Mere Outline 2023

- Gerry Fialka's home, Venice Beach, CA, us@ & Who Unit?, Pittsburgh, PA, us@ - streamed via StreamYard

- March 8, 2023

- At 1st, it didn't even occur to me to make an entry for this in "Mere Outline". I was just thinking of it as an interview rather than anything more 'performative'. Still, it was streamed in front of a hypothetical (v)audience & not only did I involve a strong visual presence through clothing & my cloud hat, I also projected 2 Wallpaper Movies of minefrom the side ("Simplicity Itself" & "Clouds") as special lighting.

SO, with these & other factors in mind, I decided that "InnerView#218" belongs here after all.

One of the few slightly 'performative' things that I did during the interview was bring out a Peruvian whisting vessel & play it very briefly. I think I might've intended to do a few more things like this but basically got too involved with the conversation to make time for such things.

"InnerViews#218": Gerry Fialka & I 1st started communicating with each other in the fall of 1991 when I was organizing the 1st multi-day PXL-2000 festival in BalTimOre. I think credit for the 1st all-PXL screening to be organized probably should go to Brian Goldberg of Drift Distribution. Brian wrote an article for "Mondo 2000" magazine that promoted my festival,

Gerry read it, & inspired by it started the PXL THIS festival that's now in its 33rd year. In the beginning of 2010, Gerry interviewed me over the phone & we uploaded that to the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/GerryFialkaInterviewingTentativelyAConvenience-22510 . Almost exactly 13 years later, Gerry interviewed me again using Streamyard for Rob Graham's "I'm probably wrong about everything" podcast, live-streaming on YouTube. The original version of that is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK28WKyGvNY . Those live streams are great but I prefer more visual variety & having things referred to shown. SO, I show the interview in various ways & then edited my footage to make it more visually lively - including by adding in footage & scans from things referred to. Hence, the stills used here are from that augmented movie. With all due respect for the original program, I strongly suggest checking out this version instead because it's far more informative. Thanks again to Gerry Fialka for both interviewing me for this & for keeping at it for so long otherwise.

- March 12, 2023E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE (added to on October 26, 2023)

714. "InnerViews#218 (augmented)"

- tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE interviewed by Gerry Fialka w/ additional visual materials added by t,ac

- 2704 X 1520, 59.94 fps, Stereo

- 1:50:10

- edit finished March 12, 2023E.V.

- https://youtu.be/FAns0q9py1w

- https://archive.org/details/inner-views-218-augmented

449. "Consciousness Expansion Score Movie"

- Lindsay Theater & Cultural Center, Sewickley, PA, us@

- Sunday, April 16, 2023E.V., 1:00PM

- This was the 3rd, &, probably, final, presentation of this piece - not because it's not worth being presented again, not because there aren't potential other venues to present it in , but because it feels like time for me to move on. As has already been explained in the entry for its 1st presentation on Saturday, August 13, 2022E.V @ Art Rat Studios in Roanoke, VA, us@:

"From October, 2020, to October, 2021, I built an addtion on my house the primary purpose of which was to double the size of my (M)Usic Rm. I documented this process with 6 detailed documentaries:

"Consciousness Expansion - Phase 01"

"Consciousness Expansion - Phase 02"

"Consciousness Expansion - Phase 03"

"Consciousness Expansion - Phase 4: The Winter of 2021"

"Consciousness Expansion - Phase 05"

"Consciousness Expansion - Phase 06"

2 audio sessions were recorded in the new expanded space & these were also documented:

"In Progress"

"Consciousness Expansion Kenny & tENT"

All of these documentaries were then reduced to one single one:

"Consciousness Expansion"

THIS was then reduced further & turned into a Score Movie, a movie meant to generate its soundtrack:

"Consciousness Expansion Score Movie"

A rehearsal was held using this Score Movie & that, too, was documented:

"Consciousness Expansion Score Movie Rehearsal 1"

I then revised the Score Movie, eliminating most of the introduction:

"Consciousness Expansion Score Movie (revised)"

