first space opera tale 20 years on...

With text and image sampled extensively for 2016's Spurious Purple, "tale from wellerverse" 'Ultimate Legend' was first published as little press pamphlet in March 1997 by Bob Cobbing's New River Project and reprinted by him in May to meet demand for Mike Weller's small press comics in the 90's. But as further numbered issues of Space Opera were printed, sales and interest from comics readers gradually dropped off. As fiction incrementally became metafiction in later Space Opera stories, Mike Weller the comics artist was represented as fictional by equally fictional writer-in-residence character MJ.

MJ: written as vain upstart, snobbish, right-wing suburban confidence-man with sociopathic tendencies experiencing delusions of omnipresence bordering on the psychotic. Weller's contemporary novelist alterity abhors comics and any pretention cheap cartoon picture books could ever be graphic literature or poetry.

Self-published by Visual Associations, eleven more tales were continued by Weller as a "comic book series". Finishing in the last month of the 20th century, one dozen completed partworks were produced as limited edition paperback book September 2000.

A completed artist's book designated to Mike Weller—Mike Weller's Space Opera was published using little press internet promotion pioneered by Bill Griffith's listings (up until July 2016 Lollipop was maintained by Peter Manson). Supposedly the fourth part of writer MJ's "Doomed Boy" tetralogy (misspelled "tetraology" continually by a Mike Weller alterity). In Space Opera, MJ's graphic novelist character Nick Muir creates deadbeat failure Mick/Mike Weller as cartoon subcharacter—ultimate opposite of MJ. Mick Weller, a fourth alterity, a no-confidence man paranoid conspiracy theorist as ridiculous as character MJ and his make-believe literary grandeur.

Nick Muir is created by Weller as graphic novelist cipher—a composite caricature of success the form gained in popular culture beginning late 20c.

And the colour of the card Mike Weller chooses to cover his perfect bound "space opera". Glorious purple—pre-spurious hue.

note: a shorter version of this post is testing @HomeBaked's digital blog http://www.homebakedbooks.uk/myspace-opera

 

oad

Nicolas Spicer's broadside TL;DR freely distributed on public exhibition

Spurious Purple: 72 serial e-shots from 2016

Free-to-view HomeBaked pdf's here; Kindle Edition here and Amazon print-on-demand paperback here

 

Three Piece Bathing Suit

Lucy Harvest Clarke photographed this spellbinding cover to MJ's first Blart Book.

http://blartmagazine.jimdo.com/blart-books/2016/

minimus post coda (fifth adjunct)

http://egnep.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/minimus-post-ode-poem-four-adjuncts.html

full audio potential

Veer to Conservatoire
to Huddersfield Contemporary Records

'The Mistress'

At the end of last year the present writer made an attempt to compare twentieth-century methods of mechanical reproduction with the twenty-first through work of itinerant rhizomath NdA.

Natalie d'Arbeloff has succeeded to illuminate art's publishing revolution in a way Mick's postcapitalist explanation failed to do, by transforming Knowledge Publications' mid-60's bookfolio project 'The Masters' ("The world's most complete gallery of painting") into a retrospective exhibition of (her)story in paint using an online photo book.

How and why Natalie succeeded in doing what 'The Masters' were unable to do fifty years ago, because of limited technology and old-fashioned social attitudes, is provided by rhizomistress at Blaugustine's Other Blog.

minimus post ode update 2016

http://egnep.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/minimus-post-ode-poem-four-adjuncts.html

Metrobolist5

casual reading 13

PoetryWomble

NdA's old cobbings

Natalie d'Arbeloff has been presenting some "old sketches" on her blogs recently -- including these two pics of Bob Cobbing from the early 80s.

Blog(s) plural because Natalie has a genetic cartoon twin, Augustine. The present writer first met Natalie/Augustine at the beginning of the 21st century, introduced through the medium of what seemed a novelty in 2000 -- electronic mail. Both Natalie and Jennifer Cobbing had been sitting with young Apple fanboys in Mac-user groups throughout the late 90s. By the early noughties d'Arbeloff had introduced cartoon character Augustine to her digital world of online galleries and www blogosphere as avatar Blaugustine. Natalie's Blaugustine here is mirrored by Blaugustine's Other Blog here

