About The New TenBuilt from a 1985 manuscript by don.man (Don Wellman),THE NEW TEN® is a serialized novel told in words, sounds and moving images.
The story, in all its versions, can be accessed on this site.Each episode is available in audio with an accompanying transcript. Some episodes are works-in-progress–awaiting visual illumination. |
The Songs
Each episode concludes with an original song – an artistic representation of its essential idea. These are demo recordings created concurrently with the original novel. We’d love to hear them reinterpreted.
NUMBER ONE – (Don’t Matter) Keep Dancing |
Words – don.manWhen don.man (Don Wellman) began work on THE NEW TEN, he was living on Ten Mile Road, in the shadow of the Detroit Zoo water tower, sharing a basement room with a TEAC 3340R. Working alternately on brochures for Dow Chemical, lyrics for local rock bands, and an evolving storyline, the manuscript came together along with some song demos that share its DNA.
Ten Mile was plowed under to make way for I-696 and the final TNT manuscript has waited patiently to become the envisioned combination of words, music, and moving images offered here. |
Music – Dan KoltonDan Kolton created the soundtrack for each of THE NEW TEN’s episodes. He has composed music for motion pictures, television, and animated features.
As a performer Dan has toured with the Duke Ellington orchestra and has played with many other jazz greats, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Patti Smith. He is co-founder of the Santa Fe Jazz and International Music Festival, as well as composer-in-residence for Detroit Dance Collective (DDCdances). He lives one block east of Woodward in Ferndale |
Artwork – John TebeauJohn Tebeau has masterfully rendered the drawings that introduce the chapters and episodes in THE NEW TEN, working from descriptions in the text, photography taken in 1983, Google Earth®, vintage postcards and other sources.
Born and raised in Michigan, John’s grandpa Si owned a couple of speakeasies in Detroit during Prohibition. Later, his dad Wes owned a tavern in Muskegon, Mich., where John grew up. This pedigree may have helped inspire him to write and illustrate the book Bars, Taverns, and Dives New Yorkers Love, published by Rizzoli. He now lives in New York City, enjoying life with his wife Colleen, drawing and painting places, people, and things. |
Animations – Carl WilsonCarl Wilson is a self-taught artist known for his stark black and white linocut prints, motion comics, and ground - breaking animations. He sees himself as a documentarian of lives easily ignored in a world obsessed with materialism and celebrity. He embraces the whimsy hidden in the darkness.
Carl is working on moving images to interpret and represent scenes in THE NEW TEN’s eleven episodes. Carl is the recipient of a Kresge Artist Fellowship and is an alumnus of the historic Yaddo Artists’ Community. He was named 2014 guest curator of Detroit’s Carr Center. Complex Online Magazine named him one of “Twenty Detroit Artists You Should Know.” Like many of Detroit’s best-known artists, Carl attended Cass Technical High School. |
Built from a 1985 manuscript by don.man (Don Wellman), THE NEW TEN® is a serialized novel told in words, sounds and moving images.