November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
DECEMBER 2004
elliott sharp 'E# plays Monk'
Friday, December 10, 2004
Composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Elliott Sharp is not usually associated with the world of jazz even though it was an important influence for him. His decades-long love of the music of Thelonious Monk is here manifest for the first time in an evening of Monk classics.
In this program, E# applies the unique vocabulary and syntax of his recent acoustic guitar CD "The Velocity of Hue" to such Monk tunes as Misterioso, Epistrophy, and Round Midnight using a handmade Dell Arte "grande bouche" copy of a 30's Selmer Macaferri guitar in the style of that used by Django Reinhardt.
"If much of his previous work has found beauty in extremes of intensity, he reverses course here, creating a cumulative intensity from extremes of beauty." Steve Smith, Time Out
"The playing is elegiac, lyrical and passionate, and uses several extended techniques of finger-tapping, harmonics and fretboard noise as well as a subtle sinuous acoustic feedback to extend notes at will. Few other players have managed to liberate the language of steel blues so completely - one is reminded of Leo Kottke's more surreal passages. ..Most of all, though, the music has an extraordinary saturated living colour, as the title track (and its title) Velocity Of Hue so succinctly suggest." Nick Southgate, The Wire
cjm sounds presents
Friday, December 17, 2004
SET 1 .......... CJMJS
Chris McIntyre (CJM) - trombone; Michael J. Schumacher - G4 laptop
SET 2 .......... LOTET
CJM - trombone, Nord Lead 2; Charles Waters - bass clarinet, bass saxophone; Michael J. Schumacher - G4; Andrew Barker - cello; Kato Hideki - electric bass, EH bass synth; Jesse Dulman - tuba
Trombonist and composer, Christopher McIntyre (CJM) introduces two newly-formed projects of comprovisative electro-acoustic music.
The sound of CJMJS is a convolving of McIntyre's background in solo trombone repertoire and free improvisation with Schumacher's masterly skill in real-time manipulation of sound and composerly aesthetic. The result is a collaborative composition of structured and improvisative elements that blur the conceptual line between performance and installation.
In LOTET, McIntyre has formed a disparate group of artists with the organizing principle of a single, primary element of sound: the low end of the frequency spectrum. Within a loosely structured format, LOTET creates a collective sound world from the bottom up in which forms and textures intermix. Glacial sonic fields are juxtaposed over layers of twittering, motile linear material; petulant improvised discourse interrupts and explodes hypnotic stasis.
Each musicians in LOTET brings a wealth of probing musical experience to the over-all group aesthetic. Included are Gold Sparkle Band core members Charles Waters (bass clarinetist and bass saxophone) and Andrew Barker, who together offer 10 years of collaborative music making from the heart of the Free Jazz tradition and beyond. Barker, best known as the drummer for GSB, joins LOTET on cello (a recent addition to his arsenal). Kato Hideki also brings years of spontaneous composition to the group, working with Ex-Music notables such as John Zorn, Ikue Mori, and Otomo Yoshihide. Tuba player Jesse Dulman's singular approach to his instrument has led to several recordings and tours with legendary AACM member Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre. And Schumacher's associations with sine wave maestro La Monte Young and noise virtuosi Borbetomagus will be present in his laptop gestures. In addition to playing trombone in LOTET, McIntyre will be heard for the first time on the Nord Lead 2, a virtual analog synthesizer which he plans to misuse in as many different configurations as possible.
aki onda (solo)
Saturday, December 18, 2004
After an extensive tour in Japan, Australia, and Europe, The Project Room is extremely pleased to welcome back composer Aki Onda, who will preform his highly personal work dealing with his own memories, or rather, a trace of memories captured with a handheld tape recorder.
Aki Onda is a self-taught musician currently living in New York. For more than a decade, he has been obsessed with collecting field-recordings through a handheld cassette recorder. His latest album "Bon Voyage!" was selected in the Wire magazine's 50 records of the year for 2003. He has collaborated with such musicians as Eye Yamatsuka, Nobukazu Takemura, Tujiko Noriko, Ikue Mori, Haco, Shelley Hirsch, Alan Licht, SFT, Jac Berrocal, and Linda Sharrock.
For more informartion, please visit: www.japanimprov.com/aonda
November 2
great american voices
"You are cordially invited to step up and speak up"
On Election Day -- The Artist Project for Insight, Action & Change, in affiliation with The Project Room, present Great American Voices, a free and open event calling upon the people of New York City, including artists, performers, writers, activists, and citizens to join us in reading aloud those most vital and historic poems, writings and speeches that have inspired and illuminated the fundamental principles of our American Democracy.
In conjunction with Creative Time and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Freedom of Expression National Monument, a public artwork by architect Laurie Hawkinson, performer John Malpede, a nd visual artist Erika Rothenberg, The Artist Project will utilize this enormous red megaphone, currently located in Foley Square in Lower Manhattan.
Through our voices, The Artist Project aims to resound such historic works like The Declaration of Independence, Walt Whitman, Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain, Emma Goldman, Martin Luther King, Eleanor Roosevelt, Thomas Paine, Chief Seattle, among many, many more, as a reminder that the beauty of our First Amendment is not merely a freedom to express many things, but a rite to express those essential truths which cannot be silenced.
Participants are welcomed to bring their own selected material based on the merit and vision to uphold America's stride for justice, peace, and equality.
