PARNASSUS NUMP PROFILE

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Parnssus Nump started in San Francisco in 1998 as an independent music label created to release the electronic compositions of John Broaddus. It has since grown to embrace the other creative pursuits of its creators, John Broaddus and Melissa Kolaks, who are now based in the Los Angeles area.

The company gets its name from a fictional feline found in the science-fiction novel, Eye in the Sky, by Philip K. Dick. Parnassus Nump is only mentioned once in the story and has a companion by the name of Ninny Numbcat, but Ninny has nothing to do with the company. John and Melissa 's cat serves as the model for Parnassus Nump in the logo.

Parnassus Nump is dedicated to artistic exploration and discovery, in whatever forms the muses divine.

Click here for more information on the origins of the words "parnassus" and "nump."
"The Music Label"
"The Design House"
Parnassus Nump Music is still an independent label. John is the only artist on this label and both John and Melissa tend to the support aspects of the business.
Music, by definition, is the art and science of combining tones to form an expressive composition. As a label, Parnassus Nump embraces the exploration, experimentation and creativity that is inherent to both disciplines.

Parnassus Nump Design focuses on graphic design for web, print and media. Melissa is the designer and began to develop the design aspect Parnassus Nump as a necessary component to producing John's music. Others took interest in the work she was doing and she soon began doing freelance work for mostly entertainment and industry oriented projects.
"The Film Company"
"The Photography Studio"
Parnassus Nump Film is a result of Melissa's desire to take artisitc control over her own career and to develop and pursue the type of work that interests her. It is in and of itself an experiment, as this is a recurring theme for Parnassus Nump, she wanted to start under the PN umbrella.
Parnassus Nump Photography works in black & white and color using small and medium format cameras. While both John and Melissa are producing mostly B&W fine art imagery, both are working in color as well and are beginning a portfolio of natural light portraiture (b&w and color).
Additional Information About the Origins of 'Parnassus' and 'Nump'

Parnassus [mountain, central Greece, rising to an altitude of 2457 m (8061 ft)], was believed to be a favorite habitation of the Muses and a center of musical and poetic inspiration. In Greek mythology, Parnassus was sacred to the god Apollo, whose oracle, Delphi, was situated at its base. Parnassus was also the site of worship of the gods Pan and Dionysus. Webster's defines Parnassus as being, "any center of poetic or artistic activity." All in all, it sounds and looks [painting: "Mount Parnassus" by Sanzio Raffaello (better known as Rafael) ca. 1510 ] like a pretty fun place.

Our Webster's did not provide any insight into the etymology of "nump." In the early years, the best we could find was an internet reference of British origin that related nump to a "dolt." Today, we have confirmed this definition on dictionary.com (Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1996, 1998) where there is an 's' added to the word:

  • numps \Numps\, n. [Cf. Numb.] A dolt; a blockhead. [Obs.] --Bp. Parker.

Here are a couple of other items that turned up on the internet:

Extracted and hyperadapted from The Secret Languages of Ireland, R. A. Stewart Macalister, Cambridge University Press 1937, Ch. VI. pp. 174-224.

  • numpa ‘a pound’ (sterling or avoirdupois); (nump, numpa G), ‘half sovereign’. ‘five pounds’ worth’; numpa oid ‘a pound of butter’; tom numpa ‘a bank note’.

We found this information at halfbakery.com. Apparently, Walt Kelley, a cartoonist from the 50's and 60's, invented a number of swear words, one of which includes the word nump in combination with a more reknowned curse word. You will have to visit halfbakery.com and do a search for nump, click the link you get and then search that page for "nump" to find out just exactly what that combination is and get its 'official' definition.

Feel free to send us anything further you find that may be of interest. Hey, if you unearth something pretty unusual or interesting, we'll send you some music or one of our DVD's as a thank you. We'll send you one of each if you can find a reliable source that will give us a definition away and apart from "dolt" -- something we can put a better spin on, perhaps!
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