PLAZA of the MIND

The Standale Tapes - Item 0001-01 -

2011-06-18T01:28:00.001-07:00

Listen:

Download

This thing needs a cleaning!

2011-05-28T17:37:00.001-07:00

My new goal is to get this site cleaned up

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Thoughts On Nell Carter - An Audio Essay

2011-05-17T02:17:00.001-07:00

'Thoughts on Nell Carter' an audio essay by Kurt Weller:

Listen:

Download

Impossible Works (For Piano, Xylophone And Vibes)

2011-01-24T23:59:00.000-08:00

After a decade of obscurity I am proud to release my first ambient offering for your relaxation needs:

Listen:

Download:

http://www.archive.org/details/impossibleworks

The Lunar Valet
Manservant
The Lobotomized Love Affair
The Ghostly Shape Of Eagerness Past
The Communal Supper
To Make This Into A Working Romance
I Could Request A Heart's Desire, Remember?
Please Tell Me It Wasn't All In Vein
Sarah's Engagement
Once I Stepped Headlong Into The Matriarchal Parlour Of My Youth

Meditations Through Situation Comedy Environments First Tour Now Available at the Internet Archive!

2011-01-23T01:03:00.000-08:00

LISTEN:

DOWNLOAD

Deriva_K Laboratories Announces New Project!

2011-01-21T01:16:00.001-08:00

I am excited to announce that I have recently gotten an announcement from Audiologist_K (through snail mail of course) that Deriva_K Laboratories are in the process of doing a Spectator's Cut of the rare 1969 film The Projectionist, a surreal film that deserves a viewing (and as Audiologist_K always says '...if you loved it or hated it you may want to view our version as well...') because it captures an often overlooked essence of the late sixties and also includes the first film appearance of comedic genius Rodney Dangerfield.

Stay tuned for more info for update info as it comes in.

Kurt Weller on Politics

2011-01-14T17:55:00.001-08:00

I am not a political person. I've never studied politics. I am in no way an expert on the subject. However, over the past several years I have begun to notice that the vast majority of political experts out there are nothing more than entertainers who validate the beliefs and fears of their audiences. It reminds me of film or literary criticism in that you have a person espousing a political opinion based on dubious credentials.

For a few years now I have thought of creating a political essay in film form. In order to flesh out the ideas that will appear in this essay I have decided to start an electronic journal where I can record the thoughts that come to me. This will be purely personal and my main goal is to try and make sense of the world that I live in. It would be dishonest to say that I am not trying to sway others to my way of thinking, after all, isn't that one of the major goals of political writing?

This will be held separate from the Plaza of the Mind and this will be the last that you hear of the project until the filmed essay is completed.

Remember, I do this for one reason and one reason alone: I am an American and I love the fact that I can do whatever the fuck I want to (within reason).

These Are The Things That I Find Self Evident

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Episode 3001 - E19 - 01-03-11 - Concerning Tron Legacy

2011-01-13T00:38:00.000-08:00

Kurt Weller and Bob Dobbs discuss Tron: Legacy and the similarities between it and the work of Mr. Dobbs.

Stream it here:

Or download it here:

http://www.archive.org/details/Episode3001-E19-01-03-11-ConcerningTronLegacy

Please continue to enjoy the move from Blogtalkradio to the Internet Archive!

'A song by Mike' Rough Draft Video Version

2010-12-25T02:58:00.000-08:00

I am proud to present my first new song in quite some time. It is called 'A Song about Mike'. It doesn't really have much to do with the holiday season but I felt creative so I 'bashed it out' - as they say... What the song is about is my preference of Michael Nesmith over John Lennon. Sort of the 'Blatant Phony over the Crypto Phony'....

The following video will be improved upon as time goes by, but I did feel a need to get this out to the public ASAP so I will let this serve as a place holder:

A Song By Mike

by Kurt Weller

You ask some people

what they think

And they'll tell you that

their favorite is John

They'll even ask you

to sing

one of his songs

At karaoke

But I say 'fuck that!'

I ain't gonna sing like that

I'd never sing a song by John

Cause that's not the shit that I like

No that's not the shit that I like

I'll never sing a song by John

I'll only sing a mother fucking song by Mike

In this motherfucking mic with my mic

You'll only hear a motherfucking song by Mike

A motherfucking song by Mike

More Green from one who loves Orange.

2010-12-22T20:43:00.001-08:00

I enjoy this shade of green. I find it soothing. This is in no way a political statement. On a leftist site I read that 'all art is intrinsically political'. I could not disagree with this statement more. As Richard Serra has said, art is unnecessary to human survival, that is the stance I take on it. It need not have any political content at all.

I'm sure one could look into the green image in all sorts of ways and I suppose it would be right for them. For me, the creator of the image, however, I deny any politic.

There is the image and then there is the attempt to explain the image. I am in love with the former, I find the latter galling and exhausting.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

The Hiatus has been Suspended!

2010-11-18T00:54:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to announce that Bunny Brown has agreed to appear on the Plaza of the Mind Internet Talk Show!

We are currently working out the particulars but stay tuned for a new episode, I am very excited about this, Ms. Brown's music has been my personal soundtrack for this rainy fall season.

PotM miming the progression of 20th century media.

2010-08-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

As frequent visitors to the Plaza have no doubt noticed, I have been sort of miming the historic progression of twentieth century media over the past three years. I started the Plaza back in2006 with mostlyphoto-journalistic pieces concerning events I attended or places I thought worth mentioning. In 2007 I began an interview series conducted by email with several artists I admired, these interviews appeared here in text format, my own little planet in the Gutenberg Galaxy of print. Last year I began the PotM Internet Talk show over at blogtalkradio. A friend recently commented that 'the quality of the audio (of the PotM Internet Talk Show) reminds me of old AM radio'. I concur; As a child I used to enjoy listening to AM radio at night while riding with my father home from an event, or listening to a baseball game with him while we worked in the garage or out in the yard, so I really enjoy the actual sound of the show and the memories that it brings back.

At the top of the page you will now find the Plaza of the Mind Interview Index. Thanks to new technology I have been able to index every interview for your convenience. Creating the index I was surprised by the amount of work that I had actually done. I knew I had interviewed quite a few people but still felt surprised when I saw the completed index page. I have to say I am pretty proud of this facet of my creative expression. For those who love the printed word I apologize in advance: I don't foresee a return to the written interview. I did fifteen interviews in a relatively short span and I enjoyed it immensely. I prefer, however, the PotM Internet Talk Show format. I feel that I am able to interact in a more naturalistic fashion with my guests and this just means a higher quality experience for everyone involved.

Where, you might ask, do we go from here? For the moment I have been dividing my creative energies in several different directions: The PotM Internet Talk Show, my ongoing discussion of para-media ecology with Bob Dobbs over at Episode 3001 and the never ending search for the funny,obscure and beautiful with Greg Lester at the Outer Channel Internet Variety Show. I have also been doing heavy revisions on the novel I wrote in 1997 in addition to preparing live versions of a group of songs I wrote in the mid to late nineties.

This is a very exciting period in my life and I thank all who come here to visit. I pledge to keep on pouring all of the energy I can muster into these projects. I also pledge to bring the Plaza of the Mind back up to speed. I have been a neglectful caretaker for the past year. The neglect ends now!

Stay tuned.

PotM Internet Talk Show Ep 0101 featuring Paul Robb!

2010-08-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

Over the past several weeks I have had the pleasure of re-interviewing several people who had visited the Plaza in text format with me. I am very happy to say that this trend seems to be continuing and am very happy to announce that Paul Robb of Information Society (one of the first people to venture onto the Plaza back in 2007) will be appearing on the show Monday, August 9th at 8PM PST.

PotM Internet Talk Show Ep 9001 featuring Stefene Russell

2010-08-04T00:59:00.000-07:00

Tonight I interviewed Stefene Russell on the PotM ITS. This is an all time High! You all know Stef got me through the late 90s with Plan 10! Check it out:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/plaza-of-the-mind/2010/08/04/potm-its--ep-9001-featuring-stefene-russell

My Tom Green Album Cover

2010-07-31T22:59:00.001-07:00

There was no album cover for Tom Green's Basement Jams recording so I decided to make one myself. I shared it over at TomGreen.com:

PotM Internet Talk Show Ep 8001 featuring Tesco Vee!

2010-07-19T19:00:00.001-07:00

Tesco Vee on the Plaza of the Mind Internet Talk Show!

Check it out here!

The PotM Internet Talk Show welcomes musician Robert Hecker on July 27th!

2010-07-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to announce that Robert Hecker, guitarist for Redd Kross and It's OK, will be joining me for some Internet Talk on Episode 9001!

I am very excited as I have been a huge Redd Kross fan for the last twenty years.

Please join us!

Portrait of Iggy Pop

2010-07-14T18:08:00.000-07:00

'Iggy Pop'
Black Bic Inkpen and Highlighter on Copy Paper.

The Plaza of the Mind Internet Talk Show Interview with Stefene Russell

2010-07-12T03:14:00.001-07:00

Due to extenuating circumstances my interview with Stefene Russell has been postponed. The new date will be posted when we figure out the details. Thanks for your understanding.

I am pleased to announce that Stefene Russell will be appearing on tonight's edition of the PotM Internet Talk Show.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/plaza-of-the-mind/2010/07/13/with-special-guest-stefene-russell

Project :: Brittany

2010-07-06T02:00:00.000-07:00

I have begun working on the Project :: Brittany film, based on the Twitter piece of the same name, by recording a rough draft of the basic Film Core.

I will actually shoot the film in higher definition, however these three production stills should give one the idea of what the final Film Core will look like.

I look forward to presenting this short film, my first in several years, it debuts on August 1st at Vimeo.

That Novel I Started In 1997

2010-07-03T00:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm proud to say that I put a good two to three hours into revisions this evening. It feels so good and right, as if I have somehow traveled back to that wonderful year when I was able to write like it was my job. I have had to delete so much text but it feels so good because I know that the text I am going to replace it with is going to be so much better. I think it is important that I am working on the original novel. I have had several false starts since I thought I finished it, perhaps the novel was just waiting for this time to come out. It feels so much like it is writing itself. It creeps me out at times....

The Plaza of the Mind has Gone All Commercial!

2010-06-29T16:40:00.000-07:00

The Flagship Tee in the

Your Treat Apparel 2010 Summer Collection:

Spaced Out

100% Organic

100% Natural

100%Cool

100%Spaced Out!

Buy One now!

Let everyone know how you FEEL this summer!

The Plaza of the Mind Interview with Stefene Russell

2010-06-07T12:48:00.000-07:00

Stefene Russell, actor, poet and author, blew me away when I first saw her in Trent Harris' Plan 10 From Outer Space. In 2007, I found out that Stefene had done a recording of her poetry entitled Radioactive Cat Radio. In my attempts to track down the record I ended up contacting Stefene and she sent me out a copy of the CD for free! Stefene agreed to an email interview for my new Plaza of the Mind internet site. We conducted the following interview shortly thereafter via email. Unfortunately, events in my personal life sunk me into a sort of malaise that I am only now pulling myself out of. For some reason I kept putting off publishing this interview, I can't really say why, but for whatever reason, here it is now, three years later. My apologies to Ms. Russell for my untimeliness.

[The Plaza of the Mind quotes appear in Bold-type, Ms. Russell’s in normal-type]

I enjoyed your article Shoe Jail; it reminded me of the hell I went through as a hotel front desk agent. What was the worst job you've ever had?

I think any customer service job entails a lot of abuse at the hands of the public and lots of pointless paper shuffling. Which is hell for any human being, I think ... but Shoe Jail was awful because immediately prior to that that I'd had a really wonderful job with Pulitzer, writing for the Post Dispatch website. The experience of being laid off, being on unemployment and landing in customer service hell was just an awful experience. I'd had un-fun jobs before that - clerical stuff, retail - but had nothing to compare it to. I guess it's all a great argument in support of what Buddha says, don't get too attached to stuff, suffering is relative and your brain is usually the source of said suffering.

I read that you grew up in a house with secret passages - that sounds incredibly cool. Can you describe?

My parent's house was built by Parley T. Pratt, who was one of the higher-ups in the church; it was one of the first houses built in Salt Lake. He was a polygamist. Their fourth basement step has hinges on it, and you flip it back and it leads to a series of very small, claustrophobic tunnels. You have to crawl through them on your hands and knees; I don't know where the tunnels lead, but I have heard people say that the Temple has underground tunnels and people have asked me if maybe Pratt's house leads to the Temple (I kinda doubt it, actually). Our cats would disappear down there for days on end. It's very dirty and probably full of hobo spiders. My dad went crawling through the tunnels when my parents first moved into the house, and caught pneumonia. He was always threatening to set up a wine cellar down there. There's also a closet on the second floor you can crawl through to get to an Alice in Wonderland sized door, but that just leads to the attic. The family built the house themselves, so that might've just been creative design on their part. All the scenes of Porter Rockwell and Talmadge were shot in my parent's house - that floral wallpaper in the background is original to the house - my dad referred to the pattern as "Bee Heaven."

Did you grow up in Salt Lake City? A friend of mine once visited and said that it was a lot like my hometown Grand Rapids Michigan, except that instead of being built upon the shoulders of Amway it was built upon the shoulders of the Latter Day Saints.

Yes - unfortunately, I've never been to Grand Rapids, so I can't confirm how or why Salt Lake might be similar. But the reference to Amway is definitely a clue. I will get in trouble for this, but I have heard folks comparing Amway's structure to that of the church, and there does seem to be a staggering number of people in Salt Lake who gravitate towards businesses like that - Melaleuca, Usana Vitamins, Avon - Amway, too. I don't know if you'd quite call these Ponzi schemes - I certainly wouldn't tag the church that way - but there is definitely a pyramidal, testimonial-heavy quality the Mormon *culture,* at least in Salt Lake. If that makes sense?