November 13
Antiopic Records presents
Nicedisc
Nicedisc is the audiovideo duo of Jeff Pash and Nick Phillips. Their work extends from minimalist traditions in experimental film, exploring the aesthetic possibilities of reductionism. Having recently completed a UK tour in support of their debut DVD "Untitled" (Rebuild All Your Ruins), Nicedisc is currently working on multiple projection environments controlled live using custom-built software and hardware.
http://rayr.net
http://nicedisc.net
David Daniell
David Daniell is co-founder of Antiopic, a New York record label focusing on experimental electronic and electroacoustic music. Daniell has recorded and performed extensively as a member of San Agustin (with releases on Road Cone, Family Vineyard and Table of the Elements) and under his own name. His debut solo album sem was released in 2002; upcoming releases for early 2005 include a second solo album, an album of collaborations with Jeph Jerman, Sean Meehan and Tim Barnes (Quakebasket), and an interpretation of Earle Brown's graphic score December 1952 (Table of the Elements).
www.antiopic.com
www.san-agustin.org
Ateleia
Ateleia is the moniker of Antiopic co-founder James Elliott, used to produce abstractly melodic electronic music. Ateleia music destabilizes classic notions of form and process in pursuit of a unique idea of song, focusing on structure and its decay. Which is to say he makes slightly improvised, slightly composed music with a computer. Debut release, Swimming Against The Moments, is out now on Antiopic.
www.ateleia.com
November 17
tim barnes (percussion) & margarida garcia (double bass)
Tim Barnes has performed and recorded alongside a diverse array of contemporary music?s most celebrated sound adventurers. The short list includes Tony Conrad, The Silver Jews, Jim O?Rourke, P.G. Six, Neil Hagerty, Ikue Mori, Pullmen, the Essex Green, Nagisa Ni Te, and the Tower Recordings. His sounds brings us to a rich and full universe of textures, strange patterns and rhythms in an unpredictable and inspired display. He invents and re-invents, organically as he goes, and in a way that is completely his own.
Margarida Garcia explores a language based on the use of the bow and finger in an accidental and erractic music. She has collaborated with musicians like Eddie Prevost, Carlos Giffoni, Barry Weisblat, Manuel Mota, Rhodri Davies and Mattin and the Tower Recordings.
November 19
impromptu party & benefit
Featuring single set performances with,
carol mirakove .................................. poetry
jack martin ........................................ music
shelley hirsch .................................... voice
joel schlemowitz ................................ film
zeroboy ................................................ vocal acrobat
OCTOBER 22
Impromptu Party & Benefit
We're back in our original space at 619 East 6th Street (between Ave. B & C)
Featuring a turn-style of single sets with performances by percussionist Sean Meehan, guitarists Alan Licht, Elliott Sharp, Marco Cappelli, poet Barbara Barg and Billionaires for Bush Fonda Sterling with special Billionaire guests, plus DJ Olive.
Suggested donation $15
SEPTEMBER 1
DEMO: A demonstration in words.
A poetry reading on the RNC, President Bush and the crisis in Iraq
Presented by Rattapallax, Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church & ISSUE Project Room.
Featuring Sonia Sanchez, Grace Paley, Carl Hancock Rux, Sapphire, Katha Pollitt, Mark Doty, Cornelius Eady, Vijay Seshadri, Hettie Jones, Hal Sirowitz, Bob Holman, Grace Schulman, Eileen Myles, Marie Ponsot, Robert Polito, John Yau, Rodrigo Toscano, Carol Mirakove, Greg Fuchs, Anselm Berrigan, Laura Elrick, Bruce Andrews, Kathy Engel, Dana Maisel, and many others.
Venue
St. Mark's Church
131 E. 10th St. & 2nd Ave., New York City.
FREE
SEPTEMBER 17
ErstQuake 1
Presented by Erstwhile, Quakebasket and the Project Room
Featuring:
Margarida Garcia / Barry Weisblat
Keith Rowe solo
Greg Kelley / Jason Lescalleet
Keith Rowe / Sean Meehan
ErstQuake 1 is the first in what will hopefully be an ongoing series of collaborative events between Erstwhile Records and Quakebasket, both based in and around NYC.
ErstQuake 1 showcases many of today's most exciting young electroacoustic improvisers, featuring musicians from New York, Boston, the UK, Portugal and New Zealand.
The two night, eight set program features three world premieres, two duos involving UK guitar/electronics legend Keith Rowe, with NYC percussionists Tim Barnes and Sean Meehan, as well as the trio of Boston-based trumpeter Greg Kelley, Brooklyn-based laptopper David Daniell, and Meehan.
Also featured is the duo of Kelley and tapeloops magician Jason Lescalleet (based in Maine), who released a superb record on Erstwhile, Forlorn Green; the duo of Barnes and Lescalleet, who will record a CD for Erstwhile soon after the festival; and the duo of Portugese doublebassist Margarida Garcia and NYC-based Barry Weisblat on homemade electronics, who have performed numerous times in France, Portugal and the US and who have an upcoming CD due out soon on Quakebasket.
The program is completed by two much-anticipated solo sets, one by New Zealand-born, NYC-based laptopper Dion Workman and one by Rowe.
Venue
Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center
107 Suffolk Street, between Rivington and Delancey
$10
SEPTEMBER 18
ErstQuake 1
Presented by Erstwhile, Quakebasket and the Project Room
See information above...
Featuring:
Dion Workman solo
Tim Barnes / Jason Lescalleet
Greg Kelley / Sean Meehan / David Daniell
Keith Rowe / Tim Barnes
Venue
Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center
107 Suffolk Street, between Rivington and Delancey
$10
THE FESTIVAL OF NEW TRUMPET MUSIC was founded in 2003 by Roy Campbell, Jr. and Dave Douglas. The amazing diversity of new compositions for trumpet inspired Mr. Campbell and Mr. Douglas to create FONT. Jon Nelson has joined FONT for 2004 to curate post-classical and other related repertoire.
