Disconnect The Dots

a multimedia conceptual performance

written, directed, and performed by

Harry Gamboa Jr.

Audio performers

Richard Corona

Toni Garcia-Orozco

LIGHTS: BLACK


A.

VIDEO PROJECTOR:

VIDEO CASSETTE #1 (2 minutes 30 seconds):

Fade in. Images of freeway traffic images with a soundtrack of synthesized audio accompanied by a voice-over.

VOICE-OVER (Richard Corona):

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There is a senseless erosion of memory every time I touch the faces of those who concede defeat.

The conclusion that a sinister fate is just matter of misguided intent and faulty brakes makes the daily disaster rate understandable to those who exit at the appropriate off ramps. There is no possibility of complete deniability if one were to speed silently into the nearest freeway pillar. The nameless pile-up is the spectacle that delays progress.

The traffic jam is something that I look forward to as an act of urban communion where I am allowed to gaze into the eyes of the motorists who tour recklessly via instinct and habit.

I travel great distances in my desire to reach bitter conclusions about where I am from and where I have been. But I have no illusions about what awaits me in the fast lane.

There is nothing to say to the millions of passengers who sit passively at eighty miles per hour. A warning would only complicate the awkward immobility of such a diverse population.  They are traveling too closely at great speeds and should not be surprised when their self-identity is mangled by the hypothetical wreckage of language and skid marks that read like the most entertaining contemporary glyphs.

(Video fade to black.)

LIGHTS:

B.

CD #1 Synthesized music (6 minutes):

(ACTION #1 corresponds to CD #1.)

C. ACTION #1

Gamboa walks on stage and performs with GLASS.


LIGHTS:


D.

CD #AAA Voice Over

VOICE OVER corresponds with projected SLIDES #1-10.

VOICE-OVER: (Toni Garcia-Orozco; 5 minutes):

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Slide 1

I prefer to eliminate confusion of the senses, illuminate the illusion of defenses but there is nothing to achieve by forgetting who it is that I hate or love the most. Kiss me gently.

Slide 2

I don’t have tragic examples of misrepresented cultures nor do I share any concerns with the current climate. Maybe I’m losing my delusions even though I am comforted by warm and fuzzy hallucinations.

Slide 3

There was a time when I could not count to three. I counted on my friends but they were eventually subtracted by the grinding effects of contemporary diseases and misguided bullets. By the time I could count to three there wasn’t any reason to add it all up.

Slide 4

I have a passion for lost moments. There are so many missed opportunities that need to be forgotten. The ability to delete memory isn’t an act of purity. The burning sensation at the base of the brain isn’t inspiration but a negation of brilliance. Don’t touch me.

Slide 5

I can always do without. Without you. Without them. Without us. Without him.
Without her. Without me. I can always say that we were never lovers. I can always declare you as the enemy and destroy the premise by which you exist in my mind.

Slide 6

I was bleeding from my eyes and hands. It was a dream. I was running along the sidewalk when my internal organs became dislodged and lagged far behind as I struggled to keep from tripping over the purplish objects. It was a dream unworthy of analysis.

Slide 7

I have not slept since the day I saw you disappear. It was a moment that failed to produce an afterimage. You were there, standing and looking very much the icon of success when something, or someone, caused you to vanish. I refuse to sleep until the riddle is dissolved.

Slide 8

Do you remember the time when I was nailed to a wall? You called it a mural but I wasn’t a work of art. I was a victim of a perversion that was to culminate in fire. But I wouldn’t burn since I’m not made of sacrificial materials.

Slide 9

There is a small hole somewhere that signifies an exit to my universe but I’m not certain if anything could fit through that hole. I’ve put my eye to it and have seen such glorious things that should never be tainted by human perception. I will plug the hole with rotting flesh.

Slide 10

There hasn’t been enough time to deny all of the charges against me. My accusers are accomplices of death. My fate lies in the hands of those who have no right to judge me. I will not present a passive resistance but a forceful action that will neutralize their desire to kill. Don’t exterminate me.

LIGHTS:


E.

Gamboa walks on stage and delivers improvisational story.

LIGHTS:


F.

CD #2 Synthesized music (6 minutes):

ACTION #2 corresponds to CD #2.

G.

ACTION #2

GAMBOA walks on stage and performs with PLASTIC.


LIGHTS:

H.

VIDEO PROJECTOR:

VIDEO CASSETTE #2 (2 minutes 30 seconds):

Fade in.  Images of freeway traffic images with a soundtrack of synthesized audio accompanied by a voice-over.

VOICE-OVER (Richard Corona):

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There is a sensory miscalculation. I am tasting what I am looking at and it should result in the desire to vomit. But there is no desire and the sour taste in the back of my throat reveals nothing more than a secret disgust of all that passes before me.

The limitless transmutations that follow the rules of the road cannot alter the destiny of stray dogs that wander into the flow of traffic.

