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Tag Archives: Alvin Curran
The Jack Quartet Plays Cenk Ergün
Who? Cenk Ergün (1978- ) is a Turkish born, New York based composer and improvisor. His distinctly ethnic Turkish sounding name will trigger fond memories in "listeners of a certain age" of the profoundly significant work of Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegün, the Turkish/American brothers whose Atlantic Records label helped define jazz, pop, and rock throughout the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. Lesser known is one of Atlantic's spinoff labels, Finnadar helmed by fellow Turkish/American Ilhan Mimaroglu, himself a composer as well as producer. It was here that one saw the producers' radar turned to the classical avant garde. And Ergün fits rather comfortably in this category.
Cenk Ergün
A quick Google search reveals Mr. Ergün to have released at least six albums both solo projects and collaborations with composer Alvin Curran, cellist Mariel Roberts, and unclassifiable iconoclastic guitarist Fred Frith. His bio does not document his education but those collaborations show him to be in sympathy with what one might consider the current leading edge of the avant garde.
This disc consisting of two works for string quartet entitled, respectively, "Sonare" and "Celare". Whether these are separate works or, as this listener perceived them, two parts of a whole, they are engaging works utilizing a variety of extended techniques and tunings. The album lacks liner notes but the works, though complex and unconventional, are rather transparent (at least to ears accustomed to some of the innovations of the last 50 years or so of new classical music).
Sonare is far more rhythmically active than its partner on this disc. Its use of unusual tunings and spectra as well as its apparent micropolyphonies suggest a variety of predecessors including George Crumb (think Black Angels) and some hard to delineate minimalist ideas. Celare, which follows it brings the listener to more of a drone minimalism aesthetic which also suggested Luigi Nono's "Stille An Diotima" at times. These two pieces (or movements?) collectively clock in at just over 30 minutes which I guess makes this a sort of "CD single". There is no apparent program other than the music itself and the music suffers from neither understatement nor overstatement and is ultimately a very satisfying experience in the very capable hands of the venerable Jack Quartet.
Put Mr. Ergün on your radar alerts. This is a voice that this listener hopes to hear more from in the near future.
1 Comment Posted in 21st century, Chamber Music, classical music, composers, experimental music, extended instrumental techniques, minimalism, modern music, music, new music, String Quartet Tagged Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, alternate tunings, Alvin Curran, Atlantic Records, Cenk Ergün, drone, Finnadar Records, Fred Frith, George Crumb, Ilhan Mimaroglu, JACK Quartet, Luigi Nono, Mariel Roberts, micropolyphony, minimalism, spectra
Other Minds 23: Whereof One Cannot Speak…
"Fragment #3"
speaking is speaking We repeat
what we speak
and then we are
speaking again and that
speaking is speaking.
Tokyo June sometime, 1976 Richard Brautigan (1935-1984)
(Left to right: Clark Coolidge, Karen Stackpole, Michael McClure, Anne Waldman, Randall Wong, Aram Saroyan, Sarah Cahill, Charles Amirkhanian, Carol Law, Alvin Curran, Beth Anderson, Jaap Blonk, Tone Åse, Amy X Neuberg, Sheila Davies Sumner, Enzo Minarelli, Ottar Ormstad, Susan Stone, Pamela Z, Taras Mashtalir)
The last statement in Ludwig Wittgenstein's 1921 Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must remain silent) is well known among philosophy students and has taken on the quality of an aphorism or truism. But the six days of this most recent Other Minds Festival was functionally an effective refutation of this concept. And the controversy over the awarding of the most recent Pulitzer Prize in music to a rap/hip-hop artist (a species of sound poetry?) which was announced on April 16th, 2 days after the end of this festival of sound poetry seems to reflect the prescience and presence of mind of the Other Minds organization. Apparently words are "in" even if Wittgenstein and the critics of the Pulitzer Foundation say otherwise.
The Wages of Syntax
Other Minds 23 (April 9-14, 2018) in many ways began with the release in 1975, of one of the first (and still arguably the finest and still in print) anthologies of a strange, somewhat nebulous species of what can loosely be termed "sound poetry". That anthology was called "10+2: 12 American Text Sound Pieces" curated by the man behind this week's vast expansion on that anthology, Charles Amirkhanian.
Amirkhanian and his wife, artist and photographer Carol Law took a long strange trip in the early 1970s. No, they did not follow the Grateful Dead. Rather they sought a little known group of artists who walked a line seemingly between poetry and music. From the Nordic countries to northern Europe, France and Italy they encountered artists who used the voice (though not necessarily language per se) to produce a sonic art form which nearly defies categorization.
Amirkhanian in his office
Charles Amirkhanian is himself a composer and percussionist in addition to being a producer and promoter of contemporary music. As a composer, as it was with his long radio career, his voice has been his main instrument. His resonant, articulate baritone voice has served him well these years and this festival provided a rare opportunity to see/hear Amirkhanian perform his own work live.
This unprecedented 6 day festival marks the longest in the series of the Other Minds annual music festivals. As relatively obscure as this art form may seem to the casual observer this series managed to provide historical context, current practices, and a tantalizing look/listen at the future of what is in fact a vast body of work. The ability of Other Minds to find hidden treasures of sonic art continues to amaze.
Day one,subtitled, "The Wages of Syntax", was the gala opening featuring some of the leading artists in the field. After the obligatory intros the Italian master Enzo Minarelli presented the world premiere of his tribute to Stephane Mallarmé, "Ptyx".
The piece, comprised of phonemes rather than syntactical sounds, was an apt introduction to the weird and wonderful world of sound poetry. Minarelli was passionate and expressive, a beautiful performance. Only later in this series would we come to know the depth of scholarship, preparation, and experience that informed this and all his performances. More on that a bit later.
Next up was one of the elder statesmen of San Francisco poets, the wonderful Michael McClure. At 85 he sported a walking stick (no not really a cane) needed due to a recent fall. He also required assistance of one of the stage managers to help him to the little chair and desk set up for him. But none of that mattered once he opened his little bookmarked book of poetry and began to read "Marilyn Monroe Thou Hast Passed the Dark Barrier" and some of his Ghost Tantras from 1962. His voice was strong, his delivery both certain and witty. His combinations of words and non-syntactical sounds were delivered with the same joy, humor, and pathos which appears to have inspired them in the first place. The audience responded very warmly to his ecstatic delivery.
After a bit of stage preparation we were treated to one of the most prominent members of the next generation of American poets that followed Mr. McClure (can I be forgiven for saying beat poets?), Anne Waldman. She was accompanied (as her texts required) by percussionist Karen Stackpole. Waldman presented from her "New and Selected Poems", "Pieces of an Hour (for John Cage)", excerpts from "Voices Daughter of a Heart Yet to Be Born", and excerpts from "Trickster Feminism". Her characteristically forceful and peripatetic performance carried her between the microphone and Stackpole's percussion instruments and back again. It was a charged and sincere performance which clearly charmed (some might say stunned) the audience.
Waldman's ties to the world of sound poetry go back to her New York roots and her involvement in the St. Mark's Poetry Project and the Dial-a Poem Poets whose recordings have included her work and that of John Cage, Charles Amirkhanian, Clark Coolidge, and Michael McClure among others. Small world.
Next up was the venerable Aram Saroyan. I suppose Saroyan (yes, the son of Pulitzer Prize winner William Saroyan) can be said to be part of the same post beat generation artists as Waldman. Perhaps best known for his "minimalist poetry" he is also an accomplished biographer (Genesis Angels deserves to be better known IMHO) and literary innovator. It was Saroyan's poem "Crickets" (1965) which ended the first side of that anthology mentioned at the beginning of this article. It was in an infinite loop in the end groove of side one of the LP playing the one word which comprises the poem, "crickets". And it was this little gem that he performed on this night….with a twist. After a few repetitions he invited the audience (many apparently still trying to figure out what was going on) to join…which we did…,at first hesitantly, in unison…and then, in a touch of group inspiration, just like real crickets, not all in unison. It was a strange sort of call and response that charmed the audience and brought a smile to the poet as well. And that only brought us to intermission.
Michael McClure, Anne Waldman, and Aram Saroyan
The second half introduced the first of the international stars, Jaap Blonk, the Dutch sound poet and performance artist. He began with one of his own works, Obbele Boep 'm Pam (a bebop sound poem). It was a sound poetry homage to that 1950s species of jazz which inspired the beats, Bebop. It was a sequence of sounds and words in a made up (by the performer) language intended to imitate the sound of his native Dutch language.
His second performance was of a sound poem from 1916 by the man who coined the term, "phonetic poem", Hugo Ball (1886-1927). This poem, based on phonemes common to the Swiss and German languages, was called, "Seepferdchen und Flugfische" (in English "Seahorses and Flying Fish"). Blonk's delivery of this turn of the century classic was the first of what would be several such revivals of revered early material of this nascent artistic genre.
Jaap Blonk
Blonk was followed by the grand finale which returned us to the local roots with poet Clark Coolidge and the ever innovative Alvin Curran. We learned that the two went to high school together and this was a strange and wonderful reunion with Coolidge reading his manic stream of consciousness poetry accompanied (sort of) by Curran's musical ministering at both a grand piano and a sampling keyboard in a world premiere collaboration.
Though Curran now lives in Rome (and has for many years) he will always be welcome in the Bay Area where he lived, taught, and performed for many years. Curran is no stranger to Other Minds either having performed at Other Minds 7 in 2001 and, more recently, at the Nature of Music series. He is a musician, not a poet but his eclecticism has allowed him to collaborate successfully with a wide variety of artists in a long and varied career which continues to command attention.
The nature of the interactions which characterized this world premiere performance of "Just Out of Nowhere" were not obvious though it is a fair assumption that a degree of improvisation was used and, no doubt, some of the successful confluences on this night were first encountered in rehearsals. Coolidge's stream of consciousness rhythmic ramblings were ever present but never overwhelming. In response, Curran moved back and forth between the grand piano and the sampling keyboard working with serious concentration to provide his musical support for the words.
It was an intense performance as inscrutably mind expanding as all that went before. Curran signaled the end (as has become his performance custom) by blowing the sacred shofar over the undampened piano strings which resonated in kind and faded to silence which, in turn, was held for a moment by the audience as they disengaged from their attention to offer warm and appreciative applause. It was a striking collaboration and a reunion of two beloved artists.
The audience seemed to feel the pure emotion of this performance and the two performers embraced warmly before acknowledging the accolades of the charmed audience.
