t4qs.fm/blue
They Came To Starburg by Steve Fly Agaric 23 (Audio Book stream)
"They Came To Starburg" is my first and only published short story, and also the first time i read my work aloud. Originally crafted for Halloween 2013, recorded in 2014 and released by Iron Man Records in 2015. If you enjoy this free stream of the story, please consider contributing to my effort by buying a track here:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/they-came-to-starburg/id935832302
A note on the text: this story was inspired by the experience of watching Tesco (and all large supermarket malls) transform a small town in England, and my interest in tongue-in-cheek cosmic horror brewed with mushrooms.
Enjoy, Steve 'Fly' Pratt.
& here on spotifly: https://open.spotify.com/album/7c1ePDwFPZmnjvFbndcpWt
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/they-came-to-starburg/id935832302
A note on the text: this story was inspired by the experience of watching Tesco (and all large supermarket malls) transform a small town in England, and my interest in tongue-in-cheek cosmic horror brewed with mushrooms.
Enjoy, Steve 'Fly' Pratt.
& here on spotifly: https://open.spotify.com/album/7c1ePDwFPZmnjvFbndcpWt
The Fuck You Sound present: Sodcast #01
The first T4QS podcast features a full hour of exclusive shit and bespoke jack-off material from the crazy fuckers. Rare nuggets from sonic maniacs Bogus Order, Rev D Wayne Love, DJ Aries, Lord Beefington, Senor Modulator, Caleb Selah, Steve Fly Agaric 23, Debra Zebra, Viagra Twins, Tim USA, Javier, Charles Shah Murray, John Sinclair, Dr...um and Robert Anton Wilson.
The flagship show has badass T4QS tracks like Turn Your Shit Down, Backbencher, The Money, And So On Eventually, Prozac Imperial, Banjoman, plus unique DJ toolkits.
Introducing epic interviews with wankers, spoken turd, bollocking of the beats to kick back and beat your meat too, or study with a fine crab-comb.
Introducing epic interviews with wankers, spoken turd, bollocking of the beats to kick back and beat your meat too, or study with a fine crab-comb.
The first hour is followed by a wicked guest DJ mix by Rev D Wayne Love (Alabama 3) to prolong the dance potty.
For more audio visual treats visit:
Just one shoulder
...to be still
silent and ready
to bless with fury
what you thought
what you know
what’s new?
horror and terror
error and mirror
smoke everywhere
identity dented day
after day by searching for
the elusive other
the you in them
the us in we
the feeling of solidarity
littered lives
splintered sentences
the struggle to make
it whole and new
even the philosopher
of science and magic
can feel cold chill of doom de doom
and yet the mad moon
the number 1 sun and all stars
and earth remain spun
life coming and going
tragic and comic waltz
orbit of causes pauses to
the work you were doing
what you worked on
before the job sucked time off
swim through the hate and
hollywood revenge flu
into creative love lake mate
dig deep and spark one
bark if you have to
how to make it all cohere?
push through
stay high and keep smiling
the world is too big
for just one shoulder
for just one shoulder
--Steve Fly Acrillic
(First thought best thought technique)
(First thought best thought technique)
Kevin 'Memory' Lane
Kevin "memory" Lane.
"Hero's get remembered, legends never die"--Evil Kenevil
Ouch, sometimes people are snatched away truly before their time, and Kev was snatched away from us, all who knew him, and from those who did not have the pleasure of meeting him, or reading him, too soon. Way too fucking soon!
Thankfully, he passed in his sleep, and i suspect he was fully up for it, fully ready to ride that pale horse into eternity with a wide grin. "come fucking on reaper, what you got, ay?" And so it goes. A hero beyond measure, both personally and to all of my friends from my home town, Stourbridge, and surrounding areas, Lye, Brierley Hill, Hagley, and the greater Black Country.
I often referred to Kev as the true voice of the Black Country, a unique individual with a rare and raw talent for writing, coupled with his full-on, up front and principled social presence. A true legend who will be terribly missed by those who new him, and by those who did not. Kevin held the kind of fierce intellect and wit and worldly experience our society and its so called leaders lack.
On more than one occasion i had encouraged him to publish his writings, and not just limit his writing ability and insights to facebook. I am sure that some of you reading this know exactly what i mean, Kevin Lane consistently schooled us with his status updates, honest, raw, funny, smart. Kev was a psychedelic wizard and at the same time a top boy, a lad, one of the boys. He somehow combined a number of personalities together, and broke down stereotypes, followed his own path and was his own man. He had his own dance, his own philosophy of life, his own music tastes, his own humour, his unique way of putting it. Kev seemed to me to be a truly free man, always up for trying something new, consistantly making you think, and always, without fail making you, and anybody in earshot, laugh out loud.
Everybody must find their own way to grieve, and for me personally i must write, and write, because one fact i have learn't, and continue learning from his tragic early exit from the stage, is that eight or ten words on facebook don't do him justice, for me, Kev deserves a book, a statue and street named in his honor. Although i fully understand that many people now use the dating website to express a wise variety of emotions and thoughts, personal and otherwise, for me, it's not the place to begin to pay tribute to such a wide-reaching honey-monster of a legend like Kevin Lane. This motherfucker deserves a few thousand words just for starters. So, strap yourself in. Go make a cup of tea and roll a spliff. The present author is about to take you on a journey down Kevin Lane. A lord, and a real shit kicking black country bard. The very least i can do is spend a few days pulling together just a few memories.
So, about the dance...Kev was well known for his unique dance moves, he could be spotted a mile off, doing the Lanebot, or whatever name you wish to put on it, which involved a lot of shoulder movement, little footwork and a lot of smiling. It was a mechanical, almost robotic looking movement, and it was certainly unique to Kev, to the point where other people would try to immitate his moves, with little success but equal enjoyment. Every music event, and every party in Stourbridge will sorely miss Kevin, he was literally the center of the dance, a mascot and life blood of any party. One time around 1999, at a local rave called "Lifted" i remeber Kevin going full tilt on the dance floor, and on the pole. At one point, in a most hilarious manner actually licking the pole, and dancing around it like a cross between a Native American indian worshipping his totem, and a Black Country porn star out on the piss.
