mr timothy of dickeyville

Incised Lines

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 10:48:56 +1000

Incised Lines is a “visual score” for Percy Grainger’s “Electric Eye Tone Tool.” I produced graphite rubbings directly from chisel-cut sandstone in The Rocks district of Sydney. The “electric eyes” of the instrument read the differences between marked and unmarked areas in the rubbings, sensing the mallet and chisel blows of long dead masons, sounding their labor. Variations in the graphite rubbings of the score are translated to shifts in pitches, stereo placement and volume.

I have produced two scores for the “Electric Eye Tone Tool”, as the instrument has been recreated and programmed by the composer Warren Burt. Incised Lines: Dawes Point will debut in a concert at the Illawarra Institute of Technology, 4 June 2007 at 7:00 PM. Dawes Point is evoked in the programming, with gradually shifting tones that call to mind the tide and wind.

Convict stonemasons shaped sandstone into architectural elements that are varied in surface effects, and which continue to serve as direct transcriptions of hard physical labor and artistry. The basic tools for shaping stone have remained nearly unchanged for centuries: mallet, chisels, and straight edge. With these tools stonemasons interpreted the plans (or scores) of Penal Colony period architects, such as the transported forger Francis Greenway. Many fine examples of the masons’ handiwork exist in The Rocks district, and I selected colonial period sites at Dawes Point and the Argyle Cut to poduce rubbings.

Only a handful of Francis Greenway’s structures survive to this day, and for Incised Lines: Dawes Point, I produced a rubbing from a Greenway designed gun battery that was rediscovered near one of the footings of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The Argyle Cut is a deep rock passage, providing a direct connection between Millers Point and The Rocks. The daunting rock ridge was first cut in 1843 with convict workers employing hand tools. After their effort ground to a halt, the excavation was finally completed in 1867/1868 with explosives.

I first imagined producing this sort of score when visiting Port Arthur, Tasmania, where I observed that convict produced buildings were covered in a complex relief of chisel marks that resembled percussion music.

Photos by Janet Swaim and Mr. Timothy. All gratitude to Warren Burt.

Kingsford Smith International Airport

Thu, 17 May 2007 12:33:37 +1000

My work at Botany Bay has included numerous visits to Sydney Airport, formally known as Kingsford Smith International Airport, and to many Sydneysiders as Mascot. The airport is the busiest in Australia, handling in excess of 30 million passengers in 2006. Jutting into Botany Bay are two runways, easily visible from satellite images, which have transformed the hydrology of the bay.

In this image a 747 taxis along runway 34L, visually merging with the towering cranes of Port Botany. A stone groin protects the runway margin from erosion by the forces of the bay, but also redirects the wave energy of the system, eroding sand from some shores and building deposits on others. The effects are evident on Towra Point’s shoreline and in the remaining underwater grass communities of the bay. The mudflats, seagrass beds and mangroves of Botany Bay are the nurseries of a complex web of life. Sport fisheries are wholly reliant on this habitat; commercial fishing in the bay has been closed for years. Some areas of the bay, such as the Penrhyn Estuary, are so polluted that recreational swimming and fishing are strictly prohibited.

An airport “zone of exclusion” is marked by a line of yellow buoys, warning away boating traffic from the secure zone of the jutting 34L and 34R runways.

Two major rivers enter Botany Bay: Georges River in the southwest and Cooks River in the northwest. The Cooks River, has been channeled to make an artificial exit into the bay, about 1.5 km to the south of the original outflow. An eyewitness recalled that the new mouth for the river was formed by bulldozers from the Commonwealth Public Works Department in August of 1950.

The old control terminal marks one of the banks of the turned river, and a small park and beach near the structure provides an ideal location for plane spotters. On many afternoons I have joined a clutch of men (women don’t seem attracted to this pursuit) at the perimeter fence to runway 34L.

Here, ardent pursuers of aviation excitement endure blast of J4 exhausts to snap digital photos or listen in on portable RF scanners. I am similarly equipped, perched at the fence with my DAT recorder, a home-brew stereo microphone, a parabloic reflector, RF scanner, and digital cam. In this milieu, I do not stand-out, possibly for the first time, as I research the bay.

