The Parsons Day 4, happened in
Trieste in August, 4-7, 2000, registered various significant
records respect the previous PDAYs: as during (4 days included
those of departure and arrival), number of participants (10,
plus 2 guests limited to a dinner), and activities: we raised
the thematicity, overall in the passion of Projecting, dedicating
months to the organization; and, surprisingly, many external
contributions added. What resulted was such a big amount of activities
that, if we had to define this Parsons Day in two words, we should
say that it has been a PARSONIAN OVERDOSE.
The
Fourth Italian Parsons Day has been particular also since in
USA, only a week after, happened a meeting, organized indipendently
of ours, yet similar (though the first of its genre): the USA
AP August Fan Fest 2000, coorganized by Scott and Sara Holder.
Steve Martin of the Official International Fan Club The Avenue
was so surprised by the appearing of these two meetings, that
he decided to dedicate to both an article on issue 18 (November
2000) of the official fanzine. We have been happy to give this
contribution to The Avenue, overall to let Alan and the band
know better our activities, push Alan to persist in fighting
the promoters to come here in tour (something that almost happened
in 1999) and convince the band that, in that case, we would be
able to organize a wonderful after-show.
As
if it wouldn't be enough, this PDAY has been special also for
another aspect: it coincided with our formalization as the Italian
AP Fan Club. Since the article on The Avenue contains a photo
of the PDAY4, we decided to anticipate for the occasion the realization
of the Italian Fan Club's T-Shirts, in such way that, wearing
it, we would give an image that reflected our care in organization.
Hence the "Parsons Day" has evolved, and the evolution
will continue, since for the PDAY5 we expect 15-20 participants.
At our fourth meeting, we think that we evolved at such point
to accompany to the organizers' reportage a "behind the
scenes". We hope that it will communicate you the fun that
we had not only during the PDAY itself, but also during its preparation.
I and Jin wrote the reportage together, though I often wrote
in first person for clearness of exposition. Hence: Press Rewind!
The preparation
The preparation began moths earlier
with the selection of the possible participants and the inspection
of various hotels of Trieste. Then we began to collect in a file
all the ideas that came to us about the activities, and step
by step this file became the PDAY4's programme.
Out
of the programme we took an invitation for the participants,
having fun to carefully "censure" the details about
the surprises. To the invitation we added a questionnaire about
various practical details. A last email update to all the participants
communicated the rooms' prenotation, and allowed them to accord
for the trip.
But
the most of the preparation was dedicated to the activities.
We had much to do both outdoor (rehearsal of the organ concert,
choice and booking of the premises, purchasing of lights, instruments,
food and industrial drinks for the karaoke voices) and indoor,
overall the preparation of the games and the representation of
The Tell-Tale Heart. We parsonicized the living room, substituting
the usual knick-knacks with books as I Robot and The Time Machine,
parsonian mugs and issues of The Avenue, and hanging the PDAY4's
poster.
The Friday
A morning in particular
was particularly animated, that of Friday August 4, 2000. To
the alarm clock's sound Jin answered with a Tales-green face,
more or less like the cucumerus that we had to buy that morning.
It was the third shopping for the big lunch, that of the fresh
ingredients, and the vegetables's salesman remained surprised
to our request of a giant cucumerus of 9 Kg. Jin wanted definitely
to carry it by herself, and under an Arrival-like rain she dragged
it to the car. Suddenly beeped the cellular phone: "Here
Gregorio, I'm coming, I'm there in half our". After a rainy
traffic worse than Urbania, we ran home, collecting in a hurry
the Parsons Day icecake, that almost squashed on the windscreen.
While Jin was trying to fit the cucumerus in the fridge, in which
it didn't fit in height nor in width, I quickly put on the Time
Machine Tour T-Shirt and the AP hat (recognition sings) and ran
to the hotel, to welcome Greg and Sara. And it was only in that
moment that I realized that the 4th Parsons Day was reality.
Gregorio represented the perfect
example of new participant: after half our it was as if we knew
since always. His girlfriend Sara showed to be from the beginnings
a fan in quick evolution. But two more participants were coming:
Enrico, pleasant new entry, and Guido, that was again welcome,
as we hadn't seen him since the PDAY1. Then we got to the train
station to pick up the others. This time the password was "Excuse
me, where is the Time Machine?" to which the participants
had to answer "Far ago and long away". We picked up
Dario and Francesco, that with me are the co-founders of the
Fan Club, as well as Lorenzo and Viviana, with whom, just two
weeks before, we assisted to a Flying Pickets' show and we did
an interview to Gary Howard.
