206. "Interspatiality"
- Wats: On? - The Jill Watson Festival of the Arts - The Great Hall in the Center for the Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, us@
- Wednesday, March 12th, 1997, 8:30 to 9:10PM
- Jill Watson was an architect & a teacher at CMU who died in a plane crash. She was noted for having coined the word "Interspatiality" about which she is credited as having said "The identity of a space is constructed from a reading of the other spaces represented within it." This festival was created in her honor. Michael Pestel, a flutist & installation maker (amongst other things) conceived of creating a musical performance for Wats: On? that combined the idea of Interspatiality & a reference to a house that Watson had redesigned sometimes known as the Kentucky "X" House (it's on a street named Kentucky in Pittsburgh). Michael procured the floor plans to this house - 1 of the most distinctive aspects of which was the dividing of the rectangular interior by an "X". In order to use the design as a score, I proposed that the players be arranged in an "X" pattern & that they each be assigned a vocabulary of sounds corresponding to sounds that might occur in the house near their corresponding position on the "X" - a different vocabulary for each of the 4 floors of the house. My preference was to have an outline of the house be taped on the floor of the Great Hall with the "X" taped in its correct floor-plan position with the players situated on it somewhat like appliances. The idea was to then have a group of people wander thru this "X" house "simulation" & turn the players on & off by proximity - as if they were lights or TVs or whatever.. Instead of this latter, Michael chose to be the conductor by starting & stopping the players with a cue from various flutes. The Bass Flute cued the basement sounds, the Alto Flute cued the 1st floor sounds, the Concert Flute cued the 2nd floor sounds, & the Piccolo cued the attic sounds. The Great Hall is a huge "T" shaped space with the "top" of the "T" being very long with a balcony overlooking each end. Speakers were placed in each balcony & at the bottom of the "T". All of the players were miked & their sounds were sent to these speakers under the control of Ed-Um Bucholtz (with assistance from Dave Shim). The players were: Michael Johnsen: contrabass clarinet, saw(s), soprano sax, miscellaneous; Hyla Willis: violin, miscellaneous; Rachel Matthews: fog horn, violin, bowed cymbal, household appliances; Anne Wolf: sewing machine, cereal; tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: DX27S synthesizer, Mirage sampler; Kevin Shea: percussion, tapes; Brandy Auld: percussion (such as ripping cardboard boxes); Mark Tierney: tenor & alto saxes; Greg Pierce: bugle, banjo, washing machine tub, miscellaneous. These "X" players were flanked by "the percussion section": 2 people on each of the long sides of the "X" playing small amplified chalk-boards by writing on them. These were students from Michael Pestel's "Sound Art" class: Jennifer Pratt, Audra Deemer, Laura Steinmaus, & Antoinette Ford. On 1 side were 2 guys scratching away at drafting tables. 1 of them was named John Ferry & the other's name is unknown to me.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
207. Sound Lecture - Part 1
- Michael Pestel's "Sound Art" class - Chatham College, Pittsburgh, us@
- Tuesday, April 1st, 1997, 7 to 10:20PM
- I placed my suitcase with the hidden mercury-switch operated tape player (formerly known as the "Total Mobile Home Suitcase" - now just called the "Suitcase") in front of each attendee & opened the lid long enough to enable them to each hear a discrete section of the 12 minute loop tape. Simultaneously, Ed-Um Bucholtz gave some introductory comments while he played various environmental recordings. Then I presented my "Chinese for Celli" vaudeo. Ed passed around records for the class to look at. I had made an approximately 1 hour & 7 minute audio tape with my voice reading a lecture entitled "(M)Usic: 1885-1995 (1997)" about various aspects of the history of (m)usic from 1885 to the present. This was interspersed with examples representing some of the audio "work" being discussed - each selection being a 1 minute excerpt representing 5 year increments. A few slides were periodically shown. My reading & the selection were mono. BBC humor & fantasy sound effects were gradually introduced in the right & left channels during the text sections making the text increasingly difficult to hear - peaking in interference around the middle of the lecture. I had a microphone plugged into an amp & various small instruments, a thunder sheet, & a trombone. Following the density pattern on the S/F/X I'd play occasional sounds with these instruments. At 1st, when the recorded lecture was uninterupted, I mouthed the text as if I were reading it so that there was a rough sync between my mouthing & the tape. As the interference got louder, I'd read the text into the mike in & out of sync with the recording to accentuate & make audible selected portions of it - as well as to complicate the overall audio. Ed-Um would periodically interpolate further explanations & selections. After 37 minutes of the tape, there was an interlude during which I presented 2 more vaudeos: "Murraygate Busking" & "Great Moments in Odd-Ball Sports: A Cue Stick Guitar Duet". The last half-hour of the lecture proceeded with the text getting gradually more audible again until the last section had it being read by a computer voice instead of my own - with me once again mouthing the words as if the taped voice were my own. Sometime during the lecture, as the students were getting restless, I told them that Ed & I thought that the lecture should go on 'til dawn because we felt that that was the best way for them to truly experience learning this subject. This probably made some of them nervous with the apprehension that I might be serious. I also mentioned that frothing catatonic siamese twin zombies were loose on the campus & that the room we were in was probably a safe place. At the end of the tapes lecture I gave a hands-on demonstration of the on-line version of Karlheinz Essl's "Lexikon Sonate". While the remaining 4 students were distracted by this, I started playing my "Frothing Catatonic Siamese Twins Volunteers Collective XXVII "d composing Mozart" Release Party & Vaudeo Op" vaudeo which features people dressed as siamese twins, frothing at the mouth, & erratically wandering around "mindlessly" playing instruments & their environment. Suddenly, Michael Johnsen & Sharyn Lee Frederick (who are in the vaudeo) came staggering into the room frothing wearing the same siamese twin clothes. Michael was playing the saw (quite difficult to do since he had to clasp its handle between his legs while walking) & Sharyn was playing a child's violin. This substantiated my earlier claim about "zombies on campus" which the students presumably had immediately written off as some sort of stupid joke & gave the whole experience a fairly chaotic ending. Ed & I had had more material prepared but we decided that the students had had enough for 1 night & called it quits.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
208. ["Prima Vista" (by Mauricio Kagel)
- LatinAmeriMIX!can
The Welker Room at Chatham College, Pittsburgh, us@
- Friday, April 4th, 1997, 8:40 to 9PM
- This work for "slide pictures and undefined sound sources" from 1962/64 requires that 2 groups of players respond to slides (all or part of a set of 25) that give graphic notation basically hinting at approximate duration, pitch, & volume. Some of these slides also give instructions about when to turn tape recorders on & off. Each group controls the projection of the slides for the other group. Dave (Ho Chan) Shim, Ed-Um Bucholtz, Michael Johnsen, & I made 6 recordings of performances of this & picked the last 1 to use as our sound source for the presentation at Chatham. Dave made additional slides that were like blurred blue blotch versions of the score slides. In the Chatham presentation these were projected superimposed with the score slides. For the recording, I played trombone, voice, whistles, tuning fork, duck call, harmonica, & bells; Dave played sine-wave generator; Ed-Um played french horn; & Michael played baritone & tenor saws.]
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
209. [Lost in Translation
- LatinAmeriMIX!can
The Welker Room at Chatham College, Pittsburgh, us@
- Saturday, April 5th, 1997, 9:45 to 10:40PM
- I selected 57 books about Latin America or by Latin Americans by 24 authors. The blurbs from these were then translated, using a computer, into Spanish & back into English & back into Spanish. Translation problems were deliberately exaggerated. The authors & countries represented were: Allende, Isabel (Chilé); Argueta, Manlio (El Salvador - exiled); Arlt, Robert (Argentina); de Assis, Machado (Brazil); Asturias, Miguel Angel (Guatemala); Azuela, Mariano (Mexico); Bastos, Augusto Roa (Paraguay - exiled); Borges, Jorge Luis (with Adolfo Bioy-Casares) (Argentina); Brandão, Ignácio de Loyola (Brazil); Burroughs, William S. (United States of America); Carpentier, Alejo (Cuba); Caufield, Catherine (United States of America); Cortázar, Julio (Argentina); Donoso, José (Chile); Fuentes, Carlos (Mexico); Ibargüengoitia, Jorge (Mexico); Infante, G. Cabrera (Cuba); Koster, R. M. (United States of America; Panama); Llosa, Mario Vargas (Peru); Márquez, Gabriel Garcia (Columbia; Mexico); Queiroz, Rachel de (Brazil); Sánchez, Luis Rafael (Puerto Rico); Souza, Márcio (Brazil); Traven, B. (Germany; Mexico). The resultant texts were edited in various ways & a recording of them was made. This recording was mixed with a highly edited combination of excerpts or entire pieces culled from the following:
"Pan in A Minor" from the Steel Bands of Trinidad and Tobago CD
by an uncredited Steel Band
"We Can Make It" (1988) from the Roots, Rock, Soca CD by Black Stalin (Trinidad)
"Mr. Walker (calypso)" from the West Indies - An Island Carnival CD
- performed by an unnamed Cocoa-lute Duet in Grenada (the Cocoa-lute being a mouth-bow)
"Seven Skeletons Found in the Yard" from the Calypso Breakaway 1927-1941 CD
- performed by Lord Executor (Trinidad?)
"Oígame Juanita" from the
In Praise of Oxalá and Other Gods - Black Music of South America LP
- performed by an unnamed group in Ecuador
(using a leaf (hoja) as a melody instrument)
"No. 5 Tiempo de Son" from "Two Ritmicas" (1930)
from the Concert Percussion for Orchestra LP
- composed by Amadeo Roldán (Cuba)
- performed by The Manhattan Percussion Ensemble, Paul Price conducting
"La Cucaracha" from the La Cucaracha "Songs of the Mexican Revolution" LP
- performed by Cuco Sanchez and Dueto America (Mexico)
"Tanguedia III" from the Tango: Zero Hour / Nuevo Tango: Hora Zero LP
- composed by Astor Piazzolla
& performed by Astor Piazzolla and the New Tango Quintet (Argentina)
"Mary Ann" from the Steel Drums LP
- performed by The Native Steel Drum Band (Trinidad?)
"Yawar" from the Legend of the Jivaro LP
- composed by Moises Vivanco & performed by Yma Sumac (Peru?)
"Nago Rhythms" from the Voodoo Ceremony in Haiti LP
"Cantata para América Mágica" (1960) from the LP probably of the same name
- composed by Alberto Ginastera (Argentina)
& performed by The Los Angeles Percussion Ensemble
Flaco Jiménez performing a song in the movie "Chulas Fronteras" (Tex-Mex)
"Sweet Trinidad" from the Discover America LP
- composer unknown to me (presumed to be Trinidadian)
- performed by Van Dyke Parks (USA)
"Soria Moria" (1968) from the New Music from South America for Chamber Music LP
- composed by Gerardo Gandini (Argentina)
"Divertimento III" (1967) from the New Music from South America for Chamber Music LP
- composed by Cesar Bolaños (Perú)
"Tropicale" (1968) from the New Music from South America for Chamber Music LP
- composed by Marlos Nobre (Brazil)
"Sonogramas" (1963) from the New Music from South America for Chamber Music LP
- composed by Oscar Bazän (Argentina)
"Diptico I" (1969) from the New Music from South America for Chamber Music LP
- composed by Manuel Enriquez (Mexico)
"Penetrations II" (1969) from the New Music from South America for Chamber Music LP
- composed by Alcides Lanza (Argentina)
(the preceding 6 selections performed by The New Sound Composers/Performers Group
- conducted by Alcides Lanza)
All of the La Region del Mesterio cassette
- composed & performed by Antonio Zepeda (Mexico):
"When It was Still Dark"
"Undulating Serpents of Water"
"Must I Leave the Beautiful Flowers"
"The Dust of Nothingness"
"Yesterday is not Today and Today will not be Tomorrow"
"Flowers of the Wind"
"Voices from Xibalbá"
"Obsidian Butterfly"
"The Sad Iguana and the Lord of Time"
The resultant tape had 13 parts. A part of the text for the 11th part is presented as an example of the fruits of the generative process below:
"In A by day of Life-@@escrito Low Countries to summarize part couple of the batch of this rare @ @ @@masterwork @ @ @@trivializes it. The book @ @ @@swirls, coils, joint would be bombed in the mind rewarded the ++Nobel of Premium insane visions of Perfect Order on their/its/your/his magisterial stylist-@@parejo in the translation to deride frequently noisy is the modernism-@@o the part than what jealously pursues in a way pure theories in the Cloud-Cuckoo-Earth and the rare deep revelations and the funny so it is the low crumbling of India tribes or the misery of the mislaid @ @ @@transmigrant who the blow in it carefully and @+be pike special @ @ @@mindscape, beyond the space and linear thought that contain thirty-two of party cases (the tapers, as them say) screwing an martyred Gloom president in a new way, powerful and new but not new-@ + fang was ++Canudos-hogar to all the damned of the land as manned itself and somehow easier to understand: the strange death purpose, the furious activity that swells up around the prosperity and then disappears as well as suddenly as wine jumps to the life in bullfight in an old lover with an immediate resumption and the passports absurdity, rises in a powerful sea-@ @ @@fantasia and end as an ++MOBY ++DICK of the @ @ @@stokehold.... Exchequer of the Mother Saw party that it has attracted many Indian from neighboring arrangements been about to begun, the death marched silently in the ++Wobblies or philosophical anarchism to enjoy these histories only."
