for the record

     Keith Cox called around 2:30 yesterday afternoon.  He was in Ocean Park and wondered if he could come by for “a conversation.”  And, by the way, he’d be bringing his video camera.
     Even though we had never met, I felt like I knew Keith.  We’ve talked on the phone; I know his mother, Maureen, and his grandmother, Martha Murfin.  And I’ve been following his documentary work on a series called “Willapa Bay Oysters: more than an oysters, it’s a quality of life.”  I was eager to meet him.
     He arrived a few minutes later with camera and microphone but no lights, so we sat outside in the sun.  And the wind!  I knew my hair was blowing all over the place as we talked – in fact, once Keith asked me to remove a errant strand that was threatening to obliterate part of my face.  But none of that mattered. I thoroughly enjoyed our “conversation.”
     Keith lives in L.A. and is a film editor and documentarian.  He has worked with the likes of Hugh Grant and Julie Roberts and Jennifer Lopez.  And now, Sydney Stevens!  (lol)  He is one of those professionals who seem as comfortable as the proverbial old shoe.
     Plus, I had seen his trailer for the series online and it is fabulous!  It moves quickly and takes you out on the bay at low tide, onto dredges at high tide, and into the processing plants.  It gives just a taste of the complexities involved in farming and marketing oysters – just a hint of the series to come.  Oystermen I’ve known for a lifetime – Pete Heckes, Brian Kemmer, Dick Sheldon, Dan Driscoll and many others – speak about their work and about the life of an oysterman.  Fast-paced and beautifully photographed, it’s a series I would be proud to be part of.
     The delightful part about this project is that Keith is doing it out of passion… out of love.  He grew up on the Bone River here in Pacific County.  He knows the area and he knows his oysters.  He is documenting this piece of contemporary life in his ‘spare time.’
     “I call it my 11 to 4 project — 11 at night to 4 in the morning.”
     He has no grandiose plans about marketing the series, although he concedes that should PBS or a like entity pick it up, that would be fine.
     “But it’s a niche kind of thing.  For the most part, only people in the shellfish industry will be interested.  But we’ll see…”  I’m not so sure he’s right about that but I agree with his “we’ll see” comment.
     My part was to reflect on community life (past and present) in this area more-or-less dominated by the oyster industry. Time evaporated as we talked.  I had noticed that it was getting cooler and the shadows had lengthened, but I was surprised when I glanced at the clock as he left – 6:20 already!  What an unexpected and pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon.