Icewhistle Aggregate

INTERIORS and EXTERIORS

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 08:37:06 GMT

Joy Williams, The Changeling, p.24

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 21:58:49 GMT

“People received energy and solace from wanting things and then getting them. Pearl wanted energy and solace. She felt that if she could only get interested in and knowledgable about a kinky subject, for example hockey or sharks, she would be a more contented person. She could not just be fucking all the time. Soon something more would have to happen.”

—Joy Williams, The Changeling, p.24

Daevid Allen's University of Errors, Need New Body, Dead Meadow, Dean Swagger

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 12:22:50 GMT

I organised this show for Daevid Allen of Gong and Soft Machine, who was touring in a new project that was pretty lively –– much in the spirit of chaotic psychedelic that made the best Gong records so great, and doing a few of his old hits, but also improvisatory, spacey, and built around Allen's personality.

The high (for the time) ticket price was no doubt needed to cover the guarantee for Allen, and I also remember that I had to confirm that the could stay at my house, but he would need a bed (so I gave him mine). It was the bassist of University of Errors, Michael Clare, who really booked and managed the tour and I found him to be a really friendly guy who I stayed in touch with; the drummer I also remember was really young by comparison, based in NYC, and by coincidence had then just eaten at a sandwich shop in Manhattan that my cousin had opened. Allen himself was as expected –– a strong and goofy personality, but actually easygoing and not at all intimidating despite the fact he was a legend of prog/psych who after forty years was still playing to small audiences and crashing at the house of a 20 year old. But I don't remember any stress, just a good time; maybe that's my memory being selective.

This is also notable for the opening acts, all of whom went on to bigger and better things. Dean Swagger was a local band that consisted of three friends, two of whom also played as another band without the bassist that became more successful (The Modey Lemon, themselves later expanded to a three-piece with a different friend). This was probably near the end of the Dean Swagger era. This was garagey, brash rock built around catchy hooks and personality; the type of new-garage that would thrive in my consciousness more about a decade later when I was more fully embracing rock sounds.

Dead Meadow were a very heavy psych rock band, relatively unknown at this time, but later I think amassing quite a following. And then Need New Body were at their peak I'd say; I originally called them up on a friend's recommendation to get Bent Leg Fatima out to play, as I thought they would fit well, but was told by Dale that BLF had broken up, but Need New Body now existed. So they came across the state to play, and blew my mind –– this was when they had the saxophonist and played insane rhythmic Kraut-influenced post-punk with free jazz solos, the occasional perfect pop song, and a real spirit of dark, goofy chaos. I immediately begged to release a record for them, and did, which turned into a complicated relationship involving a disasterous tour, some bad vibes later resolved, and ultimately me getting married via Dale's connections, though only many years later.

University of Errors definitely played 'Fohat Digs Holes in Space', working into it coming out of some improvisation, and a song about Allen's penis where he did in fact whip it out. I think Allen was only doing vocals throughout the set. Turnout was OK; if I lost any money it wasn't much, and Manny was a pleasure to work with at MIT as this was the type of show he really wanted to have there, and I now (with many years of hindsight) agree.

Atom and his Package, Human Investment, 53rd State, Redrum

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 17:05:17 GMT

My flatmate in 1998-99, Dan, set up a lot of shows and I helped sometimes. This was another where he did all of the organising and I just helped at the door or somewhere else (the primarily heavy/hardcore lineup indicates it wasn't something I would have booked on my own). It's at a very forgotten bar called Pluto's that I guess were into doing all ages shows,which was rare, and was on the second floor.

Atom and his Package became more well known soon after this, but as a teenage years friend of Dan, he was I think just an odd novelty –– a former hardcore guy writing silly pop songs over a synth backing and singing them, often about his friends. It was great fun, and a good challenge to what at the time seemed like a real orthodoxy of guitar rock. Talk about ahead of his time –– I think the humorous, nerd + punk subculture, synth combination would be a real winner today, but to his credit Atom did this for a few years and then moved on and didn't milk it past relevance.

Human Investment was one of Dan's bands at the time along with Pressgang, and this was clearly their last show. Redrum was a metal band from some hardcore scene guys, at least two of whom also played in Crucial Unit (who were just getting started around then). 53rd State I've written about elsewhere, but they were just starting up around then and played a lot and I really enjoyed them every time (and later co-financed their CD release).

