184. "Theatre Piece" & "Radio Music" (by John Cage)
- 14 Karat Cabaret, Baltimore, us@
- February 11 or 12, 1994
- Theatre Piece (to quote from the previous performance's program notes):
"(1960), generated by Cage using the same set of transparent overlays that gave rise to the electronic work Fontana Mix (1958), is for eight performers. Each performer is asked to make a deck of cards containing nouns or verbs, one to a card. One then undergoes a card-dealing process, specified by Cage, which creates a unique part from one's own set of 18 pages containing time lines and numbers (the numbers indicate choices of actions during the dealing process and modifications of those actions).
The performer, meant to appear as her-or-himself, prepares a thirty-minute part withour consulting the other performers. Rehearsals, as Cage says in the instructions, are for avoiding dangerous collisions. A committed performer in Theatre Piece acts almost as composer, and will spend as much time creating and learning to execute a part as a performer in a more traditional piece of music. (The word more is used in the sense that Theatre Piece , now 33 years old, was a seminal work in a whole generation of performance art which has itself gained the status of tradition in the experimental atmosphere of the late 20th century.)"
The result, in this case, was fairly intricate. An interweaving of actions conceived of independently by each performer. To describe it all would take a long time & severely tax my memory of it at the moment. Alas, no vaudeo quasi-documentation of this performance exists (thanks to the videographer erasing over it). There is, however, a vaudeo from the performance of it with almost the same cast presented as part of the tribute to John Cage mentioned in #178. The performers were the same except that Neal Woodson performed instead of me. The other difference was that, due to snow, Sara Epple was unable to perform in this presentation. The cast were: myself, Kirk-Evan Billet, Sarmad Brody, Dawn Culbertson, L.J.Schollenberger, John Eaton, & Leroy Keltner. Sarmad & I (at Sarmad's suggestion) resorted to each listening through headphones to our own prepared tapes to tell us precisely when to do what.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
185. Frank Monster
- Blau-Milch Kanal/Kaffee Sendeschluß, TV Hospital - X94: junge kunst + kultur, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany
- March 1?, 1994
- Herr Stiletto Studios initiated this incredible "Design Hospital" project as a part of the (what I consider) rather ridiculously named "X94: junge kunst + kultur" (which might be translated as: Exhibition 1994: Young Art & Culture). This exhibition was an ambitious presentation of a fairly broad array which was open to the public from March 4th to April 30th, 1994 - "50 days to blow your mind" - as the publicity material put it. The whole contextualizing of the event seems to've been done by people in their 40s or older who used slang that was fresh when they were the age that the exhibition purported to, & partially did, represent. Alas, the slang, being no longer representative of current youth culture, made the context seem more like wishful thinking on the part of the organizers to seem "youthful" themselves. Despite this, much of the exhibition was (to me) truly extraordinary - ironically (?), I tended to prefer the "work" of the older participants. I was fortunate enough to be flown to Berlin by Stiletto Studios to participate. The main other collaborators on this "TV Hospital" were Ügszel Yazmen of "It's a Bollerman's World" & Kerstin Kitsch. Other input was provided by "The international Funny Farm" (Laura Kikauka & Gordon Monahan) & the "Stressjets" (Hans Otto Richter & Kay Itting) as well as a slew of such helpful people as Mica Witt, Edi Tschiesche, Richard Millar, & many, many "apprentices". The "TV Hospital" is rather complex to describe. It was set up in one of the café areas where we'd installed 6 glass topped tables with tvs visible/audible facing upward underneath them. The tables had microphones hanging over them - partially disguised by lamp-shades. Five black & white surveillance cameras were placed at various strategic locations & a 6th color "studio" camera was also in use. All of this was fed into a "Kommunikations-Confusor" which enabled us at the "Blau-Milch-Kontroll" to scramble & channel the video signals in diverse combinations. E.g.: a camera placed over table 2 could have its signal sent to table 4 & vice-versa - with the sound coming from a previously recorded tape on table 4 & from the mike at table 6 for table 2, etc, etc.. Six VCRs & a video mixer were also used. With this latter, practical jokes using video wipes were popular. This vaudeo installation was the "Kaffee Sendeschluß". Fifteen or more hours of the day (a minimum of from 0:00 to 15:00 every day) the mix from the "Blau-Milch Kontroll" was transmitted by Picture Telephone to the Open Channel of Berlin Cable TV & sent from there to their audience. This audience was welcome to participate in person, or to phone in, 24 hours a day. The mischievous use of technology can be partially summarized by this quote from me in one of our "menus":
"Gordian (K)notworking" as both the profusion of cables & other assorted hard & soft -ware used for this configuration & the method of Sozio-Psychische Chirurgie (Socio-Psychic Surgery) used in this proving ground of Psychological Playfair. Some may be irritained, some may (k)not."
