{"id":6271,"date":"2016-03-23T12:12:34","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T12:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joelasqo.com\/blog\/?p=6271"},"modified":"2016-04-01T01:03:20","modified_gmt":"2016-04-01T01:03:20","slug":"electric-shadow-theater-film-truth-surreal-sound-by-fushigi-kenkyukai-%e4%b8%8d%e6%80%9d%e8%ad%b0%e7%a0%94%e7%a9%b6%e4%bc%9a-%e2%97%89%c2%a0sonified-films-by-jean-cocteau-fernand-leger-and-maya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joelasqo.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/23\/electric-shadow-theater-film-truth-surreal-sound-by-fushigi-kenkyukai-%e4%b8%8d%e6%80%9d%e8%ad%b0%e7%a0%94%e7%a9%b6%e4%bc%9a-%e2%97%89%c2%a0sonified-films-by-jean-cocteau-fernand-leger-and-maya\/","title":{"rendered":"Electric Shadow Theater: Film Truth + Surreal Sound by Fushigi Kenky\u016bkai (\u4e0d\u601d\u8b70\u7814\u7a76\u4f1a) \u25c9\u00a0sonified films by Jean Cocteau, Fernand L\u00e9ger, and Maya Deren \u25c9\u00a0with music by Steve Adams, Bryan Day, Tom Djll, Joe Lasqo, John McCowen, David Michalak, Sat 02 Apr @ The Second Act, SF"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cocteau<\/a>

Cocteau applies the finishing touches to cast member Barbette - \u00ab Le sang d'un po\u00e8te \u00bb<\/p><\/div>\n

Coordinates:\u00a0The Second Act, SF, 1727 Haight St, SF (between Shrader & Cole \u2013 map)<\/strong><\/a>, 8pm, Sat 02 Apr<\/span><\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u261e<\/strong> <\/span><\/strong>Advance tickets available at a $5 discount: <\/span><\/span><\/strong>here<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

It will be a great pleasure to play again at\u00a0The Second Act<\/a>, the terrific performing arts space and restaurant zone that Jack & Betsy Rix, members of the original Red Vic collective, have now created in the Red Vic\u2019s former site \u2014 and what better site than this pioneering art film house in San Francisco\u2019s cultural history for silent film + music!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Second Act, the next generation of the Haight's Red Vic<\/p><\/div>\n

The \u201cThird Wednesday\u201d series run there by James Decker<\/strong>, proprietor\/perpetrator of Resipiscent Records<\/strong><\/a>, has created a powerful electronic music dipole traversing Haight St., resonating with the Lower Haight\u2019s mutant sound scene @ ROBOTSPEAk<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The throbbing avant energy unleashed at\u00a0The Second Act<\/a> has not only attracted a large and actively engaged audience, but has recently erupted into the visual dimension as well, starting a new film + music series last August with Ben Tinker\u2019s<\/a> film + music project That Hideous Strength<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m excited to again add to this wayang sinema<\/em> series with new ensemble Fushigi Kenky\u016bkai (<\/strong>\u4e0d\u601d\u8b70\u7814\u7a76\u4f1a<\/strong>)<\/strong> and some of the freshest, most exciting films ever made.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The founder of the first "Paranormal Research Society" (Fushigi Kenky\u016bkai : \u4e0d\u601d\u8b70\u7814\u7a76\u4f1a), in 1886, Enry\u014d Inoue (\u4e95\u4e0a\u5186\u4e86)<\/p><\/div>\n

Since the founding of Clubfoot Orchestra<\/strong><\/a> in 1983, San Francisco has been a leader in pairing film classics with composed or improvised scores. Not only is Clubfoot Orchestra<\/strong><\/a> still scaling new heights, but a rich new crop of ensembles for film + sound have created a second wave of Bay Area shadow play for the 21st century.<\/p>\n

