TRANSMISSION ART ARCHIVE

The Forbidden Planet: the Refrain

2019
NRRF B Radio

Live performance of a radio art/radio play with collective members performing together via online platform from WGXC studio in Acra, New York, Chicago, Palm Beach Florida, Asheville North Carolina, and Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Broadcast live to a studio audience on-site at Radiophrenia, Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow Scotland May 19, 2019, and subsequently re-edited for rebroadcast. The Forbidden Planet: The Refrain is created and performed by Jonny Farrow, Anna Friz, Steve Germana, Jeff Kolar, and Peter Speer. It includes the occasional sounds of the Weather Warlock, a weather instrument by Quintron and permanently installed in the WGXC studio at Wave Farm in Acra, New York.

Duration: 57:37

This episode of NRRF B Radio finds our fearless space pirates in a real pickle. Launch countdown is forestalled by interminable delays. When the ship is finally set into motion, they encounter multi-dimensional distortions, and the Snow Pod experiences a meltdown due to a bad calculation involving a floating point decimal number. As the pirates fall back toward the surface of the Forbidden Planet, they notice what appear to be creatures resembling marshmallows. They speculate on what these strange entities might sound like and use their space radios to see if there are any readable frequencies. Will they ever succeed in launching out of the planet's atmosphere and making their way back home?

NRRF B Radio is a series of radio shows mashing b-list movie and fiction genres with radio art. Each B Radio episode features a theme to structure the improvisational nature of the shows, though tangents are frequent and encouraged. It’s live radio (generally with at least one unlicensed transmission in the multi-plex mix), streamed, sometimes with special guests and live audience. The core group of performers play live instruments and electronics, sample wildly, speculate broadly, and have been known to sing. Show are long form, generally between 2-5 hours in length.