BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Prismatic Live at The Art Institute of Philadelphia...

Philadelphia: 1993

"Your childhood, growing up, going to school and pursuing higher education are what make a lasting impression on your life." -Quoted from a Wise Man, 2010

Back in March, 1993 the Art Institute of Philadelphia hosted a student talent showcase open to any and all students who were interested in getting involved. This was a fun night packed with music of different genres, styles and attitudes.

For this show my original intention was to have my brother's band, Veritas, play one song and it would be my name on the entry. Once my brother discussed the situation with the rest of the band, they backed out because they found it unnecessary to lug all of their equipment into the big city just to play one song for a talent show. This prompted me to either withdraw my entry into the show or actually play something in their place.

Well, the organizers of the show notified me that once I submitted an entry I couldn't back out so the show had to go on. I ended up being booked for the big stage since that was where Veritas was set to play.

Prismatic took the show and performed a re-sequenced version of 'Lost (Inside Your Eyes)' being preceded by the song 'Rain' from The Beatles. This is the only known video recording of this performance and it happens to be the first and only live Prismatic performance!

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Forever We Will Live the Night (90's Version)

Forever We Will Live the Night (Circa 1993)


A Return to Roots, Circa 1993...

Returning to my roots in a sense, this is a newer version of 'Forever We Will Live The Night' recorded most likely sometime in 1993. There is not much I can say about this version because I truly do not remember recording this. This could have been around the time of recording the Prismatic demo and it could have also been during the transition between Prismatic and SUB ONE. In any case, I just happened upon this recording while combing through my library of cassettes.

From the Prismatic archives... 'Forever We Will Live The Night (early 90's version)'

CLICK HERE TO PLAY MP3

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Art Institute Class Project; Footstep Paranoia Music Video

Prismatic circa 1993 - Footstep Paranoia (Class Project Video)

Ahh yes, back to the days of the Art Institute and one of my final classes before graduation, Video Broadcasting. There is quite the story to be told about this video and the song 'Footstep Paranoia'.

THE SONG

Previously posted here on the SUB ONE blog along with the lyrics, the context of this song refers to a "DAYMARE" that I had. As I was relaxing one summer afternoon, I started daydreaming and as I began to reflect on my relaxation it all started to go wrong. I was staring at the floor of my bedroom and imagined a dwarf making his way into my house carrying a knife and slashing my throat. The rest of the "DAYMARE" gets a little more graphic as this dwarf gets excited over the sight of my blood and proceeds to rape me even though I'm dead!

Yes... I know... very wrong indeed... you don't need to remind me... however...

This very graphic turn of imaginary events prompted me to write some of the weirdest lyrics I had ever written for a song.

RECORDING

Two takes were recorded when I finally sat down and had the instrumental tracks arranged. The acoustic riff was fed through the ART processor with delay and flange and my vocals were also given treatment by the ART processor. The effect I used was a slap-back/faded delay which is the reason my voice has that crazy-spacey sound to it. During this recording session, I also laid tracks for the song 'Bossa Me Lost Ya'.

VIDEO

During our Video Production Class at the Art Institute of Philadelphia (AIPH for short), we were required to not only come up with our own individual idea for a segment production but at the end of the 12 weeks of class, it would all be pieced together for a variety show that included a studio audience. The variety show that we did was called "Juan's World" which was based on the Wayne's World SNL sketch and movie but with a Cuban/Latino theme to it.

Recalling the segment production, for preparation, all I had required was a blue board (which I ended up doing the painting on my own time) and the AIPH video production studio. Each individual segment was assigned to each student in the class and they were responsible for assigning team members as well as job assignments to each member.

Tyrone Mitchell, who was known to most as Mitch or Mitch Mitchell (after the Experience drummer) was given the assignment of line producer. His job was to be a liason between the action going on in the studio and translate that to those working in the control room.

As Mitch and I sat down to discuss how the video was going to be choreographed, he was given a lyric sheet and he was jotting down notes as I told him what I wanted to accomplish. Upon reading each line, he would tell me what he was going to direct to the control room and they would in turn direct the camera operators. Mitch reads the line "He raped me with circus toys" and flat out loses it! He could not keep a straight face after that and it transpired into the whole class getting word of what my song was about. In turn no one could keep a straight face - not even our Instructor, Pat McGrath.

Pat was one of my favorite Instructors from the school. He had a cool, level head and he was very professional when it came to video production. He wasn't one to fall out of his professionalism while he was teaching but the day I produced this video, he could not keep his composure. I remember his reaction to my project being very positive and he was constantly complimenting me on my efforts. Pat, if you're reading this, you should hit me up on Facebook.

PRODUCTION

So during the actual production and taping of this video, I decided I wanted to have a video overlay from what was going on in the studio and play another video of some previously shot material that was chroma-keyed as a background. Well, watching this video during class caused some classmates to lose it once again. In all seriousness, the background video could have supplemented the 'Footstep Paranoia' song rather sufficiently. Yet my idea to have two classmates with the longest head of hair on either side while I was doing my thing was a benefit in the end. Those two classmates names were Vince Mount and Jose Nieves. Side Note: It's later I realized it would have been so much better to have some hot stripper babes on each side of me, but I had to make due.

In the end, this was a fun project and you notice it from watching the video. I could not keep a straight face while I was doing this. Each time you see me bending over and flopping my long hair to the ground, I'm actually trying to disguse that I'm laughing so hard. Several things were making me laugh. Vince and Jose kept making faces at me, I would watch in the control room as the video crew were watching what was being fed as the background video. The short Kaboom! segment would play and everyone would laugh and Mitch was cracking a big smile yet I had to pay attention to anything he had to signal to me. Watching Pat try to keep a straight face through it all and seeing people out in the hall and looking towards the studio with a perplexed look on their face was not helping to keep matters serious in any way. All in all, the whole class had fun doing this. I'm glad I could make it fun yet productive.

