Two new Communion label releases in two months. You're sitting down, right?
On Tuesday, November 16th, we released the latest TOWER RECORDINGS recording, entitled The Galaxies' Incredible Sensual Transmission Field of The Tower Recordings. You can listen to MP3 excerpts and/or buy it at Midheaven and/or download AAC files (for a fee) at the iTunes Music Store.
10/2/04:
Well, it's been quite some time since we last had a little sit-down, hasn't it?
Let's catch up sometime. In the interim, you should know that the Communion label will be releasing a solo CD from INCREDIBLE STRING BAND founder CLIVE PALMER on October 11th, 2004. More details can be gleaned here.
Many, many Communion label releases are now available for download at the iTunes Music Store. Direct links will soon be posted on our catalog page. In the meantime, please feel free to browse the Midheaven/Revolver USA downloadables index.
Oh, and regarding the most "recent" entry below-- all things Dump-reissue-related are still up in the air at this point. We'll let you know.
9/23/02:
Ignore that part below about the DUMP reissues coming out in February 2003, okay? They're delayed until further notice (but will appear eventually...so RELAX). In the meantime, you can always enjoy James McNew's latest and greatest foray into the recorded arts, A Grown Ass Man. It's on Shrimper, which is [almost] as good as it being on the Communion label. Right?
9/23/02:
Two big pieces of news: followers of the work of MIA DOI TODD are by now obviously aware of her new album, The Golden State, on Columbia Records. Mia's website has been updated and revised to give you all the latest news, including tour dates, lyrics and audio excerpts, along with other surprises.
The Communion label's series of DUMP reissues has again been pushed back, this time most likely until sometime around February 2003.
2/1/01:
Ben Kunin's Acoustic Adventures CD was released the week of January 28th, 2002.
Ben patiently mentors students of sarod and Hindustani music theory 20 miles north of San Francisco in San Rafael, at the school founded by one of the greatest musicians of the 20th Century, sarodist Ali Akbar Khan. In addition to being a master student of Hindustani music theory and sarod-playing, Kunin is also an incredible classical guitarist who can stand the hairs on your arms and neck on end and slip time out of its more linear patterns. With an acoustic nylon-stringed guitar, he can blow you away with some of the most inspired guitar-playing since John Fahey, Terry Riley or the Sun City Girls. Anyone who has felt the joy in the playing of Fahey, Robbie Basho or other noted folkische fingerpickers will need to rush to their CD player and pop this jewel in.
The nine tracks on Acoustic Adventures beautifully demonstrate the disciplines one learns in both Indian and Western classical theory, while also displaying the transcendant freedom that all great musicians channel in their own unique ways. The music is closest to the Takoma-era players, but with its own special approach to the "great tradition." Ben Kunin's debut CD is simply a beautiful collection of classical-folk guitar sure to please anyone who will listen. Acoustic Adventures is another classic Communion label release bridging East and West...and heaven and Earth.
You can buy Ben Kunin's Acoustic Adventures CD at Midheaven Mailorder.
11/15/01:
The Communion Label is pleased to present another special chapter from the ever-changing ensemble known as The Tower Recordings. Folk Scene was released the week of November 5th, 2001. Those interested in purchasing the CD should visit Midheaven mailorder, our official direct-to-you music outlet.
10/11/01:
The Label That Never Should - Communion, of course - continues to plan on
reissuing three Dump CDs originally issued by Brinkman. James McNew is
currently annexing all three with extra tracks, along with new cover art
for the first of the trilogy, Superpowerless. Expect release in April 2002.
Want to know the intimate behind-the-scenes gossip and scandalous
goings-on regarding your favorite Communion label artists, as well as
dirt on other Revolver USA-associated talent? Me too. But we'll both
have to settle for whatever tidbits of predigested pabulum that are
sporadically spat out by the Revolver USA
Ministry of Trooth.
Speaking of Midheaven-- the technological prodigies over thataways
with the "M|C" logo propeller beanies have activated a Downloadables browsing device that
calls up each and every item within Midheaven's domain that contains
MP3, RealAudio and/or RealVideo files. That means LOTS of artists on
the Communion label can now be browsed for downloadable content. Have
at it, chief.
7/18/01:
A major development sure to interest BARBARA MANNING fans:
her website is back up at www.barbaramanning.com.
MIA DOI TODD just concluded an exhausting but rewarding two
week tour with NYC's the Clogs. Her show in San Francisco was
characteristically wonderful and entranced a devotedly attentive Cafe
du Nord crowd. Mia has also registered www.miadoitodd.com, where she graciously
links to these pages. Come to think of it, we're reminded that we
urgently need to update Mia's
Communion webpages!
