TWISTED TALES

The stories in Dorothy

There was a stack of research that went into the writing of Dorothy. Actually there’s a cabinet full of research that went into the writing Twisted Tales. Thing is, I always figured that if I was going to write about something, anything, I’d better become an expert on the subject. Even if only temporarily.

So I guess in the instance of Dorothy, I turned me into a space history nut.

This song, which started as a tale about missing people (you can probably tell this in the first verse) ended up being based loosely on a tale I read from a reader’s digest published 1965. It was reported that supposed “lost cosmonauts” were heard drifting in space calling for help and Russia vehemently denying it ever happened. The reader’s digest article can be found here.
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/conspiracy/q0235a.shtml

Here is a site dedicated to the lost cosmonauts.
www.lostcosmonauts.com
The site includes the clips I have procured from the site for the song Dorothy. One of them features supposed calls of distress from a female cosmonaut during re-entry (which I have used) . Of course, the space enthusiasts amongst you will ask how the hell communications can still continue  upon re-entry since the ionisation in the atmosphere upon reentry will cut communications anyways. So there, I have my doubts on the stories. Still, these are the makings of a scary fairy tale that come from an era buried in secrets, espionage and fear.

Also good to know that all info in the Soviet Space Program was declassified sometime ago – which lists the cosmonauts who never flew, who perished in training and those who flew. It turns out that a few of those Lost Cosmonauts were never in space. Some, like  Vladimir Illyushin , after supposedly floating about in space for a bit, got to retire as an Airforce General in 1999.

There you go, you must never trust the storyteller. 

I’d ask you to read James Oberg’s article about the supposed missing astronauts. Rev up your search engines to look up various opinions about the lost cosmonauts.  Most articles debunk the rumours of the cosmonauts and have enough reason to do so. More importantly, I ask you to make up your own mind about these stories.I must admit that that is only the tip of the iceberg of what I had to read to feel up to writing it, but they give you an idea of what this all is.

My interest wasn’t to prove or disprove the validity of the lost cosmonauts conspiracies. That is after all, not my area of expertise. It did, however, get me thinking about people and non human beings, who have been sacrificed in the conquests for space, or even new technological frontiers . Those whose memory were, if only temporarily, hidden away in the intrigue of time and secrets in the era of the cold war.

I speak of course about Valentino Bondarenko.  He was a cosmonaut in training that died from horrific burns as a result of a pre-flight training accident in a pure oxygen pressurised environment. It took Russia 25 years to acknowledge his existence as well as the accident. The tragedy was that if this accident had been made known, it might have prevented the fatal fires in Apollo 1.

I have had the following other incidents in mind as I penned the song. Not all of them are lost, even in the world of secrecy and intrigue.
The publicly fatal flight of Soyuz 1 Komarov. Vladimir Komarov, the pilot was rumoured to have gone down cursing the engineers. Whatever the rumours were, it seemed that that there were indeed political pressures on the crew to fly an obviously unready craft riddled with problems in an attempt to beat the US to the space race.

Over yonder, USA claims further casualties in their pre-flight training who all died in the crash of the T-38 Aircraft.  Similarly, Russia loses their iconic Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in a space flight training procedure when he crashes the MiG-15.

It is important to remember that the space race wasn’t all about space. It has its origins in missile-based arms race post WW2 after German tech and personnel was captured by the then reigning superpowers Russia and USA. So it was no surprise that both countries were driving their space programs very hard and sometimes, due diligence went out the window and pioneering space crews got hurt or died.

Then of course, the non human sacrifices, most notable one being Laika. Laika was the first dog and the first living organism which was sent on a one way ticket to space. Space PR tells you Laika dies on Day 6 from oxygen depletion but was euthanised prior. Sources today will tell you that Laika was very likely cooked on Day 4, when the space cabin overheated. (Temp regulation wasn’t possible in program development timeline)

These are my Dorothies, where if you read the written version of wizard of oz wears silver shoes instead of ruby shoes in the Hollywood version. Silver heels, for some reason, make me think of the typical silver/white motifs worn by cosmonauts/astronauts.

So, here be my tribute to those who dared to brave the frontiers of science.

