Moving and relevant use of a few of my ambient tracks by filmmaker Kenny Johnson in Wrestle Donst Wrestle, a 2015 documentary about independent professional (Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW)) wrestler Tim Donst‘s battle to return to the ring after a kidney tumor. “Upon A Child’s Doll Reflection,” “Truth Is A Lonely Place,” and “Space Walk” (all Disquiet Junto projects, btw) well up at critical times in the film. No spoilers, of course, but the poignancy and melody they lend their respective scenes affirmed all the reasons I started writing ambient wordless work in earnest a few years ago.
Wrestling is a deep subculture, with many threads through time and stories of soaring courage, gritted determination and dream-shattering heartbreak. The 2008 film The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke touched on these themes and conveyed a raw, albeit too-neatly story-arc’ed, look at someone akin to Donst. I knew almost nothing of Donst’s real world as I hit the play button here. Now I can’t imagine our world without his.
Lives in the shadows are often in the balance, and make for fascinating exploration. Life on the fringes, however and unfortunately, too often is marginalized and made frivolous. I feel a kindred spirit with Donst. Neither of us push ourselves to realize our passions for the money or the fame. He can’t envision waking consciousness without the promise of a next match the way I cannot wake without thinking of writing music. DNA isn’t just physical – it’s also spiritual. The moment you tap into what makes you you, life starts.
YouTube liner notes
Published on Aug 16, 2015
In February 2015, Tim Donst told the independent wrestling world that his in ring career was possibly over. He had a tumor in his right kidney. His future was uncertain.
In this documentary, Donst reflects back on his career, his passion for wrestling, thoughts on death, talking with Mick Foley, and the road to recovery.
But was his career really over? Would he ever set foot in a wrestling ever again as an active competitor? Find out as he goes back to AIW (Absolute Intense Wrestling) and is confronted by the King of Ultra Violence Nick Gage.
Chasing Flight soundtracks an introspective interview with Swedish actor Sandro Khafor, shot by Oliver der Nederlanden and Magnus Lindkvist. Wish I knew Swedish, but the word for actor, skådespelare, is a sharp looking one.
a sunny trip thru simulation theory, alan watts, and the watercourse way.
:^D
all the dreams have been blamed
all the sources have been named
there’s no hiding in the shadows anymore
all the ‘steins have been ‘stained
all the acid has been rained
there’s no overriding the code
[ch]
we’re on the other side of the end
with no trace no chance to defend
the true meaning of our being, friends
on the other side of the end
the simulation reset
everyone’s free to forget
all the ways we used to agree
and the lines of least resistance
destroyed by destroying
all the ways water courses to the sea
easy to miss when everything’s not right
the signs can hide in plain sight
Last night (09.04.2016) the wonderful and dark indie film Road To The Well (dir. Jon Cvack), which used my Americana track Man Again, won Best In Festival at the 2016 Long Beach Film Festival.
source track: Man Again (FMA bonus track on Transient Lines)