One of the earliest experiments that we tried was a collaboration between Andrew Stulle, Gordon Monahan, Stiletto, myself, & Laura Kikauka provisionally entitled "Frank Monster" for reasons that will become obvious. Gordon & I each provided a few words (perhaps 3 apiece?) for our mutual vocabulary. Each of us was then vaudeoed improvising a monologue involving heavy use of this vocabulary. Then another of us got into approximately the same position as the preceding & was vaudeoed improvising a similar monologue. The tape of the 1st monologue was vaudeo mixed with a fixed "soft wipe" & fade-intermixed sound with this 2nd monologue. E.g.: the bottom half of the 1st person was mixed with the top half of the 2nd person while their 2 monologues were faded in & out together to create a hybrid monologue with the same vocabulary. This was repeated for 5 generations (1 for each participant) so that the end result was a hybrid of 5 shoots - perhaps a head from one, an arm from another, etc.. If I recall correctly, this may've been enacted before the exhibition opened but I think we'd started our cable tv transmission. The "TV Hospital" entries are written as a continuous story of sorts to avoid repetition of information from entry to entry.
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/1k9Eys7E9RU
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/frank-monster
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
186. Table 2 Antics
- Blau-Milch Kanal/Kaffee Sendeschluß, TV Hospital - X94: junge kunst + kultur, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany
- March & April, 1994
- Two of the surveillance cameras were placed to give matching views of tables 2 & 4. This enabled us to show a soft-wipe mix of the 2 tables on each of their tvs. That way we could make it seem that a person seated at table 4 was sitting with 3 people at table 2, etc.. We could also shoot footage from the vantage point of any of the cameras & then soft-wipe mix that footage into a later view from the same camera in such a way that watchers of the tvs couldn't tell without looking around that there was a mix happening. This was very perplexing to those visiting who had no idea of the techniques being used. When we wanted people at the tables to notice something on their tvs we would make the tvs flash by remote control. Then they might notice that an overhead view was showing them but that there was an additional person (or 2 or 3..) sitting at their table who "wasn't really there". At this point they'd get confused - often looking around to see whether someone was standing behind them or some such. Through skilled manipulation at the Blau-Milch Kontroll, this confusion could be heightened in a large variety of ways. The soft-wipe could be made to suddenly shift position while they were loooking around so that when they'd look at the tv again the original "phantom" person would no longer be there & one of their own party would be replaced by an empty seat. Sometimes they would extend their hands into the space where the "phantom" person had been or where their friend was still sitting & no longer shown & discover that the image of their hands would disappear. Sometimes we would simply mix together the same view twice but have one of the views processed so that anything occurring in its field would "strobe". The speed of this strobe being fairly variable, we could make it so that if, e.g., a person reached to the middle of the table to stub out their cigarette, their hand would not appear to enter the center of the image until suddenly it would appear & "freeze" there - staying there briefly while they'd otherwise withdraw their hand "in reality". One of the pranks that I played using table 2 involved my shooting footage of me sitting at the table with some potato salad. At 1st, I ate the potato salad "normally" but, gradually, I started playing with the food by throwing it on the table & writing "Hello" (or some such) with it. Eventually, I stood on the seat so that my shaved head would be very close to the camera & started smearing the salad on my brain tattoo. This tape was then mixed in when people would sit at the table. On one occasion, after watching the confused & dismayed looks of 2 people trying to figure out where this "demented" person was who seemed to be sitting at their table, I wiped out the recording & walked over to the table in person while they were still excitedly discussing this event. In german, I asked them if they'd like some potato salad - making sure that they'd recognize me & then walked away without any further explanation.
