They must have needed some fer real long extension cords for this one. Oh, wait, there’s a generator. Mattress performs “Pollution” on the Lafayette Foot Bridge (not my favorite foot bridge, but a good one nonetheless). The rusty fences and graffiti combined with Mattress-man Rex Marshall’s frenzied spins and surrender-hands seems almost literalizes his lyrics (”There ain’t no solution / For this polution”) a bit too much. But then that’s the glory of the Penny Jam. It strips artists of their ability to interact with a crowd and play off expectations. Marshall is basically his own audience here, and he still gives himself over to possessed flailing. And as sure as late-’80s Leonard Cohen would have loved the music behind Marshall’s rants, the image of the Portland experimental crooner pulling at his mic cable as if there were a frightened dog at the end of it will remain the enduring image of this shoot.

The shot selection with Penny Jam (shot selection being a journalism term for diversity or range, not a cinematography thing) is getting really good. As is the cinematography. Keep it up, Jammers!

Links:
Penny Jam
MattresSpace

Image stolen from the shoot. Thanks, Penny Jam!