How did this Voicejail scene get started?
The ‘box scene’ was started in 1986 by a personals ad placed in the San Jose Metro by a character named ‘Ed Note’. The ad directed the reader to a voicemailbox for “The World Suicide Club’. The incoming calls were cut up and used in collage form as the subsequent ‘outgoing’ (or greeting) messages on the same box, inspiring and attracting even more creative weirdos. Note’s free DIY entertainment voicemailbox acted as a feedback loop of insanity that was a clarion call for disaffected outcasts of the 1980’s Silicon Valley yuppiefied social scene and all manner of Bay Area freaks. Soon, a character named Mr. 1:15 got a box on the system and called it “Club Manic-Depression” followed by Ronald Redball’s “Global Maverick Society”. Other regulars (see below) joined and got their own boxes. The scene grew and grew, migrating to other voicemailbox systems. At it’s height, it boasted no less than 50 box-owners. Countless others simply called the boxes to listen to the messages. The scene broke
The scene was sparked by a personal ad in the San Jose Metro, put there by a character named Ed Note. The ad invited Silicon Valley ‘freaks’ to call a voicemailbox sardonically titled ‘The World Suicide Club’ The recordings of incoming calls to Note’s advertised voicemail box were then cut up and used in collage form as his outgoing message material. This small-scale ‘mediage’ experiment created a kind of feedback clarion call attracting all manner of artistic and disaffected outcasts, freaks and weirdos, who had been largely alienated from the 1980’s Silicon Valley yuppie social scene which predominated at that time. Mr. 1:15 (Newport) soon after set up his box (called “Club Manic-Depression”), followed by Ronald Redball’s box (titled “The Global Maverick Society”). Many more followed, and the scene grew and migrated to other more robust voicemail systems (which could better handle the load it put on their resources). The scene continued for 10 years. At its peak, there were no less t
It was started in 1986 on the personals voicemailbox system of the Metro newspaper in San Jose, CA. It’s primary embodiment was a box originally called The World Suicide Club started by a character named ‘Ed Note’. He placed an ad in the Metro attracting Silicon Valley ‘freaks’ to call. The calls were cut up and used by Ed as the ‘outgoing’ messages on the box which inspired and attracted more weirdness. The scene migrated to other regular voicemail systems where at its peak it contained over 50 different mailboxes. Countless others simply called but did not have boxes themselves. The scene broke up around the mid-nineties.