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/we3ygKFaS4U
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/table-2-antics
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- Blau-Milch Kanal/Kaffee Sendeschluß, TV Hospital - X94: junge kunst + kultur, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany
- March or April, 1994
- Another time, I was asked by a woman if she could interview me. I agreed, & requested that she wait for me at table 2. I then secretly asked one of the waitresses, Birgit Krah, to help me. I held some "fake blood" (perhaps nothing more than cranberry juice) in my mouth & went to sit at the table with the interviewer. Shortly after I sat down, while the person was in the midst of explaining her purpose, Birgit came over & pretended to strangle me to death - during which I spat out the "blood". Then Birgit explained calmly that she could continue the interview in my stead. I lay there with my head on the table, "dead", until they were finished talking - at which point Birgit dragged me away. This was also videoed for later mixing use.
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/ZbowQf50eEg
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/fake-murder-table-2
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
188. Talkathon Promo
- Blau-Milch Kanal/Kaffee Sendeschluß, TV Hospital - X94: junge kunst + kultur, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany
- April 1, 1994, 0:00 - 3:00AM
- A project I've wanted to realize for many years is a "Talkathon". This was inspired by several Baltimore aquaintances. These people (3 or 4 in particular) are inclined to talking, almost without pauses, indefinitely - basically until their audience escapes from them (&, perhaps, even continuing after that..). I'd imagined a competition between them in which they'd all be before an audience talking for as long as they could. The audience would then bet on who they thought could talk the longest. The idea was not to have any "meaningful" dialogue between the contestants. They'd simply be venting their manic energies. Since the Blau-Milch Kanal had one or more regular callers who seemed of similar personality bent, I decided to try to realize this "Talkathon" as a TV Hospital event. One of the callers that this was most targetted at was a woman named "Sylvie" who had a breath-takingly fast way of talking that involved many tangents & a few languages. For this promo, I told the "Rarie" joke for 3 hours. I'm particularly fond of long, digressing jokes. This joke has a completely idiotic punch-line so I found it especially amusing to stretch it out for 3 hours only to have spent such a long time building to the anti-climax of a "clunker". Whether anyone in the tv audience made it through the entire joke I don't "know", but it's doubtful. Several people called & expressed interest in participating.
