PART TWO: Shannon Ketch (Cosmic Ray, Sunburned Hand of the Man, APIE, Viewer, etc. )
Roger- I'd like to talk about your visual mediums. When did you get started with drawing and painting? Any formal training?
Shannon- Eighth grade is when I think it started. I mean that's when I started to do some drawing. I don't think I have any drawings from them. I started using pastels in late junior high and was making a lot of painting like drawings, most of them with a pseudo-religious theme. My favorite pastel from that time was a drawing of Hemingway's head in a field of lilies which I gave to my high school English teacher in trade for a dark room, I think maybe I gave her $120 too. Don't remember having a camera of any quality at that time. I don't why I needed a dark room. I really liked the show "James At 15" so maybe that's why I had a dark room.
I ended up doing studio art in college. I started with studio painting and got into mixed media classes and wanted to get into performance art which they had at the University of Iowa but I wasn't accepted. There was a great teacher there named Hans Breder, he was from Germany obviously. There were two other teachers that I really liked there as well, David Dunlap and Vick Grube. They both painted and did mixed media. Oh! And Mel Andringa and John F. Herbert did performance art that I soaked in. I've not been involved with that level of art since. When I was at Iowa I collaborated with my friends to this day, Rich O'Russa and John Bradford Larson. We did all kinds of crazy shit and they collaborated with me in performance art pieces that we did in mixed media which Hans B taught. There was a lot of theory in those classes that went over my head but straight into my soul. I always have to say that University of Iowa is the home of the Dada and Fluxus archives thanks to Rudolf Kuenzil. I took advanced art and literary classes with him because he let under graduates take them. Over my head as well as thrilling. He knew the partners of many of the Dadists and was instrumental in the archive. He edited a great book of essays on Duchamp.
Roger- What was "James At 15"?
Shannon- "James At 15" was a TV show, you can look it up, but it's probably lame. He carried a camera around and he was in high school and they tackled themes like trying to find his friend, also in high school, a safe abortion because she would need her parents permission. I think Planned Parenthood was portrayed in it as an advocate but it had just been Nixon times and this shit had come full circle. Anyway, I'm probably not accurate about everything in regards to the show but a woman's right to choose has been fundamental to me. The world's full of fascists so what are you gonna do?
Roger- What was the meaning behind the religious theme early on?
Shannon- The only religious paintings I remember doing when I was 14 or 15 actually were two. Not paintings but drawings but they informed my later painting style. One was of my grandmother on my mom's side, Hattie, with her her rosary beads and her hands in prayer. The other one was of a young dude cast in yellow in a crucifix pose. That one hung in the school library. Grew up in a non secular community. I was an altar boy until after my confirmation when the priest asked me if I had heard the voice of god and when I said I didn't, he said I would. I stepped off then but I still made those drawings. It was a long time separating myself from those feelings. A lot of late nights with Rosey I'm afraid because when I was 17, I looked like I was 11. I liked girls but I was always their kid bro.
Roger- So what drew you to leave Iowa? I'm guessing this was early nineties?
Shannon- I left in 1988. I called Iowa City home more than central Iowa where I grew up. I always had my eye on the coast and tried LA in the earlier 80's but couldn't hack the police state there and lack of transit options at the time. I lived outside of LA. It was rough. When I made it out East, I felt like I found home and now that I'm in Western Mass, I definitely feel at home. I lived out East more than half my life.
Roger- You spent a chunk of time in NYC, right? I know you were writing a lot at this point. Were you making music and still painting? Was there a scene you were aligned with at all?
Shannon- I painted, wrote poetry and sometimes made music. I was in a band there called Crowbar Massage. There were two singles on Funky Mushroom. Almost half of that band went on to the Blues Explosion. I just sang/screamed in that band. I had other projects with friends. One of my favorites was called Ski Sweater. It was free form like Sunburned. The drummer and the guitarist both spun records while we played. It was a fun project but we didn't put stuff out. I was also doing spoken word publicly at that time. I had a rep as a poet at that time but it made me very nervous so I try not to do that anymore.
Roger- What brought you to Western Massachusetts? Did you have any projects that you were working on when you arrived to town and carried over with you?
Shannon- I moved up here 1st in 1997 because Bev (Shannon's partner) was pregnant with Emory and we lived in Northampton and I was just trying to adapt to being out of the city and I met people but had a lot of low impact relationships except for my older friend Ron Atkinson. He and Bev served as mentors around the edges, a good bar life, somewhat intellectual. I met the Supreme Dicks there and started playing with Mark and Steve in my basement but that was later when we moved back up from Coney Island. The early 2000's were fun because there were clubs that featured local bands and weirdos from inside the area and out. There was also the old Flywheel Art Space that was bringing a lot of DIY energy to the valley. Kim and Thurston lived in Northampton and Byron Coley lived nearby and there was free jazz in Amherst at the UU. Hampshire College also contributed to a fringe art movement vibe. Everyone I was getting to know was making experimental art and most of it is still on the fringes. That's the kind of community I need around me. Not success but experimentation. Not sterile but feral.
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