Tom Trabert's Blues

"Tom Trabert's Blues," "I Wish I Was in New Orleans," and "Pasties and a G-string," with vocals and piano by Tom Waits, all come from his l976 album "Small Change" (Elektra/Asylum Records). We call the three "A Visual Harmony with Tom Waits " ("we" to come).

Hearing Tom Trabert's echos of "Waltzing Matilta" on a jutebox in Iowa City in 1990, the seed took immediately as did the blossom of book, slide show, photography and voice sequence. The parts and whole were designed in Glen's head over a year of birdwatching and many attentive sessions on all aspects of photography with Roger Christensen, owner of University Camera and friend of 40-years. All three books, before binding, were photographed with a Canon Rebel G macro lens.

There is not enough space to overview the versions and progress and sequencing of each book and certainly the cost of thousands of slides. Glen will stress the multimedia input.

First, it must be understood these DVD's are not for sale: they do reside in libraries, special collections, art departments; have been used in calligraphy workshops, conferences, performance art, entertainment, inspiration and multimedia education and possibility.

Until 2003, the three songs were slide shows; Glen needed to be there do forward the slides in unison with the CD boom-box lyrics. After several attempts with computer-friendlies to make Pinocchio flesh, John Richard, just another Iowa City genius (who, ironically, worked for and was introduced to Glen by Roger at Uni Camera), saw the Trabert once, filmed the slide show in the basement of the camera store and a week later showed a stunned Glen a non-edited motion picture. They worked a month together on resequencing and John another few months on producing what is seen above: the fades, zooms, montage, subtle curvatures: where Glen, through experimentation, found _his_ "angle" by holding a page, bending it slightly, and focusing on a word or phrase, allowed the background to blur, John was able to do this on one page. He did the same with "New Orleans." (One comment on youtube.com cried at the post Katrina lament although the piece was finished long before).

Another multimedia, almost optical illusion, and demarcation from the DVD's was in the bookbinding and it's size. All three travelled around the country and were a part of the Friday night lectures prior to weekend workshops. The lectures were open to all and in the larger cities audiences sometimes numbered between 2-300 and auditoriums had screens as large as movie theatres. It was puzzling and awsome to see the original Reader's Digest size of Pasties, and Newsweek size of Tom Trabert and New Orleans.

"I Wish I Was in New Orleans" and the 1st of the two "Pasties" were bound by then Head of Conservation at the University of Iowa, Pamela Spitzmueller. Pam is now Professor Emeritus of Conservation at Harvard. The 2nd "Pasties" was bound by then Director of the Fine Press at the UI Center for the Book, Shari Degraw. Shari is now (and always was) publisher of The Empyrean Press. The UICB, like the Chicago Cubs, holds the record for letting go more hall-of-famer's than any other team in the majors. It is Shari's "Pasties" seen here. It is also featured in the 2003 Letter Arts Review, center stage at the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts. You will notice Walmart tablet paper. The background, BTW, is the ballpoint text enlarged 100 times.

Works in progress are "Jitterbug Boy" (Tom Waits) and "You Need Hands" (The Sex Pistols).