A larger group then rehearsed with that & that, too, was documented:

"Consciousness Expansion Score Movie Rehearsal 2"

A version of the revised Score Movie was then made using the soundtrack from the 2nd rehearsal. This could stand for the finished product:

"Consciousness Expansion Score Movie (revised) (w/ soundtrack)""

The 2nd public presentation of "Consciousness Expansion Score Movie" was at the Harris Theater in Pittsburgh on Sunday, Ocober 2, 2022. The personnel for the Lindsay gig was the same as that for the Harris:

tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: electronics, percussion

Eric Lipsky: cello, percussion

Devin Sherman: guitar, percussion

& Ben Opie: alto sax, percussion

I'm extremely fortunate that these excellent players have been willing to dedicate their time to such an unusual & challenging project. In the process of editing 2 versions of the document from this gig I became even more aware than usual of how sensitively Ben Opie followed the score. Due to the usual tech problems with the recording, I can hear Ben better than Devin & Eric so I'm in a better position to note his exceptional playing. It's probable that if I could hear Eric & Devin better in the playback I'd be similarly impressed. Of the 3 public realizations of this piece, I might've been most satisfied with this one (although I was probably most exhilirated by the premier in Roanoke).

The Lindsay Theater space was one of the newest spaces I've ever presented work in & was refreshing for that reason. The theater had a 170 person seating capacity. Alas, only something like 13 people were in the audience. I, admittedly, was hoping for better. Admittedly, Sewickley's more than a bit off the beaten track for the mostly East End Pittsburgh people who might ordinarly constitute 'my audience' but I don't really think that's why the space was so empty.

That said, I still enjoyed the facilities of the space - such as the computer screen in the lobby advertising the event:

Access to the theater was made possible by:

Ross Nugent, Director of Education & Special Programming - to whom I'm deeply grateful. I was allowed ample time to set up before we began, a luxury not always available.

All in all, I found the performance magnificent!

& I'm always glad to be able to squeeze in a little after-show Q&A.

717. a. "Consciousness Expansion @ the Lindsay Theater"

- My document of the realization by Eric Lipsky (cello, percussion); Devin Sherman (guitar, percussion); Ben Opie (alto sax, percussion); tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE (electronics, prcussion) at the Lindsay Theater & Cultural Center on Sunday, April 16th, 2023, 1PM

- This 1st version (not labelled as such in the movie itself) there're computer rendering errors that I (tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE) didn't ntoice until after it was uploaded - because of this I decided to make "(version 2)". I left 'version 1' on the Internet Archive & replaced it with "(version 2)" on YouTube

- 1920 X 1440, 30fps, stereo

- 1:49:02

- version 1 on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/consciousness-expansion-the-lindsay-theater

b. "Consciousness Expansion @ the Lindsay Theater (version 2)"

- 1920 X 1440, 30fps, stereo

- 1:49:02

- version 2 on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/EVHniXMv0MY

- April 26, 2023E.V. recollection from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE

450. "Be Blank Consort"

- AfterMAF, Art Rat Studios, Roanoke, VA, us@

- iniated & led by John M. Bennett

- Saturday, June 24th, 2023E.V.

- Poems by John M. Bennett & Jim Leftwich performed by an impromptu group of readers that consisted of Warren Fry, C. Mehrl Bennett, William Repass, Reid Wood, Olchar Lindsann, Cilla Vee, Paul K (Colapsing), tENTATIVELYa cONVENIENCE. The main reading styles were 1. as a canon, 2. simultanously. The Leftwich poem was read slowly at 1st & then at 4 times that speed. Speeding it up turned it into somewhat of a tongue-twister.

- The relevant excerpt from my documentary about the festival entitled "Caress of the Periphery of the After-Margin" sarts here: https://youtu.be/H_L3xPNLqm8?t=5516

- July 12, 2023E.V. recollection from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE

451 "Deluxe Hat Band"

- AfterMAF, Art Rat Studios, Roanoke, VA, us@

- conceived of by Owen Smith; iniated & led by C. Merhl Bennett

- Saturday, June 24th, 2023E.V.

