“National Hot Dog Day” is a structured improvisation for object percussion, voice, and an iPad video clip of Mitt Romney. It rhythmically and semiotically probes the artifice of political language via repetition, spontaneous musical evolution, and, ultimately, recapitulation. By repeating a lightly dystopian clip of the android-esque Romney declaring “hot dog” to be his favorite meat, the piece unravels the façade of white Americana—military garb, bipartisan politicking, machine-processed hot dogs—for the corporatist pseudoculture that it is.

The piece begins with me sitting cross-legged on the floor of my apartment, live-streaming via Twitch. I am holding an iPad and there is an array of percussion objects in front of me: drinking glasses, a coffee can, claves, clackers, a corrugated disc, cowbells, ghungroos, chopsticks, a flexatone. I press play on the iPad video, which loops the following scene: Mitt Romney, clad in a campaign t-shirt of military camo, hair neatly gelled and combed, holds a hot dog in his left hand. Feigning at the human pathos that always seems to elude him, he says to the camera, “So, this is National Hot Dog Day. And, as you know—uh—hot dog is my favorite meat. And I have a good one here, sliced in half, with some pickles, onions, and ketchup—which is the way I prefer it. So—uh—enjoy a hot dog!” He gesticulates occasionally with the hot dog, pointedly punctuating the last phrase.

I proceed to repeat this oration alongside him, precisely matching the diction, cadence, and tone of his speech. With each loop, I begin to introduce percussion instruments, highlighting the inherent rhythm of his language. At first, I am in lockstep with him, but deviations and explorations ensue. Eventually, Mitt has stopped speaking and I am left to finish my improvisation alone. Each repetition is more frantic and impulsive than the last, exploring the liminal spaces between music and speech, melody and noise, groove and chaos, sense and nonsense. It ultimately culminates in a clattering mess in front of me as I gorge myself on an actual hot dog, identical to his in preparation.