Negativland “It’s All In Your Head FM” (Live) December 3, 2008 @ Old Main, CU Boulder Campus Boulder, Colorado

Legendary Bay-area culture jammers Negativland came to the CU-Boulder campus at the behest of the Media Production Consortium, a student run organization devoted to presenting progressive electronic and multimedia performance artists. For two consecutive evenings Negativland performed a stage adaptation from their weekly radio broadcast Over the Edge featured on KPFA 94.1 FM (Berekly, CA). The performance was entitled It’s all in Your Head FM, a radio themed commentary on Monotheism, the super natural, the abrahamic religions and evolution. The performance was formatted as a live radio broadcast on the Universal Media Netweb affiliate It’s All In Your Head FM “Your home for monotheism in stereo”.

The members of Negativland appeared on the stage adorned with an “On Air” light, clad in tacky dress shirts with complementary neckties and name tags and commenced the inaugural broadcast of “Its All In Your Head FM” on it’s newest affiliates KGNU 88.5 FM and KVCU 1190 AM (the two community radio stations in Boulder). What proceeded was an hour-long journey into the world of monotheism, Darwinism, and fundamentalism from the American Christian perspective hosted by Dr. Oslo Norway, chairman of One World Advertising. Dr. Norway explained to the audience that the modern day radio audience has shrunk so drastically that the last refuge for broadcasters to increase their ratings was to deny the existence of god and to shave a chimpanzee in an attempt to reveal the evolutional proximity that we the human race share with our living ancestors. After an intermission the second hour commenced that examined the worlds of Islam and Judaism and their portrayal in the American news media. And for all of you die-hard Negativland fans The Weatherman (cable TV repairman turned sonic outlaw, Negativland collaborator, and recluse) also appears several time in the forms of intercalary station id’s

A scene by scene synopsis just seems tedious so at this point I will refer you to the interwebs so that you can experience It’s All In Your Head FM, for yourself. Also check out the archived programs of Over the Edge at kpfa.com.

Charles Ballas