tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-298652872024-03-07T15:35:42.830-08:00Brenda Hutchinson's Bell ProjectAn acoustic cross-country adventure.
If a bell rings in a shopping mall parking lot, will anyone respond? On September 1, 2006, I set out on a cross-country, sound-performance journey to investigate the public's interactions with and reactions to the sonorous tones of a 250-pound cast-iron bell. From Michigan to New York to San Francisco, I am ringing the bell in small towns, city parks, shopping malls, rest stops, and more.Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.comBlogger97125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-19185609139685669962013-04-22T15:34:00.003-07:002013-04-22T16:01:29.025-07:00Sound of the Week- surprise!
Each week, KALW invites their listeners to identify a sound from the Bay Area. The sound is available on their website -Audiograph's Sound of the Week. In honor of the reopening of the Exploratorium, the sound of the week for April 14, 2013 was actually from the closing day of the museum in it's previous home in the Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina.
That was a wonderful recording of an Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com1San Francisco, CA, USA37.7749295 -122.4194155000000137.373509999999996 -123.06486250000002 38.176349 -121.77396850000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1164824510588183412006-11-29T09:53:00.000-08:002011-11-16T12:10:05.241-08:00The Bell Project "Home Movie" Night!listen to Jessica Feldman's interview with Brenda about the eventBrenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1161561771577643052006-10-09T17:02:00.000-07:002013-02-07T12:10:48.619-08:00
DAY 36 The Bell arrives at the Exploratorium
The current bell housed at the museum is a much smaller bell that was cast in China. The sound quality is thin and high pitched. It is pretty loud but it’s not a particularly rich or interesting sound. A poor replacement and stand-in bell for the once beautiful tones made by the old bell belonging to the Oppenheimers. People wanted to compare the 2Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1161561732284246052006-10-08T17:00:00.000-07:002013-02-07T12:10:17.300-08:00Day 36. The last piece of Road
I rang the bell all the way from my house to the museum. Non-stop. I was so sad to be parting from the bell. But once I got the Exploratorium and people were so glad to see the bell, I felt better. It’s like when you need to give the kittens away. When you realize that the kitten will be in a good home, you can let go.
So, off we went. Liz and Jeanne Marie had Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1160251764278860462006-10-07T13:03:00.000-07:002006-10-21T16:03:12.406-07:00Day35 The Final StretchFinal Stop. Ann's HouseCommunity College of San MateoWilliams Elementary School. San JoseBrenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1160251091749182072006-10-07T12:54:00.000-07:002006-10-08T13:24:02.286-07:00Day34.Driving to Salinas and the National Steinbeck CenterBrenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1160042955764463502006-10-05T03:09:00.000-07:002006-10-06T16:48:25.423-07:00I will drive the bell through San Francisco during rush hour from 4:30- 6:00PM, ringing it as I go. Whenever the car is stopped, passersby will be encouraged to ring the bell. If you have a bell, bring it out and ring it! Or honk. Or yell. Whatever you do, make some noise!Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1160042908797843812006-10-05T03:01:00.000-07:002006-10-12T09:06:05.376-07:00Day33. Los AngelesWhen I woke up, Nancy dangled my keys as she said good morning. She had called the AAA guys and they had already come and retrieved my keys. So I went out to the car to get all my stuff and realized as I was about to go into the house that I had a little gift in the car for Nancy. So I returned to the car, opened the back hatch and dug out the little “dream box” from my bag of Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1160041569137247892006-10-05T02:44:00.000-07:002006-10-05T02:55:08.366-07:00Day32.LongDriveWe started out the day at the Waffle House. I love those pecan waffles- (the ones with the small squares). It was so hot again, I wasn’t looking forward to the long drive to Los Angeles, but too bad. After breakfast we went to the car and someone drove up to us and asked about the bell. I invited him to ring it and he said “Sure, why not” we had to untie the bell and put the Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1160037532744949902006-10-05T01:35:00.001-07:002017-11-24T13:18:13.367-08:00Day31.Tucson, AZWe drove from Lordsburg, NM to Tucson, AZ and it was too hot. My car is a San Francisco car i.e. air conditioner not necessary. However, it would have come in “mighty handy down here, bub”. * We decided to record the Bell in the desert in the evening after it cooled off. * Nick’s reply in reference to money from “It’s a Wonderful Life”. The scene is Nick’s Bar after Jimmy Stewart Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1160036966054599822006-10-05T01:26:00.000-07:002006-10-05T01:33:02.323-07:00Day31. Lordsburg, NMOn the way to Tucson we stopped at a truck stop outside of Lordsburg, and as we were leaving, a man pulled up next to the car and asked us, “What is the Bell Project”. I told him we had already driven over 6000 miles and were finishing up in San Francisco and that we were inviting people along the way to ring the bell. He was really happy and jumped out of his car. Because we Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1160033654119914782006-10-05T00:34:00.001-07:002017-11-24T13:16:46.688-08:00Day30. In Search of Quiet Places to Record the Bell. New Mexico We found several really beautiful places along scenic highway 27 where we stopped to record. It’s not very often that one can find a quiet place, and except for the occasional car and constant wind, we were pretty excited. We stopped by a solid