Kev loved his music, and supported independent and local acts, most recently championing the Sleaford Mods before anybody else i knew, and always had his ear to the underground sound. A healthy mixture of punk, indie rock, soul, reggae, funk, classic breakbeats and spoken word, Kev would always be up for having a good time at any party, if there were music to groove on, he would be grooving away with all three shoulders. Kev loved good film and TV too, besdes his fantastic collection of pornography (to be donated to Dudley libraries) he sticks in my mind as the guy who turned me onto loads of cult films and future classics, again, before anybody else. Clerks, South Park, Adult Swim, The Black Mirror, Saxondale, were all introduced to me by Kev. Kevin was a taste maker, and had a sharp eye for cultural memes and movements. I would often visit him just to get the low down on what was happening, since i had been away from the UK for large chunks of time, and he always had another movie, fresh album or book to suggest, never disappinting with his selections.
The last time i spent any extended quality time with Kevin was only a few months back, when he picked me up in Bristol and drove down to Exeter to support a good old friend who was performing in a brilliant theater play. Yes, Kev even recognized the joy and benefits of theater, and was one of only three close friends who slogged it all the way to London, and bought a ticket in support of my performance with the Cosmic Trigger Play. On the way to Exeter and back we talked and talked, for over 5 hours.
We talked about Hunter S. Thompson, Robert Anton Wilson, conspiracy theory, Alex "bumblefuck" Jones, The Sleaford Mods, our trip to see Ken Kesey in London, George Orwell's walk to Stourbridge from Brum, facebook fuckery, social media apocalypse, Margott James, putting a whole pair of pants in his mouth, Radiohead, Frank Foley, WWII, Powick Hospital, the Stourbridge acid test, travels through Europe, The Burningman festival, Amsterdam, Bristol, America, 9/11, 7/7 new underground psychedelic bands from the U.K, maybe having Kev help promote new bands at the club i work at in Bristol, Doug Stanhope, a memorable trippy trip to reading festival in a van that broke down, the million marijuana march and Howard Marks, medical marijuana case studies, Kev's writing, my own writing and novels, Chris Morris, his home brewed beer called Stourt made right next to the river Stour at the Broken Arms, John Peel, 360 VR and the fuck you sound, DJ Aries, Pop Will Eat Itself, the decline of Stourbridge clubs and nightspots, the sly closing of Brierley Hill swimming baths and the film footage we made, the opportunity and need for new events and nights in Stourbridge, strong space cake around the Thompson's house that took us out for 48 hours, the rise of the dodgy political far right, the virtues of Jeremy Corbyn. We shared a spliff and a few cheeky ones to keep us going, and Kev was always going, an adventurer who managed to keep angry man's disease at bay, always looking on the bright and funny side of life, and death.
Kev was a unique friend to me, in the sense that he supported my own crazy adventures, often travelling hundreds of miles to support me, he would buy a ticket and get up off his arse and experience things for himself. Two memorable events he attended both took place in London, and are evidence for his rare willingness to try new things and show support for the arts. In 2014, Poet John Sinclair and i had a record release party, gig, at the 12 Bar in London. Kevin and another friend "eggy" made the trip, and were on top form representing home team. I recall an hilarious game of pool he had with Jake of the Alabama 3, and his meeting with the rest of The Fuck You Sound after the show. I felt proud to have support from a Black Country nutter in league with the other nutters around me. Together with CHU, Kev stood front of stage, smiling, laughing and shouting encouragement throughout my set, with the presence of ten men Kev really made that show complete. (See 360 photo)
On another occasion, together with my friend Scott, Kev bought a ticket and travelled all the way down to London to support a play i was performing in called "Cosmic Trigger" based upon the life of our mutual hero and inspiration "Robert Anton Wilson". I remember seeing him laugh a little, and i met him outside the theater, introducing him to the genius poetess Selena Godden before he left back to Stourbridge.
I'll cherish these memories of his support for me and my work, and i'll miss him. But as CHU reminded me, "he'll be eternally over your shoulder, mate" and he'll be equally over the shoulders of all who knew him, a perpetual voice, dropping jokes and insight with perfect timing, serving up good advice together with a fuck load of well placed swearing. Until my own dying day, i will hold the memory of Kevin Lane in my heart and mind, and work toward becoming, with luck, even half as funny and half as honest as he was.
"Go and write a fucking decent song that says something about the state we’re in instead of buying into all this rock aristocracy bullshit. What the fuck’s all that about?”--Jason Williams (Sleaford Mods)
Dove Sta Memoria
Kevin Lane 1973-2016
"Hero's get remembered, legends never die"--Evil Kenevil
Ouch, sometimes people are snatched away truly before their time, and Kev was snatched away from us, all who knew him, and from those who did not have the pleasure of meeting him, or reading him, too soon. Way too fucking soon!
Thankfully, he passed in his sleep, and i suspect he was fully up for it, fully ready to ride that pale horse into eternity with a wide grin. "come fucking on reaper, what you got, ay?" And so it goes. A hero beyond measure, both personally and to all of my friends from my home town, Stourbridge, and surrounding areas, Lye, Brierley Hill, Hagley, and the greater Black Country.
I often referred to Kev as the true voice of the Black Country, a unique individual with a rare and raw talent for writing, coupled with his full-on, up front and principled social presence. A true legend who will be terribly missed by those who new him, and by those who did not. Kevin held the kind of fierce intellect and wit and worldly experience our society and its so called leaders lack.