While
taking the guests to the hotel, we all stayed in the big Dario&Francesco's
room, in which soon arose the happy feeling of the Parsons Days,
and we distributed the Fan Club's T-Shirts. For Francesco we
had prepared also, for joking, a T-Shirt of dr. Evil, the character
of the Austin Powers movies that mentions more times Alan Parsons
and his Project.
In
the hotel's hall we signed two postcards that we sent to Steve
Martin and Scott Holder, organizer of the USA Fan Fest. These
postcards had been previously realized by our official designer
Alessandro Palmigiani (the image is the same of that in the telephone-card
here at left), and we had previously organized a postal tour
in order that all absent Italian Fan Club members could sign
the two cards.
Equipped with cars we started
the traditional touristic tour, beginning with Revoltella Park,
in which we began to talk about Alan, other members of the band,
and related musicians.
Back in town, we happened to enter a shop in which we found a
videogame called "The Time Machine", in which the artwork
of the time machine too much remembered that of the AP video.
The following touristic point has been the Grotta Gigante (Giant
Cave), the biggest natural cave in the world, that lies in the
rocky plateau that surrounds Trieste. After his 500 steps down
and 500 steps up, we took the hungry parsonians to dinner in
a typical inn, were two more fans joined. Before dinner we all
put on the Fan Club's T-Shirts to do the photo with the T-Shirts.
Then we got home for the parsonian
activities. As always we began with the exposition of material,
starting with the only two DVD now available with AP material:
"I Robot" remastered, and the track "The Time
Machine" included in a compilation. We showed and saw coloured
and rare vinyls, the On Air DTS, and tapes. We also did exchange
of material, and Francesco distributed the first Italian Fan
Club's visiting cards.
And,
at last, the first surprise: the projection of video material
unseen for the italian fans. To celebrate the 10 years since
the Freudiana, we projected a spanish broadcast that included,
together with the video of Freudiana and an interview to Alan,
something more singular than rare: a performance of Eric Woolfson,
that plays and sings Freudiana in playback, something that left
our guests with very surprised faces.
The Saturday
Saturday morning we continued the projection of video material.
This time Jin answered to the alarm clock with a face whiter
than the Tales' mummy. In fact, while the guests enjoyed video
excerpts of The Time Machine tour, I and her started the long
preparation of the thematic lunch. One of the best parts this
time were the "Project mixed starters", a set of 10
different starters each one associated to an album. Salmon, caviar,
prawns and other ingredients helped to find the solutions. See
the photos, in which we invite the reader to find all the 10
Project's albums. Here is the menu:
Project
mixed starters
Paseo
De Gracia Paella
Stereotomy Noodles
Try
Anything Once skewers
Pyramid Potatos
Cezàr Salad
Some
Fruits Within A Fruit
Limelight Champagne
Stock
84 and Gold Bugs
The brandy Stock
84 has been associated to The Gold Bug because of the italian
TV spot.
The
Italian Fan Club's foundation happened at 12:45, finally giving
a meaning to the misterious hour that appears in the video of
The Time Machine.
The
fact that the participants were 10 allowed me to associate to
the Project's albums, according to the individual preferences,
the glasses and custom napkins, realized by Viviana, while I
and Jin realized the placecards, based on the circles of the
artwork of The Time Machine (the circle at left is from the Japanese
artwork).
After
the thematic lunch, another suprise: the pipe organ concert.
The idea came to me while I attended a pipe organ concert. I
remembered the lot of church organ competitions that I had won
as a child playing Bach, but with enormous sacrifices, and I
realized that I could do a concert choosing the music that I
liked, and playing for the people important for me: a
concert of parsonian music, with a real pipe organ, to perform
in the church near home, at the PDAY4.
To
avoid scandalizing the parson (I said the parson, not the Parsons),
I decided to execute as ouverture Bach's Toccata in D Minor (without
Fugue), that really I chose because it allowed an interesting
medley, being in the same key as the excerpt I chose as following.