Fushigi Kenky\u016bkai<\/strong> are a collective of film and sound artists, mixing veterans of Bay Area \u201cwayang sinema\u201d ensembles like Clubfoot Orchestra<\/strong><\/a> & Reel Change<\/strong> with pioneers of electronic, computer-based, and invented instruments.<\/p>\n

The name Fushigi Kenky\u016bkai (<\/strong>\u4e0d\u601d\u8b70\u7814\u7a76\u4f1a<\/strong>) means \u201cParanormal Research Society\u201d. The truth is out there.<\/p>\n

The program uses two surrealist film classics and a cubo-futurist mechanical “ballet” to find it.<\/p>\n

Line-up:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Steve Adams<\/strong><\/a> (elctronics)<\/p>\n

Bryan Day<\/strong><\/a> (invented instruments)<\/p>\n

Tom Djll<\/strong><\/a> (surrealist prepared trumpet)<\/p>\n

Joe Lasqo<\/strong><\/a> (keyboards | laptop | objects)<\/p>\n

John McCowen<\/strong><\/a> (dada prepared clarinet + drum resonator)<\/p>\n

David Michalak<\/strong><\/a> (skatchbox | lap steel guitar | film curator)<\/p>\n

\n

Program<\/strong><\/p>\n

Part 1: Cubist Culottes \/ Surrealist Shorts (33 min, with\u00a0show\u00a0break following)<\/p>\n

Fernand L\u00e9ger: Ballet m\u00e9canique<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Maya Deren (\u041c\u0430\u0439\u044f \u0414\u0435\u0440\u0435\u043d): Meshes Of The Afternoon<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Part 2: Main Feature<\/p>\n

Jean Cocteau:\u00a0Blood Of A Poet<\/em><\/strong> (Le sang d’un po\u00e8te<\/em><\/strong>) 55 min.<\/p>\n

\"Jean<\/a>

Jean Cocteau and friend<\/p><\/div>\n

\u25c9 Blood Of A Poet (Le sang d’un po\u00e8te)<\/em><\/strong>, by Jean Cocteau<\/p>\n

Cocteau described his first film, Blood Of A Poet (<\/em><\/strong>Le sang d’un po\u00e8te<\/em><\/strong>)<\/em><\/strong> as “a descent into oneself, a way of using the mechanism of the dream without sleeping, a crooked candle, often mysteriously blown out, carried about in the night of the human body.”<\/p>\n

A tall smokestack starts to collapse\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\u00ab<\/a>

\u00ab La solitude du po\u00e8te est si grande et qu'il vit tellement ce qu'il cr\u00e9e, que la bouche d'une de ses cr\u00e9atures lui reste dans la main comme une blessure\u2026 \u00bb (The poet's solitude is so great, he so lives what he creates, that the mouth of one of his creations lives in his hand like a wound...) - Cocteau<\/p><\/div>\n

A mouth in an artist’s sketch starts moving, wanders off the paper and occupies the artist’s hand, then finally finds a home on a statue in the studio, making it come alive\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Travel between worlds via mirror in Cocteau's \u00ab Le sang d'un po\u00e8te \u00bb - Boarding phase<\/p><\/div>\n

Now able to talk, the statue tells the artist how to pass through mirrors to another world, where he voyeuristically peeps on tableaux of levitating children, ambiguous sexuality, and opium dreams through keyholes at the \u00abH\u00f4tel de Folies Dramatiques\u00bb<\/em>, culminating in his suicide, resurrection, and return through the mirror\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Danger<\/a>

Danger de mort! \u00e0 l'H\u00f4tel de Folies Dramatiques - \u00ab Le sang d'un po\u00e8te \u00bb, by Jean Cocteau<\/p><\/div>\n

A young school boy is murdered by a snowball in a courtyard \u2014 that turns out to be a stage where a card-game is being played before an audience of aristocrats watching from boxes.<\/p>\n