A good crowd came and I wonder how Pluto's made any money besides maybe paying something to rent the venue. I just remember this being loud, and enjoying the social vibe more than the musical one, and wanting to go home but having to wait ages for the bands to load up since Atom was surely staying with us.

Oddly enough, this was the first of two times I co-organised a show for Atom & his Package with 53rd State also on the bill.

Dan made the flyer; most of the flyers he did were funny and weird, usually sticking to the conventions of listing bands as "ex-so and so", but then playing around with it a bit.

Dub Narcotic Sound System, D+, The Johnsons, The Blazing Bulkheads

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 16:40:12 GMT

I made this flyer, for my band was playing, though Manny booked the show. That's you you get my terrible 1997 design style of all-lowercase mixing of serif/sans-serif fonts with Manny's phone number.

I'm a bit shocked that this was a full 11 months after we played with <a href="https://johnw.fail/crumbles/renderers-pineal-ventana-blazing-bulkheads-meisha">The Renderers</a>; I guess the Blazing Bulkheads were together longer than I remembered. By this point our original bass player was out and we had John Roman from The 1985 playing bass with us, which felt like a big deal to me as less than a year prior I saw <a href="https://johnw.fail/crumbles/melt-banana-monorchid-shale-arab-on-radar-the-1985">The 1985</a> for the first time and lost my mind, and now he was moonlighting in my band.

This very probably was our last show? We were also asked to open up for a British band around the same time, but had to cancel so Weird Paul could get his wisdom teeth removed, and I didn't even go to the show, which meant I didn't see the Shadow Ring in 1997, which is a regret I'll take to my grave. I also think that Harry Pussy was on tha bill, or maybe that was another show we didn't play around the same time, and thus I also missed seeing them at their peak.

Regrets aside, I definitely remember we were doing my 'Monopoly God' song, a heavy, dirgy riff-based song about a board game which sounded like Karp, where I sang. And also Paul's masterpiece 'I Dropped My Almond Joy Bar' was surely played at this time, which I thought was his peak of songwriting in the Bulkheads.

I was never into Dub Narcotic or Beat Happening (I've since come around to enjoy, or at least appreciate some Beat Happening) so I don't think I paid much attention to them, and D+ I also don't remember. Not a lot of people turned up to see this, but at that time I don't think the K label/indie-pop sound had a big following in Pittsburgh.

Chisel, The 1985, Spitoon, Daytime TV

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 16:32:56 GMT

This is a pretty formative concert experience of my teenage years, so I'm thrilled to have the poster still.

I got into Chisel, and I mean way into Chisel, like 'favourite band'-level into them, just before this show was announced. They had played in Pittsburgh a few months prior, as the opening act for I think Superchunk, at a concert I did not attend, but my friend did. He returned to proclaim that he had seen this amazing opening band, and when I heard 8 A.M. All Day, I was floored.

I was still in high school's final months, and had played a few shows and gotten to know some people in 'the scene' by this point, and was going to as many shows as I could manage. This being a Tuesday night surely made it difficult, but I must have told my parents that this one was non-negotiable, and I must have arranged a ride home somehow, I'm pretty sure I was working in the library that evening maybe until 9:00, because I missed most of Daytime TV's set, only seeing their last song, but I liked it and bought their 7", which ended up being the complete discography.

Spitoon were a local band of guys who were my age –– high school seniors –– and one of them was an old friend from when I was 13 or 14, who I reconnected with through 'the scene', though I didn't spend as much time with him as I thought I would. They were heavily influenced by Louisville instrumental indie rock, Slint and Rodan, and they were shockingly great at the time. I remember their bassist went off to study somewhere outside of Pittsburgh that autumn and they broke up; did they ever record anything?

This show doubled as the record release gig for my favourite local band, the 1985. I've mentioned them elsewhere but I probably saw them around 25 times, and this was in the early, crazed period where they seemed to be playing constantly and I was continually impressed. The 7" was on Manny's Pop Bus label, and my own band's release was the subsequent one, about two years later. This particular set I can't remember distinctly, but their abrasive sound seemed a bit jarring against that of Chisel, who were more melodic, though still fast, and I think this brought together some pretty different subcrowds of show-goers to make it really crowded.

