It’s mostly CD packages, collages, booklets/zines, and other paper stuff. The new thing is collecting broken shit and other junk and assembling things out of it. For instance, I’ve got two smashed up guitars, a roll of wire screen, some old metal coat hangers, and other such sundries.
One of the projects I’ve got going on is a crystal radio with my kids. It’s almost finished—I think the only thing we need is a ground wire. It’s been fun—a chance to practice my shitty carpentry skills.
I’m always workin on about a million different projects all at once. Not literally all at once—I’ve got a bunch of plates spinnin at the same time is what I mean. That way I don’t get bored or burned out on one. I’ll work on something til I get tired of it, then meditate and reset. Clear my mind. Task switching is an obstacle. But more on that later. Maybe.
Once I get near the finish line I get a fever to get there and stay focused on that once thing until it’s done.
Here’s a sample of some things:
An album by Sol y Sol called Shadow People, with plenty of synths, guitar skronk, and vocal harmonies, probably about 1/2 done
A photo and video series starring Bramble Childress (owing to the fact I left this mustache on my face and I hate to waste natural resources), one music video shot so far
Several zines, all writing, artwork, and design complete, but only one printed so far:
A2, a chapbook with lyrical photographs and poems to accompany them
Harmony for Guitarists, a music theory on chord construction for the musical illiterates among us
The Free Travelers, an encyclopedia of the Wolf Note Collective, printed and ready to invade your bookshelf
La Espada no. 400, a big 1/2 tabloid size affair with fiction, fictional interviews, a comic, manifestos, and more
The Anywhere People, a novel set in Locustville, featurin all the colorful characters that populate that nasty little town, includin the infamous WNC (25,827 words so far, aimin for probably 80k)
The Nagual Gem (working title), another novel, this one a straight adventure with swords and sorcery, aliens, monsters, zombies, Timespace travel and more, made up of four standalone sections in varying forms that add up to one giant epic spannin about 15 billion years, (47,042 words so far, probably aimin for 100k)
The Birth of Desire, an epic poem, a weird cosmogony and cosmology written in blank verse, shootin for about 3000 lines, 300 of which are written, but probably 2/3 of the whole thing has been plotted out
The Pale Things, a 17,000 word zombie sword and sandals novella - complete already
The Tragedy of Prince Emrys, an Elizabethan style tragedy set in a fantasy Welsh kingdom, shootin for probably 1800 lines
Charlie and Lala (working title), a novel unto itself, tellin the psychedelic adventures of Charlie Gil and Ofelia Hass
A cassette release of Dim Jim’s album It’s Him! I’ll play shows (and hopefully sell some of the zines I got printed and some of these old t-shirts I got lyin around) to raise the cash
Teenage Hells, old 4 track cassette recordings from way back in the day. I’m going through all my old cassettes and trying to find anything worth listenin to. I’ll remix my earliest album “efforts” and make compilations of whatever’s left that doesn’t make me puke.
Visual stuff: practicin and learnin how to paint and draw and occasionally makin collages.
“Grandpa Martinez,” 2022, acrylic on wood
Plus: The Sixth Sun, a new full length (48 minute) audio/video album by Sensory Complex, featuring eight improvisational looping guitar instrumentals, all complete and waitin for the opportune moment to unleash it upon the world (or local noise scene, whichever comes first), possibly as another cassette release, assuming I can beg, borrow or steal enough cash to repro the sucker.
When or if any of this shit ever gets finished is anyone’s guess. But I keep workin on it just the same, every spare minute, and keep on keepin on as long as I can. Now leave me a comment down there so I know you seen this!