RQ Network Feed Drop - Push the Roll with Ross Bryant: The Butterfly Factory Part 1 with Brennan Lee Mulligan

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Crowdfunding for the game begins on the 9th of March on Kickstarter. Go to www.rustiquill.com/mysteries to find out more and to sign up for notifications as soon as the project goes live. That's rustiquill.com/mysteries. Thanks for listening. Hi everyone, it's Karine, the voice of Simon Fetchart from the Magnus Archives. Today, we're sharing a recent episode from one of the brilliant podcasts that I argue nowhere. Push the roll with

Ross Brian. Push the roll with Ross Brian is a weekly improvised comedy horror actual play podcast from the creators of the award winning 8 Slade No Body podcast. Each episode features improvised call-a-go-go through to adventures combining cosmic horror tabletop RPG and dark comedy filled with

amazing special guests. This is part one of the butterfly factory and features a guest appearance

Brennan Lee, Maligan. To listen to the next exciting episode, which is out now, click on the link in the description or search for Push the Roll with Ross Brian. Wherever you get your podcasts, or you can find more information on Rustiquill.com or Push the Roll.com. Have fun and enjoy the episode. Welcome to Push the Roll. Wow. Wow. Wow. The blank page lies before us. We stand for tickinously at the lip of chaos. Let's see where, let's see where chance takes us.

We got cup. We got Nick. We got Paula. We got Brennan in the building. Thank you all so much for joining us. You're welcome, Ross. Absolutely pleasure. This is so fun and it's so exciting. Happy to be here. So we're going to improvise a call-a-go-go-go game right off the top inspired by a title.

“Now we've got a full table of titles submitted by our Patreon subscribers. So I think we have”

100 titles that have been submitted by our friendly subscribers. Just this month? That's right. I actually randomly picked the selection of 100 from the more than 100 that we received.

That's amazing. Wow. What is wrong with you people? Yeah, people are twisted and creative.

So let's see what their sick minds have created. So would somebody like to do the honors and roll a D100 to see what figure we get, which will then randomly decide which title will inspire our little adventure today? I'll roll it. Yes, spring to do the honors. I think that's the perfect solution. 25. All right, cup. 25. Okay. Interesting reaction. Yeah. Oh, this is great. This is a great title. Now, so this comes from corp-dunk, user-corp-dunk. I know corp-dunk. Yes, hello, corp-dunk. Okay, this is rigged.

Paula knows corp-dunk. Oh, the long island dogs. Yeah. Of course. The title is the butterfly factory. Oh, okay. Interesting. The cosmos is a cyclopian infinity of chaos. Infinite branching paths stretching off to vistas in the distance that will drive the mind mad. Shall we shrink in the face

“of all this? Or will we climb aboard the chaos and ride it to the end, letting chance guide the way?”

This is push the roll. We're rolling dice against your Patreon suggestions to create improvised call of Kthulu adventures in real time, with themes of eldritch horror, the weird, the transhuman, the trans mundane, the cyberpunk, the splatterpunk, the anythingpunk. We don't know until we roll. Anytime, any place, anything can happen. When you push the roll. Now, that's a whimsical, delightful creature, but a factory conjures images of industrial

waste and sterility and and grime. There's a thematic duck's position even within the title. And I think that's the direction-clarb-dunk is pointing us in. Yes, this is a crafty-clarb-dunk. Yes, this antithesis, that corp-dunk is so craftily placed into the title. The butterfly factory,

its gossamer wings, flying the sky, and the factory, the choking, the air with smoke, and noise.

“What does this make me think of? The butterfly factory. Well, by your butterfly factory,”

I'm instantly thinking, just the butterfly's thinking of butterfly effect, things rippling out. Butterfly is making me think just of beauty, natural, loveliness, and fragility, softness, and contrasting with the factory. The factory, not only makes me think of a giant cement structure with a neuronormous smoke stack pouring smoke into the sky, but also Andy Warhol. Okay, nice. The factory being, of course, what he called his art studio, we're all kinds of

artsy and fashionable accentrics would gather. The butterfly factory, to me, just as a title, it sounds to me like a paperback. You're there at the sort of a spin-et rack in your used bookstore, thumbing through the weathered paperbacks with a cracked and faded covers. In the butterfly factory,

“really seems like something that you'd see there printed in the 60s or 70s. I think this is where”

this is where my imagination is just kind of like pushing me here. I'd like us to all think of characters that would be in a Warhol-esque smart set in like 1960s, early 1970s, New York. We're thinking of ED Seduix, young socialites, we're thinking rock musicians, we're thinking artists, weirdos, people from the upper-reside slumming it on the downtown scene.

