things related to sound, visual art, architecture, modernism, music, design, fluxus, 78's, literature, film, ephemera, and much more ...basically a space to share "the collection", much of which serves as inspiration for my work...
“to me the world is sound. sound penetrates me, linking me to the world. i give sounds active meaning. by doing this i am assured of being in the sounds, becoming one with them. to me this is the greatest reality. it is not that i shape anything, but rather that i desire to merge with the world.” (and especially to merge with the cats on the wall)
toru takemitsu, confronting silence.
Labels: cats on the wall, music RPPC, takemitsu
"i listen to the wind that obliterates my traces."
arriving august 2.
more info here
Labels: dust to digital, i listen to the wind that obliterates my traces, music RPPC, roden books
three string related recent finds - all three photographs circa 1910, i know nothing about any of the subjects other than the weirdness that is visible in each of them.
Labels: halray, music RPPC, patriotic puppet theaters, pipes, puppets, string instruments
here are two recent finds (from different sources) a pair of RPPC photographs of lynne lewis white and his uke. while i was unable to find much information on him online, the two photos have extensive notes written in pencil on the back - (one also includes white's signature!).
from the backs, this is what i know:
these photos of lewis white are circa 1929, purchased originally at "the big show in vanadalia august 19-24, 1929". (i'm assuming white performed at the show).
white was born in kansas, and was 20 years old when one of these was purchased, and 21 years old when the other was purchased - meaning he was most likely 19 or 20 when the photos were taken.
based on the small #'s added onto the negative, these two images are from a series of at least 5.
white weighed 18 pounds and was 22 inches tall in both images, and he was known as the "midget troubadour" as well as "major white".
at the time of the photos he was living in bartlesville OK.
as much as i've stayed away from images that would fit comfortably withing the world of todd browning's freaks, something about the mood of these two photographs felt incredibly sublime. the atmosphere of white's poses with his instrument, standing on a table is so silently uncanny and yet even with the heavily professional look of the photograph, there is a matter of fact quality that gives it even more of an emotional punch. (not to mention thinking about the conversation between white and the photographer that led to white being photographed upon a table, rather than the floor).
i have no idea what white's music might have sounded like, nor the kinds of songs he regularly performed, but i sort of imagine him singing songs like nick lucas... a fellow troubadour... and you can hear a song of his here...
Labels: lynn lewis white, music RPPC, uke
she is my fairy queen:
Labels: gazes, kurt schwitters, music RPPC, photgrapher reflection, she in poems
" I have aspired no further than the clockwork of the soul, I have transcribed only the pain of an abortive adjustment.
I am a total abyss. Those who believed me capable of a whole pain, a beautiful pain, a dense and fleshy anguish, an anguish which is a mixture of objects, an effervescent grinding of forces rather than a suspended point
—and yet with restless, uprooting impulses which come from the confrontation of my forces with these abysses of offered finality
(from the confrontation of forces of powerful size),
and there is nothing left but the voluminous abysses, the immobility, the cold—
in short, those who attributed to me more life, who thought me at an earlier stage in the fall of the self, who believed me immersed in a tormented noise, in a violent darkness with which I struggled
—are lost in the shadows of man."
(image: anonymous snapshot, 1930's, text: antonin artaud, fragment from "the nerve meter")
Labels: antonin artaud, blurry banjos, music RPPC
Labels: closings, embarassing hats, music RPPC, openings
two real photo postcards taken by photographer charles howell, the "official photographer of pleasure beach, blackpool". the top one was taken in 1933, and was purchased from a guy in london two years ago. the second was taken in 1937, and purchased from a guy in india last week. since neither were ever postmarked, i am assuming at least one gent in each photo carried their respective photos home themselves... i'm also pretty sure the photo that eventually lived in india had a much longer journey...
as we move from one year into the next, we can be assured that life continues to move, although there will certainly be constants...
sure,
the hats might go from white to black
the banjos might get larger rims
and the suits might suit the day,
with a bit more black than gray.
but in the end, all 8 knees will continue to be bent
and the largest bottle of beer in the world
will always be between you and a friend -
even if its neck eventually gets straightened out
or its pedestal is transformed from a barrel to a bench.
yes, life will shift with the absence of three "little ones,"
but you can always change your landscape
from lush grotto to tree and distant mountains...
wishing you all a happy last day of this year, and a wonderful first day of next year... this year has certainly held for me at least a few days feeling somewhat like a place called pleasure beach, and i hope you all find your own way there in the year to come...
Labels: banjos, bent knees, hats, large beer, music RPPC
this coming thursday night, october 28, i'll be performing a solo improvised sound work in the main exhibition space at the armory center for the arts in pasadena. the performance will start at 7:30, will be relatively quiet, and admission is FREE...
more info here
Labels: music RPPC, roden performance, slide guitar
