i mean you know, Special Edition, 1983

i mean you know Special Edition
Written and designed by Warren Lehrer.
Published 1983 by Visual Studies Workshop Press and EarSay Books.
Original music composed by Warren Lehrer and Vince Luti. Lettering by Jan Baker.
Printed offset lithography at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, NY, in two colors, black and gray, on Mohawk Superfine, an acid-free paper. Special edition is quarter cloth, paper over boards, with hardcover slipcase.

Original edition size 75 copies. The artist only has around a dozen copies left.

8.5 x 12 inches, 152 pages.

i mean you know is a book to be read quietly alone. It also functions as a score for a performance. The book/play takes place within a few hours of one day inside the minds of seven characters who co-inhabit the same building. This musical/theatrical setting juxtaposes interior narratives of disparate characters into various arrangements: solo, duo, trio, quartet, sextet, and septet. The characters are: Sasha, the artist; Violone, who is confined to a wheelchair and speaks through her violin; Myron, the mystic guilt-ridden millionaire; Ace Monroe, a British-born radio talk show host; Little Tracy, the toddler; Angelica, an African-American house painter and mother; and Trombonio, who speaks only through his trombone. Published in 1983, i mean you know further developed Lehrer’s interest in prismatic characters, musical structures, and his approach to using typography as a means of creating psycho/acoustic translations of speech and thought on the printed page. This book/performance score celebrates those synaptic gaps and utterances between thoughts and speech that bridge our sometimes imperfect search for meaning (i mean) and a desire to connect with others (you know). Winner AIGA 50 Book Award
and TDC Award. Exhibited, collected and written about widely.