Yeah, hmm. Well, my first thought, I don't know if this exactly matches what you just pitched

us a raw, so feel free to help me mold this. But my first thought is the like kind of put upon assistant who is there maybe really wants to be, you know, an artist herself, but right now relegated to brush cleaning, canvas, stretching. We are mining the depths of my painting knowledge. Well, you know, um, really wants to prove that she could do that maybe if she was just given a shot to do it. That absolutely tracks with what we're we're talking about, especially for thinking of that

era in art and a war-hol-esque figure in particular. You're you're thinking of the this sort of reframing of the concept of an artist from this this person, uh, dawving paint on a canvas, but rather a corporate CEO managing a whole group of employees who are, who are pushing out material, and so you probably have a bunch of these sort of hand pecked assistance doing the work.

“Yeah, yeah, let me see what I'm just going to dig into the old 1920s character sheets, I think.”

Those are my old reliables. Yeah, maybe this is a this could be an artist themselves, a frustrated artist or craftsman or, uh, yeah, I think so. Someone who is promised, hey, just take this internship. It'll lead to something. But it hasn't yet. How long do I have to do this before I am elevated to the position of artist myself? So yeah, I'm going to find a, um,

I think an artist character sheet here. Oh, and I'll, and I'll, I'll consider names. I'll come back to me for names. I'm not sure yet. So hard as part of any character. Yeah, of course. Well, cultural touchstones, things like downtown 81, or I shot Andy Warhol, or Boschiat, or maybe some of the movies that he made, or think of Lou Reed's song Walk on the Wild Side. This is the sort of, uh, milieu we're cooking with. And if you're thinking of names, the Warhol Superstars

had some pretty incredible names that might get your, your mind going, uh, names like Cherie Vanilla,

or Bridget Berlin, or Candy Darling, or Fultra Violet. Oh, my gosh. Yes. Okay. That's great. See, I only have a name. I actually went into the Regency set and grabbed the poet, um, but I'm picturing someone who actually is just, um, like super pale from being in doors all the time, working across like different mediums for art, but isn't particularly good at any of them, and figured that he could maybe get away with that in poetry to say like maybe you're just,

you're just not sophisticated enough to understand my poems, um, but I have velvet bloom as, uh, as my character name. It's a nice one. I love that. That that's absolutely perfect. Yeah, he's like, uh, he projects confidence, but he's quite fragile because he's surrounded by,

not unlike a butterfly, um, wonderful. Yeah. I'm kind of stuck on this meco-esque, kind of, um,

“artists too, but I feel like we might have too many artists, so maybe the, kind of like,”

aristocrat really leaning on the association with creative types, kind of, uh, fanciing themselves, also, but, or, uh, the artists as well, but not really able to produce anything, so just, you know, hanging out waiting for inspiration. Yeah, I also, I'll also put out there that, like, so the type of person you're describing is often just like these sort of like scene mavens, these seniors, people who just have this kind of natural charisma, and maybe even like a model.

Yeah, I was gonna say someone could be there whose job is to inspire the art being creative.

Yeah, so amused. Yeah, yeah, that's the word. Yeah, like Twiggy. Yeah, like Twiggy already said you like her. Um, I'm not sure which, which character she would work best with this. I mean,

“honestly, maybe just dilatant. That dilatant sounds pretty good. Yeah. I've actually grabbed”

the antiquarian. I love that. The antiquarian I feel like is great. That, that, that, that gives me a picture that this character might have an art history degree, or something like, yeah, and, and they actually know a lot about the art of your that maybe is being subverted in the, in the new set that you're involved with. Look, you got to know the rules to be able to break the rules. Mm-hmm. So true. Yeah, what do you think, and what do you think of

Brennan? Um, I would like to be, uh, and this is, this is a contentious point of history there. There are differing reports on this. However, I would like to be an American CIA agent who, uh, due to the Cold War initiative by the CIA to promote abstract expressionism as a means

of producing American cultural assets, uh, totally devoid of revolutionary or populist sentiment.

“I think I want to be a, like, art dealer. Uh, yes, a quote unquote art dealer. Yes, yes.”

