JM: Good morning Tim and Jeremy. Thanks for coming in to WTIP

TY: Good morning.

JC: Good morning.

JM: How are you guys this morning? Are you awake? Are you ready to do this?

TY: We haven’t had coffee yet.

JM: I’m so sorry Tim, that’s horrible. I’m on decaf and I’m flying, man. I can’t imagine what it’s like not to have a cup of coffee in you. Tim and Jeremy are here because Tim is the kind of lead creator in a very interesting… um, I’ll just call it a creation at this point.

TY: We call it a science fiction story.

JM: OK, a science fiction story that you have utilized some certain mediums to express these goings ons inside your brain. One, of course, is on compact disc, and we’re going to hear some of that. Explain the other because you have a fairly intricate website.

TY: Right. Well it all started a few years ago when I was working as an art mentor at the high school. The first time I ever did anything in Photoshop, which is a graphics manipulation program on the computer, I did a self-portrait of me shooting through space with rocket shoes on and that was kind of how that character started. I called that character Rocket Boy, and my wife’s cousin told me, after seeing a few little space things around, that I should do something more with this space thing. So we just started snapping pictures and writing the story and it ended up growing really fast. We have twenty episodes online right now.

JM: OK, twenty episodes online, they’re also on disc as well?

TY: There are fifteen episodes on the first disc, so probably when we get the next fifteen episodes, we’ll have sixteen through thirty on Volume Two, but that’s going to be down the road a little ways.

JM: Alright. I saw some of the photographs on your website. They’re pretty cool, you’re utilizing, I noticed, the local lighthouse which became a rocketship.

TY: Right.

JM: So there’s some pretty cool things going on. I saw the one about Jupiter, now are you transporting images into your program?

TY: Well, that was a picture of Jeremy. He’s actually leaping on one of Jupiter’s moons.

JM: Right.

TY: In reality, he’s actually jumping in front of my caboose. So I just cut the background out and put Jupiter in there.

JM: There we go. That’s a good example of the capacity of the Adobe Photoshop.

TY: Right. And the more I do with it, the more cool things I’m learning that I can do with it.

JM: Well I imagine you become more efficient as well, so it’s not as time consuming.

TY: Right. Exactly.

JM: Jeremy, how are you involved with the project, aside from being one of the characters. I saw some of your photos, and I know you’re involved musically as well. Talk about that.

JC: Well, for the most part, Tim and I have done some recording in the past and he decided it would be a good idea to put a CD together, so I kind of helped him. I’d come over and watch him and give him some tips…

TY: Jeremy wrote the whole soundtrack. The score.

JC: For the most part, he just took some of the old recordings and put them on the CD, and I loved it, so it stuck.

JM: Talk about the storyline, because we’re going to hear a track from this. So set that up, Tim.

TY: Well, in this track, it’s actually episode seven, called Space Dreams, there are three separate storylines going on, one takes place, let’s see, are they on Mars yet? Well, one takes place way out in the outer reaches of the solar system with Flash Meridian who is trying to get back to Earth.

JM: So Flash Meridian is trying to get back to Earth, and you have these two astronauts who are the American Heroes…

TY: Right, they had been sent out to rescue Flash Meridian who was a pioneer in the field of warp travel. In the first episode we find out that with greater speeds and greater distances, there’s also a greater margin of error, so Flash got into a little trouble. And there’s this other space girl. She lives near Jupiter and…

JM: Gotta have a space girl.

TY: Oh yeah. So you have the two astronauts, you have the space girl and the whole space school. You just have to suspend your disbelief here and there, and then you’ve got Flash. So there are three separate story lines, but right now up in Episode twenty they are pretty much getting really close to each other.

JM: They’re starting to come together. OK, now set up this episode. This is episode seven. Are they on Mars yet? Well, why don’t I just play it and we’ll find out.

TY: OK

[plays episode seven from the Flash Meridian Volume One CD]

JM: Alright, that’s episode seven of Flash Meridian, you can see it, what’s your website address, Tim?

TY: It’s www.timouth.com, and you can click on Flash Meridian from there.

JM: OK. Well, that sounded pretty interesting, are most of the episodes similar, with the narration over music?

TY: Yeah.

JM: Now, you’re adding sound effects, do you want to give away any of your secrets as to how you do that?

TY: Well, all but a couple of the sound effects are done with my voice and just cutting little pieces of the sound out and putting them back together.

JM: So you’re doing digital editing with sound as well.

