America is Waiting 3x

Odd that in this age of immediate accessibility of everything, Bruce Conner’s film for Brian Eno and David Byrne’s “America Is Waiting,” from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, is not currently available on-line in a full length and reasonably high quality version.

First, here’s the best quality version, but it’s only 2 minutes of the 3:44 film:

http://vimeo.com/78343474

 

Here’s a full-length but low quality version from a Korean site. You may have to put up with an ad.

Here’s a full-length version of the song on YouTube, with video that I think captures the spirit of Conner’s work. I left a silly comment at YouTube advising the creator to check Conner out, but it’s obvious on second thought that “0ldfinger” already had:

I would not be surprised if all three of these videos are extinct within a few months – I’m guessing taken down for rights infringement – but maybe the original will turn up again somewhere else by then…

3 comments on “America is Waiting 3x

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  1. Completely unaware of this until now. Musta been in a different America in the 80’s, no doubt still am, just didn’t think it started that early

    • Have been a Bruce Conner fan for a long time, but what I find interesting isn’t the different America of the ’80s, or in particular the America of 1981, but the similarity of that moment to this one as represented in the film(s) – exhaustion with symbols of national power/militarism, “no will whatsoever,” yet possibly pointing to resuscitation (question in a lot of my posts esp since East Ghouta). So, in 1981 a leftist/post-modernist/anti-Americanist might have watched the movie/heard the song smugly anticipating further decline and fall, but, as we know, history had a different idea, and all of that cowboy Jacksonian machismo disturbing the dreams of the anxious sleeper came back in fashion quickly, or Reaganism filled the abhorrent vacuum: The little boys with the super-rifle and helmet walkie-talkies became Rambo, and today’s Special Operators…

      Was prompted by a twitter chat last night about Obama/Syria/IS.

      OTOH – I wouldn’t have expected you to tolerate them at all! With the sound turned down??

      • Yeah did get that – could update the video with clips from just the last 20 yrs or so.

        There is a feel to things now that seems very mid century – atomic agey.

        At any rate, the video was worse than the audio, apart from the content, the visual effect is kinda flashing lights. So my listening/viewing strategy was short bursts of play/pause/play/pause.

        The echoing of that past into the present gave me the motivation to persevere.

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