A friend & I first read about the "Shut Up Little Man" CD in SPiN
magazine in 1991. I've been trying to track one down ever since.
I'm gonna order it from: http://members.aol.com/leesausage/prod.html
-Ian.
Here's the description from:
http://www.datagenics.com/n/html/index2.html
We were introduced to the saga of Raymond and Peter when we moved next
door to them in the fall of 1987. As neighbors, we lived in [a building
that] was designed like a cheap motel, so that the apartments were
sardined alongside one another and separated by thin walls. Within a
week of arrival, we were exposed to what would become a dependable
routine from our next door neighbors: evenings charged with belligerent
rants, hateful harangues, drunken soliloquies, death threats, and the
sound of wrestling bodies thumping against the wall that separated our
apartments. They fought with a raging abandon and total disregard for
everyone in the building. Initially we were angered by the volume and
recurrence of the arguments, but equally we were intimidated by the
threatening content. Whenever we got angry enough to go next door,
confront them and ask them to keep the noise down, we were forced to
give the idea a second thought. Perched in their front window, facing
the walkway greeting all who dared pass, was a human skull; what horror
would greet us? However, one can be meek and tolerant for only so long.
Unnerved by sleepless nights and Peter's incessant refrain, "Shut Up,
Little Man", one of us banged on their door, only to recieve the first
of many murderous threats from Ray: "I'm perfectly willing to kill
anyone that thinks they're tough. I was a killer before you were born,
I'll be a killer after you're dead." Soon thereafter the notion of
recording their threats -- in case of the need for criminal proof of
assault -- was born.
The first crudely recorded "session" featured a monologue by Ray
muttering to himself about his desire to kill. There was something so
nakedly sinister about the recording that we were shocked, mystified. At
the same time it instilled in us a hunger for more. We invested in the
technology for crisper recordings and fell into our own obsessive
routine of taping. Eventually, our desire for capturing fresh dialogue
led us to employ phone prank tactics (listen to "I was a mean
motherfucker in my time" and "Nova Express Survey on Alcoholism"). The
material that we successfully taped was deliciously dark and incredibly
infectious. Day in, day out, we rehearsed Raymond and Peter's dialogues;
their phraseology and curious logic became our own. After several months
of taping, we became Raymond and Peter (though we certainly don't
condone gay-bashing or senseless murder).
Our recording was not as secretive as one might suspect. Several times
during their extended shouting matches we placed a speaker on the
walkway outside their door and subjected them to the tyrrany of their
own taped voices. At some point in the process, we recorded Peter saying
"The neighbors are taping us again," to which Ray responded "Good. Hey,
next door! I want to tell the whole world that Peter ain't nothin' but a
lyin' thievin' piece of shit." (Well, Ray, here's your chance!) Clearly
invasion of privacy is an issue here, but as our friend Seymour Glass
once said, "You have to wonder how much right to privacy a person who's
screaming at the top of his lungs expects."
It should be noted that neither Peter nor Ray worked. They drank. They
watched TV. They fought. They rarely left home, except to go to
O'Looney's convenience store for liquor or to Walgreen's for smokes.
There were frequent visits from the San Francisco Police Department, the
Fire Department and the Paramedic teams. Sometimes they spent the night
in jail, sometimes in the hospital. To make matters more interesting,
Tony - a Southern-bred Vietnam veteran and white trash drifter - moved
in and out of their apartment during the time we lived next door. In
many ways he was the scariest of the three, recalling a movie extra from
Deliverance. Tony provided the catalyst for more fighting, new
jealousies, and shifting alliances. We are frequently asked about the
exact nature of Raymond and Peter's relationship, but can provide no
definitive answer. It remains opaque to us. It is clear, however, that
they fought with a penetrating hate that can only be Love.
Raymond and Peter have already assumed legendary status among our
friends and families, the police and the subterranean network of tape
traders. This CD will only serve to further propagate the gospel of
Raymond and Peter, and perhaps will change the face of hatred and
self-loathing forever. As a compilation of their best rants, it provides
an excellent insight into the themes that constituted their very lives:
booze, killing, fistcuffs, thievery, the SFPD, Tony, homosexuality,
hospitals and hatred.
It is a curious pleasure to have one's private obsession become public
domain. We are certain that you will find these recordings as darkly
comic and compelling as we do.
- Eddie Lee Sausage and Mitchell D.
_____________________________________________________________________
Ian Andrew Bell ibell@cisco.com
Business Development Manager 408.525.8630
Global Alliances Partners Engineering 800.365.4578
Cisco Systems Inc. .:|:..:|:.