Art and commerce have always had a shaky relationship.

During the renaissance, artists were supported by wealthy benefactors, kings and merchants. Now, art is just another commodity on the market. Artists have to sell themselves to be supported. Every dollar has strings attached, though.

There is a scene from “Man On The Moon” where Andy Kaufman (Jim Carrey) is fired from a club gig because of his stubborn refusal to conform. I couldn’t find a video clip online, unfortunately. But the exchange with the club owner goes like this:

Andy Kaufman: So, Mr. Besserman, same spot tomorrow?

Mr. Besserman: I don’t know, Andy. I think I have to let you go.

Andy Kaufman: You’re firing me? You don’t even pay me.

Mr. Besserman: I don’t want to be insulting, but your act is like amateur hour. Sing-alongs for six-year-olds……puppets that aren’t funny, playing records…?

Andy Kaufman: But it’s original. No one’s ever done it. I’m not like everyone else.

Mr. Besserman: Everybody else gets this place cooking.

Andy Kaufman: I thought it was cooking. There was a man really upset.

Mr. Besserman: He stormed out, and other people left during your act. I can’t sell booze to people who–

Andy Kaufman: It’s about booze. Not comedy, not art?

Mr. Besserman: I can’t sell booze when you’re singing “Pop Goes the Weasel.” I’m running a business. It’s show business. Show. Business. Show. Business. Without the business, there’s no show. And there’s no show for you.

My experience dealing with the “legitimate” side of the music business has not been very pleasant. Half the time, clubs will try to rip you off. I got the sense that they were really mafia fronts for drug smuggling or human trafficking. I overheard talk about some clubs blacklisting bands for playing at DIY shows.

When I tried to book shows myself, I mostly got rejections everywhere because I was too different from what they wanted, except pay-to-play venues. Fuck that. So, I played coffeehouses and parties when I could. Hell, I even played in parking lots, anywhere with electricity.

I would rather avoid the “business” side of music, if at all possible. I am very suspicious about people wanting you to sign a contract or join something. I know that it is often necessary. But, I prefer to do things DIY when possible.

Some artists have done pretty well by this work ethic; Big Black, Fugazi, Crass, NoMeansNo, etc.

Is compromise sometimes necessary? Maybe. But, it usually better not to be put into a situation that forces you to.

https://youtu.be/ctRVz6c7PGI

I was not planning to add another post today.

But, a friend requested to keep ’em coming.

So, okay, one more.

Redd Kross is an American alternative rock band from Hawthorne, California, who had their roots in 1978 in a band called The Tourists, which was begun by brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald while they were still in middle school. With the addition of friends Greg Hetson and John Stielow on drums, the band’s first gig was opening for Black Flag.

With deep connections to influential groups like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Bad Religion, Off! (and even the White Stripes), Redd Kross are a band that I can relate to for a couple of reasons:

• They began very young (11 and 15), performing in a hardcore punk scene full of adults.
• They’ve had a thousand different drummers and lead guitarists.
• They embrace campiness and 1970’s pop culture.
• They are not afraid of change, trying new musical styles.
• They wrote a song titled “Notes and Chords Mean Nothing To Me”.
• They are punks with long hair, like moi.
• They are still at it, decades later, with little or no recognition to show for it.

Overall, I dig their pop catchiness and the colorful retro presentation that they usually bring.

To me, rock & roll is like a musical Rosetta Stone. It has co-opted everything in its path, blurring the distinction between genres and cultures. There are fewer degrees of separation between musical artists than Hollywood actors and Kevin Bacon.

Because I like so much different music and want to play it ALL, I have always relied on other musicians to filter it, molding it into whatever style we were going to perform together. Also, other musicians may be more skilled at performing different styles than I am.

Frank Zappa set such a high standard for people to join his band that he, himself, admitted that he couldn’t pass the audition. I never had such a luxury. I just had to work with whoever would work with me and try to make the most of their talents.

Writing music by myself, I have more freedom to work without having that filter.

But, the limits of the technology available is still a factor.

Having only one performer (me) is a factor.

The skills that I possess (or the lack thereof) is a factor.

So, will it really sound the way I want it to?

I don’t know.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

All I can do at this point is continue to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.

