Y alpha

The G-Spot 32: fever dreams & transmedia litany

In this special one hour G-Spot, James Curcio builds a fragmented narrative through excerpts from various shows that he produced / co-produced over the past seven years, wandering through it as if displaced in time, in a fever dream. Also included is an excerpt from Transmedia Litany, with Genesis P. Orridge & Joseph Matheny. All of the music and content that makes up this podcasts is home-grown, recorded in various home & psuedo-professional studios.

Some links you may want to check out after / while you listen: ZenseiderZ, the rough version of the MHB informercial (c2000), the Join My Cult! eBook, Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning eBook, order Fallen Nation on Amazon, Babalon.

LISTEN here. We suggest you listen on headphones. Or while driving late at night. (Though we aren't responsible if you drive off the road.)

Oh so soon...

soon
Originally uploaded by agent139

Immanence of Myth, early sample (PDF)

"The following are in-progress chapters for an upcoming work The Immanence of Myth, which picks up and expands on some of the ideas first presented in "Living The Myth" in Generation Hex. This will be an exploration of myth in its function as intermediary between human and world (represented as language, music, sculpture, or any other form of expression), and how the myth-making process underlies all of the beliefs that we hold about the world, no matter how logically consistent they are. Though it is my general preference to simply know this, and explore the creation of myths in different media, I've been feeling lately that an expression of those underpinnings may be insightful, even useful for others. The book will be co-authored with Rowan Tepper, M.A. though the following was written by myself. Please forgive typos, structural inconsistencies and the like, as this book is still in production."

PDF now available.

The secret sex lives of wombats.

As a joke I suggested to someone that they write an article about the psychosexuality of wombats- neither knowing much about wombats, nor their sexuality. Then, I realized I didn't even really know what a wombat looked like. So I did a google image search, and immediately discovered more than I had hoped to. Wombats are freaky little creatures. (PDF article on Wombat sexuality.)

The G-Spot 31: Michael Dean

In this episode, Joseph Matheny concludes his conversation with Michael Dean (part 1 here), and discuss how to make money by releasing things for free, the coming apocalypse, a secret underground lair, and much more.

We're hoping to make the Gspot better with your input, we'd dig it if you'd fill out the Standard Audience Survey to help us do that. As always,
if you have questions, comments, rants or suggestions, call (213) 784-1035

Listen.

Fallen Nation PDF

Just got word that the Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning eBook that's on Greylodge is about ready to cross the 20,000 download mark.

The truth is, though of course I would prefer that I had those many sales, I'd rather people read it than not at all. And I hope that some of those people enjoy the experience, and if they don't come back to purchase Fallen Nation, they look for my next work. (Note: it's usually cheaper to order a book than it is to print it, when you've factored in the ink and paper.)

The more you know.

Female beetles mate to quench their thirst according to new research by a University of Exeter biologist. The males of some insect species, including certain types of beetles, moths and crickets, produce unusually large ejaculates, which in some cases can account for around 10% of their body weight. The study shows that dehydrated females can accept sexual invitations simply to get hold of the water in the seminal fluid.

(Article.)

Sneak Peek: Immanence of Myth

A peek under the hood as I dive into my first full-length non-fiction work. (The book will be co-authored with Rowan Tepper, M.A. though the present first drafts on Key64 were written by myself.)

Though it's explained in this passage, this will be an exploration of myth in its function as intermediary between human and world (represented as language, music, sculpture, or any other form of expression), and how the myth-making process underlies all of the beliefs that we hold about the world, no matter how logically consistent they are. Though it is my general preference to simply know this, and explore the creation of myths in different media, I've been feeling lately that an expression of those underpinnings may be insightful, even useful for others.

Further discussion of myth and culture would be useless or even misleading without an exploration of the various elements that build up this "mythic tapestry," through a philosophical rather than historical exploration of these elements. It is worth noting that many works already exist which provide a systematic philosophical analysis of the ideological history and function of myth.1 (F.N. 1 Included prominently in this list are Cassirer's The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, Joseph Campbell's Masks of God I-IV, Theodore Adorno and Max Herkheimers Dialectic of Enlightenment, Eliade's many works especially Myth and Reality and Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. This is not to say that the postulates or conclusions provided in these works are congruent with one another, or with our own thesis; nevertheless all of them contributed to bringing myth out of the realm of fanciful poetic naturalism.) Though in various ways we are indebted to these works, our ultimate mission is not to explore what myth has been, except inasmuch as that can shed light on what its function is at present, nor is it to merely further the thesis of these works. Rather, it is our aim to continue a movement already well underway, namely, the re-legitimization of myth and myth-making as one of the principle, if not the principle, form of human representation.