I moved to Portland in the mid-nineties and I met a really cool guy from Boise. He was the one who first turned me on to the Mormon phenomenon. There were very few of them in the Michigan area, perhaps due to their being driven away a hundred years earlier. I then saw Plan 10 from Outer Space and I got really interested when I discovered that all of the bizarre assertions made in that film concerning Mormon philosophy and beliefs in the afterlife were true. I have since met others who are rather obsessed with Mormons though they are not believers. Do you have a similar interest?

I think Boise is sometimes more Mormon than Salt Lake! Maybe they did get turned off by the Midwest after being chased out of here, though I thought there were not many here in St. Louis until I heard someone talking about a weird church with an angel on top that you could see from Highway 40. So I went to look at it, and sure enough, there was Moroni. There is something inherently fascinating about Mormonism - Michael Quinn's "Early Mormonism and the Magical World View," is a great, scholarly book on what some of the stuff that Plan 10 touched on. But of course, Trent's version is much funnier.

Plan 10 paints such an incredible portrait of that city that I am afraid to actually visit for fear that it may ruin the image. What made you decide to move to St. Louis?

Ah, well, there are many versions of Salt Lake City depending on what crowds you travel with. They almost tore down Gilgal (the little park with the Joseph Smith sphinx) to build condos, but the fact that there was a huge mobilization to save it says something good about the place. I think that Salt Lake is a city that can seem very bleak on the surface if you don't know where to go, or if you are not paying attention. If you are paying attention you realize that lots of weird stuff happens there, and that it has a huge capacity for hosting the appearance of the miraculous. But I think Salt Lake is one of those places where you have to be willing to make things happen ... St. Louis is like that, too. You have to be willing to take some initiative rather than get carried along by a culture that is already fairly strong and in place, like in NYC or San Francisco. But that just means that much more is possible and that there is tons of potential. One site to peek at is dooce.com, I love her writing and she has a very interesting perspective on Salt Lake.

I came through St. Louis almost by accident, but knew I wanted to live here immediately. I'm not sure why - part of it is the old building stock, part of it's the people here, party of it is that creative potential... this city has been around since the 18th century, and feels really haunted. I love the Mississippi River, and the fact that St. Louis is so diverse - they call it "The Little Easy," because it has a touch of whatever makes New Orleans strange and corrupt and fecund and creative and mixed-up and beautiful. There is probably a ley line running through it or something. If you look at the people it produced (T.S. Eliot, Josephine Baker, Charles Eames, Vincent Price, William S. Burroughs, Tennessee Williams ...) it's pretty staggering.

What does a day in the life of Stefene Russell look like?

It's so trite to say ... but it depends on the day ... I think most people who make their living writing or editing look very dull from the outside, since mostly they just sit at a computer and type. The best days are the ones where I get to go out and talk to people. In the last six months or so, those people have included a couple of Catholic workers who bought a bombed-out old crack house in North St. Louis city for $1,000 and spent only $35,000 rehabbing it into a sustainable house that's off the grid; Typewriter Tim, who uses old manual typewriters as percussion instruments - but he's also a massage therapist and works with people with autism; an 85 year-old artist who still paints every day; a mortgage fraud expert in Atlanta; horticulturists at Shaw Nature reserve; some guys who work at a machine shop called Lunar Tool. I also work on a literary magazine, 52nd City (the title refers to the fact that St. Louis was, at least at one point, 52nd in population among middle-sized cities). That's where the "Shoe Jail" piece ran. And I work with an arts collective formerly known as Hoobellatoo, now known as Poetry Scores. We take long poems, score them to music as if they were a film, and then make movies of that soundtrack. We're working on "Blind Cat Black," now, which was based on the work of Turkish poet Ece Ayhan. So three weeks ago or so I was at a bar down the street helping to wrangle zombies for that film. I don't know what's going to happen to the script, but I may be playing a character named "Aunt Sadness," who is an alcoholic flower vendor.

Lately I have been obsessed with Haruki Murakami and Kathryn Harrison: Any authors that you are into?

I have to read both Murakami & Harrison ... have heard plenty good about them and for some reason never got to them, I am ashamed to say. I just got a copy of Jonathan Lethem's new book, "You Don't Love Me Yet," in the mail at work & have been zipping through that; his prose has a wonderful ease to it but philosophically it always some weight to it, too. Other fiction - Steve Erickson, who also gets filed away under sci-fi but who I think of more as magical realism in the apocalyptic American style. I read all of Bohumil Hrabal's stuff a few years ago - I like the Eastern European guys, the Russian guys, the South American guys. But honestly I think I read more non-fiction and poetry than fiction. Joseph Mitchell is one of my favorites; Wallace Stegner I always liked, even though I felt obligated to read him because he writes about the western landscape ... AND he is an alumn of my high school ... AND my little cousin, Wallis, is named after him. Vollman I really like, though partly that is because he came to read at the University of Utah when I was a freshman there, and pulled out a gun loaded with blanks and shot it off at the ceiling and no one had any idea what to do with him. With poetry, I think the only genre I am allergic to is the stuff that was written between 1975 and 1990, the college-prof-takes-his-dog-for-a-walk-and-ruminates-on-students-he-is-attracted-to-and-contemplates-mortality genre. I just finished reading "Poets in Their Youth," by Eileen Simpson; she was married to John Berryman, and knew these other tragic '50s poets - Rob't Lowell, Dylan Thomas, Delmore Schwartz, R.P. Blackmur, Randall Jarrell, Allen Tate, Theodore Roethke ... most of them went crazy or committed suicide (Berryman jumped into the Mississippi) but after reading a lot on that era, I think most of them went insane because of the times, not because they were poets. Rimbaud was the one who got me interested in poetry in the first place, but that's not remarkable - he does that to everyone.

Any filmmakers?

Guy Maddin's one I've just discovered that I really like. Emir Kusturica, especially "Time of the Gypsies." Fellini, of course. Jan Svankmejer really grosses me out, but I still like his movies. And the silly guys, Mel Brooks and that whole crew of '70s madcap guys. Robert Altman. No surprises, I guess? I'll watch just about anything. I'm trying to remember the last film I walked out of, there have been two or three. The only one I can remember really hating was "High Art," but I don't remember who made that one, but I thought it was a real barker. It had Ally Sheedy in it, and she dies from smoking heroin or something.

What was the last really good film that you saw?

This will sound funny, but it was Guy Maddin's "Heart of the World," but it's a short - and I saw it on YouTube!

You did a short called Chloe's Blanket. Where was it filmed?

In Salt Lake. It was made by Lory Smith, who's since moved to NYC to become an artist. Lory was one of the people who helped organize Sundance when it was little bitty - he wrote a book about it called "Party in a Box." I am lucky enough to have a few of Lory's paintings - he gave me one as payment for acting in "Chloe's Blanket," and I would've rather had one of his pieces than money. I don't have enough wall to hang it on right now, but when I move to a larger house part of what I am going to look for is a wall for it ...

Who did you work with on it?

Alex Caldiero, who played my dad in Plan 10. He plays a lawyer, my boss. Saundra Saperstein, who was involved somehow with the Utah Film Commission - she plays a grouchy lady lawyer. And Gyll Huff, who played Porter Rockwell in Plan 10, plays Joe the gay mailman, who poor Chloe has a raging crush on. Lory and his wife and two daughters were in the film too, for flashback scenes of young Chloe.

I have never seen it. Is it available anywhere?

I think the only person who'd have copies is Lory - you can find him at http://www.lorysmith.com/home.html .

Are you anything like the character of Lucinda in that film?

That's a funny thought, actually - people have told me that I am nothing like Lucinda. I'm probably just as hysterical and clumsy and prone to embracing conspiracy theories, but I've never spied on any neighbors dancing in their underwear, I am proud to say.

It must have been cool to be in a movie with Karen Black. She also appears in Rubin and Ed.

She adores Trent (which is easy to do!) She sings a lot, Trent wrote in that Mormon hymn bit in Plan 10 so that she could sing. He also pointed out to me that she knew just how to tilt her head to make her eyes twinkle on camera, which impressed me a great deal. The thing about Karen that I really admire is that she is so immediate and uninhibited (which is why she's a good actor, natch). We went out for Mexican food after shooting those scenes in Gilgal (with the Joseph Smith sphinx) and she and her little daughter got up in the middle of the restaurant to do the "butt dance," which is basically just waggling your butt back and forth, not much to it. But I think I'd be way too inhibited to do that. Of course, this lack of inhibition grates on some people, but I found it totally charming.

You have quite a body of work online from the late nineties. I printed up all of your articles from PIF and am in the process of reviewing them for this interview. [Forgive me for not having gotten through them all prior to writing]. Where do you publish most of your current work?

Oh, gosh, don't apologize for not having read them all ... I'm glad Pif is still around. The funny thing is that when I wrote those for Richard Luck (Pif's founder) he was living in Hawaii. I had no idea he'd ever lived in Salt Lake - I sent in some piece of writing to him, totally blind, and it turns out that he was friends with the guy I was dating at the time. Anyway, I was working for CitySearch as an editor, which was fun, but it didn't give me much of an outlet for weird little essays. I wrote them for $10 a pop or something, but it was mainly because I needed a creative outlet that was purely just creative vs. service journalism. Right now, I'm working at St. Louis Magazine, which does require some writing of service journalism, but it's balanced out by creative writing, and I get to edit the arts section, so I am happy. And then I do stuff for 52nd City. The last piece was called "The Pepperoni," and it was the true story of a woman who saved a scab for 20 years - she still has it, or at least a friend of hers has it - which is really disgusting I guess, but I thought it was fascinating - you know, why someone would do something like that.

You have a very fresh voice in your writing. Where does this come from?

Gosh, thank you. That's a huge compliment. Who knows if everyone feels this way, I feel like I am always battling this hackneyed voice in my head, trying to rewrite all the clichés out of my sentences and look at things as they really are ... which gets harder and harder the more you live in the world. It's so easy to slip into certain turns of phrase or fall back on ways of writing a sentence that feel easy & comfortable. Sometimes when I flip back through old issues of St. Louis Magazine it sets my teeth on edge, because these awful little tics and sentences that are accurate but sound like lies because of the cheesy construction or choice of words. If indeed what you say is true it's probably only the result of being horrified about how embarrassing it would be to see my name attached to the kind drivel that is published in a some mainstream women's magazines, though I would like to blame it on having an altered brain chemistry resulting from my parents' use of psychedelics before I was born.

I wanted to study English and Art at University but ended up being a Psychology major instead due to cowardice. Did you enjoy your college experience in the field I was too big of a coward to pursue?

I'm glad you are doing this site. It makes me sad to see creative people cut off from what makes them happy. Sorry to answer a question with a question - are you doing other art/writing stuff? You totally should, it is clear from this site that you are good at it. I wouldn't call what you did cowardice at all - I think there is a lot of art that gets made outside of academia that is far better than what you find *inside* the ivory tower. My college experience was a little ridiculous - I started out in linguistics because the University of Utah's English program was so theory-heavy, and I hated it. I failed miserably at linguistics (Oscar A. Phonetics still haunts my nightmares). Then I went into the actor's training program, but dropped out of that after finding out how many of the women in that program were either anorexic or bulimic ... and ended up in the good ol' English program, which was okay. So it took me forever to get through school, but I don't regret it.

A very close childhood friend of mine went to art school and I would sometimes visit him. He complained about it a lot and his stories seemed quite similar to the Dan Clowes' film Art School Confidential.

Ah, yes! Some of my pals who went to art school went blue in the face laughing at that movie. It kinda hearkens back to my beef with literary theorists, who do have their place - but these dopey hour-long arguments about what Levi-Strauss meant by this vs. this, arrgh - it seemed like such a huge waste of time. Would've been a lot more constructive to teach us about scansion or syllabics, tools you can actually use when constructing a poem. Art school is a little better than that because you have these objects - paintbrush, pencil, etc. - that you actually have to navigate in space, so you have to acquire some kind of practical skills. Really, at one time painting was considered more of a trade than a "career." That's the one thing I really love about journalism - it's more of a trade, and the pretense just goes way down when compared to poetry. St. Louis is salty & pragmatic enough to have salty, cranky, pragmatic poets, but there were some characters in the English program that drove me crazy, flitting around in their bolo ties and peasant skirts ...

Do you plan on appearing in any films again?

We'll see how Aunt Sadness pans out! And Poetry Scores is going to work on a film next year - the soundtrack is based off a poem I did a long while ago, "Go South for Animal Index" - about the atom bomb. But we haven't even scripted that yet, let alone finished the score.

If you could work with one filmmaker who would it be?

Holy cow. That's a good question ... I think Mike Leigh, the guy who did "Naked" & "Topsy Turvy" - he does a lot of improvisation with actors. And David Lynch. Maybe Mel Brooks? I wish I could say Robert Altman, who seemed to really respect & take care of his actors, even though he put them through their paces.

In an earlier email you stated that you cut out the angels for that storyboard at the beginning of Plan 10. I imagine that the film had a very tight knit family feel to it during the creation process – it is sort of reflected in it.

Yes, you're exactly right - everyone did everything, because we had to. I think if I ever ended up on a real movie set I wouldn't know what to do, I would have a compulsive need to help the grips wind up their wires or serve coffee to everyone.

Did you get a chance to meet Fred Myrow? He also composed the music for Rubin and Ed and the Phantasm films.

You know, I never did, he did all of that scoring work in Los Angeles - Trent really loves him, and that music can get me choked up immediately. It's definitely spacey, but has a kind of innocent music-box quality to it that I always loved. And of course the soundtrack for Rubin & Ed was tops too - I'll have to go look for the Phantasm films, which I haven't seen...

