Thank you greatly for the reply, I was beginning to feel a little disillusioned
about my effforts. Let me know what your thoughts are, that is if Mr Completor's
kind enough to reply.

Stan,

For what it's worth, I believe you, based solely on the conviction with
which you write about this musical phenomenon. I'm going to try to
order one of his tapes.

Mike
Milwaukee, WI USA

Hello I am new to this site and outsider music in general but I'd like to share
with you some information about a local musician that could only fit into this
genre. Here is a copy of a letter I have been sending to various people (and for
the most part getting ignored)as part of my efforts to get some exposure for my
new hero and so that other people outside of the select few people who have
heard his brilliance first hand can get enjoyment from it too. Thanks, hope my
words interest you.






'Hello, sorry to bother you like this but a friend of mine said that you might
be able to help me with regards to the following. Hopefully it will interest you
as much as it does me.

Before I begin I'll give you some background information. My name is Stan Ingham
and I am a resident of Tauranga, a city located in New Zealand. Not much happens
in Tauranga as it like a Florida for example mostly serves as a pretty,
artificial city for which the elderly can retire, play bridge for awhile and
then die. The idea of anything happening here of musical importance is absurd,
because despite the occasional metal or covers band playing loudly and badly in
some yob bar on a Saturday evening this is an artistic wasteland bereft of any
talent, energy and creativity. What little talent that may have been here has
moved away long ago to larger and more prosperous cities due to the combined
lack of respect and outlets for their personal expression. The rest are so
stricken with apathy they either cease playing like myself or join the hordes of
covers bands selling their credibility for a spot as the proverbial wedding
reception juke box. So the recent developments of which I am about to share have
come both as quite a shock and a definite pleasure and for my mind are in
desperate need of being shown to a far wider more understanding audience than
the ignorant local population. So I have made it my mission to bring some
exposure to the man who calls himself….Rotate the Completor.

During our summer last year I found myself on one of the back streets of our
city centre due to being unable to find a car park anywhere else thanks to the
masses of people like myself doing their Christmas shopping at the last minute.
As I was feeding enough coins to create a small deposit on what could be my
first house into a hungry parking metre I noticed a busker about 50metres down
the road. I found this rather odd because besides the occasional business person
heading down those ways to catch a taxi or someone trying to locate their
dignity from their previous weekend's night clubbing antics then there was very
little foot traffic. Certainly not enough to warrant busking! What made it more
bizarre was that the main drag was only 2-3 minutes walking distance away. And
what with the spirit of Christmas in the air generosity for buskers would be at
record highs.

   Curious, I decided to walk by for a closer look. The busker was a rather
strange looking guy, mid to late 20's I'd say yet quite boyish if one could see
past the scraggly beard framing his face, kitted out in an odd selection of
oversized well aged clothing like you would see on a child playing dress up in
his fathers clothes. Now much to my surprise this guy was not playing the
standard, crowd pleasing set list of top 20 hits but was instead belting out
some of the weirdest, original, tuneless, repelling to the average person,
inspired music I've ever heard. I still find it hard to describe exactly what
kind of music it is that Rotate the Completor plays so until you can actually
listen to it just imagine a deranged children's entertainer playing a mix of
blues, jazz, blue grass, rock n' roll, folk and carnival music all somehow
blended together and sung for the most part in silly voices to disguise how
atonal he is. A friend of mine upon listening to R.T.C for the first time dubbed
what he heard quite wryly and very aptly as `savant garde'. Now this guy is
going full tilt, playing as loud as his un-amplified acoustic will let him,
dancing like he has a very troubling parasitic infection and forming his words
with an impressive array of facial expressions the likes of which are usually
reserved for rubber faced comedians and or people who have never had children
trying to be `silly' around the offspring of other people who have had children
lest they be seen as being unable to communicate with those younger than
themselves due to having never had children like those that have…

Now what gets and hooks me is the fact that the other, probably lost, people
that do walk past are ignoring our hero and if anything treating him like a
leper, giving him an incredibly wide berth, far more than what the usual
accepted side stepping rule when encountering and trying to avoid buskers'
permits. Some have even crossed the road only to re-cross moments later once
they have gotten past this noisy obstacle. All the while R.T.C is completely
oblivious, totally absorbed in playing his little ditties and having a grand old
time doing so. Astounded by his genius and everyone else's ignorance I watched
and waited to see what would happen next. After watching him play 4-5 more
similarly mental songs I took out my wallet and emptied all the coinage I had
onto his at this point empty busking hanky and started to return to my previous
viewing position. Now the idea behind this was that hopefully with a little
validation it would spur him on to keep playing. But no, much to my amusement
mid way through the song he was playing he stopped leant down, scooped up his
hanky, slung his guitar over his shoulder and without as much as even a glance
in my direction crossed the road and entered the fruit and veggie store opposite
from where we stood leaving me alone scratching my head in wonder.

