Copernicus
Latest 10/30/2002
Earliest 7/6/1985
By BEN BRANTLEY
The New York Times
Not Just Any Crazy Old Man: A King
KING LEAR
What could be a more natural setting for 'Lear' than outdoors in the Village, amoung the lonely ranters?
By William Shakespeare; directed by Christopher Sanderson.
Presented by the Gorilla Repertory Theater Company.
At the Southwest Corner of Washington
Square Park, Greenwich VIllage.
WITH: Copernicus (King Lear), Tim McDonnell (the Earl of Kent). Paul Barry (the Earl of Gloucester), Scott Wood (Edgar), Courtney Casaves (Edmund), Amo Gulinello (King Lear's Fool), Christina Cabot (Goneril), Carrie Murphy (Regan) and Cerris Morgan· Moyer (Cordelia).
By John Strausbaugh
New York Press
Volume 14 Number 51
Copernicus comes down from his mountain in Ecuador.
"I did the book because I knew it was the only way I could go farther with these ideas," he says. "See, it got to a point where all I was saying was—" He adopts a whiny voice. "—
nothing exists! Nothing exists! I thought, 'Wait a minute, I've said that before.' I had to take it further. I had to drop out and go into a room with a computer for three years and go at it...
Nevermore, Inc.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COPERNICUS CREATES HIS SIXTH ALBUM IN FOUR LANGUAGES
English, Spanish, German, and French are the languages that Copernicus,
notorious New York Performance Spoken Word Artist/Philosoper has chosen to
express his vision. These albums possess the same lyrics, the same music, but in four
separate languages and in four separate albums each with their own special mix.
By David Gluck
American Theatre
Gorilla Rep artistic director Christopher Sanderson
Copernicus and Christina Cabot in King Lear: alive and well and camped out wlth the rest of the homeless.
By Carir VP Groom
Creem Magazine
Press Reviews of Copernicus' "No Borderline"
It all depends on what the forces within you call upon
you to do at that moment. It may be to work a 9-to-5
job; it may be to be a doctor, or it may be to live in the
woods. Or anything. I don't know. But you have to follow that voice.
You don't have to have a landlord. You
don't have to work a 9-to-5 job. You don't have to have
anything. You're free.
By Gersh Kuntzman
New York Post
Post Plus
STARFILE
Anyway catch "Nothing Exists" Oct. 30 to Nov. 24 at the One Dream Theater (232 W. Broadway)
By BEN BRANTLEY
The New York Times
Not Just Any Crazy Old Man: A King
KING LEAR
What could be a more natural setting for 'Lear' than outdoors in the Village, amoung the lonely ranters?
By William Shakespeare; directed by Christopher Sanderson.
Presented by the Gorilla Repertory Theater Company.
At the Southwest Corner of Washington
Square Park, Greenwich VIllage.
WITH: Copernicus (King Lear), Tim McDonnell (the Earl of Kent). Paul Barry (the Earl of Gloucester), Scott Wood (Edgar), Courtney Casaves (Edmund), Amo Gulinello (King Lear's Fool), Christina Cabot (Goneril), Carrie Murphy (Regan) and Cerris Morgan· Moyer (Cordelia).
By James Ireland Baker
Time Out New York
Interview
Leary
Does actor Copernicus revolve around King Lear, or is it the other way around?
By Carolan
Freie Presse
Kulturnotizen
By samataG
Malzhaus
Informationen Und Termine
Kultur & Kommunidationszentrum in Selostverwaltung
der new yorker performance künstler Copernicus verteidigt eine eigenwillige theone nichts existiert und als geeigneten ort fur seine nichtexistenz hat er die buhne auserkoren. von hier aus entzündet er serne verbale apokalypse voller leidenschaftlicher metaphysischer und spontaner poesie.
Spiecher No 1
Waren - Feldsrtaße
Mittledentsche Zeitung
Der New Yorker Philospoph und Künstler Copernicus tritt heute 21 Uhr im Studentenklub Turm auf.
By K. König
Hallesches Tageblatt
Studentenklub Turm
Copernicus predigt heute
Begegnet man dem 53jährigen Smalkowski
auf der Straße, unterscheidet
ihn höchstens seine kräftige Statur von
anderen. Allerdings müssen Dr. Jekyll
und Mr. Hyde bei seiner Geburt Pate gestanden
haben. denn auf der Bühne
wird er als "Copernicus" zum Dämon.
der beschwörend seine Botschaft verkündet:
"Nothing exists!" - alles. was
über die Größe von Atomen hinausgeht.
existiert. Wirklich. behauptet er.
Hallesones Tageblatt
Dämonische Stimme verbreitet ungewöhnliche Botschaften
Der Amerikaner Joseph Schmalkowski ist am 27. April mit einer Performance im Studentenklub Turm zu Gast
By JUMPEL
Tillirstrierte Halle
Live Guide
DUST
Das Nichts hat einen Klang
Live at Studentenklub Turm
Luna Park Poster
West Hollywood
By John Payne
LA Weekly
Copernicus at Luna Park
Copernicus claims that if we accept the fact that anything bigger than a subatomic particle changes so rapidly it cannot truly exist as perceived, we'll become free enough to spontaneously express our inner lives. Cool? Horse-pucky? You could ignore the wisdom and check out his powerful new CD, No Borderline (Nevermore), where Copernicus expounds on his New Age anarchy with a presence of high drama and majestic wallop, over intriguing improvised tracks in a jazz funk-New Music vein and much spatial grandeur Live.
By Stephen M. H. Brattman
Alternative Press Magazine
Copernicus
nee Joseph Smalkowski is a committed visionary (a visionary who should be committed!) who started releasing tracts as records in 1985, using various musical support to provide emotional context for his philosophy.
No jokes now. No Borderline IS an important record. And a hell of a mixer.
AMERlCAN THEATER OF ACTORS, 314 W. 54
th ST. 4
th FL
Copernicus, a cross between a rock poet and a philosophical rapper, is talking about his years performing in clubs. He's done his show at the World, Max's Kansas City, the Knitting Factory, CBGB's
By Andy Glass
Musicians Exchange
Independence Day!
No Borderline is not the fifth Copernicus album (the first, Nothing Exists. was not released in 1985) and does not feature Pierce Turner, members of Black 47, Zeferino Nandayapa & Sons' Mexican marimba ensemble and the Lithuanian band BlX. You can't hear it. You're not there!
By Dan Rhi
The New Review of Records
New York, NY
The bad news from Copernicus: You don't exist! The good news is you can't die either!
By David Krispel
SKUG
Subversive Wisdom
Dies mit einer brüllenden und hallenden Summe. die oft den Tonfall eines pathetischen Theaterschauspielers annimmt.
By Dean Suzuki
OPTION
A certain amount of hype has dogged Copernicus, but don't let that put you off. The poet/musician doles out another portion of his angst-ridden take on life that is at once clear-headed and mad, affirmative and nihilistic. His powerful rants are so visceral and delivered with such authority that it is quite easy to get caught up in them.
Quality Recordings
Borderline CD
By SSN
Burning Press
Lakewood OH
Taproot Reviews
For me this is an intoxicationg mix of post-Kierkergaardian punkzine existentialism & Kero-wackyan Zen. I love it!
The Columbus Dispatch
Sunday at Used Kid's Records
Sing Dag Records
COPERNICUS? NOT HERE!
We'd like to tell you that performance artist Copernicus
does his thing at 8 p.m.-Sunday in Stache's. 2404 N. High St.
There's just one problem. Copernicus doesn't exist
And. according to Copernicus (no relation to or reincarnation
of the famed astronomer), neither do any of us.
Columbus Alive!
Copernicus tours with only a keyboard and his emotional voice.
Rounding out the bill are hometown favorites Howlin' Maggie and performance poet Leni Anderson.
By Waymon Timbsdayle
Flamin'
King Of Reviewland
Chicago, IL.
By Erika Milvy
New York Post
WEEKEND
Performance Art Review
Copernicus is at the Judith Anderson Theater
If we think this raving diatribist is mad, we mirror the ignorance of 16th-century Europeans who disbelieved the astronomer's mind-boggling theory of the solar system.