When I was a child I used to stare at this diffuse white backlit light panel on the stove that had a MagicChef logo on it. I used to stare at it repeatedly. I used to love turning that light on and letting that little MagicChef burn into my retina. My parents replaced the oven a few years later even though I begged them to keep that panel. I now spend an inordinate amount of time searching for vintage MagicChef stoves that I might be able to liberate one of the light panels from. What was your childhood like? Do you have any fond or eccentric memories?

I love this story about the Magic Chef stove. I will let you know if I can scavenge some nice part of a Magic Chef stove here, like I mentioned they are everywhere here, because it was their world headquarters (O, St. Louis, how the might have fallen!) I know about a half-dozen people who still use vintage Magic Chefs - apparently they are like the Cadillac of stoves. Anyway, as usual, I digress ...

Too many weird childhood memories to recount! I had a very improvised, crazy childhood - my parents are very eccentric loveable characters who were always keeping things tied together with twine and band-aids. Your Magic Chef story reminded me of my father's roll-top desk, an heirloom handed down to him from his dad (who died before I was born). It was pushed up against a wall in his office, and there was a panel on the back that, when I crawled under the desk, looked like a tiny door. My mom read "Alice in Wonderland" to me every night (I made her do it) so I was obsessed with tiny doors that would lead to some kind of magical otherworld. I was convinced, as a very little kid, that this was one of those doors, and that if I could just get to the other side of it there would be some kind of skeewampus upside-down backwards world there, like Wonderland. So I was always under his desk, tapping at the edges, gouging that wooden panel with scissors (my parents are going to kill me if they ever read this) jiggling it, trying to get it open. It didn't help that my childhood soundtrack was comprised of an endless stream of psychedelic records that my parents still played long after their release - Sgt. Pepper & whatnot - which just reinforced this belief that there was some threshold to the other side that I could find it and cross over. It wasn't like I wanted to stay there forever, but I wanted to see it first-hand. When they finally moved the desk elsewhere, I was in 3rd or 4th grade but still watched them do it because I had to confirm to myself that there was nothing there. It was horrible when emotionally I had to admit to myself that it was just a story I'd made up in my own mind. But I think that everything I've done since then has been another way to try and suss out some kind of alternate reality, some way of trying to find a way to crawl through a tiny, magical door to find an alternative to mundane reality.

You seem to gravitate towards stories that are outside the realm of everyday journalism. How do you find your subjects?

Gosh, I wish I had a better answer to this, because I might find a larger pool of interesting people to write about ... in Salt Lake, it was a little easier, because I knew everyone, and they'd say, "You really need to talk to so-and-so ... " Here, I have to keep my ear to the ground, and eventually stuff pops up. Sometimes people find me. I still find stories though the "you have to talk to so-and-so" method.

Poetry Scores sounds very cool. Do you get any grants to work on your projects or is it all a labor of love?

We're working on our 501(c) 3 status right now - and once that goes through, we'll be applying for grants like crazy! We are all doing it as a labor of love anyway - we do have fundraisers now, in fact there's one coming up this weekend, a screening of our first footage from "Blind Cat Black," followed by The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, with a live soundtrack by a local experimental band, SHed SHot. Right now, we end up funneling a lot of our own money into projects, and once we are able to apply for grants, it may be the same. But we do it because we love it, so I don't care if I never see a dime out of this. I'd do it anyway, paid or unpaid.

On one of your bio pages it stated that you played in a band - what instrument do you play?

Tambourim - a little Brazilian drum. I played with a samba band called Joia - they do the Mardi Gras parade here every year. If you've ever seen footage of the lovely Carnival parades in Rio, with the big groups of percussionists, that's exactly how Joia plays. They started out as a group of sambistas & then expanded that to include other music in the Afro-Cuban tradition, but it's all drums and all acoustic, usually outside - playing those big Brazilian drums indoors could blow your windows out. They have a new practice space, but we used to rehearse in an old carpet factory and you could feel the floors vibrating when everyone was drumming. I do want to state for the record that it was NOTHING like a drum circle - quite the opposite. More like a symphony. You had a very specific part that you played, and it came at a very specific point in the song. I just picked up a snare drum, which I haven't had much time to fool around with, and even though I type a lot (being a good drummer is all about having well-defined lower arm musculature) I don't have the drumming chops I used to ... there's exercises you do to build up your arms, so that you can play very quickly and precisely. And I'm sure my tambourim chops have all gone to hell!

I listened to Radioactive Cat Radio over the weekend. I really liked it. I like the way you read your poetry, your voice has a very interesting quality to it. Hard to describe - kind of innocent, kind of mischievous. When did you begin to write poetry?

My older sister worked for her high school literary magazine in high school, and because I thought she was the coolest person in the world, I started to write poetry to be like her (I was about 12 or 13). It was really awful stuff. My mom saved it, I'm sure, I'll have to look for it the next time I'm home so I can burn it up in an oil drum or something. I was lucky, though - I had the best creative writing teacher in the state when I finally made it to high school, a woman named Barbara Woll (now Murdoch) who taught us creative writing on the college level - she actually taught us poetic form, and got it through our heads that a poem is not just chopped-up prose, and it's not just whining about how sad you feel, etc. - she exposed us to the Imagists, to Shakespeare, all the good stuff. She made us keep journals, made us workshop our poems and stories and really put us through the ringer. I have her to thank that I ever learned anything about poetry at all. I'm glad you are doing this site. It makes me sad to see creative people cut off from what makes them happy. Sorry to answer a question with a question - are you doing other art/writing stuff?

I've been writing, recording, doing video and illustration since 1991. None of it has ever been published outside of my website. I have started three novels. Two of which are close to completion but were started ten years ago! [It takes me awhile but when I write I write a lot]. I met an agent at a writer's workshop and she was really nice but she sent back my story without commenting on it after she promised me that she would comment on it. I have sent in two other short stories over the last ten years but they were rejected. In 1991 a friend and I recorded some music for a short film we did for a video contest. Last year I decided to post it on download.com and people actually downloaded it. No huge numbers but enough to inspire me to start my Plaza of the Mind as a way to get something out into the universe rather than keeping it all locked away in my basement office.

I'm glad you let it free & unlocked the basement door - I think your site is pretty brilliant. As for agents, they all have their own tastes, so I wouldn't give that any consideration as far as the merit of your work. Ditto with literary mag publishers, in the last few years especially it seems like less and less comes off the slush pile and that people just publish the work of their friends and acquaintances, though that's not always true. I think it's a numbers game - blanketing magazines with submissions until you find the editor/agent with the right sensibility seems to be the approach that works with lit mags. Though that's the old world. I think the future's headed more in the direction of what you're doing, where the cultural gatekeepers will have to listen to what real people say, vs. prescribing works of art from the top down.

I graduated college ten years ago and now have a pretty decent career as a mental health therapist at the local psychiatric unit. I really do enjoy my work yet I know that deep down I need to pursue my artistic side in order to feel whole. I have never stopped creating and I hope that I never will. The dream, of course, would be to make a living doing what I love but for now my life is pretty good [though I work a bit too much]. I am really happy about the Plaza of the Mind and I think that it is a step in the right direction. Thank you so much for your words of encouragement. You don't know how much they mean to me.

My mother drilled Flower the Skunk's little aphorism - "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say nothing at all" - into my head, so I would've kept my mouth shut if I didn't think you were up to something interesting ... You should be really happy about Plaza of the Mind, it's rare to find something as complex and interesting as what you're doing; as for making a living at it, I think that just takes great perseverance ...

What is your favorite style of architecture?

The stuff that came between the fussy Victorian style and the coldness of the Modernist style - which I guess you'd call Art Deco/Art Moderne. It was inspired by Nature, like a lot of the Victorian architecture, but I find Le Corbusier and his idea of building as machine absolutely abhorrent; I think you need the softness of those natural lines, and SOME ornament. Art Deco & Art Moderne buildings are clean and streamlined, but there is still that decorative element. There's lots of it here in St. Louis, though sadly many of those buildings were razed to make way for parking lots. One of my favorite buildings here is the Wainwright Building, designed by Louis Sullivan, who is the perfect example of that in-between style. Isidore Shank's another great architect from St. Louis; there's a very peculiar building he designed here, which looks a lot like some of Frank Lloyd Wright's early stuff but has a touch of the Victorian to it still.

Did you do the cover of your CD?

Yes - there wasn't anyone else to do it! Pretty ham-fisted, it's true, but I kinda liked it.

Do you do any visual art?

My mom almost became a painter, but got a bad grade in an art class; she was so upset about it she decided to become a social worker instead. My aunt is a novelist but also a brilliant painter. My older sister (the would-be poet) is a photographer & jewelry maker. And my little sister Melanie is a brilliant artist, and is working her way towards doing it as a living. I did two pieces last year on antique windowpanes I found while alley-surfing (you'd be shocked at what people throw out of old houses here as trash - Antiques Roadshow should do a scavenger edition in St. Louis). One was a comic strip based on my friend Aaron Belz's poem, the other was for a Hoobellatoo (now Poetry Scores) art auction, based on a line from "Blind Cat Black." Someone actually bought it and hung it in their kitchen, and I was glad, because I don't have anywhere to hang it, I was afraid I'd have to take the thing home and figure out what to do with it! I have a few others I'm planning to work on, more scavenged window panes, with one image on the glass and then drawings on vellum behind so that you get a two-layered effect, and some depth to the image.

I just read your article concerning the deseret alphabet and was wondering if you have seen either of the Work and the Glory films or the Book of Mormon movie. I have recently discovered that there is a huge Mormon film selection. Did you ever get any grief concerning Plan 10 from LDS?

I've seen that crazy Imax movie they show at the Joseph Smith Center in downtown Salt Lake - the cinematography was beautiful, but I've seen photos of pioneers - Joseph Smith himself was a bit of a looker, but the rest of them looked a lot like Harry Dean Stanton on a bad day, especially the ladies. There's actually a huge underground where Mormon film is concerned. A few years ago, my friend Sam Cannon & a buddy of his screened some rather hilarious didactic films made by BYU back in the '70s & did a "Mystery Science Theater" treatment of them. The two I remember were "Johnny Lingo" (a must-see if you can get your hands on it ... you can now buy t-shirts in Utah that say "I am an 8-cow woman") & another called "Blind Love." The guy who made them was named Reed Smoot. He's worked on a number of big budget Hollywood films since. There's another called Saturday's Warrior that I am rather fond of, because it's so earnest. I think it started out as a stage play - it's a musical. Salt Lake Acting Company does a satire of it every year (or at least they used to) called "Saturday's Voyeur" that lampoons all of the big Utah stories from the past year. If they're still doing it, I'm sure Mitt Romney will get raked over the coals. Anyhow - I have to find a way to get my hands on those two films you mentioned, I'm a fan of the Mormon genre. One thing I will say is that every LDS film I've seen is absolutely superlative in terms of execution - cinematography, editing, etc. That ol' Mormon perfectionism thing.

As far as grief - only once. I was crossing the street near the Temple one day when a guy on a mountain bike rode up and started reading me the riot act, how the whole dance scene contained Temple ritual and that it was blasphemous & I should be horribly ashamed of myself, and I was probably heading for outer darkness etc. Of course, I was raised in a secular humanist household, so I had no idea. I just stood there on the street, totally bewildered, and let the guy yell until he tired himself out and sped off. Actually what I got more than yelling was folks who'd split from the church and swore to me that they had been harassed by modern-day Danites, which I found ... well, profoundly creepy.

What is your favorite part of your job?

Oh, gosh. That's easy. Traveling outside the office to go talk to people, turning on the tape recorder and listening to their stories. Tomorrow I'm talking to an artist named Max Key (I love that name). I have no idea what his story is, but I can't wait to find out. I just finished writing up a story on an artist named Edward Boccia, who's 85 and still painting every day. A curator would classify him as an Expressionist, but I think a more accurate label would be mystic. But he's a very funny mystic. I talked to him for three hours - we just sat there in his studio and drank coffee, and he told me about serving in World War II with Bill Blass the fashion designer (before he was famous). His platoon was made up entirely of art-school kids from Pratt Institute and other art schools in New York City, so they were all sketching and he said Blass had a little tiny sketchbook where he was drawing women's shoes and skirts and the like, and the rest of the guys were scratching their heads over it, but that Bill was such a nice guy, they just let him be. Anyway, I feel like listening to people's stories is a privilege and I feel lucky to be able to do it for a living.

Have you written any fiction or do you concentrate mostly on non-fiction and poetry?

I have written fiction - mostly short stories. I think I might lose my mind if I tried to write an entire novel. This may sound weird, but when I write stories I get so sucked into it, it puts me in this weird headspace where I have a hard time discerning between the story and reality - it takes over my life. It scares me a bit, to be honest. Nonfiction you're sticking to facts, so I don't get swallowed up because it's all about reality. Poetry is so short that I can just get in and out, and it comes up directly from my unconscious, so I can sort it out from real life. Because fiction is a blend of the two it's really hard for me to swim though it and feel sane. Maybe it's like that for everyone?

As for your images, do you post them anywhere on line or have you ever had a showing?

