From: The Cassette Mythos, Autonomedia 1990
The development of the cassette is very much like the invention of book printing. Printing technology made books, previously an elite privilege, widely available. Cassettes, similarly, can be copied by everybody. Books introduced the print culture (the romantic era was a result of it), and cassettes bring back the Oral Tradition in a time when people are reading less and the number of illiterates is on the rise. "More and more people are going to college, but the education they get is the equivalent of what a good high school education was in 1900. In 1900, a kid got out of high school and knew Latin. Now he knows `domestic engineering,' which is how to work your Cuisinart." (Norman Mailer)
Soon there will be a cassette recorder in every home. More and more people now have recording equipment of high quality. The younger generation produces music at home and distributes it on cassettes through the mail. Those cassettes are duplicated again, ad infinitum. As digital cassettes become more widely available, every copy will be exactly like the master tape.
Top actors read books on cassettes. Every car has a cassette player. Yet spoken books are not immensely popular. Writing and the Oral Tradition don't mix. More and more lectures are sold on cassettes, so joggers can listen to them on their walkmen. The Institute for Invisible Language produces the All Chemix Radio Series, a different approach to the old-fashioned radio play. It all started when Peter Flik sent a spoken letter to Willem de Ridder in Hollywood.
Peter, who worked for a radio station, talked into his walkman while driving home one evening. He felt depressed and wanted to talk about his job, friends, insanity around him, recent suicides, and his personal hell.
Willem lived in the mansion of the very first movie star who talked in the movies: Al Jolson. He was very moved by the tape; all the despair that went into it came out again, and there was no defense against it. Willem borrowed a stereo tuner, placed the speakers on his desk, and installed himself in between. As soon as he heard music that was perfect he switched on his recorder and started talking. Only one chance, because he might never hear it again. Any moment a disc jockey might interfere. For days on end he sat there, dialing and instantly talking, recording the music and his voice with one microphone.
The final result started to sound like a slick Hollywood show. A personal message for Peter, presented as official radio for his ears only.
Two months later he got a written letter back with some money. Peter had transmitted the cassette and wanted more. De Ridder felt cheated and angry, but also flattered. The next day he was back at his desk again trying to find the right music for the second radio show.
The idea that thousands of listeners would hear his words stiffened him. The words became false and pompous. He became concerned about the tone of voice, his image, entertainment value, timing, content, and form. It didn't work.
Everything he did sounded empty and contrived. When he played the first tape again, the emotions he felt when talking to Peter all came back. He couldn't do it anymore. It took months to make the second show, and although it was transmitted, he hated it. He had to become a professional perhaps. But all the professionals he heard on the radio he hated too. Perhaps he should give it up. He did.
Months later he decided to make a tape, just for fun. He talked to one listener only. Like a dirty phone call! He asked the listener to get close and relax on a couch or a bed, just like he was doing. To get as intimate as possible with that one listener he asked to slowly undress and masturbate together until orgasm...
He was shaking and sweating when he made that tape. It was like a trance. The tape was made in one go and he didn't dare listen to it. "What have I done?" Months later, when he did listen, all the emotions came back in full force.
After the initial shock was over, he decided to mail it to Dutch National Radio. It was transmitted. It was so successful that it was repeated at prime time.
He realized that it was old-fashioned fear that had stopped him all that time. That's why he had to hide behind a smooth voice, slick words, shiny presentation, and the so-called professionalism that is ravaging the airwaves everywhere.
He started a series of radio horror plays that he called Deathly Fear Therapy. Just to help himself over it. None of the plays were written or planned. No actors or professionals were invited.
There was no story for them; when the recording started, nobody knew what to expect. De Ridder explained that you could not make any mistakes that way. Friends and lovers took part, and if they felt too uncomfortable without any story, a vague outline was made.
Everybody had stage fright before the session started. Somebody had to start with some random words, another one had to react, and before you knew it you had a story! Once they realized that they "had to go with the story," most of them got lost in it. Soon emotions were running high. The story started to "live" for them; they forgot time altogether, had no idea they were acting, and got completely involved in the "reality" of the situation.
