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#Post#: 192--------------------------------------------------
WONDER OF WEIRD (Project of the Week for 19th of December)
By: moleshow Date: December 19, 2016, 10:08 am
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because what an ABSO-LUTELY wild show. 40th anniversary, Santa
Dog, christmas themes.. seemed VERY fitting.
i'll get to describing my feelings on this show at some point
before next week. go nuts.
#Post#: 193--------------------------------------------------
Re: PROJECT OF THE WEEK (19th of December): WONDER OF WEIRD
By: Meisekimiu Date: December 20, 2016, 9:54 am
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The Wonder of Weird show is one of my all-time favorites. I
think partly due to the fact that the CD release was actually
the first "new" Rz product I actually bought (I had been a fan
for a year or two before that, but wasn't quite caught up on The
Residents' current going-ons). That limited edition WoW CD set
is still one of my most prized possessions. I'm sure demand
wasn't all that high, but man, did I feel like I had won the
lottery after managing to get my hands on that.
Anyway, the show itself is fantastic. Listening to this CD made
me realize how many other projects I had been ignoring as the
setlist seemed mostly unfamiliar (Although I'm sure most people
except for the most devoted fans wouldn't recognize the songs
from "The Teds"). And these superb renditions of the songs
definitely got me interests. I love the Loser=Weed/Picnic in the
Jungle mashup. I love love love this performance's version of
Jelly Jack. And basically all of Intermission?! Man, do I dig
this performance.
The talking sections are also great. Lots of fun Residents
history lessons, and tons of hilariously tragic Randy antics.
They definitely give the show a more lighthearted vibe compared
to The Talking Light... though for some reason I feel this
sinister vibe throughout the entire performance. Especially
during the CB Contraptions which sort of act nicely as
instrumental breaks between the different "acts".
Grandpa Gio describes God in Three Persons as starting off
normal to draw the listener in before veering off to something
very weird with the listener's full attention at hand. I feel
like WoW does something very similar... I mean, it does start
off pretty weird, but the entire performance is framed as a
concert. That doesn't sound too weird since... well, it is a
concert so why would it be anything but that? But it's framed as
a normal concert. Talking Light had ghost stories. For the
Wonder of Weird, immediately Randy gives us the names of songs
and little history lessons about Santa Dog and the Eyeball
heads, so us listeners just assume that this is just an external
view of The Residents... no weird stories here folks.
But of course it's weird. And it transitions so smoothly I
didn't even realize that Randy ever stopped talking about
history lessons until I listened to it again and thought
"wait... when did we start talking about ex-wives instead of
eyeballs?" By then I was so hooked into the idea that this was a
real, normal concert with no narrative that I really listened
and cared about Randy's little stories. I think that the
transition into The Black Behind is great and shows how
wonderful the whole theatrics of the performance is. Since his
monologue basically flows directly into the song, it should
really break my suspension of disbelief. "Oh. Randy isn't
actually going through this emotional spiral... this is just a
planned out story," I should be thinking. And to some degree
that song transition does make me realize this a bit... but it
doesn't kick me out completely. That part always reminds me of
musicals, which really should break my immersion but they do
what they do so well that they don't.
Anywho... I love WoW. It's great!
#Post#: 194--------------------------------------------------
Re: PROJECT OF THE WEEK (19th of December): WONDER OF WEIRD
By: moleshow Date: December 23, 2016, 11:58 pm
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oh, totally! the perceived display of "normal" enhances the
oddity both in the context and of the show itself. musically,
its a hit! very good stuff. deliciously theatrical. plus,
Charles wears that sweater, which is.. bangin'.
the integration of Randy's blog and the show itself is a really
satisfying multimedia experience, where nothing vital is lost
either way, but going the extra mile to go along with his blog
has rewards. it presents itself (from a distance) as a more
accessible Residents show, but it seems to be the one with the
most reviews from people that AREN'T Rezheads saying that it was
"too weird". and i really like the level of discomfort they
seemed to want to bring out in the audience, since Randy's
stories hardly left out any of the details in the bits about his
personal life. and without the context of who/what Randy is...
haha, talk about a TRIP! the nostalgic sense of the stories
seems to only be skin deep.. really an illusion of nostalgia,
since the past is repeatedly shoved away by the present as Randy
rambles on about his experiences, all a little too weird to be
believable.
one bit that always stuck with me was the "OBSESSION!
OBSESSION!" bit! really gets me. that and Dead Wood.
mmm good stuff.
