Dear everyone,

I am writing today because I want you to be the first to know some news.

This has been the hardest time of my life. I am reeling from the loss of my father. I am in deep personal pain and worried about my mom. And now my world has been rocked by so much more. 

Today, I was fired from the CBC.

For almost 8 years I have been the host of a show I co-created on CBC called Q. It has been my pride and joy. My fantastic team on Q are super-talented and have helped build something beautiful. 

I have always operated on the principle of doing my best to maintain a dignity and a commitment to openness and truth, both on and off the air. I have conducted major interviews, supported Canadian talent, and spoken out loudly in my audio essays about ideas, issues, and my love for this country. All of that is available for anyone to hear or watch. I have known, of course, that not everyone always agrees with my opinions or my style, but I've never been anything but honest. I have doggedly defended the CBC and embraced public broadcasting. This is a brand I’ve been honoured to help grow.

All this has now changed.

Today I was fired from the company where I've been working for almost 14 years – stripped from my show, barred from the building and separated from my colleagues. I was given the choice to walk away quietly and to publicly suggest that this was my decision. But I am not going to do that. Because that would be untrue. Because I’ve been fired. And because I've done nothing wrong. 

I’ve been fired from the CBC because of the risk of my private sex life being made public as a result of a campaign of false allegations pursued by a jilted ex girlfriend and a freelance writer.

As friends and family of mine, you are owed the truth.

I have commenced legal proceedings against the CBC, what’s important to me is that you know what happened and why.

Forgive me if what follows may be shocking to some. 

I have always been interested in a variety of activities in the bedroom but I only participate in sexual practices that are mutually agreed upon, consensual, and exciting for both partners.

About two years ago I started seeing a woman in her late 20s. Our relationship was affectionate, casual and passionate. We saw each other on and off over the period of a year and began engaging in adventurous forms of sex that included role-play, dominance and submission. We discussed our interests at length before engaging in rough sex (forms of BDSM). We talked about using safe words and regularly checked in with each other about our comfort levels. She encouraged our role-play and often was the initiator. We joked about our relations being like a mild form of Fifty Shades of Grey or a story from Lynn Coady's Giller-Prize winning book last year. I don’t wish to get into any more detail because it is truly not anyone's business what two consenting adults do. I have never discussed my private life before. Sexual preferences are a human right.

Despite a strong connection between us it became clear to me that our on-and-off dating was unlikely to grow into a larger relationship and I ended things in the beginning of this year. She was upset by this and sent me messages indicating her disappointment that I would not commit to more, and her anger that I was seeing others. 

After this, in the early spring there began a campaign of harassment, vengeance and demonization against me that would lead to months of anxiety.

It came to light that a woman had begun anonymously reaching out to people that I had dated (via Facebook) to tell them she had been a victim of abusive relations with me. In other words, someone was reframing what had been an ongoing consensual relationship as something nefarious. I learned – through one of my friends who got in contact with this person – that someone had rifled through my phone on one occasion and taken down the names of any woman I had seemed to have been dating in recent years. This person had begun methodically contacting them to try to build a story against me. Increasingly, female friends and ex-girlfriends of mine told me about these attempts to smear me. 

Someone also began colluding with a freelance writer who was known not to be a fan of mine and, together, they set out to try to find corroborators to build a case to defame me. She found some sympathetic ears by painting herself as a victim and turned this into a campaign. The writer boldly started contacting my friends, acquaintances and even work colleagues – all of whom came to me to tell me this was happening and all of whom recognized it as a trumped up way to attack me and undermine my reputation. Everyone contacted would ask the same question, if I had engaged in non-consensual behavior why was the place to address this the media?

The writer tried to peddle the story and, at one point, a major Canadian media publication did due diligence but never printed a story. One assumes they recognized these attempts to recast my sexual behaviour were fabrications. Still, the spectre of mud being flung onto the Internet where online outrage can demonize someone before facts can refute false allegations has been what I've had to live with. 

And this leads us to today and this moment. I’ve lived with the threat that this stuff would be thrown out there to defame me. And I would sue. But it would do the reputational damage to me it was intended to do (the ex has even tried to contact me to say that she now wishes to refute any of these categorically untrue allegations). But with me bringing it to light, in the coming days you will prospectively hear about how I engage in all kinds of unsavoury aggressive acts in the bedroom. And the implication may be made that this happens non-consensually. And that will be a lie. But it will be salacious gossip in a world driven by a hunger for "scandal". And there will be those who choose to believe it and to hate me or to laugh at me. And there will be an attempt to pile on. And there will be the claim that there are a few women involved (those who colluded with my ex) in an attempt to show a "pattern of behaviour". And it will be based in lies but damage will be done. But I am telling you this story in the hopes that the truth will, finally, conquer all. 