A steady burst of gunfire echoes the occasional flash of elation as members of a certain social strata are systematically eliminated from the scenic view.

There is a suspended sentence that I cannot repeat. It was whispered into my ear by a stranger who reached out across all four lanes in order that I should not share his/her story. The encounter was momentary yet stimulating. The warm breath blew a tale that must be forgotten and denied. An unexpected splash of gasoline mixed with sparks from an old chrome bumper enhanced the excitement of perpetrating an unforgivable lie.

There is no mercy for those who refuse to submit to the flame.

The heat, the glare, and the omnipotent smog conspire to destroy us.

(Video fade to black.)


LIGHTS:


I.

CD #3 Synthesized music.  (6 minutes):

ACTION #3 corresponds to CD #3.

J.

ACTION #3

GAMBOA walks on stage and performs with METAL.


LIGHTS:


K.

Gamboa walks on stage and delivers improvisational story.


LIGHTS:


L.

CD #BBB Voice Over

VOICE OVER takes place during the time that SLIDES are projected.

VOICE-OVER: (Toni Garcia-Orozco; 5 minutes)

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Slide 11

I’m waiting for the other situation to become manifest, that is, I can’t delay the conclusion to the unknown problem, I mean, isn’t there anyone who can give me an alternate means of self destruction? Life life in a vacuum of tomorrows.

Slide 12

Today is the first day of the rest of my vendetta. I’ve been insulted in a profound manner and someone must pay the price for the faint blush of guilt on my face. I will hunt you down and destroy everything you hold dear. It is the price of my love and affection gone sour.

Slide 13

Try to recriminate me and see what you’ll get. I punish with pleasure but first you must discover the path to overcompensation. I will charge you twice as much to get less than half of what you deserve. I’ll slap you as hard as it pleases me.

Slide 14

You pretend to know me but that is unlikely since I reside deep beyond your history. There is nothing to trace me to any point of origin. I simply am a presence in your life that can only be denied when you leap forward into the empty space between embittered defeat and standardized normalcy.

Slide 15

Help me. Shoot me. Help me. Stab me. Help me. Burn me. Help me.
Help me. Shoot me. Help me. Stab me. Help me. Burn me. Help me.
Help me. Shoot me. Help me. Stab me. Help me. Burn me. Help me.
Help me. Shoot me. Help me. Stab me. Help me. Burn me. Help me.

Slide 16

I believe in everything that isn’t associated with anything that I’ve ever seen, read, or heard before. There must be something else. Something better. Something more truthful. An imaginary light equal to all the darkness is a terrifying fairy tale. Bones are scattered everywhere in the shadows.

Slide 17

I present no danger to you or to your way of life. I wish you well. Would you accept my gifts of incense, sage, and radioactive matter? There is reason to celebrate the coming of a new era but no reason to blow out the candle. You are so beautiful and devoid of enlightenment.

Slide 18

Have you ever heard the music of the clouds? You must listen carefully with reverence. They whisper melodies of of the timeless unwinding of energies that are dispersed into the limited sky that continues to lose its varying hues of blue.

Slide 19

The pain is greater than the will to survive. I will not shed tears. I will not succumb to weakness. I have a plan to save us all from extinction. Be quick.
Follow me to the rear where you will not see what awaits you. I will hold your hand. I will kiss your lips.

Slide 20

There is nothing. There is nothingness.


LIGHTS:


M.

CD #4 Synthesized music (6 minutes):

ACTION #4 corresponds to CD #4.


N.

ACTION #4

Gamboa walks on stage and performs with PAPER.


LIGHTS:


O.

VIDEO PROJECTOR:

VIDEO CASSETTE #3 (2 minutes 30 seconds):

Fade in. A montage of freeway traffic images with a soundtrack of synthesized audio accompanied by a voice-over.

VOICE-OVER (Richard Corona):

153.9k

There is a meaningless memory that dangles hypnotically from the rear-view mirror. It is a photograph of someone who I will never remember because that human being was never focused and was made up of shadows with hidden degrees of grayness. Whenever I’m driving, I drive towards the photograph but it leads me to places that I reject upon arrival.

The pillars rattle and the asphalt undulates whenever the chase is on. The escapism of watching someone fail in their attempt to escape is exhilarating.

Several million vehicles veer to the left in unison as the act of conformity is captured by surveillance cameras posted in various locations along the public veins of violated unconsciousness. Maybe I’m being chased into oblivion.

It isn’t a joyride if it isn’t a hit-and-run.

There can’t be any pleasure in being lost on the ephemeral interchange. I want to get off. I want to explode.

Flaming collisions are the rage of an era where flesh and fantasy create the same blood stains on each lane as they merge towards a final spiraling loop that leads to the beginning of yet another false ending.

Video fade to black.

LIGHTS: BLACK