FONT was created to bring together new music performers and audiences, to provide a unique forum for presenting diverse musical styles under one banner. The Festival introduces artists and audiences to musical styles they may not have sought out previously, and encourages them to consider new possibilities for merging genres and dispensing with such distinctions altogether.
Venue
Sol Goldman Theatre, 14th Street Y
344 East 14th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues
$10
AUGUST 9
8:00 PM - nmperign with Greg Kelley and Bob Rainey
Since the late 1990s, the unlikely trumpet/soprano saxophone duo nmperign has adeptly sidestepped the novelty of extended techniques, the illusions of "free" improvisation, and the trappings of the "new," defining and redefining a particularly idiosyncratic sound world. In the process, they have released a number of recordings, travelled far and wide, and collaborated with musicians and artists from the variously defined and undefined strata of noise, experimental, and contemporary classical musics.
9:30 PM - Nabate Isles' Synergy
Nabate Isles-Trumpet & Flugelhorn, Gamiel Lyons-Flute, Liberty Ellman-Guitar, Marcus Gilmore-Drums, Tyshawn Sorley-Drums. Synergy brings a mix of diverse musical styles with melodic clarity and rhythmic intensity.
AUGUST 10
8:00 PM - The Ingrid Jensen Four with Ingrid Jensen, Scott Robinson, Gary Versace, and Victor Lewis performing original music by Jensen and newly arranged "standards" and collective take-offs.
9:30 PM - Jesse Neuman with Nate Wooley
AUGUST 11
8pm - Dave Ballou
9:30 PM - John McNeil.
CD release concert celebrating he release of Mr. McNeil's new recording on Omnitone, Sleep Won't Come.
AUGUST 12
8:00 PM - Stephen Haynes and Bugaboo
With Stephen Haymes, Allan Jaffe, Mario Pavone and Satoshi Takeishi. Bugaboo was convened by improvising composer Stephen Haynes in order to further develop his compositional language within a rhythm-based small group context. Selections from the American Songbook (e.g. Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk, Johnny Cash) will also be explored. Stephen Haynes has worked with a wide range of composers including George Russell, La Monte Young, Leroy Jenkins and Rhys Chatham and is currently a member of Cecil Taylor's Orchestra Humane (Ubuntu).
9:30 PM - Taylor Ho Bynum
AUGUST 13
8:00 PM - Russ Johnson and Save Big
With Russ Johnson, John O'Gallagher, Kermit Driscoll and Mark Ferber. CD Release concert celebrating Mr. Johnson's new recording on Omnitone.
9:30 PM - ShulmanSystem Trio
With Matt Shulman on trumpet, voice, sound processing, Ryan Berg on acoustic bass and Jason Wildman on drums and percussion. Matt Shulman's original compositions draw from European classical music, traditional jazz, and experimental electronica, featuring his multi-dimensional virtuosic approach to the trumpet and improvisation.
AUGUST 14
7:00 PM - Brian McWhorter.
8:00 PM - Jonathan Finlayson.
9:30 PM - Mark Gould/Brian McWhorter - Pink Baby Monster: a unique hybrid of rap, opera, and improvisation.
AUGUST 15
7:00pm - Solo Trumpet and... I
Gareth Flowers, Laurie Frink, Dave Ballou, Ed Carrol, Scott McIntosh, Wayne DuMaine, Brian McWhorter, Britton Theurer, Jon Nelson, Kenneth DeCarlo, and others perform original compositions and works by Peter Maxwell Davies, Laurie Frink, J.S. Bach, Vincent Persichetti and Morton Feldman.
AUGUST 16
7:00pm - Solo Trumpet and... II
Gareth Flowers, Laurie Frink, Dave Ballou, Ed Carrol, Scott McIntosh, Wayne DuMaine, Brian McWhorter, Britton Theurer, Jon Nelson, Kenneth DeCarlo, and others perform original compositions and works by James Mobberly, Britton Theurer, Dave Ballou and Emil Harnas 2.
The 2ND ANNUAL HOWL! FESTIVAL
AUGUST 18
A Few Thousand Things
An interactive improvisation by Edwin Torres
participation = wordification = anticipation = musification = actification = beautification = whoification = youification
Torres fearlessly dares convention and consumption as he leads performers and the audience through the thrills of interactive improvisation or i.i.®
Featuring Elizabeth Castagna as the timekeeper, Miguel Frasconi on glass instruments, Latasha Natasha Diggs on electronic vocals, Okkyung Lee on cello, and performers Gina Bonati, Brian Kim Stefans, Kendall P. Pigg, Thad Rutkowski, Boni Joi, Aaron Kiely and you, the audience.
AUGUST 19
ALAN LICHT - LOREN MAZZACANE CONNORS - SHELLEY HIRSCH - AKI ONDA
Duos
Alan Licht and Loren MazzaCane Connors have been performing improvised guitar duos since 1993 and have released four albums so far.
Aki Onda and Shelley Hirsch are musicical performers who share a fascination with the subject and object of memory.
AUGUST 22
KENNY WOLLESEN MARCHING BAND
Tompkins Square Park
AUGUST 23
THE GREAT LEARNING
Paragraph 2
The point where to rest being known, then the object of pursuit is then determined and that being determined, a calm unperturbedness may be attained to. To that calmness there will succeed a tranquil repose in that repose there may be careful deliberation, and that deliberation will be followed by the attainment (of the desired end).