And one of those art dealers who's funding art and seems to have access to galleries that would that can buy your art. There's a lot of quotations happening here. Where does that budget come from for all those artworks? What sort of arms deals are going on in the side? Yes, the galleries where work big scare quotes here, scare quotes, flapping in the air, not unlike butterflies wings. And yes, I too, Brennan, emphacinated with this concept that's floated up in the culture of

of the CIA and the American government promoting abstract expressionist art in particular, as a way of promoting the American project of freedom while D, uh, resonating American art of its, uh, of its radical messaging. The sixties had this huge Woody Guthrie resurgence in, but in folk art and folk traditions and folk music. And, uh, you know, as someone who, I feel like grew up in New York City and was often chided for a degree of culturelessness

by not being moved by abstract expressionist artwork. Uh, I found myself gitty with elation when a connection was made between it as an actual weapon of government promoted meaninglessness as I went, aha, my, my assumptions about this art were 100% correct as a, as a yes, seven year old. I went, I don't think this is anything and they went, no, it's something. And then later I read the CIA promoted this because it wasn't anything. Yes, uh, go back to your history

books and compare, if you will, the socialist realism of a beautiful 1930s WPA mural, as compared with a picture of a can of soup. Oh, hell yeah, but yes, these, the both of these are are expressions of a really a particular relationship with commodity and industry. The sort of things that are made in factories, we're, we're cooking with gas here folks. Um, I love this. I love, I love, in particular, Brendan, that bringing in a CIA agent because that is all part of

the stew of this time period also. This cold war paranoia and dancing on the edge of apocalypse that all of this, um, scene has of like, yeah, my gosh, maybe we're going, we're going to have our 15 minutes of fame because maybe 15 minutes is all we got because we have a lot of missiles trained on each other and who knows when it's all going to go down. So, cup, um, do we have a sense of

occupation. I think maybe like some of the others here, he's just kind of flitting about going from

“party to party, trying to make an impression on everyone else. I think he walks around, he probably”

has some family money that's that's allowing him to do this. Um, he came up to, uh, to New York from New Jersey. He, uh, has often seen wearing like a, like a thrift store, Tuxedo jacket with no shirt on underneath, um, metallic scarves, really like intricate sunglasses, sometimes he wears like

at those like C3 vinyl rain coats. He just wants to be seen. Mm-hmm. And he's always like kind of

pushing his terrible poetry on everyone hoping that somebody finds deeper meaning in it and then can kind of push him up so that maybe he gets featured in like these art galleries, um, or some of these really well-known poetry readings that are happening around the city. All right, excellent. Velvet bloom party boy poet, scene maker. Oh, and now that you said party boy, I'm thinking like floppy blonde hair that's like falling over his eyes as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like emulating

moral. Yeah, pretty much. Mm-hmm. Yes, uh, Paula, do you have a name for your, for your overworked

“antiquarian? Yes, uh, Margo Marso. Oh, love that. And, um, yeah, I think she looks more academic”

inherited than she does the, this like kind of pop culture idea of what an artist looks like, maybe more like what velvet bloom looks like. She doesn't quite live up to the, the glamour idea of someone creating art, but she knows within her. She could. She could. Yes. They would just let me. You're right on the cusp. And Marso is not my real last name, but if I go by that, people will think I'm more artsy. What about, um, what about this, uh, this fashionable dilatante, Nick? I think that

she goes by willow, not her real name, um, but she's gonna be this, it like in the 60s that whole, you know, emaciated aesthetic, how beauty was equated with a basically like, not really being there.

“She's always in latest fashion. So, you know, she's in the, you have to forgive me. I don't know anything”

about 60s fashion. She's always in the, you know, the the latest Mary quant, or you say Laurent, and is very

concerned about the, like, aesthetics of things. And so she's a name dropper. She's everything you would expect from someone who doesn't have a lot of their own personality and relies on kind of like subsuming everything around them that has been designated as cool or of a guard or cutting edge fashion, cutting edge art, all of this. The takeaway here is insufferable. Okay. All right. Maybe, maybe to some. We sound like perfect ponds for the CIA. All three of us, which segue is beautifully into

great assets all of you. And, and please tell us more about our gallery owner. I would love to. My character's name is Alan Clay. He is, and well, or at least that's the name he goes by. And I think that he appeared in town about seven years ago. He was a regional gallery artsy person who was a very big deal in the twin cities, although someone else heard that it was actually St. Louis, and someone else had actually heard that it was maybe Pittsburgh, but he was big. He was a

big gallery daughter somewhere else. And I think that he has essentially come in to the scene. And the main, the main, well, he's like an introducer. I think that's the main thing that he does. Like he buys pieces himself from time to time. But the main thing he does is like make those connections. And promote people. And I think that a lot of what he does privately is sort of market making is like the people that he, there's been a couple of times where he'll have been

someone's first big purchase. So like the first piece that someone sells for enormous amount of money.

And low and behold, once you've sold one piece for a lot of money, typically the art scene, for all of its visionaries, tends to produce a lot of following. And all people need to hear that someone sold a piece for a ton of money. And that sort of seems to imply that they're the next

extraordinaire. Wow, a spotter, finding these blue chip artists early in their career. If I can just get Alan to look at some of my work, maybe I can get out of here.

