Another exceptional Andreyev recording project!
“intense, exotic, disorienting, utopian and extremely complex”
Another exceptional Andreyev recording project!
“intense, exotic, disorienting, utopian and extremely complex”
This 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.
Two days after the Esprit Orchestra’s world premiere of Samuel Andreyev’s Flash of the Instant at Toronto’s Koerner Hall, we have another Andreyev-related occasion to celebrate. Two years ago today, his marvellous, category-defying album The Tubular West came into the world. Torpor Vigil Records lights the birthday cake with pride by striking up “Pluto’s Matches.”
https://samuelandreyev.bandcamp.com/track/plutos-matches
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.)
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.
Dion 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
Ed 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/
Pioneering filmmaker, and friend of Dion McGregor, Peter DeRome passed away earlier this year. Here is David McGillvray’s obituary of the remarkable man (about whom he’d made the documentary Peter DeRome: Grandfather of Gay Porn).
http://blogs.indiewire.com/bent/rip-peter-de-rome-the-grandfather-of-gay-porn-20140626
And here’s his BFI obit:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/peter-de-rome-1924-2014
I love this little article from the company that promises you “a better night’s sleep”!
http://www.urbanmattress.com/blog/sleeptalkingisfunnyandeducational/
Thanks to The Equal Ground’s Ted Rogen for this very positive and thoughtful review.
http://www.theequalground.com/indie-music-album-reviews/dion-mcgregor-dreaming-like-mad-with-dion-mcgregor
Pete Coward wrote about Dion McGregor for Bang the Bore in 2011. His ongoing curiosity about Dion’s somniloquies has yielded another perceptive article for that same adventurous blog. Here’s what he has to say about Dreaming Like Mad.
http://www.bangthebore.org/archives/5734
Yet another splendid review of Dreaming Like Mad! Thanks to Nausika for this insightful piece.
http://www.thesoundprojector.com/2014/10/26/dreaming-like-mad-with-dion-mcgregor/
KFJC 89.7 FM has long been an airwave voice for the somniloquies of Dion McGregor. This fine station has been at it again, featuring Dion’s dream world antics on several of its playlists. Thanks to all the hosts and programmers who’ve broadcast tracks from Dion’s album, including Thurston Hunger, who’s thoughts on Dreaming Like Mad can be found here:
http://spidey.kfjc.org/?p=21451