Sadly this writer had to miss the second night of the festival which consisted of a lecture by Enzo Minarelli on the history of sound poetry followed in the evening by a workshop on how to do sound poetry run by Jaap Blonk. Both were apparently well received and it is my understanding that they will soon be available for streaming on the Other Minds web site. Definitely gonna check that out.
The second night was given the subtitle, "No Poets Don't Own Words". Even for those who were fortunate enough to have attended this extended Tuesday program it is worth noting that there is a wealth of resources easily available to the interested listener. The Other Minds website has links to a wealth of archives which include interviews and performances by a variety of artists. In fact (and this was a creative touch) you get a free CD entitled, "What is sound poetry?", an archived KPFA radio program when you buy one of the unique t-shirts (designed by none other than Carol Law) from the Other Minds Web Store. Get this stuff while you can folks.
Also worthy of note (this writer has lost many hours browsing here) is Ubuweb, an online archive of music, texts, films, and sound poetry. The fact is that these six evenings ultimately could only serve as an introduction to the unusual and entertaining genre. And those whose appetites have been whetted by this series will want to hear more.
Day 3, April 11th. The subtitle for this night's performance was, appropriately, The History Channel. It was an opportunity to display some of the origins and early foundational masterworks of sound poetry. Enzo Minarelli displayed his academic skills and interests as he interpreted several classic "scores" (which were projected on the back wall) as the performer brought them to life in what appears to have been as authentic a performance as could be had with this material from the early twentieth century.
Minarelli did readings of: "Dune (parole in libertå)" (1914) and "Zang Tumb Tuuum: Adrianopoli, 1912" (1914) by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti; Fortunato Depero's "Subway" (1939), "Verbalizzazione astratta di signora" (1927), and "Graticieli" (Skyscrapers, 1929). He finished with one more by Marinetti, "Savoia" (1917). In addition to the passion of Minarelli's performance the look of the score, essentially artistically printed pages of words and phonemes, and the choices made by the performer to interpret those scores itself provided its own sense of drama. The lighting and projection were simple and effective, supporting the live performance.
No major stage changes were needed for the next performer, just a little music stand with a microphone and small lights to illuminate the score. Randall Wong, currently administrative director at Other Minds is an accomplished singer. He is in fact a male soprano who specializes in baroque vocal scores including opera. No stranger to new music, Wong has also demonstrated his formidable vocal skills singing with the Meredith Monk Ensemble among others. It was those extended vocal skills that were called upon this night.
One could hardly have found a more appropriate casting to perform this next item on the program, "Stripsody" (1966) by the deservedly celebrated new music soprano Cathy Berberian. Similarly to Wong, Berberian's career took her from baroque opera to a plethora of modern music (Berberian was married for a time to Italian modernist composer Luciano Berio who wrote many a score for her). What is lesser known is that Berberian wrote some music designed and inspired by her own vocal skills.
Stripsody is difficult to describe.
It is, in fact, a combination of sounds, specialized vocal utterances, and visual theater and is a sort of homage to comic strips (hence the title). Utilizing onomatopoetic sounds, imitations of real world sounds and the sheer range of Berberian's vocal instrument the performer becomes a sort of live comic character. This piece is demanding but highly entertaining and contains humor and a variety of references. Never did the audience lose track of the virtuosity involved or the intensity of the performer's stage presence. Wong's performance was at once accurate, virtuosic, and a touching evocation of the memory of Ms. Berberian.
It was an immersive experience for both performer and audience witnessing the sounds, the gestures, the facial expressions, the sheer concentration required to convey both the humor and joy of this work. Wong demonstrated serious stamina and seemed to have enjoyed himself.
Now what is history without a bit of archaeology added in? Charles Amirkhanian introduced writer Lawrence Weschler who is (bear with me now) the grandson of the composer Ernst Toch. Toch is responsible for writing what is perhaps the best known example of the genre represented by OM 23 this year.
In 1930 he wrote a three part composition entitled, "Gesprochene Musik" (Spoken Music). Two of the three parts of this composition had long been thought lost. However choreographer Christopher Caines apparently did a reconstruction for his dance piece, Spoken Music (2006). Tonight's performance was the American premiere of substantially what Toch had originally intended way back in 1930.
The last of the three pieces, "Geographical Fugue" is by far the best known of Toch's spoken music (indeed the probably the best known of all his music despite a truly substantial catalog and a Pulitzer Prize, no less). In addition to the Gesprochene Musik there was a performance of a much later work by Toch which parodies chatter at cocktail parties, "Valse"(1962).
All of these were performed by The Other Minds Ensemble which consists of Kevin Baum, tenor; Randall Wong, tenor (yes, he can handle both soprano and tenor); Joel Chapman, baritone; Sidney Chen, bass, Amy X Neuberg, and Pamela Z.
Fast forward now to 2014 when grandson, executor, and writer Lawrence Weschler came up, on a whim, with a medical text to fit to the original Geographical Fugue. Tonight we were treated to the world premiere performance of Medical Fugue with the same ensemble. Weschler's facility with language allowed him to choose the phonetics which worked as effectively as Toch did in his original. No doubt grandaddy would have been proud.
Following intermission Jaap Blonk again took the stage, this time doing a historical performance for which he has become quite well known. Tonight he performed (from memory, no less) "Ursonate" (1932) by Kurt Schwitters. This large and complex work in several sections (or movements) utilizes vocal sounds fit together in the manner of classical sonata form in music. Blonk has been performing this work for many years now and he obviously both knows and loves this piece. His sincere, kinetic performance brought the audience back to the time frame of those years between the wars most effectively.
Two pieces on tape were next: "La Poinçonneuse, Passe Partot No. 2" (1970) by Bernard Heidsieck (1928-2014) and "If I told him (a completed portrait of Pablo Picasso) (1934) by Gertrude Stein (1874-1946). Both were presented with the theater darkened and a simple card projected on the back wall of the name of the work and the composer.
The Heidsieck piece is a poignant and bittersweet scenario alleged to be at least partly autobiographical. The Stein was a poetic portrait of her friend, Pablo Picasso. It was in Stein's own unique take on language and left one wondering why Stein's work is not even better known than it is.
And for the finale the Other Minds Ensemble was joined by a frequent guest artist, the justly renowned pianist Sarah Cahill in a seldom performed work by American Composer (and Gertrude Stein collaborator) Virgil Thomson (1896-1989). "Capital Capitals" (1917-1927) utilizes a Stein text. Thomson and Stein enjoyed several successful collaborations (including two operas) with Thomson setting Stein's words to music.
The text, designed with musical analogies in mind, was presented uncensored with a disclaimer in the program. The text, a bit dated, would not be considered politically correct by today's standards. It is a celebration of the ancient capitals of Provence (Aix, Arles, Avignon, and Les Baux). The music was written ten years after the text and shows the same collaborative affinity demonstrated in the operas.
The ensemble appeared to have a great deal of fun with the punning language and the music such a good fit. The audience clearly agreed.
Scandalnavians
Day 4: One of the things that has characterized Other Minds concerts over the years is the attempt to include the world outside of the United States. This year the international artists mostly come from that same territory which Mr. Amirkhanian and Ms. Law traversed on their journey in the early 1970s. Jaap Blonk, who had already performed in from the Netherlands, Enzo Minarelli, from Italy. We would on this night also be introduced to Sten Hanson (1936-2013), Ottar Ormstad , Taras Mashtalir , Lily Greenham, Åke Hodell, Sten Sandell, and Tone Åse.
The evening opened with tape presentations of two pieces by Sten Hanson (1936-2013). Che (1968) and How Are You (1989). The first was a deconstruction of words of Che Guevara and the second a phonemic deconstruction and electronic manipulation of the three words of the title.
Then, in a significantly darkened hall, we were introduced to the work of Ottaras, a duo consisting of Russian composer Taras Mashtalir and Norwegian poet/artist Ottar Ormstad. Standing stage left of the projection screen which covered almost the entire back wall Mashtalir worked on his laptop (producing some heavy rumbling that shook the walls and was felt in the listener's body). This writer's first impression was that of some sort of IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) or ambient rave soundtrack. It accompanied some striking (mostly) black and white images which took center stage on the screen at the back wall. Slowly, at first imperceptibly, Ormstad wove some vocal sounds into the fabric. It was the U.S. premiere of a 2018 work entitled, "Concrete". It was in four sections (or movements if you will) each separately titled, "Long Rong Song", "Navn Nome Name", "Kakaoase", and "Sol".
The strange swirling images, sometimes with words or parts of words moved across the back screen while the two performers, barely visible, worked with their instruments (computer and voice) to create a soundtrack for the images. Much like the non-syntactic use of sounds and language, the musical accompaniment was comprised of rather minimalistic utterances orchestrated in a wide range of frequencies with frequent heavy bass sound which provided a tactile component. All in all a rather mystical experience, exactly the cutting edge one looks for when attending an Other Minds production.
The performers seemed touched, perhaps even a bit surprised by the very warm response from the audience who seemed to connect rather easily to this unusual and very sensual experience.
The first half of this night's concert concluded with the presentation of two more tape pieces, Lily Greenham's "Outsider" (1973) and Åke Hodell's "Mr. Smith Goes to Rhodesia" (1970). As in previous tape presentations a static photograph with titles was projected on the back wall in the darkened theater.
The Greenham piece is a solo monodrama in which the speaker (Greenham) is accompanied by an electronic chorus of her own voice. Hodell's piece is clearly a protest piece about racial oppression by Ian Smith (Rhodesian Prime Minister 1964-1979) in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia). It is like the Greenham piece in that it utilizes a chorus but here the chorus is actual children gathered by the artist to speak/echo the lines of the narrative which contrasts the colonial narrative with both Hodell and the children periodically intoning, "Mr. Smith is a murderer." The contrast was chilling and the pause for intermission a welcome respite.
The second half of the program began with a solo performance by Tone Åse, another world premiere. She performed her work, Ka? (2018) for voice and electronics. In this piece she works with the sounds of questions, hesitations, and the sound of dubiousness deconstructing words, phrases, sounds and manipulating them vocally and electronically in a piece whose low volume and sparse sounds certainly evoked the intended emotions.
After a brief acknowledgement of the appreciative applause the next performer, Sten Sandell sat down at the keyboard stage left and began the performance of Voices Inside the Language (2018), another world premiere. Again this experience had a similar sparse, almost minimalist approach. It was a collaboration that echoed the first night's Coolidge and Curran performance and presented an entirely different sound world.