“And I think Alan has a little bit of that. He's a thin,”

reading man. Not, I think he's like five, ten or something like that. Where everything about him is square, but seems to be an affectation. So he's got like, in the style of the time, like, thick framed glasses, wears a black suit, or like a charcoal, a nice dark charcoal suit.

But everything is always like a safe choice with a wink, sort of that thing of like,

of like, well, you're the artists. Like, let me not be taking up any air in the room. But everything seems to be known with a wink. But there's this weird question of like, is it being done with a wink or have we talked ourselves into this square or being important in this community, hard to say? So that's sort of what he looks. It's sort of like, it's like,

“look at the hip square in the corner. He hasn't said anything funny or interesting all night.”

Oh, no, like, oh, wait. Oh, this is just a guy with a lot of money. But he, again, things are tailored. It's nice. So he's not a total gun in other words. Great. Wonderful. These people have really come into focus. I, I, I love this. Should we roll luck? Let's see how lucky you are. Roll 3D 6 and multiply that figure by five. And that is how lucky your character isn't. You can drop that.

Stad into your luck. Oh.

Make smart choices, cop. Oh, boy, I always do 40. Oh, no. Let's see. Oh, I did pretty good.

I have a 65 luck. Dang. That's great. Yeah. Not, oh, that's better than me.

“So of course, um, if you, if you fail a roll, you can always spend luck to bring it down to”

the relative level of success that you would like. The other, the other method of attempting to succeed where you have failed, as you can, per the title of the show, push the roll. Where you try what you were doing harder, maybe using a different tactic. You roll the same skill. And if you succeed, you succeed. But if you fail a pushed roll, something terrible happens to you.

High risk, I reward it. Lovely. Cool, cool, cool. Okay. Here we go.

Oh, dear. I just got nervous. It's good. What? Because you didn't, you just go. I'm sorry. It made me nervous. Because I laughed. Can't believe. Yes. Okay. You did it again. In darkness, smell dust. The smell of dust invades your nostrils. It's, it's palpable. Like an atmosphere in here hanging in the air. It's the smell of dust in paper. It's a bookstore. You're walking through teetering piles of used cones on either side of you down a long hallway,

the topics, history, architecture, art, spirituality, a cult, moving deeper and darker to the back. And there's one, one turning rack and just see your hand reach out and push it. Cool. Around and pluck out one weathered paper back. On his cover, there is like a beautiful oil paint illustration of a young woman in a body suit kind of writhing either in pain or in ecstasy, in dance, lights, strobe out in the darkness on this cover. And it seems as though a rather

low-schman is kind of lounging there in the darkness, looking at her, the title, the butterfly factory. And you can see some of the writing beneath the promotional copy, the dark beauty of the young set fluttered through the night, but something was waiting to pluck their wings. And as you look deeper and deeper into the just the black paint, as you could have thumbed through the price, so steel, only two dollars, it's a little bit damaged. There in the darkness of that cover,

there's something that seems to resolve. There's something else in the art there in the paint on the cover. Is that a face? No, it's just something there in the darkness that you can't quite see waiting there in the darkness as we move into that cover through the cover, into the cover,

dust, but the smell whafting up from the sewer grates of 1970, New York. Steam blows up from

“manhole covers. You can hear the yellow taxis rush by, you can hear sounds crackling out of”

a zineft television shop that you're moving by, and you can hear like, the Vietnam workers in use is more of the war dead going through. Unrest and Watts continue today as more cars were set on fire. The present minutes were moving through the city downtown, we're in downtown as we move down a flight of stairs into the lower level of a building as the music is getting louder, the smell is not of the night, it is not of dust, it is of sweat, and you're hearing

bass guitar, organ, tambourine, rock and roll music as we're moving into this smart set party. We you follow two women in each other's arms, passionately embraced against a wall, a mirror ball throws light on them, a small older bearded man with a cocktail kind of waddles by hand in hand with a young model. We move through the dance floor of a bunch of people doing the frug and the doing the frug and cutting shapes in the in the darkness and we're moving through through

and let's let's land on our on our party here. Perhaps all of you sitting together, let's say, in a booth off in a corner here. This is a party thrown by your boss, Margo Marso. This is a party thrown by Bruno Banks, who is one of the hottest pop artists on the scene right now. And in fact, hanging from the ceiling or some of Bruno Banks hard works, they are enormous vinyl boxes of multi-meal and Cheerios and detergent that are sort of

bulbously dangling from the ceiling. You know them well because you helped stitch them together.

