Jocks
Now available!
35 years in the making!
Full length CD and 60 page illustrated book!
Get your copy today
Listen: mp3 selections

What it is

Back in 1971 my brother Mark and I recorded ourselves talking as we watched an American football game on TV. At the time, this was part of a writing project that was an effort to capture the whole of a scene, a perspective from all points simultaneously in which no sensory input is filtered out, much the way a tape recorder picks up all sounds indiscriminately.

Several iterations of Jocks were completed in the two decades following the initial recording session. Finally, an exploratory work composed in 1996, Jump and Dance, convinced me that the original medium, recorded sound, is the best way to work with this material.

Jocks: The music

Jocks (entire work) 2004 - 2006

Broadcast: art@radio, WMBC, Baltimore, February 28, 2007

 

The Pregame Show: Five Is Going to Do It 2004 6:00

Getting it all set up to go.

Mp3. Archived at Sonus.ca

Performance: International Computer Music Conference, Universitat Pompeu
     Fabra, Barcelona, September, 2005

Broadcast: Kalvos & Damian's New Music Bazaar. 2005, the 500th show

 

Kickoff: Adverse Conditions 1:00

Revving up for the game. Last chance to run out and get your chips.

 

First Quarter: They're All a Bunch of Jocks 2005 10:00

mp3: Stream, Download: 0:58

Broadcast: Martian Gardens, WMUA, University of Massachusetts, Amherst,
     MA. 2006

They are, you know. Really.

 

Commercial Break: Shoo Fly 2005 1:00

mp3: Stream, Download: 1:00

Performance: SoundLab Edition III, ConcertHall at le Musee di-visioniste
     and NewMediaArtProjectNetwork, Cologne, October, 2005

The apartment I lived in when we recorded Jocks looked out upon a small concrete courtyard shared by the Commonwealth Club. If you have to ask what this was, they wouldn't have let you in. Let's just say that at the time, the governor of the state was always welcome. My apartment got the flies attracted by the empty liquor bottles in the Commonwealth Club's garbage cans.

 

Second Quarter: The Third Team 2005 6:00

David: See, like there's three teams. This is the thing that most people don't know
     about football.

Mark: I know, I've noticed the third team; I know about the third team.

 

Commercial Break: Pro Rata Guarantee 2005 3:00

David: That's Latin for "before rotting".

 

Half Time Intermission: T. Watkins 2005 8:00

Mp3. Archived at Sonus.ca

Performance: Internaltional Computer Music Conference, Copenhagen,
     August, 2007

An exploration of the extent of silliness possible under the circumstances. Learn all about "Old T."

 

Commercial Break: There's That Fly Again 2005 2:00

mp3: Stream, Download: 2:00

Performance: SoundLab Edition III, ConcertHall at le Musee di-visioniste
     and NewMediaArtProjectNetwork, Cologne, October, 2005

There were always more flies than we could kill.
 

Third Quarter: Flags and Whistles 2005 12:00

The true history and nature of American football revealed at last.

 

Commercial Break: They're Having an Ambush Here 2005 3:00

It seemed like every time we changed the channel there was a western.

Mark: That's Barbara Stanwyck, isn't it?

David: I don't know.

Mark: Sure it was.

 

Fourth Quarter: Time Is a Factor 2006 6:00

Mp3. Archived at Sonus.ca

Announcer: The clock is running. Three seconds, two seconds, one second and the game is over.

 

Post Game Show: The Fourth Person 2006 6:00

In which It is All Explained.

 

Post Game Analysis: Jump and Dance 1996 3:57

Recording: LARVA2: Propaganda

Broadcast: Works from the Fringes of Sonic Expression, WMBC, Baltimore, MD,
     1999; FOLDOVER, WOBC, Oberlin, OH. 2006

This piece was created using a random process to extract numerous tiny slices from about 60 seconds of the tapes. These slices were layered with more deliberately chosen chunks.

Jocks: The Book

For those who wish to penetrate deeper into the foggy intellibility of Jocks the 60 page book contains the "lyrics" and is illustrated with images extracted from the 1972 drawn version.

Dedication

Jocks is dedicated to my brother, Mark, for his willingness to participate in the original recording session and for his patience, forbearance, and love during my 35 year obsession with this material.