Almost before the audience realized the collaboration was over Åse discreetly left the stage leaving Sandell to perform his work, "vertikalakustik: med horisontell prosodi" (2017). Here was a near complete deconstruction of language using simply phonemes, individual sounds. With voice, piano, and projections on the back screen, Sandell delivered his necessarily minimalistic piece.
Both Sandell and Åse briefly acknowledged the applause bringing to an end this most satisfying international segment of the festival.
Good Luck with/for/on/in/at Friday the 13th
Described as an antidote for triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13), this evening's program featured primarily California based artists including Amy X Neuberg, Mark Applebaum, Charles Amirkhanian, Carol Law, and (the one non-Californian) Enzo Minarelli.
The most famous victim of triskaidekaphobia was the Austrian/American composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951). Curiously for the sake of the present subject matter, Schoenberg invented sprechstimme (speech song), a sort of half sung/half spoken style of performance for many of his vocal scores. His unfinished opera, Moses und Aron (1932) uses it and ends the second (and last completed) act with Moses singing/speaking the following words: "O Wort, du Wort, das mir fehlt!" (in English: "O word, thou word, that I lack!") Indeed the theme in the composer's libretto is centered in part around Moses' inability to articulate his ideas. (Aaron was the man of words, Moses the charismatic leader) Here, tonight, we were presented with artists who have grappled similarly (as all artists do) with the issue of expression and their unique solutions to the problem. (By the way the spelling, "Aron" is not a German spelling, it is Schoenberg's truncation of the name so that the title would not have 13 letters.) The poor man probably wouldn't have survived this night.
Projection of Applebaum performing with view of the composer/performer stage right as well.
The night opened to a darkened stage with the projection of one of those info/program note cards on the back wall. The presentation was of a tape piece by Stanford professor (and Other Minds alumnus) Mark Applebaum. Since the darkened stage and the all too brief bow taken by the composer exceeded the limits of this writer's photographic skills I offer the above photo of Mr. Applebaum from previous Other Minds program.
The piece at hand on this Friday the 13th was, "Three Unlikely Corporate Sponsorships" (2016) which had it's premiere at Stanford. The three sections were entitled, "Nestlé", "General Motors", and "Haliburton". The mocking and humorous content was such that there was no doubt that the three named corporations were not involved in the creation and funding of this work. Like some of his predecessors this week Applebaum is prone to political commentary in his music whose sound appeared to take place in a stereo sound field with some antiphonal effects. Words were used, deconstructed, used again and never once were they used in a complementary fashion. This is, in its way, a protest piece.
As I said, Applebaum came out only briefly (with a smile on his face) to acknowledge the very amused and appreciative audience. One senses that protest against corporate greed is hardly an unpopular theme with this self selected audience which greeted this work with obvious satisfaction.
Amy X Neuberg is a well known performer in the Bay Area and is also an alumnus of Other Minds. Neuberg studied both linguistics and voice (at Oberlin College), and electronic music (at Mills College). She has a strong well-honed soprano voice and has developed her own unique mix of language and music in compositions that defy easy categorization.
Neuberg graced us with "My Go", "Christmas Truce: a journal of landlord/tenant situations", yet another world premiere for this series, "Say it like you mean", "That's a great question (A Jerry Hunt Song Drape)", and, one of her classics, "Life Stepped In".
Neuberg's work is a striking and unique combination of linguistic wizardry, cabaret style song writing, probably some rock and pop sensibilities, and the indefinably unique way in which she integrates voice and electronics with a touch of drama at times. Her work is permeated with humor but also with social critique. As is always the case (at least in this writer's experience) her performance was greeted with warmth and appreciation.
Following intermission we were again treated to the substantial performing skills of Enzo Minarelli who graced us with a generous selection of his own works including, "La grandeur di Ghengis Khan" (The grandeur of Ghengis Khan) comprised of eight vocal tracks and three noise tracks, "Il supere scopo di vita" (Knowledge as the purpose of life) "I nomi delle città come inno nazionale per Sinclair Lewis" (The names of the cities as national anthem to Sinclair Lewis) another multi-track work, and Excerpts from Fama: "Ciò chevoglio dire" (Fame: What I Want to Say): "Affermasi senza chiedere" (To succeed without asking), "Che teme il dolore (use la medicine della religion)" (Those who fear pain fuse the medicine of religion), "Alla ricerca del suono farmacopeo" (Seeking the pharmaceutical sound) and "Poema".
In addition to their described meanings and verbal content these works were about the beauty of the Italian language and the beauty of the sound of the performer's voice as well as the accompanying performance. Minarelli is apparently a performer of high energy. He performed on five of the six days and attended the last night as well seemingly all in a weeks work.
Once again the fairly minimalist lighting strategies were remarkably effective. Projections on the back wall along with Minarelli's strong stage presence made for a striking performance of these works.
Minarelli was like a poet from a cabaret in some lost Fellini film fraught with intelligence, drama, passion, and humor.
Any of the above led the audience in some degree to the notion that what had just transpired would be a tough act to follow. Certainly this was true for Mr. Minarelli but, rather than a denouement or even a cooling down there was a shift of gears, a transition if you will, to yet another universe of creativity.
We were next presented with a fairly rare experience. We got to hear Other Minds' executive and artistic director perform some of his own dalliances with languages and vocal utterances. Charles Amirkhanian, no longer wearing his jacket but rather a long white shirt, came on stage with this wife and partner, in both life and artistic crimes, Carol Law. Together they shared some of the inspirations of their (obviously still in progress) long strange trip.
In addition to being a photographer, Carol Law is a collage artist and has also been involved in the design of a few of pieces of Other Minds collectibles such as the t-shirts created for this year and several from previous years. What is a bit lesser known are her collaborative efforts with Charles Amirkhanian. The above image, for example, demonstrates the striking, slightly disturbing images that characterize the first work on tonight's program, "History of Collage" (1981). Carol's images were accompanied by a live recitation by Charles of a text which is actually about collage but is manipulated by a cut up technique. Here we saw images and heard the spoken text. For the next two collaborations Amirkhanian took his microphone and did his recitation in front of the projection screen creating effects not unlike the light shows and projections one might have seen in one of Bill Graham's productions at the Fillmore Theater some 50 years ago. That is not to say that the intent or effect was nostalgic or historical, just that it seems to exist in a parallel universe. The long white shirt thus became a part of the projection screen with Amirkhanian moving dynamically along with the speaking of the disjointed texts.
The visual imagery was both striking and unique and held this writer, if not the entire audience, in thrall to a powerful sensual onslaught.
Hypothetical Moments (in the intellectual life of Southern California) (1981) is another of these cut up texts, this time an intercutting of Edith Wharton's, "Glimpses of the Moon" and what Amirkhanian describes as "the gruff drugged-out reportage of a Yankee baseball game", Ted Berrigan and Harris Schiff's, "Yo-Yo's with Money" (Amirkhanian is an avowed baseball fan). These were spoken over an improvisation done on an out of tune harpsichord modified by an Eventide Harmonizer.
The pair stepped on stage together to acknowledge the very appreciative applause. Indeed this was a rare and precious experience seeing them perform together and, though they did not eclipse the previous artists, they clearly established their parallel universe in the shared multiverse of sound poetry. These are wonderful performance pieces.
So…how do you follow that? Well, apparently with some solo Amirkhanian. As noted previously, Charles has been writing and performing his brand of vocal gymnastics since at least 1969. Two of his works, "Just" (1972), and "Heavy Aspirations" (1973) were included on that anthology mentioned at the beginning of this review.
Amirkhanian has taken the stage at least twice before at Other Minds performing his own text sound works. Tonight he presented, "Maroa" (1981), a sort of homage to a street in his home town of Fresno, "Ka Himeni Hehena" (The Raving Mad Hymn, 1997), a celebration/deconstruction of the Hawaiian language, "Marathon" (1997), a two voice poem which is like a nostalgic parody of the fundraising which Charles did so many times for KPFA, and, one of this best known works, the gently humorous "Dutiful Ducks" (1977) which involves rhythmic speaking and deconstruction of words on tape to which he reads live and (mostly) in sync. As with most of what we all heard on these days, live performance IS the point.
INK Conclusion
Day 6 featured beloved Bay Area diva (and Other Minds alumnus) Pamela Z. While one might note that, like Amy X Neuberg, she has a powerful, trained soprano voice and relies on electronics, her results are an entirely different animal. Some of Z's specialized proximity controlled electronics are artistic creations themselves and play a part in the theatrical component of her performances.
Pamela Z's performances were enhanced tonight with video and slides such as this projection which supported her performance of Typewriter/Declaratives.
Like Neuberg, Pamela Z does a sort of cabaret style performance. On this night she graced us with, "Quatre Couches/Flare Stains" (2015), "Typewriter/Declaratives" (2015), "33 Arches" (from a larger work called, Span, 2015), "Pop Titles: You" (1986) and the SF premiere of "Other Rooms" (2018).
Z's skills at writing for chamber ensemble were displayed in 33 Arches, a section of a larger work called Span.
Most commonly seen as a soloist with electronics, it was a wonderful opportunity to hear a portion of one of her recent works which involved writing for more conventional instruments in addition to her voice and electronics. This was done also in conjunction with video.
Pamela concluded with a performance of one of her classic works, "Pop Titles 'You'" (1986) enhanced by the back wall projection of the text source for the work, a page of the now defunct Phonolog report which was commonly found in record stores "back in the day" as they say. Z worked for a time at Tower Records.
Like Amy X Neuberg, Pamela Z was treated to a warm round of appreciation from this adoring home town Bay Area audience.
Next came another of the artists who appeared on the 10+2 anthology, Beth Anderson-Harold. She was accompanied by Other Minds intern and percussionist, Michael Jones. Beth Anderson, originally from Kentucky, exudes a sort of midwest wholesomeness that belies a complex and assertive artist. She is now based in New York but has strong roots in the Bay Area having worked with Charles Shere, John Cage, Terry Riley, Robert Ashley, and Larry Austin.
Her performances of "If I Were a Poet" (1975), I Can't Stand It" (1976), "Crackers and Checkers" (1977), "Country Time" (1981), "Killdeer and Chicory" (2005), "Ocean, Motion, Mildew, Mind" (1979), and "Yes Sir Ree" (1978) were delivered with a powerful energy and enthusiasm. She seemed almost surprised at the warm reception her performance received. It was yet another example of the incredible variety that this genre of music embodies.
Anderson's delivery was powerful, ecstatic, and assertive.
