.budapest.sturovo.paris.bangkok.sydney
last trip: sydney.london.helsinki.zagreb.riga.paris.berlin.tallin.sydney
yeah, I know it's those sydney/sydney connections that are making life so expensive - really do need to relocate. sometime. somewhere.

ah well, location is sorted until may next year, so that leaves me time to write and get on with planning the hybrid bridge theatre extravaganza. and global symphony. thankfully all those wireless broadband cards are coming out now, although feel that I will probably need to have one for each country.... thoughts and ideas for the score and performance still bubbling away there in the background.

proposals to write this week include binaural media residency in portugal, sounding out instrument building grant app with josh, green bridge permament sound installation and design to print on bridge, radio program based on bridge guard residency, and I hope that's all.

but once I've done those and played at electrofringe, there's really hardly anything else to do - except pack up my house and get on the plane. i love that moment so much, really looking forward to it.

ok back to writing great literature and making superb art! ;) (tips from stephen tilley at abc who when asked what he was doing, answered 'making great radio'. you should try it, he told me, it really pisses people off!!)

Friday, September 23, 2005

8:49 PM
Posted by jodi rose

something from andrew in copenhagen

that's the wonderful thing about love
no matter how much you give, there's always more!
had an amazing kinesiology session this afternoon
went down to bronte and looked at the ocean
still dreaming and yearning and hoping
but feel more optimistic than I have in a while
new adventures are calling me on
the old world slides away a little more each day

Friday, September 23, 2005

8:44 PM
Posted by jodi rose

..and a string bridge

a contribution from one of my lovely readers on the glasgow entry:

"Last Saturday
Ah goat a 'Glaesga Kiss'
fae a sea fortress..
An'
ye ken whit?
Ah'm still staunin' up...
oan ma twa feet!"

translated:
"Last Saturday
I got a Glasgow kiss (head-butt)
from a sea fortress..
And
do you know what?
I am still standing up..
on my two feet!"

Thursday, September 22, 2005

11:34 AM
Posted by jodi rose

crumbling girl from my obsession with lamp post street art in adelaide

...before it ever got started.
listening to martha wainwright moaning, I do like her twist on contemporary angst of the heart. and my gorgeous aunt had the cd signed for me, so it feels even more personal.
enjoying the benefits of having a laptop - primarily so I can work while lying on the couch - fabulously decadent. came home from the abc the other night and was totally wiped out but really had to transfer these radio excerpts to mp3 for the panel at electrofringe, so did it lying down with catnaps in between.
last night opening at the mca - third in a month, getting outta hand - on the terrace listening to some artist desperately talking up their career to someone they hoped was important - to which I responded by having to get very drunk - managed to check out some of the art, george gittoes doco on the soundtrack to war really stood out - interviews with US soldiers in iraq about the music they listen to in the tanks or while getting ready to go out to battle - lots of heavy metal, of course ;) - then ran into some friends and talked shite on the balcony looking out over the lights of sydney harbour, our new favourite slovakian friend refilling out champagne regularly. ben the boy in the golf hat even danced for a while - now that's what I like to see, a bit of dance activism at the buttoned up art crowd. managed to leave before doing too much damage to my reputation, I think.
checked out fabric and bought patterns for my bridge guard uniform yesterday - apparently the military look is or was in fashion -bizarre how that happens, yeah, let's glamourize war a little bit more....
but I'm eschewing the regulation muted colours and going for something a little more subversive - well, after seeing the hot pink velvet there really was no other choice!!
really must go write this script for the musique concrete program - which turned out suprisingly well, the material led me in a completely different direction to what I had originally intended - which is always a good sign, I find. meeting at 3 with my executive producer and abc classic fm australian music curator to discuss complementary programming for the piece. nice work if you can get it :)
and as lea readfern said, on getting into radio - well, somebody has to have the cool jobs. indeed and it might as well be us.