4/17/01:
We are now shipping THINKING FELLERS UNION LOCAL 282's Bob
Dinners and Larry Noodles Present Tubby Turdner's Celebrity
Avanlance CD and LP. Be sure to visit the newest addition to
the Midheaven propagand-o-pus: The
Tubby Turdner Self-Reverential Kiosk, where you can order
this boffo item, see exclusive photos, and generally crib, cram
and grok what the band's been up to since 1996's I Hope It
lands.
3/30/01:
Mia Doi Todd's new CD, Zeroone (on her very own City Zen
label) is now available, and Midheaven is filling orders for it.
THINKING FELLERS UNION
LOCAL 282 Bob Dinners and Larry Noodles present Tubby Turdner's
Celebrity Avalanche album-- shipped to stores on Monday,
April 16th. Those of you who hate record stores (weirdos!) can order it at Midheaven, Revolver's
mailorder alter ego (and co-domaineer of this site).
And because you've all been very, very good internet visitors and
deserve something free and wonderful, here's a nice little
downloadable pat on the head for y'all:
Download a free MP3 from the new TFUL282 CD:
You In A Movie
Streaming MP3 (high-bandwidth connections only):
You In A Movie
30-second RealAudio excerpts from THINKING FELLERS UNION LOCAL
282's upcoming album:
Anot
her Clip
Sno
Cone
You
Will Be Eliminated
Holy
Ghost
Ever
ything's Impossible
Birt
h of a Rock Song
You
in a Movie
Boob
Feeler
In
the Stars
El
Cerrito
'91
Dodge Van
Remi
ndor
The
Barker
He
Keeps Himself Fed
12/7/00:
TFUL282 camp followers will also be extra-special mega-jazzed to be
visiting the band's
official webpage, where there's a discography, news, tour
history and a scandalously revealing Diary page that still has
everyone around here talking. More than usual, that is.
10/6/00:
Free MP3 tracks have been added to the ALLES WIE GROSS and VILLAGE OF SAVOONGA artist pages.
8/21/00
As frequent visitors may have already divined from the "artists'
pages" links above, we've added sections for the latest releases on
the Communion label: VILLAGE OF
SAVOONGA's self-titled CD and the latest from ALLES WIE GROSS,
Vertonung.
We are also proud to announce that IDYLL SWORDS' second
release [enigmatically christened Idyll Swords II] is
scheduled for release on the Communion label the week of October 30th.
4/18/00:
The rumors about why the next full-length album by the Communion
label recording
artists Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 is taking so damn
long to make it
the racks of your store, none of them worth repeating, have evolved with
the tenacity of mutant strains of flesh-eating bacteria. Bizarre,
completely implausibe rumors. Idiotic rumors. Stuff that makes KFC's
genetically engineered chicken-flavored pods, or the one about the lady who
died from having sex with a lobster tail, seem eye-twitchingly mundane. But
before we get all high and mighty about the internet, we should take a
moment to thank the horrible monstrosity; for without the internet, we
would not have been able to hack into the band's email accounts. Everyone
knows them as the Bay Area's favorite bi-coastal doinkodelic quintet, but
we now have proof that Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 is in fact the
world's most bureaucratic band on Earth. As far as we can tell, it took no
less than six months and approximately 20,000 words just to hammer out-- get
this-- the title of the record. For your edification and cheap thrills, let's
look at highlights of the band's personal e-correspondence about it.
Hugh Swarts started things off by writing,
"You know, we could push it in
the long-ass title department. Something like: Bob Dinners and Larry
Noodles Present: The Tubby Turdner Celebrity Avalanche, Featuring The
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. Or we could get really carried
away: Bob
Dinners and Larry Noodles Present: The Tubby Turdner Celebrity Avalanche,
Featuring The Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 Playing Selections From
Their Magnum Opus, 'Sunset On Hair Mountain'.
'Sunset On Hair Mountain' is off the top of my head and arbitrary; it
could be selections from some other magnum opus. The main idea, aside from
pushing things way too far with the long-assishness of title, is to imply
with ...Selections From... that there's actually more that people aren't
getting.
Most importantly, however, is this: if you mention Bob Dinners, you have
to mention Larry Noodles. There's no getting around it. They're a
universal, eternal dyad, like yin and yang: complementary and inseparable.
I'm not trying to be autocratic or didactic by saying 'have to', because
it's not up to me. It's just the way it is. I don't decide these things.
"A sense of urgency may be in order if we're to be the first to reveal the
Bob and Larry Togetherness Thingie, though. My sources in the physics
community inform me that some of their colleagues have recently
hypothesized what they rather coldly refer to as 'The Dinners/Noodles
Inseparability Principle', and will be publishing their findings shortly.
This is a golden opportunity for us to scoop those lousy physicists for
once, instead of the other way around."