Here is, in fact, the programme:
Toccata
in D minor (Bach) / Ladyhawke Suite (Powell)
Arrival (Woolfson/Parsons/Powell)
Don't Let It Show (Woolfson/Parsons)
La Sagrada Familia (Woolfson/Parsons)
Jigue (Parsons/Powell)
Dreamscape (Parsons)
Knight Against Dragon (Suite) (Rizzarelli)
Time (Woolfson/Parsons)
I Robot Suite (Woolfson/Parsons/Powell)
My
objective was that the concert communicated the fact that Parsons'
music, also the pieces composed or played with electronic instruments,
could be played also on instruments of other times, like a church
pipe organ.
Since this was the activity that had the most success, the objective
was achieved.
And, since the pieces that had most success were those written
or co-written by Andrew Powell, I realized that this fact is
even more true for Andrew Powell's music.
Back
home, we served the dessert: Jin had thought of a cucumerus filled
with a fruit salad. I observed that the name Some fruit within
a fruit, as well as the cucumerus' dark green, would furnish
a perfect connection with Tales, so I drawed on it a white mummy.
When Jin introduced the dessert I played with flute the introduction
of "A Dream", while Francesco did the piano carpet.
The dessert, however, was dedicated to Dario, who conceived the
first Parsons Day, whom I and Jin, together with Francesco, presented
with a rare copy of the green Eye In The Sky vinyl. The opening
of the dessert also signed the opening of the first formal assembly
of the Italian AP Fan Club, in which we talked about our primary
activities, that are website, mailing list, meetings, fanzine
and contacts with medias.
But the guests hardly waited for
The Parsonian Music Game, in which the player had to guess the
name of the song after having listened the first notes. The songs
were in raising difficulty, from Sirius (1 point) to Far Ago
And Long Away (5 points) (prizes and winners are showed in a
table in this page).
After
having carefully compared the I Robot DVD with the CD version,
and that all of us reached the conclusion that they play indentically,
we shared a chinese dinner, during which we did the projection
of excerpts of the movie The Time Machine, to illustrate some
possible Parsons connections.
After
dinner, the surprise musical representation. Since the success
that had the Arrival representation the previous year, we though
to organize again a "musical"-like representation,
using as soundtrack a cover realized by ourselves. After considering
all the Project songs, we discovered that the album that most
adapted to this kind of representation was again Tales, simply
because Tales, as the title says, is the only album in which
every song tells a story. And the most animated story in Tales
is certainly The Tell-Tale Heart.
But, unlike Arrival,
The Tell-Tale Heart would have been far more complex. I interpreted
the main character, while Jin interpreted the old man. Soon we
had the idea of realizing a lighting pale blue eye that Jin would
turn on and off to liking. She constructed a costume all black
in such way that, when she appeared, one would see only the lighting
eye. To make a surprise, at the beginning of the representation
she came out of a secret passage. To succeed, we had to project
and experiment every detail, since we would have moved in the
dark. Following Eric and Alan's steps, we mantained the top secret
until the last moment, even the name of the song.
Regarding
the prerecorded soundtrack, I had realized a base with keyboards
and had sent it to our official guitarist Fabio of Brindisi,
that added some guitar tracks; we chose an interpretation faithful
in feeling, but with also original elements.
Music
and lyrics inspired the scenes almost straightforwardly. During
the first verse, when the lyrics alternated with the instrumental
passages, I (singing in the dark with a torch illuminating my
face) alternated with Jin's pale blue eye. For the instrumental
crescendo, we though of a variation of the part in which the
id of the murderer makes him believe that the old man is still
alive: a resurrection of the old man, helped by an explosive
guitar solo and a stroboscopic light; this was obviously the
most exciting moment.
Destroyed
by terror (I'm joking), we closed the night with a game of (The
Alan) Parsonopoly (Project), our thematic Monopoly realized by
the Italian Fan Club and premiered at the PDAY3 in Rome.
The Sunday
Sunday morning Jin woke up tired
as the mummy of Pyramid, but ready for the country trip. The
first activity was really fanatic: a surprise visit to a chemical
plant immersed in the grass. We took out of the car the white
coats for all the participants. The projectologists didn't wait
a moment to put them on, found soon themselves in the world of
Ammonia Avenue, and we took a lot of photos. We had even fun
to stop the cars saying that there were radioactive escapes,
but when we stopped a surveillance car we had a bit less fun;
luckily we were already putting the white coats down...
We
then got to a look-out over the Natural Park of Val Rosandra.
