Behind the Scenes
By Joseph W Matheny
Behind the ScenesMay 03, 2021
Behind the Scenes of the Incident at Ong's Hat Episode 4
From the Substack
Today’s raw recordings are the final two for the Behind the Scenes series.
This is a single file containing Denny Unger, admin of one of the Ong’s Hat forums in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Also included is James Curcio.
GAME OVER
Here is an RSS feed for your convenience, or you may wait for this Substack to remind you each Friday for the duration of the series.
https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/232444.rss
LINKS TO INDIVIDUAL SERIES EPISODES
Ep. 1 Announcing the Incident at Ong’s Hat
Ep. 2 Launch Day For “The Incident at Ongs Hat” and Episode Two of “Behind the Scenes”
Ep. 3 The Incident at Ong’s Hat: Behind the Scenes- Episode 3
Ep. 4 Behind the Scenes of the Incident at Ong's Hat Episode 4
APPEARANCE ZOOM OPTION Holly Elsdon- Portals, Otherworlds, and the Legend of Ong’s Hat Time & Location18 Feb, 16:00
Todmorden, Todmorden, UK
About the eventWith special guest Joseph Matheny joining us via Zoom from the US! He has also kindly agreed to answer questions during the post-talk discussion.
Drawing parallels from folklore and early accounts of Otherworld experiences, Holly will be expanding on the case of ‘Ong’s Hat’: did a bizarre confluence of esoteric spirituality and cutting-edge quantum science find a portal to another dimension in the New Jersey Pine Barrens? Or was this merely ‘the first internet conspiracy’ and a model for future Alternate Reality Games? How did the story start, and how did the process of trans-media storytelling end up having serious ‘real-world’ repercussions? A must for anyone curious after listening to the recent Radio 4 drama based on this legend!
The Zoom link will be emailed 1 hour prior to the talk.
Tickets ZOOM IN PERSON
The Incident at Ong's Hat: Behind the Scenes- Episode 3
Here is a 5.5-hour collection of recordings I did in preparation for the BBC podcast series The Incident at Ong’s Hat. This is part of an ongoing series of podcasts called Behind the Scenes.
I‘ll let you decide, after listening to it, if the desired outcome was achieved.
I have one more audio dump after this, and then I will be done with this companion podcast. Time to move on to other things.
Here is an RSS feed for your convenience, or you may wait for this Substack to remind you each Friday for the duration of the series.
https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/232444.rss
Enjoy.
Remember, in this world, there are Gary Buseys, and there are Ari Golds. Be a Gary Busey.
https://youtu.be/hwWbHDV3-bALaunch Day For "The Incident at Ongs Hat" and Episode Two of "Behind the Scenes"
Today is the day that the broadcast of the series, The Incident at Ong’s Hat, on BBC 4 and BBC Sounds podcast.
Episode 2 of Behind the Scenes, P. Emerson Williams.P. Emerson Williams is a multi-media artist who has a hard time separating music, art, writing, and video. More people listen to the sounds of P. Emerson Williams every day than realize it, for much of it is embedded in extensive associated and pseudonymous projects past, present, and ongoing. P. Emerson Williams is an artist and illustrator whose work takes shape in physical and digital media, and his passion is for embodying mythic, melding visual and sonic art with narrative form. His singular touch takes projects spanning physical and digital media, genres, and modes of performance into strange realms.
https://digital.panicmachine.com/
https://hermetic.com/anthology/profile/p-emerson-williams/index
You may also recognize Peter’s name from past projects with me, such as The Incunabula Papers- Platinum 20th Anniversary Audio Book Edition, editing and playing a role as Milfred Connely, shortwave conspiracy researcher extraordinaire. And who can forget Peter’s role as Ralph in Xen: The Zen of the Other audio-drama, as well as his production contributions to these projects and contributions to some of my past projects like Greylodge.
Here is an RSS feed for your convenience, or you may wait for this Substack to remind you each Friday for the duration of the series.
https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/232444.rss
Enjoy.
Announcing the Incident at Ong’s Hat
Behind the Scenes Episode 1- David Metcalfe
From the SubstackA new series will premier on BBC 4 Radio Limelight on air and then as a podcast after every Friday broadcast for the next five weeks. The series starts on Fri, 27 Jan 2023. It is a five-part series titled The Incident at Ong’s Hat.
LINK: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001hg08
The series is inspired by Ong’s Hat: The Beginning along with elements from my personal life.
A new episode will premier every Friday. (Episode list can be found here.)
The credit list can also be accessed by clicking “show more” below the description. I make an appearance playing “myself,” or at least a fictionalized version of myself, as it were.
In anticipation of the premier, I am sharing some raw audio interviews conducted as background material by the producers. I will run one behind-the-scenes piece every Friday before the broadcast and podcast release of each episode. I am calling this series Behind the Scenes.
