“Linda is a young American lawyer, working in a law office in Istanbul. During the night, she has passionate dreams in which a sexy brunette harasses, and makes love to her, from which she's unable to defend herself. A minor case about an inheritance forces her to travel to one of the small islands off the Turkish coast. Then, her nightmares come upon her - in a lively manner.”What really interested people was the soundtrack music, which is very unusual and quite memorable. This radio program brings some of that soundtrack music together with some music done inspired by the soundtrack as well as music featuring a lot of samples from the soundtrack. Very interesting. This is the kind of stuff the College of Musical Knowledge was meant to present!
Over the course of a recording career spanning several decades, The Residents remained a riddle of Sphinx-like proportions; cloaking their lives and music in a haze of wilful obscurity, the band's members never identified themselves by name, always appearing in public in disguise -- usually tuxedos, top hats and giant eyeball masks -- and refusing to grant media interviews.
There are many things not known about The Residents, however these are not among those things. These are entirely different things not known.
• The Residents released the first ever punk single, “Satisfaction,” back in 1976, a full year before the Sex Pistols’ UK release of “God Save the Queen.” England’s MOJO Magazine recently voted The Residents' Satisfaction as the 74th most important punk single in history.
• After recording an entire album of songs that were one minute long in 1980, The Commercial Album, the group purchased one minute advertising spots on San Francisco’s most popular Top 40 radio station and had the entire album, all 40 songs, played by the station over a period of three days. Billboard Magazine wrote an editorial about it questioning whether it was advertising, payola, or art.
• The Residents are credited with “inventing” the form of the music video. Five of their earliest videos are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
• In 1991 The Residents released their album, Freak Show. In a show of media strength it came out as an LP, CD, soft and hard bound graphic novels, video, award winning CD-ROM, and a live production that ran for 21 performances at the Archa Theater in Prague, Czech Republic.
• The Residents, in 1993, wrote a ten hour score for The Discovery Channel nature show, Hunters.
• They have also scored 5 shows of Pee Wee’s Playhouse and assorted things for MTV.
• Two years in a row, they won awards from Entertainment Weekly magazine for top computer entertainment software. 1995: Freak Show CD-ROM, 1996: Bad Day on the Midway CD-ROM.
• In 2002 The Residents released their first DVD, Icky Flix. It was NOT concert footage.
• Penn Jillette (Penn & Teller) was part of the touring Mole Show in 1982-3.
• Marlboro cigarettes commissioned a performance piece for a German promotion in 1997, Disfigured Night. Paranoid that the group was making fun of them, Marlboro asked that there be no appearance by Residents’ regular, Mr. Skull.
• The album Eskimo was in the final list for nominations for a Grammy Award in 1980. It did not become an actual nominee, however. Still The Residents were invited to the ceremonies and party and shared a table with Donna Summer.
Burroughs is often called one of the greatest and most influential writers of the twentieth century, most notably by Norman Mailer whose quote on Burroughs, "The only American novelist living today who may conceivably be possessed by genius", appears on many Burroughs publications. Others, however, consider him overrated. Others still consider his concepts and attitude more influential than his prose. Prominent admirers of Burroughs's work have included British critic and biographer Peter Ackroyd, and the authors J.G. Ballard, Angela Carter, Jean Genet, William Gibson, and Ken Kesey.
Burroughs continues to be named as an influence by contemporary writers of fiction. Both the New Wave and, especially, the cyberpunk schools of science fiction, admirers from the late 1970s, early 1980s milieu of this sub-genre including William Gibson and John Shirley, to name only two. First published in 1982, the British slipstream fiction magazine (which later evolved into a more traditional science fiction magazine) Interzone paid tribute to him with its choice of name.
He is also cited as a major influence by musicians Patti Smith, Laurie Anderson, Pier Nine Brawl and Ian Curtis of the band Joy Division. He remains controversial because of his homosexuality, drug use, and the often criticized obscene or misogynistic tone of his works, though it should be noted that Burroughs's ideas about and attitudes towards women gradually became more friendly as he aged. Burroughs was regarded as being extremely intelligent and a generally quiet person.
The themes of drugs, homosexuality and death, common to Burroughs's routines, are taken up by Dennis Cooper, of whom Burroughs said, "Dennis Cooper, God help him, is a born writer." Cooper, in return, wrote, in his essay 'King Junk', "along with Jean Genet, John Rechy, and Ginsberg, [Burroughs] helped make homosexuality seem cool and highbrow, providing gay liberation with a delicious edge." Splatterpunk writer Poppy Z. Brite has also continuously referenced this aspect of Burroughs' work.
Burroughs's works continue to be referenced years after his death. For example, a November 2004 episode of the TV series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation included an evil character named Dr. Benway (named for an amoral physician who appears in a number of Burroughs's works). This is an echo of the hospital scene in the movie Repo Man, made during Burroughs's lifetime, in which both Dr. Benway and Mr. Lee (a Burroughs pen name) are paged.
The song "Seven Souls" by Material, which features Burroughs, figured prominently in the 2006 season premiere episode of "The Sopranos" entitled "Members Only."