On more than one occasion i had encouraged him to publish his writings, and not just limit his writing ability and insights to facebook. I am sure that some of you reading this know exactly what i mean, Kevin Lane consistently schooled us with his status updates, honest, raw, funny, smart. Kev was a psychedelic wizard and at the same time a top boy, a lad, one of the boys. He somehow combined a number of personalities together, and broke down stereotypes, followed his own path and was his own man. He had his own dance, his own philosophy of life, his own music tastes, his own humour, his unique way of putting it. Kev seemed to me to be a truly free man, always up for trying something new, consistantly making you think, and always, without fail making you, and anybody in earshot, laugh out loud.
Everybody must find their own way to grieve, and for me personally i must write, and write, because one fact i have learn't, and continue learning from his tragic early exit from the stage, is that eight or ten words on facebook don't do him justice, for me, Kev deserves a book, a statue and street named in his honor. Although i fully understand that many people now use the dating website to express a wise variety of emotions and thoughts, personal and otherwise, for me, it's not the place to begin to pay tribute to such a wide-reaching honey-monster of a legend like Kevin Lane. This motherfucker deserves a few thousand words just for starters. So, strap yourself in. Go make a cup of tea and roll a spliff. The present author is about to take you on a journey down Kevin Lane. A lord, and a real shit kicking black country bard. The very least i can do is spend a few days pulling together just a few memories.
So, about the dance...Kev was well known for his unique dance moves, he could be spotted a mile off, doing the Lanebot, or whatever name you wish to put on it, which involved a lot of shoulder movement, little footwork and a lot of smiling. It was a mechanical, almost robotic looking movement, and it was certainly unique to Kev, to the point where other people would try to immitate his moves, with little success but equal enjoyment. Every music event, and every party in Stourbridge will sorely miss Kevin, he was literally the center of the dance, a mascot and life blood of any party. One time around 1999, at a local rave called "Lifted" i remeber Kevin going full tilt on the dance floor, and on the pole. At one point, in a most hilarious manner actually licking the pole, and dancing around it like a cross between a Native American indian worshipping his totem, and a Black Country porn star out on the piss.
Kev loved his music, and supported independent and local acts, most recently championing the Sleaford Mods before anybody else i knew, and always had his ear to the underground sound. A healthy mixture of punk, indie rock, soul, reggae, funk, classic breakbeats and spoken word, Kev would always be up for having a good time at any party, if there were music to groove on, he would be grooving away with all three shoulders. Kev loved good film and TV too, besdes his fantastic collection of pornography (to be donated to Dudley libraries) he sticks in my mind as the guy who turned me onto loads of cult films and future classics, again, before anybody else. Clerks, South Park, Adult Swim, The Black Mirror, Saxondale, were all introduced to me by Kev. Kevin was a taste maker, and had a sharp eye for cultural memes and movements. I would often visit him just to get the low down on what was happening, since i had been away from the UK for large chunks of time, and he always had another movie, fresh album or book to suggest, never disappinting with his selections.
The last time i spent any extended quality time with Kevin was only a few months back, when he picked me up in Bristol and drove down to Exeter to support a good old friend who was performing in a brilliant theater play. Yes, Kev even recognized the joy and benefits of theater, and was one of only three close friends who slogged it all the way to London, and bought a ticket in support of my performance with the Cosmic Trigger Play. On the way to Exeter and back we talked and talked, for over 5 hours.
We talked about Hunter S. Thompson, Robert Anton Wilson, conspiracy theory, Alex "bumblefuck" Jones, The Sleaford Mods, our trip to see Ken Kesey in London, George Orwell's walk to Stourbridge from Brum, facebook fuckery, social media apocalypse, Margott James, putting a whole pair of pants in his mouth, Radiohead, Frank Foley, WWII, Powick Hospital, the Stourbridge acid test, travels through Europe, The Burningman festival, Amsterdam, Bristol, America, 9/11, 7/7 new underground psychedelic bands from the U.K, maybe having Kev help promote new bands at the club i work at in Bristol, Doug Stanhope, a memorable trippy trip to reading festival in a van that broke down, the million marijuana march and Howard Marks, medical marijuana case studies, Kev's writing, my own writing and novels, Chris Morris, his home brewed beer called Stourt made right next to the river Stour at the Broken Arms, John Peel, 360 VR and the fuck you sound, DJ Aries, Pop Will Eat Itself, the decline of Stourbridge clubs and nightspots, the sly closing of Brierley Hill swimming baths and the film footage we made, the opportunity and need for new events and nights in Stourbridge, strong space cake around the Thompson's house that took us out for 48 hours, the rise of the dodgy political far right, the virtues of Jeremy Corbyn. We shared a spliff and a few cheeky ones to keep us going, and Kev was always going, an adventurer who managed to keep angry man's disease at bay, always looking on the bright and funny side of life, and death.
Kev was a unique friend to me, in the sense that he supported my own crazy adventures, often travelling hundreds of miles to support me, he would buy a ticket and get up off his arse and experience things for himself. Two memorable events he attended both took place in London, and are evidence for his rare willingness to try new things and show support for the arts. In 2014, Poet John Sinclair and i had a record release party, gig, at the 12 Bar in London. Kevin and another friend "eggy" made the trip, and were on top form representing home team. I recall an hilarious game of pool he had with Jake of the Alabama 3, and his meeting with the rest of The Fuck You Sound after the show. I felt proud to have support from a Black Country nutter in league with the other nutters around me. Together with CHU, Kev stood front of stage, smiling, laughing and shouting encouragement throughout my set, with the presence of ten men Kev really made that show complete. (See 360 photo)
On another occasion, together with my friend Scott, Kev bought a ticket and travelled all the way down to London to support a play i was performing in called "Cosmic Trigger" based upon the life of our mutual hero and inspiration "Robert Anton Wilson". I remember seeing him laugh a little, and i met him outside the theater, introducing him to the genius poetess Selena Godden before he left back to Stourbridge.
