HOW THE COOLER GOT BUILT

The IN THE COOLER project started with Robert Marchand. Some years ago, he called me and said: "do you have any old poetry lying around? Something you can record? It would be cool to try something in the style of LEONARD LIGHT MY CIGARETTE!"

That film was made 13 years ago. The spoken word vibe it came out of (for me, anyway) ran its course in 2000. But Robert is a friend and an artist and I trust him, so despite my reluctance to go over old ground, I dug up a few poems from the same period and recorded myself reading them in my home studio. I sent the resulting mp3s to Bob by e-mail.

Then, at the beginning of this year, he sent me a recording of the IN THE COOLER poem set to music. What I heard sounded fresh and fun and interesting. Coming across your own work years and years after you committed it to paper, and re-interpreted in another way, is a wonderful experience. The track was full of new life, and it seemed relevant to me, this work by a younger stranger now being heard through older ears.

On impulse, I invited my friend Jesko to add his voice to a more finished track when he was visiting from Berlin in February. I attach a film of the recording process for your study hours.

From there, I sent the track to Jacob, inviting him into the process. I thought there might be a film there. He came up with a great treatment, and I said: "I think we should submit this to Bravo!FACT."

We put together some extra financing, and now here we are, getting the project ready.