Down In The Basement

Did you ask the woman where she learnt the stitching technique? If you see her again, I suggest you try to glean if she ever spent any time in the vicinity of Droitwich. I take it that this is a wholly different lady to the old laughing elk you met in the road last week (the image of such a scene in my head makes me think of 'Grandma Death' from the film Donnie Darko). Old ladies are often wise beyond expectation and the insights possible from such sources should never be underestimated. Allow me now to recount what was gleaned from another Old Hand from the labs...

The evening with Dr. Epstein (in which he explained to me the guilt-free method of donut theft) yielded the following unexpected discovery of sorts. As the jazz music filtered through the post-dinner chat, there had been metion of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes and the mistaken belief was held that they were redcorded in 1968. An hour or so later, a copy of Thelonious Monk's Underground was noticed on the table, copyright information showing an original relase date of 1968.

The artwork on Monk's record depicts the artist in an underground bunker, a basement of sorts. In this basement, Monk is at his piano surrounded by assorted objects thus: cheese, grapes, guns, a haybucket, several wine bottles and glasses and a gestapo officer tied to a wooden chair. In the background (the image has a strong sense of depth) is a woman holding a rifle, staring at the viewer from a distance. Monk also sports a gun, strapped to his back out the way of his hands for freedom on the keyboard yet in easy reach should he decide he requires it's use. A detonator connected to a string of explosives lies at his feet in the foreground and Viva La France is grafittied on one of the walls [above the nazi]. The image is rendered in dark earthy hues and has a natural textural quality to it.

Now, i happen to know the Dylan record fairly well and am familiar with its sleeve art. The two are very similar. The artist is also situated in a basement with his instrument of choice (in Dylan's case a mandolin, being played in the manner of a fiddle). Earthy tones, seemingly random objects and characters abound. There is also a man in military dress similar to Monk's Gestapo prisoner. A woman also stares at the viewer from the back of the picture.

Working on the assumption that both records were recorded and released in the same year, it struck me that these two pieces of work were a further example of two people having the same idea, separately, but at the same time. However, upon returning home and checking my copy of the Dylan record, I discovered that it was in fact released in 1975 and so would not seem to be the evidence I initially supposed. One further thing did strike me about the two covers - both artists are wearing wool - Monk a fine suit and Dylan in a striped cardigan reminiscent of South American patterns and colouring.

Now, I am not for a 16th note suggesting that these two seminal musicians were involved in the beginnings of the soft-core group, but I have a hunch that there may be some significance in all this similarity and mistaken belief. If the softcore group have been in hiding for the last 3 years, where have they been? Based on the insights gained from these record sleeves, I have a strong suspicion that when the group went 'underground' they did so literally and have been living subterraneously since 2005. Given their suspected plan of trying to submerge a city, or even a state, it seems likely that they would possess the means to hide themselves underground also, something mentioned as a possiblity with regard to the stateline existence you hypothesized recently.

Of course this theory would have so much more weight to it if the two records in question had been released in the same year.

Long Floats

The reference material sent on Closed Loop fibres revealed a detail which may be of note regarding the fibrous aspects of the case. See mention of a special fabric as follows...

Cinchilla: A cotton, wool, and even synthetic fabric of sateen or twill construction with extra fillings for long floats.

This is a fabric which can be made from natural and synthesised sources and bears a cutely disguising name. Note the talk of 'long floats'. Combining this with the name of the fibre suggests to me a Flotilla, something highly pertinent to this case. Perhaps the Michigan crew were looking at shipping/manufacturing such a fibre for use in their various operations. Perhaps your novel simultaneous spinning experiments are something akin to this manufacturing process, though may need some kind of modification or change of variables to get the desired results.

Are you aware that certain models of turntable favoured by audiophiles and disc jockeys have a pitch adjustment facility which allows, by means of a slider, many (14) speeds of rotation. It enables music to be played between the notes of conventional key structure, similar to the effect of de-tuning an instrument, but on a song-wide scale. I hypothesize that perhaps an unorthodox rotational speed could create some kind of resonance between the two spin sources, allowing for a qualitative change in results. This could operate as some kind of vibrational/resonant cipher - find the right combination of rotational speeds in the two sources and information may be gleaned from the beat notes of the resulting cross-rhythm like some kind of low frequency morse code.

