Alex Reed
@salexanderreed.bsky.social
author of Assimilate + books on TMBG + Laurie Anderson
professor @ Ithaca College / NYU / U. Florida / William & Mary
singer of the band Seeming
ex-ThouShaltNot
aesthete and ethicist of the gothic
makes awful jokes
https://linktr.ee/salexanderreed
professor @ Ithaca College / NYU / U. Florida / William & Mary
singer of the band Seeming
ex-ThouShaltNot
aesthete and ethicist of the gothic
makes awful jokes
https://linktr.ee/salexanderreed
Tonight at 9 in #Ithaca I’m playing Naked Noise 12 (which involves—to be clear—no nakedness). I’ll be one of 18 musicians performing a two-hour improvisation. Psychedelic, immersive, ritualistic.
September 20, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Tonight at 9 in #Ithaca I’m playing Naked Noise 12 (which involves—to be clear—no nakedness). I’ll be one of 18 musicians performing a two-hour improvisation. Psychedelic, immersive, ritualistic.
With Robert Redford having passed, I beg you all to watch Sneakers (1992), one of the most prescient movies in recent decades, and certainly the best hacker film ever made.
Also it's very funny.
Also it's very funny.
September 16, 2025 at 12:42 PM
With Robert Redford having passed, I beg you all to watch Sneakers (1992), one of the most prescient movies in recent decades, and certainly the best hacker film ever made.
Also it's very funny.
Also it's very funny.
Since @seantcollins.com was asking about ridiculous things we've dreamt, here's a greeting card I was handed a few years ago in a dream.
August 27, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Since @seantcollins.com was asking about ridiculous things we've dreamt, here's a greeting card I was handed a few years ago in a dream.
If we're talking about Ozzy, one of my favorite tidbits is that the first Black Sabbath album was recorded in a single day.
Like, "Oh it's Thursday night. What did you do today?"
"Invented metal."
Like, "Oh it's Thursday night. What did you do today?"
"Invented metal."
July 22, 2025 at 6:54 PM
If we're talking about Ozzy, one of my favorite tidbits is that the first Black Sabbath album was recorded in a single day.
Like, "Oh it's Thursday night. What did you do today?"
"Invented metal."
Like, "Oh it's Thursday night. What did you do today?"
"Invented metal."
Walked by a car show and met a very sweet guinea pig and her 1911 Maxwell AB.
July 12, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Walked by a car show and met a very sweet guinea pig and her 1911 Maxwell AB.
Looks like I'm not the first to hear this. Here's someone in 2009 with the same insight.
July 6, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Looks like I'm not the first to hear this. Here's someone in 2009 with the same insight.
Reminds me of Julian Cope's incredible "Lunatic and Fire-Pistol"
June 17, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reminds me of Julian Cope's incredible "Lunatic and Fire-Pistol"
Back to the important work. Here's a sign I liked.
June 14, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Back to the important work. Here's a sign I liked.
The hill on which this boomer chooses to die is "Pony Time."
May 29, 2025 at 2:44 PM
The hill on which this boomer chooses to die is "Pony Time."
Two interesting bits: first is from the Wikipedia page on "Oldies," and second is a 2020 list of radio's most "lost" songs from the 1960s:
May 29, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Two interesting bits: first is from the Wikipedia page on "Oldies," and second is a 2020 list of radio's most "lost" songs from the 1960s:
And hey, where did TR get the song name "A Violet Fluid" from?
Chances are he had a copy of Terrence McKenna's freshly-published book True Hallucinations.
Chances are he had a copy of Terrence McKenna's freshly-published book True Hallucinations.
May 17, 2025 at 8:48 PM
And hey, where did TR get the song name "A Violet Fluid" from?
Chances are he had a copy of Terrence McKenna's freshly-published book True Hallucinations.
Chances are he had a copy of Terrence McKenna's freshly-published book True Hallucinations.
It's Trent Reznor's 60th, so here are a few interesting NIN bits from my archival observations!
First, here he is calling out homophobia at TVT Records and defending Gary Talpas in 1991, which is great to see.
First, here he is calling out homophobia at TVT Records and defending Gary Talpas in 1991, which is great to see.
May 17, 2025 at 8:43 PM
It's Trent Reznor's 60th, so here are a few interesting NIN bits from my archival observations!
First, here he is calling out homophobia at TVT Records and defending Gary Talpas in 1991, which is great to see.
First, here he is calling out homophobia at TVT Records and defending Gary Talpas in 1991, which is great to see.
Browsing goth zines in the Aegis Archive, here’s an incredible aside from a 1996 issue of Journal of the Dark.
May 5, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Browsing goth zines in the Aegis Archive, here’s an incredible aside from a 1996 issue of Journal of the Dark.
Was listening to Prince (Good Love, 1988), and I did not expect this lyric.
April 30, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Was listening to Prince (Good Love, 1988), and I did not expect this lyric.
Yes. Or The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953).
April 16, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Yes. Or The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953).
Just taught Satie's Vexations (1894), the intolerable little piece whose score asks that it be repeated 840 times. Performances usually last 20-28 hours.
Now I am thinking about its mashup potential.
Consider Annea Lockwood's Piano Burning (1968)—in which you burn a piano—but repeated 840 times.
Now I am thinking about its mashup potential.
Consider Annea Lockwood's Piano Burning (1968)—in which you burn a piano—but repeated 840 times.
April 16, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Just taught Satie's Vexations (1894), the intolerable little piece whose score asks that it be repeated 840 times. Performances usually last 20-28 hours.
Now I am thinking about its mashup potential.
Consider Annea Lockwood's Piano Burning (1968)—in which you burn a piano—but repeated 840 times.
Now I am thinking about its mashup potential.
Consider Annea Lockwood's Piano Burning (1968)—in which you burn a piano—but repeated 840 times.
After we have endured and resisted the worst, we'll have the chance to build back better. The more utopian our plans, the brighter they might shine from the tunnel's end—and hence the greater their appeal.
Yes, we have to defeat "now" first, but what are your best ideas for tomorrow's clean slate?
Yes, we have to defeat "now" first, but what are your best ideas for tomorrow's clean slate?
March 20, 2025 at 3:40 PM
After we have endured and resisted the worst, we'll have the chance to build back better. The more utopian our plans, the brighter they might shine from the tunnel's end—and hence the greater their appeal.
Yes, we have to defeat "now" first, but what are your best ideas for tomorrow's clean slate?
Yes, we have to defeat "now" first, but what are your best ideas for tomorrow's clean slate?
Thrilled to be hosting Dr. Jennifer Stoever today for an Ithaca Music Forum event: "Living Room Revolutions: Black Women Collecting and Selecting Records in the 1960s and '70s"
Join us at 5pm, Ithaca College
#musicology
Join us at 5pm, Ithaca College
#musicology
February 21, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Thrilled to be hosting Dr. Jennifer Stoever today for an Ithaca Music Forum event: "Living Room Revolutions: Black Women Collecting and Selecting Records in the 1960s and '70s"
Join us at 5pm, Ithaca College
#musicology
Join us at 5pm, Ithaca College
#musicology
Representing at the Ithaca Underground film festival
January 31, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Representing at the Ithaca Underground film festival
Incredible recital poster at Ithaca College.
January 29, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Incredible recital poster at Ithaca College.
