Friday, January 30, 2009

2 self-descriptions of then-Andrews

Interested in th practice of writing self-descriptions. No description of anything explains th thing fully. All sentences fail (including this one). But no matter!

For th December La Casa house concert, each of us wrote a "self-description" for th program, a little anticommunicative something-or-another. For record-keeping / trace-leaving purposes, I will reproduce mine here:

That gesture of hearts & black boxes. Th dilemma of re-verbing-(stuck? stuck? stuck?). Anti-blame yrself, Self!


Another: my "Facebook profile". People use this space to list favorite bands & quotations to assemble some kind of communicative identity. Admitting that no description describes (every description lies?), I've had some fun w/ it. But my space has become gargantuan & out-of-date. I will reproduce it here as a trace & then burn it - start over. Ignore it completely - I insist!

Interests: musick, art, chaos, xenharmonics, (meta-)languaging, (meta-)games, Situations, (epic) poetry, shamanism, stripes, my beagle, th avant-garde, animalia, mandolinia, beans, Discordianism, Nomic, backgammon, cümbüş, theatre, avocados, fucking, pi, anarchy, design(ing a society), relativity, revolution, 17edo, vegans, mythology, toki pona, agnostics, teaching, toast, conversing, crayons, prime numbers, cybernetics, mismatching, conlanging, DNA, divination, nuts, th cosmos, Joyce, spooling, dots, pacifism, neologisms, nonce words, index cards, (post-)modernism, th Oulipo, cryptozoology, UFOlogy, 1 1 2 3 5, thoats, prickle, Go, Killer Bunnies, bards, forgetting, vejtbls, futurists, zedonks, skeptics, (c)raisins, quantum physics, nudity, gnosticism, metaprogramming, peanut butter, belts, photographs, tarragon, 22edo, dada, th Fool, strong coffee (but I quit!), onions, belief, whimsy, paleontology, fnords, artichokes, 13/10, Truth, Lies, confusion, Bacchus, breast pockets, discord, 20-consonant poems, strange loops, surrealism, platypodes, turtles, garlic, humanism, digits, song-poems, bourbon, technology, Tlaloc, moment of symmetry, boom, symbols, sigils, 23, Esperanto, atheism, Eris, rice (milk), constrained poetry, Unitarian Universalism, neckties, popcorn, memory, outsider music, mythistory, 20/11, druidry, primitivism, th Church of th Sub-Genius, Lojban, synthesis, lucid dreaming, cannibalism, minimalism, optimism, kitties, plaid, phenomenology, th aftermath, fuzzy logic, contradancing, astronomy, complexity, clay, 37edo, E Prime, manifestos, creation stories, podcasts, tea, (mystery) cults, cubism, th Fifth Circuit, sweet, (de-)constructing, habanero chile peppers, drums, autonomy, (rock) operas, robots, Deenmark, Chaos Magic(k), dice, cut spelng, Taoism, (red) wine, anarchy, nihilism, doilies, 13edo, veggie stir-fries, Ragnarök, pungent, synchronicities, Zen, clovers, transcendental numbers, Kabbalah, pasta, Operation Mindfuck, fiction, science, science-fiction

