mid town new york circa 1967
eddie intrudes on a conversation between dylan and reed with an unlight cigarette.
bob does not move as eddie puts her face to his ears and whispers, ‘light my fire zimmer man.’
he does not blink but offers her his lighter. she holds hands with truman caopte who looks awkward and nervous. phycadelic lights swirl around her white short dress so she looks in flux, colour certainly explodes here.
truman wants to interview reed but reed isn’t talking to anyone tonight except dylan, they are discussing the fundamentals of their art.
does it matter if our art is never even observed? reed says
no, what matters is the expression.
you mean the act.
yeah that’s all it is.
so why play and record
to share the experience of art man.
i don’t think you should even think about it, just do it, eddie says.
yeah but who do you do it for eddie dylan asks
it don’t matter. just have to express it and the rest is just a side effect.
like an illusion.
no like creation.
what about the value of it.
the value is arbitory.
no there’s a quality that matters man, there’s got to be a cure for the mediocrity.
that’s what we are lou says.
truman makes his one on only contribution to the conversation, ‘one day the universe will be sucked into a black hole.’
andy approaches with two transsexuals either side. ‘you’re on lou.’


down town sydney circa 2008
captain mission hangs around a small club waiting for the painkiller.
he sees some old friends, they chat about technology and the amount of cameras in the room.
soon it will be in our biology. imagine being able to zoom in and rewind and all you have to do is close your eyes.
yeah well it’s in the imagination already.
how true.
the support band exit and a curtain is drawn, some interestingly diverse people gather, cameras everywhere, lights begin to swirl and then from behind the curtain some radio phonics (that’s phonics) begins to transmit. the curtain draws and the band begin.
straight into outlander. already things are very different, this is new territory, this is what we look for, this is it. yes. there captain mission stands between to go betweens, there’s a strange area created at the front of the stage, like a sonic force field no one penetrates but all stand transfixed. these people on stage make more than music, they don’t play their instruments, they are the instruments here it is, i get it it’s the cure. a shot in the mind, a kick in the cortex, mediocrity dies here.
it’s no good describing any of this, i can feel my heart beating, thunderous bass notes, watch that man, two strange new players on the stage, one a vampyre with all the romance that goes with it, the other warm and humorous with a glimmer in his eyes and a smile for someone out there, you can see they have the beauty and skills to deliver us safely. and here behind the skins is tim, i’ve always loved the way tim plays, it drives everything, the throbbing engine room, the dylithium crystal. there are beats there that are subtle and pure, there’s an intricate delicacy at work, power in passivity and then when it rocks it rolls and when it rolls it rocks, that’s the way it is. and to give everything texture a sonic scientist plays his dials and knobs, sending out the frequencies, creating a the parameters, space rock is alive and well. i’m picking up a message from beyond, calvert sends his blessings.
and then there’s steve. what can be said about this wonderful enigmatic shaman that has not been said before. he’s the jewel in the skull, the eternal champion. best gig ever, yeah i’m sorry i never got a chance to say ‘hello’ to nk last night, for behind every great man there’s always a great woman, and she was spot on, best gig ever.

cern under the swiss french border 2008:
while the band plays the ambient section of ‘not what you say’ scientists switch on the super collider