Alarm Clock
Copernicus No Borderline
Woodstock 94 In Saugerties
2 more days of peace & music
Fri, Sat & Sun August 12, 13 & 14
The greatest weekend of peace and music in 25 years!
Be part of history
By David Hinckley
Daily News
Copernicus, the "performance artist/philosopher." does another show Monday at midnight over WBAU (99.5 FM)
By Michael Bloom
Word processing
Boston Rock
Exploring the Null and Void
By Carmen Juri
The Star Ledger
Radio Notes
Philosopher's call-in show simply unreal
Poet and philosopher Copernicus moderates a discussion on reality WBAI
You are not reading this.
In fact, there is no "this" and there is no "you."
Central Ohio's News & Entertainment Weekly
New York-based performance artist Copernicus brings his
Nothing Exists show to Stache's July 9. The show is a benefit for
The Free Press
By Dave Becker
Oakland Tribune
Spoken-word performer Copernicus appears at Club Boomerang in San Francisco on Saturday.
"If you believe this. it takes a lot of weight off your back," he says."You're totally free. You immediately have this cosmic and microcosmic view of yourself. You stop defining yourself, think of yourself as so very important, and from that, many things will follow."
By MAZ
Music Access
The Interactive Music Monthly
Unbridled theatrics and the rantings of a singularly unique madman combine in this weird persona. Performance art is alive and well with Copernicus.
Honey Megazine
In a similar but completely different vein, poet/musician/performance artist COPERNICUS combines his oblique poetry with avant garage music. Pulling in the talents of Black 47's Larry Kirwan and solo artist Pierce Turner among others, No Borderline (Nevermore) crosses nearly every boundary. A weird and wild record. (A+)
By gg
Chow Chow Productions
Seattle, WA
Copernicus has a intense and clear voice which keeps the whole CD cohesive and although some of his ideas are rather abstract, I still find them rather fascinating.
Fanatic
Preoria, IL
Musick Reviews
Copernicus is a guy who believes that nothing exists. In my opinion, I would have to completely agree.
Good Times
Westbury, NY
Up Next, Plato
If you haven't heard, or heard of for that matter, Copernicus, let me interrupt your mundane existance.
By Marshall Barnes
The Free Press
X-Files Adventure in NYC
Warp rapping with Copernicus/Pow Wow with the Montauk Men
We went to dinner at Phebe's and discussed his early career days and how he got his start. He told me of his adventures in Moscow, Berlin, Hanover, and Prague. His eyes lit up as he recalled being told by a stage manager in Prague, "Copernicus! There's 9,000 Czechs, shouting your name!" when it came time for an encore.
Gray Areas 107
Spring 1994
In
No Borderline, which they suggest you listen to in it's entirety in one sitting, Copernicus' lyrics and accent come across like a Shakespearean work, while his gravel voice and brutal descriptions of reality are more in tune with Ozzy.
By Marshall Barnes
The Free Press
Non-Existent CD Travels Through Time
His script is you and me, boy." The two songs form a bizarre symmetry, Copernicus and Bowie talking to the boy:
"You're always complaining" Copernicus says. "You are not a victim. You just scream with boredom" Bowie cries.
"You're looking old. You'll freeze and catch a cold"
By ROT
GEE-ZUZ Mag #11
Ah ... yeah ... okay.
This isn't exactly what I'm used to.
It's almost like a Shakespearean play - you can't quite understand what's being said but you know there's some heavy shit going down.
Alternative Album Chart
One of the most potent, musical creations I've ever heard.
Many of the pieces on this release were spontaneous with Copernicus' impressiviely powerful vocals (he could be a vibrant, dramatic theatre actor) and musicians that bring sounds that are at times almost ethereal (sometmes I see hell).
Baby Sue Music Review
I've heard of this man for years, but I've never heard his music. Copernicus is a true lyricist. His songs seem to focus more on what is being said than on melodies.
By Krach-2000
Pop Komm. Festival
Blue Shell
Copernicus, vor 20 Janren auch kurz in Hannover beheimatet, ist gebürtiger Pole und heißt mit bürgerlichem Namen Joseph Smalkowski, ist Entertainer, Storyteller.
Jellybean Zine
Don't Measure My Life In Terms Of Money... my new theme chant.
This is a distraught, psychotic, production here, featuring emotive prose bellowed at the top of Copernicus's lungs and murmured from the bottom of his lyrynx.
By Don Eelskin
Urban Spelunker
Seattle's choice for free-thinking music, art and culture
Music Reviews
Copernicus Nevermore Recording Artist
The dark cradle of the night prays by the bedside where the dog stores and holds the silent powerful vigil of truth.
Havoc
Surrey, BC Canada number twelve
Wiltamette Week
Luna Park
By Andrew Bryan
Moe Magazine
You'll find this CD in the "Alternative" or maybe the "Experimental" section of your local well-stocked music store. That's because most stores don't have a section labelled "Prophecy".
By Tim Casebeer
Willamelte Week
Sounds
Descartes' famous proclamation "I think. therefore
I am" is heresy to performance artist
Copernicus. Identity is this poet and keyboardist's main enemy.
Over musical landscapes that are alternately impressionistic
and beat-driven, he roars his philosophy with a thespian's love for drama.
La Luna
Wednesday Jan 19, 1994
New York Performance Poet
Copernicus
Dan Menche
Sound Views
Subterranean Music & Culture
Obviously a torured soul, he sets his words against equally dramatic music that takes elements of Rock, primal drumming, and eletronic Classical, though it occasionally doesn't always fit the tone of his poems.
Seattle Times
Nightlife
Copernicus - Brooklyn poet, performance artist and philosopher - will present his new show, "No Borderline." named after his fifth CD release, at The Velvet Elvis Monday and the Weathered Wall Tuesday.
By J. Michael Stockman
Statesman Journal
Portland Access
Anyone who uses the name of a 14th century astronomer as a stage alias has got to be dealing with loaded metaphors. Such is the case of Joseph Smalkowski, a Brooklyn-based poet performance artist who performs Wednesday in Portland.
The Stranger
Buckley will open a show at the Velvet Elvis Arts Lounge for Brooklyn, NY's Copernicus, a performance poet-philosopher.
R.A.D.
Review & Discussions of Rock & Roll
NO BORDERLINE (Nevermore)
Some say that he is a madman. others a genius. I personally prefer the latter, viewing Copernicus as one of those great eccentrics that Rock and Roll has a tendency to spawn and nurture, a crazed artist working on a plane distinctly above our own. It's up to us to rise to his level, not expect him to lower himself to ours.
By Chris Smith
New York Magazine
SHAMROCK & ROLL
Black 47 Fire of Freedom 3/22/1993
For five years Larry Kirwan wrote plays and occasionally strummed avant-garde guitar for a downtown poet called Copernicus.
"I did this tour of Eastern Europe and Russia with Copernicus, playing for a lot of dissidents," Kirwan says.
"It was at that point that I realized that rock music could have a part in social change again."
Transdimensional Times
THE MAGAZINE FOR UNDERSTANDING THE NEW REALITY
The single most powerful solo artist of the New Reality is a Poet of Particle Physics and the Physicist of Poetic Mayhem
By Michael Eck
The Austin Chronicle
SXSW Picks
When the lunatics take over the asylum, Copernicus will lead the house band. He played bass with Satan, cut the dance re-mixes for Joan of Arc, and produced the recent "Out of the Fridge" duet for Jeffrey Dahmer and Debbie Gibson.
AXU 18 Society
Such powerful intensity. I was overwhelmed! Copernicus is COPERNICUS a wild man. The strong forced words NO BORDERLINE that stormed out of his mouth gave me shivers down my spine.
New York Press
Vol.8, No. 45
Vincent Price is dead so there's finally a place for Copernicus, whose dramatic rants about the physical realm keep enough melody always to sound great, while doing for metallic funk what Stu Sutcliffe should've done for skiffle music.
By Aristedes DuVal
Show Business
Public Access And You
This week's feature artist:
Copernicus. In August 1986, we MC'd
a rockin' variety show counesy of
gallery owner /TV producer
Willoughby Sharp at Charas Tcauo.
