Monty & Marsha Brown/La Cahoots Productions

Notes from Scotland

2012-01-26T08:50:00.000-08:00

I am sitting on a "Weak Bridge", a little old stone bridge just below Gartmore next to my campground in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, north of Glasgow. The weak bridge doesn't seem to be in danger of imminent collapse, nor is it likely that there'll be a construction team coming along to shore it up any time soon. It's just to let you know that if the bridge were to collapse with you on it, you'd been warned. I've run across several of them in my trip from south west England through the Lake District to this relatively wild area of this heavily populated island. It's amazing how much open space there is here.

The campground charged me almost 12 pounds ($24) which is double the rate I'd been expecting, but they are busy with lots of families and young people and it is Saturday night. And there doesn't seem to be any choice so I've set up my little tent and pumped up my air mattress and spent the night. Before I climbed into my cosy nest last night I drove over to the shores of Loch Lomond to shoot some material which will be accompanied by my rendition of the old favorite, "The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond."

Narration: Live or Recorded?

2011-06-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

In the Travel Film business, we have agonized for years over the question of how to present the narration to a film we've shot and edited. To narrate live or to prerecord? That is the question.

I’m pretty sure we’ve each decided which way to go by now, so why are we still discussing it?

Some of us seem to feel that the future of our little industry depends on resolving the question one way or another.

If you’re pro-recorded you feel that the product will be slicker and closer to technical perfection; therefore the audience will perceive its superiority, free from embarrassing glitches and goof-ups. You also probably feel that you are a much better film maker than the bumbling fools who read, improvise, or otherwise speak out loud while standing unobserved in a darkened auditorium.
If you are pro-live you feel that you are being true to the basic tenets of the industry, which calls for personal appearances by world travelers recounting their adventures first hand. You probably feel that you provide a much better evening’s entertainment than the lazy shites who travel around the country playing DVDs while hiding backstage in a darkened auditorium.
If you are pro-choice you do your thing and you don’t really care what anyone else does as long as they don’t affect what you do.

There has been much talk about the “live” aspect: the pro-recorded people have decided that as long as the film maker is actually there, at the showing, it’s ”live.” He/she is there to introduce the film and to answer questions and therefore the experience becomes more than just going to the movies and can be called “live.”

Let’s face it: we’re dealing with films here so the concept of “live” will always be a bit dodgy. You can’t make an exact analogy to a rock concert, for instance, where the Rolling Stones turn up but then proceed to play some of their CDs for the audience. But it’s a thought.

I suggest that if you make an 80-minute travel film organized into two parts, with an intro at the beginning, an appearance on stage in the middle, and a meet-and-greet at the end, you are doing pretty much what the audience has come to expect. Does it matter, after the lights go down, whether you hide somewhere and wait for the lights to come up again; whether you give a dramatic reading of your script from the podium; or whether you speak your narration off the cuff or from total recall?

I mention the “dramatic reading” because that’s what I do and I’ve heard occasional negative remarks, over the years, about readers. I read because I have written a complex and literate script to go with my chosen images and I have no intention of trying to remember all the clever stuff I’ve put in there. Besides, reading is a perfectly honorable activity: think poetry readings or authors giving readings of their works.

While I’m on the subject of presentation I would also like to add that I enjoy reading the narration; I can’t see myself traveling all over the country just to give brief introductions and stand at the sale table night after night. The narration is a nightly challenge where I strive to improve time after time.

That said, if we’re going to continue advertising our work as “live,” I think we need to think of ways to show the audience that we are there.

Modern Tech

2011-06-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

When I started out on the Travel Film road less than a decade ago, we used a big
Rand-McNally Atlas to find our way, and when we needed to phone somebody, we
looked for a pay phone booth. Sometimes I make diary-like notations in various
notebooks that we have lying around, and this morning, I ran across the
following entry from last Fall. You probably have to be of a certain age to
appreciate this.

"We're driving north on I-75 in Ohio, a sunny day, when our cell phone indicates
there's a Text message. It's from my brother in Australia asking me about my
bank's routing number. He says I can e-mail him back. Our GPS indicates there's
a Panera Bread (Cafe) at the next exit, so we leave the interstate and pull up
beside Panera. I get my lap top out and go online using Panera's free Wi-Fi. I
e-mail my brother the information he wants and simultaneously download an e-mail
from our daughter in Louisiana. (She's dog-sitting for us.) The e-mail is a
photograph of our dog, Jake, taken with, and sent from, her i-Phone. Jake is
blissfully asleep on her couch. He's obviously stressed that we abandoned him.
"We get back on the interstate and follow the instructions of our GPS which
leads us to an address in Bowling Green we'd never been to before. Marsha says,
'Beam me up, Scotty.'"

Of course it would have been simpler if we'd had our own i-Phone.

Birthday Blues

2010-10-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

Me with the watercolour of the Buttercross which was a birthday gift from Fiona & Gerald.

Marsha on the London Eye. The "Flight" was a birthday gift from my beautiful niece, Gemma.

It's the day after my 70th birthday. Marsha and I are in London, staying with Justine (see Beauty Skool blog) and waiting for a visit from Thomas, Sylvie and Ad ele from Paris. Last evening, my actual birthday dinner was served at my sister Fiona's with her husband Gerald cooking the lamb and various veggies, including my requested Brussels sprouts. They gave me a gift of a watercolor of the Butter Cross in Tickhill, specially commissioned. Tickhill, near Doncaster, is my old home village from 1940 to 1947. I don't really have the blues. It's good to be 70. Alice was there, too, (our niece) who studied Japanese and lately landed a job on the basis of that.

First Convention (This should've come first.)

2010-08-05T08:10:00.000-07:00

Marsha and I attended our first Travel Film Convention in Tampa, Florida, almost ten years ago, at the invitation of Dale Johnson and Sandy Mortimer. At the time, we had not made a film of any kind, but we were in the habit of traveling to France and Great Britain every summer to play music. We had the “Travel” part covered. Dale and Sandy seemed to think that, with our backgrounds, once we had the right camera we’d fit right in, and the business needed new producers.

At the convention we watched wide-eyed as seasoned filmmakers paraded their wares at the Preview sessions. We played music at the banquet which gave us the opportunity to be noticed.

On the third day, as the convention was winding down, we chatted with Craig and Kathleen Myers over lunch. They had enjoyed our music and seemed to feel an instant rapport with us. Craig advised us to take someone else’s film on the road — for a nominal fee — to give ourselves a bit of experience, as it might be years before we would complete our own film and convince some venues to show it.

In a cruel stroke of fate, Craig died unexpectedly a few days later (it was early December), and by February we were on the road hosting Craig’s two films, working with Windoes to stand in and fufill his schedule. Craig was in his early 40’s and perhaps the youngest full time filmmaker in our business at the time. His death was a shock and a tragedy.

The following summer we went to France specifically to make a Travel Film. During the tour with Craig’s films, I was confident (or foolhardy) enough to have arranged two independent showings of our film, “La Belle France,” before we had shot any digital tape whatsoever. I trusted that my experience with the BBC and later editing sound tape at NPR, as well as taping interviews for Louisiana Folklife, would be helpful in my new metier.

At the next Convention, in St. Louis, we previewed “La Belle France,” started to get bookings, and have since gone on to produce five more films for the Travel market. We’ll be previewing our latest, “Wales: Land of Song,” in Chicago this September.

I wouldn’t say this is an easy profession and anyone can do it, but with a little bit of talent and a lot of work and dedication, it can be done. And when you have a happy audience giving you compliments as they leave the performance, it all seems worth it. All the better if they have one or two newly purchased DVDs in hand!

We like to think Dale and Sandy were right about our potential. We thank them and the many others who gave advice, helped, took us in and made us feel welcome in this amazing world of sharing moving pictures.

We look forward to the upcoming Chicago Convention, an opportunity to mingle with the ‘old hands’ in the business and welcome new interests, talk to agents and presenters, and see previews of the upcoming films.

Come join us!

Changing Times

2010-08-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

“The Times They Are A-Changin,’” sang Bob Dylan back in the 1960’s: he could have been referring to the Travel Film business just as much as anything else. In the last 50 years a great deal has changed in our little world, none of it more rapidly than during the last decade.