I have been open with the CBC about this since these categorically untrue allegations ramped up. I have never believed it was anyone's business what I do in my private affairs but I wanted my bosses to be aware that this attempt to smear me was out there. CBC has been part of the team of friends and lawyers assembled to deal with this for months. On Thursday I voluntarily showed evidence that everything I have done has been consensual. I did this in good faith and because I know, as I have always known, that I have nothing to hide. This when the CBC decided to fire me. 

CBC execs confirmed that the information provided showed that there was consent. In fact, they later said to me and my team that there is no question in their minds that there has always been consent. They said they’re not concerned about the legal side. But then they said that this type of sexual behavior was unbecoming of a prominent host on the CBC. They said that I was being dismissed for "the risk of the perception that may come from a story that could come out." To recap, I am being fired in my prime from the show I love and built and threw myself into for years because of what I do in my private life.

Let me be the first to say that my tastes in the bedroom may not be palatable to some folks. They may be strange, enticing, weird, normal, or outright offensive to others. We all have our secret life. But that is my private life. That is my personal life. And no one, and certainly no employer, should have dominion over what people do consensually in their private life. 

And so, with no formal allegations, no formal complaints, no complaints, not one, to the HR department at the CBC (they told us they’d done a thorough check and were satisfied), and no charges, I have lost my job based on a campaign of vengeance. Two weeks after the death of my beautiful father I have been fired from the CBC because of what I do in my private life.

I have loved the CBC. The Q team are the best group of people in the land. My colleagues and producers and on-air talent at the CBC are unparalleled in being some of the best in the business. I have always tried to be a good soldier and do a good job for my country. I am still in shock. But I am telling this story to you so the truth is heard. And to bring an end to the nightmare.

Pending some much needed changes on the platform, this page may be updated for use again in the near future.

Meantime I can be found sneaking into random booths in the wilderness from time to time.

I play a bunch of electronic music genres. I like to play them under the moon and stars for sensitive people who care about each other and the planet.

I like to help create a safe space to dance, laugh, express ourselves and connect.

Future personal projects may appear here. For DJ set recordings please check out my Mixcloud page.

Peace


Recent appearances:
Jellyfish Crew: Winter Solstice 2021
Sporadic Events: Integration NYE 2021
Forbidden Forest 2
Forest Dwellers: Garden Island "BBQ"
Dooftopia
Unleashed
Sporadic Events: Harmonise
Forest Dwellers: The Re-syphoning
Jellyfish Crew: Winter Solstice 2018
Jellyfish Crew: River Dreaming Festival
Hooley Dooley 3
Jellyfish Crew: My Silly Um 2018
Jellyfish Crew: Winter Solstice 2017

MrGwhizz is my real name, and I put all the other artists out there to shame
My music is fire and it keeps getting better, my mom told me that i am a bed-wetter
i am insecure about myself, my friends tell me i look like an elf
my father makes fun of me for being skinny, guinea pigs arent actually from guinea

TÖP:

May'17:

Tommy Wright III - Feel me before they kill me
Fever ray - s/t
Jesu - s/t
Pearl Jam - Yield
Pet shop boys - Love comes quickly 
Freddie Gibbs - Pinata 

July'16:

Black Mountain: IV
Khid & RPK: Ei
Stott, Andy: Too many voices
Jodarok: Hukattu aika
War on drugs: Lost in the dream
Pyriphlegethon: Rivers of the infernal kingdom
Blood orange: Freetown sound
Swans: The glowing man

January16:

Björk: Vulnicura
Nick Cave and the bad seeds: Push the sky away
Jam: This is the modern world
Calvi, Anna: S/T
Dead Boys: Young, loud and snotty
Corrections house: Know how to carry a whip
Killing Joke: Pylon

May15:
Oasis: Definitely maybe
Gravediggaz: 6 feet deep
Razor: Evil invaders
Riot: Fire down under (OUTLAW!!)
Ministry: Psalm 69

March15:
Totalt jävla mörker - Söndra & Härska
Bludwulf - Cryptic revelations
Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Pinata
Clppng
Ride for revenge - Under the eye
Aura Noir - Out to die

