![\"\"](\"https:\/\/joelasqo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/BAF.png\" "\\"BAF\\"")
<\/a>Last September’s Berkeley Arts Satie\/Cage Vexations<\/em><\/strong> marathon proved that many strange, wonderful, and unintended things happen when you try to repeat an enigmatic theme 840 times over a 22-hour period.<\/p>\nI am honored that Berkeley Arts Festival has given me the opportunity to organize a possibly even more bizarre follow-up, with an improvisational bent (and many bent improvisations…).<\/p>\n
<\/a>Erik Satie<\/p><\/div>\n
Now, hear 35+ of the Bay Area’s top improvisers in a wide variety of genres ranging from free jazz to classical\u00a0to electronic\u00a0as they find out what strange, wonderful, and unintended things happen when you create something new from that enigmatic Satie theme 840 times in our Vexations [Re-vex’d]<\/em><\/strong> improv marathon, from 2pm Sat 23 Mar<\/span><\/em><\/strong> to approx. noon Sun 24 Mar, 2013<\/strong> at Berkeley Arts Festival<\/a> <\/em>(<\/em><\/strong>2133 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA<\/a>)<\/em> .<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Projected line-up:<\/p>\n Steve\u00a0Adams<\/strong><\/a>, Nancy\u00a0Beckman<\/strong><\/a>, Tom\u00a0Bickley<\/strong><\/a>, Myles\u00a0Boisen<\/strong><\/a>,<\/p>\n Mark\u00a0Clifford<\/strong><\/a>, Joseph\u00a0Colombo<\/strong><\/a>, Patti\u00a0Deuter<\/strong>,\u00a0Thea Farhadian<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0Adam\u00a0Fong<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>Matthew\u00a0Goodheart<\/strong><\/a>, Phillip\u00a0Greenlief<\/strong><\/a>, Diane\u00a0Grubbe<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0Ron\u00a0Heglin<\/a><\/strong>, Jeff\u00a0Hobbs<\/strong><\/a>, Jason\u00a0Hoopes<\/strong><\/a>, Matt\u00a0Ingalls<\/a>, Roger\u00a0Kim<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0Sung Kim<\/a> <\/strong>(<\/strong>\uae40<\/a>\uc22d), Heikki\u00a0Koskinen<\/strong><\/a>, Joe\u00a0Lasqo<\/strong><\/a>, Scott\u00a0Looney<\/a>, Fernando\u00a0Lopez-Lezcano<\/a> & El Dinosaurio<\/strong>, Ric\u00a0Louchard<\/strong><\/a>, Bob\u00a0Marsh<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0Josh\u00a0Marshall<\/strong><\/a>, Crystal\u00a0Pascucci<\/strong><\/a>, Noah\u00a0Phillips<\/strong><\/a>, Rent\u00a0Romus<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0[ruidobello]<\/strong><\/a> (aka Jorge Bachmann),\u00a0Dean\u00a0Santomieri<\/strong><\/a>, John\u00a0Schott<\/strong><\/a>, Christina\u00a0Stanley<\/strong><\/a>, Anton\u00a0Vishio<\/strong><\/a>, Eli Wallace<\/strong><\/a>, Paul\u00a0Winstanley<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n First some background on the original Satie theme, and then more details of line-up and schedule….<\/p>\n Le jeune Satie<\/p><\/div>\n Composer, Rosicrucian, Dadaist, cabaret pianist, socialist, and founder\/prophet\/sole member of\u00a0L\u2019\u00c9glise M\u00e9tropolitaine d\u2019Art de J\u00e9sus Conducteur<\/strong> (Metropolitan Church of Art of Jesus the Conductor<\/em>), <\/em>Satie remains a Rashomon of personae.<\/p>\n Whether playing pop and improvising at the\u00a0Chat Noir<\/em><\/strong> cabaret; discussing compositional theory with Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc or Milhaud (later of Mills College\u2026); or working and playing with artists like Cocteau, Diaghilev, Picasso, Bracque, Tristan Tzara, Andr\u00e9 Breton, and Man Ray; Satie always drifted serenely at the cross-roads of irreconcilable contradictions and could never be fit into a coherent frame.<\/p>\n La maison de Satie \u00e0 Arcueil<\/p><\/div>\n Over the course of his 27 years in his final residence at the \u201cHouse with Four Chimneys\u201d at Arcueil, no one had ever visited his room. After his death, Satie\u2019s friends discovered compositions that were totally unknown or thought to have been lost. These were found behind the piano, in the pockets of his velvet suits, and in other odd places in the chaotic, disordered space, and included the\u00a0Vexations<\/em><\/strong> [1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n Never performed (or even mentioned) in Satie\u2019s lifetime, the\u00a0Vexations<\/em><\/strong> were revived by John Cage, leading to a premiere by an incredible team of pianists including Cage, David Tudor, Christian Wolff, John Cale, David Del Tredici, and others in 1963. (After the 840th repetition, someone in the audience shouted, \u201cEncore!