Interzone report of January 21st 2001

Interzone report of January 21st 2001

Previous report of December : http://www.inter-zone.org/reportdec00.html

This report will be in French in some days at http://www.inter-zone.org/reportjan01fr.html

Report of February: http://www.inter-zone.org/reportfeb01.html

The cover of "Sud Express" by François Darnaudet,

from a painting by Alain Guirado

Dear all,

The year has been starting well here : I have found a half time nurse job, independent, which appears as interesting, and leaves plenty of time for the Zone work. I bought a car for work, and found the info I was looking for to open a place for the Zone. :)

After the coming out this summer of the two CD compilations : "Music for Dreamachine" and "Interzone Compilation", and the publishing in Inter-zone.org of "Sud Express" and "Le Taxidermiste", we are looking for getting organized for the sale and distribution, which requires we see altogether how to make it.

Here are the details below.

I am also just receiving a proposal from a publisher on the net www.faculte-anthropologie.fr about publishing articles of mine and having a chronic there. He also asks about other writers and thinkers in the same current of thinking as me. So this also concerns as well the other members of Interzone who have been writing in the sites and in the Zone books. I am going to forward a synopsis of our work to him, and shall let you know what comes about it. Let me know if you are interested in this.

The place for the Zone :

This is the result of the info I have got here, and the ideas which came to me. The description below makes it appear simple, but putting it up will require a common will and organization, and will take sometimes. Also I need to settle a bit as things have been hectic those latest months. I got to a dead end in France and came to Belgium to work. Since I have been here I have found plenty of nurse jobs, had 4 in six months, and got rid of two which were shit. So future will say ...

I have started to ask some Zoners involved in the physical place project what they think about it. I make a page with their answers at : http://www.inter-zone.org/zoneplace.html so everybody can exchange about it.

Miguel Alonso and I have been meeting yesterday and exchanging about this project. Miguel thinks that after sometimes, the people interested should gather and have a chat. Rather than the page in inter-zone.org, we can use one of the Yahoo clubs : EL GORGO's NOVA MOB : http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/novamob: William S. Burroughs Research Club for instance.

a) The country:

About the countries to make it : Belgium is more free and opened than France, less administration, so it should be easier there. More people speak English than in France too, and the country is multi-lingual, easy of access from all the surrounding European countries.

There are different places where we can make it : Brussels is a beautiful place, but expensive. Mons is a university town, about as big as Poitiers. Then La Louviere, near the French border, smaller (60 000 people), a rather poor place, but the rents are much cheaper : for 30 000 BF we can rent a commercial place with a whole house, which should be much more expensive in Brussels and Mons.

b) The formula :

After looking for cafes in several towns, the ones I saw had nothing very inspiring: too small, or the conditions to get them or work in them were not interesting : no insurance to earn one's life there.

I went to consult a financial adviser who said that the number of licences are not limited here as in France, so it's possible to create a cafe, but to open a place which sells alcohol, you have to pay a tax which is equal to three years of the monthly rent, which is not realistic as far as we are concerned. Though there is no such tax to open a tea-room. :), so this appears as makable.

As a result, the cheapest and simplest formula seems to rent a house with a commercial place at the first floor, where to make a shop for the Zone's products, and a tea-room where to make exhibitions as well (concerts, etc.)

c) The contents :

Here are some suggestions, considering our present means :

- A shop for the Zone's products :

Presently, we have at our disposal :

- at least 50 CD including Zoner's personal ones, among them the French comix "Le Taxidermiste",

- at least 20 video tapes,

- about 10 books, French and English.

- a large number of illustrations which can be sold as such in format 21 x 29,7, or in frames, or in post cards The post cards presentation has to be improved though. Pierre Belouin and Miguel Alonso think the illustrations are good, but the post-cards by themselves look cheap. Miguel is going to give them another shape and look.

I can also make and sell dreamachines.

The whole thing can be produced by us without interference of anybody else.

- Tea-room :

Snappy suggests that we should keep the menu simple to begin with: coffee, tea, chocolate and sandwiches, a salad, maybe soup and some baked goods (cookies). It could be promoted as a reading room, a place to meet and talk with friends.

It can also be used as a place for paintings expos : each month we expose paintings of illustration of an illustrator or painter. And we can play our own music and show the videos in the place as well.

We can also start there the academy with weekly meetings, as the philosophic cafes do, but with themes we have been exploring since 1997. Zoners could come and play, give a lecture, make an exhibition, project a video, etc..., all the things which we have proposed for the expo in Poitiers. The rooms at the upper floors of the house could welcome them, so no hassle to look for a hotel room. So you can just come and make it when you can, and if we want to plan group meetings or exhibition, then we do not depend on anybody else about the date nor money.

- Services :

As we are not sure that our products will be very commercial at the start, I suggest to offer a number of services which can attract people:

- free internet access on a computer for the clients of the tea-room,

- a Beat library with books people can read in the place,

- possibility to use the scan, printer and fax, for the same price as in the places which do it in town. For this, I do not need to buy anything, can use my own stuff at the start.