In the last episode of TAC Online, I wrote about Marsha and I attending our first Travel Film Convention, in Tampa, Florida. That was ten years ago and it was all new to us. But even then, it wasn’t what it used to be.

In December, 2000, we had never made a film. In fact we still haven’t made a “film,” as such, because, well, times have changed. Most of the Travel producers prided themselves on being film makers, extolling the virtues of 16 mm and firmly proclaiming that they would never switch to DV. The difference in quality was just too great, they said.

Remember the space three or four films would take up in your vehicle. A big round can for each reel, two reels for each film, the old Bell & Howell projector (and perhaps a spare), sound equipment, dress suits, tuxedo. But the times they were a-changing and Digital Video (DV) came in so quickly it made your head spin. Now you can carry your films in a pocket.

For us, there was never a question of working in film. We had been advised by our mentors, Sandy Mortimer and Dale Johnson, that it was economically feasible and entirely possible to make programs on DV, and since we traveled to Europe each year to play music, we should invest in a camera and record our expeditions. Neither Dale nor Sandy had a digital camera at the time, so we sought the advice of video pioneer Hal McClure.

Once we had the footage we would worry about editing, and once we’d edited, we would worry about purchasing a projector and other bits of equipment. Then there’d be convincing sponsors to hire us and agents to work with us. Taken one step at a time, we didn’t consider it too daunting.

There were changes going on that had nothing to do with our need to get started, so we ignored them. The Big One was over “live” or recorded narration. I hesitate to even mention it because for some people it’s an ongoing issue. I have my own reasons for clinging to “live” narration but let me state very clearly: I don’t care what anyone else does.

Ten years ago there were lots more venues, of course, and many of them were quite prestigious: the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh spring to mind. Also Dick Walter’s series at the Joslyn Museum in Omaha, and Ken Armstrong’s Golden Gate Geographic Society in San Francisco’s Bay Area. At the Tampa convention I spoke briefly to the man from National Geographic in Washington, DC. He gave me some sort of advice but his show checked out before I could get there.

It’s hard to say where all this is headed; nobody predicted the current technology ten years ago. We made VHS tapes of our first two films, but DVDs elbowed their ay in and will, no doubt, be elbowed out in the future. We can only live in the moment, and the moment dictates that we continue to put on our shows for the audience that still exists. The only thing we can be sure of is that times will continue to change.

Elle s'appele Sabine (Her Name is Sabine)

2010-07-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

Here is a 10 minute introduction to a film by the French film actress Sandrine Bonnaire. It's about her autistic sister, Sabine, who spent perhaps 20 years (too long) being treated with drugs. It seems to be the way we usually treat those of us who are a bit difficult to deal with, but this film shows us the tragic consequences of this kind of neglect. The film uses home movie footage of when Sabine was a young girl and teenager, intercut with contemporary footage of Sabine as overweight, over-medicated adult. Luckily for her, she may be finding a way out, a supportive environment and a chance for an improved existence.

The Robinson Film Center

2010-07-01T07:33:00.000-07:00

Filming at the Old Capitol Building in Baton Rouge:

Event: The Musical Travel Film, "Hello Louisiana," with a Cajun luncheon catered by Abbie Singer's Bistro.

Time: This coming Saturday, July 3rd, at 12 Noon.

Place: Robinson Film Center.

Cost: $14, movie & meal included!

Marsha and I would like to invite you to a special presentation of Cajun food and a mouth-watering Louisiana movie, a loving portrait of the state we love. More information can be gathered from Red River Radio's Area Events page, from the Robinson Film Center's website, or from our space, www.montyandmarsha.com

Ten years ago, while we were playing music in England and France, we got ourselves a digital video camera, a laptop and an editing program, and started making movies about the places we go. Somewhere along the decade we also started gathering moving impressions of our home state, so we could show it to Europeans. "Hello Louisiana," (original title, "Bonjour Louisiane,") is the result. It's been shown on LPB (Public TV), in Europe, Canada, and from coast-to-coast in the USA, but it's never had a proper Louisiana public performance until now. This one is hosted by us, the film makers, Monty and Marsha Brown, with "live" narration and lots of music. And, of course, food.

This is a real bargain: for the same $14 you'd spend at the Robinson on Saturday, for a Cajun buffet, you could go to a movie at the Multiplex and have a coke and a bag of popcorn. Maybe.

See you Saturday

Hollywood on the Bayou

2010-06-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

Hollywood on the Bayou

There we are on the set of “The Great Debaters,” directed by and starring Denzel Washington, produced by Oprah Winfrey and also starring Forest Whitaker. Los Angeles? No, it’s Mansfield, Louisiana, twenty-five miles south of Shreveport, a city which has suddenly become a Hollywood hotbed.

It’s the talk of the town: Kevin Costner has done two films here, “The Guardian” and “Mr. Brooks;” there’s been a Stephen King story about fog (or mist;) Tom Hanks came for “Homeland Security;” Tom Cruise came for wife Katy Holmes who was working with Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah; Samuel L. Jackson was talking to school kids between takes; and Cedric the Entertainer was, uh, entertaining. And according to an NBC News story, “Hollywood stars have been pretty happy here, too, because for some reason the paparazzi can’t seem to find Shreveport on a map.”

What were we doing on the “Great Debaters?” Along with maybe one hundred other locals, we were providing some “background:” populating antique buses and cars; walking up and down sidewalks, entering shops, cafes, hardware and grocery stores; standing on the corner watching all the grips go by. It is not a dignified job and it doesn’t pay well, but for a while you feel like you’re part of something big.

“The Great Debaters,” set in the Depression Era 1935, is the true story of a debate team from all-black Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. They compete in a national debate contest, come up against Harvard, and win. Denzel plays Melvin B. Tolson, the poet-professor who molds the debate team and encourages his students to become real-life proponents of civil rights. Forest Whitaker plays the father of James L. Farmer, Jr., a student who later co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality.

Back on the set: one evening, about six p.m., some dignitaries had arranged a public ceremony in front of the Court House to present Denzel Washington with the keys to the “city” of Mansfield. A goodly crowd gathered. A few youngsters were holding up a twenty foot banner which read “Welcome to Mansfield Great Debaters,” when suddenly from around the corner there was a concerted squealing of the sort one associates with Elvis Presley’s teenage fans. A group of local girls had spotted Denzel.

So it goes. Marsha started the Office of Film and Video here in Shreveport in 1989, and the office continued to do its work long after she had gone to live on the Côte d’Azur and make travel films with me. But it was not until the disaster known as “Katrina” that Shreveport really took off as a filmmakers destination. Practically every film that had been scheduled to be made in New Orleans had to find a new location, while still getting the various tax breaks provided by the State of Louisiana. Shreveport filled the void.

If you think of cypress trees growing in lakes, little old rundown southern towns, decorative ironwork balconies, rows of shotgun houses, oil wells and cotton fields, baptisms in the river, stately plantation homes, think Shreveport, an undiscovered landscape. In fact, think “Hello Louisiana,” our atmospheric travel film about this steamy southern French-fried culture. Hellooo!

“Hollywood on the Bayou” by Monty Brown. Monty and wife Marsha have produced six travel films, the latest of which is “Wales: Land of Song." (2010)

Wales: Land of Song

2009-07-19T09:56:00.001-07:00

Caerphilly Castle. Note the leaning tower, on the right, a result of Parliamentary gunpowder during the mid-17th Century English Civil War.

Marsha and I have begun our filming in Wales. On Sunday, June 14th, we drove from the south of England up to Welshpool, which is a border town in North Central Wales. There are three million Welsh people and 10 million Welsh sheep. Most of the people are on the south coast around Cardiff; most of the sheep are in this more northerly area. We took our first pictures at Powis Castle and then moved westward to a place called Foel (pronounced Voil) where we stayed three days on a 600 acre sheep and cattle farm owned by an amazing woman named Annie Ellis. The female Ben Cartwright of Central Wales.

Monty watching Annie Ellis work.

We got a great start on "Wales: Land of Song", meeting a male-voice choir in rehearsal, a famous Welsh harpist folk singer named Sian James, and a teenage singer of Welsh songs (Annie's niece) all in one fell swoop. All these people speak Welsh to one another. Turns out it's the most live Celtic language today, more alive than Irish, Cornish, Scottish or Breton. Well, we're not sure about Irish, but Welsh is certainly alive and well.

