I’m Sorry Laundry
A testimony from student turned mentor Coral Dawley
After finishing one of our group poems, I’m Sorry Laundry, in May of 2021, we began to compose music for it. We had one meeting together where a few writing students and a few mentors gathered at Roy’s home and out came the music played behind the video, I’m Sorry Laundry. The idea for a video was quickly proposed, and bass mentor Bam Rodriguez stepped forward to lead with his experience in stop motion animation (you can check out his other projects on his Instagram/Patreon Music to be Bored.)
As discussions about our visions for the video went on we built the characters, all of us assigned to someone other then ourselves. We watched movies about laundry for inspiration; ‘My Beautiful Laundrette’ became our visual inspiration, and out of cardboard and foam we created our set. The entire building process took 5 or 6 meetings with different attendees nearly every time. In June of 2021 all of the older musicians gathered at Bam’s house to finish the building process and record the instruments for I’m Sorry Laundry. (We ended up recording my song: Bird Talk, and didn’t record I’m Sorry Laundry as a group until November…) The video was put on hold for the summer and filming was spread across the fall and winter. We finally finished filming in December, listening to Blake Mills and a few 5PM originals, and began editing in January. In February, me and Bam, in one long session, finished the video! It was all very tedious and fun and we are very proud to present “I’m Sorry Laundry” by Sam and the Originals.
World of Fire
After an impressive 82 consecutive days of 5pm concerts with an expanding local audience, the musicians turned to creating a learning program for local youth, whose summer camp was cancelled and were unable to do much of anything during the lockdown. Making music together under the supervision of professional musicians revealed a remarkable balm for the Covid blues. This 23-minute film documents the culminating performance of the 5pm Porch Concert Ensemble and their students. "World of Fire" is a pandemic-aware procession that visits a suite of diverse musical and cultural styles on the porches, driveways, yards, and sidewalks of Marlborough Road. It is one neighborhood’s heartfelt response to a city, a country, and a world that is now so full of Fire.
Who is 5PM?
A mini-documentary by Coral Dawley
Other students of 5PM and I would talk about the program as if it were magic. As if in just being there, we were being showed a world we maybe weren’t supposed to see. It holds no boundaries, all floating when we play together. So my question was: Why this program? What makes this one different? My hypothesis was: the people. So here is a video about just three of the people who make up the program. There are so many more, and one day I will make a documentary about them too.
Daily Ritual
This short film by Gabe Garcia documents the daily ritual, in which the neighborhood came together to enjoy each other's company and the music provided by the 5pm Porch Concert band.