Our Hearts Belonged To Dada and Surrealism: The Dennis Murphy Gang In A 1965 Movie

Our Hearts Belonged To Dada and Surrealism: The Dennis Murphy Gang In A 1965 Movie - Bernard Pyron

The Dennis Murphy Gang In A 1965 16mm Movie
Bernard Pyron
http://northwye.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/the-dennis-murphy-gang-madison-wisconsin-1960-1965-bernard-pyron/

Dennis Murphy was the leader of a group of art and music majors who
met regularly at our house at 5710 Bittersweet Place in Madison’s
Crestwood, a few blocks north of Frank Lloyd Wright’s prefab house of
about 1956. We improvised on oriental, renaissance, medieval and
American folk music. Clayton Bailey, a pottery student then, and I
were not musicians, but Dennis taught us to play the mouth bow and
Jew’s harp. The mouth bows we made were constructed from two inch
wide hardwood strips of wood, with one or two piano strings at the
upper end of the scale secured with tuning pegs.

The regulars of the group were Dennis Murphy, Raleigh Williams, a math
teacher, musician, singer and instrument maker, Monona Rossol, who was
a pottery student like Clayton Bailey and myself, and she was also a
classical singer. My wife Gail, a piano major, and I were also
regulars. Thomas J. Banta, then an assistant professor of psychology
at Wisconsin, became a regular though he did not participate in
the music making. The exceptional Wisconsin social life that brought
art and music majors together in small groups was not that evident
among the professors and grad students of the psychology department.
This is perhaps partly why Tom Banta became part of our group. Tom
Banta is the announcer at the beginning of the piece The Prelem Party, May 1962 .

The musicians in the group were Dennis Murphy, Raleigh Williams, Monona Rossol and sometimes Gail Pyron. And there were some others such as Gloria Welniak, Carlton Welton, Jim Quigley and an art major I called Old Dick Gong.

The Dennis Murphy group was active from 1960 to 1962. Clayton Bailey had left Madison by the fall of 1962. Dennis Murphy was at a session in my house then near lake Monona in downtown Madison in November of 1962, our last meeting.

One time in May of 1962 we met at Clayton Bailey’s place out in the
country south of Madison. We built up a good sized camp fire which
can be heard burning on the audio we made that night. Dennis
Murphy was playing on his sitar, Monona Rossol was wailing or
vocalizing, Clayton Bailey was blowing his blatting ceramic horn he
had made by rolling a slab of clay and firing it, and I was pounding
on my Chinese tom-tom. Had someone nearby heard all that, they would never have known that three of those performers were to become well known – Dennis Murphy, Clayton Bailey and Monona Rossol.

Here are a few links to Dennis Murphy, including a wikipedia article on him:

http://www.kalvos.org/murphyd.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Murphy_(musician)

http://www.yhttp:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv_T5mfoubQoutube.com/watch?v=Fv_T5mfoubQ

http://www.fyreandlightning.org/Pages/bios.html

On http://www.kalvos.org/murphyd.html

above there is a good photo of
Dennis Murphy.

Above: Denis Murphy In the 1965 16mm Movie

Above: Dennis Murphy Again in the Same Movie

Dennis Murphy In the Same Movie, But In Black and White

Clayton Bailey attained to some image as a sculptor on the West Coast.
Bailey has been written up in numerous art
journals and newspaper and magazine articles and has many links on the
Internet. He turned seventy in 2009. Dennis Murphy was 75 then.

In 2011 and early 2012 the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento held a fifty year retrospective exhibition of the works of Clayton Bailey,

http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/59042/Clayton_Baileys_World_of_Wonders_at_Crocker

"Clay and metal, including his signature “exploding pots,” disarming robot sculptures, and ray guns, inspired by science fiction and fashioned from discarded aluminum, had visitors laughing and jumping as they wandered past over 150 displays.......Exhibition curator Diana L. Daniels notes that while Clayton Bailey is a major figure of Funk art, the American sculptural ceramics movement known for its playful sensibility, “He is serious about the craft of humor and making art. For more than five decades Bailey has made it acceptable to laugh at contemporary culture and even ourselves with objects that linger in the imagination.”.........Bailey studied with Harvey Littleton, the father of the contemporary glass movement, at the University of Wisconsin. Visiting instructors Bernard Leach, Toshiko Takaezu, and Peter Voulkos further shaped his approach. Bailey moved to California in 1968, settled in the Bay Area, and became a leading educator, teachingatCaliforniaStateUniversity,Hayward for 26 years. His work is represented in collections from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution.................

