Today marks 10 years since I gave my first lecture on the cut-up method! It was also my first talk at Morbid Anatomy Museum, NYC.
It was the day after David Bowie died, and I was up all night online with everyone. The next day I hung out all day with Ramsey Jones at my favorite record store In Living Stereo, chatting with people about Bowie’s passing as they drifted in and out. I had just been there a couple days before to pick up Bowie’s new album Blackstar, which had come out on his birthday. I left flowers and a candle at his building in the East Village. And that evening after Katelan Foisy and I gave our talk on cut-ups, we listened to a Bowie playlist at the afterparty at Gemini Scorpio loft.
Katelan and I then went on a cut-up talk tour, speaking at Billy Corgan’s Madame Zuzu’s tea shop in Chicago, GAB Studio gallery in Miami’s Wynwood District, and culminating in our first Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult conference in London, May 2016.
PsychArtCult is thereby also celebrating 10 years! Over the years, it has morphed from a monthly in-person event series at Morbid Anatomy Museum in Brooklyn, to a series of 3 day conferences in London (2016), Merano (2019), and Copenhagen (2022), to an online event series via Morbid Anatomy, to basically our whole lifestyle.
Bowie’s work is explored in my cut-up talks and practice. In fact, this spring Carl and I are teaching our 4 session course: Expand Your Art or Writing Practice Using the Cut-up Technique of David Bowie and William Burroughs, with Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Author Carl Abrahamsson, Begins May 10.
To celebrate I’m posting this archival Rendering Unconscious episode with my dear friend Ramsey Jones. Enjoy!
Rendering Unconscious episode 184.
Rendering Unconscious welcomes Ramsey Jones to the podcast!
Ramsey Jones is a prolific musician based in New York City. He records, performs, and tours with an array of musical acts, including Vernon Reid of Living Color, his cousins RZA and GZA, and WuTang Clan. He is the eldest brother of Russell Tyrone Jones, aka Ol’ Dirty Bastard. His musical groups include Rebelmatic, Phunky Nomads, Funkface, Maafa, Bachslider, Abstract, and Dancing Dream. He performed with GZA Liquid Swords at The Blue Note NYC. His music is featured in Dr. Martens DIY – NYC and MUTANTS OF THE MONSTER 2020. Check out the Funkface song Zoo York City featured on Tony Hawk’s Project 8. Follow him at Instagram @satellitejones65