- Catherine Bennett read a text by Owen Smith while a quarter of plastic bowler hatted men lifte our hats depending upon the length of the word said. Reid Wood was the Bass hat-tipper, I was the tenor one, a person whose name I never learned (was it Owen Smith?) was alto, & Olchar Lindsann was soprano.

- Ralph Eaton's front & center video of this is here: https://youtu.be/3VvlB1jw56E?t=359

- The relevant excerpt from my documentary about the festival entitled "Caress of the Periphery of the After-Margin" sarts here: https://youtu.be/H_L3xPNLqm8?t=9878

- July 12, 2023E.V. recollection from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE

452. "Pinball (sortof)"

- AfterMAF, Art Rat Studios, Roanoke, VA, us@

- initiated & led by tENTATIVVELY, a cONVENIENCE

- Saturday, June 24th, 2023E.V.

- I've come to think of this as possibly my 1st dance piece.

This festival was organized using a Google Doc that potential participants could add themselves to - specifying a date & time & requesting housing & amplificatin assistance. I took advantage of the Google Doc to propose a group collaboration with the following:

"Since there're going to be so many interesting people collected together for this I propose that we do something together as a group. Thinking about it, I personally don't want to do a typical free-form improvisation b/c I've been free-improvising since 1972 & prefer something fresher, so I was laying in bed in the middle of the night trying to think of something simple we cd do that wd give everybody rm for doing their own thing but still impose a restriction that might make the overall result more interesting. Here's what I came up w/:

"Pinball (sortof)

"As many of the After-MAF participants who want to participate (preferably at least 50%) stand in staggered lines facing the audience. Hence, if there're 20 participants, there wd be 7 people in the front line, 6 in the middle line, & 7 in the back line. Participants wd be separated by roughly 3 ft or whatever distance is practicable. Participants wd be dressed in their ordinary clothing OR costumes OR naked. Any combination of those possibilities is fine. Participants wd also wear something to occlude their sight: a mask (I can bring many) either provided or of their own, blindfolds (I can bring many), or simply shutting their eyes. While simply standing participants wd have their arms at their sides & be standing upright w/ their legs together.

"At the sound of a whistle, everyone starts to perform - either thru motion, playing an instrument, or speaking or whatever. It's recommended that motions be cautious & gentle in order to avoid hurting one's self or other participants in the chaos of limited sight. As soon as a participant touches another participant they stop & resume the standing non-performing position. As soon as they're touched by someone else, the participant resumes performing. The piece ends at the 2nd sounding of the whistle. I'm imagining it taking 10 to 15 minutes."

Reid Wood, who I'd known through Mail Art for decades, & John M. Bennett, who I'd know similarly long, & C. Mehrl Bennett who I'd known of but not corresponded with until more recently, & Cilla Vee, who was new to me, & Warren Fry + Tomislav Butkovic + Olchar Lindsann (from Roanoke) all volunteered. (So did Collapsing but I didn't get to know who he was in time) I had bought 2 bustles & attached 4 styrofoam heads to them & put ltex masks on the heads. I wore a raincoat overtop of that & a Freddy Kruger mask over my head. Tomislav & Warren both wore blindfolds that I provided. John wore an old man mask I'd brought. Olchar & CillaVee wore masks from Olchar's collection that Olchar might've made. Reid wore all black, including a black mask over his eyes. Catherine wore a costume of her own devising made out of things like a plastic dry-cleaner's bag. John & I could see, in a highly limited way, out of our mask eteholes. Everyone else was basically sightless.

When in action, Tomislav read from William S. Burroughs's "The Soft Machine" by looking down through the crack between the bottom of his blindfold & hi face. Olchar prformed sound poetry & swing hi arms. Reid proceeded very cautiously, as did the Bennetts. CillaVee danced. Warren went through various histrionics. I danced & swing my bustles so that the masks would be clearer to the audience. I had a timer running so that I could keep track of our duration - which was intended to be no more than 10 minutes. As it was, I blew the stopping whistle around 8:35. Form what I could see through my mask eye-slits the uudience were all smiling & laughing. After it was over, everyone seemed surprisingly happy. Apparently the randomness of the suspense for the audience of watching us come close to touching but then not necessarily doing so was thrilling. .

