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Saturday 23 May 2015 — first day of shooting for the Mindless Greg The Media Consumer video.
Director Steve Correia and I had very basic plan in mind: we would drive around Perth for the day, I’d go busking and he’d film what happened.
By lunch time we had plenty of footage of me being chased off pitches by enthusiastic security guards and transit cops, and were looking for something a little more human. I knew full well from my experiences in England that spontaneous street performance was more likely than anything to bring out the best in people.
We’d had glimpses, but not much luck, until somewhere around Colin Barnett‘s office, on the edge of the Golden Triangle, I looked over my shoulder and noticed a group of activists crossing Stirling Highway.
“Mate,” I said to Steve, “I reckon there might be a few dozen anti-GMO protesters back there.”
“What?” he said, “Where?!”
“On the corner,” I reckoned. “Dressed up in costume. We just passed ’em.”
“Let’s get them in the video!” he said, wheeling the big Toyota Prado in their general direction.
“Alright,” I said, not believing for a moment that these folks were going to want anything to do with me or my three minutes of foul-mouthed cartoonish vitriol, especially not when they’re out on duty.
But I should’ve known better. The Food Freedom Australia people were happy to oblige, and they remained supportive of the video long after it was released.
In return for their help, I agreed to join with singer Kelly Newton-Wordsworth for a rendition of her song Save Our Seeds, which Steve dutifully edited up for publication.
For me, that sense of mutual cooperation and spontaneous connection through shared use of public space is precisely the point of the Mindless Greg The Media Consumer video.
Anyway, that’s how I ended up in a political protest video. No regrets whatsoever.
In fact, if you’re not across what was done to Steve Marsh you should definitely have a read.
Footage from this day was used in the Official Music Video for Mindless Greg The Media Consumer.