After making sense of what just happened I followed, eventually catching up with
him in front of a stall of sweet potatoes weighing them up in his hands and
squeezing them like one would do if they were trying to discern whether a peach
or avocado was ripe enough to eat. Bemused I looked on while he made his choice
and then attempted to start a conversation which was no easy feat. When I first
went up along side him and said `hello' he swung around, guitar almost
decapitating me and strode off heading at a fierce pace towards the counter,
when I finally caught up to him this time I tapped him on his shoulder to give
fair warning at which point he turned, looked at me with this priceless possum
caught in the headlights expression and gave me a slow, drawled, suspicious
`yes?'. I explained that I'd just been watching him while he busked and thought
it was very good but before I could continue with all the platitudes and
questions I had wanted to get out the guitar was again heading for my head while
a `thank you' was also roughly aimed in that direction. Now I should say here
that I'm not usually the kind of guy that follows others about like a needy
affection starved animal but to hear something musically from my generation that
isn't just an insipid reinterpretation of the last decade's music and to hear it
on the streets of Tauranga no less was excuse enough for me to forgo my usual
insouciance to take on the role of gushing fan #1 so I could at the very least
find out who this enigma was. So I cut him off at the counter and started asking
the questions for which I wanted and needed the answers to. Brilliantly, at
first he tried pretending that he couldn't see me until it became glaringly
obvious that I could only be talking to him as there was no-one else in or near
the vicinity of the line for service. When he did finally look at me with his
startled possum expression a fixed like he'd only just realised I'd been
standing in front of him the entire time he gave me his slow, drawled,
suspicious `yes?' response once more. So I repeated myself for him but by the
time I'd gotten through my spiel about how great it was to hear something
original in Tauranga and how great he was etc and asked my first question I'd
lost his attention, he was off in his own little world. Getting and
understanding the message that either through misanthropy, insanity, shyness or
being the human incarnate of the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland he couldn't or
didn't want to converse I grabbed a pen and wrote my contact details on the back
of my receipt on the off chance that one day he may like to jam or hang out or
whatever and handed it to him which was met with a response you can probably
already guess for yourself. After that I left my new friend to his own devices,
only seeing him again briefly as I was returning from my shopping, sitting alone
on a park bench eating his sweet potato like an apple. In hysterics, I rushed
home and told everyone I could, to little or no interest, about my odd encounter
with this strange little man who despite my best efforts I knew zilch about and
sadly never expected to see or hear from ever again.

So imagine my surprise when about 3 months ago a package arrived for me with the
sender listed as a Rotate the Completor. I'm not sure if it is the same where
you come from but over here R.T.C isn't exactly a common name. So after checking
for any ticking sounds coming from within I cautiously opened the envelope to
reveal the contents; one audio cassette with an odd little photocopied drawing
for a front cover titled `Rotate the Completors: Completed Rotations of the…',
and with some type written directions for use-age on the back. Truth be told I
had nearly forgotten about my encounter of the previous year as I had neither
seen nor heard from the little busker since. It was only when I turned the tape
on and heard the manic combination of talent, no talent, originality, insanity
that I realised just what it was that I had been sent and quickly turned off the
tape and paid more attention to the package it came in.

I'll go into detail about the front cover after I have discussed the music
itself but before I can even do that I must explain the `Rules for listening to
Rotate the Completors: Completed Rotations of the…'. Set in type written font
were 4 rules;
  1.) Listen alone. 2.) Listen with head phones on. 3.) Listen only at night. 4.)
Only permissible foods to be eaten when listening to `R.T.C''s: C.R of the…'
;cruciferous vegetables, members of the allium genus. I can't really explain the
reason for these except maybe they are designed to enhance the listening
pleasure, that or was this how the album was conceived and R.T.C wants everyone
to hear his music how he hears it? And in fact I think I'd rather not know as
this just adds to the mystery.


Sadly I could not wait for night to fall and that I regret as it definitely
would have enhanced the pleasure of that first listen if that was his intention
but I did adhere to the other provisos by grabbing my old walkman, a plate of
cabbage and tucking myself away in the darkest place I could find in my house.
Now I thought what I heard on the street the previous year was bizarre but this
completely blew that and me away. There are 11 songs in total, none of which are
named; all are listed with their number and then an ellipsis for example 1… or
5…   All songs are recorded on what could only be a Dictaphone as the sound
quality is so poor, not that it really matters as it probably actually adds and
sticks with  the rough around the edges charm consistent of the other R.T.C
attributes. All the songs bar the very last, 11…. are played on an electric
guitar with some form of effects laden over top. Most of the songs also have
drum accompaniment.  Not from a highly skilled drummer over dubbing mind you but
just R.T.C mostly out of time using a kick drum and hi-hat and maybe something
else at the same time as he badly warbles and plays his guitar. Least that's my
belief as no-one else could possibly keep up with the odd changes in time and
structure the songs constantly under go and nor could most musicians play in
such a stripped back childish manner.