- Ralph Eaton's front & center footage is here: https://youtu.be/iB0ZpVtm9zM

- The relevant excerpt from my documentary about the festival entitled "Caress of the Periphery of the After-Margin" sarts here: https://youtu.be/H_L3xPNLqm8?t=10060 . Some of my Pittsburgh prepatory footage is included before the main event.

- July 12, 2023E.V. recollection from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE

453. "Pan-modernist Bouzingo Revival Meeting"

- AfterMAF, Art Rat Studios, Roanoke, VA, us@

- iconceived of & scripted by Mark Bloch; somwhat prompted into existence by tENTATIVVELY, a cONVENIENCE

- Saturday, June 24th, 2023E.V.

- Mark Bloch, another long-term Mail Artists of my acquaintance who I've known since the 1980s informed the festival folks that he couldn't be there but asked for tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE; Olchar Lindsann; John Bennett; Reid Wood; Warren Fry; & Cathy Bennett toprform a script of his. A boxful of relevant materials was delivered to Olchar on the 1st day of the festival, June 23rd. Since I had agreed to be a coprformer, I got a vopy of the script s soon as I could from Olchar & talked with the other performers, all of them the people that Mark had specified. Aside from scripts, Mark's box included literature to be distributed as a part of the prformance. I read the script in spare moments when I wasn't busy during the day & then read it thoroughly that night. The next day I learned that the other performers hadn't had time to look at it yet. During the few moments when we could dicuss our plan, John suggested that I steer the prformance & I just went along with what anyone suggested.

I was to represent the author as ages 0-2, Olchar at ages 2-5, John at 5-10, Reid from 10-12, Warren from 12-16, & Cathy from 16-18. 3 paragraphs were read collectively before the 1st distribution of literature by Olchar. The intent was to have me (tENT) read the 1 & 2 letter words, Olchar to read the 3-5 letter words, etc. John's eyesight's being impaired combined with the conufsion of last-minute planning led to a rather stultified reading. Nontheless, we pulled it off.

Then each of us had specific paragraphs to read based on our 'ages'. I read:

"From afes 0 to 2I was The Bouzingo. I hosted parties where clothes were banned and wine was consumed from human skulls"

All in all, it was quite chaotic but the humor & imagination of Bloch's script was communicated successfully.

- Ralph Eaton's front & center footage is here: https://youtu.be/Ys83PxSzidw

- The relevant excerpt from my documentary about the festival entitled "Caress of the Periphery of the After-Margin" sarts here: https://youtu.be/H_L3xPNLqm8?t=11484 . Some of my Pittsburgh prepatory footage is included before the main event.

- July 12, 2023E.V. recollection from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE

454. "Not So Still Life #1"

- AfterMAF, Art Rat Studios, Roanoke, VA, us@

- isolo presentation by tENTATIVVELY, a cONVENIENCE

- Saturday, June 24th, 2023E.V.

- I introduced this as "40 years of my life in 30 minutes".

To quote from the notes that accompany my movie of this as uploaded to YouTube & the Internet Archive:

""Not So Still Life #1" @ AfterMAF": Starting in 1987, I've made multiple movies intended to be fast-motion encapsulations of my life & work, generally intended to be used in performance. The 1st was a super-8mm film & was called "15 Hours of Video at 23 Times Its Original Speed", the 2nd was in video & was called "My Life Flashing Before You" (1989). Both were technically unsatisfactory. In June, 2022, I decided to try again under better conditions so I started a series called "Not So Still Life". The 1st of these consists of stills from movies of mine, each still presented at 1/5th of a second. The presentation of these movies, they range from 10 to 150 minutes long, is malleable.

