God Damn Doghouse, CD Reviews

I’ve been listening to Ken Cormier’s "God Damn Doghouse" for weeks and I haven’t been able to define my reactions into words until now. Free association: goofy, quirky, literate, more in tune with the power of sounds than meaning of words (sometimes), real 1990s folk music, anti-intellectual, Alex Chilton-ish, performance space/art gallery chic, anti-improvisational,ghetto rap rhythm slumming, Captain Beefhart-ish, never take yourself too seriously, show biz—next stop Hollywood, garage band anti-art sensibilities,Zappa Zappa Zappa with three chords, moving at times/annoying at others, the Comedy Channel, buy-this-guy-a-guitar-tuner, Night Time is death poetry meets Native American chanting/dance music on Mars, what does this guy want to do: write smart-ass joke tunes, listen to the sounds the human voice can create or capture the glory of the human heart (or all three?), are there serious drugs at work here or just amazingly near death levels of caffeine most likely brought to us by way of too much coffee (?), do we have an artist here who is only passing through Ann Arbor/Ypsi on his way to New York, LA, London, Paris, is this the first stage of a new form of musical expression, doesn’t Ken Cormier want to make you send a copy of "God Damn Doghouse" to your grandparents who go to the Ark every week (just to piss them off), is "Cigarettes and Wine" a tip of the hat to Buddy Holly, and what are we all to make of this? I love this cassette, but it may be up to the next generation to sort out and map the zillions of things going on here. Amazing, amazing, amazing.Alan Goldsmith, The View From Nowhere, Agenda Magazine, 1995, Ann Arbor, MI

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-David Diaz, Williamette Week, Portland, Oregon

-Mark Cunningham, Grass Roots Entertainment, Decatur, GA

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Ken Cormier, Live Reviews

"What the hell is wrong with you, boy?" That’s the phrase most often hollered at that lanky, loopy young man up there, with a jangly Telecaster, pulsating boom box, and a shoebox full of serious, serious problems. Ken’s set is like a William Burroughs exorcism through a Karaoke machine, whipping the crowd into a frenzy, filled with amazement and genuine toe-tappin’ joy, but soon you wanna start pelting him with Ritalin and Somonex just to calm him down. Mr. Cormier was the twisted genius behind Gravitron, a power trio somewhere between Modest Mouse and Daniel Johnston by my scorecard. But when they failed to truly gravitate, L’il Kenny took the sneek-around by re-inventing himself. For gems like "Wisconsin," "Put It In (Saucy)" and scads of others, he’s running drum and vocal loops into a Tascam, playing them back through the PA and, without an ounce of self-consciousness, he freaks out in front of the whole shebang. This set does rock, too; it’s a perfectly choreographed musical and literary event, something both John Giorno and Jad Fair would pee their pants over. So what grabs ya most at a Ken Cormier performance? First it’s the caffeinated lyrics: frantic, mad, and wildly entertaining. Second, it’s the new wave/ lo-fi sound—it’s like a full band coming at ya from technically just one man (he plays the taped parts himself). I guess the purists wonder why he doesn’t import some real humans, but I say FUM FUM to that (gotta attend his next boombox freakout to get the reference.)

-Jordan Catalano, The Noise, Boston, MAKen Cormier, The Chopping Block, 8/14/99

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Ken Cormier has been around the Boston scene since 1995 when he released a cassette of his spoken word poetry titled 'Goddamned Doghouse'. This cassette has recently been re-released on CD through Elis Eil records - an upcoming indie label out of Boston (check out their website at www.eliseil.com). Being a layman of the spoken word art form, I was not sure of what to expect. I think that I had unconsciously planned for a night with a military/political/in-your-face/finger-snapping feel and was pleasantly surprised to discover a warm and human performance of music, comedy, movement, poetry, and theater all delivered by one man, Ken Cormier.

Though, there were other spoken word artists from the evening that seemed to be more political - Ken kept his subject range within areas that affect us all as human beings; regardless of our race, age, gender, etc. This offered a respite for the audience and it showed! They were clearly in love with Ken. Audience members were smiling, laughing and clapping. I think that I actually witnessed a few break down to tears of hysteria! Ken spoke about holiday dinner with the family, masturbation, dating, a badgering drunk grandmother and other common trials and tribulations. Yet, Ken used the power of words to help us look at these areas through new and interesting lenses. I particularly enjoyed the piece in which Ken discussed coming home from work, masturbating, and then discovering that 40 of his closest friends are hiding in the bedroom waiting to wish him a surprise Happy Birthday - witnessing his solo performance.

