Thomas Negovan - By Popular Demand Silkscreen for record release parties by Malleus Rock Art Lab

Chicago, Los Angeles- two cities, two parties to celebrate the completion and release of this beautiful piece of art that took clear form in my mind at the beginning of April 2011, was recorded on two dates in May, and after months of work finally officially released on Friday the 13th, January 2012.  I can’t thank my friends and family for supporting me emotionally with their emails, phone calls, and of course attending the events!  Most of all, I have to thank Billy Shire (West Coast Art Godfather) for generously hosting the L.A. event, and darling of darlings Ysanne Spevack (violinist / string arranger for Smashing Pumpkins and Dave Navarro’s favorite violinist) for lending Gail Potocki and I her secret Hobbit House up in Topanga Canyon as a residence for our visit.  Our week in Los Angeles consisted of a Gail Potocki art opening, lots of wilderness beauty, and a record release party, all documented in part below, and more thoroughly on my Facebook page.

Gary Baddeley at Disinformation (his and Richard Metzger’s- now of Dangerous Minds- contribution to corrupting the minds of an entire generation can’t be overstated) was one of the people who was so moved by the record that he said he couldn’t email, he had to phone in person.  He said so many things to me in that phone call (which arrived as Gail and I were wandering in the California mist) that made me realize a dozen minds whose work I respect really understanding my reasons for doing this made up for the lack of a Wax Cylinder Grammy category.  That phone call led to me typing on my phone the note he posted on his website.  If you want to know my mindset of the trip for the Record Release party in L.A., click here.

In going through the photos I have, I can’t believe I did such a terrible job of documenting the guests!  I really, really need a press person.  Thanks to everyone who came, I’m sorry I don’t have most of you on film!!!  (Most of all I wish I had Allan Amato‘s outfit.  He makes being a Superhero look GOOD.)  And if only I’d filmed Grant Morrison‘s story about the unintelligibility of the Scottish accent being the grand key to that night’s parking success or Ulorin Vex spilling secrets about Ron Jeremy and a riding crop, I could get some substantial YouTube hits…

Thank you again, ALL of you, and I look forward to seeing you soon…!

xO
Tom

Thomas Negovan Record Release at Century Guild 13 Jan 2012

The Gibson Harp guitar I played on the record; LPs on display

Deep/

Dark/

Gail Potocki on the road to the secret Hobbit House

Stolen from Tiffany Lettieri's Facebook!

Thomas Negovan - Gail Potocki - Billy Shire

Thomas Negovan - Kirk Hammett

Steve Diet Goedde - Yee - Don Spiro

Lars Ulrich - James Hetfield

Lars Ulrich - Gail Potocki

Lee Joseph - Susan Schwab - Luther Gerlach - Eva Crawford

Introducing two of my angels to each other: Joe Cassidy and Ysanne Spevack

Kent Williams - Thomas Negovan

'Prom photo' with Ysanne Spevack

For those of you in the Los Angeles area, don’t forget to check out the last of Negovan’s By Popular Demand Vinyl Release Performances at lowbrow hotspot La Luz de Jesus!

“It’s Sunday night, I’m up in Topanga in my friend Ysanne’s cabin, and as I experience no internet, no cell phone, and a space that is one part The Hobbit and one part Deadwood I’m hard pressed to imagine a better place to be sleeping before my record release on Wednesday. The record, BY POPULAR DEMAND, whose release I’ll be celebrating with friends at La Luz de Jesus gallery in LA, was recorded on a machine built when these conditions were the norm: a turn-of-the-century convergence of leather, oak, gears, and brilliance—a wax cylinder recorder built by Thomas Edison.”

To view the rest of the article, visit Disinformation’s website HERE.

Thomas Negovan will be marking the release of his latest album By Popular Demand with two intimate performances in Chicago and Los Angeles.  On Friday the 13th, Century Guild plays host for the first performance, while legendary lowbrow gallery La Luz De Jesus serves as the performance space for the second show in Los Angeles, CA.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

CENTURY GUILD
2041 W. Carroll Ave. C-220

Chicago, IL 60647

DOORS: 7p.m. | PERFORMANCE: 8p.m.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2012

LA LUZ DE JESUS

4633 Hollywood Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90027

DOORS: 7p.m. | PERFORMANCE: 8p.m.    

Bypassing electronic and digital media for a completely analog musical experience, the single from Thomas Negovan’s debut solo album By Popular Demand is the first new song recorded AND released on wax cylinder since 1914. Thomas Negovan’s debut solo album By Popular Demand features eight songs recorded entirely without electricity onto wax cylinder using a 1900’s Thomas Edison Phonograph Recorder and will be released in a limited number of vinyl-only editions, available at the concert.   

www.thomasnegovan.com
www.olympianrecords.com

To read the rest of the article by Bart Mendoza of the San Diego Troubadour, click HERE.

By Popular Demand "Blood & Ink" Retail Version - Cover art by Greg Martin, 2011

SIDE A.: Recorded 15 May 2011 in Rantoul, IL
1. New Year’s Prayer
2. The Strangest Music in the World
3. The Divine Eye
4. Viva Las Vegas (Love Went Away)
SIDE B.: Recorded 26 May 2011 in Chicago, IL
1. Two Houses
2. Soft Target
3. The Trouble with Cinderella
4. And, Tenderness is Alchemy

By Popular Demand "Blood & Ink" Retail Version, Limited to 500 Pieces

While a number of other musical acts have toyed with anachronistic ideas and themes, this record may be the first to truly act as a time machine to the early days of recorded music. Thomas Negovan’s debut solo album By Popular Demand features 8 original songs recorded using the most archaic of techniques: the wax cylinder. By stripping the music-making process of the gluttonously infinite possibilities of the digital age, By Popular Demand relied on the intimacy of the singer, his instruments, and the wax cylinder recorder. This meant no overdubs, no equalization, no editing, and most notable of all: NO ELECTRICITY. Using the most sophisticated recording techniques of 1911, By Popular Demand by name possesses a quality that is retro enough to be charming and ridiculous enough to be entertaining.

The album was recorded in two grueling one day sessions, requiring Negovan to use the sheer power of his voice and 12-string guitar to move a small sapphire needle across wax cylinders. By utilizing the bygone artistry of wax cylinder recording popularized at the turn of the century by Thomas Edison, Negovan’s decision to bypass modern digital method makes for a sound that is undeniably haunting and organic.

The record itself comes in three versions with limited pressings. The retail version features marbled black and translucent red vinyl housed in a sleeve overlaid with work by colloidial photographer Greg Martin. The other two are deluxe versions, pressed in both black lacquered and red translucent vinyl, with hand silkscreened sleeves adorned in artwork by Cursed Pirate Girl creator Jeremy A. Bastian.

By Popular Demand features the debut single “The Divine Eye,” to be released on wax cylinder in a limited edition of 50. The single is a first of its kind since 1924: recorded AND released on wax cylinder.

First time since 1924.

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