"For the 1st presentation of one of the series I decided to premier it at the wonderful AfterMAF in Roanoke at Art Rat Studios on June 24, 2023. I added a soundtrack called "Photo Albums for Duchamp", originally an over-the-phone performance for the 100th anniversary of Marcel Duchamp's birthday called in to the SCP (Society for the Conservation of the Present) at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I added the use of an electronic tanpura/tablas that drove, by pitch-to-MIDI, a Korg Volca FM (also manipulated manually). A Landscape HC-TT (Hand-Controlled Tape-Transport) was additionally used to manipulate the original tape recording of the phone call. The projection was at an angle from the side to make the image skewed. Given that this was my 5th performance of the day & that it was slightly technically challenging because I was trying some new, to me, techniques, all went sufficiently well & I was quite happy with the result. My document of the full festival is here: https://youtu.be/H_L3xPNLqm8 (YouTube) & here: https://archive.org/details/caress-of-the-periphery.. (Internet Archive)"

- Ralph Eaton's front & center footage is here: https://youtu.be/lBouMiKvf6A

- My multi-camera edit is on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/not-so-still-life-1-after-maf

- July 12, 2023E.V. recollection from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE

455. "2023.06.30_16mm"

- a screening of some of my 16mm films made from 1980 to 1994

- Pittsburgh Sound + Image Essential Pittsburgh, Eberle Studios, Homestead, PA, us@

- Friday, June 30, 2023E.V.

- The event was free. The seating, being for about 40 people, was, perhaps, 2/3rds full. The attendees were givne a hand-out with releavnt pictures & a list of the films to be screened. The 1st film was a double projection of "Subtitles (16mm version)" onthe left & a video of a brain reseracher discussed fMRI data gotten by showing 2 volunteers a copy of "Subtitles" while they were being scanned. That was the 1st time that this had been presented correctly. The 2nd film, "Sound Along w/ t he Bounding Ball(s)" asked for audience participation in making the soundtrack. The audience was very spirited in its response. The 3rd film, "Bob Cobbing", was projected on a white spandex screen that I'd made for it. From behind, i grabbed the spandex & manipulated it. I also used 2 'party-lights' to complicate matters. Perhaps a highlight, for me, was when I used a strobe flash-light & 1. danced a Hula Dance in silhouette &, 2, did a partial strip-tease. This was another 1st. I spoke between & after each film, telling relevant stories meant to entertain & educate. Given that this may well be the last 16mm screening I ever give, I'd say that the audience got quite alot for their money.

To quote from the notes I wrote for the movie of this screening:

""2023.06.30_16mm" - 1920X1440, 30fps - 1:53:23

https://youtu.be/nJKZt1FKtCg

https://archive.org/details/2023.06.30-16mm

"2023.06.30_16mm": It seems like it's been at least 4 years that Steven Haines tried to arrange a screening of some of my 16mm films before we finally succeeded in pulling it all together. I've been making movies since 1975, starting with super-8mm. I added 1/2" reel-to-reel video to the mix in 1977. In 1980 I started making 16mm films but I didn't have my own camera until 1989. In 1995 that camera, a spring-wound Bolex, broke; 16mm was prohibitively expensive anyway at that point so I stopped making 16mm. Nonetheless, I made about 5 hours of 16mm during that time. Perhaps Steven & I will present more of my 16mm films in later programs. Once it became so easy to make acceptable quality digital movies that were easily transportable, 16mm became less practicable in contrast. For this 1st, &, possibly, last, of my 16mm programs in many a year, I screened several loops & then got into the main program:

"Double projection "Subtitles (16mm)" left, "What happens in the brain.." (vaudeo) right

""Sound Along w/ t he Bounding Ball(s)", audience participation

""Bob Cobbing", (16mm) left (spandex screen) - with rear projection manipulation & additional lighting

""National Cancer Institute Documentary"

""Ward of Mouth"

""Barfroom"

""Funny Farm Summit Meeting"

"This movie documents that screening. As with most or all of my documentaries, I'm not trying to reproduce a front-&-center experience because I think such approaches give a false sense of what an event is like. When an audience is at an event they're free to move around, to talk to people around them, etc - their heads aren't in vices with blinders on. They are exisiting in a non-flattened space. This document gives a variety of views, it's not just a frontal experience. As such, I hope it conveys more of what it's like to be a LIVE audience, having a LIVE experience. While the movie itself is unrealistic as far as what the audience could've perceived in the original situation, it's intended to inject a bit more LIFE into the flattened viewing experience."

