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All Photos and text copyright by Hirake Mike
Hello Richard!
As luck would have it, I made it home safely last night. I'm still suffering from a bit of "train-lag", so bear with me!
The entire trip was a complete success, albeit, it had it's disappointments. Detroit is a very depressing city. Very empty, with random people puttering along, and endless panhandlers. We went to a fast food restaurant, and a convenience store, both which had bulletproof walls in front of the cashier. It was funny because on the train, before we arrived in Detroit, my BF was speaking to a guy sitting near us, who happened to be a native of Michigan. He was completely aware of "Freight Train" and had mentioned that he keeps up with her appearances in Cranbrook. Anyway, he cautioned us to a great length about Detroit, especially since we didn't arrive until almost 10pm.
But anyway, very sad town...Hundreds of closed businesses, rubble of half destroyed buildings, rude people. I thought that this contrast worked good, and bad, for Freight Train.
The emotional impact of Freight Train which contrasts with the city is amazing, but I think it had it's faults. For instance, it seemed like it was completely ignored by people walking past it. This I couldn't understand. The Freight Train itself was this pained, hulking beauty of a "music-sculpture" in which the music only heighted the hallucinatory aspect of it...People will say the Train is a spectacle only at night, but it was still quite striking in the morning, with a clear sky.
I did film at least 25 minutes of the train. The footage was extremely hard to obtain. I got about 3-5 minutes of the train at dawn, but their "dawn" wasn't very convincing as it was just very cloudy. I arrived around 7am and filmed it in spite of the BITTER cold, and a cop car watching me the entire time. Oh, and the wind didn't help either! I did get a very clean copy of just the soundtrack itself, which is extremely brilliant, creepy, and hypnotic. It also will not leave your head for hours so it's almost dangerous to listen to by itself.
The night we arrived, we made it to the train around midnight, but despite what the Museum Clerk told me via E-mail, the train was turned off! The last night we stayed, I filmed the train at night with various multiple shots. It was not easy though. My tripod kept slipping in the snow, the wind was biting, I think my hands were turning blue, and a couple very scary people kept asking TJ for money and cigarettes...Like I said though, I'm very happy with the footage I obtained.
We also attended the museum on Sunday, since it was the ONLY thing to do. The Museum was a complete let-down also. No Fluxus works to be seen, just many "artifacts". The only exciting thing I saw was an original Warhol. But, they did have Freight Train pamphlets. I grabbed quite a few of those.
So there you have it. My trip into a dark cesspool of the US, and finally managed to see an Ono work of art in person. A very amazing piece of work that really can only be experienced in person.
"Freight Train is the first work of art by Yoko Ono that I have viewed in person, having unfortunately missed the YES exhibit twice. Upon viewing Freight Train for the first time, it occurred to me that not only was the work of art important, but also it's location within the context of how it was placed.
Detroit is a very depressing city, at least in the general area of the museum. I noticed a striking contrast between the shell of the train and the actual city itself. The gaping wounds from the bullets, it's stillness, appearing like a grave rather than a memoir. Detroit seemed like at one time it was quite active, but appears stalled, for no reason, other than economic despair.
The haunting requiem which emitted from the train is probably one of Yoko's most challenging works, and although the materials used for the soundtrack are not new, it is amazing how different her music sounds with little manipulation."
