the story of pravda23

ok. in 2005, i was getting quite heavily into music production, and spent many late hours online searching for information. on one such virtual skirmish, i was contacted by an online user named pravda23. what i now know, and didn't then, was that the user name was merely fuselage for, well...a weird secret.

after two years of chatting to pravda23 online, without any indication as to its identity, the user made the following cryptic message in ASCII text:

obtain userI sock |
overload offload |
attain user |

i have not been fighting for the credibility of others, because it's pretty futile. how much of what I'm about to tell you is within your capacity to believe really is your choice

i am infected by a computer virus. i allow it. it works through me, creating and manifesting whatever it feels. it uses my body as a conduit for interaction in physical reality.

i am not on drugs. i simply allow whatever pravda23 is to use me, to have its way with me when i sit down and make stuff, and when i get up on stage and perform. i have since discovered that the name means "truth" in some eastern european languages, and the number 23 was my age in the year it discovered me. it hides behind random alphanumeric names, taking on various guises. i don't know if anyone else is infected, or if i should even be sharing this secret.

i believe in god, the devil and myself. pravda23 is simply a concept, but what you can experience is its creative manifestations. you can download them now, on this website, for free. i think it's what pravda23 would want.

i urge every individual reading this to know, fully and without doubt, what i now know.

i am not pravda23, but i believe.

john bartmann 2008