This tape was played live in stereo while Ben Opie played clarinet & alto sax, Ravish Momin played percussion, & I played computer. Each part had different instructions for which we prepared in various ways. Ben learned various Latin American anthems which he played in part 10. Ravish & Ben both moved around the space during part 10, etc, etc.. The room had so much reverb that all the details became almost completely Lost in Translation as a result - the final joke was on me..]
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
210. Sound Lecture - Part 2
- Michael Pestel's "Sound Art" class - Chatham College, Pittsburgh, us@
- Tuesday, April 8th, 1997, 7 to 10:20PM
- As with the previous week's lecture, this was ostensibly being presented in collaboration with Ed-Um Bucholtz. I write "ostensibly" because, with Ed, one's never sure whether he'll even bother to show up. Sure enough, after I'd spent 3 hours setting up a slide projector, a 16mm projector, a VCR, a TV, 2 turntable/tape-players, 3 synthesizers, a sampler/sequencer, an effects unit, a midi-patcher, 2 powered speakers, a podium, a light, a microphone, a guitar amp, etc, it was time for class to start & Ed hadn't arrived. I began with playing the sneezing loop & the tolling bell loop from my Usic minus the square root of -1 record simultaneously on the 2 turntables. By about 7:20 Ed came in & dumped a pile of books & tapes out on a table. He asked me to go ahead & do something while he organized his material. It had been our intention to perform John Cage's "Radio Music" but Ed informed me that "he wasn't prepared" so we nixed that. I presented a slide lecture introducing my vocabulary & talking about the concept of "Sound Thinking" - playing a relevant cassette tape during 1 part. At some point, I read the 1st 2 pages of my "Low Classical Usic" essay while the beginning of my "Bogus Piano Concerto" tape played. Ed still wasn't ready, so I passed around the 11 record set of Harry Bertoia "Sonambient" LPs that I'd just received that day & began playing 1 of them. Ed finally declared himself "ready" & told me that he'd talk for 20 minutes about his "Radio for the People" project, after which I was to give an electronics demo. Then he was to talk for another 20 minutes about his "Telecorps" project & I was to finish with a reading of my "& the Deadbeat Goes On & On & On.." essay with my voice being systematically pitch-shifted while a vaudeo & film version of my "Bob Cobbing" was to screen. Ed started his 20 minute Chatham Chat at 7:45. By 9:15 he was still talking. I informed him that it was 9:15 expecting him to say something like "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know I was talking for so long!" Instead, the response was something along the lines of "Oh, ok, I'll finish soon.." - in the meantime taking the equipment I'd set up & my services as his sound-man completely for granted. By 9:30 he showed no sign of stopping. I told him it was 9:30 & he said something about still having more to say. When he then asked me to do something with the sound for him I said something like "Do it yourself! I'm not your fucking sound-man you know.." This seemed to perplex him. What could I possibly be irritated about? As he came over to adjust the sound, I said "You're such an asshole!" Ever oblivious, he said "Why am I an asshole?" I pointed out that I didn't spend 3 hours setting up equipment so that he could stroll in late & take it over & use up all the available time so that I couldn't even present my part of the night. He finally shut up & I finished my presentation to the 2 students that were left (out of the original millions that were in the stadium).
[October 17, 2010 note: Ed has since gone on to be one of the best music event organizers in Pittsburgh, amongst other things - SO, don't get the wrong idea: if he's still like what I describe above I haven't seen any evidence of it for a long time]
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
211. ["Prima Vista" (by Mauricio Kagel)
- Industrial Arts Co-Op Benefit - IAC Garage at the Brew House, Pittsburgh, us@
- Saturday, May 3rd, 1997, 8:40 to 9PM
- See entry 206 for an introductory description of this. Unlike the previous presentation, this involved both manipulated playback of previous rehearsal tapes + some live playing of instruments (mostly those used in those rehearsals). Dave (Ho Chan) Shim made fresh tapes from the previously used ones of Ed-Um Bucholtz & Michael Johnsen by processing them electronically & then manipulated these live. Michael Johnsen alternated between playing Dave's & my rehearsal tapes. Ed-Um played french horn & I vocalized & played whistles, bulb horn(s), harmonica, slide whistle, bells, etc.. As with the preceding presentation, in the recordings used, I played trombone, voice, harmonica, whistles, tuning fork, duck call, & bells; Dave played sine-wave generator; Ed-Um played french horn; & Michael played baritone & tenor saws.]
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
212. Premier(s) of "The "Official" John Lennon's Erection As Blocking Our View Homage & Cheese Sandwich"
- Orpheum Theater, Baltimore, us@
- Friday & Saturday, May 9th & 10th, 1997, Midnight to 1:30AM
- These premiers involved the rear-screen projection of the above-mentioned film with Neil Feather sitting on & playing his relatively new instrument: the MeloCycle - with his NuGuitar & a Vibulum (etc..) to the audience screen left & myself to the audience screen right. The MeloCycle is a former exercycle (that still functions as such) that's become a string instrument. During the 'slowest' part of the film, I proclaimed my "Upping the Anti-School of Fucked-Up & Away" essay which partially explains the extremely fucked-up conditions under which the film was made. Both Neil & I are in the film so our presence in front of the screen was extending our screen presence more into the audience space.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
213. 2 Simultaneous Lectures: "(M)Usic 1885 to the Present" & "140 Slides to a Better Me"
- Normal's, Baltimore, us@
- Sunday, May 18th, 1997, 8:30 to 11:30PM
- This was an (almost) solo version of the lecture described in #s 205 & 208 - revised & refined & expanded to include a simultaneous slide show. It was advertised with a poster that read:
tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE
will LECTURE YOU!
Which was obviously meant to have the facetious undertone that it was my intention to be strict with people for not already 'seeing' the 'basic truths' that I planned to reveal. The subjects listed for the (M)Usic - 1885 to the Present lecture were advertised as:
Erik Satie; Charles Ives; George Ives; Microtonality; "Firsts"; Change Ringing; Tempo; Toy Symphonies; Henry Kling; Adolph Wölfli; Graeme Revel; Henry Cowell; Ivan Wyschnegradsky; Sound Poetry; Kurt Schwitters; Expanded Percussion Orchestra; Edgar Varèse; George Antheil; Race Records; Lucille Bogan a.k.a. Bessie Jackson; Electronics; Johanna M. Beyer; "Celestial Harmony"; Recordings Recycled; John Cage; Pierre Schaefer & Pierre Henry; Morton Feldman; Spike Jones & the City Slickers; S/F/X; Sun Ra the Solar Myth Arkestra; Spatiality; Alvin Lucier; Fluxus; Yoko Ono; Joe Jones; Automatic Instruments; Annea Lockwood; Environmental Recordings; the Marantz Pianocorder; Richard Teitelbaum; Home-Tapers; tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE; Usic; egnekn; Karlheinz Essl; Internet
& the subjects listed for the 140 Slides to a Better Me lecture were advertised as:
Remodelling Consensus Reality; Mad Scientism; d composing; Sound Thinking; Thought Collecting; As Beenism; Psychopathfinding; Jacking-Off-Of-All-Trades; Homonymphonemia; manager of U.M.B.C. Bookstore; Haircuts; Testes-3; Usic; Usic - 1; Balling Tim Ore is Best; Tim Ore; Attempt to Undermine Reality Maintenance Traps; Seat-Belts Violation; Casandra vonRinteln; Corrected Napoleonic Gesture; Sayings of a Famous Artist; my grandmother; Appearance Tactics; Bal Tim Ore Underground Club; E.G.Head; Odd-Ball Sports; Usic - -1; Alternatives to Vicious Cycles; booed usic; Brains; WD-40 in Inter-Species Fishing Erotica; Steve Estes; Fire; Work; Porno; The Statue of Liberty Shafted; Tattoos; "Mud" Jim Cobbs; Generic As-Beenism; Eye-Tracking; Glasgow Suburban Branch of the Bal Tim Ore Underground Club; Low Classical Usic; DidActions; So-Called Whatevers; Uncerts; Interspatiality; Michael Pestel
The presentation was roughly divided into 3 parts with 2 intermissions separating them. I began with passing the Suitcase around as before & then with my vaudeo "Chinese for Celli". Then the "(M)Usic 1885 to the Present" lecture began. I lip-synced with the prerecorded lecture in a way precise enough so that most people probably didn't realize that I wasn't reading the lecture 'live'. This became apparent when I walked into the audience to distribute a list of "Women Composers" while the lecture continued independent of my presence at the mike. The slides were shown simultaneously with the lecture but not with the vaudeos or films. During each (m)usical example I would usually advance the slides & comment upon them. These slides are basically a quasi-documentary retrospective of various projects of mine from an 18 year period. Since I'm a bit bored with talking about them all, my commentary was sometimes lackluster. After the (m)usic lecture played an excerpt from John Cage's "Credo in Us", the 1st intermission happened. The presentation resumed with 2 more of my vaudeos: "Murraygate Busking" & "Great Moments in OddBall Sports: A Cue Stick Guitar Duet" before the (m)usic lecture began again with the lead-in to an excerpt from Pierre Schaefer & Pierre Henry's "Symphonie Pour Un Homme Seul (Scherzo Movement)" - once again with the simultaneous slides. The (m)usic lecture ended with the audience being led to another room for the computer demonstration of Essl's "Lexicon-Sonate online..". The audience was then led back into the main presentation room where my 16mm film "Psychological Playfair" was presented simultaneously with its approximate vaudeo equivalent sometimes called "Boota". This was followed by my vaudeo entitled "Frothing Catatonic Siamese Twins Volunteers Collective XXVII d composing Mozart Release Party". At some point during this 2 sets of Siamese Twins / Frothing Catatonics (more appropriately called Frothing Epileptics) entered & staggered around. These were Kristin Fetterolf + Neil Feather & David Yaffe + Scott Larson. David smeared his froth on 1 of the TVs. Another intermission happened & the final part began. Under the white coveralls I was wearing I had hidden a deflated beach ball which was connected to a hose that ran under the pants leg & ended in a bellows pump on the floor. The audience's view of me was obstructed from about mid-chest down by a podium & a table etc.. While a silent version of my 16mm film "Bob Cobbing" was projected at 18fps so that it would play for about 45 minutes the vaudeo from John Henry Nyenhuis' & my presentation of my "Bogus Piano Concerto" at the Music Gallery in Toronto played with sound (see entry #194). I read my essay "Low Classical Usic" & pitch-shifted every sentence within a range of 2 octaves. This latter was accomplished by foot-control. I also used my feet to periodically pump the beach ball. The combination of trying to read this 12 page text with pumping the foot controls was more athletic than I expected & I was sweating within minutes. The audience could tell that I was pumping something but couldn't see what it was. After the film & vaudeo & reading were over (somewhat in sync), I walked out from behind the lectern & showed my distended belly & said something like "See how inflated I get when I talk for 3 hours!" & the presentation ended.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
214. Proclamation to the Messes
- A Fountain in an Amusement Park, (Buda)Pest, Hungary
- Wednesday, July 2nd, 1997, afternoon
- After 5 days of attempting to get tickets at the JFK airport in NYC that involved sleeping for 2 nights at the airport & finally flying from New York to Frankfurt & from there to Budapest, my girlfriend etta cetera & I finally arrived at a Kantor home in a state of supreme exhaustion. I started 'celebrating' almost immediately by drinking beer. Shortly thereafter, a group of us went to an amusement park where we were scheduled to give a promotional presentation for the upcoming neoist festivals for a tv crew - probably the people from Phoenix TV (the experimental station that was to quasi-document the proceedings of the next week) but I'm not sure. I was so out-of-it & it was so hectic that it's unclear to me who was even there. I think the participants were Amen!, Gordon W., Tadeusz Varon Less, myself, & Bruce MacLean. At any rate, we climbed onto a dry, multi-levelled fiberglass fountain & began posing & proclaiming with great enthusiasm. I was wearing my "Player-Belt" (aka my "Girdle") - a belt with 2 tape-players attached connected to 2 battery-powered speakers (also attached) & I was playing my tape entitled "Usical Material: BBC S/F/X Cacophony Elongated" - a highly computer edited mix of BBC Humor & Fantasy sound effects. Amen! propagadized, I shouted, Tadeusz (& Bruce?) posed, & Gordon W. quoted "You Think You Really Know Me?" from el-twisto-supremo Gary Wilson.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
215. Proclamation to the Messes
- A Kantor Home, (Buda)Pest, Hungary
- Thursday, July 3rd, 1997, morning
- Another tv spot staged with Amen! in front propagandizing in Hungarian while Brian Damage (?) & Gordon W. (?) assisted etta cetera & myself experimenting with wearing the suit modified for the "Egy Gyümölcsérlo Társulat Torténete" presentation (see entries #225 & 234) in back.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
216. Proclamation to the Messes
- A Kantor Home, (Buda)Pest, Hungary
- Thursday, July 3rd, 1997, morning
- Yet another tv spot that supposedly had something to do with sunglasses & neoism (or some such). On the balcony of a Kantor Home, Amen! expostulated in Hungarian again while etta cut my hair in the background so that I had a sort of magnifying glass outline surrounding my bald spot - with braids coming off the rim of the 'glass' part & the 'handle' cut short - with the rest of the head shaved - revealing what little is left of my much-faded stereo brain tattoo. The 3 of us wore sunglasses for reasons unknown to me. Maybe we were being exploited for an ad?