For the 2004 HOWL Festival, ISSUE Project Room will be presenting a interpretation of seminal British avant-garde composer Cornelius Cardew's 1969 experimental music piece The Great Learning from Paragraph Two. Highly influenced by Confucian philosophy, Paragraph Two is an utterly exhilarating, significant opus written for percussion and voice, at which the mass choir of voices and rhythmic drumming create a hair-raising cadence.
The Great Learning is based on the first seven paragraphs of the Da Xue (or the Ta Hseuh), written by Confucius and his pupils between the fifth and second centuries B.C. and translated by the poet Ezra Pound. Cardew dedicated The Great Learning to the Scratch Orchestra (a London-based ensemble he helped to found) whose members included professional and student musicians, actors, dancers, and people with no previous experience of the arts.
Jim Pugliese, a percussionist who has worked with artists such as Phillip Glass and John Zorn, will be the Musical Director of the performance.
Vocalists asked to participate include: Joan LaBarbara, Eric Mingus, Mary Cleere Haran, Rebecca Moore, Marc Anthony Thompson, Shelley Hirsch, Allyssa Lamb, Liz Bougatsos, Fay Victor, Jonathan Bepler and more...
Percussionists to perform include: Jim Black, Tim Barnes, Kenny Wollesen, Gerald Cleaver, Susie Ibarra, Roberto Rodriquez, Raz Mesinai, Christine Bard, Dougie Bowne and more...
JULY 25
)))LIVE LISTENTING
Jeph Jerman, Tim Barnes, David Daniell, Sean Meehan
This tour marks a rare East Coast visit for Arizona based sound-artist and improviser Jeph Jerman, here joined by guitarist David Daniell and percussionists Tim Barnes and Sean Meehan. Each show will feature revolving duos.
In their various projects these four musicians represent an extraordinary and diverse range of creative music. Seeing them perform live gives one the opportunity to examine the vital spark that pulls such a range of music together, and offers the possibility of one witnessing hiterto unknown assemblages. Not to be missed.
JUNE 3
TARANTULA
Danny Bensi (cello), Jamie Reeder (violin), Saunder Jurriaans (guitar/ bass), Gregory Rogove (percussion)
"Tarantula's sound flows effortlessly from Astor Piazzolla/ film-music ambience to full hardcore Rave up and back, as if there were through-composed bands with cellos and classical guitars playing these rock clubs every night of the week. Soon there probably will be."
This evening, Tarantula takes a slight departure from their usual instrumental compositions, rearranging their signature pieces with new variations ripe with improvisation and song.
JUNE 4
CHANTALE LAPLANTE & CHARLOTTE HUG
Improvisational duo
Charlotte Hug, from Zurich, and Chantale Laplante, from Montreal, met in London in 2001. Since then, they have performed, and were extremely well received, at the Free Radicals Series in Glasgow, the Red Rose Club in London in quartet with Phil Waschman and Marcio Mattos, as well as in Zurich and Sion (Derborence). In May 2004, they will join the remarkable line up of the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville.
Charlotte Hug is a viola performer who also composes works using 3D graphic scores and multi-channel sound installations. Viola virtuoso and experienced improviser, Hug travels between acoustic and electronic sounds, bringing her instrument into a world of contrasts.
Chantale Laplante is a composer of contemporary instrumental and electroacoustic music. Her recent move into laptop improvising work draws from the recent tradition of acousmatic music in both the sounds she builds and the manner in which she combines them.
The musical meeting of these two musicians suggests amazing 'paysages sonores' (soundscapes), sharp, intricate, at times tranquil, at others vigorous and spirited.
JUNE 5
EJ RODRIGUEZ
Solo
JUNE 10
ISSUE PROJECT ROOM BENEFIT
Featuring
MARC RIBOT Y LOS CUBANOS POSTIZOS, ELLIOTT SHARP, REBECCA MOORE WITH PREVENTION OF BLINDNESS
Plus DJ Mike Wolf, poet Edwin Torres and other special guest speakers to be announced...
This June marks a year since ISSUE Project Room opened its doors! And to celebrate our feats and secure our future position, the Project Room is holding its first anniversary party at the Angel Orensanz Center for the Arts.
ISSUE Project Room is a sponsored organization of the New York Foundation for the Arts, a 501(c)(3), tax-exempt organization. All contributions made on behalf of the Project Room are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.
The Project Room gives thanks to artist Eric Drooker for "Breaking the Bank".
JUNE 17 - 21
GUM Magazine presents
A TRIBUTE TO MISTER FRED ROGERS
A Multimedia Exhibition
Exhibition Hours: Fri - Sat 11am-9pm; Sun - Mon 11am-6pm
Opening reception: Thursday, June 17, 7-10pm featuring a live performance by Hangar 18 from Definitive Jux Records, plus DJ James F!@#$%^ Friedman
"Fred Rogers was a man who wasn't afraid to do things his way, however uncool that way may have been," says Kevin Grady, who co-founded GUM with designer/artist Colin Metcalf in 2002. "Despite all common wisdom, there was no rapid-fire, attention deficit disorder-pandering on his TV show. No neon-colored mayhem at all. Just the same hand-knitted sweaters, the same simple puppets, the same old self-sung theme song." And a simple, consistent gentleness that now, more than ever, is a comfort in a violent world.