We are nowhere with this word "myth" until we can determine what its personal and cultural function is, in total, and where the points overlap between these various elements. In other words, we need to build a map of a cognitive terrain that is not necessarily a “where” or a “when,” and so the rest of this work is dedicated towards exploring what one might call the ideological topology of myth.

Read first draft excerpts on Key64.net.

5x7" Lives of Ilya

5x7" Lives of Ilya
Originally uploaded by agent139

We got confirmation about the audiobook so finally I can share this with you...

ENGAGE. RESPOND. EVOLVE

Live in Philadelphia, NYC, or Jersey? If so- this is where you should be the 19th of April. QXT's 248 Mulberry St Newark NJ 07102. 10pm-3am. $10.

There will be music, dancers, projections, performances, and plenty of giveaways including a signed copy of my novel, Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning.

More information is available here.

Fallen Nation review on Spiral Nature

I just saw that they did a review on Spiral Nature of Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning, after all. I would nit-pick some of the details (such as classifying it as "occult fiction," I took many pains to make this particular book work just fine for people with little or only passing knowledge of the occult; the autobiographical elements in this book are painted with such a broad brush in this one that it is very nearly entirely fiction, and so on), but it is nice to see someone actually summarize the plot fairly succinctly.

I've never lied about this: I'm god awful at plot synopsis. So far as I'm concerned, plot is something that happens as a result of the characters thinking, wanting, fearing, desiring, and then the ways that those things play out in the world around them and come in conflict with one another. Plot is incidental, and being told the plot of a movie or book tells me so little about whether I'll actually get something out of it or not that I usually don't much care. But I acknowledge that there are few who see eye-to-eye with me on that one, it has most certainly been a thorn in my side with publishers and promotion alike, so- if you're looking for a very basic synopsis of the plot, thank God, here you go:

------------------------------------------------------------------

Fallen Nation James Curcio’s second book, takes up where Join My Cult! left off. Agent 139 and Jesus are in a maximum security mental institution held as suspected terrorists after a restaurant was blown up in the previous novel. Agent 139 wryly comments:

“Bottom line: ideas don’t count for a whole lot in this world, but on their own, they’re mostly benign. Ideals on the other hand can get you a special jacket with one sleeve. Ideals can get you shot.”

Agent 506 breaks them out via mysterious means, and, after a brief visit with Agent 140 fits them with a van tailored with all the tricks and tools they’ll need, the three of them set off on their way to new adventures. They soon pick up a hitchhiking guitarist and decide to form a band, Babalon. The van serves as a tour bus as they pick up groupies and collect followers, making waves wherever they go.

“I like the sentiment of anarchy, but you’re idealizing it. In a world of so many conflicting cultural signals, each person’s idea of what social responsibility is, and how it should be enacted differs. When there is differing opinion, there is conflict. When there is no difference of opinion, there is absolute fascism. Take your pick. The freedom of this ideal turns quickly into the lowest common denominator, the law of the jungle, as people’s priorities and ideals clash with one another. This is exactly how the world is right now, and how it has always been – the war of all against all…You want anarchy? You already have it. In disguise. Anarchy’s always been, and always will be.”

A government agent is charged with the task of eliminating Babalon, perceived as a threat to the status quo by Those In Charge. Cultural warfare becomes more than abstract theorizing when things escalate in a desert battle pitting agent against agent.

(Full review.)

The Well

Rudy Rauben has unleashed another comic, the Well. Check out the panels of the opening episode here.

Alterati.com interview with Rudy Rauben.

Lives of Ilya

I also have some exciting news about the people who will be reading the audiobook version for this project- but that will have to wait just a little bit.

Final version of #7

Final version of #7
Originally uploaded by agent139

Another one from this series. I've been trying to distract myself from what has been a very rough couple months- I figure this form of distraction may at least yield some future benefit, even if it's just from a couple people going "ah."

A little eye candy

Shots from a series with Key that I snuck in on at the Fall Studios yesterday. Happy I got to snap a couple shots, I've been sick and tired of the content that I already have onhand to play with.