Here is an RSS feed for your convenience, or you may wait for this Substack to remind you each Friday for the duration of the series.
https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/232444.rss
If you don’t know about David, you should. I consider him one of the preeminent researchers into the nuanced world of liminal places and states.
Information Golem: New Mini-Series from TOOWi Arts
https://josephmatheny.com/2022/07/05/information-golem-new-mini-series-from-toowi-arts/
I sat down with Jerry Gaura of TOOWi Arts to discuss the origins of me as an artist and the Ong’s Hat ARG. We logged countless hours which Jerry patiently trimmed down into a 2 episode series with a bonus episode that is exclusive to his Patreon and readers of this mail list.
I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed talking about things past with Jerry.
Information Golem -Chapter One
INFO
An artist struggles to manage the chaos unleashed by the world’s first ARG “Ong’s Hat.”
Chapter One – “Born To Be Weird”
Books, punk, drugs, HAM radio, and “The family weirdos” inspire Joseph on his way to the mystical encounter that inspired Ong’s Hat.
*Listen loudly or with headphones*
#1970s, #1980s, #ghoststory, #hamradio, #josephmatheny, #ongshat, #psychedelics, #punkrock, #truestories
Information Golem – Chapter Two
INFO
Chapter Two – “My Name is Emory”
Joseph Matheny gets plugged into California’s countercultural elite and enlists the help of some greats. Steeped in tech, drugs, and San Fran’s rave scene, the project takes off with the 90’s internet boom. True weirdness unfolds when a person claiming to be a character Joseph invented for the Ong’s Hat game appears.
*Listen loudly or with headphones*
Visit toowiarts.com or pateron.com/toowiarts for more info
#josephmatheny, #mysteries, #ongshat, #robertantonwilson, #true, #truemystery
Information Golem – Bonus Scene
INFO
“Super Odds” – Joseph Matheny reflects on “LSD-Day,” a 1993 Bicycle Day celebration where his path crossed with comic book legend Grant Morrison.
*Listen loudly or with headphones*
More info @ patreon.com/toowiarts or toowiarts.com
#bicycleday, #coincidence, #grantmorrison, #josephmatheny, #magick, #supergods, #truemystery
Xen - The Zen of the Other, The Audio Drama
Xen: The Zen of the Other is a work that follows one man as he attempts to find his way through the jumble of modernity that envelopes us all and threatens to strangle us in its “Tentacles Longer Than Night.”
https://digital.panicmachine.com/album/xen-the-zen-of-the-other
Cast into a world where the liminal overlaps with the world of paranormal /philosophical speculations, Ezra Buckley struggles to keep his head above water long enough to pluck a jewel of wisdom from the crown of a forest spirit.
In a world devoid of rites of passage, Ezra finds himself on his own as he is confronted with the very real prospect of having a life-changing, Liminal experience in the woods of Big Sur, if he can survive it.
Is it even real?
Is it the legendary Watchers of Big Sur phenomena or something else?
Xen is a work that confronts the questions of identity, modernity, life, the other, and the place for rites of passage in the modern world.
This audio-play version of Xen includes a fully hyperlinked ebook for reference use.
credits
released October 29, 2021
Xen: The Zen of the Other
Written by Ezra Buckley. You’ll have to decide for yourself if that’s a real name or not.- thepsychopath.org
Background information by Cameron Whiteside, if that indeed is his real name.- whereiscameron.wtf
Produced by P. Emerson Williams- pemersonwilliams.wordpress.com
The voice of Joseph Matheny performed by himself- josephmatheny.com
The voice of Ezra Buckley performed by Chris Gabriel aka memeanalysis- memeanalysis.com
The voice of Ralph performed by P. Emerson Williams
The voice of Tiamat performed by Anna "Maiya" Young- www.godmonsters.com
The voice of Racoon 1 performed by Iskandar Sakut abn Mayu (aka Eian Orange of Z(enseider)Z)- eianorange.zenseiderz.org
The voice of Racoon 2 by performed Deb Petrochko - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_(mythology)
The voice of the waitperson performed Missy G - afieldofred.wordpress.com
The poems of Ezra Buckley read by Joseph Matheny
Xen: The Zen of the Other- Copyright 2021 Joseph Matheny
All Rights Reserved
Statio Numero: Coming Soon
Artist and writer, Joseph Matheny presents Statio Numero the third installment of what is ostensibly a trilogy titled, The Liminal Cycle.
The Liminal Cycle is comprised of
Part One- Liminal by Cameron Whiteside,
Part Two- Xen: The Zen of the Other by Ezra Buckley, and
Statio Numero, presented by Joseph Matheny.
We will examine not only the method but the result of creating characters that actually live and have agency and the responsibility of the creator after those characters have outlived their usefulness to the project.