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/TAOI0Ac2R1E
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
189. Talkathon
- Blau-Milch Kanal/Kaffee Sendeschluß, TV Hospital - X94: junge kunst + kultur, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany
- April 3, 1994, 12:30 - 8:30AM
- Two days later the night of the actual "Talkathon" arrived &, much to my disappointment, none of the callers who'd expressed interest appeared. Fortunately, a guy named "Peer" apeered. I had wanted to be a spectator to this event rather than a participant but I found myself in the position of being the only other contestant so I was stuck. It was explained to Peer that the idea was for each of us to talk continuously. If either of us paused for more than 10 seconds that was cause for disqualification. Kerstin Kitsch sat facing us (with her back to the camera) & acted as judge to time our pauses. Peer wasn't happy with my emphasis on the "psycho-babble" end of things. He'd come to participate in a more conventional talk-a-thon in which the people present in the studio (the TV PERSONALITIES) would be available to talk to callers. He was a bit angry, & I got the impression that he didn't like me very much, but he was cooperative enough to go along with it anyway. I compromised somewhat by occasionally entering into dialogue with him - never, however, pausing for more than the regulation 10 seconds (he never paused longer than that either). At 1st, he'd ask me a question & I'd respond with an extremely long-winded & detailed answer which he'd have to talk along with. He eventually said something very irritable like "Why is it that I don't care about what you have to say to me anymore!" I guess he was irritained. Since he wanted dialogue & since he spoke german, I proposed that he answer all the phone calls. To his dismay, the same people kept calling over & over again. These people were apparently more into the "psycho-babble" aspect than he was. Every time the phone would ring, Peer would pick it up - hoping for a caller to have a somewhat coherent conversation with. Instead, the same group (apparently affiliated with something called the "Ladengalerie"?) kept calling again & again & playing "noise" tapes that they were apparently making "live" off the tv. Peer got more & more frustrated & would hang up on them but they'd just call back & few other people were calling in. Peer persevered for about 5 hours & then quit. Not content to just "win" at a measley 5 hours, I persevered for another 3 - sitting in the control booth at the end & acting as my own camera-person etc since the crew had long since left in exhaustion. Shortly before I quit, a British guy called & told me that he wanted to suck my cock. I declined his proposal & he got defensive & said that my cock was probably too small to be worth it anyway. I may've retorted with something to the effect that my cock is so small you'd have to find it with a microscope. He later said something like "Don't you think it's weird that we're talking about something like this on television?" to which I replied by explaining that I'm against censorship. This pleased him & we parted on friendly terms.
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/lzsCANyaewQ
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
190. Sideways Couch
- Blau-Milch Kanal/Kaffee Sendeschluß, TV Hospital - X94: junge kunst + kultur, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany
- April 9?, 1994
- In the spirit of undermining usual perceptual presumptions, I presented the tv viewers one seemingly "boring" static scene that would eventually radically disrupt their perception of it if they happened to be watching during those very few minutes when "what's wrong with this picture" would be revealed. I placed the studio couch (where much of the "Blau-Milch Kanal" action took place) on its side & placed the camera that was aimed at it also on its side. The shot was cropped so that nothing too obvious would reveal this unusual perspective. Regular viewers were expected to take for granted that the couch was in its usual position. I sat at one end of the couch - seemingly sitting on it in the ordinary way that the perspective implied. I was actually laying on my side with my legs bent as if they were positioned in the "normal" way in relation to the couch. The floor was cropped out so that this couldn't be perceived. I was shown sitting there reading Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow - a book that I was thoroughly enjoying. Some of the action in the book was taking place in the English Tiergarten which was right next to the Akademie where the "TV Hospital" was centered. For 45 minutes or so at a time, "nothing" would be shown happening other than my shifting my legs & turning the pages, etc.. This was actually a bit uncomfortable for me so I had to "act" as if I was comfortable to not disrupt the illusion. Since the couch cushions weren't in their usual more stable positions, every once in a while the cushions would appear to fly up into the air & "attack" me. They were "actually" just falling down. If someone had been watching me sitting there for 45 minutes prior to this sudden abnormal behaviour of the cushions they would have, presumably, been astonished! A few times I would seem to toss the book down on the couch next to me as if I were tired of reading & the book would "spring back into my hands" & I would resume reading as if I "couldn't put it down". At times I would stand up & walk behind or away from the couch at right angles to it - taking my clothes off at some point. This may've been what Herr Studios would've called "interpassive" TV.