And then, Chisel. If only I had started archiving these old posters much sooner, maybe my rusty memory would recall more about the actual performance. I have a vague visual memory of them on stage at the Beehive, I was midway back in the centre of the crowd, and there were maybe 75 people there? I don't know. I was certainly singing along to the songs I knew, though they definitely played material from their forthcoming Set You Free album. They broke up soon after this, and Ted Leo went on to deserved success as a solo artist and with the Pharmacists. I've enjoyed his solo career but nothing else (including Set You Free) hit me as hard as 8 A.M. –– I don't know if it's actually a masterpiece of just a matter of right-time-right-place in my own adolescent musical taste development, but I still play my CD copy pretty often.

All-American Radio, The Saint Syndicate, The Subterraneans, Knifeface Orchestra

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 16:00:14 GMT

I think this one of the first shows i set up entirely on my own, as by living with Dan people had our number and would call up and ask if we could help, and send cassette demos through the post. 1998 - it's ancient history now.

Because my friend was a student at Chatham and very involved in the student programming there, she was able to set up shows in her name that I could organise, which I realise now we did quite often. What an amazing place, an amazing resource - even though it's just a dingy basement, and I don't know what it was called a coffeehouse though perhaps there was one upstairs? If anyone has photos of REA from this era (with band graffiti covering almost every available ceiling and wall surface), please get in touch.

Anyway, All-American Radio were self-identified 'emo', which I didn't even really know much about, though the whole 'goodbye to autumn'/leaf motif here strikes me as a very lame attempt to appeal to that aesthetic. I think they were in the melodic, arpeggiated mould of an artist such as Braid, who I liked at the time, while at the same time I was making minimalist guitar drone and getting into the Residents and Sun Ra.

On the side of this flyer you'll not 'this show brought to you by the island of sanity', which I vaguely recall was an attempt for Dan and I to name our flat and show-booking empire something. I think it's because he was living in a famous punk house before and thus our relatively posh Shadyside apartment seemed calm and sane by comparison. Or maybe there was another reason more connected to scene politics, I don't remember.

The Saint Syndicate I mentioned on another poster, but this maybe was their first show? And my high school was still playing in the I think but we weren't really friends anymore by this point. The Subterraneans was a rock band that featured Pete who had temporarily left Meisha, though I can't believe I remember that. Knifeface Orchestra I think was some sort of improvised hardcore/noise group that was aggressive and confrontational.

These bands have all been pretty much lost in the ether, though All American Radio (no hyphen) do seem to have managed to release a CD in 2003, if it's the same one. They probably stayed at our place, but I'm not sure. Everything felt exciting at this time, that I could set these things up, advertise them in public to my own standards, people might actually show up, I might actually be able to pay the bands a small amount, and I'd make new friends in the process.

ADD fest 2 larger flyer

Tue, 29 Jun 2021 13:37:33 GMT

My terrible design, including the bizarre idea to have an 11x17" sized concert poster in landscape mode.

I think the lineup for the first ADD Fest was constantly changing, but this is probably more accurate than the first version. Actually I have a vague memory that my own band Land played at this, though before I was in it -- I think Luke played solo and that was maybe technically the first Land show, and then our first show as a duo was soon after in the University fine art building's gallery. So that would have been a change to this advertised lineup; possibly in place of my band the Auspice Band, though I also sort of remember playing too.

Could this also have been Crucial Unit's first show? Obivously Aus-Rotten was the biggest name on the bill. My memory of this is that a ton of people were there, it was crazy intense and a bit silly, and that as soon as it was over people started asking us if they could play the 'next year'. I took over control of ADD fest for the next two years; I don't know if Dan was interested in doing it again, and I would guess not.

ADD fest 1 first flyer

Tue, 29 Jun 2021 13:17:59 GMT

I cringe a bit at the name 'ADD Fest', which is neither sensitive towards sufferers of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, nor is it even the correct acronym (it was renamed in 1987, long before this). But for a few years I was forever associated with this annual local 'fest', and if anyone in Pittsburgh remembers me at all, it may be for this over anything else I was part of.

Actually, the whole idea was my then-flatmate Dan's, and he actually really took the lead in organising it, and also designed this flyer. The goal was to have a record release show for his band, following his usual concept of including the 7" to all who attend the show, which is a great idea that I don't know anyone else ever doing. I forget how this happened, but probably it was just that so many other bands (almost all in the hardcore and punk genre) were wanting to play, that he thought about having them all play, but sharing equipment to minimise setup time, and having no one play for longer than 15 minutes.

