Harry Partch made a journey in boxcars � like a hobo � in 1940 from Carmel in California to Chicago and he turned this into a piece of music. The Kronos 4tet have just released that piece rearranged for them and I listened to it this morning. Its quite slidey and sounds now like a proto-beatnik piece, a pre-cursor to Kerouac and the mythology Bob Dylan took over.

I have also been listening to a newly acquired David Cunningham piece called something like the Secret History of the Flying Lizards � essentially it is a dub remix from a Jamaican recording of the late 1970s. I need to work harder on it to see detect the UK conceptual spin.

At the Ikon just now there is a video which I think might be by one of Cunningham�s pupils at Dundee. It is much more like the Video Acts material than the glossy US productions of Viola and Anderson. The focus is a stunt � a man rides a bicycle up a wooden slope to a height of about one foot two and jumps a gap of about two feet onto a facting slope. He passes through a circle of fire. He rehearses the jump in a disused factory and then does the final version in the open air. The stunt-artists does a solo commentary throughout in a broad Scottish accent. I think the main message might be to live to the full in the moment in your own terms.

I got an e-mail from Wesley Clark this morning about AIDS. You can get one too � all you have to do is go to the links page on the Highveld site at the top of this page and go onto the AIDSVote site. This will register your concern with the candidates and those who think they have something to say reply by email. I mailed mine to Peter suggesting that we put a note in the box on our front page about this.

At Ikon in Birmingham there is a mock-up of a bar in Puerto Rico � in the exhibition space. You can sit there and have a cup of tea and listen to the juke box and chat to the woman serving you about trends in performance art. Downstairs is a space which is devoted to hobbies � pen knibs, origami, model railways etc.

This glorious opportunity is a distant echo in the West Midlands of 60s performance art and Fluxus in NYC and Germany. The art is the people doing the origami � or sitting in the bar listening to Kylie Minogue.

The Ikon events always have a really good Resource Room with the more adventurous shows. This one has a Robert Smithson catalogue which is unfortunately all in French but has the most wonderful pictures. There is Cage�s Notations which I haven�t seen for about 30 years and the Cambridge collection of essays on Cage that have absorbed me so much over the last two months or so. Also a collection of essays by Kaprow which starts with his reaction to the death of Jackson Pollock. Also a Fluxus compendium. In fact the whole thing is very like the resource space in the Detroit Institute of Art � it is just brilliant.

Peter Chatterton is thinking of making a film about the Dhorn.

Paul W mailed about Red Blues and archaeology.

A review of the Lizards.

"The music reminds me of some of Lee Perry's earlier albums (reggae/dub beats with samples and sounds buried deep in the mix), mixed with the low-tech tape butchery of Perry and Kingsley's early "sampling" work. The sound sound of this CD is of a very quirky, ambient dub record. Despite the use of "the flying lizards" in the title (although it's relation to the group is explained, and relevant), fans expecting this to have that early Lizards' sound minus vocals are probably going to be a bit disappointed, but only a bit. Keeping that root sound in mind, I have been amazed after repeated listenings how many samples haunt these instrumental songs; creaking hinges, bouncing ping pong balls, popping champagnge corks, wounded trombones, shuffling papers and other odd sounds start to unfold themselves through the layers of sounds. Again, I don't know exactly WHAT those sounds are, but that's the best guess I can give. If you really listen you will appreciate and admire Cunningham's make-shift, use-the-tools-he-has attempts at sampling (again, I am reminded of an even lower tech version of Perrey and Kingsley's pioneering sound work). These experiments do actually work to create a mellow, whimsical sound, and do open some insight into the sound of the samples used for the Flying Lizards' albums. Cunningham definatley has a "style" to his sampling, and the roots of that style I think may be revealed here. "

A Partch Hommage

LIBRETTO:

U.S. Lowball A Musical Burlesque After Harry Partch

Leaving Cleveland, O - heave - land!1

Leaving Elyria, O - hyria!2

I got an E-mail and the E-mail said: "Your bid is good for 3 days. Thank you for shopping Ebay."3 And that's why I'm going to Wichita.

Leaving Norwalk, O - h i- alk!4

Ninety-two Dodge Caravan, new brakes, needs work: Eight hundred thirty-two dollars Na-na-na-na-na-na

Hey. How many stops is this bus gonna make, buddy?!

Leaving Upper Sandusky, O - husky5

No more stuffing Kirbys in the back o' my brother's Chevette! Now I can take four vacuum cleaners into the field, maybe more!6

Hey, that driver don't know how to handle these roads!7 Now Fast Eddie8 � there was a bus driver....

Leaving Lima, O - hi - ma

Don't eat at the Bob Evans in Lima, boy. It'll give you the chuck horrors for sure!9

"Gonna ride this here bus to Kokomo, then head to Indy for the 500. How 'bout it, Slick?"10

Another breakdown! Bum a tear o' that beef jerky11, pal? These Amish folk12 are right nice out here. Think I'll catch a carriage over the state line. Can't wait for another bus. Sell ya my pass? Gotta get to Wichita before somebody lowballs me on a minivan. 832 bucks! Why, I'll make that back on commission for two Kirby's!

Leaving Willshire.......and....O - hire.

Folks say I'm crazy. Say I oughtta get a real job. I say, "Money's the root of all...." well, you know. 'In dwelling, live close to the ground, In thinking, keep to the simple.' That's what the Tao Te Ching13 says. You know the Tao Te Ching? The Tao Te.....

