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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Art / Housekeeping Audio of a Pumpkin Being Dropped Down a Garbage Chute

Posted by on Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 11:59 AM

And this bird you can not change.
  • And this bird you can not change.
To celebrate Tuesday, I dropped a pumpkin down my fifth floor garbage chute, and recorded the audio. The pumpkin was old, large, and greening in patches with rot. (Neighbors were happy for me to take the thing off their hands.) As I carried it, rot-juice ran down my arm like a tear of pumpkin rot-joy, overcome with happiness at finally being thrown away. Previously, I had listened to “Fingerprint File,” the closing track off the Rolling Stones 1974 album It’s Only Rock n’ Roll. Keith Richards’ wah pedal churns the song slinky, and in my opinion, it's one of the Stones’ more underrated tunes. Two years prior, during the Rolling Stones' 1972 North American tour, Keith dropped a television set off a 10th story balcony. Thus, with “Fingerprint File” stuck in my head, seeing my neighbor’s decomposing pumpkin roused images of Keith’s fun with the TV, and Sir Isaac Newton.

Newton’s law of universal gravitation is described as the mutual attraction between any two bodies in the universe. Applied here, that mutual attraction would be between a pumpkin left over from fucking Halloween and the dumpster five floors below.

I was hoping for more of an explosive, sickening sound when the pumpkin hit, but it ended up just sounding like a basketball being thrown into the hull of a tanker. Except this basketball doesn’t bounce. The dumpster must have been empty. I wanted so much more.

Due to the bland nature of this pumpkin’s landing sound, I made some sonic alterations. Here now for you are those sounds:

Clean Audio of a Pumpkin Being Dropped Down a Five-Story Garbage Chute:

With Alternate Ending 1: Guitar Solo From Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” Live at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA, 1976:

With Alternate Ending 2: Aunty Jaynes Animal Sounds:

With Alternate Ending 3: Travis Ritter’s Burp of the Motherfucking Year:

 

Comments (13) RSS

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1
CHUTE

You actually don't know that?????
Posted by N in Seattle http://peacetreefarm.org on February 7, 2012 at 1:04 PM
Trent Moorman 2
N,

I prefer the American spelling.
Posted by Trent Moorman on February 7, 2012 at 1:08 PM
Grant Brissey 3
ITS' FIXED EVERYONE CALM DOWN.
Posted by Grant Brissey http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Author.html?oid=23414 on February 7, 2012 at 1:11 PM
gloomy gus 4
I've had the fun of cleaning out the trash chute once. Yes, people will fling any old thing in there to tumble down, splooshing on the walls and exploding against the bottom. Yes, it needs lots of long-handled scrub brushes and hot soapy water to clear up the summer stink. No, the work does not pay much at all, not at all.
Posted by gloomy gus on February 7, 2012 at 1:19 PM
Trent Moorman 5
I meant it to be "shoot." Play on words. Frizzelle and I had a ten minute conversation about it, which lead into a wider conversation about the Hadron Collider, Francisco Goya, and Bacon Shakes.

N in Seattle, have a Bacon Shake. Then play with some words. Then drop some shit down a garbage shoot.
Posted by Trent Moorman on February 7, 2012 at 1:24 PM
6
"Led," Trent, not "lead."

You actually don't know that?????
Posted by Christopher Frizzelle on February 7, 2012 at 1:41 PM
Trent Moorman 7
Jesus. That one was supposed to be "leads." Forgot the S. A typo. No one in the world ever makes typos, in comment sections, ever. Play on words, play on tenses.

Look, FUCK IT. This is about dropping shit down a GARBAGE SHOOT. You may quibble about spelling and such if that's what you'd like to do, but I suggest you stop spelling, and start living. And living starts with dropping shit down garbage shoots. And bacon shakes.
Posted by Trent Moorman on February 7, 2012 at 1:51 PM
Grant Brissey 8
^correct^ @ 7
Posted by Grant Brissey http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Author.html?oid=23414 on February 7, 2012 at 2:02 PM
knobtheunicorn 9
I played them all at once and now my hangover is cured! Thank you Mr. Moorman and thank you Science!
Posted by knobtheunicorn on February 7, 2012 at 2:22 PM
Masi 10
F. Scott Fitzgerald and Flannery O'Connor are said to have not been able to spell at all. O'Connor described herself as an "innocent" speller. Interesting topic. Spelling and grammar, and how they relate to the pace of technology for those who move quickly, such as Trent. Also, studies have shown highly creative people don't spell acurately. They are more concerned with the creation at hand.
Posted by Masi on February 7, 2012 at 3:41 PM
Grant Brissey 11
Dear Masi, I love you.
Posted by Grant Brissey http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Author.html?oid=23414 on February 7, 2012 at 3:48 PM
bedipped 12
Contact for screenprint of Stranger "Shoot" debacle. Live recreations of incorrect post title updated with correct word will occur daily at chutethebreeze.com. The musical of the comic book of the post just had their cast party, you missed it.
Posted by bedipped on February 7, 2012 at 5:09 PM
13
Facebook, anyone?
Posted by Trolly Trolly Troll Troll on February 8, 2012 at 10:44 AM

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