Stan talks about lying in his bed as a youngster in Austin, Texas on 1907 East 17th Street, listening to music coming through his bedroom window from the Joints on 12th Street. He heard the Blues being played and sung by B. B. King as well as Bobby Blue Bland. He remembers he experienced through his grandfather Stan Ivory, himself a Blues singer, who sat him on his knee and sang and played the guitar to him, that these men were owned by others. His recollections serve him well. He markets his products over his own Cyberspace site. (http://www.totalcontrolrecords.com)
Stan personifies all of the opposites of "crude" experience I have tried to bring forth in this piece: He understands history; and he understands the relation between technological power and wealth. Most importantly, he pursues economic and political prestige by combining all of this creativity and instantaneously blasting it into Cyberspace. As a final attribute, Stan reaches, with the Internet, to influence collective behavior as a pure correlation of "his" art. In a perfect world, God would intervene and he and others could wipe out poverty and gluttony. Stan agrees that under those unique and complicated type of experiences, creativity as a "pure" process would cease to exist.
The Internet allows Stan's to write, produce, and perform his music. He has his own record label ,"Total Control," he manages such acts as :"Face To Face," "Dazzlin D", "Hollywood", and "Faith's Destiny." He has produced music videos and is currently contemplating producing his first full lenght movie.
Stan's new musical product appears as a CD and is entitled New York Rush. This musical presentation of Pop, Jazz, and the unique combination of African and Blues/Hip Hop textures fused into this exciting composition and performance, speaks clearly of his creative energy. The appearance of this musical offering on his initial web page precedes a much fuller page offering "Total Control's" full product line.
The unique combinations of various music forms such as presented above would be impossible to sell to a major label. The majors would insist, according to Stan, that his music follow a well-worn format which they themselves would designate. Stan proclaims that freedom of artistic expression and therefore, integrity is impossible when there exists splintered authority in the decision making process concerning; how and why his ideas should be presented. He credits historical perspective as well as technological competence, on his watch, with his decision to be free strategically.
A fine example of this strategic freedom is his decision to include "House" music on the same CD as African and Blues fused with Jazz and Pop. The majors in the recording arena would question such a bold and risky undertaking. Stan believes that the freedom to make that type of business/musical decision predates oppression and dependence. The Internet allows him a sacred area reserved only for free expression. Of course the success of his musical autonomy predates even the Internet. Stan prior to this technological arrival, was making inroads into Canadian, European, as well as the Japanese music markets. He becomes, because of this fact, in my view, the proper evidence for the reliability of "will' and "technology." He personifies and transcends experience and still can bring us to the Internet.
We have tried in this writing to define and examine what makes the Internet as an expectation, true. We have also tried to share a historical and present-time argument about "knowledge" and access to "knowledge." We have throughout this writing assumed that there are uniformities and logic which we believe becomes clearer with modern day technology. I offer the internet as the logical resolution to the problems of artistic dependence. I have no doubt that this offering is sufficient to overcome all practical restraints to economic liberation for small business. The name and category of the independent group may vary, but I believe firmly, that the Internet, as a proposition of knowledge, will deliver us from our present day experiences.
In finality, Stan's grandfather was right. Although he died in a horrible fire aboard a Greyhound bus on his way to a "chitlin' circuit" gig his truths remain as true as ever; wealth is analogous to freedom and justice, and economic and political prestige as reality is hard to come by. He would be proud of his grandson for actualizing his dreams.
I think his grandfather would be very, very proud! I am.
--Essay by Grammy Award Winner Richard Spencer
