Rev. Fred Lane (c. 19??) is a simultaneously enigmatic and notorious persona who is responsible for creating what is arguably the most obscure, strange, darkly comedic, psychotic, perplexing, and uniquely American music that has ever been recorded. The collected works of Fred Lane constitute an improbably rare body of music that brazenly rides the line between order and chaos; taking the listener into realms that are all the way out, and yet somehow oddly (and perhaps unsettlingly) familiar. It is a music that is impossible to penetrate the mystery of and exists outside of conventional time in a universe all of its own. The intrepid few that miraculously stumbled across these rarefied recordings have largely become rabid & cult-like fanatics. One especially obsessive lifelong fan even created a Rev. Fred Lane documentary that took over 19 years to complete. Remarkably, Fred Lane and his swinging ‘pataphysical cult from an alternate dimension (SEE: Ron ‘Pate’s Debonairs featuring Rev. Fred Lane + Fred Lane and his The Hittite Hot Shots) only performed TWICE in their entire existence. All of the band members were credited on the albums with fake aliases created by Lane, with monikers such as Dick Foote, Omar Bhag-dad-a, Dimples LaCroix, Ron ‘Pate, Abdul Ben Camel, Cyd Cherise, Shep Estrus, E. Baxter Put, Whitey Stencil, “Bill” The Kid Dap, and Motor Hobson. Several bizarre and fantastical rumors surfaced over the years, some claiming that Lane had become a demented recluse and/or nazi living in a pyramid and constructing sculptures out of vegetables. Were any of the rumors true? Was it all some kind of elaborate ruse? Probing deeper into the story of Rev. Fred Lane, one discovers that the character ...
In sterquiliniis invenitur. Can truth, redemption, and meaning be discovered in the places we least want to look? Listen to Caleb Jackson Dills and Evan Philip Lipson attempt to find out by interviewing notorious scat and zoo pornographer Ira Isaacs, director of modern cinematic classics such as Hollywood Scat Amateurs No. 7. Ira Isaccs (c.1951) is a self-described shock artist who was sentenced to four years in federal prison in January 2013 after being found guilty of five counts of selling and distributing obscene materials. Some might be surprised to learn that obscenity remains to be a punishable offense in the United States. Obscenity is not simply a relic of a sexually repressive past in which it was used to challenge provocateurs such as Arthur Miller, Lenny Bruce, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and Robert Mapplethorpe. Rather, some still face penalties for advancing over the abstruse and ever-shifting imaginary line in the sand drawn by the Department of Justice. What makes an artist an artist, and who gets to determine what constitutes as art and what doesn't? How does one go about finding models willing to consume excrement on camera? Is there validity to shock as an artistic medium? Join us tonight in THE EXILE HOUR as we seek to get to the bottom of these questions and more. ...
“Every calamity is to be overcome by endurance.” -Virgil “Endurance is more important than truth..." -Charles Bukowski Ben Bennett (c.1984) is a unique, virtuosic free improvising percussionist who rose to international prominence and notoriety in 2014. After creating a series of live-streamed internet videos, in which he sat cross-legged and gazed into a camera all while maintaining a ceaseless grin upon his face for four hour durations, Ben joined the ranks of weird YouTube celebritydom. In 2017, after creating 300 episodes of “Sitting and Smiling,” he inexplicably began a new series entitled “Walking and Talking,” in which he walks and talks (often self-reflexively) on camera, typically also for four hours at a time. Ben is the son of American experimental text, sound, and visual poet John M. Bennett and brother of composer/performer John Also Bennett. Additionally, he is also a highly skilled urban forager, survivalist, and as we discover towards the conclusion of this episode, something of a freestyle rapper. Join us for this episode of THE EXILE HOUR in which we engage Ben in a fast & furious dialogue about the nature of post-human consciousness, endurance art, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, conspiracy theories, and suicidal selfie sticks. ...
