with a million tear-stained memories
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the new black tape for a blue girl highlights cd is available at projekt.com!
http://www.projekt.com/projekt/product.asp?sku=PRO00145

it is a hand-numbered limited edition 2-cd of tracks from black
tape's first 17 years. there are only 2250 pieces in the u.s. edition
(there's a german edition on trisol - with the same track-listing -
in an edition of 1500). "with a million tear-stained memories"
features one disc with vocal songs and one disc with instrumentals.
the release date in u.s. stores is may 13th. new and exclusive are a
re-recording of "memory, uncaring friend" with bret on vocals, and
the steve roach remix of "kinski." also included are single or
compilation tracks that are relatively hard to come-by.

projekt is selling the 2-cd set for $17.98, a great price. order with
first class shipping (only $2 more) and save a few bucks.... projekt
is shipping them within a day or two of your order!


this morning i did an interview for germany's orkus magazine. here's
one of the questions that relates to the cd:

10. Are those songs on the album the "tear-stained memories"? Is it
hard for you to hear your old compositions, realizing that the time
and the "you" you were at that time is gone?

Sam: Hm? No, I don't think so. I don't have a problem reflecting on
the past, because I think that the "now" is always the best point in
my life. I don't wanna re-live those experiences. For me, they were
"tear-stained" in the moment when they were written. At the time,
those events were overwhelming, all-consuming. They are very sad and
tear-stained memories.




black tape for a blue confirmed to play at WGT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
black tape for a blue girl perform our first european show on sunday
night, june 8th as part of the wave-gothic-treffen festival in
leipzig, germany. we are on in the evening, between diary of dreams
and faith and the muse. we are also scheduled to do an autograph
signing session on saturday, june 7th.

the line-up will be the same band members that got great fan comments
as last year's projektfest: elysabeth on vocals + viola, lisa on
flute + backing vocals, michael on vocals + percussion, bret on
vocals + acoustic guitar, and sam (me) on electronics + vocals. it's
going to be an amazing evening.

the treffen is a massive gothic festival held every year in leipzig.
they have eight venues, with bands from noon through 2 am, over 250
bands play during the four day event and over 15,000 people attend.
other "confirmed" etherealish bands are stoa, chandeen, & love is
colder than death.

check out the WGT website: http://www.wave-gotik-treffen.de/english/

also: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AmericansInLeipzig/ | as the name
implies, this list is for americans who are going to the festival.
it's a good source of information and also let's you communicate with
other americans who are making the journey to germany.

we hope to see you there!




please help spread the word about "with a million tear-stained memories:"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 NEW BANNER.
here's HTML that you can add to your website:
<A HREF="http://www.projekt.com/projekt/product.asp?sku=PRO00145"><img
src="http://www.projekt.com/assets/images/banner-million.jpg" border="0"></a>

2 HAND OUT POSTCARDS.
we can send 20 cards to pass out to your friends and people you think
would be interested in this release. please email maven@...
with "tear-stained postcard" as your subject. it goes without
saying... please be sure to include your mailing address.




what's next?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
when we return from germany in mid-june, i will begin working in the
studio on material for the next cd which i hope to release in early
2004. i have begun writing a new book, with about 40 pages completed
so far. i expect that bits of it will be used as source material for
new lyrics. i am very excited to get back into the studio and get
working on new music...
: )




a few excerpts from the book
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the swan. i think as a child i was traumatized by swans. once, in
some long-forgotten park on a warm summer day, my aunt took a photo
of me as a small child with two magnificent swans. the image haunted
me; somewhere i had heard the myth of zeus transforming himself into
a swan, and i was so disturbed by this idea of bestiality. dogs or
horses or birds. always those birds, the image never left me. at
eleven i hid the photo away in a book of fables, but i couldn't stop
myself from retrieving it every day. imagining those long necks
wrapped around me, those soft feathery wings beating against me,
thrashing me as i lie half submerged in the warm water. that
uncontrollable bird. damn damn swan! that majestic bird. and i,
wanting to feel his feathers and beak and clawy webby feet tearing at
me.

(the swan inspired by a photo and passing thought of lisa's)

~~

rituals have since passed, broken into little fragments repeated
without thinking. letters from distant friends seem false and
hallucinatory, their proposals and solutions seem impossible, schemes
hatched in a different world from another time. connections are
broken, logical thought dissolute; "i will stay," that seems assured.
she pushes the pages deep into her pocket and in her seat turns back
to the window, searching aimlessly for someone among the figures
passing through the square, hats and coats and umbrellas rushing in a
seamless blur. brownish gray wash of lives darting by, water running
by, without identification. without feeling. each darkened mass
headed somewhere, trailing through her view and cut off by the wall
on the left and on the right. each goal and destination cut off and
fragmented into a five meter wide window of reality. to her right,
the little bell on the door rings constantly as a patron enters,
shakes off and heads silently to the cafe counter. another bell,
another gust of cold air, another shake, another uninterpretable set
of desires and needs and emotions stumbles, reeling, toward the
counter. a moment of their lives passed with her, unidentifiably.
they don't look her in the eyes as they pass. yes, they may brush her
with their coats, jab her with their umbrellas, drop their parcels at
her feet, or tug their sniffing dog away, but they never look her in
the eye. no emotional attachment. no recognition. another gust, the
bell, the door; the rain slowly turns to sleet as the square grows
dark and the brownish gray mass merges with the sparkling falling
flecks and runs down the lamp posts and walls to mix in the gutters
and drip furiously through the grates. into the drainage sewer. lives
and names and hopes and faces all dripping through the grates as if
stomped beneath the feet of a hideously large giant, bruising the
grapes into wine. bones and noses and brains all clumped together and
rushing like dripping lives away from my eyes and away from my
thoughts. all the things i was once interested in and so aware of
purely lost to dreams. pure dreams. purity dreams. memories of
friends and a time when love was as i had imagined it. so many things
washed away by the bloody murky water as it continues to push its way
out from behind the peeling crackled paint in the corners of my
ceiling, down the walls, changing from a drip to a stream to a flood
as it gathers in the center of my room. photos of friends and
childhood - only a few years ago - are toppled from the dresser, drop
and thrown carelessly to the floor along with evidence that would
protect me from accusations and documents which would confirm who i
am. papers running by my feet as i watch, immobile, from the window
seat. his photo, his name, twirling in the whirlpool. pulling me
down. i am unable to let go. i am trapped in some sort of
fascination. watch as i am pulled through the waters, bell ringing,
wind blasting, rancid masses storming past, splashing their history
upon the glass, and that face peering back at me in the reflection,
always staring back at me in the glass. unemotional. undisturbed.
that horrible mask i wear. how much longer can i take that gaze (this
always ends with me rushing out the door)?

~~




talk with you again soon...


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