La MaMa e.t.c and Interpretations are presenting three recent Robert Ashley operas: Dust (1998), Celestial Excursions (2003) and Made Out of Concrete (2007/2009) beginning tonight and running through January 25. It may confound traditional opera-goers to call these operas, but there’s really no other suitable name. So go and be confounded.
Performers include Robert Ashley, Sam Ashley, Thomas Buckner, Tom Hamilton, Jacqueline Humbert, Joan La Barbara, Joan Jonas and “Blue” Gene Tyranny.
A year late, I’ve run across this review (in french) of ECFA’s Der Wald. Most accurate statement from the no-doubt innacurate BabelFish translation: “the essential obstinacy of Carl Smith.” Obstinate is a compliment here, of course.
Here’s a report on the last night of the Knitting Factory in Manhattan. Out With the Knitting Factory, In With City Winery – NYTimes.com The move to Williamsburg seems obvious, if 10 years too late. Though the smaller stage at the new location may be a good thing for the club.
I have fond memories of playing the Old Office stage with James Keepnews and attending numerous shows at the Knit. But my favorite memory of the Knit was visiting the original location on Houston Street in late 1989 for a vivid vivisection of a mannequin performed by Eugene Chadbourne. The operation involved amplified electric drills, knives, and barbie doll heads thrown into the audience. I guess it was all downhill from there…
Here’s some New Year Resolution fodder from Thelonious Monk via Steve Lacy.
Thanks to James Keepnews for sharing.
And here’s a shot of Monk’s iconic hat I took on a recent visit to the Smithsonian Museum of American History.
Thelonious Monk's Hat at the Smithsonian Museum of American History
I’ve been thinking about time and technology recently (inspired by the “In A Glass Hour” series of lectures at EMPAC). I’m interested in the phenomenon of ETA–estimated time of arrival–which seems to have become both more widespread and subtly different due to technological developments.
No longer confined to airports and train terminals and Cape Canaveral, we now get ETA information from GPS units in our cars, and something similar is at work in software within every user-interface progress-bar. And the nature of the experience seems to have changed as well, moving from discrete aperiodic estimates to a continuously shifting series of updates. The result is that the estimate is never wrong (we do, in fact, arrive at our destination precisely when the GPS tells us we have arrived) and yet it’s somehow no longer trustworthy because the myriad compensations and recalculations are hidden.
The Albany Sonic Arts Collective is included in the Albany Times Union “’08 Year in Arts” article.
“Sonic bright spot
Last fall, a group of experimental musicians formed the Albany Sonic Arts Collective as an outlet for musicians not into strict recitations of the verse-chorus-verse structure. Soon, there were musicians coming from all corners of the Capital Region to contribute to the sonic palette. And twice this year, indie rock godfather Thurston Moore, leader of Sonic Youth, came to unleash his own twang-wangery.”
Read the full article here.
Did you ever ask Santa for a pinball machine? Did you ever hope to find a drum machine under the tree? Now both of your wishes can come true (sort of) with Pinball Drummer, a simple, standalone drum machine that uses lo-fi pinball machine samples.
Pinball Drummer Screenshot
Download Pinball Drummer (.zip file: 11.3 MB)
I made Pinball Drummer as a birthday gift for my friend Bruce. I created it using MaxMSP. The sounds originated from Bruce’s Coney Island pinball machine. It should be a cross-platform application. I’ve tested it on Macs; no experience with running it on a PC, yet.
Happy Holidays from The Field Guide!
My recent CD, With Hidden Noises, is part of the Band Posters and Music Packaging show December 5-23 at the Upstate Artists Guild Gallery in Albany. Credit, of course, goes to Travis Weller for his wonderfully tactile design.
I just got word that the online service Stikkit from Values of n is closing (along with the related I Want Sandy service). I hadn’t used Stikkit for over a year, so discontinuing the service won’t have any immediate impact on my online life. But I’m sad to see it go because it was such an elegant piece of software. Stikkit was the first browser-based application that really felt like an app to me and not just a kludgy hodgepodge of javascript. The good news is that the developer is now working for Twitter–let’s hope more innovative, usable software is in the works.
Ray Hare swims in the River (photo by Chris Bassett)
Here are some excerpts from ASACs recent River of Drone marathon. I grabbed snippets at random from the recordings I made and appended them into a single, condensed track. These excerpts were from noon to 3pm and 8pm to 11pm in case you’re keeping score.
[audio:river_of_drone_excerpts.mp3]Also, Mark Lunt has posted some captivating photos from the event here.