Monday, September 19, 2005

2:42 PM
Posted by jodi rose

mermaid on the streets

so this morning I went to visit the ducks and found there are actually seven eels at least in the lake.
spooky - some huge and others tiny.
magnificent weekend away down near kangaroo valley with julaine and helen. cooked, ate, read, sat on the balcony, had a spa, cooked, ate, slept....

ah relatively painless completion interview for my 5 days intensive job search training (!) waved towards a row of computers and newspapers and told to look for work, filled out those forms detailing who I contacted, had a brief chat with nancy who told me what a lovely girl I was....

so back to the rural refreshment program. very relaxing and now am disinclined to be stressed about anything. which is good emotionally and mentally but not great for productivity. that edge of panic really helps get things done. just arranged to meet heather-grace on wednesday, to go fabric shopping - her for afghanistan, me for slovakia. looked up military insignia so I can subvert it for the bridge uniform - window shopping today remembered that military look is 'in' this winter, so maybe I can get a regular fashion jacket and add some braid to it, with gold embroidered bridges.

realised after meditating under the gum trees which were being blown almost horizontal by very strong wind - that essentially I am going to just do what I have to. writing for me is like breathing only a lot more painful. oh well. also being called to glasgow. that strange inner voice I had years ago telling me to go to Helsinki, well now it's fixated on glasgow. certain reasons spring to mind, but it can be very fluid and not related to things I imagine are important, so I've learned to let go of any expectations and am planning to just go there and find out what the damn hell it is waiting for me in glasgow. something significant - if you notice the signs, which being superstitious as all get out of course I do - new supervisor - from glasgow (although he'll probably sack me soon if he hasn't already - must. do. writing. eek) massage therapist - from glasgow. boy in surround sound studio - from glasgow told me about school of art burning down. stayed at a friends house woke up to bagpipes. haven't met people from anywhere else in a while now. also decided that I am being incredibly responsible, in my own crazy-artist way, dealing with finances, knitting in loose threads, doing the best I can to be a decent full-time human being.... and if I want to go to glasgow on a ridiculous whim then I can. that's all part of the fun of bring an artist. you get to do this stuff just because you want to.
although I am a little sad to discover that my dream of setting up an artists retreat on the west coast of scotland has already been accomplished in a very stylish and glamorous way by cove farm - but maybe that just leaves me free to indulge other more selfish dreams. I'll make sure I have a spare bedroom and a shed, then artists can still come visit and have unofficial residencies. organising a few parasites for my slovakian term (inspired by alison see hostelprojects.org) and will be contacting the current bridge guard soon for her tips on life in sturovo.

julaine made a comment on the weekend which has completely reshuffled my focus - are you doing anything with bridges that have failed? she asked. well, not as such - mostly they are rebuilt already.
you could make the bridge with sound, across where there is currently nothing - oh my lord.
totally does it for me. building the bridge between places that are separate and disconnected. have been thinking about this global symphony thing way too literally - it needs to be sending sound as a bridge, not necessarily FROM a bridge. although that too. a little bill fontana, the sound bridge idea, but with a totally different spin. places that need bridging. protection, peace, missing links. and it doesn't need to be 'pure' abstract sound art - can have voice and text and something else. it's my bridge and I'll dance if I want to.

that was the other compelling reason for going to glasgow - where else do you have a boogie protest going down on a bridge?????
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/07/317450

just discovered there's a dancing bridge in london too

http://www.extrospection.com/archives/2003/10/the_dancing_bridge.html

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3575/is_1277_213/ai_111309424

Monday, September 19, 2005

2:41 PM
Posted by jodi rose

indeed what is the future of this job?
getting stuck into writing today and it's like pulling teeth with a tweezer. didn't help that I had to visit redfern job futures and fill out forms about looking for work - gave them the truth, applied for this residency, that grant, a lecturer/tutor position in radio, a freelance radio producer, giving a panel/workshop at a festival, doing a performance - but I already have a job guarding a bridge, it just hasn't started yet... ah the horror.
reading through years of insane rambling about what I'm doing and thinking from various times and places around the world, wondering what on earth was I thinking? why would anyone read this drivel?
really must learn to write in complete sentences.
one of these days....
and it's much more loaded and difficult for me to pull off the writing with grace and joy, because it means so much more. Playing with sound, I love it, I genuinely have a passion for the sonic world, but emotionally it doesn't affect me the same way. similar - of course there is still doubt and ridiculously high standards and a level of perfectionism that borders on paralysis - but I can shrug that off and just get into it without feeling like the entire future of my career rests on getting these sounds into shape.
maybe that's the attitude I need to employ with the words too - this is not the only chance to express myself, I don't have to say everything, so take the most interesting and engaging material and work with it. only it is work, not play. I really don't know why anyone would do this unless they were seriously deranged, obssessed or driven beyond all reason. which I guess I am. all that mad genius artist stuff, it has to come from somewhere. longing to retire and just have a normal life... but somehow know that's not going to happen. not this year anyway.

