Vignettes #30

Our very first performance as Lyssa humana was a multi-media show we titled Dada For Now. The program was basically the screening of several Dada and Surrealist film classics interrupted by musical performances by our group.

One of these performances was just Walter and me, no instruments, just making vocal sounds and using microphones to amplify. I was inspired by Meredith Monk, when I came up with the idea, but the result sounded more like what Mike Patton does (more professionally, of course) nowadays. So it was making weird vocal soundscapes starting slowly and a bit like a duet and then getting ever more exciting and wild and even ecstatic. It was to culminate into a wild disturbing orgasm of sound till Walter pulled out a gun, aimed into the audience and shot a blank straight at them.

This worked out very well at our first performance in Regensburg. But several months later we had a performance booked in Stuttgart, and things turned out differently. While rehearsing Walter said he'd rather use a distortion module for his microphone, but I insisted that we only use our mouths as instruments, that was a bit of my concept - no fake enhancements besides the electric amplification.

Our performance in Stuttgart was completely sold out, we had a full house, and when it was our turn, we got up on stage and slowly started with our action. That is - I did, Walter was behind me, but no sounds from him. I looked back and saw that he was fiddling with his distorter that obviously didn't want to work. I signaled him to get going, but he didn't produce a single sound.

So I had to do the whole thing all by myself which was completely out of the original concept. I worked myself into the crescendo and awaited the cathartic shot from Walter's gun, but nothing came. I looked behind me - he was not on the stage anymore!

There I stood, hundreds of people staring at me, I'm making wild sounds with my mouth, and then I saw Walter - sitting in the front row of the audience!!! In disbelief I signaled him again to shoot that darn gun. But he sat there - and slowly shook his head...

I somehow managed to bring the whole thing to an unspectacular end, I got a few amused chuckles from the audience, and then I was off the stage, and the next movie was started.

For years I had recurring dreams of being embarrassingly exposed to an unassuming audience. And I never trusted Walter again.

(the photo is from a different performance)