We filmed Border Collies at work in the beautiful hills of Central Wales, and learned a bit about life on the farm. Yesterday we went off to Portmeirion and then Harlech Castle on the coast. Portmeirion is the private folly built by an architect who loved Italian villages on the Mediterranean. It served as the setting for the 1960's cult TV series, "The Prisoner," starring Patrick McGoohan. And I was on a BBC film crew doing a program called "Vendetta," also in the 1960's.

Harlech Castle was one of a string built by Edward I in his campaign to control the Welsh about 800 years ago. Marsha took some pictures: the first two are me at Portmeirion and the third is me at Harlech.

Family History I

2008-12-19T15:49:00.000-08:00

Marsha and I have been shooting video since 1980 and we're always meaning to do something with it (beyond rearranging the cassettes on the shelves and dusting them every few years.) So this is part of the project.
While we lived in France in 1994-95, we had a pretty good video camera which shot in Hi-8. We've actually transferred some of this to digital tape and then edited it into a couple of our travel films, most notably the latest one, "Etched in Stone."
So as we were preparing video from the Chateau in Provence, we noticed some characters appearing here and there; people who came to visit during our year in Provence. John Spotswood, Joan's brother and therefore uncle to some of you, came to visit in January of '95 and stayed for a few days. He was a man of great good humour and we enjoyed his visit immensely. John has passed away since then, (I forget when, but it's been a few years) so if you never met him, these couple of minutes will be your introduction.

Thanksgiving Coming Up

2008-11-18T09:52:00.000-08:00

We have nearly finished our Fall tour. Our last post was from the Deep South, but since then we have surfaced through North Carolina, Virginia — a show at McLean, a suburb of Washington, DC, several shows in Pennsylvania including Grove City and West Chester, our first appearance at Fredonia, NY, and a bunch of Mena's shows in the Northeast.
It was our first excursion to the Union Club in New York City followed by shows in Portland, ME, Concord, NH (Barack Obama was elected President between these two shows) and then Greene, ME, in the north woods. We stayed with Marsha's cousin Gary Salamacha, the owner of Sierra Construction as well as a couple of harness racing horses. We went to see Foreigh Authority run at Bangor, ME. He won!! Then we finished the NE tour at the Harvard Club in Boston, had a meal and an overnight stay at the club.

Deep South

2008-10-10T09:24:00.000-07:00

We are in the Deep South.
Our annual visit to our guitar player friend Brent Sibley in the mountains of mid-Alabama north of Birmingham. Brent has a house surrounded by woods, some of which he has planted himself over the last few years. He is quite isolated from the world and his place is a quiet refuge from the world which is currently obsessed with financial crises. At least it is if you listen to the radio and watch the TV.
We had a showing of our new film, "Etched in Stone: Scotland to Provence," in Huntsville, Alabama, on Tuesday, and the night before that in Crossville, Tennessee, (Fairfield Glade Lions Club). The Crossville gig is at a little old renovated movie theater with comfy new seats. They have a loyal following and a very active Lions Club. In Huntsville, the Kiwanis is equally active and so they get a pretty good crowd, too, and now that they have introduced their own screen, we are not forced to show a dark product on two screens inside the church hall. Huntsville is quite a cosmopolitan place because of the infusion of rocket scientists, I guess.
Wednesday there was a lot of rain. We stayed over in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Huntsville and drove to Brent's place Wednesday afternoon. I spoke to Carl Lowe, and old musician friend from New York who now lives in Arab (pronounced A-Rab.) We'll try to see him on our way up to North Carolina to see Lolita and play a Sunday matinee in Hendersonville, NC.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday will take us from North Carolina, to Tennessee, to North Carolina, and finally to McLean, Virginia, which is on the edge of Washington, DC. Maybe we'll be able to offer some advice to the government. Oh yeah.
Til next time when, hopefully, all will be well.

Summer in Provence

2008-10-04T16:52:00.000-07:00

Marsha and Dany in Charleval, Provence.

Cezanne's Mt. St. Victoire at Aix.

Gaugin: Arles cafe.

Cave discovered by Henri Cosquer beneath a calanque near Marseille. 19,000 year old cave paintings on the walls.

We went back to Provence last summer. It was our first visit for five years, and we should go every year. It was difficult to contend with the death of our great friend and fellow musician, Claude Goldfinger, because he was one of those people who not only has great talent, but is also happy to collaborate. We loved him and lost him, but we have Dany, his widow, who is also a musical talent and a real friend. Claude's music has been in three of our films. Dany is in our latest film, "Etched in Stone: Scotland to Provence." She could be an actress or model.

Filming in England & Scotland

2008-10-03T19:56:00.000-07:00

At left: on the Isle of Inchmahome, Lake of Menteith, the ruins of an Augustinian Priory which once played host to the young (5 year old) Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary stayed a few weeks while the English came dangerously close to Stirling in hopes of capturing Mary and marrying her off to her cousin Edward, son of Henry VIII. Instead, Mary went to France and married the future French king.

It is the summer of 2008 and the dollar has sunk to new lows aginst the euro and the pound. Petrol (gasoline,) is at an all time high and various workers in both England and France are contemplating strikes against the oil companies to protest the exorbitant rise in the price of diesel fuel. Not the best time, perhaps, to be shooting new film in Great Britain and France, but we have a project to finish: “Etched in Stone: Scotland to Provence.”

Marsha is still in Louisiana taking care of some business, but she will join me in London next week and we will go to the south of France together. I have already done some filming in London. Quite by chance I got close to the first rehearsal of the annual “Trooping of the Colour.” The rehearsals are just like the show except the Queen isn’t there. Exiting the parade ground at St. James’s Palace, they follow the Mall to Buckingham Palace. Horse Guards and Cavalry in silver, black and gold. Coldstream and Grenadier Guards strutting their stuff in bright redcoats and bearskins riffling in the breeze.

When I arrived in London at the end of May, the weather was “typically English:” rain and cloud and complaining from every side. Summer had apparently taken place sometime back in April. However, the day I left for Scotland, the weather improved and by the time I reached the Lake District, summer was on its way.

I borrowed a tent, a sleeping bag and an air mattress from my hosts in the south and the first day I drove my rented Peugeot about 350 miles to the Lake District. This was nearly all motorway driving so there was none of that roundabout, stop and go feeling of the lesser British highways. By the time I reached Burns Farm campground it was about 7 p.m. I managed to catch some evening light — it remains light until about 10 p.m. — at the nearby Castlerigg Stone Circle.

Castlerigg dates back about 5000 years. There are three circles of similar size in the Lake District and they became quite popular with visitors in the early 19th Century when Wordsworth, the poet, lived nearby. A custodian informed me that Wordsworth regarded Castlerigg as a tourist trap: he took his visitors to see an alternative circle, Long Meg and Her Daughters.

The weather was in the process of changing that very evening; it delivered one last torrential gasp (luckily I hadn’t pitched my tent yet) and basically cleared up for the next few days. In the morning I arose with the sun and went up to Castlerigg, which was shrouded in an atmospheric morning fog. A mystical aura was created by the stones, and their guardian sheep, outlined in the mist.

The English Lake District is an area of extraordinary beauty, a National Park and a holiday destination for hikers, walkers, campers and poets. I visited the town of Keswick on Derwent Water, Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage, and Copt Howe, a recent (1999) discovery of stone age markings on giant boulders. It seems the markings had been obscured by moss for decades.

Onward to Scotland. I have cousin in Dumfries who offered to feed me and put me up in her guest room for the night while I went off to film in Galloway. Whithorn Priory has a special place in the spiritual history of Scotland, as it, not Iona, is where Christianity was introduced to the Picts and Scots of the 4th Century.

There are also a couple of very impressive ruins of Cistercian Abbeys in this part of the world. There’s the reddish stone of New Abbey, commonly called Sweetheart Abbey, and therein lies a tale. Formally it’s “New” because, although it was built in the 13th Century, there is the older
Dundrennan Abbey nearby.

Dundrennan is most famously known for housing Mary Queen of Scots during her last night in Scotland. She made the fateful decision of throwing herself on the mercy of her cousin Elizabeth I, and for Mary personally it turned out very badly. Of course these “piles of old stones” (in the words of my mother-in-law, bless her) must have a story to give them meaning and drama. Many of my Scottish stones comprise part of the Mary Queen of Scots story.

