Sorry folks... Is this now what you expected to see? Date: A While Ago From: A member of a famous rock-n-roll band... whose identity we'll protect... so, let's call the band The Rabbits... and this famous musician, Sniffle. To: the membrane domain Subject: Tristan Hi there.... I've got the coolest, killer guitar player / songwriter for you! He's the Guitar player for The Rabbits. He just signed management with my good buddy Sam (The biggest West Coast PR guy ever!) and has many major labels wanting him now! You must check out his site. I told him you would do a ROMBOX thing on him, like ya did for me. check it out:) Snif
Sniffle, should i go ahead with a site for em? Sniffle replies: of course!!!!!! twood be real cool! get back loretta
So, we do some simple pages to get it going... and the comments are encouraging: From: Sniffle To: the membrane domain Subject: romper room Hey there! Great job on Tristan! he he he ha ha ha Snif
In pursuit of some good content we write back: and, now i'm in search of music that has the 2 of ya playing on it.... is there any? cuz dat would we b kewl Sniffle replies: yeah....dat would we b kewl........but dere an't nutin' yet! maybe someday....... did ya ask tristan?
From: psehelp@lyonesse.membrane.com To: tristan Subject: yo hey there... i've been workin' with Sniffle we have a site up for ya at http://rombox.com/tristan/ for now, it's sort-of a mirror to your other site... however; we'd like to do some kewl stuph if it's all right with you? like... lots of sound clips... can you mail me anything in digital format... like a cd or dat? also, some interview sorts of things might be swell for in our on-line zine -- (The Rock N' Roll Romper Room) ... if'n ya start emailin' me, i can turn it into webpages just let me know?
To: psehelp@lyonesse.membrane.com From: tristan Subject: Re: yo Hi there, what an unexpected pleasure. By all means, I would actually rather have it completely different instead of a rough analog of my site. the site really doesn't make much sense w/o external links, sound files, loops etc. I don't know what browser you're using but there's a lot more going on there than meets the eye. There are certain key things that bother me too, like the fact that you changed "abduction 'dream'?" to "Alien Abduction" with capital letters. I never wanted to give the impression I was claiming to have had an actual "experience". As much as I appreciate what you've done, it was done w/o my permission and I feel a little weird about it. I would rather take it down and put up some stuff that is unavailable on my site, like RealAudio, LiquidAudio, ShockWave or something like that. For that matter, I think LiquidAudio lets you download full-length CD-quality songs - if you know how to set it up (I don't) and have the credit-card stuff worked out we could actually make some money here... An interview would be great... tell you what, I'll send you a bio and then you can email me and start firin' away w/ the questions... Thanks. - T We write back: cool... and yeah, i'm sorry if their were changes... i didn't do the work myself... a vol un tear did (i was unaware of any changes?) so, we can fixer up... and yeah, makin' sum money down da road ain't a bad idea, either and sorry about da feeling weird thingie - "As much as I appreciate what you've done, it was done w/o my permission and I feel a little weird about it." but i thought we had your permission... that's why we did it? just wanna make sure we are gettin' off on da right foot.... Sniffle had emailed me sumpin' about puttin' ya up... it was a while a go... coupla months i think (we've been busy...hehehe) so anyhoo... lets rock n' roll?