I'll cherish these memories of his support for me and my work, and i'll miss him. But as CHU reminded me, "he'll be eternally over your shoulder, mate" and he'll be equally over the shoulders of all who knew him, a perpetual voice, dropping jokes and insight with perfect timing, serving up good advice together with a fuck load of well placed swearing. Until my own dying day, i will hold the memory of Kevin Lane in my heart and mind, and work toward becoming, with luck, even half as funny and half as honest as he was.
"Go and write a fucking decent song that says something about the state we’re in instead of buying into all this rock aristocracy bullshit. What the fuck’s all that about?”--Jason Williams (Sleaford Mods)
Dove Sta Memoria
Kevin Lane 1973-2016
hand drawn 360 video teaser by Chu for 'Turn Your Shit Down'
Published on Jun 17, 2016
**PLEASE SUBSCRIBE** to this channel so you can be one of the first to watch the full video on the release date
———————
Turn Your Sh*t Down
(teaser trailer)
First release from
The F*ck You Sound
———————
Microcity is an imaginary place, conjured up into this reality by Chu's pioneering analogue to digital handcrafting techniques. It is an empty place, a desolate and experimental pitstop on the way back home from disillusionment.
The city is based on the layout for a board game and evolved into four defined quarters: residential, industrial, natural and financial.
Microcity is the only location for future video broadcasts from The Fuck You Sound, populated solely by the cosmic guardians of each district.
This pilot episode introduces you to our solar system, and puts you at the centre of an alternative universe.
———————
Recommended viewing system spec:
==================================
+ 2 minutes of your time
+ 2 ears
+ 2 feet space
+ Google Cardboard or similar headset
+ Youtube app installed on your portable device
+ Headphones
Select the highest possible resolution that your bandwidth allows in the youtube settings for the best visual quality. Click the goggle icon to enable stereo headset capabilities.
The next video release will be full length, in full resolution and better quality. Stay tuned and subscribe.
———————
Links of interest:
==================================
Order the debut 12" single on Bandcamp
Turn Your Shit Down. Featuring remixes by Bogus Order & Aries:
https://t4qs.fm/bandcamp
Listen to our first sodcast:
https://t4qs.fm/sodcast
Stalk us on Twitter:
https://t4qs.fm/twitter
Hear some of our mixes:
https://t4qs.fm/mixcloud
Discover more of Chu's artwork:
https://t4qs.fm/chu
Please direct all band enquiries here:
https://t4qs.fm/contact
———————
stop the cu*ts
———————
Follow me on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/chu3d
———————
Turn Your Sh*t Down
(teaser trailer)
First release from
The F*ck You Sound
———————
Microcity is an imaginary place, conjured up into this reality by Chu's pioneering analogue to digital handcrafting techniques. It is an empty place, a desolate and experimental pitstop on the way back home from disillusionment.
The city is based on the layout for a board game and evolved into four defined quarters: residential, industrial, natural and financial.
Microcity is the only location for future video broadcasts from The Fuck You Sound, populated solely by the cosmic guardians of each district.
This pilot episode introduces you to our solar system, and puts you at the centre of an alternative universe.
———————
Recommended viewing system spec:
==================================
+ 2 minutes of your time
+ 2 ears
+ 2 feet space
+ Google Cardboard or similar headset
+ Youtube app installed on your portable device
+ Headphones
Select the highest possible resolution that your bandwidth allows in the youtube settings for the best visual quality. Click the goggle icon to enable stereo headset capabilities.
The next video release will be full length, in full resolution and better quality. Stay tuned and subscribe.
———————
Links of interest:
==================================
Order the debut 12" single on Bandcamp
Turn Your Shit Down. Featuring remixes by Bogus Order & Aries:
https://t4qs.fm/bandcamp
Listen to our first sodcast:
https://t4qs.fm/sodcast
Stalk us on Twitter:
https://t4qs.fm/twitter
Hear some of our mixes:
https://t4qs.fm/mixcloud
Discover more of Chu's artwork:
https://t4qs.fm/chu
Please direct all band enquiries here:
https://t4qs.fm/contact
———————
stop the cu*ts
———————
Follow me on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/chu3d
Occupy by Dr Marshmallow Cubicle
http://www.rawillumination.net/2016/04/new-steve-fly-pratt-music-release-has.html
Did a little shopping this morning — just bought a digital copy of the new album Occupy by Dr Marshmallow Cubicle.
The band's drummer and one of its main songwriters is my friend Steve "Fly" Pratt who has a big group of RAW related websites and blogs, among them the extraordinary RAW360 site, which you really should go take a look at today, if you are not familiar with it.
The album was released on April 23 on Iron Man Records. Fly is based in Amsterdam and has been playing with the band for quite awhile now.
Fly says "The Track titled 'The Law Of Acceleration' features fly reading words by Robert Anton Wilson, from Cosmic Trigger I."
I listened to the track and noticed I enjoyed the drums. I asked Steve who his favorite drummers are. "Max Roach, Billy Martin, Alan Hertz, Owen Hart Jr., Mike Clark, Stevie Wonder, JoJo Mayer, Zakir Hussain," he replied.
Occupy is available from iTunes and the Amazon digital music store and probably lots of other places, too. More on the album here. There are lots of YouTube videos of the band.
Mark Pesce on Finnegans Wiki, and whatever happened to the book.
Please visit Mark's website here:
http://markpesce.com/
There are two other paths open for literature, nearlydiametrically opposed. The first was taken by JRR Tolkien inThe Lord of the Rings. Although hugely popular, the threebook series has never been described as a ‘page-turner’, beingtoo digressive and leisurely, yet, for all that, entirelycaptivating. Tolkien imagined a new universe – or rather,retrieved one from the fragments of Northern Europeanmythology – and placed his readers squarely within it. Andalthough readers do finish the book, in a very real sense theydo not leave that universe. The fantasy genre, which Tolkiensingle-handedly invented with The Lord of the Rings, sells tens of millions of books every year, and the universe ofMiddle-Earth, the archetypal fantasy world, has become theplayground for millions who want to explore their ownimaginations.