Polystylism
From Wikipedia:

Polystylism is the use of multiple styles or techniques in literature, art, film, or, especially, music, and is a postmodern characteristic.
Some prominent contemporary polystylist composers include Peter Maxwell Davies, Michael Colgrass, Lera Auerbach, Sofia Gubaidulina, George Rochberg, Alfred Schnittke, Django Bates, Alexander Zhurbin, Lev Zhurbin and John Zorn. However, Gubaidulina, among others, has rejected the term as not applicable to her work. Polystylist composers from earlier in the twentieth century include Charles Ives and Eric Satie. Among literary figures, James Joyce has been referred to as a polystylist.
Though perhaps not the original source of the term, the first important discussion of the subject is Alfred Schnittke’s essay “Polystylistic Tendencies in Modern Music (1971)”. The composers cited by Schnittke as those who make use of polystylism are Alban Berg, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, Edison Denisov, Hans Werner Henze, Mauricio Kagel, Jan Klusák, György Ligeti, Carl Orff, Arvo Pärt, Krzysztof Penderecki, Henri Pousseur, Rodion Shchedrin, Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Slonimsky, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Igor Stravinsky, Boris Tishchenko, Anton Webern, and Bernd Alois Zimmermann.

I have always been a packrat and tinkerer.

So, naturally, I liked to build my own instruments and noisemakers when I had the materials for it.

Anything that vibrates and changes pitch is fair game.

I made many attempts, but never mastered building electronics.

Some of my simple guitar-based instruments worked pretty well, though.

I once played “The Electric Stick” with Carey Loren’s Monster Island and MSBR, from Japan.

MSBR were so impressed that they put a video of me on their website.

I ended up giving the The Electric Stick away to Davin Brainard, of Princess Dragon-Mom, during a housecleaning Marsha Postel and I had in our Detroit apartment.

I recently uncovered some old parts in storage that may be useful.

So, maybe I will make something again, soon.

Frank Zappa on TV!

https://youtu.be/g1tj8-YJO6Y

https://youtu.be/y_DevsLV5Y8

Just out of curiosity, I wonder who will watch these videos and who will run for the hills.

I am already losing subscribers.

Gotta weed out the trash.

A couple of months ago, I was publicly humiliated in a rant on Craigslist by a former bandmate or collaborator.

It was very upsetting to me.

The chickenshit never identified himself, though.

Anyway, one of his criticisms was my support of LGBTIQ rights.

I honestly didn’t think that I had made a big deal about it.

I may have said something briefly, gave some warning, to avoid potential conflicts.

That is about it.

I do not know if I would write a song on the subject or not.

Maybe.

It is possible.

It is something I have always cared about and has become more accepted by the mainstream in the last couple of years.

I simply acknowledge that gender and sexual orientation are not binary constructs.

It is a range of possibilities that a person may find themselves being.

There are thousands of species of animals that are identifiable along this range.

There are biological and environmental factors that affect our physiology and behavior.

Why wouldn’t sexual orientation and gender be among those affected?

Pollution has exacerbated the population of intersexed animals.

Hormones dumped into the sewer systems and water supply has created more hermaphrodite fish.

Why wouldn’t that also affect us?

Our corporate food supply has increasingly used hormones and drugs to produce more meat, resulting in radical changes in child development.

Kids mature faster than they used to.

Doesn’t anybody think that this has other side effects?

I am not saying that this an entirely man-made phenomenon.

But, I think the natural balance of things has definitely been affected by factory farms and industrial waste.

People who are LGBTIQ are still human beings who deserve love and respect, as anybody else would.

Hiding bigotry behind religion doesn’t help anyone.

It just breeds more bigotry and social problems.

Usually, the bigger the homophobe someone is, the more self-loathing and deeper in the closet they are too.

https://youtu.be/UMhFyWEMlD4

https://youtu.be/2E8rnLMrCjo

When I began writing songs, as a kid in the 1980’s, I was very self-conscious of what the lyrics were “supposed” to be like.

I knew that I DID NOT want to sound like 90% of the vapid garbage on the radio or MTV.

It had to “mean” something.

It had to be important.

The Laughing Hyenas had a strict band policy that their songs were always about themselves, someone that they knew, or something in the news.

I shared that sentiment for a long time.

But, over time, I realized that I was making a mistake.

I was rejecting otherwise good material that I had written, solely for this reason, until I realized that I don’t have to write about anything…at all.

I am under no obligation to make sense to anyone.

