KGOD, Norton Street, and the Strange New Theater
Several people have asked what we’ve been doing lately, because from the outside it may look as if we’re simply making songs.
In a sense, that’s true. We are making songs. Lots of them.
But something unexpected has happened along the way.
For many years, Norton Street existed as a stage play. The script was written long ago. The characters already existed. Mike already existed. Bornless One already existed. The strange chamber called Norton Street already existed.
What didn’t exist was a practical way to bring the whole thing to life.
Producing a theatrical work traditionally requires actors, actresses, directors, musicians, stage crews, rehearsal space, costumes, lighting, and a great deal of money and organization. Over the years many talented theater people passed through our community, but somehow Norton Street never quite found its way onto the stage.
Now, unexpectedly, new technology has opened a different door.
Rather than waiting for a traditional production, we’ve begun transforming the scenes into a kind of musical radio theater. Each scene is adapted into a KGOD broadcast complete with station breaks, fake commercials, weather reports, news bulletins, sports reports, and all the strange interruptions one might hear while driving across America late at night with the radio glowing in the darkness.
The result is something that didn’t exist before. It’s not quite a stage play. It’s not quite an album. It’s not quite old-time radio. It’s not quite a musical. It’s becoming its own thing.
The fictional station KGOD — “The Station That Makes It” — provides a framework that allows the serious philosophical material of Norton Street to coexist with humor, absurdity, and satire. One moment Bornless One is confronting the nature of existence itself. The next moment listeners are hearing the Bardotown weather forecast or a commercial for Eternity Insurance.
Oddly enough, the comedy doesn’t weaken the ideas. It often makes them easier to approach.
We’ve also been experimenting with multiple musical styles, generating numerous versions of each scene and selecting favorites for presentation during our morning Zoom gatherings. Sometimes a scene becomes a blues number. Sometimes it becomes calypso, gospel, jazz, psychedelic rock, or something entirely unexpected.
What began as an experiment has gradually become a production pipeline. A script becomes a broadcast. A broadcast becomes a song. A song becomes a video. A video becomes part of a growing world.
At this point, we’re no longer simply revisiting an old play. We’re exploring a new medium that didn’t exist when Norton Street was originally written.
Where it ultimately leads, I don’t know.
But I can report that Mike and Bornless One are still arguing, KGOD is still broadcasting, and according to the latest Bardotown weather report, visibility remains infinite.
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Hey! Look! The Bardo bus is heading toward us, just off the Port bow!
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See You At The Top!!!
gorby