\u201d\u2026)<\/p>\n Causing strong hallucinations and failure to complete the performance to some pianists who have dared to try playing the piece alone, this endless ocean of mesmerizing unsettled waves is a pioneering work of\u00a0minimalisme avant la lettre<\/em>.<\/p>\n Tr\u00e8s lent... pli selon pli...<\/p><\/div>\n Despite a score that\u2019s only one page long, its strikingly eccentric and impractical enharmonic notation, ambiguous playing directions, refusal to resolve into any tonality, and, of course, unorthodox duration, make the piece challenging to play and remember, demanding a highly attentive trance state which is then aurally transmitted to the audience.<\/p>\n Satie \u00e0 l'harmonium - dessin de Santiago Rusi\u00f1ol<\/p><\/div>\n As enigmatic as was Satie himself, theVexations<\/em><\/strong> have been variously analyzed as a post-traumatic reaction to the end of his only known love affair (with Suzanne Valadon) or a secret numerological theology.<\/p>\n The\u00a0flat-5<\/strong> interval so prominent in the piece was traditionally known as the \u201cDevil in music\u201d<\/strong>; the piece unfolds in \u201cinauspicious\u201d\u00a013<\/strong>-beat cycles; the number of notes in the manuscript,\u00a0108<\/strong>, is the product of 1-to-the-first x 2-squared x 3-cubed; and the number of repetitions,\u00a0840<\/strong>, is the product of all the numbers between 4 and 7\u2026 Coincidence\u2026.? Trail of red herrings\u2026? \u201cIn-joke\u201d\u2026? If not, what meaning does this hold in any of the cultic systems that Satie participated in or devised?<\/p>\n The only thing to do in response is\u00a0come and hear<\/strong> a part (or\u2026 if you dare\u2026\u00a0ALL!<\/strong>) of this unique Bay Area performance.<\/p>\n Subject to change, and may be updated, but as of now, here are the details of the team bringing this unique experience to your ears (in alphabetical order with start times, etc.):<\/p>\n Steve Adams<\/p><\/div>\n Steve Adams<\/a> (electronics & winds)<\/p>\n \u2014 3:30pm, Sat 23 Mar<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 10am, Sun 24 Mar<\/strong><\/p>\n Tom Bickley<\/p><\/div>\n Nancy Beckman<\/a> <\/strong>&\u00a0Tom Bickley<\/a>, in the\u00a0Gusty Winds May Exist<\/em><\/strong> duo (winds & electronics)<\/p>\n Nancy Beckman<\/p><\/div>\n \u2014\u00a05:30pm, Sat 23 Mar<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 8pm, Sat 23 Mar<\/strong><\/p>\n Myles Boisen (Photo by Michael Zelner)<\/p><\/div>\n Myles Boisen<\/a> (guitar)<\/p>\n Myles will do duets with John\u00a0Schott<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 <\/strong>12:30am, Sun 24 Mar<\/strong> &\u2014\u00a06:30am, Sun 24 Mar<\/strong><\/p>\n Mark Clifford<\/p><\/div>\n Mark Clifford<\/a> (mallets & percussion)<\/p>\n \u2014 7pm, Sat 23 Mar<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 11:30pm, Sat 23 Mar<\/strong><\/p>\n Joseph Colombo<\/p><\/div>\n Joseph Colombo<\/a> (piano)<\/p>\n \u2014 4:30pm, Sat 23 Mar<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 4am, Sun 24 Mar<\/strong><\/p>\n Patti Deuter performs Cage's "Four Walls" @ Berkeley Arts Festival<\/p><\/div>\n Patti Deuter<\/strong> (piano)<\/p>\n \u2014 Opening fanfare (2pm, Sat 23 Mar<\/strong>)<\/span><\/p>\n \u2014 Final Dozen (noon or after, Sun 24 Mar<\/strong>)<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Thea Farhadian<\/p><\/div>\n Thea Farhadian<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>(violin & processing<\/strong>)<\/span><\/p>\n \u2014 11:30am, Sun 24 Mar<\/strong> (duet with Dean Santomieri<\/strong>)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Adam Fong<\/p><\/div>\n Adam Fong<\/a> (bass)<\/p>\n \u2014 9:30pm, Sat 23 Mar<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 midnight, Sun 24 Mar<\/strong><\/p>\n Matthew Goodheart & computer-actuated gong<\/p><\/div>\n Matthew Goodheart<\/a> <\/strong>(piano & computer-actuated acoustic instruments)<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 6:30pm, Sat 23 Mar<\/strong><\/p>\n Phillip Greenlief<\/p><\/div>\n Phillip Greenlief<\/a> (saxes)<\/p>\n \u2014 1am, Sun 24 Mar<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>