My lyrical style may sometimes be autobiographical. I can share stories of things that have happened to me and people that I have known.

It may often share George Carlin’s comedic style. His material falls under one of three self-described categories: “the little world”, “the big world”, and the English language, all sharing the overall theme of (in his words) “humanity’s bullshit”, which might include murder, genocide, war, rape, corruption, religion and other aspects of human civilization. He was known for mixing observational humor with larger social commentary. His delivery frequently treated these subjects in a misanthropic and nihilistic fashion.

But, it can also be surreal dadaist nonsense.

It can be anything that I want it to be.

Personal:

Political:

Surreal:

https://youtu.be/iLX4TKO1fy8

Admittedly, I got into Magma a bit late.

I had seen their albums in bargain bins for years and never gave them a second thought.

Big mistake.

I got into Japanese noise rock around the late 1980’s, bands that were heavily influenced by Magma (Bondage Fruit, Daimonji, Kōenji Hyakkei, Pochakaite Malko, and Ruins).

From Wikipedia:

Magma is a French progressive rock band founded in Paris in 1969 by classically trained drummer Christian Vander, who claimed as his inspiration a “vision of humanity’s spiritual and ecological future” that profoundly disturbed him. In the course of their first album, the band tells the story of a group of people fleeing a doomed Earth to settle on the planet Kobaïa. Later, conflict arises when the Kobaïans—descendants of the original colonists—encounter other Earth refugees.
Vander invented a constructed language, Kobaïan, in which most lyrics are sung. In a 1977 interview with Vander and long-time Magma vocalist Klaus Blasquiz, Blasquiz said that Kobaïan is a “phonetic language made by elements of the Slavonic and Germanic languages to be able to express some things musically. The language has of course a content, but not word by word.” Vander himself has said that, “When I wrote, the sounds [of Kobaïan] came naturally with it—I didn’t intellectualize the process by saying ‘OK, now I’m going to write some words in a particular language’, it was really sounds that were coming at the same time as the music.” Later albums tell different stories set in more ancient times; however, the Kobaïan language remains an integral part of the music.

Christian Vander didn’t just create a very innovative group.

An entire subgenre of progressive rock, Zeuhl, was invented by him.

I had hoped someday to find really good musicians who could help me pull off this sort of thing.

But, alas, no such luck.

I don’t think that I can do it alone.

So, I will just do whatever I can do by myself and be satisfied with that, I guess.

https://youtu.be/vBh6MAQQTwk

https://youtu.be/lZZ68i_TE2U

https://youtu.be/G-qt2dETjjo

This weekend was brought to you by the blood, sweat, and tears of labor unions.

Enjoy!

There is a certain “sound” that I am going for when I am recording.

It is kind of a boxed-in, mid-rangy, squashed-compression sound.

It is not too slick and not too cheap.

There are a couple of example albums where you can hear it;

• Some of Ween‘s albums, especially “Chocolate and Cheese” and “The Mollusk”.
• Some of Primus‘ early albums, especially “Frizzle Fry” and “Sailing The Seas of Cheese”.
• Some of the Butthole Surfers‘ albums, such as “Rembrandt Pussyhorse”, Cream Corn From The Socket of Davis”, “”Locust Abortion Technician”, “Hairway To Steven”, and “Independent Worm Saloon”

I was able to ask Paul Leary (guitarist/producer for the Butthole Surfers) once about how he got that sound.

He said it was because they always used cheap tape recorders.

But, I also know that “Locust Abortion Techician” was recorded at home, when they only had one microphone.

I also know that Primus always recorded Les Claypool’s bass directly from the preamps.

So, I am betting that the Butthole Surfers probably did that a lot, too.

I know that the guitars on “Independent Worm Saloon” were recorded straight from their preamps.

Ween often had shitty microphones like I do.

So, I am betting that they did this as well.

As it turns out, this is used by some big-name producers when they want a tight, uncolored, signal.

Now, I also like Steve Albini’s drum sounds when producing Shellac, The Pixies, Nirvana, etc.

He always got a really good ambient “room sound” when recording drums.

This is ironic, because he began his career by recording a Roland drum machine directly to tape.

I enjoy lo-fi tape noise and distortion, too.

But, I want to have more control over it, having a different color to paint with.

Overall, because I mix different styles together, I would like to have a cohesive sound that somehow ties them all together.

It would be nice to play whatever music that I want and still be recognizable when someone hears my work, y’know?

