The Yodeling Lesson
1998, 3 minutes, SD video
synopsis:
NO HANDS! NO BRAKES! NO CLOTHES!
The True Story of the of the Yodeling Lesson, By Moe Bowstern, bicyclist:
I was recently arrived in Portland from Chicago and always on my bike, delighted by this rainy city of manageable size and climate, generous, well-paved streets and hills! After the endless flat grind of the prairie city, hills were a daily thrill. I began teasing my way no-handed down Mississippi Hill, venturing further and further before seizing my handlebars. One morning I threw my leg over my bicycle with a bad case of the f*ckits, heading to the train station to bid a dear friend farewell, and I decided I just did not care. I stuck my chin into the wind and kept my hands off the handlebars all the way down. By the time I arrived exhilarated at Union Station, I no longer cared about my departing comrade; I could ride no-handed down Mississippi Hill! I was going to be fine! A week later I presented Vanessa with a coupon I had won granting me an hour of ODOKA videography and asked Vanessa to film me, thinking to preserve this triumph as a personal memento and she said YES! And I was in love with Portland and the word YES, so I yelled, ‘NAKED!’ and she said ‘YES!’ Vanessa added the brilliant challenge of riding uphill and when she asked later about music I wanted yodeling, for a reason which now escapes me. In her search for a musician Vanessa uncovered the cold truth that no yodeler wanted to yodel for a naked lady movie, so she had the brilliant idea to have recordings of bagpipes and yodelers playing off each other and the late, great Donovan Skirvin took it away and made sense of it all.
It was really cold that Palm Sunday morning just after dawn, which is why I never smile.
credits:
score by Donovan Skirvin
cinematography: Vanessa Renwick
edit: Vanessa Renwick and Tim Scotten
driver: Brian Ruff
cyclist: Moe Boswtern