James Dashow's music for acoustic instruments, speaking voices, computer, and dancer, is about cultural commentary, expressive gesture, sound, and bringing together the different sound worlds of traditional instruments and electronics. "Media Survival Kit" takes an ironic text by Bruno Ballardini that includes advertising slogans and banal statements to offer a critique of mass media.

NICO
Our hero, a certain Nicò, is recounting a few early memories; he is already captured, hypnotized by his computer screen. The voices are those of the world of informatics which become more and more hallucinatory as Nicò falls deeper and deeper into the digital world. Reality continues to call him, to pull him out of his vortex, but in vain; the further he gets inside, the more reality seems mere light-play.

CREMA (CREAM)
As persistent as a virus, the publicity spot appears wherever there's a screen.

TUTTI COLLEGATI (Everybody Connected)
The ultimate triumph of the screen: its universe is the Net. But as for us, are we really there?

'Media Survival Kit' was produced for Audio Box, a program of National Italian Radio (RAI), Radio 3.

The voices, in order of their materialization: Alfredo Lombardozzi, Bruno Ballardini, Claudio Bianchi, Lucia Bova, Pinotto Fava. The musicians: Lucia Bova, harp; Corrado Canonici, contrabass; Paul Goldfield, percussion; Barbara Lazotti, soprano; Paola Buccian, cello; with the special participation of whistler Nicholas Anagnostis.
Elaboration of recorded sounds and electronic sound synthesis was done using the MUSIC30 system of digital sound synthesis, on the Spirit30 accelerator board for personal computers by Sonitech International. Digital editing by Giancarlo Grevi, Paolo Antonini, Antonio Giordano.

With thanks to Roberto Carapellucci and especially to Pinotto Fava, producer of Audio Box.

P.S. The composer and the author of the words, Bruno Ballardini, worked together almost exclusively via the Internet; nevertheless, towards the end of the project each verified that the other really existed.