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Alan Lord at Ultimatum Festival 1985-05-01
The following is a transcription of Alan Lord’s performance at Ultimatum, Wednesday May 1st, 1985 at the Foufounes Électriques bar and performance space in Montréal, Quebec, Canada. Alan Lord is the festival organizer and creator of Ultimatum. He is a Canadian musician, writer and engineer, and was a member of the bands Vex, the Marauders, Vent du Mont Scharr and Alan Lord & the Falling Men. An important figure for Montréal’s alternative punk scene, he is featured in Erik Cimon’s documentary “Mtl Punk -- The first wave” (2011). During his Ultimatum set, he performed four song-poems, including “Too Much Money," "Everybody," and “Ignoring the Future Today." The song-poems were accompanied by computer graphics and videos created by Boris Wanowitch aka Pierre Zovilé using an Apple II computer, and electronic music tapes by Boys du Sévère (Jean-Luc Bonspiel and Jean-Martin Mignault). “Too Much Money” and “Everybody” were originally performed by Lord’s 1984 band Débris. Lord wrote the music and lyrics for each of the song-poems, except for “Ignoring the Future Today” which was composed by Jean-Luc Bonspiel. The Ultimatum LP features “Ignoring the Future Today.”
Annotations
00:00 - 00:18
Audio Description
Chatter.
Audience
00:00 - 00:00
Alan Lord Commentary
Words and music by Montrealer and Ultimatum organizer Alan Lord (me), except where noted otherwise. The electronic music of the four song/poems was executed by Boys du Sévère (Jean-Luc Bonspiel and Jean-Martin Mignault).
Event Description
00:18 - 00:19
Audio Description
Cuts out, low static.
Recording
00:19 - 00:21
Audio Description
Chatter resumes.
Audience
00:21 - 00:26
Audio Description
Cuts out, low static.
Recording
00:26 - 00:30
Audio Description
Rustling [possibly someone playing around with the microphone].
Unknown
00:30 - 00:39
Audio Description
Chatter resumes.
Audience
00:39 - 00:41
Audio Description
OK on peut y aller.
Alan Lord
00:41 - 00:49
Audio Description
Room noise.
Foufounes Electriques
00:49 - 00:50
Audio Description
Glass clinking.
Unknown
00:50 - 01:00
Audio Description
Room noise.
Foufounes Electriques
01:01 - 01:02
Audio Description
Video demi-pouce.
Alan Lord
01:02 - 01:06
Audio Description
Room noise.
Foufounes Electriques
01:06 - 01:39
Audio Description
Bass, electric drums, electric keyboard.
Music
01:08 - 01:08
Alan Lord Commentary
Title: Too Much Money
Event Description
01:39 - 03:09
Audio Description
Performs "Too Much Money", sings [English] [underscored by bass, electric drums, and electric keyboard].
Alan Lord
01:44 - 01:44
Alan Lord Commentary
The computer-generated videos projected for all the songs were created by Boris Wanowitch aka Pierre Zovilé, using an Apple II computer
Event Description
03:09 - 03:44
Audio Description
Bass, electric drums, and electric keyboard.
Music
03:44 - 04:47
Audio Description
Continues "Too Much Money".
Alan Lord
04:47 - 04:52
Audio Description
Applause.
Audience
04:52 - 04:56
Audio Description
Merci pour la meilleure sono qu’avant [speech overlaps with applause].
Alan Lord
04:52 - 04:52
Alan Lord Commentary
Title unknown
Event Description
04:56 - 05:26
Audio Description
Bass, electric drums, and electric keyboard.
Music
05:26 - 06:54
Audio Description
Performs piece, speaks rhythmically [English] [underscored by bass, electric drums, and electric keyboard].
Alan Lord
06:54 - 07:27
Audio Description
Bass, electric drums, electric keyboard.
Music
07:27 - 08:44
Audio Description
Continues piece.
Alan Lord
08:36 - 08:36
Alan Lord Commentary
I say "c'était Philippe Soupault" (transl: "it was Philippe Soupault" - the Surrealist poet). Because the last line of the song/poem was a quote of his: "Je plonge dans la joie, il y a encore tant de gens à assassiner")
Event Description
08:44 - 08:46
Audio Description
Applause.
Audience
08:46 - 08:49
Audio Description
C’etait Philippe Soupault [speech overlaps briefly with beginning of next piece]
Alan Lord
08:49 - 09:20
Audio Description
Electric drums, synth, and other electronic sounds.
Music
08:50 - 08:50
Alan Lord Commentary
Title: Everybody
Event Description
09:20 - 11:42
Audio Description
Performs "Everybody", sings [English] [underscored by electric drums, synth, and other electronic sounds.
Alan Lord
11:42 - 11:44
Audio Description
Merci, merci [speech overlaps with end of music].
Alan Lord
11:44 - 11:46
Audio Description
Applause and cheers.
Audience
11:46 - 11:50
Audio Description
Cuts out, light static [possible tape change].
Recording
11:50 - 11:55
Audio Description
Applause and cheers resume.
Audience
11:55 - 11:58
Audio Description
Room noise.
Foufounes Electriques
11:58 - 12:04
Audio Description
Electric drums and synth.
Music
12:01 - 12:01
Alan Lord Commentary
Title: Ignoring The Future Today
Event Description
12:04 - 12:22
Audio Description
Musique du Boys du Severe qui vont jouer Vendredi soir… et a la voie Josee Thibeault vendredi soir ici meme au… au Foufounes Electriques [over top of music]
Alan Lord
12:22 - 12:30
Audio Description
Electric drums, synth, electric keyboard.
Music
12:24 - 12:24
Alan Lord Commentary
Music composed by Jean-Luc Bonspiel.
Event Description
12:30 - 16:19
Audio Description
Performs "Ignoring the Future Today", speaks rhythmically [English] [underscored by electric drums, synth, and electric keyboard].
Alan Lord
16:19 - 16:24
Audio Description
Continues "Ignoring the Future Today" [no underscore].
Alan Lord
16:19 - 16:19
Audio Description
Fades out.
Music
16:24 - 16:25
Audio Description
Thank you.
Alan Lord
16:25 - 16:34
Audio Description
Applause and cheers.
Audience
16:34 - 16:35
Audio Description
Silence.
Recording
16:35 - 16:46
Audio Description
Merci, merci, merci, merci. Il faut comprendre que, il faut comprendre que j’aimerais ca pouvoir ecrire en francais, mais j’ecris en anglais, bon,
Alan Lord
16:46 - 16:56
Audio Description
Applause and cheers.
Audience
16:56 - 16:56
Audio Description
[End of recording].
END