Favorite Music: Captain Beefheart, R.E.M., Threshold of Pain, th Fiery Furnaces, Deerhoof, th Shaggs, Charles Ives, th Beatles, Björk, Flaming Lips, Soul Coughing, Anton Webern, th Residents, th Beach Boys, Richard Wagner, Danielson Famile, Harry Partch, Ornette Coleman, Shooby Taylor, Edgard Varèse, X. J. Scott, Fat Worm of Error, George Crumb, Aphex Twin, They Might Be Giants, Os Mutantes, Wild Man Fischer, Caglar Juan Singletary, David Fox, PUNK'N, Rilo Kiley, gamelan music, karnatic music, John Cage, Tool, th Mathematicians, Cecil Taylor, Radiohead, Rodd Keith, Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Jacky Ligon, Syd Barrett, Elvis Costello, Allen Ginsberg, Arnold Schoenberg, King Crimson, Chest, th Cure, Tiny Tim, 00100, Counting Crows, Ravi Shankar, Wendy Carlos, ZIA, Joanna Newsom, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Aaron Krister Johnson, Jacob Barton, th Bad Plus, Joseph Spence, Jandek, Alhaji Papa Susso, Dismemberment Plan, Tears for Fears, Morphine, Olivia Tremor Control, Autechre, David Bowie, Mark Enslin, Drunken Boat, Peter Blasser, JAARband, Talking Heads, Kraig Grady, th Starlight Mints, Coco Rosie, Herbert Brün, Glenn Branca, Charles Manson, Sibelius, th Doors, th Who, th Sugarcubes, Boredoms, Lucia Pamela, Alban Berg, William Shatner, Ween, Evolution Revolution, Led Zeppelin, Neutral Milk Hotel, Pere Ubu, Portishead, Igor Stravinsky, Sun Ra, Steve Reich, Skip Spence, Skip LaPlante, Guster, th Velvet Underground, Syzygyz, Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis, Ken Nordine, Sufjan Stevens, Luciano Berio, Hamza El Din, Peter Gabriel, Philip Glass, Of Montreal, Terry Riley, Bill Monroe, Matt Munisteri, Eric Dolphy, Daniel Johnston, Ben Johnston, K.U.K.L., Lutoslawski, Nodal Nim

Favorite TV Shows: Six Feet Under, Star Trek (TOS; TNG; DS9), Space Ghost Coast 2 Coast, Mr. Show, Carnivàle, Boston Legal, th Daily Show, Twin Peaks, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Big Love, th Golden Girls, th Colbert Report, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, Batman: th Animated Series, Seinfeld, Frontline, Monty Python's Flying Circus

Favorite Movies: Fata Morgana, Forbidden Zone, Out of This World: The Song Poem Story, Stroszek, Even Dwarfs Started Small, Julien Donkey-Boy, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, th Nightmare Before Christmas, What th BLEEP Do We Know?!, th Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, American Beauty, Pi, Donnie Darko, Grizzly Man, Labyrinth, Dreams, Beetlejuice, Being John Malkovich, Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, Gummo, Dr. Strangelove, Dune, Heart of Glass, Spinal Tap, I Heart Huckabees, Eraserhead, Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters 2

Favorite Books: Principia Discordia, Popol Vuh, th Odyssey, Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates, th Oulipo Compendium, I Ching, Ulysses, Finnegan's Wake, Illuminatus, Tender Buttons, th Tree of Knowledge, Prometheus Rising, Breakfast of Champions, Zen Mind Beginner's Mind, A Larry Richards Reader, Cat's Cradle, A Pattern Language, Quantum Psychology, Jitterbug Perfume, th Epic of Gilgamesh, Metaphors We Live By, th Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Cosmic Trigger I, Monkey, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, A Clockwork Orange, Being & Nothingness, th Tao of Physics, th Tao of Poo, Liber Kaos, Man & His Symbols, Cybernetics of Cybernetics, If On a Winter's Night a Traveler, Pale Blue Dot, Zen & th Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, th Phantom Tollbooth, Understanding Systems, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, th Omnivore's Dilemma, Galapagos, Waiting for Godot, th Bacchae, th Neverending Story, th Oresteia, Sri Isopanisad, E.E. Cummings: Complete Poems 1904-1962, th Gnostic Gospels of Jesus, Urban Shaman, Allen Ginsberg: Collected Poems 1947-1980, Alice in Wonderland, Lila, th Egyptian Book of th Dead, Alice Thru th Looking Glass, Still Life w/ Woodpecker, th Teachings of Don Juan, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, Oulipo Laboratory, Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy, th Golden Compass, Dune, Beowulf, Naked Lunch, Summa Discordia, Time & th Highland Maya, Sophie's World, th Man in th High Tower, Four Plays by Aristophanes, Songs in the Key of Z, Tao Te Ching, th Art of War, Life of Pi, th Joy of Pi, Operating Manuel for Spaceship Earth, th Wasteland & Other Poems (T.S.Eliot), th Book of Lies, th Dancing Wu Li Masters, Bitter Music, My Words & Where I Want Them

Favorite Quotations:
{{

A DOG.