The show, or at least the concept was a hit. The lineup actually changed a bit before it happened, as the next poster will indicate.

Thurston Moore, Tom Surgal, & William Winant; Ken Vandermark 5

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 21:50:23 GMT

Part of the Mellon Jazz Festival, which used to have one or two interesting avant-leaning concerts in an otherwise bland programme. I missed Cecil Taylor, and Anthony Braxton, and I'm not sure why I did.

Not a lot is coming to my mind about this except that the Rodef Shalom Temple was a really lovely venue, and as a gentile I have actually been inside temples very few times in my life. Thurston Moore with two percussionists is an interesting lineup and I remember it being very bombastic, and more ragged than the Vandermark 5 who opened up. In retrospect I'm really lucky to have been able to see music like this.

Indie Fest '97

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 21:36:44 GMT

Here's an all-time weird vibe concert, one I remember parts of vividly and other parts of not at all.

I don't remember how many times Manny booked a mini-festival and called it 'Indie Fest' but this was surely the peak era for me to be excited about it; 17 years old and just out of high school and excited to go to as many shows as possible on that summer, the first taste of independence of sorts. The Kelley Deal 6000 being the headliners probably says everything in terms of dating this to a certain era. Out of this fairly random-seeming list of artists, clearly the Mountain Goats have been the most enduring, the Radar Brothers probably burning out the fastest, and Simon Joyner being a brilliant artist who has had an equally long and rewarding career as John Darnielle though with less acclaim.

This was at Club Laga, a 'mid-sized' (and therefore rather large) venue in the University district of Pittsburgh that I also saw a few non-Manny shows at, most memorably Stereolab, Archers of Loaf, and Yo La Tengo -- three different shows that is -- as well as a terrible Kool Keith gig where he showed up super late and played for 20 minutes just rapping over his own records, not even instrumental versions. But anyway, Indie Fest was the rare time Manny booked such a big venue, as maybe there was a thought that enough Breeders fans would want to see the 6000; sadly, it was not to be, as hardly anyone came to this.

I myself was most excited about the Mountain Goats and Simon Joyner but also locals Vehicle Flips, who I loved but only saw a few times during their time in Pittsburgh. I can't remember who was drumming for them by this point, but I think Tim Williams. My memory of their set is that Laga's big space did not work for them, as they were definitely a three piece at this point, and without the second guitar the songs didn't hold together so well in such a big room.

Edith Frost I half-watched but I wasn't interested in that style of songwriting then, though now I'm gonna make a note to go back and check out her records from that era. I think Some Velvet Sidewalk cancelled, as I remember a friend was really excited just to see them and she left disappointed . Ladybug Transistor were a very melodic indie pop band on Merge; one of their members later moved to Pittsburgh and I knew her to say hi but I think that was a few years later. I was a fan of that sound then, and I think Saturnine was maybe similar or maybe more spacey?

Joyner was great. I bought The Cowardly Traveller Pays His Toll AND Heaven's Gate AND i think the Iffy AND Room Temperature cassettes all on that day, and maybe even the Why Are You All So Thief? 7", and I definitely bought the t-shirt commemorating this Sing,Eunuchs! tour of Mountain Goats/Joyner, featuring a photo of Rasputin on it. The first time I put it through the washing machine all of the ink washed off except for Rasputin, which was eerie given the legend of his alleged death. It was a known problem and I emailed or wrote to Sing, Eunuchs! and received a refund, which came as a $10 personal cheque from Simon Joyner. This was all pretty great stuff when you're 17 and now, 24 years later, it feels even more like a relic of another era. Every once in awhile I communicate with him over email about something or the other, and of course Grapefruit is one of my top places to shop online.

Darnielle was great too. I remember a few of my faves from Nine Black Poppies, 'Stars Fell on Alabama', and I think he ended the set of did 'Cubs in Five' as an encore with some shouting, extemporaneous lyrics, including a quote from They Live! about kicking ass and chewing bubble gum, though I hadn't seen the film yet at that point. And of course 'Going to Georgia', which some of us were calling out for from the very first song until he actually said 'Of course I'm not going to shoot my load that early.'

