David Greenberger

David Greenberger built his vocation around preserving the singular observations voiced by everyday individuals. Having completed studies at the Massachusetts College of Art, he accepted the role of activities director at a Boston-area nursing home in 1979 and quickly found himself absorbed by exchanges with the residents concerning their experiences and viewpoints. He started compiling those remarks, perspectives, and written pieces into the zine The Duplex Planet. What began as a modest self-produced pamphlet evolved into an international art endeavor, prompting him to issue books, produce recordings, craft radio essays, and mount performances drawn from his extensive dialogues with older adults.

Born on June 26, 1954, in Chicago, Illinois, Greenberger grew up primarily in Erie, Pennsylvania. Drawn early to visual expression, he trained in painting at Boston’s Massachusetts College of Art. Following graduation he became activities director at the Duplex Nursing Home in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, where proximity to the residents revealed the distinctive qualities of their thinking and phrasing. He posed questions including “Why is music important?,” “Can you fight city hall?,” and “How close can you get to a penguin?,” captured the replies, and printed the unaltered material in The Duplex Planet. The first issue appeared in 1979; the publication soon attracted an underground readership captivated by the residents’ humor and inventiveness. Greenberger set painting aside to devote himself to the zine and its related projects.

Among the residents, retired engineer Ernest Noyes Brookings stood out for his enjoyment of poetry. Greenberger urged Brookings to compose his own verse and, through ties to the underground music community—he played bass with Men & Volts and collaborated with Birdsongs of the Mesozoic—began enlisting musicians to compose settings for those poems. In 1989 he assembled the album Lyrics by Ernest Noyes Brookings, featuring contributions from Brave Combo, the Incredible Casuals, Jad Fair, Christmas, and Rev. Fred Lane. Three further volumes issued between 1991 and 1995 enlisted XTC, Yo La Tengo, Robyn Hitchcock, Morphine, Peter Holsapple, Peter Stampfel, and additional interpreters. Another resident, Jack Mudurian, claimed to know more songs than Frank Sinatra and delivered an unscripted 129-song, 46-minute medley that was released on CD in 1996 as Downloading the Repertoire.

In 1993 Greenberger joined NRBQ keyboardist Terry Adams for the performance work The Duplex Planet Hour, with Adams providing accompaniment to Greenberger’s readings. Their second collaboration, The Duplex Planet Radio Hour, followed in 2002. Subsequent recordings paired Greenberger’s recitations with musicians such as Shaking Ray Levis on 2003’s Mayor of the Tennessee River, 3 Leg Torso on 2004’s Legibly Speaking and 2005’s Whispers, Grins, Bloodloss and Handshakes, Birdsongs of the Mesozoic on 2006’s 1001 Real Apes, Ralph Carney on 2011’s Ohpa, Paul Cebar on 2013’s They Like Me Around Here, and Glenn Jones and Chris Corsano on 2017’s An Idea in Everything. He has supplied spoken-word essays to NPR’s All Things Considered, released multiple volumes of Duplex Planet material beginning with the 1993 book Duplex Planet: Everybody’s Asking Who I Was, and regularly presents readings both with and without musical support. Greenberger has also created album artwork for NRBQ, the Captain Howdy, the Space Negros, and numerous projects of his own.