June14:
Johnny Burnette and thö rock'nroll trio
Supremes: Keep me hanging on
Eyehategod: s/t
Sultans live @ 45special
Link Wray
Jon Hopkins

Pre-June'14:
Stereolab - Emperor tomato ketchup
My Neighbour Totoro
Urfaust - Der zauberer
Killing joke - You'll never get to me
Spacemen 3 - Sound of confusion
Death In june - All pigs must die 
Dynacord - Accelarando
Brainscan - ED-209
Frank Sinatra - In the wee small hours

William Fairweather Ford is a songwriter and musician who writes about Heaven, Hellfire, and Heartbreak. His musical world is littered with autobiography and emotion. A wildly unique blend of Alt-Americana and the Avant-garde. Leading to comparisons to both Tom Waits and Nick Cave...

He was raised by fire-water-wolves, whose taste for booze and bad decisions led to trouble, on ranch land, along the California coast. He was eventually rescued and "raised right" by his, dust-bowler, grandparents, who had settled in rural Canebrake, CA.  

His art/music/film school education took place on the streets, backrooms, and alleys of NYC, Bakersfield, and the Sunset Strip. Bars, cars, clubs, and theaters, dark and inviting, became his home, sanctuary, and classroom...

His wide variety of American musical influences range from barroom blues, R & B, ragtime, church music, drinking songs, cabaret, carnival tunes, vaudeville, Broadway, pirate songs, zydeco, bluegrass, spoke-word, and circus music...

Though, his true musical education began specifically in Hollywood, California, in 1979, at The Whiskey, The Roxy, The Starwood, The Cathay De Grande, and The Troubadour…

He saw bands like X, The Blasters, The Zippers, The Plimsouls, The Go-Go’s, Los Lobos, The Knitters, The Gears, The Plugz, The Alley Cats, and The Lonesome Strangers...Over and over, every weekend, until he was run out of town, 3 years later...

Other noteworthy shows over the years by The Jam, Prince, Elvis Costello, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Talking Heads, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Darby Crash, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Waits, U2, The English Beat, The Smiths, The Cure, The Lonesome Strangers, Wall of Voodoo, Rank and File, Pere Ubu, The Reverend Al Green, New Order, Gang of Four, Willie Nelson, Sade, Au Pairs, The Violent Femmes, Stiff Little Fingers, Everyone But The Girl, The Psychedelic Furs, The Motels, Reba McIntyre, Brooks and Dunn, Lenny Kravitz, The Foo Fighters, The Feelies, The Brat, The Flesh Eaters, REM, Allison Krause, The Strokes, Television, Eleni Mandell, The B-52’s, Beck, Tina Turner, Dwight  Yokam, Bonnie Raitt, Chris Isaak, Lone Justice, NRBQ, Jane’s Addiction, Eurythmics, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Lyle Lovett, Guar, Interpol, Jack Johnson, Jackson Browne, Ricki Lee Jones, Delta 5, Joe Jackson, The Killers, Madness, Magazine, No Doubt, Chrissy Hynde, PIL, Sheryl Crow, Siouxsie and The Banshees, The Mercy Seat, The Specials, Stan Ridgway, The Stray Cats, Jimmy and The Mustangs, Top Jimmy and the Rhythm Pigs, The Billy Zoom Band, Jimmy Webb, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Buckwheat Zydeco, Sallie Ford, and Tony Bennett...Have all done their work on him...

Not since the early days of MC5 at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, circa 1968, had there been such an organic melding of sheer metalesque maelstrom and free jazz. These archival recordings from the legendary punk club CBGB's capture a moment in time when open-minded musicians from the 'downtown scene' were exploring the possibility of bringing Lou Reed's feedback-infested Metal Machine Music together with Albert Ayler's Love Cry.

Dissipated Face guitarist Kurt Ralkse and special guest saxophonist Daniel Carter provided that implausible link between punk rock and avant garde jazz on these 1986 live recordings. Fueled by the throbbing rhythms of Steve "X Dream" Popkin and Ben "Face" Munves, who alternated on bass and drums, Ralske's twisted, thrashing power chords and shrieking licks blend with Carter's cathartic alto sax wailing to make the perfect union of disparate worlds. And their shouts on the opening track of "Rock is dead, shithead!" is every bit as anthemic as MC5's "Kick out the jams, motherfuckers!" 

