Prisms FAAQ"FAAQ" means "frequently asked or anticipatable questions". That's the answer to the main question I've been asked so far, but keep watching for the list below to grow.
I'd been struggling for awhile to come up with something better than the fairly pretentious program name I used on my demo tape (no, I won't tell you what it was :^) ), and it just came to me one day. I loved the sound and simplicity of it even more than any specific association of the word. (And specifically, it doesn't have anything to do with Theodor Adorno's Prisms; I can't really get with most of his views about music.) But the idea of a prism seemed well-suited to the program, because I feel strongly that even the most conventionally ugly or strange pieces that I play are infused with beauty in some form, else I wouldn't play them -- and so the word has come to be associated in my mind with some metaphorized gem-like qualities of the pieces of music I play on the program. (See also "Why don't you play...", below.) I briefly thought of calling it "Prism, Mirror, Lens," after the first section of Samuel Delany's novel Dhalgren (itself drawn from a Marilyn Hacker poem) -- but finally decided that seemed way too forced and self-aware, and thought certain connotations of the novel might ultimately limit the horizons of my artistic choices, anyway. So "Prisms" it is. Did you create the prism graphic used on the first page, and in smaller form elsewhere through the site? If not, where did it come from? Isn't that a cool graphic? I really like it because, while it is obviously representative of a prism, it neverthless looks painted or drawn rather than photographed or computer-generated -- to me, the "handmadeness" of that image makes a nice creative tension with the precision, purity, and clarity we typically associate with prisms (and images of them), something that echoes what I hope are positive characteristics of the show, and the music played therein. Unfortunately, though, I can't take credit for creating the graphic. Eventually, I want to be more adept at making my own graphics (not to mention have more time to do so), but in order to find that particular image, I did what most people in search of good images do: go shopping around the net. I found the prism graphic on the website for Beyond the Rainbow, an "Online Shop with Spirit" in upstate New York, and the nice folks who run it were kind enough to let me borrow the image indefinitely. So, go check them out... Why do you say "avant-garde classical"? That's really an oxymoron. Yes, of course in the strict sense, there is no such thing as "avant-garde classical". In formal terms "classical" music is music from the late 1700s, more or less. Anyway, I use the term "avant-garde classical" because many people may still be at the point of becoming familiar with the kinds of music we play, and thus may still understand "classical" to signify the entire world of composed music, be it orchestral or not. I want to make sure that, as new folks who are in this position continue to arrive, they can quickly grasp what Prisms is all about -- so, I will continue to use the term (albeit with "classical" in quotation marks, and in conjunction with the term "western art music", although that one is somewhat problematic as well) to try to keep walking the line between playing interesting, challenging music, and making it as accessible as possible to a wide range of listeners. What is that theme music you play at the beginning of every program? As regards the first question: It is "Wüste," from the album Tabula Rasa by the German group Einstürzende Neubauten. Typically, they are noted for rather harder-edged material: industrial noise, experimental soundscapes, post-punk anti-music of various kinds. I've been using it from the beginning (except for one week when I forgot to bring the disc), and chose it mostly just because I like it, but also because it seemed very right for the show in some indefinable way, and because it's easy to speak over (and: its length forces me to shut up within four minutes after midnight, and get on with the program!). Every once in a while I'll substitute in a different piece of opening music, but this is quite rare, and always to underscore some sort of point. I started using Shriekback's "Below" (from their Sacred City album), another song that also differs somewhat from that band's typical output, as closing music about a half-year after starting Prisms. Unlike "Wüste," though, I don't always play all of the closing music. I like to have a little time at the end to wind things up and say goodnight, but don't always have the full 4:30 or so to play the whole song -- if anything, I'm close to or at the 3am deadline -- so I just talk as long as needed and fade it out to the BBC news. As for the last question... well, it would obviously be inappropriate for me to play my theme music at the beginning of someone else's program. It's their program, which I don't want to obscure any more than necessary; and I want "Wüste" to signify Prisms, anyway, not simply my mere presence. Nevertheless, I have enough of an ego to like leaving behind some kind of explicit calling card -- a little wave goodbye of my own, if you will. So, I figure if I play a song at the end of a show that stands out a bit from the rest of what has already been played, then I'll be able to leave my stamp without having overbalanced the regular format and identity of the show for which I'm subbing. I like to use pop songs for their personal connections (oh, come on, everyone has idiosyncratic little associations with pop songs!), because they stand out from the regular KBCS fodder, and to make a challenge of trying to find something that -- despite standing out somewhat, nevertheless fits into the show at hand. Why don't you play more new, cutting-edge music? Aren't you trying too hard to be all things to all people? Well, perhaps, but I think not. One reason why Prisms is as it is has to do with simple matters of logistics: "new, cutting-edge" music is not the major focus of KBCS, and even if I wanted to do a show that focused completely on such music, I would have a prohibitively hard time