THE TRUE STORY OF MUFFY ST. JACQUES
LupG, 60m cassette
DMentG, 70m CD-R
early 1998
1.Things Go Down In Birdtown (Absolutely, Leo)
(5:21)
2.Dysfunctional Beat / Sin Is Sin Blood V.6
(7:09)
3.The Third Rupture
(11:23)
4.The Sugar Twins / Abbxcess
(6:44) (cassette only track)
4.Episode 17 of Electric Fuzz
(Kakaphony / Fake Sly Poo Remix)
(16:33) (CD only track)
5.Serenade For Outpatients #4: Post-Surgery Adjustment (8:02)
6.No Disability '97 (Remix)
(5:59)
7.On My Way Out '97 (A Tribute)
(15:12)
a) Untimely End
b) On My Way Out
c) Bad People In The Mill
d) Realistically This
This is, for the first time, the TRUE story of Muffy St. Jacques; unabridged and unedited. With the help of Mr. Bones, we hope that 1998 will last even LONGER than ‘97, and that the parade will once again be of high quality. It’s never been easy, it’s usually been fun, and it’s always been very, very messy.
A Collection of Remixings, Reworkings and Rethinkings
These tracks
were mixed by Muffy St. Bernard in the Abbxcess Bedroom during 1997, facilitated
by equipment donations from Jon Litchfield (distortion pedals, extra 4-track,
cables & flaky Moog). Some of the tracks contain sources recorded
in Studio B (CKMS, 93-94), The Blackhead / Whitehead Bedroom (93-95),
and The Grey Yonder (95-96). Detlef Burghardt played guitar on tracks
3 & 7. Track 4 recorded in Studios B & D of CKMS during
1994, featuring members of Philler.
Special-Special thanks to all at CKMS (especially but not exclusively
Eli, Lisa, Terry & Eva), Jim DeJong (at DDT), Neb, Jared, Sean &
Dave (for early equipment), Jon, Detlef, all at Gen-X, all at Snot Rohmit,
cool people at Club Abstract, and anyone who’s ever helped, critiqued,
listened or inspired (Bronwyn, Angela, Raven, Dennis, Scott, Nounoc, Clint,
Sarah-Jane, Heather M)
Looking back, it was easy to see that
much of what GREENman produced was just a "skirting around"
of issues, instead of a head-on tackle. This release was intended
as the TRUE story of Muffy St. Jacques, without the coyness and daisy-picking
of the previous versions. It was also a way of using unfinished
bits that had never appeared before, and giving credit where credit was
due.
"Things Go Down In Birdtown" (partially a
backwards version of "Hot Comfort, Small Comfort" from Drabbletales)
brings the listener up-to-date about what really has been happening
around Birdtown lately. The tape was originally going to be called
Absolutely Leo, and still bears that subtitle.
"Dysfunctional Beat" is based around samples
recorded during the soundcheck for the Mindsculpture show at The
Volcano; the drummer is a member of The Minitures, I believe.
No, I didn't spell that wrong. "Sin Is Sin Blood V.6"
is a re-recorded version of the original, which appeared on Ernesto
and also during many Mindsculpture performances. Both of
these tracks were part of a longer piece called "Old Stuff,"
which also contained a reworking of Ernesto's "Private Places"
(which appears on Rat From A Dog's Ear, MUTE8) and another "Running
Heads" segment.
"The Third Rupture" is from an early jam with
Detlef Burghardt -- it begins pretty much when Detlef got tired of it
-- and segues into a lot of previously unreleased experiments ("Video
Test Pattern" for instance; see if you can identify the sources,
and if you like it, check out FrankenEightyfour, MUTE3).
"The Sugar Twins/Abbxcess" was an attempt
at combining "The Unsweetend Sugar" (Plain Talk About Dogs)
and the unreleased portions of "Sugar" (Pleasure Pain Fighting
Rose) into a new track, with a tribute to ABBA at the end. It
didn't work very well, so was replaced with a remix of "Episode 17
of Electric Fuzz" on the CD-R version. "Electric Fuzz"
was a crazy moment featuring the members of Philler doing a sort
of "sex rap." If I remember correctly, the line-up was:
Gary Bakic: Vocals, bagpipe chanter
Brad: Vocals, garbling noises
Jeff: Giggling and moral support
Eli: Drum programming, scratching, effects
Me: Revox manipulation, feedback, bad scratching, effects
Only a small portion was broadcast as part of Philler.
This version has been overdubbed further, and bass'd up the wazoo.
It's only 16 minutes long because the tape ran out.
"Serenade For Outpatients #4: Post-Surgery Adjustment"
is an edited version of an attempt at tackling the issue of crossdressing,
and features older unreleased GREENman tracks ("80 Days,"
and "Double Arrow" featuring Detlef Burghardt). This became
part of the 60 minute Transexpose mute, DMentI.
"No Disability (Remix)" first appeared in
a very low-fi form on Plain Talk About Dogs, and this version goes
more into the issues of body image and sexual attraction. It's the
only Jerry Springer sample I could ever bring myself to use. What
a sweet guy he is.
Finally, the tape & CD-R ended with "On My
Way Out '97," a "confused tribute to the dead," first recorded
in 1994 for Detlef's mother but never released because much of it was
out of key. It was reworked into a "throb mix" that was
in key, but not very interesting or emotional. This version is an
extended warping of the original, and is dedicated to Karl Kimmel, a very
brave man.
The whole tape was put together like Frankenstein's
monster using equipment loans from Jon Litchfield (fellow resident at
The Radiator House). This included a few exciting moments with a
Moog which would suddenly dip completely out of tune when you least expected
it. The tape itself came with a booklet, each page of which illustrated
a different track, photocopied by bewildered people at Kinko's and nearly
impossible to read. It did have some panels from the Mindsculpture
comic strip, though.