Episode 35 Together, Apart

Thanks for Hitting Play and then listening to Hit Play. This episode: experiments, dads, boats!

Some of the plays in this episode may contain sensitive topics. For more specific content warnings, check out the timecodes below.

If you like what you hear and want to support the New York Neo-Futurists, subscribe to the show, consider making a donation at nynf.org, and join our Patreon. Patreon membership gives you access to bonus content like video plays! We’d really appreciate any support in these difficult times. Contributing to our Patreon helps us continue to pay our artists. 

Take care of yourself, try cooking something you’ve never eaten before, and share it with us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

View episode transcription here!

1:52 - Experiments in random voice over part 1 by Michael John Improta

3:57 [CW: mentions of 9/11] - Sympathy for Those with Dads Like This by Joey Rizzolo featuring Shelton Lindsay and Katy-May Hudson, recorded in 2016

5:15 - Going Back part two: Re-Crossing by Rob Neill featuring Krys Seli and Tonya Navarez, with music by Sunil Yapa

9:18 - Audio Crime provided by Cecil Baldwin

Our logo was designed by Shelton Lindsay

Our sound is designed by Anthony Sertel Dean

Joey Rizzolo designed and mixed the audio for his play. Thanks, Joey!

Hit Play is produced by Anthony Sertel Dean, Julia Melfi, and Léah Miller

Take Care!

Transcript 

Episode 35 Together, Apart

Show Intro

Mellow electronic instrumental music plays underneath.

Julia: 35. Together, Apart. Hey, I’m Julia Melfi—a New York Neo-Futurist. While our on-going, ever-changing, late-night show, The Infinite Wrench, is on hold for the foreseeable future, we wanted a place to keep making art for you and so we made this podcast!  

If you’re already a fan of The New York Neo-Futurists, or any of our sibling companies, hi! We can’t wait to browse the aisles at a tiny hardware store unmasked and ungloved with you. If this is totally new to you—welcome to it!

We play by four rules: We are who we are, we’re doing what we’re doing, we are where we are, and the time is now. Simply put: we tell stories, and those stories are our own. Everything that you hear is actually happening. So if we tell you we're recording under a blanket with the air conditioning off for optimal sound quality during a heatwave, we're really sweating our butts off here! Like me! I'm sweating my butt off right now. 

Just so you know, some of the plays in this episode may contain sensitive topics. For more specific content warnings, check the time codes in the show notes. 

Julia: And now, take it away, Rob. Run those Numbers!

Rob: Thanks Julia. I’m Rob, a New York Neo-Futurist. 

And in this episode we’re bringing you 3 plays and an audio crime. The first is by Michael John Improta. The second play is from our vault of plays recorded back in 2016. It's by Joey Rizzolo, featuring Shelton Lindsay and Katy-May Hudson. And the last play is by me, Rob Neill, featuring Krys Seli and Tonya Navarez, with music by Sunil Yapa. Plus stick around after the credits for an Audio Crime provided by Cecil Baldwin. 

That brings us to 138 audio experiments on Hit Play. Nice. Enjoy!

Music winds down.

Play 1: Experiments in random voice over part 1 (1:52)

Michael: Hello listener, before we begin this play I’m going to invite you to do a little bit of an experiment with me. I want to give you a voiceover to any video that you pull up. So I invite you to pull up a video on a phone if you can also listen, or maybe on a second screen. It'd be fun if it's a random video. Could also be fun if it's not a random video. Whatever video you want, and once you have it ready, I want you to mute it, and then continue with this play when I say the word "GO" and you'll press play and we'll see what happens. Okay? Fun. 

Michael: Experiments in random voice over part 1. GO!

Michael: You may be wondering… How the hell did we get here..

Well…

That’s me… (Laughs)

I can’t lie to you and tell you I have all the answers.

I’m not sure I ever had any.

All I know is that when someone asks you for your name, you don’t always have to tell them the truth

And if your mother calls you immediately after you ignore her first call--You better pick up the damn phone, okay?

Oh man. Have you ever felt that inside your belt loop? 

What a thing to ask to hold our pants up. Right? 

Shame is a powerful drug. But I don’t care if you know that I popped three pimples today and it felt great.

Maybe this is it. The answer I have been seeking. The answer you have been asking for. Or you know, just a spark of it. Just a hint of it. 

This is why Puzzles fascinate me. 

They’re just like pieces of pictures with broken edges trying to be more whole.

Kind of like us right? 

Oh you’ll never expect this. Watch watch watch watch!

Michael: Thanks for playing! Try this experiment again with a different video, and let us know what fun moments of synchronicity you found!

Play 2: Sympathy for Those with Dads Like This (3:57)

Joey: Sympathy for Those with Dads Like This. GO!

Old timey music underscore, turns to crowd noise (like TV in background)

Joey: Reagan! 

Shelton: Look I just think that if we're gonna-- 

Joey: [interrupting] No more taxes! 

Shelton: Taxation is necessary in order to--

Joey: America! 

Shelton: Paul Krugman believes that the early days of the New Deal--

Joey: [interrupting] Pinko! 

Shelton: He’s an economist. 

Joey: Nonsense! 

Shelton: He won the Nobel Prize in… 

Joey: Commie bunk! 

Shelton: He keeps interrupting. 

Katy-May: He works so hard. 

Shelton: We’re not even talking to one another. 

Joey: America! 

