mmm041a Wednesday, May 7, 2014: field trip to tENT's "A Catamaran Animist Vigor"
m(usic(ian's)m(eeting) 41a:
2014.05.07. Abandoned Store
attendees:
tENT
Anthony
Mark (Hyla's friend who played "PI(ano Fort)e" at one mm)
Abandoned Store is a space in Swissvale that Anthony turned me onto. There seems to be a particular crowd who goes there - all seemingly intelligent & friendly. I like it. It's not high on the comfort end if you like things like chairs. This was the 2nd event I've attended there.
I screened the "purist version" of my "A Catamaran Animist Vigor" (ie: the version w/o Mark Dixon's interpolated explanations). For those of you who don't already know every minute detail about every piece I've ever done (the one thing that unifies the entire planet), this is one of the movies I made using Mark Dixon's Selectric Piano: an IBM Selectric Typewriter modified so that its 88 keys, when typed on, activate 88 keys of an electric piano. I made a text of a large number of anagrammatic variations on the words "Anagrammatic Variations" & then picked out all the ones that included "Catamaran" & "Catamarans". Bart Trotman, the drummer in The Invisible, the band that uses the instrument & that Mark's the other half of, was kind enuf to agree to type the "A Catamaran Animist Vigor" anagrams. I did a 2 camera shoot of this process & then combined the results w/ pictures of, yes, catamarans.
ANYWAY, I screened this movie & was joined by 5 improvisors: 1/3rd of the band "Holoscene Extinction" (the bass player / guitarist - I don't know his name) on percussion; Anthony Levin-Decanini: Crackle Box (electronics); Joey Molinaro (the guy who organized the show - maybe along w/ others): violin, Juno synthesizer, trumpet; Josh Tenenbaum: Pakistani Chanter, Shofar (Ram's horn), cymbals; Ben Bennett: percussion & mouth. I joined in at the end on organ bench:
&, yeah, surprise, surprise, I'm now working on a new version that's even more complicated that I'm going to try to get people to follow as a score if I can force myself to do the hundreds of hrs of unbelievably tedious work to make it the way I envision it. Here's a taste:
It's going to be so complex & original that it'll be almost impossible to get it performed anywhere & almost no-one will be willing to experience it! It's be great!
After my set, there were 2 girls called "Teens Who Care". They were probably in their 20s. I got the impression they were sick of simple-minded political activists, esp young ones. Anyway, they were funny - parodistic in a well-developed way. One of them even booed my thing wch probably meant she knew about ":booed usic". Then again, she might've just been bored. My set was the longest.
Ben Bennett was next. Sitting on the floor surrounded by various objects he was subtle & lively. He's particularly good at keeping multiple things going at once & at blowing across tightly stretched membranes - such as drum heads. He got the most applause, the asshole.
Lastly, Holoscene Extinction played in the basement. 3 guys of the school of if-I-can't-play-well-I-can-at-least-play-loud. I enjoyed it. Esp b/c there was something to swing from attached to the ceiling & a girl took it on for awhile.
m(usic(ian's)m(eeting) 41b:
2014.05.08. Modern Formations: Crucible Sound
attendees:
Anthony
tENT
Anothony stopped organizing these for the 1st 4 mnths of this yr. I'm glad he's back to it. This one featured Ben Bennett again + our old pal Steve Boyle & Jim Lingo. Jim's another lively performer. One of my favorite parts of this was when he used a circular saw to cut up a small wooden table that he unscrewed the legs off of & used as drum sticks. All 3 of these guys were very sympatico & as a percussion show it was 2nd to none, truly special.
m(usic(ian's)m(eeting) 41c:
2014.05.09. PCA opening
attendees:
Hyla
tENT
Ben
As most of you know, Hyla won the Artist of the Year distinction this yr so this was her show for that. The other prominently featured artist was Mia Tarducci Henry, "Emerging Artist of The Year". There were 3 other artists represented.
This was certainly one of the best shows I've ever seen at the PCA. Henry had the most space at her disposal: 4 rms, all of the in-use exhibit space of the 1st floor. 2 rooms of colorful palette knife abstractions, well enuf done but completely unoriginal, & 2 rooms dedicated to the psychiatric medications she's apparently been on at one time or another: 1 of these 2 rooms had paintings & sculptures of pill bottles, the other had sculptures of oversized pills hanging from the ceiling. 'Inevitably, since I wasn't born yesterday, I was reminded of the equally colorful depressing Greer Lankton installation at the Mattress Factory w/ its hundreds of real pill bottles that Lankton took for his/er 'sex change'; I was also reminded of General Idea's giant AZT pills / AIDS medications; finally I was reminded of the Rascal Reporters's "Purple Entrapment" CD that's published on the same label, Wafer Face, that my 1st 2 records were on. In other words, not in the least bit original but, what the fuck, I enjoyed all 4 rooms.
Hyla's installation, "America's Least Livable City, and other works", was about the Rand McNally rated "America's Least Livable City", Yuba City in CA, where Hyla's from. In particular, she examined the standards by wch such places are measured - this process being evocative, perhaps, of the by now much maligned IQ tests that've long since been exposed as rooted in non-universal cultural norms that're biased against large portions of the population. The "other works" was a room w/ hand-painted quotes from The Velvet Underground's song "All Tomorrow's Parties" accompanied by broken rifle stocks. I was reminded of the anti-war folk song "War Have All the Flowers Gone?" It was nice to see the VU used for such a purpose. Yuba was apparently mentioned in John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" (& other bks). I wonder if Harry Partch mentions it in his "Bitter Music"? I'll bet he does. Hyla managed to give a pretty diverse look at the place & made me curious to go there.
Alas, for those of you who didn't go to any of these 3 events, you are
hereby cursed & will probably shrivel up to the size of a pea w/in a
couple of days. I'm glad that this won't be happening to Anthony b/c he
has 2 young kids to take care of. Since I attended all 3, my penis will
probably grow so large that it'll be embarrassing for people to even look
at my pants leg. Unfortunately, it'll suck all the blood from my brain &
I won't be able to think anymore. Oh, well, you can't have everything. Such
is life.
to the mm index
forward to mm 42
backward to mm 40
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE movie-making "Press: Criticism, Interviews, Reviews" home-page
to the "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - Sprocket Scientist" home-page
to the "FLICKER" home-page for the alternative cinematic experience
to find out more about why the S.P.C.S.M.E.F. (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Sea Monkeys by Experimental Filmmakers) is so important
for info on tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's tape/CD publishing label: WIdémoUTH
to see an underdeveloped site re the N.A.A.M.C.P. (National Association for the Advancement of Multi-Colored Peoples)