The title: “Brick by Chance and Fortune”
“No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune.” — Plutarch This was the quote that jumped out at me when I was looking for inspiration for a title for this film. Of course I’ve excerpted it and taken it out of context for my own purposes. But the phrase “brick by chance and fortune” actually has resonance with this project in many ways. So now we have a title. Now on to finish the film! (Oh and the blog design is still a work in...
read moreThe title: "Brick by Chance and Fortune"
“No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune.” — Plutarch This was the quote that jumped out at me when I was looking for inspiration for a title for this film. Of course I’ve excerpted it and taken it out of context for my own purposes. But the phrase “brick by chance and fortune” actually has resonance with this project in many ways. So now we have a title. Now on to finish the film! (Oh and the blog design is still a work in...
read moreFor your consideration …
KETC has put most if not all of their segments from their locally produced show “Living St. Louis” on YouTube, which I applaud. I think it’s great that they’ve made these and other shows they produce easily available to watch anytime. This is a particularly interesting segment they produced about “ghost signs”–which are old advertisting signs painted on the sides of brick buildings that are no longer functional because the business they advertise has long closed. Some speculate that there are ghost signs in St. Louis that are 150 year old or so. So...
read moreProgress, Larry Giles and the Title
So far we’ve shot seven of the core “talking head” interviews that will become the core of the film. At the moment we are trying to schedule the last four or so key interviews that we think we need and then it’s on to shooting the exterior parts of the film if and when it ever warms up in St. Louis. One of my favorite interviews we’ve done so far is with Larry Giles of the St. Louis building Arts Foundation. He’s been salvaging pieces of lost buildings in St. Louis since the early 1970′s. The STL Building Arts Foundation purchased an old Steal Plant...
read moreAldermanic Sunday
Sunday we had an opportunity to spend our morning filming interviews with two of the city’s Alderman, Antonio French (21st Ward) and Sam Moore (4th Ward). I’ve had a hard time writing even just a few sentences about them because it comes out too positive and sounds like I’m kissing their ass instead of introducing them, so I’ll send you elsewhere to get a sense of who they are. Visit 21stward.org where you can read Alderman French’s bio. It’s not simply a resume of his experience, but a biography of his life experience that gives a good sense of his...
read moreAbout Brick By Chance and Fortune
St. Louis is a city with a rich heritage of brick architecture. Home to some of the largest and most innovative clay working companies of the nineteenth century, you can still see some of the finest examples of brick work ever produced all over the city and region. Today the city's brick heritage is under threat by neglect, brick theft and urban renewal.
