Purpose:
The purpose of this project is to bring to light the death of Brian Deneke to a larger audience. This piece is the story of a crime told with the bias favouring the murder victim. In the story, "Oles" states that this death "is the sickest thing, and you probably don't read about it". This was the inspiration for the project. I felt that often the truth about an event is blurred, and that multiple perspectives on an event always need to be considered. Through this piece, I intend to bring to light the untold story of the murder of Brian Deneke. The story has been discussed in the newspaper, but generally from the perspective of middle class reporters who are often biased against the type of person that Brian Deneke was. I found this story of the Brian Deneke incident, in the March/April edition of Punk Planet. This perspective on the murder was not really portrayed in the media, and thus I feel it is my responsibility to expose an alternate view to the popular version of the story. In addition, because Dustin Camp received such a light sentence for his actions, I feel that this unjust situation needs to be remedied by actions such as mine. I am aware that all parties involved in this incident are guilty for the death of Brian Deneke, including himself. However, ultimately it is Camp that is responsible for his death. He took the rivalry between the battling groups to a whole new level, and as a result, he caused the death of Deneke.
There are lessons that can be learned from this incident. Especially in today's hostile environment, more and more, playground rivalries are resulting in unintentional deaths. I think that pieces such as this one can create an awareness of the consequences of these rivalries. Young people don't intend to kill each other, but these rivalries create situations where people get seriously hurt. We need to be aware that if these situations progress unhindered, they will escalate until something serious, like a death, makes people realise how foolish they are.
Production:
The musical phrases are original. An electric guitar provides a repetitive background in order to foreground the narrative, which is taking place. The narrative for this eighteen-minute piece is adapted from a narrative by Chris Ziegler in Issue #36 of the magazine Punk Planet. I decided to keep the piece as sparse as possible in order to allow a listener to focus on the narrative. If I were to re-record the piece, I might use somebody else's voice, because I feel that mine is somewhat flat and doesn't capture the respect of a listener. This was a great experience, though next time I record this narrative I might try adding sound FX to help a listener visualise the events which are taking place. This would be a very extensive project, but would be very satisfying upon completion, and would be ready for radio airplay. However, as it stands, it outlines the rough structure for a larger project, but also (which some touching up) could be played on the radio as is.
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