Contibutors will include Phil Frost, Dalek, Richard Colman, Rick Valicenti, Guido Vitti, Michael Wiener, MCA/Evil Design, Bask, Aye Jay, Visibl, Magmo The Destroyer, Dean Bradley, typeStereo//SomeShine. Angela Boatwright, Lump Lipshitz, AA/ProjectorStudio, Mr. Florencio Zavala, Kandy Littrell, Linda Zacks/extra-oomph, Brett Phares, Randy Janson, Jon Burgerman, Ian Hanna and members of The Drama collective, along with Grady and Metcalf from GUM.
JUNE 23
A Summer Evening with the Faeries
Storybook readings and films by local artists and children
A free community evenrt at the 6B Community Garden, on the corner of East 6th Street and Avenue B
Join us in celebration of storytelling inspired by Faerie Literature and Mythology. The evening will include readings by neighborhood artists and children from Faerie, by Brian Froud and Alan Lee, as well as screenings of silent film. Adults and children are encouraged to come to the Garden dressed as their favorite Nymph, Sylph, Salamander or Gnome. Faerie snack favorites and sweet fruit teas will be prepared and served by chef Anila Groft of Edible Flowers.
JUNE 25
CARL MAGUIRE
Floriculture
Chris Mannigan alto saxophone; Trevor Dunn bass; Danny Weiss drums; Carl Maguire piano
Carl Maguire formed Floriculture in 2001 to play his tactile and rhythmically sensuous music. The band's intimate familiarity with the music creates a kaleidoscopic sound where improvised dialogues envelop taut compositional pith.
Tonight will be Floriculture's first performance of 2004. Inspired by Muhammad Ali and sexuality, they will perform several new compositions.
MAY 1
MORGAN CRAFT & DJ MUTAMASSIK
ROUGH AMERICANA
Rough Americana is wholly live & improvisational. Raw and visceral, Umpth to 1st generational.. ROUGH AMERICANA blazes new trails in sound. Picking up frequencies from Memphis-America to Memphis-Africa to Unseen Forces, this is the new hardcore grit-prov that brings fire to electronic music...
Morgan Craft - stunt guitar, DJ Mutamassik - turntables, tape recorder and effects
MAY 4
POESiA 100%: a Celebration of Pablo Neruda
Poetry reading and film screening honoring the centenary celebration of the Chilean poet
Featuring poets Mark Eisner, Mark Doty, Willie Perdomo, Katherine Jamieson and others reading new translations from "Essential Neruda" (City Lights Press). The evening will also include a special showing of Pablo Neruda: a Documentary, a remarkable account on the author and his life as narrated by famed Chilean author Isabel Allende.
As Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote, Pablo Neruda was "the greatest poet of the twentieth century - in any language." His words and their history remain extremely vital today.
Proceeds benefit documentary.
MAY 7
ALAN LICHT'S DIGGER CHOIR
Performance is free and open to public participation
Composer/guitarist/improvisor/author Alan Licht will conduct the Digger Choir, augmented by invited guest artists, to perform vocal arrangements of John Stevens' "Sustained Piece", Alan Licht's "Your Back Pages", and "O Superman" by Laurie Anderson.
The concert will feature untrained vocalists as well professional singers performing in various stations in the space, not on a stage. The pieces will emphasize equanimity between the performers (and the audience) but also each performer's individuality. The Stevens' piece is rarely, if ever, performed.
The evening's title is in homage to the English Civil War-era agrarian movement and the late 60s San Francisco street theatre "life actors" - social activists (which included actor Peter Coyote and the late Emmett Grogan).
MAY 8
AKI ONDA
Cassette Memories
Cassette Memories is a musical performance, or a ritual, which conjures up the general essence of memory by playing his own personal memories. It is a spectacle which is Music for the Eyes. Partly visible, but seen mostly in ones imagination.
Aki Onda is a self-taught musician, currently living in New York, who plays cassettes and electronics. He has been obsessed with taping field-recording sound as a diary by a cheap cassette recorder more than a decade, using them for performing. His latest album "Bon Voyage!" was selected in the Wire magazine's 50 records of the year for 2003. He has collaborated with such musicians as Eye Yamatsuka, Nobukazu Takemura, Tujiko Noriko, Ikue Mori, Haco, Shelley Hirsch, Alan Licht, SFT, Blixa Bargeld, and Linda Sharrock.
MAY 11
RATTAPALLAX 11 Launch Reading & Party
Featuring Charles Bernstein, Roger Bonair-Agard, Elena Alexander, Charles Martin, David Mills, Urayoan Noel, John Rodriguez, Henry Israeli, and Tom Savage.
Hosted by Edwin Torres and Idra Novey.
Derek Beres will DJ. "New Chilean Poetry" read by Shradha Shah, Aracelis Girmay, Jonathan Bourland, Andrew Gebhardt, and others.
MAY 14
JONATHAN BEPLER
You Know Low
An exciting multichannel karaoke event, where the composer performs solo vocal improvisation to sounds prepared at other locations.
Composer Jonathan Bepler has been doing sound installations and collaborations with Artists, Choreographers and Directors for some years, now. He has recently completed the scores for the Cremaster films with artist Matthew Barney, music for dance works by John Jasperse and Jennifer Lacey, and a mobile soundtrack for the Japanese hills. He is an agonizingly trained vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, he performs once a year or so.