Enter Copernicus. If we didn't have
the word "pioneer," you could easily
say "COPERNICUS" in its place.
Illustrierte Zitty Stradzeitung
Berlin
Irgendwie ist er ja ziemlich sympathisch durchgeknallt, dieser Copernicus, der jedes Jahr aufs neue die eingefleischten 810-Gänger verschreckt.
Franz Club
Berlin
Oct. 28, 1992
Celebrating his four albums
"Nothing Exists" "Victim Of The Sky" "Deeper" "Null"
Lidové Noviny
Nezavisly ceskoslovensky denik
Bach 1160 wien-bachgasse 21
avantgarde: Copernicus (N.Y.)
-do.28.05. -21.00
By Olaf Neumann
Nachtspion
Punk & Poesie
Copernicus ist ein Ein-Mann-Untemehmen im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes. Der Entertainer gegen die Norm ist sein eigener Manager, Produzent und Plattenboß.
Loft
Schmitz + Schulzgbr
Im Metropol
Mi. 20.5. Passionskirche 20 h
COPERNICUS
Solo-Performance
By VOLKER LÜKE
Der Tages Spiegel
DIENSTAG, 19. MAI 1992 / Nr. 14 205
StadtSzene
Wahnsinn nach Feierabend
Jekyll & Hyde: Copernikus, Makler und Performer
Trotzdem weiß er spannende Geschichten zu erzählen: So wird die Erde beispielsweise von den geheimmsvollen Wesen eines Planeten Bacteria beherrscht. die langes Hippie-Haar tragen und die Erde mtt Atombomben zuschmeißen. Klarer Fall: Der Alte hat nen Spleen. Aber wo es um pure Unterhaltung geht, haben ein paar Marotten ja noch nie geschadet.
By Thomas Winkler
TAZ
Berlin
May 15, 1992
By Stefan Meyer
Illustrierte Zitty Stradzeitung
Diamunda Galas und Copernicus
Himmelschreiend
By Thomas Gschrey
Berliner Morgenpost
Psychedelischer Prediger
Nevermore, Inc.
COPERNICUS BIOGRAPHY
1992
To experience Copernicus is to witness a personal struggle... the struggle of an artist, Joseph Smalkowski (who has renamed himself Copernicus), to find the most effective means to communicate his vision.
Copernicus is not interested in music or poetry per se. His main interest is philosophy. His core thought is that everything above the atomic level is changing so quickly that nothing can really exist.
Daily News
WONDERING WHERE TO GO LATE AT NIGHT
now that "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" isn't playing around anymore? Wonder no more. Copernicus is here.
New York Newsday
Choices
What's hot around town
Iconoclast In Concert
Copernicus struggles anew, in spoken-word solo, to define reality and shatter myths in "The Angel Exterminador of poet/performer/philosophers." He's performing at 8 p.m. through Sunday and Sept. 25-29 at the Judith Anderson Theater.
Downtown
Issue No. 259
Copernicus Solo At The Judith Anderson Theatre
This senes of spoken word concerts follows his most recent appearances at Soho's Synchronicity Space where he played to standing room only audiences in reminiscence of his 1989 Eastern European tour where he played to an audience of 3,000 in Moscow and 9,000 in Prague.
By ADAM WAWERSKI
CZWARTEK. 4 LIPCA-THURSDAY, JULY 4, 1991
Copernicus zamieszkal w Nowym Jorku
Mala salka na SoHo. Kilkanascie osob spoglqda na siebie z wahaniem. Tak, przyszli we wlasciwe miejsce: za chwile w klubie "Synchronicity Space" odbedzie sie program poetyckomuzyczny tajemniczej grupy "Copernicus". Tego wieczoru, 15 czerwca wyslqpil jednak tylko tworca tej grupy (wlasciwe nazwisko: Joe Smalkowsky, z pochodzenia Polak).
By John Strausbaugh
New York Press
Day by Day Listings
Copernicus, raging bull of rock-jazz poetry-in-performance, lets the words fly without a band or a net in a series of solo shows at Synchronicity Space starting Sat., June 8 at 11 p.m.and continuing the next two weeks. Imagine elements of Bukowski, Giorno and Kinski rolled into one leonine roar. (55 Mercer St.)
By Z'Kay
Klenkes
Aachen, Germany
By TMR
Hannoverschen Kulturleben
Musiktheater BAD
Eigenwilliger Alt-Hippie
Nachtspion
Untergrund-Dichter aus Brooklin
Die ungewöhnliche und höchst eigenstanige Musik des ehemaligen New Yorker Taxifahrers und besonders seine eigenwillige Philosophie erregten schon oft das Interesse alternativer Radiostotionen und Magazine in den USA und Europa.
Philosophische Vergleiche zu einem Bukuwskie, aber in erster Linie musikalische Vergleiche mit einem wilden, ausdrucksstorken Henry Rollins blieben hierbei selten aus.
DONNERSTAG
Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung
kommt heute um 21 Uhr ins Bad.
Mittlerweile hat er vier Langspielplatten vorzuweisen, alle mit großer Besetzung zwischen 20 und 40 Musikern eingespielt. Wer seine Mischnung aus Voodoo, Rock und Funkmag, kann sie sich live zu Gehör und zu Gernüte führen.
Drohende Faszination
Copernicus gastierte im Bad und im VVK
METROPOL
This is the final update and here is the confirmed schedule for showcases and conference.
Monday: DOMINIC SONIC (F), BIX (USSR). COPERNICUS (USA);
Kontra
Cislo 14
Tydenik Okrajove Kultury
Praha Slovansky Dum
Spor O "Dum U Diveho Muze"
By Micha Möller
taz berlin
Oh God !!! Do ist er Schon wieder, der Säurespucket und Geschichtenerzähler, vor dem selbst die räudigste Töle aus Downtown NYC winselnd davonläuft.
By Ian Chiclo
21 VOX MAGAZINE
Copernicus is not from Manchester. He doesn't rap or play acid-house: music, and he's not produced by Danny Lanais.
Copernicus does take music seriously. Null, his fourth record, is a collection of music developed during the last year while Copernicus was touring most of Europe.
RADIO TOESTEL
Studio & Selcretariaat
NAAM PROGRAMMA : Voor God & Vaderland
MUZIEKKEUZE : Migel Moors
Große Monologe der Weltliteratur
PRINZ und WK präsentieren:
Vor 30 Jahren schwemmte ihn das Leben für
eine kurze Zeit nach Hannover, den jungen
amerikanischen Dichter auf der Suche nach sich
selbst. Jetzt kehrt er auf Besuch zurück,
zum zornigen alten Mann gereift. Im Gepäck
den wahrscheinlich einzigen MetropolenBeatnik-
Roman, der je über Hannover verfaßt
werden wird.
Ganz Hannover
PRINZ PRÄSENTIERT
COPERNICUS: THE ART OF NOISE
By SIAURYS NARBUTAS
Virstant I Atomų Jara
Atomų jara mirga čia pat. Ką tik i ją nužengė svarbus Lietuvos naujajai muzikai žmogus - MARIUS BRASIONAS. BIX menedžeris. Jis pakvietė KOPERNIKĄ i Lietuvą. Jo dėka šiandien skaitome šias eiles:
By Olaf Neumann
Public Präsentiert
Das magazin der Stadt
Langas
Kauno Miesto Jaunimo Laikrastis Nr. 3
Džozefas Smalkovskis, pasivadinęs Koperniku, atrado, kad Niekas Neegzistuoja
Radio Toestel
Studio & Selcretariaat:
NAAM PROGRAMMA : Voor God & Vaderland
MUZIEKKEUZE : Migel Moors
CMJ New Music Report
COPERNICUS Null
Though even diehard Copernicus fans like ourselves would be reluctant to put too much stock in Nevermore's claims of Copernicus' single-handed role in the toppling of various totalitarian regimes in Eastern Europe following his tour there last year, you still have to sit up and take notice whenever Joseph Smalkowski's notorious alter ego takes to the mic.