Scanner set-up, with a crib sheet of radio frequencies common to the airport.

The observer’s beach is strewn with the flotsam of the bay. Common objects are plastic based consumables, such as bottles and bags, Styrofoam packing materials, and on… but on some days I’ve seen the shore strewn with dozens of rose buds, the carcases of two snowy white chickens (with and without heads), children’s wading pools, and countless beach thongs.

An errant baby bottle, energy drink, takeaway container and lime green soft drink (unconsumed).

A flotsam assemblage. This artwork was created in the scrub of the dune margin, from cast away plastic toys, stuffed animals and a coconut. Artist, unknown.

Guriwal

Thu, 10 May 2007 10:02:17 +1000

Guriwal is the Aboriginal name for the area known as La Perouse, and is situated on the North Head of Gamay/Botany Bay. I’ve been recording at the site for some weeks now, walking places that range from the Aboriginal community established before and maintained throughout European contact at Yarra Bay, to golf courses, military fortifications at Bare Island Fort and the Banks Battery, industrial complexes, a shipwreck, an isolation hospital and cemeteries encompassed by the National Park.

Tanker and sand trap at the New South Wales Golf Club.

The wreck of the “Minmi”, a collier lost at Cape Banks in 1937.

Banks Battery gun emplacement, filled in with Gothic style architectural elements. Two gun emplacements remain at the site high in the dunes, with a network of air shafts, magazines, and range-finding facilities.

Graffiti, Banks Battery site.

Cemetery at Little Bay, known also as the Coast Hospital Cemetery. Over 2000 people were interred here, though few markers remain. The graves of Chinese immigrants were marked with a wooden peg, and all were removed in the 1980s in a site “clean up.” Only a single example of a peg marker now remains at the site.

IDA MAY HORN
AGED 5 YEARS & 6 MONTHS
“Whiter than snow”

A red bellied black snake was sunning itself when I photographed it at the entrance to the Coast Hospital Cemetery. This venomous snake is still found throughout the parkland at Botany Bay. John Cann, of the famous Cann Family, presenters of a live snake and reptile show at La Perouse since the 1920s, advises that all bush walkers should carry a pressure bandage in the event of snake bite. If I was unlucky that day, I would have to improvise with a t-shirt and hope that my cell phone could find a signal.

The Passionate Penny Arcade

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 08:55:12 +1000

Luna Park, is a fabulous amusement park situated on Sydney Harbor at Milson’s Point, with stunning views of the Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge. But one of the most notable features of this fantastic place is the “Coney Island - Funny House,” the last of the great “fun houses” of the 1930s. The Funny House features stunning arcade artworks by Art Barton, floor blowers, trick floors, a rotating barrel, a slalom slide, and an arcade packed with antique penny play machines (converted to the gold 1$ coins of today). These machines, dear reader, are the subject of todays photo essay “The Passionate Penny Arcade.”

Place your hand on the inductance plate. A spinning pointer indicates your smooching skills.

The inductance plate has the well worn patina of a holy relic or the blarney stone. How many have been validated or crushed by the relative conductivity of the press of flesh to machine?

The ancient Egyptians clearly had an advanced knowledge of carny electronics. Step up to the apparatus and seize the “love handles” to gauge your SEX APPEAL on a scale of 0 - 10. “WOW - WEE.”

“LOVE HANDLE” and “SEX APPEAL” are not mutually exclusive. Yes, free yourself of body issues dear tumblrs!

The inductance foot treads.

The electric gaze of the all-knowing Milson’s Point pharaoh, ancient forerunner to Ophrah, Dr. Phil and Dr. Ruth.

Not to be outdone by the ancient ones, Australian carnies, clearly in the thrall of television, produced this wonderful con.