We proposed to Francesco to do Fall Free down the valley but
he said no. We then had the picnic On Air, during which we listened
On Air. Particularly emotional was listening Blue Blue Sky lying
on the grass and looking the sky, as the advice that gives Ian.
Back home we began
the acoustic performance, with me at the piano, performing for
the first time entirely, and with a lot of fun, Ammonia Avenue
and Stereotomy, the two Project's albums with the most elusive
concepts. We also did songs from The Time Machine and, as always,
of TTOAFC. In some pieces we divided us in parts, in others we
sang all together; in both cases there was a great feeling; this
always happens at the acoustic performance, it's the power of
the music that joins together.
After
a "Rubber Pizza" and the Parsons Day icecake, everyone
of us told a little story about his parsonian life.
After that we did the electronic performance, this time with
prepared bases, with songs from Eye In The Sky: Sirius, Eye In
The Sky and Psychobabble.
To
end the night, Jin conducted her surprise thematic game: The
Hunt to Parsonian Treasures. A masterpiece in structure as well
in detail. But, since it's Jin's work, I leave to her the word...
"My
luciferian mind had had the idea of realizing a series of riddles
and rebus that led to recovering 10 parsonian treasures, one
for every Project album, plus a final murder enigma associated
to Freudiana.
My favourite riddle is the
one of Tales. I read all the tales that inspired the album, and
found the inspiration in the Cask of Amontillado : in the riddle
I inserted the key verse "One of 11 I will pile", that
referred to the 11 bricks' layers, and not to the so-called 11th
Project CD (Freudiana), as initially all the participants thought...
For I Robot I inserted the reference CH.1 V.32, while for Pyramid
I created a series of simple hieroglyphics furnishing two possible
answers. For Eve I put in relation "You lie down with dogs"
with Gemma, Ian's dog (maybe Ian has written it?...), while for
TTOAFC I soon thought of a cripted messages using, among the
symbols, the suits of the playing cards.
After
the EitS rebus (whose solution was Mammagamma), the participants
had to search a microscope. For Vulture Culture, an album related
to the dialogue, I made a word puzzle, as well as for Stereotomy,
in which the solution was the word Stereotomy itself, like it
was in "Murders of the Rue Morgue" from which the word
originates. And finally for Gaudì there was a little jigsaw
puzzle whose solution was the image of La Sagrada Familia."
But
the strong piece was the murder story at the end. The story was
set in London, with meticolous care of the geographical environments.
The main character was a musical writer called Eric Wulp, and
there was a murder of the first actress in a musical called Freudiana.
The players had to guess the murderer. The theatrical representation
of the "11th Project album" has hence furnished the
perfect environment for a murder story, that represented an epilogue,
dramatic as that of the Project, as well as the enigma for excellence,
as perfect conclusion of this wonderful thematic masterpiece.
The
Monday
We
never did a so big pyramid of things, but Monday, the departure
day, we were a bit melancholic. After some more acoustical performance,
and a nice improvised lunch, all the guests departed. But it
was only an
Until
the next pday!
--------------------------------------------
GAMES
PRIZES AND WINNERS
THE
PARSONIAN MUSIC GAME
1°
Prize |
Eye In
The Sky mug |
ordered from
The Avenue |
Francesco |
2°
Prize |
Eye In
The Sky single |
offered by
Dario |
Gregorio |
(THE
ALAN) PARSONOPOLY (PROJECT)
1°
Prize |
Time Machine
Tour T-Shirt |
ordered from
The Avenue |
Sara |
2°
Prize |
Blown
By The Wind addressbook |
creation
Italian Fan Club |
Dario |
HUNT
TO THE PARSONIAN TREASURES
1°
Prize |
The Definitive
Collection |
ordered from
Paper Moon |
Guido |
2°
Prize |
The Instrumental
Works CD |
offered by
Giorgio |
Enrico |
CONSOLATION
PRIZES
Booklet
of The Rubber Universe
* |
ordered from
Channel 4 |
Enrico |
" " |
" " |
Gregorio |
" " |
" " |
Lorenzo |
Stereotomy
vinyl |
offered by
Giorgio |
Lorenzo |
*relative to the TV documentary directed by Storm Thorgerson
and with AP music.
