LaPorte, Indiana > Comments > "Review of LaPorte, Indiana"
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Commenter Profile
- John Biewen
- Username: jbiewen
- Location: Durham, North Carolina
- Joined PRX: Dec 21, 2005
Piece Information
- "LaPorte, Indiana"
- Summary: A Long Haul Production's "song story" about people whose portraits were taken by a LaPorte, Indiana photographer a generation ago.
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Review of LaPorte, Indiana
John Biewen
Posted on June 21, 2006 at 01:54 PM
The Long Haul Productions team has created a striking innovation, the "music story." In this case, the producers use interview tape, and a song written just for their piece by a LaPorte-born songwriter, to explore the inherently visual (old photographs of regular people) through sound. We hear the subjects of photos talking, sometimes poignantly, about the circumstances in which their images were captured many years before. A photo editor who compiled the photos into a book reflects on the questions and imaginings that arise when you gaze at an old photo and don't know the people in it or their story. And Ted Quinn's laconic song winds through the piece at a slant. He muses on how his life would have been different had he stayed in LaPorte instead of leaving to grow up elsewhere. It's an admirable experiment executed with a skillful touch. The piece would work especially well on a slower-paced arts or weekend show.