waste transfer station in a little valley that was not at all busy on a Saturday afternoonBrenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1160033543861120722006-10-05T00:26:00.000-07:002006-10-05T00:52:26.716-07:00Day30.New Mexico. Morning.Las Cruces. First thing today we went to a coffee place Krys read about in one of the hotel publications she found in our room. It was a great place, called Milagros- the best coffee yet. As we were leaving Krys decided to pass out postcards and informed the other patrons that we would be available for ringing if anyone was interested. We had two takers from the coffee Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1159922364659615822006-10-03T17:32:00.001-07:002017-11-24T13:16:48.778-08:00Day29.Ciudad Juarez.Listenone bell, one honkWe sailed over the bridge into Juarez as we look across the road at the bumper-to-bumper traffic headed towards the US and thought about how we’d have to deal with that later. In the meantime, Krys had brought her audio recorder and binaural mics and we were excited. We drove all over the place, ringing the bell as we drove the congested streets, addingBrenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1159920705941834502006-10-03T17:11:00.000-07:002006-10-07T17:33:35.586-07:00Day29.El PasoKrys is here!El Paso.After taking Jessica to the airport, I had some time to kill before getting Krys so I started towards the oil-changing place. On the way, I thought I’d stop and make a few phone calls. Of course, I sat there with the lights on and so when I was ready to go, the car wouldn’t start- again. A homeless man stopped and tried to help me push start the car but even Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1159826629065428252006-10-02T15:02:00.000-07:002006-10-02T15:03:49.066-07:00Day28. Riding through west TexasBrenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1159826392745736582006-10-02T14:56:00.000-07:002006-10-07T17:47:26.223-07:00Day28. Marfa and points west, TexasBy JessicaIn the morning we headed to the Chianti Foundation in Marfa, built on a former army base, where Donald Judd set up his museum and100 mill aluminum boxes on the grounds. Brenda rang the bell in the parking lot, tolling against the sound of wind and the highway.On our way out of Marfa, we stopped at a gas station to use the phone, where two guys jumped Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1159785013587215552006-10-02T03:29:00.000-07:002006-10-02T03:36:53.220-07:00Almost to Marfa(Check out the video below)Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1159784904372458042006-10-02T03:27:00.000-07:002006-10-02T03:28:24.386-07:00Day27PM.Marfa, TXBy JessicaThe Marfa Mystery Lights. This was one of the wildest things I've ever seen. There are all sorts of theories explaining this phenomenon: scientific, metaphysic, science fiction. My favorite is that these are the ghosts of Conquistadors, still searching for gold. As the sun set over Marfa, people gathered at the viewing sight outside of Alpine, Texas, all waiting for theBrenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1159750843406628522006-10-01T17:30:00.000-07:002006-10-02T01:21:53.556-07:00Day27. Ciudad Acuna, Mexicoby JessicaIn the afternoon we headed into Mexico, to the border town of Ciudad Acuna. It's a very brief ride along the bridge that connects Del Rio to Acuna-- about as long, it seemed, as going about a ten or twenty block distance in Manhattan-- but once there, you know you're somewhere else. The feeling is immediate.The signs and buildings have different colors, Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1159748937943822952006-10-01T17:27:00.000-07:002006-10-02T01:24:16.436-07:00Day26PM and 27. Del Rio, TXBy Jessica<We got into the border town of Del Rio, Texas quite late. The drive had been long and tiring.It took a while to find the business and hotel district. We took a few wrong turns and ended up at the Mexico-US border checkpoint. In the night, it looked like there was just a big dark ocean beyond. We kept roaming through the streets... passing drive-thru liquor Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1159678835467082482006-09-30T21:59:00.000-07:002006-09-30T22:00:35.466-07:00Crazy Doppler.We drove through the main street of Mart, ringing the bell as we went. The sound of the bell bouncing off the walls of the buildings is amazing. Zingy doppler shifts. This is pretty special- It's not very often that you get to hear the sound of a 250 lb bell traveling at 40 mph down the road ringing and echoing as it goes.Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1159678643590358792006-09-30T21:56:00.000-07:002006-10-05T00:05:41.636-07:00Day26. Stopped in the streets.While we were waiting for an ice cream vendor to pass,someone stopped and asked if he could ring the bell for family members who had died.Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1159678537551528642006-09-30T21:54:00.000-07:002006-09-30T21:55:37.566-07:00Day26.San Antonio, TXWe visited the Alamo in the late afternoon. I don’t know if it was the heat or just fatigue, but I finally stopped trying so hard to get people to ring the bell. If they didn’t want to do it, I would just think, “Well. OK. Too bad”. It’s a more relaxed approach and it made it easier to have conversations with people. So, I’ll try that for a while.Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29865287.post-1159606522309289352006-09-30T01:54:00.000-07:002006-09-30T01:55:22.310-07:00DAY26.Rosedale School. Austin, TXWe visited this remarkable school for children with multiple severe and profound disabilities. About a dozen of the children were led outside to encounter the bell, each in their own way. Because the children expressed themselves in ways that were sometimes unfamiliar to me, it was not always easy for me to tell if a child was enjoying the bell or not. However, Brenda Hutchinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03220834846515832558noreply@blogger.com0