Light streams down, clear and warm, through a glass grid in the ceiling, and as the day expands, shadow bands slowly find their way across the long wooden tables far below. The reading room is speckled with researchers of diverse ages, most of whom are tracing relatives long since returned to dust, and conversations rise and fall, ping-ponging back and forth, soft and reverbed and sounding like the origins of polyphony. Somehow, everyone in this book-lined corral seems further away than they actually are, until they're right beside you.

Sitting here listening, the past is somehow more distant than ever and, at the same time, closer to the skin. Camped beside a microphone, I zoom through the structure in my mind, through its fabric, into darkness, backstage, into the presence of the stacks behind. Free from my body and hovering among the various collections of newsprint and magazines and index-cards and celluloid and folders and microfilm and phone directories and prison records and magnetic tape and muster rolls and on and on, through cages and fridges and racks and shelves and around endless corners, I sense their mass, the pressure and humidity of their desire to push back through the concrete and the rebar, back out into the sunlit present.

The steadicam slides down the lift-shaft to the basement, which is really a partially buried ground floor, and into the museum. History is here, Ohio seen from the perspective of animals and minerals and, of course, humans, both the Europeans who began to call themselves American, and those who were American before the designation existed. There are displays of objects embodying various key moments on the Ohioan time-line, authentic signifiers for public consumption, artefacts like The Mica Hand, with its haunting looping musical accompaniment, and an electrically powered reproduction of a wooden mill, which groans and grinds ghost grain.

Pushing out through the glass and I'm in the parking lot with the highway at my back, hovering at the foot of the cast staircase curving up against the waist of this Brutalist hour-glass. As is often the case, this thing looks simultaneously precarious and impregnable, a massive top-heavy mega-fort erupting from the crest of a sculpted mound. The archives are up there, cantilevered out into thin air in a basement in the sky, wrapped around the reading room, encased in board-marked concrete and coated in a layer of bricks. And there they wait, safe in the darkness and dust, holding their breath.

Dennis McNulty/ January 2014.



The Colours Return to The Surface Of The Earth - Dennis McNulty

Belen Nadeau AKA Nyx and formerly Stiletto is not your typical DJ. One who hears how she guides you during her sets can attest to her profound ability to give the listener, the dancer and music enthusiast exactly what they didn’t know they needed to hear - at the exact right moment. The catalyst for Belen’s aspiration of spinning records began right at 18, when she went to her first underground rave. Her original thought was to be a house DJ, but the trifecta mentors that took Belen under their wings were Drum & Bass vinyl turntablists: Suicide King, Kid Collage and Jason Nix. She would learn, dance and spin records from their collection. Her debut solo DJ set was at an all female DJ lineup event called “Spin Cycle" at The Full Moon Club in Memphis, TN. By this point, Stiletto built up an eclectic array of vinyl. She proved her versatility by showing the party that a multi-genre set can be done by herself, and pulled it off with support from her mentors, friends and strangers alike. Belen assures, "…when it comes down to it, my star struck moment wasn’t about me. It was about the crowd and our relationship we created for that moment. I didn’t know half those people, but it felt like we had been long time friends experiencing a journey together. I am so glad I learned to DJ before the electronic scene blew up because I feel DJing has become such an egotistical act with the way it is portrayed in the media. It’s not about you. It is a call and response relationship and you are just a navigator."

The purist art of turntablism mixed with Belen’s pure intentions gave her many opportunities as a DJ during her reign as Stiletto. She moved from Memphis to Portland and during this time also switched from vinyl analog to Serato digital format encoded vinyl. She refused to lose the touch, the feel and overall connection she has with mixing on turntables, but knew it was certainly time to make some advancements to keep up with her competition. The metamorphosis became complete when she decided to change her DJ name in memory of the late Jason Nix, one of her mentors, her friend, and most importantly: her confidant. Stiletto transformed into the current Nyx. Since living in Portland she has played shows for Proper Movement, Pulsar Productions and West Coast Connections.

If you decide to go to an event with Nyx on the bill, the journey you experience guided by her, will transform what you think you can expect from a petite sized DJ. She may not look like she can move you from one side of the dance floor, clear to the other, but looks can be deceiving! Nyx never holds back. Every performance she brings to the turntables is guaranteed to turn heads, create sparks of smiles around the room, and get the audience to groove in unison. You cannot wait to hear her, can you? For now, you can marinate on her soundcloud page with posted sets in the studio and live.

Headgear is a musical project of Daragh Dukes and several other collaborators. Musically, it has been described as "ambient / contemporary / jazz / indie / leftfield / cinematic / collage / experimental / chillout / pop" so best of luck with that. 'Where This Good Life Goes', a 6 track mini-album, was released in October 2002 on Diamond Head Recordings.
The eponymous album, Headgear, featuring the singles 'Singin' in The Drain' and 'Halibut', was released in 2004, on the Marthadigsmusic label. This was followed by the flying themed album 'Flight Cases', released in 2007. Headgear went on hiatus from 2008 while Daragh concentrated on other music composition projects. He returned with an EP under the moniker Asylum Speakers in 2018 and a new Headgear album "Omphalos" is out May 2022.

Musician: Irish Whistle & Flute, Composition, Music Production, Playing Folk Fusion Music. 

The Colours Return to The Surface Of The Earth - Dennis McNulty

The Relay Project