Trumpet vines and me, we have this love/hate thing.

Long ago, we’d planted one on the side of the deck that had a tall section of lattice. For several years its skinny tendrils wound their way up and sideways, first gracefully through the two-by-two-inch spaces of the fencing, then aggressively through any crack it could find. The vine’s label (yes, I saved it) showed the color of the blooms as red. We didn’t see flowers for about seven years, but with the thick green privacy fence it created, we were OK with a blooming dud. When a few finally appeared, they were the color of vintage peach flavored Necco wafers, but with a hue more like one you’d find under the couch, decades after the kid’s party. Even duller peachy. Not red.

My main motivation for the image above was to make a picture with some production value, and finally put that damned trumpet vine to work (early July, before the wishy-washy). I thought my ol’ pal singer-songwriter, graphic designer, and born raconteur Bruce Hanson would be the perfect subject for this venture (do check out his band Fellaheen,“a lyrical mix of sit-down alt rock ’n’ roll, scratchy blues, Americana-rama, and downbeat jazz informed with a murky existential wit.”).

 Point of departure: musician Bruce Hanson times three (or four) - with smoke. Not a lot of creative planning ahead on my part, mostly logistics and picking a team. It was seat o’ the pants playtime (just like the 60s I’ve heard), and the result was all about collaboration – Will Landin and Ed Stevens switching roles between rigging lights, wielding a finicky smoke machine, and exchanging wise-cracks with yours truly and our fearless subject. It was a blast.

Our artist brought a ton of props, as expected, and suggested a shot of himself tangled up in XLR cable. Boom, that was easy! We tried a few options with guitar up front, but settled on making him a literal prisoner of his art. To that point, Bruce also suffered for his art, recalling recently, “the main thing I remember from the backyard shoot is the strange metallic taste that remained in my mouth (and ears) for a few days afterwards. I’m assuming it was from that stuff that got poured into the smoke machine.”  

I’m sure glad the metal taste didn’t linger. Nonetheless, how did he not fall over?

 My back yard was the location for a couple of Fellaheen’s music videos, including “Always on the Way” on the Fellaheen Showcase on my Vimeo page.

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