I am under strict like India to never tell anyone that I did most of that.

The music is so loud. There are five people in black leather up on a stage. They're all playing instruments except for one of them whose instrument appears to be a bull whip that she is cracking at intervals. But you are in conversation. I'm actually really lucky to work for Bruno. I'm learning so much from him and I know it's really going to really launch my career one of these days and I take another big gulp of my drink because I save this over the the din of the music.

“You are lucky. He's a genius. I mean, how do you come up with ideas like this?”

Boy, I guess just inspiration strikes or something and then you tell other people to do it. Drink. Just an indis proportionately loud peel of laughter escapes from Willow as it becomes clear that she's not actually listening but rather keeping her eyes scanning the crowd to see if anyone more famous or slightly higher status comes by that she could glam on too and then go off and you know, convers with. Yeah, perhaps your eyes notice the actual gym

Morrison is shimmying by out on the dance floor there with his shirt off and beads around his neck. He looks on the verge of passing out but he is he is dancing out there.

“Yeah, I think I think Willow might be starting to scoot a little bit out of her seat”

in that direction. I think Alan is seated all the way in the corner of the booth and it's doing that thing when you're sitting in the corner of booth where you're tilting out to face the room where it's like rather than sitting with his back to the cushion he's sitting with his back to the wall in that corner and has a cigarette that he's smoking indoors. Oh boy, what a time. And he's sort of I think he hits everybody with very warm eyes. The eyes are very warm

but the smiles very patronizing. You know, like the mouth is sort of crooked and the but the eyes are very kind. So he's like, "Ah, look at all these little birdies flying,

hith or in, yeah, it's beautiful. It's beautiful seeing as always." Oh, Jim, look at there goes Jim.

I work with Jim. Do you imagine? Oh, yes, yes, yes, Jim's an old friend. We go way, way back. Wow. I know when I know when it was just the door. Wow. That's that's so interesting.

It's just I guess we were just partying so hard that it didn't come up. Well, unlike a pair of drawers

on the floor, unmentionedable. Yeah. Later, after, after, I almost drowned out by the fuzz guitar coming from the stage in the occasional bull whip cracks. A young woman suddenly is like leaning against you willow. This is just a young girl from the scene, you know. She goes by the name cherry coke and she's like, kind of looming over you. Like, oh, oh my god. Where? Where did you get those? Are you going to the after party? And she lowers her sunglasses and looks down at the table and the center of

all of you. Where each of you has set on the table. This is probably what started your conversation

earlier, a ticket to the after party. And you can see the ring of the four of them making a little cross there in the center of the table. And on each one, a stamped with a rubber stamp, it says

“the butterfly factory. Very, very exclusive willow. You don't happen to have a plus one, do you?”

Oh, I'm so sorry, cherry. It's just, you know, we have to keep it small, otherwise. It's not as fun. But I promise I will tell you all about it when I see you next time. You can tell that she's like

dying inside when you look at her eyes and then she just pushes her sunglasses up and leans and

closes like you promise to tell me everything. But see to us and she kisses you on each cheek and shimmies back into the crowd. She's the worst to everyone else at the table after she got all the way. It's a week ago, Willam. You are at a model casting. It's a pale white psych of a room and let's just see like a photo of Willow, bang, standing with one arm above her head, bang, leaning on a bicycle, bang, in a full leather jumpsuit, unzipped to the navel, bang, and see

the photographer there. Wow, great stuff. Will call by the end of the day to let you know. That's fantastic. Maybe we could do just some extra, you know, slightly more riskat shots just to pat out the set. Like wow, something a little artistic. You read my mind. I would like each one of you. I'm loving this idea of like generative scene painting. What about this model casting office tells us that it is at the absolute bleeding edge of fashion,

but is also a little, like, as we've already recognized, a little bit eroticol and maybe a

“little bit, um, a cloying in its provisions. I think that there are bronze sculptures that are”

exaggeratedly Willow-y human figures like dancing throughout the sort of stick figure sculptures are supposed to be very featureless, but these ones have been left mostly featureless, except they all have very wide empty eye sockets in a level of detail that leaves you like, I don't know, it's just a little bit unsettling. Yes, yes, there is something unsettling about these figures. Anyone else have a detail to add to this room to this office? I think there is a box full of

props to be used in different photo shoots and there are some that you might expect, you know, like silk scarves and things like that, but then also there's a bunch of them that are strange and maybe a little out of place, like there's a bed pan and one of those like hand crank egg beaters, um, and, you know, like just one random old shoe that looks like it's from World War One or something like a soldier's boot from World War One, just these very strange things.