MAY 15
MICHIYO YAGI & ELLIOTT SHARP
Solos and duos
One of the most versatile masters of the koto, Michiyo Yagi has performed in rock bands, jazz groups, movie soundtracks, classical ensembles, noise improvisations and of course Japanese traditional and folk groups. Using both orthodox and unorthodox techniques, she takes the koto to an exciting new world incorporating influences from traditional Japanese and Korean music as well as the American maverick tradition of Partch, Cage, Nancarrow and Terry Riley.
She will perform with composer and sonic innovator Elliott Sharp, considered one of the founders of the "Downtown" scene and who has collaborated with an extraordinary range of musicians: from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to the Radio Symphony of Frankfurt, blues legend Hubert Sumlin to junglist DJ Soulslinger. With both traditional and extended techniques of his own invention, he has extended many boundaries.
MAY 19
OPEN WALLS EXPERIMENT
All Artists welcome to exhibit (1-2 pieces per person - hang upon arrival).
Opening will include an open bar (BYOB to the bar), a book and music store (all interested in having their items sold must come at 5PM to consign merchandise), and special musical performances (those interested in participating come prepared).
Installation will remain up for three weeks.
This is a research project, where based on observation, we will fine tune the nature of the experiment as we go. The objective is to pursue the exploration of creativity and provide an intriguing opportunity for exposure. Maximum participation of emerging and established artists is essential in forming an interesting specimen.
MAY 20
Tim Barnes brings an opportunity for you to experience the sounds and techniques of improvisation in an installation-like setting.
TOSHI MAKIHARA QUARTET
Scott Rosenberg (woodwinds), Audrey Chen (voice, cello), Paul Neidhardt (percussion) and Toshi Makihara (percussion)
TIM BARNES (percussion(s) / JASON ROEBKE (upright bass) / NATE WOOLEY (trumpet) TRIO
BARRY WEISBLAT (electronics) / MASAHIDE TOKUNAGA (reeds) DUO
MAY 22
ELLERY ESKELIN TRIO
Celebrating their 10 year anniversary
Ellery Eskelin (tenor saxophone), Andrea Parkins (sampler and accordion), and Jim Black (drums)
Since 1994, the band has been touring regularly every year in Europe, the US and Canada. Eskelin's conceptual efforts have been focused greatly with this ensemble resulting in a music that while containing some jazz elements may not be jazz in any strict sense. An amalgamated approach to playing and composing is employed drawing inspiration from many sources. Together, they have released numerous recordings on the Swiss hatOLOGY label, including their seventh release, Arcanum Moderne.
Following the performance, the Project Room invites the public to a post-concert party, celebrating both the band's anniversary and the recent release of their DVD Video European Tour Diary.
Ellery Eskelin has been living in NYC since 1983. Eskelin has performed with Joey Baron's "Baron Down", Mark Helias' "Open Loose" and Gerry Hemingway's Quartet.
MAY 23
sTUNgUN
Jonathan (Guitar & Lead Vocals), Kane (Lead Guitar), Julian (Drums), Lucian (Bass & Backup Vocals)
sTUNgUN, the NYC based band are four 13 year old musicians currently working on material for an upcoming demo tape. The band's first gig was at the Liberty Heights Tap Room in Red Hook in December 2003. The group defines its original music as rock-oriented, but it also combines diverse elements of punk and rap into its songs. Co-curated by friend and one time classmate, Sarah Fiol.
MAY 27
"Healing Poetry"
Hosted by Patricia Brody.
Featuring Rafael Campo, Marie Ponsot, Grace Schulman, Brendan Costello, Helen Barnard, Michael Morical, Ellen Peckham, Elaine Schwager, Sam Friedman, Sina Quayras, Michele Rosenthal, Yerra Sugarman, Barry Wallenstein & Frances Richey.
MAY 28
NE(X)TWORKS
A collection of new composer's music
Ne(x)tworks is a boundary-breaking group of performing composers generating totally original avant-garde music. Varying in size from two to eleven players, Ne(x)tworks specializes in open form music, with almost every piece involving improvisation.
Kenji Bunch - viola, Cornelius Dufallo - violin, Tim Kiah - bass, Rubin Kodheli - cello, Joan La Barbara - voice, Christopher McIntyre - trombone, Brian McWhorter - trumpet, Jesse Mills - violin
APRIL 2
TRIO S
Doug Wieselman (clarinets and guitar), Jane Scarpantoni (cello) and Kenny Wollesen (drums)
Trio S, the latest project from composer/musician Doug Wieselman, will continue to explore Wieselman's compositions, many of which are based on melodies drawn from various water sources. The evening's performance will include new pieces as well as the repertoire from their latest CD, released in 2003.
"It's three of my favorite musicians, and the music is incandescent" - Laurie Anderson
APRIL 10
ARCHIVE presents: "An Evening with Joseph Cornell"
From the "Art After Death" series
ARCHIVE is the collaborative production entity of artists Anne Walsh and Chris Kubick.
Their series, Art After Death takes the form of an audio cd series, performance lectures, and museum and gallery installations which present narrated and edited audio, recorded during "interviews" (séances) with dead artists, as offering an alternative form of "art history." They suggest that (art) criticism might be a collaborative and performative practice, rather than an authoritative one. The act of using metaphysical communication prostheses-spirit mediums-to obtain information about artists' intentions is one that brings the interpreter's role powerfully into the foreground.
For An Evening with Joseph Cornell, ARCHIVE will present a lecture of their work.
APRIL 16
TED REICHMAN
Emigre
Accordionist Ted Reichman steps out on his own in this moody, hypnotic portrait of one of the 20th Century's greatest photographers, Andre Kertesz.