Shelton: He’s just shouting words. 

Joey: America! 

Shelton: Yes…?

Joey: These colors don’t run! 

Shelton: Whatever happened to the blue-collar liberal? 

Joey: Bolsheviks! 

Shelton: The labor movement is dead. 

Joey: Proletariats! 

Shelton: Racism is just lazy. 

Katy-May: Not at the dinner table.

Shelton: I just think that nobody has the right to… 

Joey: September 11th! 

Shelton: Security is no reason not to… 

Joey: September 11th! 

Shelton: The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of… 

Joey: September 11th! 

Shelton: According to the First Amendment… 

Joey: “Congress shall pass no law!”

Shelton: “…respecting the establishment of…” 

Joey: Too much! Overstepped their bounds! 

Shelton: I’m leaving now. 

Sound of door opening

Joey: It’s a child, not a choice! 

Katy-May: Have a nice time!

Sound of door closing

Joey: That’s what happens when government gets their hands on it!

Joey: Reagan!

Joey: Do you need any money?

Background noise fades

Play 3: Going Back part two: Re-Crossing (5:15)

Rob: Going Back part two: Re-Crossing. GO!

Spacey sounds and breathing, voices sound like they're recorded 

Rob: I am not sure this is how we…  go back

on a boat, say, like this

Krys & Rob & Tonya: (layered/staggered) I am not certain, by boat, by ferry, schooner

Tonya: I am not 

Krys: I am not

Rob: I am not

Tonya: I am not sure 

Krys: I am not sure when I will see you again

Rob: I am not sure when I will see you again, and that makes me sad & confused, 

and I want to just eat ice cream with too many toppings

Krys: Is that possible?

Tonya: The way the world is now

Krys: Is that possible?

Tonya: I want to take a trip 

Krys: Is that possible?

Rob: I want to take a trip to see you

Krys: I want to go somewhere to teach songs to a raucous room full of amiable strangers anywhere

soft recording fades in of Krys singing from Immigrant Karaoke: I crossed an ocean to get to you, I crossed an ocean to get to you I crossed an ocean to get to you

Rob: I was there once with you

Krys: you were there like that

Tonya: The way the world is (now)

Krys & Rob & Tonya: (layered/staggered) We can’t do that now.

Krys: I went on a boat when I was younger and took pictures with a sad man dressed as a pirate. I felt sick for the extended part of the journey 

Rob: I really love riding on boats especially that one day in the sun in the bay--wait was it a bay or a sound?

Tonya: I often get sick on boats too, but I love being on the water. 

Rob: I really love riding on boats. I really love riding on boats.

Tonya: The sea: easily romanticized but unforgiving.

Krys: A sad man dressed as a pirate

Krys: The way the world is

Rob: I am not certain of which way is the way, truly (is it that way, this way)

Tonya: the way to go (back)

Krys & Rob & Tonya: (layered & staggered) But i know

Krys & Rob & Tonya: (layered & staggered) I want to make this be a better place, a better place for you

Sound of breathing and windy noise of recording on a boat

Rob on the boat: “Here we go again…”

Show Outro

Mellow electronic instrumental music plays underneath.

Julia: Thanks for Hitting Play and then listening to Hit Play. Stick around after the credits for an Audio Crime provided by Cecil Baldwin. 

If you liked what you heard, subscribe to the show and tell a friend! If you want to support the New York Neo-Futurists in other ways, consider making a donation at nynf.org, or joining our Patreon–Patreon.com/NYNF. Patreon membership gives you access to bonus content like video plays and livestreams. And if this episode gets over 1,000 downloads, we'll order one of our Patreon supporters a pizza on us. We’d really appreciate any support in these difficult times. Contributing to our Patreon helps us continue to pay our artists. 

Take care of yourself, try cooking something you’ve never eaten before, and share it with us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

This episode featured work by: Michael John Improta; Joey Rizzolo, featuring Shelton Lindsay and Katy-May Hudson; and thanks Joey for providing us this play from the vault. Rob Neill, featuring Krystal Seli and Tonya Navarez, with music by Sunil Yapa. Our logo was designed by Shelton Lindsay. And our sound is designed by Anthony Sertel Dean. Hit Play is produced by Anthony Sertel Dean, Léah Miller, and me, Julia Melfi. Take Care out there!

Music fades out!

Audio Crime with Cecil Baldwin (9:18)

Sound effect of camera zooming in and focusing.

Cecil: Thirty seconds of crime. In real time. Brendan (bleep). Illegal use and possession of marijuana. 

Sound of background noise, walking, buzzing like a fluorescent light, breath, birds chirp. Shuffling. 

Cecil: Why did you do it? 

Someone: My name is Brendan (bleep) and I have loose morals cause I smoked a joint out the back of my house where it's illegal to do so. Not just there but in the wider sense of Sydney, near South Wales, Australia, where I live. I love smoking there, because I have a pomelo tree that hangs over the top of me, and it feels like its own little cocoon. And I can hear the people 2 doors up, skating, and it's kinda hypnotic. And the birds seem to have gotten used to me, even when I'm smoking there. They don't seem to mind anymore. It's strange that it's still illegal here, um, in what everyone thinks is such a chilled out country. It's always odd when I go overseas and have weed in LA or something, where it's just like ordering a coffee and then you come back here and suddenly, bam, it's illegal again. That being said, nobody seems to care. 

Sound effect of camera zooming in and focusing.