Tom's story: 2015
15 pieces on this page. Click a picture or "See the whole card" to open the card.
2015 — Tom was 36 and 37
15 pieces on this year: 15 from a range of years, shown here in the middle.
ABOUT 2015: FROM A RANGE OF YEARS, SHOWN HERE IN THE MIDDLE
462Style and Noise
about 2013-2017 (age 34 to 39) BEST GUESS
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's previously unpublished handwritten cursive lyric Style and Noise (Pretending you got something when you really got nothing), on a lined sheet marked with yellow highlighter and ink circles.
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682No, not all the good things have been taken
about 2013-2017 (age 34 to 39) BEST GUESS
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's handwritten short lyric NO, NOT ALL THE GOOD THINGS HAVE BEEN TAKEN, its first lines in red ink and working notes below in black on a single sheet of lined notebook paper, about still being here while everything breaks; the black notes point to three short lyrics on pages 6 and 7 of Shorter Lyrics (2013) to be worked into it. The sheet's own lines are not printed in that book.
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1775BRIANRAINSTORM SLEEVE
about 2013-2017 (age 34 to 39)
CDS, CD-RS AND CASSETTES
A CD in a white sleeve with a printed track list headed LYRICS BY Brian Rainstorm, Tom's pen name, including FRESCO, ROCKING THE WORLD and UNITY, with a BRIANRAINSTORM.COM business card.
the card says: about 2013-2017 (age 34 to 39) - from the years he used the name Brian Rainstorm
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1605ART
about 2013-2018 (age 34 to 40) BEST GUESS
NOTES, PLANS AND BUSINESS PAPERS
Tom's handwritten planning sheet on lined notebook paper, a tree of his creative output - art, poems, songs, quotes, books, speeches, live shows, radio interviews and charities - kept with the first page of his printed script Brian Rainstorm's Life as a Movie; never before published.
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1607Peddling w/ permit +
about 2013-2018 (age 34 to 40) BEST GUESS
NOTES, PLANS AND BUSINESS PAPERS
Tom's handwritten business plan sketch on lined notebook paper, with T-shirts reading IF I WAS A DOG and IF I WAS A CAT, a Chomskian Poems book, Street Rhymes Stop Crime by Brian Rainstorm, and a storefront with a music jam room; never before published.
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1613Quantum Physics
about 2013-2017 (age 34 to 39) BEST GUESS
ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITINGS (NOT LYRICS)
Tom's drawn sheet Quantum Physics, three cubes in blue and red asking which side of the cube is facing you and concluding the cube doesn't say anything, signed brianrainstorm.com; never before published.
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1614OUR NEW PYRAMID
about 2013-2017 (age 34 to 39) BEST GUESS
ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITINGS (NOT LYRICS)
Tom's drawn chart OUR NEW PYRAMID with pasted labels, comparing the old social pyramid with a new one of the elite, power servers, an empty void, a dwindling middle class and the masses, marked brianrainstorm.com; never before published.
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1615THE MASSES - The base of the pyramid
about 2013-2018 (age 34 to 40) BEST GUESS
ART BY TOM
Tom's colored drawing THE MASSES - The base of the pyramid, filled with bubbles for dozens of groups of people and the warning DIVIDE AND CONQUER!!!, marked brianrainstorm.com.
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1918I know I'm on the right track when all of these pieces of my pie chart agree
about 2013-2017 (age 34 to 39) BEST GUESS
ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITINGS (NOT LYRICS)
A lined notebook sheet written and drawn by Tom as his alter ego Brian Rainstorm, with a four-color pie chart of the selves he shows to family and friends, online, in public and business, and when he is all alone, captioned I know I'm on the right track when all of these pieces of my pie chart agree.
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1920BRIAN RAINSTORM SUGGESTS:
about 2013-2017 (age 34 to 39) BEST GUESS
ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITINGS (NOT LYRICS)
A humorous Brian Rainstorm piece by Tom in ink and colored marker on lined notebook paper, with drawings showing how to have your pizza cut so it cools quicker, plus sketches of a calzone, cheesy bread sticks and a pizza.
the card says: about 2013-2017 (age 34 to 39)
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1888Domain Name Expiration Notice
about 2015-2016 (age 37) BEST GUESS
LETTERS, FLYERS, PRINTOUTS AND RECORDS
A printed 2016 domain name expiration notice for brianrainstorm.com, one of the web addresses used for Tom's work.
the card says: made at age 37
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601RATED NC-17 · on the adults-only pages
602RATED NC-17 · on the adults-only pages
648Sit back and relax and grab some snacks
about 2012-2019 (age 34 to 40) - an estimate NOT PROVED
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's previously unpublished handwritten lyric draft SIT BACK AND RELAX AND GRAB SOME SNACKS, in pencil on a torn-out page of lined notebook paper with several lines crossed out, including the couplet 'Don't marry opinions, marry facts / That's what Jill said to Jack'.
the card says: written at about age 34 to 40 - an estimate
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901She said I'm just a piece of meat
about 2012-2018 (age 34 to 39) - an estimate NOT PROVED
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's handwritten short poem "She said I'm just a piece of meat / And she better leave me where she found me - back out on the street," in cursive on a torn-edged sheet of lined notebook paper; previously unpublished.
the card says: written at about age 34 to 39 - an estimate
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947Music has no winter
about 2012-2019 (age 34 to 40) - an estimate NOT PROVED
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's handwritten unfinished lines "Music has no winter / Just like," in pencil on a torn-edged sheet of lined notebook paper.
the card says: written at about age 34 to 40 - an estimate
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948Out on a limb once
about 2012-2019 (age 34 to 40) - an estimate NOT PROVED
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's handwritten short lines "Out on a limb once... / And breathed it in" and "nothing that I can pretend for," on a plain white sheet with a clipped corner; previously unpublished.
the card says: written at about age 34 to 40 - an estimate
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MEMORABILIA FROM THIS STORY
Every card on this page is a real piece — 15 pieces.
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What the words mean: PROVED a date or a dated book proves it. BEST GUESS our best reading, not yet proved. TOM SAID Tom's own word. LIKELY strong clues, not yet proved. NOT PROVED an estimate from the pieces around it. NOT SURE the sources disagree. No word: the card gives none yet. "About 1996-2002" means somewhere in those years; the piece is shown once, in the middle year.