TRANSMISSION ART ARCHIVE
Glue Banta (aka Jonny Farrow)
Distract and Disable Image. Glue Banta (aka Jonny Farrow) (Mar 19, 2011)
Glue Banta began as a non-sequitor band name. But over the time span of about a year, morphed into, first, the name of a cassette-only recording project, and then into the disembodied voice that hosts The Distract and Disable Program on WGXC. As a radio personality, Jonny Farrow transforms himself into Glue Banta who is a combination of soothing enabler, paranoia-stoking confidant, and that little lady from the film Poltergeist whom you are compelled to trust, but is leading you blindly down a dark hole. These juxtapositions of personality are intended to leave the listener distracted and disabled, possibly paralyzed by indecision, unable to look away from the bright light or to stop the debilitating high-pitched ringing of the ears—ultimately, you could say, amused. The other voices in the show come from sci-fi films and robot-voiced texts from the discourse of government conspiracy theories related to alien contact, and paranormal activity as amplified in the media. Glue Banta mixes these ramblings with digitally slurred and stuttering versions of classical and electronic music while overlaying live radio broadcasts from AM, shortwave, weather and air-traffic control bands. He currently knows of no other way to express himself than through The Distract and Disable Program, though it is said that he dreams of becoming a telekinetic, gourmet pizza chef.