𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘜𝘯𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤, 𝘝𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘦 1 brings together an imagined archive of bands and musicians, each with their own histories, recordings, and visual worlds. For this project, artist and musician Sonny Smith (
@sunnyandthesunsets ) invited artists to create album covers for these fictional acts, and collected fictional accounts of the bands in a zine (on sale for $10 at the museum), blurring the line between music history and storytelling. Here’s an excerpt:
𝗕𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧: 𝗔𝗖𝗜𝗗 𝗕𝗨𝗦𝗧 💥
Album artwork by Ben Venom (
@benvenom ). Paul Wackers (
@hibbledygilbldy ), and Sarah Smith (
@stainedglassswan )
Bassist Sage Appel, drummer George Horvath, and guitarist Neal Dry met as teenagers in 1968 in Haight-Ashbury, running errands for the Brotherhood of Eternal Love. When Dry discovered the acid they were helping circulate was toxic and unsellable, they abandoned the Acid Triangle and formed a band instead.
During a six-month stretch marked by outrageous LSD consumption, Acid Bust recorded more than seventy-five full-length albums. Every LP was delivered with real LSD soaked into the vinyl.
You had to eat the record to get high. Consequently, almost all were consumed.
What remained resurfaced twenty-five years later, during a drug raid in Bolinas. Alongside cash, weapons, and blotter paper, authorities recovered a small number of surviving records.
The case that followed unraveled just as strangely. Before closing arguments, the lead prosecutor was dosed with LSD. In court, he argued not just for the defendants, but for everything. People, animals, plants, the Earth, the objects of the universe, even the space between them.
The case was thrown out. Their first release after it all: 𝘞𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘯.
Join us May 17th from 4-7 PM for a closing celebration of the show featuring live performances by Chris Cohen and Rhinestone Sunsets (aka the Fuckaroos aka Rhinestone Barbarians), marking a final gathering around the exhibition.
