audio in the snow: Trimpin hits WKU

With documentary, it never happens the way you imagine.

It's been 25 years and a lot of miles since I've driven through the Southland. 16mm and Steenbecks have been swapped out for HD and Final Cut. Doc classes that once read Margaret Mead now screen Michael Moore. In the hills, pot likker stills bump shoulders with meth labs.

As Minnie Pearl would say: I'm just proud to be here.

Driving north out of Nashville (Pontiac = good stereo system), I expected maybe some cold Kentucky rain and verdant hills, but got hit in the face with Winter Wonderland.

After playing tag with the big rigs through the flurries on I-65, sat down to a convivial dinner with Profs. Steve White (a fellow grizzled veteran), Ron Demarse (who valiantly led his students through a six-week feature shoot), and Marjorie Yambor (a hip media prof with a soft spot for baby elephants). Afterwards, we stumbled outside to find everything from the Steak n Shake and the Starbucks to the Shoneys blanketed. Ron and I dug out the Pontiac and skidded to the screening.

There's always competition for eyeballs. Tonight, not only a blizzard, but WKU b'ball. Still, a surprisingly large audience for the film. A flatteringly lengthy and incisive Q+A, topped off by a nostalgic tour through a roomful of ancient black 16mm equipment.

The next morning, more snow; morning film class is cancelled. So I head south to Vanderbilt.