As 2006 bled into 2007, there was a messiness to my life, what was happening in it, that I found distressing. Between Temple being what it was and the poetry world being what it was, I found myself stretched beyond any ways or manner I'd been stretched before. Seemingly out of the blue (though I'd seen her earlier in '06 on Stoning the Devil), and as if on cue, Mary H. called me and asked me to pose for her. I did. The result was this portrait, more than half of which was painted on one day. To the tune, interesting to note, of something I brought to her studio off Broad Street in North Philly, not far from Temple, for us to hear: David Bowie's Low album, from 1976. Mary, though we were on the verge of reuniting, was low too: by painting me as a composite of myself and Abby Heller-Burnham, she let the cat out of the bag; she was none too pleased that I'd consummated something with Abs. We were similarly low that day. But she liked the Bowie.
Bowie: what Sara Starr is musically tried not to showboat, but can't not reveal the connection to Ziggy-era Bowie. Why, during the Darkyr Sooner months in '99, I was so Bowie-besotted, I don't know. Actually, living at 10th and A, I kept hearing that Iggy Pop lived right around the corner on B, but I never saw him. I did walk out of the apartment I was crashing in to find Spike Lee standing on my stoop. This is an outdoorsman kind of track— written partially in Tompkins, partly in Washington Square Park, where I was hanging with Todd Smolar and more NYU film dudes. Another dead zone track, too. Who Sara is is my little secret. As per the time signature warp woven into the tune— maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't.
What was spun, at the Last Drop, was half the fun. In the early Aughts, the map of what the Last Drop played was widely expansive, from Le Tigre and Belle and Sebastian to Hall and Oates. The Last Drop phase which I found most intriguing happened later: in late 2007, for several months, all we heard was Black Sabbath (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath) and King Crimson (In the Court of King Crimson). This was engineered by one Annie Daley, who clearly had something to say then, and said it.
The actor's professional headshot is no accident: I did some acting in Manhattan. I briefly joined 13th Street Rep, famous for Israel Horowitz and his piece Line, bounced around trying to get my plays produced, by Pure Pop, La Mama, and others, with little success. Paul Levin, who had some music biz cache as Tony Levin's nephew (Paul played bass too), was a godsend, and extended an extremely generous hand to me, making Buttons Sound for me a home away from home. The Darkyr Sooner sessions, beyond what's on the EP, also produced a second version of Riding the Waves, worth hearing. It's more spacy and less sharp than the single.
The single, it turns out, was done in the fall of '99, when I was commuting to Manhattan from Philly, where I was already ensconced in Logan Square. The recordings which comprised Darkyr Sooner waited until, through Gair Marking of dev79, I could upload them to mp3.com, which at that point was also a surrogate or would-be label. The first pressing was done in 2000. That year, Paul Levin several times commuted to Philly from NYC to play bass for me at shows, at the Khyber and elsewhere. He also met many folks who were to be key participants in the Philly Free School, like Matt Stevenson, Jeremy Eric Tenenbaum, and Gaetan Spurgin. Mary H. he met later.
Mary and Abby liked Darkyr Sooner. Yet the entire point of the title, with the inhering Nick Drake pun, is that the collection would have to wait for any generalized success. We've seen some of that now. Really, the EP is a testament to Paul's generosity to me, as an artist he had no obligation to assist or patronize. Paul saw that I had some good material, so he decided to help me put it down on tape. All the niggling contingent factors, the months I spent starving and couch surfing, don't matter much now. What we're left with is a document in pop music, of the Nineties transitioning, moving towards something else. That's how I see the Darkyr Sooner muse we channeled: the sound of transition.
Back to State College: most of this one worked out in Leete basement, North Halls, even though I lived in Holmes. The rock crew in Leete: Norm Fetter, Jen Stitz, Carmen Martella, were big for me at the time. Norm was Rick Wakeman's stunt-double, from Pottstown, no less, as Jen was from Doylestown. Cheers.
As of this July, when the Feel (I saw) remix from Acid Dropping hit #8 on the Soundclick Electronic Overall chart, it proved something crucial: Aughts Philadelphia sells in the world. It had, also, a few ways of proving this: Zenboy1955's brilliant fusion of jazz and electronic music employed Feel (specifically, the Eris Temple '06 recording of Feel, just as Speck employed the Eris Temple recording of Opera Bufa) organically, in the sense that CC Mixter were not bought out by anyone to use the Fieled poetry. CC Mixter chose to use us, and it's hard not to take that as an ensign that Aughts Philly appeals to, and is creatively stimulating to, a wide number of artists (CC Mixter=Cali). Then there's the chart ranking itself, which takes and transcendentalizes the Feel (I saw) remix as something which, including us in a collaborative context, works in the world as a commodity or commercial entity. The last level is about the Zeitgeist, both of the 20s and Aughts, and as a beacon showing any potential audience the possible way. The 20s is proving to be fertile ground for the Aughts to develop in. That's where the spiel ends, though, because I still don't know why. I'll be excited to find out.
Matt Stevenson's recording of Feel, as read by me, was made at Eris Temple, at 52nd and Cedar in North-West Philadelphia, in the August aughts of 2006. I've already shown some of what the Eris Temple studio looked like. In these two shots, you can see two halves of the square space where I actually sat, reading the poem. The square space, as is evident, was also used as a DIY performance area, while the crowd usually lingered in what doubled as a control room space, a few steps below, and where Matt mixed what I had done.
Notably, Stone the Devil has now pushed up to #2 in the Soundclick Acid-Jazz sub-generic chart, #23 in Jazz Overall. Cheers!
We have a I, II punch here for Feel (I saw) remix. The "I," last winter, when Feel (I saw) remix spent 9 weeks atop the Soundclick Acid-Electronic sub-generic chart. The "II," this summer, when Feel (I saw) remix added a few more weeks to the total, bringing the number up to 11 as of today. Thanks, to Soundclick, Zenboy1955, etc, & cheers!
Produced/engineered by Zenboy1955 for CC Mixter, 2021, and by Matt Stevenson at Eris Temple, North/West Philadelphia, 2006. Thanks again to both.
First Band on the Moon by The Cardigans: an interesting album with an interesting history. Embraced by a big chunk of Europe as a rock masterpiece, ignored in the US, though of course lovefool was a huge hit single here. Still sounds fresh, and like a rock masterpiece, to me in 2022, and in the US registers as a buried gem.
The Acid Dropping EP reached #5 this week (week ending 6-5-22) on the hearthis.at Electronica chart. Thanks again to all contributors!
The Feel (I saw) remix has now (4-27-22) spent eighteen weeks in the Top 5 of the Acid-Electronic sub-generic chart on Soundclick: nine weeks at #1, nine weeks in the #2-#5 range. Thanks again to everyone!
P.S. As of June 11, 2022, the Feel (I saw) remix re-entered the Soundclick Acid Electronic sub-generic chart at #3. As of 8-06, Feel (I saw) remix adds a twenty-seventh week to time spent in the Acid Electronic Top 5. On June 25, 2022, the Feel (I saw) remix re-entered Acid Electronic at #1; as of 8-05, completes its eleventh week at #1 in AE sub-genre.
P.S.S. As of 6-29-22, Feel (I saw) remix also climbed back to #15 on the Electronic Overall chart on Soundclick; as of 7-2-22, #8.
P.S.S.S. As of 7-29-22, Feel (I saw) remix once again re-entered the Soundclick Acid-Electronic sub-generic chart at #1; and the Electronic Overall chart at #20; as of 8-1, #15 (Overall).
