The seventh string quartet is for four violas. Here’s the beginning of the second movement, based on a theme I heard in a dream. In the dream, I was singing it with these words: “Oh, dear, you’ll never understand; you’ll keep on for that undiscovered land.” I suppose that is what I do.  If this […]

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For my last FortFest appearance, I gave a talk on some drawings by contactees that John Keel collected and circulated in the ’60s.  I posted most of it over on the Keel site.

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David Gold and I performed in “The Speakeasy Series,” produced by Studio B in Maplewood, NJ, March 24, 2012. Our set: Make a Wish Never Shtup a Nutjob Fa La La La La The Gypsy (by Billy Reid) Don’t Talk To Me Good Night

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Back in 1988, I used to perform this version of Hamlet’s soliloquy, in which each word is followed by a cartoonish sound effect.  It was, I recall, fun to perform, difficult to memorize, and took a long time to set up.  Here’s how it begins.

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The third string quartet consists of five of the erotic sonnets of Piero Aretino, translated into Solrésol. (There’s a preparatory sketch here.) In the first movement, the first four sonnets are offered simultaneously, each played by a different instrument. The translation is isorhythmic, with one beat of rest between words, two between lines, and four […]

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Poor sentimental doofus!  The arrangement was really meant for violin and cello, but I recorded it with keyboard.

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The sixth string quartet is based on palindromic rounds. I like the way they wash back and forth, interlocking.

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“Starlight” was an elaborate “chamber extravaganza,” which I put together back in San Francisco in 1980.  I had been creating performance pieces by assembling found materials linked in associative structures; this was the most elaborate manifestation.  It used music, props, slides of drawings, and dialogues; all circling around the twin mystics Thomas and Henry Vaughan.  […]

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I think this was back in 1972.  At any rate, I was still in high school when I wrote string and flute arrangements for this local 45.  Jan Ince sang two of her songs, and Caltrick Simone (whose real name I’ve forgotten) produced.  I also played ‘cello on it.  An internet search reveals that copies […]

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I’ve often given talks on the visionary painter and pulp writer, Richard Shaver.  The one I did at Brooklyn’s “Four Walls” gallery was the most elaborate.  Mike Ballou made wall sconces using Shaver’s rock photos; we hung a tree with Shaver publications; and I spoke within a charming fake cave.

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