–the song, the tale, and the twisting of it. 🙂

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Watch it here

PS: JFK – who opens for Dorothy. His speech can be found right here. Have a listen!

http://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/ricetalk.htm

Blog Catchup – Interviews in Melbourne

Wednesday morning 14th March. Here be the madness of interviews… so I thought I give you a snippet for the day.

The zither was packed, the hulusi was packed, I’ve spent the night on the kindly loaned couch at Carolyn and Lee’s and I’m up and awake at an ungodly hour of 0530hrs. Today be the day for interviews to talk about Twisted Tales…in Melbourne. Chryss had packed our day to the brim. I’m excited, but I miss the dream gods. Neeed sleeep but there is a full day scheduled for interviews today so I’m praying for my biological stash of adrenalin to kick in.

Screw it.

I need coffee.

Plane goes up…plane comes down…car…travel…mad morning melbourne traffic…then…

First stop is Studio 3 at ABC kids. I’m reminded by Chryss my publicist of AUM PR to reign it in..and behave. It is for kids, the show is for kids…so behave. This is insulting. I think I’m generally very well behaved and unoffensive (I have no idea what she’s talking about) . *0_0.

TV world is hyper, colourful and a little like a mad hatter’s tea party. Studio 3 hosts James and Liv are great fun. I crash land into my studio with my zither and hulusi. ( at their bequest I was supposed to bring strange instruments I play in…) Bright lights camera action, 2 takes and we’re done. James snuck in a marriage proposal ON TV in the madness…the answer is a quick no…it’s for his own good…really. Chryss believes I need to be more subtle with the media.

But how many ways can a girl say no? 0_0*!

Next stop is meeting Michael Dwyer from The Age/ Rolling Stone. Wow. It is strange…especially when I’m thinking that no one at drone work knows I do this yet. Michael is really nice…although he does declare that Lee and I are absolutely barking mad.He’s getting his perspectives wrong. I’m not mad, the rest of the world is just not very sane…but oh well…business of illusions this is…truth is…I’m really more interested in Michael’s life. Must be fun working for Rolling Stone…I wish I was doing the interviewing. I wonder what his life must be like. I wonder if he has a tale for me…

I’m nosy like that. My Storyteller is always hungry

and then we’re on RRR Melbourne Independent Radio with Alicia Sometimes and Lorin Clark. It’s fast becoming a blur now. I’m in the studio I’m out the studio. Craps…I’m not telling Queenie Chan’s story very well here. She’s the creator of the visual world to Twisted Tales and I’m not telling it well…am I telling it well? I need to mention Queenie more and I still need to talk about Twisted Tales more.. Oh gosh. Out of time…next interview. I feel like the white rabbit today.

Where the hell are we?

Oh good lunch. Lunch is a good concept.

Then we head to JMC Academy where I learn (apparently Lee already knows this), that Twisted Tales has become a project for study by the students at JMC. Wow. The irony, the insane honour. Considering that I’ve been nothing but a problem student growing up…being a study subject in a class that doesn’t involve my live vivisection is very refreshing…and pleasantly surprising. David Hunt who will interview us as host of Joy.fm later is the lecturer and the interviews begin again.

I talk about the process of creating the project, Lee talks about the logistics of managing and producing a monster like Twisted Tales. I had fun…it’s been strange sitting in a tutorial classroom again. I had fun though, telling the tales for today has put some perspective on how far Twisted Tales has come. I’m proud of us. More importantly, I hope the session was helpful to the students of JMC..if not…I hope we were at least entertaining 😀

Then off to joy.fm , the only Gay and Lesbian radio station in Australia where we talk again with David Hunt about the album and promise to update him as it progresses. Aqua was there doing an interview too. Yup… The Aqua. Oh my gawd…I think I have their CD…their music was pretty fun after all.

This is all very mind boggling.

The day ends with an interview with Kingsley McGlew from Channel 31 for a program called Behind the Words. The episode airs in September so I guess I won’t give too many spoilers.

Mad rush back to the airport. 3 celebratory glasses of alcohol with Lee, who has been doing a very full day of driving. Day ends. Midnight landing at home…

Hmm…and I go back to being a paper pusher in 6 hours at drone world. Here’s hoping work doesn’t find out until I don’t need the money any more.

My life is curiouser and curiouser.

Next post: Twisted Tales beginnings…Queenie Chan and myself. I’m having so much trouble being chronological.