bilateral kellerberrin

May 28, 2005

Kellerberrin Saturday 28 May 2005

Filed under: keller dailies — Lucas @ 9:32 am

Here we are, at the start of the last day of the residency. It’s a day just like any of the other days since April 6th. The difference, obviously, is that today at 4pm our exhibition will open. But that is just another event in a period which has been filled with events. There are lots of things to do before 4pm. But there will be no stressing. There will be no worrying, and there will be no racing around like an idiot to try and get everything “finished”. There will only be taking on each task, one at a time, until the tasks, or the time, runs out.

And then there will be further things that happen, but I know what they are yet.

Yesterday I woke early. Yesterday I was worried. I had not yet completed the “template” for the book version of this blog, and I had a deadline: the Pipeline office at the Telecentre closes at 4.30pm.

We had a marvellous breakfast, Louise and Anne and I: eggs, toast, coffee, and some lentil pasties that they had picked up from the fantastic Pie Shop in Baker’s Hill. It’s just on the Perth side of Northam, and I thoroughly recommend it. They’ve got so many different types of pies and pasties, lots of vegetarian ones too.

By the time I grappled with the layout in that programme-I-must-use-and-which-I-hate-with-a -passion-but-will-not-mention-by-name, it was after 2pm. I took my bundle of master pages down to the Telecentre for some photocopying action. The process was slower than I had expected. I had 88 original pages, and each of them had to be printed 120 times. That makes 10560 individual copies, although halve that for the number of pieces of paper, since they’re printed front and back. Assuming the machine can do 120 pages in a minute, I calculated that, not including “faffing time” between pages, the job would take at least 88 minutes. But in fact it took nearly four hours.

Around 4pm, I began to get worried I was going to get kicked out. I sidled up to the Telecentre lady to see what could be done. I used my special voice for these kinds of operations. It’s a kind of nervous, self-deprecating, “silly me I’ve left things a bit late” voice. She didn’t bat an eyelid. “Oh don’t worry, we’ll get Frank to come down here and sit with you,” she said.

Thank goodness for Frank. He’s one of the Pipeline regulars – he’s been the staple man on the assembly for the last two editions. Frank arrived around 4.30 and I made my apologies. Ah no worries, he said, you’ve got to get it done, right? Either you finish it now or I’d have to come and open up for you tomorrow morning.

Now that is a “can-do” attitude if ever I heard one. I told him that in Sydney I would have been kicked out on the sidewalk bang on closing time. He sat and read a book while I fed the machine more paper.

Pauline came by at a certain point to see how she could help. There was no way I could see that two people would speed up the process, but I asked if she could take the boxes of pages I’d already finished back to the gallery.

Anne and Louise called me from the Cinema around sunset. They wanted me to come down and check out just how beautiful the light was in the room at this time. They were excited, and wanted me to see it too. I was sorry to miss out on that, but by now I was a slave to the machine. I had to copy til there were no more pages…

I lugged my final boxes to the pub for a well earned beer. Soon after, Kit and Eileen came in and sat at the bar next to us. Eileen said that her parents had once owned the cinema in Kellerberrin. They were a young couple who took on the “Regent Cinema” as a venture. The family lived upstairs in the flat, until Eileen was about six. This was very exciting news. Louise had been asking about the history of the cinema, and wanted to go see if the council archives had anything on it. But here we had living history, sitting right next to us at the pub.

Eileen and Kit live 28 km north of Keller. Kit said he hardly ever comes to town, but Eileen, who has a job at Dryandra, is down here a lot these days. She also comes to town in her capacity as a shire councillor. She told me she liked the “rehang” of the photos in the council chambers very much. I was pleased to hear that, as I’d had no feedback for about two weeks on that job.

Louise had some luck meeting Mick Cole in the pub. They talked about super 8 projectors. He said he would dig out his old Eumig for her today, and also put her in touch with a friend of his, Ben, for another machine. Louise is putting together a multiple-loop projection piece for the foyer of the cinema.

I also saw Zed in the pub. She’d been down in Perth last Saturday, which is why I hadn’t seen her then. She looked pleased to see me, and was sad that I’m leaving on Sunday. I said I couldn’t believe it either. It’s true. I don’t want to go yet.

I told Zed that someone was a bit worried that she might not like what I’d written after our meeting in the pub two weeks before. I wanted to bring it up with her now, rather than have her angry about it later, after I had left. Why, what exactly did you write? she asked, looking alarmed. I explained about all the stuff to do with her winning Jag the Joker and giving some money to her daughter, and the thing about her daughter “having nothing.” No, she won’t like it, Zed said. Her husband works very hard and they have three kids. But it is true that they’ve got no extra cash to throw around.

So it seems I won’t be run out of town for my indiscretion.

I gave my Jag the Joker tickets to Felena and went down to the cinema to see how our hazer machine was going. A beautiful fine mist had filled the room. It was perfect. Pauline and Tasma arrived and shared our moment of excitement as we put a test film through the xenon projector. It’s going to be great.

4 Responses to “Kellerberrin Saturday 28 May 2005”

  1. Jono Says:

    I figured that someone should leave a comment on the actual day (and at the exhibition itself).

    Having spent a few years attending your arty stuff, I have a feel for your “interactive” exhibitions. It’s entertaining watching more timid people afraid to type on your big typewriter reels or comment on your site.

    I especially like the way your interactive “put together your own blog hardcopy” was a timesaver on your part… what a coinicidence…

    at any rate i may miss the movie if i don’t stop soon!

    Good job, Filthy Lucre…

    -J

  2. Pippa Says:

    Dear Uncle Lucas,

    Thank you for the day i had with you.

    hjhbjbhjhjjhoe e e e e ee ee e e eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

    hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

    pqghgu

  3. joseph Says:

    ,xxxzm

  4. Kit & Eieen Leake Says:

    Hi Lucas
    Have spent the week reading your hard copy blog and have found it very enjoyable. So some comments….
    I have no time for people who choose to be on the dole but I sort of forgive you because you seem a nice chap! I think it’s a mind set, that I have worked very hard for my money and have paid too much tax to finance someone to sit on their rear end.
    You need to know that stubble burning is “BAD” the soil should always be covered to protect it from the elements. The stubble becomes organic carbon in the soil which the soil is very short of. The stubble retention conserves moisture and protects new seedlings from harsh conditions. Farmers burn because their machinery can’t handle stubble, there are many ways to solve that and they burn for weed control, but there are ways to solve that too, so when I see a burnt paddock I feel sad.
    I hope your Monday night film release happened ok and that we meet again one day soon. Perhaps you could come back to the next exhibition opening and show your film then.
    Regards Kit

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