With regard to working out some kind of timeline of 'disappearances', Perhaps Costa's mid-90's 'disappearance' was her dropping out of the state education system to form a band (possibly an early guise of Broken Social Scene), with the interim years spent touring the low-level festival circuit until the band's profile was raised enough to force her to return to the overground. As previously noted, the festival circuit can be a great way to fall of the radar should one wish to do so. Though, as a known Obfuscationist, she could easily disappear and yet be active at the same time, most likely under a pseudonym. Happy said the mixtape couple stopped visiting circa 2005. He doesn't recall when they first began appearing on campus, but says he became aware of them a couple of years into his studies, around summer 1995. I do not know how this fits with your theories.

Timeline

Timeline has now been produced, ranging from formation of the earth through the pre-cambrian, the cambrian, the pleistocene, the age of atlantis, into the dawning of the age of aquarius, to current modern times, taking in the construction of the water-weathered sphinx and the great pyramids, calanais and stonehenge, the guidestones, and the assumed beginning of construction of soft Michigan. Also taking in Ronald Searly’s poetry competition and the often forgotten ‘bin-fire’ incident, of 1982, at which the probably teenage Searly claimed no involvement in said bin-fire. An incident in which I have great interest.

The main new lead I have from laying out known knowns upon an axis of time, is as follows:
In the mid nineties, a Canadian Religious Studies student went from North America to the UK, and there left a map of the great lakes seemingly questioning the location of ‘Keegan and Rosta’ (Regan and Costa). Previously we had surmised that this implied a disappearance of Regan and Costa at that time (in advance of the main soft core disappearance around 2005).

However, it was not until 2004 that material was released by Broken Social Scene, which we know to have been penned by Costa. Three theories could explain this. Either, Costa disappeared in the 90’s, but her material was in the hands of the Toronto music scene before then, later being released by BSS, or Costa disappeared in the 90’s but nonetheless disseminated material to BSS after her disappearance, OR Costa did not ‘disappear’ in the nineties at all. On this third theory, which I favour, the following scenario is possible:

The Canadian RS student, possibly already acquainted with Costa (and Regan) directly or indirectly, is seeking out Costa and Regan, in the UK. She travels there specifically to find them. Whether she succeeds or not is unclear. Costa, possibly with Regan, possibly also with the Canadian RS student, returns to Michigan, and is involved in ensuing road trip activity as part of the beginnings of the soft Michigan project. Costa is also involved with the Toronto music scene directly or indirectly, in years/months directly leading up to the 2004 release of her material by BSS. It is then not until 2005 that Costa becomes untraceable, either from retreating into Soft Michigan, or else from going ‘underground’ to evade various groups, eg. military Project 31 operatives.

I must however check dates suggested by recent Boston contacts including Zac Happy. Did anybody disappear in the 90’s? Melody? When did Zac say the travelling mix-tape couple stopped coming by? When did he say the road trip activity began?

In Reply

I have been working on oh-five as main soft core disappearance. But according to RS student someone disappeared before oh-five.

It’s a game of two halves. The rich seam of analogy and parable contained in the annals of sports punditry is unsurpassed. For those of you watching in black and white, the brown is the ball behind the blue…

Who disappeared?

What is concerning me as much as the geographics of the case is its timeline. Who disappeared in the late '90s, and why; who disappeared in 2005 and why? If Melody Nelson disappeared in 2005 and now seems to now be getting active again, is this a sign that the cargo cult is back in operation, and will the other 'disappeared' of 2005 now resurface?

Questions from Boston

Okay, my last full day in Boston and I feel like a stranger in a strange land. I think I need to ask some questions to get my orientation again, so let's see...

It seems likely, based on Happy's recollections, that Cate and Grant were two of the main protagonists when it came to the expansion and recruitment drive for Project 31. They were running things across the campuses of North America - tapes, for sure, but most likely people and fabrics too. Costa's songs are known to have appeared on the tapes, so there would seem to be some link between Grant/Cate and Costa. As one of our investigators so perceptively asked - is Cate Costa?

Also, are the instructions presented on the tapes Coasta's own, or is she relaying messages from a more central figure? Kosyra, perhaps, or Regan, or Searly, even. Perhaps the instructions are coming from 'Mr. Crafts', whoever that maybe (likely one of the 3 suspects just mentioned). Or is Grant 'Mr. Crafts' - we know so little about him beyond a connection with Cate and witness statements aligning him with the tape distribution?

