To introduce his debut solo album Audition Tapes, Athens musician T. Hardy Morris and filmmaker Jason Thrasher filmed a series of live performance videos for each song on Morris’ new record at 10 different endangered historic sites in Georgia.
All the sites in the videos were chosen from the Georgia Trust’s Places in Peril program, which identifies and preserves historic sites threatened by demolition, neglect, lack of maintenance, inappropriate development or insensitive public policy.
The latest video for the song “Share The Needle” was filmed at Howard Finster’s Paradise Garden, the site at which R.E.M.’s iconic video for “Radio Free Europe” was filmed in the early 80’s. We’re pleased to premiere Hardy’s new video, not only a great piece of music, but also a conscious-raising statement that to an endangered historic site in the band’s home state which deserves preservation. We hope you enjoy the video and encourage you to learn more about the Georgia Trust’s Places in Peril at georgiatrust.org.
Watch the Videos:
Live music video for “Share the Needle” from Paradise Gardens (Start @ 1:17).
Entire video short (complete with Howard Finster’s Commentary),
“Walking around Paradise Gardens,” said Morris, “is like being imbedded in a piece of art. You are completely surrounded by Howard Finster’s vision and you kind of get inside the artists’ mind. It is astonishing to see all of these things, most of which are ordinary objects, transformed into art simply from his relentless compulsion to create. The whole experience is both calming and chaotic; intense and inspiring.”
Howard Finster (December 2, 1916 — October 22, 2001) was an American artist and Baptist minister from Georgia. He claimed to be inspired by God to spread the gospel through the environment of Paradise Garden and over 46,000 pieces of art. His creations overlap folk art, outsider art, naïve art, and visionary art. Finster first came to widespread notice in the 1980s with his album cover designs for bands such as R.E.M. and Talking Heads.
– A screening of all the Audition Tapes From Places In Peril videos will be presented at a screening at Cine Athens on August 16th with proceeds going to support the Trust.
More videos from the series can be seen at t.hardymorris.com