The Sick People, a blog run by sometimes Impose contributor Reggie McCafferty has launched Blackbox Radio, a spoken-word cassette series of firsthand accounts of people anonymously telling their own life vignettes. Each volume in the series will be themed, and the first one has just been posted with the all-encompassing topic of “mischief.” Reggie explains it thusly:
I’ve always found myself surrounded by interesting people. Travelers, skateboarders, punks, graffiti writers and various other sub-sects of low-life subcultures. These were dreamers and story-tellers, daring people who understood that life is best when lived quickly, that things didn’t happen unless you got up off the couch and left the house. They weren’t afraid to take chances and pushed themselves into unfamiliar territory, realizing that although taking risks did not always land you in the most advantageous situations, it usually made for good stories later on.
Blackbox Radio Vol. 1 features six anonymous stories, recorded live—background noises and all—by Reggie and Matthew Wallenstein totaling 42-minutes. Upon listening, you’ll soon realize that most people’s concept of mischief includes vandalism and theft, but the lone female voice gives an interesting perspective of a first-person jailbreak from a mental hospital. The concept of the series is brilliant, and all of the stories are interesting in their own right, but more personal accounts like her escape story in future episodes would be nice, as they add weight and a feeling that this couldn’t just be anyone’s story. It’s anonymous, but deeply personal.
Blackbox Radio Vol. 1 is streaming below, you can order it on cassette here.