This sixth day of the varieties of sound poetry was brought to a conclusion first with three tape works by fellow KPFA (1990-2005) radio producer Susan Stone. The works presented were, "Couch" (from House with a View, 1989), "Ruby" (from House with a View, 1993), and "Loose Tongues" (1990). All are basically Stone's personal take on radio theater which she describes as, "Cinema in the Head". Stone took an all too brief bow to acknowledge the applause.
Though the audience's attention seemed not yet to have flagged we were given an infusion of energy from the seemingly always energetic Jaap Blonk. He presented six of his works to conclude the evening, "Dr. Voxoid's Next Move", "Onderland" (Underland, excerpts), "Rhotic (Phonetic Study #1, about the R), "Muzikaret (Music Made of Rubber)", "Cheek-a-Synth (Solo for Cheek Synthesizer)", and "Hommage à A.A. (for Antonin Artaud).
Blonk's seemingly boundless energy took him around the stage at times.
Blonk did a lovely thing to cap off this mind bending week (almost) of performances. He engaged the audience in a call and response improvisation. As these things generally go he began with fairly simple sounds and progressed to longer and more complex sound groupings which challenged the audiences attention and repetition skills, a task they/we performed with great joy and amusement.
Blonk leading the call and response performance with the audience which concluded the series.
Twenty performers, four of whom had appeared on that wonderful anthology, kept the ODC Theater packed to near capacity on all six nights. That alone is a feat. What cannot be satisfactorily communicated in a mere article is the energy and focus of both the performers and the enraptured audience whose attention never seemed to flag as they/we were lead down unfamiliar paths to little heard universes of ideas and sounds.
This expanded festival also included one of the most spectacular program books this writer has ever seen from Other Minds. Mark Abramson did the eye popping graphic design which featured no fewer than four different covers and very useful texts and photographs documenting the works performed and their history. The t-shirts were another of Carol Law's successful designs. These may be highly collectible and, as of this writing, are still available through the Other Minds website.
In an promotional article entitled, "Other Minds 23: In the Beginning was the Word" I obviously used a biblical quotation (John 1: 1 for those interested). In fact the only religious thing going on here was the spiritual magic of astoundingly talented performers, and a mighty unusual gathering of Other Minds in terms of the enthusiastic audience. But I would be remiss if I did not take note of the fact that this fabulous marathon was done in six days. I'm guessing we all rested on the seventh.
3 Comments Posted in 21st century, Architecture, audiences, audiovisual, authentic performance practice, Chamber Music, Charles Amirkhanian, composers, computer music, early twentieth century, electronic music, electronics, esoterica, experimental music, Extended vocal techniques, historical, Italian musicians, jazz Tagged Aaron, Aix, Alvin Curran, Amy X Neuberg, Anne Waldman, anthologies, Antonin Artaud, Aram Saroyan, Arles, Arnold Schoenberg, Avignon, Åke Hodell, beat generation, Bernard Heidseick, Beth Anderson, Bill Graham, Carol Law, Cathy Berberian, Charles Amirkhanian, Christopher Caines, Clark Coolidge, Dial A Poem Poets, Edith Wharton, Enzo Minarelli, Ernst Toch, Fillmore Theater, Gertrude Stein, Gesprochene Musik, Harris Schiff, History Channel, Hugo Ball, IDM, Jaap Blonk, Joel Chapman, John cage, Karen Stackpole, Kevin Baum, Kurt Schwitters, Les Baux, lighting effects, Lily Greenham, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Marilyn Monroe, Mark Abramson, Michael McClure, minimalist poetry, Moses, Moses und Aron, ODC Theater, operas, Other Minds Ensemble, Ottar Ormstad, Pablo Picasso, Pamela Z, percussion, phonemes, Piano, Provence, Pulitzer Prize, Randall Wong, Richard Brautigan, sampling keyboard, Sarah Cahill, Sheila Davies Sumner, Sidney Chen, sound poetry, spoken music, Sten Hanson, Stephane Mallarmé, Susan Stone, syntax, Taras Mashtalir, technology, Ted Berrigan, text sound, Tokyo, Tone Åse, Tractatus Logico Philosophicus, Ubuweb, Virgil Thomson, Yankees
In the Beginning Was the Word: Other Minds 23
Charles Amirkhanian performing one of his spoken word compositions at Other Minds 20 in 2015
Other Minds has been the the darling of composer/producer Charles Amirkhanian since its founding in 1993. Along with television producer and arts patron Jim Newman he has presided over the 25 years of this renowned festival which has consistently brought the finest new music composers and performers to San Francisco.
There is little doubt that this year's festival has to be very close to Amirkhanian's heart. Words have been central to his career at least since 1969 when he began his work as a producer at KPFA. In the 23 years he spent there he presented countless hours of musical programming and interviews. He crossed paths with most of the major stars in contemporary classical music and many stars whose genre may not be captured by the classical label. A look at his programming choices and interviews from his time there defined new music for the Bay Area and beyond. After his tenure at KPFA ended in 1992 he continued exploring cutting edge music and musicians bringing them to San Francisco for live performances.
His work as producer and curator has tended to overshadow his work as a composer, sound poet, and spoken word artist. This year's OM festival is dedicated to speech, sound poetry, and the spoken word. It is about both the history and the present state of the art. In many ways Amirkhanian's 1975 release "10 + 2: 12 American Text Sound Pieces" on 1750 Arch Records (now on an OM CD 1006-2) can be seen as sort of the starting point for this festival. This masterful anthology includes works by Charles Amirkhanian (1945- ), Clark Coolidge (1939- ), John Cage (1912-1992), John Giorno (1936- ), Anthony Gnazzo (1936- ), Charles Dodge (1942- ), Robert Ashley (1930-2014), Beth Anderson (1950- ), Brion Gysin (1916-1986), Liam O'Gallagher (1917-2007), and Aram Saroyan (1943- ).
"Word! Thou word that I cannot speak!
At the end of the second (and last completed) act of Arnold Schoenberg's powerful opera "Moses und Aron" (1932) Moses sings, or actually half speaks and half sings this text lamenting his expressive deficits. Speech song or, in German, sprechgesang is an invention by Schoenberg in which the singers are asked to find a point between speech and music. Perhaps this is a good example of some of the artistic thinking going on at about the time when speech music/sound poetry began to take shape.
Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948)
Some of the history of sound poetry is featured in this unprecedented 6 day festival (April 9-14). Some of the earliest practitioners of this unusual genre include the German artist Kurt Schwitters whose composition Ursonate (1922-32) will be performed in its entirety, a rare event by itself.
Another early gem will be the Spoken Music (1930) by German-American composer Ernst Toch. This three movement suite has been known for its last movement, the Geographical Fugue. The other two movements, once thought lost, were discovered in sketches in 2006 and reconstructed by Christopher Caines. The now complete version will be presented I believe on day 3.
Ernst Toch (1887-1964)
It is beyond the scope of this blog post to tell the history of text sound so I will refer readers to the Other Minds website for further details. Or you could come to the festival too I suppose.
With due respect given to the past the festival will move on to the present. San Francisco Beat Poet Michael McClure (1932- ) will make an appearance as will post beat colleagues Anne Waldman (1945- ), Clark Coolidge (yeah the guy from that cool anthology), Aram Saroyan (another guy from the classic text sound disc).
Alvin Curran in conversation last year in Berkeley.
Other Minds alumnus Alvin Curran (1938- ) will be premiering his collaboration with Clark Coolidge entitled, Came Through in the Call Hold. Curran's eclectic sensibilities will doubtless result in an interesting composition. This event alone, at least for this writer, is worth the price of admission. And this is just the first day!
Other events include workshops, discussions of the history of the art, and even some curious variations on a theme. Apparently the writer Lawrence Weschler is the grandson of Ernst Toch and has written a variation on the Geographical Fugue called, The Medical Fugue which will be premiered at this festival.
The increasingly ubiquitous pianist Sarah Cahill will be present to perform Virgil Thomson's unusual but entertaining setting of a Gertrude Stein (a one time Oakland resident) text called Capital, Capitals. She will accompany the men of the Other Minds Ensemble. Jaap Blonk will be tasked with performing Schwitters' Ursonate and, along with Enzo Miranelli will also perform other historical works including some by a couple of Italian Futurists.
Other Minds Administrative Director Randall Wong will end the evening by undertaking a performance of the late great Cathy Berberian's Stripsody. That promises to be a wild evening I think.
Jaap Blonk (1953- )
Northern Europe, including the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries will literally have their day. As it turns out they are doing a great deal of creative work in this increasingly diverse genre of speech music. Other Minds is at its best in introducing the new and the innovative from wherever Charles' radar has tracked it down. Indeed Mr. Amirkhanian and his wife, artist/photographer Carol Law traveled throughout these regions in the early 70s talking with and learning from these diverse artists. (Amirkhanian's work, Just was recorded in a Scandinavian studio during one of those trips).
As usual homage will be paid to the past with some recorded classics by Sten Hanson, Åke Hodell, and Lily Greenham. Some new voices will be introduced including Tone Åse and Sten Sandell. The Norwegian/Russian-American duo OTTARAS (consisting of visual poet Ottar Ormstad and composer Taras Mashtalir will also perform. One can fully expect a mind expanding experience which will redefine the possibilities of the art form.
Auspiciously or perhaps dangerously Friday the 13th has been reserved for Bay Area talents. First up will be the man of the hour, Charles Amirkhanian. Hearing him do his work live is an uncommon but entirely enjoyable experience. If that alone weren't enough we will get to hear the even rarer public collaboration between him and his life partner Carol Law whose photography and collage work deserves wider recognition and will happily get that here.
Amy X Neuberg.
Trained in both linguistics and music, Amy X Neuberg will be on hand to perform her indescribable electronic cabaret including the world premiere of "Say it like you mean" and other genre bending work. She is another valued Other Minds alumnus having given numerous performances at the festivals.
Stanford professor Mark Applebaum, another alumnus will present "Three Unlikely Corporate Sponsors" which premiered at Stanford in 2016. Enzo Miranelli will conclude the evening with his theatrical combination of movement and text in "Fame: What I Want to Say".
Pamela Z
The festival concludes on Saturday April 14th with Jaap Blonk followed by the wonderful San Francisco based Pamela Z who, like Neuberg uses electronics, but creates her own unique sound world. She too is an alumnus of Other Minds.
Another composer from that great anthology, Beth Anderson, will make an appearance to perform "If I Were a Poet", "I Can't Stand It", and "Ocean Mildew Minds".
The finale will feature Susan Stone and Sheila Davies Sumner performing excerpts from two works, "House with a View" and "Loose Tongues" both dealing with the lives of working class southern women.