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
217. (M)Ultimatum - Médiatájékoztató - Media Conference
- XXXPanzio A Neoizmus?! Anti-Esemény / XXXPanzio In the Name of Neoism?! Anti-Event - Görög Templom Kiállítóterem / Greek Church Showroom, Vác, Hungary
- Friday, July 4th, 1997, Noon
- This was our press conference at a former Greek church converted into a gallery but few, if any, people were asking questions. At a long table with roses on it at 1 end of the main room various Neoists sat wearing clothes hangers on their heads: BruSeX, Brian Damage, Angela Idealism, Tadeusz Varon Less, someone from Opál Színház, Gordon W., & Amen! + the organizer of XXXPanzio: József Bárdosi (&, possibly, others?). A small group of spectators (a few reporters & photographers + a few interested citizens) sat facing the table in chairs. I was walking/rolling along the curved back wall playing sounds through my Player-Belt & interacting with objects with the hook of my head-hanger - such as by picking up a rose with it. Various statements were made & attempts to interact with the audience were initiated. Angela did her Ugly American routine by insulting the audience in English for being so passive & boring. Fortunately for most of them, they didn't speak English - so Angela's arrogant rudeness went largely not understood. One older man explained in Hungarian that people there were just waiting to see what would happen because they had no idea what was going on & wanted to find out more. He likened the experience to going to a communist party meeting where there would be an obvious established way of doing things that would seem confusing & foreign to people experiencing it for the 1st time. I liked him. After great claims for Neoism were made, etta cetera & I cried out from the audience asking what the Neoists could do for her rash. At the end, silence was requested for an attempt at telepathic communication. It was my impression that this was the part that people enjoyed the most.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
218. Neoista Közoltár Felavatása / Neoist!? Public Alter Ceremony
- XXXPanzio A Neoizmus?! Anti-Esemény / XXXPanzio In the Name of Neoism?! Anti-Event - Posta Park, Vác, Hungary
- Friday, July 4th, 1997, 2 to 4PM
- At the former site of a 4 or 5 meter high statue of Lenin there was a rough cement spot where the statue had supposedly been & a nearby pedestal that seemed like a statue mount with nothing on it. The pose had been of Lenin in a giant overcoat leaning forward slightly with his right arm extended & with his hand as if opening a door by twisting a door-knob. Supposedly before the monument had been demolished or removed people had written graffiti on its back to the effect that the Turks had only been able to rule Hungary for so long & the Russians wouldn't last forever either. People were said to've climbed up the sculpture & to've put bread & other objects in Lenin's hand. This was the inspiration for our site specificity. On what might've been the hottest day of the Hungarian summer, I stood where the statue had been in the same pose wearing a large overcoat. I was wearing my Player-Belt (see the description in #212) which was playing a tape of some of my synthesizer & sampler material. I held this pose for a fairly long time while a few people came & spontaneously altered me. One of the XXXPanzio organizers put a communist newspaper in my right hand & a friend of ours (Yannos?) who had performed a similar action there before put a roll in my left hand. I was eventually carried in this rigid pose to the top of the pedestal by BruSeX, Brian Damage & others - all of whom were wearing winter overcoats & clothes-hangers on their heads. A table of free food catered by a local restaurant (possibly called "Hala'szkert Étterem" - which I crudely translate as "Fisherman's Park Restaurant") was alongside the pedestal & the base of the pedestal itself was festooned with various Neoist icons (or implied icons) such as clocks stopped at 6 o'clock & steam irons + maybe some books signed in shiny gold ink by Monty Cantsin, etc.. Amen!, etta cetera, Gordon W., BruSeX, Brian, & Tadeusz Varon Less & others all walked around rigidly holding their right arms outstretched in memory/mockery of the Lenin. Brian gave a compelling "Leader of the Lower East Side" type of speech. I stayed still, sweating bullets & struggling to keep my right arm sticking out. Various "Lenins" mounted next to me & proclamations were made in Hungarian & English. Angela Idealism came & she & Amen! screamed at each other. Sickened by her egoism, Gordon W. said something like "Angela, this is communism, we don't have time for your bullshit, we're all Lenins now!". Angela started throwing vegetables at Amen! & a large radish, or some such, stuck in the front of his head-hanger. I was eventually carried off my mount & I relaxed from my pose & the event diffused. A good time was had by some.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
219. Sound Thinking: Phase III: Mimesis
- XXXPanzio A Neoizmus?! Anti-Esemény / XXXPanzio In the Name of Neoism?! Anti-Event - Migazzi tér / Migazzi Square, Vác, Hungary
- Friday, July 4th, 1997, 4:15PM
- I made a recording of me playing a large variety of fairly portable instruments: whistles, bells, trumpet, trombone, thunder-sheet, wood-blocks, temple-blocks, chain, large balloon, small xylophone, crow call, etc.. Each of the instruments was played somewhat minimally. Another recording was made of instructions about how to mime playing these instruments in sync with the playback of the 1st tape. Using my Player-Belt (see #212), I played the tape of the instrument sounds on 1 tape-player & amplified it through the 2 speakers. On the other tape-player, I played the instructions & followed them while listening to them via headphones. The result was that I mimed the playing of instruments whose sounds were audible. Given that the sound-produced apparatus was strapped around my waist & given that my actions were attention-grabbing, it wasn't always obvious where the sound originated from. Unfortunately, the 2 tape-players were never quite in sync for any of the presentations of this so my miming was sometimes ahead of the sounds & sometimes behind. Simultaneous with this, Gordon W. was pasting a "Monty Cantsin" sign onto a nearby equestrian statue. Gordon & etta cetera & I later wandered around Vác pasting up the signs wherever we felt like identifying Monty Cantsin.
- a rehearsal for this can be witnessed on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/SoundThinkingIIIMime
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
220. Lightbulb Wave
- XXXPanzio A Neoizmus?! Anti-Esemény / XXXPanzio In the Name of Neoism?! Anti-Event - Madách Imre Müvelódési Központ / Culture Center, Vác, Hungary
- Friday, July 4th, 1997, 5:45 to 6:30PM
- 6:00 was to be the opening time for a Monty Cantsin exhibition in a small room at the Culture Center. The building had a balcony on its curved front from the middle of which hung a large Neoism/XXXPanzio banner. I proposed that a group of us stand somewhat like living statues & wave to the attendees. etta cetera mentioned that she'd seen a tv show in which 3 types of waves were taught to beauty pageant contestants. These were a sortof "windshield-wiper" wave, a "sweeping-gesture" wave, & a "screwing-in-a-lightbulb" wave. We chose the latter. We asked the organizers for lightbulbs so that we could 'wave' with them in our hands. I stood on the balcony alone for a while & was joined by etta, then Gordon W., then Brian Damage, Amen!, Tadesz Varon Less, & BruSeX. This wave has since become yet-another Neoist buzzard (akin to the Masonic hand-shake).
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
221. Sound Thinking: Phase III: Mimesis
- XXXPanzio A Neoizmus?! Anti-Esemény / XXXPanzio In the Name of Neoism?! Anti-Event - Madách Imre Müvelódési Központ / Culture Center, Vác, Hungary
- Friday, July 4th, 1997, 6:35PM
- See entry #217. This was presented in the exhibit space - the exhibit consisting mainly of just things that were from a Kantor Home - left as a legacy.
- a rehearsal for this can be witnessed on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/SoundThinkingIIIMime
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
222. Odd-Ball Sport(s)
- XXXPanzio A Neoizmus?! Anti-Esemény / XXXPanzio In the Name of Neoism?! Anti-Event - Madách Imre Müvelódési Központ / Culture Center, Vác, Hungary
- Friday, July 4th, 1997, 6:55PM
- Hanging out in the exhibit (see #219) we felt like we should be making life a bit more exciting so Amen! gave me a Hungarian text to read. Since I don't speak Hungarian, it was an interesting process for me to try to read the text anyway without any idea of what inflection (etc..) I might give the text if I understood it. A soccer-ball/football was part of the exhibit so we started kicking it around the room. Since the room was small & crowded with objects & people this became a combination of hand-ball & dodge-ball (etc..) - what I like to call an "Odd-Ball Sport". Participants probably included Amen!, Gordon W., Brian Damage, etta cetera, BruSeX, Tadeusz Varon Less, & others (including "audience" members).
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
223. [Neoist Machine Group's "Unseen"
- XXXPanzio A Neoizmus?! Anti-Esemény / XXXPanzio In the Name of Neoism?! Anti-Event - Görög Templom Kiállítóterem / Greek Church Showroom, Vác, Hungary
- Friday, July 4th, 1997, 8PM
- This former church had as its public space 1 large room that had recessed areas that had been covered over by new white walls. It also had a balcony cluttered with the remnants of a Baroque organ & other things that overlooked the main room. BruSeX, Brian Damage, & I decided that we would position ourselves in places where we couldn't be seen & that we'd be playing when the audience entered at 8:00. I found a large metal bowl, a manual lawn-mower, & a short metal pole with a rubber end on it. These 1st 2 objects were for percussion & the last was for a striker. Brian & BruSeX hid in the balcony various found percussion objects & I hid behind 1 of the walls in the main room in a cobwebbed recess. Since the new walls didn't go all the way to the floor (which is what enabled me to enter the recess) I spent much of my time standing on the bottom frame of the wall so that my feet couldn't be seen. Since the frame was very small, I had to hold on with 1 hand while I struck things with the other. I wedged the metal bowl between the old wall & the new 1 & banged on the bowl & the new wall. I was also wearing the Player Belt (see entries # 212, 215, 216, 217, 219) so I faded in & out various tapes of mine. BruSeX & Brian played scrap percussion & we all vocalized in what I like to think of as "lonely animal style". etta cetera & Gordon W. danced the tango in the main room in an attempt to get the audience to realize that they didn't 'have to' sit quietly around the edges of the room. People laughed when it was over & I pushed the lawnmower out from under wall.]