I have filmed something new, too. The Falkirk Wheel was designed to provide the missing link in the canal system that connects the North Sea to the Irish Sea from Edinburgh to Glasgow. Completed in 2002, the wheel is like a giant carnival ride that takes the place of several locks by swinging barges between the Union and the Firth and Clyde canals.

I had a week on the road, connecting with family and making new acquaintances along the way. I got the car back without scraping into any stone walls with my off-side doors. And if you can overcome the expense, well Europe just seems to get more interesting all the time. And British food is — well, it’s brilliant!

Eric is confused

2008-10-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

*I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight*...
If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're  "exotic, different."Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential  American  story.
If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.
Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well  grounded.
If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years  as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator  representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of  the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs  Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city  council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000  people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people,  then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking  executive.
If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while  raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're  not a real Christian.
If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your  disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a  Christian.
If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including  the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no  other option in sex education in your state's school system while your  unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.
If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city  community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values  don't represent America's.
If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI  conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
OK, much clearer now.

The Children's Tour

2008-10-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

The Children’s Tour

The last week in September is time for the annual Children’s Tour in Natchitoches, Louisiana. The Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches (APHN) sponsors the program which is offered to all third grade classes throughout the Parish. This past September (‘08) there were about 30 participating classes.

They arrive on their buses from all points: Cloutierville, Fairview-Alpha, Marthaville, Provencal, and many schools in the city of Natchitoches itself. There are private schools as well as public. Each class has a list of places to visit, and the schedule has been overseen by Martha Wynn for many years. It was a labor of love for Martha, but she's finally letting it go and leaving it to other APHN ladies.

The classes may start at the Prudhomme-Rouquier House, a big white mansion built of bousillage in the late 18th century; or they may start at the Court House Museum, where last year the creator of the Blue Dog, George Rodrigue, was having an exhibit. This year it was a Cane River Creole exhibit.

They may start with us, down on the stage by the river: we’ll sing them songs of old Louisiana and end with a rousing version of the state song, “You Are My Sunshine.” The program starts at about 8:30 am, Monday to Friday, and runs til about noon when they climb on their buses and head back to their little towns and schools. All a great deal wiser.

Father Serra

2008-05-23T15:14:00.000-07:00

The Father Serra film is about half-finished. When it is complete, the 80-minute travel film will be titled: "The Travels of Father Serra: Majorca to California."
However, we are treating the half we HAVE finished as a complete guide to the California Missions of Father Junipero Serra and aiming to market the DVD to gift shops, bookstores and Serra International.

During our last trip to California, in April, we went to Mission Santa Barbara, "The Queen of Missions," which was the next one begun after the death of Serra. It's almost a Serra Mission. He was there to raise the cross and bless the site, but then there was his controversial relationship with Governor Neve, who probably vetoed the new mission just because he and Father Serra didn't see eye to eye.
Serra said "in my poor judgment this is not a good place for a presidio or a mission," but it is an uncharacteristically negative remark.

Anyway: we have the DVD of "The Missions of Father Serra," (that's the first nine missions) plus two bonus tracks, as we used to say in the music biz: Santa Barbara and Soledad. Well, we will have it next week. It's being mastered and produced at Dale and Sandy Johnson's Trailwood Films in Shelbyville, Kentucky. It's looking good and we just got the covers from the printer in south Shreveport.

May

2008-05-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

We are in Louisiana for a few weeks. Last night we played a party for Joe Thibodeau in Natchitoches. There is no name which is more essentially Cajun than Thibodeau, unless it's Boudreau. Joe has a dog named Boudreau. Of course, Fonteneau is pretty strong, too. And a few others which we won't even get into. Joe had a housewarming at his new place on the rivah, the north bank of the Cane. Or is it the east bank?
We stayed the night with our friend Conna who told us all about the new Natchitoches movie, The Garden Club. It is the work of Bobby W, or Bobby Deblieux, Conna's next door neighbor, and it's premiering next weekend. Should be a great hit. Check it out at Garden Club in our "Friends and Family" list at left.
In the morning, Saturday, we had played music at the Cane River Green market down by the river front in Natchitoches. This is always a great pleasure: there are lots of kids on hand and Marsha has them singing, dancing and playing along on tambourines, spoons, rubboards, ti-fers, or whatever else she has in her bag of tricks.
I will be leaving for England on May 28th and soon after heading for Scotland to film some stuff for our next film, "Etched in Stone: Scotland to Provence." Marsha will be joining me a little later. She will not miss the France part of our travels, and I can't blame her for that. France may be our favorite place.
The one kitten has grown and graduated from the computer drawer. The other kitten disappeared while we were out on tour. We understand it may have been too weak to survive. Amber is pregnant again and may come up with two more kittens. Anybody want this kitten? She's litter box trained and quite adorable.

Golden Gate Geographical Society

2008-04-20T19:05:00.000-07:00

La Manche comes to the Bay Area, San Francisco....
Moulin Huet Bay, Guernsey, the Channel Islands (see picture). Auguste Renoir was here in the 1880's. He painted several canvases on the beach at Moulin Huet Bay, some with families frolicking in the foreground, most with these rocks in the background. Victor Hugo spent 15 years on Guernsey just before Renoir. He wrote "Les Miserables" at his home, Hauteville House. Hugo is famously quoted as saying that the Channel Islands were "fragments of France, dropped into the sea and picked up by England."

We've just checked in to our motel in South San Francisco. We have done the first two shows with Ken and Bettine and their Golden Gate Geographical Society. This is the last of their series. It seems a shame to end it because it still attracts an audience - albeit a predominately aged audience - but who else makes entertainment for this age group? Most of them will be disappointed to have no place to go for their travel films next season.
Ken and Bettine Armstrong have been presenting their series for 34 years and this will be the end of an era. Our show today was at Belmont; yesterday was up by Santa Rosa; tomorrow's will be at Mountain View. Thursday there will be two shows at Moraga, and the finale will take place at Oakland's amazingly ornate picture palace, The Paramount, next Saturday at 2:00 PM. These venues are among the best in the country, known for quality films, excellent sound, professionalism in production and attention to detail; the audiences are well educated and interested in geography and history. In other words, the audience one dreams of when one makes these films: they understand the references and the humor, and they exit saying things like they actually learned something from the presentation. They are open minded and willing to learn. One can only hope that the younger generations will learn enough to be so humble in 50 years time. Dream on; but hope. I think today's young folk may be literate in technology, but ignorant in everything else.
During each of the Golden Gate programs Marsha makes a presentation of appreciation and good wishes to Ken and Bettine on behalf of their peers at TRACS, the Travel Adventure Cinema Society.
Our show is "La Manche/the English Channel." It's literate, colorful, informational, geographical, historical, theatrical and just plain good stuff. We dedicate it to Veterans of WWII.
Check it out: link at left to Traveler Scenes ("Monet in Normandie" is from "La Manche") or go to Monty and Marsha Website for an overview of our work.

Fruits de Mer, St. Peter Port, Guernsey.

Kittens

2008-03-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

We have figured out what the cat, Amber, was going on about. Mewling and yelling at us for the first day or two after our return.
I was sitting in the back yard a few days ago when I spotted Amber heading for the back door carrying something furry in her mouth. I thought, "Oh-oh, she's caught some rodent to present to Marsha." I told Marsha that the cat was trying to bring her something too small to be a rat, to big for a mouse. Perhaps a baby rat. Amber was turned away from the door and so carried her prey back behind some bushes and disappeared.
The next evening she arrived at the front door with a similar offering. Marsha wasn't pleased, initially, but then noticed that the mouthful was, in fact, a kitten. Amber's kitten. She brought it in and trotted over to Marsha's computer desk where she is able to access a deep drawer by coming through the back way. She had been mysteriously preparing this drawer, by tearing up paper in there, for a few days before Marsha departed for Kalamazoo in late February. Now she was using it as her nest. She is a small cat and Marsha wasn't too surprised at the idea of her producing just the one kitten.
However, a while later, Amber requested to go outside again, and when she returned, she was bearing a second kitten. She took it to the nest and now she seems quite contented. She shows up in the kitchen whenever there's any activity there, so she can keep her babies well fed. She apparently has just the two, because it's been a few days now, and no additional kittens.
We haven't named them yet; we've sort of left it up to Ryan and Emily to handle that.