"These moments of intoxication when we defy everything,
when, the anchor raised, we go merrily toward the abyss, with no more thought for the inevitable fall than for the limits given in the beginning, are the only ones when we are completely free of the ground (of laws) . . ." -Georges Batailles.

(Yes, Rowan, I'm doing that reading for our book as you prescribed.)

Drum blues

The other night I had the opportunity to play on a nice acoustic kit. It had a double bass drum pedal, though attached to a fairly small, tight bass drum. A tiny little snare that really cuts through the mix, 5 toms, and a pretty intense selection of china and hardware. (Also the high-hat was positioned up and behind the 2nd and 3rd toms on the rack. At first I thought this would be really prohibitive but I actually found it kept me from crossing in a lot of positions and thereby allowed a little more flexibility.) It's always nice playing on a kit that has more roll on the heads than the rubber ones on the V-drums, as useful as they are for recording certain kinds of music and keeping the neighbors happy. What surprised me the most is that the people nearby seemed to be deluded into the fact that I could actually play. Since, to a greater or lesser certain extent, all musicians are playing that trick on you, it helped to re-affirm that the off-hours I've spent on the thing haven't been a total waste of time.

But I also feel a little bit stuck. Let me explain and maybe some of the musicians out there can help suggest something. Ever since I started to really get the hang of rolls with my hands - though I still excel at rolling with my right over my left but slowly that's getting better - I've had more options available to me with my arms on the kit. I don't have real independence yet but from working both hands off the highhat and hitting my crash with the uncrossed hand (there's only one on the v-drum kit, its a joy when I play kits that have more) I'm getting a tiny, tiny bit better at that. That is opening up options as well, although of course I really wish the progress wasn't so glacial.

However, this is only making it more clear that my bass-drum work is what is really holding me back from what I would consider a "real" drummer. My bass-drum work is fucking awful. I've spent hours working out of a book trying to get the whole 'heel-toe' thing to happen, but it doesn't seem to work for me at all. I am a little more solid down there if I hit the kick by using my entire leg (Lars Ulrich style) but this is very slow, though fairly powerful. It's also distressingly exhausting- I tried to play through an Amorphous song with a single bass drum pedal and though the attempt was pathetic to begin with I was literally limping for a day and a half after. This can't be the right way to be playing down there.

Any drummers have any suggestions that don't involve spilling the majority of my lifeblood so as to please the Lords of Rock? (Seriously, I enjoy drumming but I don't have time right now to begin working through ridiculous workbooks, and developing a form of tapping autism as my English slowly bleeds away to a series of grunts and chirps. Those of you who have played with really dedicated drummers know what I'm talking about.)

Tales of woe

As I dig in trying to promote Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning, I'm starting to see a frustrating trend emerge.

It would seem that as a result of the glut of options now available to small publishing houses and independent authors (in terms of print on demand, small run self publishing, etc), most press outlets with any amount of "real" distribution (say 10,000+) have enacted a complete blackout on submissions of this kind. (And honestly, anything smaller than 10,000 distro / uniques a month isn't going to even put a blip on the radar in terms of sales, which is why I scoffed at that Online "publication" running off of angelfire a couple months ago.)

Several hundred hours - and several hundred dollars - into the process, I have literally hundreds of rejection letters to my queries, and not a single accepted review, interview, or editorial. Before you jump up and down saying perhaps my submissions themselves are the problem, I followed all the guidelines set out in books like the Writers Market '08. I did my research. For once I made a real attempt to color between the lines, which has never - as many of you know - been my strong suit. I figured, let the work speak for itself, you don't need to get avant garde with your submissions. (e.g. when I acted as the agent of a costa rican monkey conveniently named "Morgan Freeman" in an attempt to get him acting work in Hollywood. Anyone remember that stunt?)

The most frustrating thing is that most of the rejections have been stock rejection letters, and most of them have been given clearly without the recipients actually reading the presskit, let alone the novel. The few personalized letters I've received have been from editorial assistants, telling me that the work actually looks really good but their editor-in-chief won't let them touch it because it's not coming through an established channel - e.g. press agency, established publishing house, etc. - and since I'm not already a "phenomenon" - e.g. 50,000+ units sold - they can't really spin a story around small-town boy done good. Catch 22, there.

