City of Legends

Dutch tech-musical-wizard Ophidian has permitted me to not only feature his great piece "Pegasus", which features my reading of "the philosophy of dreams" but also includes his newest work "the violence of indifference", which includes my reading of my poem "from out of the city" in my latest "from out of the city" (coincidentally) podcast.

You can subscribe to the podcast at Apple’s iTunes Music Store or through the Feedburner feed (click here, dummy).  Give a listen and let me know what’s your take.

Thanks again to the great Ophidian!

Note to Avid Fan:  The book progresses.  My editor assures me it is proceeding well and will be amazing.  I trust her.

Yes, RenaissanceFive, my lit and arts mag, is still being slaved over.  You would not, can not imagine the people we have working on this thing.  I can assure you, if you are a long-time reader, you will be blown away by our creative team on the first issue.

The new book, Apokalypsis, is on hold…not because of anything other than it is changing direction.  It will now be single-muse focused.  And if you can’t guess which muse, you really need to read more.

The legendary Ophidian himself, Conrad Hoyer, and I are beginning a musical/poetry collaboration that may surprise a lot of people.  Stay tuned.

Yes, I am going to retrofit williamfdevault.com and yes, I am considering a monograph of my poetry suite "The Sacraments".  And, yes, I am giddy to the point of madness in love.  It is starting to annoy people.  Not me.  It is good to be happy.

I will be changing my geographic base of operations within the next twelve months.  To where. depends on several factors.  I will keep you in the loop,

My poem "the philosophy of dreams" has taken on a life of its own, gradually, and now I have been the latest to open a can of something closer to worms than whup-ass over it.

Earlier this year the poem got some attention when it was revealed that a reading of mine of the piece had been sampled by Euro electronica wizard Ophidian.  After hearing what he did with it for his piece "Phoenix" I totally approve of what he did with it and it is cool and righteous to realize how many thousands of chemically altered young people have heard my voice booming out at them at raves across the continent.

Very cool.  Very righteous.

Now I find myself accused of a retcon (retroactive continuity, a phrase that emerged out of the comics industry for when you rewrite the backstory of a character or event without regards for inconsistencies that emerge).  It seems some people latched onto the muse breakdown I offered up for loveaddict and noticed that despite the fact the poem in question "the philosophy of dreams" appearing in the book, Brigit (aka the Crimson Panther) is not listed in the muse breakdown list.  There is a muse named "Crimson", but it was correctly surmised that she is not the majestic Titian-haired goddess christened Brigit.

The truth is, after time and tempest has passed, I had decided that, in reality, "the philosophy of dreams" was more in the "Abstra" column than the "Brigit" column, and identified it so in the new volume.  That simple.  Okay, not that simple, as it took a helluvalot of soul-searching to come to that. 

I stand by my decision and will continue to evaluate the source and force of my works as I deem proper and accurate and true to the spirit of my work.  Believe me, many elements of my life would play easier if I could delude myself and rewrite my histories, but that is not in my nature or my passions.

I have been directed to a link on YouTube for a live performance, on May 16, 2009, of "Pegasus" (featuring my vocals) at Nightmare Outdoor at Hellendoorn by Ophidian. Nunc dimittis!

My thanks to Ophidian for clearing up the confusion over the track "Pegasus" on last year’s "A Gathering of Styles", as such

A Gathering of Styles at Discogs

So now I am officially in the discography for that track…Dave Taub keeps pointing out how wide and diverse my following is.  I am sorry if I take that from granted, I know there are pockets of fans and readers in India, Australia, Brazil, the Ukraine, Russia, the Netherlands, England and the US, but I am often caught off guard when a professor takes me into their curriculum, or a recording artist samples my recordings or an artist creates an image based on one of my works. 

I never really expect it.

Here is a recording of a piece by Euro techno-artist Ophidian, the name of which is "Pegasus".  It is raw, powerful and mesmerizing.  There is some debate as to exact genre, whether Doomcore, Industrial Hardcore or whatever.

And a few minutes in, the fires part and a lovely, lush melody rises, accompanied by my poem "the philosophy of dreams" being read by…me?

Yes, it looks like I have been sampled.  I should be annoyed that I was not consulted or credited, but I am more delighted to have been part of this piece, which so many have heard and so many appreciate.

Ophidian, anytime you want to collaborate again, let me know.  Now I know how Ginastera felt when he heard EL&P’s rendition of Toccata.