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Playlist: Tom Tenney's Portfolio

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I Didn't Know That: An Audio Collage

From Tom Tenney | 02:55

"I Didn't Know That" is a sonic exploration of propaganda and state-controlled "truths," created almost entirely from found clips appropriated from public domain educational and US military-training films. Any use of copyrighted material constitutes a fair use as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

Transmitlies_small A three-minute sonic collage created almost entirely from appropriated materials, mostly soundtracks from military training and educational films, for the Third Coast Festival Short Docs Challenge.  I’ve included a brief statement of intent below, but my suggestion is to listen to the piece before reading, if you choose to read it at all.

Statement of Intent:
The piece was actually inspired by a Brecht quote about “an inescapable profusion and confusion in the tower of Babel.” I thought that “I didn’t know that” would be a good starting point for an exploration of state-controlled “truths” with the title phrase representing the public’s naive willingness to accept what we now recognize as mistruth and propaganda. I wanted the tension between time periods to emphasize how relativistic these messages are, depending on when we hear them – hopefully the mixing of periods emphasized the relationship between contemporary and dated material.

I originally titled the piece ” I Didn’t Know That: A Triptych” because I tried to create three distinct sections. The first is the monologue of media controlled messages, the second is a dialogue between the messages. The third section actually begins with Brecht himself reading a poem in his native German entitled “To Those Who Follow in Our Wake”, which, in translation, begins:

Truly, I live in dark times!
An artless word is foolish. A smooth forehead
Points to insensitivity. He who laughs
Has not yet received
The terrible news.

Layered on top of this is the voice of McLuhan discussing his idea of “resonance” – nonlinear, nonlogical comprehension of sounds and images. These are the 2 voice of “authenticity” that are eventually buried by the familiar voices introduced in the first two parts, which are layered over them to create a cacophony that is (hopefully) a sum greater than its parts. Anyway, I removed the subtitle since it didn’t strictly fit within the Third Coast guidelines and I’m sort of glad I did, as I felt it opened the piece up to a greater breadth of interpretation. 

Off the Grid

From Tom Tenney | 10:08

Profiles of 3 unusual performers from NYC's downtown "Art Star" scene.

Playing
Off the Grid
From
Tom Tenney

Tt_antislam_72_small This piece profiles three performers from New York City's "Art Star" performance scene.  Interview with Reverend Jen Miller provides context, and the artists profiled include:
* Don Eng: 2nd generation Chinese immigrant, diagnosed schizophrenic, and called "The Chinese Woody Allen" by the New York Times, Don uses performance as a way of coping and socializing.
* John King: The scene's "Minister of Information," John deals with an over mediated world by creating live alternative news broadcasts on stage. 
* Walter Gambin uses performance to enhance primal scream therapy. 

Great Expectations: A Love Story

From Tom Tenney | 04:59

A short story about my romance with a young German actress back in 1986, based on my journal entries and her letters. Thanks to Noel Dinneen and Emilie Blythe McDonald for providing voices for the young me and the young Heidi.

Train_tracks_small A short story about my romance with a young German actress back in 1986, based on my journal entries and her letters. Thanks to Noel Dinneen and Emilie Blythe McDonald for providing voices for the young me and the young Heidi.

Reunion

From Tom Tenney | 05:03

The occasion of my 25th high school reunion inspires reflection on youth, aging, and "going home."

Playing
Reunion
From
Tom Tenney

Reunion_small The occasion of my 25th high school reunion inspires reflection on youth, aging, and "going home."

Scream Symphony #1

From Tom Tenney | 05:00

Symphonic audio collage using authentic screams from CVR recordings, taped phone calls and other sources.

Hindenburg-murray-becker_small Scream Symphony #1 is a symphonic audio collage using authentic screams from CVR recordings, taped phone calls from 9/11 recordings from the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake and others.  In other words, screams as media that were never meant to be media, the most unwilling participants in art you’ll ever find. 

Dedicated to the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks ten-years ago: September 11, 2001

Warning: Some have found the content of this piece to be disturbing. Proceed at your own risk. 

We Are All Underground

From Tom Tenney | 05:15

Exploring the solitary space of underground subway musicians in NYC as they play soulful duets with the trains, the tunnels, and each other.

Busker_small There’s something that has just always seemed tragically lonely about NYC subway musicians.  Making music is (or seems) to be an inherently social activity – something we do with, and for others – and yet most buskers perform by themselves.  This isn’t unusual of course, there are many people out there who identify as “solo musicians.”    But the busker seems to embody the solitude of the artist… whether it’s because s/he is playing underground, or because of the donation tray that sadly usually only contains a couple of dollars (if that), revealing the fact that most people are unable to connect with the interior space that the artist inhabits or that, more probably, they just don’t care.   As I started recording some of these artists (and always paying them to do so), I began to realize that, in fact, these artists weren’t playing entirely alone, in many cases they were creating these incredible duets with the sounds of the trains, the echoes, and even with the people who were ignoring them.