Will the black guardian angel keep the dead boy’s Ace of Hearts from the artist, who has become the card-shark?<\/p>\n

After we find out the answer, a tall smokestack continues to collapse\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\u00ab<\/a>

\u00ab Le sang d'un po\u00e8te \u00bb, by Jean Cocteau<\/p><\/div>\n

About this first installment of the Orphic Trilogy<\/em><\/strong>, Cocteau said:<\/p>\n

“My relationship with the work was like that of a cabinetmaker who puts together the pieces of a table whom the spiritualists, who make the table move, consult.”<\/p>\n

“I was the only one of this minority [the surrealists] to avoid the deliberate manifestations of the unconscious in favor of a kind of half-sleep through which I wandered as though in a labyrinth.”<\/p>\n

“Blood of a Poet<\/em><\/strong> draws nothing from either dreams or symbols. As far as the former are concerned, it initiates their mechanism, and by letting the mind relax, as in sleep, it lets memories entwine, move and express themselves freely. As for the latter, it rejects them, and substitutes acts\u2026 that the spectator can make symbols of if he wishes.”<\/p>\n

\"\u00ab<\/a>

\u00ab Le sang d'un po\u00e8te \u00bb, by Jean Cocteau<\/p><\/div>\n

Jean Cocteau<\/strong> started a long string of technical film-making discoveries with his first film by turning mistakes that he didn’t have the money or technology to undo into profoundly inspired excuses for improvisatory cinematography, incorporating even the dust kicked up by cleaners in the studio to provide surrealistic effects, and pioneered trick shot techniques to realize strange effects like the sideways gravity of the \u00abH\u00f4tel de Folies Dramatiques\u00bb<\/em> and the mirror portal between worlds.<\/p>\n

\"\u00ab<\/a>

\u00ab Quand il joue cette partie de cartes avec sa Muse, avec sa Gloire, avec sa Destin\u00e9e, il triche en prenant sur son enfance ce qu'il devrait puiser en lui-m\u00eame \u00bb (When he plays the card game with his Muse, his Glory, with his Destiny, he cheats by drawing from his childhood instead of from within himself) - Lee Miller in Cocteau's \u00ab Le sang d'un po\u00e8te \u00bb<\/p><\/div>\n

Another highlight of the film is the only extensive film appearance of surrealist & documentary photographer Lee Miller, who plays the living statue of the film as well as the antagonist of the card-shark near the film’s conclusion, she of whom Cocteau said, “I could tell you that the snowball fight represents the poet’s childhood and that when he plays the card game with his Muse, his Glory, with his Destiny [Lee Miller], he cheats by drawing from his childhood instead of from within himself.”<\/p>\n

\"Portrait<\/a>

Portrait of Space, by Lee Miller<\/p><\/div>\n

Brilliant collaborator and lover of Man Ray, Lee Miller, met him, as described by Jonathon Keats (link<\/a>), “in the spring of 1929 at a Paris bar called the Bateau Ivre<\/em>. Miller was seeking photography lessons. Ray said he didn\u2019t take students, and was leaving for vacation in Biarritz. \u201cSo am I,\u201d she responded, starting one of the most tempestuous and creative relationships in the history of 20th century art.”<\/p>\n

\"(L\u2192R)<\/a>

(L\u2192R) Enrique Riveros & Lee Miller in Le sang d'un po\u00e8te, by Jean Cocteau<\/p><\/div>\n

Later the wife of British surrealist painter Roland Penrose and documentary photographer of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau, Lee Miller numbered among her friends and photographic clients Picasso, Joseph Cornell, Paul \u00c9luard, Eileen Agar, Jean Cocteau, Dorothea Tanning, Henry Moore, Max Ernst, and Jean Dubuffet.<\/p>\n

Documenting the horrors of the Holocaust left Lee Miller in a life-long struggle afterward with what would later be called PTSD, and she was after the war investigated on suspicion of being a Soviet spy by Britain’s MI5.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

