Samuel Andreyev and ensemble proton bern

Another exceptional Andreyev recording project!

“intense, exotic, disorienting, utopian and extremely complex”

Noisey interview about Dreaming Like Mad with Dion McGregor

Dan Wilkinson interviewed me about Dion and the new album. Here it is on Noisey (Music by Vice).
—Steve

Last Summer

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

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.

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The Tubular West Turns Two!

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 Love Scene — Strange Holiday (1945)

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

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.

Samuel Andreyev on composing and the upcoming premiere of his latest work

Samuel Andreyev Interviewed by Alessandro Porco in Northern Poetry Review (2011)

http://nprarchived.wordpress.com/2014/12/28/interview-samuel-andreyev/

A Fine Year for the Sounds of Vigilant Torpor!

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:

You must check this new compilation of Dion McGregor's sleeptalkings! Some of the funniest things committed to tape http://t.co/fcD6XfJyiU

— gotye (@gotye) July 29, 2014

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:
http://www.amazon.ca/The-Dream-World-Dion-McGregor/dp/B0007ES8BC
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

The Great Mustard Fight

Great Mustard Fight passage from Moss Hart’s autobiography

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

Media Funhouse on the Remastered Dream World Album

Edward Gorey’s original cover of the 1964 Decca LP release

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/

Peter DeRome (1924-2014)

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

Who better to review an album of dreams . . .

I love this little article from the company that promises you “a better night’s sleep”!
http://www.urbanmattress.com/blog/sleeptalkingisfunnyandeducational/

The Equal Ground Says Dreaming Like Mad is “Great Entertainment”

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

“Undiminished alchemy”—Bang the Bore’s Pete Coward Reviews Dreaming Like Mad

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

Digging Further Into a Surreal Oddball Dream Universe: The Sound Projector Reviews Dreaming Like Mad

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’s Thurston Hunger Reviews Dreaming Like Mad

KFJC 89.7 FM

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