Billy The Shit
Matthew Barrington aka Billy The Shit born 1951 in London, UK.
Moved to Easton, NJ in 1970.
Charismatic vocalist and multi-instrumentalist in early electropunk duo Billy The Shit with Jasper Johns on keyboard.
It is possible to call Barrington a musician, but that would be much too limiting as a description. While music feeling is present in a good deal of his work, and the idea of improvisation is vitally important to him, Barrington doesn't operate within any idiom's framework, drawing from just about any musical, cultural, or noise source that a fellow who grew up in the TV and LP eras could experience. Band booker at The Joint Club between 1971 - 1974.
Barrington is nowadays most famous for his book They Built The New Ark - the documentation of The Brick City Years.
He was also one of the founders of the Black & White Crew, a group of writers in the New Ark suburban area probably best known for their works of anti-racial/anti-establishment street poetry - often performed live at The Joint Club or at happenings along Market Street or Springfield Avenue.
Even though Barrington was a strong force in this movement he wasn*t properly published until 1979.