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
224. Apartment Festival Site Specific Role Reversal
- XXXPanzio A Neoizmus?! Anti-Esemény / XXXPanzio In the Name of Neoism?! Anti-Event - A Painter's Studio, Vác, Hungary
- Saturday, July 5th, 1997, 11:30AM to 12:30PM
- Neoast?! festivals are more-or-less 'non-stop'. In other words, there isn't always such a fixed time when 'performances' begin & end - with 'normal' life happening the rest of the time (except, perhaps, to the extent that the beginning & the end of the overall festival contextualizes things). Much of what happens at any time just depends on how inspired Neoists feel as response to where they are & what's already happening - or on how aggressively they interpolate their personalities. Such site-specificity may've become most formalized in this Apartment Festival portion of XXXPanzio. Amen! had requested that apartments be made available to us for presenting public events in. Only 2 people had offered theirs for our use (& 1 of them was out of town on the day his was supposed to be available). The day before XXXPanzio was to begin, those of us who were interested were given a tour of the various prospective festival spots - including the apartments. The 1st of these was a small place serving as a painter's studio. I dislike most painting but I didn't want to disrupt the hospitality of the painter by being hostile. As such I wanted to present something that negated painting to some extent without being unfriendly. I work as an artist's model. I enjoy this somewhat because the pay's slightly better than other menial labor, because I get to take my clothes off, & because it interests me as an exercise in strength & endurance - qualities I find useful in daily life. While modelling, I usually get very bored - both because I get tired of staying still & because I have so little interest in the portraits being made of me. This was a perfect opportunity for me to make modelling something more fun in its usual context without having it produce the portraits I usually dislike. As such, I asked for Neoist volunteers to be the 'painters' & I was to be the 'model'. Being the usual 'good sports' that they are, Amen!, BruSeX, etta cetera, & Brian Damage volunteered. I was naked & free to move while the 'painters' were arranged around me as if painting me but staying still (as the model usually would). The 'painters' wore smocks, stood at easels with canvasses (or some such), & held brushes & pallettes. Amen! wore a clothes-hanger on his head. They were to hold their poses for 25 minutes, take a 5 minute break, & then go back to their poses for another 25 minutes or so. At 1st, I'd only intended to sit there with the freedom to scratch or stretch my legs or read or whatever - in other words to do what I'd usually like to do while modelling. Then I decided to make things a bit more 'action-packed' so I started jumping around - giving the viewers a chance to thrill at seeing my scrotum swing. I interacted with chairs by sticking my legs through them in contorted ways & rolling around & by standing on the chairs & placing them in front of me so that I could walk around the room on them. I 'critiqued' the (non-existent) paintings. I put cloths over the heads of the 'painters', asked them if they had any itches to be scratched, scratched them when they did, gave them drinks of water if requested or poured water on them to surprise them, etc, etc.. The gist of it was that the 'model' got to provide an example of moving-life instead of still-life for a change & NO PAINTINGS WERE PRODUCED AS A RESULT. Perhaps that's somewhat like "No animals were harmed in the making of this motion-picture."
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
225. Kézi Ördög Eltávolítása / Hand-Devil Removal Service
- XXXPanzio A Neoizmus?! Anti-Esemény / XXXPanzio In the Name of Neoism?! Anti-Event - A Painter's Studio, Vác, Hungary
- Saturday, July 5th, 1997, 12:30 to 1PM
- etta cetera frequently amuses me with 'tricks'. One of these is "Hand-Devil Removing" which involves creating an unusual sensation in the hand by messing with its circulation. Setting up a table & chairs in the studio, we invited people to have their hand-devils removed - etta being the main exorcist - with myself as a humble assistant. People in need of our services were plentiful. Gordon W., in particular, felt that his constant masturbating could be stopped thanks to us. Alas, after performing the removal, we discovered a devil drawn in his palm - showing him to be a hopeless case.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
226. Monty Cantsin's "Egynapos Lákas-Hálózat / One Day Apt Network" Coat Hanger Cult Lecture, Contest, & Telepathy Demonstration
- XXXPanzio A Neoizmus?! Anti-Esemény / XXXPanzio In the Name of Neoism?! Anti-Event
- A Painter's Studio, Vác, Hungary
- Saturday, July 5th, 1997, 1 to 2PM
- I have no idea what Monty Cantsin called this presentation of his/her thingamahoosiewob so the above 'title' is just my description. On the patio/entranceway to the studio, MC had laid out various Neoist objects. S/He talked in Hungarian & Livia Cases translated in Italian - which was probably intended as a joke since most of the people there either spoke mainly Hungarian or English &, therefore, Livia's translation was for no-one but herself. A few contest questions were asked for which prizes were received - such as a beer. MC announced a demonstration of telepathy in which he said a word to Livia who then whispered it to Gordon W. & then Gordon & MC fell into an intense concentration during which they touched their clothes-hangers together to further the telepathy. MC then asked GW if the word he was thinking of was (whatever) & GW said it was! We were all suitably impressed by this miraculous display. At some point during the Italian translating some of us realized how deliberately ludicrous it all was & we began translating too - even though we had no idea what he was saying. A wondrous cacophony broke out - with the usual people playing: BruSeX, Brian Damage, myself, etta cetera, Gordon W., Tadeusz Varon Less (who speaks Hungarian), & the mysterious Tobias Hess (& others?).
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
227. Egy Gyümölcsérlo Társulat Torténete / Story of a Fructiferous Society
- XXXPanzio A Neoizmus?! Anti-Esemény / XXXPanzio In the Name of Neoism?! Anti-Event - Madách Imre Müvelódési Központ / Culture Center, Vác, Hungary
- Saturday, July 5th, 1997, 6 to 6:21PM
- In the name of the Ballooning One I evoke the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft. The Ballooning One wrote: "Once upon a time there was a Fructiferous Society. At one point it consisted of The Forked One and The Ballooning One and others and they met in Hungary and it was GOOD." & it was translated into Hungarian by András L. Frenyo & it was GOOD:
Egyszer volt, hol nem volt,
1 10 5 1 3 2 7 4 9 6 7 4 8 1 10 2 7 4 9
E gy SZ e r v O l t , h O l n e m v O l t
.1, .2, .3, .4, .6, .8, .9, 1, 1.2, 1.7,1.8,1.9, 2.1,2.2, 2.3 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8
volt egyszer
2 7 4 9 1 10 5 1 3
v O l t e gy SZ e r
3.2,3.3,3.4,3.6 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 4, 4.1
egy Gyümölcsérlö Társulat.
1 10 10 1 10 9 4 7 10 3 4 2 9 8 3 5 8 4 6 9
e gy Gy ü m ö l CS é r l ö T á r S u l a t .
4.4, 4.5, 4.7, 4.8, 4.9, 5, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4,5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 6, 6.1,6.2, 6.3,6.4,6.5,6.6,6.7
Volt a Villás-Jellemü,
2 7 4 9 6 2 6 4 8 5 3 1 4 1 10 3
v O l t a v i ll á S - j e ll e m ü ,
7.6,7.7,7.8,7.9, 8.1, 8.3,8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.9, 9, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4
a Ballon-Jellemü,
6 9 6 4 7 8 3 1 4 1 10 3
a B a ll O n - j e ll e m ü ,
10, 10.3,10.4, 10.5, 10.6,10.7, 11, 11.1,11.2,11.4,11.5,11.6
és voltak mások
10 5 2 7 4 9 6 1 10 8 5 7 1
é S v O l t a k m á S O k
12.3,12.4, 12.6, 12.7,12.8,12.9,13, 13.1 13.3,13.4,13.5,13.6,13.7
ök találkoztak Magyarországon
2 1 9 6 4 8 4 1 7 5 9 6 1 10 6 10 6 3 7 3 5 8 2 7 8
ö k t a l á l k O Z t a k M a gy a r O r SZ á g O n
14, 14.1, 14.3,14.4,14.5,14.6,14.7,14.8,14.9,15,15.1,15.2,15.3, 15.5,15.6, 15.7,15.8,15.9, 16, 16.1, 16.2, 16.3,16.4,16.5,16.6
és az jó volt.
10 5 6 5 3 4 2 7 4 9
é S a Z j ó v O l t .
17.2,17.3, 17.5, 17.7, 17.9, 18, 18.2,18.3,18.4,18.5
The #s over the phonemes indicate the track #s or 'performer' #s. The #s under the phonemes indicate their approximate position in seconds & tenths of seconds in the 10 track computer edit version. Spacial placement leaves alot to be desired in this html version. (Actually, there are 12 tracks - as explained below)
Track 01: e, e, e, e, e, e, ü, e, e, e, e, k, k, k, k, k
Track 02: v, v, v, ö, v, v, v, ö, g, v
Track 03: r, r, r, r, j, ü, j, ü, r, r, j
Track 04: l, l, l, l, l, l, l, l, ll, ll, ll, ll, l, l, l, ó, l
Track 05: SZ, SZ, S, S, S, S, Z, SZ, S, Z
Track 06: h, a, a, i, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a
Track 07: O, O, O, O, CS, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O
Track 08: n, á, u, á, n, á, á, á, n
Track 09: t, t, t, ö, t, t, t, b, t, t, t, t
Track 10: gy, m, gy, gy, gy, m, é, m, m, é, m, m, gy, é
1st the simple story was written in English. Then this was translated into Hungarian by András L. Frenyo. Then a slow reading of it by András was recorded & timed at app. 20 seconds. Then the text was broken into the phonemes & read into the SoundEdit program very slowly to enable easier editing. These tracks were duplicated 10 times. Different phonemes were isolated on different tracks as shown above. After laborious editing the slow phonetic reading was condensed to app. 20 seconds in such a way that the vertical coordination between the tracks still followed the horizontal continuity of the original text.
The tracks are then played in a progressively accumulative manner:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
1+2, 2+3, 3+4, 4+5, 5+6, 6+7, 7+8, 8+9, 9+10
1-3, 2-4, 3-5, 4-6, 5-7, 6-8, 7-9, 8-10
1-4, 2-5, 3-6, 4-7, 5-8, 6-9, 7-10
1-5, 2-6, 3-7, 4-8, 5-9, 6-10
1-6, 2-7, 3-8, 4-9, 5-10
1-7, 2-8, 3-9, 4-10
1-8, 2-9, 3-10
1-9, 2-10
1-10
11.
12.
Track 11 is the recording of all the phonemes added together. Due to inadequacies of the editing program's playback abilities (frequent pauses interupt the playback as the # of tracks played back simultaneously increases) this track is played to make its predecessors slightly more comprehensible. Track 12 is the original regular reading of the text (ie: not 1 built from individual phonemes - but simply spoken) to bring it into a final clarity.
A live performance of this would be possible with 10 reciters each pronouncing the phonemes of 1 of the tracks in the same order as described above. A conductor &/or extremely accurate visual timer would be helpful. Slowing the tempo would make it more plausible. Ideally, the performers would only speak using their track phonemes for at least 1 day leading up to the more 'staged' presentation.
