all,
the messages i get somehow keep getting better, i really love getting stuff that discusses views on "reality", politics, dreams, art, etc. so casually... i feel like i know most of you, thanks for all the comments about bravo, i didnt really get how much i wave my hands around when im talking, pretty weird... the record is plowing along, we're working on adding some more material, as usual no one can figure out what the "first single" is, this is standard procedure, lots of conflicting stuff about putting out music anyway, pretty obvious that enough money can create a hit record, put out something that fits into current formula or try something different... i think a lot of you are still under the impression that the artist is the one who chooses a "single" and in some cases this may be true, certainly we could insist that whatever record co. go with whatever it was we wanted but then we run the risk of the co. not 'getting behind' it, after all one wants to have the people that are promoting their music enthusiastic about what they are doing... today working with large groups of people is difficult, everyone in the arts is affected by corporate committee decisions and this is one point of conflict... everybody knows that films like TAXI DRIVER and MIDNIGHT COWBOY and THE GRADUATE etc. would be completely different if they were made today, certainly no one is going to put out a record that sounds like THE STOOGES first record or THE VELVETS first or TROUT MASK REPLICA or even THE BEATLES WHITE ALBUM for that matter, there are just kind of unwritten guidelines for the way that music is produced now that doesn’t allow for much experimentation... I don’t know maybe everyone knows all this stuff already... I mean I loved METAL MACHINE MUSIC, I used to play it all the time.... I’m digressing, right , committees, companies after all are composed of individuals and one does want to try and keep them excited about working, so the problem is so if we insist on a song and the head of the international promo dept. thinks another one would be better... you get the idea... also the problem of ‘trends’, what ever style is popular now may not be what your fave song fits into so there are radio programmers and others who are theoretically better informed and can make a better decision about what to release... I ( by the way the spelling checker kicked in here and is capitalizing I, hence the change)
   any way there are just layers and layers of crap that we have to cut through... I always hear people yelling: "but I just want to make art!"
   that’s some of what ive been doing, my wife Barbara wrote and directed a movie that I shot with a Canon XL-1 which is a high end consumer camera, (on a preview from SHOWTIME, the Deniro, Eddie Murphy movie I noticed that they were being filmed by someone holding the same camera for the tv show in the story) ive been shooting video since about 1970 or so when I took what was probably one of the first tv production courses that had a strictly creative slant at the School for Visual Arts in new york, in those days we used the ancient reel to reel sony portapacks which were gigantic and very temperamental... I shot ELEPHANTS MEMORY at the central park bandshell maybe the summer of ’71, that was before they played with John Lennon, did some early cable tv shows etc. ive got about 8-10 hours of stuff of us on tour from the early 80’s, us making AUTOAMERICAN etc. I’m still trying to figure out what to do with that and with all the footage of the "maria" tour period of which there’s a lot,
ideally id like to stick it all together, do a documentary from a more personal inside point of view
so Barbara’s movie is called "DRIVE", is going to be a short, maybe a half hour... its harder for me to be objective about this than about the music, I think its really great but I cant tell how prejudicial my view is... we’re almost done with the first rough version but I also don’t know exactly what’s going to happen with it when its done, try to get it in festivals etc.
she and I were both interested in trying to do something good with low, almost no production expense as well as not having the pressure of producers for a first attempt at film making...
Barbara’s website is MYSTERIOUSMYSTERIES.COM, she’s got more about DRIVE there as well as her comments about life which probably connect with mine in places, on the whole she updates more than I do
We’re planning to be at burning man again this year, if any of you find your way out there I’ll be hanging around with the post office people like last year
I think that’s it for now I hope this isn’t too redundant... thanks again for all the messages some of the weird poetic dream imagery is great happy
Happy Easter and various re-birth celebrations
        chris