#Post#: 201--------------------------------------------------
Re: PROJECT OF THE WEEK (19th of December): WONDER OF WEIRD
By: CheerfulHypocrite Date: December 26, 2016, 6:09 pm
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Ever since the 1980's when The Residents appeared in the Royal
Court, I had assumed that they would always perform in
Liverpool. This was not some Beatles themed delusion where Four
Optically Charged Tuxedos would sit beneath the Three Graces and
contemplate how to upset Beatles Fans. The Three Graces being
the Liverpool Waterfront: the Royal Liver Building (1908-11) by
Walter Aubrey Thomas, the Cunard Building (1914-16) by Willinck
& Thicknesse with Arthur J. Davis and the former offices of the
Mersey Docks and Harbour Board (1903-07) by Briggs &
Wolstenholme with Hobbs & Thornely. These three buildings have
become a World Heritage Site. So it makes sense to start the
journey there. Just before Midnight on the 17 May 2013.
All of those white, marble, statues from Ancient Greece were,
apparently, painted to look good. So the purity of whiteness was
an illusion created by Jean-François Champollion and friends. In
reality, Greek Statuary was fling as buck. (which both avoids
foul language and manages to lose credibility merely by being
read aloud). The Three Graces were modelled on the mysteriously
plain white statuary of Imperial Plunderings. The plain look
gets replaced with the excitement of projection mapping.
Whatever that is.
HTML http://www.colour-project.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/3-queens-10.jpg
HTML http://www.colour-project.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/3-queens-10.jpg
So, on the 17th May I set off for London. The Barbican. The
thing about the Three Graces is they look magnificent until you
enquire into their History. Then you feel the need to leave. For
centuries, Liverpool thrived on the Slave Trade. So it is no
real surprise that the Confederate Steam Ship Shenandoah -
which had sunk or captured 38 merchant ships - sailed into
Liverpool on November 6, 1865 to finally end, long after On June
23, Cherokee leader Stand Watie became the last Confederate
General to surrender his land forces. Shenandoah had been built
in Liverpool, the American Embassies were in Liverpool and the
main Confederate trading Partners had Liverpool connections.
Captain Waddell was received in the Liverpool City Council
building, the final military surrender of the American Civil
War.
[center]
HTML https://youtu.be/rog4I40Heko
HTML https://youtu.be/rog4I40Heko[/center]
When Charles Bobuck, in 2001, began sketches for a proposed
album based on The American Civil War, The Residents were
obviously supposing the aracana of Liverpool would be a fertile
furrow to plough. The War meant little outside of America,
although, parts of Liverpool were so rabidly Confederate in
Sympathy that the most valuable Confederate art and
architectural pieces in the world - most of them are now
well-preserved - are housed in number 19 Abercromby Square
Liverpool. Probably more Confederate than the Confederacy.
[center]
HTML https://liverpoolhistorysocietyquestions.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/3727907756_78171db5d1.jpg[/center]
The departure from the Graces and the Pier Head was uneventful.
The problem with Liverpool City Centre is the one way system.
Almost entirely designed by Students in Leeds. The Urban
Planning Students ensured they did not visit the City. Why visit
the City you were designing the one way system for. Plainly
silly to do so. Navigating to the Motorway was simple and took a
detour Upper Stanhope Street. Adolf Hitler's half-brother Alois
and his Irish sister-in-law Bridget Dowling are known to have
lived in Upper Stanhope Street around 1910. Bridget's memoirs,
surfaced in the 1970s, said that Adolf stayed with them in
1912-13. Much like Third Reich and Roll Bridget Dowling's
memoirs were believed to be faked. It is not possible to tell
from a car.
The easiest way to get to London, to get to the Barbican, would
be to take the M62 up to Junction 10 and turn right and go
straight ahead until the countryside becomes "The South" and it
all fades into excitement. Instead, driving past the Motorway
Farm was far more necessary. Stott Hall Farm is between
Junctions 22 and 23. Which are really Junctions 18 to 22 because
the M62 lacks Junctions 1 to 4. The original plan was to start
the Motorway at the Three Graces or thereabouts.
Stott Hall Farm, situated between the carriageways on the
Pennine section of the M62. It is the veritable confirmation
that you are on the M62.
HTML http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-the-farm-on-the-motorway-1983/<br
/>
The Farm on the Motorway is not as the Documentary Makers would
have you believe it, a product of not needing to build
Reservoirs or some such industrial nonsense. The Truth is held
in the Play Lost MonstersLost Monsters
HTML https://youtu.be/KroAFiEsvg8
which Lawrence Wilson used to ensure the world could know the
true story. Instead of turning right at the fake Junction 10,
the journey trundles up past Cleckheaton and Batley towards
Snaith then a sharp right away from Monk Fryston and South.
Towards Cambridge. Having found yourself near Nottingham and,
therefore, lost, taking a right to get onto the M1. Then
discovering you are at Milton Keynes and Bletchley Park and
taking a right to get to Cambridge.
Which is where breakfast turns into a day out at the Fitzwilliam
Museum. Looking at artifacts that assuredly tell us that fossils
are the result of the vis plastica and that these things are the
remains of Unicorns or Cyclopses. The truth is, that the
Residents are not the weirdest thing in the World. The same
museum brings the world conferences on Hide and Seek in Japan
HTML https://camunivmuseums.wordpress.com/ucm-blogs/
and the
Fitzwilliam Music Collection. Viscount Fitzwilliam, in 1816,
after a lifetime of studying, composing, and performing music
deposited a bundle of manuscripts including the celebrated
Fitzwilliam Virginal Book and Handel material second in
importance only to the Royal Collection in the British Library.
