Brainsturbator 101: Who I Am, What I Do

I realize I might be alone on this one, but 2008 has already started for me.  The last time Brainsturbator was cranking, I was writing about time: the concept of the Chronon, a series on Chronobiology, and a meditation on synchronicity.  Appropriately enough, in the past month my perception of time has changed radically.  A single day can take me up to a week.  I just spent 8 hours in a vocal booth that felt like a 20 minute workout routine.  Weirder still, I find myself experiencing moments from the short-term future in advance lately.  I will explain this (to some extent) later on.

Most of what I write about myself is a self-depreciating joke.  However, most of the emails I write these days are an explanation of Who I Am and What I Do, and I can’t keep rephrasing the same content.  I do love you all, but I want to love you all efficiently and effectively. In the past I have used many names and many outlets, and the challenge for 2008 is clearly going to be integrating everything back into, like....a single human being.

Brainsturbator has covered South American torture camps, the fractal Universe, and the UFO phenomenon, yet the most difficult article I’ve written turns out to be a simple accounting of my own life.  Allow me to reintroduce myself.

Thinking, Reading and Writing Too Much

On September 23rd, 2007, Brainsturbator turned a year old.  Although I’ve learned a lot, gotten a ton of work done, and connected with a worldwide network of people I love and respect, there’s no escaping the fact I spent way too much time in front of a computer to be healthy.  Specifically, in front of The Jaguar, a laptop I got for Christmas that achieved consciousness around May of 2006.  We’ve had a complicated and dangerous relationship ever since.

Brainsturbator branched into Skilluminati Research, an outlet for my work on social control and “Conformity Enforcers.” I don’t mean popular kids in high school, I’m referring to one of the five components of a Complex Adaptive System.  This is one of the most useful shorthand tools for understanding Universe I’ve found, and I got it third hand from Howard Bloom in his essential book The Lucifer Principle.  You can learn more about the concept right here.

Skilluminati was the wake-up call for me.  It has taught me that clarity, in language and intention, is centrally important.  People will always misinterpret your content, but they seldom misunderstand your intentions.  This is something what I will examine in detail, probably in the next article I write, but for now: the two central myths of conspiracy theory are lies. The first myth, of course, is that the world has already been conquered and is currently under Someone Else’s control.  The second myth is more pervasive and ultimately dangerous: the claim that learning about How Fucked We Are is somehow empowering.

Change comes from action, not research.  I have notebooks full of information tracing the history of social control and the hidden networks that shaped our culture, and I might as well burn that shit.  I don’t mean that in a dramatic adolescent way, please don’t misinterpret me.  I’m not saying I regret doing that research, it was interesting at the time and it taught me academic discipline.  I’m just saying that research merely leads to more research, and thanks to my Skilluminati project, I realized that my days in front of a computer were coming to an end.

DJ Multiple Sex Partners

One of the longest-running pranks I’ve done is DJ Multiple Sex Partners.  As a primate who is too contented and busy to lie any further: yes, I produce all the music that’s released as DJ MSP. 

However, this is a great example of just how complicated mythology can get.  Someone had to be DJ Multiple Sex Partners while I was onstage, so I recruited a friend of mine, who I’ll leave anonymous.  Here’s the question: considering he has gotten laid, more times than I should print, off his gig pretending to be my DJ, doesn’t he embody the character more than I ever could?  Second of all, when he’s been onstage with us for over 2 years, how is he not a legitimate member of the band?  That sort of thing.

The whole DJ MSP prank was only mine for a couple months.  After that, the real learning process began: watching the meme mutate as it spread around, hearing new rumors and mythology filter back to me.  It was a valuable education: by creating and launching a Big Lie, I got my first real peek at the fact we’re all lying, all the time. You either know exactly what I’m talking about or that sounds completely insane, let’s not dwell here.

Wombaticus Rex

So you begin to see my problem now.  It gets worse when you consider that my main gig, Wombaticus Rex, is a group consisting of myself and DJ Multiple Sex Partners.  I screwed the pooch on that one about three paragraphs ago.  How do I integrate a group that’s all me? 