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/B6cvcHBWgQc
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/gravitys-rainbow_202102
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
191. The Official..TV Audience..Medium Band
- Blau-Milch Kanal/Kaffee Sendeschluß, TV Hospital - X94: junge kunst + kultur, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany
- April 17, 1994
- In preparation for " Das Offizielle, 21 Mai 1994 Era Vulgari Hypothetisches Tagediebetage Mittel-Band/Landesjugendorchester" I had scheduled the 1st public appearance of the Berlin "Official" Project to be a "Blau-Milch Kanal" audience-participation event for a Saturday night. The audience was to have the option to call in & give instructions to specific band members. At this point the band had one additional member, an accordion player named Eric, who dropped out before the May 21st "show" (for the rest of the personnel see entry #191). I think we were scheduled to start around 22:00 (10:00PM). The band arrived almost uniformly rip-roaring drunk around 21:30. There was a big party happening in the Akademie that night that I hadn't anticipated & the "Kaffee Sendeschluß" was unusually packed. The band members were none-too-confident of their abilities to perform the material & were dismayed to see this crowd. Yvonne was particularly drunk & was in a reckless mood because her boyfriend had "broken up" with her that day. She was angry because she had wanted to be the one that broke up with him & felt "one-upped". Since I was lusting for Yvonne, I humored her request that we wait to play until later after a friend of hers was scheduled to perform so that she wouldn't miss it. At 1st, this wasn't supposed to be any later than midnight. We didn't finally start until 1:30. In the meantime, Florian, usually a pretty sober guy, was also pretty drunk (although he sobered up as the night progressed). He decided to "drive away" the unwanted audience by playing very loud & redundant "italo-disco chords" that he knew I hated while he & Björn played a very loud boat horn (or some such) of the sort used to warn other boats of one's presence in fog. This went on for hours while I tagged after Yvonne's pussy - largely ignoring what was happening with the band. I figured that in their condition most of them wouldn't be able to play worth shit so I wasn't in any hurry to start either. In the meantime, the "Blau-Milch Kontroll" staff (Ügzel, Nicola, Kerstin, & Herr Studios) had been very helpful & were waiting patiently to assist with the "show" - which they knew that I'd been eagerly rehearsing for. But, they were getting increasingly annoyed with Florian's "obnoxious" behaviour. The waitresses kept going to Florian & begging him to stop because they couldn't stand working in those conditions. Stiletto was furious because he felt that my friends were ruining one of the only nights when we had a chance to seduce a large studio audience. Since I had encouraged Florian to drive away the audience & since I was more preoccupied with my sex drive, I was fairly amused by the whole ridiculousness of the situation. The Kontroll staff left in disgust before we even played. A few extraordinary people actually stayed & danced when we finally did play! One of them, whose name I never did learn, gave a fantastic late night performance there within the next couple of weeks. Very few people called in to participate - I think we'd driven away the tv audience too. It was a mess.
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/02oyDi_yxpI
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/official-tv-audience
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
192. Klauhütte Bangzeit 2000's "Excavated Jewels of Ersatz Exoticism"
- The Zap Club, Brighton, UK
- Wednesday, May 11, 1994, 6PM to Thursday, May 12, 1994, dawn
- "The Impacted Nectarine Vexations of QUITE VILLAGE - Bauhütte Klangzeit - Tableaux of Ersatz Exoticism. Mouldy Reincarnations of the Delerious Pleasures of Orchid Rot" read the poster for the 1st of these "ersatz exotica" events which took place in Toronto. This project was masterminded by Gordon W. (see #s 48, 49, 81 & 82), Laura Kikauka, & Gordon Monahan (see #183). The language used was largely purloined from the late, lamented Jack Smith. In the spirit of Erik Satie's "musique d'ameublement" ("furniture music") piano piece "Vexations" (meant to be played 840 times back to back) as filtered through the "Exotica" "background music" that was popular in the US around the time of the declaration of Hawaii as the 50th state (largely as fuel for island "paradise" fantasies that most US citizens were too poor to realize), Bauhütte Klangzeit played 3 "classics" of "Ersatz Exotica" in marathon concerts. These 3 songs are: "Quiet Village" (by Les Baxter - with lyrics later added by Don Ho), "Taboo" (music credited to Margarita Lecuona with english lyric by S.K.Russell), & "Caravan" (by Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, & Juan Tizol). The name "Bauhütte Klangzeit 2000" ("Build-A-Hut Sound-Time 2000"?) was lifted verbatim from a festival/conference that Gordon Monahan had participated in. By the time of this manifestation (the 3rd or 4th) the name had permutated to "Klauhütte Bangzeit 2000" ("Steal-A-Hut Anxiety-Time 2000"?). This appearance involved an international crew of people from Toronto, Berlin, England, Baltimore (me), &, perhaps, other countries as well. The extravaganza was slated to be part of the annual Brighton Festival & one of their brochures described it thusly:
"International performance group KBZ 2000 present a dusk to dawn collision of kitsch and the Avante Garde. Look out for plastic palm trees, Mai-Tai cocktails, dancers, films, 3D projections, and a dawn ritual on the beach."
