HaPpY BiRtHdAy, Kerry Zentner! Keep "dreaming like mad"! https://t.co/ZjdfF73wc9 https://t.co/9hJd3kMsYv @KerryWZ pic.twitter.com/B9roS7BCuZ
— Torpor Vigil Records (@torporvigil) January 19, 2016
Tags: Dion McGregor, Kerry Zentner
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Noisey interview about Dreaming Like Mad with Dion McGregor
12 Feb
Dan Wilkinson interviewed me about Dion and the new album. Here it is on Noisey (Music by Vice).
—Steve
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
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.
A Fine Year for the Sounds of Vigilant Torpor!
31 Dec
Thanks to all friends, fans, and supporters of TVR for what has been a fantastic year. Here’s a summary of some of the highlights.
Samuel Andreyev’s Tubular West turned one year old and continued to get prime airplay on shows such as Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone (BBC6). Jazzology’s Jean Daniel called it “Un magnifique album de pop contemporaine”—took the world’s right out of my mouth!
The Tubular West: https://samuelandreyev.bandcamp.com/album/the-tubular-west
A successful Kickstarter campaign drew funds towards the CD release of Dreaming Like Mad with Dion McGregor, and drew the attention of NPR’s All Things Considered and USA Today’s Pop Candy. Kickstarter’s Sam Hockley-Smith interviewed me about the project: http://kickstarter.tumblr.com/post/80276920042/sleeptalking-will-never-not-be-weird-its-the
The audio version of Christian Bök’s deservedly famous Eunoia, recorded by TVR and released by Coach House Books, was uploaded for streaming on the Torpor Vigil Soundcloud site: https://soundcloud.com/torporvigil/sets/eunoia-by-christian-b-k-1
Dreaming Like Mad with Dion McGregor was released on July 20th, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first McGregor album from Decca: https://dionmcgregor.bandcamp.com/album/dreaming-like-mad-with-dion-mcgregor
The TVR remastering of that original 1964 album—The Dream World of Dion McGregor—was subsequently released as a free download: https://dionmcgregor.bandcamp.com/album/the-dream-world-of-dion-mcgregor-he-talks-in-his-sleep-remastered-free
The Torporwear department of Torpor Vigil Industries was revived with the release of new t-shirt and tank top designs featuring art by Kerry Zentner and Richard A. Kirk: http://www.torporvigil.com/012TVR/SectorPages/Store.html
Some of the first signs that Dreaming Like Mad would be well-received came in the form of spirited endorsements by Gotye on Twitter and Facebook:
Enthusiastic reviews from USA Today, The Equal Ground, Media Funhouse, Bang the Bore, and The Sound Projector followed.
With all that’s been happening at the label this year, I didn’t really begin flogging the manuscript of my book about Dion’s dream world until this past month. I’m going about it the old-fashioned way: one publisher at a time. After a brief search for an agent, I decided just to push the work (which will include, depending on the edit, up to 200 new transcripts of Dion’s dreams) all by myself. I suspect its future in print will depend on my finding that particular publisher—out there somewhere—who will get a supreme charge off the subject matter (where most might simply raise an eyebrow and/or scratch a noggin). Meanwhile, those of you wishing to find Mr. McGregor in print will have to dish out for rare copies of the 1964 book from Bernard Geis Associates:
My own copy of the Dream World book (to bring these year-end observations full circle) was a gift received long ago from Samuel Andreyev. When Pippa Lambert and I visited Michael Barr at his modest Hollywood apartment in 2005, I got Mike to sign it. Though he hadn’t spoken or transcribed the words, they would never have been captured without him and his tape recorder.
Mike would have been ecstatic to see all the attention this anniversary year has yielded those recordings he made of his old roommate and songwriting partner Dion McGregor. With those two fine gents in mind, and with much gratitude for all the interest and support lavished on my little label these past twelve months, I wish you all a wonderful 2015!
Tubular Dreams,
Steve Venright
Torpor Vigil Records
Toronto, Canada
USA Today on Dreaming Like Mad
5 Aug
Splendid article on the new Dion McGregor album by Whitney Matheson in her USA Today column Pop Candy.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/popcandy/2014/08/05/dion-mcgregor/13629087/
TVR 