The other day my kid had me listen to this haunting Tool track Faaip De Oiad which samples a phone call made to Art Bell’s Coast to Coast AM radio show. The caller frantically relays a bunch of Area 51 conspiracies, and that got me to remembering about an afternoon in January 1998 when I explored the area myself.
I was demoing my company’s Internet music software at NAMM – the annual music business convention in Las Vegas. We were given a spare day, so I rented a car and drove as close as I could to Area 51. At the time, I was a compulsive listener to Art Bell’s radio show, so I knew I had to at least visit the famous black mailbox and stop for a drink at the “little A’Le’Inn”. While I was there I pulled out my minidisc recorder and interviewed the locals about their experiences living out in this wasteland by the famously secretive military base.
Today, 26 years later, I’m releasing “Area 51”, the audio-poem I assembled that year.