name	Jeff Noon
birth place	Droylsden, Lancashire, England
occupation	Novelist, Playwright, Screenwriter, Musician, Painter
notableworks	''Vurt'' series
influences	Jorge Luis Borges, Lewis Carroll
website	http://www.jeffnoon.com }}

Jeff Noon (born in 1957 in Droylsden, Lancashire, England) is a novelist, short story writer and playwright whose works make extensive use of word play and fantasy. Noon's speculative fiction books have ties to the works of writers such as Lewis Carroll and Jorge Luis Borges. Prior to his recent relocation (around the year 2000) to Brighton, Noon set most of his stories in some version of his native city of Manchester.

Novels

Noon's first 4 novels, which share ongoing characters and settings, are commonly referred to as the 'Vurt series' (after the first novel). Although the fictional chronology leads from ''Automated Alice'' to ''Nymphomation'' to ''Vurt'' to ''Pollen'', the books were originally published as ''Vurt'' (1993), ''Pollen'' (1995), ''Automated Alice'' (1996), and ''Nymphomation'' (1997). (''Automated Alice'' connects the series to the fictional world of Lewis Carroll), serving as a 'trequel' [sic] to Carroll's ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and ''Through the Looking-Glass'' )

''Vurt'' (1993)

''Vurt'' tells the story of Scribble and his "gang" the Stash Riders as they search for his missing sister Desdemona. ''Vurt'' refers to a drug/shared alternate reality that is accessed by sucking on color-coded feathers. Through some (never explained) mechanism, the dreams, mythology, and imaginings of humanity achieved objective reality in the ''Vurt'' and became "real". The book won the 1994 Arthur C. Clarke Award. There is a Vurt film in the works, but as of the date of this writing, Jeff Noon has stated on his public website that "Of the Vurt film, all has gone silent at the moment. Don’t hold your breath."

''Pollen'' (1995)

''Pollen'' is the sequel to ''Vurt'' and concerns the ongoing struggle between the real world and the ''vurtual'' world. When concerning the ''vurtual'' world, some references to Greek mythology are noticeable, including Persephone and Demeter, the river Styx and Charon, and Hades (portrayed by the character John Barleycorn).

''Automated Alice'' (1996)

Noon describes ''Automated Alice'' as a "trequel" - it is a companion piece of sorts to the famous Lewis Carroll books, ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and ''Through the Looking-Glass''. The novella follows Alice's journey to a future Manchester populated by Newmonians, Civil Serpents and a vanishing cat named Quark.

The people who suffer from ''newmonia'' (pronounced the same as the real condition pneumonia), are hybrids of humans and other entities. They are mainly hybrids of animals and humans, but also of other random items such as kitchen sinks and pianos.

The ''civil serpents'' (a play-on-words of the job 'civil servant') are trying to control everything that happens in the future, and try to stop randomness. The 'Supreme Serpent' is the controller of the serpents, and hints at the fact that he is Satan himself. The writing style of Noon is very similar to that of Lewis Carroll, who Noon constantly refers back to during the novel. The narrative is full of Alice mis-hearing words, most notably ''worm'' instead of ''wurm'', and ''pneumonia'' instead of ''newmonia''.

There are also references to popular musical figures, with two notable characters. Firstly, James Marshall Hentrails, a sculpture made of rubbish, and who contains the insides (entrails) of a hen. This character is obviously a reference to Jimi Hendrix. The character also sings a song while playing the guitar. The song is titled 'Little Miss Bonkers', a reference to 'Little Miss Strange' by Hendrix.

Secondly, the character of Long Distance Davis, who Alice meets in a police cell, is a reference to jazz musician and trumpet player Miles Davis.

''Nymphomation'' (1997)

''Nymphomation'' is the prequel to ''Vurt''. ''Nymphomation'' primarily tells the story of a lottery in Manchester involving dominos and a group attempting to crack the secrets of that lottery, but it also sets the background for much of the mythology found in the previous three books.

''Pixel Juice'' (1998)

Pixel Juice is a collection of 50 short stories.

''Needle in the Groove'' (2000)

''Needle in the Groove'' follows Elliot Hill, a bass player and ex-junkie trudging the pub-rock circuit, who is invited to join a new band: fusing DJ artistry, voice and rhythm section, the group's hypnotic groove creation is augmented by a startling new recording technology. The band seems bound for success - until one of them vanishes. Elliot's subsequent search draws him into a secret history of music that stretches back 40 years and into his own past. Jeff Noon and David Toop also released a CD, ''Needle in the Groove: if music were a drug, where would it take you'', on Sulphur Records in the same year.

