mouthing words only to break up uncomfortable pauses
between handshakes
make sure you never sweat or break eye contact
or hesitate
when you know what you want

geronimo says
take off your boots and jump into the bed
make sure you never get out of his head
keep the alarm set to eastern time

reach up and slap the shit out of the callout box
floating above my head
slap the number sign
slap the dollar sign
slap the exclamation point

geronimo says
have seven drinks and take off all your clothes
be sick in the john and still smell like a rose
pass out at dinner and stumble home
geronimo says
let your words come out distorted and vague
hiding the fact that you've nothing to say

check your pulse and
check your wallet
stamp your stats on
your forehead
8:30
too early
kill time with the DJ
tight leather
wife beater
nipple rings and crew cut
don't worry
they love you
they leave you standing there
drink in hand
get out while you can
check your pulse and
check your wallet
stamp your stats on
your forehead

geronimo says
drown out the static with headphones and hands
scream through your teeth but issue no demands
sit there and suffer in agony
geronimo says
break up a family and steal all the men
wash off your hands and then do it again
polish your halo and make it shine

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | lyrics | mastering | mixing | production | recording

extra performance:

jason harvey: bass guitar

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | mastering | mixing | production | recording

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | mastering | mixing | production | recording

This track is a live performance or was recorded in one take.

Have you got a light
I've seen this door a hundred times
Touched this railing like a hundred hands
Seen these faces rage and fade
And crumble into lonely age
I know what it's like to be a liar
When everyone around you is a fire
I think you know it too, don't you
Let's have a drink or two
We're not rebels, we're not heroes
We're just here, we're just queer
The fuzz can smell our fear
The cameras are rolling when they pull us apart
We didn't know this was how it would start

Break down, silent sister
Look out the bars for the one you lost
All we have are shadows and shame
What's your name
Will you stay
Before they take us away

We saw them throw stones
We buffered our bones
The whip cracked
The jail cell full of queens of all sizes and colors
You weren't there
They dragged you by your hair
This beautiful boy
Taken away in rags
Taken away in bags
The cops went home to their wives and their steak knives
And we screamed for years

We felt the sting privilege had pried from us
We were the faraway boot-crushed boys
We want it us over them
We take the bullets and grin
We saw our faces in films and photographs
We were the martyrs for progress
What was your name again

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | lyrics | mastering | mixing | production | recording

notes:

Samples from "United in Anger: A History of ACT UP" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrAzU79PBVM), Sylvia Rivera's "Y'all better quiet down" monologue (https://videoactivism.net/en/yall-better-quiet/), footage from the 1968 Democratic National Convention protest (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_9OJnRnZjU), Advise and Consent (clip from The Celluloid Closet, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL_vrb4-6_0), Jean Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsbrRAgv1b4).

performance:

jason harvey: bass guitar

michael ambro: guitar

paul ambro: guitar

dennis harvey: keyboards | noises

composition/production:

michael ambro: composition

paul ambro: composition

jason harvey: composition

dennis harvey: composition | mastering | mixing | production | recording

notes:

... and ran through the robo-hood, trying to figure out where to head next. It was time for a switch-case-break, like the nerd types down at the station used to say - had to narrow down the options and figure out which one fit. But something pulled at me: a voice. A female voice. I could feel it tugging at my mind, two memories at once - the spiffy dame who brought me the case, and the same face in a golden wood, with pointed ears and a voice like melted butter. That voice pulled me through robo-hood, getting louder and louder ...

performance:

jason harvey: bass guitar

michael ambro: guitar

paul ambro: guitar

dennis harvey: keyboards | noises

composition/production:

michael ambro: composition

paul ambro: composition

jason harvey: composition

dennis harvey: composition | mastering | mixing | production | recording

notes:

... Then I saw him. The darkness had opened up into an impossible cavern deep within the bowels of whatever interdimensional place I'd found myself, and in it, like a giant, spouting tower of vomit, was Multi-Mouth. Jets of fluid spewed from the gurgling orifices all over his body, himself a nearly shapeless, standing mass of pestilent goo. I swung out of the car, the rage of what this monster had done to my world burning through any caution. ...

performance:

jason harvey: bass guitar

michael ambro: guitar

paul ambro: guitar

dennis harvey: keyboards

composition/production:

michael ambro: composition

paul ambro: composition

jason harvey: composition

dennis harvey: composition | mastering | mixing | production | recording

performance:

jason harvey: bass guitar

michael ambro: guitar

paul ambro: guitar

dennis harvey: keyboards

composition/production:

michael ambro: composition

paul ambro: composition

jason harvey: composition

dennis harvey: composition | mastering | mixing | production | recording

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | mastering | mixing | production | recording

performance:

jason harvey: bass guitar

omran shafique: guitar

jon beal: keyboards | voice

dennis harvey: drums

composition/production:

jon beal: composition | lyrics | mixing | production | recording

jason harvey: composition | mixing | production | recording

omran shafique: composition | mixing | production | recording

dennis harvey: mixing | production | recording

extra composition/production:

harry o'hanian: production