A little monkey goes like a donkey that means to say that means to says that more sighs last goes. Leave with it. A little monkey goes like a donkey.

}} ~ Gertrude Stein, Tender Buttons

{{

If you want to be yourself, CHANGE.

}} ~ Heinz von Foerster

{{

Th primary role of conversation is not communication; communication is secondary. Conversation is th converse of control; it supports th autonomy of th participants. Th primary role of conversation is th maintenance, transformation, & creation of distinction.

-

I do not know what utopia is. What I know is that whenever I act on my wants, needs, or desires, I do so w/ utopian intentions. When I do so, I am influencing in some way th society in which I find myself. However, if I realize that my autonomy - my ability to experience choice - requires a relationship w/ others who possess a similar propensity, I must accept that they have *different* wants, needs, & desires, & that indeed that is desirable.

}} ~ Larry Richards

{{

A way a lone a last a loved a long the / riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.

}} ~ James Joyce, Finnegan's Wake

{{

Oh, a sleeping drunkard
Up in Central Park,
And a lion-hunter
In the jungle dark,
And a chinese dentist,
And a British queen -
All fit together
In the same machine.
Nice, nice, very nice;
Nice, nice, very nice;
Nice, nice, very nice -
So many different people
In the same device.

}} ~ Bokonon's 53rd Calypso

{{

Meanwhile everyone wants to breathe & nobody can & many say, 'We will breathe later.' & most of them don't die because they are already dead.

-

Let's not change bosses, let's change life.

-

We want a wild & ephemeral music.
We propose a fundamental regeneration: concert strikes,
sound gatherings w/ collective investigation.
Abolish copyrights: sound structures belong to everyone.

}} ~ Situationist International Anthology

{{

Wait!
thou Maker, thou Modeler,
look at us, listen to us,
don't let us fall, don't leave us aside,
thou god in the sky, on the earth,
Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth,
give us our sign, our word,
as long as there is day, as long as there is light.
When it comes to the sowing, the dawning,
will it be a greening road, a greening path?
Give us a steady light, a level place,
a good light, a good place,
a good life and beginning.
Give us all of this, thou Hurricane,
Newborn Thunderbolt, Sudden Thunderbolt,
Newborn Nanahuac, Sudden Nanahuac,
Falcon, Hunahpu,
Sovereign Plumed Serpent,
Bearer, Begetter,
Xpiyacoc, Xmucane,
Grandmother of Day, Grandmother of Light,
when it comes to the sowing, the dawning.

}} ~ Popul Vuh, translation: Dennis Tedlock

{{

Th law which you don't break will break you.
Th language which you don't speak will speak you.

}} ~ Herbert Brün




(Hm... it seems this blog has become where I put things to forget about them - an oubliette of soorts.)

Friday, January 16, 2009

wherewhen AndR?

Words I have hardly given to this blogthing, & so, presumably, to some friends that read it. Hellohi! I will place myself in spacetime for you.

past


Fall Semester of School for Designing a Society ended, climaxing w/ a concert at our very house, La Casa. We had musicks, stories, essays, hangings, recitations, installations, & an intermission w/ popcorn jam. Jacob & I joined our goodfriend Rob in an aggregate we call, tentatively, JARBAND, to play one rock-ish version of Nodal Nim's 'how to ferment the colon' & a piece of theatre composed by Rob called, very tentatively, Cockroach Opera, & featuring Nodal Nim's 'stripes' w/ new lyrics by Rob & renamed 'gripes'. I enjoyed it & want more more more of it.

Visited at that time did Dogbody Lathus, goodfriend o' me, who now intends w/ Tilly T, alsogoodfriend, to move to Urbana for living & future SDaSing!

I took Greyhound home to Troy, NY & saw goodfriends from timespast. Had lots of jolly asynchronous conversation, wrote a lot, & generally felt at peace w/ universe. Spent Xmas w/ my mom & her man Bob. Made good food & good musick improvisationally w/ Scotty. Remembered how to meditate.

Greyhounded back to Urbana, IL to spend New Years w/ goodfriends out here. Anna hosted a gettogether gamenight, & we played Apples to Apples & Boggle, chatted, & made musick out of banjo, saw, toy piano, & apartmentbits.