\u25c9 Ballet <\/em><\/strong>\u00e9lectro<\/span><\/em><\/strong>m\u00e9canique<\/em><\/strong>, by Fernand L\u00e9ger \u2014\u00a0with new electronic score<\/p>\n

\"Poster<\/a>

Poster for Fernand L\u00e9ger's \u00ab Ballet m\u00e9canique \u00bb<\/p><\/div>\n

Ballet m\u00e9canique<\/em><\/strong> marks a turning point in both film and music history.<\/p>\n

The film is usually credited to Fernand L\u00e9ger<\/strong>, with large contributions from Dudley Murphy and Man Ray, and with a lot of uncertainty about who did what. For the sake of simplicity, let’s consider it L\u00e9ger’s film here.<\/p>\n

\"\u00ab<\/a>

\u00ab Les joueurs de cartes \u00bb (The Card Players), by Fernand L\u00e9ger<\/p><\/div>\n

Recovering from the mustard gas attack that nearly killed him toward the end of World War 1, L\u00e9ger began to integrate his wartime experiences with the machinery and inhumanity of the front into his art, producing paintings with machine-like figures, like The Card Players<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He said of this period:<\/p>\n

“\u2026I was stunned by the sight of the breech of a 75mm in the sunlight. It was the magic of light on the white metal. That’s all it took for me to forget the abstract art of 1912\u20131913. The crudeness, variety, humor, and downright perfection of certain men around me, their precise sense of utilitarian reality and its application in the midst of the life-and-death drama we were in … made me want to paint in slang with all its color and mobility.”<\/p>\n

\"Frame<\/a>

Frame from Fernand L\u00e9ger's \u00ab Ballet m\u00e9canique \u00bb<\/p><\/div>\n

This cubo-futurist period in L\u00e9ger’s work was propelled by a kinetic esthetic that emphasized movement, repetition and a nascent transhumanism in its fluid and porous boundaries between human and machine.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>

One of L\u00e9ger's animation sequences from \u00ab Ballet m\u00e9canique \u00bb<\/p><\/div>\n

The film is laced with additional spice pellets in the form of Fernand L\u00e9ger’s animation sequences bearing strange oblique references to Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"George<\/a>

George Antheil and instruments from his \u00ab Ballet m\u00e9canique \u00bb<\/p><\/div>\n

Intertwined with Ballet m\u00e9canique<\/em><\/strong> the film is another Ballet m\u00e9canique<\/em><\/strong> \u2014\u00a0the musical piece by George Antheil<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Originally conceived of as the soundtrack for the film, the two pieces drifted apart in production, with the music winding up 1\u00bd times as long as the film.<\/p>\n

The orchestration was: 16 player pianos (or pianolas) in four parts, 2 regular pianos, 3 xylophones, at least<\/em> 7 electric bells, 3 airplane propellers, siren, 4 bass drums, & 1 tam-tam.<\/p>\n

The synchronization of the 16 player pianos was technically impossible in that MIDI-less era, but perhaps that only added to the fun of the affair\u2026.<\/p>\n

Antheil \u2014 as assiduous a marketer as the later John Cage (who appeared on game shows to pursue nationwide broadcast performance opportunities for his pieces) \u2014 vigorously hyped his bizarre baby by arranging to appear to have been kidnapped before the first performance (whose patroness was at the end of the concert tossed in a blanket by 3 baronesses and a duke\u2026) and hiring professional provocateurs to infiltrate the audience and heighten the sense of scandal at later performances.<\/p>\n

\"Other<\/a>

Other Minds' brilliant revival recording of George Antheil's \u00ab Ballet m\u00e9canique \u00bb<\/p><\/div>\n

Despite the glorious music, which you can check out in a superb revival recording from Other Minds, the severe length mismatch kept the music and the film in separate universes until the advent of modern editing technology in the 90’s when clever cutting and sewing created the illusion of synchronization in a length-matched compressed-music version.<\/p>\n