I haven't ever posted them online because I'm such a Luddite I've never invested in a digital camera. I've had two showings, I guess - one last August, with my friend Jess Dewes, who's a photographer. She made portraits of St. Louis artists, then I wrote a poem based on the photograph, then the artist made a piece of visual art based on the poem. One of the artists, though, was another poet - my friend Aaron Belz, who was in the midst of writing up his dissertation & didn't have time to make a piece of art. He gave me a poem, and I painted it. It was on an antique window pane I found while alley-surfing. There were 6 panels of glass, so I turned it into a comic strip - one of the other artists, Carmelita Nunez, took it home with her & hung it in her kitchen (I was so proud .. & relieved, I didn't know what I was going to do with it if I had to take it back home with me). The other piece was for a Hoobellatoo fundraiser, and was based on a line of poetry (see any themes here?!) from Blind Cat Black. I have a whole shed full of scavenged window panes, so I used another one. This time I used vellum (since it's semi-transparent) and did a watercolor on it, then attached it to the window and painted on the glass, just to give it some depth. I was lucky that time too, another artist took it home, Andy Tolch (who is a card-carrying Surrealist). And he hung it in his kitchen. Both shows were at Mad Art Gallery, in the brewery district here (right under the shadow of Anheuser-Busch). It cracks me up that these things end up in kitchens. I was flattered that someone wanted to actually take them home & hang them in their house ... & relieved I didn't have to take them home. Honestly, they probably both would have ended up in my basement. So I'm glad they made someone else happy. I have another round of paintings bubbling up from my unconscious, I don't really know what I'll do with them, but the whole process of making a piece of art I find very sustaining - there are no words involved, so that pure conversation with the unconscious seems to happen much more easily. I have a fuzzy idea of what the image is going to look like before I start, but by the time I'm done I'm totally surprised. I think because it doesn't involve language or the left-brain. Anyway, if they end up in someone else's kitchen, that would be nice, but only because I don't need more stuff taking up room in my basement ... I didn't go to art school, and I don't have proper training, so I would never call myself anything other than a Sunday painter - an amateur - but I still like to do it.

Media seems to be getting more and more decentralized - how do you feel about the fact that everyone has the ability to express their opinions now - for better or worse?

Personally, I am really happy about it - the political bloggers here in St. Louis have really given the powers that be a run for their money, & that's really saying something, because St. Louis is at least as bad as Chicago or New Orleans when it comes to corruption and back-door deals. Artistically I think it's great too - the Arcade Fire ending up on the Billboard Charts just being one example. I can't wait to see what happens next ...

Project:: Brittany

2010-06-03T01:53:00.000-07:00

Guestron

One wonders about Simon, the widower of Brittany Murphy, due to the image of Brittany in white and he in black standing watchfully behind. 9:52 PM May 20th via UberTwitter

Guestron

Simon Monjack wrote 2 films: 'Factory Girl' & '2 Days 9 Lives'. Both should be viewed in order to gain insight into Brittany's death. 10:17 PM May 21st via UberTwitter

Guestron

Kafka never wandered about Prague with a Big Gulp in hand. Would this be true had he been born during the latter half of the century? 10:29 PM May 21st via UberTwitter

Guestron

I will have to speak to Bob in depth on our Monday show. She may not have died. She may have simply rift rode. 11:20 PM May 21st via UberTwitter

Guestron

Sitting in the airport lounge waiting for my flight to Hollywood to speak to Simon. I look up from my drink and find that be has just died. 11:15 AM May 24th via UberTwitter

Guestron

Final boarding call. I am sitting in row 27 Seat C. I hate the window seat. I should be in my rental car heading towards the estate in four. 12:04 PM May 24th via UberTwitter

Guestron

Just left JFK international in a Chevrolet Cobalt and am heading for my hotel, a Radisson about fifteen miles away from the Hollywood hills. 5:26 PM May 24th via web

Guestron

I hit the mini-bar pretty hard while watching 'Across the Hall'. It was a solid noir picture but then it began to mirror future events. 12:19 AM May 25th via web

Guestron

Only 0130 yet I still feel tired from the flight. I plan on waking early, eating a free breakfast and going to the Murphy-Monjack estate. 1:37 AM May 25th via web

Guestron

Threw on my beige corduroy blazer with leather elbow patches and hit the omelet bar down in the Lindberg room. Next stop Hollywood. 9:25 AM May 25th via UberTwitter

Guestron

Heading down Sunset Boulevard. Still rather perturbed that the omelet bar had a dish called an egg scramble rather than scrambled eggs. 11:06 AM May 25th via UberTwitter

Guestron

Just eye-ballled the estate. Sealed up tighter than Fort Knox. Gonna have to park down the street a ways and make my way back. 11:10 AM May 25th via UberTwitter

Guestron

Couldn't even get close but met some guy named Edgar. Stinks of paparazzi. I have him 75 bucks. Said he'd show me something interesting. 11:19 AM May 25th via UberTwitter

Guestron

Edgar gave me the number of a paparazzi named Sin-dee. She supposedly has a secret way into the estate. Is a female paparazzi a paparazza? 2:21 PM May 25th via web

Guestron

Just left a message on Sin-Dee's phone. Strange message: Sounded like clips of the Dick Van Dyke show playing in the background. 2:22 PM May 25th via web

Guestron

Forgot to mention, Bob's wasn't half bad. Wasn't very hungry so stuck with coffee and rhubarb pie. Better than that 'egg scramble'. 2:23 PM May 25th via web

Guestron

Sin-Dee showed me the spot. But there were paparazzi all around. Gonna try again tomorrow night. HDTV looks more and more like a window. 11:37 PM May 25th via UberTwitter

Guestron

This is strange. 'The Ramen Girl' is on VOD. I can't seem to escape her. Simon said 'she was too beautiful to touch at 17' so he waited. 11:52 PM May 25th via UberTwitter

Guestron

Listening to Brittany's single 'Somebody to Love'. Eating more 'Egg Scramble'. Next stop: Edgar gave me the name of the coroner. 10:02 AM May 26th via web

Guestron

Let's just say that the coroner was no Quincy. But his assistant, who wants to be called Lite Throat had a few morsels. 11:36 AM May 26th via UberTwitter

Guestron

Lite Throat just dropped a bombshell. I am kind of freaked out and have locked myself in my hotel room. Turned the TV off: Clueless was on. 4:24 PM May 26th via UberTwitter

Guestron

Been staring out window at the California sky. All the cars. All the danger. Still gonna meet with Sin-Dee tonight though. Time is fleeting. 6:40 PM May 26th via UberTwitter

Guestron

PotM Internet Talk Show Ep 6001 - with Nancye Ferguson

2010-05-23T02:16:00.000-07:00

The Plaza of the Mind is pleased to welcome special guest Nancye Ferguson to the PotM Internet Talk Show! Ms. Ferguson is an actor, recording artist and film maker that has been one of my personal favorites for years. She has appeared in the David Lynch series On the Air, as well as the films Spirit of '76 and Glass, Necktie. She was also the lead singer of the cult band Visiting Kids. She will be discussing her latest project, a documentary about artist Robert Williams that she produced and co-directed.

Episode 3001 - Conversations with Bob Dobbs

2010-05-17T14:52:00.000-07:00

Me and Bob Dobbs on the Episode 3001 show.
(646) 378-1758.

Twitter

2010-05-15T23:56:00.001-07:00

I have been an avid video game player since video games were invented. I have probably played games in one form or another at least four to five days a week almost all of my life. Lately I have been spending a lot of time playing handhelds and I realized that this was just a bit too much. I have decided, therefore, to limit my gaming to my home systems and that I would replace the hand held gaming on the go with Twitter.

I am not especially fond of Twitter and have found the limited amount of tweets that I have been exposed to to be tiresome at best. However, I did appreciate the 140 character limit imposition of the medium and thought that the time that I usually spend playing hand held video games may be better spent in honing my sentences. I have therefore begun a Twitter account and invite anyone that may be interested to follow it.

You can do so here.

I am unsure of how you can follow a person, my suggestion would be a daily or weekly digest of tweets [if such a thing is possible] as many of my tweets have ongoing themes. I will probably be posting them on a weekly basis here at the Plaza of the Mind as well if you don't care to bother with the whole Twitter community.

This is kind of an experimental exercise for me and I am actually quite happy with my first day of tweets:

Guestron

I was born in a city teeming with the Brutalist style of architecture. I loved it while many of my peers did not. This is the separation.

Guestron

There was a time when a man could run a gas station or soda fountain and feel proud, it is lamentable that the climate has changed.

Guestron

The culture could be well served by a bit more sturm und drang, pride in one's occupation and a removal of advertisement.

Guestron

I am quite taken by the iron hand worn by Gotz von Berlichingen, a 16th century Reichsritter, upon whose life Goethe wrote a play.

Guestron

Cataloging every ephemeral thought in preparation for eventual transfer into a body made of stainless steel and carbon fiber.

Guestron

I prefer flooring to be of an earth tone as well as walls and ceiling. I do not so much care for plain white.

Guestron

Thinking about the walk through the large new tunnel at work. There are seats in the middle of it for those who get tired.

Text Only?

2010-04-14T02:10:00.001-07:00

It all seems to be coming together. I have spent the last few weeks laboring about my office in an attempt at total order. Everything will have it's place. The music goes with the music, the video goes with the video, the images go with the images and the text goes with the text. I am in the process of finally putting together the internet entity known as the Plaza of the Mind. When this goes 'live' this blogspot location will most likely fall away. It already has fallen away over the past year or so, as I have tried my hand at different endeavors. It might not though. I don't care for Twitter and it's limitation on the number of characters I can use. I do like the blogspot format. So who knows? Maybe it will be my ephemeral clearing house in the months to come or maybe even a sort of news source for the actual Plaza of the Mind.

More to come...

PotM Internet Talk Show Ep 3001e - with Bob Dobbs

2010-03-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

Please join me for the more of the Kurt Weller/Bob Dobbs 'Endless Interview'. Mr. Dobbs has been described as a media ecologist, the greatest artist alive as well as the only man alive.

You can listen to the stream [and subsequent download] here:

PotM Internet Talk Show - Episode 3001e - with special guest Bob Dobbs

In the meanwhile you can check out some of Mr. Dobb's works here:

Dobbstown

[1991] The Tunnel

2010-03-19T13:36:00.001-07:00

The Tunnel from naked GENIUS Productions on Vimeo.

In the summer of 1991, shortly after Greg and I had completed our first piece A, John and I shot footage in and around an abandoned railroad tunnel near Jim Crazy's house. Neither of us had a specific plan for what the piece was to be about. John was wearing white and I was wearing green and black, I think that the only thing I was wearing as part of a 'costume' were the glasses. When we got back to my folk's house we decided to watch the video, one of us thought it would be cool to have some classical music to fit the images so I threw the only classical record I had on the platter. The film synced up to the music in such an uncanny manner that the footage itself seemed instantly bonded to it. For me, and I trust John as well, we would never be able to separate the two again.

A plot can be sort of gleaned from the piece if one wants to do so. One could say that I play Mars while John plays Venus. The piece begins with war and ends with war with a respite of peace in between. Of course, in the end, the tunnel is the only thing that seems to last; and this seems to be the image that we wanted to celebrate.

-Kurt Weller

+Note concerning the new
naked Genius Productions feat. Greg Lester vimeo channel.+

All of the pieces on the vimeo channel have been remastered and re-edited in the manner that they were originally intended to be seen. The limitations in budget and equipment when the pieces were originally shot were quite high so they have been in a basically Work In Process state for the last several years. It hasn't been until now that we are able to present them in the way that we originally wanted them to be seen. So if you are one of the few who have seen them before you might want to give them a second glance. Thanks to all who have been with us over the last twenty years for their support!

PotM Ideologue Series Ep 3001d - with Bob Dobbs

2010-03-14T23:46:00.000-07:00

Please join me for the much anticipated continuation of the Kurt Weller/Bob Dobbs 'Endless Interview'. Mr. Dobbs has been described as a media ecologist, the greatest artist alive as well as the only man alive.

You can listen to the stream [and subsequent download] here:

PotM Ideologue Series - Episode 3001d - with special guest Bob Dobbs

In the meanwhile you can check out some of Mr. Dobb's works here:

Dobbstown

'Your Treat Apparel'

2010-03-12T21:04:00.000-08:00

I am just getting started with my new shop but this is long-time dream of mine and I have finally found a printer that I feel produces high quality, eco-friendly items. Your Treat Apparel will feature graphic blandishments by Kurt Weller, covering all sorts of exciting topics ranging from the avant garde to the new age to the grotesque.
Stay tuned for more details.

Your Treat Apparel

You can check out the shop at the link above. Be warned, it is still a work in progress!

naked GENIUS Productions feat. Greg Lester

2010-03-11T13:26:00.001-08:00

naked GENIUS Productions feat. Greg Lester

Farewell to the Outer Channel Internet Talk Show, Greetings to the Greg Lester Kurt Weller Monthly Internet Variety Show!

2010-02-26T13:13:00.000-08:00

I'd like to take the time to thank all who listened and participated with The Outer Channel Internet Talk Show for the past year. After much deliberation, Greg Lester and I decided that a format change was in order. We studied old episodes of the show and really learned a lot about what makes for interesting Internet Talk. We also listened to the feedback of the listeners and they had said what we had pretty much realized towards the end; the minutiae centered talk can be somewhat entertaining but it was the audio dramas and comedies, the music and the guests that made for our most intriguing listening.

We had planned on celebrating the first year anniversary with a clip show but decided that it would be better to let some time pass so that we can really cultivate some of our greatest moments into one blockbuster audio program. This special program will occur some time in the future. In the meantime feel free to peruse the complete collection of The Outer Channel Internet Talk Show over at BlogTalkRadio.

Culpa

2010-01-29T13:48:00.000-08:00

The New Age Ruin

2009-07-12T02:55:00.000-07:00

20th Century Boy performed by Kurt Weller in the style of T.Rex

2009-06-21T01:37:00.001-07:00

20th Century Boy

performed by

Kurt Weller

in the style of
[with appropriate liberties taken]

T.Rex

Premieres July 5th

at the

Outer Channel Internet Talk Show

The Plaza of the Mind Ideologue Series Episode 4001

2009-06-14T11:45:00.000-07:00

Please join me for the forth episode of the Plaza of the Mind Ideologue Series, Episode 4001 featuring special guest Jamil Nasir. Mr. Nasir is the highly talented author behind the books Distance Haze, The Higher Space and Houses of Time.

