Good Hour’s Shooting, All Along the Watchtower

Yesterday was a wild ride. A true galloping adventure. Just as example of my circular and zig-zag existence:

• Mountain View
• Sunnyvale
• San Jose
• Los Altos
• Sunnyvale (again)
• Mountain View (again)
• Sunnyvale (thrice)
• Cupertino
• Sunnyvale (forth time’s a charm?)
• Mountain View (again)

I think I missed at least one more Mountain View and back to Sunnyvale trip.

Franklin and Phong saved a dog.

I saved someone’s life-long possessions.

Harshi and I sang “All Along the Watchtower” at the top of our lungs.

We all had Mexican food and ice cream.

We saved some of the best moments for the last of the daylight.

Franklin drained his car battery and needed a jump.

I drained my iPhone and left it that way until today.

We all expended a lot of energy.

A poor dog, now dubbed Carnelian, or Autumn, or Autumn Carnelian or some such, is now a checked-in patient right now. We were not responsible to the harm the dog suffered, and Franklin and Phong did their best to get him all the care he deserved. We hope and pray the poor pup is recuperating well this morning. Franklin has photos and can say more about what happened.

When all was said and done, the “afternoon” shoot in Rengstorff Park really turned into one hour of guerrilla footage-taking. The only thing held hostage was Franklin’s car battery, which required a pair of jumper cables to ransom back to freedom and life.

No park squirrels were harmed in the making of this film.

The shoot itself was rather magical to me. Odd, quirky. We were all a bit manic and yet utterly possessed by the Muses yesterday. Our work could be seen as an outsider as overwrought, wretched and wacky, or it could be entirely inspired and sublime.

I read aloud from Sir Gawaine & the Green Knight in Rengstorff Park the day following the Autumnal Equinox on my 44th Birthday. The first full day of Autumn. The green leaves grew all around, all around, the green leaves grew all around. You can hardly get more mystical than that.

In modern English, I got to explain who I was and what I do. How I hope I saved the olive tree. We showed how a “dead tree” was still alive. Harshi was telling me off like a wild sun-addled Marathi. We walked across a sunny glade as children played soccer all around us. We came to rest on a stone, the throne of the Fisher King. We made Harshi the Grail Knight, and then the new Grail King. My job done, I wandered off into the sunset. Cut! Then a secret ritual, a ceremonial scene witnessed only between Franklin and Harshi. And of course whatever divine power you believe in, and the squirrels.

I just got a call from the Park Ranger there. I left my backpack in the confusion. But the good people of the world are watching out for us. Just as Franklin and I looked out after a dog and a woman in Maryland.

Jimi Hendrix was on to something. Actually, Bob Dylan. All Along the Watchtower.

“There must be some kind of way out of here
Said the joker to the thief
There’s too much confusion
I can’t get no relief...”

Confused. Yet, oddly, quite relieving actually. A very refreshing day.

It was a pretty cool day, even though it was pretty hot. You know?