Unfortunately, the venue, the "Zap Club" didn't seem to have the slightest interest in what we were doing. For a group in excess of 15 people we had no budget & there was no advertising at the club. Our accomodations were on air mattresses on the floor of one of the organizer's homes accessible to town mainly by a train that some of us couldn't even afford to take. Given that many of us were broke (such as me), our presence there was characterized by our begging for a few pounds a day to buy "chips" with. The group was too large to get free drinks (which the bar might've been too stingy to provide anyway). On the night of the show, there was only one sound man for the whole night - which meant that he set the levels & then went about his other business. The sound was abysmally garbled. The audience was small & dissatisfaction was rampant. Since I've written about this event elsewhere & since the München event (#192) was a far better example of the KBZ potential, I'll refrain from further description.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
193. Das Offizielle, 21 Mai 1994 Era Vulgari Hypothetisches Tagediebetage Mittel-Band/Landesjugendorchester
- Milchhof, Berlin, Germany
- May 21, 1994
- This manifestation of the "Official" project involved the very generous sacrifice of unpaid time by 2 friends, a very temporary girlfriend, & 2 friends of my 2 friends who hadn't previously known me. The combination of the language barrier (although all involved spoke English) & the unfamiliarness of playing this type of material made this quite a challenge. The only significant new addition of material was provided by the "sabotaging-sex-partner-who-refused-to-learn-the-material-& (hence) -mainly-pretended-to-play-it". My thanks to her for this innovation. The personnel were: myself (DX27S Synthesizer, Mirage 8 bit Sampler/Sequencer, & Tone Generators), Brad Hwang (Alto Sax), Yvonne Harder ([pretend] Stand-Up Acoustic Bass [the Bass was "real" - Yvonne's playing of it was largely simulated] & Voice), Florian Cramer (Alto Sax, Small Keyboard, Flute), Björn Balcke (Guitar), Dr. Meyrink (Trumpet). The evening started with a few of my videos projected. During the projection of "Les Promenades Hysteriques", the band came on stage & started playing the "Atavistic Electronics". The drone pitches were provided by Gordon Monahan's generously loaned sound generator built for his "Speaker Swinging". We played until my 220 to 110 transformer started to cut off my power supply. During this breakdown, Yvonne (an excellent multi-linguist {as is Florian}) provided a German explanation of our audience participatory section. The session ended on another "Atavistic Electronics" sequeing into my "Bob Cobbing (fish-eye transfer)" being projected.