You can listen to the stream [and subsequent download] here:

PotM Ideologue Series - Episode 4001 - with special guest Jamil Nasir

'Please (Taze Me)' Live

2009-06-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

Here is my performance at the Pub at the End of the Universe from last night. There are a couple of flubs, gaffs and fubars but all in all I am quite happy with my first try at performing original material live.

Special thanks go to John Kaczanowski for capturing the moment along with the judges and the two other gentleman I competed against as well as all of my buds that showed up to .

Kurt Weller takes Second Place at the Pub at the End of the Universe Annual Songwriting Contest!

2009-06-11T01:01:00.001-07:00

Kurt Weller at the Pub at the End of the Universe! Tonight

2009-06-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

Mr. Weller will be appearing live at the Pub at the End of the Universe Annual Songwriting Contest, This year's theme is 'Police Brutality'. Mr. Weller will be performing his new song 'Please (Taze Me)'.

Kurt has been hard at work all weekend creating a melodic line...

Pairing the line with medium tempo House beats...

Writing, editing, re-writing and re-editing lyrics into Hit material...

Rehearsing, rehearsing and rehearsing until, as Greg Lester told him, 'You'll never want to hear that song again'...

Please (Taze Me)

Put your Jack Boot
Up my Jack Ass
You know I've got it coming

Slap your Night Stick
Across my white ass
I should have seen it coming

Two shots to the chest
and one to the head
if I get back up
repeat the process again

Don't Taze me bro
you won't hear me say
the time for whining
was yesterday

Please Taze me Dad
is what I said
I finally got it through
my foolish head
finally got it through
my foolish head

Rip the picket sign
from my pansy hand
All I'm doin's
whinin'

Knock me down
to the cold hard ground
I'll only start
crying

Two shots to the chest
and one to the head
if I get back up
repeat the process again

Don't Taze me bro
you won't hear me say
the time for whining
was yesterday

Please Taze me Dad
is what I said
I finally got it through
my foolish head
finally got it through
my foolish head

Please taze me
please taze me
please taze me
please taze me
Dad...

The Plaza of the Mind Ideologue Series Episode 3001a

2009-05-25T16:13:00.000-07:00

Please join me for the third episode of the Plaza of the Mind Ideologue Series, Episode 3001 featuring special guest Bob Dobbs. Mr. Dobbs has been described as a media ecologist, the greatest artist alive as well as the only man alive. Tonight we are going to discuss the recently compiled timeline that catalogs all of Mr. Dobb's works. We are also going to begin an audio commentary of The Real Deal interview that was published here at the Plaza a couple of years ago.

You can listen to the stream [and subsequent download] here:

PotM Ideologue Series - Episode 3001 - with special guest Bob Dobbs

In the meanwhile you can check out some of Mr. Dobb's works here:

Dobbstown

The Plaza of the Mind Ideologue Series Episode 2001

2009-05-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

Please join me for the second episode of the Plaza of the Mind Ideologue Series, Episode 2001 featuring special guest Greg Lester. Mr. Lester is an author, musician and co-host of the Outer Channel Radio Show. Tonight we are going to do readings from and discuss our past, present and future literary works.

You can listen to the stream [and subsequent download] here:

PotM Ideologue Series - Episode 2001 - with special guest Greg Lester

In the meanwhile you can check out some of Mr. Lester's works here:

Self-Aggrandizer (Formerly Pure Agony)

And for anyone who listened to the show, here is that Ambulating Paper-Craft Toy I created for Greg's birthday a couple of years back:

The Plaza of the Mind Ideologue Series Episode 1001

2009-05-04T00:18:00.000-07:00

Please join me for the premiere episode of the Plaza of the Mind Ideologue Series Episode 1001 featuring special guest Tim Kavi. Mr. Kavi is a philosopher, writer, poet and inventor who is remarkably down to earth. I feel that there are several commonalities between Mr. Kavi and my own sensibilities and trust that this will be a conversation worth hearing and a great way of introducing the new show.

You can listen to the stream [and subsequent download] here:

PotM Ideologue Series - Episode 1001 - with special guest Tim Kavi

In the meanwhile you can check out some of Mr. Kavi's works here:

On the Narrow[er] Ridge

Experiments in Melancholia at the Area Grocer

2009-03-30T12:56:00.000-07:00

I find myself spending more and more time at the cafeteria seating...

that has been springing up around many of the area grocers....

there is something lonely about this activity, though I am unsure if
the loneliness is inherent or...

if it calls back memories of Department store cafeteria dining with my grandmother when I was a child and the way that sadness seems to cling to the passage of time.

In the Rainforest

2009-03-25T09:05:00.000-07:00

2009-03-24T17:30:00.000-07:00

Changes

2009-03-16T14:51:00.001-07:00

Hello all,

I wanted to announce some changes that you will be noticing at the Plaza of the Mind in the near future.

I have been a negligent caretaker as of late and have not been keeping up with the Plaza. I have been focusing most of my energy on remastering the remaining four track masters of songs that I created ten years ago, working on the Outer Channel Radio Show and putting together two books [which I will describe below].

Over the past two years here at the Plaza I have had the great opportunity to interview some of my favorite authors, artists and musicians, these interviews have been labeled the Plaza of the Mind Interview Series.

The first book that I am putting together is a collection of my interviews with Bob Dobbs and his colleagues and it will be entitled Conversations with the Canadian Media Ecological Intelligentsia and the Side Effects of those Interactions.

The second book will collect the Plaza of the Mind Interview Series and will also include unpublished interviews with poet and actress Stefene Russell and author Jamil Nasir.

Once both books are published the interviews will NO LONGER be available at this location in their current form. They will only be available through my publisher in paper bound editions and possibly in the form of an e-text sometime down the road.

You may ask why I am doing this.

I think the best answer to that question is simply that every so often an environment must be tended to. Aspects of it must be moved around, trees must be pruned and bushes must be sculpted. Objet d'ars may be transferred to other locations as cultural loans and artifacts must be catalogued and placed on shelves so that new attractions can be displayed.

You will see that the Plaza will soon have a new look and you will also find ordering information for the aforementioned editions.

Thank you for all of your support and patience during this transition period.

Kurt Weller,
Plaza of the Mind

As Heard on The Outer Channel Radio Show!

2009-02-28T17:07:00.000-08:00

Meditations Through Situation Comedy Environments

First Tour

Go to folder - FileFactory.com

The apartment of Dr. Robert Hartley and his wife Emily from the Bob Newhart Show.

You can download it here:

[01] - Kurt Weller - First Tour - The Apartment of Dr. Robert Hartley.mp3

[Simply scroll down the page, choose download option #2 and input the special code on that page]

Kurt Weller and Greg Lester on the Outer Channel sign!

2009-02-08T23:33:00.001-08:00

Greg Lester and I will be commencing the broadcast of our Outer Channel radio show this coming Saturday! We hope that you will catch our pilot episode.

This will fulfill yet another life long dream for me: To be the host of my own radio show in much the same way as Wolfman Jack or Glenn Gould!

Care to participate?

Date / Time: 2/14/2009 8:00 PM Pacific

Call-in Number: (917) 388-4076

Kurt Weller performs 'Iron Man'

2009-01-13T23:08:00.000-08:00

From the forthcoming Kay Jay Calling, Calling Kay Jay film.

I actually got my weight up to 240 pounds for the film. Thank god that's over - it feels good to be slim again.

Be Reasonable

2009-01-12T01:13:00.000-08:00

Game Completion Rate at 18%

2008-12-23T11:19:00.000-08:00

Actual In-Game Screenshot

The game has been keeping me busy as of late. I have not, however, forgotten the visitors to the Plaza of the Mind. Let me assure you that this will be well worth the wait.

The plot has been unfolding before my eyes and is filled with characters and locations that will most likely be recognizable to the viewers who have given this Plaza an in-depth examination.

Stay tuned for more info and screenshots!

Colloquium of Dreams

2008-12-09T08:53:00.001-08:00

The Shoe Leather

2008-11-25T21:45:00.000-08:00

'Sammy, grab me the brad nailer!'

'Don't do it!' Enough is enough! I get the point!'

'This steak tastes like shoe leather woman!'

'Stop it!'

'Good boy! Watch your old man! This is how it's done!'

'I can't believe your dad is walking around with a steak on his foot!'

Highlights of Katy Ellis O'Brien's Letters from Underwood at Sequential Art Gallery

2008-11-12T20:21:00.000-08:00

Katy Ellis O'Brien was gracious enough to invite me to a small get together celebrating the opening of her Letters From Underwood show last week at the Sequential Art Gallery. Here are some highlights:

It was a pleasure to finally meet Katy and I hope that she will grace the Plaza with her presence again soon.

Working

2008-11-10T01:24:00.001-08:00

http://plazaofthemind.com/

...

The Room Escape

2008-11-03T12:12:00.001-08:00

What has been keeping me so busy as of late that I have not updated this Plaza of the Mind?

Actual in-game screenshot.

The first Plaza of the Mind videogame! The as-of-yet untitled game is being described as a New Age Room Escape. It will be available on the PC and iPhone [as well as iTouch] platforms. The initial game design has been completed. Sound design and play testing come next!

Stay tuned for more updates.

And for those unfamiliar with the Room Escape genre of gaming may we suggest:

Escape Game 2 by Mr. Osironosiro.

'Cleanside' by Kurt Weller - Part 0001

2008-10-10T02:19:00.000-07:00

The problem was always waking up early enough to get the shower warm enough. I hated getting up in the morning, I still do and luckily l haven't had to for quite some time, having worked swing shift now for almost ten years. My room was small and crowded with all of the usual adolescent fetish items: white boxes of comic books with accompanying posters hung on the wall by my favorite artists, record albums and tapes in wooden crates next to my dresser next to my ghetto blaster.

It was five forty five when the alarm first announced the morning, six when it went off again and six twenty five before I finally woke up. My mother used to hate my pushing the snooze button and would frequently yell at me from her and my father's bedroom across the hall.

The setting will be winter because that was the time of the year which I found most memorable. Those three winters during that two and a half year period cemented everything that winter would ever mean to me. It hasn’t changed over the past fifteen years and I long for those winter mornings more than anything.

There was something romantic about sitting in my beat down old car in the Saint Mary’s parking lot on a Sunday morning before the sun came out. The engine would be running smoothly, blasting heat onto my feet as I would wait for Rich to show up. Even though I usually pushed the limit on leaving home in the morning I was still somehow usually one of the first people to get to work. The first schoolboy at least.

The dayshift called us the Dishroom Homos. I sort of walked into the job on the first day labeled a Dishroom Homo, and so I figured that the term must have been a running joke for several years before I had even begun working. For some reason we were severely disliked by the full timers, or lifers, as we called them. As I think back on it all I can understand why they disliked us so. We were loud, obnoxious, chronically tardy and disobedient, rarely showed up in uniform and rarely showed any of our elders the respect that they deserved. Had I to do it all over again I would have been much more polite, would have started some sort of savings program and would have tried to keep the job throughout my university career, perhaps having by then made a connection with someone at the hospital that could have gotten me a job in my field while I was still studying it.

I didn't, however, and though it would have been the smart thing to do, I doubt that it would have been remotely as entertaining.

Jukt Micronics Update

2008-10-06T01:16:00.001-07:00

The Plaza of the Mind recently received this comment from an anonymous writer concerning the Jukt Micronics article:

I am the founder and CEO of Jukt Micronics and Stephen Glass is hot as frick. Futhermore, He did not lie about any of the quotes said in the article "Hack Heaven". I am willing to set aside time for any interviews with Stephen Glass or any Journalist wanting to interview me.

Thank you,

George Sims

I hope you are not kidding with me Mr. Sims. If you would like to engage in an email [or telephone [see the new Plaz-Rad project for more details]] please contact me at youngweller@gmail.com.

Jukt Micronics.

Reduce - ReUse - ReCycle

2008-10-02T23:11:00.000-07:00

The following three images are from a series of drawings I did in high school and college. They were all reformatted for your viewing pleasure.

Girl with neckbrace and sickle, with the sickle acting as a close approximation of a smile.

1992 - Graphite and WaterColor

John Engler's Tax Funded Abortion

1989 - Black Permanent Marker and WaterColor

Courtyard Magic Show with Amputee

- Graphite and WaterColor

The dream image of an erupting volcano...

2008-09-27T15:39:00.000-07:00

The dream image of an erupting volcano...

Last evening I dreamed that I woke up to see much of the cityscape outside of my window being lit bright orange by an erupting volcano. I woke up my wife in an attempt to show her the volcano. She could not see it. I looked out the window at the skyline and it was completely normal. I lay back down in bed but could not get the image of the erupting volcano from my mind. When I turned on the television I realized where I had seen the erupting volcano: from an eleventh season episode of Seinfeld in which a volcano had erupted. I captured a number of screenshots from the program but could not isolate any images of the volcano without Michael Richards creating his hi-jinks in front of it. My wife told me that I had grown so used to Michael Richards' visage due to my obesessive Seinfeld viewing that I had in effect quit seeing him. My mind must have focused only on the volcano and perceived it as a true event occuring outside of our window.

And the screen capture from Seinfeld episode 214: The Volcano.

COMING SOON

2008-09-15T01:39:00.000-07:00

This is the next step in the evolution of the Plaza of the Mind.

and yes,

it will be featuring

Greg Lester

...

A Study of the Vestron Label

2008-09-12T01:51:00.000-07:00

I used to imagine somehow walking around inside the Vestron graphic's field. The V would tower above me, the air would be warm and smell like the inside of an electronic device fresh out of the box.

Irene, the sister and not the friend that Amy had alienated

2008-08-29T01:47:00.000-07:00

I put it off

I remember the class

when Irene read the story of the procrastinating illustrator who drew the laughing Jesus created out of images of all sorts of different famous christians like Martin Luther King Jr. et al.