And after his set, I went and talked to Darnielle for about an hour backstage, missing the two headlining acts, which I don't regret at all. I'm sure he enjoyed the ego boost of a 17 year old fanboy telling him how certain ones of his albums made me think of certain seasons (Zopilote Machine I felt was a spring album even though I think it's quite blatantly summer, but he was open to my interpretations) and telling him how I had just quit eating meat and he was supportive, being a vegetarian himself. He was a bit miffed because Full Force Galesburg had just come out and it gotten a bad review from this stupid in-store magazine from the Sam Goody chain, and he said the review really bummed him out even though he knew it was a stupid thing to care about and he was maybe a little bit embarrassed about feeling that way. And I remember him giving me relationship advice as well about how if I ever were to actually have a relationship (that wouldn't come for a few more years for me), that it was important to always be upfront with what was on my mind if something was bothering me and never bury things or let them linger. It was a lot more than the standard chat at the merch table; I went home also with a CD of Galesburg (still, I think his masterpiece) and a promo poster for it that I lost many years ago but would kill to have again because it was adorned with the most Darniellean of slogans: "When you're young, you think that nothing can hurt you. Something can." There's no better encapsulation of the early era of Mountain Goats up to that point than that line, or that feeling I still get when I listen to this stuff.

I wrote him once or twice in Iowa, saw them play again in Lexington 7 or 8 years later where he remembered me but we only chatted for a minute, and gradually moved on and stopped being a huge fan, though I still listen to everything he releases at least once, and I thought his first novel was stunning.

Manny lost a LOT of money on this show, I'm sure hundreds. It felt like only about 25 or 30 people were there, but it could have been 100, who knows -- laga probably had space for 400 or 500 so anything less really felt sparse.

food raids on the rise

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 17:18:29 GMT

from Robert Ashley's Perfect Lives (1984)

Don DeLillo, Libra, pp.30-31

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 16:58:16 GMT

“

After dark the stillness falls, the hour of withdrawal, houses in shadow, the street a private place, a set of mysteries. Whatever we know about our neighbors is hushed and lulled by the deep repose. It becomes a form of intimacy, jasmine-scented, that deceives us into trustfulness.

—Don DeLillo, Libra, pp.30-31

Five reasons why I created an Onlyfans account

Tue, 08 Dec 2020 18:18:00 GMT

If you would like to spend $4.99 per month to see me post biweekly video essays about music and other things on my mind, please go to onlyfans.com/icewhistle and subscribe to my Onlyfans. $1 of that goes to Onlyfans; $1 I will donate to the Democratic Socialists of America; the other $3 will go towards maybe buying myself a tripod or some better gear.

This video trailer will explain why I am breaking character and trying this out. I apologise for asking anyone to give me money to talk about records. This commercial intrusion will likely stay atop the icewhistle/johnw.fail website for some time given how rarely I post here, and being that the previous post announced a set of books I released in January 2020, one might think that I have gone totally 'mersh'. In reality, I am just looking to spice up my life with a little dance on the darkside, by which I mean commercialism.

We apologise for this intrusion.

Structural critiques

Sat, 18 Apr 2020 09:42:31 GMT

from Co mi zrobisz, jak mnie zlapiesz (Stanislaw Bareja, Poland, 1978)

Poem

Mon, 24 Feb 2020 16:45:05 GMT

Anywhere (Robert Creeley)

Slight wander of innocence
flickers in this wavering
echo of what it had come for,
gone to, and forgotten.

Stone Junction, Jim Dodge, p. 361

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 16:08:00 GMT

“

... Wild Bill had said the trouble with self-analysis was the built-in human eagerness to accept all sorts of preposterous and absurd suppositions, not the least of which were both the possibility and desirability of knowing one's self. Bill had likened this to using a corkscrew to pull your image from a mirror.

—Stone Junction, Jim Dodge, p. 361

I published three books.

Sun, 26 Jan 2020 19:09:51 GMT

I'm pleased to announce the release of a three volume book series, Seventeen Years of Media Consumption (2002–2018), on Scarlatti Tilt. Details, sample pages, and ordering information can be found on the Scarlatti Tilt website.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

SI audio podcast #4: Dispatches from 'block that chain'

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 17:34:30 GMT

photo: 'Block That Chain' worklab, Graz, October 2019. It's way more fun than it looks, I promise!