My best answer: book solo shows all over the country, jump on every possible opportunity, and don’t stop moving until it’s 2009. I think it’s going to prove to be a great strategy, especially since it scares the living shit out of me.  Several times a day, my rational mind will have a panic attack: I am, after all, booking a national tour despite being flat broke, having no merchandise or finished products, and being largely unknown even here in my home state.  I should mention that my home state is Vermont.

I know my archetypes and I know my Tarot cards, though.  I am walking the path of The Fool, and it fits.  I’m currently headed to Illinois and the Midwest through December, returning to the East Coast for the holidays, and then headed out West for late January through February.  I’m interested in playing anywhere and everywhere, because even horrible nightmare meltdown gigs are educational.  My current schedule is posted on the Wombaticus myspace. Obviously, I have no idea what I’m doing, and all of my shows manifest through the generosity of others.  If you’re reading this and you want to help out, hot damn, feel free:

Humpasaur Jones

If it wasn’t for Dr. Quandary making a joke, Humpasaur Jones never would have happened.  The joke, of course, is context-sensitive and I won’t bother repeating it here.  The Bigger Joke is how far it went: I wound up writing so many articles about sex that I’m going to be making an entire book, tenatively titled Human Sexuality for Filthy Apes.  Worse yet, I’ve got a whole side gig doing sex rap now and I’ve already finished the first EP, Keep it Moist.  It’s on hold at the moment, because we’re wondering if the cover will be a problem:

Yeah, I like it, too.  It’s by Jacob North and I’m very happy with him.  (He’s buddies with Gomar2, who gave Brainsturbator one of my favorite interviews.) Although we’re riding the Pope himself and there’s 1.1 billion Catholics in the world, we’re actually not concerned about the Knights of Malta or Opus Dei coming after us. It’s Belladonna’s production company, Evil Angel, that gives us pause. As a great man once requested: send lawyers, drugs and money. In the meantime, you can hear some of the best tracks at the myspace or email me if you’d like to hear an advance version of the EP.

Algorhythms

Speaking of Dr. Quandary, yeah.  We were going to make an EP called Algorhythms.  It was going to come out Fall 2005.  There were a couple complications, and I’m finally finishing it this weekend.  It’s nothing short of amazing that Dr. Quandary will still speak with me, considering I’ve made him wait over 2 years now.  Clearly I obsess a little too much about my lyrics—after all, my buddy Phil Wassell has had the cover art and CD design finished since 2005, and he’s an infamous perfectionist. 

Brainsturbator never made us the Big Money, but after over a year of operating a network of websites, we made enough to buy some proper studio equipment of our own.  I am deeply grateful for that, and we’re using it to finally get Algorhythms recorded, along with a proper Wombaticus Rex album.  It’s been undeniably stressful trying to record, mix and master all this material with a tour deadline looming on the horizon, but I’d rather be stressed out than bored, you know? You know.

World Around Records

So I obviously started a record label, right?  I am a record label unto myself already, it’s the only logical move at this point.  So yeah, baby, I did: it’s called World Around Records, in a deep and respectful nod towards R. Buckminster Fuller.  It’s an experiment.  I’m running it as open source as possible—I give away a ton of information and resources at Audible Hype, and if that sounds appetizing to you, start with my master stash pile.

I’ve had a number of people In The Business assure me this is nothing less than retarded.  Although I respect my mentors and I’m grateful for their time and input, I also disagree with them completely on this.  I don’t want my success to come because I have some secret inside information that I kept up my sleeve.  That’s the old model of Power Through Control.  I’ve seen the fruits of that tree, and I’ve seen how that ends.  Not interested.

WE ARE WINNING THE FIGHT.

A year ago, I was deeply cynical, and I was constantly depressed.  I would go so far as to suggest there was a connection between the two.

I believed that I was struggling alone—I was wrong.  I believed that I was fighting a losing battle—I was wrong.  We really are winning the fight.  Against ignorance, against hatred, and against normal bullshit life. The network I’ve plugged into over the past year hasn’t given me hope for the future—it’s given me proof that things are improving. 

I could do a whole separate article just thanking people and still not convey how grateful I am for the feedback and the energy and the love.  I promise to take it and run as far as I can, then crawl a little further.  I love you all.

--thirtyseven