Note From The Captain
This sound collage was created during the week before the tragic shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona on the 8th of January, 2011. While creating this collage I could feel the violence in the air… My condolences go out to the victims of this senseless violence and to their families, indeed, to all Americans who feel the loss caused by this terrible action.
Making Sound Collages
Most of my sound collages contain stories (actually, the same story told over and over again) told in vague and ambiguous ways with lots of blurry edges between the ideas.
I am telling this story and presenting these visions which can only be completed by the listener. Every listener brings their own mental filters to the listening experience.
My hope is each listener will develop their own view of the stories I am telling, understanding that there are many layers of thoughts embedded in these collages
Sometimes the UFOverdriver finds itself in the midst of a strange story – like some vision of sound or an audio dream of somewhere and somewhat familiar… and this is one of those times.
WARNING: This sound collage contains the sounds of gunfire and simulated war, as well as 1970’s era rock and roll music. It’s heavy man.
Track Information
Track 1 (0:34) Station Identification (this is a universal frequency broadcast)
Track 2 (0:30) Sweet Belief (yes you can)
Track 3 (1:08) Billion Dollar Babies (spray cans join the hype machine)
Track 4 (1:54) In The Middle Without Any Plans (machines are machines are machines)
Track 5 (2:03) I’m Going Through Changes (I’m a boy and I’m a man)
Track 6 (0:53) The War Pigs In The Wings (plans? we’ve got plans)
Track 7 (1:41) The War Pig Machine Keeps Turning (one ring to rule them all)
Track 8 (1:30) Overwhelming Mayhem Pig Feed (the spray can jams the machine)
Track 9 (2:46) The Hand of God Has Struck The Hour (the little hand is on the twelve, and the big hand is around your vote)
Track 10 (3:51) You Won’t Fool The Children of the Revolution (the spray can army)
Track 11 (3:49) Waiting For Mr. Blue Skies (I, Jon, heard and saw these things; visions of the brothership)
Track 12 (1:28) War For The Sake of Peace (what are we fighting for?)
Track 13 (0:59) Thirteen O’Clock (the hour of harvest)
Flying Into The Vision: the story told as a prose poem
This sound collage unfolds like a dream revealing the story of a revolution, of spray cans fighting the war pigs machine in a fury of mayhem, where war is waged in the name of peace, and of a moment in time when the Blue Katchina arrives to dance and City of God arrives for the great harvest hour.
In this dream I woke up aboard the UFOverdriver, as it was levitating towards cruising altitude, preparing to send out it’s audio transmissions.
The UFOverdriver is filled with sweet leaf and sweet belief – pipe dreams of smoke and hope – a dream within the dream begins…
I looked around me and saw armies of the new generation selling out their lives to the big machines, the money machines, the hype machines… shook-up and used up like so many discarded spray cans.
I looked and I saw a massive a life-like vision of endlessly recycled attempts to re-live that long lost moment of something important.
At the top the President recycles his advisers and begins to make his prearranged run for re-election, and I see a man in the grips of middle-age flounder without any plans.
From somewhere, the UFOverdriver picks up the following signal:
“Is it possible that the story can actually end very badly? I mean, who knew?
Who knew that the reigns of power were held by so many and yet so few? Who knew that all of this actually matters? Who knew that boys had to finally become men? I’m going through changes, and fighting it tooth and nail.
But plans – heck, I don’t even have a clue.”
And then I heard the sounds of grunting pigs, the voices of the war pigs speaking;
“Hey kid – ne[...]