Monday, September 12, 2005

11:33 AM
Posted by jodi rose

check out the latest from the trans siberian express:

http://www.kiasma.fi/transsiberia/index.php

Capturing the Moving Mind is a conference which brings together artists, economists, researchers, philosophers and activists exploring the new logics of economics, the war against terror and cooperative modes of creation and resistance. The group travels from Helsinki to Beijing trough 9 time zones, from Moscow to Beijing on the Transsiberian Express.

Is this project an economic process, a political activity, or a work of art? While the documentarists, photographers, artists and researchers produce discussions, ideas, interviews, images and videos along the route, online audiences are invited to follow the journey via the mobicast or access an archive of moments captured in this collective mobile documentary as it makes it's way from Finland to China.

Sophea is one of the streaming team:

http://www.kiasma.fi/transsiberia/live_page.php?program=helsinki_launch

Monday, September 12, 2005

11:32 AM
Posted by jodi rose

have almost recovered my mental tone after having a few days off to take a long hard look at myself.

fragile state of mind, verging on hysterical and self-indulgent I know - but have realised that all the people who seem to want something really are just trying to help me realise this insane vision. I just need to be a few steps in front and keep my head across the various aspects of the project.

remembered to relax again - bought some new music, 'the magic numbers' are totally floating my boat with their wry urban country folk twist on life.

walking in the mornings regularly too gives those endorphins a bit of a shake - love to go watch the ducks in the lake at queen vic park, after my hour is up. They come in a variety of styles; pure white with orange beacks; small brown and speckled; and my favourites with opalescent green head, white stripe and dark chocoalte body. Sometimes all of them sit around on these brick walls in the water - not sure if these used to be fountains before our dams got to critical level, or just weird lake ornaments - but the ducks love them, and it makes their floating take on a lovely circular pattern. Eleven on there the other morning, trying to will another duck to join them for an even dozen, but then two more came along and they started bickering for positions and some floated away. This morning I saw an eel drifting along by the wall, she seemed to notice me and stopped when I did, then kept swimming and looking up at me as I walked. Wondering how she was going to get out of the lake to Fiji and lay her eggs - we fed the eels in a river in NZ they have the crazies light blue eyes and feel like velvet until they get scared and go all slimy.

Watched the final in a series on country music which dad and cher had taped - fantastic episode on the women in country music. Hillbilly feminist honkytonk angels - I love country song titles - 'it wasn't god who made honkytonk angels' and 'the root of all evil is a man'; 'don't come here a drinkin with lovin on your mind' 'your good girls gonna go bad'.
Inspired to make a musical shift and write some ukelele bridge country songs. Who knows if that one will ever happen - but it's fun to imagine.

Definitely sensing a shift in direction, am really tired of the pure abstract world of sound art - I know, heresy, treason - but just haven't been finding that much nourishment or inspiration in the field. Some lovely work going on, but it can be so dry and soulless at some level. A twangin' guitar and pop melody really does start to be very appealing - and after all that was the tip jasmine gave me on the future of electronic experimental music when I interviewed her in Berlin - everyone's going POP!

And you know, this needs to be fun and to evolve. It really is serious enough without me taking it too seriously. There's still the global symphony underway for those who crave their abstract sounds pure, but I'm really drawn to making something with maybe a story, some characters, a little entertainment perhaps...

Also watching the doco series on the american musical, courtesy of my gorgeous mum who rings me on a sunday night and reminds me it's on - actually fascinating the level of social commentary and political satire that was part of the broadway musical from the 50's to the late 70's. Like in 'A Chorus Line', the first musical to be workshopped using material from the dancers own lives, about how being a broadway dancer is like being a factory worker - 'that was the genius of Bennett - he gave the audience what they expected, but what he meant was another thing'. It ran for 15 years and revived the entire broadway district and theatre scene - although mainly for tourists, which isn't necessarily a good thing. Then talked about how the musical was meant to be light entertainment, keep the dark side of culture out of the frame - but Sondheim got right in there and sang about it (in Sweeney Todd), and Chicago based on corruption, murder, greed and sin - it's interesting how subversive mainstream american culture can be at times - until the life gets drained out of it.

And as Justin the fabulous famed ranting philosopher reminded me at the primavera opening last week; according to Jacques Lacan the ONLY moral imperative is 'don't give way on your desire'.
Once you do that, everything crumbles and is lost - including your sense of self and meaning - but if you stay true to your desires and keep working towards them, at least you can live with yourself.

Friday, September 9, 2005

12:11 PM
Posted by jodi rose

what a wild week in a crazy world.
the hurricane and those people dying and surviving in new orleans - how do you even start to make sense of that? reading about those two photos of people carrying stuff - the white family captioned as searching for food, the black family as looting - I haven't seen either of them, but guess it's another example of how perception of events is shaped through and by the media, to manipulate and reinforce existing prejudices and beliefs.
Like in the last election here, there are a few moments when that perception can be shaped and then it sets in place and becomes reality for the majority of people who are happy not to ask questions... and we all have to live with the consequences. years later we're seeing the results of choices made on misinformation or flawed assumptions - decimation of the welfare state, public health and workers rights, anyone? it's obviously working so well for american society.

ok rant almost over. am feeling incredibly shattered and grumpy today - that sense of being so focused and intent on something, and once it's finished you snap - all the energy drained out of me, can barely walk or speak. and of course another ten deadlines and major projects are looming up at me, feel sick with anxiety about the writing I haven't done, and stretched beyond my capacity by various technical questions and performance expectations.
oh well. its like editing sound for this program - you make a series of choices, and at some point you have to stop choosing, decide to accept what you've chosen and work with the material you have in front of you. Some lovely quotes in there, about anarchy and resistance, to social structures, the desire for industry to make us swallow their perfect world and constant 'progress', the idea of taking an instrument to the limits of its resistance, working with and against technology, and that emotion arrives because there is a certain resistance.
what doesn't kill you makes you stranger. (intentional mis-quote alert)

reading umpteenth review of little fish and interview with cate blanchett for the week in todays metro - talking about the idea of making a story universal, she says:
'in order to strike a universal chord, a story needs to be profoundly personal and specific. The observation needs to be true... you cannot set out with a charter to be all things to all people. So you can't measure the journey compared to all the ocean liners that are out there'.

indeed. I feel like I'm in a rickety old aluminium rowboat trying to navigate my way across this immense ocean and all these people keep trying to climb on board, thinking it's some kind of glamorous fully appointed luxury yacht. all I'm doing is staying afloat right now, the if you're on board with me then grab a bucket and help bail out water.

Sunday, September 4, 2005

3:35 PM
Posted by jodi rose

falling down like love...

again

or to quote tom waits:

falling in love is easy it's standing up that's so hard to do

Thursday, September 1, 2005

3:44 PM
Posted by jodi rose

still stumbling through the arduous process of editing interviews.
trying to make the program engaging and intriguing, not heavy with too much information, but leave gaps for people to find their own meanings. going a little spare. the magical elaboration of our sonic environment.

debut performance tonight as one half of boxed set, with the very fabulous ms sarah waterson, who has been slaving over a hot max patch for days now.

refined bridge instrument design to include revolving mirror ball - don't think I've been taking it silly enough. it's my bridge and I'll dance if I want to.

eternal gratitude again to the australia council for the arts, who in their infinite wisdom have approved funding for the bridge guard residency and trip to ljubljana for break 2.3 festival. yay ozco.

no more words they're all too disturbed. must practice for tonight.