The Residents took the Theory of Obscurity to its logical conclusion when they allegedly recorded Not Available in 1974 with the intention of not releasing it. Placed in storage to be issued when no one remembered it, contractual obligations forced its release in 1978 after the band had almost forgotten about it. The Residents were unbothered by this deviation from their plan since the 1978 decision to release the album couldn't affect the philosophical conditions under which it was recorded in 1974.
I love this. From the Wikipedia entry on the Residents. I used to have their Meet the Residents and Duck Stab on LP and I can't believe I sold them. This whole article on Wikipedia about them is very good -- there's some rather droll writing.
The style, or lack thereof, of Wikipedia is interesting, and something I've never given thought to. What do you think the style is? Most articles read with what Ben Yagoda would call a "middle style" -- a functional language that would not be out of place on a newscast or in an in-flight magazine. Very few have a distinctive voice (not unlike the writers at the Washington Post). I wonder why this is. Do they start out with the middle style or get moderated to that point by successive edits?
"J. D. and Claire were initiated into this path of Kriya yoga in a small Hindu temple in a lower-middle class neighborhood of Washington, DC." That's from the Wikipedia entry on J.D. Salinger. I wonder if this structure still remains in D.C., and if we can put a plaque on it, in the shape of a bananafish, honoring Mr. S.
Dang. This Green Flash IPA is really good.
Posted by nedlog at June 18, 2006 9:51 PM | TrackBack