The Duplex Planet Information

In our culture, exposure topeople at this point in their lives is generallylimited to seeing familymembers age and, since that points directly to one's own mortality, it'shard to glean much in the way of an objective example. I started The Duplex Planet as a small, homemade magazine in 1979, whichI still publish. It has subsequently found largeraudiences in other formswhich are all derived from the original template. There have been bookcollections, spoken-word recordings and a series of concerts presented byArt's at St. Anns with music composed by NRBQ's Terry Adams were recordedfor New York Public Radio and presented as "The Duplex Planet Radio Hour. A series of CDs titled Lyrics by Ernest Noyes Brookings continue to beissued, featuring a wide variety of notable musical acts (XTC, Brave Combo, Morphine, Ben Vaughn, Peter Holsapple, Young Fresh Fellows, RobynHitchcock, Dave Alvin, and over a hundred others) performing songs theywrote and performed utilizing the words of Duplex Planet regular ErnieBrookings. Duplex Planet Illustrated is a comic book adaptation of thematerial drawn by a variety of alternative artists and illustrators,including Peter Bagge, Drew Friedman, Dan Clowes, Jim Woodring, Chris Wareand James Kochalka, published by Fantagraphics. An exhibit of drawings andsculptures by a few of the subjects in the magazine titled "An ExactSpectacular" has traveled to museums and colleges. 1001 Real Apes, atheatrical presentation, features monologues drawn from the pages of TheDuplex Planet, with music composed and performed by the critically acclaimed instrumental ensemble Birdsongs of the Mesozoic. A series of personal commentaries drawn from my experiences with this body of work have been airing regularly on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered." In 1979 I took a job as activities director at a nursing home in Boston. I had just completed a degree in fine arts as a painter. On the day that I first met the residents of the nursing home, I abandoned painting. That is to say, I discarded the ...