Good Friday

2008-03-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

We arrived back home in Louisiana yesterday, March 20th, and today is Good Friday. It is quite warm and sunny today, the temperature in the high 70's F. Our azaleas are in bloom (LEFT). We don't get to see them every year as our house is a bit like one more stop on our ongoing tour of North America and Western Europe. There is evidence of daffodils and crocuses, the dark green stalks that are left behind after the blooms have fled. I won't mow them for a few days, so when I'm sitting out in the sun I can ponder them. The travelogue tour continues in under three weeks: we'll be off to California around the 8th of April.

The picture of our van is the morning after the snow. We have rinsed the road salt off, though yesterday and the night before it got a good rain-drenching. I went to the car wash this morning where I was accosted by a man speaking some form of Louisiana ebonics, and after I had him repeat it four times I discerned that he said something after the order of: "Too bad I didn't talk to you before you started cuz I woulda did it for yuh." I told him I was OK even though I may have looked like a doddering old fool struggling with a soapy brush and shooting powerful streams of water which kept bouncing back and drenching me in clouds of mist. He obviously wished to make a little coin, but why?, did he think? didn't I take it to the car wash where they do all the work for you? Because I'm also a doddering old miser. And I'm trying to stay alive by getting as much exercise as possible.

Marsha's little grey cat, Amber, has returned, though she is a little nervous about us, since we keep leaving for extended periods of time. Still, we thought that was the deal. She obviously got too attached to a routine during December, and parts of January and February.

We managed to get to Pub Quiz on Tuesday night at Veach's Office Bar in Jackson, Michigan, and our team, the Blarneys, which plays every week whether we are there or not, won with over a ten point margin. It was a major victory, and a distinct team effort.
The distance from Jackson to Bossier City is 1055 miles, so we don't get to Pub Quiz all that often, but when we are in Michigan we try to get there every time we have a free Tuesday. As it happens, last Tuesday was the first one this year.

The night before we had driven down from Oakville, Ontario. the site of our last show of this tour segment. Most of the time we were in Ontario, we stayed at the Courtyard Marriott in Mississauga, where we took advantage of the swimming pool and exercise room. The accompanying photograph is of me in the pool at the Holiday Inn in Huntsville, the night after the Great Storm of '08; we had also been in the pool during the storm, underneath the faux palm tree.

During our stay in Ontario we went to the McMichael Gallery in Kleinsburg (BELOW: Marsha in front of the gallery) which houses the Group of Seven, Totem Poles, Etched stone, and Inuit stuff and we trolled about in the art for a few hours. I had always wanted to learn more about the Group of Seven (turns out there were 8 or 9 of them) as I actually referenced them on the trip between Huntsville and North Bay. Some of the scenery looked like Group of Seven paintings, as well it should, I soon found out. And I rediscovered Emily Carr who had been held up as a bit of a heroine during my schooling in Victoria, BC.

Canada, 2008

2008-03-11T09:38:00.000-07:00

It seemed like these places were a long way apart. In January we were on the beach at Palm Harbor, Florida, and last weekend we drove through one of the biggest snowstorms of the winter on our way to North Bay, Ontario. Oddly, North Bay itself didn't have much of the storm, which mostly took place around Toronto. Apparently places as far south as Columbus, Ohio, were blanketed in snow, and the storm gradually moved East and finally hovered over the Maritime provinces on Sunday.
The snow began as we were leaving Jackie and Eric Whitesel's place in Lake Orion, just north of Detroit and continued and worsened as we crossed the border at Sarnia and wended our way past London, Toronto, and north past Barrie. We almost got stuck behind a Canadian Tire semi at a rest stop, but he finally got himself going and we plowed through a pile of snow in his wake.
(Marsha writes:) PS: On Saturday we drove (all day!) through one of the harshest blizzards they've had in Canada in decades. We just held onto the steering wheel and trundled through the wind and snow and ice packed road, thinking this is what the brave Canadians have to deal with normally. We got to Huntsville before giving up, leaned into the wind to reach the motel door, and then from our cozy room we looked out the window and watched the snow blow sideways across the parking lot. (We also viewed the storm from the swimming pool for a while. That was pretty strange. The pool was nice and warm, with big windows looking onto piles of snow and a driving blizzard.) The next day the sun was out and all the news was about the storm and the huge amount of snow. Sometimes ignorance is bliss!! For us, I think it happens often.
We decided to stop at a Motel 6 in Huntsville, 75 miles south of our destination. I had been hearing all along that tomorrow (Sunday) was to be sunny in North Bay, and indeed it was. In Huntsville, too, so we set our clocks forward and headed for the Capital Center in North Bay where we arrived to do our 2 o'clock show around noon.
The show, "La Manche," went well and we headed back to our Motel 6 for Sunday evening dinner at Kelsey's. But, had we known we were driving through such a memorable storm, who knows? Would we have given up.

February in the Great North

2008-02-17T13:05:00.000-08:00

February, and it’s time for the Northern swing. Shows this month are in Michigan, where the van is plugged into the Veach’s house in Jackson. For a week, George and Kathy went to Florida and I “sat” their house, and kept their two cats company. Also Ohio and Illinois, but mostly Michigan and Indiana. First show was cancelled (Bremen, IN) because of the threat of a flood in the high school. Pain.
There was a big snow night on the Tuesday in Tecumseh; they informed me that last year the February show was practically snowed out, and that was me and Marsha. So, we bring snow to Michigan. Hah. Anyway, I never made it back to Jackson because the next night was in downtown Cincinnati at the Traveler’s. I just climbed into the bed in the camper and tried to keep warm. Eventually i had to put my clothes back on as well as the pointed hair hat that Marsha had knitted for Eric (see Lake Orion.) I drove part way back after the show, spent a few hours at a Flying J, and completed the journey about 7 a.m. Saturday, I’m off to Grand Rapids to do a show for the Hope Foundation. Lots of children in the audience, which is both positive and unusual.
After the show I drove to Jackie and Eric Whitesel’s in Lake Orion, north of Detroit. They have newish dog, Border Collie obviously, called Ruby. She is a great watch dog, threatened to tear me up at the door last night, but also very smart. Knows tricks like rolling over and balancing a bikky on her nose then flipping it up and catching it in mid-air. And here is Eric in his pointy hair hat talking to Marsha the creator of same on the telephone.
Sunday is a day off, so we all went to Wholefood, where the hair hats were appreciated and stroked, and we bought cheese and meat and Gluewein (glow wine, mulled wine in a bottle) and now we are lying around snoring.
Jim Whitesel is taking up a career in filmmaking, so we are alll discussing how he might do this. Do courses at college, or go of to Los Angeles and get into the business at entry level. He has some pretty good stuff on You Tube. (see clip below.)
There is snow on the ground, but it rained this morning and it definitely beginning to thaw. Next shows are up I-75: Frankenmuth and Midland. Then it’s off to Indianapolis and Chicago. The beat goes on.
In March we will do the Ontario tour, starting in North Bay. That will be a trip.

It's a Brand New Year

2008-01-30T08:40:00.000-08:00

Christopher and Ayden La Celle.

We had a busy time over Christmas and New Years: Marsha’s three children and seven grandchildren all gathered in Bossier City. Lupita came with husband Matt from Moses Lake, Washington and their three sons, Jacob, Christopher and Jordan. Jacob will be graduating from High School this year and looking for a baseball scholarship to college.

Jun came with husband Mike from Portland, Oregon where they are doctors and cancer researchers. Baby Ayden is just a few months old and was the hit of the season, naturally.

Matt and Mike explored their old stamping grounds and a bunch of us went to the Poulan Weedeater Independence Bowl (isn’t that a contradiction?) where two teams which had managed as many wins as losses during the recent football season battled with one another for some kind of bragging rights. It was a once in a lifetime experience. I mean that.

Marsha’s brother Dick came from San Antonio with Phyllis and their son/ grandson Nate, and we celebrated Dick’s 60th birthday and our 25th Wedding Anniversary (Nov. 28th, but we were on the road) and New Years Eve, too. Also, Grandpa LaCelle and wife Alice came from Albuquerque for a few days and stayed with most everybody over at Shelly, Timothy, Ryan and Emily's place. And a great time was had by all.

