(original image)
Mote .
(Original image from a Gulf Coast town.)
Grateful Dead, Hank III and me:
In El Paso, I was thinking about it as I danced around in the backyard, recording the weekly video, I was considering the nature of performance art.
Bereft of a net connection at the time of this writing, it makes for a challenge as I can’t access the a websites that offer free material about “The Dead.”
The Grateful Dead were the modern pioneers of the “hippie jam band” ideal, and what I’ve gathered, over the years, that the Dead encouraged tapers to the point of allowing amateurs to plug into the sound board’s feed, and at some shows, there would be a daisy-chain of cassette recorders trailing away from the sound board.
From me? This is entirely hearsay and anecdotal. Still valid as I’m sure the facts could be checked.
That’s back in the day. Hank III (Sagittarius) is a personal fave. An artist who resolutely refuses to be pigeon-holed into a single slot? Got to love that. At two shows, at the very minimum, I’ve seen both audio and video recorders, freely capturing the spark of creation, the documentary version of what is happening. The video, in shortened form, is available on place like YouTube (&c.) Again, it’s in the spirit of the Grateful Dead, once a show is performed? Free for all. With Hank III, I know some of that was shot through eyeglasses with cameras on the side, and stereo microphones, and at another show, it was a taper, clearly set up in the back, microphone on a tripod, and he was operating with the band’s blessings. Maybe not the venue or the record label, but once a show’s done?
That’s part of the point, it’s free, after the point of performance. Value is rendered – at the show itself. More than one show I’ve worked at, the mega-New-Age events, there have been Tibetan monks, making the (colored) sand mandala, and then, at the end, blowing it away.
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” (Should read, “Ashes to ashes; dust to dust.” Grammar girls should be appalled. Appeased.)
I was messing with the RSS feed and thinking about my way of approaching the structure. My (free) audio message? I just let it loose and let it go. It’s merely the audio of the weekly video, extracted and uploaded separately, and being free? I don’t archive it on the site. The weekly noise doesn’t have a separate moniker for each week.
The video? It’s pay-per-view. It’s different, though because the way the horoscopes are written, the way the material is timed? Should be free after I’m done with it. Same as the Grateful Dead, Hank III. And me.