Have you seen the “Manbird” video? We’s sooooo pleased, innit! And it was great fun to make. Took a long time, with us working in small stages over about a year. Julia VBH built the nest last summer, but I remember when we did the first filming with it, out on the deck here on the Farm, it was COLD! Hours freezing in a nest outdoors, with only LED lights for warmth. Months rolled, and I was back to Berlin for a while. Between the pandemic locking us down just as I returned to California and my passport being sent off for renewal in such uncertain postal times, there wasn’t much else to do but get stuck in and finish the vid. A September album launch and a suddenly-minded publicist helped knock us into Action Mode. This included several trips to Sacramento, Julia filming out the car window as I drove us around various bits of town significant to me. The only image of Berlin at all in this film is a still photo I took of Landwehr Canal. I figured there’d be as much Berlin, and maybe bits of Spain and England in the video, but Sacramento won the coin toss. Sacramento and Auburn, though the latter is represented by a basement, a green screen and a Hagstrom, mostly.
Speaking of Sacramento, funny how nice Immaculate Conception church looks – we had nothing but sunny days when we filmed. I always think of I.C. as dreary and dark. That’s probably still how it looks and feels from the inside! Weird or not, but my 4th grade teacher caught the “Manbird” video on FB and said she liked it. When Sierra School (now Sierra 2) closed, I had the choice of another nearby public school or catholic school. I’d been assured that at the public school, as an invading Sierra kid, I’d get beat up every day. Meanwhile, my dad promised I wouldn’t have to go to church on Sundays any more if I attended classes at Immaculate Conception, as there’d be weekly mass “as part of the deal.” Not sure who I’m quoting, but, stupidly, I chose Door No. 2 and was a catholic schoolboy for the next 8 years of my life. I survived and here we are now! Manbird!