- for the school kids, tips for the home work (French, English, as far as I can make, but we can settle a net of different consultants in various disciplines), kind of a place where you can ask for an info to people who have no relation of authority with you, and you are the client of. Eventually create a club for it in Yahoo, where kids could ask a tip in advance to a whole group.

d) The financial means and money organization:

Opening such a place requires :

- the rent : let's start with 30 000 BF;

- the money for arranging the place : furniture for the bar, fridge, microwave, tableware, drinks and food;

- the raw material for the productions (paper, cardboard, ink cartridges for the books, plain CD for the CD, etc.)

- a cashier's stand, books for the counts,

- the taxes to open the place : business registration (2 000 BF) , TVA number (do not know yet), affidavit concerning ability for management (500 BF) : 2 500 BF = 55,5 $ + TVA unknown.

For the other expenses to pay monthly : the services of an accountant : between 1000 and 1500 BF a month. My social taxes (3000 BF a month) are already paid in the frame of my independent nurse job, they do not need to be included here.

As I shall have some money from the nurse job, I do not need to take anything from the Zone's products, except from my own creations. So the benefit of the sales goes straight to the creators.

For the money, there are several solutions : I have absolutely no plan about it, we got to see this altogether and decide then. Whatever it will be, I do not want to be alone in charge of the money, and think that others should take care about it : I already coordinate the Zone and do not want to cumulate the functions.

- We can make an association, and the Zoners who work in the place get a salary from it.

- Or fix something else between us such as :

For concerts and exhibitions, we can ask for a small sum to the clients, 300 BF, 50 FF, 8 $, so the performers will get paid for their work. I do not agree that people come and play for free as it happens most of the time.

People who work at the bar and services will earn the benefits from them.

I fist suggested that all the people who get a benefit from the place share the rent : 30 000 BF a month should be what I shall get from the nurse job when deduced the social taxes and car expenses for work. If all the Zoners who get money from the place share it, and there should be more than 30 people, then it would be maximum 1000 BF each, 22 $. At the condition they get back more money than what they give, otherwise it's not worth it. Or the shares can be proportional to the money earnt in the place (10 % for instance) .

But if the place works well, it should earn enough to pay for the rent, as the other shops do.

Kat and Miguel think that all the people involved in it should share the rent and charges untill the sales allow to make it.

See what you think about it so far.

e) Who works in it ?

I am ok to start it and work in it, can make it several hours a day. Mioclonic in Brussels is interested and says to count him in. He won't be there after March, but has several CD for sale, can make concerts, video shows, lectures.

Foe has planed to come this year and make a video on the Zone. Several other people previously said they wanted to be part of it if anything starts. Thanks for letting me know about it presently, which part you want to take in this, your propositions, etc...

One Zoner can come and work there too : Mah Koulin is in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where a civil war is starting at the moment. He is loosing his job of engineer as the French company Alcatel he was working for is closing its places due to the economical crisis. He is looking for coming to Europe but has to find an employer before to get a work contract. So the shop and cafe could bring him work

Now the voice is to the Zone : making it requires to know who wants to be part of it , and to agree on the way we do it. I guess that all the people who are volunteers for the expo in Poitiers will be interested to come one day or the other, so we can organize a lot of things there, together, or separetely.

f) The price of the productions ?

If we take the production in charge, what are the advantages ?

- low cost of production : it cost for the CD much less money than having them be recorded in studio.

- complete control and freedom of the contents.

- what we sell can be found nowhere else => people who come see objects, productions, shows, images, etc., they have never seen anywhere else, and which they cannot buy from anywhere else. It is for them unforeseen and unpredictable.

We can use this to make of the place a non prerecorded place, kind of a Nagual place. And see the result. Foe or Mioclonic can come with his video camera and make a video with the reactions of the clients, we can make a place of constant happening. No routine. When we get fed up of something, we develop another aspect or level : there is more to do that we can possibly do anyway, so we have the choice !!!!!

For each sector, the Zoners who will be part of them can talk about it together and then decide what to do about the prices etc. We can also make free prices : each musician says how much he wants for his CD, video, etc...

Distribution of the Zone's products :

1. The CD:

The interesting side of the Zone's production is that each one is different : Zoners made it freely, with the ways they chose and created : Pierre Belouin created a label, Optical Sound, which made the 2 CD of Music for Dreamachine http://www.zone51.com/opticalsound
rubrique OS.002.and sells them 120 French francs.

The Interzone compilation has been made by people who got organized to make it without money. Binda 23 can print them, Foe can have the booklet of illustrations and contents made.

It has just been pressed in a limited number, but can be downloaded for free on the net in MP3 at : http://www.mp3.com/interzonecd with the illustrations of each song.

We can distribute them in different countries through the Zoner's labels already existing : Pierre can spread them through Optical Sound in France, Foe can make it in US through Hard Drive Productions, etc...

