Materialism and humanism are celebrated here.  That’s what we have to work with, after all.

The second issue of Black Scat Review contains one of my series “Shorten the Classics.”  Not this one, another.  Black Scat Review is available from Black Scat Books.

“Hide Hide the Cow’s Outside” was another piece I did for the Oberlin Dance Collective, back in 1976.  It was assembled from found material, bits of text and music, many having to do with Calvin Coolidge, our most taciturn president.  The performers all wore black, with tuned bells at their waists.  Margot Crosman made a superlative Coolidge; she got to wear a hat.  I was aiming for a maximum saturation of inter-association, each snippet resonating with all the others.  Here’s the first page of it:

And a review, from Laura Shapiro in the Boston Globe, 1/20/76.

A round on a quatrain by Léon-Paul Fargue, in my translation.

My translation of Isidore Isou’s Considerations on the Death and Burial of Tristan Tzara was displayed in the show “Manifesto,” devoted to Dada, Letterism, Fluxus, and other vanguards, and organized by Frédéric Acquaviva at Kings Place, London, 3/4/13.  Copies are still available, by the way, at Black Scat Books.

“Joseph Knowles” was a theatrical piece I concocted for the Oberlin Dance Collective, back in 1977, back in San Francisco.  It was based on the story of Knowles, who stripped naked and entered the Maine woods one summer day in 1913, vowing to return after two months, fully dressed and in perfect health.  His progress was covered by the papers; he had to break game laws to survive; and he worked the vaudeville circuit after he emerged, dressed in his caveman get-up.  I was intrigued by the many social complexities simmering under his stunt, and put together an ensemble piece using press clippings, music, a gorilla costume, and much more.  Here are a couple of pages from my notebooks:

The performers wore t-shirts, each with a picture of Knowles.

And a couple of reviews; first from Dick Moore, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 3/10/77:

And next from Janice Ross, Artweek, 3/12/77:

I often performed this vent bit with Eddie back in the ’90s, including, if memory serves, a couple of TV appearances.  Here’s an excerpt: