When I was a little kid, my next-door neighbor had a Siamese cat. It was the first one I’d ever seen and I wasn’t sure if it was real. I’d see it sitting in a window. Sometimes it was there and sometimes it wasn’t. When it was, it never moved. It always sat in the same pose, perfectly still. Often when I’d see it, I’d stop and stare - for minutes at a time - waiting to see if it would move. There was something very regal about this cat. It reminded me of the cats I saw I Egyptian art. So I imagined it to be very wise and possibly in possession of magical powers. When I finally saw it move, I was very excited. The spell wasn’t broken though. If anything, my fascination with it grew - a statue now animated.
Many years later, I fell under a similar spell but this time the creature was human. When I first moved from the country to the city, I would see this spooky woman from time-to-time. I never saw her up close. It was always little glimpses at a distance. I was mystified by her the same way I was mystified by the Siamese cat. Something about her seemed unreal. She had a dark magical energy about her. It somehow felt like I was seeing something other people couldn’t see. I guess you could call it attraction but that usually implies something positive. This was negative. She frightened me. I can’t explain why.
I was at a show one night when a friend’s girlfriend approached me and said, “my friend has a crush on you”. She tried to explain who this friend was but I kept coming up blank - no idea who she was talking about. Finally, she said “are you going to the thing on Saturday night?” I don’t remember what the thing was but I said I’d be there. She said, “I’ll be there too and so will my friend. I’ll introduce you.”
You guessed it. The friend was the spooky woman. Seeing her up close for the first time, my blood ran cold. I balled my hands into fists to keep them from shaking. I should have run away. But I didn’t. For many years of my life, I ran TO instead of AWAY FROM things that scared me. I don’t know why. It was a very destructive impulse.
Very, very long story short, this woman was in and out of my life for many years after that. When she was in, the times were dark. She’d keep me around until all my blood was gone. Then she’d disappear. And when she was gone, she haunted me. It was a spell that was very hard to break. Every few years, I’d be pulled back in for another complete bloodletting.
During one of the haunted periods when she was disappeared from the world, I wrote and recorded the song “Sleep Apnea” for her. And - voila! - she rematerialized and I started bleeding again.
Fast-forward a few years and I’m in Cincinnati for Scribble Jam. I crashed at Mr. Dibbs’ house and so did DJ Signify. One night - neither of us able to sleep - I told Signify the story of the spooky woman in great detail. When the sun came up, he said it was the greatest story he’d ever heard or something to that effect.
Another few years later, Signify told me he wanted to make an album with me and Sage Francis and that for my parts, he wanted me to re-tell the story of the spooky lady. There were a few specifics he insisted I include. This was before the days when it was easy to record in separate cities and exchange files digitally. So Signify came to Halifax to record my parts in the tiny rathole apartment where I was living at the time. The end result was an album called Sleep No More.
A few words on DJ Signify:
He’s one of the best friends I’ve ever had. Back in the day, he and I would talk on the phone for HOURS. Mostly we’d talk about music and play records for each other (holding the phone up the speakers of our respective studio setups). But we also shared common interest in just about everything. We’d have deep, analytical discussions on seemingly any topic. It was the greatest.
Signify is a highly skilled and extremely creative DJ. Advanced digger too. He put in the work. He was way ahead of our peers on a lot of things. He was unearthing library records before that really became a thing, for example. His collection is insane. Years later, I feel like I’m still trying to catch up to him.
Signify is unbeatable in one-on-one basketball and pool. Unbeatable! It’s downright maddening. I wouldn’t say he’s cocky but he knows he’s good. He’s a quiet killer. Very cool. Unflappable.
I miss Signify. I haven’t seen him or even spoken to him in years. I don’t know what happened. None of our mutual friends have heard from him either. I think about him all the time and reach out periodically but I never hear back. I hope he’s doing well. Last time I did speak to him, he said he was living in California. That seemed odd to me because he was such a hardcore New Yorker. But I also felt California would do him some good. When I finished the King Of Drums album, he was one of the first people I wanted to share it with. I’m pretty sure he’d love it. I really want him to hear it.
As for the spooky woman, I don’t know what has become of her either. As long as I knew her, she’d pick up a new passion every few years - usually something artistic - and really excel at it. Last I heard, she too was on the west coast and working as a tattoo artist. I have no doubt that she’s doing well and living a very interesting life.
I still have trouble sleeping sometimes.