By Brian Long
ROCKPOOL
Station to Station
So much of what passes for "alternativa rock" these days conforms rigidly to preordained conventions. Rock'N'Roll used to applaud itself for its wacko characters and outcasts. With the exception of Daniel Johnston and Jad Fair, most of what makes the hallowed college charts is created by reasonably stable careerists. In another realm completely is New Yorit City's raving free-thinker Copernicus.
8k Radio Tamil
Playlist
Copernicus NULL
European-Tour 1990
Distributed By Rough Trade Germany
New York Press Vol. 3, No. 45
"COME LUNCH WITH THE MONSTER! Let's eat the authorities," Copernicus exhorts the audience at a West Berlin club. And his band whomps up a big Quasimodo noisefest, and a week later the Berlin Wall is knocked down. Word sound have power, the dub poets say.
"Aw, humanity, you did your best," he sighs at the end of it. Same to you, Joe.
By Matt Lowe
Entertainment Writer
All right I think that Copernicus is slightly nutty. But he wears it well. I would be hard-pressed to define exactly what it is that he does. He takes elements from almost every type of music from world beat to classical. The music is always eerie and distant, coming from a self-styled 23 piece orchestra consisting of everything from a synclaiver to the marimba. Looking at the grand scale of things, you would think that he would be playing music for avant-garde elevators, but you would only find this playing in the elevator to hell.
FACTSHEET FIVE #39
COPERNICUS, "Null"
Delirious mad improv music that rolls from social events to the life of an electron to ancient Egypt.
FORCED EXPOSURE #16
COPERNICUS: In Prague
...live at Salvie Stadium in Czechoslavokia on 6/17/89 before 9,000 bewildered could-be-Ozzy-Youth, this just might be the historical document you want to keep around the house to remember the fall of the Communist Party by.
By Mats Lundgren
base one
By Mark Suliveres
BUZZ Reviews
Many writers have labeled Copernicus and his work "weird" or "hard to describe". It is neither. Copernicus is a multi-demensional man, kind of like David Byrne without the puke factor. A Laurie Anderson with guts and vision is more like it.
By Chris
INK DISEASE #14
COPERNICUS-"Deeper"
Copernicus appears on the cover of this album in a white and black tuxedo with some sort of drink in one hand, the other blurred; he looks pissed, looks like he's about to get up out of that chair and explode, looks like the crazy uncle they couldn't avoid inviting to the wedding, looks like trouble.
By Deivido Konrado
Nemunas
Lietuvus rašytojų sąjunga žurnalas
Kopernikas žvalgosi po rytų Europa
Deivido Konrado pasakojimas
Šiaurys Narbutas ir inga šeduikytė
By David Conrad
OPTION Music Alternatives Mar/Apr 1990 No. 31
Bloc Party
On the Road with Copernicus: A Survival Guide to Eastern Europe
Last summer, from June 13 to July 5, 1989, I went on a rock and roll tour through Czechoslovvakia, Poland, Lithuania, and Russia, as the bassist in Chill Faction, an experimental New York band, backing up Copernicus, a 50 year old poet/performance artist who calls himself "a musical genius."
By Byron Coley
Spin
Underground
Copernicus.
Deeper (Nevermore) Free-ranging rants
By Marek Jagla
KURIER POLSKI
Torun, Poland
Podczas koncertu Joseph Smalkowski calkowicle ustępnje miejsca Coperolcusowi.
By Daniela Furkel und Hauke Schlichting
What's That Noise
Daniela Furkel und Hauke Schlichting philosophierten mit Copernicus im Berliner Quasimoto in der fruhen Morgensfunden nach einer Performance im Rahmen der Berlin lndependence Days '89.
Public
Copernicus, 1.11., Bad/H
By Peter E. Müller
BERLINER MORGENPOST Nr.11/89
Eine heiße Soul-Nacht und Rock aus Litauen
Dicht gefüllte Klubs bis spät in die Nacht
Beim Gang durch die Kongreßhalle
blicken einen viele
müde Gesichter an. Alle sind
sie aber schon wieder geschäftig
bei der Messearbeit Musiker,
Verleger und Promoter,
die sich bei den 2. Berlin Independent
Days (B.I.D.) präsentieren,
sind Nachtmenschen.
RIFRAF
Klapdorp 67 2000 Anlwerpen
Copernicus, lp, DEEPER
Schaumburger
1. 11. BAD Hannover Copernicus am 3. 11. in der Szenerie Landesbergen
StadtMagazin Schädelspalter Nr.11/89
Hannover
Mit dem New Yorker Musiker Copernicus und der Ostberliner Band Feeling B hat das Musiktheater Bad für den 1.11. eine extraordinäre Intrpreten-Kombination verpflichtet. Der Spalter besuchte die Künstler vorab: Olaf Neumann hauste in Brooklyn bei Copernicus und Jürgen Stahlerfuhr in Ost-Berin Fakten und Hintergründe.
BAD INFOS
Hannover Germany
Feeling B & Copernicus
Photo: Carol Fonde
Live in Concert in West Berlin
At Quasimodo
By Hauke Schlichting
What's That Noise
Copernicus has true genius and his
work has meaningful character. The New
York performance-philosopher doesn't
care at all about trends and hipness
(zeitgeist?) rather on these both
records he makes fascinating art products
in his own ingenious improvised
way.
By PETR BERGMANN
MELODIE
He's now pulling money from his pockets, tearing it into little bits and throwing them to the public. "Money! Money! Penize! Penize!" he's calling. The people are energized at once and coins go flying onto the stage while from the stage bits of banknotes are flying.
The New Yorker
7/17/1989
Knitting Factory
This upstairs music and performance space opened its doors in 1986 and quickly established itself as the headquarters of the downtown music scene. (There wasn't much competition.) In the rear, there's a mini-bar stocked with herbal tea and imported beer. Up front is a small stage, occupied by Copernicus, a fifty-year-old poet-performer who talks about himself in the third person.
By Hieronim Wrona
Nowa Scena
Gdańsk-Sopoa
23-24.06.1989
megaScene
Stadmagazin fur Hannover Nr. 6 5.Janrgang
Niedersachsenstadion
Copernicus Tour of Europe 1989
Hannover 6/14
Prague 6/18
East Berlin 6/21
West Berlin 6/22
POLAND
Wroclaw 6/23
Sopot 6/24
Gdansk 6/25
Torun 6/26
U.S.S.R.
Vilnius 6/27
Kaunas 6/28
Riga 6/29
Moscow 7/1
Moscow 7/2
N.Y.C.
Knitting Factory 7/12
By Eraserhead
TIP Berlin
Es gibt nur eine kurze Schrecksekunde, als Copernicus Geldscheine zerreißt. Daßer dabei auf polnisch auffordert, aus Menschenleben mehr zu machen als die Jagd mach dem Geld, sickert nicht so recht durch. Danach ist die Stimmung nicht mehr zu retten, weder mit Art-Pop novh mit Hardrock.
Omladinski Radio 101
"OUT OF STREAM" IS THE ONLY REGULAR RADIO SHOW OF ALTERNATIVE MUSIC IN YUGOSLAVIA. THE SHOW IS EDUCATIONAL AND INSTRUCTIVE, IT PRESENTS MANY TRENDS OF ALTERNATIVE MUSIC AND FOLLOWS THEIR GROWTH, PROGRESS AND MUTUAL INFLUENCES.
By Jerzy Piskorzyński
Kontrapunkt
Po festiwalu "Nowej Scenye"
WCSB 89.3/FM Playlist
Cleveland State University
By John Strausbaugh
New York Press
Art of Noise
New York Press
It's hard to imagine that even an obscurity like Copernicus, New York's bellowing poet-performer, would have an imitator on the West Coast. But if Transvalue's Charles Britt isn't a Copernicus imitator, he's his Doppelganger.
RADIO TOESTEL
Studio & Selcretariaat
NAAM PROGRAMMA : Voor God & Vaderland
MUZIEKKEUZE : Migel Moors
Campus radio CJIV
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C.
Gold List
By Douglas Watts
HEADCHEESE
PORTLAND, MAINE
First there is the newness of the Copernicus experience: the Ahab-on-the-Mount bellowing in various states of synch with the "now" kinda free-jazz big band funk bottomed ensemble.