Above: Clayton Bailey Rubber Chicken Mask At An Art Fair On the Square In Madison, Wisconsin in the Sixties


Above: Another Clayton Bailey Chicken Mask of the Sixties

Above: Clayton Bailey Pulling Off A Chicken Mask At An Art Fair On the Capital Square In Madison, Wisconsin In the Sixties

Above: Another Clayton Bailey Rubber Chicken Mask, Sixties

There is also a wikipedia article on Clayton Bailey:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayton_Bailey
Also see:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_art
And:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funk_art
Monona Rossol is an authority in New York City on the toxic aspects of
art materials and has written several books. She also has many links to her on the Internet.

http://www.alibris.com/search/books/author/Rossol, Monona/aid/6172798

"Monona Rossol has been a chemist, artist, and industrial hygienist, specializing in visual and performing arts hazards for more than thirty years. She is the founder of Arts, Crafts, and Theater Safety (ACTS), a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to providing health and safety services to the arts. She lives in New York City."

www.epinions.com/review/Book_The_Artist_s_Complete_Health_and_Safety_Guide_Monona_Rossol/content_229816176260?sb=1

"Monona Rossol, the author of The Artist’s Complete Health and Safety Guide, explains why she became involved in this area of health and safety. “The idea for this book can be traced back to the University of Wisconsin, where I earned a B.S. in chemistry."

Another of Monona Rossol's books is "Keeping clay work safe and legal"
Monona Rossol, 1996 - Crafts & Hobbies - 88 pages

The Health and Safety Guide for Film, TV and Theater
(Google eBook)Monona Rossol
"Skyhorse Publishing Inc., Oct 1, 2000 - 256 pages
Under the dazzling surfaces of modern film, television, and theater lie dangers that threaten the very people who labor to entertain us. Chemist, artist, and industrial hygienist Monona Rossol exposes this industry of risk in the breakthrough Health & Safety Guide for Film, TV & Theater.In an expanded and updated edition of her earlier Stage Fright: Health and Safety in the Theater, the author pierces the mystique of show business. This book outlines:· precautions to take against hazardous materials, recommendations for proper protective equipment, steps to comply with health and safety laws, safety checklists for shops and classrooms, strategies for accommodating workers with disabilities, agencies and organizations to contact for help. The Health & Safety Guide for Film, TV & Theater is the only book of its kind. No one participating in the performing arts today can afford to miss this handbook filled with life-or-death health information."

http://www.artscraftstheatersafety.org/bio.html

"Monona Rossol is a chemist, artist, and industrial hygienist. She was born into a theatrical family and worked as a professional entertainer from age 3 to 17. She enrolled in the University of Wisconsin where she earned: a BS in Chemistry with a minor in Math, an MS majoring in Ceramics and Sculpture, and an MFA with majors in Ceramics and Glassblowing and a minor in Music. While in school she worked as a chemist, taught and exhibited art work, performed with University music and theater groups, and worked yearly in summer stock. After leaving school, she performed in musical and straight acting roles in Off and Off Off Broadway theaters and cabaret.

Currently, Monona is President/founder of Arts, Crafts and Theater Safety, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to providing health and safety services to the arts."

I have some cassette tapes that were copied from the old reel to reel tapes of the music of the group.

The Dennis Murphy Gang 1965 movie is on photobucket. It does stream and after the first few seconds it is pretty good. The black and white part at the end is not all there.

Its at:

http://s188.photobucket.com/albums/z208/halfback_photos/?action=view¤t=DENNISMURPHYGANGIN1965.mp4

On Daily Motion I have a sound track added to the movie:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x251k96_the-dennis-murphy-gang-meets-again-for-a-1965-movie_creation
I cut the Dennis Murphy 1965 movie down, getting rid of the first few scenes which are poor quality because of the degeneration of the old 16mm film since 1965 - in the humid Missouri climate.

The cut down version is called "Our Hearts Belonged To Dada and Surrealism: The Dennis Murphy Gang In 1965."

See: http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=2hi2kc0&s=6

And: http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=30bixdt&s=6

The recordings of the improvised music of the Murphy group are listed below: The ones on supload might still be available for download, but do not stream.

ONE: November 8, 1961 and On That Year

http://tindeck.com/listen/xiyi

TWO: Sound of Bittersweet Place Kiln At Cone 10

http://tindeck.com/listen/zafu

THREE: Murphy Group: Birthday Session October 25, 196

http://tindeck.com/listen/ozim

FOUR: January 24, 1960 and On That Year

http://tindeck.com/listen/xknn

FIVE: June 3, 1962 and On That Year

On tindeck as of July 7, 2012:
Free MP3 download: Murphy Group June 3, 1962 On.mp3

http://tindeck.com/listen/kagf

SIX: Murphy Group: Music of 5710 Bittersweet Place - Mouth-Bow and Jew's Harp
On tindeck as of July 7, 2012: Free MP3 download: MUSIC OF 5710 Bittersweet Place.mp3

http://tindeck.com/listen/bekl

SEVEN: The Pre-Lem Party, May 1962
On tindeck as of July 7, 2012:
Free MP3 download: The_Prelem_Party_May_20__1962__The_Real_Muic_of_57.mp3

http://tindeck.com/listen/crnh

Or http://tindeck.com/listen/shiy

JOINED:  Five of above Dennis Murphy group audios above:

http://tindeck.com/listen/wfacm