136. ["Eloquent Voices", subtitled "Pathetique" for car horns (by Dick Turner)
- VEX, Swann Park, Baltimore, us@
- March, 1990
- This Krononautic Organism's Vernal Equinox party took place at a particularly toxic waste dump type environment in Baltimore City. Dick Turner's contribution was to premier his piece scored for car horns (& lights). I participated as 1 of the car players.]
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
137. [the Official, May 5th, 1990ev, 31st St. Between Greenmount & Barclay Block Party Combo
- Block Party, Baltimore, us@
- May 5, 1990
- This was the premier of the group that Neil Feather & I founded that we decided to call the "official group for any occasion". Given that 36 of the next 42 entries were done under the umbrella of this project, it's probably a good idea to restrict the information of "official" entries in some way to avoid too much redundancy. Therefore, I won't list our instrumentation, I'll try to give a coherent general outline of our approach in this entry only, & I'll stick to concise participant info at the end of each. We worked with what we call CAMUs - an acronymn for "Cue Activated Modular Units". This means parameters for playing that can be activated by any player at almost any time by cueing with previously agreed upon signals. The rules for these parameters could be anywhere in the range between simple to convoluted with players having to make quick mathematical calculations in order to play accents in sync with the other players, etc.. The CAMUs included guidelines for behaviour. The "John Trubee Squee-Gee Blivet" (named by John Berndt partially in honor of the "reality" undermining confrontationalness of John Trubee' s infamous prank phone calls) was performed by suddenly confronting an audience member as if you were a "schizophrenic" street person (perhaps with Tourette's Syndrome) & screaming emotionally charged gibberish in their face as if it were "all their fault". This early show was fairly simple but the later shows got to be so complicated that it amazed all of us that we could remember so many parameter guidelines & follow them so quickly. Personnel: Herr Brain Storm Drain, Courtney McCullough, Neil Feather, myself.]
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
138. Hairballs, Wigs, & Weaves for Skinheads
- Anti-Racist-Skinheads Rally, Baltimore, us@
- spring, 1990
- At the suggestion of Professor "Footlong" Franks (David Franks), we collaborated on founding this bogus support group. Given that to most people I was a "skinhead" at the time because I had a shaved head that's tattooed & "looked tough" & wore a flight jacket & steel-toe boots, I was pretty sick of "skinhead" stereotyping. It seems that outside agitators came to town & tried to stir up "skinheads" as white-supremacists. Then the "skinheads" tried to get a parade permit to walk thru a notoriously racist white neighborhood. Anti-racist & pacifist forces in the neighborhood fought the granting of the permit & the city officials agreed to let the parade happen in front of city hall (where there are Jewish history plaques). The media jumped on this with relish. Hot Dog! Their stupid oversimplifications & sensationalizing reduced "skinheads" to being only white & only racist - completely not noticing that Baltimore had black skinheads, that black & white skinheads hung out with each other, & that an anti-racist skinhead group existed. Thus every white male with a shaved head became a target for volatile blacks too stupid to see thru the media hype. All this increased racial tension rather than decreased it thusly playing right into the same old "divide & conquer" scenario that's kept the poor fighting each other for who knows how long.. At any rate, "Footlong" & I co-made a pamphlet (my portion was done under the name of "Moms" Brutus) parodying the whole thing meant to be handed out at the white supremacist rally. Anti-racists planned a counter-rally but the racists cancelled saying that they only wanted to rally in the all-white neighborhood. The counter-rally happened anyway & "Footlong" & I & some other cohorts attended to hand out our pamphlets. Jake T. Unclean handed out a flier from "Girls Shave in Solidarity". "Footlong" sported a rainbow-afro wig & I wore my "Hair Suit" (covered with wigs) & a wig on my head. When I pulled off my wig, people gasped "a skinhead!" Most of the "leftists" were as knee-jerkingly predictable & dumb as ever - afraid to "let us" speak because they were afraid of the language we'd use & not too sure we'd be politically correct. In the end they nervously gave us the platform. "Footlong" & I read from our pamphlet while Jake shaved her legs. The media so misrepresented this anti-racist rally as being some big defeat of the "skinheads" rather than the rag-tag affair it really was that, even as a participant in it, I couldn't stomach it all.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
139. the Official, Saturday, June 23, 1990ev, Patapsco Park, McKeldin Area, Paul & Cindy's Wedding Trio
- Patapsco Park, Maryland, us@
- June 23, 1990
- Our 2nd "official" gig this was actually for some friends' wedding! During 1 part when we started rhythmically describing the trees around us 1 friend got so excited that she started jumping up & down. To her embarrassment, she was wearing a dress with nothing underneath that was tied loosely behind her neck & the dress fell off. At another point, after a plant in the audience cued us with "Just show us your bathing suits & eat your pretzels!" we stripped off our outer clothes to reveal 1 piece "girl's" bathingsuits. Other highlights, other than the greatness of our playing, were the wedding guests trying to convince us that the state police had come to the park because of complaints & that we really should stop. Personnel: Jake T. Unclean, Laura A. Trueseal, Courtney McCullough, Neil Feather, & myself.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
140. [the Official, July 10th & 11th, 1990ev, Punch Night at the BAUhouse Trio
- Baltimore, us@
- July 10, 1990
- Two sets with the same line-up as the previous entry (our briefly stabilized quintet - notice that the # of players indicated by our name never coincides with the actual # of players).]