I put it off

I always put it off

I am afraid that I have ruined it

I am sorry Stefene - I am afraid that I have disappointed with my initial enthusiasm and then the devolution into my procrastination although those circumstances were quite out of my control - it has been a difficult year my friends - and the interview was a thing of beauty [as you all will see upon publication].

Irene.

One of the few nuns to which I never felt an attraction.

Here is the image

Hers is the image:

Irene put together from pieces of others*

*can you catch them all?

The Plaza of the Mind Interview with Barbara Morgenstern!

2008-08-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

I heard Ms. Morgenstern's song 'The Operator' while I did some apparel shopping with my wife back in January. The song blew me away and I carefully memorized the main refrain of the song to ensure that I could later find it online. What I found was an artist who had recorded a number of albums - which I picked up - and a singular voice that seems fresh and yet familiar at the same time. I contacted her right away to tell her how much I had loved the single and she was gracious enough to accept an invitation to the Plaza of the Mind.

[The Plaza of the Mind quotes appear in Bold-type, Ms. Morgenstern's in normal-type]

How long have you been performing in the electronic medium?

I started to work with a a sequenz-keyboard in 1990, I kept on working with an Atari and after that I bought my first Macintosh. Since then I love to arrange my music with electronic instruments, because they give me the opportunity to create a special sound.

What does a day in your life look like?

I wake up at 9 in the morning. Have coffee with my boyfriend, then take my bike and our dog and go to my studio (which takes about an hour). Then I start to work on my music, have lunch (from time to time with friend who work in the same area) then I take a walk with my dog. After that I do music again and go back home at around 7 - 8 p.m. I stay home read a book or meet friends/go out. Seems like a normal working day, isn't it? On Mondays I stay home and prepare a choir-rehearsal. I am conducting a choir since May 2007.

What kind of choir are you conducting?

It is a choir at the "House of World Cultures " (www.hkw.de), which is a cultural institution, presenting unknown (and sometimes know as well) arts from foreign countries. The music director had the idea to form a choir and asked me to be the "bandleader" of it and I agreed. We are trying to be a modern international choir, trying out things a choir normally would not do. For example we did an improvised concert with Harmonia (Moebius - you know him - Rother and Roedelieus) in November 2007. We developed soundscapes we could add to the electronics of Harmonia, functioning more like field recordings then human voices. This was a lot of fun and worked really well!

Your music seems to have been influenced by the ephemeral sounds of the late seventies and early eighties – what do you consider the sound that you are looking for?

I´m a child of the eighties (born in 1971). I entered the Pop-world by Joy Division, Bauhaus, Depeche Mode, Kate Bush and all the eighties hits. What still impresses me, although the sound is awful, is the harmonic structures of the songs - for example "the riddle" by Nik Kershaw. I am a huge harmonies-freak which maybe comes from that period.

What is your favorite form of architecture?

It´s hard to choose one specific form, but there are a lots of houses I had wonderful experiences with. For example: me and my boyfriend (he´s an architecture-fan) visited the Bauhaus in Dessau - not far from Berlin. There is one room in the second floor - I guess it was used as an atelier - it is huge and no walls, but windows, which are divided by thin black steel. When i
entered the room I had such a feeling of openness, that I am still impressed. Generally the Bauhaus apartment houses (in Stuttgart there's a whole area) are wonderful. I had a similar feeling when I entered Sagarda Familia, the church by Gaudi in Bracelona. I know it's very very mainstream, but I had the impression, there there is a lot of tension in Gaudi´s structures I felt familiar with ( I sometimes have the a feeling of tension between form when I´m photographing). So the biggest impression is, if buildings activate a strong emotion.

I like Rem Koolhaas as well - I visited the McCormick Tribune Campus Center in Chacago, running there, because it was minus 20 degrees. he worked with a lot of different materials, shapes and forms, which makes the buildings so vivid and like an adventure. So - this was my architecture monologue, hope not too long/ boring.

What music do you listen to the most?

In fact I do not listen to music that much, because I do music all day long, which I feel sometime is a pity, but I love silence as well ;-)

I somehow fell in love with some modern Classic, as there are wonderful piano pieces by Bela Bartok and a great piece by Benjamin Britten called "Serenade for Tenor, Horns and strings". What I love about this music is, that there are short glimpses of pop music, but this moments do not last, so I find it very inspiring. On the major side of music I liked the last Arcade Fire album and reardings electronics a friend of mine just gave me an album of the drummer Sven Kacirek. He´s doing some loops of his percussion and then adds some nice sounds (like Vibraphone and so on). Very lovely.

Of course, I was also weened on the bands you mentioned [although I must admit that I was also a huge heavy metal fan as well] and I agree. Your harmonies are quite soothing. The only German bands I am really familiar with [Kraftwerk, Moebius und Plank, Einstuerzende Neubaten and Rammstein] don't make the language sound as lovely as you do and I wonder if there are any artists that you could recommend because feminine German vocalists seem to be quite under-represented here in the States?

There is AGF from Berlin (her full name is Antye Greye Fuchs), she´s doing wonderful experimental electronic music. She is part of the band "laub" as well, who was signed to Kitty Yo (no idea where they are now. And the other big female musician I could highly recommend is Gutav (she sings Engliush and is from Vienna) - http://gustav.cuntstunt.net/. Check out her first album on Mosz Records (I´m a labalmate with the Improvisation Trio I´m part of called "Septmber Collective") called "rettet die wale ".

What has been your strangest fan interaction?

Fan interaction - I think I never was involved in that. I feel a bit uncomfortable with "stars", because it´s always an unnatural situation - you never meet eye to eye. So maybe there is a funny story: I once supported Nick Cave at a show in Hamburg (he´s friends with my label owner Gudrun Gut). He treated me like I am an annoying fan, being eager to talk to him. Then I got really angry with him (shouted at him), because it was absolutely not the case and I felt mistreated. From that moment on he got far more natural (then his band members are) and it was a nice evening.

Basquiat and I share a Special Embrace in the late Nineties

2008-08-23T03:22:00.000-07:00

I am aware that it may not have been Jean-Michel himself but rather the Basquiat portrayed by

Jeffrey Wright in the 1996 film version.

And then, of course, I begin to think about my media ecology studies and the question of ownership of the images broadcast to me from the collective unconsciousness but...

when did it all become so complicated?

When I was a teenager I was free to really be into things.

Of course, then I would get caught absconding with Transformers and have to hear the song sung to me between every class sophomore year. My mother still reminds me of this often. I suppose it is the price to be paid for naivete. It could have been much much worse.

Anyway,

He is dancing
and

she is dreaming

The Dwellings of the Future will be Made of Snow and Ice

2008-08-18T00:26:00.000-07:00

She is going to the beach city. This is the first time he really doubts dating Audrey.

'Iconic face' four piece sectional wall accessory...second edition
- popularly known as 'Edition Red'.

He is enjoying his Christian college friend, flower guy comes in next -
Keeny gets Gulkinson's job - Cole?

I would love to die in snow though I always thought I would die in water.

'Bonnie Hungerford'

Alchemical Studies of the Situation Comedy

2008-08-04T18:01:00.000-07:00

With this simple formula the viewer could combine the Seinfeld Canon with that of Everybody Loves Raymond and The King of Queens:

Everybody Loves Raymond and The King of Queens already exist within their own matrix with Ray and Doug enjoying an established friendship.

With clever voice overs and an appearance on The King of Queens from Jason Alexander the Canon would be trebled.

Jason Alexander would reprise his role of George Costanza. In an early episode of Seinfeld George mentions a brother. This would be voiced over with the word sister.

Jerry Stiller's Arthur Spooner character would be renamed Frank Costanza, reprising his role from Seinfeld. Carrie Heffernen's maiden name would be Carrie Costanza. This would make her the sister of George Costanza.

It would be explained that after George's incarceration his mother passed on and Frank had to move in with his daughter Carrie and her husband Doug.

Tonight on NBC!

2008-07-28T23:10:00.000-07:00

-------------------------
NBC
-------------------------

08:00 Banya!
[Comedy]

Kenny discovers that his son has been sneaking a peek at internet pornography while Delores has second thoughts about her marriage after she meets a guy at the gym.

08:30 Kramerica Industries
[Comedy]

Kramer and Darin are threatened with a lawsuit after a new invention goes haywire at an upscale New York boutique. Will Jackie Chiles be able to bail them out?

09:00 What's the 411?
[Drama]

Newman and Wanda have to make a tough decision after Newman has a cardiac event at the Post Office, should they leave the picaresque community of Gary Indiana and head back to the Big Apple?

I Dream of Seinfeld... Again!

2008-07-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

There was a planecrash outside of our apartment building...

It happened after I returned home to the apartment...

George was there....

As well as Jerry...

Paul Buchman*...

And the ever vivacious Elaine...

After we made sure everyone was okay...

We went to the Brooklyn bridge...
[this scene was reminiscent to the opening of the film 'Head']

It was great to finally be a part of the gang!

*Paul Buchman and the Mad About You cast are officially a part of the Seinfeld canon in that there was a crossover in which Buchman was once Cosmo Kramer's roommate.

.

2008-07-09T22:11:00.001-07:00

Wanted! More Comments Like This One from Anonymous:

2008-07-06T16:11:00.000-07:00

I actually got chills when I received this email, since I had been thinking a great deal about Etidorpha as of late, especially as an inspiration for the Culpanaut project:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Etidorhpa":

I have found, seen and explored the cave entrance in Kentucky and have found the following inscription on the left hand passage wall:

Atrophied,
Or a depth I dare to hide

Notice that the first 27 letters of the inscription can be divided into three segments of 9 letters each - and each 9 letter segment can be re-arranged to spell "Etidorhpa"

Further in the passage my friend found "D.E." carved deeply into the rock. These letters were the last two letters of the inscription at the entrance. Beneath the inscription was an arrow pointing to the right. Following the arrow about 20 paces we discovered another inscription, written in chalk, that read:

It had rope. I paid her to leave.

The "leave" was in larger style and heavier chalk strokes. Oddly enough, if you remove "leave" from the inscription, and break the letters into two halves, the nine remaining letters in each half can be re-arranged to each spell "Etidorhpa".

Further along the passage was indeed a rope, but cut into two pieces and unattached to anything visible. Above the rope was a drawing of what looked like trees and above the trees a huge cylindrical object. Above the object was the inscription:

The Air Pod

It looked much like an alien object. Oddly enough, you can re-arrange the nine letters of the inscription to form "Etidorhpa". Looking closer at the drawing of the trees there appeared to be a sort of pathway winding through the trees leading to just below the alien object. An arrow pointed to the path and next to the arrow were the written words:

The Path I rode

Strangely, if you remove the "the" from the above, the remaining 9 letters can be re-arranged to spell "Etidorhpa".

I became nervous and would not go on. My partner continued. I have never seen him again.

---------------------

I also want to thank the folks who continue to send me their stories of Sleep Paralysis, the project is almost complete...

Plaza of the Mind Caption Contest!

2008-07-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

"______________________________________________________"

Send your captions to youngweller@gmail.com

A Summer Conversation with Bob Dobbs at the Abandoned Campus of my Youth

2008-07-02T22:07:00.000-07:00

A Summer Conversation with Bob Dobbs at the Abandoned Campus of my Youth was originally intended to be the first half of the second part of my long-form Bob Dobbs interview that began with The Real Deal piece I finished last year. Unfortunately, I ran out of steam at the end of last summer due to some personal issues and never really got back on track with the line of questioning and the piece seemed to slow to a halt of its own volition. Looking back over the work now, however, I see that the content that we completed works well on its own and when Bob suggested that I just put up what I had finished I decided to take his advice.

Upon reading this you will most likely notice that the tone of the piece is quite different from the Real Deal. The Real Deal was my attempt at creating an exhaustive ‘Day in the Life’ piece while this one reads more like the conversation that a protégé and mentor might have during a summer break as they look over a campus left abandoned by all but the most dedicated of students.

I am going to make this a Fivebodied exclusive:

A Summer Conversation with Bob Dobbs at the Abandoned Campus of my Youth

I hope that you all enjoy.

Dobbstown Lockdown

2008-07-01T09:03:00.001-07:00

Dobbstown Lockdown

Checkout the new Bob Dobbs interface here.

You will find hours of educational material in a user-friendly environment.

Also, I am finishing up part two of my Bob Dobbs interview. Expect to see it tomorrow right here on your internet dial.

More Jane Wiedlin FanFic

2008-06-29T01:56:00.000-07:00

from Ape Culture:

I seem to remember her sitting around the campfire crying about having no friends, but now she's got a plastic freakazoid by her side. They seem well-matched. Jane goes to the meeting wearing a strange corset with a men's shirt and tie, and she pitches a show about her interacting with nature in her South American home. The execs seem to feel it would be a better fit for the Planet of the Apes.

If you remember earlier:

I've been listening to Rush Hour by Jane Wiedlin over and over again. The song makes me feel horribly melancholy. Beyond melancholy. That kind of feeling in the chest that gets you smelling spring time again in the dead of winter.

What do I know about California and Jane Wiedlin? The song is like an example of complete discarnate malaise. I don't know where the connection to this song comes from. I have the vinyl LP and single and used to listen to it repeatedly in my bedroom while my best friend had gone off to University and I was still in community college.

I'm not even sure that Jane Wiedlin has anything to do with California. I've been to California and it reminded me of the first day of Michigan spring but in an affluent way. The smell of sun and money rather than sun and Amway.

I feel such disconnect at this moment. I think Rush Hour may be a key of some sort. How many times does it need to play before it opens up a door to an Endless Summer [not to be confused with the surf movie]?

I played it four times in a row while writing this post and the door has not opened yet. When it does I'm sure it will be something like my earlier post with the rudimentary 3D CGI.

So now, I've come across a copy of Fur and have been listening to it repeatedly.

This is the Human Biennial

2008-06-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

Thank you for two wonderful years!