This will be both a feast and a marathon but it promises to be one of the finest Other Minds productions maybe ever. Come to be entertained, come to be challenged, come to expand your mind. You'll never be the same. See you there.
1 Comment Posted in 21st century, African American, Chamber Music, Charles Amirkhanian, classical music, composers, early twentieth century, Electroacoustic music, electronic music, electronics, esoterica, experimental music, Extended vocal techniques, historical, Italian musicians, john cage, modern music, multi-media, music, new music, Other Minds, performance, pianists, poetry, political music, politics, protest music, Sarah Cahill Tagged Alvin Curran, Amy X Neuberg, Anne Waldman, Anthony Gnazzo, Aram Saroyan, Arnold Schoenberg, Åke Hodell, Bernard Heidsieck, Beth Anderson, Brion Gysin, Carol Law, Cathy Berberian, Charles Dodge, Clark Coolidge, Enzo Miranelli, Ernst Toch, Filippo Marinetti, Fortunato Depero, Gertrude Stein, Hugo Ball, Italian Futurists, Jaap Blonk, Jim Newman, Joel Chapman, John cage, John Giorno, Karen Stackpole, Kevin Baum, Kurt Schwitters, Laurence Weschler, Liam O'Gallagher, Lily Greenham, Mark Applebaum, Michael McClure, Moses und Aron, ODC Theater, opera, Other Minds, Ottar Ormstad, Pamela Z, percussion, poetry, Randall Wong, Robert Ashley, Sarah Cahill, Scandinavian, Sheila Davies, Sidney Chen, sound poetry, speech song, Sten Hanson, Susan Stone, Taras Mahtalir, Tone Åse, Virgil Thomson
The @realAlvin Curran at the Armory
Alvin Curran performing from his "Fake Book" at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley in 2014
Alvin Curran (1938- ) is one of the finest of that maverick band of composers who came of age in the 1960s as expatriates in Italy. Along with musicians like Frederic Rzewski, Carol Plantamura, Richard Teitelbaum, and Allan Bryant among others they formed the world's first live electronic improvisation ensemble, "Music Elletronica Viva" in 1966. In this time electronic synthesizers were not generally available and most of their equipment was hand made. All the musicians have since all gone their own very creative ways but in many ways this ensemble has been their touchstone which continues to underlie their work.
Curran told this writer that it was around this time that he began working on a huge series of compositions of (at least initially) an improvisational nature which he collected under the general title of "Fake Book". Musicians will be familiar with the term which is roughly analogous to a cheat sheet enabling musicians easy access to many chord progressions, songs, and other pieces at their fingertips to please a wide range of tastes in their audiences.
Curran's Fake Book is a huge collection of scores, digital samples (no doubt he began with analog samples) and sketches. He recently published a hefty selection of this material available on Amazon and is well worth both your time and your money for the insight it provides to this unusual composer. The composer's web site is an extremely useful reference but nothing can match hearing and seeing this spirited, kinetic shaman of a performer. His creativity and sheer joy of music making is infectious and the music he makes is akin to reading diary excerpts, a musical analogy of sorts to the likes of Anais Nin, the famed mega-diarist of a previous generation.
Curran is, at 80, an energetic and endlessly creative musician, a humanist with deep convictions and quite simply an experience not to be missed. Here is the announcement of this concert which, though this writer is unable to attend, is not to be missed.
Alvin Curran
performs
"The Alvin Curran Fakebook"
on shofar, piano, keyboard, and electronics
at the Veterans Room
Thompson Arts Center at Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Avenue (66th-67th St.)
Wednesday March 14, 2018, at 7.00 pm & 9.00 pm
info and tickets: http://www.armoryonpark.org/programs_events/detail/artists_studio_alvin_curran
or call the box office (212) 933-5812 Mon-Fri, 10.00 am-6.00 pm
Leave a comment Posted in 21st century, audiences, Chamber Music, classical music, composers, Electroacoustic music, electronics, experimental music, jazz, minimalism, modern music, music, new music, political music Tagged Allan Bryant, Alvin Curran, Carol Plantamura, Fake Book, Frederic Rzewski, MEV, Musica Elettronica Viva, Pacific Film Archive, Richard Teitelbaum
Alvin Curran's Fake Book at the Berkeley Arts Museum
Staging set up for the Alvin Curran solo performance at the Berkeley Arts Museum
On a cool Friday evening in Berkeley April 11th I proceeded to the Berkeley Arts Museum which sits across the street from the University. It is a beautiful modern architectural creation with a large and resonant space where there was a large and colorful rug, a series of pillows and behind that a set of conventional chairs for the audience. Many chose to sit on the rug close to the performer.
The set up consisted of a piano on loan from the Piedmont Piano Company, an electronic keyboard on loan from Paul Dresher along with Mr. Curran's computer and and amplifier driving two speakers on either side of the keyboards. The open space is just off the entry way of the museum and tends to have a fair amount of traffic and ambient noise of the people on the various levels.
Curran, now 75, has been a prominent figure on the contemporary music scene internationally since about 1964 when he was partnered with fellow expatriates Frederic Rzewski, Allan Bryant, Richard Teitlebaum and Carol Plantamura among others in the ground breaking Musica Elletronica Viva. They created events and happenings using live electronics in the days before such things were easily accessible. He has continued to explore the leading edge of musical creativity throughout his long and ongoing career.
Curran playing a harmonica at the opening of the concert.
The concert began with Curran circumnavigating the audience in clockwise fashion beginning stage right and going around the audience making a full circle and returning to the front of the audience stage center. he began by playing two simple chords on the instrument repeating them several times. He then switched to another woodwind type instrument playing some unusual sounds. When he took his place in front of the keyboards he set those instruments down.
Curran completing his circumnavigation which opened the performance.
He alternated between playing the piano and the electronic keyboard sometimes playing both. He began with some simple sounding piano music and then turned to the electronic keyboard and began playing some of the samples on it. They ranged from speech to electronic sounds.
At first the ambient noise of the crowd echoed gently in the museum along with the music. Gradually as the music became more complex and louder the audience seemed entranced, taken on the ritualistic journey that comprises Curran's work, Fake Book, a reference to books of musical lead sheets that musicians have used over the years to quickly and easily access a variety of materials for live performances.
The louder music then suddenly changed back to a softer dynamic and the reduction in the ambient noise of the audience and casual museum goers had noticeably decreased and one sense an increased attention and focus on the music. All seemed to be drawn in to the variety of sounds and styles which Curran refers to as his "common practice", a practice in which the composer uses any and all sounds, instruments and styles strategically to evoke the things the composer wishes to express.
Alvin Curran at the keyboards performing his Fake Book.
Curran played for just over an hour without pause an encyclopedic diversity of styles and ideas evoking the musical past in classical sounds, jazz sounds, modernist sounds. The electronic keyboard samples played voices, radio snippets, electronic sounds and electronic manipulations of these sounds.
Curran effectively involved us all in a ritual performance respectfully evoking the past and blending it all into our experience of the moment. From the beginning as he walked clockwise around the audience and through the complex collage of musical and sonic ideas he created a genuine ritual, a sacred performance if you will. His music this night was an homage to the past and a celebration of the present.
Curran blowing the ancient shofar (ram's horn) over the undamped piano strings.
He signaled the end of the performance as he blew the ancient shofar, an instrument fashioned from a ram's horn, over the undamped piano strings creating a beautiful sympathetic resonance.
The audience responded with warm applause and appreciation. Curran, who told me that he began work on this music while he was in residence at nearby Mills College, is clearly embraced and appreciated by the local audience. He continues his tour and will return to his adopted home in Rome, Italy but this evening he was clearly one of our own.
Overhead view of the keyboard set up for the April 11th performance.
Alvin Curran Makes Mad-Scientist Music in the Fake Book
Alvin Curran at 75, Experimentalism with an Ethnic and Social Conscience
Alvin Curran Interview
Sound Art Exhibit: Magic Carpet
Curran- Schtetl Variations I (1/3)
1 Comment Posted in audiences, authentic performance practice, Berkeley, classical music, composers, electronic music, historical, jazz, Mills College, minimalism, music, noise, performance, pianists, piano music Tagged Alvin Curran, Carol Plantamura, Curran, Electronic Music, Fake Book, Frederic Rzewski, Mills College, Paul Dresher, Piano, Richard Teitelbaum, Rome
English: The American composer Alvin Curran playing the shofar in his composition "Shofar 3," for shofar and live electronics (2007). Photo taken at a concert of Curran's music in Warner Concert Hall, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia
Alvin Curran (1938- ) is an American composer currently living and teaching in Rome whose career began as an expatriate artist working with the cutting edge improv electronics group Musica Elletronica Viva (MEV) in 1966. He turns 75 on December 13, 2013.
Curran was born in Providence, Rhode Island. His father was a musician in a dance band and he learned to play piano and trombone early on. He was exposed to big band music, jazz, traditional Jewish music and western classical music during his formative years. Following his father's example he also played in dance bands during boat crossings of the Atlantic. He earned a B.A. in music from Brown University in 1960 where he studied composition with Ron Nelson. He went on to complete his M.M. at Yale in 1963 were he studied with Elliott Carter and Mel Powell.
A 1964 Ford Foundation grant allowed him to go study in Darmstadt where he met the likes of Stravinsky, Xenakis, Berio, Yuji Takahashi, Andriessen, Remo Remotti, and above all Frederic Rzewski. He joined with Rzewski, Richard Teitelbaum and Allan Bryant, all fellow expatriate American musician/composers, with whom he formed the legendary 'Musica Elettronica Viva' or MEV. This was in early 1966 where their use of largely home made electronics in their improvisational ensemble live performances preceded the days of easily obtainable and operated electronic musical instruments. That wouldn't begin to happen until about 1964 when Don Buchla, in collaboration with Ramon Sender, Morton Subotnick and the San Franciso Tape Music Center created the first modular instrument, the "music easel" later known as the 'Buchla Box' and Robert Moog on the east coast developed the "Moog" synthesizer. Curran crossed paths with many of these people during his tenure teaching (1999-2006) at Mills College in Oakland where the San Francisco Tape Music Center had been integrated into the Mills Center for Contemporary Music.
Curran says that during all his years in Rome he met and interacted with many in the Italian avantgarde and new music circles like Franco Donatoni and Guiseppe Chiari. He was mentored by the reclusive (think Thomas Pynchon) Giacinto Scelsi who held regular salons at his villa. It was in these days that Curran developed his individual style further. He lived and taught in Rome from 1966 to 1999 and was very active on the European scene. After his teaching stint at Mills College Curran returned again to Rome.