I won't be overly descriptive on the music as it is best to hear it for yourself
without preparation the first time in case it lessens the initial shock. However
to up the intrigue factor on your part I will leave you with these tasty morsels
of information. The music is still an indefinable chaotic mess of clashing
styles but now with the added bonus of low fi technical wizardry the songs take
on a more sinister tone in parts. Song 1…  starts as a normal song would, well
as normal as any R.T.C song starts, only to stop completely, start again but
this time with the tape sped up, only to stop again at which point another copy
of the same song starts playing over the first rendition but half a second
behind only to stop again after your head feels like it's about to explode from
a combination of dizziness, confusion and amusement. Some songs are jarringly
short while some tend to ramble as if they are searching for the point they are
trying to make yet never wind up finding it. All the songs have the ability to
evoke a wide range of emotions some of which I have never felt when listening to
music or from living in general such as the gut churning feeling of being
simultaneously elated, confused and disgusted.

The lyrics from what I can hear and decipher seem to be a mix of metaphors,
tales about personified usually inanimate objects or animals such as cabbages
and mice and heartfelt mantras like the last song which is basically 5 minutes
of repeating  the refrain `I am not insane'. Which brings me to the album cover,
now I can only presume this child like drawing is a montage of all the
characters contained within the songs as the big puffy white cloud thing in the
top left must be the `dog in the sky' mentioned in track 5… and cabbage and
cantaloupe in the central area from track 1… I had been hoping to send a copy of
this to you so you could see it for yourself but unfortunately there is no way
that I can see how to attach it.

And best of all something I only just discovered last month is that if one
leaves the album to run out then the entire thing is played in reverse at the
end of each side.

Hopefully I have piqued your interest on this because my efforts to spread the
good word of R.T.C here have been met with a typically muted response and I am
in desperate need of some help in doing so. And as my friend kindly told me you
would be one of the best people to contact as music like this is your specialty
and therefore hopefully you will get as much enjoyment out of this as I have and
will also spread the word to other like minded and interested souls. I should
make clear that I am not trying to become the next Malcolm Mclaren nor am I
dreaming about world domination for R.T.C I'd just like to see others get the
same enjoyment out of this music that I have and that he gets some of the
recognition he deserves so that he continues to make more of his warped genius
music. Not that I think he really cares or needs the validation because since
receiving his tape I have been steadily writing to the return of sender address
from the back of his parcel with words of thanks, encouragement, questions, my
intentions and everything I tried saying that day back in the fruit and veggie
market but so far to absolutely no response. Maybe he just isn't taking me
seriously as I'm just a resident of Tauranga, I have no musical credentials or
credentials and sees me as a potential stalker that should not be too greatly
encouraged.

Now obviously you cannot make your own deductions on the questionable genius of
Rotate the Completor without first hearing him as I could be massively
delusional due to being starved for good local or contempory music. But there in
lies the problem all my attempts to create duplicates of his album have thus far
been met with resistance due to the sound quality or lack there of and it seems
somewhat dishonourable to copy his album without the permission I have asked for
in my unanswered entreaties anyway. But what I can suggest and this I can vouch
for is what one of the few people I have shown this album to who have
appreciated it has done and succeeded. My friend wrote to R.T.C requesting a
copy of his album but did so in a way that he'd be obligated to do so by sending
a blank audio tape with a stamped self addressed envelope big enough to carry a
cassette, which after a couple of weeks waiting he received along with the photo
copied cover and type written annotations that I had. If you wish to do this and
I hope I have been convincing enough that you will do so then send your stamped,
self addressed envelope, with I suggest a 90minute blank tape if you want the
reverse of the album as well to: Rotate the Completor, PO Box 2000, Tauranga,
New Zealand.

And if you do choose to do so and receive your copy please email me and tell me
that I am not imagining things and seeing what I want to see and that you too
enjoy it. And if you do then please pass this message on or tell as many other
like minded souls as you can because with enough numbers we may even be able to
convince R.T.C to come out from where ever he is hiding and start playing live
or at least explain some of the more troubling aspects of his music.

Thank you very much for taking the time and effort to read this and I look
forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Stan Ingham.'

Space G gets out of the Cramond clinic and strait into the music studio. This
video gives insight into the institutional system and his creativity. Love of
the synthesizer and rap grooves. His appearance on Australian Idol.

Watch video here http://vimeo.com/7722124

"Video of Tiny Tim performance mentioned in Pynchon's Inherent Vice."

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/20/video-of-tiny-tim-pe.html

Al

RAUDIO IIIII : now available for free download on the app store!