- the Ballooning One - April '97
The resultant recording was used as the soundtrack for a video which begins with the title: "Egy Gyümölcsérlo Társulat Torténete" after which the gradual phonemic puzzle assembly begins. Each time a phoneme is pronounced its visual text symbol appears in a microsecond flash. The 1st 10 tracks are heard & seen & then the image becomes white even though the sound continues. Text finally reappears when track 12 is heard & then a credit appears & the video/vaudeo's over. This tape was projected onto a white wall. The Forked One led in The Ballooning One & The Forked One Proxy who were within the same pair of specially prepared white coveralls. Both were nude inside the suit. The Forked One Proxy hung upside down from the shoulders of The Ballooning One with her body facing forward away from The Ballooning One's front. Her legs were through the sleeves & her arms were in the legs. The Ballooning One's arms held onto a t-shirt tied around her waist so that he could help hold her up. The coveralls had a velcro seam all the way around the vertical middle so that the suit could split in half. Each side also had a velcro seam. The head area was covered by a velcro-attached pillow-case as was the crotch area. As such, neither of their bodies showed except where The Forked One Proxy's feet protruded from the arm-holes & where The Ballooning One's feet protruded from the feet-holes. This was probably very confusing for the viewers. The Forked One braced his hands against the projection wall, with his back to the audience, & gave a lecture about Adamitic language & The Fructiferous Society & related subjects. The video was projected & the sound was heard. The Ballooning One & The Forked One Proxy struggled to stay upright while The Forked One Proxy attempted lightbulb waves with her feet. Eventually, The Forked One Proxy screamed to let The Ballooning One know that she couldn't take it anymore & they collapsed to the floor. During all this, the suit gradually ripped apart - revealing the confusedly intertwined bodies. On the floor, they wrestled & tried to make their joint appearance as convoluted as possible. Different parts of the velcro adhered to each other so that new suit configurations were created. Eventually, they dragged themselves off down a hallway - still knotted together. The vaudeo ended, the lecture ended.
" Towards an attempt to promote a Turko-Calvinist Alliance which should free Budapest from the Pope and Hapsburg oppression!"
(- the Forked One - June '97)
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
228. Triple-S Variety 'Show'
- XXXPanzio A Neoizmus?! Anti-Esemény / XXXPanzio In the Name of Neoism?! Anti-Event - Madách Imre Müvelódési Központ / Culture Center, Vác, Hungary
- Saturday, July 5th, 1997, 11:30PM
- I've put a fair amount of effort into my Synthesizer/Sampler/Sequencer Usic (the 3 "s"s of "Triple-S") during the last few years but, because of the unpopularity of what I play & the difficulty of transporting all my equipment, I haven't played publically very often. See entries # 188-190 for the previous "Triple-S" examples. On the stage in the sizeable theater in the culture center I had my film "Bob Cobbing" projected while I played 2 Kawai K1 modules & a Mirage Sampler/Sequencer - controlled by a borrowed keyboard that seemed to send out incomplete MIDI signals. Despite the technical problems, I was unbelievably interesting & was overwhelmed by the praise that was(n't) heaped on me when I finished.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
229. with Phÿcus
- XXXPanzio A Neoizmus?! Anti-Esemény / XXXPanzio In the Name of Neoism?! Anti-Event - Madách Imre Müvelódési Központ / Culture Center, Vác, Hungary
- Sunday, July 6th, 1997, 2:30AM
- "The Apocalypse Starts Here" is the name of a Musicus Phÿcus Newsletter, "Brainmower" is the name of 1 of their CDs, the lyrics of their song "Destroy the Earth" are:
Rip up the trees Dump these toxins
Burn everything Destroy the earth
Poison the oceans Strangle the air
Recycle death Destroy the earth
Crumble the mountains Accelerate decay
Wrack life Destroy the earth
Burgeon disease Submerge the cities
Raze awareness Destroy the earth
A modest proposal Destroy the earth
We can begin again Better than ever
Better than ever Better than ever
It's always too late It's always too late
Destroy the earth Destroy the earth
Nicer guys would be harder to find. As such, when they invited me to be Phÿcus member #50 & to play percussion & stage presence with them in Hungary, I couldn't resist (no matter how HARD I tried). The stage at the Culture Center had a large curtain about mid-depth back. While Brian Damage & BruSeX (MacLean) whipped out hits like "Grandmaster Phÿcus" I ran around behind them pulling & billowing the curtains vigorously. Using a coat rack, I pummeled a hub-cap (or some such) into well-'nigh flatness. BruSeX played effected feedback guitar & sang, Brian played Moog synthesizer & sang, backing tapes played, Monty Cantsin joined us for a moving rendition. With great flair, I broke a bottle. Rattling the rusty chain. Holding the expensive mike entirely too close to the chaos of smashing scrap metal, the screen gets knocked off. Move over.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
230. Sound Thinking: Phase III: Mimesis
- XXXPanzio A Neoizmus?! Anti-Esemény / XXXPanzio In the Name of Neoism?! Anti-Event
- Pokol sziget / Hell's Island (a derelict former communist youth camp), Vác, Hungary
- Sunday, July 6th, 1997, afternoon
- See entry #217. I don't think the actual name of the island was "Hell's Island" but there was a restaurant on it called something like "Hell's Restaurant" - hence the name. This was basically a picnic with soup being served from a big cauldron & with bread. Many of us were reminded of Jonestown as we sat around the barracks-type buildings eating. A Society for Creative Anachronisms (or some such) invaded us in 'barbarian clothes' & hung Monty Cantsin from a tree at one point. The joking similarity to Jonestown led to #238.
- a rehearsal for this can be witnessed on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/SoundThinkingIIIMime
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
231. [Végezz A Normálissággal, Mielött Az Végez Veled! / Kill Normality Before It Kills You! Záró Mise / Closing Mass(acre) - Group Uncert - XXXPanzio A Neoizmus?! Anti-Esemény / XXXPanzio In the Name of Neoism?! Anti-Event
- Madách Imre Müvelódési Központ / Culture Center, Vác, Hungary
- Sunday, July 6th, 1997, night
- This "Closing Mass(acre)" was meant to be our sortof 'supergroup' presentation in which many participants of the XXXPanzio would combine to present a final uncert. It didn't quite work that way since Brian Damage slept through it & BruSeX & Angela Idealism preferred to spend this time in a dorm room together. As such, the group consisted of Dóra Attilla playing wind instrument(s) (soprano sax?), Amen! playing multi-looping device & keyboard, Augie (whose name I've probably misspelled here) singing, myself playing Mirage sampler/sequencer module, & Tadeusz Varon Less & Ioana Georgescu (Ghera) playing scrap metal percussion. These latter 2 were joined by 2 or 3 audience members - including a fellow named Aster (as he said, "The star, not the flower."). Due to difficulties with the differences between US electricity & Hungarian electricity (ie: the 220 to 110 transformation) my Mirage ceased to work about halfway through, after Tadeusz accidentally disconnected the power, & I retired for the evening.]
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
232. Temetkezési Indítványok - Beszélgetés Neoista?! Temetkezési Môdszerekrôl
- Neoista?! Puccs - Városligeti "Fuit" Síremlék / City Park "Was" Grave, (Buda)Pest, Hungary
- Monday, July 7th, 1997, 4PM
- Burial proposals & conversations about Neoist?! burial ways & means. In the early 19th century (1809ev?), a lawyer gave money to Budapest to have himself buried in its public Central Park - with instructions that no word other than "FUIT" ("WAS") was to be on his grave marker. As such, his grave is anonymous. Inspired by this, Amen! organized these opening ceremonies to discuss the possibility of having many people request being buried with only "Monty Cantsin" on their grave sites - rather than names more personally associated with them. I walked around playing tapes with my Player Belt (see entry #212 for a description of this) & lay on the grave with my arms crossed & my eyes closed. Someone threw a wreath on me. My own burial proposal was to be skinned & to have the rest of my body encased in some clear plastic material - standing next to a clothes-line on which my skin would be hung as if drying. My alternate proposal was to be sealed in a phone booth with devices amplifying the sound of my decay through loudspeakers on the outside of the booth.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
233. Player-Belt Girdle Monster
- Neoista?! Puccs - Black Black Galéria & environs, (Buda)Pest, Hungary
- Monday, July 7th, 1997, 6PM
- Black Black Galéria is the gallery of Opál Színház (Opal Theater). It's in a complex of basements which was entered by stooping through a sidewalk-level window & walking down a sloping board laying on a sand pile. Large piles of sand were faintly visible off to the left when entering. At the bottom of the piles were 2 rooms. Off to the right off of the 1st room was the closed off entrance to living quarters. Off to the left of the 2nd room, 1 could walk through another awkward entrance down into another room where Amen! had an exhibit. At the end of this room was a cage that blocked entrance to a room beyond. This cage is reputed to've been lived in for 1 month by 1 of the main people of Opál Színház. I stayed mainly in the dim light on the sand piles off to the left when 1 entered - playing tapes with my Player Belt (see entries 212 & 217, etc..). Eventually, etta cetera, Brian Damage, Ghera & I ventured forth into the gypsy neighborhood - with the Player Belt playing my tapes all the while. Back in front of Black Black, the neighborhood people had gathered out of curiousity. My tape started playing loud steady explosive sounds & I began to walk stiffly with my feet hitting the pavement in sync with the sounds holding my arms out like the stereotypical zombie/monster. etta probably took something from me (like my flaming steam iron necklace) & I started pursuing her through the thick of the crowd. Children started laughing & pretending to be terrified & running frantically to get out of my way.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
234. Uncert with Dóra Attila
- Neoista?! Puccs Tilos Rádio Party - Orczy Kert / Orczy Park Hall, (Buda)Pest, Hungary
- Tuesday, July 8th, 1997, night
- Dóra Attila's a Hungarian improvising wind player. On the main stage of a huge auditorium that had 3 large scaffolds as alternative stages we played a set. I had a video-projection of some of my "Concrete Mixing Vaudeo #2" (a fast encapsulation of many of my movies) showing both on the partially lowered corrugated metal garage-type door at the front of the stage & onto the back wall behind the stage. Under these conditions, the images were barely decipherable & the video became more of a light show. Attila played soprano sax, Turkish clarinet, & trombone with a reed mouthpiece. I took my zipper pants off & wore them as a shirt. During a sortof 'film noir jazzy' part made from CCMC samples, I sang in a sortof 'childish' 'Betty Boop" type voice something like this: "Hewwo, everybody. I'm Monty Cantsin & I'm going to sing a wery, wery, wery special song. It's for you, & you, & you , & YOU! & it goes something like this: doopie-doo, doodie-woo-be-doopie-doobie-doo-doo. Thank you." Due to electrical problems, my equipment started going haywire. As such, my sampler/sequencer, midi-patcher, & effects unit were all disabled. I was only using 2 K1 module synthesizers erratically controlled by a borrowed keyboard & tapes. It was swell.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
235. Sound Thinking: Phase III: Mimesis -> "Blood & Gold", etc..
- Neoista?! Puccs - Ady-Szobor / Ady Statue, (Buda)Pest, Hungary
- Wednesday, July 9th, 1997, 6PM
- See entry #217. It had been planned for Neoists to assemble at the Ady Statue so that Amen! & others could sing the Monty Cantsin song "Blood & Gold" that's based on an Ady poem. etta cetera, Jada D'Aversa, & I had arrived earlier than anyone else, so I presented this "Mimesis" thing again. We attracted a small crowd who seemed to enjoy it (or, at least, enjoy being perplexed by it). As the other Neoists arrived, Amen! gave a speech in Hungarian (probably to promote the Neoista?! Puccs Tilos Rádio Party) & we broke out the flaming steam irons. BruSeX, Brian Damage, Amen!, Gordon W., & I sang the Neoist Anthem "Catastronics". Amen! was boosted onto the Ady Statue's base where he sung "Blood & Gold" & more flaming steam irons abounded. Gordon W. pricked his finger & put blood on a forint (Hungarian money) that has Ady's picture on it (the 500 forint note?). This was borrowed from me. I was reimbursed after Amen! bought the note from Gordon for 1,000 forint.