- The movie from this is on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/VQELYKRVHF0
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
194. Klauhütte Bangzeit 200's "Exotische Ausgrabung - The Impacted Nectarine Vexations of Mouldy Vinyl Reincarnations (A Tableau of Ersatz Exoticism"
- Marstall, München, Germany
- May 27, 1994, 6PM to May 28, 1994, 8AM
- KBZ 2000 became KBZ 200 for this. All of the intended elements of Ersatz Exoticism were present. Robin Lybecher (from Denmark by way of Berlin) & Bastiaan Maris (from the Netherlands by way of Berlin) made a large metal tiki head with flaming eyes & a "volcano" for the large wok to sit on that Gordon W. would cook his fabulous Thai noodles on as part of the event. Both of these were outside at the entrance. The music there was provided by Plastikville Studios' 8-track cartridge release of the 3 Ersatz Exotica standards. This 8-track was ceremonially hot-glued into the player by Laura Kikauka on stage during the evening as a traditional favorite. Laura effervesced in frequent costume changes. Further outside sound was provided by a primitive "fire organ" made for the event & primarily played by Bastiaan. Inside, there was a bar in the foyer & one in the square theatre space where the majority of the action was. They served Mai-Tais & other drinks. DJ Sir Spinner Fine Vinyl (from Toronto) had painted an island scene backdrop behind his DJ stand & another large tiki head placed at the back of the main stage. This stage was copiously lavished with props from the theatre's props department. Fortunately for us, the head of this department hadn't been there the day we raided it or we would never have been able to accomplish such OVERKILL without his resistance. Egnekn (from NYC) made lamination rituals available in order to make documents from the event more OFFICIAL. He has since published a 7 inch record with one side from this event. This record presents the sound of Larry Seven fixing Egnekn's laminator while John Henry Nyenhuis plays piano in the background. Fabio & Larry Seven (from NYC) presented 2 stereo slide shows on a special screen especially for this purpose & showed other film projections. The stereo slides were provided both by Fabio & Larry & by Herr Stiletto Studios (from Berlin). MEDIAMORPH (Hans Otto Richter from Berlin) set up a "blue box" so that people could be keyed into Exotica videos that he provided. The resultant mix was projected. Edi Tschiesche (from Berlin) undertook the Herculean task of trying to vaudeo it all. There was even an "EXCAVATED JEWELS OF ERSATZ EXOTICISM OFFICIAL CONTROL FREAK SCHEDULE" that was meant to help prevent some of the messes that happened in Brighton. The following is an [almost] complete quote:
"20:00 FLAMING TIKI GOD CEREMONY outside Marstall. Repeated performances of Tabu, Caravan, and Quiet Village in Vexations format begins in Marstall and environs, to continue until at least 8 am the next morning. An anthology of Opaque Music Record Jackets slide show begins in the Les Baxter Corner. Mediamorph blue box projections with DJ Sir Spinner Fine Vinyl.
21:00 Opaque lounge organ versions with Gordon Monahan. Screening of holiday movies and travelogue films begins.
21:30 Excavations continue.. Official lamination rituals by egenekn.. Food preparations begin by VEB Om Taka Taka at Volcano Wok.
22:15 tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: Official orchestrations.
22:30 John Henry Nyenhuis "13 finger" pyrotechnic piano solos.
23:00 Stereoscopy of pointless imagery..
23:15 Eric Mango & the Nectarines: shameless desecrations before the temple of Exotic Trilogy.
24:00 The Nectarine Impactions of Forbidden Spice Islands at Volcano Wok featuring Coconut Bra injections of Taboo Sauce. Gordon W. and Laura Kikauka perform final food preparation rituals.
0:45 Anton Webern encounters Webley Edwards beneath the tattoo-tented scapular.
1:00 Pädagogische Ausgrabungen der Exotischen Theoretischen Zusammenpressung: Lecture illustrated with opaque projections and mouldy vinyl references.
1:20 Geezer whistling, Nose flute, and ocarina vacillations.
1:25 Eric Mango travels the deep blue space as the Nectarines continue their taboo caravan across the desert of artcrust.
2:00 Re-enter the 3rd dimension with Plastikville Stereonauts Larry 7 & Jim Sharpe.
2:15 The rudderless caravan collapses into the Village of Vextacy. With special guests Hacke, Wolf, & Zastrow.
..
3:45 Grand orchestral impactions by the entire retinue of KBZ acolytes.
4:33 4'33" (Very Quiet Village)
etc.."