Buchla 100 series modular synthesizer at NYU (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In addition to electronics he uses acoustic instruments ranging from conventional instruments such as piano, strings, woodwinds, voices, etc. to the ancient shofar and environmental sounds including site-specific sound installations, multi-media works and film scores. His works include the massive set of piano pieces 'Inner Cities' (1993-2010) which lasts about 6 hours in a complete performance, the early multi-media Songs and Views from the Magnetic Garden (1973), Maritime Rites (1984) written to be played by musicians in boats in various harbors incorporating, of course, the ambience of the given harbor's acoustic properties. Maritime Rites has been performed in its various incarnations in Central Park in New York as well as Philadelphia, Berlin and Sydney.
In a wonderful interview from 2003 with the ever vigilant composer/journalist Frank Oteri (published online at New Music Box) he was asked about the political and ethnic/religious content of his music. Curran replied that he did not set out to express these things as aspects of himself, that the pieces just happened due to an inspiration at the time. He says that he is composing all the time and his influences are as wide ranging as his teachers and his milieu. His style varies widely in part due to his many influences but also because a given style seems to work for the piece. It sounds as though music is channeled through him.
Unfortunately, as with most expatriate composers, his music is generally less well known in his native country but there are quite a few recordings including some recent releases of some out of print recordings. In addition there are quite a few videos on YouTube including pianist Kurt Jordan's live performance of Inner Cities 1-13 from 2009 at Azusa Pacific University which is more than the previously complete recording by Daan Vandewalle who recorded 1-11 (as of 2010 there are 14 parts according to Curran's official web site). As is frequently the case with much contemporary music YouTube provides a great resource, especially for the casual and/or cash-strapped listener. It is a really good way to get familiar with this man's diverse and fascinating music.
Not infrequently his music takes on sociopolitical issues as well as inspiration from the composer's Jewish heritage. His Schtetl Variations (1987), dedicated to Morton Feldman is an improvisatory meditation on these poor villages of eastern Europe and Russia (think of Fiddler on the Roof) which became the settings for the notorious anti-semitic pogroms. A later piano piece called 11 Schtetl Settings (1988) continues his exploration of this part of his ancestry. Animal Behavior (1992) for sampler keyboard and optional percussion is a pretty transparent indictment of 1990s American politics. And the list goes on.
His "Nineteen Eighty Five: Piece for Peace" (1985) involved three ensembles performing at 3 different radio stations in Venice, Amsterdam and Frankfurt (which was simulcast by all three countries) is a a sort of precursor to what is perhaps his most integrated and powerful political composition, his 'Crystal Psalms' of 1988. Here the historical, sociopolitical, ethnic and even geographical are joined to the avant garde in a stunning sonic commemoration and condemnation of the fascism and genocide that characterized the horrors of the second world war.
Interior of a Berlin Synagogue after Kristallnacht
Seventy Five years ago this November (9th and 10th) Jewish shops and synagogues were vandalized and looted over those two nights throughout much of Nazi Germany and Austria in a most extreme incarnation of the "pogroms" that became known as "Kristallnacht" or the "Night of Broken Glass". It was one of the first major and overt expressions of Hitler's genocidal plans then still being formulated. Unfortunately this event continues to be imitated by like-minded hateful individuals and groups worldwide. So the sociopolitical context of this musical work written for the 50th anniversary of that event sadly has an ongoing relevance for our contemporary world even 25 years after its creation.
At its most basic level this piece is a sort of concerto for six instrumental ensembles playing in radio stations in six different countries live mixed by the composer and broadcast throughout Northern Europe on October 20th of 1988. There is no text as such but the sounds of people praying and the apparently random Hebrew letters and German numbers are scattered throughout the piece along with environmental and found sounds on the tape Curran prepared which plays throughout the performance as a sort of political pedal point.
English: "Hebrew alphabet" in Hebrew, modern serif typeface. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The liner notes of the recording describe the piece as "radio concert for six choruses; six sextets each including a quartet (violas, cellos, bass clarinets, bass flutes, trombones, tenor sax/tuba) plus accordion and percussion; tape." All were individually conducted with the conductors coordinated by a click track and mixed live by the composer. The recording on New World records is the document of that broadcast.
The effect is that of a collage connected by the electronic nervous system, the radio stations, which link the various performances. The program is largely implicit here and listening to this piece evokes images that can vary from one listener to the next as any great piece of art provokes different experiences. The sound images here are not pretty and the work is very emotionally intense. Those images are guided by the tone of the music and fueled by the cryptic words and sounds mixed in with the live performances. It is, in effect, his Mitzvah to the memories of the fallen. You will not come away unmoved.
Kristallnacht occurred in November of 1938, a month before Curran was born but the impact of that action continues to resound from that generation to this. As a politically aware artist he was compelled to respond and he did so in a most emphatic, creative and powerful manner. Perhaps it is the inherited duty of one generation to exorcise the demons and the atrocities of the previous ones. Curran has certainly contributed most memorably to such an effort with this work.
Thank you, Mr. Curran, for your prolific and varied contributions to music and your efforts through your art to exorcise the demons of our collective past. I wish you a happy 75th birthday and wishes for many more creative years to come.
For Cornelius (1981/90). Alvin Curran /"that boo man thing was kind of scary"/ (rgable.typepad.com)
Performance and Recordings (thejourneymenacousticians.wordpress.com)
Dance Umbrella: Trisha Brown Dance Company – review (theguardian.com)
Don Buchla: Sound Pioneers (deandrebarnes.wordpress.com)
07.03.13 Steve Reich, Alvin Curran and Other Stories (samjamescomposer.wordpress.com)
3 Comments Posted in authentic performance practice, classical music, electronic music, historical, jazz, media, multi-media, noise, performance, political music, politics, protest, protest music, social issues Tagged 20th century, Alvin Curran, avant garde, Classical Music, Composers, contemporary music, Daan Vandewalle, experimental music, Franco Donatoni, Frank Oteri, Free Jazz, improvised music, John cage, Kristallnacht, Kurt Jordan, Mel Powell, Ramon Sender, San Francisco
So the Dead May Speak, a Function of Classical Political Music
Photograph of a Female Demonstrator Offering a Flower to a Military Police Officer, 10/21/1967 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Giving a voice to the murdered, the martyrs, those who cannot speak for themselves is one of the ways in which sociopolitical music can function. Witness the case of Sam Melville (born Samuel Joseph Grossman in 1934). He worked as a draftsman for a company which assigned him to work on designing new offices for the Chase Manhattan Bank in the then apartheid Union of South Africa. He became outraged at the inequality and quit his job there as a result. He became involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement the Weather Underground and the Black Panther Party. He was arrested in 1969 for his involvement in 8 bombings. He was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison.
He was transferred to Attica prison in upstate New York where he continued to work as an activist attempting to improve prison conditions for him and his fellow inmates. He is suspected of being involved in organizing the prison riots which erupted there in 1971 which the state's response resulted in the deaths of 39 people of which Melville was one. Subsequent lawsuits for violations of civil rights resulted in the payment of $12 million dollars by the state of New York to the families of the victims.
The first recording of both "Coming Together" and "Attica", an iconic record for this writer.
Later that year Frederic Rzewski wrote his piece for speaker and ensemble (the score is open as to instrumentation) "Coming Together". The title and the words the speaker repeats are taken from one of Melville's letters:
"I think the combination of age and the greater coming together is responsible for the speed of the passing time. it's six months now and i can tell you truthfully few periods in my life have passed so quickly. i am in excellent physical and emotional health. there are doubtless subtle surprises ahead but i feel secure and ready. As lovers will contrast their emotions in times of crisis, so am i dealing with my environment. in the indifferent brutality, incessant noise, the experimental chemistry of food, the ravings of lost hysterical men, i can act with clarity and meaning. i am deliberate–sometimes even calculating–seldom employing histrionics except as a test of the reactions of others. i read much, exercise, talk to guards and inmates, feeling for the inevitable direction of my life."
The text is repeated usually with dramatic license over a driving minimalist substrate which suggests the chaos that must have imbued that time. The piece lasting about 20 minutes is a powerful experience, even more so when the listener comes to know the context. It has been recorded at least four times.
A sort of companion piece, "Attica", also written in 1971, uses the words of one of the survivors of that riot, Richard X. Clark, as he was being taken away from the prison: "Attica is in front of me now." Mr. Clark, who was released from prison in 1972, wrote a book about his experiences and went on to work in social services as a case manager helping drug addicts recover.
This second piece (lasting about ten minutes) uses the minimalist style to create a calmer atmosphere, that of a man who is saddened but relieved to have this event over and to have survived. This piece has also had several recordings and is frequently performed as a companion to "Coming Together".
In future blogs I will include more music that speaks for the dead in this ongoing series of political classical music.
Leave a comment Posted in African American, classical music, minimalism, music, music scholarship, performance, political music Tagged Alvin Curran, Attica, Attica Correctional Facility, Black Panther Party, Frederic Rzewski, left-wing, New York, New York State, Opus One records, radicals, Richard X Clark, Sam Melville, Steven ben Israel, Union of South Africa, United States, Vietnam War resistance, Weather Underground


Anyone who has used public transport, or is dependent on others to go anywhere, will appreciate the impact that drive from wheelchair vehicles will have upon daily life.
One of the problems when going out, apart from the accessibility at your destination, is the method of travel to get there. Taxis, although undoubtedly one of the best forms of transport, have their own set of issues. These include not always being accessible, sometimes being unreliable, never having the guarantee that you can find/stop one when out and about and being expensive. Buses can also be difficult to use for similar reasons. Plus if you have low immunity and are susceptible to getting infections and illness, waiting outside for a bus when the weather is cold, windy and raining is just not an option.
Accessible vehicles on the other hand offer a solution to all of the listed problems for other means of transport. It will cater for all of your needs. There will be a ramp that reliably works and it will always be available – unlike the Taxis, buses and trains.
A wheelchair accessible vehicle also ensures that your wheelchair goes with you to your preferred location. There will be no need for you to transfer into a car seat or be lifted. The best aspect of an adapted vehicle is the freedom and independence that it provides. Amongst adapted cars, drive from wheelchair vehicles are those that can fit a person while sited on their wheelchair.
A friend of mine who is a wheelchair user had a list of wishes made when she was a child. One of these wishes was to have a wheelchair adapted vehicle that she could actually drive while seated in her chair. As an adult she accomplished her dream and the wish of driving independently became a reality. She is now driving around at her own pace going to wherever she wants, without being restricted or tied down to the availability of others.