456. "Radio 2023.09.21"

- an interview with tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE conducted by Zoopainterr & Arcanapainterr of Zang Tumb Tumb Radio Hour, 88.7FM,Harrisonburg, VA

- Harrisonburg, VA & Pittsburgh, PA, us@

- Thursday, September 21, 2023E.V.

- "Radio 2023.09.21": On Saturday, June 24, 2023, I gave 5 performances as part of After-MAF (Marginal Arts Festival) in Roanoke, VA, at Art Rat Studios, the workshop & not-for-profit venue of Ralph Eaton & Brian Counihan. There were many performances & other activities in this festival over a 3 day period from the 23rd to the 25th. One of these was by a group called "doomsdayx3", a very inspired & enthusiastic group (a partial documentation of their set can be witnessed as part of my "Caress of the Periphery of the After-Margin" starting here: https://youtu.be/H_L3xPNLqm8?si=nnOnJqwzumKgbdGC&t=2787 - it gets interrupted by various interviews but continues after them; Ralph Eaton's uninterrupted footage (but missing the outside ending) is online here: https://youtu.be/WIayOiTAZ7U?si=bldxeWsxidpnzhCE ). Their performance was colorful, bombastic, varied, & what I like to call "MELOCOMEDIC". At least 3 members of doomsdayx3, Archer, Grayson, & Ella, witnessed the last of my 5 performances: "Not So Still Life #1". We were all enthusiastic about each other's PSYCHOLOGICAL PLAYFAIR but the times were too hectic for us to get to know each other.

Thankfully, Archer contacted me a few months later & proposed that I be interviewed for his & Grayson's "Zang Tumb Tumb radio hour" (the "Zang Tumb Tumb" part of the name is taken from a sound poem by Italian Futurist Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti). Given that I'm an interview slut AND that I was happy to be able to get to know these folks better I gladly consented to the earliest available date: Thursday, September 21, 2023. Zang Tumb Tumb is on 88.7FM, WXJM in Harrisonburg, Virginia, us@.

Above are the 2 radio hosts.

Arcanepainterr & Zoopainterr used a friend's iJones (cellphone) to record the activity at their end & then sent me that footage to edit into the augmented version of the program that I made & put online:

727. "Radio 2023.09.21"

- made in collaboration with Zoopainterr & Arcanepainterr of Zang Tumb Tumb Radio Hour, 88.7FM,Harrisonburg, VA

- recorded Thursday, September 21, 2033; edit finished September 25, 2023

- 1920 X 1440, 25fps, Stereo

- 1:25:12

- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/LAQmFCnSzqc

- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/728.-radio-2023.09.21-final

At 1st, as with the "InnerView#218" described at the top of this page, I didn't intend to list this in "Mere Outline" because I didn't think it was 'prformative' enough but then I decided it was. After all, I exploited the inability of the hosts to see me to play with my invisibility a little. I had just received a replica of a medieval suit of armor from India in the mail that day so I decided to use the easir-to-don parts of it as props.

When I put the helmet on & lowered the visor I asked the hosts to speculate on why my voice sounded different. They made some good guesses but the humor of the situation lay in the unlikelihood of their guessing what was actually happening at my end.

Then I clashed the gauntlets against each other & asked for more speculation. Adain, guessing accurately was close to impossible but the hosts made good guesses anyway.

At one point, one of the hosts gave an explanation of the discomfort they were feeling by showing the c=documenting camera a text message about lack of ventilation. For my edit I added what struck me as an appropriate image that Arcger had sent me by email.

