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David Woodard
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David Woodard
David James Woodard (/ˈwʊdɑːrd/ ⓘ; born 1964) is an American conductor and writer known for his controversial performances. Through the 1990s and 2000s, Woodard constructed and sold replica Dreamachines, or stroboscopic light devices. He also coined the term prequiem, meaning preemptive requiem, to describe musical compositions that he made "for the soon-to-be-deceased". He created prequiems for people such as baseball player Joe DiMaggio and terrorist Timothy McVeigh. He also wrote music for neo-Nazi activist William Luther Pierce and attempted to memorialize the 9/11 hijackers. Woodard is interested in Nueva Germania, a district in Paraguay founded by German settlers. He stated that he was drawn to the settlement as what he called "an Aryan vacuum in the middle of the jungle", although he has denied being a white supremacist.
Woodard was born in Santa Barbara, California, in 1964. His mother was Virginia Woodard. According to her, Woodard's father was a disc jockey and later worked in public relations. He claimed his mother was an anesthesiologist; when contacted by a journalist, she denied this. Woodard claimed in 2001 that his interest in death stemmed from the fact that, when he was a teenager, his girlfriend was mysteriously found dead; in another instance he said that she had killed herself and her parents had blamed him.
A piece by the OC Weekly in 2000 accused Woodard of fabricating or exaggerating many aspects of his life and having a strong desire to be famous. Woodard studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, before he moved to Napa, California in 1987. There he worked at the Tulocay Cemetery.
In 2000, he contributed a chapter to Adam Parfrey's anthology book on the transgressive, Apocalypse Culture II, in which he wrote about ketamine usage in a chapter called "The Ketamine Necromance". Due to the chapter, the book was removed from circulation in Russia as "drug propaganda". Copies of the book were destroyed and the printer who produced them was fined.
While in Napa, he became interested in the Dreamachine, a stroboscopic light art device invented by Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville. He first read about it in William S. Burroughs' The Job and Gysin's The Process. His landlord had been a friend of Gysin and was in possession of the schematics used to build the device. Based on those schematics, throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Woodard built replicas of the device.
He turned this into a business and largely sold his Dreamachines through word of mouth. Woodard befriended artist William S. Burroughs, who had previously also built Dreamachines, and moved to Lawrence, Kansas in 1997 to be closer to him. He later moved to Los Angeles. Woodard's Dreamachine replicas were shown in exhibitions including William S. Burroughs' 1996 LACMA visual retrospective Ports of Entry, and William Burroughs: 100 Years of Expanding Consciousness at the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence, Kansas in 2014. A dreamachine was sold to Kurt Cobain, possibly by Woodard, which rumors and some organizations claimed was somehow responsible for his suicide, criticizing both Burroughs and Woodard for this. Most commentators, and Woodard, disregarded this, and later reports on Cobain's suicide contradicted it. In 2004, a journalist ordered a $500 Dreamachine from Woodard, which was delivered after seven months of delays, and was made from black cardboard.
Woodard also constructed and offered for sale a device he referred to as a "wishing machine", inspired by Burroughs' writings, which he claimed had allowed him to control the weather and cure cancer.
During the 1990s, Woodard coined the term prequiem, a portmanteau of the words preemptive and requiem, to describe his practice of composing dedicated music "for the soon-to-be-deceased". In the 1990s, he wrote a prequiem entitled "Farewell From Humankind" to a brown pelican who was killed by a beach comber. Woodard sought out media coverage for the pelican prequiem. He composed another for baseball player Joe DiMaggio called "Farewell to the Yankee Clipper", but was not allowed to perform it in front of DiMaggio, despite his efforts. In 2005, Woodard was the music director for the Los Angeles Chamber Group, which mostly focused on memorial pieces.
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David Woodard
David James Woodard (/ˈwʊdɑːrd/ ⓘ; born 1964) is an American conductor and writer known for his controversial performances. Through the 1990s and 2000s, Woodard constructed and sold replica Dreamachines, or stroboscopic light devices. He also coined the term prequiem, meaning preemptive requiem, to describe musical compositions that he made "for the soon-to-be-deceased". He created prequiems for people such as baseball player Joe DiMaggio and terrorist Timothy McVeigh. He also wrote music for neo-Nazi activist William Luther Pierce and attempted to memorialize the 9/11 hijackers. Woodard is interested in Nueva Germania, a district in Paraguay founded by German settlers. He stated that he was drawn to the settlement as what he called "an Aryan vacuum in the middle of the jungle", although he has denied being a white supremacist.
Woodard was born in Santa Barbara, California, in 1964. His mother was Virginia Woodard. According to her, Woodard's father was a disc jockey and later worked in public relations. He claimed his mother was an anesthesiologist; when contacted by a journalist, she denied this. Woodard claimed in 2001 that his interest in death stemmed from the fact that, when he was a teenager, his girlfriend was mysteriously found dead; in another instance he said that she had killed herself and her parents had blamed him.
A piece by the OC Weekly in 2000 accused Woodard of fabricating or exaggerating many aspects of his life and having a strong desire to be famous. Woodard studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, before he moved to Napa, California in 1987. There he worked at the Tulocay Cemetery.
In 2000, he contributed a chapter to Adam Parfrey's anthology book on the transgressive, Apocalypse Culture II, in which he wrote about ketamine usage in a chapter called "The Ketamine Necromance". Due to the chapter, the book was removed from circulation in Russia as "drug propaganda". Copies of the book were destroyed and the printer who produced them was fined.
While in Napa, he became interested in the Dreamachine, a stroboscopic light art device invented by Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville. He first read about it in William S. Burroughs' The Job and Gysin's The Process. His landlord had been a friend of Gysin and was in possession of the schematics used to build the device. Based on those schematics, throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Woodard built replicas of the device.
He turned this into a business and largely sold his Dreamachines through word of mouth. Woodard befriended artist William S. Burroughs, who had previously also built Dreamachines, and moved to Lawrence, Kansas in 1997 to be closer to him. He later moved to Los Angeles. Woodard's Dreamachine replicas were shown in exhibitions including William S. Burroughs' 1996 LACMA visual retrospective Ports of Entry, and William Burroughs: 100 Years of Expanding Consciousness at the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence, Kansas in 2014. A dreamachine was sold to Kurt Cobain, possibly by Woodard, which rumors and some organizations claimed was somehow responsible for his suicide, criticizing both Burroughs and Woodard for this. Most commentators, and Woodard, disregarded this, and later reports on Cobain's suicide contradicted it. In 2004, a journalist ordered a $500 Dreamachine from Woodard, which was delivered after seven months of delays, and was made from black cardboard.
Woodard also constructed and offered for sale a device he referred to as a "wishing machine", inspired by Burroughs' writings, which he claimed had allowed him to control the weather and cure cancer.
During the 1990s, Woodard coined the term prequiem, a portmanteau of the words preemptive and requiem, to describe his practice of composing dedicated music "for the soon-to-be-deceased". In the 1990s, he wrote a prequiem entitled "Farewell From Humankind" to a brown pelican who was killed by a beach comber. Woodard sought out media coverage for the pelican prequiem. He composed another for baseball player Joe DiMaggio called "Farewell to the Yankee Clipper", but was not allowed to perform it in front of DiMaggio, despite his efforts. In 2005, Woodard was the music director for the Los Angeles Chamber Group, which mostly focused on memorial pieces.
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