Hey Ho, Let's Go
ZenithPointStudio PopWorks 1
Analog. Digital computers just do not know the joy of an inbetween state. Spinning the dial of my 1980's Sherwood receiver exposed a soft chaos of static soon replaced by the strong signal of a Los Angeles FM station. One fateful night, I spent 12 minutes going back and forth on the FM dial while recording the result to tape. The experience was as galvanizing as Jimi Hendrix's "same old explosion, goin’ through my mind" (Burning of the Midnight Lamp). I finally lost my nerve to continue, but the recording was a time capsule of American Culture. Of course, this artifact is lost - would you expect less. But it was so cool.
Everyday of your entire life, the media provides politicians and advertisers access to you. The politicians annoy me because they conceal their motives, but I like the commercial world. They spend money to convince me to spend money. They make goods and services and then try to convince me I need them. The less I buy the more I win. Yes, I know my conclusion is absurd.
Finally, we get to the Guitar Center. As a recording artist, GC, a Southern California music icon, has been a dream factory, where a credit card will get the next great version of a favorite musical toy. They also used to make the greatest radio commercials. Intense, end of the world. A driving music bed and a big voice narration. You had to buy, on sale for only 3 days. 50% off. And then next week there would be a new radio ad.
I loved the commercials so much that I began to record hours of FM radio to catch them. From that beginning, dubbing songs, snippets of dialogue and other commercials into a collage became a pastime. I played them while driving the highways.
I ended up with 330+ cassettes. At 102 minutes per cassette (Maxell made a cassette with 50+ minutes per side), that's over 550 hours. Who needs a life. Click on the button to download PopWorks 1a (51m). The link will be active for at least 30 days. More to come.POPWORKS 1a (mp3) (48MB) (51m) (1985)
The collage has one rule: Do not expect the sound you are hearing will continue - the collage reserves the right to change at any instant. Definitely abstract fidelity. Here is PopWorks 1b.
I never tried to make a second attempt with the Sherwood. I had no faith that I could catch that spirit again. And while the PopWorks series is edited, it was done in linear time. New elements were added to a "work tape" which, when filled, became the next collage tape. POPWORKS 1b (mp3) (48MB) (51m) (1985)