"Know a mechanic in Bluffton, Got bikes for sale cheap, Don't ride much m'self, but....."

Why, thank you kindly, Zeke.14 I'd love to live your way for just a day, sir. Maybe longer, maybe longer. I really think you're on to something here....

Leaving Gas City In - di - a - ni - ty!

I got an email and the email said: "Your bid is good." da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da

"Champaign-Urbana15 YMCA. Notice to boarders: This YMCA gives you one bed, coffee and donuts, and one complimentary step aerobics class for fifty dollars."16 Fifty dollars!? To hell with it. I'll head over to Jack Parkin's!17

Leaving Monticello, Illinois - i - o!18

Wichita, Wichita, Wichi-Wichi-Wichita ita ita, itchy, itchy, Wichita!

Leaving Springfield

Goin' west, mister? Goin' west, mister? Goin' west, mister?19

Leaving Jeff City, Mo-Mo-Mo-Mity!

Wichi-Wichi-Wichi Wichi-Wichi-Wichi Wichita, ita, ita-ta-ta, ta-ta, ta-ta-ta

Eight hundred and thirty two bucks. And more than that to spare for gas home. Ha!

Fort Scott, Kans - ot!20

Kan-sas, Kan-sas, Ka-Ka-Ka-Ka-Kan-sas can's ass, can's ass, can's ass

I - oooooooooo - la!

Iola, Kanzola, Iola, Kanzola Kanzola-zola-zola

Ha, ha! This is just what I needed. A break from that stinky town. The rat race. Clean livin'. Fix my liver. Find me a lover in Ole Kanzola. Shanty by the lake. No more vacuum cleaners, credit checks, smoke-filled donut shops. No more lotto, cheap lovin', breakdowns, E-commerce.

Wichita! Wichita! Wichita!

Whadya mean I'm too late?! I got an email and the email said, "Your bid is good for 3 days!" What?! When?! Where?! Who?! You exclamation mark jerk! I hope your semicolon asterisk Dodge falls right off its at sign axles!21 I can stand everything but the jerks!22

"Lookin' for Dodge, stranger? Climb in."

(1st person) Leaving Wichita - Kan - saw!

Where we headed? West?

"Dodge City. End of the road."

Well, I came for a Dodge. Didn't know it was a city.

"It's a place where folks live close to the ground, keep to the simple."

You know the Tao Te Ching?

"Tao Te who?"

Tao Te... Oh well, 832 bucks can get a person started out here in can's ass, can's ass. No more material world. Time to strip it bare, in Kansas. Maybe I'll continue this trip after a spell. Go on to Californy-a.

"I hear Carmel is nice."

Thanks for the ride, Hoss!23

"May God's richest blessings be upon you." Dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dum!

Libretto created by Evan Hause Nov.-Dec., 2000

1 Partch's journey originates in Carmel, California. 2 Elyria, Ohio is a neighboring town to Oberlin, Ohio, where I went to college. 3 Partch "got a letter and the letter said: 'May God's richest blessings be upon you.'" 4 Hometown of my favorite N.F.L. football coach, Don Shula. 5When I was a kid, I was haunted by a bogus article in a Teen magazine that said the rock group KISS had died in a van accident in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, and that impostors were carrying on in their stead. Hmm. 6 My brother is true-to-life Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman. 7 Partch: "That engineer don't know how to drive this train!" 8 Fast Eddie drove the bus for the Oberlin Yeomen and Yeowomen athletic teams. He always cut an hour off of every trip in a way which defies physics. 9 This statement is absolutely true. In Partch's glossary, the "chuck horrors" is severe indigestion. 10 Partch: "We'll highball it down to Omaha � then head for the carnival in Alabama. How 'bout it, Slim?" Slim was Partch's nickname; at least in U.S. Highball. 11 Classic road food for the unhealthy. 12 My great grandfather was the last of an Amish strain in my family. 13 I got a letter and the letter said this statement at the time I was composing this piece. btw-Singers are SUPPOSED to pronounce "Tao Te Ching" wrong! I always did. 14 Not just a Biblical and Amish name, but the name of one of my college dormitories. 15 Home of University of Illinois where the Partch music archive is, where Ben Johnston taught for 30 years, where Partch took several residencies, etc. 16 Partch: "The Salvation Army: Notice to transients: This town allows you two meals and bed for one night only. Do not leave this place after 6 PM. By order of the Chief of Police." 17 Partch: "Jack Parkin, 111 West William St., Champaign, Illinois. Telephone 8426 if hungry when there." 18 My mother was born and raised there. 19 Partch: "Goin' east, mister?" 20 Not far from Pittsburg, Kansas, where I lived for three years, and met my sweetie, who goes by the nickname, Mo. 21 Partch: "You exclamation mark bum! Get your semi-colon asterisk out o' these yards!" A reference to railroad security tossing Partch, the hobo, out of the rail yards. 22 Partch: verbatim quotation; except that Partch was referring to the sudden jerks of the fast-moving trains. 23 The name of my rock act and "correct" pronunciation of my last name. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INSTRUMENTATION: Flute/Piccolo Oboe Bb Clarinet Eb Alto Saxophone Bb Tenor Saxophone Bassoon Horn Trumpet Trombone 2 Vocalists Drumset/Temple Blocks Solo Strings

Actually someone once took me for a jazz musician in Carmel