Ironically, I initially decided to approach the publication of Fallen Nation in this way because I applied to several hundred agents, and to a one they all sent rejection letters - nine times out of ten the reasons where that I wasn't a "genre writer," my work wasn't "easy enough for them to sell," and so on. (Yeah no shit, that's why I came to you guys in the first place. But I know, you want your 15% to come easy and I'm not J.K. Rowling.) Don't get me wrong, for what tiny amount of press Fallen Nation has received it's selling fairly well. But I don't consider a book that's selling less than 10,000 copies a year a breadwinner, and unless if there's some kind of explosion I really don't foresee that happening this year.

It would seem there are still gatekeepers that need to be bought off to move forward with efforts like this. Perhaps I could lie and say that I'm selling millions, and suddenly buzz happens around that, but I'd really rather not resort to parlor tricks like that.

God, I don't want to have to deal with this end of the process. I just want to produce the work and move on. I hate sales, I hate promotion. I even hate marketing, for as much as I've come to learn about it. But I suppose "thems the breaks."

Well, there's my gripe for today. I know it probably doesn't help anything, but there it is. Perhaps some of the other independents out there can share their tales of frustration and woe.

Fallen Nation trailer contest, update

Despite quite a few emails and phone calls from people telling me they were working on something, or telling me... I'm not entirely sure what... we have yet to receive any final submissions for this contest. There are still 10 days left in the initially speculate time-line, however I may extend it if no decent submissions come in in that time.

For those who missed it, here's the details, files, and contest info at Greylodge.org.

Music Industry Proposes a Piracy Surcharge on ISPs

I don't think commentary on this article is even necessary. It is quite clear what's going on here- death throes. You need a new business plan, guys.

But this does bear comment:

"It's monetizing the anarchy," says Peter Jenner, head of the International Music Manager's Forum, who plans to join Griffin on the panel.

I swear to God, a pop-punk band has to make an anthem song called "Monetizing the Anarchy."

Now... Back to work with me.

Esozone 2007 Retrospective

Key64 retrospective.

Here's the Alterati.com article I wrote about the event after arriving back to Philly. (It includes some additional video content.)

All signs say EsoZone 2008 is happening. It'll be interesting to see how it grows.

Catwalk Tragedy

There will also be a promotional giveaway of a signed copy of Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning at this event. (Should be announced in upcoming flyers.)

Buy tickets here.

The G-Spot 27: Taylor Ellwood & Less-than-supple Supplicants

In this episode: James Curcio plays some of the more bizarre messages left by hopeful supplicants for the Fallen Nation trailer contest, as well as an in-progress version of the Black Osiris track "Ministry of Cliches."

Wes Unruh corners experimental magician Taylor Ellwood on the topics in Ellwoood's latest book, "Multi Media Magic."

Listen now on Alterati.com.

Fantasy and Taboo

An article exploring the content of a previous article on Alterati.com, but from a different angle-

Jung talks about the shadow as being areas of the unconscious that are socially unacceptable, as well as undeveloped positive potential. He suggested that the more these thoughts and behaviors were suppressed, the larger the shadow grew. "In spite of its function as a reservoir for human darkness—or perhaps because of this—the shadow is the seat of creativity."

The Senoi dreamers of Malaysia apply the same concepts of approaching "darkness" to their dream travels: whenever encountering danger in a dream, the dreamer was encouraged to confront and conquer his or her attacker. Once obliterated, the dreamer asks this now defunct "demon" for a gift. There is tranformation.

The greatest gifts I've received from the people in my life, Andre being one of them, was their understanding and utter acceptance of me and my myriad shadows. This lack of judgment - of ourselves and others - liberates us. It isn't achieved without courage though, both in the revealing and the accepting.

From:
http://beautifulanddepraved.blogspot.com/2008/02/6-fantasy-and-taboo.html

Psychosis unveiled

It makes so much more sense now.

And why is it that I feel like I can relate to Jon...?

Filesharing is a virtue

We in the music industry have shown ourselves unable to follow in this change. Some of us have even waged war against those the music is recorded for – the listeners. The rift between producers and consumers has never been bigger. “The truth is that Internet has provided us with a fantastic grey scale of possibilities! Instead of fighting back we ought to obtain learning from the daily newspaper and the computer game industries. They early realized the superiority of the internet and developed new services there.