Augustine's light however is still largely unseen by the neomodern art world because Natalie has lots of other bulbs flashing in multiple microspaces. The oh-so-marvellously-trending neoliberal arts establishment have difficulty with something they can't sell if it doesn't have a publicist's ready-made leftfield value on it: or useful and profitable baits in the hidden abode of promotions and sponsorships behind advertisers' pay walls and issuu-looking information freesheets. So not having brand value, Augustine doesn't appear to have exchange or consumer use value either. If this sounds like screwed-up marxist economics Metro, Stylist, ShortList, NME, Time Out freesheets etc., better illustrate developments. Titles with exchange, and therefore use value to capitalism in the 20th century; for example NME and London's Time Out when western youth culture was at its commercial height in the UK. Or another example; the London Evening Standard had one of the world's best syndicated cartoon-strips in The Far Side along with homegrown Bristow and Modesty Blaise -- all worth paying for. But NdA's codes, like theirs, now seem lost in an old pre-world mixed with a post-new-other.

Natalie d'Arbeloff is a social media-savvy artist, feminist, humorist, vocalist, teacher, corporate media competition lay entrant, writer, cartoonist-illustrator, theorist (her Designing with Natural Forms influenced Eric Mottram's Towards Design in Poetry referenced by Adrian Clarke in his introduction to Jennifer Pike Cobbing's Scrunch) and being these things at the same time in London, New York, Paris: and an arts centre masquerading as a Norwegian church in Cardiff -- an itinerant rhizomath.   
 

#trending #pending #ending

On September 20 2013 the present writer deactivated EGNEP's Twitter account (presumed deleted thirty days later) documented in this two year old blogspot. The author's 'inconsquential information' at the time linked Twitter "follow me on Twitter" Updates (column right) to an error page "Sorry, that page doesn't exist".

This inspired a free-to-view Home'Baked PDF and a kindle edition. Two years later Twitter Updates (opposite) link to an "Account suspended" page inspiring second kindle edition Sorry, that page doesn't exist.

 

Michael Finnissy's Beat Generation Ballads 2

-- short trailer for longer docu-track on youtube -- see "Veer to Conservatoire and beyond" 

                                  

home'baked books blarting in mahu

The present writer is delighted SJ Fowler invited Michael John Weller's Home'Baked Books to celebrate its tenth birthday in Mahu at London's Hardy Tree gallery.

The Enemies Project dedicated online page for June 7 vent here.

STANZA PRAMENAIDE...

dandy

Veer to Conservatoire and beyond

It's five years since MJ Weller's docu-track Beat generation Ballads was first published by Veer Books. Partly inspired by modernist composer Michael Finnissy, the publication rekindled a dialogue between poet and composer for the first time in 45 years. A sort of beat generation ballad bonus track in itself.

Page from M J Weller's Songs Our Teachers Learn Us (free-to-view beat generation ballads e-supplement, 2015) --

Publication of author’s Beat generation Ballads prompted new email correspondence with old secondary school friend, teacher, modern composer and beat ballads' muse, Michael Finnissy. 

                                                                                  

Weller: The email you sent appeared as symmetrical 'word' score. Couldn't resist making page design unit with content and posting back.

Finnissy: […] you appeared to send me my message back asking if it was a musical score (which it wasn't intended to be), or did I misread

In 2013 Finnissy composed a large-scale work for piano entitled Beat Generation Ballads.The work has been described by its premier pianist-performer Philip Thomas on his website as an extraordinary 50-minute work, taking in Bill Evans, Allen Ginsberg, Bach, Beethoven, Irish protest songs, Webern and music by a 16-year old Michael Finnissy.

(note: post update May 29 2015)
The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2014 premiere recording of Finnissy's composition was aired on BBC R3's Hear and Now in April (after this post first appeared). Inspired by an interview with Finnissy featured in the broadcast Weller has made second e-supplement/complement to original Veer Book.

It takes the form of an animated docu-track. Sound recorded from a computer and squeezed onto a YouTube video -- Philip Thomas's beautiful playing ends up atrociously compressed. Until a recording company is able to release Beat Generation Ballads in high resolution Michael Finnissy's recorded five-part composition will fall short of full audio potential.


A parody of original Finnissy/Weller beat generation ballads coming to YouTube soon.

 

Stinkies go south

https://www.facebook.com/events/831673243570998/

dumblr and dumblr

Slashed "O" in Space Øpera  
http://space0pera.tumblr.com/

Beowulf (no colon) Cartoon

It's ten years since Beowulf Cartoon was published by Writers Forum & Visual Associations. Dedicated to the memory of Bob Cobbing 1920-2002 (who couldn't resist a good birthday) and Bill Griffiths 1948-2007 (friendly ghost stalking UK's contemporary poetry scene).