Beth hosted another composition intensive, at which I made new friends, wrote up some bits about antijamming, reacquainted myself w/ th Blue Demon (my mandolin), & participated in smokey pancakemaking.

Went out hunting for something joblike, but have yet to find anything.

Read books. Cooked food. Ate food.

Inspired in part by a visit to th Prairie Zen Center in Champaign I started a daily sunrise meditation practice which I've continued for a week or so to th present day. Newfriend Caroline (who invited me initially to th Prairie Zen Center) joined me for th first few sessions, & since then, Jacob & my new housemate Ronna have also occasionally joined.

Attended one session of a "contemplative meditation" group hosted by newfriends Snow Leopard & Ty.

Started a dual journal w/ Jacob.

Reacquainted myself w/ my Cümbüş & taught some daysongs to Jacob, who then learned an accompanying part on tubulon (stainless steel tubes he has cut to play in 17edo). Played again w/ neutral scales.

Attended & helped at Oddmusic Convergence, hosted by Jacob, augmented by UnTwelve, at th Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, whereat people of all sorts assembled instruments from parts strewn about, showed them off, played them w/ others, etc. Jacob performed Messiaen on udderbot w/ Snow Leopard. Jacob & I debuted tubes-Cümbüş musicks.

Started a daily(ish) morning schmooze w/ goodfriend Drew, at which we've discussed desire, determinism, doubletalk, description, radical constructivism, reality, & other topics beginning w/ "d" & "r".

Attended one evening, so far, of a poetry class taught by Michael Halloway, hosted at Michael Brün's house down th street from us. Showed Book of Days project, which I rather miss.

Played a bit of Go.

Survived w/ good humor th bitter cold (so far).

present (well, ok, more recent past)


Find myself needing a shower.

Feel pretty nice, & attribute it to getting good sleep, having a nice walk w/ Sophie in th sun, & finally getting around to writing for my blog.

Hear Jacob in th other room playing distorted hymns & singing along, as part of a compositional practice.

Run to catch th phone... don't quite make it...

Look forward to...

future (as predicted, wished for, expected, by me)


Will go to contemplative meditation w/ Snow Leopard & Ty at 5:30.

Will, hopefully soon, make steps toward a radio show w/ Jacob called, perhaps, "Talk Wrong Radio".

Intend to take a shower as soon as I post this.


Excited about new member of JARBAND, our friend Anna, who has agreed to our proposal to learn Jacob's tubes so he can play udderbot & trombone. Our new four-piece plans to do all 17edo music, including old Nim/Andrew songs, old Jacob songs, & new cybernetically-themed songs by all.

Will have a job sooner or later, & so a routine & rent money. Fingers crossed.

New interest in I Ching makes me wonder where a project involving that could take me.

Have plans to compose a song w/ Anna that "plays w/ policy".

Enjoy Buddhist & constructivist readings & plan to continue them into th future.

Would like to suggest a Go tournament w/ four or so local playerfriends.

Want to clean my room a bit later.

Mostly, I don't know what to expect of th future. I have no long-term plans at all. I rather like it that way, actually.

Now that I've mostly caught things up on this here blog, I'd like to share more up-to-date ideas & use it for organizing bits of this & that & that & this.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

(of Ever-Ever Land i speak

a poem by E. E. Cummings:

(of Ever-Ever Land i speak
sweet morons gather roun'
who does not dare to stand or sit
may take it lying down)

down with the human soul
and anything else uncanned
for everyone carries canopeners
in Ever-Ever Land

(for Ever-Ever Land is a place
that's as simple as simple can be
and was built that way on purpose
by simple people like we)

down with hell and heaven
and all the religious fuss
infinity pleased our parents
one inch looks good to us

(and Ever-Ever Land is a place
that's measured and safe and known
where it's lucky to be unlucky
and the hitler lies down with the cohn)

down above all with love
and everything perverse
or which makes some feel more better
when all ought to feel less worse

(but only sameness is normal
in Ever-Ever Land
for a bad cigar is a woman
but a gland is only a gland)