Very Biblical and American at the Same Time!

The following is an excerpt of an email sent from Will to Art on 1 January 2015. It should be noted that, since 1 November 2014, all Art's emails have originated from Farthington's account.


"Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, MMA-NYC, 1851" by Emanuel Leutze - The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Bullet points of serendipity suggest rightness.

Absolutely, the Concert has become Arthur's dome in air. This meshes somewhat well with Farthington, although this is not some mythical location in the Far East, but one that is, at least according to our recent exchanges, the essential source and summit of the White American Dream in its inchoate, primordial, inarticulate form.

I agree that this could be a 1976/2016, always/never, show/not-a-show. I do like the Fr. Bernard frame story ("Thank you all for coming in support of Arthur's healing and wholeness," directly addressing the actual audience before the show begins) as our innocent-enough introduction to the larger conceit.

Could we do a series of these concerts leading up to the 40 year anniversary, 2016? Very biblical and American at the same time!

I like the 60's Hamlet idea, but I was, in part, cutting costs with the straightforward approach. I did want reality set up by Fr. Bernard at the beginning to break down in one or more ways, though, so we can go that route.

Other ideas to share:

• I want a cheap program made for the show, with various diegetical/exegetical/fake biographical things included in its pages. One that I have clearly visualized is "Fr. Bernard's Corner" or "Chaplain's Corner" (scrawled in horrible with Blackadder font, perhaps with Comic Sans as the body font) where we let Father write a page of whatever he wants about the show. He obviously has some understanding of the show idea that resonates with him religiously. In some way, his is just one interpretation among many, but I do want to give him a couple spots within the overall experience that give him and his viewpoint some primacy (another one that I'm fantasizing is a closing prayer!). Other things would be a page calling for benefactors, guarantors, volunteers, etc. We could even potentially sell some advertising space to defray the cost. And by "sell," I want us to ideally take the approach of "Could you buy my costume, a straitjacket, a set of related props, scrubs for the orderlies, etc?" remembering that people prefer providing things not money.

• I want to enable a social media explosion, especially from members of the band. At the first meeting (after prayer, of course), I want to have everyone get Twitter, Instagram, and Vine on their phones. Whenever there is a spare moment to tweet (Twitter), to take a picture (Twitter or Instagram), or shoot a video (Instagram or Vine), I want us to do that, whether together or alone. Who knows, maybe it may even get built into the payout algorithm. In the show's program, I want to give people the Twitter hashtag #ConcertforIceland to allow them to do the same. Father Bernard can even make mention of this in his opening monologue: "Photographs with a vintage filter, in particular, will go a long way toward convincing Arthur that this actually happened" (Twitter has actually added a bunch of filters to compete with Instagram).

• A good money-making side thing might be a Concert for Iceland t-shirt drive. There are a lot of these sites out there nowadays, and it seems like a much better alternative to your usual Kickstarter. I was thinking black t-shirts with text like "Who is Arthur White?" or "Will is the finisher" or "Carlton Farthington died in the tunnels" or "Tough as Kryystyylzz" with an appropriate stylized photo. On the back, Concert for Iceland tour dates (which would be primarily locations in Iceland, I suppose, maybe kicking off in Tokyo, hitting Rome, Oslo, Detroit--the biggies). Do we have anyone who we could talk to about design? I have a pretty clear idea of the look.

Here's a couple of ideas I had for the show itself:

After Father's explanatory intro, orderlies wheel me in, shaved head, unshaven beard in a straitjacket. As I get closer, I dive onto the stage, roll around, get up, trying to free myself. Orderlies tackle me, lift me up and place me before the microphone à la this iconic moment with David Bowie and Klaus Nomi on Saturday Night Live (by the way, check out some more Klaus Nomi if you haven't). Start undoing the shackles as I sing. They first of all tighten some ridiculously loose pants. I've got some other things that make me a patchwork of mismatched motley particolored patterns (I guess identifying me as high jester or Lord of Misrule). They put a ridiculous winter hat on my head, which I promptly take off and throw at you (hat motif: Will's attempts to comfort, confine Arthur's mind; rationalism in general, etc.).

At some point after that first song, I realize that it's really Rustyy Kryystyylzz over at the other microphone. I edge over there and have a loud, funny, whispered conversation with him into the microphone with an excessive amount of heavy breathing, plosive pops, and saliva. "Where'd they pick you up?" "You look perfect." "Why'd they dress me like this?" "Why are the band members dressed like orderlies?" Until someone says, "We can hear you! You're talking into the microphone!" I want a very West African/postmodern aesthetic that always seeks to make the listener aware of the instrument (as opposed to the European aesthetic, which tries to make as little of it as possible).

With the Farthington encounter, much later in the show, I want whoever that is to wander in and have a conversation with Arthur, either as the band members pretend to play on silently or go into some strange interlude. I would like someone to actually do the live text-to-voice typing and have that conversation be somewhat scripted but improvised. Essentially, we need to communicate some of what has happened to Farthington since the failed Concert for Iceland. Perhaps there is a shifting of text-to-voice personas until Farthington settles on a female voice and reveals herself as Steffi. I think this would be a good time for the obligatory Arthur leaving the building moment, walking out hand in hand with the Sea Demon.

This may be near the end, and as Arthur climbs up on the nearest pillar-type thing. Perhaps this is when Fr. Bernard does his closing prayer. Then, we can all run back in for a smashing finale (a reprise of the end of "Agniezscka's Song" or "The Ladder"?).

One last thought re: multiple shows. Were we to have them, I think we should build in some variations that would occur from show to show. Perhaps we could have more than one Rustyy Kryystyylzz (e.g. Russ and your cousin). Perhaps we could play a slightly different list of songs, swapping out 2 or 3 each time from a total of about 15. We could also identify a few other areas that could easily be shifted from show to show. Especially if there are plot elements that we disagree about, would these be opportunities for having multiple story lines?

As for practicing, we'll have to identify the personnel. Maybe the band can plan a big vacation weekend up at your place in early summer!