009. ATTEMPT TO SCORE SUM ACTION FOR DAILY LIVING
- various simultaneous locations, Baltimore, us@
- early 1978
- A group of perhaps 8 people were organized into every possible duo. Each duo chose a time of day when each of them would perform an unusual (or usual) daily activity specified for them by the other. As such, each person had (if the number of 8 people is correct) 7 times of the day when they knew they were performing something at the same time as 1 of the other members of the group. I remember, for example, taking out the fortunes from fortune cookies (preferably without breaking the cookie) & the pimiento from stuffed olives (preferably without ripping them) & causing them to switch places as my instruction from Beth Downey. These simultaneities were performed for at least 1 week & were deliberately undocumented so that the emphasis would stay on the experience itself rather than any object produced by it. A later version for vaudeo documentation was started but unfinished.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
010. a thing involving audio tape, tape playing machine, 2 cushioned seat speaker cabinets, 2 paid book-ends, emptied pockets & pocket-books, books, a book-shelf, & an audience?
(originally written as:
.."a thing involving
audio tap(hh), tap(hh) playing machin(hh),
2 cushion(hh)d s(hh)at sp(hh)ak(hh)r cabin(hh)ts, 2 paid book-(hh)nds,
mt(hh)d pock(hh)ts & pock(hh)t-books, books, a book-sh(hh)lv(hh),
& an audi(hh)nc(hh)?")
- more simply &/or commonly known as "the human book-ends thing"
- Red Door Hall, Baltimore, us@
- fall, 1978
- Two long planks joined & supported at the middle & held up at either end by sturdy speaker cabinets on their sides formed the "bookshelves". Boxes filled with books were scattered about on either side of the planks on the floor. The "human book-ends", Laurie Stepp & Beth Downey, emptied their purses onto the speaker cabinets so that they could rattle when sounds would come from them & took their places on the cabinets facing each other across the planks. During this action they only communicated thru gesture. What was originally a 3 hour 4 track reel-to-reel tape with only 35 very narrow range sounds on it was played in stereo so that 2 of the tracks were heard forwards during the 1st 3 hours & the other 2 tracks were heard backwards during the last 3 hours. When the tape was being flipped the "human book-ends" were permitted a break. The audience was encouraged to pay in "ob(hh)ron + gold" & to react to the situation in some creative way. One friend, Augusta Leigh McDonald, went so far as to find a goldfish pond & capture a goldfish that she named "Oberon" to pay with. Bonnie Bonnell imitated the central tableau by making a miniature version of it in a corner. Gayle Hanson tied up Steve Brookes & read from the masochistic book "Venus in Furs". Most people, myself included, placed & arranged the books on the bookshelves & attempted to communicate gesturally with the book-ends. Richard Ellsberry typed a typewriter portrait of me. The essentialness of the materials & their unusual restrictiveness were meant to function as (& did function as) a catalyst to the audience to draw their inspiration from. A-Muse-ing.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
011. GHOST FILM presentation with Ghost Writing Booklets
- Community College of Baltimore, Harbor Campus, Baltimore, us@
- fall, 1978
- Members of the audience were given note-pads with invisible ink writing &/or drawing on them (i.e.: "Ghost" writing &/or drawing) & were given pens to "take notes" about the film they were about to see or "doodle". The pens that they were given were the "developer pens" for the "ghost" writing & their ink was invisible except where something was already marked by the ink that they were to develop. Thus, the resultant notes or doodles & the original preparations were only visible where they intersected - producing a collaboration. An attempt to show my film "GHOST FILM, A Nightmare for Projectionists" was then made. Given that the film is deliberately a poorly spliced mess, this attempt was only partially successful &, once again, the deterioration of the film was contributed to so that it could continue to progress as a nightmare for projectionists.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
012. Proxy for Marshall Reese Reading
- Maryland Writers Council, Red Door Hall, Baltimore, us@
- December 10, 1978
- Marshall was scheduled to read but had been in a car accident & was unable to attend the event. As such, I acted as his proxy. As per his instructions I picked phone numbers from the phone book & then picked numbered poetic phrases that Marshall had provided & read them in the order of the phone number. I actually don't remember doing this at all but Chris Mason has written about it in his book entitled "Something Something Morning" so I take his word for it.
- March 26, 2021 description by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE based on a recollection of Chris Mason
to Personal Favorites: 1959-1989