Ted Reichman - accordion; Okkyung Lee - cello; Roberto Rodriguez - percussion; Doug Wieselman - clarinet & guitar; Curtis Hasselbring - laptop & guitar
"The camera is my tool through which I try to give a reason to everything and to every happening around me. Everything is a subject. Every subject has a rhythm. To feel this rhythm is the 'raison d'etre.' The photo is a fixed moment of such a 'raison d'etre' which lives on in itself."
- Andre Kertesz
APRIL 17
MARCO CAPPELLI & JIM PUGLIESE
premiere
IDR (Italian Doc Remix)
Mark Feldman - violin; Doug Wieselman - clarinets ; Marco Cappelli - guitar; Kato Hideki - bass; Jim Pugliese - drums
Italian Doc Remix is the result of the artistic exchange between Marco Cappelli (Napoli) and Jim Pugliese (NYC). The two musicians met back in Italy when Pugliese spent a week-long search for his Italian relatives in Castelnuovo di Conza, a village outside Napoli where Cappelli played among folk bands as a teenager. Together, their mutual reverence for the villages' ritual music created Italian Doc Remix, an original project with improvised renditions of traditional Italian melodies.
APRIL 21
IKUE MORI & MARINA ROSENFELD
An evening of clicks and flickers
more information
APRIL 24
BLACK MOUNTAIN TRIO
Combining elements of 18th century classical music, 1970's fire music, and 20th century composition, the Black Mountain Trio is a new voice in creative music. While their influences are as varied as J.S. Bach and Albert Ayler, the group focuses on forging their own unique voice outside traditional musical genres, placing equal emphasis on composition and improvisation. The Black Mountain Trio recently made their performance debut at the Washington Square United Methodist Church under the not-for-profit sponsorship of the Greenwich Village Orchestra.
Jeremiah Cymerman (clarinet), Greg Heffernan (cello), Daniele Sahr (violin)
MARCH 4
RAZ MESINAI & EYVIND KANG DUO
Performing music from their upcoming release on Undone Records
Raz Mesinai (framedrums/percussion) and Eyvind Kang share a rare connection as musical time travelers. Together, the music they create has the ability to weave the epochs - from the ancient to the futuristic.
MARCH 5
INVERT
All new and original compositions
Invert's music ranges from moody pieces evocative of expressionist cinema soundtracks to melodic works, often leaving open sections for improvisation during their live performance.
MARCH 13
STEVE PICCOLO/GAK SATO with special guest ELLIOTT SHARP
Set 1 - THE VELOCITY OF HUE, Elliott Sharp - solo electroacoustic guitar
Set 2 - THE BOX MAN, Steve Piccolo - voice, bass; Gak Sato - sound effects, theremin
Set 3 - ENSEMBLE, Elliott Sharp, Gak Sato, Steve Piccolo and special guests
MARCH 18
ANDREA PARKINS
with Jessica Constable and Marco Cappelli
Electro accordionist/laptop musician Andrea Parkins revels in both high and lo-tech electronic disruption even as she explores a delicate lyricism, stasis, and oblique allusion to genre tradition. She will perform solo and will also present "Corona," her new work for an international trio that features Italian guitar master Marco Cappelli and the electronics driven vocal improvisations of Jessica Constable, who lives in France.
MARCH 20
EUGENE CHADBOURNE & MARC RIBOT
Wrongs of Spring
The Squid's Ear online music magazine in conjunction with ISSUE Project Room present two of new music's most innovative guitarists, playing solo and in duet.
FEBRUARY 5
DANGEROUS GROUND PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS
MICHAEL ATTIAS' MUSIC OF BATTLE
Music of Battle is a new self-contained revisiting of the score to the acclaimed play Battle of Black and Dogs as it was performed at the Ohio Theatre in May 2003 as part of the Koltes NY 2003 Festival. This very special concert will feature the original musicians and actors in an uninterrupted flow of music and text that recreates the darkness, humor, and poetry of Koltes' landscapes. Battle of Black and Dogs is set on a post-colonial construction site in West Africa. It is a violent, metaphysical operatic western that intertwines themes of sex, race, money, and power in an incantatory language that can rise to arias of hallucinatory beauty only to descend to obsessive rants of trivial and equally hallucinatory obscenity.
The music combines samples, notation, live electronics and various improvisational strategies to create a world of longing visited by Burundi girls, Schubert, Nepalese fruit bats, and Johnny Guitar. It attempts to describe both the outer landscape of the play and the inner psyches of the four characters. The actors, under Doris Mirescu's masterful direction, will integrate pieces from the original production into the musical texture.
more information
FEBRUARY 6
The SYNESTHTETES present Easter in New York!
A re-interpretation of French poet Blaise Cendrars' Les Paques a New York
The Synesthetes, modern as they are, will lead their musical quest on the undulating path of mysticism and cynical despair. The poem will be translated in sounds and motion using dance, music and moving images.
The Synesthetes: Stephanie Larriere - Tap Dance; Yo Shina - Dance; Michael Attias - Alto Sax; Olivier Conan - Voice, Laptop & Video; Shelley Burgon - Harp; Trevor Dunn - Bass; Raz Mesinai - Percussions
"Easter in New York" is the creation of a modernist legend which echoes the Golden Legend of medieval christianity. It is filled with fear, violence, love and rebellion and uses an imagery that mixes the medieval along with the contemporary. It is the chaotic quest for an atheistic spirituality where the old dogmas have little place and where angels fly along the shiny fuselage of the brand new aeroplane.