Ralske would go on to attain a certain level of indie rock fame with Ultra Vivid Scene and subsequently make an impact as a producer-conceptualist-avant-popmeister and visual artist. Carter would become one of the most ubiquitous figures on New York's free jazz scene, recording with William Parker, David S. Ware, Billy Bang, Alan Silva and Matthew Shipp and the cooperative bands Test and Other Dimensions in Music. But for this one moment back in 1986, their paths crossed with bandmates Popkin and Munves, and the results were frighteningly intense.

Bill Milkowski (written over 500 sets of liner notes and contributes to Jazz Times, Jazziz, Absolute Sound, Down Beat, Guitar Player, Bass Player, Acoustic Guitar, Pulse!, MIX and Interview. Author of “JACO: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius,”)

The Dissipated Face Story
"Sometime in 1980, I met Kurt Ralske on line at a Fred Frith show at the Squat Theatre in NYC. Kurt was then in high school and played guitar & trumpet. I was about 10 years older and ran a series of jam sessions at my parents house in Linden, NJ whenever they went on vacation. Kurt & I had similar musical interests and became good friends. I invited him to jam with some jazz and rock musicians from the Linden area and some great times were had. Within a year, Kurt helped organize a trio with two friends of his from high school in Merrick, Long Island. This trio were called Dissipated Face and featured Kurt, on guitar,  Ben Face (Munves) on bass and Steve X. Dream (Popkin) on drums. Most of my local musician friends played mainly jazz but they had had rock, blues, folk & even punk influences as well. I remember when Dissipated Face showed up at my house on a Sunday afternoon during a week's worth of jams. They set up, played a one hour set and left quickly to return their borrowed car. They blew the minds of everyone in attendance that day as they would for many times in the future.

What was great about Dissipated Face was that their music was a unique blend of progressive & punk rock, reggae and avant/jazz. They wrote strong memorable songs and jammed. They were ambitious, crazy, fun, serious, talented and much younger than any musicians that I was friendly with. They came to many of the jam sessions at my house and learned from the older cats as well as having their own jams where they lived. I ended up managing them or at least getting them gigs whenever I could because they loved to play and would go anywhere to do their thing. 

Although both Ben Face & Steve X. Dream were talented musicians who often switched off on bass & drums & vocals, it was Kurt who was their secret weapon. Mr. Ralske had a scientific approach to playing guitar and using devices. He was able to control feedback, which is no easy feat, and often took incredible guitar solos. Another thing about Dissipated face that set them apart was they loved to experiment and take chances. I was honored to sit in with them on several occasions playing hubcaps and reciting poetry. 

Another free spirit was of course 
Daniel Carter also jammed with them on several dates. Mr. Carter's motto is, "have horns, will play!" Daniel Carter has always searched for and played with other like-minded musicians who don't care about categories or boundaries. I can recall when he sat in with my young pals some 25 years ago, as well as sitting in with punk/thrash/hardcore bands from NY around the same time! 

Dissipated Face were amazing in their day and were fearless in exploring the better parts of free music. Long live Dissipated Face and Daniel Carter!"

Bruce Lee Gallanter 
Downtown Music Gallery 

“I remember the downtown music scene when I moved into NYC in 1980. There was Rock, Punk, Jazz, Free Jazz, Loft Jazz, Blues, Country, Folk, Noise, experimental and all sorts of art and improvisation being mixed together in every way imaginable. I’d go to a club and see the Ramones, and then Don Cherry would play afterward while someone was painting on the same stage! That time really opened my mind as to the notion that anything was possible. It influenced me to call some of my old Rutgers friends from New Jersey a few years later and start my band, “Machine Gun”, (Based on the FMP record by Peter Brotzmann). Our first gig was at the Pyramid club when we were first called, “Sounds of the Apocalypse”. Half way through the set male dancers started undressing and dancing on the bar.

I met Steve and Ben and started playing with them around the same time, and was really impressed as to how tight they were playing together. Steve would play drums and percussion and Ben would play Bass and Keyboards. We’d get together whenever possible and ask our friends to join us. This included Bill Milkowski, Bruce Gallanter, Ted Goldberg, Daniel Carter, Jay Walk, Richie Rock and many others.
A few years later Steve, Ben, and Bruce would help me start my record company, MuWorks Records. I’m still in touch with all of them and try and jam with them whenever possible. It’s great to see this Dissipated Face album getting released. It’s a great document from a great time from great people!”