Tolkien’s magnum opus lends itself tohypertext; it is one of the few literary works to come completewith a set of appendices to deepen the experience of theuniverse of the books. Online, the fans of Middle-Earth havecreated seemingly endless resources to explore, explain, andmaintain the fantasy. Middle-Earth launches off the page,driven by its own centrifugal force, its own drive to unpackitself into a much broader space, both within the reader’smind and online, in the collective space of all of the work’sreaders. This is another direction for the book. While everyauthor will not be a Tolkien, a few authors will work hard tocreate a universe so potent and broad that readers will betempted to inhabit it. (Some argue that this is the secret of JKRowling’s success.)
Finally, there is another path open for the literary text, onewhich refuses to ignore the medium that constitutes it, whichembraces all of the ambiguity and multiplicity and liminalityof hypertext. There have been numerous attempts at‘hypertext fiction’; nearly all of them have been unreadablefailures. But there is one text which stands apart, bothbecause it anticipated our current predicament, and becauseit chose to embrace its contradictions and dilemmas. Thebook was written and published before the digital computerhad been invented, yet even features an innovation which isreminiscent of hypertext. That work is James Joyce’sFinnegans Wake, and it was Joyce’s deliberate effort to makeeach word choice a layered exploration of meaning that givesthe text such power. It should be gibberish, but anyone whohas read Finnegans Wake knows it is precisely the opposite.
The text is overloaded with meaning, so much so that themind can’t take it all in. Hypertext has been a help; there area few wikis which attempt to make linkages between the textand its various derived meanings (the maunderings of fourgenerations of graduate students and Joycephiles), and it mayeven be that – in another twenty years or so – the wikis willbegin to encompass much of what Joyce meant. But there isanother possibility. In so fundamentally overloading the text,implicitly creating a link from every single word to something else, Joyce wanted to point to where we were headed. In this,Finnegans Wake could be seen as a type of science fiction, not a dystopian critique like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, nor the transhumanist apotheosis of Olaf Stapleton’sStarmaker (both near-contemporary works) but rather a text that pointed the way to what all texts would become,performance by example. As texts become electronic, as theymelt and dissolve and link together densely, meaningmultiplies exponentially. Every sentence, and every word inevery sentence, can send you flying in almost any direction.The tension within this text (there will be only one text) willmake reading an exciting, exhilarating, dizzying experience –as it is for those who dedicate themselves to Finnegans Wake.
It has been said that all of human culture could bereconstituted from Finnegans Wake. As our texts become one, as they become one hyperconnected mass of humanexpression, that new thing will become synonymous withculture. Everything will be there, all strung together. Andthat’s what happened to the book.--Mark Pesce.
On VR and a 360 of ethics.
Immersive 360 VR opens a whole gas-mask of worms
let's hope the thrills and wows are delivered
with attention to set and setting.
--Steve Fly
Take a look at this paper--"Real Virtuality: A Code of Ethical Conduct. Recommendations for Good Scientific Practice and the Consumers of VR-Technology"
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frobt.2016.00003/abstract
================
================
================
Take a look at this paper--"Real Virtuality: A Code of Ethical Conduct. Recommendations for Good Scientific Practice and the Consumers of VR-Technology"
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frobt.2016.00003/abstract
make nice things
be nice
speak with well meaning
don't be mean and spiteful
be cool man
a 360 ethics
thought for others point of view
in ALL directions?
================
================
================
The Search For Soma takes a left turn, upwards.
http://scfh.ru/en/news/we-drank-soma-we-became-immortal-/
(Hyperlinks to wikipedia by Steve Fly)
“We drank Soma, we became immortal...”
(Hyperlinks to wikipedia by Steve Fly)
“We drank Soma, we became immortal...”
For over a hundred years now, scientists have been discussing what plant was used to prepare Soma (Haoma), a sacred drink of the ancient Indians and Iranians, which "inspired poets and seers, made warriors fearless." The hypotheses were plenty: from ephedra, cannabis, and opium poppy to blue water lily (Nymphaea caerulea) and fly agaric (Amanita muscaria). The answer was found in a grave of a noble woman buried in an elite burial ground of the Xiongnu, the famous nomads of Central Asia.
Importantly, none of the researchers denies the fact that the ancient Indians and Iranians consumed a drink with a psychoactive substance as a sacrament. However, the precise identity of the substance and its plant source, as well as its influence on human consciousness, are still being debated.
The translator and greatest authority on the Rigveda Tatyana Ya. Elizarenkova wrote: “Judging by the Rigvedahymns, Soma was not only stimulating but also a hallucinogenic drink. It is difficult to be more specific not only because none of the plants suggested as soma satisfies all the parameters and only partially answers the description of soma given in the hymns but mainly because the language and style of the Rigveda, an archaic religious tome with the typical features of ‘Indo-European poetic speech’, pose a formidable obstacle to soma identification.” Knowing perfectly well that all the possibilities of the written source had been exhausted, Elizarenkova believed that the answer could come from archaeologists, from “their findings in North-Western India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (and not in remote Central Asia).”
Remarkably, her opinion, expressed 25 years ago, was confirmed by new findings made in Mongolia. No one could have suspected that a grave of a noble woman buried in an elite burial ground of the Xiongnu, the famous nomads of Central Asia, would answer the question asked long ago.