I started the Plaza of the Mind two years ago today. Looking back at the one year mark I see that I failed to finish a few of the projects that I was quite sure I would have in the last twelve months. However, my pride in the items that were completed more than make up for those failings.

I would like to thank Tesco Vee, Vanessa Daou, Dave Newfeld, Don Joyce and David Blair for participating in my Plaza of the Mind Interview Series. There are still a couple of interviews to come, including my long neglected piece with Stefene Russell, so stay tuned.

I would also like to thank all who have responded to my Stories of Sleep Paralysis series. I know I have not published all of the stories I have received and that is due to the fact that I am planning a larger scale project surrounding them. Fear not! Your stories will be shared. I have found them to be quite intriguing and I am sure that visitors to the Mind Plaza will find them to be equally so.

I would also like to thank TowerofBabel for their generous donation of a Wacom tablet to the Plaza. I feel that it has brought me several steps closer to that Man-Machine interface that we have all dreamed of. [And you were right - it is pronounced 'Weigh-com'].

And, according to GoogleAnalytics, the most viewed post here at the Plaza is my controversial Jukt Micronics piece concerning Mr. Stephen Glass. So Steven, if you're out there please drop me a line so we can have a conversation before I pull a Jukt Micronics myself.

Urim and Thummim Verse Two

2008-06-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

This image is just a place holder - it will be developed at a later date

Joseph Smith wrote that in 1823 an angel told him about "two stones in silver bows…fastened to a breastplate…the possession and use of [which] constituted "seers' in ancient or former times" (JS—H 1:35). Joseph used these and other seer stones that he found in various ways (occasionally referred to by the biblical term Urim and Thummim) for several purposes, primarily in translating the Book of Mormon and receiving revelations (see HC 1:21-23, 33, 36, 45, 49; 3:28; 5:xxxii; CHC 6:230-31).

from Wikipedia:

After the establishment of the Utah Territory, the Latter-day Saints did not relinquish the idea of a "State of Deseret". From 1862 to 1870, a group of Mormon elders under Young's leadership met as a shadow government after each session of the territorial legislature to ratify the new laws under the name of the "State of Deseret."

from Wikipedia:

10425	66597	𐐥	Eng	1044D	66637	𐑍	Eng
10426	66598	𐐦	Oi	1044E	66638	𐑎	Oi
10427	66599	𐐧	Ew	1044F	66639	𐑏	Ew

from Wikipedia:

A reluctant Deckard is brought to his old boss Bryant (M. Emmet Walsh), who informs him that the recent escape of Nexus-6 replicants is the worst yet. He orders Deckard to eliminate the four replicants, a process referred to as "retirement". Deckard agrees to help after Bryant makes thinly-veiled threats – if Deckard is not a cop, then he falls under 'little people'.

from Wikipedia:

Hannah has never married. She had a long-term relationship with singer Johnson Braun who had his roadies bring her backstage after a concert during her senior year at Parker -- (she is the female voice on Braun's 1985 hit song with Cleo Clammond, "Let my Friend of Mine be a HoneyBee"). She was with Braun from 1978 through 1992. The relationship ended with rumors being spread in the press of domestic violence that were later 'proven' false by Braun's Shadow Government. [The JBSG]

Urim and Thummim Assemblage Poetry

2008-06-10T09:33:00.000-07:00

This image is just a place holder - it will be developed at a later date

From the Bible Supply Emporium:

Urim and Thummim Recreation comes in a plastic bag with information about them. They are designed to be used with the recreation or Aaron's Breastplate as seen above. They are sold separately. They are designed for demonstration purposes, so they can be handled. Other recreations are mounted on plaques, see below. Bag size is 6 1/2 inches by 5 7/8 inches. Price is $4.99 plus shipping and handling ($2).

From GameSpot:

I used to own this Thunder Sword with a fire parasite on it.

I attacked Urim and Thummim with it and they told me which monster is weak to the elements I wielded. I'm kinda confused, what is this 'animate' monster type they speak of? I'm at the -2200 dungeons now.

Also, why do they call Idea Sephirahs 'water'?

From CrystalLinks:

Some scholars have suggested "the" Urim and Thummim consists of two crystals; however, the precise nature of the medium is unknown to most secular scholars. According to the Hebrew Bible, stones used for "an" Urim and Thummim were kept in the breastplate of Aaron, the brother of Moses.

According to the teachings of Judaism, a small parchment with God's holy name, the Tetragrammaton, inscribed on it was slipped into an opening under the Urim and Thummim on the high priest's breast plate, which caused the breastplate to "glow" and thereby "transmit messages" from God to the Children of Israel.

From Google:

Illustrated glossary definition of the Tetragrammaton, or four letter name of God.

From FanArt:

FanArt: Tetragrammaton Cleric

This is one of the Clerics, from the movie Equilibrium. In the film, extreme emotions had been outlawed, owing to the fact that people acted irrationally under emotional duress. A drug called Librium kept emotions in check, but some people still managed to feel. They were hunted down by the Clerics. The Clerics were masters of the Gun Katas, a martial art designed for use in gunplay. A trained Cleric would be able to calculate the odds in any firefight, using his training to put bullets exactly where they needed to be while avoiding return fire.

2008-05-31T14:07:00.001-07:00

Automatic Imaging of Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot

2008-05-27T16:06:00.000-07:00

I let the pen flow across the remnant image drawing out the truth in different strokes of insight.

This is more an exercise in psychic portraiture than sketching. This is the true face of the Bigfoot - upon closer examination by my pen or exploration of the face through my mind I will find a more and more accurate representation of the Bigfoot.

This is my talent.

Send images to Youngweller@gmail.com and I will draw the truth from them.

It seems that I had, for all of these years, been waiting for the digital brush.

Culpanaut Socrates

2008-05-25T20:47:00.001-07:00

Where there is reverence there is fear, but there is not reverence everywhere that there is fear, because fear presumably has a wider extension than reverence.

Socrates' death is described at the end of Plato's Phaedo. Socrates turned down the pleas of Crito to attempt an escape from prison. After drinking the poison, he was instructed to walk around until his limbs felt heavy. After he laid down, the man who administered the poison pinched his foot. Socrates could no longer feel his legs. The numbness slowly crept up his body until it reached his heart. Shortly before his death, Socrates speaks his last words to Crito: "Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius. Please, don't forget to pay the debt." Asclepius was the Greek god for curing illness, and it is likely that Socrates' last words were implied to mean that death is the cure, and freedom, of the soul from the body. The Roman philosopher Seneca attempted to emulate Socrates' death by hemlock when forced to commit suicide by the Emperor Nero.

Dressed Up Like Mothman?

2008-05-21T12:57:00.000-07:00

"Culpanaut Black," he said, "why are you dressed up like Mothman?"

"Dressed up like?" He replied with a queer smile.

From the Dutch:

A report within the newspaper l read; 'town has cooled down'; leg. Roger Scarberry, a member of the group which 'the character of the town has found'; the factory of TNT has, said that during wrote the pleasant borders of city of the point [most likely Point Pleasant - ed.], they have the body of a large dog which is himself of the roadside. Some minutes later, on the way support of the city, the dog has gone. They have even stoppedat Zoeken, exactly some minutes for young partridge of Newell has immediately thought of the bandit, who was never reconsidered.

From the German:

'All of the old animals are returning, in this world of technology, which many may easily find damnable...'

From the Polish:

'The original Cryptozoological Prince has made his presence once more palpable.'

and From the Japanese:

'This is truly the Graffiti of the Cryptozoological Generation...'

Culpanaut Black

2008-05-20T14:35:00.001-07:00

Culpanaut Orange and Culpanaut Black

a garbled transmission translated to English by computer:

Almost that of May 20 day got near to the [nibiru] = planet X created by CNaut Orange of the planet in the earth, but due to terrestrial disaster of the scientific power whose space scientific civilization is excellent it escaped temporarily. The, artificial 4th field (the artificial gravitational field) created by CNaut Black.

where today it should be less crowded, in regard to the reason where the earth which the people of the fleet of CNaut Ufoe drew up outside for the terrestrial atmosphere is rescued as for that it was not possible to get near to [nibiru] in the earth.

from CrystalLinks:

Nibiru, to the Babylonians, was the celestial body associated with the god Marduk. The name is Akkadian and means 'crossing place' or 'place of transition'. In most Babylonian texts it is identified with the planet Jupiter. In Tablet 5 of the Enuma Elish it may be the pole star, which at the time was Thuban or possibly Kochab (Ursa Minor).

[nibiru] in the earth suggests the Hollow Earth of Etidorhpa.

from LibraRising:

In the book Etidorpha by John Uri Loyd, A Freemason by the name of "I Am The Man" gives up all and is initiated into the Inner Earth world. His voyage begins in a Kentucky cave where he meets his strange guide who leads him on a fantastic journey through Middle Earth and on to the Unknown Country(Inner Earth).

The strangeness begins ten miles down where light becomes all permeating(no shadows) and where gravity starts to diminish. At 25 to 50 miles down, the Man looks much younger, loses two thirds of his weight, and develops a halo of light around him. He and his androgenous guide are able to leap like astronauts or the way we hop and glide in our dream state. On the way they see unusual marvels such as giant fungi and mountains made of giant salt crystals. They also enconter strange prehistoric-like animals and huge insects which can only be described as weird and wonderful.

e t i d o r h p a -- a p h r o d i t e

Submission to the Institute of Psychic Portraiture

2008-05-17T13:22:00.001-07:00

The Institute of Psychic Portraiture does not seem to exist as of yet but this is an image I will include in my resume when it opens its doors. It is an artistic alteration of a Jane Roberts photograph. Jane Roberts was a world renown medium known mostly for her work on the Seth Material.

The Wacom tablet gives me a newfound ease of interface, allowing my mind to wander while my hand and eye study the photograph for the true image that lies somewhat beneath the surface.

According to June-Elleni Laine:

As a Psychic Artist, I produce spirit/ psychic portraits, firstly I make an intention to connect to spirit then allow the energy to lead. I sketch very quickly and without thought. I believe the images produced evolve by aligning with the energy of a discarnate spirit or consciousness.

To the observer, it may appear to be unpredictable scribbling; yet, as it quickly unfolds the lines suprisingly reveal a familiar face and message filled with the energy of the spirit communicator. The personality somehow reaching across the ether, in an attempt to make contact with loved ones left behind. These spirit contacts often provide information about their lives when they were on Earth so they can be recognised.

The Plaza of the Mind Interview with Vanessa Daou!

2008-05-09T23:52:00.000-07:00

In 1995 I was thumbing through the latest issue of Mondo 2000 and I came across an ad for Vanessa Daou's Zipless. I was intrigued by the cover photograph of Ms. Daou and the way the advertisement described her music. I picked the album up a few days later and listened to it continually as I wandered around my West Michigan home for what would end up being the last time as a resident.

In 1997, after I had moved to the West Coast and was struggling to make ends meat her second album Slow to Burn was released. I listened to it continually as I would ride the bus to and from work, her voice replacing the sensory overload of my bleak reality.

In 2001 my friend Greg gave me a copy of Make You Love. The second song on the album, A Little bit of Pain, is most likely my favorite song of all time. It is the only song that I truly never tire of hearing. In many ways I think it may be the perfect song.

I have bought every album and single that Vanessa Daou has ever released and I will continue to do so until she stops recording.

All of this being said, you can only imagine how thrilled I was when Ms. Daou accepted an invitation to the Plaza of the Mind. Her music has always resonated with me in a way that suggests success and contentment. Her voice is ethereal and yet sultry at the same time. She is truly singular in the world of electronic music in that she cannot really be easily categorized. In my home audio library she has her own category.

If the Plaza of the Mind were a place that could be physically visited one would more than likely hear a disproportionate amount of Ms. Daou's music. She has been quite an inspiration for me and her voice has gotten me through some incredibly tough times with its promise. I hope you enjoy the following interview:

[The Plaza of the Mind quotes appear in Bold-type, Ms. Daou's in normal-type]

I have been a huge fan of yours since Zipless came out in 1994 and am quite happy to see that you have a new project in the works, a sound & visual project which will be a synthesis of new music, poetry & art, could you describe it?

The idea behind the album developed over time - Since 9/11 I've been keeping journals, audio tapes, making sketches, writing melodies & poems about my experiences & observations - For the poetry part of the process, I collaborated with 2 sound artists who are working on cutting-edge ideas about sound & its convergence with technology - I've always wanted to approach writing an album as a process of creation, as a record of the transformation of information. For me, that's what art is all about, the transformation of everyday experience into something heightened, essential, transcendent

It's been quite a dry spell for Vanessa Daou fans, the last thing you've released being the A Little Bit of Pain single. What have you been doing since it was released?

Since recording & releasing 'Plutonium Glow', I've been fascinated by computers & the alternate world it creates: the potent power of the 'virtual' world, how it intoxicates, lures & seduces. It's more than an object, it's a creative tool for me as well - Once I discovered that there was a unique language behind the computer's screen, there was no turning back - I set out to learn HTML & Javascript & learn to decipher the coding languages in order to create & shape my new project into a visual as well as audio experience

I think you are best known for your music but you also paint - how long have you been doing visual art?

My major in college was Visual Art/Art History - I've been drawing & painting since I was in high school & studied with Barry Moser, best known for his wood engravings & ink washes - In college I focused on the synthesis of the arts & started to incorporate images into the poetry I was writing at the time. On 'Slow to Burn' I painted acrylic portraits of the 11 women artists I wrote the lyrics & songs about -In terms of portraiture, Barry Moser influenced me immensely & you can see this influence in these 11 portraits

Have you ever had a public showing of your paintings?

I had an exhibition of my artwork from 'Plutonium Glow' at untitled(space) in New Haven, Connecticut - A piece from that show was submitted to the National Arts Club, NYC, which subsequently won an award - I'm playing with the idea of making my new project a performance/exhibition....