The personnel for the stage presence were usually broken up into various smaller groups with specific performance approaches. These people were: Rob Johnston (Toronto): MC, Stage Director, Keyboards, & Vocals; Laura Kikauka (CacaNada/NYC/Berlin): Geezer Whistling; Bastiaan Maris: Keyboards, Ocarina, & Schalmei (?); Eric Dolphy Mingus (aka: Eric Mango) (New York by way of London): Main Vocals, Percussion; Gordon Monahan (CacaNada/NYC/Berlin): Main Organ, Synthesizer/Sampler, MC, Lecturer, Theorist; John Henry Nyenhuis (Toronto): Main Pianist, Other Keyboards; Bee Plotye (NYC): Main Percussionist; Larry 7: Hawaiian Guitar; tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE (Baltimore by way of Berlin): Sound Thinker, Synthesizers/Sampler/Sequencer, Vocal, Percussion; Gordon W (Toronto): Tablas, Lecturer; Roland Wolf (Berlin): Hawaiian Guitar, Piano, Organ, Percussion; Maria Zastrow (Berlin): Bass.
Klauhütte Bangzeit 200's performance of "Boota" @ the Marstall Theater in München in 1994 w/ my lyrics & singing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19_pe-nT9u0
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
195. [duet with Neil Feather
- the Normill, Durham, CacaNada
- September 2, 1994
- A stop on Neil's motorcycle tour. My new, improved playing (DX27S Synthesizer, 2 K1m Synthesizers, Mirage 8 bit Sampler/Sequencer, 2 4-Channel Mixers, Multi-Verb Processor) + Neil's motorcyle portable rig (NuGuitar, Portable Vibulum, Effects) & Small Nondo. The audience seating was partially church pews which had been sawn in half so that the inclined at an angle (since there was no vertical support at one end). Two audience members (Norman White & Dan) provided spirited accompaniment by lifting & dropping the Pews.]
An edited version of the entire event including both Neil's solo set & our duet was shot by Laura O. White & then edited & titled by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE on December 24, 2016. It can be witnessed on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here:
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
196. Broken Mood Elevator Uzak
- 50 Wabash Ave (formerly known as the "Monastery" - see #s 168 & 169), Toronto, CacaNada
- Saturday, December 3, 1994, 11:30PM to Sunday, December 4, 1994, 4:30AM
- Sitting in an unobtrusive place on the 2nd floor of this 2 story building, I played 3 Synthesizers, 1 Sampler/Sequencer, an Effects Unit, & a CD player. I also presented vaudeo simultaneously - with the sound-tracks occasionally added to the mix. The visuals were fed to one tv on each floor & the sound was fed to stereo PA speakers on each floor. The vaudeos/videos used were the same as those described in entry #160 + "F.R.E.D. S. L.I.S.B.E.R.G.E.R." (a 2 hour long macro shot tour through my Baltimore warehouse) & a compilation vaudeo of some of my more complex & recent movies. In the beginning, I played CDs by Martin Denny & Esquival - subtly mutating them with my effects unit & gradually eclipsing them more & more with my own material. The only vaudeo device that I was using was a crude switcher that enabled me to change back & forth between the outputs from 2 VCRs. This switching was often done in sync with the rhythms in order to make the content of the visuals seem more coordinated with the sound than it would have seemed otherwise. Given that the space is primarily known for its "speak-easy" (or "speak") dance & lounge music "after-hours" parties, people's expectations were predictably geared in those directions. As such, I had people drearily asking me for "dance music". Arguments broke out between people over what I was playing. Despite the fact that one girl was standing there & watching me play the keyboard, she asked me whether what I was playing was "Kraftwerk" & seemed unable to comprehend that I wasn't a DJ - even after I explained that I was playing my own original material "live" in front of her. Considering that this was my most complex solo UNCERT presented yet, the almost complete lack of audience comprehension/appreciation was, once again, discouraging. My thanks to those who were supportive.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
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