dalinguistics

1960 saw the birth and death of the short lived ECHO magazine. echo was a 7" spiral bound 24 page "culture" magazine that could've only come out of ny. it was basically made up of short teaser articles on such things as jazz, james thurber, bob & ray, dances, dogs, folk music, etc. with crisp art direction by richard smith (note the andy warhol like script next to the fire hydrant). the real whallop was the idea that every story would include a recording in the form of a 7" flexi record bound into the magazine - and all for a mere $1.50.

i have all four issues, and for the most part, the recordings aren't too interesting; but issue 4 does contain a gem - a hilarious discussion between salvador dali and edward mulhare (who was touring at the time replacing rex harrisson as henry higgins in the play my fair lady) where dali suggests a new way of intuitively articulating familiar words to make them more interesting. it's a nice way of making everyday words sound a bit like kurt schwitters ursonate. according to the notes: "mr. dali urges that after this initial exposure to dalinguistics echo listeners will, with words of their own choosing, employ his methods to strengthen their communicating power." try it out on your friends today... click here and listen