Bob Musso
(Daredevil guitarist for Machine Gun and main engineer, collaborator with producer Bill Laswell for nearly three decades) 

Kurt Ralske - the story of a Long Island boy discovering art school noise-pop and conceptual art practice in downtown NYC; the struggles, successes and failures of a pop music career; and finally, reinvention as a visual artist working with experimental film, installation art, and Borgesian invented worlds.

But earlier this year, history took another one of its interesting turns, with Ralske suddenly and unexpectedly reminded of his time playing scratchy, No Wave guitar noise in the Dissipated Face trio, back in the mid-‘80s...

I have always been interested in what happened for you before Ultra Vivid Scene, in bands like Dissipated Face, Crash and Nothing But Happiness. It must have been quite a strange thing for you to be reminded of Dissipated Face, out of the blue.

Kurt Ralske: So I get this email from the drummer of Dissipated Face, who’s been off my radar for over twenty years, and then the same week, two or three other things happen: I have this conversation with you, and then one of the touring guitarists from Ultra Vivid Scene, who I’m friendly with on Facebook, got in touch with me because he discovered this funny interview somebody posted on YouTube. It was really shocking to be reminded I was once that person. [laughs]

What do you remember of Dissipated Face?

KR: I started playing guitar when I was 15, and shortly after, I met two other high school outcasts who wanted to start a punk band. I didn’t really know what that was. I knew quite a lot about music, because my original instrument was the trumpet, and I had worked hard to figure out how to play jazz on the trumpet, so I knew quite a lot about harmony and theory. And I liked prog rock, so when I first picked up the guitar, I was trying to figure out how to [play] King Crimson. It wasn’t like, Okay, I want to be in The Ramones, it was, I want to be Robert Fripp. But my band members had a very strong interest in what was going on in New York, as I did too, but I was more interested in the avant-garde side.

The whole thing was a little bit hardcore, a little bit avant-garde, a little bit punk funk. I wasn’t able to imitate the way most punk rock players played guitar, because I didn’t know the basics, I only knew this weird advanced stuff. So it led to this odd mash-up of styles.

So how did it feel listening back to that recording [Dissipated Face With Daniel Carter, Live At CBGB 1986 (2013)]?

KR: Well, that recording is quite nice, because Daniel Carter is a pretty great musician! He wasn’t a regular member of the group, but he did play with us several times. I think we even rehearsed with him, he would just figure out what to do. When I heard the first track on the record recently, I was impressed, partly because I thought, Wow, there is a dialogue going on between the guitar and the saxophone: I wasn’t just this dumb kid making noise, I was listening a little bit too. So that was a pleasant surprise. I had completely forgotten that I ever played in that style.

A Quietus Interview
Joy & Futurism: Kurt Ralske Of Ultra Vivid Scene Interviewed 
Jon Dale , October 14th, 2013 
http://thequietus.com/articles/13367-ultra-vivid-scene-kurt-ralske-interview

Raymond Pettibon is the EP cover designer artist. Pettibon suggested the name Black Flag and also designed Black Flag's distinctive "four bars" logo. His artwork appeared on many album covers including the Foo Fighters and the 1991 Sonic Youth album, "Goo",  and is well known in the punk rock and art scenes. He has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art NY and LA Museum of Contemporary Art . He exhibited in the Whitney Biennial 4 times and, they presented his solo exhibition in 2005. In 2013, he created a billboard for the High Line displaying a drawing called No Title (Safe he called ...).

Roaratorio Records: 
James Lindbloom's belief in the album as a work of art is so strong that he makes packaging a major priority. Lindbloom's predilection for spectacular cover art has been a Roaratorio trademark since the label's start in 2000. His high standards have played a big role in ink already spilled about Roaratorio. His roster includes John Cage, Steve Lacy and other jazz and avant garde artists. 

Reviews:

Wire Magazine 

"Oddball discovery of a live meeting of an early group led by Ultra Vivid Scene’s Kurt Raiske with the always amazing Daniel Carter guesting. Carter’s on sax here, and the blend – right near the end of New York City’s post-SIN Club trajectory – is a very cool collision between free jazz and late period scum-rock readymades. Why was this not known of before?"
Byron Coley (Forced Exposure  NY Rocker, Spin. One of the first writers to have documented indie rock from its inception and author of No Wave, the first book to visually chronicle the collision of art and punk in the NY underground 

MaximumRockRoll 

"Frantic free punk, that reminds me of Easter Monkeys, then Flipper, then Pere Ubu... it's wound up post VU sounds from the streets of NYC when that still meant something, inflections of no wave spurting saxophone and weirdly HC-esque guitars, but the swagger and fuck-you take over and overpower the skronk...It's reminiscent of MC5's incursions into jazz, not jam Ginn band shit, but fucked up on PCP Les Dirtbags out for blood, armed with Sun Ra and the Dead Boys. Sick Pettibon cover art too. Eat it or beat it!"