Up to then, the music had been performed (very rarely\u2026) as a stand-alone “ballet” (with the exotic stage machinery standing in for dancers).<\/p>\n

The film was premiered silently, without the intended music, and then became fair game for various musicians and composers to have at it, which is exactly our plan \u2014 to salute the singularity with a new 21st-century electronics-enhanced version in a Ballet <\/em><\/strong>\u00e9lectro<\/span><\/em><\/strong>m\u00e9canique.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

\"Maya<\/a>

Maya Deren (\u041c\u0430\u0439\u044f \u0414\u0435\u0440\u0435\u043d) in her film Meshes Of The Afternoon<\/p><\/div>\n

Maya Deren<\/strong> (\u041c\u0430\u0439\u044f \u0414\u0435\u0440\u0435\u043d<\/strong>) said of her Meshes Of The Afternoon<\/em><\/strong> that it “does not record an event which could be witnessed by other persons”.<\/p>\n

A shifting exploration of ambiguous transitions between sleep and waking, life and death, self and double(s) that’s imbued with an eerie and indescribable coherence, Meshes Of The Afternoon<\/em><\/strong> achieves its impact by means of brilliant and very musical use of a number of motifs that it puts through set-theoretic permutations in a way that would have made Milton Babbitt proud, but retains a mysterious human poetry.<\/p>\n

\"Frame<\/a>

Frame from Maya Deren's Meshes Of The Afternoon<\/p><\/div>\n

A flower on a long driveway, a knife in a loaf of bread, a phone off the hook, a Grim Reaper with a mirror instead of a face, a key falling, a phonograph, and other motifs all participate in a spiraling fugue where potential meanings are developed and abandoned like polyphonic lines.<\/p>\n

As Robert Robertson says in Cinema And The Audiovisual Imagination: Music, Image, Sound<\/em><\/strong>, “Taking the model of chamber music, she advocated its lyrical qualities, it’s abstract forms, its economy, but also its virtuosity, as an example for what she called ‘chamber films’.”<\/p>\n

Traveling across many stairs, pathways, and physical levels of a house and its environments, the protagonist encounters various doubles, mirrors, and situations reflected between dreams and what passes for the film’s reality.<\/p>\n

\"Montage<\/a>

Montage of scenes from Meshes Of The Afternoon by Maya Deren (\u041c\u0430\u0439\u044f \u0414\u0435\u0440\u0435\u043d)<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

We\u2019ll map and reshape these motivic lines, inversions, and transformative repetitions in a new electronic score for what, due to its musical qualities, has become one of the greatest \u201cstandards\u201d for film+music sonification.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

Carrying on the traditions of and sharing members with \u201cwayang sinema\u201d ensembles like Clubfoot Orchestra<\/strong><\/a> & Reel Change, Fushigi Kenky\u016bkai (<\/strong>\u4e0d\u601d\u8b70\u7814\u7a76\u4f1a<\/strong>) is comprised of:<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/a>

Steve Adams<\/p><\/div>\n

\u25c9 Steve Adams<\/a> (electronics)<\/p>\n

ROVA-ite Steve\u00a0Adams<\/a> needs little introduction to lovers of jazz and new music, having been a long-standing key player in various East & West Coast scenes. His work on various saxes, flutes, electronics and as a composer combines probing originality, playful improv structures and swing with a very specific angular momentum.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Steve Adams<\/p><\/div>\n

Steve is best known as a member of ROVA Saxophone Quartet<\/strong><\/a>, whom he\u2019s been with for more than 20 years. Steve is also a member of the Bill\u00a0Horvitz<\/a> Band, various Matt Small<\/a> ensembles, and the Vinny Golia<\/a> Large Ensemble<\/strong>, as well as leading his own projects.<\/p>\n

