RC06 - Deceit (Archive)
The ins and outs, the ups and downs, the good and bad of deceit: that was what Neighborhood Public Radio was all about in April.
“Pranks, lies and conspiracies, corporate malfeasance, government collusion, interpersonal dishonesties, religious institutions,” said Ben Furstenberg at the outset of the day, it’s all deceit. Furstenberg curated this month’s broadcast at Southern Exposure.
Music, lies, talk about lies, talk about honesty…it’s all laid out below for your listening pleasure from the pranksters on the mic on April 14th 2007.
“Respectable Citizen” opened the day with their brand of experimental electronic music. Bruce Bennett, Byron Deal and Michael Zbyszynski filled the gallery and the airwaves with swirling sounds and monk-like chanting.
After their half-hour was up the band members hung out all afternoon as the house band (and sometimes as their alter ego, Dispicable Alien) providing background music and inter-show entertainment.
Respectable Citizen (mp3)
They were followed by local author Liz Hille who read a story called “In Madrid at Kiko’s” which she introduced as being loosely about the self-deception of the narrator.
Liz Hille’s story(mp3)
Dr Brian Kennedy then alerted us to the environmental hazards posed by dihydrogen monoxide, a lethal but natural gas whose problematic effects need to be widely publicized. Unfortunately Dr Kennedy’s important words were cut short by technical issues so our archives move along to art-agent-of-international-renown and representative-of-world-class-artistes, Helen Scarsdale, who talked about her career in the world of art darlink and at the agency .
Are they for real? (mp3)
Signmaker Courtney Sexton followed with a discussion of deceit in public signage. You know that street sign you misread? You are not alone. It’s quite possibly a campaign of public misinformation. But what can’t be questioned is the changing of ‘Fell Street’ signs to ‘Hella Street’, Ron English and the San Francisco Billboard Liberation Front and Courtney’s very own ‘Cocksucker Video’.
Lying signs(mp3)
The next show was Frank Prattle with Zefrey and guests Per Schumann and Malte Zacharias from German collective, Entwurf-Direkt, whose show ‘Metagymnastics’ was recently at the Luggage Store Annex here in San Francisco. It’s all about herbs and plants and the secret relationship between them and us, human beings, innit.
Entwurf-Direkt (mp3)
“Scaramanga walked to the door and turned his lights on”….It’s 007 baby as read by Clinton Orman. He read from the chapter entitled “Ballcock, and Other, Trouble”, from “The Man with the Golden Gun”. This is the story in which Bond pretends to be someone else, a ‘Mark Hazard’ who gets a job as a temporary assistant to the baddie, Scaramanga.
“If it turns out that you’re not who you say you are….”
Clinton reads 007(mp3)
Amanda Eicher from the Anti-Advertising Agency took to the air next to talk about the ubiquity of advertising in our lives and its insidious effect on our thinking. Luckily the Agency is on hand to remind us of its influence and play with it through fake product labels and other projects.
The Anti-Advertising Agency(mp3)
Ulrika Anderson then talked to Ben about a personal experience that highlights that honesty is not always the best policy. A little kind-hearted deception can be a good thing but Ulrika got put off by the hugeness of the white lie she would have had to have told to keep a dear friendship going.
Ulrika is too honest(mp3)
Moving from personal relationships to personal faiths, writer and scholar Erik Davis took to the microphone to talk about the use of deceit in belief, though first off he stopped to talk in high terms of Mission Pie’s pie. Religion and deceit have overlapped throughout the ages, and in ways considered acceptable during their day, he says. His words were followed by some music from Respectable Citizen.
Erik “gnosis” Davies(mp3)
We went from talk to music after that with SL Morse doing a morse code adaptation of Nigerian spam…You know, where someone related to people in high places emails you, YOU, to ask for help, specifically in the form of large amounts of cash. In this case SL Morse introduces Mrs. Miriam Abacha, widow of the late General Abacha and “her greatest hits”.
SL Morse do Nigerian spam(mp3)
SL Morse then read its own spam email (which sounds so much more beautiful than it might when in a spam folder) before being interviewed by the compere Ben about the logistics of playing morse code.
SL Morse talk(mp3)
And finally, Respectable Citizen/Despicable Alien and SL Morse came together in an unplanned way to make music in the gallery, taking the final minutes of the broadcast on an unpredictable journey through sound.
SL Morse/Respectable Citizen Mash Up(mp3)