Volcanic Tongue 

"Amazing archival unearthing of previously unreleased No Wave/free jazz live blats from this wild free rock group featuring saxophonist Daniel Carter: Dissipated Face was the trio of guitarist Kurt Ralske (later in Ultra Vivid Scene et al), bassist Ben Munves and drummer Stephen Popkin and the music was a mutant strain of hardcore with fast, up-tight rhythms over the kinda free guitar crank that would reconcile Rudolph Grey, Arto Lindsay and Keith Levene. Indeed, there’s a weird American hardcore take on Metal Box to some of the music here, colliding with classic No Wave refusal to make for some amazing Demo Moe-style freak. Great songs, with titles like “Rock Is Dead, Shithead”, “Streets Of New York” and “Nazi With A New Name” and when Carter comes in on saxophone the effect is like the MC5 eviscerating Jon Landau’s goddamn corpse live on stage and straight to bootleg. Comes with cool Raymond Pettibon artwork and liners. Too much, totally great and highly recommended."
David Keenan (Scottish critic and musician. Author of England's Hidden Reverse, a biography of Coil, Current 93 and Nurse With Wound)

Black to Comm:

"Don't let the Raymond Pettibon cover fool you---this ain't exactly some SST discard that cluttered up the amerindie record collections of the late-eighties! Dissipated Face, although they could have made it as a fringe signing to that infamous label, are a tad different'n the reams of collegeboy experimental bleats that were getting a whole lotta hosannas from cloistered clods like myself. As if you actually knew, Dissipated Face were a hot trio that was romping through the post-fun era of NYC rock back when they laid these sides down at CBGB on July 31st of 1986, and their mix of everything from free jazz and late-seventies avant-prog to punk rock made for some of the wildest mergings of the form since Red Transistor. Nothing as out-there as that group, but better'n many a similar-minded excursion into freedom aesthetics. What's best is that none other'n noted avant saxist himself Daniel Carter sat in giving a particularly Albert Ayler-ish air to these excursions, so if you were a fan of this guy's various endeavors on the stage of the CBGB Lounge during the final days of Hilly you'll be glad to know that he was in on the punk jazz game for a longer time'n you could've dreamed!"
the Classical

Yellow Green Red:

Dissipated Face with Daniel Carter Live At CBGB 1986 7″ (Roaratorio)
If you’re like me, and you got into standard rock music that had choruses and verses and bridges as a child, but always longed for something more extreme, you probably remember the moment you first heard Septic Death or Albert Ayler or Wolf Eyes or Mr. Bungle or whatever it was that destroyed the musical parameters previously established by your brain. I bet if I stumbled into CBGB’s in 1986, everyone probably would’ve been like “who the hell let a five year-old in here, where are his parents?”, but supposing I was a teenager or something, Dissipated Face probably would’ve cracked my skull open with their flailing, post-no-wave free-rock assault. They sound like one of those early ’80s downtown NY groups like Lounge Lizards or Material or Golden Palominos, had they crashed into Reagan Youth on the cab ride over with the few surviving members improvising live. It sounds dated as hell today; it’s almost quaint to imagine this ever sounded “crazy” to anyone, but if I strain hard enough I can definitely teleport my senses back to a time when every crazy record wasn’t available in two clicks and Glen Humplik was more famous than Glenn Branca. Check out “Streets Of New York” first, that’s my personal favorite, and see what Dissipated Face does to you!

Dusty Groove:

Mindblowing punk and free jazz collision from Dissipated Face – with alto sax behemoth Daniel Carter blowing fiercely out front – a fast, brutal, yet defiantly musical quartet of songs recorded live in 1986 at the legendary Bowery club! This great 7-inch, 33 1/3 RPM EP has four killer tracks – with fast, bashed out guitars, furious rhythms and angry, aggro vocals – really cool underground stuff just on that level, but Carter's brilliant sax truly blows it into on amazing level. Titles include "Rock Is Dead, S**thead", "Nazi With A New Name", "Streets Of New York" and "My Life Is Like An Alligator". (Picture sleeve designed by Raymond Pettibon.)