In his best moments, Copernicus stands as a raw and primeval bard trapped in a deadeningly conforming world: an Apache ancestor scraping petroglyphs in a mesa, shouting glories and doubts to the Cro-Magnon moon, or an urban nihilist cursing the victory of industrialized world slavery in "They Own Everthing."
Host: Rudi
RADIO CANAL 3
'stupid stupid'
2500 Biel Switzerland
Airplay Report
By Leigh Silverman
EAR MAGAZINE
Volume 13 Number 3
Confessions Of A Copernicus
One advantage of being. a rock poet is
that the world is your analyst, and at
49-years-old, Copernicus reclines
comfortably on the big white couch of
New York's new music scene. With
the gravel-laden voice of a Saturday
night disc jockey and the conviction
of a Sunday morning preacher, Copernicus has
the makings for a convincing showcase. Often
achieving a trance like state on stage, the sixfoot
philosopher delivers spontaneous poetry
accompanied by an 18-30-piece improvisational
orchestra.
By Charles S. Russell
EAR MAGAZINE
Volume 13 Number 1
Deeper is an appropriate title for this third release from Copernicus, the quintessential rabid stand-up philosopher of rock 'n' roll performance poetry. The alchemy of 29 musicians (including engineer Michael Theodore, whose excellent work makes this album a masterpiece) pitted against one madman roshi Copernicus, as created in several long studio improv sessions, shines exquisitely on this album.
By Chris Stigliano
PFUD!
This Copernicus dude's what you might wanna call "hard to figure out". A vet of the NYC scene (having spent the avant years of '79-'81 doing shows w/Circus Mort [pre-Swans Gira], Kongress, theoretical Girls amongst others), Copernicus' first album from '85 was an unheralded masterwork combining late-seventies NYC underground, Hawkwind-style drone and a post-Vietnam pre-Bicentennial aorta NYC ennui feeling that wouldn't've been outta place in a Mike Nichols film or the soundtrack to a Nichols film at least.
By MATS LUNDGREN
SLITZ
Stockholm
Här har han klämp ur sig texter pä stäende fot, backad av ett gäng säkra musiker som gjort likaledes med musiken.
By Steve
OUT
Norwich, CT
I recomend it, if you're wondering. Although you should stay away if Anthrax is your idea of avant-garde music.
By Ed Flowers
RATBEAT #4
Culver City, CA
This is the third LP or neo-beat poetry, song, and ranting by Copernicus, with impressive rock-jazz ensemble backing. Culled from some 200 pieces recorded over the past couple or years, this touches on subjects new ond old in the Copernicus sphere of influence: Elvis, Central America, nuclear war, evolution, the continuing death and life of joe Apples, existence.
Factsheet Five
25
th Issue
Truly innovative performance/music. Copernicus spoutes lyrics spontaneously in front of a classical or jazz instrumentation also played spontaneously. It takes a while, but once you're versed to it, the effect is utterly, hypnotically riveting.
By Ted Drozdowski
MUSICIAN
Records that rate
ROCKPOOL
College Radio Chart
JANUARY 31, 1988
By John Strausbaugh
City Paper
Baltimore, MD
Raging Pole
Copernicus Has Plenty of Nothing
Given his method, Copernicus makes prodigious, startling leaps from the profound to the ridiculous. At the best of times Copernicus and his musicians suprise each other and create something weird and wonderful that probably could not have been planned. It's automatic writing, improvised music and speaking in tongues all at once. The surrealists' exquisite corspe shambles up on stage and grabs the microphone, hollering messages from the beyond.
Camera Obscura
Issue #16
If Copernicus ever has just a mild day, it will be a source of curiosity. "Deeper", his new release, re-proves that "intensity" is just the anglicized bastardization of some name he possessed in a former life, wherein his weird internal-eye extroversion so electrified his compeers that his surname became a byword for mad eccentricity and was passed on down the language into absorption. What he is doing in this lifetime is not going to put any tarnish on the term, believe me.
By Jimmy
FORCED EXPOSURE #13
Listening to this record you have no choice but to believe him. In fact it makes all the sense in the world. A world where "there is nothing. There never will be anything." I agree completely.
Host: Rudi
RADIO CANAL 3
'stupid stupid'
2500 Biel Switzerland
Airplay Report
By R. J. Smith
The Village Voice
VOL. XXXII NO. 51
DECEMBER 22, 1987
Theoretics
"I see in my poetry the influence of the atom, it has a lot to do with how I see reality. The core of Copernicus's philosophy" -oh yeah, he often refers to himself in the third person-"is that we do not exist, that we are no reality. That's why I called my first album
Nothing Exists. The true reality is on the atomic and subatomic level."
CMJ CD and New Music Report
Essential New Music-As chosen by NMR's editorial staff
COPERNICUS Deeper
By Andy Dunkley
ROCKPOOL
VOL 7 ISSUE 22
NEW & NOTEWORTHY
Creeping, crawling, cajoling, careening and cavorting from the right side of the brain comes Deeper.. With the exception of "Once, Once, Once Again" the majority of the lyrics and music on this, the third, Copernicus LP, were composed on the run, in bursts of full-blown, hot-blooded improvisation. Occasionally the results can be bloody irritating but, when Mr. C and his almighty band of loonies really get it on, Oh God! -- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and, as you will hear, the exclamation marks are compulsory), the effect is nothing short of riveting.
By Jack Barron
New Musical Express
Epistemology for fun and prophet. Copernicus is far more amusing than Wittgenstein and A. J. Ayer because his eyes are full of stars. A sure fire floor emptier at the next Philosophy department knees up, put 'From Bacteria' on when you're tired of getting down with Gramsci.
Dead Man's Curve
E' bello sapere che la razza del poeti puzzi e ubriachi non sl ó estinta: da non perdere.
Dead Man's Curve
Article from Greese
Dead Man's Curve catalogue
GONE CLEAN AROUND THE BEND
DMC 017 COPERNICUS: From Bacteria
Crazy Brooklyn poet with Def arrangements and tongue and cheek verbal assaults. First UK release
By DAVE MARGULIES
CMJ New Music Report
THE TOPS OF 1986
1. Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush "Don't Give Up"
2. Pogues/Peter Case "Pair Of Brown Eyes"
3. Paul Simon "Graceland"
4. Joe Jackson "Soul KiS"
5. Van Morrison "Got To Go Back"
6. Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper "Stuffin' Martha's Muffin"
7. Dirty Dozen Brass Band "The Flintstones Meets The President Meets The Dirty Dozen"
8. Copernicus "the Lament Of Joe Apples"
9. Butthole Surfers "Perry"
10. Faith No More "'We Care A Lot"
By Richie Unterberger
Forced Exposure
"In not beinig the same from one moment to the next, we cannot claim to exist. We are just an illusion of our own poor eyesight and hearing. I believe it's very destructive to go around calling reality what is not reality."- Copernicus
The record announced itself boldly enough: this guy hunched
over a microphone looking for all the world like Michael Stipe's
debauched older brother, cigarette in mouth hovering above an
outstretched lighter from the audience. Thus we were somewhat
aghast to plop the needle down, anticipating yet another
post-punk/performance art variant, only to hear some lazy funk,
whispered hoarse vocals, and noncommital backup choruses
which suggested nothing so much as washed out Barry White. It
was easy enough to shudder, lift the needle and immediately
dismiss the disc, which the normally avant-garde NMDS had
somehow been tricked into distributing. A few snatches from the
LP's other cuts did sound more offbeat, but we weren't curious
enough to investigate in depth before shuttling it off to a reviewer.
But you can't dismiss Copernicus that easily.
By Eric Darton with Ursula Major
East Village Eye
October 19, 1986
Tompkins Square
Be Out
Several near brawls were catalyzed by this performance pushed to the limits, but the most touching moment came when Copernicus, having leapt off the stage and rapturously embraced a woman in the crowd was goosed by 3 Puerto Ricans with a baseball bat.
