Mayday this is Echo Hotel

I guess I should add some updates for anyone who still reads this, or might come to it independently. It’s been over a year since we moved back to Iowa, though I haven’t actually been physically here for a full year. So the Iowa fall/winter period is still an unknown factor for me, or at least a distant memory. A distant memory that soon becomes an unavoidable reality, like “mowing the lawn” did for me this summer, after at least 3 decades of never having to think of such indignity. I guess “clearing the sidewalk” is next.

     Another memory from back then was of hearing this one song on the radio, A LOT. I assumed it was just part of the eternal classic rock heavy rotation everywhere, like Golden Earring’s Twilight Zone, with which it shares a similarly eerie, melodramatic vibe.

As it turns out, the song probably only got played a lot in Iowa (for reasons to become obvious), and maybe only during a short time period. My wife, who also grew up here, doesn’t remember hearing it at all. It’s by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band - yes that band, the one responsible for “revved up like a douchin’ of a rubber in the night” and some other airplay cringers, like For You, which is off the same album as this one song, this suppressed childhood radio memory that started boring into my brain like the Wrath of Khan earworm once I realized I was going to be living in Iowa again: “Stranded”.

It’s got some neat effects and that great recording of a British broadcaster reciting weather info, which totally undercuts the notion of being in Iowa. But hey, it sounds cool and spooky, like coming across a shortwave numbers station. The original version of Stranded is a very different-sounding song by Mike Heron of Incredible String Band, which I guess he wrote while stranded in Iowa, if you can believe that.
     Anyway, I want the MMEB version of Stranded to be my new theme music. I mean, don’t ya think this whole internet space is sorta like, oh I dunno, an "Echo Hotel” of sorts? Don’tcha though? Yeah.  And I think I’m gonna start signing off as "Charlie Delta" from now on. Fuck, I miss doing pirate radio.

     The truth is, though, I don’t feel very stranded here, at least not yet. I never felt that whole “Land of Entrapment” thing in New Mexico either. I simply adjust, for better or worse, just like that frog in the pot of water, snark snark. Cynicism aside, my adjustments to Iowa have been pretty agreeable so far. I keep coming across people and places that welcome what I’ve got to offer. 

     Early on, I got a few opportunities to spin records and even do some projections at the Ideal Theater, jumping on a record night there hosted by DJ Mike of Mt. Vernon’s Hilltop Plants & Records. I met some good people there, such as sound man about town Tyson, Ideal owner Kenyon, and consummate pro DJ Commando.

     I also came across a thing called Iowa City Video Zine. I went down a few times and met some of the folks involved, and we got on great. 

A couple of my video clips were included in their season finale episode, and I later got to take over Public Space One’s Close House with projectors and monitors, playing my video mixes for ICVZ’s all-day Open Source exhibit.

It was really fun, and such a joy to see so many creative weirdos still active in the town where I started to spread my wings back in the '90s. I got to interact with some other folks such as DJs driftloess, pronoia, and the Miss Video 4U crew from NY. MV4U are carrying on the work started by Miranda July with the Big Miss Moviola/ Joanie4Jackie project, only using flash drives instead of VHS tapes.

     Things really picked up when I started a weekly DJ residency for almost 4 months at CSPS Hall, during their summer Sunday Social. I spun vinyl for up to 4 hour sets, and really got to sprawl out musically. My occasional DJ partner Unhinged even joined me once while he was out on tour. There were often musical guests, and I particularly enjoyed meeting the guys from SunPot (hardest working jam band in town) and Haakon (MN free range electronica). There are some great folks on the CSPS staff, and I also met a number of fascinating local scenesters doing rad things in various circles, including (but not limited to) Mel Andringa and Nate Eduskate.

     During this residency I also started collecting contacts for a number of locals interested in regular underground film nights at CSPS, and we’ve been hosting a Midweek Film Club every 2-3 weeks for a few months now. Definitely inspired by the weekly WTF Mystery Movie Night in ABQ, I’m trying to program as wide a range of eye-catching and mind-opening videos as I can manage. I’m still using with the "mystery movie” format, only providing a few clues prior to each event.

Here’s the list so far, of our Cedar Rapids Secret Cinema Speakeasy screenings:

• Suzan Pitt’s Aparagus (1978 short), followed by the classic 1973 animation, Fantastic Planet
• Blindspotting (2018, produced by/starring Rafael Casale and Daveed Diggs of Clipping)
• Paul Bartel’s lost final film, Shelf Life (1993)
• Bruce McDonald's Pontypool (2008)
• a curated program of short films about street performance & movement art, including Pie Fight ’69, Thoth, and DV8’s The Cost of Living
• Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space (2002 anime)
• next up is two nights of Halloween-themed programming at the end of the month. I’m geeked!

I had a pretty cool temp job at Half Price Books during this time too, just wading through the endless river of media that flows through there daily. I managed to snag some great stuff too, many thanks to employee discount:

• Tinariwen - Aman Iman
• Herbie Hancock - Man-Child
• Luther Allison - Bad News is Comin’
• Bohannon - Summertime Groove 
• Ibibio Sound Machine - Uyai
• Sam & Dave - Keep A Walkin’
• a compilation of early Sun Ra stuff
• Pye Corner Audio - The Spiral 10”
• Average White Band - Pick Up the Pieces 7”
• Tonight it’s a World We Bury: Black Metal, Red Politics by Bill Peel
• The Museum of Lost Wonder by Jeff Hoke, collecting all of these brilliant zines in one book
• The Cosmic Serpent: DNA & the Origins of Knowledge by Jeremy Narby
• Spain in our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 by Adam Hochschild
• Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black & White, Body and Soul in American Music by Ann Powers
• Flickipedia: Perfect Films for Every Occasion, Holiday, Mood, Ordeal and Whim by Michael Atkinson & Laurel Shifrin. I’ve wanted a copy of this ever since I found it working at the San Pedro branch library.
• and DVDs! some Masters of Horror shorts, Alex de la Iglesia’s Dia de la Bestia and Dying of Laughter (finally, proper copies!), Freejack (woof!), an art doc that I’ll mention later, The House of Yes (which I was turned onto courtesy of a WTF latenight screening), and Dr. Strangelove (how have I never had a copy until now?)

...and several more that I’m forgetting. I wish I could’ve stayed on, but the summer rush was all they needed me for. Now I’m trying to get a job at the library.
I’d be remiss if I forgot to mention the Analog Vault, another great source for my vinyl addiction. I’ve gotten too many great records from there to even list right now. They’re in the same building as CSPS, and again, Good People.
We also gradually got to know these very positive, gentle folks who operate an artist space called Tree of Liminality. Astrid & I both put artwork in re:imagine, their recent group show focused on “influence, imitation, and artistic lineage” - or, in my case, collage work. I then got to set up a screening at T. of L. for a documentary about legendary collage artist Lance Letscher (and another artist short to start off), as the first of hopefully many more Art Film Nights there.

It’s been a pretty good first 8 months, settling into a whole new life back in the midwest. This post just covers part of it, but that’s enough for now.
I’m still not sure how I’m gonna use this blog from here on out, but I guess I’ll at least post about upcoming events. Hope you enjoy it; reach out if you feel called to.

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Seeya somewhere soon!

Support Love & Good People; practice self-expression.

Plant the seeds and they will grow.

- Charlie Delta