An Imaginary Dialogue

Michael Thomas Jackson - Space Projective 1 (2004)
 
1. Space Projective 1
2. Feldspar In Ballast

Local avante garde composer Michael Thomas Jackson and other artists, were commisioned to construct sound pieces by Project Space 211 for a May 7, 2004 Art Installation. Joe Morgan was on the board of directors for P.S.211 at the time, and conceptualized the exhibition entitled; ECHO CHAMBER. A West Coast artist was flown in and received his commision, but there were not enough funds to pay Jackson as planned. This change compromised his resources and original intentions, resulting in a shorter, more simply fashioned piece. However, what was created might be of greater historical value for our purposes than the originally planned piece! Jackson captured sounds within the building, in several separate sessions; mainly in the empty room beside the performance space. Previously this room had been the site of the Creature Tease experiments (which we hope to feature later), and become a storage space over time. By this point it had been cleared out and a hole cut in the wall, for a second floor doorway leading to the back lot. This was in anticipation of future plans for an art gallery, and artist studio space (which is what currently exists there). In the empty concrete shell with a gapeing hole into open space; Jackson rolled objects around the floor, captured toilets flushing, water in pipes rushing, snippets of conversation, and other sounds. These sources became the sound collage titled, "Space Projective 1". In Jackson's own words:

"Space Projective 1 is a work of musique concrète. I assembled a variety of sounds from inside The Wherehouse with a variable-speed cassette recorder and realized the composition on a multi-track hard disc recorder. In a way I guess I was trying to breathe sentience into the walls and floors of the space or create an imaginary dialogue between its many ghosts, but that proved a ridiculous idea. It is what it is and was composed asystematically with the intention of providing some sort of dramatic trajectory. The title is a bit of a pun since the work has nothing to do with geometry. The term projective was borrowed from the lexicon of psychology, thus considering the work a subjective commentary on the space emerging from my subconcious. Whatever, right?

The exhibition aspect of the piece consisted of a CD player and 2 speakers mounted on one of the space's mighty wooden posts. Ah, so many nights spent leaning on that post. The same source recordings were used in the concert I performed the night of the opening, a piece entitled "Feldspar In Ballast." In addition to the tapes I also employed a deer hunter's call, a short wave radio, some signal processors, and both electronic and acoustic feedback. This is a slightly edited version of the piece...I kinda like."

http://www.4shared.com/dir/21312264/276a383c/Michael_Thomas_Jackson.html

A Milkjug moment & pre-Finks flavors

John Blackburn - Earliest Demos (1998-99)

1. Speedneck
2. Wake Up
3. Doin The Dance To Work

John Blackburn - vocals, bass
Daniel VonSeggen - bass
Andy VonSeggen - drums

What we have here is another super-rare item; the first recordings of John Blackburn. The blossoming of John's love for music. Leftover magic moments in their rawest state. He readily admits; it's music that's not near as much fun to listen to, as it was to make.


John Blackburn met what would become the Wherehouse crew, at the Morning Dew Coffeehouse when they still lived on the edge of town at 4196 Ebert Road. Though John's brother Darrell had a store right next door to 4196 called, WHERE IT'S AT, John never made it out there while the group was in residence.


Milkjug was a group that formed from Andy Von practicing his drums in a shed behind Kendall's place off Healy Drive. John and Dan would drop by, and soon were jamming together. This moved to 4196, after the guys moved into the Wherehouse, Darrell got the place for himself, and John moved in with him. Milkjug's "Doin' The Dance To Work", is one of the earliest 4-track experiments, recorded on a Tascam John bought from Darrell. The threesome jammed it out, and then John added vocals after the other guys left. This version of "Speedneck" is THE first recording he ever made. That might become obvious once you hear it, as John has noted; "Now, with extra garble." With the next track "Wake Up", we get a much better idea of where he was going, and what he was aiming for. Both feature John playing all the parts, and eventually became Finks songs (soon to be posted here).


The point of mixing these three items down to a dub tape, was to share with Chris Leiser, who had given John some of his solo Red Leader tapes. This resulted in a Milkjug performance, in what is now the Green Room at The Wherehouse, for an art opening. This room was originally part of an incinerator shaft, and had metal grates for the floor and ceiling. It barely had space for the band, so people stood above and below them to witness the performance through the grates. The group that would become the Bell Bros also played as a nameless combo, upstairs by the glass block wall. A room was set up in the other incinerator shaft (what is now the stairwell), with a coffin that's lid was wired open to serve as a table. A homemade dream machine was mounted to the makeshift table for people to gather around and interact with. This was Milkjug's only public performance.


This pic shows Andy VonSeggen and John Blackburn in a different grouping than Milkjug, jamming on Andy Von's PVC drumkit; at an entirely different art show at the Wherehouse. The completely homemade drumset was constructed of various things with unique acoustical properties, collected from a screen printing job Andy and Daniel worked at.


 http://www.4shared.com/dir/20682648/e049463f/Blackrabbit.html