Steve lived in Boston in the \u201970s and \u201980s, where he was a member of Your Neighborhood Sax Quartet<\/strong>, Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic<\/strong><\/a>, and Composers In Red Sneakers<\/strong><\/a> among others. A remarkable collaboration with avant jazz bassist Ken\u00a0Filiano<\/a>, which we in the Bay Area have the pleasure of hearing on Ken\u2019s swings to the West Coast, was formed in this period.<\/p>\n

Here we focus on Steve’s wonderful electronic work, which has also been displayed to stunning effect in various duos and small ensembles with Scott Walton<\/a>, John Hanes<\/a>, and others.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bryan Day performs in the Active Music Series @ The Uptown, Oakland, 11 Jun 2013 (photo - John Scharpen)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u25c9 Bryan Day<\/a> (invented instruments)<\/p>\n

Bryan Day<\/a> is an improviser, instrument inventor, illustrator & installation artist based in San Francisco. His work involves combining elements of the natural and man-made world using field recordings, custom audio generation software and homemade instruments. Bryan\u2019s work explores the parallels between the patterns and systems in nature to those in contemporary society.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bryan Day<\/p><\/div>\n

Bryan has toured throughout the US, Europe, Japan, Korea, Argentina, the Philippines, & Mexico, performing both solo as Sistrum<\/strong><\/a> and Eloine,<\/strong> and in the Shelf Life<\/strong><\/a> and Seeded Plain<\/strong> ensembles, as well as with innumerable collaborators, and has over 40 solo and ensemble releases.<\/p>\n

\"Bryan<\/a>

Bryan Day's kit reflects his sound universe (photo - John Scharpen)<\/p><\/div>\n

Since 1997 he has been running the new music label Public Eyesore<\/strong><\/a> and its sister label Eh?<\/strong><\/a>. Through Public Eyesore<\/strong> and Eh?<\/strong>, Bryan has produced and released over 200 albums of improvised and experimental music by artists from all over the globe, in addition to curating the music series at Meridian Gallery in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/a>

Tom Djll (original photo by Dill Pixels)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u25c9 Tom Djll<\/a> (surrealist prepared trumpet)<\/p>\n

Tom Djll<\/a> has spent over twenty years developing the trumpet\u2019s wide sonic array of extended techniques. His musical language incorporates complex noises and gritty, unheard textures from electronica into melodic gestures and building asymmetrical formal structures. Tom has made a lifelong study of the art of improvised music, and has been actively performing since 1980.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/a>

Tom Djll (original photo by Dill Pixels)<\/p><\/div>\n

Tom Djll\u2019s<\/a> approach to playing the trumpet has been characterized from its inception by an anti-professionalism that locates itself within a political rather than musical continuum. Although he had studied composition with AACM masters Roscoe Mitchell<\/a>, Anthony Braxton<\/a>, Wadada Leo Smith<\/a>, and others, inspired by punk and DIY approaches to performance and soundmaking (Trans Museq<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0PiL<\/strong><\/a>, The Contortions<\/strong><\/a>, Alterations<\/strong>, Eugene Chadbourne<\/a>), Tom eschewed formal training in lieu of nearly fifteen years of blazing an idiosyncratic pathway through the instrument based on his studies and performances of analog electronic music. Working with a Serge Modular Synthesizer until the turn of the century, Tom described his trumpet sounds as products of an \u201canalog lip synthesizer,\u201d among other colorful epithets.’<\/p>\n

\"Mutootator,<\/a>

Mutootator, by Tom Djll and various accomplices<\/p><\/div>\n

In 1989 Tom\u2019s trumpet+electronics breakthrough was realized with the recording of\u00a0TOMBO<\/em><\/strong>, using the Serge system\u2019s endlessly disruptive causation chains to process, feedback-process, and process-feedback all sorts of trumpet and mouth sounds, culminating in Mutootator<\/em><\/strong>, the apex of his trumpet\/Serge development. This set of improvised duets used a hybrid analog\/digital live sampling and processing system (the \u201cMutootator\u201d) of Tom\u2019s own design, and featured William Winant<\/a>, Tom Nunn<\/a>, Jack Wright<\/a>, Myles Boisen<\/a>, and many others.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lava, by Chris Brown<\/p><\/div>\n