FOR A TRUE READING
INSERT ONE PENNY IN THE SLOT
AND STAND IN FRONT OF THE GREEN RAY
UNTIL THE CARD IS DELIVERED FROM THE POCKET BELOW
IF YOU FAIL TO CARRY OUT THESES INSTRUCTIONS
THE READING WILL BE A POOR ONE

The “Green Ray Television Wonder” in action. Imagine the sound of a large electrical transformer humming in concert with an off-balance washing machine… the lights glow and pulsate, and you are delivered a thick, business card sized prognostication, written in elegant script.

Time marches on, and we move from the days of the analog to the digital, with the “urban industries computerized sex tester.” A circuit board graphic divides the genders with a schematic barrier of resistors, capacitors, and integrated circuits.”Insert coin; depress button of your sex.” The last player was “female” and #11 “HARMLESS.” How disappointing. Better to be “MAMA’S BOY; FRIGID; HOT PANTS; SWEET; GALLANT; WILD; NEEDS HELP; CHEATER; ALLURING; ARDENT; or ANGEL.”

When in Sydney, take a CityRail train or harbor ferry to Milson’s Point, disembark and visit the pleasure grounds of Luna Park. If you feel an urge, embark on a humble pilgrimage to the “Passionate Penny Arcade” in the Funny House. You may be distracted by the Bally’s Captain Fantastic and Star Wars pinball machines, but if you are inclined, uncover all of your amorous secrets through these $1 augers.

mr. timothy of dickeyville.

Doings: work at Botany Bay & instruments

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 09:56:18 +1000

I’ve posted two views of Port Botany, where I’ve...

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 09:49:18 +1000

I’ve posted two views of Port Botany, where I’ve been gathering audio for Sounding Botany Bay/Sounding Gamay, a surround-sound composition currently in production. This is a very complex site: industry, shipping, indigenous communities, history and the forces of globalization all find focus at the bay.

I’ll be out at the La Perouse Land Council today, recording folks from the Aboriginal community at “Lapa”. I’ll also be visiting the Coast Cemetery, to retrace the past history of epidemics and burials on the North Shore.

Port Botany tank farms and loading cranes.

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 09:42:31 +1000

Port Botany tank farms and loading cranes.

New instruments This is the “Just Tuned Guit” a...

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 06:59:24 +1000

New instruments

This is the “Just Tuned Guit” a scavenged Stratocaster clone, augmented with a spring for reverb, guitar strings, and laundry pegs. The instrument is interfaced with a single coil pickup and piezo contact mics. The tiny upright bridges that you see are disposable bamboo forks purchased at a bulk party store.

I’ll post the “fence post gamelan” (as dubbed by Warren Burt) when I have some snaps.

I’ve been making instruments, for didactic reasons...

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 06:57:03 +1000

I’ve been making instruments, for didactic reasons (teaching) and for pleasure. This is the “Verb Board” and the intonation may be set by sliding the pegs around or by “worrying” notes.

Happy Birthday Jacky

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 21:09:35 +1000

Warm greetings to my friend and colleague at University of Wollongong, Jacky Redgate. She recalled the fever dreams of a three-year-old and imagined how to make them lucid to the adult imagination.

mr timothy of dickeyville's 1st dispatch from the antipodes

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:47:06 +1000

As part of my ongoing, but often hapless efforts to better communicate with my dears across the international dateline, I have set to work at a tumblr to share images, sounds and thoughts.

In the lovely month of May…

I’m busy with concert plans for a show that I’m cooking up with Warren Burt at the TAFE in Wollongong. Terumi Narushima and I will be performing, she on koto and I on various sorts of time generating objects and processes. I’ll also be debuting a score for Percy Grainger’s “Electric Eye Tone Tool”. Date to be announced here soon.

Soon, the “Ice Cream Headache” truck will be plying the boroughs of NYC with music derived from ice cream truck jingles. I created Bellagio Caramello a composition that Time Out called “ambivalently relaxing” - yes. That will roll out May 27th - so if you’re in NYC, keep your ears open. Download Bellagio Caramello and listen to it on your Quicktime or iTunes player - it begins with big bass, so make sure your subwoofer doesn’t scitter across the floor like a cat with itchy worms butt.

g’day, mr. timothy