Relics and Mythologies

Some of the exalted objects employed in the service of This Thing,

as well as glimpses of the Deeper Meanings.

technical note: clicking on these photos will lead you nowhere.

The Junk Sculpture Monument

A visual representation of the like titled song. Its parts don't really fit together,and it doesn't really seem to do much. Yet, it was employed in several of the manifestions Monument by Richard Fordham/ Photo by Dave Brooks

The Rack

This was a collection of homemade percussion . At any given time, 1 or 2 people were charged with the task of working the rack. Actually, Rack duty subsumed other things such as taped effects, vocals, movement, and any other instruments that the players could use.

Its construction changed over the years. Originally, we employed wood. Eventually, Ian donated a frame made from electrical conduit. The rack has met a rather tragic circumstance. Parts of it disappeared along with the van in which they were stored. This disappearance occurred in Vancouver, sometime in May of 2000.

The Shining Mystic DüDü Built by Todd de Vries. An Essential Iconic for Faciliting Manifestions and Rituals photo by ?

Flax

The Sacred Horn of False Idols

Designed by Julie Matthews, it provided a focus

for some of our improvisations and invocations.

It consists of a flute with an alto saxophone mouthpiece.

One holds it as one would hold a clarinet.

It featured prominently in the False Idols sessions.

Botticelli's Venus, Adapted

This almost life size adaptation of the famed renaissance work, was used as enhancement in the performance of the song "Dashboard Venus de Milo". Aside from the size, this one differs in that no facial details were included. It was built by Tracy Valcourt, a Nelson based artist who did much of This Thing's Auxiliary Art.

TRIVIAL BIT

#The Cardboard cutout of Botticelli's Venus was completed in one very frantic day. Tracy Valcourt had been approached 1 month before the Capitol Theater show of 95. She committed, but then forgot about it until Fordham saw her the day before the show. Again, she Rose to the Occasion.

Space/Time Manipulation

This was a recurring theme for us. I had been reading a book by Igor Stravisnsky, called The Poetics of Music In the Form of Six Lessons. It was a series of six lectures that he gave at Harvard. He had one chapter on compostion that I had pulled a bit from. I read this at a couple of gigs, while people stared at me blankly. I gave this practice up rather quickly.

Here's the quote:

For the phenomenon of music is nothing more than a phenomenon of speculation....the basis of musical creation is a preliminary feeling out, a will moving first in an abstract realm with the object of giving shape to something concrete. The elements at which this speculation necessarily aims are those of sound and time. Music is inconceivable apart from these two elements.

1947 The President and Fellows of Harvard College

More relics and mythologies to be added in the next few months.

February 15, 2002.rf