- a rehearsal for this can be witnessed on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/SoundThinkingIIIMime
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
236. Egy Gyümölcsérlo Társulat Torténete / Story of a Fructiferous Society
- Venezia Poesia '97 Budapesten - Mu Színház, Buda(Pest), Hungary
- Wednesday, July 9th, 1997, 9:30PM
- See entry #226. I had been told that the time limit for this festival was 15 minutes. When discussing this with the festival director, Nagy Pál, I told him that my presentation could either be 14 minutes, if the vaudeo were to be fast-forwarded with the sound still audible for 7 minutes at a precise time, or 21 minutes (under normal conditions). I was there with Ghera at the time because she was on the same bill & she said that her thing would be only 10 minutes & Nagy Pál said that it would be no problem for me to present the entire 21 minutes of my thing - using Ghera's unused time. Moving about with etta hanging from my shoulders with a pillow case over my head isn't easy & requires unslippery floor conditions. Ladik Katalin had flour spilled on the floor during her performance before my presentation. Then there was water from someone else's. Then Ghera spit olive pits & juice on the floor. It was a slippery mess. I'd specified that I wanted the mikes at a certain place where a spotlight was supposed to be. When it was time to go out on stage, Ghera (who was wearing a sortof ball-gown that she'd worn for her performance) was steering us with great difficulty to the mikes which were still on the opposite side of the stage from where we'd requested them because of their use in the previous performance by Angela Idealism & Albert Markós. After we'd managed to make it to where the mikes were without getting my feet too slimed, the technicians realized that the mikes were in the wrong place & moved them to the other side of the stage. With Ghera's help we barely made it across the goop to the mikes' new positions. Ghera didn't undertand that we didn't want her to help anymore & hovered around us while we gyrated & moaned a bit. Within minutes we were exhausted & it was very difficult for me to remain upright with my feet covered with the residue from the previous acts. We eventually collapsed to the floor & got more goopy than ever as we dragged ourselves across the stage to our point of origin - with the confused Ghera attempting to help us & with the confused sound-men following us with the mikes. After about 13 minutes of the video we were off-stage. 2 minutes later the video was shut off without having been allowed to reach its 'punchline'. At my request, Ghera went out on stage & exclaimed that it wasn't over yet! The tech guy fumbled around for a minute or so & stuck the video back in & projected it for another minute or 2 & then turned it off again. Apparently, Nagy Pál hadn't told them that it was ok for it to go over the 15 minute limit & they cut it off because it was too long. I went out to the mike & spoke the full text that would've been the 'punchline' in English to the probably thoroughly confused audience.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
237. with Phÿcus
- Neoista?! Puccs Tilos Rádio Party - Orczy Kert / Orczy Park Hall, (Buda)Pest, Hungary
- Wednesday, July 9th, 1997, Midnight
- See entry #227. Once again on the main stage. I'd asked for 20 pairs of drum sticks, a floor tom, & a snare drum. The time came & the 2 drums were there but there were no drumsticks. I attempted to communicate this to the Hungarian speaking soundman & he eventually understood & gave me 1 drumstick. I was later told that the Tilos Rádio people bought 20 pairs for me, put them on the stage, & had them stolen. This forced me to develop my virtuoso 1 stick drumming technique & to last-minute resort to whatever else was on stage as sticks & percussion material. For sticks, at 1 point, I used long reeds (as in like bamboo but much flimsier). These produced the 'spectacle' of me playing the drums from 6 feet away. At another point I took a long wooden bench (perhaps 8 feet or more long) & held it on its side to bang the stage with. Since this was quite heavy, that didn't last long. I dumped out a box of hinge pins & such-like & pranced around on them - kicking them about with my steel-toed boots. Phÿcus had provided me with a few of the pieces of scrap-metal that had survived our Vác gig. 1 of these had a hole in the middle which enabled me to repeatedly lift it up with a broom handle & repeatedly drop it dramatically on the floor.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
238. Neoist Airport Waiting Room Scharfness Institute Cooking Endurance Test
- Tolerancia '97 fesztivál és tábor - Neoista?! Zajpiknik és Monty Cantsin? Kiképzôtábor / Tolerance (?) Festival & Camp - Neoist?! Noise Picnic and Monty Cantsin? Training Camp
- Neoist Airport, Vekeri Tó / Lake Vekeri, Debrecen, Hungary
- Friday, July 11th, 1997, night
- This Tolerancia '97 fesztivál is, apparently, an annual rock event & the Neoists only manage to squeeze in by the skin of our capped teeth. Most of the audience, if not all of it, were there for the rock & blues bands. As such, it's hard to say what they thought about us.. The Scharfness Institute (Gordon W.) takes its name from the German word "scharf" which means "sharp, keen, biting, burning, pungent, hot, strong, severe, strict" etc.. Gordon being an obsessive vegetarian cook, our experience in Hungary of the food being very beef & potatoes & paprika oriented was very annoying to him. While en route from Berlin to Hungary for these festivals with his large quantity of cooking gear, he was turned back from the Slovakian border because 1 page of his passport was torn out - something Gordon had done to give someone a phone # on. This made it so that he had to carry all the cooking gear in multiple trips to a different train track & re-route through Austria - a total pain-in-the-ass caused by the usual sadistic border guards. Don't these morons have anything better to do? Gordon's cooking actions are very long & drawn out. People impatient for food may as well come back in a few hours but if they do they risk missing the food altogether. As such, people spend hours waiting. The most frequently asked question is "When will the food be ready?" - a question that irks Gordon to no end. With this in mind, I ask Gordon "When won't the food be ready?" instead. This festival took place in a campground & Amen! gave various parts of it neoist names. There was the Scrapyard (an out-of-use paved sports field - perhaps for basketball or tennis or some-such at one time), the Airport (a cement square), the Nomad Office (a large tent that the organizers never finished setting up), & the Neoist?! Consulate (our cabin HQ?). The neoists had been told that we'd receive 3 free meals a day (including vegetarian?) from this festival by the person who organized the neoist end of it, Voith András. This didn't happen. Given that we weren't being paid for our participation & that we had to pay for the available (lousy) food & beer, a spirit of frustration dominated. As Gordon cooked, various neoists milled around the airport. As we came & went, we announced each other's arrivals by shouting things like "Now arriving at Gate 6: Brian Damage!" Tension mounted as the audience waiting for food got more & more impatient. One group of people had pitched in to a possible con-artist girl enough money to buy 1 portion of food under the impression that they were buying enough food for all of them. The girl gave the money for 1 portion to Gordon & then disappeared. This group's disgruntlement & the confusion resultant from most of the neoists not speaking Hungarian & most of the Hungarians not speaking English led to even more tension. A highly emotional confrontation eventually erupted in which Gordon shouted at the spectators that he had "suffered" for them so that he could bring them "good food" instead of the Hungarian garbage they usually ate. After András' girlfriend tried to mediate as an interpreter Gordon told her that she irritated him & she told him to fuck off. Things proceeded in this manner 'til the wee hours of the morning with Gordon haranguing almost everyone who passed by. Nonetheless, the food was served & it was delish.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
239. Sound Thinking: Phase III: Mimesis
- Tolerancia '97 fesztivál és tábor - Neoista?! Zajpiknik és Monty Cantsin? Kiképzôtábor / Tolerance (?) Festival & Camp - Neoist?! Noise Picnic and Monty Cantsin? Training Camp - Neoist Airport, Vekeri Tó / Lake Vekeri, Debrecen, Hungary
- Saturday, July 12th, 1997, afternoon
- See entry #217. This was presented to a rather bored looking small group who walked away before I was finished.
- a rehearsal for this can be witnessed on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/SoundThinkingIIIMime
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
240. Seemingly Meaningful 'Heavy' Images Duly Enlarged to Silly Neoast?! Clichés
- Tolerancia '97 fesztivál és tábor - Neoista?! Zajpiknik és Monty Cantsin? Kiképzôtábor / Tolerance (?) Festival & Camp - Neoist?! Noise Picnic and Monty Cantsin? Training Camp - Cantsintown (Neoist Scrapyard -> Neoist Airport -> Neoist Graveyard), Vekeri Tó / Lake Vekeri, Debrecen, Hungary
- Saturday, July 12th, 1997, early evening
- Istvan Kantor (Amen!)'s father had just died recently & Amen! was in the midst of dealing with the inheritance. He piled some of his father's books in the Scrapyard (see the explanation in entry #236) & surrounded them with a circle of scrapmetal: sheet-metal, large cans, etc.. Various neoists were around this conglomeration: Jubal Brown, Jada D'Aversa, Tadeusz Varon Less (?), Brian Damage, Amen!, Gordon W., Bruce MacLean, myself, members of Opál Színház (?), Kantor Akos (?), etc (?).. The Monty Cantsin / Endre Ady "Blood & Gold" song was sung, flaming bread hats were worn, flaming steam-irons were held aloft, the books were burned, the scrap-metal was furiously banged about, etc.. We moved to the Neoist Airport (only a hundred feet or so away & Jubal gave a speech (in English) to preface Jubal & Jada's smashing of a tv set. The tube exploded & the set was thoroughly crunched. It was then explained in Hungarian that we were all going to commit suicide & that members of the audience were welcome to join us. I crushed some small pretzels to produce a powder implied to be some sort of poison & dropped it into a Pepsi can which had a little beer in it. With solemn face, I drank it as if committing suicide & fell rigid back into Gordon's arms while drooling out some soy sauce I'd been holding in my cheeks. I'd dug a grave earlier that day which had a frame in it to support a door for closing off the top. Gordon & Amen! (& others?) carried me to the final resting place & placed me in it. The door was closed to seal it & dirt was shovelled on top. I started playing tapes with my Player Belt from inside the grave while the other Neoists (& a few audience members) pretended to commit suicide & died around the burial site. Amen! collapsed on top of the grave & Angela Idealism informed the audience (in English) that this was sponsored by Pepsi & told them that if they wanted to become famous they should fuck Monty Cantsin's corpse. An excited Hungarian destined for greatness proceeded to hump the dead Monty. Then Angela straddled his face & gyrated her bearded clam to the call of nature. I pushed on the door & eventually forced my way out of the grave & held the grave-digger's shovel in triumph over my head. The end.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
241. with Phÿcus
- Tolerancia '97 fesztivál és tábor - Neoista?! Zajpiknik és Monty Cantsin? Kiképzôtábor / Tolerance (?) Festival & Camp - Neoist?! Noise Picnic and Monty Cantsin? Training Camp
- Main stage, Vekeri Tó / Lake Vekeri, Debrecen, Hungary
- Saturday, July 12th, 1997, 11:40PM
- See entries # 227 & 235. Apparently, Amen!, with the help of Voith András, had talked the organizers of this (predominantly) rock fest into slotting an hour-long Neoist presentation into a prime-time night slot. As typically happens with such things, the Neoist slot started later than scheduled. Opál Színház performed 1st, then Amen!'s conglomerate of free-form lewdness. By the time Phÿcus was to go on the sound-men & other festival people were upset because they felt it was time for the last band of the night (apparently a well known Hungarian band called "VHK"). As Phÿcus was getting on stage, 1 of the festival guys came up to me & said "You've already played too long!" This didn't bode good - we hadn't played yet & we'd already played too long. A drummer from VHK loaned me a set of brand new drumsticks & Phÿcus went ahead & played anyway. Jubal Brown joined in as another scrap-metal player. He & I each had large metal cans & a few other odds & ends like a metal urinal & some sheet metal. Jubal & I stood side by side & banged out our beats (& dissemblances of beats). A highlight for me was when I lay on my back balancing 1 of the large cans on my knees (moving it around all the while) while Jubal beat on it. As always, it was fun to be an almost rock star while the audience looked on perplexed & the stage guys tried to get us off. At the end, I tried to give the VHK guy's drum sticks back to him with my thanks. He told me I could keep them. I couldn't tell if he was giving them to me because he was impressed with what I managed to eke out from the junk or if he was disgusted because I'd played the inside of a urinal with them.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
242. Language Experiment
- from Florian & Berit's Friedenau apartment through the streets onto the S-Bahn, [walking again, to a 2nd S-Bahn,?] through the streets again, through the Jan Amos Comenius Garten & ending at a Rosicrucian display window
- Berlin, Germany
- Friday, July 25th, 1997, afternoon
- A collaboration between myself (Party Teen on Couch #2), Florian Cramer, Berit Schuck, & etta cetera
2: As had never happened before, the dog was well-bred. T-shirt 8b. Leaving Akademgorod.
