OTE Vol. 6: THE WILLSAPHONE STUPID SHOW 1994 (Seeland 011) double CD Approximately 5000 copies sold. ALTERNATIVE PRESS August 1994 The 150 minute WILLSAPHONE STUPID SHOW two-disc set hits Negativland right where they live, taking host David "the Weatherman" Wills back through recordings of his family he made over the years with various portable tape machines. These audio family archives are tossed into a convoluted radio stream of commentary, music, and electronic effects and left to fend for themselves. The adolescent Weatherman's hyperneurotic weather reports are a highlight, especially the one where he verbally abuses his imaginary guests The Monkees for improperly identifying cloud types. "I'm about to flip my lid!" he screeches. Though there are disappointingly few grueling family arguments or embarrassing awkward moments, some of the dinner table discussions of "new-fangled" gadgetry and nutty personal habits are beautifully tedious. Apparently, the Negativland tape loop and audio manipulation technique has an early counterpart in the "wired-up house" where the Weatherman grew up. The boy could record Thanksgiving dinner conversations from his bedroom, then play back the tapes over the house intercom the following Thanksgiving and record that. The subsequent family discussions of their role in young Weatherman's recordings and radio program are a hoot. Talk about creepy white people. -Ian Christie Rolling Stone June 16, 1994 Facts: Commercial radio, for the most part, sucks, and a lot of college radio is well meaning but dull. Which is why you need the twisted genius of Negativland's weekly broadcasts from wigsville, OVER THE EDGE, on KPFA-FM, in Berkeley, California, and why they have thoughtfully preserved some of the really good bits on THE WILLSAPHONE STUPID SHOW. You have not heard such giddy, subversive art-via-the-ozone since the original heyday of Firesign Theatre - and even Firesign never went to such vigorously nonlinear extremes. I may be on the edge, but these guys have gone way, way over. -David Fricke Back to PRESS US Back to NMOL