Since many people often find some or many of my opinions & stories & sense of humor repulsively heretical it's to their credit that they listened to me & responded with open minds & wits. The call-in questions from Ella, Emma, & others were in a similarly friendly spirit. Thank the Holy Ceiling Light for such people!! I've augmented the straight-forward interview with additional relevant materials to make the overall product both more informative &, hopefully, more entertaining. I hope there are at least a few Laugh Out Loud moments for you. - September 26, 2023 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE

727. "Radio 2023.09.21"

- made in collaboration with Zoopainterr & Arcanepainterr of Zang Tumb Tumb Radio Hour, 88.7FM,Harrisonburg, VA

- recorded Thursday, September 21, 2033; edit finished September 25, 2023

- 1920 X 1440, 25fps, Stereo

- 1:25:12

- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/LAQmFCnSzqc

- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/728.-radio-2023.09.21-final

457. "School of Negativity @ Bottom Feeder Books"

- the opening of the 1st exhibit of School of Negativity works by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENINECE at Ryan McLennan's Bottom Feeder Books & Gallery

- Pittsburgh, PA, us@

- Saturday, October 7, 2023E.V.

- "School of Negativity @ Bottom Feeder Books": The School of Negativity was founded by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE in July, 2020, to provide amusement for himself & his friend Breen Casey. They went to Lake E(e)rie provided with painterly tools & made (a) painting(s) of a blue lake & a blue sky with complimentary colors on black canvases. Since then, tENT has expanded on the idea a bit, thinking about different kinds of negatives. The basic idea is to think of Negativity in the sense of a film negative. Anything can be a negative, any negative can be a latent positive. Or not.

tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE was born a llloooonnnggg time ago. During that long time, he's tried to live in accordance with his imagination in a Criminally Sane way. That's meant being a Psychopathfinder, a Jack-Off-Of-All-Trades, a Homonymphonemiac, a SPLEENIUS, an Imp Activist, a Practicing Promotextual, & many other neologisms. He's also the most prolific moviemaker in the entire history of moviemaking, currently weighing in with 729 movies, 229 of which are features. That's nothing to sneeze at.

The above post-card had been sent out to as much as 100 people to advertise the exhibit

Wanting to make the opening an experience beyond the usual see & be seen of most openings, the whole thing was calculated to be a bit 'off'. After seeing the diagonally hung sign in the window the next thing an attendee was likely to see was the shadow painting of an easel.

This was followed by a small TV with 2 sets of headphones presenting a movie of the making of this shadow painting & its predecessor.

728. "School of Negativity painting #6"

- 2 realizations: 1. An Undisclosed Location: May 11, 2023; 2. Bottom Feeder: October 2, 2023 - Thanks to Ryan McLenna of Bottom Feeder

- 1920 X 1440, 29.97fps, Stereo

- 43:21

- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/7VhOEK10rtM

- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/school-of-negativity-painting-6

It's also possible that an astute observor might've noticed a rubber stamp over the plates covering not-in-use outlets. More about that stamp later. Moving up the half-flight of steps past the 20 foot long ambiguous nonsense paitning on the floor into the bookstore proper one was likely to meet Ryan, the proprietor.

Heading to the door leading to the hallway to the gallery one might note the sign over the door.

In a transparent container on the wall to the left in the hallway were hand-outs that Ryan had printed out of text & an image that I've provided for a press release. Thanks to subsyantial effort by Ryan & myself, many people had been notified of the exhibit, including everyone in the local mass media that we were aware of. Not one of them wrote about it, not one of them attended the opening. It's my opinion that I'm blackballed by the liberal media & ignored, as usual, by the conservative media.

Upon entering the room, visitors were likely to be surprised to see me in full armor with a party light flickering from the eye slits & the cracks at the side of the visor. I directed the attendees to a small knight with a child's heat-transfer printer as its face that would've been spitting out a small piece of paper with the following image on it. Ryan was controlling this from his phone.

The new arrival was directed to tear off this "ticket" & to take it to a corner of the merchandise table where they were to rubber-stamp its backside with the same stamp that'd been used on the outlet covers.