''Cobralingus'' (2001)

''Cobralingus'' sits apart from Noon's other published works. It is part anthology of poems and part instructional textbook for Noon's style of poetry. In it, he details his regimented methods for the creation of poetic text by a style of word play which lends its name to the title. Also included are various exemplars of this style.

The Engine begins with Noon using an existing text and then applying different 'filter gates' that edit the text into something new. Examples of these gates include 'enhance' which creates elements of beauty in the text, and 'ghost edit'; this kills the text and calls up a ghost to haunt the text.

The ''Codex'' edition of the book was illustrated by Daniel Allington and has an introduction by Michael Bracewell, explaining the ''Cobralingus Engine''.

''Falling out of Cars '' (2002)

''Falling out of Cars'' is a road novel set in a near-future world where information-based civilization is falling apart. It follows the journey of Marlene, Henderson, and Peacock as they drive around England on a mission to gather fragments of a mirror that may be at the heart of the world's affliction. ''Falling out of Cars'' is the record Marlene keeps - or tries to keep - of her quest to flee from her past. Despite her daily dose of Lucidity, Marlene is gradually succumbing to the malady, and it gets harder and harder to distinguish dream from reality, hallucinations from events.

''217 Babel Street'' (2008)

Noons latest work is ''217 Babel Street''. Appearing to have been taken out of circulation, it is a collaboration of four authors, Susanna Jones, Alison MacLeod, William Shaw and Noon. It is only available online and is a constantly updated collection of short stories about a fictional British apartment building. It has stories about each person who lives in the apartment building, which each author can contribute to.

Bibliography

Novels and novellas

''Vurt'' (1993), ISBN 1-898051-03-8

''Pollen'' (1995), ISBN 1-898051-11-9

''Automated Alice'' (1996), ISBN 0-385-40808-0

''Nymphomation'' (1997), ISBN 0-385-40812-9

''Needle in the Groove'' (2000), ISBN 1-86230-091-7

''Falling Out of Cars'' (2002), ISBN 0-385-60296-0

Short fiction collections

''Pixel Juice'' (1998), ISBN 0-385-40859-5

''Cobralingus'' (2001), ISBN 1-899598-16-2

''Mappalujo'' (2002) - co-written with Steve Beard, currently only available online

''217 Babel Street'' (2008) - co-written with Susanna Jones, Alison MacLeod and William Shaw, currently only available online

Plays

''Woundings'' (1986), ISBN 1-870259-00-9

''Vurt - The Theatre Remix'' (May 2000- the show ran for three weeks)

''Somewhere The Shadow'' (May 2001- the show ran from Thursday 3 May - Saturday 26 May)

''The Modernists'' (June 2003- the show ran from Wednesday 11 June - Saturday 21 June )

Radio work

''Dead Code - Ghosts of the Digital Age'' (BBC Radio 3, 2005)

Film

''Woundings'' (based on the play), known as ''Brand New World'' (USA) (1998)

Reported works in progress

Apparently, Noon is working on a script/ screenplay for a film entitled ''Divine Shadows'' with director Husein Alicajic. Although Noons' input is not known at this time, he has been credited on both imdb and mooviees.com with writing credits. However, the film is in currently labeled as being 'in production'. Husein Alicajic's webpage also lists this film as 'in production', and quotes the films production company as Wild Bear Films.

Noon is reported to be working on a short story entitled "That's What Jeff Said", though this is currently unconfirmed.

The idea for the film won the ''ZTudio What IF? Award for Best Un-Produced Screenplay'' in 2001. According to ''The Producers' and Directors' Guild of Victoria'' website, Husein secured an option deal whilst in New York.

However, as of early 2008, the film's information has been removed from imdb.com. This would suggest that the film did not receive a green light, and pre-production stopped.

Creeping Zero is due to go into production in the summer of 2011. Noon has written the screenplay for this 3D feature film based on his eponymous short story published in "Pixel Juice". The film will be directed by Billy O' Brien Isolation (film)

External links

Spike Magazine link collection for Jeff Noon

The Modern Word: Jeff Noon–An introduction to Jeff Noon and his works

Mappalujo–A writing game devised by Steve Beard and Jeff Noon

Language is a Virus - Cobralingus Engine - Metamorphiction Process by Jeff Noon

Origins of a Dub Fiction - by Jeff Noon

Radio interview of Jeff Noon on Bookworm, April, 1996

Category:1957 births Category:Living people Category:English science fiction writers Category:People from Droylsden Category:Postmodern writers

de:Jeff Noon myv:Джефф Нун fr:Jeff Noon hu:Jeff Noon nl:Jeff Noon ja:ジェフ・ヌーン pl:Jeff Noon ru:Нун, Джефф cu:Джєфъ Ноунъ

name	Curve (band)
background	group_or_band
origin	England
genre	Alternative rockElectronicaElectronic rockShoegazingDream pop
years active	1991–19941996–2005
label	CharismaAnxiousFatLipUniversal
associated acts	Eurythmics, State of Play, The Uncles, SPC ECO, KGC, The Secret Meeting, Scylla, Chatelaine, Jeff Beck, Recoil, Morpheme, The Chronologic, The Black Holes, Inkraktare
website	Curve.co.uk
past members	Dean Garcia, Toni Halliday
notable instruments	}}

Curve was an English music group formed in 1990 chiefly around the collaboration of singer/songwriter Toni Halliday and bassist/guitarist/programmer Dean Garcia.

History

Halliday and Garcia were introduced to each other by fellow musician Dave Stewart of Eurythmics; Garcia had played bass guitar as part of Eurythmics' live band in 1983–84 and on two of their studio albums; while Halliday was signed to Stewart's Anxious Records label as a solo artist. The pair formed an ill-fated group named State of Play in the mid-1980s before parting ways, embarking on a no less ill-fated solo career (Halliday) and further stints as a backing musician (Garcia), and then reuniting for a more long-term partnership in Curve.

As Curve, Halliday and Garcia released three acclaimed and increasingly successful EPs throughout 1991 on Anxious Records, and made an impact on the UK album charts in 1992 with their debut LP ''Doppelgänger''. The group also toured extensively during this period, with Halliday and Garcia being supported on stage by two additional guitarists (Debbie Smith, later of Echobelly, and Alex Mitchell) and a drummer (Steve Monti, formerly of Ian Dury and the Blockheads). Highlights of Curve's live career included a performance at the 1992 Glastonbury Festival, and a package tour of the United States with the Jesus and Mary Chain and Spiritualized.

Curve's second LP, the harder-edged ''Cuckoo'' (1993), did not repeat the UK Top 20 success of the band's debut. That coupled with the stressfulness of the tour in support of the record, may have contributed to Halliday and Garcia's decision, in 1994, to disband the group.

Curve returned to the music business in 1996 with the EP ''Pink Girl With the Blues''; the following year, they released "Chinese Burn", the first single to be taken from their third all-new album ''Come Clean'' (1998). That LP, a set of songs displaying a more pronounced influence of electronic music than earlier releases, was met with a certain amount of acclaim and commercial success, which encouraged the group to continue their recording career. They continued to do small-scale live shows in and around Europe.

The follow-up to ''Come Clean'' was an Internet-only collection titled ''Open Day at the Hate Fest''; it was quickly followed by the all-new ''Gift'' (both 2001). During this period, Curve were almost as prolific as during their first three years, releasing another web-only, LP-length collection (''The New Adventures of Curve'') in 2002, and various download-only tracks via their official website.

A two-CD retrospective entitled ''The Way of Curve'' summarised the group's output in 2004, before Halliday announced, in early 2005, that she had left Curve for good.

Music

For the most part, Curve's music was typified by heavy beats and densely-layered guitar tracks set against Halliday's sometimes airy, sometimes intense vocalizations of lyrics that frequently explored topics such as alienation, addiction, lust, romance, and love on the wane. While the band's early releases were either lumped in, by certain British music reviewers, with the then-popular shoegazing style of guitar-based rock music, or said to borrow heavily from Gothic rock, their second LP ''Cuckoo'' was noted to feature a broader set of influences, such as industrial and electronica. On ''Come Clean'', and the records that followed, the electronic portions of the band's music became more prominent - to the extent of some recordings from the final years featuring hardly any guitar sounds. Perhaps also as a result of this development, fans of the group are divided as to which Curve release is the most satisfying.

Legacy

With regard to the group's significance to the development of 'alternative' rock and pop music, it has been claimed by both Curve aficionados and music writers that British/American alternative band Garbage appropriated large portions of Curve's musical template, and constructed from it more 'mainstream' material, albeit with a certain 'edge' remaining. Toni Halliday has occasionally commented on the comparisons between both groups, stating at one point - in an interview conducted by ''Volume'' magazine in 1996 - that she could "see bits of Garbage in what we've done, just like we see bits of Sonic Youth or the Valentines or really any band that was doing something supposedly outside the norm. In a way it's very flattering to be tied in with [Garbage drummer and co-producer] Butch Vig, not just because he's a brilliant human being, but because he's a brilliant producer, and he's worked on some of our favourite records. But eventually Garbage are a pop band, and Curve were never a pop band."

Halliday has, on other occasions, also offered contrasting opinions. Interviewed by ''Cosmic Debris Magazine'' in 2001, she reminisced on how "[Curve had] put records out and we always thought they were nice little pop albums full of nice little pop songs. I've always thought that Curve have made great pop. It might come in a different guise to what people presume is pop, you know, like... it doesn't sound like Backstreet Boys pop, but still, there's melody there, and there are hooks, and we've done that on every record we've ever made. [...] We've been called 'goth' in England, and we've been called 'noise merchants' and the whole gamut of labels, but not once have we been called a pop band, and I'd really like to be called that."

Post-Curve endeavors

Dean Garcia

Dean Garcia is currently a member of the bands SPC ECO (with his daughter Rose Berlin and Joey Levenson; 2007–present), "The Black Holes" (with Jo Neale; 2007–present), "The Chronologic" (2006–present), Inkraktare (with Mark Wallbridge aka Vasko The Pig; 2009–present), "The Secret Meeting" (with kaRIN and Statik of Collide; 2007–present), KGC (with Sascha Konietzko and Lucia Cifarelli of KMFDM; 2006–present) and Morpheme (2010–present). In February 2009, SPC ECO released their first album, ''3-D'', through their website and via Collide's label Noiseplus Music. Garcia's newest project Morpheme is a collaboration with Perry Pelonero (Clenched Fist, Skylight, Bliss City East), and Kim Welsh (Skylight, Bliss City East). On December 8, 2010, Morpheme released their first track, ''Infection'' and on May 5, 2011, they released their second track, ''Stratosphere'' on their debut single ''Infection.'' Garcia has also released a solo album on January 1, 2011, entitled ''How Do You Feel?'', with special guests Vasko The Pig, Todd Astromass and Jeff Beck. In June 2011, Garcia signed with XD Records.

Toni Halliday

On February 27, 2008 Halliday introduced a new solo project called Chatelaine on MySpace. A number of tracks could be previewed, and were credited to Halliday/Dowd/Salmon, and its MySpace blog declared that a new album was being worked on. Chatelaine's debut album ''Take A Line For A Walk'' was released in June 16, 2010. It featured nine new tracks: "Broken Bones", "Oh Daddy", "Life Remains", "Stripped Out", "Shifting Sands", "Killing Feeling", "Take A Line For A Walk", "Head To Head" and "Seen And Lost".

Discography

Studio albums

''Doppelgänger'' (1992) UK #11

''Cuckoo'' (1993) UK #29

''Come Clean'' (1998) UK #103

''Gift'' (2001)

''The New Adventures of Curve'' (2002; Internet-only release)

Compilations

''Pubic Fruit'' (1992)

''Radio Sessions'' (1993)

''Open Day at the Hate Fest'' (2001; Internet-only release)

''The Way of Curve'' (2004) UK #197

EPs and singles

''Blindfold'' (1991) UK #68: "Ten Little Girls" (featuring JC-001)/"I Speak Your Every Word"/"Blindfold"/"No Escape From Heaven"

''Frozen'' (1991) UK #34: "Coast Is Clear"/"The Colour Hurts"/"Frozen"/"Zoo"

''Cherry'' (1991) UK #36: "Clipped"/"Die Like a Dog"/"Galaxy"/"Cherry"; 10" vinyl also includes "I Speak Your Every Word" (featuring JC-001)

''Faît Accompli'' (1992) UK #22: "Faît Accompli" (single version)/"Arms Out"/"Sigh" (CD & 12" vinyl); "Faît Accompli" (extended mix)/"Coast Is Clear" (live)/"Die Like a Dog" (live) (12" vinyl)