Beating a rhythm out on found objects is as old as the caveman hitting stumps and stones with a stick.

The modern equivalent is prominent in industrial music, although not exclusive to that.

I kinda prefer the clunky sound of hitting a piece of scrap metal over commercially sold cymbals.

Well, except the high-hat.

High-hats are kinda cool.

There seemed to be more groups that did stuff like this, twenty or thirty years ago; Cop Shoot Cop, Pussy Galore, Skeleton Key, Doo Rag, Tchkung!, etc..

I haven’t seen as many like that in a long time.

I would like to include it in my little bag of magic tricks, too.

So far, few people seem to enjoy doing it… except me.

I am slowly rebuilding a new and IMPROVED ShitKit, incorporating found junk as well as electronics and contemporary drums.

It may take me awhile.

https://youtu.be/Atv3t8fN1E4

I have always liked cassettes, for home recording and collecting music.

But, the idea of that being “your band” just always felt weird to me, like karaoke.

In the 1980’s there were a few bands which consisted of only two people and a boombox; Ween, Timbuk3, They Might Be Giants.

There have been others also backed by drum machines and MIDI programs, like Big Black, Space Streakings, Melt-Banana, etc.

There still are.

Somehow, playing and singing along to a tape… alone, never felt right to me.

Unless there is a drummer in the group, it never really felt like a REAL band to me.

It is an irrational bias, I know.

I probably could have gone a lot farther, long ago, if I just recorded myself and played alone with a boombox… instead of constantly trying a revolving door of musicians.

I could never get comfortable being a solo artist.

Power in numbers, maybe, gave me confidence.

“Us” onstage against “Them”, the cretins in the audience who hate us.

It goes back to the days of my playing in basements to uninvited drunks who shouted, “You suck” at us.

Fuck them.

It probably added a certain energy to my performances.

I am not sure if I can do that by myself, without some backup.

But, I guess that I have to try.

Even as a kid, I felt that jazz bassists were the best.

Stanley Clarke was always at the top of my favorite players’ list.

Not just for his technical skill, but for getting a great groove.

I was never all that great at slapping, like him or Larry Graham.

I always used that technique sparingly, as an accent.

But, Jaco Pastorius never slapped and he is considered one of the best jazz bassists of all time.

So, there is some consolation in that, for me.

Another favorite of mine is the legendary Killdozer, from Wisconsin.

I grew up listening to them in the 1980’s-1990’s and they never released a bad album.

Dripping with dark humor about serial killers, going to the beach, communism, cranberries, hamburger, and the best cover versions of any songs you can imagine.

I got to meet and chat with them on their final tour.

Nice guys.

I wanted to post some of my original material.

But, currently, I lack a necessary adapter to fit the camcorder.

Anyway, I thought I would do the next best thing and share some music from one of my influences instead.

Grotus were a unique group during the 1990’s, having two bassists, two drummers, and two samplers.

Not quite an industrial band, their music often employed ethnic instruments and tribal rhythms.

Championed by Mike Patton of Faith No More, the band opened for Mr. Bungle on a US tour.

They were swallowed up in the feeding frenzy major labels went on, trying to find “the next Nirvana.”

It ultimately led to their breaking up.

I would be stoked if my music turned out being half as good as theirs.

Wednesday, May 13at 7:00pm
Next Week · 61°F / 42°F Overcast
The Phoenix Cafe Hazel Park
24918 John R Rd, Hazel Park, Michigan 48030

Hosted by Archibald Chesterfordson III

Screening of Telepathic Telephones
The Detroit/Ypsi/Chicago made experimental sci-fi made byDEATH CAT.

UFO Art on exhibit featuring work by Melinda Bylow, Rob Chope, Steve Czapiewski, B.B. Foxx, Steve Gamburd, Steve Goossen, Chettara Hunter, Joshua Kern, Brian Lewandowski, Crystal Mielcarek, Owen Strzelewicz, Emily Vastbinder, David Winters, and Amy Wipp.

live la musica by:

Mike Nobody – Prog-Punk Noise-Rock
https://mikenobody.com/

Doogatron – Techno
https://soundcloud.com/doogatron

New Centaur – avante-garde rock
http://soundcloud.com/new-centaur
and
Casino – new age-primitive
https://soundcloud.com/tryyourluckatthecasino
Collaborative set

