Walls Of Genius Catalogue #2
the Brand of the Bozo Oct./Nov. 1983
The title page of “Brand Of The Bozo” features two funny face drawings I made, one of which, the pointy pinheaded face, became an iconic image for Walls of Genius. We made some prototype t-shirts with this guy on them, but never pursued the marketing of them. [Editor's Note: I have two of them!] The other fellow looks like a loony professor in a smoking jacket, with a wiggly cigarette hanging out of his mouth. These were just doodles that I appropriated for the use of the catalogs. The title of the catalog continues the alliterative theme that had been used on several of the early cassettes, following up on the “Mark Of The Moron”.
Page 2 is my spiel as “Head Moron”. This was written originally in India ink with a Speedball ink-nib. That was how I drew the faces also (or re-drew them from original pencil or pen doodles). This is the usual stuff about how you were chosen to receive this gift, the items within being described as “self explanatory, self-indulgent and self-effacing.” I tell the reader that they can either discard the thing or send it to their congressman. This presages the political material that pops up in the later music. I tell the reader, “don’t ask questions, just read the damned thing!”
Page 3 features reviews; The Many Faces Of Mr. Morocco is reviewed by Robin James in the "Castanets" column of the “T” issue of Op, listed as “Lost Music Network’s Independent Music Magazine”, Nov-Dec 1983. Within this review, he mentions listening to Almost Groovy! and Little Victor Meets Violent Vince, plus he mentions having received a WoG Certificate Of Genius. Another review is from Objekt #4, August 1983, of Sunday, Monday Or Always! A third review is from the Alaskan zine Warning, from Sept-Oct 1983, of Sunday, Monday Or Always”. I cut-and-paste these things over a black-box background, put in a picture of a monkey playing with a doll and then one of my own drawings, an atomic bomb mushroom cloud with a peace sign on it. The legend reads “Peace Through SUICIDE”, a line that would reappear later with images of Ronald Reagan, the war-mongering cold warrior President at the time.
Little Fyodor adds:
Slight correction. The paragraph that reviews both Almost Groovy! and Little Victor was written by Graham Ingels, the usual Castanets reviewer (Robin James was a guest reviewer). Also worth noting within that paragraph is that Op Magazine editor John Foster cuts in to say that HE TOO received a Certificate of Genius, which he wants people to know was "signed by bla bla Head Moron"!
Little Fyodor adds:
Slight correction. The paragraph that reviews both Almost Groovy! and Little Victor was written by Graham Ingels, the usual Castanets reviewer (Robin James was a guest reviewer). Also worth noting within that paragraph is that Op Magazine editor John Foster cuts in to say that HE TOO received a Certificate of Genius, which he wants people to know was "signed by bla bla Head Moron"!
Page 4 is the “catalog” of cassettes available, with descriptions. This is dated Oct/Nov 1983. We brag about making “real time dubs” and encourage the reader to make his or her “lucky purchase”.
Page 5 is a collage of flyers for live Walls of Genius performance. There is Strange Rituals at the Back Of The Hand Studio, Runaway Trucks at the Brillig Works, The Flaming Jerks at the Brillig and Jingle Balls at The Brillig. Jingle Balls never happened, it was somehow cancelled by the Brillig. Maybe they’d had enough of our shenanigans. Rituals and Trucks both featured my drawing of a flying saucer attacking the mesa just east of Eldorado Springs. Jerks featured my caricatures of David, Ed and myself.
Page 6 is a full-page comic that I drew, “Story #1, Ed buys a copy of 1984”. The year 1984 was looming and we had all grown up reading George Orwell’s classic dystopian tale 1984. Well, Orwell had the year wrong, but he had the dystopian future correct. The comic features caricatures of Ed, David (Fyodor) and myself. I tell Ed that 1984 is about a paradise on earth, with dancing hula girls, big smokin’ joints and free money. David tells him about the horrifying reality of death bombs and Big Brother. His tale features a nuclear power cooling tower with the name “Coors” on it. Coors was brewed just down the road in Golden, Colorado, and they were famously conservative, pals of Ronald Reagan and his crew. Ed finally decides that it “sounds like a shitty story, ah, fuckit, who cares, what’s for lunch?” This cartoon is one of the early efforts to create three separate personas for the “genii” behind Walls Of Genius.
Page 7 is a whole bunch of comments (in this order) about Walls of Genius music:
Call-in Listener, KGNU Public Radio
Brian’s Friend (likely a friend of Brian Kraft, an acquaintance of David’s)
Rough Trade (we had sent them a tape, they declined to sign us)
A. Dumont, Overseer of Master Bedroom Music (fellow underground participants)
Mom (my mother, Ellen Cantor)
S.F., Wayside Music (a prog-rock mail catalog that we hoped would carry our product, they did not)
Ralph Records (the famous label of the Residents, they declined to sign us)
R.C. Hill (Robert Hill, a friend of mine from 1st Virginia Bank in Falls Church, VA, where I worked before moving to Boulder)
B.F. Own The Whole World (underground zine)
Objekt (underground zine)
John Jones of 100 Flowers (a junior high school buddy who started L.A. punk band the Urinals and moved on to 100 Flowers)
J. Klinck (a TKE, fraternity brother to both myself and David)
Dr. Demento (we all know who he is!)
Rhino Records (they declined to sign us)
Warning (underground zine)
R.F. [Richard Franecki] Uddersounds (underground zine)
Graham Ingels, Op Magazine (one of the high-end underground mags)
Then follows another spiel featuring a lot of comic hyperbole, including the phrase “Walls Of Genius Musikmadness”. There is reference to the different sides of what we were doing, from going over “the rainbow of foolishness” to “experimenting with sound wherever we may find it”.
Call-in Listener, KGNU Public Radio
Brian’s Friend (likely a friend of Brian Kraft, an acquaintance of David’s)
Rough Trade (we had sent them a tape, they declined to sign us)
A. Dumont, Overseer of Master Bedroom Music (fellow underground participants)
Mom (my mother, Ellen Cantor)
S.F., Wayside Music (a prog-rock mail catalog that we hoped would carry our product, they did not)
Ralph Records (the famous label of the Residents, they declined to sign us)
R.C. Hill (Robert Hill, a friend of mine from 1st Virginia Bank in Falls Church, VA, where I worked before moving to Boulder)
B.F. Own The Whole World (underground zine)
Objekt (underground zine)
John Jones of 100 Flowers (a junior high school buddy who started L.A. punk band the Urinals and moved on to 100 Flowers)
J. Klinck (a TKE, fraternity brother to both myself and David)
Dr. Demento (we all know who he is!)
Rhino Records (they declined to sign us)
Warning (underground zine)
R.F. [Richard Franecki] Uddersounds (underground zine)
Graham Ingels, Op Magazine (one of the high-end underground mags)
Then follows another spiel featuring a lot of comic hyperbole, including the phrase “Walls Of Genius Musikmadness”. There is reference to the different sides of what we were doing, from going over “the rainbow of foolishness” to “experimenting with sound wherever we may find it”.