After the big Herd Of The Ether Space (HOTES) round up in September of 1997, the flock of sonic explorers were led in a variety of directions by the shepherds of entropy. However, on June 23rd, 2001, Robert Silverman, still holding his place in Oakland, California, hosted what has turned out to be the last HOTES session to date. Joining him from Lawrence, Kansas, came Charles Rice Goff III and from Los Angeles, California, came Killr “Mark” Kaswan.
That day’s recording session produced the first and only direct-to-digital CDR release for the group, entitled: “Dolly & Jackie & Mr. Wren.” The session could be described as a celebration of free improvisation, and it flowed with all the spacey atmosphere and absurd dadaist humor that had characterized HOTES music for years previous. The shared intuition that Goff, Kaswan, and Silverman had developed from over twenty years of sonic collaboration expressed itself through electronic keyboards, guitar, homemade woodwinds, flutes, animal calls, a variety of percussion instruments (and non instruments), a few toys, and a couple of portable cassette recorders. This intuition was also especially apparent in the collaborators’ vocal interactions.
Some strange verbiage and weird stories also were cooked up in the Ether Space that day. The story that gives this collection its name came from a children’s book that Dee Ann Schaer had given to Goff on the evening previous to the recording session. The book, entitled: “The Bad Donkey,” had a special significance, because donkeys had served as themes and characters in the music of Taped Rugs groups for years. Schaer’s late husband, Steve, had been a part of the Taped Rugs family since its beginnings in the 1970’s and had participated in the HOTES round up session of September, 1997 (a year prior to his death).
Here Taped Rugs presents the final audio selection in the HOTES podcast series, entitled: “Level In The Box.” And for all of you curious listeners out there, the entire “Dolly & Jackie & Mr. Wren” CDR album is archived at the link below:
http://www.archive.org/details/DollyAndJackieAndMrWren
The full set of HOTES recordings, including many of the group’s previously unreleased productions, can be accessed through the two menus below:
http://tapedrugs.com/HOTESTapeLoopArchive.html
and
http://tapedrugs.com/HOTESArchiveBBCassette.html
TAPED RUGS PRESENTS will be taking a break from its podcasting for an indeterminate period of time, but rest assured, there’s plenty more noises to share and tales to tell. Until we all meet again, thanks much to everyone for tuning in.


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