“Great, yeah, what sort of photography are they doing here anyway? I think the rest rooms,”

it's just one room with toilets, no stalls. We have nothing to hide here, we have we should be exposing everything. It's okay, great. There's like this constant drone of demo reels playing, like the most cutting edge music, but it's all like a little warbled, like there's a broken jukebox in the corner,

and that's why it's broken. Great. So yeah, over this low home of maybe a song by a band like the strawberry alarm clock or the chocolate watch band, being played at just the off-kilter and warbly, the shoot has taken place that you suggested, and the negatives are well in the possession

of the photographer, and he looks at you, willow, as always, a total groove willow, say, if you're not

doing anything next week, maybe you'd like to go to the after hours after Bruno's little shindig, what do you say? He reaches into a little cigarette case and he pops it open, and there are cigarettes of like five different colors in here, but in among them is a little ticket that he hands to you, reading the butterfly factory. Willow snatches it with a bit too much excitement, Bruno banks. I mean, yeah, that would be groovy, and she's like watching this thing almost

white knuggled. Oh, it's some, this isn't Bruno's official after hours, Willow. Oh, no, no, no.

It just so happens to be on the same night. I know that this is Bruno's opening or whatever, a real

happening, but this is from someone new. This, and he turns it over, revealing the address, this is from Ivy Wild, and we just see Ivy Wild's name there, and let's cut over to maybe like four days ago, Velvet Bloom. I want to see you delivering some of your poetry. Of course you do. We all want to see this bookshelves on either side of you, the smell of strong coffee in the air. There's a huge poster on the wall with a picture of Ho Chi Minh on it, and you're on a little

little stage, and a notebook in front of you, and several people are leaning forward to listen to

“what you have to say. He does, maybe he calls it demonstration poetry, but I think he's going to”

bend down, and he's going to put the notebook on the stage, and he's going to stand up and take a gum wrapper out of his pocket, and he's going to hold it in his hand up to the audience and say, it's just a gum wrapper in my pocket. It just looks like a gum wrapper, right? A little bit of rig leave, but this gum wrapper is louder than the subway, right? It's louder than the velvet underground. If I unfold, if I unravel the gum wrapper, look at the potential, look at the

silver horizon of the gum wrapper. Do you see it? Do you see the reflection? But if I fold the wrapper, and he's carefully folding it, it becomes a coffin. And then he just he just steps backwards. He takes five steps backwards on the stage as the lights dim. Great. Do you have a poetry skill on your sheet there? The velvet loom? I can't. I do. I have a very generous number of 50.

“What do we do our first role of the game in this absolutely absurd way? Want to give me a poetry role?”

Let's see how well received your your rather Utrey demonstration poem was. I love it. I love it. Oh, man. Wow. Oh, no. Okay, I wrote in '96, but I have a 50 exactly. So it's not a funbler us. It's a didn't fumble your poetry role. I don't know if this is consequential enough

for to warrant taking the time to push the roll, but I am always happy to push the roll with a second

poem. Are you going to poetry harder right now? I'm going to poetry harder. Perfect. Just say it louder again, but louder and faster. No, I think the idea that I have is that he was kind of trying to make this like illustrative scene of the gum wrapper and he realizes it's not working. So he's just like rifling through his pockets looking for more props to use and his next poem. And he pulls out like a handful of change and he starts chucking it at people

in the audience. And he's like the moon's a nickel. And he throws it at somebody. The the sun is a penny. And he throws it at somebody and just starts pelting people with change as he kind of calls out all the celestial objects. Wow. Okay, let's see if this goes over well. This sounds like quite the push. Maybe I missed my calling, everyone, as a demonstration by

“it. I think so. Well, if you roll 100 here, I'm just going to be so happy. All right, let's see.”

I passed 38 under 50. Okay. Wonderful. It was just that good. You didn't have them. You didn't

them. This this confrontational act has really won the crowd and they applaud you. Nice.

Oh, the violence of currency. Yeah, nice. That's the name of the act now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. As you're on your way out, a man with a like a rather sharp Van Dyke beard kind of pulls you aside. It's like very interesting, very interesting poetry. I suppose it's rather ghost even call it by that name. What you're doing up there doesn't have the name yet. It's so far out on the limb. I know. I caught, I caught the moon. So allow me to give you something in return.

He reaches into his velvet jacket and he gives you the invitation. Oh, this is, uh, wow, worth a lot

more than a nickel. They'll they'll be blown by the way if you missed it. Mr. Oh, I didn't miss it.

I didn't miss it. I didn't nor did I miss this. He makes the coin kind of danced down as fingers and trust that this is the same night as Mr. Banks opening. But the patroness of this after hours is someone new. And once again, he turns the the card so that you can see the name of ivy wild. I'll slide it in those pocket. Let's see you and Bruno Banks in the studio, Margo.

