John Giorno Band at Ultimatum Festival 1985-05-05

Performs "(Last Night) I Gambled With My Anger And Lost", instrumental intro [drums, electric guitar, bass, synth].

John Giorno (December 4, 1936 – October 11, 2019) was an American poet and performance artist. He organized a number of early multimedia poetry experiments and events, notably his "Dial-A-Poem" project in the Sixties, which allowed people to call a phone number to hear brief poems by contemporary poets. He founded Giorno Poetry Systems in the Seventies, issuing vinyl albums and videos featuring himself and renowned artists such as William S. Burroughs, Patti Smith, Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Jim Carroll, Frank Zappa, Diamanda Galás, Allen Ginsberg, and John Cage. He was also a Buddhist, an AIDS activist, and later in life he made Poem Prints – multicolored paintings featuring pithy phrases such as “YOU GOTTA BURN TO SHINE”. In the Eighties he started touring with his John Giorno Band. The lineup here is: C.P. Roth – Music, keyboards , Adam Roth – Guitar , David Conrad – Bass , Mike Osborne - Drums

The song “(Last night) I Gambled with my Anger and lost” is on the Ultimatum documentary vinyl LP. Giorno asked me for a copy of the video of the song, and he included the Ultimatum footage in one of his Giorno Poetry Systems videos

Continues piece, John Giorno recites poetry [English] over top of the music.

Continues piece, instrumental [synth, bass, electric drums].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, instrumental [guitar, electric drums, synth].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, instrumental [synth, bass, electric drums].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, instrumental [bass, guitar, synth, electric drums].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, instrumental [electric drums, electric guitar, synth].

Cheers and applause.

Synth notes ring out.

Cheers and applause.

Cuts out, silence.

Static.

Performs piece [John Giorno recites poetry over top of electric drums and gravelly electronic sound].

Continues piece, instrumental [electric drums, gravelly electronic sound, bass].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, instrumental [electric guitar, electric drums, bass, gravelly electronic sound].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, instrumental [synth, bass, electric drums].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, instrumental [synth, bass, electric drums].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Cheers and applause.

Bass note rings out.

Guitar, bass, and drums sounds ring out.

Cheers and applause continues.

Bass note rings out.

Bass note rings out.

Light thumping sound and distorted voice.

Room noise.

Bass note rings out.

Cymbal crash.

Room noise.

Electronic sounds.

Room noise.

Cuts out, silence.

Performs "Stretching it Wider" [John Giorno recites poetry over top of electric guitar, bass, and percussion].

Continues piece, instrumental [electric guitar, bass, and percussion].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, instrumental [synth, bass, percussion, electronic sounds].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, instrumental [synth, bass, percussion, electric guitar, electronic sounds].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, instrumental [guitar, synth, percussion, bass].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, instrumental [synth, percussion, electronic sounds, bass].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Cheers and applause.

Room noise.

Okay. This is a poem called "Life is a Killer".

Room noise.

Recites "Life is a Killer".

Laughs.

Continues recitation.

Thank you.

Cheers and applause.

Synth notes ring out..

Loud scratchy sound.

High pitched sound.

Tell me when you're ready.

Percussive sound rings out.

Room noise.

Percussive sound.

Scream.

Percussive sound.

Room noise.

Guitar chord rings out, echoes and becomes distorted.

Room noise.

Percussive sounds.

Room noise.

Reverberant bass note rings out.

Room noise.

Quiet squeak.

Room noise.

Rustling.

Room noise.

Guitar slide.

Room noise.

Percussive sounds.

Room noise.

Performs piece, instrumental intro [distorted reverberant electric guitar].

Continues piece, John Giorno recites poetry [English] over top of the music.

Continues piece, music shifts [synth added].

Cuts out, silence.

Continues piece [recitation, synth, electric guitar, electric drums, electronic sounds].

Continues piece, instrumental.

Continues piece, recitation resumes, music shifts [electronic percussion and synth].

Continues piece, music shifts [vocal stings] [recitation continues].

