There are a lot of excellent articles appearing about SOMNILOQUIES, the Verena Paravel/Lucien Castaing-Taylor film featuring Michael Barr’s dream recordings of Dion McGregor (eg, Patrick Gamble’s review at CineVue). To read more, follow @TorporVigil on Twitter.
Hollywood Reporter on Dion McGregor’s “Madcap Dreams” in the Paravel/Castaing-Taylor Film SOMNILOQUIES
27 FebIn his THR review of somniloquies, Jordan Mintzer refers to Dion McGregor’s slumbrous vocalizations as “a cross between the somnambulist poems of Robert Desnos and the standup of Lenny Bruce,” while invoking movie director David Lynch and painter Francis Bacon in reference to the film’s imagery. Nicely done.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/somniloquies-review-975922
Another fine review of the Dion McGregor film somniloquies by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel
27 FebBert Rebhandl at Frieze Magazine offers insights into two Berlinale films by directors from Harvard’s Sensory Ethnography Lab—”probably the most influential ‘school’ in contemporary world cinema.” Somniloquies is “brilliant” and “haunting.”
https://frieze.com/article/desert-sleeps
Dion McGregor film somniloquies “BREATHTAKING” and “SPELLBINDING”
26 FebUsing a soundtrack that is pure vintage Dion McGregor—somnolent orations recorded in the 1960s by his roommate Michael Barr—Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor have created a film that has critics talking (and not just in their sleep). More reviews will be posted soon, but for now here’s David Jenkins article at Little White Lies.
http://lwlies.com/festivals/somniloquies-first-look-review/
DION McGREGOR FILM PREMIERE!
12 Feb
Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor are premiering their Dion McGregor movie somniloqiuies today at the prestigious Berlinale international film festival in … where was it again … oh yes, Berlin! This project—featuring an all-Dion soundtrack—has been in the works for some time and it’s very exciting to see it emerge into the world. A glimpse can be had through the link in the photo above, along with a nicely synthesized account of Dion McGregor’s sleeptalking history (download “additional information” at the bottom of the page) .
Last Summer
11 FebThis post from the great Richard Kirk makes me very happy. In the midst of his fascinating career, Rick made time to create two wonderful covers for Torpor Vigil releases—Songs of Elsewhere by Samuel Andreyev, and The Further Somniloquies of Dion McGregor. Thanks, Rick!
Steve
Richard A. Kirk | Visual Artist | Author
Last summer, my friend Steve Venright, and a car load of his wonderful family, came through for a visit. I’ve known Steve since we were teenagers (gasp). I just found this photo, which I had quite forgotten about, in my camera. It’s a good one don’t you think? Besides being an amazing poet, Steve is also the producer of Dreaming Like Mad with Dion McGregor. That beautiful art work is by Kerry Zentner. Check out Steve’s website at TVR.
– Richard.
Dion McGregor’s Love Scene — Strange Holiday (1945)
27 Jan
Dion McGregor’s film career was brief, and (what would you expect) odd. Here he is, under the pseudonym David Bradford, as “Boy Friend” in the 1945 film Strange Holiday. In the scene, he is called “Joe”—but I suspect it was cheaper to bill him generically in the credits. (He’s not seen again, by the way, after 1:36.)
Dion Awakening from a Dream
26 Jan
Among the hundreds of recordings in the Torpor Vigil Records McGregor-Barr Somniloquy Tape Archive, there are only a few in which Dion can be heard to awaken at the end. Here’s the ending of one of the few dreams that doesn’t have a known original title. I’ll call it “The Storm” for convenience. At the dramatic conclusion of the dream, Dion is heard waking up, at which moment Mike Barr’s footsteps approach and a conversation ensues. Note the rather poignant ennui in Dion’s voice as he responds to Mike’s question about what he dreamt.
The Great Mustard Fight
31 DecDion McGregor fan David Rolfe happened to be reading the autobiography of playwright/screenwriter Moss Hart when the remastered Dream World album was released. Listening to “The Mustard Battle,” David was struck by how its theme resonated with a passage from Hart’s book. It seems likely to me that lyricist and film buff Dion would have read this critically praised memoir by his fellow New Yorker, published around the time Michael Barr began taping Dion’s somniloquies. As to whether his spoken dream was inspired by the antics Hart recounts . . . well, I wouldn’t lose sleep over it, but it’s fun to speculate.
“The Mustard Battle” can be streamed or downloaded here:
https://dionmcgregor.bandcamp.com/track/the-mustard-battle-remastered
Media Funhouse on the Remastered Dream World Album
28 DecEd Grant of Media Funhouse has pulled through again with another fine blog entry on Dion–this time about the remastered Dream World album.
http://mediafunhouse.blogspot.ca/