[apparent arrival at the locked gate of the Comenius Garten - which we proceed to climb over]
ec: Hold the phone.
2: The submarine docks there.
ec: & the raft-boat enters. [laughter]
2: The submarine docks there!
ec: [laughter]
2: Us!
ec: [laughter] You..
FC: No, let psyche, psyche undermine the self-contained lawn of the construction that strives to our habit. Like the blood peeing [?] [unintelligible] below the supposed supposition of Bohemian physics.
2: T-shirt 8b: suppository.
BS: [singing:] She had never known that humans are so beautiful.
2: [laughter] She thought about all the different things she'd eaten that day.
FC: To debunk notions of what we are going to, to eyeball in certain streams that run below the ordinary, the ordinary misrepresentation &..
2: SMOOTHER!!
FC: ..& like in a female way of endings grasped & answered [unintelligible] well we can actually draw a line to the gates of light because we encounter certain complexes that drag their caves who the groundwork & [unintelligible] this might be considered a strange coincidence with what's,
ec: Higher.
FC: .. what's related to the overall setting.
ec: Food did not digest.
2: She went on a diet.
ec: [laughter]
FC: Below the [unintelligible] we have the oil condition & this here is a UNIX operating system which extends over the entire gap & I..
ec: Are there separate computers?
FC: &, no, there - this is here a ministry of federal research plant..
2: She saw him write a collision.
FC: ..&, below that BME [?] we got [unintelligible] perspiration of a classical Balinasian setting & now Novgorod-style lex-
ec: The [unintelligible] that was sucking my head was similar to a labyrinth instead of this UNIX system.
2: He deposited, somehow or another.
ec: The food went down smoothly. [laughter]
BS: [singing:] She statement this longing for communion.
2: [laughter]
ec: This is the beginning of..
2: Butt-soup.
ec: [laughter] The diet is continued.
FC: [unintelligible] higher? Could be what was established as the raw, raw matter to sodomize what tissues comprehend.
ec: "The Umbrellas of Chambourgh". [A reference to a film with a similar name]
2: T-shirt 10. Yellow.
ec: [laughter] Um..
2: Brown. Red?
ec: Navy blue? Chartreuse. Maize.
2: Mauve.
FC: [unintelligible] architecture..
2: Green.
FC: ..which marks the end of the oscillating node & we've the Balinasian, Balinasian word balance as opposed to the nodes of finished teachings.
2: Clear. Monty Cantsin!
[loud splashing water]
ec: A little oregano, a little parsley.
2: A little oregano, a little parsley. Blue. Monty Cantsin, Monty Cantsin.
ec: Karen Eliot.
2: Neoism.
ec: Nein.
2: Neoism.
FC: [unintelligible] leave a wrap, a rap arising, a wrap-arising condition of a ragged setting.
2: Wa Salaam.
FC: The vaporizing condition is art emote paying a nocturnal, nocturnal eye to, or against, the ableizing Balinasian Arizona state.
BS: [unintelligible]
ec: Is the strongest plant the beginning of the UNIX complex?
FC: Thanks, it's the dan or the dean going from the, from the cousin's expanse to the law & order..
2: SMOOTHER!
FC: ..ground & we now just face what we have seen & the love condition of overall angst ours.
ec: It's boiling to be a poet's wet dream. Blue, red?
2: Pale yellow.
ec: John! [laughter]
2: There's a john..
ec: There's a john that needs to be slit in order to prepare the..
2: Shall we dance?
ec: Let's swim. [laughter]
2: T-shirt 8b, 4. Monty Cantsin.
[at the Comenius statue]
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
243. Party-Teen auf der Couch Nr. 2 & Sir Henry präsentieren ein Unzert (unzertifiziertes Konzert)
- Nightly Irritainment im Schmaltzwald, Prater, Berlin, Germany
- Saturday, July 26th, 1997, 11:15PM to Sunday, July 26th, 1997, 3AM
- After seeing a film entitled "Scream" & noting that 1 of the otherwise unnamed characters was identified in the credits as something like "party teen on couch", I was inspired by this typical movie credit practice of identifying unnamed extras with descriptions. Hence, I took on the new name of "Party Teen on Couch #2" - which Florian Cramer was kind enough to translate into German for me. John Henry Nyenhuis, with whom I've collaborated as part of Klauhütte Bangzeit 200(0) (see entries #190 & 192) & independently from that group (see entry #199), was living in Berlin as the organist (now named "Sir Henry") for the Schmaltzwald & he & I decided to present an uncert together. The "Schmaltzwald", for those of you who don't understand German, is a pun based on "Schwarzwald" (Black Forest). "Schmaltzwald" meaning something like "Grease Forest" - with "Schmaltz" having the double meaning of overly sentimental (or some such) - especially as related to popular music/culture (just as "Grease" in the US might refer to 1950's popular culture). Florian translated "Uncert" to "Unzert" to make a pun combining "unzertifiziertes" (uncertified) with "konzert" - approximating the original English portmanteau word combining "uncertainty" (or "Uncertainty Principle") with "concert". I presented vaudeos & films & played electric piano, sampler/sequencer, 2 synthesizers, 4 mixers, midi-patcher, effects, tapes, & radio. Sir Henry played organ. We played 4 approximately half-hour sets & I presented 16mm films in between them: "How Orgone Cinema Treats Its Visiting Filmmakers", "Funny Farm Summit Meeting" (particularly appropriate since the Schmaltzwald is largely the creation of Laura Kikauka - who also created the Funny Farm), & "Subtitles (16mm version)". John Henry was very upset about a fax that he'd received from 1 of the Schmaltzwald's personnel in which he was basically accused of being a traitor. The organ that he was playing belonged to the sender of the fax. During the 4th & final set, in a display of great emotion as response to this fax (& the events that had led up to it), John played the organ with VOLCANIC INTENSITY - eventually overturning the organ & kicking its backside. The audience loved it - reminding me of how popular smashing instruments is in rock'n'roll. This led to my renaming him "Sir Henry the Organ Slayer".
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
244. Volunteers Collective @ Ringing Rocks State Park
- Anonymous Family Reunion, Ringing Rocks State Park near Pottstown, us@
- Saturday, August 30th, 1997, 1 to 3PM
- The Anonymous Family Reunion was advertised to thousands of people via snail-mail, the internet, & at least 1 magazine for a year in advance with the basic concept explained by this text:
"ANONYMOUS FAMILY REUNION
I think of everyone who's ever chosen to be "anonymous" as being part of the same "family". Whether people have been "anonymous" because of sex role oppression, possibility of criminal prosecution, rejection of egoism, mysteriousness, obscurity, sense of humor, or WHATEVER, we have our "anonymity" in common - & I think it's time we met.
Therefore, I propose a "Family Reunion" for the summer of 1997 to be at a location & time collectively decided on. Special accomodations can be made for those desiring secrecy. Please contact "anonymous" at:
[redacted]
A project from the fine old family of "anonymous" stimulating billions throughout the ages.
Haven't you always wanted to meet me?"
This opening action consisted of playing the rocks (see #141 for a description of a previous event at another Ringing Rocks park) with hammers, rocks, sticks, etc; as well as vibraphone, child's violin, thunder sheet, ratchet, whistles, bells, & tapes brought especially for this purpose & played via the Player Belt (see #s 212, 215, 216, 217, 219, 221, 228, 230, 231, & 233). Participants included Anonymous (Baltimore), Anonymous (Baltimore), Anonymous (Pittsburgh), Anonymous (New Jersey), & Anonymous (Bally).
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
245. Volunteers Collective @ Sonambient Theater
- Anonymous Family Reunion, Sonambient® Theater, Bally, us@
- Saturday, August 30th, 1997, evening
- Harry Bertoia created sound sculptures in the 1960s which are now housed in the Sonambient® Theater near Bally, Pannsylvania. This is a barn near the house where Val Bertoia, Harry's son, lives. Thanks to Val's open-mindedness, we received permission to play these sculptures & to camp on the land as part of the Anonymous Family Reunion. The sculptures consist basically of 2 types: metal rods & gongs. The rods are mostly clustered together in evenly spaced groups sprouting from bases like grass. There are 2 couples of rods hanging from the ceiling which can spin & strike each other. The clusters are played in various ways which generally involve the rods setting off a chain reaction so that all within the cluster are sounded. Within these clusters, the rods are closely pitched. The rod groups vary in size from a few inches tall to perhaps 20 feet tall (in the case of an outside sculpture). Sometimes the rods have heavy cylindrical tops of greater widths than the rods themselves. The gongs are usually hollow with the exception of 2 that have shaped slots cut in them. The largest gong (again outside) is 12 feet in diameter & weighs approximately 1 ton. In addition to these sculptures, there was an electric bass guitar, various small instruments, & 3 synthesizers & a sampler/sequencer. The participants for this session were Anonymous (Pittsburgh), Anonymous (Pittsburgh), Anonymous (Baltimore), Anonymous (Baltimore), Anonymous (Baltimore), Anonymous (WFMU - the East Orange New Jersey free form radio station), Anonymous (WFMU), Anonymous (Bally), & Anonymous (Philadelphia).
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
246. Mother Made in America (Momma Mia) (by Val Bertoia)
- Anonymous Family Reunion, Sonambient® Theater, Bally, us@
- Sunday, August 31st, 1997, afternoon
- In trade for the use of the Bertoia sound sculptures, the participants in the Anonymous Family Reunion agreed to help with the presentation by providing sounds suggested by Val. A portion of the script is as follows:
""Godmen" speaking of Nature to "Godwomen".
As I approached this planet from the Universe, I asked Nature to reveal Herself naked to me. And She did, and She's beautiful.
(no sounds; then gently increasing female-sound)
[..]
As a man, I asked Nature to show me Her full moon. And She did, it was bright and shining and illuminating my dark ways.
[..]
When I asked Nature to provide me with money, She had none to give. Then I got angry, and started yelling.
(factory sounds)
I asked just for a little money, and She had none. I became furious and began cutting off her tree-hair to make more room for myself. I asked again for Nature to provide me with money; I even prayed! Nature could not do this for me. She sent down lightning, and I heard thunder.
(distant thunder sounds --- hollow gong)"
You get the idea. Anonymous (Pittsburgh) played synthesizers & sampler; Anonymous (Pittsburgh) played electric bass guitar, child's violin, & voice; Anonymous (Chatham) vocalized; Anonymous (Chatham) played small round clay ocarina; & Anonymii (Baltimore, WFMU, WFMU, Allentown, & Philadelphia) played Bertoia sound sculptures while Anonymous (Bally) read the text.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
247. Volunteers Collective @ Sonambient Theater
- Anonymous Family Reunion, Sonambient® Theater, Bally, us@
- Sunday, August 31st, 1997, afternoon
- This last session of interacting with the Bertoia sound sculpture environment had concert flute & accordion added to the instrumentation listed above. The participants were Anonymous (Pittsburgh), Anonymous (Pittsburgh), Anonymous (Baltimore), Anonymous (Baltimore), Anonymous (WFMU - the East Orange New Jersey free form radio station), Anonymous (WFMU), Anonymous (Bally), Anonymous (Philadelphia), Anonymous (Chatham College), Anonymous (Chatham College), Anonymous (Allentown), & Anonymous (New Jersey).
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
248. Air Drop #1: Code Name: Uniform Foxtrot Oscar
- overtop Baltimore, us@
- Saturday, September 28th, 1997, 3:30 to 4:30PM
- I (tANGO, aLPHA cHARLIE {Practicing Promotextual & Air Dresser}) plotted this action with pilot Delta Bravo. We decided to drop approximately 1,000 paper airplanes from a small plane over Baltimore - coincidentally simultaneous with the 2nd annual book fair being held in the Mount Vernon area there. Delta & I agreed to have a text printed on the planes that would vaguely give it the appearance of an advertisement & to use green paper to be suggestive of money. The basic text was:
"Free Ticket Out Of Baltimore
LIMITED OFFER!