Continues piece, music shifts [synth and percussion only] [recitation continues].

Continues piece, music shifts [electric guitar only] [recitation continues].

Continues piece, music shifts [synth only] [recitation continues].

Continues piece, instrumental [synth and electric guitar].

Cheers, applause, unintelligible speech.

Percussive sound.

Applause and unintelligible speech continue.

Percussive sound.

Applause continues.

Percussive sounds.

Cuts out, rustling sound.

Buzzing and clicking sounds.

Electronic keyboard sounds, bass, and electric guitar notes ring out.

Room noise.

Percussive sound.

Room noise.

Percussive sound.

Room noise.

Percussive sound.

Room noise.

Performs piece, instrumental intro [electronic percussion, synth, electric guitar, electronic keyboard, electronic sounds, bass].

Continues piece, John Giorno recites poetry [English] over top of the music.

Continues piece, instrumental.

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, instrumental.

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, music shifts [volume fades then comes back in] [recitation continues].

Continues piece.

Continues piece, instrumental [guitar solo].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, music shifts [synth only] [recitation continues].

Percussive sounds.

Cheers and applause.

Electric guitar chords rings out.

Applause continues.

Percussive sounds.

Cuts out, rustling.

Applause continues.

Room noise.

Guitar slide.

Electric guitar lick rings out.

Room noise.

Ok, uh, next I'm gonna introduce the band, our band leader and composer [electric guitar lick] and the guy who holds it all together is CP Roth.

Cheers, applause, and unintelligible yelling.

And on guitar is Adam Roth.

Electronic sounds.

Cheers and applause.

And on bass, Dave Conrad.

Cheers and applause.

And on drums, Mike Osborne.

Cheers and applause.

Yay!

Synth notes ring out.

Electric guitar notes ring out.

Guitar, synth, and drum sounds ring out.

Thank you.

Room noise.

Guitar chord rings out.

Room noise.

Dry guitar slide.

Room noise.

Page flipping sound.

Performs "Scum and Slime", instrumental intro [electric guitar, synth, bass, electronic percussion].

Continues piece, John Giorno recites poetry [English] over top of the music.

Continues piece, music shifts [recorded vocals echo recitation].

Continues piece, instrumental [electric guitar, synth, bass, electronic percussion, electronic sounds].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, music shifts [recorded vocals echo recitation].

Continues piece, instrumental [electric guitar, synth, bass, electronic percussion, electronic sounds].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, instrumental [electronic chimes, electric guitar, bass, synth, electronic percussion].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Cheers and applause.

Drums.

Cheers and applause.

Cuts out, low static buzz.

Silence.

Drum roll here.

So ha - [cut off by drums].

Performs piece, instrumental intro [drums, shouting, unintelligible voices].

Continues piece, music shifts [electric guitar, synth, drums].

Continues piece, John Giorno recites poetry [English] over top of the music.

Continues piece, instrumental.

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, instrumental.

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, music shifts [drums only] [recitation continues].

Continues piece, instrumental [electric guitar, synth, percussion].

Continues piece, recitation resumes, music shifts [synth only].

Continues piece, music cuts out [recitation only].

Continues piece, music resumes, instrumental [synth and electric guitar].

Continues piece, recitation resumes.

Continues piece, music shifts [drums added] [recitation continues].

Continues piece, instrumental [drums, synth, and electric guitar].

Cheers and applause.

Right audio cuts out.

Cheers and applause [left audio only].

John Giorno Band [left audio only].

Right audio returns.

Cheers and applause.

We had 'em last November, we got 'em now, and we're gonna get 'em back again.

Cheers and applause.

Let's let him rest now and -

Applause and chatter.

Uh, in a few minutes we'll have a very very special guest to wrap up, uh, pour finir Ultimatum cinq jours deja passe puis, uh, on a garde, uh, quelque chose de tres speciale pour la fin.

Exclaims [unintelligible].

On a garde uh, quelque chose de tres speciale pour la fin [off mic].

Room noise.

Laughs.

Rustling, cuts out.

Silence.

[End of recording].