When she became a mother, having an adapted car proved to be much more useful than before motherhood. Having the ability to take her child out for fun, to the doctors or nursery without the usual hassles of public transport has been a true blessing. Older people living with a disability have adjusted to all of the issues and delays that occur when travelling on public transport. It is almost as though we have become immune to such struggles. We regard it as part of life. However for children it is much harder to accept and understand. My friend is now able to enjoy day trips with her son and small family. She drives everywhere in her wheelchair vehicle, happy at the thought of being in control of her and her son's life.
Drive-from wheelchair vehicles can be expensive to purchase or even hard to find, especially if it needs adaptations to suit/fit your particular needs. Luckily this is becoming a thing of the past. Nowadays, thanks to the internet, finding such a vehicle has been made easy. With various organisations and charities available to help with buying a vehicle, possessing one is not as hard a fought battle as it used to be. Nor is it just a dream that is beyond your reach.
My own personal goal for this year is to obtain a wheelchair vehicle and learn to drive. This will free me from the reliance on public transport that often lets me down and results in missing out on fun occasions and appointments. Wheelchair adapted vehicles will save a huge amount of money that I usually spend on taxi fares. Therefore they are an investment as well as my ticket to freedom.


EDUCATION:- Up to high school;Self educated. Convent background.
STATUS:- Married-Housewife; Husband into textile; One daughter married ,in America. Writer in both Kannada and English.
A mini novel inspired by a Japanese story. With Megha; A mini novel based on a Scotland-yard story.
The prestigious Anupama Prashsti given yearly to recognized writers by Lekakiyara sangha (Lady writers association).
All India Radio Award forthe story of the drama 'Namaskara Garudammanavare….En Samachara?' broadcast through all stations.
Excellence in World Poetry Award conferred by International Academy for English Poetry.
Sepoy Ramu (Based on novel- Barale innu . . . . . . Yamune?
Gagana- ( Based on novel Gagana).
Two more novels signed for films by prestigious companies.
English translation of Karnataka portion for the encyclopedia being brought out by the prestigious KU.VEMPU STUDY CENTRE' in Manasgangotri — Mysore.
Contributions of two translation-works of Comparative Literature , a Karnataka Sahitya Academy publication (Is in reference section of Bangalore University).
Some novels purchased and categorized in social studies section by Library of Congress, United States of America.
Introduction of author in Reference Asia , Women of India, Women of Karnataka,Who is Who of Central Sahitya Academy and others.
Invited to Kota (birthplace of Shivarama Karanth ) to read a paper on his ninety-fifth birthday. The paper has been included in the thesis for doctorate in the study center of his place.
Has reviewed many books for a leading Kannada daily (under a pseudonym ), and for Deccan Herald etc.
Interviewed prestigious persons in all walks of life for popular magazines, and papers.
Column writing, serials, translations of English works into Kannada, and from Kannada into English.
Have been invited by many workshops to participate as guide for aspiring writers in various fields of literature.
Have been judge for prestigious competitions, and have been honored by many prestigious organisations.
Writings of different kinds included in prestigious anthologies.
More than five hundred works have been published in leading papers and magazines.
Harijans of Karnataka:—–A special article published in the Illustrated Weekly of India (1977).
A poem on Tagore published by Amrita Sen-Reader in Shantiniketan University, in the special issue of Rabindranath Tagore-, brought out in Online Literary magazine Muse, in a special issue brought out on Gurudev.
Articles, short stories, poems, interviews etc published in Deccan Herald, Times, Femina Caravan, Woman's Era, Mirror, Four seasons, Mysindia, Commonwealth quarterly, Aniketana; English quarterly of Karnataka Sahitya Academy.
A good number of radio plays,radio talks, and adaptation of famous English plays ( H.A. Jones, Strindburg, OscarWilde, Pinero etc) broadcast through All India Radio as special plays , and also writing and compering special programmes such as Simon De Bova, Emmeline Pankhurst, Feminists of America, Marie Antonitte etc.
Recently translated Karnataka part for the encyclopedia being translated into English by Kuvempu Study Centre in Managangotri-Mysore.
Reading lives an online literary organization known as Online Southeast region has chosen a story published in Sunday Herald to be Included as one of the powerful stories, in its list of stories by eminent authors.The title of the story taken up is Educating the maid servant. Sunday Herald and online Muse.
Recipient of monthly Honaranium by Karnataka Government.
Name included in the Advisory Board of a leading intellectual magazine.


It's that time of year that many of you are going to begin to receive tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service and the State of Michigan. Most people will put the refund in their checking account and before they know it, it will evaporate. In these difficult economic times it makes sense to have a game plan as to what you will do with your refund. I sort of look at tax refunds as a bonus because if you're smart with the money, it'll definitely pay dividends down the road.
With regards to tax refunds, my advice for most people is to use their refund to pay down charge card debt. On average, Americans are paying 18.5 percent interest on their charge cards and that is not tax deductible. Therefore, by paying down your charge card you're getting at least an 18.5 percent return on your money and I can't think of any investment that can give that type of guaranteed return.
In paying down charge cards, keep in mind that not all charge cards are the same. The interest rate you pay on charge cards can differ dramatically. Therefore, before you pay down a charge card, make sure you're paying down the right one. Basically, the right charge card to pay off is the one that you're paying the highest rate of interest on. In addition to the financial benefit of paying down a charge card there is also the benefit you get from being able to sleep at night. I've always found that people with less debt seem to be more at ease with their financial situation. Therefore, as far as I am concerned the best thing you can do with your tax refund is to pay down your charge card.
For those of you lucky enough not to have charge card debt, another great alternative for your tax refund is to put the money away for your retirement. If you qualify, you can invest the money in an IRA, Traditional or Roth. Or, if you are maxed out on what you can contribute to IRAs, you can still invest the money for your retirement. For example, you may take that money and use it to do a Roth conversion. In other words, you can take Traditional IRA money and convert it to the Roth money and use your tax refund to pay the additional taxes.
I've always been a believer that you can never save too much for retirement. As I've mentioned in the past, retirement is a brand new concept in the history of mankind and therefore, as you enter retirement you're entering the great unknown. One way to assure yourself of a comfortable retirement is to have sufficient financial resources. That is why I encourage people to use tax refunds to save for their retirement.
If you have children or grandchildren whose college education you would like to save for, another alternative for your tax refund would be to use it to set up an education account such as the Michigan Education Savings Plan. After all, with all the budget cuts here in Michigan and around the country, there is no doubt that the cost of a college education will continue to rise. Therefore, setting up an education account with your tax refund can go a long way in helping with someone's college education.
As a side note, anyone who reads this column knows I'm a fan of the Michigan Education Savings Plan. The beauty of the Michigan Education Savings Plan is it does not take a lot of money to start. In fact, you can start a plan for as low as $25. Therefore, it doesn't matter what your tax refund is, you can establish an account.
One last consideration regarding your tax refund is the amount of cash and short-term resources you have available to you. I've always been a believer that every individual needs three to six months of emergency funds. That is, three to six months of living expenses that you keep liquid in case of emergency. This is a great time to look at your emergency cash needs and if you do not have enough in your emergency fund, your tax refund can be used to supplement that.
According to an article I read, tax refunds should be very generous this year. In other words, many people are going to get significant refunds. While it is rare, in this economy, for people to receive bonuses from their employers, that is exactly what a tax refund is. Therefore, be smart with it and make sure you have a game plan to use it wisely. Good luck!


In the autumn of 2015, the "Preis der Nationalgalerie" will be awarded for the eighth time – to international artists under the age of 40 who live and work in Germany and who have opened new perspectives of art with innovative artistic approaches and impressive works. And its exhibition holds at Hamburger Bahnhoff Contemporary Art Museum, till January 17th, 2016.
So far, the nominees were artists who are active in the world such as Olafur Eliasson, Katharina Grosse and John Bock. The four artists shortlisted for 2015 are Christian Falsnaes, Florian Hecker, Anne Imhof and Slavs and Tatars. On September 18th, an international jury of experts will decide which of these four nominees shall receive the Preis der Nationalgalerie.


To create an effective, easy-to-manage communications platform for clinicians, administrators and patients to share information and improve appointment making.
The NHS is Europe's largest employer and has communication requirements on a scale to match and which demand the highest levels of confidentiality and security. We have helped several hospitals and trusts including NHS London, NHS Luton, NHS East of England and The Queen Victoria NHS Foundation Trust by creating fully content managed micro sites to share information and gather feedback online quickly and securely.
Enhanced communication between patients, clinicians and administrators at lower cost that also improved the appointment making process – including for those with visual impairment.


0000323: Matching on adts makes and instantiation state subtyping is impossible.
Matching on a subtype doesn't carry the information about the inst of the subtype which makes using pattern matching and instantiation state subtyping impossible to use. See the attached file for details.
subtyping.m:019: indicate possible causes of this error.
subtyping.m:019: mode error in unification of `HeadVar__2' and `String'.
subtyping.m:019: variable `String' has instantiatedness `free'.
use_everything(bar(X), String) :- use_bar(bar(X), String).
which works too. Still I think that, ideally, this should also work in pattern matching in multiple clauses(?).


text:
package com.twitter.summingbird.online

import com.twitter.algebird.{ Semigroup, Tuple2Semigroup }
import com.twitter.storehaus.algebra.Mergeable
import com.twitter.summingbird.batch.{ Timestamp }
import com.twitter.util.{ Future, Time }

// Cannot use a MergeableProxy here since we change the type.
class WrappedTSInMergeable[K, V](self: Mergeable[K, V]) extends Mergeable[K, (Timestamp, V)] {
  // Since we don't keep a timestamp in the store
  // this makes it clear that the 'right' or newest timestamp from the stream
  // will always be the timestamp outputted
  override val semigroup: Semigroup[(Timestamp, V)] =
    new Tuple2Semigroup()(Timestamp.rightSemigroup, self.semigroup)

  override def close(time: Time) = self.close(time)

  override def multiMerge[K1 <: K](kvs: Map[K1, (Timestamp, V)]): Map[K1, Future[Option[(Timestamp, V)]]] =
    self.multiMerge(kvs.mapValues(_._2)).map {
      case (k, futOpt) =>
        (k, futOpt.map { opt =>
          opt.map { v =>
            (kvs(k)._1, v)
          }
        })
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Board index ‹ Jerry Lee Lewis ‹ Archive
The Many Sounds of Jerry Lee
by Bobby McGee » Thu Oct 22, 2009 10:34 pm
Logan wrote: the sinus operation
Bobby McGee
by Amadeu » Thu Oct 22, 2009 10:36 pm
peterchecksfield wrote:
Logan wrote: When did Jerry's voice start get worse again after the sinus operation
That's a matter of opinion; everyone has a different idea of what's "worse" or "better". For instance after his 1981 illness his voice got weaker but he could also hit the high notes better than in the previous few years. So was it better or worse?