PARTICIPANTS
Enrico
Contini |
Firenze |
Francesco
Ferrua |
Carcare
(SV) |
Gregorio
Gobbi |
Stienta
(RO) |
Viviana
Modena |
Rovereto
(TN) |
Guido
Montini |
Bologna |
Jin
(coorg.) |
Trieste |
Sara
Perinelli |
Stienta
(RO) |
Dario
Pompili |
Roma |
Giorgio
Rizzarelli (coorg.) |
Trieste |
Lorenzo
Zencher |
Rovereto
(TN) |
ADDITIONAL
PARTICIPANTS
Enrico
Lussetti |
Trieste |
only
organ concert |
Elena
Schipizza |
Trieste |
only
dinner at inn |
Ornella
Valenti |
Trieste |
only
dinner at inn |
EXTERNAL
COLLABORATORS
Jorge
de Almeida Monteiro |
PORTUGAL |
Alessandro
Palmigiani |
Isola
del Liri (FR) |
Fabio
Truppi |
Brindisi |
CREDITS
Exposition
of audio material
CD, DVD, vinyls: Giorgio
Additional vinyls: Francesco
On Air DTS CD: Gregorio
Collection of tapes: Lorenzo
The Turn Of A Friendly Card stained glass: no, this we haven't,
Eric has it
Distribution
of audio material
On Air sealed tapes: Fabio
Chris Rainbow, Lenny Zakatek: Francesco
Camel: Dario, Francesco
Projection
of video material unseen in Italy
Primary contributions: Jorge
NTSC-PAL conversion: Giorgio
Secondary contributions: Dario, Francesco, Guido
Thematic
lunch
Some fruits within a fruit conceiving: Jin
Starters Project: Giorgio
Menu and realization: Giorgio, Jin
Helps to kitchen out of the kitchen: Dario, Francesco
Conceiving and realization of thematic glasses and napkins: Viviana
Placecards: Giorgio, Jin
Scannering for the placecards, update to Pyramid centrepiece:
Francesco
Hungry cavies: All
Pipe
organ concert
Conceiving, programme, performance: Giorgio
Parson that didn't found keys: Parson Alans
The
Tell-Tale Heart
Conceiving, script, scenography, lights, costumes, play and shouts:
Giorgio, Jin
Base: Giorgio (keyboards), Fabio (guitar)
Acoustic
and electronic performance
Piano and keyboards, lights and projections in the electronic
performance: Giorgio
Percussion: Dario
Hooter: Enrico
Doorbell: Gregorio
Realization of lyrics books: Gregorio
Thematic
games
The Parsonian Music Game: Giorgio, Jin
(The Alan) Parsonopoly (Project): Previously realized by the
Italian Fan Club
Hunt to the Parsonian Treasures: Jin
Drivers
Has kindly taken other parsonians outward and back: Enrico
Drivers at the PDAY: Jin, Gregorio, Enrico
Italian
Fan Club T-Shirts
Project: Fan Club's Direction
Graphic realization: Dario
Print: Giorgio, Jin
Italian
Fan Club's visiting cards
Project: Fan Club's Direction, Lorenzo
Graphic realization: Alessandro
Print: Francesco
Other
graphic realizations
Poster, Far Ago And Long Away postcards and PDAY4 telephone card:
Alessandro
Photos
Fotographers: Viviana, Francesco, Gregorio, Giorgio, Jin
Scannering: Dario, Giorgio, Gregorio
Videoing
Cameramen: Mr. Tripod, Jin, Francesco, Giorgio, Guido, Viviana,
Sara
Videocamera furnisher: Giorgio
Emergency videocamera furnisher: Guido
Our
sponsors
THANKS
Thanks
to all which contributed, particularly to the external collaborators:
Alessandro, Fabio and Jorge, to which we
send a special thank you for having sent us as loan his original
NTSC VHS in order that we could convert it. To these, we'd like
to add the following thanks:
- to Steve, for having anticipated the money for the T-Shirt
in order that it arrived in time, but overall for the article
on The Avenue
- to Guido for having presented us with the CD-box "Compact
disc project"
- to Dario for the computer assistance
- to Alan and the band for the inspiration and the wonderful
music that they create
- to all the participants for having suffered the 1000
stair steps of the Grotta Gigante, the late nights, the waitings
during the sets of some activities, but overall thanks for your
presence...
- overall, I would like to thank publicly Jin for the
incredible quantity of help that she gave me in this enterprise,
and for having enjoyed with me the organization. |