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This entry and event is by Sarah Roberts. Islands of LA invited Sarah to create an activity as part of an exhibition at G727 that Islands of LA participated in called Soundscapes, curated by Tiffany Barber.

Sunday morning was ’spring forward’ , the first morning of daylight savings time, perhaps not the most congenial time to gather a hearty crew for a game of sound soccer. It was nice out, though – there was a baby blue sky and little soft clouds, a misty, warm day. Driving up Eagle Rock Blvd the traffic island looked completely inviting – Ari had spread a big tarp with blankets and pillows there in the middle of the big expanse of grass, an oasis in the lazy sunday traffic.

During the next hour we were joined by a variety of people, a generous friend brought a tray of fruit and dates, and though we never had enough for a soccer team there were earbees to try out. The earbees are an invention that Palle Henckel and I came up with for playing sound games with groups. They are a set of 13 simple, handheld, reasonably loud, loop recorders that you can hand out to members of a group for doing all kinds of things with words and sound.

I asked everyone to record their grandmother’s name, or something she used to say. We put each earbee, playing these grandmotherly sayings, at the base of one of the newly planted trees that are all over this island and took a tour from tree to tree – hearing about each other’s grandmothers. It’s an interesting thing, just hearing someone say their grandmother’s name gives you a new sense of who that person is.

The afternoon ended with something that started out sounding like a droning chorus and concluded in a sort of rarified hash of voices. There was a very pleasant castaway feeling to it, people came and went, there were long conversations… it was an island in time as well as space. At about 4:00 we packed up, crossed the street and, in our separate vehicles, drove off to the mainland.

Thank you Islands of LA, for getting us out there on a Sunday afternoon.

Events & Stories at this Location

• Island BBQ
• Rhythm Analysis
• Islands of LA Discussion/Activities - 1 year anniversary