Open Studio
Overstand the Past to Get a Grasp of the Present
Mark Rushton’s Abundant Spare Time is a weekly email on Substack where I talk about my ongoing work as a recording artist and visual artist. This is my 166th weekly email.
This week’s topics:
Open Studio
Composing a Soundtrack for Oyoram’s TimePiece
Westside Gunn + MF Doom - “Gorilla Monsoon”
Open Studio
Kim and I participated in the Open Studio at the Fitch Building (304 15th St, Des Moines, Iowa) on Saturday, November 8th from 6pm to 9pm.
There’s around 31 studios in the building. Maybe 20 were open. Most of those not open were photography studios. Great crowd. I’d say we had at least 100 people in and out of our space. It was exhausting, but a good time.
Nothing was for sale in our space. For now, it’s just a display gallery. I had a few things to give away. People read the zines I posted in the hallway and stopped in to ask me questions. That was cool. We’ll have items for sale in May at the next open house
Composing a Soundtrack for Oyoram’s TimePiece
I decided that I’m going to compose a soundtrack for the Oyoram LED light installation on the side of the building.
Nobody asked for this, but I’m going to do it anyway.
It’ll be 24 tracks, one for each hour. Twelve different styles. Each track will be three minutes in length. Most will be ambient, but some might have a beat or beats.
I thought about having the Coordinated Universal Time pulse in each track, but have since scrapped that idea.
Because I’m a little crazy, I’m taking the soundtrack a step further.
I have bought a 100mw mono FM transmitter to broadcast the soundtrack 24/7 around the vicinity of the Fitch building. The transmitter is “FCC Part 15 Compliant” and does not require the typical FCC license.
I will put each track on a computer located in our studio space, use freeware radio broadcast software to manage the programming, and play the music on a specific frequency - possibly 88.1 FM because KDPS is off the air. I will have a “top of the hour / station ID” mention, perhaps timed when the Oyoram TimePiece clock visually changes, like below:
People often stop by to record video of the clock changing at the top of the hour, so I thought it might be fun to have a soundtrack. I’m not sure how far the FM transmitter will broadcast. Maybe a block or two, at the most.
This doesn’t cost much. The FM transmitter was $150 and it just arrived in the mail. I have an extra computer. The software is free. It’s my music.
I’m not sure when it’ll be up and running. Maybe some time in December?
This is what the 800 sq ft light panels looked like on a recent evening:
Westside Gunn + MF Doom - “Gorilla Monsoon”
Ayo - I was in my cell, I clicked my heels three times…
A friend of mine turned me onto Westside Gunn during their “Hitler Wears Hermes” series around 2017 or 2018. While not everything they do is my thing, I do appreciate the excellent samples and word play.
I believe this originally had Pro Wrestling samples in it, but had to be removed. It’s fine without the samples.
This was released a couple years before MF Doom died - apparently of a side effect from taking a blood pressure medication.
Doom had this great line near the end:
“Overstand the past to get a grasp of the present”
I had to ask the word robots about this line, especially the “overstand” part:
It’s a play on the more common expression “understand the past to get a grasp of the present.” It replaces “understand” with “overstand”, a deliberate linguistic choice rooted in cultural and ideological significance, particularly within Rastafarian and broader Afrocentric thought.
“Overstand” means to fully comprehend, to stand above or beyond mere surface-level understanding — implying a deeper, elevated, or liberated form of knowledge.
It contrasts with “understand”, which literally means “to stand under” (from Latin under + stand). In Rastafarian philosophy, “standing under” suggests subordination or acceptance of someone else’s authority/knowledge — often associated with oppressive systems.
“Overstand” = to stand over or rise above that knowledge, critically analyzing it from a position of empowerment and independence.
Thus, the phrase means: “Only by critically mastering and rising above historical narratives can you truly comprehend the present.”
Your renegade radio station is kinda like a secret treasure hunt. Will you advertise it in any way or just wait for some people in the area to find it organically? I will be going over to Ames in February and may be able drive down that day just to listen. I love the idea, so cool.