What does a day in the life of Vanessa Daou look like?

Every day is different - the only thing that doesn't change is my morning coffee, black, early, strong & sweet - I spend most of my days creating - writing, drawing, painting - When I'm not creating, I'm reading, walking, surfing the web, thinking about my next song or poem or drawing...

I believe that you grew up in the Virgin Islands but that is about all the information I could find, could you fill in some of the blanks from then up until now?

I lived in NYC for a few years while I was growing up & went to public school - For most of high school I went to boarding school in Massachusetts, college at Vassar 2 years Barnard/Columbia 2 years - Early years at college I studied dance with Erick Hawkins and poetry with Kenneth Koch -

Which project have you been most happy with up until now?

Hard to say - they've each been uniquely interesting - I would say that with my new project, I feel like I've come the closest to synthesizing my ideas about merging poetry, spoken word, song, music, drawing & painting

What has been the favorite part of your career?

Connecting with fans & hearing about their lives & their stories - that's the ultimate.

...

1994's 'TweekMaster Craig' Re-Tweek-Mastered!

2008-04-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

In the summer of 1994, John Kaczanowski and I decided to record an album so that Greg Lester would have something to listen to in his new home down in Mesa, Arizona. The recording was titled: Naked Genius Productions [present their first recording]: Were You There When They Crucified Our Lord?.The standout single was a tribute to the Thrill Seeker lifestyle popularized by our West Michigan Motorsport Enthusiast Co-Workers entitled 'TweekMaster Craig'. It had been our idea to write a song with a refrain that was actually a vocal representation of a motorcycle engine, performed in the same style as the aforementioned co-workers when they described fun-filled weekends of rubber burnin' and mud boggin'. John played rhythm guitar and I was on keyboards; we shared the lyrical chores:

John: Hey Kurt, maybe you can help me before we go back and listen to everything again.

Kurt: Sure, what's up Kacz?

John: Do you want to do everything in unison or do you want to swap back and forth?

Kurt: Well how about I take the first stanza, you take the second and we'll just rock on from there?

John 'Naked' Kaczanowski

I decided to take a break from the painstaking digitization process of the Naked Genius Productions featuring Greg Lester archives when I came across the TweekMaster Craig promotional video. It had been several years since I had seen it and I was not disappointed. John did such an amazing job of cobbling together the analog video on our old bedroom band consumer quality equipment that he really should be proud of himself. I am so happy that I am able to present his vision and our lyrics and music here today in a new color-corrected digital version. I spoke to him on the phone this afternoon and he was quite enthusiastic that the song would finally see the light of day.

Kurt 'Genius' Weller

We hope you enjoy:

TweekMaster Craig
He's a one of a kind
Screaming 'Bloody Monkey'
Bogging out his mind

Tweeking like a 'Guv'ner'
Rack and Pinion Cock
Tooled Survival Leather
He'll give you quite a shock

He's the Hot Shot
Hot Shot
TweekMaster Craig

Maaa Waaa
Maaa Waaa

TweekMaster Craig
He's a one of kind
Screaming 'Bloody Monkey'
Bogging out his mind

'Sweet Cherry Die!'
Betty's Dripping Hot
Craig eats her Pie
Pull-Out's what She's got

He's the Hot Shot
Hot Shot
TweekMaster Craig

Maaa Waaa
Maaa Waaa

TweekMaster Craig
He's a one of a kind
Screaming 'Bloody Monkey'
Bogging out his Mind

He's the Master of Sex
He's the Master of Wheels

He's the Master of Sex
He's the Master of Wheels

He's the Master of Sex
He's the Master of Wheels

He's the Hot Shot
Hot Shot

TweekMaster Craig!

(c) 1994 John Kaczanowski, Kurt Weller

David Pirkola Healthcare Fund

2008-04-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

I was saddened to find out that David Pirkola, owner of the Apparitions Comic and Bookstore in Kentwood, had been shot last Friday night in a hold up.

I spent many a penny at Apparitions in the early nineties, as it was one of the first shops in the area to carry my favorite manga titles. Mr. Pirkola was a very warm-hearted man who truly enjoyed chewing the comic book fat. He always made sure that your books were in on time and that you left with something in your hand and a little less in your pocket.

Please take a moment to join the Plaza of the Mind in sending out some good vibes to him, and if you happen to be financially blessed as well, a donation fund has been set up for Mr. Pirkola over at ifanboy for anyone interested in helping him out.

Best wishes Dave!

Helios

2008-04-28T00:08:00.000-07:00

Ex Libris: Basics in Photography and Architecture

Here is a Picture of my Daughter

2008-04-17T23:42:00.000-07:00

I was told that this was the name of my website.

I felt that I must create this in case the person that informed me of this was somehow, somewhere correct.

I have no idea what it signifies or what if will contain but have a feeling that time will tell.

http://hereisapictureofmydaughter.blogspot.com/

There is also an Owlman

2008-04-14T21:47:00.000-07:00

The Owlman was seen in England in the nineteen seventies.

He is reminiscent of Mothman in that he has red eyes and makes strange sounds though the Owlman reportedly hisses rather than squeeks.

The Brother Tapes

2008-04-06T02:00:00.000-07:00

...

Greg Lester sent me a cassette back in 1992. It was a four-track EP entitled the Brother Tapes. It was a mix of poetry and ambient guitar. It is my favorite Greg Lester work. Greg has recorded many amazing songs since the Brother Tapes but something about that cassette touched me in a way that nothing else ever did. It was an amazing experience and it was made by a friend and he had thought of me when he had recorded it. I knew this because he had included an introduction.

I remember the day the package had come to my dormitory mail room. I was so excited. It was a weeknight but I didn't care. I locked myself in my dorm room and listened to the recording on my Walkman. I will never forget that night, perhaps one of the most important moments of active listening I have ever experienced.

Greg had recorded the record using two tape decks, a mic and an acoustic guitar. I remember walking through the West Michigan winter on a trail leading from my apartment complex to a strip mall and the amazing yet short lived Mad Cat comic shop listening to the Brother Tapes.

I talk to Greg three to four times a week. For this I am thankful. Sometimes I wish for those days so badly that my heart aches. But I still have the Brother Tapes to take me back. I can exist in the reality of the Brother Tapes. I can pretend that the last sixteen years have been a wonderfully twisted night terror.

If we are lucky Greg will put the Brother Tapes up for all to hear. Until then I will count myself as one of the privileged few to actually own a copy. I played the tape for a few people back in college. Most of them liked it, the ones that didn't were stupid fuckers.

Thanks Greg.

...

The Plaza of the Mind Interview with Tesco Vee!

2008-04-05T01:44:00.000-07:00

In the following interview I was able to share how I was first introduced to the musical stylings of Mr. Tesco Vee and his legendary band The Meatmen. I have been a huge fan of Mr. Vee's work since I was a West Michigan teen. Tesco inspired me in that he was a local boy made good. He wrote a song about the Beatles called 'One Down Three to Go' and coveted the works of Abba. In the era of U2 and Midnight Oil and their lament-pop of injustice and the environment I think that Tesco's refusal to apologize for wanting to focus on having a good time was a huge inspiration for me and my friends and a much needed elixir for that era of the guilt-trip.

I was thrilled that Mr. Vee accepted an invitation to the Plaza of the Mind. I found him to be every bit as friendly and irreverent as I had always imagined he would have been. The only thing that could have made me happier was if this interview had been conducted live and over some Bell's, but I will take what I can get.

[The Plaza of the Mind quotes appear in Bold-type, Mr. Vee's in normal-type]

Coming from nearly the same spatial environment that you have, yours was a much needed voice during my formative years, especially when I used to hang out at the Breton Village Mall and felt like I was like the Man Who Fell To Earth, what inspired you the most to be able to create such a controversial persona?

You know I've always had the 13 year old warped sense of humor, and have always been passionate about music..Punk just broke down that 'you have to be proficient on your instrument' barrier so anyone could do it...I was inspired by The Fugs, The Mothers, Captain Beefheart et al & nbsp; as far as the whacked out nonsense lyrics and rockin' Michigan combos like the MC5! Michigan has produced some of the greatest bands ever!

What was your favorite Meatmen era?

Hmmm, they all have merit and all were good fun...Think the tightest bunch was the 1994-96..the early days however had the magic..the whole hardcore thing was so new and exciting..the 80's saw us drawing much bigger crowds and the whole thing just blew up...

What has been your strangest fan interaction?

People have come up and asked me to do weird stuff like burn em with cigarettes, give em one of my turds, kookie stuff like that..I always went for the throat, and said the most ridiculous shit I could think of to get a rise out of folks..shock them out of their media induced stupor! That's why I'm dusting off the pipes..Its time to fuck up the next generation!

I always enjoyed the comic strips in the Meatmen liner notes - any chance that those will be collected into one volume?

Not sure..I'm trying to get in touch with Brian Pollack the genius who drew em to do the album cover of the new CD..all my favorite cover songs..The Meatmen 'Cover The Earth' out late 2008

What does a day in the life of Tesco Vee look like?

Fairly normal..I'm a Phone man, Family man, old Toy collector, Big Bore Japanese motorbike rider, micro brew swiller, Organized religion hater..all my waking hours are taken up with the aforementioned avocations and hobbies...and getting all the old CD's and T shirts back in print!

What is your favorite Kalamazoo hot spot?

The last time I went back there almost everyplace that I used to hang out at had been torn down. Ya kazoo has seen some hard times...I like the Kraftbrau...cool place to see bands and drink the Microbrew..Bell's is the greatest beer on the planet! 2 Hearted Ale will put hair on your weenbag! Downtown Kalamazoo still beats the fuck outta downtown Lansing, much hipper with cooler restaurants and watering holes.

I'm quite happy to see that you will be re-issuing the Meatmen oeuvre, it took me a while to track down a cd of 'Rock and Roll Juggernaut'. I used to have the cassette but I literally wore it out. I know people say that all of the time but that one was probably the only cassette that I ever actually wore out. My Uncle bought me a copy of 'We're the Meatmen and you Suck,' for the Christmas of '87 or '88 from Believe in Music. He said he knew I liked Metallica and that the Meatmen were close on the shelf and he thought the cover was cooler than the Metallica ones. I took an immediate love for that record and we played it for my whole family. My Uncle repeated this for several years, a Meatmen cassette for every Christmas of the late eighties. My father is German and my Uncle and I asked him to translate 'Dichstrudel'. He said 'it means 'give it to me up the ass', what the hell are you listening to?' I just wanted to share that with you. Any good tales of your youth in the Christian Reformed milieu of West Michigan?

Wow.

Actually growing up in Kalamazoo was idyllic except for all the goddamn religion! Creek to swim in, woods, little girls to molest, it was great..then when I was 14 my parents moved us to King Of Prussia PA outside of Philly..really messed me up..I hated it there but made a lifelong friend..My high school principal was a mass murderer JC Smith...Joseph Wambaugh wrote a book about him..My dad was the school superintendent so I got beat up a lot!

Is there going to be any Abba on Cover the Earth?

Fuck ya! But I'm not telling which one...Its a rocker though...perfect for a meaty rendition!

In light of recent events will there be a 'two down two to go'?

We already have in Detroit last May..the song has been officially renamed!

What is your favorite form of architecture?

Hmmm..for the first time in my life I'm speechless..you stumped me..I'll say the kind that Mike Brady designed on the Brady Bunch..

I always liked Kalamazoo better than Lansing. Did you know that Kalamazoo is home to one of the first pedestrian malls created by Victor Gruen, the man who invented the indoor mall?

I did not know that..I used to walk that mall as a yound boy..take the bus dowwn to Louie's Pipe Shop and buy a Mad Magazine or a Nudie Mag if Louie was feelin benevolent...I think both towns have their goodness,,,Lansing would be real lame if it wasnt for my beloved MSU! Go Green!

If I were to get a motorcycle, which kind would you recommend? I've always been a big David Cronenberg fan and I know he liked the Ducati but the whole subject seems rather complicated and inaccessible to me.

Ducati's are cool..I almost bought a 900 Monster once...I prefer big bore Jap..Suzuki..If I had 12 large laying around I'd drop it on a Hayabusa 1300...more sexy than a woman! Its not inaccessible at all..just hop on and twist the throttle and feel the slingshot acceleration, the white line fever, the high pitched whine of all that rice a burnin'..Its really a spiritual thing..nothing quite like it..unless you can afford a Ferrari...

'Culpanaut Orange' - Part 001

2008-04-03T20:25:00.000-07:00

Announcing 'Culpanaut Orange' Month

2008-03-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

:
:

:

Beginning on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008, the Plaza of the Mind will feature a daily 2.5 minute 'Culpanaut Orange' featurette.

:

:

:

Mr. Weller is quite excited about this new project and has been preparing for it for several weeks now.

:

:

:

'Deadline' Bob MASTER of A n n A r b o r 1978 = Page Twelve =

2008-03-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

Allegiances change and You Must Make Difficult Decisions... this is life

2008-03-23T01:47:00.000-07:00

This is the tower spoken of before.

This is a teaser image from my project.

The name has been changed and people have been removed.

This has been done surgically, as it must.

Art has no room for camaraderie.

Art is the non-pragmatic entity in this world.

Friendship has no room for what is deemed right or wrong by the subconcious.

Just ask George...

He removed hours upon hours of hard work with glee when he realized the end result would be stronger.

I will not fail you.

You, dear Plaza readers, are what I care about.

Enjoy.

What if there was a 605 foot tall tower in South Haven overlooking Lake Michigan?

2008-03-15T22:15:00.000-07:00

This is me riding the elevator to the top.

This is the future that Ayn Rand was envisioning when she was nineteen.

Thank You Edward

2008-03-10T01:06:00.001-07:00

Stop lookin out
Start lookin in

You got allah in the east
You got jesus in the west
Christ, whats a man to do?