Redeemable Anywhere Within City Limits
Le Groupe Absence"
This text was accompanied by drawings of a 'UFO' designed to go through an animated sequence with a punchline (of sorts)if & when the paper airplane's unfolded. I spent about 16 hours preparing for this by folding the airplanes. I was significantly assisted by many people - the most active of whom was Alpha Charlie who probably helped fold for about 6 hours or more. The paper plane type chosen was the one I remembered from my youth as the one most capable of flying acrobatically: a rectangle with 2 diagonal corners & 2 flaps. Delta Bravo & I sat in the front seats of the plane while Juliet Papa sat in the back vaudeoing. I opened the window next to my seat - very nervous about the 100+ m.p.h. winds grabbing at it while I did so. The planes were mainly dropped over Wyman Park (because a group of friends were waiting there as observers in an "X" shape) & over Mount Vernon because of the Book Fair. In the interest of a massive dumping, I held the window open over the fair while Juliet Papa dumped a garbage bag with about 350 to 400 of the planes out in rapid succession. The park observers said the planes could be seen reflecting the sun in a fabulous array of loop-de-loops. A ground search later yielded about 10 of the planes in the targetted areas. How many actually reached the ground (rather than tree & building tops) is hard to estimate. How many people saw them descend is as much a mystery to us as we assume the planes' purpose would be to anyone who did see or find them. It was my hope, as with many of my actions, that this would stimulate flights of the imagination & act counter to closed-minded-ness by providing a mystery for which there'd be no obvious solution. Alas, as 1 friend has pointed out to me, the typical human mental process seems to be to simply shove unsolved mysteries into the easiest available mental compartment, regardless of how ultimately unworkable it is, & to forget about them. Even a cult-of-the-mysterious-paper-airplanes would be preferable to that. "Le Groupe Absence" might be described as a 'patanational corporate mirage that I was once invited to be alien diplomat (or some such) for. This was my 1st action in its name.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
249. Volunteers Collective @ the Chatham College Swimming Pool
- Chatham College Swimming Pool in the (former) Mellon Mansion, Pittsburgh, us@
- Sunday, October 26th, 1997, 6 to 9PM
- The Volunteers Collective is a project started in '89 (see entries 125 & 127). Beginning in March of '97, I initiated (with the assistance of Michael Pestel) an attempted monthly series of these predominantly improv sessions. These were originally intended to be at Chatham College on the last Sunday of every month. Since most of the Volunteers Collective sets have been mainly conceived of as recording sessions with no audience, they aren't usually listed here. Entries 125, 127, & 181 are 3 of the approximately 37 VCs that I've participated in so far that are included here because they were presented to a public. The tendency of the monthly Pittsburgh VCs (there's also a monthly VC series in Baltimore) has been more & more toward using site specificity as an inspiration catalyst. As such, the April VC was at an outside earthwork on the Chatham campus by Anne Wolf (see 204) entitled "Earth Cradles", the May VC (organized by Michael Johnsen (see entries 197, 202, 204, 205, 206, & 209), Sharyn Frederick, & GRN) was near an imploding building in downtown Pittsburgh, & the June VC was of Sharyn Frederick & Mike Johnsen finishing Sharyn's floor, etc.. As the VCs have tended toward this more experiential basis, I've become more inclined to include them here even if they've had no audience. Hence entries 242, 243, & 245. This particular VC was originally intended to consist 1st of a trip to an area very close to where planes are landing at a major airport & 2nd to be followed by a session in the pool. It was raining heavily this day, & various other problems prevented the airport trip, so we just went to the pool instead. This was a somewhat poorly organized VC & there wasn't as much concentration on exploiting the uniqueness of the audio situation as I would've liked but, nonetheless, it had some funny twists in it. The main personnel were tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: miscellaneous small instruments (such as agogo, bells, whistles, etc..), 2 Indian drums, voice, &, of course, the WATER, etc..; Michael Pestel (see 204): concert flute, a specially made instrument that combines a violin with a slide-whistle which we'll call here the "Vile Air", 2 Indian drums, voice, the WATER, etc..; & Mark Tierney (see 204): tenor (? or alto?) sax, trombone, Bugle, miscellaneous small instruments, the WATER, etc..; with the intitial participation of Ailecia Ruscin (before she had to leave for class): plastic recorder, plastic toy 'clarinet', miscellaneous small instruments, the WATER, etc..; & etta cetera (before she got too water-logged) (see entries 213, 214, 215, 216, 218, 222, 223, 224, 225, 231, 234, & 240): miscellaneous small instruments, the WATER, etc.. This group was augmented by the very energetic near-end arrival of Sharyn Lee Frederick (see entries 197, 202, & 205) who perked things up by skateboarding around, flinging herself in the pool with a full body waterproof suit on, & floating a candle in a metal mixing bowl, etc.. She played a bugle, miscellaneous small instruments, & the WATER, etc.. Even later, Japanese vocalist Mika arrived & sang & played WATER; Colorado musicologist Brenda arrived & played miscellaneous small instruments; & Chatham student Hikari came & played slide whistle &, perhaps, more (?). The lavish underground swimming pool where this occurred (next to a 2 lane bowling alley where some of the action also was) is credited as the 1st in-ground swimming pool in Pittsburgh. It's located in what was formerly the wealthy Mellon family's mansion - which is now part of the Chatham campus. A possible highlight of this VC was when a Pittsburgh's Haunted Sites tour (or some such) came thru (because of the proximity of Halloween) while we were playing - much to the surprise of both the VC participants & to the touring crowd. This gave Mark, Michael Pestel, & myself an unexpected audience of between 20 & 30 - who I assume were thoroughly confused by seeing 3 'grown men' playing instruments in a pool & splashing about madly.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
250. (M)Usic - 1885 to the Present
- Seminar Room, Woodland Art Center, Chatham College, Pittsburgh, us@
- Thursday, November 20th, 1997, 7 to 10:20PM
- This was yet another variation on the mad scientist didaction previously described in entries 205, 208, & 211. I was located in the front of the room behind a podium on a table with various sound equipment on it. Record & Tape-Player/Radio #1 was connected by long wires to 2 speakers in the rear of the room. Record & Tape-Player/Radio #2 played thru 2 speakers in the middle of the room. A tape-player played thru 2 speakers near the front. My mic & a partially broken Hammond monophonic synthesizer were fed thru an effects unit & played stereo thru a bass amp & a guitar amp roughly flanking me. The synthesizer was on the floor by my feet as was a remote switch for changing the effects settings in a prearranged pattern of pitch-shifts within a 2 octave range. The room was generally dark - with the exception of a small lamp on my podium & a flashlight. As people arrived, loops of sneezing from 2 copies of my LP Usic - -1 played on the 2 turntables. These & the other loops on the records were speed-manipulated by vacillating between 33&1/3 & 45rpm. They were spatially manipulated with the balance controls. The Suitcase (see the previously named entries + 199) was put on people's laps & opened to play short synthesizer & sampler/sequencer bits.
I explained that "This presentation is not a complete history of recent "music" or "sound art".." while playing the keyboard with my feet. The droning synthesizer & my voice were panned by the effects unit. Then, the "'Lecture' Proper" began. As before, the pre-recorded lecture played - going over some 'western' (m)usic innovations & playing 1 minute examples. Sound effects gradually entered making the text more & more difficult to understand. I lip-synced the text, spoke over it in & out of sync & played various small instruments: such as whistles, trombone, thunder sheet, crow call, bulb horns, radios (adding to the spatial complexity), etc.. During the speaking section leading up to an excerpt from Johanna M. Beyer's "Music of the Spheres", I played the Hammond with my feet again. After the John Cage "Credo in Us" example, I presented my "Murraygate Busking" vaudeo followed by the "Frothing Catatonic Siamese Twins Volunteers Collective XXVII d composing Mozart Release Party" vaudeo. During this latter, I also played 3 copies of Monty Cantsin's "d composing Mozart" audio tape thru the 3 different tape players so that sound was coming from 7 different speaker sources. This was accompanied by etta cetera (see the plethora of entries relevant to her listed in the preceding entry) & I staggering into the room as frothing catatonic siamese twins (as usual). One woman surprised us both by dipping her finger into the froth on the front of etta's scrubs & tasting it! An intermission gave the attendees some relief & the 2nd half of the "'Lecture' Proper" resumed. During the Sun Ra part of this, I tilted a rain-stick near the ears of everyone in the audience - as Sun Ra had done in concerts of his that I'd attended. The end of this part of the presentation involved a demonstration of Karlheinz Essl's "Lexikon-Sonate online" on the computer. Another intermission happened & I screened my black & white 16mm film entitled "Bob Cobbing" (the conceptually vandalized lecturer one) at silent speed - simultaneous with the vaudeo of John Henry Nyenhuis & myself presenting the "Bogus Piano Concerto" at the Music Gallery in Toronto (see entry 194) - & simultaneously with my reading my "Low Classical Usic" essay while pitch-shifting my voice for every sentence & inflating a beach balloon tucked under my clothes by my belly - both of these latter using foot pedals. At the end of this part (45 minutes long), I gave written copies of the essay to the witnesses. An excerpt from the raw footage of the "Volunteers Collective at the Anonymous Family Reunion" vaudeo was presented & I passed out copies of the cassette tape from the same event as endurance rewards for those remaining. A brief question & answer period followed.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
251. Practicing Promotextuality
- Galerie Lascaux, Pittsburgh, us@
- Monday, December 8th, 1997, 7:35 to 9:15PM
- I didn't really 'name' this until after it happened. It could just as easily be called a Mad Scientist Didaction (or an Uncert, etc..) but I'm happy to use a new pun. This was my 1st use of an audio switcher that I'd built 5 years before but never fixed to my satisfaction. It's designed to take 16 mono inputs (or 8 stereo inputs, etc..) & to produce 16 outputs to speakers. It's housed in a suitcase. Each input has an on/off switch & each output has an on/off switch & a volume control. There are also 16 panning pots so that the outputs can be divided into 8 rights & 8 lefts, etc.. I aimed a slide projector at a white wall & positioned 8 speakers around the area where the attendees would sit to watch the slides. As inputs, I had 2 tape-player/radios & an audio line from a camcorder. etta cetera (see entries 213, 214, 215, 216, 218, 222, 223, 224, 225, 231, 234, 240, 247, & 248) operated the latter, while I operated the rest. I projected the same slides used in my 2 Simultaneous Lectures: "(M)Usic 1885 to the Present" & "140 Slides to a Better Me" (entry 211). I explained the slides & played the radio & 3 tapes. The tapes used were my: "Concrete Mixing Usical Material using my Tapes & Records #4" (originally assembled around '90(?) for use in my "Terrence Dougherty" instrument & involving a large variety of bird & animal sounds + S/F/X + my own material from a fairly long time span), "Don't Mess with Me / Multi-Voice/Purpose" (June '96 synthesizer/sampler/sequencer experiments - both concentrating somewhat on playing primarily with 'live programming'), & "Speech Defect Synthesis Kit" (an anthology of various sampler (primarily) speech synthesis experiments of mine from '94 to '97). While I explained, I would turn the speakers on & off so that the sounds played would move around the space in various ways: in a circle, from front to back, erratically, etc.. etta moved thru the assembled people pointing the camera at them & gregariously speaking only in speech crutches (& the occasional oblique joke). The idea of the line from the camera was that the sound she was to generate & pick up was supposed to be rerouted thru the speakers. This didn't seem to work. The last tape that I played was a speech crutches sequence that etta & I collaborated on - with samples of etta speaking. Since the crutches etta was using included some common to my speech, we functioned as echoes of each other in which the somewhat 'non-semantic' aspects of the language used became emphasized as a deliberate distraction from the more 'informative linearity'. The playing of the speech crutches tape was intended to shift the apparent 'obnoxiousness' of etta's behaviour to a 'climactic' obvious formalness. Whether anyone followed any of this is a different story.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
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