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Nothing is Real Radio Hour: Triple Deluxe (Audio)
Sep 29, 2012
Produced by Sam Sebren.
"Triple Deluxe" features two new audio works by Sam Sebren as well as a selection of radio broadcasts archived by Tom Smith (To Live And Shave In LA) of Reverend Lester Knox of Tifton, Georgia, from 1982 - 1992. The program will be heard in three parts:
• "How To Prospect Your Way To Millions"/ QVC" is a recording/performance by Sebren using a 1962 LP recording of self-proclaimed "million dollar prospector" and salesman Paul J. Meyer presenting how-to "prospecting" advice, combined with live, random sounds from the QVC channel broadcasting on TV while the record is playing. Meyer is the founder of Success Motivation Institute (SMI) in Waco, Texas and was 81 when he died in 2009. At age 25 he was the highest paid insurance salesman in the U.S., and at 27 he was a millionaire. According to the SMI website, the company has sold 3 billion dollars of personal-development materials around the world. By combining a 50 year old recording with a contemporary sales model, Sebren critiques our recent historical emphasis on consumer culture and materialism.
• "The Reverend Lester Knox of Tifton, Georgia: Put Your Face in Gwod: The 366th Revival" is a recorded collection of broadcasts, 1982 - 1992, of Lester Knox, a "preacher" who bought his own airtime, out of pocket, every week for 50 years in order to spread his demented messages on WBIT in Cook County Georgia. Tom Smith, musician and producer (To Live And Shave In LA) lived in Adel, Georgia during this time and recorded Knox right off the airwaves, then archived the recordings for The Smack Shire record label. We will hear selected excerpts from Knox, whose unhinged moments include things like, "Amen, I FEEL the power of GWOD! Somebody is in this radio station besides us! Do you HEAR me out there in radioland?!" He also had a revolving cast of hill folks in the studio, sometimes attempting to play a gospel tune or two, and the overall result is a rare outsider document with a broad range of emotions and very "real" moments.
• "Demolition Derby Remix" is a short audio collage of demolition derby and fairground sounds, cut up and remixed. Sebren made the recordings at the Columbia County Fair in Chatham, NY on August 30, 2012.
• "How To Prospect Your Way To Millions"/ QVC" is a recording/performance by Sebren using a 1962 LP recording of self-proclaimed "million dollar prospector" and salesman Paul J. Meyer presenting how-to "prospecting" advice, combined with live, random sounds from the QVC channel broadcasting on TV while the record is playing. Meyer is the founder of Success Motivation Institute (SMI) in Waco, Texas and was 81 when he died in 2009. At age 25 he was the highest paid insurance salesman in the U.S., and at 27 he was a millionaire. According to the SMI website, the company has sold 3 billion dollars of personal-development materials around the world. By combining a 50 year old recording with a contemporary sales model, Sebren critiques our recent historical emphasis on consumer culture and materialism.
• "The Reverend Lester Knox of Tifton, Georgia: Put Your Face in Gwod: The 366th Revival" is a recorded collection of broadcasts, 1982 - 1992, of Lester Knox, a "preacher" who bought his own airtime, out of pocket, every week for 50 years in order to spread his demented messages on WBIT in Cook County Georgia. Tom Smith, musician and producer (To Live And Shave In LA) lived in Adel, Georgia during this time and recorded Knox right off the airwaves, then archived the recordings for The Smack Shire record label. We will hear selected excerpts from Knox, whose unhinged moments include things like, "Amen, I FEEL the power of GWOD! Somebody is in this radio station besides us! Do you HEAR me out there in radioland?!" He also had a revolving cast of hill folks in the studio, sometimes attempting to play a gospel tune or two, and the overall result is a rare outsider document with a broad range of emotions and very "real" moments.
• "Demolition Derby Remix" is a short audio collage of demolition derby and fairground sounds, cut up and remixed. Sebren made the recordings at the Columbia County Fair in Chatham, NY on August 30, 2012.