Camera Obscura
Probably Charles Bukowski will enter into the discussion when Copernicus is being discussed, but the relation is incorrect. Bukowski is a hobo who gets along on the gift of his talent, Copernicus is impassioned dervish who is observing the quirks of human nature, rather than finding ways to further warp them. Copernicus is the oblique Zen monk engaging in identifiable but inexplicable antics; the observer' comes away with an unspoken ko'an which will probably eventually alter his or her perception. At the very least, one must think, a largely uncomfortable experience for most.
Just 4 Fun
Ontario, CA
Copernicus "Victim Of The Sky" 12"
Definately not your ordinary record here.
Third Party Press
San Francisco, CA
Copernicus
Victim Of The Sky
The bulk of this album was recorded in 1 session,
with Copernicus often improvising words to the
accompaniment of an 18 piece ensemble. The result is
surprisingly tight as the musical styles run the gamut
from straight jazz to new age to reggae.
HIGH PERFORMANCE
Issue 33
Los Angeles, CA
An orchestra of sorts plays while C. himself screams, grunts and growls. The kind of it's-so-bad-it's-good, totally "free" music that feels great to play if you can get loose enough to do it.
New Music Distribution Service Catalogue
1986
Neo-beat bard with structured improv big band accompaniment. Sort of a cross between Ken Nordine and Barry White, with maybe a bit of John Cale at his most manic.
SOLID! Magazine
Los Angeles, CA
First, let's lay our proverbial cards on the proverbial table. Copernicus, on first listening, is a F*CKING MANIAC, A SCREAMiNG MADMAN! All right, so he still is on the ninth and tenth listenings. But after you play this thang a buncha times, you really get attached to it.
The Village Voice
AUGUST 12, 1986
This beatnik from hell (this refugee from a creative writing workshop) needs a sense of humor, but his bad moods are pretty compelling, and the jazzscapes that buttress his babble-stream help. August 7, CBGB, 315 Bowery at Bleecker
By Julian Btroot
Face The Music
Sacramento, CA
Copernicus, Not Just Another Pretty Face
Copernicus ranges through the swamps of human experience...
By Dave Burokas
Sporadic Droolings
Kearny, NJ
"Victim Of The Sky" LP
Another record that I'm having an infinitely hard time explaining. Shall I call this avant garde? Don't know.
By Lawrence Crane
BravEar
Berkeley, CA
Vol. 3 Issue 5
Victim of the Sky
Copernicus' second lp is brilliant! Really. Where the first lp seemed to wallow in artiness, this one hit me just right.
OWN THE WHOLE WORLD
#13 July 1986
Akron, OH
Victim of the Sky
...wildman shaman stuff here...Copernicus(AKA Joseph Smalkowsky)holds court w/Kant and other dead philosophers in the horse latitudes as a qualifying funk band grinds it out...Martin Scorcese drops by to direct "The Lament of Joe Apples" and if this all sounds far out and appealing, then check it out...
By the V
BEEF MAGAZINE
San Francisco, CA
Volume 6 No. 9
Summer 1986
This is volitile performance art. The most mind-exploding cut is "The Lament of Joe Apples", an unaccompanied ten minute monologue which must be experienced; words are useless to describe it's power. KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM!
By ED MOTHRA
JET LAG Magazine
MINNEAPOLIS, MN
July 1986
The only common point is the sort of beatnik/Nietschean/mystical lyrics and the good and bizarre musicianship of the band. Stylistically, the music covers much ground, from pseudo-reggae to twisted nightclub rock to slow, surreal ballads. The lyrics, many of which are written live at recording, are at times humorous, poetic, didactic, and insanely absurd, sung beautifully, overly dramatic, or yelled. Mr. Copernicus is one strange dude. I cannot help but highly recommend this record.
By W. R. Borneman
SOUND CHOICE
Ojai, CA
No. 5 Summer 1986
A 15-piece orchestra of musicians and vocalists backs poet/performance artist Copernicus on this, his second album of poems, songs, rants, and improvisations. Most of the music is improvised, as are many of the lyrics - startling considering the cohesion of these tunes. Improvising with a group of musicians is one thing: a poet putting himself on the spot to spout spontaneois lyrics is something else. Copernicus is one confident, ballsy bard! He's got a good voice and varies it masterfully: from tortured wailing to soulful crooning.
By Pat Prince
WNMC-FM
Traverse City, MI 90.9 FM
Northwestern Michigan College
Victim of the Sky
This is one of the only important records.
By Eddie Flowers
Lab no. 32
Culver City, CA
Aint No Cure
Fab F*ckin' Fourty
1. Alex Chiton - Bangkok
2. Celibate Rifles - Sometimes
3. Cramps - Cornfed Dames
4. Angry Samoans - Psych-Out 119
5. Ramones - Lowe Kills
6. Sonic Youth - Flower
7. Birds - Youu're on My Mind
8. Flaming Lips - Out for a Walk
9. Plan 9 - Poor Boy
10. Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Radar
11. Angry Samoans - Unhinged
12. LeRoi Brothers - Fight Fire with Fire
13. Willie "Loco" Alaxander - Taxi-Stand Diane
14. Exploding White Mice- Bad Little Woman
15. Primevals - Lose That Girl
16. Copernicus - White from Black
By Eddie Flowers
Lab no. 32
Culver City, CA
Review "Nothing Exists"
This is one of those records that hits you upside the head-like, really unexpected. I had never heard of this guy, and when I did hear him, it was something I would've never expected.
Review "Victim of the Sky"
"The Lament of Joe Apples" speaks with the voice of a bitter, middle-aged, working man who has seen too much shit and is not willing to take any more. This is just a wild guess, but as peronal as this sounds, it makes me think that maybe "Joe Apples" is Copernicus's own father, at least someone close-or possibly Copernicus himself, in an earlier self-incarnation? Anyway, it hits pretty hard, the gruff, unsophisticated bitching over the subdued blips and bubbling of the Copernicus ensemble. Impressive.
By John Strausbaugh
City Paper
Baltimore, MD
Pole Star
You could say that Copernicus is
just another hippie beatnik performance
poet fronting a spacy rock band. Then
you have to add that his deep-throated
growls and bellows sometimes remind
you of Jim Morrison, sometimes John
Cale, sometimes Jobn Giorno, Beefheart
or Barry White on bad acid. And
that he began his performing career in
1978 when he jumped up on stage
where a couple of guys were playing
Irish folk-rock, and grabbed a mike,
and started yelling poems into it, and
it sounded better than what they'd been playing anyway.
By Byron
FORCED EXPOSURE #10
Waltham, MA
...more post-genre nerve spill by the world's forgotten dad. There's a great ten minute shouted, drunken diatribe that's held up t' repeato-listenin' pretty fuggin' well. There's also all sortsa diff visions dished up by a guy who seems t' feel that eternity is a road down which he'd best be skedaddlin', pinchin' all the nips he can.
"Victim of the Sky" Reviews
By Frec Feuerstein
Rough Trade
"From Bacteria"
By Byron Coley
MATTER
Hoboken, NJ
The second LP by Big Joe Copernicus's another piece of matter as functionally weird as a turtle w/lips, but to tell the truth I don't think it's quite as outre as the last. I donno, possibly this's only the seemin' case 'cause the weirdom here's of a new kinda strain and I was expectin' an oddness I knew Uh, whatever the bit on here that grapples w/ya most immediately's no doubt "The Lament of Joe Apple."
By Chris Stigliano
PFUD!
A Hagiozine
I know better now and am singing the praises of Copernicus and his songs. Many others are doing likewise...read Byron coley's review of NOTHING EXISTS and look at Eddie Flowers' list of his top faves and spot TWO Copernicus numbers. Yeah, liking Copernicus is like digging John Cale or the Fall. He has his own methods of doing things, and his records are as independent as possible, but have the same stride as a Nice/Cale LP or any good innovative record from the late sixties.
By Richie Unterberger
OPTION Magazine
MAY/JUNE 1986
The debut LP by this truly strange character was the most uncategorizable vinyl to pass my way last year. To my satisfaction, his second album is no easier to pigeonhole. A very warped mix of performance art, no-wave and concessions to commercial accessibility, this is sometimes inspired, sometimes silly, and quite often both simultaneously, but never boring. The band is maniacally eclectic, treading upon disco, reggae, and avant-rock without ever sounding acclimated to any of these genres (that's a compliment).
