David's Pegasus

David's Pegasus is the creation of multimedia artists and musicians at Atardicorp Studios. A live band performs the soundtrack to an animated film about the friendship between bible trivia expert, King David, and his sassy winged traveling companion, Pegasus. This unlikely pair traverse a nostalgic videogame landscape from within the AtardoVision, a rare and primitive game console with electroshock capabilities. Entertaining on multiple levels, David's Pegasus charms retro videogame fans, film enthusiasts, artists, and music lovers of all ages. Live performances are titled by episode as the saga of David, Pegasus, and the AtardoVision unfolds.

The music:

David's Pegasus sounds like the AtardoVision looks; blunt, simple, colorful, and catchy. With a collection of surreal and compelling pop songs, the band adds an intensity to the visual experience, at times contrasting the on-screen action, at other times subtly complimenting the film. As the AtardoVision bios plays over the monitors, the band opens DP episode 01: What? with "Stop Saying Hardcore", a sullen yet sugary hook lasting less than two minutes. The scene and colors change in unison with the last lyrics of the song. As the AtardoVision prepares to boot its first 3-inch cartridge, the band begins to play "Little Lucy", a smooth and sneering crooner about fatalism, weener dogs, and selling out. The band consists of Bryan Brandon (wurlitzer electric piano), Barry Brinegar (Ibanez electric guitar and vocals), and Robert Conde (percussion). Classic videogame samples are added to the mix of live musicians to create a sound both original and nostalgic.

The film:

Projected onto a large screen, and beaming out of a collection of modified Atardicorps monitors, audiences our surrounded by the visual art of David's Pegasus.

"We suspected the average person would rather watch TV than go to a concert, so we essentially made the TV our fourth band member."

-DP creator, Barry Brinegar

It's one of the things that makes the project so interesting. David's Pegasus could be described as a video with a band or a band with a video, depending on how much control television asserts over the observer. Episode one opens with a black-and-white horror sketch featuring James Johnson as the demented Doctor Hank MeGacock. He examines a captive and heavily drugged patient, portrayed by designer Sarah Mims' feet, and subsequently prescribes "AtardoVision therapy". The opening credits play through as the dangerously inept doctor demonstrates the AtardoVision's advanced electroshock capabilities! In the next scene, the AtardoVision is booted up, running through the primitive bios screens and loaders as the band begins to play. The action rolls along like a merry game of "combat" or "space invaders". The AtardoVision plays a wide variety of 3-inch game cartridges, each with their own cast of characters, plot, and songs. Audiences exposed to the AtardoVision universe find that it is not unlike our own world. Though the graphics are obsolete in this age of Super Playtendo 64's and 32XDolphins, the film reminds many of us of a time when collecting enough gold coins meant cheating death at his own game. One such cheater is Pegasus, who existed in the cartridge Rainbow Pegasus Land. Having collected all of the gold coins in the game, Pegasus exposed a glitch in the code allowing him to exit his cartridge and enter the AtardoVision's 3-inch cartridge slit. Traveling between docked cartridges and the console, Pegasus eventually finds King David, who is about to fall into an eternal lake of fire for incorrectly answering a bible trivia question. Still with us? Then again, you could always just watch the band. TV's bad for you.

Project History:

Variations of DP episode 01: What? have been performed in Fayetteville, Arkansas since the beginning of 2006, starting with a party at the Gung-Hobo's "Studio A" on Center street on January 13. Since breaking into the recovering original music scene of Northwest Arkansas, David's Pegasus has shared the stage with Fire Don't Care, A+Setup, Tel Aviv, Timber, Kiss Kiss, Catfish Haven, Ill Ease, the OneUps, Josh the Devil and the Sinners, and other touring entertainers. David's Pegasus has displayed custom merchandise at Art-Amiss events and local art galleries. The group is currently looking forward to their performance at the 2007 Northwest Arkansas Music Awards and the release of their debut album, which was completed in Feb. 2007 at Listen Laboratories.