Glenn Kubish

There are gaps in my pop culture knowledge, and, until last weekend, American Graffiti was one of them. But, I finally saw it. We watched it in a big tent in the quad at the University of Alberta's homecoming weekend. What has stayed with me, other than the blonde in the T-Bird, was how the cars were as much the characters as were Dreyfuss, Howard, Ford, Williams. The grilles got a lot of looks. The headlights became eyes. The hoods were heads. George Lucas's camera shots and lighting brought out the personalities in the cars. There were even a couple of killer effective scenes where the camera gave us two cars side-by-side while we heard the disembodied voices of the human drivers talking back and forth to each other. The magical effect brought the cars to life, replacing their usual voices -- horn, engine, brakes, tires -- with the human versions. Cars fascinate me. Not like they fascinate my dad, mind you,  or, for that matter,  the dudes in grade 12 who knew everyt...

If I could write a song, I would write it about driving Highway 2 between Edmonton and Calgary. It's got it all: changing landscapes, big sky, destination, home, going, returning, pavement, signs, weather, memory, longing. But I don't write songs. What I do enjoy doing, though, is making movies/on location. That keeps the cost down. What I see is the video, what I hear on the radio is the audio. I look for unexpected harmony as they combine. We drove back from Calgary yesterday afternoon. As I woke up from a quick nap and opened my eyes to the highway vista, I heard on CKUA a Woody Guthrie song sung and put to music by Jay Farrar. It's a beautiful song. Don't let anything knock your props out from under you/ Always keep your mind clear/ Let your plans come out of mistakes. The audio was added later, and I have to steady the shot, but it's a fun, little project that makes you appreciate art seen and heard. We miss so much that we see and hear the firs...