If I slept two or three restless hours on the night of
Sunday, March 4, 2018, I don’t remember. All sorts of unsettling scenarios kept
nagging me every time I began to drift—nobody would show up, the historic windstorm
would double back, I would improbably fail my partners Emily and Erich with
some horrendous oversight—until I threw myself out of bed at daybreak and began
hoofing toward the Capital Fringe Trinidad Theatre in Washington’s H Street
Corridor. I carried in my backpack what any good co-producer would carry: a couple
of four-terabyte hard drives and ten home-made (hand-crafted!) sandwiches.
A little back-story: After reading my research-post on the
song “Li’l Liza Jane,” Emily Cohen contacted me last July. She and I had
collaborated on several earlier projects, but hadn’t spoken in a couple years. We
both declared that we required something else in our lives, something bigger than
ourselves. After a typical Emily-Dan conversation (okay: sometimes we quarrel, we’ve had
some classic donnybrooks, but it’s very productive!) we decided to embark upon
a documentary film project. We would call it Li’l Liza Jane: A Movie About A Song. Around Thanksgiving, the luminary
cinematographer Erich Roland joined the team as Director of Photography and we began
planning the production of a fundraising trailer. In time, we settled on the
Trinidad Theatre space and the date, March 5th. Everything would happen there
and then.
A couple days before my night of tossing and turning, a
severe windstorm with hurricane-force gusts pummeled the D.C. area, upending
trees and power lines. It spared the Trinidad Theatre, however, and it spared Emily,
who lives in Wyoming, and who made it to D.C. after enduring a few frustrating air-travel delays. The crew—including Andrew Capino (Assistant Camera) and
Lenny Schmitz (Sound Engineer)—had already begun to load-in a copious amount of
gear when I arrived. Emily and her personal assistant (her father Mike) arrived
with coffee. Our featured musician Phil Wiggins brought a bag of thirty harmonicas to the filming session.
Our featured interviewees Faye Moskowitz, Bobby Hill, and Elena Day appeared,
and all four of our people-to-be-filmed brought their A games. So did the fabulous
Capital Fringe staffer, David Carter, who assisted us throughout the
day.
Phil kept a harmonica in each hand and played both interchangeably
as he cycled through his stirring rendition of “Li’l
Liza Jane” again and again. Faye surprised us not only by singing, but singing “Liza Jane”
lyrics that nobody had ever heard before. Bobby emphasized that African
American people didn’t always have a chance to describe their plight, and so,
told their stories in song. Elena emphasized that, at the heart of “Li’l Liza
Jane,” stands an independent woman who would be an impressive person, now, during
an era when women are empowering themselves. As opposed to the worst happening
(as when I panicked, sleepless) the best had happened, instead. Each person put
her or his stamp on the session.
Check out our trailer [click here] if you haven’t done so
already. The amount of effort and professionalism on display speaks to the great
affection we have for music, for one another, and for the support of a good
cause. The full story of America’s favorite poor gal, Li’l Liza Jane, will be
told, and with any luck, this trailer will be helpful in attracting funders
to the project. Emily and I will be following every lead, tirelessly, in the
days to come. By doing so, and by eventually endowing the film with adequate
resources, we hope to reward the trust of all the crew members and interviewees
who helped us to create this preview. Notably, we want to think of the men and
women—dating back nearly 200 years, enslaved people and hardscrabble fiddlers alike—who recited some
of the original versions of the tune, as well as Li’l Liza Jane herself. . . .
.whoever, and how many different women, she may be.
Trailer Day Trivia
Varieties of sandwiches: 3
Renditions of “Li’l Liza Jane”: 2
Number of fog machines: 1
Crew members: 5
Crew members: 5
Number of temple oranges: 7
Cans of sparkling “Refreshe”: 12
Number of microphones: 3
Cans of sparkling “Refreshe”: 12
Number of microphones: 3
Guide to the Photographs
1. Phil Wiggins
2. Emily Cohen, Erich Roland, Andrew Capino, and
Phil Wiggins
3. Faye Moskowitz
4. Tape
5. Elena Day
6. Bobby Hill and crew
7. Emily Cohen and Dan Gutstein
Still photography by Mike Cohen
(1, 3, 4, 5, 6) and Dan Gutstein (2, 7)
6 comments:
Yes!
Agreed!
--B.A.
What an amazing project; what a fine start!
Thanks for the kind words, Ted!
--B.A.
wow. great job Dan. can't wait to see this! glad to hear your co-director lives in WY. serious guts to live (or come from) there.
G
Thanks, Gerald. I really appreciate it. I know that you hail from Wyo., Sir. It's obviously a gutsy, inspirational place with much natural beauty. ----B.A.
Post a Comment