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Footstep Paranoia

Footstep Paranoia (Original)


"Footstep paranoia, a man who could fit through a pipe..."

The best way to describe this song, Footstep Paranoia, would be to show the lyrics. WARNING: Viewer Discretion is advised...

He slit my throat when I saw him there
I knew he was part of my fears
I envisioned him in a green hobble suit
As if a trip was for years

Flashback magic hit me again
I envisioned him two feet tall
Crawling from an empty room across the way
He threw me into the wall

It brought out my nightmares of youth
It made me very scared
With this dwarf morphing inside my mind
It turned me very weird

Ahhh, Footstep Paranoia
A man who could fit through a pipe
Crawling through a window without a sound
Bringing on a sudden fright

Ahhh, All in a two second vision quest
It's as if it was more than real
There he was running into my room
I don't think that I could deal

I don't think that I could deal
I don't think that I could deal

He fondled me tearing my genitals
He raped me with circus toys
My deepest thoughts were of his feelings
Of anger, fear and joy

Of anger, fear and joy

I don't think that I could deal

Now some of you may be asking... Mr. Prismatic, what is wrong with your brain? Or you might be asking... Ummm, did you eat paint chips when you were a kid? Or maybe you just want to know what kind of drugs I'm doing and if I have any more? ...well...

This song was revamped as a SUB ONE track for the CD release, IYUS AAS MEMSMIS but originally appeared on the Prismatic release.

From the Prismatic / SUB ONE archive... 'Footstep Paranoia'

CLICK HERE TO PLAY MP3

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Crawl (You and Me)

Crawl (You and Me)


"Lightning strikes the rain must fall, ripples form upon the ground..."

My musical tastes were changing, my creative landscape was changing, times were changing and so my songwriting was changing.

'Crawl (You and Me)' is an upbeat, eclectic tune with a very distinct disco rhythm. I belt out the phrase "TALK ABOUT SOMEONE WHO ANALYZED" at the beginning of the song. The story behind this phrase comes from a conversation I had with a friend (who shall remain nameless) where I was discussing a class I had at school. In this class, our professor was discussing certain songs track by track and what type of effects were being used, how the audio field was processed through panning each track in the mix, so on and so forth. Upon explaining this to my friend, he says "**tsk** Gee!! Talk about someone who analyzes WAY too much!" So I figured on taking that much of the conversation and running with it.

This was another song written for the Prismatic cassette and was also re-recorded later as 'Face' as the B-side for the SUB ONE - Inner Nine single release.

From the Prismatic archives... 'Crawl (You and Me)'

CLICK HERE TO PLAY MP3

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Bossa Me Lost Ya

Bossa Me Lost Ya


"When the music starts, when the lights go down..."

Let's just say I had one too many during this particular recording. There's a first for everything. In any normal situation when I'm recording a song I won't engage in any type of illicit activities. However, if my memory serves me correctly I decided to record after a visit from the Veritas boys. During the winter months of 1993, Veritas was using my apartment as a practice spot and they had left their equipment with me on several occassions which gave me free reign to do what I wanted. The bass player at the time, Matt Skirpan left me with an ART effects processor that I put to good use. Most of the vocal material that was recorded for Prismatic was mixed using this processor.

During one practice, I drank myself stupid and after the band left for Allentown I was left to my own devices and a case of beer. I really didn't have anywhere to go so I decided to record a few songs that I had been working on. One was 'Footstep Paranoia' and the other was 'Bossa Me Lost Ya'.

The context of this song is very confusing. At one moment it's as if you're listening to Wayne Newton meets Ween with lyrics courtesy of Barry White. The next moment, you hear a very haphazard acoustic guitar solo as I am whispering "I like the sound of the acoustic guitar." The song reaches it's climax as the words "Baby, Baby, Baby" are uttered very enthusiastically and repeatedly. This ends up morphing into a repetitious chanting of the name "Dannay BON-AH-DOO-CHAY"!! Yet we are left muttering "Baby, Baby, maybe" once again as the song ends in a flutter of squeaks, and coughs and belches!

THE END... HA HA!

So without further a-doo... 'Bossa Me Lost Ya' from the Prismatic archive.

CLICK HERE TO PLAY MP3

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Prismatic (You Feel Space)

Prismatic (You Feel Space)


"With a fire in your head, you feel space, with that look in your eye, you feel space..."

'Prismatic (You Feel Space)' takes the record in the SUB ONE/Prismatic archives as the recording with the most takes. After digging through my library I found 4 different cassettes with different instrumental takes, vocal takes, vocal overdubs and even an acoustic guitar overdub version.

Even though a lot of work was put into making this song happen, it still remains "unfinished and dissatisfied" to this day. The version I have included on the SUB ONE blog is the best mix I could find out of the batch and it still has a lot to be desired (at least in my opinion). The instrumental track is overcompressed due to the rather inferior equipment used in the recording process. Other reasons for my dissatisfaction would include the overpowered mix in the vocals and there is also a small reference to a Pete Shelley song, "Homosapien" that I find rather weak and mundane. Listen for that and my cheesy laugh towards the end of the keyboard/guitar solo.

However, I did feel that this song was adequate enough to include on the Prismatic cassette release. One thing that I find interesting after listening to this song so many years later is the be-bop/avante-garde jazz element within the instrumentation. So there is a silver lining of sorts to this song.

Here it is, from the Prismatic archive... 'Prismatic (You Feel Space)' by Prismatic

CLICK HERE TO PLAY MP3