Other thoughts - did Kosyra fund/design the guidestone projects? We know he was 'disgustingly rich' and that he works in construction (or runs a front company marketed as being in the industry); was 'R.C. Christian' his public go-between? Could be Regan? Could be Searly?

I wonder now about the mid-nineties disappearance of Regan and Costa, as proposed by the map found by the candian religious studies student when studying in England - where did they go and what were they doing all this time? Is their disappearance in any way related to the later mass-disappearance of all recognised members of the Soft Michigan core group? Which, in turn, makes me wonder about the couple caught on CCTV using Searly's library card - according to Happy, they would seem to have some historical involvement with the Project 31 (having been spotted on campus with infrequent regularity until the disappearances), yet are not recognised as being Cate and Grant. Who are they?

Other questions - how does Sad Sack tie into all of this, and what is the significance of the missing mixtape 'At The Haberdasher's Request'?I shall try to make a breakthrough before leaving Boston. The heat goes on...

The Stitcher

Note to 'The Stitcher':

It is believed that Jose de Leon was involved in the research wing of Project 31; his reason for attending the Michigan boating trade fair being investigations into principles of buoyancy and large-scale cargo transportation. A sales rep who was present at the fair spoke to one of our investigators under condition of anonymity. He recalled a man of short stature with an out of town accent inquiring about large-scale inflation methods who referred to something possibly called the 'Michigan Flotilla'. The short man apparently displayed a physical nervousness which betrayed his calm eyes and wanted to know how to 'float something the size of a city'.

Whether he was an active member of the project or the suspected inside man working for the feds is as yet undetermined but the theory has been raised that he may have been the link between Pinsk, James Long and/or Vermott. The current leading theory is that 'Vermott' may be a codename for de Leon, who was assigned the task of silencing Pinsk by executing a staged crash in Maine for which James Long was made to look responsible. However, it could be that this theory is flawed and de Leon and Vermott are separate entities, either of which could have been an insider or an outsider with regard to Project 31.

Note from 'The Stitcher':

On 15 June 05 (before the disappearance of the soft Michigan core group), a mysterious letter was sent to a part-time Maryland woodland ranger by the name of Phipps. This letter was passed to a friend of Phipps, who herself was acquainted with the sister of a Baltimore man. This Baltimore man heard of our investigations after researching the subject of the letter online, and obtained a transcript of the letter for our researchers. It contains anonymous allegations claiming to be from a military source, that pertain to an alleged conversation between a military man and an Englishman known only as ‘Ike’. The military man, in some excitation, suggested that a city on a lake could be bettered by putting a city under a lake. He outlined a plan of individual vats which he called suspension chambers. The other man (‘Ike’) declared: ‘It is happening again…’ The military man, it is claimed, had a map on his wall of the US, with rings around 4 of the Great Lakes. A photocopied photographic image of this map accompanied the letter.

Project 31

The mysterious project 31 is thought to have arisen in the Michigan area around a crafts club for thirty-somethings. However, despite its beginnings as presumably a crafts project it clearly developed into something far more secretive and unknown. One ex-member of the crafts circle, hobbyist knitter Gert Schrubb, was heard to confess to a stranger in a bar ‘the whole thing started as a joke, but then so many boxes of the stuff started arriving – we had to go through with it. That’s when I bailed out…’ It’s unclear what the boxes contained. However in Duluth in fall 06 agent Harry Delacroix tracked down high school appliqué starlet Stacey Williams, then 24, and formed the following theory from her dealings on the edge of the Michigan. Harry supposes that an advert was placed on an online forum requesting materials to form a giant soft play version of Michigan, in actual size. When the boxes started arriving, he theorises, the small circle set to work and began the project. He doesn’t offer a theory as to where this actual size soft Michigan, once begun, was stored. Stacey Williams reports to Delacroix that she spoke to close friend of Gert, and one-time member of the circle, speed sewer, Jason Kendrick. Jason, who she claims developed a pill habit to maintain his edge, told her ‘we just loaded stuff on the tables to make some room down on the floor.’ The mystery deepened when core members of the circle all ceased to frequent local bars and coffee shops around the same period in 2005. Delacroix suggests they were by then working on the project ‘from the inside’. The theory of soft Michigan is of course too extreme to be believed…

When asked why it was called project 31, Delacroix declares ‘Michigan is the 31st state’.