From there, if they took the leftward path from the doorway hey would've seen Schoolof Negativity painting #1 & the movie documenting its making.

627. "School of Negativity"

- 1080P

- 6:29

- shot at Lake Erie & edited July, 2020

- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/XZcHF6FWKf0

- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/school-of-negativity

Form thre, the next movie to see was:

628. "Like a Decoy out of Water"

- using 43 instruments played by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE + 4 voice-overs from Dick Turner, Inquiring Librarian, & Phil Bradley

- 1080P

- 29:32

- shot September 4-6 at Rehoboth Beach & Cape Henlopen, DE

- edit finished around September 27, 2020

- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/fYm6BkYlyIM

- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/like-a-decoy-out-of-water

At least one photographer was moved to take one or more pictures of text off the screen for that. Inthe meantime, I had put a remote-controlled vibrator on a floor-tom head & covered & contained that with a down-side-up collander & then put the whole thing under the merch table where the bottom of the colander touched the bottom of the table. A few times only, I remotedly turned on the vibrator so that it produced a somewhat loud buzzing. I kept the remote controller in a fanny pack I was wearing over my armor. When drum was activated, the attendees were generally startled & looked around for the source, not immediately visible.

Moving on would've been School of Negativity painting #2: Impossible Traces". The painting was a photograph of me next to theImpossible Traces mural printed on canvas. I put one dab of acrylic yellow paint on the tip of the pictured paint-brush to make the image an actual painting for thosw who might object that it wasn't one otherwise.

photo: Calder Dudgeon

651. "School of Negativity Painting 02: Impossible Traces"

- a documentary of tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE painting a mural in a room he's just built

- 1080p 29.97 stereo

- 20:32

- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/4wq0uhmW5Zg

- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/impossible-traces

Moving on to painting #3:

685. "School of Negativity: The Brains That Wouldn't Dry"

- shot in Little Buffalo State Park, PA, on April 29-April 30, 2022; shot in Ringing Rocks County Park, PA, & New Hope, PA, & Frenchtown, NJ, & at various canal points from May 1-5, 2022

- primitive animations made using DrawChat

- 1920 X 1440, 30fps, Stereo

- 12:15

- edit finished May 7, 2022

- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/1UmZLXx0mxQ

- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/the-brains-that-wouldnt-dry

In the meantime, of course, tENT got into conversations, sometimes aroud the merch table (where not a single thing sold) - as shown here where the knight talks with his old friend Mikey Seamans.

photo: Breen Lisi

718. "The Making Of "The Making Of "The Making Of"""

- shot primarily at Cabin 1, Raccoon Creek State Park by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE on April 28-30, 2023

- 1920 X 1440, 30fps Stereo

- 1:51:10

- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/OCFFkN7COr4

- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/the-making-of_202305

For this exhibition, tENT is deeply indebted to Ryan McLennan, the proprietor of Bottom Feeder Books, for his knowledge, his friendliness, his open-mindedness, his helpfullness, & for the all-around greatness of his bookstore. tENT is further indebted to Julie Gonzalez who took time out of her maddeningly busy schedule to help tENT get into the armor & to shoot footage of him moving around & playing percussion instruments wearing the armor (no mean feat). Then there's Breen Casey/Lisi who was there at Lake E(e)rie at the beginning & who took time out from HER maddening schedule to help me get in & out of the armor at the opening.

2 of the largest & most recent paintings were #s 7 & 8, each 20 feet long & hanging near the ceiling. For a much more complete documentation of the experience from conception to opening:

729. "School of Negativity @ Bottom Feeder Books"

- a movie about tENTATIVELY, a cONVENINECE's 1st painting exhibit in 40 years (at Bottom Feeder Books, proprietor: Ryan McLennan) broken into 5 parts:

one: the work

two: preparing

three: the proprietor

four: installing

five: the exhibit

- 2:00:16

- 1920X1440, 30fps, Stereo

- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/Eeom6mQxBL4

- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/son-bfb