Dirt, #2

With that in mind, I offer to you the second issue of Dirt, only a few years after the first. And, in spite of the timespan, it is still pretty skimpy. Like I said, I sure don't know what is going on! But I'll try to tell you something...

CONTENTS:

• Hey, I'm moving...
• Hey, UWI023 moved...
• Boomin' on the net
• What's up with other nodes
• What I've been up to

By the time you read this, the wheels will be in motion ... yes, I am going to be packing it up and heading "off" this summer. This means, in a nutshell, things might get a little messy for a while. Obviously, they will be messy for me, but I am talking about "interruptions" in UWI's services.

But first, the move. Welp, the bigscary step is done; I've given my notice at my job. This effectively makes me poor, so donations will gladly be accepted (grin). Why did I do this? Oh, you know, life. Time to move on. Stuck in a work rut. All of the above. None of the above. Some of the above. Where to? Well, the First Leg will be a bit of travel around Montreal, Quebec, and into the Boston area (money, weather, gods, life permitting). Then to Toronto and settle there for a bit. Good planning, huh? ahem

The important stuff... the net stuff... BIG thanks to the fine folks at KZSU radio in Stanford for loanin' some space on their HTTP server ... this is where all the UWI WWW stuff is going to end up. You don't know how much of a relief this is for me. However, the FTP site is still without a home, so if you have any spare space lying around on the net (oh, like 60Mb) and are feeling brave, why not drop UWI a line and help out the cause? My email should stay the same for a while, and will eventually be changed (and hopefully be forwarded). I am accepting suggestions on how to get a foothold onto the net for cheap/free (i.e. dial-ins) when out and about, since I have acct(s), but just need ideas on where to telnet from.

Hang in there, it may get bumpy for a bit. Keep your eyes on the web pages and mailing list for updates.

I can speak about that which is close to me, such as my (UWI001) activities. I can also tell you about UWI023.

Node 023 is comprised of Viral Communications, ran by Steev Hise, whom I met in the town we both called home, Ann Arbor. Steev and VirComm dabbled in all kinds of stuff that thrill me: noise/experimental music, computer-aided art/design, self-publication, etc.

During the summer of 1993 VirComm was the driving force behind the wildly successful and equally stimulating Noise-a-palooza show in Ann Arbor. Jointly sponsored by UWI (and the Ann Arbor Film Coop), it brought together the musical talents of VirComm's Ears Under Siege, fellow UWI experimenters Clevelands's Evolution Control Committee (UWI008), and additional Ann Arbor artists and experimenters. In attendance for the event were nodes 007 (Windsor) and 014 (Indianapolis), showing their support.

The following fall, UWI023 packed up VirComm and moved to South Carolina. As a final goodbye, VirComm put out a fantistic issue of Synergy (#3) and the must-have experimental/noise/ambient/??? compilation tape, The Ann Arbor Edge. The mayhem continues down there, but I feel a definite personal loss, as well as a loss for the true underground of Ann Arbor. For the rest of you, keep an eye out for more tapes and print-stuff from the new home of VirComm.

The UWI anonymous ftp site (141.214.4.135) has seen a slow, but steady, growth in access over its years of semi-covert existence. Recently added was the UWI World Wide Web server (http://zapruder.pds.med.umich.edu/uwi.html [ha ha, this has changed since. -ed.]), which became surprisingly popular darn near overnight. It has proven to be a great stomping ground for all sorts of fringy culture and lab for net-experiments. Give it a try and throw your own ideas at it.

UWI-affiliate, the OTIS Project (UWI006) has been blowing the doors off of the art world anywhere it dare stick its head into the world of technology. What started as a humble directory on the UWI ftp site (and still exists there), now has its own mailing list, regular collaborative projects, and write-ups on it in everything from Wired to non-tech glossies, like UK's The Face. Kudos to Ed Stastny and all the time and effort put in by him and fellow OTISians.

Like I said in the intro, UWI is hardly a bureaucratic, info-grubbing corporation. In other words, I don't know if a lot of the nodes are still out there, and if they are, what they are up to. However, I can say that in the recent months, UWI has picked up a few new nodes.

Lessee, UWI009 is EastEdge, a group of artists and cybercharacters from Hungary; UWI010 represent a fringe BBS and offshoots from Indiana; node 012 comes from British Columbia; UWI014 also hails from Indiana (and frequents Ann Arbor often, luckily for me!); from Chicago, is ideaLABS (UWI111), a multi-media house.

"We" here at UWI001 have been spending way too much time producing way too little for way too long, it seems, looking back. I suppose most of the time was spent doing the mysterious "building and maintaining" of the on-line stuff. I worked on some of the OTIS projects, including the original Panic! and "help" (more like "should be helping") with the OTIS WWW pages. I collaborated with VirComm on its production of the must-have tape compilation, The Ann Arbor Edge, doing the cover art.

Finally, a third issue of the nebulous Lunatic Fringe was spit out. Some small experimental projects (Re:, Cookie, Trans Scribe) were tinkered with. I think (hope) there is some other stuff, but I think my brain has had it for now.

Contact UWI001 for with any queries on all of this. Whew.

That's about it for now. Maybe I won't wait 2 years for the next issue. Lots of changes going on, so that will probably prompt another issue right-quick. Stay busy, nervous, spastic, active, and cool. Oh, and stay yourself.