I recently had the opportunity to be the voice of the world-famous Muscle Beach. But not in the way that you’d expect. Instead of focusing on the well-defined bodies that made the beach famous, the topic now included the declining mussel population that resides just adjacent to the historic landmark. It’s a homonymic trick of the tongue, and narrating the self-guided audio tour was some of the greatest fun I’ve had with voice in a long time.
Alon and Daniel, the London-based art duo behind Cooking Sections, were selected for the Current:LA Food event that’s now in progress. They hooked up with dublab and all together, we developed the Mussel Beach narration from the perspective of the mussel. Alon and Daniel’s narrative addresses the complicated and symbiotic relationship between muscles and mussels, the environmental effects and the changing population of the western shoreline. It’s part workout routine, part sight-seeing and another part history lesson. And one of the best parts is the intermission; it’s scheduled to occur just in time for a break for a mussel taco.
The Mussel Beach ongoing guided audio tour is available to download and for listening at any time from anywhere, but it’s best experienced on-site through November 3rd. If you can’t make it to Venice Beach, just close your eyes and use your imagination — the aspect I love about audio in general! Maybe these pictures we took on our recent visit will help.
Top image: The Venice Beach Skatepark
All images by Clark and Liz Warner/www.lizwarnerprojects.com