closing the gap between what KBCS acquires -- and what would be needed to do an adequate show of such type. But the major reason is because I want to do Prisms in the way that I do it. I think it's important to juxtapose different forms of music together within the same show where possible, and even more important to juxtapose different types of shows against one another over the course of time. This helps avoid the deadening effects of genre ossification -- which is in my opinion an especially big problem for avant-gardists, because the avant-garde needs non-avant-garde reference points to keep it from becoming overly insular and groupthink-driven -- and helps contextualize many different forms of music better than is usually the case in this era of market-driven radio. Furthermore, I just like eclecticism for its own sake (which is, by the way one reason I program Prisms at KBCS; it's a station that cares about fostering musical diversity, and making spaces on the airwaves for stuff that wouldn't otherwise find a home). That's part of what the "Prisms" concept was all about -- a rainbow of sonic possibilities in which we might revel, always shifting and dancing in the light before us. Finally, as of the time of this writing, there isn't much else like Prisms on the air at KBCS, or even in the Seattle area (though there is certainly some such, much of it more well-established than Prisms), so I see the situation as one where a great deal of territory is still left relatively thinly covered. This inspires me to try to touch on it all, as best I can. Perhaps there will eventually be a critical mass of adventurous radio programming in this area -- at which point, maybe it would make sense to narrow my focus a bit. But that will be a different time, and a different concept than "Prisms". I can take the point, though. Covering new developments in music is a good thing to do, and I would like to increase my coverage of new music somewhat, as long as the mission described above isn't compromised. I will continue to try to find ways to do so -- and I believe it will be easier in the near future, as various other logistical and resource-allocation issues become more resolved. Do you compose music of your own? If so, will we ever hear any of it? My relationship with composition (and, probably, musical performance as well) can either be seen as complex and hopelessly entangled with questions of aesthetic honor, or half-hearted and neurotically avoidant. I've written a bit about all of that, both before and after my on-air epiphany during program #41, so go here to take a look. I can say that there are some projects I'm working on, but at this point they are mostly pretty embryonic, and I don't have a great deal of spare time to work on them, so they are moving slowly. As I continue to restructure my life more generally, I hope to create more spaces for getting composition work done more quickly. Once that's rolling, perhaps I'll talk about them more... though such discussion would probably occur on another website, as this site should be more about Prisms than about Iain Edgewater. Which brings me to the last point, i.e. regarding the question of playing anything that I might actually finish. I have played one small collage that I put together for the 2001 wrap-up program, but since that time station policy has made clear that hosts should not play their own works on their own programs. Hosts may play other hosts' works, so I think that leads me back to the obvious answer: my works will be heard when (a) I get around to finishing them and (b) I'm able to get them pressed into disc form for release, meaning I am subjected to the same thumbs-up-thumbs-down -- even if that's merely local -- that every other composer has to endure. Which is as it should be. What happened with the website during the spring of 2002? Why was it not being updated? Are you ever going to finish it? Are you ever going to make it compliant with my browser? et cetera, et cetera... Yikes. Well, what went wrong in April was kind of a "perfect storm" of factors that really bogged things down: a nutty work schedule at the Day Job as my company prepares to launch new products and websites; various aspects of my personal life that have continued to be logistical sinks for rather longer than I'd planned; and that wacky 100th program for which I both overprepared (vis-à-vis deciding what to play) and underprepared (vis-à-vis getting it written up as much as possible in advance). But in a way, this is just kind of an extension of some ongoing logistical roadblocks that have kept many things -- not only website maintenance and improvement -- from proceeding as quickly as I'd like. Even from the beginning, the old nbci.com (originally xoom.com) website only supposed to be a stopgap until I created a permanent website, but even just getting to that point took a while. And since it will be a while longer before I get those aforementioned roadblocks taken care of, I expect it will be some time before the website really looks (and works) the way I want it to. At this point, I can't quite say how long that will be. Earlier on, I did take a sequence of web design/development classes, and it became expedient to use this website as homework/final-project fodder. That means I know where to pick back up with improving the site, once I get a chance to do so. But it's also true that, if there are enough complaints, I'd be more likely to try to find the time to get those improvements rolling... so I urge you to mail me and let me know that you're jolly well tired of seeing the "under construction" page in category x, or putting up with poor pageview characteristics because I haven't yet done a good enough job of optimizing for your particular browser, or whatnot. Ergo, if you have complaints, suggestions for improvements or new features, or even (gasp!) positive feedback about this site, spell them all out in a mail to me, and that will -- at the very least -- move those issues up on my to-do list. While I expect this site to be a work-in-progress for some time, I do have some choices about what to work on next, so by all means let me know what I should prioritize. |