This episode of the Serious Introspection audio podcast talks with several members of the block that chain worklab that I participated in in Graz, Austria. block that chain is a week-long worklab hosted by the wonderful mur.at to explore the questions, problems, and deeper issues behind blockchain technology. I was delighted to be part of this, as it drew together a mix of artists, hackers, musicians, theorists, and sociologists for an intensive programme to utilise our expertise and perspectives.

The week had no shortage of theoretical discussions which touched on ethics, economics, and technology, while provided me a much-needed alternative viewpoint –– or rather, viewpoints –– to most media coverage of blockchain issues, which is primarily dominated by finance and tech industry reporting, or else kneejerk alarmism. Some participants created software to visualise and sonificate online discourse on the topic; others worked on theoretical models for future projects or developed existing tools.

I'm still formulating my own thoughts about blockchain after this week, especially in relation to my past work with Biathlon; I'll likely write something soon in the new issue of Acedia. In the meantime, if you are interested in blockchain technology (even if you feel negative towards the hype), you might find some stimulating and fun ideas in the podcast. I talk with Martin Schitter, Bailey Keogh, Michael Mastrototaro, Jurij Smrke and Goran Bečirevič.

Here are links to the guests and topics mentioned during the discussions:

Martin Schitter [02:15]:

Bailey Keogh [21:26]:

Holochain white paper
Capitalist Reparations
'..for a year Vollmann wrote much of his first novel, You Bright and Risen Angels, after hours on office computers, subsisting on candy bars from vending machines and hiding from the janitorial staff.' [wikipedia]
Detroit Community Technology Project
Allied Media Projects

Michael Mastrototaro [40:45]:

Konjungate
The novel Machfeld (in German)
Sabine Maier

Jurij Smrke / Goran Bečirevič [59:29]

SI audio podcast #3: Andy Beckerman remembers the wild kindness of David Berman

Sun, 18 Aug 2019 10:16:02 GMT

photo: the host + the guest, sometime in 2004 or 2005.

I dusted off the microphones to record the first Serious Introspection audio podcast in over two years. Sadly, the occasion was the passing of David Berman, poet and musician, whose death has affected me immensely. I called up Andy, a comedy writer and proper podcaster based in Los Angeles, to talk about Berman's work and what he meant to us and to so many others.

Even if you weren't a Silver Jews fan, you might enjoy our conversation. We talk about public mourning, avatars of America, the America that never existed, Otherness and art, irony and honesty, Judaism, propagating values through culture, support systems, kindness, empathy for the MAGA, and the quality of light on the West coast. Notes and links relating to our discussion appear below.

Andy Beckerman / Beginnings podcast / Couples Therapy podcast

David Cloud Berman (January 4, 1967 - August 7, 2019)
Tom Scharpling's tweet
Andy's Incesticide t-shirt
Charles Gocher, Jr. (1952 - 2007)
Stanley Elkin's The Franchiser
BBS's
Drag City's 1998 website
Joe Frank (1938 - 2018)
Bookforum's Berman memoriam
Self-Portrait at 28
Kant's Thing-in-itself
Berman's Menthol Mountains blog
After The Future (note: all posts appear to have been deleted)
And The Others
Charles Bowden (1945 - 2014)
The New Yorker's Berman memoriam ('it is a weather system’)
Dual 1229 turntable (note: not the 1270 as I incorrectly stated)
Redd Kross

Serious Introspection special episode @ Nida - 'The Shutout'

Wed, 10 Jul 2019 07:48:33 GMT

There's some cliché about old dogs and new tricks that I always mangle, but clichés are better when stated incorrectly. It's been over three years since I (John) hosted a regular live talk show with Justin and Ernest, but we brought the act out again for a special reunion performance at the Nida Art Colony's ninth inter-format symposium, 'On the Fluidity of Humour and Absurdity' in Nida, Lithuania. It was fun to do it again, and we were joined by guest Dafna Maimon, old friend Vytautas Michelkevičius, and some random people from the audience. This was presented as the 'lounge' event after a long day of art symposium presentations, performances, and talks, so the audience, all crowded into a small room with a bunch of absurdly constructed furniture courtesy of Justin, was pretty exhausted. But yet a stronger sense of anarchy existed here than at any of our performances in Finland; at least audience members took to the stage, someone fell through a table, and someone tried to set me on fire.

