{"id":3235,"date":"2014-02-18T01:57:54","date_gmt":"2014-02-18T01:57:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joelasqo.com\/blog\/?p=3235"},"modified":"2014-05-13T20:39:01","modified_gmt":"2014-05-13T20:39:01","slug":"msppiano-w-troppo-giogio-fisarmonicisti-futuristi-cz-lucie-vitkova-uk-joe-snape-ca-joe-lasqo-bob-marsh-sun-23-feb-berkeley-arts-festival-9pm-set-1-eric-glick-rieman-8pm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joelasqo.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/18\/msppiano-w-troppo-giogio-fisarmonicisti-futuristi-cz-lucie-vitkova-uk-joe-snape-ca-joe-lasqo-bob-marsh-sun-23-feb-berkeley-arts-festival-9pm-set-1-eric-glick-rieman-8pm\/","title":{"rendered":"MSP\/Piano w Troppo Giogio | Fisarmonicisti Futuristi (CZ: Lucie V\u00edtkov\u00e1, UK: Joe Snape, CA: Joe Lasqo & Bob Marsh) Sun 23 Feb @ Berkeley Arts Festival, 9pm) + Set 1: Eric Glick Rieman, @ 8pm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Hopla \u2014 It’s Troppo Giogio | Fisarmonicisti Futuristi!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Two continents…<\/p>\n

Two loosely-tethered laptopists named Joe…<\/p>\n

Two tap-dancing accordionists…<\/p>\n

What could possibly go wrong…?<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jednotn\u00e1 v rozmanitosti | United in Diversity<\/p><\/div>\n

– Continent: Europa<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Joe Snape<\/a> (Oxford, UK): laptop, electronics<\/p>\n

Lucie V\u00edtkov\u00e1<\/a> (Brno, Czech Republic): accordion, tap dance, and more<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

\u0395\u03cd\u03c1\u03b7\u03ba\u03b1 !<\/p><\/div>\n

– Continent: California<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Joe Lasqo<\/a> (San Francisco): laptop, piano, percussion, energized surfaces, solka\u1e6d\u1e6du<\/em> (\u0b9a\u0bca\u0bb2\u0bcd\u0b95\u0b9f\u0bcd\u0b9f\u0bc1)<\/p>\n

Bob Marsh<\/a> (formerly: planet Fomalhaut-b, now: Richmond): accordion, tap dance, and more<\/p>\n

I\u2019m keenly looking forward to joining Brno-based Czech composer\/accordionist\/dancer\/sound artist\u00a0Lucie V\u00edtkov\u00e1<\/a> and UK electronics enfant terrible<\/em> Joe Snape<\/a>, united with the incomparable footwork and soundwork of the Bay Area’s own Bob Marsh<\/a>, for a unique evening of dragon-crocodiles and much more\u2026.<\/p>\n

The show will be at the East Bay\u2019s indispensable focal point for new music, <\/strong>Berkeley Arts Festival<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (<\/em><\/strong>2133 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA \u2013 map<\/em><\/strong><\/a>)<\/em><\/strong> at 9pm, Sun 23<\/span> Feb<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Our programme will certainly include free improvs, and may possibly also include two of my game pieces:<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Brn\u011bnsk\u00e9 drak (The Brno Dragon)<\/p><\/div>\n

Drak nebo krokod\u00fdl? (Dragon or Crocodile?)<\/em><\/strong>, a game inspired by the “Brno Dragon<\/strong>“, an elegant resident of the Brno Town Hall, who it is said took up residence there about 1000 years ago after being ousted from its lair along the River Svratka, where it had been tormenting and devouring the townspeople, before being killed by the clever chemical warfare strategies of a journey-man butcher.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

An ambiguous phenomenon which can be looked at from two perspectives\u2026<\/p><\/div>\n

Whether to regard this fellow as a mythical dragon or mundane crocodile depends on framing and point of view, and so too in this game\/piece players use ambiguous musical (motifs | events | patterns | phenomena) which can be perceived first one way, then another, appearing from one perspective as “dragon” and another as “crocodile”, or changing from foreground to background, to create a sonic hall of mirrors.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford<\/p><\/div>\n

Another game piece of mine which we may do is Sheldonian <\/em><\/strong>\u30d1\u30c1\u30f3\u30b3<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Here we sonify the floor plan of the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford by turning it into a giant pachinko<\/em> (\u30d1\u30c1\u30f3\u30b3<\/strong>) machine of musical behaviors, letting fly balls of improv to rebound from blocks of planned behaviours.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Pachinko, Electric City, Akihabara, Tokyo (\u30d1\u30c1\u30f3\u30b3\u3001\u79cb\u8449\u539f\u96fb\u6c17\u8857\u3001\u6771\u4eac)<\/p><\/div>\n

Pachinko is a rather more demented form of pinball in which the playing surface is vertical rather than horizontal (the balls shoot up to the top and then use gravity to fall through the playing surface).<\/p>\n

The machines, whether newer electronic simulations of physical balls, or old-school mechanical ones, give off a chaotic mixture of sounds as the game proceeds, and the total sound environment provides the summation of these sounds in an indescribable thrum.<\/p>\n

What improvisation game could be more suited to the pounding flamenco rhythms of ecstatic tap-dancing futurist accordionists?<\/p>\n

Our European colleagues prefer to have their music speak directly without pre-conceptions and as little mental baggage as possible, so they’ve asked me to eschew the usual bio\/photo info and leave an open canvas for listeners going to the show.<\/p>\n

However, they have<\/em><\/strong> consented to let some brief video samples appear to give you a quick taste of what may be on offer…<\/p>\n

For example, one of the most mind-opening aspects of Lucie’s work for me is embodied in a series of pieces with collaborator Pavel Korbi\u010dka<\/a> under the rubric of Akustick\u00fd obraz (Acoustic Paintings)<\/em><\/strong>, which combine dance, sound production, and ritual, often employing large, or even room-size, invented \/ site-specific instruments, sometimes augmented by sound from an unseen source that provides a stark a-physical contrast with the completely physical means of sound production that Lucie is employing. These slay me.<\/p>\n

Check out Akustick\u00fd obraz 10<\/em><\/strong>:<\/p>\n