“All right. I am busy. I think like sewing and stitching together the portions of this installation”

as previously described. I think I'm struggling with the maybe a detergent bottle and how I'm going to attach it. And as you're working like pricking your finger on like sewing needles and getting, getting rope burns from the various material to make this thing. Bruno Banks is keeping up a steady monologue of conceptual ideas as he's kicked back with his feet up on his desk. Yeah, they'll be sort of hanging from the sky. Bruno has a bull cut like a jet black bull cut

and he's wearing a turtleneck and a chain with a big monical dangling from it that every now and then he picks up and looks at a piece of paper in front of him. Let's drop again. His beetle boots are kicked up on the desk. There are no angels anymore. So we are replacing them with today's angels. Today's angels you find in the supermarket aisle. Every trip to the supermarket is a walk through purgatory and we can only hope to meet an angel before we leave the door.

That's he's hammering like this as you as you continue to labor. Yeah, so deep. There, Bruno, really, really deep. You know, speaking of angels, I had some sketches. I wanted to show you of some wings that I've been playing around with, you know, trying to capture that like a theoretical nature of a flight in spirituality and therefore heaven and death in the afterlife and she's just like spitting out,

“trying to sound artsy. And you would look at them, right?”

Takes the paper from you. Oh, thanks. He looks at the first page.

Thumbs to the middle looks at the middle. Thumbs to the back looks at the back page of your drawings. Shots it slides it back to you. Did you know, Marsha? Did if you read the first page of a book, the middle page of the book and the last page of the book that you can totally absorb a book in under two minutes? Oh, I've literally read thousands of books this way. Well, this isn't really a book, though. Is it Bruno? It's, it's, it's

sketches. Good. I thought you might, you know, because I've been working here for you for, for, for three years. And the most well-read person I know. Can you run to the store? Can you be a darling, and maybe run to the store and pick up a purple, swatch a purple vinyl? Oh,

“I'm having a vision. Oh, yeah. Sure. Did you think they were good?”

He's looking at something else through his monocle, which he realizes a headshot of himself. He's like, "Mmm, very, very good, very, very good." Great. Maybe one day I'll have time to actually paint them, instead of gluing together detergent bottles. And just rough. Outside, um, you, you've just missed the bus. Of course, stupid book, uh, excuse me. There's a man with a rather sharp and pointed Van Dyke, like Gochi, and like a dark, overcoat,

who has held a cab, but he's holding the door open. Oh, yes. You seem to need this more than me.

Hmm. Well, what's that in your hand? Oh, my, just some sketches. I did. I guess they're not

very good. I was just trying to capture the feeling of, "That's something, you know? That, that, that, that thing that you almost see and then you don't see it?" I don't think that makes any sense. Oh, to the contrary, he holds out his hand and is almost like helping you

“into the taxi the way, like a turn of the century footman would while holding your little, and I think,”

yeah, I'm being like, I'm kind of in the taxi before I even realize that I'm allowing him to leap me in. It's like, yes, you show great promise. Oh. Hmm. Wow, really? Thank you. I have to say this is all too new. You can hear like a little pop and something falls into your folder of papers. I hope you do continue on this journey. And know that there are patrons that could assist you if you make the right connections. Yes. Connections are everything in this

line of work. He whistles again and shuts the door. Oh, wow. Um, it's thoughts racing through my mind. No one has ever been this nice to me on the street of New York and, uh, wow, he really liked my

“stuff. And I think he got me. And why is in my folder? And I look, and I see, of course, the invitation.”

Hey, lady, where are we going? We're going to see the role day. Says the driver.

And I give him the destination. The first guy in this story I have liked. The first guy in

this story that I have added a positive reaction to. Wait. This guy over here hails me. You have been and nobody tells me nothing. Where are we going, lady? Uptown, downtown. Oh, yes, uptown, uh, to the vinyl store, but not records. It's material. I give him the address. To the vinyl store. Good gravy. You got to be most specific. I know a place he pulls out. Nope. We're in the back of an art gallery. Splatter paintings on the walls, swirls of neon colored paint, non figurative designs.