Midheaven:

Archival recordings from the punk club CBGB that captures the live fusion of punk rock and avant-garde jazz by the open-minded members of Dissipated Face with saxophonist Daniel Carter.

DISSIPATED FACE WITH DANIEL CARTER: Live at CBGB 1986: 7”
Four songs from back when punks were still doing some experimenting in their music, mostly trying to add jazz to the mix. It all comes off like Black Flag adding the most of no wave. As a relic it’s interesting –Rick Ecker Razorcake (roaratorio.com)

Downtown Music Gallery Newsletter

Dissipated Face were and are old friends of mine that I met when they were still in high school in the early eighties. Dissipated Face featured Kurt Hologram on lead guitar, Ben Face on bass & vocals and Steve X Dream on drums & vocals. They were the most ambitious young band I knew and they blended just about everything into their unique sound: punk/prog/jazz/noise/ psych/rock/dub/metal. They were part of scene with friends of mine from New Jersey that would jam whenever and wherever they could. I was glad to help them to get gigs and they never ceased to amaze audiences whenever they played live. They jammed with many members of the early Downtown scene like Steve Buchanan and Daniel Carter. Recently discovered was a set they did at CBGBs in 1986 with the amazing Daniel Carter sitting in. Four fantastic songs from that set are soon coming out as a 7" EP on the Roaratorio label. The cover art was done by the great Raymond Pettibon and the liner notes were written by Bill Milkowski and yours truly.
Bruce Lee Gallanter

The group’s members, guitarist Kurt Ralske, Ben “Face” Munves on bass, vocals and drums, and Steve “X Dream” Popkin, on drums, vocals and bass, met in High school. On November 5, 1981 they played they first gig. Dissipated Face made its debut at CBGB's 2 weeks later on November 21th. The group's name was inspired by a photo of rock legend Mick Jagger as well was their songs, Rock is Dead Shithead and Reagan is a Nazi. This EP was recorded at their very last gig together, 5 years later.  They played at CBGB at least a dozen times as well as 60+ gigs in NYC, LI and NJ. They were contemporaries of Sonic Youth and opened for the Meat Puppets and Shockabilly, Cheetah Crome, Anti-Nowhere League, TANK, and many others, but they never had an official release until now! 

Members:
Kurt  Ralske - guitar 
Influenced by : Fred Frith , Miles Davis 
Ben "Face" Munves - bass, vocals, drums (Streets of New York)
Influenced by David Bowie , Lou Reed
Steve "X. Dream" Popkin - drums , vocals, bass (Streets of New York)
Influenced by The Clash, The Ramones

Collectively they were influenced by the downtown improvisers and John Zorn, DNA, No Wave, Eno,
Bill Laswell, Dub Reggae, King Crimson and James Brown. 

The band broke up  5 years after that first basement gig. Steve and Ben continued as the Dissapated Improv Orchestra with Daniel Carter, Robert Musso, Ted Goldberg, Bill Milkowski, Bern Nix, Robert Quine and others as special guests for a couple of years. 

DISSIPATED FACE With DANIEL CARTER "Live at CBGB 1986" 5 song 33 1/3, 7-inch EP

Produced by Stephen Popkin and James Linderbloom for Roaratorio records. 

This tape was recorded off the board  by the sound man at CBGB. It was converted to digital by Will Dahl,  mastered for vinyl by Carl Saff. Cover by Raymond Pettibone, Photograph by Scott Hiller, Liner notes by Bruce Gallanter.

So Useless is just this band, right? Apparently for some sort of perverse reason, you might actually want to know more about us personally... or that's what we've been told. I'm of the opinion that it's all some sort of joke and these details will be used to fill out sweepstakes entries on our behalf, but bios being as they are I feel compelled to write one. So here goes.

Useless is a band. A collective of pre and smack-dab-in-the-middle-age guys who really don't know the reasons that other guys gave up playing real, live, ORIGINAL music. For free. On inconvenient evenings. For ten people at a time. It's all just a mystery to us as to why anyone would want to stop doing that.

We all came from different bands as tends to happen. Since this will start to get incestuous, I'll try to make it short. Pork Chop and Pork Sword both came from Pork Chop Express, a fabulously successful cover/original project. MONO and RFDS most directly from SEEDS OF CHAOS. Also Ahab, our founding drummer along with RFDS founded DAY OF PIGS and SEEDS as well. MONO and The King played together in GHETTO MILITIA, The King and Ahab in WARGOD years back and even before that MONO and The King kicked around basements in BURNING ISSUE. MONO killed it in the hardcore band OUT LOUD back in the day and The King spent the late 80's in THE CAUSE and FRIENDLY FIRE, the early 90's playing metal in WARGOD then experimental metal/indie in BAXTER and the mid to late 90's recording and touring with OS101. Looks like a big fail on the "keep it short" tip huh?

