Concrete

Wilson begins each episode with a sort of mundane premise, like how to split a check with your friends or how to properly throw out batteries, and then he cleverly deviates from the idea, inserting delightful and strange interactions filmed on New York sidewalks and his poetic narration on city life and beyond.

After wrapping three seasons of the show, Wilson has a new project, again focused on infrastructure, a feature-length movie titled The History of Concrete, which comes to theaters this Friday, September eighteenth.

I called him up to talk about the state of the documentary industry and the arduous journey behind making the film.

John, welcome to the show.

Because as it is right now, I really don't think we're gonna be able to make concrete for that much longer, and I, I think that's kind of one of the scariest things I discovered.

Why is that?

Concrete requires a very specific kind of sand, like, to mix with cement and, um, aggregate.

And that kind of sand needs to be a bit jagged.

Yes.

Concrete and Jerry Garcia-

[gasps]

Yeah, man

[laughs]

[laughs] You can see the video on Brown Bag Mondays 106.

Concrete's even doing the pose and everything.

I was gonna say, the best part about the video to me is, uh, the knee bent with like-

Oh, we're doing beads? Okay, we'll do this.

W- Concrete, whatever." They're just doing all of it.

And I'm not saying this means they're gonna win, but they have more in common with like a Jesse and Jonathan type team.

It's just this season the competition is much better.

Let's go.

Yeah, it's because Concrete's a viral star.

It's kind of hard to get

down.

That's a light day.

Oh, that's a light day.

Yeah, this Concrete here we're talking about.

For real? Concrete, thank you for helping the homegirls.

Yeah.

Hormigón.

Concrete.

Callejón sin salida.

Next highlight.

The monument has been under a major restoration project since late last year to repair old concrete.

Third highlight.

Authorities have sealed off the area and are working to ensure public safety and preserve the heritage.

The Great East Gate, also known as Yingchun Gate, stands as a proud symbol of Tainan's rich heritage and is one of the largest surviving city gates in the nation.

This historic structure previously suffered a massive collapse due to extreme rainfall back in 1960.

It was eventually rebuilt in 1975 using reinforced concrete methods that were common at the time.

Recognizing that the aging concrete had developed concerning structural flaws over the past 50 years, the city government officially launched a comprehensive restoration project last November to properly preserve this cherished architectural treasure for future generations.

The last time we talked with our next guest was in October of 2020 during the pandemic.

She is the matriarch and former coordinator and artistic director of the Pueblo Levy Mural Project and has an exhibition entitled Concrete Creativity, Historic Murals of the Pueblo Levy.

at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center.

You can listen to our previous episodes with her by searching out episode 7 and 49 in our archives.

That's a pretty great story.

And then Phil did a bunch of his on the wall too.

So in this exhibition that you have, Concrete Creativity, it's been open since April.

It finishes up the 15th of August, if that's correct.