Monochrome
May 1986
London
This is a strangely compelling record. Copernicus himself is a middle-aged white American poet/philosopher, who is often pretentious, but has a charm which manages to win the listener over. My favourite tracks are
Desperate,
Don't let me measure my life in terms of money and
The Lament of Joe Apple, a nine-minute rant from the mouth of a bigoted, paranoid drunk.
Uncle Fester
Minneapolis, MN
He's been called a "beatnik/punk/poet of the 80's". Either way, this is a brilliant album! The majority fr the recordings are at least 50% improvization, which really becomes impressive once you hear some of the songs. The man's writing is absolutely amazing and can only be compared with that of Jim Morrison. But the closest relation to Copernicus in the sense of an influence of the past would have to be the great Arthur Brown.
By M
East Village Eye
MAY 86
Starting in the late '70s with his so-called "musical mother and father", Larry Kirwan and Pierce Turner, Copernicus still remains a poet at heart. Ad-libbing against an aural backdrop that is itself spontaneously erected, he bursts forth with hard-edged observations on the shape of today's reality.
Unknown
Victim of the Sky was excerpted from live jams in the studio last year, and released a couple of months ago. It's a more organized affair than the first album, which has its good and bad points. While some of the pieces are still totally spontaneous, some have words which were written down beforehand but the band never heard them before the taping and on some the music was written beforehand, but never played before the taping.
Probably the most poetic and spooky bit is ''Victim of the Night." Joe raves with feverish visions reminiscent of Verlaine or Baudelaire, like hearing a sleepwalker narrating his nightmare:
It's gonna be like the beach.
The pebbles rolling through my veins.
Touching you.
Swaying alone.
When you scream.
In all the beach.
Kissing.
And I know the atoms.
I know the universe...
Standing still like the victim of the sky...
GORILLA BEAT
#22/86
West Germany
"I won't hurt you" is a very pretty song with a great melody line and a superb instrumental backing.
By Wendy Blatt
ROCKPOOL
College Radio Chart
College Radio Regionals
The music is tight, and the songs are profound statements of modern life. Copernicus is more poet/performance artist than any other musical category, and he translates this remarkably well to the audio medium.
Victim of the Sky follows laurie Anderson into avant-garde-goes-to-the-masses territory. Much of the album is suitable for airplay (particularly the many foreign languages "Not Him Again" and the reggae-old "Desperate"), and all of it is fascinating enough to make me want to see Copernicus perform live. Highly recommended.
By Philippe Soussens
DAZIBAO audio magazine
L.V.A.G.H.
99.20 mhz
FRANCE
PLAYLIST MARS 1986
SKI RECORDS -U.S.A.- COPERNICUS : VICTIM Of THE SKY LP
By Mats Lundgren
FRONTLINE
Uppsala, Sweden
The New York-poet Copernicus got a voice that lies somewhere between Buffy Sainte-Marie and Bruce Springsteen, and he nails us with cascades of words. Supported by a bunch of very sensitive eared rock musicians the text and music dodge the same way as avant-garde and traditional rock blends. This is the record that Glorno Poetry Systems still hope to do.
CMJ New Music Report
Copernicus is a genuine poet/performer whose soul screams for eternal release, and whose words are heightened by the emphatic way he delivers them. Victim Of The Sky is a richly varied work, ranging from the light electro-rhythms of "Victim Of The Night" {great sax work by Matty Fillou and echoed vocal effects} to the ballad "The Wanderer." as well as the reggae treatment given to ""Desperate" and the epic "The Lament Of Joe Apples." Don't miss this one.
By Ted Drozdowski
Boston Rock
Brookline, MA
Copernicus is a street poet with a gutter mentality-or maybe a saint without a god. He's perceptive as hell: a cultural iconoclast who uses his head and aims for the gut. And a damned sharp wit, too. This is spoken poetry and vocal performance with and wtthout an eclectic blend of musical accompaniment. Often funny or fascinating-sometimes, as in "The Lament of Joe Apples," so real it hurts. Don't ignore this man.
ICI & MAINTENANTI
96.6 FM Paris
Playlist 1986
Il sorriso verticale
Labels Independenti
Italy
INFO MAM
Bruxelles Belgique
Périodique mensuel
nᵒ 42 été 1986
THE PHOENIX
Into The Groove
Independent Record Producers Thrive In Brooklyn
By Philippe Soussens
DAZIBAO audio magazine
L.V.A.G.H.
99.20 mhz
FRANCE
PLAYLIST OCTOBRE 1985
SKI RECORDS -U.S.A.- COPERNICUS : NOTHING EXISTS LP
By Steve Jones
OP
TION Magazine
JULY/AUGUST 1985
COPERNICUS:
Nothing Exists F*ck this is good. Compelling. I was sucked/suckered in from the first four bars. Progressive top 40 finds emotion. Owes just the slightest bit to Steve Winwood-style melody lines. Screw writing, I'm gonna go listen to this ...
Copernicus
Nothing Exists
Reviews of the first Copernicus album
"all cuts are brilliant!"
KFJC, Los Altos Hills, Calif.
"Who is Copernicus and why is his album glued to my turntable??"
WOSR Columbus
"In a world of 60's garage pop and generic hard-core, Copernicus and band take a chance - Interesting!"
KABL's Unheard Music, Minneapolis
"This album is unique... A surprise at every turn."
Rockpool
"Copernicus is the embodiment of Jim Morrison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Billy Sunday and Caligula."
East Village Eye, N.Y.C.
"True innovation and a willingness to take chances."
Barbara Juppe - WBAI, N.Y.C.
"Aw c'mon - it's all good."
WCSB, Cleveland
DISTRIBUTED BY
IMPORTANT RECORDS
Dutch East India Trading
New Music Distribution Service
Photo by Drew Carolan
Copernicus
LOJA, La Hora
Copérnicus: más que un canto, un don
Copérnicus se presenta hoy, a las 19h00, en el coliseo de la Universidad Nacional, luego que ayer ofreció un concierto en el Polideportivo de la Técnica.
Extra
De todo un poco
Copérnicus en Ecuador
Copérnicus el filósofo, escritor, declamador y músico norteamericano, está nuebamente en Ecuador para realizar la segunda promoción en varias ciudades del pais.
EL TELÉGRAFO
Guayaquil
Copérnicus es una artista de vanguardia que ha trabajado en varías disciplinas cooio la música, las artes escénicas y el pensamiento filosófico. Adopta el nombre del astrónomo Copérnico porque piensa que sus ideas también son parte de una revolución filosófica.
EL UNIVERSO
ARTE Y ESPECTÁCULOS
Músico Copérnicus presenta disco y libro
Copérnicus actuará junto con los músicos que partidparan en su disco. Ellos son Freddy Auz (bajo), Newton Velázquez (teclado), César Aragundi (guitarra) y Juan Carlos Zúñiga (batería).
EL COMERCIO
Sonidos de la introspección
El artista estadounidense Joseph Smalkowski, "Copérnicus", ofrece un concierto en el cual combina rock progresivo con registros sonoros que evocan introspecciones. Disfrute de su música.
HOY
Mañana a las 19:00 en la sala Demetrio Ahuilera Malta de la CCE, se llevará a cabo el concierto de música y presentación del CD y el libro titulado la eternidad inmediata del artista "Copérnicus"
CCE Benjamin Carrion BOLETIN DE PRENSA 191
Quito
CONCIERTO MUSICAL DE COPERHICUS EH LA CCE
El miércoles 21 de agosto, a las 19h00, en la sala "Demetrio Aguilera Malta" de la Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, se llevará a efecto un concierto de música y presentación del CD y el libro titulado "La Eternidad Inmediata" del artista COPÉRNICUS.
El Diario
Y conciertos en Manabí
Músico y filósofo dará conferencia en la UTM
Su nombre artistico es Copérnicus (Copernico), como el filosofo y sacerdote polaco que revolucionó con sus pensamientos y descubrimientos la sociedad y realidad en el tiempo que el vivia, de igual manera ha revolucionado la forma de apreciar y asimilar concoptos tan complejos como la existencia misma del ser.