It happened in 2009. A team from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS, which was led by Natalia Polosmak, was performing archaeological excavations in the Noin-Ula Mountains, Northern Mongolia. In tumulus 31, at a depth of 13 meters, the archaeologists discovered a wooden burial chamber. On the floor, which was covered with a thick layer of blue clay, around an old tomb ruined by ancient robbers, there were visible traces of a woollen fabric; this was all that was left of an embroidered strip, which was of great historical value even in this fragmentary state. Textiles are virtually never preserved in ancient graves, and such findings are exceptionally rare. The remains of the textile were retrieved from the grave and delivered to the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS. The second life of this remarkable artefact began thanks to Russian restorers.
The craftsmanship and the story unfolding on the threadbare fabric are truly amazing. Embroidered in woollen thread on the thin cloth is a procession of Zoroastrian warriors marching towards an altar; one of them, standing at the altar, is holding a mushroom in his hands.
A distinguishing feature of this embroidery is that the craftsmen did their best to depict the faces, costume, arms, plants, and insects, trying to copy everything from life. According to the mycologist I.A. Gorbunova (Candidate of Biology, senior researcher with the Inferior Plant Laboratory, Central Siberian Botanical Garden, SB RAS), the mushroom depicted on the carpet belongs to the Strophariaceae family. In some ways—the general habitus, shape of the cap, stitches along the edge of the cap reminding of the radial folding or remnants of the partial veil and dark inclusions on the stipe that can remind of a paleaceous ring, which blackens after the spores are puffed—it is similar to Psilocybe cubensis (Earle) Singer [Stropharia cubensis Earle]. Some of the mushrooms of the genus Stropharia cubensis, or Psilocybe cubensis, contain psilocybin—a unique stimulator of the nervous system. In their psychoactive properties, psilocybin mushrooms are much more befitting as vegetative equivalents of Soma, or Hoama, than fly agaric, which was identified with Soma in the Rigveda by R.G. Wasson in his well-known book. His point of view was supported by many famous scientists; the psychedelic theory proposed by T. McKenna even assigns the main role in human evolution to psilocybin-containing mushrooms.
For the first time, we can see vivid evidence, embroidered on an ancient cloth discovered by archaeological excavations, for the use of mushrooms for religious purposes, probably, to make Haoma, a “sacred drink.”
The origin of this embroidery and characters depicted on it is associated with North-Western India and the Indo-Scythians (Sakas). How the embroidered cloth made it into a Xiongnu grave is a surprise of the so-called Silk Road, a network of trade routes crossing the whole of Eurasia. Judging by the Chinese chronicles, veils and blankets from Northern India were highly valued in the Han China.
The woollen curtain with an amazing plot was discovered after its 2,000-year-long confinement in a deep grave, which is a miracle in itself. The curtain is not only a fine example of ancient art, which was recovered thanks to the meticulous work of Russian restorers, but a unique source of information casting light on one of the obscure periods of ancient history.
Eco and Wilson: Guerrilla Ontologists Are Mist
Today a country belongs to the person who controls communications.—Umberto Eco, Il costume di casa (1973); as translated in Travels in Hyperreality (1986)
"Belief in the traditional sense, or certitude, or dogma, amounts to the grandiose delusion, "My current model" -- or grid, or map, or reality-tunnel -- "contains the whole universe and will never need to be revised." In terms of the history of science and knowledge in general, this appears absurd and arrogant to me, and I am perpetually astonished that so many people still manage to live with such a medieval attitude.—Robert Anton Wilson, Cosmic Trigger 1, Final Secret Of The Illuminati.
For Umberto Eco 1932-2016
Disclaimer:
I read Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco more than 18 years ago, and i found it very dense and difficult back then, but influential none the less. I also tackled ‘Apocalypse Postponed’ (from Stourbridge Library) which i enjoyed much more, probably because it was non-fiction, and so accessible to my non-classical taste at the time. Did Umberto get high? i asked in my 20s. Still, the text required a slow reading, and challenged me on every page. Although i enjoyed Eco, i did not continue my affair with his works. Although, i acknowledged his greatness among living philosophers, i did not ever think to compare him with Robert Anton Wilson. On the passing of Eco last week, i found myself doing this in my head, and thought. Dang, might just as well write it down and out. I apologise in advance for any misrepresentations and/or skewed interpretations on my behalf, when writing of these intellectual giants.--Steve Fly
Eco and Wilson: Guerrilla Ontologists
Umberto Eco and RAW have much in common, not least being born in the same year,1932. They were intellectual titans, able to swim out to the vast ocean of philosophy and science, classical history, occultism, and the history of secret societies, and drag the full net back to the shore of humanity in the form of fucking good story, over and over again. They both produced a mixture of scholarly works and fictional novels. They were renaissance scholars who each produced work that inspired a flurry of imitators. The Da Vinci code, by Dan Brown for example, seemed to me like a watered down mixture of major themes from Eco, in particular his most popular ‘In the name of the rose’ and Wilson’s ‘Historical Illuminatus Chronicles’ but who can really put a finger or a paw on it?
Both had deep interest, and a unique methodology of expressing thoughts about ‘reality’, that old slippery fish. Eco developed a rich latticework to represent the premise of ‘hyperreality’ inspired by his study of semiotics, and he translated and share his complex ideas with a large audience, a pretty rare achievement for a public figure, an intellectual who writes novels.
Eco studied at many great learning centres of the world, in the thick of academia, whereas Dr. Wilson travelled an unorthodox route, largely an autodidactic species of genius. You could say Eco was high brow and Wilson low brow, but any two-valued comparisons such as high and low should be treated with suspicion. Both philosopher novelists turned their back on Catholicism at a young age, but continued to include it as a recurring theme.
Eco studied at many great learning centres of the world, in the thick of academia, whereas Dr. Wilson travelled an unorthodox route, largely an autodidactic species of genius. You could say Eco was high brow and Wilson low brow, but any two-valued comparisons such as high and low should be treated with suspicion. Both philosopher novelists turned their back on Catholicism at a young age, but continued to include it as a recurring theme.