TY: Right. The whole CD was done on a computer. We put all of the music onto the hard drive, and then dropped it into Premiere, which is the program that we use in the video class here at the school.

JM: OK. For the sound editing as well.

TY: Right.

JM: Is the CD available anywhere?

TY: Yeah, you can get it either through the website, through the mail, or you can go down to Cuppa Diem and pick it up. We have cassettes and CDs there. Or you can get it from me.

JM: So how long is this going to go on? What’s the progression here?

TY: I have no idea. We’ll just go until the well runs dry.

JM: Until Flash is rescued?

TY: Oh no, it’ll go beyond that. There are some pretty surprising things that will be happening with Flash in the next couple of episodes, especially with National Space Exploration Day coming up on July 20th. That’s a big holiday for us.

JM. Aah. Hey, did you want to mention something about the Gong Show?

TY: Oh, yes. Tomorrow night there’s a fund raiser for the Grand Marais Playhouse at the Arrowhead Center For The Arts. It’s a Gong Show. We had a really great time last year there, everybody had a good time, and Flash Meridian will be performing live on stage. I don’t really know many of the other details. I don’t know what time it is or anything.

JM: Hang on, I’ll get you that. The Gong Show is tomorrow night. It’s at 7:30, and it’s hand in hand with a silent auction that also takes place right here at the Arrowhead Center For The Arts in Grand Marais. Actually the auction is first at 7:30 and the Gong Show is at 8:00. Last year, it was a huge success, so if you want to participate I’m sure you can. Get ahold of the Playhouse, or just make sure you’re there plenty early, because I know last year there were people all over that auditorium.

TY: It was great.

JM: Alright, thanks, Tim.

TY: Can I just say one more thing?

JM: Sure

TY: One of the items up for auction is becoming a character in Flash Meridian, so if anyone goes to the website and wants to be a part of all this craziness, then go ahead and bid.

JM: That’s a great idea. Thanks, Jeremy. Thanks, Tim.

This narration was written by Dune author Frank Herbert. The music is by the Duluth band “Low.”

Lyrics by Tim Young
Music and Vocals by Rain Elfvin
Video by Tim Young

He shunned the day
only loved the night
it seemed natural the way
he eventually took to flight

gazed from below
at the stars above
no one could ever know
that space was his only love

lost in space
he’s out-a this place
all that’s left is a video face
a hero gone without at trace

CHORUS
Flash Meridian
Milky Way citizen
he’s got to make it
back toward the sun

Pluto… Pluto…

SLINGSHOT!

©2000
Slack Action Demos

This Intro. was narrated by Lee Altermatt and recorded for the Volume 2 CD.

Our story begins in the year 2104 when Flash Meridian, a pioneer in the field of warp travel, is lost in the outer reaches of our solar system. With greater distances travelled at greater speeds than ever before, it soon becomes apparent that the margin of error is also much greater than it had been previously. As Flash hurtles ever outward from the sun to deep space beyond our solar system, a search and rescue party is formed to bring him home.

When US Astronauts Ash Lander and Krate Azimuth encounter trouble in the form of Major Sly Wormhole, our hero takes matters into his own hands, risking impact, to slingshot around Pluto, catapulting himself Earthward. Far from everything he has ever known on Earth, Flash is forced to confront his own demons as well as his guardian angel.

Travel now with Flash Meridian and his colorful cast of characters through space… or should I say cyber-space… and be transformed with him on your journey.

SPACE GIRL

she’s up,
she’s down
she’s flying all around
looting
computing
rebooting
she’s a space girl
crystal Weightless
refuting all but
routing for herself

(chorus)
a light beam, a puff of steam
an angel or a dream
she’s a space girl
crystal, Crystal Weightless
an unheard deep space scream

she flies,
she lies
vandalizing fly-bys
she spies
denies
realize
she’s a space girl
Crystal Weightless
unmanned,
she’s dateless

(chorus)
a light beam, a puff of steam
an angel or a dream
she’s a space girl
crystal, Crystal Weightless
an unheard deep space scream

(ends with echoing, fading scream)

Lyrics by Tim Young
Music and vocals by Rain Elfvin
Scream by Tricia Elfvin

Rain Elfvin aka Ray the Wolf From his EP entitled VISUALIZE. A video by Timouth. Contains Explicit lyrics. Rain played Sgt. Snowpants in The Adventures of Flash Meridian

Jeremy Chase wrote and performed this song which appeared on the Flash Meridian Soundtrack. We made this video in 2001. Jeremy played the role of Ash Lander in The Adventures of Flash Meridian

Eclipse: Words and Music by Jeremy Chase (at age 16), performed by Vanguard: Guitar and Vocals: Jeremy Chase, Bass: Justin Chase, Drums: Josh Rice. Music and Video produced by Tim Young. Slack Action Demos. This video was produced while we were doing The Adventures of Flash Meridian in 2001, and is part of the Flash Meridian Soundtrack.

for Debolorah

1

Long, long ago and far, far away, there was a planet which was occupied by only two people. Think of them as Adam and Eve if you will, for they were a male and a female, just entering adulthood. The planet Olo, however, had strict rules banning anything fun. The two remote occupants secretly rebelled in their hearts, against the harsh decrees under which they lived. No music. No touching anything, ever. No self actualization. Just the rulebook, the study of which, took up much of their time and permeated every thought, dictated how they felt and what they were, (and more importantly were NOT) to do. Below the surface, there lurked something big. Something loud. Something colorful and happy. They were both aware of it but denied that it was there. Like a whale, or a pod of whales, it threatened to surface on their tiny, tiny planet, shattering the only world they had ever known, breaching and blowing crystal fragments into the atmosphere and transforming their dull gray vistas into something resplendent and unrecognizable. They had both found tiny pieces of this crystal in the dirt. They would look at them, wipe the colorless dust from them and hold them up to see the light of stars refracted through the sparkling facets. Marveling at the beauty, they would put the jewels into parcels and send them to each other from a safe and acceptable distance. The tiny planet pulsed with a vibration that spoke to them. The rulebook said that they must stand very still and count the pulses with a waving arm outstretched before them in case they were ever to have to lead a crowd in appreciating the sound. But when they were alone, traversing the dusty surface of Olo, they instinctually responded by laughing, singing and something that almost felt like dancing. This, the rulebook forbade and so they looked away ashamed. “We have everything we need right here in the rulebook,” they droned into the monotonous air. “We are blessed and happy!” their voices echoed. “Happy! Happy!” they bellowed into the emptiness. “Blessed and happy!” they cried, long, long ago and far, far away.

This came to me along with the following song lyrics:

“So take a lesson from the strangeness you feel, and know you’ll never be the same. And find it in your heart to kneel down and say ‘I gave my love, didn’t I? And I gave it big sometimes. And I gave it in my own sweet time. I’m just leaving.'” – Jane Siberry, Love Is Everything.

2

The first fragment pulled from the colorless dust of Olo was a white tooth shape. On earth, teeth were generally considered a part of a face. A detail, really, of one feature of the face. What set this tooth apart was that it had a complete face of it’s own. This leads the viewer to contemplate the ramifications of having a complete face on a single tooth. Were a person, dentist or not, to examine the mouth part of the face within the tooth, would they find there a complete set of teeth? If so, would those teeth have faces of their own? One might be caught in a never ending sequence of faces and teeth, caught like the paddler on the river Styx. A green car was also among the initial fragments… The treasures unearthed and sent discreetly… Each holding the mysteries of what lurked beneath the surface. But there the di-inhabitants lived, on the surface, heeding the decrees to never go deeper. Still, they felt the rumbling vibrations, and they knew there was something there. Something wonderful. Perhaps something awful, yet they were entranced. While they sat still, as they were taught to do, they felt the tremors that threatened everything they had ever known. They dared not divert their gaze from the rulebook. While their faces stared, oblivious, their hearts raced in anticipation.

Face, upon tooth, upon face, upon tooth, upon face, upon tooth, upon face, upon tooth, upon face… And so they dared not move. They dared not divert their gaze. We are happy… Blessed and happy! they droned in spite of themselves.


3

A planet, even a small planet, is a big place for two people to live all alone. They had been told that they were never truly alone, but that the writer of the rulebook watched them every moment, keeping an account of their every deed so that one day he could judge them. And so they learned to act correctly at times. Still, a part of them wanted to act incorrectly, disturbing the tranquility of the planet with loud voices, blue jeans, laughter and tennis shoes. The young man even considered eating a Wednesday evening meal without wearing a tie, though of course he didn’t say this out loud. The steady, rhythmic waves were continuous and unchanging, though they seemed louder when there was no other sound to compete with them. The young Ololians sometimes wondered how it might be if a syncopated beat were added. Or a touch of discord every once in a while. “We choose rather to err on the side of boredom.  We choose the bare minimum. We choose what is outdated because it has stood the test of time.”  Heads bowed to the colorless dust that choked them, they chanted “Blandness… blandness… We are happy and bland… I mean blessed.”