To: psehelp@lyonesse.membrane.com From: tristan Subject: Re: yo Status: RO Hi, (what's yer name, anyhoo?) I visited your site and am thrilled to be a part of it. I am particularly excited about the prospect of doing an interview. I attach a press release in HTML to give us some starting points for discussion. >snif had emailed me sumpin' about puttin' ya up... >it was a while a go... coupla months i think (we've >been busy...hehehe) I was just taken off-guard, is all. Sniffle mentioned Rombox to me and said he knew a guy with a RealAudio server he wanted to hook me up with, but I guess we both got busy and just forgot about it. Be sure to include a mailing address in your reply so I can send you a tape - that way we both know what the hell we're talking about. I will be in L.A. next week and can be reached at the xxxxxxx hotel under my full name: Tristan blahblah. Thanks - T
To: the membrane domain From: tristan Subject: preliminary questions/responses HI, I'm getting some cd's done - as soon as I have them I'll send you one. As for the questions, I'll try to answer them. I'm not that interested in talking about guitars or guitar playing anymore - when you hear my stuff you'll understand why. It is really a lot more song & vocal/lyric oriented - that stuff is just a lot more interesting and challenging for me these days. That's what I'd *prefer* to talk about - I'm kind of over being a riff jockey. But like I said, when you get the stuff it will make sense - there *is* some hairy guitar playing but it's mostly about the songs... 1) how many guitars do you own A)About 8. 2) which is your favorite A) The Anderson and the Les Paul are my recording guitars. They sound great. Live, I use an assortment of cheap ones because I am much too violent - I get carried away and try to get a piece of a monitor, a side fill or somebody's head. (Long Live Sid!) I also have a guitar signed by 3 members of Marilyn Manson (Marilyn, Twiggy Ramirez and Madonna Wayne Gacy). But that's a story in itself... 3) who's borrowed guitar have you enjoyed playing the most A) Well, it's not a guitar story, but I played John Lennon's Mellotron once at the old Record Plant. Only the flute sound worked, and only in 1 octave, but it was just enough to play the intro to "Strawberry Fields" - believe me, it made your hair stand on end. The only guitar that I still get upset about was a '61 Lake Placid Blue strat that was magic - it was alive in my hands. I think that one is now in some fucking yuppie collector's vault along with 1,000 other guitars that will never again see the light of day... 4) we've a friend on tour with the G3 (robert fripp, steve via, and joe satriani) Do you know any of these guys? A) I took lessons from Steve as a kid. I got him for $10 an hour... (PS: if you want to ask about my influences they are Adrian Belew, Mick Ronson, Page Hamilton and Steve Jones...) 5) picks... what are you thoughts on playing with a pick? i prefer to play without one... just using the fingers... how about you? A) I know that's how Beck does it..(i.e. Jeff Beck, not Beck Hansen). He does amazing things w/o one. I myself am too much of a spaz... BTW I saw Beck (Hansen) on SNL last night and he was great...What an incredible performer. 6) it's evident that you play a wide range of styles... when you're sittin' alone pickin' an acoustical, what style comes out? A) Hopefully, fully realized songs, with lyrics and everything. That's how most of the good stuff is written...on my bed with an acoustic. I frequently use weird tunings to break out of a rut. Sometimes I play a form of mutant bastard ragtime, solely for yuks... 7) what are you thoughts on Yoko Ono? A) I never really "got" her as an artist, but she & John had a true partnership and I respect that as I respect anything John had a hand in. ------------------------------------------------------------------ "Look out honey, 'cause I'm usin' technology..." Iggy Pop, "Search & Destroy"
Then we turn the interview into webpages and let Tristan know: hey there... hi there... and ho there i've worked up an "innerview" page... it's linked in from http://membrane.com/rrguide.html it's also under http://rombox.com/tristan/ (until we gather more content) hope its ok for ya? i'll be back to da innerview stage II, too... heehe... II too... dats kinda funny... you don't do ballet do ya?
Everything appears to be going fine when Tristan replies: Hey man. Pretty cool, I like the purple background. How about linking to my page? I'll link to yours.... - T
Meanwhile, we keep working with Sniffle: Sniffle, long time no here... what it b? i've been doin' sum stuph with tristan your pages are gettin' hammered... i'd say at least one hit a minute... From: Sniffle Subject: Re: hey there WOW! GOOD TO SEE FROM YA! I've been real busy Rabbitin' and Doctorin' Is there a chance you can put up REAL AUDIO on my songs as well? It takes so long to down load those big files!!!!!! Thanks for doin' that stuff for Tristan.....real cool! BTW...we both would like to know how you're able to get so many listings on search engines! Tristan and I both used submit it, etc. but Rombox/membrane/ have eight billion listings to our one or two! How the hell do ya do that??????