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
141. the Official, July 21st, 1990ev, disPlace, 1220 Curtain Avenue Sextet
- Baltimore, us@
- July 21, 1990
- More & more CAMUs coupled, for this show, with my "Wallpaper Video" of a loop of an initially intact set of windows being wrecked by a wrecking-ball with the loop causing its reconstitution playing over & over & over.. In the spirit of wrecking, I accidentally smashed my watch during the "Wreck" CAMU. Personnel: the same quintet as the previous 2 entries.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
142. [the Official, Friday, August 17th, 1990ev, People Who Play as a Part of Approximately the Same Event That Features Bands from Baltimore, Philadelphia, & New York Sextet
- Displace, Baltimore, us@
- August 17, 1990
- More & more & more CAMUs with the introduction of my explaining that we play "Aleatoric "Fortean" Novelty MYTHO-GOSSIP Usi(al Service Industry So-Called Whatevers".]
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
143. the Official, Sunday, August 26th, 1990ev, (12:30-1:15PM) Ringing Rocks Ensemble
- Ringing Rocks State Park, Pennsylvania, us@
- August 26, 1990
- Ringing Rocks State Park is a park in N.E. Pennsylvania with a boulder field with rocks that ring with substantial resonance when struck. Prepared with hammers to strike the rocks & other small sound-makers (slide-whistles, deer grunt, salsa, etc..) we played 5 "sets" of "free-form" & CAMUs. The 1 listed here was the 1 that attracted a small audience. On all but this 1, Alfred Merchlinsky played with us. Personnel: the stabilized quintet minus Courtney McCullough.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
144. the Official, August 28th, 1990ev, Shattered Wig Review Night at the Bow-Wow House One Man Band of Slip-Shods
- Baltimore, us@
- August 28, 1990
- More & more & more & more CAMUs. This time coupled with an explanatory "Official Business" booklet & my "One Word per Person Party" vaudeo. By now, we'd probably started playing with fire - so, during the "Wreck" section we lit pieces of flash paper that we'd taped around & carried off the "injured". I introduced us wearing a Gorbachov mask & clothes that were all black on 1 side & all white on the other. My hair was dyed to match. Personnel: the afore-mentioned quintet.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
145. the Official, September 14th, 1990ev, People Who Send People Back Somewhere Without Having Been There Before Twins
- BAUhouse, Baltimore, us@
- September 14, 1990
- Even more CAMUs. This may've been the beginning of our snake-charming music bit. The quintet.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
146. [the Official, October 12th, 1990ev, 14 Karat Cabaret Hungry Rabbit Touring Colony
- Baltimore, us@
- October 12, 1990
- Even even more CAMUs. Snake-charming had become "Worm Charming". The quintet.]
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
147. [the Official, October 13th, 1990ev, 14 Karat Cabaret Hungry Rabbit Touring Colony
- Baltimore, us@
- October 13, 1990
- A different show from the night before given that almost every show involved new CAMUs in a new modular relationship that became more & more complicated. Both these Cabaret shows involved at least video & probably film. The quintet.]
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
148. the Official, October 25th, 1990ev, Only Band in Town Without Courtney McCullough in it Quintet
- BAUhouse, Baltimore, us@
- October 25, 1990
- Courtney McCullough preferred to be bar-tender this night. Another action-packed night full of drastically shifting structure with unusual instrumentation & even a little bit of "3rd World" "rip-off". The quintet minus C.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
149. the Official, December 31st, 1990ev, Kinko's Office Party, We-Miss-You-Neilers
- Masonic Temple rental space, Baltimore, us@
- December 31 (New Year's Eve), 1990
- Neil Feather was in Mexico during this 1. Flaming kitchen sink, flashlight on a turntable, a Spike Jones cover, Brad-A-Lon, a pre-programmed electric piano deserted by Courtney's Xanax addled lounge lizard dad.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
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