(Both screenshot images were taken from the YouTube account of 'hobestobe')
There was a brief moment in the first episode “Keddie Wye to Bend” of Stobe the Hobo’s fantastic YouTube series that perfectly captured what made it so unique. We see Stobe the Hobo and his often featured travelling partner Wingman drink wine out of a bottle and take a hearty chomp out of a chunk of cheese, while both stand in a gondola style railroad car full of rebar. What better image could there be to establish the notion of Stobe the Hobo’s series as an almost flawless amalgamation of high-art and low-art approaches to video content? On the surface Stobe the Hobo’s series appears to document the illicit journeys of a beer-guzzling, poorly educated low-life, and yet James Stobie, the man behind the YouTube series, would often belie his true intelligence in his videos. What makes his series work is the fact that he would capture absolutely stunning imagery of America’s various landscapes often from the back of a moving freight car. In addition to this his videos are punctuated by piano melodies that were all performed by Stobie himself. The piano playing interludes gave his videos a sense of class and refinement that seemed more fitting for a NPR broadcast than a YouTube series on train hopping. The videos were also exquisitely edited down to roughly 20 minutes or so, which excised much of the tedium and boredom out of his journeys, ultimately offering an excellent mixture of pace, narrative cohesiveness and detail to make them interesting to watch.
Stobe the Hobo would also stage personal monologues in many of the towns that he visited, as if he dared to cast himself as a poor man’s Rick Steves. Even then Stobe the Hobo would offer his honest, unfiltered takes on the places that he visited which could be compelling, not to mention curious since he often visited towns that rarely draw much attention elsewhere. The view of America that you get from Stobe the Hobo’s series is one that brushes aside the corporate glitz and glamour of places like New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and others. In their absence you get better acquainted with the milquetoast horror of places like Glasgow, MT and Salina, KS. In fact it’s not impossible to view his exploration of America’s vast interior as one which inadvertently put on display the decaying ruins of what was once a proud, prosperous nation. In many ways Stobe the Hobo’s portrait of America is strangely equally romanticized and yet unflinching.
Early in the series it was interesting to see how quickly the concept would evolve. In the second episode “Illinois-Toledo-Chicago”, Stobe the Hobo made a concerted effort to show off his knowledge of freight trains with a short bit about the types of rides that one can catch. This helps to establish Stobe the Hobo’s personal knowledge and expertise in what he was doing. He was no novice when it came to train hopping. In the fourth episode “Vegas X-Press-Trainhopping Las Vegas to Laramie” Stobe the Hobo interjects a great deal of humor and mirth, which shows off more of his personality and character. This helps to address one of the few valid critiques against the series, namely that of Stobe the Hobo’s general disposition and behavior. Stobe the Hobo talks in a decidedly deadpan manner and rarely shows much emotion. While his easy, laid-back, even-keeled attitude is certainly helpful in dealing with the rigors of train hopping, it doesn’t lend a great deal of charisma to the series. Early on, it’s fairly obvious that neither Stobe the Hobo, nor Wingman were particularly comfortable in front of the camera. In fact at times Stobe the Hobo would awkwardly turn sideways during his staged monologues.
By the time the series progressed to its sixth episode such uneasiness started to fade, and the confidence and humor of its characters made the channel even more appealing. In this episode it was actually refreshing to hear Stobe the Hobo’s rather sardonic response to the fact that his hobo bonfire drew the attention of the local fire department in Reno. This was easily Stobe the Hobo’s most demonstrative moment during the first six episodes.
