Doctor Nerve - The Monkey Farm  
Doctor Nerve - The Monkey Farm, CD art you know......just as an aside to that joke and without dwelling on the maudlin aspects, because my dad was one of the town drunks, he often took me to this really cheap dive of a bar where he drank with indigent guys and the owner of the bar had a monkey that he kept chained at the bar, a little spider monkey, and the guys at the bar would feed it olives and pickles and peanuts and stuff....the bar was really awful and was called the Saybrook Inn but everybody in town disparagingly called it "the monkey farm" as a slap at the patrons...

We are saddened to learn of Charles O'Meara's passing. Peace.

The creative relationship between Nick Didkovsky (Doctor Nerve, Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, Bone) and Charles O'Meara, aka CW Vrtacek (Forever Einstein, Chris Cutler, Biota) dates back almost 30 years. The Monkey Farm is fueled by this long standing partnership, bringing together O'Meara's writing and Didkovsky's composition.

The Monkey Farm is Didkovsky's musical setting for O'Meara's stories. Framed by razor sharp conducted improvisation performed by the legendary and incorruptible band Doctor Nerve, these short, vivid, darkly funny recollections of O'Meara's childhood are read by theatre director Valeria Vasilevski (known for her extreme work with Diamanda Gallas among others). Real-time voice warping using special software designed by Phil Burk, Robert Marsanyi, and Didkovsky, colors the performance, which at times invokes the spirits of Captain Beefheart, John Cage, and David Sedaris.

Available on Bandcamp and iTunes Music Store!

Completely true, non-fiction, (ie this stuff really happened to him) stories by Charles O'Meara
Uber-kompositional concept & strategic implementation by Nick Didkovsky

Performed heroically by Doctor Nerve:
Greg Anderson - electric bass
Leo Ciesa - drums
Nick Didkovsky - tabletop guitar, conducting
Yves Duboin - soprano sax
Rob Henke - trumpet
Michael Lytle - bass clarinet
Kathleen Supove - laptop
with Valeria Vasilevski - narration
Voice warping software: Nick Didkovsky, Phil Burk, and Robert Marsanyi using JMSL and JSyn
Interpreter: Bill Moody (American Sign Language)

Additional funds for the premiere performance heard on this CD were provided by The Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts

Read the full text of The Monkey Farm stories on O'Meara's blog here

Live excerpts from premiere performance (Roulette May 4, 2001, rough mix of the new CD)


 

Punos Music