EL MERCURIO
Un sbow para no perdérselo
Copérnicus, un hombre y su mensaje de la inexistencia
El artista y poeta del rock filosófico Joseph Smalkowski 'Copérnicus', se encuentra en nuestra provincia para realizar conferencias y shows en vivo en Portoviejo y Manta.
El miércoles 7 de agosto en Portoviejo a las 17:00 efectuará una 'confrencia de Copérnicus' en a Universidad Técnica de Manabí (UTM), en el salón de actos culturales. Los shows en vivo se efectuarán en la UTM el 8 de agosto a las 19:00; el 9 de agosto a las 18:00 en la Universidad laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí y el sábado 10 de agosto a las 20:00 en el teatro Chusig.
EL UNIVERSO
Teatro Centro de Arte de Guayaquil
¡Ven a la gira mundial 2002!
Copérnicus de New York con Los Nómadas de Guayaquil
la eternidad inmediata
EL UNIVERSO
¡Ven a la gira mundial 2002!
Copérnicus de New York con Los Nómadas de Guayaquil
EL GRAN CONCIERTO
De Rock Filosófico en español al que tu no puedes faltar
JUEVES 23 DE MAYO UNJVERSIDAD ESTATAL
VIERNES 31 DE MAYO AUDITORIO BANCO CENTRAL
MIERCOLES 5 DE JUNTO TEATRO EXPERIMENTAL CENTRO DE ARTE
JUEVES 13 DE JUNIO "Conferencia Campus de la POLITECNICA"
JUNIO 12 Y 14 TEATRO EXPERIMENTAL CENTRO DE ARTE
By Francisco Cruz
EXPRESO DE GUAYAQUIL
EXPRESIONES No.383
'Nada existe'
'El hombre y su existencia es solo una ilusión', según la doctrina de Copérnicus, filósofo que vista el país.
EL UNIVERSO
El Mayor Diario Nacional
AGENDA CULTURAL
Mañana se efactuará un concierto del artisto norteamericano Copérnicus en la Universidad Estatal de Guayaquil
EXTRA INFORMA PRIMERO Y MEJOR
EL DIARIO DE MAYOR CIRCULACION DEL ECUADOR
VUELVE COPÉRNICUS
Copérnicus alista una serie de conferencias y conciertos en Guayaquil.
Su espectáculo, Laetemidad inmediata, vuelve corregido y aumentado. Además, presenta su libro
EL TELÉGRAFO
La inexistencia de Copérnicus
Copérnicus es uná artista de vanguardia que trabaja en varias disciplinas como la música, las artes escénicas y el pensamiento filosófico. Adopta el nombre del astrónomo Copérnicus porque que piensa que sus ideas también son parte de una revolución filosófica.
DATOS IMPORTANTES DE COPÉRNICUS
1. Adopta el nombre histórico del astrónomo porque piensa que sus ideas son también parte de una revolución filosófica
2. Tiene cinco discos grabados hasta hoy
3. Su carrera se inicia en 1979 en Nueva York
4. Ha realizado giras por Europa Occidental, Europa Oriental y Estados Unidos
5. Terminar su manuscrito "La Eternidad Inmediata" le tomó tres años, luego de los cuales llegó al Ecuador
6. Conoció a los músicos "Los Nómadas" en la provincia de Manabí
7. La Obra "La Eternidad Inmediata" consta de un libro, un disco y una serie de conciertos de Rack Filosófico. La versión en español fue completamente grabada y producida en el Ecuador
8. Su principal postulado es "Nada Existe" porque la materia está hecha de átomos, que a su vez están en constante cambio.
9. El primer tema del disco se titula "Polvo" y se refiere al polvo atómico.
10. Ben Brantley, del New York Times, en Agosto de 1996, diJo "La actuación de Copérnicus parece concebida para explotar"
11. El CD "Deeper" fue incluido en la lista de los mejores 30 albumes underground de la Revista "Spin" en Enero de 1990.
12. El CD "Deeper" fue incluido en la lista "Records that Rate" de la Revista "Musician" en Febrero de 1988.
13. John Strausbaugh, del New York Press, en Septiembre de 1988 dijo "Copérnicus es un genio musical que no sabe cuando renunciar"
14. El concierto de lanzamiento se realizará el Jueves 26 de Abril del 2001, a las 20 horas, en el Teatro Centro de Arte de Guayaquil.
HOY
Copérnicus: noche de rock filosófico
El sepectáculo denominado 'La Eternidad Inmediata' es a las 20:00 en el Centro de Arte
EXPRESO DE GUAYAQUIL
Copérnicus El rock & roll filosófico
Pero esta vez, los temas no fueron Improvisados, sion tomados del manuscrito 'La eternidad Inmediata'. Este álbum to unló con un grupo de artistas ecuatorianos. Entre ellos Freddy Auz, Newton Velásquez, Giovanni Rosado. César Aragundi y Juan Carlos Zúñiga. Una produccion que fue grabada originalmente en inglés y luego en español.
By Alex Lima
EL UNIVERSO
ARTE Y ESPECTÁCULOS
Copérnicus propone un rock para la reflexión
Fue así como escogió el rack para difundir su lírica. Al suyo lo denominó rack filosófico o rack arte. Con esa etiqueta ha recorrido el mundo, ofrecido recitales en diversas ciudades y continentes, y editado seis álbumes.
"Generalmente, cuando subía al escenario, la gente se quedaba boquiabierta sin saber lo que estaba pasando. Sin embargo, yo tenía la impresión de que estaban anonadados por la energía que se liberaba y que unos pocos efectivamente comprendían mi mensaje filosófico", comenta.
EL TELÉGRAFO
Filósofo, esáitor y músico presenta libro y CD
Copérnicus y La Eternidad Inmediata
Su manuscrito, La Eternidad Inmediata, comprende un libro, un disco y una presentación, en los cuales trabajó tres años. Fúe concebido en inglés, pero los músicos ecuatorianos lo animaron a hacer una versión del álbum en español. Copérnicus sí maneja el idioma y dice sentirse orgulloso de su traducción. Posiblemente hará versiones de la obra en alemán y francés.
EXTRA Guayaquil
Copérnicus y La Eternidad Inmediata
Llegó a Ecuador, escribió un libro y lo hizo canción. El artista realizará un concierto el 26 de mayo.
EL ARTISTA NEOYORKINO se enamoró de Ecuador y su gente. Su disco lo grabó junto al grupo Los nómadas de Guayaquil.
LA GIRA MUNDIAL COMIENZA EN ECUADOR
COPÉRNICUS DE NUEVA YORK INICIA EL LANZAMIENTO MUNDIAL DE SU NUEVA OBRA
LA ETERNIDAD INMEDIATA es una obra que abarca un trabajo escnto (recopilado en un libro). un disco del género ROCK FILOSÓFICO y presentaciones en vivo. Es un concepto filosófico y artístico, que se expresa a través de la palabra escrita. la música grabada y las presentaciones en vivo. Copérnicus tiene a su haber 5 discos realizados anteriores a esta obra.
LA HISTORIA ÚNICA DE UN HOMBRE Y SU MENSAJE DE LA INEXISTENCIA
Llegado 1973, Copérnicus decide establecerse en su natal Nueva York donde continúa con su labor creativa, escribiendo canciones y música para guitarra. poesía y más novelas. Hoy en dia, tiene varias "cajas llenas de material que no he visto en años" y piensa revisarlo "cuando sienta el impulso" para reconsiderar su vigencia.
Esta es la historia de muchos; especialmente quienes vivíeron su juventud a plenitud en los años sesenta y setenta. Sin embargo, una noche en 1979, tras una velada bohemia en el famoso Lower East Side de Nueva York. Smalkowski conoció a dos músicos irlandeses que interpretaban música de su país y romántica y se hacían llamar
Turner and Kirwan of Wexford. Tras una conversación con el cantinero, los músicos asintieron de mala gana a interpretar una pieza con él. "Subimos al escenano y creamos algo espontánéo Nos encantó el resultado y a la gente también". Aquella noche, Copérnicus finalizó su gestación y nació con estruendosa brillantez.