For this episode Stobe the Hobo is joined by series regular Wingman and a third accomplice, Sarah, who rarely appears on camera and who I suspect was responsible for most of the camerawork in this episode. Having a dedicated cameraperson for these videos does induce a significant improvement in the quality of the framing as one can see with the shots taken inside the covered hopper when the trio left Dunsmuir, CA. Even the staged short bits of exposition were framed in a way that seemed more professionally done, than if Stobe the Hobo was the holding the camera as he walks which is usually how such segments are conducted. The one thing though that I didn’t care much for was the editing. It’s almost as if the boxed wine had too much influence on this aspect. While the sequencing of the cuts still offered a decent narrative continuity, the pacing felt off with incredibly short shots and jump cuts that sometimes occurred in a rapid fire succession to each other. Consider the following sequence while the trio wasted a night in Reno. There’s a shot of Stobe the Hobo walking down a street. Then there’s an outdoor shot of Wingman walking into a casino. Then there’s an indoor shot of Wingman walking into a casino. Then it cuts again to Stobe the Hobo talking about one of the town’s casinos. All three cuts take place in about six seconds. One notion that usually presents itself though Stobe the Hobo’s work is that train hopping can be a slow, arduous way to travel, one that often forces you to spend enough time in a place so that you thoroughly absorb its true essence. To me a cinematographic approach of longer, more continuous takes is the better approach for such content, especially when you’re often capturing remarkable eye-catching scenery. To see 3 shots all less than 3 seconds in duration occurring consecutively suggests a faux sense of speed to the journey which seems totally out of place.
As for the video’s narrative, which Stobe the Hobo reveals in a rather creepy shot where he is only lit by the group’s flickering Dunsmuir campfire, the goal for this trip is to make a break for Las Vegas in order to escape the winter doldrums of northern California. With freight trains as the main conveyance, our hobo heroes have to chart a rather circuitous journey through Reno and Salt Lake City in order to reach their destination. The journey begins with a surprising amount of confusion as the group awaits the first train to take them to Roseville, CA. The beginning effectively establishes the notion that the art of train hopping is a difficult endeavor to master, assuming of course that such a thing is even possible. What the crew initially thought was an empty hopper, turns out to be a near perfect ride, as the three take a seat on top of a mound of sawdust, underneath a mesh cover that conceals their presence. Once in Roseville the group catches a train to Reno in a DPU and since this entire leg occurs at night it offers few Kodak moments, unless of course you think that there’s something intriguing about Colfax, CA in the middle of a cold winter night. In fact the most memorable portion of this trip is Stobe the Hobo’s brisk rebuke of Coors brand beer.
In typical Stobe the Hobo fashion a stopover in Reno includes a monologue not about its many casinos, but rather the trench the town build for freight traffic, much to the dismay of train hoppers. This leads to Stobe the Hobo’s rather unfavorable opinion of the city, a critique he gives while a busker in the background appears to serenade the audience with a rendition of ‘Blister in the Sun’.
After dodging capture by the Reno Fire Department, the crew boards a train in the middle of the night and head east. As the sun rises on the journey it provides ample opportunities for what is easily the series’ most alluring element, picturesque views of the American countryside. The camerawork had captured some of this on the way to Roseville, but the Reno to Salt Lake City leg is where many of the episode’s most indelible images are captured. In a normal Stobe the Hobo video the sunrise shot taken while riding through the Nevada desert would have stood out, but in this episode that is merely an appetizer for a far more special treat. The group’s train ends up taking the Odgen split which traverses the Salt Lake Causeway, providing a view of the lake that only hobos and train conductors get to see with the naked eye.
The last two minutes of this video is one of the most sublimely beautiful things that I have ever seen on YouTube. The images of the Salt Lake have an eerie, stark majesty about them. This particular time of day results in a scene where the water, sun, sky and fog combine to form an indistinguishable, impressionistic mesh of gray, white and light lavender hues which is sharply contrasted against the bright forest green trailer directly in front of the hobos, creating a mystical, unearthly vibe.
If that wasn’t enough the camera started being flipped upside down to show the speedy passage of causeway rocks above this surreal sight. Towards the end of the video you also have quick jump cuts of various camera flips all while a slower-tempo, jazzier piano rendition of Johnny Cash’s ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ plays in the background. It is pure poetry. Amongst the intercutting is the view of both Stobe the Hobo and Wingman happily drinking boxed wine, while enjoying the alien ambiance that the Great Salt Lake provides. If this video doesn’t make you want to go out and hop a freighter, than nothing will.