Crayon/Blindspot

I recall the Autumn of 1989 after a jam session on vocals at a Kabrich Street house party (in Blacksburg VA) I was asked to join Crayon (later Blindspot) by guitarist Scott F.  and while I did not remain in that band for long, the free form jams and spontaneous art oriented approach of what the group did as well as adding my own poetry to that process for the first time made a lasting impact. I was asked to join a second time by singer/bass player and longtime friend Duncan but by then I was really determined to create my own version of that early band. I started building our first studio in a basement of a big house on 4th Avenue in Radford. I spent too much of my graduate school loan money buying a drum kit with no cymbals and a used microphone.  In Autumn of '91 Dirty Pictures was founded in Radford, which was alternaive rock mixed with poetry and art. The Spiritworld in ’93, Spectral Arts ’07 and Project Morning Star ‘18 all followed in the same footsteps of that original Crayon blueprint as well. The Spirit of Crayon bonded many of us together musically and helped our later projects to take form and gave us true vision and direction for future days.

-T. Byron Kelly

12/5/2025

RESPONSE FROM YURY OLSHANSKY TO THE VIDEO RECOREDED MEETING OF SATURDAY with Spectral Arts:

From Bishop Sigrist and the Transfiguration Fellowship-

I am taking the liberty of posting this also here as I think of general interest: from Yury, Author actor producer poet and clown resident in Rome sometimes New York....

"Thank you so much for sending me the link with recording of Zoom session. It gave me the possibility to "participate" in this meeting, which sometimes otherwise would not possible to attend, to listen to the beautiful poems and performance and to learn new things. This kind of performance could be traced to the ancient times, where music was often joined with the poetry complimenting each other. In this context I recall when we, with my brother Vladimir, (who is also an actor and clown) years ago, had participated in the similar format of the show with the composer and violinist Michael Galasso in Florence, in the performing space with belonged to the Carmelite monks. It was something which one would call "The Happening". We have been lying on the stage reciting the polyphonic poems in two voices in Russian and Michael would play his music and improvise. It was a memorable experience. Thanks again Best wishes Yury

Spectral Arts Program & Press Page

 https://sites.google.com/view/spectral-arts/spectral-program-press

Note to Bishop Sigrist-Transfiguration Fellowship show April 2024

Our presentation (in Spectral Arts) is centered in performance art of the poems, each show is unique in that we spontaneously interpret the poetry each time we play.

-T. Byron K

https://sites.google.com/view/tbyronkelly/home

Support Your Local Art Gallery

Please support your local art gallery and thank you to XYZ Art Gallery, Gray Gallery, Pilot School Gallery & Gallery 6 here in the New River Valley of VA for so many music events for our band and personal art exhibits since 1993/2013

@xyzartgallery

@graygalleryva @gallery6va https://sites.google.com/view/pilotschoolgallery/home

Spectral Arts & The Creative Process

My creative process with Spectral Arts involves listening to what is being played, spoken, or sung by the group. Then, while listening to the musical accompaniment options that come alive in my head, determining what to play or "channel" within the mix. This usually becomes a bass line that helps the music take off, land, or groove around the melody. 

- Soupbone

https://www.facebook.com/SoupboneMusic

Spectral Arts & The Creative Process

 I remember one early session Doug Eagle V. (our drummer) and I had in his family house back in 1994, we were still searching for a sound and had not started to work with Eric L. yet on what would become The Spiritworld and later Spectral Arts. I began to sing my poems in a way that emulated popular and angst driven vocalists at the time from bands like Nine Inch Nails and Nirvana and Doug said simply “man, don’t sing like that”, it was clear, direct and what I needed to hear at the time and most likely saved me from decades of trying to create music that was not really who I was for the sake of it being more popular. I never forgot that one afternoon in the practice space and I never returned to trying to sing like I had ripped my heart out and was watching it beat in my own hands. We needed to find out what worked for our own artistic sensibilities and not base our music on what people expected it should be at the time.

-T. Byron K.

9/29/2022