After a couple more months go by and the CD / tapes of music never arrive, we write again to Tristan and receive the following: To: the membrane domain From: tristan Subject: Re: yo Hi. Thanks for staying on it. My CD guy is away in Vermont (grrrrrrrrrr...) I should have them in a couple of days... Could you maybe take my last name off the page? I prefer to be known professionally only by my first name... Thanks. -T
More time passes... To: psehelp@lyonesse.membrane.com From: tristan Dude, I just visited my rombox page and I noticed that there is no link to my page. As your page comes up first on many search engines, many people may not even know that my page exists! I have a link to your site on my page, could you *please** reciprocate. Thanks in advance, - T
At this time we get into a conversation about the problems that are created by this types of links. In particular, that the volunteer cooperative that donated their efforts in building the Tristan pages has to maintain hundreds of thousands of links. And, that we feared the longevity of Tristan. Here's what happened next: If you can't link the page to my site, it's a dead end. Just take it down. Sadly, - T
tristan, yipes... hate to see that happen... its had such a good response let me ask da bossmen what to do? it might help if i could assure them of the likelihood that the site will live forever... that is why they are reluctant to put in da links... cuz the other end often turns into a deadend
Dooode... First of all merry Xmas and all that good stuff... sorry I didn't get back earlier, I was on vacation.... OK, maybe I'm overreacting. I'd hate to have to take it down too. However, the possibility that my site will move is not a good enough reason not to provide a link. The web is, and hopefully will always be about links. If "da boss" doesn't see it that way then his site is not a living part of the cyberspace community. It's a dead end already. It's every webmaster's responsibility to occasionally check his links to see if they have changed or become inactive and update them accordingly. I've been doing this for 4 years. In addition, I always inform anyone who links to me of any address changes and also re-register the site with as many search engines as possible. Thanks, let me know how it turns out - T
... several letters go back in forth while we set-up a link to "your" site ... followed by several letters about how much money, time and materials are spent on the artists by the volunteers. so, we try to explain what we're about: we are a cooperative of musicians and artists... that like to have sum phun doing business 1) we can include your work on promo pieces. at the moment this includes: experiments with cdroms, dvd, audio cd's, vhs and cassette tapes. the promo's are meant to create networking and exposure opportunities most importantly, the experiments exposure you to new friends that will be collaborating on the projects 2) there are joint venture opportunities... our latest project can be found at http://rombox.com/cd/ with joint ventures, the artists agree on ownership terms for a project... then, manufacturing, distribution and marketing teams go to work on making it happen 3) *our main thrust is in multimedia productions* other opportunities are available with video, etc. in fact, the name rombox comes from the stacks of cdrom players we have serving music projects over the net (see http://membrane.com/video/) ...the possibilities seem endless the catch is: we don't need no stinkin' slackers there is no magical internet fairy that makes it all happen.... all the artists work together to make shit happen... like a team are you hip? daniel
Daniel, I'm hip. Since I 've already quit drugs, alcohol, smoking, and eating meat, my new year's resolution is to stop being a jerk to people who are trying to help me. I have to admit that when I saw the kewl spelling stuph I was less inclined to take you seriously. (At this point, anyone can put up a website - the Internet is full of people in home-movie/public - access cable mode.) Perhaps I'm overly protective of the way my work and my image are presented. That was one of the things that attracted me to the Web in the first place - the way an artist can control his/her own "exposure". However, anyone who can marshal the kind of resources you are talking about deserves respect - you could be speaking fugging Esperanto for all I care. And it sounds like you doing some really kewl stuph. ;-) I've been on the Web for about 4 years - in fact I had one of the first Internet musician's contact services. I'm no code genius, but I write well (see this month's issue of Beats online music zine) and have some ideas about how the medium can be used, particularly to benefit artists. How can I get more involved? Thanks - T
so, we say: well, its funny you should mention "control his/her own 'exposure'" and "marshal the kind of resources" in the same paragraph perhaps this will be an opportunity for you to get more involved? did ya notice in any of those emails... that we're workin' on some team projects... and of particular coincidence is one of the themes being explored: Man as individuals vs. Man as an organism we appear to be on the threshold of a microcosm... control own 'exposure' vs. marshal combined resources? maybe you/us can write sumpin' up about this... there's lots of different angles.... the traditional - musician vs music industry something new - the musician vs combined "low level" resources (this could lead to political debate eg communism, etc.) something bigger - individual freedom vs what is better for the group my purpose would be at least 3 fold: 1) have a way to explain to interested artists what being part of the Membrane Domain is about 2) fit it in with the overall team project (i can send ya more info on that if ya like) 3) gain an audience what do ya think?
followed by prolonged silence...
then more silence... still no CD of music... still no written content... then... To: The Membrane Domain From: tristan Subject: legal action Dear Sirs, Please remove all of these pages from your website. They are outdated, they come up first (before my official webpage) in searches for my name on most search engines and you do not have my permission to use the material. In short, you are in copyright violation and are subject to legal action. http://membrane.com/rombox/tristan/index2.html http://membrane.com/rombox/tristan/begin.html http://lyonesse.membrane.com/rombox/tristan/rrinter.html http://membrane.com/rombox/tristan/itinerar.html Thank you. -Tristan Avakian
so, sorry folks... the page you expected to see no longer lives here.