“Alan Clay, uh, you see a collector walk through the door. I observe him waiting to see, uh,”

if he approaches any of the pieces, uh, with interest. Uh, he's kind of looking at a floor to ceiling painting that is all white except for five blue lines that just run through its center. I see, uh, you're admiring number 13. Um, yes, it is a beautiful thing. It's a completely unique

shade of blue. I've never been created before. No, novelty is half the battle with artwork I

suppose. That's the sort of novelty that, um, freedom and free enterprise can afford one. Don't you agree? He looks at you very hard. In addition to speaking to the character of the human spirit, arts greatest achievement in some ways is its ability to appreciate in value. Free enterprise being what we're after here. My name is Alan Clay and the proprietor of this gallery. My name is Curtis Crocket. I was wondering if we might have a little conference back in your

office if I can impose upon your time, Mr. Clay? I'd be more than happy to meet with you, Mr. Crocket, right this way. Would you like a cigarette? Uh, why certainly? Nothing better than a fine Virginia leaf to get the day off to a good start. Oh, sure. I'd like to keep a nice and mellow. I only eat one meal a day. Uh, and I, you know, walk into my office with him. Well, let's just swell, swell. I myself had my boiled egg already today.

All I want to do is walk into our office and have us both turn to each other and go, like weird fucking, the nick-tating membranes of our eyes, like she did to open and shut. God, I hate communism. Let me lick your eyes. Um, wow. Yeah. Um, um, all of that happens. Of course, you reveal your lizard faces to each other and, uh, no, no, no. Uh, he sits down and rests a little case next to him on the on the chair. All very sleek, eans chairs, modular design and all.

I wonder if you don't, uh, get out into the field, much any more, Mr. Clay. Uh, seeking new

but I'm always looking for a new heart thing. Wonderful. Well, maybe I can put you on to an exclusive

“Mr. Clay. As someone who's well-known in the artistic markets, I think it would be best.”

If you made the connection to the individual that I am eager to collect with, it opens up the case and you can see that there are photographs in the case. It kind of moves one aside and it seems to be like a woman getting into a car and then there's another of the same woman kind of coming out of a out of a, what looks like a brownstone and then he lifts out a little ticket. Yes. Very, very hard to come by. We don't know where this miss wild originally came from,

but she does definitely have artistic connections in Eastern Europe.

You don't say, well, I would love to make her acquaintance. I try to keep tapped into the entire scene out here. It gets harder and harder these days with all the coming's going, but a pretty little thing like Miss Wild escaping my attention seems rather unusual. How long ago did she make her way to this glorious metropolis of ours? It seems she's very good at escaping attention. Sheen kept quite a manner it seems in East Berlin for a time. Apparently,

also had some connections on the rather avant-garde dance scene as well. Into the plastic and performance in corporate arts, as lovely as they are, I find that they are not as remunerative in the realm of free enterprise as collectors like you and I tend to admire. Unfortunately, those works of art which are a femoral do leave something to be desired in terms of the acquisition of assets.

“Well, let's see if this is an asset worth our acquisition. Mr. Clay, do we understand each other?”

Perfectly. I'm going to kill this woman. Sorry, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right. Easy, easy, easy. Yeah, I think we understand each other perfectly well. You get the sense that you believe that he's informing you that this IV wild may or may not be an asset of the Soviets. Yes. And this means that one that this may be an asset we wish to

acquire could this be someone that we could turn and make an agent of our own, or if they're engaging in active measures, perhaps what you said ingest is more to the point.

You know, it's always a big risk anytime someone comes over and sees the quality of life,

blue jeans and cheeseburgers have done more recruiting for our cause than any agent could ever hope to. I wonder if Miss Wild couldn't be persuaded to open up a new line of credit and perhaps take on some additional employers after all. This is nothing of not the land of opportunity. Well, do you best to extend an opportunity? Since it seems you've had such good luck, with so many other artists, perhaps you can add one more to your roster.

And if she doesn't find the seductions of the cheeseburger and the frank further

“begiling, then I think we both know there are other ways. The the art market is very doggy at”

dog, here today gone tomorrow. Mr. Clay, what's that your friend Warhol says? Everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame. You just go and find out whether hers have struck. Let's see if this carriage is about to turn back into a pumpkin. I'm just going to leave me like actually I'm pretty hungry. You talked a lot about cheeseburgers and hot dogs. I'm making a hot dog on my way. Pumpkin, pumpkin pie. What time are you, is it?

Yes, you walked up all delicious pumpkin patch and we received a whole clay eating a delicious delicious hamburger. I got my hands around a big raw pumpkin, taking big old chunks out of it. Going on lava America. Oh, beautiful. Oh, it's a strange, it's not cold bleeding from my gums as hard. Pumpkin shell goes into my mouth. Pumpkin goo falling down onto your gray flannel suit. Great, and it is with that that perhaps we now bring ourselves back up to the present, where you all

at Bruno Banks's little happening, it may be time to go cross town deeper into downtown too.

“The butterfly factory and meet your estimable host. Miss Ivy Wild.”

[Music]

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