Bearfoot -chill psychedelic
https://www.facebook.com/bearfootmusic143?fref=ts

LOOKING FOR ARTISTS OF THE SCI-FI/PSYCHEDELIC/AVANTE GARDE

e-mail: planetcereal9@yahoo.com

BEST ALIEN COSTUME CONTEST!

more tba

Featuring live performances by Mike Nobody and Doogatron MAY 13 2015

Unintentional Intentional Art in the form of
“Telepathic Telephones”

(A Detroit made movie!)
Telepathic Telephones

Wednesday, May 13 at 7:00pm

The Phoenix Cafe

24918 John R Rd.

Hazel Park, Michigan 48030

(248) 439-0334

for booking contact steve at:

http://www.artisnormal@yahoo.com
Hosted by

Archibald Chesterfordson III

Screening of “Telepathic Telephones”

The Detroit / Ypsilanti / Chicago made experimental sci-fi movie made by DEATH CAT.

Live music by:

Mike Nobody

Doogatron

-tba-

https://mikenobody.com/

Originally intended as a 3-cassette/CD release.

I had to break up the set, due to complications with Bandcamp uploading.

Next month should keep me pretty busy…and broke.

I haven’t been paid and I am already $200 in the hole.

Hey, I gotta eat and keep motor oil in the van if I go anywhere.

I need to see my doctor about this pain in my right hand.

I do not know if it is arthritis or carpal tunnel syndrome.

But, I have been in constant pain for months and taking tons of painkillers daily.

Some days I can’t even move the sonofabitch.

He needs to refill my meds, too.

My van needs the transmission to be fixed, very badly, and the oil leak has resumed at full hemorrhage.

The first Island of Misfit Noise EP, Stone Soup & Mulligan Stew should be out soon.

I am wrapping up a few details and will be painting a cover for it, soon as I can get the materials.

I want to make up a bunch of buttons, magnets, and stickers to celebrate.

I also want to finally get myself a domain name and make this a legit website.

I want to re-establish my publishing company /label (Van By The River) and get hooked up with BMI and some distributors.

I am gonna record some new Mike Damn Nobody material.

This is my solo noise project.

So, if you enjoy artists like Merzbow, Masonna, Solmania, C.C.C.C., The Haters, etc. then it may be to your liking.

I want to rebuild a new-and-improved “Shitkit”, the “Not-So-ShitKit”

It will still be mostly composed of scrap metal and whatever junk I can find cheap or free.

But, I would like to add a Roland Octopad or Korg Wavedrum, maybe a nice brass piccolo snare, Lucite floor tom or bass drum.

Sometime this summer I would like to contact Mike Koontz, a local Michigan guitar luthier (one of the best in the country), to help me design a custom instrument or two.

I probably won’t have the funds to purchase it all at once.

So, I thought maybe he could help me work out the details in advance, so I don’t make a lot of costly mistakes.

Then, I could farm out each piece to a different manufacturer as I can afford it; a neck here, a body there, some electronics and hardware from this place or that.

After a few months, I should have all the necessary parts that I require.

Then, I could take them to the guy here in Michigan to assemble them and finish it up for me.

My live band, The Riverviews, is kind of in limbo right now.

I dunno what is going on with us.

I am focusing on home recording for the time being.

After I get a couple of songs done I may perform live again, with or without a band.

Maybe I am doomed to always be a solo artist.

I hope to produce more paintings and artwork too.

Maybe I can sell a few pieces and catch-up on my expenses.

Hey I can dream, can’t I?

Well, it looks like the old studio computer is DEAD.
The hard drive isn’t really the problem after all.
It is the motherboard that is fucked-up.
So, I guess we need to replace the computer altogether.
I will be looking around for a decent system compatible with our other hardware/software.
We will be working with what gear we have left and try to have some new material ready to record by the time we replace the computer (whenever THAT is).

In 1980, Andy filmed this pilot for ABC. Though ABC didn’t pick up the series, this would become the basis for Paul Reuben’s show, “Pee Wee’s Playhouse”. 3 years after the pilot was filmed, Paul Reubens would ask Andy for permission to base his show off of the pilot. Andy agreed. This is the first filmed appearance of “Little Tony”, and “Knuckles” who were designed for Andy by the Legendary Norman Tempia (Of “Team America” fame).
The alternate title for this pilot is, “Buckshot”

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