I think 1974 ,for instance, its worse..
http://jerryleelewis-spain.blogspot.com/
Amadeu
Location: Barcelona,Catalonia
by peterchecksfield » Thu Oct 22, 2009 10:37 pm
Bobby McGee wrote:
As I said, February 1976. See also my blog:
http://themargatemusicman.blogspot.com/ ... years.html
peterchecksfield
Amadeu wrote: I think 1974 ,for instance, its worse..
I'm sure that the shows during this time were more fun "in person" (or on film) than just on audio, as he still had his full stage act then & was at his most unpredictable. Check out 'In Concert' (January '74) & 'All You Need Is Love' (summer '75) to see how exciting he was then.
by Logan » Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:47 am
I guess you could go either way. IMO worse
by tchr » Sat Oct 24, 2009 1:11 pm
giulianoms wrote: Who is the owner of these footage ?
According to Hallway Productions Inc who produced the I am what I am documentary, the following additional footage were used:
Dick Clark Media Archives
Lyle Jackson
Multimedia Entertainment
HBO / Cinemax / Fats & Friends Inc.
David Burnett
WREG – TV Memphis
Charles Rasteri
Fabulous Footage Inc
I guess it would be reasonable to suggest that the owner of the "The Many Sounds" are among these.
tchr
by thrund » Sat Oct 24, 2009 1:54 pm
Tore Christensen wrote:
Produced (and directed) was the Many Sounds by Rita Gillespie.
....but I don't know whether she is the owner of the copyrights.
thrund
by peterchecksfield » Sat Oct 24, 2009 1:55 pm
thrund wrote: Produced (and directed) was the Many Sounds by Rita Gillespie.
Or was: she sadly died some years ago. She also produced the 1971 TV special of course.
She could apart from that be still the owner (via executor or so), or anyone took over these, maybe the owner of the '71 TV show too.
by peterchecksfield » Sun Aug 22, 2010 5:57 pm
Still looking for the "5th" episode of this series!
by Tony Papard » Sun Aug 22, 2010 9:37 pm
peterchecksfield wrote: Still looking for the "5th" episode of this series!
I bet some American fan has it, but is too lazy/selfish to share it. Can't believe the 5 episodes weren't shown on Outlaw TV and that the 5th episode wasn't recorded by someone.
Probably a fan who isn't on the Forums.
Long ago in Ferriday down in Louisiana, They all watched Jerry play and pump that old piana
My blog: http://www.tonypapard.info/
My Jerry Lee Lewis page:
http://www.btinternet.com/~tony.papard/JERRYLEELEWIS.HTM
Tony Papard
Location: London, England, EU
The Many Sounds of Jerry Lee DVD
by tchr » Fri Mar 11, 2011 11:46 am
I guess most of you have already seen this, but anyway from Peter Checkfield (and Perk):
Please feel free to post this review elsewhere…
DVD Review: JERRY LEE LEWIS – 'The Many Sounds of Jerry Lee', 1969
Jerry Lee Lewis' 'The Many Sounds of Jerry Lee' TV specials from 1969 have in recent years been (quite rightly) often cited as his greatest filmed performances – particularly by myself! Capturing him at his vocal & creative peak & during his so-called "comeback" when he was having giant hit after hit in the U.S. country charts, it also shows him at his most versatile – performing rock 'n' roll, country, pop, standards, soul, rhythm 'n' blues & gospel, as well as playing both guitar & drums in addition to some of his most inspired piano work.
These were filmed at The Holiday Inn in Memphis Tennessee over several days during late September 1969, & (like the later 1971 one-off TV special) were produced by the late Rita Gillespie. According to the fan-club magazines at the time, these were compiled into five 30-minute TV specials (which in reality would probably equal around 20 minutes or so running time per show when allowing for advert breaks etc). Unfortunately they got just limited showings at the time (I believe it was just locally in the Memphis area + possibly in some parts of Canada), & for many years were almost forgotten.
I first heard (but didn't see) a few songs from this via a poor-quality cassette in the early 80s; then in 1987 excerpts of 3 songs ('What'd I Say', 'Green Green Grass Of Home' & 'What's Made Milwaukee Famous') were broadcast in great quality as part of the 'I Am What I Am' documentary (also released on VHS, & later on DVD). A snippet of a 4th song ('Swing Low Sweet Chariot') via a 1990 UK country music documentary just fuelled fan's excitement even more. Then, around 2002, a bootleg VHS tape finally surfaced with three complete 20-minute episodes (circulating also on bootleg DVDs within a year or two). These were broadcast on the U.S. 'Outlaw Channel' (probably at some point during the 90s), & further investigations by myself unearthed a fourth 20-minute episode, also broadcast by the 'Outlaw Channel'. For years we've been searching for the 5th episode, though I now suspect that only 4 were re-broadcast…
Then, about a month ago fan & friend Per Kallin sent me this link:
http://www.classiccountrydvd.com/the-ma ... y-lew.html
I received the DVD today (thanks Andrew!).
My initial thoughts before viewing it are that this has the look & feel of a (good) bootleg rather than a full proper release: the cover artwork (though OK) features no barcode (& no song details either); the disc is not a proper "pressed" DVD but instead a computer-copy with a paper label; & the "menu" features just 4 thumbnails (1 for each show), with no full song chapters. On playing it I was fairly pleased with the quality; it's certainly a considerable upgrade on our bootlegs (both visual & audio), though comparing it with the clips on the 'I Am What I Am' official DVD it looks slightly lesser picture quality: this may be because the documentary came from a superior source or it may have just had better mastering (the 'I Am What I Am' clips also seem to feature a little added reverb). The great news is that everything that circulates on bootleg DVDs (& YouTube) is included on the disc (though not all songs are listed on the link above); in addition, this includes a few additional songs:
'He'll Have To Go':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSHhkAylKfE
'Swing Down Sweet Chariot' and 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evs1DwDVvQY
Also an additional Linda Gail Lewis solo performance, with 'Paper Roses': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WguYFLc55N8
Full track listing for the DVD is below:
Show 1:
Jerry Lee Lewis – Medley: I'm Movin On – Down The Line (with Linda Gail Lewis & others)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Green Green Grass Of Home
Conway Twitty – Johnny B. Goode
The Rust College Quintet – Peace In The Valley
Jerry Lee Lewis – Swing Low Sweet Chariot (with The Rust College Quintet)
Jerry Lee Lewis – Flip, Flop & Fly
Linda Gail Lewis – Son Of A Preacher Man
Conway Twitty – To See My Angel Cry
Jerry Lee Lewis & Linda Gail Lewis – Gotta Travel On
Jerry Lee Lewis – What'd I Say
Jerry Lee Lewis - Jambalaya
The Finishing Touch - Rip It Up
The Settlers - Salty Dog
Jerry Lee Lewis & Linda Gail Lewis - Roll Over Beethoven
Jerry Lee Lewis – What's Made Milwaukee Famous
The Finishing Touch – Let The Good Times Roll
Linda Gail Lewis – South Side Soul Society Chapter No. 1
Roy Drusky – My Grass Is Green
Jerry Lee Lewis – Blue Suede Shoes
The Rust College Quintet – Seek & Yee Shall Find
Jerry Lee Lewis – He'll Have To Go
Donna Rhodes – I See Love
Jerry Lee Lewis – Hit The Road, Jack
Jerry Lee Lewis – Ubangi Stomp
Jerry Lee Lewis – Medley: High School Confidential – GBOF – Mean Woman Blues
Jerry Lee Lewis - Danny Boy
Lynn Anderson – I've Been Everywhere
Jerry Lee Lewis – Why Don't You Love Me
Linda Gail Lewis – Paper Roses
Jerry Lee Lewis & Linda Gail Lewis – Don't Take It Out On Me
Jerry Lee Lewis – Long Tall Sally
Linda Gail Lewis – The Shadow Of Your Smile
Jerry Lee Lewis – Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
Jerry Lee Lewis – Turn On your Lovelight
Jerry Lee Lewis – Shout (with Linda Gail Lewis & others)
Jerry Lee Lewis – She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye
Greg Todd – Let The Good Times Roll
Linda Gail Lewis – I Wish You Love
Jerry Lee Lewis – Pick Me Up On Your Way Down
Jerry Lee Lewis – Money (That's What I Want)
The Finishing Touch – Proud Mary
Jerry Lee Lewis – Swing Down Sweet Chariot (with The Rust College Quintet)
Jerry Lee Lewis – Lewis Boogie
Curiously, my early 80s cassette included three additional songs that have yet to surface: 'I Can't Stop Loving You', 'End Of The Road' & 'Sweet Little Sixteen'. My guess is that the footage of these is now missing or damaged: the DVD includes 4 episodes that have been slightly-extended (instead of the originally broadcast 5 episodes), & some of the previously unavailable tracks have very slight audio faults (notable 'Swing Down Sweet Chariot' & 'Paper Roses') which is why I suspect they weren't rebroadcast on the 'Outlaw Channel'.
To summarise then, this is well-worth buying, even if you own the old bootleg DVDs!
Peter Checksfield
Re: The Many Sounds of Jerry Lee
by Tony Papard » Thu Mar 14, 2013 12:51 am
Spam - I can read Cyrillic alphabet. Prostitute Sex, Moscow..... Long way to go for a shag!
by bailbath » Thu Mar 14, 2013 8:37 am
Tony Papard wrote: Spam - I can read Cyrillic alphabet. Prostitute Sex, Moscow..... Long way to go for a shag!
All gone now Tony
Join this forum
http://www.youtube.com/user/bailbath?feature=mhum
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Unofficial-Fan-Forum-Jerry-Lee-Lewis/126572997360209
bailbath
Location: Bath, uk
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Why the select tag cannot pass the value to req.query? I am new to learning JS, Express and mongoDB.
I had some data and I want to sort them. However, I can't do it. I do console.log(req.query.sort) and it show the variable of sort is undefined, and the req.query is empty. Where is the problem I did't see?  The code is as following.
index.handlebars
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If use the  to write the function, how to get the value?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange