Re~issue of Viggo Mortensen poetry CD\'s?

[Mary Sorenson]

I think It\'s great Viggo is going to re-issue his CD\'s. I have a couple of them. Tell him to keep his CD\'s coming. I would like some of them that are out of production. I like his poetry, music. I\'ll be waiting for fall now!!!

[Ocean]

 It\'s a pleasure to read such good news after my long absence from this MB.

I look forward to the follow~up to LABB, and the "Best Of" compilation.
I will admit it is regretable to read that VM will not re~issue the current out of print titles. However, given that news, it\'s always something to look forward too on auction sites, or in that rare ocassion that I might find a site that has the two titles I do not yet have, for sale.


Thank You for the update.

Blessings and Peace,
Ocean

[oldfolkie]

Just browsing over on canoe.ca, and found this:

http://canoe.ca/JamMovies/aug5_viggo-sun.html

"In September, [Mortensen] will release an instrumental CD, entitled Please Tomorrow, on which he collaborated with son Henry and Japanese guitarist Buckethead."

This sound about right, Travis? (other than the gaffe about the "Japanese guitarist"   )

[gkg]

from March 05, 2004 - IGN.com: "He said \'Man I\'m so happy you told \'em I was Japanese. I love that!\' I mean [to the world at large] he\'s just a guy with a mask. And also he likes Japanese culture. He said \'That\'s so genius.\' I don\'t remember saying that he was Japanese, though. I might have said that he has an underground following in Japan, but now it\'s been repeated in other interviews. So now he\'s this Japanese [guitarist]. People think that\'s cool, I\'ve got a Japanese guitar player I work with. But I\'m not gonna correct it. Let\'s just say that he was raised by Japanese chickens." Mortensen\'s voice trails off in laughter at the mundane nature of it all.

hmmm...  reminds me of a story...

[Ocean]

[glb]Thank you for this update! You just made my day. [/glb]

I look forward to September and the new release of Viggo on CD.

Blessings and Peace,
Ocean

[Travis]

I think Viggo is now on a campaign to turn Bucket Japanese . A little Viggo news, for all of those of you who have emailed me questions about Viggo\'s reissues , firstly, let me apologize for not having answered you yet, I am overwhelmed by email questions, if you ask your question in this forum I will probably answer more quickly and for more people then through email.
Viggo, as far as I know has no plans to reissue his old CD\'s. He has told me in the past he would rather put his resources and energies into new works rather them old ones. What he has agreed to do however, and this is always subject to change, is put out a CD of tracks selected from those CD\'s. We have been listening to and selecting tracks for the CD. It may also include some out takes and maybe a new track or two.
We have finished the new CD called "Please Tomorrow". It is 8 tracks of original work with Viggo, Henry, Buckethead and myself.  I may if everyone involved agrees,  post a track on the MP3\'s download page in the next week or so. Both CD\'s will be available here, I\'m speculating wildly now, sometime
this fall.

[gkg]

great to look forward to new work - love the old stuff, but new is always exciting.  

meanwhile... Travis sparked a radio flashback...

[glb]No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women
No fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it\'s dark
Everyone around me is a total stranger
Everyone avoids me like a psyched
lone-ranger
Everyone

That\'s why I\'m turning Japanese
I think I\'m turning Japanese
I really think so[/glb]

[BellaLuna]

Hello Travis & All!  This is my first post here, so be gentle on me!  

I\'m Bella & I\'m a poet/writer/psychic reader from South Carolina.  I purchased a copy of PFA last fall just out of sheer curiousity--& loved it!    Glad to hear that Mr.Viggo is already working with you on another CD--hooray for you both!

A compliation?  That would be great!  I can understand not wanting to go back & reissue \'old\' stuff, when, I\'m sure he\'s got some new stuff he\'s wanting to put out.    At least there\'s the interest now and, from all accounts, Mr. Viggo\'s poetry is being sought after all over the web--it\'s a double edge sword, my poet-friend!   Go with the flow!

In the fall, huh?  About September?  Looking forward to hearing how this CD is progressing--keep us posted, Travis.  

Time for another cup of coffee--Nice to meet ya\'ll
Peace,
Bella )O(

[Ocean]

Quote: "I can understand not wanting to go back & reissue \'old\' stuff, when, I\'m sure he\'s got some new stuff he\'s wanting to put out."

I know that VM has been an actor for quite some time, however and with all respect to him, I don\'t think the public acclaim/attention prior to LOR was as intense as it is now.
Consequently the public thirst for "all things Viggo" has increased and that includes the search for the now out of print CD\'s.
I know , as a consumer, that I did not realize the full scope of his talent until LOR. Nor did I investigate his other facets , such as poet, artist, musician, prior to that movie.  I learned he was an artist, poet, musician, by chance and that intrigued me , so I investigated and discovered Perceval press. It was then that I made my first purchase; "Sign Language". And I was hooked.

While it is necessary to grow as an artist  and quite frankly inevitable, in this case and in my humble opinion, I think re~issue of his prior work would be a good thing. Those who are new fans of his acting would find themselves compelled to be fans of his other talents as well, if they could but access the large catalog of that which is no longer in print.

A re~issue would prohibit those who sell out of print titles from making a fortune on his work. Work that he see\'s no percentage from, no royalties, nothing!

An example is a title such as , "The Other Parade" , sold for $10. originally and now sell\'s for as much as $135. on Ebay. ( I know, I bid on this title before my piggy bank begged me to back off.)
It\'s gone so far in the abuse of auctioning all things Viggo, that "PandemoniumfromAmerica", is advertised by sellers on Ebay as , "Rare", and the bidding starts at the current cover price of $10.00 , but has sold for as much as $75! (And that\'s just one example of a low final bid on that title! It\'s sold for over $100. in some cases.)

I donated two Viggo titles to my local public library; "Sign Language" and "Coincidence of Memory", because....well, I actually can\'t put into words, that which poetry such as this communicates. "Amazing", "heart felt", etc... just seem\'s hollow in the face of what brings life to  his words. However, given the current market for Viggo Mortensen\'s work, I wonder how long those titles will remain in the catalog considering someone can check them out and auction them off for at least three times their cover price!
 A library penalty for not returning these books would be a small price to pay , given the bank someone could manage in feeding the appetite of buyers on auction sites.  

That is so unfair to fan\'s who may not know about Perceval Press, so as to avoid the rip off and false advertising.  Not to mention the effect the out of print titles have on bank accounts of people that seek out the message at an incredibly hefty price.  

Just a thought.  

Blessings and Peace,

[Chris DiCicco]

 :\'( I\'ve donated books to the Liberary sometimes they go out into the public but sometimes they go home with the liberary workers, One poet I got into before Viggo Mortonsen was Charles Bukowski everywhere I went looking for a buk book the guy working let me in on a little secret " they have the first dibs on Books comeing in " But it sounds like you know the Liberary and know they won\'t be put for X amount of moneys on (ugherch!) E bay so more power to you, then I agein I only have signlanguage and some magazine articals on Viggo...

Chris

[anita1967]

great to look forward to new work - love the old stuff, but new is always exciting.  

meanwhile... Travis sparked a radio flashback...

[glb]No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women
No fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it\'s dark
Everyone around me is a total stranger
Everyone avoids me like a psyched
lone-ranger
Everyone

That\'s why I\'m turning Japanese
I think I\'m turning Japanese
I really think so[/glb]

hey gkg!
i remember that one!!( i\'m showing my age here, lol)  isn\'t that a song by [glb]\'The Vapors?[/glb]

[anita1967]

Quote: "I can understand not wanting to go back & reissue \'old\' stuff, when, I\'m sure he\'s got some new stuff he\'s wanting to put out."

I know that VM has been an actor for quite some time, however and with all respect to him, I don\'t think the public acclaim/attention prior to LOR was as intense as it is now.
Consequently the public thirst for "all things Viggo" has increased and that includes the search for the now out of print CD\'s.
I know , as a consumer, that I did not realize the full scope of his talent until LOR. Nor did I investigate his other facets , such as poet, artist, musician, prior to that movie.  I learned he was an artist, poet, musician, by chance and that intrigued me , so I investigated and discovered Perceval press. It was then that I made my first purchase; "Sign Language". And I was hooked.

While it is necessary to grow as an artist  and quite frankly inevitable, in this case and in my humble opinion, I think re~issue of his prior work would be a good thing. Those who are new fans of his acting would find themselves compelled to be fans of his other talents as well, if they could but access the large catalog of that which is no longer in print.

A re~issue would prohibit those who sell out of print titles from making a fortune on his work. Work that he see\'s no percentage from, no royalties, nothing!

An example is a title such as , "The Other Parade" , sold for $10. originally and now sell\'s for as much as $135. on Ebay. ( I know, I bid on this title before my piggy bank begged me to back off.)
It\'s gone so far in the abuse of auctioning all things Viggo, that "PandemoniumfromAmerica", is advertised by sellers on Ebay as , "Rare", and the bidding starts at the current cover price of $10.00 , but has sold for as much as $75! (And that\'s just one example of a low final bid on that title! It\'s sold for over $100. in some cases.)

I donated two Viggo titles to my local public library; "Sign Language" and "Coincidence of Memory", because....well, I actually can\'t put into words, that which poetry such as this communicates. "Amazing", "heart felt", etc... just seem\'s hollow in the face of what brings life to  his words. However, given the current market for Viggo Mortensen\'s work, I wonder how long those titles will remain in the catalog considering someone can check them out and auction them off for at least three times their cover price!
A library penalty for not returning these books would be a small price to pay , given the bank someone could manage in feeding the appetite of buyers on auction sites.  

That is so unfair to fan\'s who may not know about Perceval Press, so as to avoid the rip off and false advertising.  Not to mention the effect the out of print titles have on bank accounts of people that seek out the message at an incredibly hefty price.  

Just a thought.  

Blessings and Peace,

Totally agree with you there Ocean!
many times have i been on [glb]Ebay[/glb] and seen Viggo\'s stuff selling for extortionate amounts of money!
Sometimes i feel like emailing the potential buyers and telling them they can get it a lot cheaper direct from Percival Press or Travis, it gets me so mad that people actually buy it as well for that price!!

[oldfolkie]

Got to agree with those who\'d like to thwart the eBay greed-meisters.

Viggo, as far as I know has no plans to reissue his old CD\'s. He has told me in the past he would rather put his resources and energies into new works rather them old ones. What he has agreed to do however, and this is always subject to change, is put out a CD of tracks selected from those CD\'s. We have been listening to and selecting tracks for the CD. It may also include some out takes and maybe a new track or two.

I can quite understand the artist\'s desire to move on (based on his track record I\'d have expected no different), but what harm to reproduce earlier work and benefit from the sales? The CDs are already created, just need to be reproduced. And the demand is certainly out there - I would think more than sufficient to offset whatever investment would be required for reproduction...

Oh well, Viggo is Viggo!   It\'s wonderful to hear of new projects, Travis, and we\'ll have to hope for many more.

[Travis]

I totally understand that there is much interest in Viggo\'s older CD"s, I have received so many emails, that like the posts here, are all a cogent in fact eloquent arguments for Viggo to re-release his old CD\'s. First again let me say, I\'m not speaking for Viggo, this is just me.  As with every artist I work with they all have in common a kind of business dyslexia. The motivation to put something out or the timing of it or the not putting out of something does not even come into their thinking. This kind of business dyslexia is the kind of thing that drives record labels insane and why most of the artists I have the pleasure to work with are independent artists. If Viggo was on a major label the bean counters would have released his old output on the same Christmas release date as LOTR\'s, if Viggo liked it or not. Like Bucketheads Giant Robot NTT recording, the reasons for not re-releasing these records are artistic and personal in nature. Artists tend to like to self edit their output. About 15 years ago my Dad, a prolific painter, began destroying some of his paintings. Works from the sixties and sculptures from the seventies disappeared. When confronted he said those works didn\'t represent what after he was gone he wanted to be remembered for.
As a big fan of this work I was a bit shocked.
I\'m saying all this to kind of give my perspective on this. Sometimes as a consumer of these artists we miss some of the motivations of the artists that in other circumstances endear them to us .
One last thing to consider and I am just speculating here, are legal considerations. Sometime CD\'s  released in an underground environment can have content on them that when more widely distributed can become a concern. I\'m not saying that\'s the case here, but I\'m just pointing out that sometimes it not just a case of "you have the CD, why not just put it out again".
While we are in the process of putting together any re-issues I will bring your input to bear as best I can so thank you for your thoughts and opinions.

[gkg]

in Viggo\'s case i think there may be another aspect as well, in a personal sense, it must be rather frustrating to have so much interest generated simply by a movie trilogy he was in - rather than people developing an interest from the works themselves.  human nature would tend to make one feel a little self-conscious about this level of interest.  

LOTR was a huge commercial success and rightfully so - but the refracted light is beaming on his personal life and other works.  a sense of, "would they really give a shit if it weren\'t for this famous group of movies."  it brought Viggo and the other actors and collaborators a huge amount of well deserved praise and recognition - but at what cost?

people who got interested in him prior to LOTR or through other means than film are no more special or unique than those who got interested in Viggo via the LOTR, but it is easier to see that their interest is genuinely in him and his work, rather than the reflected glory of LOTR.

it would be my sense that a cooling down period has slowly been taking place.  a period where Viggo has been sort of using the fame in productive and positive ways, but letting the hubris die down.  5 years down the road, maybe 10, i\'ll bet a small rerelease might be of interest to him.

Viggo loves and respects his arts.  i think other than providing for his family the money aspect isn\'t of interest to him, any more than designer shoes or the hottest sports car.

as for Burton destroying his paintings, i totally understand, but was soundly scolded by my son & lover for cutting up an old one and painting over some others.  my son claims i don\'t get to decide what my best work is - that\'s up to the people who own +/or view it.  that\'s as may be, but that\'s a tough nut for an artist to accept.  i don\'t know if i have, but i did find that some 25 year old poetry i once thought pointless is once again appealing to me.