Speakers

• Ian Scott

  Catch the witness - Catch the wit - Catch the spirit - Catch the spit. Decreed by Kubla Khan to taste anew the fruits of life. Oh, I will dine on honey dew and drink the milk of Paradise. The last immortal man. Our world is doing fine. Tires spitting gravel, I commit my weekly crime... But the Oaks can't help their feelings, if they like the way they're made, and they wonder why the Maples can't be happy in their shade? I wish that it might come to pass, not fade like all my dreams.

  Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone. Any escape might help to smooth the unattractive truth, but the suburbs have no charms to soothe the restless dreams of youth. Drawn like moths we drift into the city the timeless old attraction. Run like the wind as excitement shivers up and down my spine. There is trouble in the Forest, and the creatures all have fled, as the Maples scream 'Oppression!' and the Oaks, just shake their heads. So the Maples formed a Union and demanded equal rights, 'The Oaks are just too greedy. We will make them give us light.' Let the banners be unfurled. Hold the Red Star proudly high in hand. Attention all Planets of the Solar Federation, we have assumed control.

  Sundays I elude the 'Eyes', and hop the Turbine Freight to far outside the Wire, where my white-haired uncle waits. These things just can't be true. I know it's most unusual to come before you so, but I've found an ancient miracle. I thought that you should know. A thousand years have come and gone but time has passed me by. Cast in this unlikely role, ill-equipped to act with insufficient tact, one must put up barriers to keep oneself intact. They left the planet long ago. Get caught in ticking traps and start to dream of somewhere to relax their restless flight. Today's Tom Sawyer, he gets high on you, and the space he invades he gets by on you.

• Ian Scott

  Companion, unobtrusive, plays the song that's so elusive, and the magic music makes your morning mood. Come and join the Brotherhood of Man, what a nice contented world. A thousand years have come and gone but time has passed me by. The elder race still learn and grow. Don't annoy us further; we have our work to do. The people will all see its light. Their power grows with purpose strong to claim the home where they belong. I was overwhelmed by both wonder and understanding as I saw a completely different way to life, a way that had been crushed by the Federation long ago.

  He leads me on, light years away through astral nights, galactic days. Invisible airwaves crackle with life. In the sudden silence as I finished playing, I looked up to a circle of grim, expressionless faces. Down in his barn, my uncle preserved for me an old machine - for fifty-odd years. I have always been awed by them, to think that every single facet of every life is regulated and directed from within! Cast in this unlikely role, ill-equipped to act with insufficient tact, one must put up barriers to keep oneself intact. And the meek shall inherit the earth. I can no longer live under the control of the Federation, but there is no other place to go.

  I had heard the whispered tales of immortality, the deepest mystery from an ancient book. Drive like the wind , straining the limits of machine and man. Time and Man alone searching for the lost - Xanadu - to stand within The Pleasure Dome. I have not left this cave for days now. I know it's most unusual to come before you so, but I've found an ancient miracle. I thought that you should know. It's got wires that vibrate, and give music. Somewhere out of a memory of lighted streets on quiet nights... When I touch it, it gives forth a sound.