There couldn't be a more serendipitous end to our December A Bunch of Five journey than Five from film composer, Cassis B. Staudt. Perhaps the only Fiver featured with their very own Palme d'Or... We’ve featured a number of our favourite artists and cultural creatives celebrating good things. Celebrating A Bunch of Five things that made their world go around, inspired them or just needed celebrating for what they are. There’s was no theme, no kind of "best of year" round-up. The 34 featured fives contain many things identified as making the world a better place to be. We’re all about positivity. Almost all of the time. We promise...
Cassis B. Staudt has been a great friend of Outsideleft since calling us up to fix our faulty photo caption. Our eternally suspect quality control seeping into Germany. Cassis stellar career in music and movies has seen her win that aforementioned Palme d'Or for producing the Tom Waits and Iggy Pop segment of Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes; Cassis worked with Michael Gira and the Swans; she has scored numerous films and recently issued an EP of esoteric 80s cover versions with her band Berlin Banter. Cassis values celebrating each other - being alive – sharing strength – talking about fears and weaknesses and discovering new ways of being in together is the new now. It’s the end of the world as we know it and what makes our world go around is: community, Cassis, and her Five...
"Before I can enter into this richness and fullness of gatherings and discussions and laughter and riding conversations, however, I need to anchor myself. In my case, this means getting lost in daydreaming - experiencing rural and urban poetry from a left-brain viewpoint. I need to feel places and spaces and myself in them and want to be surprised and experience odd connections. No, it’s not lonely. It is rich quality time and utter inspiration and it refuels me to launch back into my various communities."
GETTING LOST 01.
As a teenager, I loved playing ‘getting lost’. We lived in Southern Germany in the last house before a deep forest and I would immerse myself in this magical land of trees and dappled sunlight, walking and walking and walking, talking with the ferns, whispering to the spruce, arbitrarily turning left or right and discovering the world – the plants – the sun caressing the leaves – myriad shades of green. When hunger at last arrived, I would glance at the setting sun and begin the long, winding trek home, somehow always landing on my doorstep. The yearning for this experience has never left me.
GETTING LOST 02.
Later in life, I visited London and whoa! Double-decker buses! Amazing! I transferred my forest wandering over to another country and language and a very urban setting - getting lost in a big city on a double-decker bus - sitting up front - boots against the window - riding through town - not knowing where I would land. I can’t recommend this more highly - ignoring maps – just getting lost and enjoying the ride. Seeing the everyday street life - people heading to work - nightlife - fascinating!
I found these double-decker buses in Berlin, too. Bus #100 is incredible but still secret-ish. So, it’s just between us, ok? #100 passes by immense historical monuments and is better than any commercial sightseeing bus. Remember, the key is to catch the seat up front - upstairs. Shhhh….
GETTING LOST 03.
Getting lost in New York City! I transformed this game into a career called ‘location scouting’ and, yes, for several years, I was an actual film and commercial location scout. My dream job - being paid to get lost! I started off by scouting Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man. I wandered aimlessly through burned-out Oregon forests and Arizona deserts. The next big film I worked on was The Spiderman movie - you know, the one with Tobey Maguire. I was the specialist for rooftops, and was even allowed to get on top of the super narrow Flatiron Building at night - with no railing. I recommend seeing the world from above - it gives one a new perspective..
GETTING LOST 04.
My daily jogging path For a few years, my game of ‘getting lost’ became a jogging obsession - and no - I did not get lost while jogging in different areas of town. I got lost in finding one photo where something would be visible that I would otherwise not see. I was fascinated by reflections of buildings in windows while still seeing the flowers on the window sill inside. Jogging got me into a left-brain frame of mind and I captured the unusual way I was seeing the world in photographs. I called these ‘My daily jogging path’ and posted one a day on Instagram. In the winter months, I don’t jog as much but still enjoy taking photos and shooting videos and occasionally enhancing them with the film music I write.
GETTING LOST 05.
Lately, I am getting lost listening to plants and jamming with them. I have a few transponders that I attach to the leaves that translate the plant’s electro-magnetic energy into a musical language. The hours just fly for me listening to and jamming along with them. It’s addictive! And I realize I’ve come full circle to where it all started, communing with plants and nature.
Essential Info
More about Cassis B. Staudt at her website here
Cassis B. Staudt at Outsideleft.com here
A BUNCH OF FIVE: Throughout December 2022 we asked a number of our favourite artists and cultural creatives to join us in celebrating good things. A Bunch of Five things that make their world go around, inspire them or just need celebrating for what they are. See what they came up with, below.
- jan5.
