A Present Past

1930 Duesenberg Model J

Yesterday was another exciting Cars & Coffee event at Rosecliff in Newport, RI. While there are many car shows in the region, they don’t have the backdrop and atmosphere of Gilded Age mansions. What’s unique about this show is the range of cars from the classic Volkswagen Beetle to Lamborghini and beyond, this event brings people together from every walk of life.

1910 American Underslung Traveler

After the show I visited the Audrain Automobile Museum to see their latest exhibit – Fun, Fast and Fabulous. While I once owned a pretty fast car (Acura NSX), for me it’s about the fun and the fabulous. This exhibit most certainly did not disappoint! With a 1910 American Underslung Traveler and 1930 Duesenberg Model J, it’s well worth the trip to Newport to see these works of art. Yes, as I saw on their website, the Audrain is more of an art museum that presents classic and contemporary automobiles.

Over the last several weeks I have been on a variety of weekend trips. The one thing that makes the recording of all this possible is the present world we live in – digital photography and filmmaking. Sure, the digital process has been around for many years, but its democratization has made it possible for so many of us to not only preserve history for future generations, but to create some history ourselves.

Case in point I finally located the box of VHS tapes of the numerous TV interviews I made between the early 1990s to early 2000s. This week I start the process of their conversion to digital. This particular time in figure skating no longer exists. It was a time when the sport operated like the bygone days of the movie studios. There were two major companies that literally controlled certain skaters and venues with a few independents that rounded out the industry.

What will I do with all this footage? First, it depends on how well it converts. A variety of articles I’ve read claims the shelf life to be 10-15 years based on numerous factors. But one tape I had from my 1994 appearance on the Montel Williams Show played great.  Time will tell how this project concludes.

While there are some filmmakers that harken back to the days of producing on film, the digital process has made it possible from an economic point of view for filmmakers like me and countless others to produce. Gone are the days when this was an industry in the hands of a few with distribution outlets controlled by a literal handful of companies. Now, with the right project, the tools are in all our hands to get the word out.

But getting that word out in today’s digital world is perhaps even more involved than it was ten plus years ago. Why? Because everyone is doing it. The key, in my view, is to have something that people want to share. By nature human beings are social creatures and sharing is what we do. By example these Cars & Coffee events. I discovered this event through a promoted post on Facebook. From there it was an RSVP and sign-up on their email newsletter. The result was bridging the past with the present.

Documentary.

A collection of my TV interviews from the early 1990s to early 2000s. The conversion process begins this week.