On Christmas Day we talked on the transatlantic blower to my sister Fiona in Highgate, London. She and Gerald were hosting a family Christmas dinner: my daughter Justine, the author of the recently released “Spin the Bottle,”
(see Tin Press) her husband Hugh, my brother Peter and wife Joan from the Gold Coast of Australia. We vowed that we would spend next Christmas in blighty.

We began the Travelogue season in Florida, which is nice in midwinter. Soon we’ll be in the frozen north and we are reading about all the chilly weather which is prevalent in places like Michigan, at the moment. Oh well.

The Fire God!

Singing around the campfire, Geneva, Florida.
Note: The two bottom pictures can be glued together so that Janet's legs form the connecting point.

In Florida we spend one day at the beach near Palm Harbor where our old friend Bunny Coppock lives; and we spent a couple of days near Orlando where Janet Williams from Unadilla Forks, New York (Marsha’s home village), was staying with her son, longtime Florida denizen, Duane. The highlight there (well, there were the oysters, too) was an evening with the fire god at Duane’s place. We got to sing and meet new people and we hope to be back in Florida in January next year.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-24T17:09:00.000-08:00

When we first met Bimbo, she was part of this Border Collie community (OK, there's a Shelty in there, too) which lives in Langton Matravers, Dorset. We saw her running on a hillside near the English Channel and she looked so much like Cammie from a distance that our hearts missed a beat and we had to get to know her.
Zoe, her mistress, said that she was a little standoffish, so we shouldn't be surprised if she didn't bond with us; she wasn't even likely to go for walks with Peggy, Zoe's mother, or other family members. But Bimbo took to us. She chose us. She bonded immediately and came to our camper and went on tour with us to pubs all over England that summer of 1996. At the end of the season we said our tearful farewells.
Next summer we were back in England and our first act was to go and get Bimbo so she could travel with us again. At the end of that summer, Zoe gave us this gift, this dog which became the third member of our traveling show. We never took her back to England: there were quarantine rules which later relaxed somewhat for continental travelers, and there were doggie passports, but Bimbo really didn't take well to air travel, so we never put her into a plane again. Zoe and Peggy never got to see her, but we kept them abreast of her life and when Bimbo passed away in October, they wept along with us.
Anyway, these are Zoe's dogs now: none of them knew Bimbo personally, but they are all members of Zoe's group and they do agility training and live with a cat and a bird and some other creatures. When we visit Langton Matravers we take them for walks on the hills and go for drinks at the Square and Compass in Worth Matravers (see the scene with the Morris dancers in our film, "La Manche: The English Channel" and the the border collies' scene in "It's Great! Britain.")
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Back Home in Louisiana

2007-12-18T16:36:00.000-08:00

Home. Our house has survived our neglect once again and we have our new room and modern bathroom now, so it's even better than staying at a Motel 6. Without Bimbo we were able to experiment with non-Motel 6 motels and we stayed at 3 or 4 motels with indoor swimming pools. Memorable was Howard Johnson's in Lincoln, Nebraska, which had a huge pool and resort type area. The (yes) Motel 6 in Waterloo, Iowa, has a welcoming indoor pool, as does the Comfort Inn in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which was part of our payment for doing the lecture series there. There was a least one other pool but I can't think of it at the moment.
The great thing is that during the winter months very few people use the pools, so we are mostly alone in there. And there's usually a hot tub involved as well.
And speaking of "lecture series," I refer to these wonderful institutions in New England which are FREE lecture series. A benefactor, a Carnegie, perhaps, or some such, has left a chunk of money to perpetuate the education of the masses through an annual series of illustrated lectures, and we are the current beneficiaries of this remarkable foresight. Portsmouth, NH, is one such series. The benefactor in this case being a modest school teacher named Phyllis Hodgdon whose family carries on the tradition.
I love these series best of all: others are in Concord, New Hampshire, Greene and Portland, Maine, and Woburn, Mass. These are examples of the American spirit at its greatest. The hell with jazz; give me a free lecture series any day.
Merry Christmas.

Traveling the Lost Continent

2007-11-10T14:15:00.000-08:00

I am reading Bill Bryson's "Lost Continent" which has a great deal to say about Iowa and other places we are visiting on this first leg of the 2007-08 season. Bimbo is no longer with us, but we have a slew of memories and lots of documents of her life with us. Attached is Bimbo and the friendly squirrel near Multnomah Falls, Oregon, from a couple of years back.
Now we are in Grand Island, Nebraska, at the Island Motel in which "all the rooms are nice" (The Proprietess) and they are, but the first one we were assigned didn't do well on the High Speed Wireless, so we got an upstairs room instead. Both the rooms are nice.
The Buffalo with Marsha is in Nebraska, but not Grand Island. It's at Kearney (pronounced "Carney") where there is also a bridge across I-80. If you saw the movie "About Schmidt" — and not a lot of people did — with Jack Nicholson in an RV, you have seen this spot. It's sort of a "Now you're really in the West" type of monument, like the Arch in St. Louis, but further west.

Tomorrow, Sunday the 11th of November, Veterans Day, we do a show at the renovated Grand Theater downtown. La Manche/The English Channel has a wonderfully sad segment on the Normandy Landing Beaches and I've been pushing this feature for this show.
Yesterday we drove up from Bella Vista, Arkansas, after a show at the Arts Center of the Ozarks. It was the premier of La Manche and it went well, lots of compliments from the older folks and one guy who'd actually landed on D-Day, having taken the place of an officer who'd been killed in Operation Tiger, the one we mention where 750 men were killed by German E-boats off the Slapton Sands in Devon, several weeks before D-Day.
The other day when we did France - perhaps it was in Madison, Wisconsin - a veteran came up an gave us copies of his maps of the advance of his regiment from Omaha Beach towards St. Lo in the weeks following the landings. It was slow going and he was a medic, which probably wasn't a lot of fun.
It's great to have the reactions from these few survivors who are always so thankful and so outgoing in their appreciation of the recognition we give them in the French film and now in La Manche.
We have lots of La Manche's to do now: Fremont, Lincoln, Kearney and a couple of shows just north of Denver before we take our Thanksgiving break which involves a drive to Portland, Maine, from Colorado.
There's a lot of driving involved but the perqs are visiting with old friend and relations. In Bella Vista we stayed overnight with Cathy and Jim Reed whom we had not seen for ten years. Cathy is a dear friend from Shreveport from back in the Mr. Rooter (she got a buyer for the company), Mama Mia and Gaslight Theater days in the 1980's. Also visiting: John and Carol Bourque. Carol we knew from Shreveport and she made a great gumbo for the evening meal. Her husband John is a Cajun with a great sense of humor and joie de vivre.
In the Northeast, we'll be looking up Marsha's cousin Gary Salamacha again. We've already visited twice since we've been in this travel business, and we're looking forward to doing it again.

Natchitoches Children's Tour

2007-11-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

The Children’s Tour

Monty and Marsha are joined on the Cane River front stage, Natchitoches, by friend Joan Heffernan (in the hat) from Roadwater, Somerset, England. Joan sings in the local choir and appears at the monthly folk club at the pub in Luxborough. She also sings two of our songs, "I Just Can't Help Myself," and "Dark Lonely Nights." The kids are third graders from the Parish.

The last week in September is time for the annual Children’s Tour in Natchitoches, Louisiana. The Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches (APHN) sponsors the program which is offered to all third grade classes throughout the Parish. This past September (‘07) there were about 25 participating classes.

They arrive on their buses from all points: Cloutierville, Fairview-Alpha, Marthaville, Provencal, and many schools in the city of Natchitoches itself. There are private schools as well as public. Each class has a list of places to visit, and the schedule is overseen by Martha Wynn. It’s a labor of love for Martha.

They may start at the Prudhomme-Rouquier House, a big white mansion built of bousillage in the late 18th century; or they may start at the Court House Museum, where this year the creator of the Blue Dog, George Rodrigue, was having an exhibit.