Who wants to bet this is going to fall on deaf ears within the industry, at least here in the US?

Anyhow, it is late, and I'm tired, so I'm going to do something uncharacteristic and not run my mouth about this issue. But there's a pretty good spin on the matter available here if you're interested.

Recent Amazon Review

I spotted this review on Amazon for
Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning, which made me smile:

By Jack Schmidt (Hinterland, USA) -
Illuminatus, Robert Anton Wilson, Philip K. Dick and Neil Gaiman certainly all come to mind when reading Fallen Nation; Haruki Murakami and Alan Moore too. I love all these authors, but thankfully Curcio is doing something all his own here. He's not aping anyone else.

In Fallen Nation Curcio has dragged something unsettlingly out of the shadows of modern culture so we can examine its contours more closely. In the process we may note the hidden effects of oh-so-fashionable complacency, homogeneity, cynicism, escapism and post-modern irony just as his rebel-rousing characters must; and just maybe find a portion of the courage, tenacity, wit and humor they unfold in order to find both themselves and a better, more humane way of living.

If you liked any of the fore-mentioned authors then this book is for you. If you enjoyed his previous book, Join My Cult!, then you're going to absolutely love this one. It's a faster, more fun-loving and dangerous ride.

Curcio's prose begs the reader to live and love like there's no tomorrow... 'cause you know what? Your end, and the end of the American Empire may be coming sooner then you think.

The past two weeks have been positively hellish, hopefully that'll turn around soon. It's nice to get a little complement in such times.

Catalytic Converser

Recently we ran a doubleshot of GSpot with Jared Louche, frontman of Chemlab. When we ran that piece, we promised a follow-up based on the email conversations that had taken place while working out the details, a conversation that started out tackling some of the controversy that surrounded the Chemlab release Rock Whore vs. Dance Floor but quickly grew to encompass Jared’s incredibly varied musical projects and writing career. Check it out, follow up by listening to the podcast linked below, and hold on to something tight - this is one hell of an interview (Alterati.com).

Podcasting Audio Production 101

The following is a sort of quick and dirty guide to audio post-production for podcasts.

I’m trying to provide a fair view of the playing field, but can’t possibly cover everything. To begin with, there is no comprehensive list that is “everything there is to know” about audio production. The process simply doesn’t work that way. Not only is audio production an ongoing process, it is a process that should adapt itself to the specific material that you’re dealing with. What you must learn to do as a producer, more than anything else, is to listen. Everything else is just figuring out what to do when you hear something you don’t like, or how to create the sound that you have in your head.

Thus, there is no one “right” way to produce an album or a podcast. The project itself defines its needs, and the more flexible you are, and the more expansive your “toolbox,” the better. At the same time, each producer inevitably develops their own signature sound which somehow winds up a part of the final material, even if they were made with the same exact tools as another.

For most podcasting tasks I use Adobe Audition (which is essentially the same as Syntrillium’s Cool Edit Pro 2.) I’m not saying that this is the best software to use - chances are if I was working on a Mac I’d be using Digital Performer. However, it is more than sufficient for the task at hand, especially when coupled with a robust array of Direct-X plug-ins. For this I will refer to plug-ins in the Waves Platinum Bundle. I have and use many others myself, but many of the FX in this bundle are invaluable.

Full article on Alterati.com.

The G-Spot 26: Hellhounds and Lapdogs.

In this very special episode of The GSpot, Joseph Matheny, James Curcio and Wes Unruh have a roundtable discussion regarding the recent DNS takedown of this site and its network sites. This takedown resulted in our loss of hosting as well. Rather than explain it all here, listen and learn.

It all started with a BoingBoing link…

Reference links for this podcast

BoingBoing’s Link to Alan Moore Documentary:
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/31/alan-moore-documenta.html

Undersea Internet Cables Being Cut:
http://mutans.blogspot.com/2008/02/connecting-many-undersea-cut-cable-dots.html

Anon Vs Co$: http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?t=3867

PROJECT CHANOLOGY/IRL PROTEST PAGE: http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Project_Chanology_iRL_Raids_Latest_News

Song at end: Hellhound on My Trail by Robert Johnson

Add’l music is by Nate sampsel, johan ess, (from a piece from the Fallen Nation audiobook), and mkII

Link to emails with our rebuttals

LISTEN to the episode now on Alterati.com