Anyway, here it is. We didn't have the full A/V resources of Mad House available, but we did the best we could, and the first 25 minutes or so are pretty fun at least. I meant what I said –– that the world doesn't need another show of three white men on stage –– and thus I don't think we are likely to bring back the show any time soon, if ever. (Though we remain available for hire, for private events).

Serious Introspection returns!

Fri, 21 Jun 2019 07:57:59 GMT

For the first time in three years, Serious Introspection will convene, this time at the Nida Art Colony 9th Inter-format Symposium. The full lineup of host John, hype man Justin, and meta-media specialist Ernest will be there, as part of the Error Collective 'lounge' on Saturday, 29 June. The theme of the symposium is absurdity and humour, so I don't really understand why they invited a show about seirous introspection. Anyway, the symposium is a closed event so there's little point in advertising it here, but we'll try to videorecord and post it, just like the old days.

A Gaddis interlude

Sat, 02 Mar 2019 21:03:15 GMT

Poem

Fri, 30 Nov 2018 17:56:07 GMT

Equal To You (Kenneth Koch)

Can you imagine the body being
The really body the being the reality
Body being the body if reality
Is what it is it is, not that reality
Doesn't infer the body, still
The body being the bearer of reality
And the barer of the body
The body being reality
That is reality's reality
Hardly on earth ever seen
But from it we have the word connubial
Which means
The body bearing the body in reality
And reality being the body
And body-reality being borne.
I am bearing a burden
Which reminded me of you
Bearing away the swell
Of the sea
But can yo imagine the body bearing reality
And being reality
That's where we get the
Word connubial which is a word for the body's being
Being in reality and being a body
In reality and bearing the burden
Of the body in reality, by being real
And by being the body of the real.

INTERIORS

Fri, 08 Sep 2017 10:35:57 GMT

NEW MEKONS HOLY SHIT

Sat, 03 Sep 2016 20:53:40 GMT

'Here is a hymn for a post factual democracy sung joyously by the disenchanted and forgotten as they tumble teary eyed into the arms of their oppressors.'

Playoff beard 2016

Fri, 27 May 2016 00:39:06 GMT

Late night lethargic yet nervy Tallinn viewing of GAME SEVEN elimination pending Eastern conference finals....

INTERIORS

Mon, 16 May 2016 13:16:40 GMT

Natto, fermenting in my dishwasher.

Exteriors

Thu, 12 May 2016 07:14:54 GMT

Koskenranta, Rovamiemi, 7 May 2016. Not so visible are chunks of ice floating by.

Playoff Beard 2016

Sun, 01 May 2016 00:15:22 GMT

Just before start of round two, game two

Playoff Beard 2016

Fri, 22 Apr 2016 07:26:07 GMT

Just before round 1, game 3.

Last night's dream

Tue, 12 Apr 2016 08:59:35 GMT

I had invented a way for people to take really specific artisanal baths. I used the old cassette tape drives from Commodore 64s and came up with a standardised system of bath-related metadata stored on cassette. Then, I made a protocol to attach some specialised hardware (which would control temperature, volume, and additives such as salts, oils or other nice things) to communicate between the cassette tape drive and the bathtub itself. I rigged up a prototype at my aunt's house and I had invited a bunch of investors to her place in order to show them how it worked, but when they got there I discovered my aunt had removed the tub part (the spigots and knobs were still on the wall, rather high up) and placed a sofa underneath. But it was too late to stop the demonstration so water was just pouring onto her sofa and getting it wet. I was pretending like everything was OK and trying to undress to get in the sofa/tub myself, but my t-shirt was really tight and also there were an infinite number of layers, so every time I wiggled out of the t-shirt, there was another one underneath.

Nida dunes

Tue, 15 Dec 2015 00:02:42 GMT

Pitch Dark, Renata Adler, p.109

Mon, 14 Dec 2015 23:58:49 GMT

“

Through the years, humanity, like a tide of refugees or pilgrims, shoeless and in rags, or in Mercedes, station wagons, running shoes, were traveling on, joined by others, falling by the way. And we, joined though we may be, briefly, by other strays, or by road travelers on their little detours, nonetheless never quite joined the continuing procession, of life and birth, never quite found or made it to the road. Whose voice is this? Not here. Not mine.

—Pitch Dark, Renata Adler, p.109

INTERIORS

Fri, 04 Dec 2015 11:12:41 GMT

Tapaturma-asema, Töölön sairaala