They may start with us, down on the stage by the river: we’ll sing them songs of old Louisiana and end with a rousing version of the state song, “You Are My Sunshine.” The program starts at about 8:30 am, Monday to Friday, and runs til about noon when they climb on their buses and head back to their little towns and schools. All a great deal wiser.

On the Road Again

2007-10-31T18:20:00.000-07:00

We left Bossier on Saturday morning, headed up Benton Road towards Hope, Arkansas, birthplace of Bill Clinton and Mike Huckabee (who's a Republican running for president). As a sidebar, I took the test to find out which presidential candidate is closest to me on the issues and it turned out to be Dennis Kucinich. Marsha, too. Mike Huckabee was the furthest away from me.
At Hope we turned east onto I-30 and went to Benton where we sampled the luncheon buffet at Brown's. They told us there were no ribs on the menu because they had become too expensive and they didn't want to raise their prices, so they simply edited them off the buffet. Since they were the main reason we stopped for the buffet, apart from the fact that they're called Brown's, that may be the last time we stop there.
Back on the road and heading towards Memphis and just before we get there, veer north onto I-55 towards St. Louis. We stop at every Flying J within reasonable range because they usually have the cheapest diesel and we get an additional one cent per gallon off when we proffer the FJ card. Plus you can sleep there overnight in your camping van.
It's getting dark and we pass through St. Louis quite late, which is good, because traffic is minimal. About 40 miles north of the city we find a Rest Area on I-55 and pull in for the night.
Sunday and we hit the highway through Illinois. Our first destination is Madison Wisconsin, which turns out to be one thousand miles (give or take) from home. We do a little hunting around and finally settle on the old familiar Motel 6, where we stay three nights. It's within walking distance of a Big Lots, an Aldi, and a Dollar Tree. There's an Indian restaurant - the Maharaji - across the street where we do the Tuesday lunch buffet for $7.99.
Ralph Russo is the show co-ordinator, nice guy, liberal, easy to talk to. Heather runs the technical side of the show — "La Belle France" — and first night the voice is a bit fuzzy and I felt like I was pushing my voice, but it went okay. The second night we clear up the voice and it sounds much better and we get one "that was the best show ever!" from a little old lady.
Wednesday morning we check out at noon and head down through Platteville, Dubuque and Davenport and end up at Burlington, Iowa, at a real nice local motel called the Arrowhead. Tomorrow's show is "It's Great! Britain."

Unforseen Benefits

2007-10-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

In January, Marsha and I will be in Florida. We were there two years ago and were able to look up our old friend Chris Sherman, the food and wine critic of the St. Petersburg Times. We had not seen Chris for at least 20 years. He had been a city editor at the now-defunct Shreveport Journal, an unlikely liberal newspaper in a distinctly conservative region.

We lauded him for landing such a cushy and, I must add, suitable, position. Chris was born to be a wine and food critic and looks the part: he is well-rounded and simultaneously jolly and cynical, with a great drooping mustache. He grumbled lightheadrtedly about his job — apparently Tampa-St.Pete is not restaurant heaven — but had to admit that in the big picture he’d landed on his feet.

Then we turned to our job. What a great thing, Chris opined, to be able to make feature-length films, with complete creative control, and actually have an audience for them. How many struggling filmmakers and film school graduates would not love to be in our shoes? He cited the case of an acquaintance who’d been trying to get a film together for years, battling for funding with arts councils and corporate entities.

Which got me thinking about the many perks of this job, not the least of which is meeting with friends and relations that we haven’t seen for yonks and would have perhaps never seen again. Two years ago we went to Maine and Marsha met her cousin Gary that she hadn’t seen for a couple of decades. We stayed at his house, met his family and we’ll be returning in April because we have film showings in Portland and Greene, Maine, again.

On the West Coast, we have visited with sons, daughters and grandchildren on a much more regular basis than before our travelogue days. In New York we have spent weeks where Marsha was raised, playing cards, drinking wine, and rekindling old friendships. So, too, in Michigan where we are blessed with old friends north of Detroit and new friends, the Veaches, in Jackson.

For these reasons alone it has been worth it to become travel film makers. But on top of that we get to make our own films and show them to a receptive audience. Each new film presents new challenges and a new approach to a well-trodden tradition. In our first film, “La Belle France,” we were happy to actually get it done. In our second film, “It’s Great!Britain,” we started to play with the form a little and to add a little more music.
In our third film, “Hello Louisiana,” we used music as the springboard for traveling around the state and we’re now contemplating another Louisiana music film which will incorporate our own live music. This is not a new idea for us, but it is taking a while to work out all the bugs and to find a suitable subject and form for the film part. It may happen yet.

I realize that there are various approaches to creating travelogues, from the pure filmic to the performance art, and Marsha and I tend to come down a bit closer to the latter.

For me, the travel film has been a real liberator. I started with BBC TV in the days of black and white video; moved on to musical performance and songwriting as a folk and country singer; and seized the opportunity to cut tape in the last days of analogue radio production. Combined with jobs as a waiter, barman, bicycle messenger, sewer cleaner, garbage collector, driver, bookshop manager, schoolteacher, carpenter’s assistant, and traveling minstrel, I have had all the necessary experience to make travel films.

And like Chris Sherman, I feel I’ve finally landed on my feet. And I’m lucky to have a partner to work with.

Hello Louisiana Article

2007-10-19T17:46:00.001-07:00

“Hello Louisiana”
by Monty Brown

To purchase a copy of "Hello Louisiana," go to Floyd's Record Shop.

Marsha and I began shooting “Hello Louisiana” in more halcyon days, in the times before the tempests assaulted our already eroding coastline, in the summer of ‘05. In fact, the seeds of this film were sown decades ago when we first became enthralled with the rich culture of our home state. It’s been a long lasting labor of love.
Some of our filming predates our acquisition of a 3-chip digital camera. Back in the late ‘90’s we were doing projects for ourselves and the Louisiana Folklife Center with our old High-8 camera; we took footage of Cajun Mardi Gras and Egg Pocking in Avoyelles Parish, transferred it to digital, and inserted it in our new film.
Our first project after we bought the digital camera, before we started filming either France or Britain, was in South Louisiana documenting some of the disc jockeys who produce the uniquely Louisiana Cajun French music programs.
More seeds were planted in the classrooms of Louisiana. Marsha and I have been performing a program for middle school Louisiana History students, making them aware of the rich musical heritage of their state. In that program, we take the students from north to south, to the places where jazz, cajun and zydeco music originated, and where blues, country and gospel music flowered. The film roughly follows this format.
We began assembling our “musical romp” around Louisiana a couple of years ago. Filming in your own back yard has its advantages: you can film in all seasons over a considerable length of time, if you wish. But then again, it’s sometimes hard to know when to stop. For a while, after we’d “finished,” we still kept looking at the end result as a work in progress, but after getting lots of positive feedback from many people within the state — people whose opinions we value — we’ve decided that it is, indeed, finished.
We are finding that there is a great deal of interest in Louisiana wherever we go. People want to know about our hurricane experiences, but we have little firsthand knowledge. Hurricane Katrina hit in the southeast corner of the state and then proceeded to sweep around to the east, to Mississippi and Alabama. Our weather in the northwest corner was sunny and calm throughout.
Rita was a different story. It made landfall along the coast shared by Texas and Louisiana and proceeded due north up the state line, which brought the eye right over us. However, we are a considerable distance inland, and, as everybody knows, hurricanes tend to lose their ferocity over land. We had power outages and downed trees, more like a violent late summer storm.
Holly Beach, one of our film locations on the Gulf Coast, was apparently wiped out. The Beach is known ironically as the “Cajun Riviera;” the good news is that the Beach has been flattened by hurricanes before and it always rebuilds its wooden beach houses elevated on piles. No fancy hotels, condos or casinos here.
During the last couple of seasons, presenting our travel films coast to coast, we have discovered that audiences like to see — people. Inasmuch as digital video has made the filming of people much easier, we try to insert people in amongst the scenery, the flowers, the children, the sheep, the Volkswagen, and the pictures of Marsha in ethnic garb. And audiences seem to like a little humor, too.
In “Hello Louisiana” we feature accordion makers, Boudin (Cajun sausage) eating, a chef’s bread pudding recipe, hunting alligators (with a camera), and local historians, along with a large dose of Louisiana music and cultural history. And it seems to be attracting statewide attention. It makes us realize it was a good choice of subject.
Who knows? Maybe here in Louisiana, we’ll once again hear those famous encouraging words, “You’re doing a good job, Brownie!”