''Horror Head'' (1992) UK #31: "Horror Head" (remix)/"Falling Free"/"Mission From God"/"Today Is Not the Day"

''Blackerthreetracker'' (1993) UK #39: "Missing Link" (single version)/"On the Wheel"/"Triumph"

''Blackerthreetrackertwo'' (1993): "Missing Link" (screaming bird mix)/"Rising" (headspace mix)/"Half the Time" (honey tongue mix)

''Superblaster'' (1993): "Superblaster" (remix)/"Low and Behold"/"Nothing Without Me"

''Pink Girl With the Blues'' (1996) UK #97: "Pink Girl With the Blues"/"Recovery"/"Black Delilah"

''Chinese Burn'' (1997): CDs and 12" vinyl include a set of remixes by Paul van Dyk, Steve Osborne, Lunatic Calm, Witchman, and Headcase, as well as "Robbing Charity" and "Come Clean".

''Coming up Roses'' (1998) UK #51: CDs and 12" vinyl include a set of remixes by Jeremy Wheatley, Talvin Singh, Blue Amazon, Danny Saber, and Kevin Shields, as well as "Midnight & Royal" and "Habit".

''Perish'' (2002) UK #168: "Perish"/"Want More Need Less"/"Recovery" (2002 version)

''Want More Need Less'' (2003): "Want More Need Less"/"My Tiled White Floor"/"Bleeding Heart"

Guest appearances

''Peace Together'' (1993) - performed "What a Waste" with Ian Dury (with benefits to the Youth of Northern Ireland)

Guest producers on Gary Numan's remix album ''Hybrid'' in 2003

Released a track for ''Frequency'' (a music-based puzzle game on PlayStation 2) called "Worst Mistake", not released on CD.

Remixed the single "Just Say Yes" for the Cure in 2001, which was released officially in 2004 on the boxset ''Join the Dots: B-Sides and Rarities, 1978-2001 (The Fiction Years)''

Contributed 4 tracks (A666, Bishi Bashi, Mash Head, Push The Button) for the online game Darkwind: War on Wheels, 2006

The Capcom game MotoGP 09/10 includes an instrumental version of "Want More Need Less".

References

External links

Official site

Cuckoo's Nest - The Curve Archive

Official Facebook Page "Curve Official Managed By Dean"

Category:English alternative rock groups Category:English rock music groups Category:Shoegazing musical groups Category:Electronic music duos Category:Charisma Records artists

de:Curve (Band) it:Curve nl:Curve (band) ja:カーヴ (バンド) pl:Curve pt:Curve sv:Curve

Geo Da Silva is a Romanian DJ, MC, vocalist, entrepreneur and entertainer.

Constantin Gheorghe (aka Geo Da Silva) was born in Timisoara. He was a warm up DJ in the clubs near Timisoara in 1994. Four years later he was a resident DJ in the Eforie Nord club on the Romanian seaside

In 2000 he became an MC at the Disco Ring Costinesti club, then resident and project-manager one day per week at Discoland Timisoara. One year later, he became the general artistic manager of the club.

In the summer of 2002-2003 he moved to Disco Tineretului. Since then until 2007 he worked there as a resident from June until August and during the rest of the year started attending events around the country and elsewhere in Europe.

In 2004 he launched three records with two other DJs as the Funky DJs: „Stai” (Stay) , „Planet Funk” and „Romania Danseaza” (Romania’s dancing) in 2004, „Doar tu si eu” (Just you and me), „Daca ai vrea” (If you’d like to) and „Rumena Paradis” in 2005. He launched a solo album in 2007 (preceded by a collaboration with Lavinia „Loca” ). He made a 25-country world tour in 2008, starting at Mykonos in 2008 and including the U.K., Italy, the U.S.A., France, Germany, Israel, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, Holland, Haiti, Serbia. His single singles „I’ll Do You Like a Truck” was used in the TV show „The Office” on NBC, and in a national Greek series named:Lakys o Glykoulis on Mega Channel.

In 2008 he implemented a party concept called „Juerca Loca”. He became the owner of Ring Discoteque in Costinesti. That summer Cat Music presented his debut solo album "RING Discoteque by GeoDasilva".

In summer 2010 he launched another album from Mykonos.

Refeences

External links

GeoDaSilva.com — official website.

Category:Romanian musicians Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing Category:Club DJs Category:Hip hop DJs

ro:GeoDaSilva