Ken is involved in other Boston projects; as well. He plays in the Harvey Sid Fischer band and recently even published a book, titled 'Balanced Act' through Insomniac Press. I believe that Ken Cormier is a man of talent and I predict that his career has only just begun!

-Catharine, GigCity, 2000

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When freaky apples fall, they usually head straight towards Ken. Maybe he's been hit on the head one too many times? Or dropped on his head as a baby? Admittedly, his whacky presence is certainly not for everyone, you either get the joke or you don't. But Cormier remains a double threat: a recently published author ('Balance Act' is his first collection of out-of-this-world short stories and poems courtesy of InsomniacPress.com) and a prolific, multi-tasking (or should I say multi-tracking) musician who bounces from Soft Boys-flavored jitterpop to crooning, Tom Waits-on-helium (the gas, not the band) side-splitting mini-symphonies. Ken's roller coaster set included a new state song for Wisconsin, a Lenny Bruce-style spoken word piece about masturbation, the funniest, funkiest song about a big bag of dope you've never heard called "Fum Fum" and the set closer "Bug Dreams" which featured Ken's sidekick, a big block of metal and patch chords called an ElectroComp which spit out blips and bleeps that really sounded like electric bugs dreaming at one point. Bonus points for Mr. Cormier for actually incorporating the tape hiss from the boombox into his music on purpose. Gotta love that attention to lo-fi detail!-Steve Prygoda, 2000, YourSound.com

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Balance Act, Book/Performance Reviews

However it is as a performer that the Boston-based Cormier reveals his true calling. Cormier is blessed with a performer's natural flair, timing and fearlessness which has echoes of Frank Zappa and John Giorno. I caught him recently at the Idler Pub in Toronto and he deftly integrated music and words with a rare focus and certainty that had admirers lining up to get on his post card list.The writing is on the wall: This young man can perform.- JS, Pagitica, Toronto, CA

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Something in the tone or feel of Balance Act reminds me of Hemingway, the Nick Adams stories in particular. There is a certain understatement to the voice, a world-weariness of the characters, that is similar to Hemingway - but it's a Hemingway informed by the disjointed absurdity of Wallace Stevens and the suburban nightmares of David Lynch.Cormier's poems and stories are united by something of a packrat theme; packrat mentality: a fascination with things. In some pieces this is blatant, as in the poem 'Putting Hats On Babies' which is simply forty-some lines listing things done with and to babies: "Dressing up babies / Turning babies upside-down / Talking to babies / putting babies in commercials / Putting hats on babies". In other pieces, this fascination with objects is less obviously apparent, but still evident, particularly in various character's everyday rituals.In 'Isn't That Sweet', the opening paragraph is a list of the things the main character, Rita, does every Wednesday. Without this certain ritualized chain of events, it wouldn't be Wednesday for Rita. In other stories, 'Secret' or 'Christmas With Grandma', it's family get-togethers - Christmas or Thanksgiving dinners - which always happen more or less the same and however freakish one's relatives might be one can take solace in that sameness.Cormier seems to be fascinated with the idea that plain ordinary objects can somehow be anything but ordinary; that an inanimate thing can be not only miraculous but the key to retaining one's sanity. In the poem 'We are still all want and need' is the line, "We see subjects where there are no objects". We are able to take something as mundane as a hat and make it symbolic; we are able to elevate simple things to godlike status; we are able to invest meaning, whole belief systems, in illusions: "My god / drinks too much / coffee. / Swears he's going / to quit smoking, / someday. / He got duct-taped / to a plywood cross - / cried so hard / they had to say sorry / and let him down" ('In His Image').Generally, I found that the prose pieces in Balance Act more enjoyable than the poems. It may have been that he was more playful with the prose, tending towards more highbrow themes, so to speak, in verse. Or it may have been that the rhythm of his writing - Cormier is also a drummer and rhythm is apparent in his writing - felt more natural in prose than verse. Overall, though, Balance Act, at times bizarrely funny, at other times bleak and melancholy, is an intriguing collection.-Aidan Baker, 2000, The Danforth Review, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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- Dean Bakopoulos

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