Of course, if wouldn't be a Thinking Fellers Union discussion without a
dissenting opinion. Mark Davies replied,
"Hugh, your
analysis is coming
from a purely scientific perspective, and as such falls prey to the usual
fate of such analyses, which is to leave out crucial elements that don't
fit neatly into the scientific paradigm. If you examine this from a more
theological standpoint, certain things become clear. Namely, how can Bob
and Larry have a 'duality' which leaves out Tubby? That's like talking
about the Son and the Holy Ghost without mentioning the Father!
"While scientists scramble to be the first to propose the Dinners/Noodles
Inseparability Principle, theologians will knowingly chuckle and remind us
of a concept that's been around since time immemorial: the Holy Trinity."
As with all Byzantine monoliths, each and every point requires rebuttal,
clarification and restatement. Hugh therefore responded,
"No, no, no... I'm
most definitely not looking at this from a scientific standpoint. It's the
lousy physicists who are trying to do that. Nor am I looking at it from a
dualistic standpoint, as dualism implies mutually exclusive, opposing
agencies or choices: light versus dark, good versus evil, God versus Satan,
Heaven or Hell, Bob Dinners versus Larry Noodles, etc. I'm looking at the
Bob and Larry Togetherness Thingie from an eastern, metapahysical
standpoint. Like yin and yang (which I mentioned), they are interconnected
and inseparable; complements of one another, not opposites. In fact, the
yin and yang symbol serves as a good visual representation of their
relationship: Bob Dinners is one of the comma-shaped halves, and Larry
Noodles is the other, fitting together like pieces of a puzzle,
inextricable from each other. You can't remove or eliminate either of the
puzzle pieces because if you do, you still have its shape folding into the
remaining half.
"As for Tubby Turdner...his presence in all of this is implicit, even though
I didn't mention him explicitly. They work on his show, he's the Big
Cheese, so he obviously has to be accounted for. Using the yin and yang
mandala as a visual metaphor once again: Tubby's the entire circle, within
which the two complementary, comma-shaped puzzle pieces of Bob Dinners and
Larry Noodles fit. Or, Father (Tubby), Son and Holy Ghost, if you must put
it in a Christian framework. I hope that clears it all up."
The debate raged for another couple thousand words until Mark opened a
500-gallon barrel of worms: the cover art question. Aggregate
wordcount on
this issue nearly broke the 12k threshold, if you can believe it. Mark
said, "Maybe we should get someone to take some shots of us on a talk show
set. It might produce a good back cover or inside booklet shot, and if
Communion needed any promo shots for the album they could use something
from that. I don't know if they're going to promote this thing or not, but
it might help show that we're familiar with the talk show circuit-- might be
able to get us some spots that way. For instance, if Oprah or Larry King
were told that we had already appeared on Tubby Turdner's Celebrity
Avalanche and received proof (the photos), they might be more inclined to
give us a slot on their show, to prevent getting 'scooped' by Turdner."
Then Hugh wanted to know, "Can't Communion get us on The Mike Douglas Show?
Or, better yet, Merv Griffin? Hell, Pablo Cruise got on Merv back in the
day. Maybe we could score some brownie points by surprising Merv with a
'Fellerized' rendition of 'On and On'. (You know: 'Down in Jamaica they've
got lots of pretty women...') He used to sing that song at the drop of a hat
and this could be our big chance to take him on a nostalgia trip down
memory lane. Seems to me we're way past due for taking some celebrity on a
nostalgia trip down memory lane.
Of course, the ultimate goal of getting a spot on one of these lesser talk
shows is to heighten our profile and become celebrities in our own right.
Otherwise, we'll never get invited onto Tubby Turdner's Celebrity
Avalanche. (It's not called Tubby Turdner's Avalanche of Nobodies, after
all.)"
The history of the characters' relationship continued on its endless way
with several diversions into territory about a '30s film titled Dinners at
Noodles starring Marlene Dietrich and a very fresh Adolf Hitler, Tubby's
last name and nationality, and speculation about the resemblance of the
Tubby Turdner Celebrity Avalanche to Jackie Gleason's Cavalcade of Stars.
The Communion label was forced to abandon its covert information
harvesting efforts
when the emails devolved into anagram trading made from the names of their
TV stars (whose status as real people or figments of the band's imagination
we're still not even sure about).
If you've gotten this far, I gather you've intuited the nub of our gist--
we still can't tell you the name of the album. No guesses hazarded
regarding even the vaguest of release dates, either-- as always check
back hereabouts for updates.
12/27/99:
There was a very rare "secret" Thinking Fellers Union Local
282 warehouse show in Oakland the week before Christmas.'99 To
make the evening even more special, people got naked. Don't
believe us? See for yourself.
Purchase Communion label merchandise