Not accidentally, Standard English also assumes a sort of "glass wall" between observer and observed, while English Prime draws us back into the modern quantum world where observer and observed form a seamless unity.--Robert Anton Wilson, Quantum Psychology.
Wilson was a strong proponent of many different theories of ‘reality’, or perhaps he might say ‘Reality tunnels’ with an accent on the pluralistic nature of things, the process oriented world view. Wilson trawled the fields of semantics, cognitive psychology, quantum mechanics and design science, together with a practical interest in mysticism and neuro-metaprogramming. Inspired by Alfred Korzybski and ideas from Aleister Crowley, together with his friends Alan Watts, Dr. John Lilly, Timothy Leary and Buckminster Fuller, Wilson also had a legendary sense of humour.
The following quotes from Wikipedia put a nice touch to the term ‘Guerrilla Ontologist’, a tag which RAW was fond of using. Wilson published one of his first essays on James Joyce in 1958.
'In 1967 he gave the influential lecture "Towards a Semiological Guerrilla Warfare", which coined the influential term "semiological guerrilla," and influenced the theorization of guerrilla tactics against mainstream mass media culture, such as guerrilla television and culture jamming. Among the expressions used in the essay are "communications guerrilla warfare" and "cultural guerrilla." The essay was later included in Eco's book Faith in Fakes.--https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umberto_Eco
"His novels are full of subtle, often multilingual, references to literature and history. Eco's work illustrates the concept of intertextuality, or the inter-connectedness of all literary works. Eco cited James Joyce and Jorge Luis Borges as the two modern authors who have influenced his work the most.-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umberto_Eco
I think that both Eco and Wilson, with their open pluralistic philosophy, or Guerrilla Ontology, and their interconnected novelistic techniques, of including real historical and literary forces, distorted by a surrealist mirror on set of lenses, would be delighted by the latest psychological research in the field of ‘Virtual Reality’. Here we have evidence that each individual perceives a different universe, due to the changing parameters of each human sensory system. In VR each participant gets a different audio visual experience, confronted with the fact that if you are not looking at something, how are you supposed to know it is there? and to a lesser degree this applies to sounds from behind too.
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.—Philip K. Dick.
Experiments show that even trained minds, fully aware that a they are in a simulation, perhaps walking across a steep drop on a plank, will wobble, shake and react almost unconsciously, as if, they were REALLY in the simulated scene. Meditation can have a similar effect, as can some drug use, and in fact all consciousness change techniques confront a similar question.
With VR, however, it’s like coming at it from another place altogether, a place where you are suddenly forced to face deep rooted questions of the nature of reality, identity, perception, likes and fears etc. You do not have to train the mind to be still, so that the clear images may emerge, or chemically alter your neuro-semantic system, no, although these techniques have their own plus and minus points. No, a convincing 3D immersive audio/visual simulation can trigger similar neuro-chemical activity, resulting in dormant, perhaps unconscious but instinctive sensory responses. It does not take much to pull the wool, or goggles, over the eyes, and influence the deep rooted physical responses to neural stimulation. I predict that soon, one may propose a new '360 immersive' expression of the meaning of Quantum Mechanics, or Quantum Entanglement, or Mirror Neurons. Make it new.
A democratic civilization will save itself only if it makes the language of the image into a stimulus for critical reflection — not an invitation for hypnosis.—Umberto Eco, "Can Television Teach?" in Screen Education 31 (1979), p. 12.
This is my hacked together message, a trigger, whereby i hope you at least go and read Dr Wilson and Umberto Eco again. Contemplate for yourself the nature of reality and realities, and of virtual reality and virtual realities, and perhaps if you are fortunate, with the additional help of the latest VR hardware. With luck, in here, some of the the foundational principles of general semantics, and semiotics, can ride shotgun together, inside the latest 3D VR environments.
I think we are going to require innovative tools to help the public at large gain more empathy for what is beyond their senses, and learn to better discern the real from the unreal, or...the pretty much real from the not really so real, and so on...
...New tools to combat naive realism, together with captivating games, films, porn and beyond, all media that will shape and meta-program the minds of many generations to come. In VR, you may finally be able to go fuck yourself backwards, convincingly enough to never say that phrase again without wincing.
—Steve Fly.
Bristol.
UK
I'll leave you with these thoughts...
The conspiracy theory of society . . . comes from abandoning God and then asking: "Who is in his place? - Karl Popper. From Yesod, Chapter 118 of Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco.
"You need the "is of identity" to describe conspiracy theories. Korzybski would say that proves that illusions, delusions, and "mental" illnesses require the "is" to perpetuate them. (He often said, "Isness is an illness.”) Korzybski also popularized the idea that most sentences, especially the sentences that people quarrel over or even go to war over, do not rank as propositions in the logical sense, but belong to the category that Bertrand Russell called propositional functions. They do not have one meaning, as a proposition in logic should have; they have several meanings, like an algebraic function.— Robert Anton Wilson, Language as Conspiracy, p. 277.
Mondo Garaj by Garaj Mahal feat. Fly Agaric 23
Mondo Garaj is the debut studio album and fourth album by the jazz/rock/funk/fusion/jam band Garaj Mahal.
Recorded in late 2000 and early 2001 at In The Pocket Studio in Sonoma County, CA, then subsequently mixed/mastered over 2001 and 2002 at Talcott Mountain Studio in Simsbury, CT, The Plant Studios in Sausalito, CA, Phelps Studios in San Francisco, CA, and Fluffland Studio in San Anselmo, CA, and finally released in 2003 on Harmonized Records as the band's first studio effort (after three live discs), Mondo Garaj captures Garaj Mahal in its relative infancy. Keyboardist Eric Levy had recently joined, and although he's prominent on these songs, his contributions have grown considerably since. In fact, only two songs from this album appeared on any of the subsequent live discs. But with musicians of the caliber and experience of bassist Kai Eckhardt, drummer Alan Hertz, and Fareed Haque on guitars, there is nothing tentative about this recording.