So I guess you want to know what we sound like, huh? Yeah... sorry to disappoint but there's an EP for that. Or our shows. So get yer lazy ass up and go see one. As far as what WE listen to.... well of course there's Black Sabbath. Along with that you've got Motorhead, Clutch, COC, Down, Kyuss, eyehategod, neurosis, deftones, a killer stoner rock band called Solace (check 'em out) and for some reason our singer loves LOA. He sings pretty well, so we let him off on that one.

We play loud. We play anywhere. We usually wind up playing for free. So sell your own F*****G tickets.

Facebook: facebook.com/ATPColorado

 ATP started as "Trigga Man" with Brass knuckle Gang in 2001.  He started as a merch hustler and hype man for Black Pegasus. (Black P aka YMP Yo mamma's Pimp) His time with Black P and BKG took him on tours from the east to west coast with artists including Tech N9ne of Strange Music, Snoop Dogg, Hopsin and Funk Volume, Immortal Technique, Mac Miller, Wu-Tang, Red Man, and many others.

In 2006 ATP was featured as Trig on Black P's album "F%#K Yo Radio" which landed  a southwest/west coast distribution deal through a company called L.A. Underground

In 2007 ATP released his first solo album "Squeeze Till You Empty" as "Trigga Man" which was Independently released although it featured Liquid Assassin  (signed to Strange Music at the time) and Black Pegasus of BKG.

In 2008 featured on Black P's album "The Black Mexican" on the track "Get Mine" which included "Akir" from Immortal Technique's label Viper Records.

In 2009 featured on Black P's mixtape "Banana Spitz" including a track with "Liquid Assassin" of 42 Records, formerly of Strange Music.

In 2010 featured on Black P's Album "Black By Popular Demand". 

Trigga Man, formerly signed to Brass Knuckle Ent, and after many years of success,  founded F&%K Wid It Records.  He became known as a lyricist and was quickly asked by fans if he would put together another solo project.

In 2012 ATP released his second solo album "Hit Man" as "Trigga Man" at the time.
ATP aka "Trigga Man" fired out the long awaited "Hit Man" mixtape featuring @TheReminders @LiquidAssassin @Mr.Knox & special guests!  Put Mr. Knox beats in the chamber and Trigga Man hits you with 15 rounds of pure fire and you will be blown away by some of the lyrical content Trig touches on.

He has sold thousands of records "out the trunk" and has performed from "The House of Blues" in Los Angels, to the Fillmore Theater in Denver side by side with Black Pegasus. 

"Trigga Man" aka ATP made cameo appearances in local music videos with artists like "Black P" "Liquid Assassin" and "Top Flight Empire".  He is known for building up the Hip Hop scene in Colorado and the SouthWest, putting together parties, events, shows and for rippin tha mic whenever appearing as a performing artist.  

Performed with: 
Hopsin
Mac Miller
Wiz Khalifa
Tech N9ne
Snoop Dogg
Red Man
Method Man
Liquid Assassin
Heiroglyphics 
Living Legends
Yin Yang Twins
T.I. 
Mobb Deep
Lloyd Banks
Nas
Immortal Technique
Dilated Peoples
Razel
The Pack
Swolen Members
and more!

I'm an Independent artist and appreciate the supporters of this original Independently dope music, so keep spreading the word and i hope to see more of you out at our shows!!

about "Squeeze Till You Empty"

Trigga was arrested while on tour with Black P and Immortal Technique in San Antonio Texas. He was arrested by racist police officers (pigs) who threw a gun charge at the hit man.  However, Trigga threw the book back at the judge and the charges were thrown out!  This small victory inspired Trig to write his first solo album "Squeeze Till You Empty". Pro freedom and challenging false authority figures, His inspiring lyrics and pure fire spitting cadence have the respect of both underground fans, main stream listeners and music lovers alike. If you are a listener, you will appreciate the clever punch lines and reality based content of Trigga Man's album plus the gritty beats produced locally. Support That!
"SQUEEZE TILL YOU EMPTY" 2006

For Booking and contact:

ArtayThaPartay@gmail.com
719.321.8326

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