If somebody was holding back, all the other players "felt it." In most cases, the entire play was done over, and of course changed entirely. It happened regularly that after the recording was finished and the play was completely ready (no final mix necessary), nobody wanted to hear it back, because they all knew that it had been good! The series of horror plays turned out to be highly effective. The players had been facing their own worst fears. That process of total involvement was recorded. The process was the result! Nobody who listened could be indifferent to it. Like when somebody in a restaurant starts to cry, and everybody feels it: nobody can shut it out. (Radio listeners can turn off the set, of course.)
After each transmission, the telephone lines were jammed for hours. So many letters came in that a special secretary had to be hired to deal with them. Many people didn't even dare to listen. Most young people loved it. Some of them exposed themselves to the Deathly Fear Therapy in dark rooms.
Since then, De Ridder has concentrated on radio drama. He developed plays that promoted active listening. Thirty thousand people reacted to one of his "plays" by going to their cars, turning on their radios there, and following the instructions. They had the time of their lives.
The next step was direct confrontation with his audience. He started to tell stories, just as he had seen on the African Markets. Just sitting on a chair, no background music or special effects. Just a story. The more he was absorbed by the story, the more the listeners were. He tried to find out how long they would listen without intermission. After three hours, he gave up himself.
Recently he started the first Radio Play Academy on Dutch National Radio. Like backgammon, bridge, or monopoly, the radio drama was introduced as a fun game at home. All you needed was a cassette recorder and a microphone. Everybody who applied could become a "student." De Ridder went to their homes to record their very first spontaneous radio play.
He explained to all of them the Golden Rules of the game:
KEEP TALKING
Just like you do in daily life. Don't think about what you have to say, because then you come to a grinding halt and the story is gone. You are not important, the story is.
DON'T TALK TWO AT A TIME
Of course, you do stop talking when somebody else is saying something, otherwise nobody understands a thing.
FOLLOW THE STORY
As soon as you open your mouth, there is a story. All you have to do is to follow that story. Trust it. If somebody tells you that you are a crook, you are one. If you are afraid of uncontrolled words that might give away some less favorable side of you, the story will stop abruptly.
TAKE RISKS
If you don't like where the play brings you, because you are scared of the consequences, the story will stall. It will drown in endless and senseless dialogues. You have to take real risks in this game. Sweat might be in your hands, but you have to move on quickly and look fate (even if it means death) in the face.
BELIEVE IN IT
It is a lot like lying. You make sure you convince the person you lie to. You can only lie effectively if you believe completely in your story. If you don't, who else can? Most of the students were able to create a radio play in one go. First they had to find out that they actually could talk normally. The first story that came up was about flying saucers, desert islands, pirates, or haunted mansions--so-called "hide and seek" subjects. Nobody had ever dared anything like this, and those hidden subjects were far away and safe. After they finished their first play, they had discovered that they were being cowardly, trying to save their necks. They didn't like what they had done, didn't even want to listen to it. It did not "feel" good. The second play was then quite different, and considerable risks were taken by all. That play was mostly OK for transmission.
Now the Institute for Invisible Language presents the All Chemix Radio Series. A series of thirty-minute plays in the English language. Experimental plays to find out what the "substance" is that makes us listen intently. The secret ingredient that takes away all sense of time and space from players and listeners. To find out about content, form, words or the absence of them, etc., etc.
The Radio Arts Foundation receives cassettes from independents all over the world. They are transmitted on Amsterdam Radio. Most of it is music. Words are used in rapping, scrambling, drones--sampled, vocoded, looped, reverbed, flanged, etc., but very few radio plays are made. No stories told yet.
The All Chemix Radio Plays are all made in one session, sometimes two. If you visit the Radio Arts Foundation, you will be in the series too! If Amsterdam is too far, send your words or soundtrack, and students here will try to make a radio play with your cassette.
All plays are mailed to radio stations dedicated to new independent music in Canada, the USA, and Australia. They are mailed free of charge to any station that wants to transmit them on a regular basis. Those stations are asked to find other stations that might be interested and form a little chain with them. That way mailing and duplication costs are saved.
If you are interested, but you are not a station, you can buy the cassettes (two plays on each cassette). That money will finance the mailing costs to more stations. Plays have been made with Z'ev, Alvin Curran, Jon Rose, Annie Sprinkle, Hessel and Nicole Veldman, Cora, Kristine Ambrosia, Veronica Vera, Prince Lobckowicz, and William Levy. Perhaps you are next. It's high time!
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