Sounding like a combination of Return to Forever and the Mahavishnu Orchestra in their '70s heyday, Garaj's jazz-rock fusion requires chops and innovation to stay interesting and avoid aimless noodling. They succeed, and even though the primarily instrumental cuts average seven minutes each, they never become repetitious or overstay their welcome. All four musicians are extraordinarily talented, but each adds his own instrumental prowess without hogging the spotlight.
Not surprisingly, Haque's guitar, especially his "sitar guitar," takes center stage and infuses an East Indian feel to songs like "Beware My Ethnic Heart." But he leaves plenty of solo space for Levy, whose fleet-fingered synthesizer work — reminiscent of Jan Hammer — trades licks with speed and precision on the opening funky workout "Mondo Garaj." Michael Kang (musician) of The String Cheese Incident is featured as are DJ Fly Agaric 23 and DJ Roto (a.k.a. musician/journalist James Rotondi) who add turntable scratching, loops, and samples to keep the sound contemporary, but this is really a showcase for the jaw-dropping talents of the four band members.
The band gels on all the tracks, but shows what it can do on "Hindi Gumbo," which features Haque's acoustic sitar/guitar solo. Nothing takes the place of seeing the band pull this off live, but Mondo Garaj provides a snapshot of how these four gifted individuals — each of whom could be a band leader in his own right — combine into a fine-tuned unit.
Track listing[edit]
- Mondo Garaj (Eckhardt) - 5:33
- Hindi Gumbo (Haque) - 5:31
- Be Dope (Hertz, Levy) - 6:11
- Junct (Haque) - 6:22
- Poodle Factory (Hertz) - 3:51
- The Big Smack Down (Eckhardt) - 0:35
- New Meeting (Hertz) - 8:04
- Beware My Ethnic Heart (Haque) - 9:11
- Madagascar (Hertz, Levy) - 5:21
- Gulam Sabri (Haque) - 7:47
- Bajo (Hertz) - 7:07
- Milk Carton Blues (Levy) - 3:06
Personnel[edit]
Musical[edit]
- Fareed Haque - Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Steel), Sitar (Electric)
- Alan Hertz - Drums, Art Direction, Mixing, Photography, Cover Photo, Roland Synthesizer
- Eric Levy - Keyboards, Organ (Hammond), Clavinet, Fender Rhodes, Mini Moog, Oberheim OB8, Prophet 5, Sequential Circuits
- Kai Eckhardt - Bass
- Michael Kang - Fiddle, Mandolin
- DJ Fly - Agaric 23 Turntables
- DJ Roto - Turntables, Sampling, Effects
Technical[edit]
- Garaj Mahal - Arranger, Producer, Art Direction, Mixing
- Christian Weyers - Producer, Executive Producer
- Toni Fishman - Executive Producer
- Justin Phelps - Engineer
- John Cuniberti - Mastering Engineer
- Jason Andrew - Assistant Engineer
- Mark Fassler - Assistant Engineer
- Theresa Reed - Photography
- David "Hot Rod" Shuman - Mixing Assistant
Have you seen that vigilante man, on Facebook?
Have you seen that vigilante man? Ry Cooder sings. A familiar tale these days, most but not all hollywood movies feature themes of retribution, 'Death Wish' being a prime example. In fiction, lets not forget, the protagonist is the partner of a murder victim. Fed up with the lack of action on behalf of the law, and action to mean not just arrest and the usual capital punishment but an equal punishment (The Equaliser?). Death in return for death. An eye for an eye and all that which stems from premature judgement.
Facebook (The worlds greatest spying machine) seems to have spawned a new culture of local crime detectives and individuals who play judge, jury and executioner. "Look what this bastard did, lets lynch the fucker, shame him for ever, lets catch him and hang him ourselves." You know what i mean? A new kind of cyber-mob rule with all the trappings of violent retribution. Remember that 'convictions make convicts'
I often see a moral game of trumps playing out, regarding who killed the most people, or who suffered the most, or who really should be arrested and tried. Tried not by the court systems, but by citizens interested in bringing justice and equality to their fellow citizens and humanity as a whole. I would recommend looking at government representatives, lobbyists and corporate CEOs who many of the would be cyber-executioners seem happy to sing praises for, vote for, and invest hard earned money in.
Although i am probably best described as left-liberal leaning, going as far as to label myself a mutualist anarchist on the weekend, this author understands that the process of criminal trials, and our system of courts hold a critical and potentially helpful alternative to lynch mobs, and ‘batman vigilante’ types, solving crimes alone without peer review, and administering due punishment, like most but not all crime solving 'super heroes' of fiction. These are acts of retribution based on a singular point of view. A trial includes at least 13 points of view, if you can temporarily forget about the odd stacked jury and biased (paid off) judge.
I hear you though, I know where your coming from, a lot of criminals have been caught and shamed and punished through the use of social networks, surveillance culture and digital informants. Many, i presume are guilty of the crime they are shown to be committing. It's a double edged sword (word) Based upon the sensibility toward other media, pictures, news reports, video clips and social phenomena, i must stress CAUTION when making 100% identifications in the age of photoshop, Newscorp, Daily Mail readers, and global propaganda warfare.
I truly hope not to sound like I'm telling anybody what to think or not to think, no. I write this to inspire a deeper and closer scrutiny when joining in with a campaign to enact ANY kind of violent retribution for a crime, so explicitly propagated.
The great British philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russel once said that the greatest invention of the 20th century is the human capacity for suspended judgement. "Have you seen that vigilante man, on facebook?"
--Steve Fly Agaric. Jan 27th, 2016
Bristol. UK.
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