The remarkable tale of Endless House, a short-lived ‘multimedia discotheque’ commune in the Bialowieska Forest envisioned and ultimately destroyed in the vanity of an audiophile/venture capitalist/megalomaniac, arrived to much circulation a few weeks ago. As did some unearthed sounds:
Rasmus Folk | Coupe
Johannus Arpensium | Ostend (Invisible Cities)
Walter Schnaffs | I am Germany
Adding to the conceptual memory, we now hear from Earnesto Rogers, a Dutch beat scientist and former student of Stockhausen (expelled from the latter’s class on account of his penchant for “nursery-rhyme melodies” and “childish consonance”). Anchoring his thoughts of the present is a monstrous ballad of the past. You can almost feel the walls starting to cave in…
Earnesto Rogers | Marshall Plan
Dear sirs, madames, monsieurs and madamoiselles,
To see Endless House flourish after so many years of under-nourishment brings me pleasure beyond my words. Kantor’s vision entrapped us all, and drove a price many of us still pay today. After all, for me as for Walter (Schnaffs) and for Rasmus (Folk), this ‘project’ was both our beginning and our end. Kantor’s illuminati may tell you otherwise, but Endless House’s blurred vision spat us out like washed out circus acts.
I never wrote again.
“Marshall Plan”, conceived under the tutelage of Kantor specifically for opening night at The Endless House, is the song I would like to share with you now.
Kantor and his conoscenti used to tell me to “think big, then double it” – and I suppose this is what we ended up with. The song is so big I nearly brought the geodesic chrome roof down on top of us…I remember the growling Moog Taurus bass really causing a stir, sounding like I’d made a Transylvanian boar swallow a contact mic. It’s a mess really, but at least an impactful one.
“Listen to my plan, I’m going to save man/
kind tonight.
I’d rather dine in Trieste with Johannus/
or Felix Uran”
Endless House was my world for just 3 weeks. But it still feels like never and forever all at the same time.
Thanks for your support,
Earnesto Rogers
Resident of the Endless House, 1973