This article first appeared in the Travel Adventure Magazine.

Family message

2007-10-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

Very good video. The Bushes deserve all the vitriol we can heap on them. Generations of arms dealers and warmongers. Thank you.

OK this is the third time (that I'm sending this to Peter and Joan) and I hope it's the lucky one. I thought it was lacahoots, but it's montyandmarsha same as our website, but no "blogspot" in the website address. We're trying to link everything and everyone together, so let's all put links on our blogs, webs, youtubes or whatever we're up to. I put the Tin House on our blog. Need to put Doug's.

I notice you (Peter & Joan) haven't been keeping up with your blog. We have started a blog at and we can put a link to your blog, which is ?

We're heading out on our annual tour of the USA and southern Ontario at the end of this month and we'll try to keep a diary of where we are, what's happening and what it looks like, so check our blog or website from time to time and if you can convince your friends and acquaintances to buy our travel films, we will give you a special place in our thoughts.

We are currently working on two new films: one is "Etched in Stone: Scotland to Provence," castles and churches and ruins and stories from history, and "Junipero Serra: the Man Who Invented California," from Mallorca to Mexico to California. The latter has been inspired by Fiona and Gerald's interest in Serra International and we have already previewed a chunk of the film at the Serra Convention in Atlanta (August, '07).

Anyway. The blogging is a good way to keep in touch, I think, in case we forget to email, or worse.

I've had my 67th birthday and we put on a French dinner on the 16th to celebrate me and Sam's (friend's) birthday. Marsha made some pate from a recipe we got from cousin Moira. It was delicious. Thank you, Moira, it's taken several years, but it was worth the wait. Also had ratatouille, porc w Louisiana sweet potatoes, onion soup, cheeses, an excellent pound cake, green salad and champagne.

monty.

Videos For Everyone

2007-10-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

Videos provided by compulsivetraveler.tv

Running of the Sheep

2007-10-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

Each spring the sheep festival (Transhumance) takes place in St. Remy de Provence and after watching the sheep run through town we all repair to David and Nito's place for roast mutton and ratatouille followed by a game of boule.

The Brittany Coast

2007-09-04T18:24:00.000-07:00

This a beach on the Côte du Granit Rose, or the Pink Granite Coast of Northern Brittany, on La Manche/The English Channel. Jaqueline and Pierre have stopped to climb on the cliffs, enjoy the view, and discuss the possibilities of lunch.

"It's Great! Britain" Testimonial

2007-09-04T17:23:00.000-07:00

We have made four travel films which we sell over the internet at montyandmarsha.com and we often get feedback from customers. This one is particularly nice because it concerns our film, "It's Great! Britain," and it's from Deryk of Coventry, England. He ordered two DVDs so he could bring them with him to the States as gifts for American friends.

A bit of Corfe Castle, Dorset.

Singing in an English folk club with Martyn Babb on accordion.

Dear Monty
Just to let you know that the parcel arrived this morning - with a comfortable week to spare ahead of our departure. And to say also that we are very pleased with the contents of your film. The DVDs are intended as gifts for close members of my family who, like you it seems, have their origins here but have lived most of their lives in the US. The idea is simply to awaken memories, or to forge new links. In making your film you could only make an impossibly small selection of places to visit, but as it happens your choice well met the bill. We all know London, our son was married in an area of Suffolk that you display, my wife and I have visited Lindisfarne, and spent a recent holiday walking the length of Hadrians Wall; as children I and my sisters had seaside holidays at Presytatyn, we took my Mother on a tour of Exmoor on her very last return trip to England before she died (she was utterly delighted by it), and we've done some splendid walking in Hardy country. So you see - spot on! You must return some day and do another, perhaps this time visiting the Highlands of Scotland, doing a bit more of Wales (the wonderful Snowdon Mountain range and the glorious Pembrokeshire coast), and of course our beloved Lake District.
But again many thanks.

Deryck

Hollywood on the Bayou

2007-09-03T18:44:00.000-07:00

There we are on the set of “The Great Debaters,” directed by and starring Denzel Washington, produced by Oprah Winfrey and also starring Forest Whitaker. Los Angeles? No, it’s Mansfield, Louisiana, twenty-five miles south of Shreveport, a city which has suddenly become a Hollywood hotbed.

It’s the talk of the town: Kevin Costner has done two films here, “The Guardian” and “Mr. Brooks;” there’s been a Stephen King story about fog (or mist;) Tom Hanks came for “Homeland Security;” Tom Cruise came for wife Katy Holmes who was working with Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah; Samuel L. Jackson was talking to school kids between takes; and Cedric the Entertainer was, uh, entertaining. And according to an NBC News story, “Hollywood stars have been pretty happy here, too, because for some reason the paparazzi can’t seem to find Shreveport on a map.”

What were we doing on the “Great Debaters?” Along with maybe one hundred other locals, we were providing some “background:” populating antique buses and cars; walking up and down sidewalks, entering shops, cafes, hardware and grocery stores; standing on the corner watching all the grips go by. It is not a dignified job and it doesn’t pay well, but for a while you feel like you’re part of something big.

“The Great Debaters,” set in the Depression Era 1935, is the true story of a debate team from all-black Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. They compete in a national debate contest, come up against Harvard, and win. Denzel plays Melvin B. Tolson, the poet-professor who molds the debate team and encourages his students to become real-life proponents of civil rights. Forest Whitaker plays the father of James L. Farmer, Jr., a student who later co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality.

Back on the set: one evening, about six p.m., some dignitaries had arranged a public ceremony in front of the Court House to present Denzel Washington with the keys to the “city” of Mansfield. A goodly crowd gathered. A few youngsters were holding up a twenty foot banner which read “Welcome to Mansfield Great Debaters,” when suddenly from around the corner there was a concerted squealing of the sort one associates with Elvis Presley’s teenage fans. A group of local girls had spotted Denzel.

So it goes. Marsha started the Office of Film and Video here in Shreveport in 1989, and the office continued to do its work long after she had gone to live on the Côte d’Azur and make travel films with me. But it was not until the disaster known as “Katrina” that Shreveport really took off as a filmmakers destination. Practically every film that had been scheduled to be made in New Orleans had to find a new location, while still getting the various tax breaks provided by the State of Louisiana. Shreveport filled the void.

If you think of cypress trees growing in lakes, little old rundown southern towns, decorative ironwork balconies, rows of shotgun houses, oil wells and cotton fields, baptisms in the river, stately plantation homes, think Shreveport, an undiscovered landscape. In fact, think “Hello Louisiana,” our atmospheric travel film about this steamy southern French-fried culture. Hellooo!

“Hollywood on the Bayou” by Monty Brown. Monty and wife Marsha have produced four travel films, the latest of which is “La Manche/The English Channel.” It’s a tale of two cultures. This article was originally published in Travel Adventure Cinema magazine.

Hello Louisiana

2007-09-03T17:19:00.000-07:00

By Alexandyr Kent
akent@gannett.com

Bossier City filmmakers Monty and Marsha Brown have documented their love of Louisiana food, music and culture in their latest travelogue, "Hello Louisiana."

To Marsha Brown, the 80-minute DVD's message about Louisiana is simple. "It's just that we are so wonderfully unique."

It includes segments on Elvis Presley and the Louisiana Hayride, the blues musician Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, Mudbug Madness, the Natchitoches Christmas festival, the legend of Bonnie and Clyde and the state's rich musical heritage.

The Browns have been screening this film and providing live narration in venues around the country, including the Harvard Club in Boston.

Marsha Brown is proud to promote the state and hopes audiences take something away from the experience.

"These travelogues are kind of like armchair travel," she said. "They get to see places they don't always get to travel to."

In addition to "Hello Louisiana," the Browns have made "La Bell France" and "It's Great! Britain."

More information about the films can be found at montyandmarsha.com and adventurecinema.com. Copies are being sold locally at artspace, 710 Texas St. in Shreveport, and Tubbs Cajun Gifts, 615 Benton Road in Bossier City. They also can be ordered by calling the Browns at (318) 220-9966.

©The Times (of Shreveport, LA)
January 28, 2006