The Raudio IIIII application gives unlimited 24/7 streaming access to the
full collection of 5 years of Raudio's one pure sound thing web streams
(on any 3G network or wifi connection), including net sound classics like
Leif Inge's 9 Beet Stretch (a recording of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
digitally strectched with pitch correction to last for 24 hours), the
Sound Injury archives, leve ookoi!, Back to Berlin and many more.

The app was launched on friday november 13th in the Paradiso in
Amsterdam.

Quote from the Sandberg Institute's director and art tycoon Jos Houweling's
speech: "This first Dutch use of a device like the iPhone as a platform for
works of the art of sounds is a shake without precedent" ...

Thanks to the many artists that contributed their work to the 20 never-ending
web streams that now have come all together in a beautiful one-thing portable
app. Listen anytime, anywhere.

http://www.harsmedia.com/SoundBlog/Archief/00703.php

"It's all yours now ..."
Have a great day!
--
Harold Schellinx
http://www.harsmedia.com

Bret McCabe writes:

"Obscurity for its own sake does, whether record-nerd music heads want
to admit it or not, drive the appeal of some artists, albums, and
genres, and Jandek is the sort of artist who inspires obscurant
devotion because it's such a personal experience. As in, learning
about Jandek and listening to the music is an intimate, individual
odyssey, a music and fandom that inspires first-person essays that
start with first hearing/hearing about him ... "

http://www.citypaper.com/story.asp?id=19262

Al

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to
worry about answers."
Thomas Pynchon - Gravity's Rainbow

-----Original Message-----
>
>"With his fright wig tresses,rumpled Salvation Army duds, shopping
>bagful of sheet music and battered ukulele, no one ever fit in less
>than Tiny Tim. The consummate outsider, he nonetheless conquered the
>world with nothing but a head full of Rudy Vallee tunes and a
>proclivity for unprecedented shenanigans — his live-TV wedding
>ceremony on The Tonight Show pulled ratings no one has ever topped —
>and Tiny Tim navigated a tsunami of notoriety that ultimately left him
>a bereft castaway recalled only by a handful of equally offbeat
>acolytes."
>
>http://www.laweekly.com/2009-11-12/music/tiny-tim-returns/
>
>Al


And all "equally offbeat acolytes" need one of these:
http://drewfriedman.net/prints/tiny-tim.html
I gots mine & it is gorgeous!
Lou

"With his fright wig tresses,rumpled Salvation Army duds, shopping
bagful of sheet music and battered ukulele, no one ever fit in less
than Tiny Tim. The consummate outsider, he nonetheless conquered the
world with nothing but a head full of Rudy Vallee tunes and a
proclivity for unprecedented shenanigans — his live-TV wedding
ceremony on The Tonight Show pulled ratings no one has ever topped —
and Tiny Tim navigated a tsunami of notoriety that ultimately left him
a bereft castaway recalled only by a handful of equally offbeat
acolytes."

http://www.laweekly.com/2009-11-12/music/tiny-tim-returns/

Al

David Bowling writes:

"Tiny Tim is primarily remembered today for his falsetto hit “Tip-Toe
Thru’ The Tulips With Me” which was released in 1968. While considered
a novelty act for much of his career, he was actually an excellent
businessman, a student of early American music, and yes a tad eccentric.
Enter solo artist, producer, songwriter, and front man of the Bongos
Richard Barone, who in 1976 at the age of sixteen, managed to meet
Tiny Tim and convince him to give a concert in his hotel room for an
audience of three while he recorded it on his trusty cassette player.
The next day the ambitious sixteen year old booked an old studio in
Tampa and enticed him to record a few more songs. The tapes remained
unreleased for over three decades until now."

http://blogcritics.org/music/article/music-review-tiny-tim-ive-never/

Al

http://www.myspace.com/mondobongos

--- In outsidermusic@yahoogroups.com, "leercourtney" <lee@...> wrote:
>
> Looking to find some new ones for this year's festivities
> thanks
> Flee
>


Here's my "Sleeping Thru Xmas" :

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=137119&songID=924186

Adam Gold writes:

"When you're both a music writer and a performer in a town as
incestuous as Nashville, the occasional conflict of interest is
inevitable. In this week's print edition of the Scene, you may have
noticed this piece in the music section I wrote previewing the
legendarily mysterious outsider-folkie Jandek's first ever appearance
in Nashville. If you managed to make it to the show, then you might
have also noticed me playing drums for Jandek. I know how it looks.
You see, at the time I wrote the article I had no idea that, 48 hours
prior to the show, I would receive an invitation to provide percussive
services for the very artist I was writing about. Despite the obvious
conflict presented, I decided that--since I wrote the piece before
knowing I'd be involved in the show--this was a victimless breach of
my journalistic integrity, and that the opportunity to be one of the
few musicians to ever work professionally with Jandek was too unique
to pass up."

http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/2009/11/jandek_the_strangest_gig_\
ever.php

Al