2. The Zone's publishing:

Inter-zone.org is starting to publish some French speaking writers :

- "Sud Express" by François Darnaudet : http://www.inter-zone.org/cover1.html, http://www.inter-zone.org/sud.html : each month one new chapter is on line : see the 4 first ones at http://www.inter-zone.org/sud.html , http://www.inter-zone.org/sud2.html , http://www.inter-zone.org/sud3.html http://www.inter-zone.org/sud4.html

- To come soon : short stories by Adam Possamai, a Belgian teacher of sociology in Australia.

3. Video:

A number of Zoners are producing video as well : See the menu at http://www.inter-zone.org/video.html , and the new video galleries of Anthony Rousseau at : http://www.inter-zone.org/anthony.html http://www.inter-zone.org/anthony2.html http://www.inter-zone.org/anthony3.html : the third page is for adults only.

New pages in the sites :

In Inter-zone.org: http://www.inter-zone.org :

* The third chapter of "Sud Express" by François Darnaudet, with illustrations added to the 3 chapters, http.//www.inter-zone.org/cover1.html, http://www.inter-zone.org/sud.html , http://www.inter-zone.org/sud2.html , http://www.inter-zone.org/sud3.html http://www.inter-zone.org/sud4.html

* Anthony Rousseau <anthony.rousseau@voila.fr> : Video gallery : http://www.inter-zone.org/anthony.html http://www.inter-zone.org/anthony2.html http://www.inter-zone.org/anthony3.html : the last one is for adults only

* Extracts from "With William Burroughs" by Victor Bockris : A passport for William Burroughs : http://www.inter-zone.org/wwb1.html - On writing : http://www.inter-zone.org/wwb2.html

* "Avec William Burroughs - Notre Agent au Bunker" de Victor Bockris : Un passeport pour William Burroughs : http://www.inter-zone.org/wwbfr1.html - Dîner avec Nicolas Roeg, Lou Reed, Bockris-Wylie et Cérard Malanga: New York 1978 : http://www.inter-zone.org/wwbfr2.html

* Des systèmes de contrôle : http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Crete/9445/1tc1.html

INTRODUCTION

I Différentes sortes de pouvoir http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Crete/9445/1tc1.html
Selon Ray Funkhouser

Selon John Kenneth Galbraith
II Différences entre pouvoir et domination : Funkhouser : http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Crete/9445/2tc1.html

III Les systèmes de contrôle : http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Crete/9445/3tc1.html

IV Techniques de contrôle permettant l'exercice de la domination : en préparation

V Stratégies de non-contrôle : http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Crete/9445/snc1.html

In the other Zoner's sites :

foe4foe@wizard.com OZU - dub subroza's new project for 2001http://foe4foe.net/music/OZU-Xmas_Mix_2000.mp3

agent 1914 <novacriminal@hotmail.com> a new look... http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/agentofdiscord

Kitamura Masashi: sseinfo <sseinfo@gol.com> : 25 DEC 2000 INFO YBO2 FROM FAR EASTERN EUR-ASIA home http://www.ocv.ne.jp/~sse/ English articles http://www.ocv.ne.jp/~sse/tex/ref.htm

Miguel Alonso <mioclonic@yahoo.com> I've placed some new things in my page. Some poems and some stories in Spanish. Check: http://usuarios.tripod.es/mioclonic/alonso.html (the revisited version of the previous study of soundscapes)
http://usuarios.tripod.es/mioclonic/equis.html (some stories about the character x2)
http://usuarios.tripod.es/mioclonic/ligero.html (a poem from a friend)
http://usuarios.tripod.es/mioclonic/sarcasemo.html (a sad story by me)

Ljpickford : please stop by my little WSB tribute page at www.lucaspickford.com and click on Interzone. Hope you like it.

dead joe : Forked Yew Annual Report for the year 2000 (Christer Reckoning): http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Crete/9445/News17.html Yew tunes by going to http://www.myplay.com

Messager du Réseau Beaucéant <messager@templiers.org> : English version at: http://www.templiers.org/english Latest news on the interactive plat-forms of the Réseau Beaucéant : see the details at : http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Crete/9445/News17.html

Yahoo clubs :

"THE INTERZONE COFFEE HOUSE" : http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/theinterzonecoffeehouse .

EL GORGO's NOVA MOB : http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/novamob: William S. Burroughs Research Club

"BINDA 23" <http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/binda23 , dedicated to the music project.

Amy Balot BURROUGHS'TAPE RECORDER : http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/burroughstaperecorder

Jonathan "PURPLE HOUSE" : http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/purplehouse

Jazzresin <jazzresin@hotmail.com > :
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/ambavant23gardeink Apo33 mp3 : http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/63/apo-33.html

leah_sublime "Dandy In The Glass House". http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/dandyintheglasshouse

"HATERDOM".:http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/haterdom

"Chapel Perilous".http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/chapelperilous

See the news of this month at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Crete/9445/News17.html

This report will be on the web at : http://www.inter-zone.org/reportjan01.html

Love

Izzy

"Le Taxidermiste" : Fétiche

To access to all the reports since the beginning : Information on Interzone : http://www.interpc.fr/mapage/westernlands/infzone.html

Inter-zone.org => The Western Lands / Interzone Academy / Interzone Creations