In 1902, these holdings were further enhanced by Francis Barrett
Lennard’s gift of 67 volumes of copies of Handel’s scores. This
is not a reason to visit the Fitzwilliam Museum. On 25 January
2006, a member of the public tripped which resulted in three
huge oriental porcelain vases being shattered and requiring
painstaking reconstruction. That would have been a day to visit.
Stopping for a day out was not really the best idea. Getting to
the Barbican Hall from the Fitzwilliam Portico was going to
require some serious musical accompaniment. World of Weird is
not so much a showcase of the Residents vast music catalogue,
married to a performance revealing possible soul of Randy Rose,
as the destination after a sudden panicked dash. After the
disclosures about Maurice the Cat, Randy will proceed to confess
the failure of eleven marriages while boldly baring the residue
of a life-long sexual addiction. Santa Dog will make an
appearance and someone will see the Residents for the first time
in their lives. This will be the future.
The present, at this point, is a strange excursion down the M11.
A vile stretch of tarmacadam which should be about two hours
driving. Except the competing technologies of Apple and Google
and Microsoft are all insisting they can disagree about
direction. Google insists the Journey will take six hours and
fifteen minutes with a price tag of several hundred dollars.
This is not the journey to take. Certainly it is the Journey
that Randy Rose might well expect to be taking. WOW air was
founded by entrepreneur Skúli Mogensen. Entirely owned by
Mogensen, who sits on the board of many tech companies both in
North America and Europe, WOW air can get you from Cambridge MA
to London. Not Cambridgeshire to Londonshire.
The Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in
Europe in the centre of the City of London. The Hall, where
Randy would be inflating barbershop red and white candies, has a
capacity of about 1,900. It looked full. Apart from the farting
and general eructations of those present, the sound quality was
better than it had been on other occasions. In 1994, Chicago
acoustician Larry Kirkegaard oversaw a £500,000 acoustic
re-engineering of the hall to "produce a perceptible improvement
in echo controls and sound absorption". Maybe it worked. It
attracted the famous Randy Rose.
The Barbican is in the City of London, which is actually a
separate City to London. The City of London is a City within
London with a whole range of strange independences. It
constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in
the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages. Everything else is
"London". The Barbican is the perfect venue for the World of
Weird. Not Shreveport. Not Liverpool. Not California. Not
London. The Barbican. The Brutalist offspring of Chamberlain,
Powell and Bon. The concrete excrement that has grown, like a
cordyceps of the City.
The historical Barbican served a military function during the
reign of Edward I. Edward III gave it to Robert d'Ufford, 1st
Earl of Suffolk as was the wont of the Ruling Class. Suffolk
made it his London home. By the 16th century it had passed to
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. Suffolk married his ward
Catherine Willoughby. Willoughby was daughter of Maria de
Salinas. de Salinas had been a confidante and lady-in-waiting of
Catherine of Aragon. The original Court dwelling seems to have
been destroyed and the large building that replaced it was
called Willoughby House. You need no more Weirdness than that.
But what did it look like? What was the appearance of Randy Rose
in the Hall at the Barbican? What magnificence were the denizens
of London confronted with? It was not quite the same as in
Holland
HTML https://youtu.be/mGz_hv9DryE
but the exposition was definitely
a glory to behold
HTML https://youtu.be/KMbobX6IMnI.
The entire World of Weird was, it seems, an opportunity to
realise that travelling along non-existent roads from the end of
the American Civil War to the site of a Fort from Late Antiquity
to hear the Postmodern American Reindeer narrate the Practice of
Obscurity.
Just one small thing. That was never real snow on the state. It
impressed the Ex Easter Island Head, but that might well be
something that happens anyway. It impressed me. But not quite as
much as the phrase, "Oh Fuq they are real." as uttered at the
London Forum some years earlier. The Barbican was more the
experience of, "I always knew they are real". Sometimes reality
works in mysterious ways.
#Post#: 202--------------------------------------------------
Re: PROJECT OF THE WEEK (19th of December): WONDER OF WEIRD
By: moleshow Date: December 26, 2016, 6:38 pm
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interesting assortment of lies and truths, half-lies and
could-be's. to be deceived by
CheerfulHypocrite/CheerfoolHypocrite is a massive delight to
all. sort of like a gift. a box. a mystery box.
...or maybe just a fridge.
#Post#: 372--------------------------------------------------
Re: PROJECT OF THE WEEK (19th of December): WONDER OF WEIRD
By: moleshow Date: April 20, 2017, 12:17 pm
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OLD TALK ^
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NEW TALK v
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