FEBRUARY 13
RAZ MESINAI & SHELLEY HIRSCH
Sampler and vocals
This marks the first live performance from Mesinai's cult classic recording on BSI "The Unspeakable".
* Due to illness, Shelley Hirsch could not perform. Mark Feldman (violin) and Anthony Coleman (organ/piano) joined Raz Mesinai.
FEBRUARY 20
REBECCA MOORE WITH PREVENTION OF BLINDNESS
Featuring films by Joel Schlemowitz
The Project Room invites you to an intimate evening of music and film curated by composer/musician Rebecca Moore. Joined by her all-star ensemble Prevention of Blindness, the band will play a mixture of new songs and instrumentals while Joel Schlemowitz1s films cover the surrounding walls. Expect the band to be involved in some theatrical situations!
Prevention of Blindness includes: Ursula Wiskoski (elec. cello), Danny Tunick (bass, vibes, keyboards), Dan Coates (samples electronica), Dan Kaufman (elec. guitar), Christy Davis (percussion), Pinky (viola), Suzannah Scott- Moncrieff (viola) and Rebecca Moore (violin, vocals).
Filmmaker Joel Schlemowitz will project films and visual images on the surrounding walls. Schlemowitz's films are poetic and thoughtful, accessibly abstract yet convey an awareness of the texture of film as a medium.
FEBRUARY 22
TREVOR DUNN'S SCHEMES OF OMISSION
Debut performance
Trevor Dunn, bassist for Mr. Bungle, Fantomas and John Zorn's Electric Masada, leads Schemes of Omission, a new quartet including Shelley Burgon (harp), Curtis Hasselbring (trombone) and Bay-area drummer Ches Smith.
Schemes of Omission fuses improvisation with chamber ensemble effect. The unusual instrumentation resembles something like Feldmanesque orchestration with the possibilities of limitless color...
JANUARY 8
ANTHONY COLEMAN
Plays The Music of Jelly Roll Morton
Solo Piano
Composer/pianist Anthony Coleman will play the music of Jelly Roll Morton, "the first great composer and piano player of Jazz. He was a talented arranger who wrote special scores that took advantage of the three-minute limitations of the 78 rpm records. But more than all these things, he was a real character whose spirit shines brightly through history, like his diamond studded smile."
more info
JANUARY 10
EDWIN TORRES
Reading and performance with musicians Sean G. Meehan (snare drum) and Cornelius Dufallo (violin)
"NOVO" CD Release Party
In dense arrangements of sound intermingled with Torresian language, Edwin Torres' second CD "NOVO" uses the recording studio as muse; fusing poetry with soundscapes influenced by rock, jazz, samba and theater. "NOVO" is a departure, yet continues the invention of his last CD "HOLY KID" (Kill Rock Stars) which was included in The Whitney Museum of American Art1s exhibition 'The American Century, Pt. II.'
LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT A WILD-BOY CHARGE IS LIKE
A Video/Sound Installation by Alan Licht
January 9th – January 23th, 2004
Opening: Friday, JANUARY 9, 8:00PM
"'They have incredible stamina. A pack of wild boys can cover fifty miles a day...
The noise they make just before they charge... well, I've seen it shatter a greenhouse
fifty yards away. Let me show you what a wild-boy charge is like.' "
-William Burroughs, The Wild Boys
JANUARY 29
THE SQUID'S EAR MAGAZINE - 1st ANNIVERSARY PARTY & PERFORMANCE
With Ron Anderson, Anthony Coleman and Gary Lucas to perform
The Squid's Ear music magazine celebrates its first anniversary on January 29 with special performances by three of the musicians who have written articles for it during its inaugural year. Veteran guitarist Gary Lucas, a former member of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, pioneering downtown pianist Anthony Coleman and postpunk guitarist (now oudist) Ron Anderson will present solo sets at the Project Room to mark the birthday of the online publication.
JANUARY 30 and 31
MARCO CAPPELLI
The Extreme Guitar Project
During the 2004 New York Guitar Festival, Issue Project Room proudly presents the premiere US performance of The Extreme Guitar Project featuring Italian guitarist Marco Cappelli.
Marco Cappelli, who inspired the concept for The Extreme Guitar Project, commissioned 10 sonic luminaries from New York's Downtown music scene to compose 'rigorous written structures' that he could perform. The individual styles and varying disciplines of the composers mixed with the imaginative possibilities of Cappelli's own guitar playing creates a unique and provocative program.
The composers included: Elliott Sharp, Otomo Yoshihide, Ikue Mori, Marc Ribot, David Shea, Anthony Coleman, Nick Didkovsky, Mark Stewart, Erik Friedlander and Annie Gosfield.
Marco Cappelli performs regularly in Europe. He is known in both classical music concert societies and among jazz and improvisation scenes. He has worked with musicians Enrico Rava, Michel Godard, Markus Stockhausen, Giovanni Sollima and many others.
POSTPONED
GREGORY TARDY QUARTET
Gregory Tardy has garnered critical acclaim for his complex compositions and fiery performances, not only as a leader, but as a sideman with such jazz artists as Andrew Hill, Elvin Jones, Dave Douglas, Tom Harrell and many notable others. Combining these experiences with his history of playing classical, funk, contemporary gospel and the blues he delivers a high-energy spirit charged performance. His most recent Palmetto Records CD, Abundance, brings all of that experience together in a postmodern gospel jazz celebration. Using tenor saxophone and clarinet, he plays with a full range of colors.
Hailed by the New York Times as "one of the bright hopes of jazz", Tardy is an exceptional player that is exciting to see and hear.