Subsequently, Tom studied in the graduate program at the Mills College Center for Contemporary Music, a period which saw his trumpet noises featured in Chris Brown\u2019s<\/a> ferociously difficult\u00a0LAVA<\/em><\/strong> (for brass, percussion, and electronics, recorded on Tzadik). Tom continued working with Chris Brown<\/a> in live performances of LAVA<\/em><\/strong> and other works (Brown, DUETS<\/em><\/strong>, Artifact) as well as with other Mills faculty (William Winant<\/a>, Alvin Curran<\/a>, John Bischoff<\/a>) and eminent visitors to the school such as James Tenney<\/strong>, Bun-Ching Lam<\/a> (\u6797<\/a>\u54c1\u6676), \u201cBlue\u201d Gene Tyranny<\/a>, Tim Perkis<\/a>, and Pauline Oliveros<\/a> (with whom he had previous studied her Deep Listening techniques). Others of Tom\u2019s gurus incude Karl Berger<\/a>, Lester Bowie<\/strong>, and George Lewis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/a>

Tom Djll (original photo by Dill Pixels)<\/p><\/div>\n

In the new millennium, Tom\u2019s resolutely nonprofessional performance practice has centered itself in live instrument re-building, wherein the trumpet\u2019s identity is broken down and reassembled onstage, using bits of plastic tubing, rubber bands, whistles, squeakers, toys and other horn parts. More recent performances have seen the re-entry of actual electronic sounds into the language. The festering soundworlds arising from this gallimaufry of resonator\/muters suggest a parade of chancy characters; Tom gives them monikers such as Whirly Honkblatter,<\/em> Zeppelin Launch Simulation Drone, <\/em>the Nude Rubberlips Orgasm Chanter<\/em>, and the Dissociative Tubular Identity Disorder Scalar Ambiguation Horn<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Current and recent projects include:<\/p>\n

Grosse Abfahrt<\/strong> (w Gino Robair<\/a>, Tim Perkis<\/a>, John Shiurba<\/a>, Matt Ingalls<\/a> and international guests), Quartet<\/strong> (w Tim Perkis<\/a>, Matt Ingalls<\/a> & Scott Walton<\/a>), Space Junk<\/strong> (w Jordan Glenn<\/a> & Scott Brown<\/strong>), Beauty School<\/strong> (w Jacob Felix Heule<\/a> & Matt Chandler<\/a>), Mockracy<\/strong> (co-operative orchestra, actors, and maxed media), All Tomorrow\u2019s Zombies<\/strong> (w Tim Perkis<\/a> & Gino Robair<\/a>), Dynosoar<\/strong> (w Ron Heglin<\/a> & \u201cGongwoman\u201d Karen Stackpole<\/a>),\u00a0 Kinda Green (w Tim Perkis<\/a>), John Shiurba\u2019s<\/a> 5\u00d75<\/strong>, Gino Robair\u2019s<\/a> I, Norton Opera Company<\/strong>, sfSound<\/strong><\/a> Group<\/strong>, led by Matt Ingalls<\/a>, and Tender Buttons<\/strong> (w Tania Chen<\/a> & Gino Robair<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Joe Lasqo & Morgana perform w Jim Ryan's Green Alembic in the sfSoundSalonSeries at Center for New Music, San Francisco, 15 Apr 2014 (Photo by Carly Hoopes)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u25c9 Joe Lasqo<\/a> (keyboards | laptop | objects)<\/p>\n

Pianist \/ laptopist Joe Lasqo<\/strong><\/a> studied classical music in India; computer\/electronic music at MIT, Columbia, Berkeley\/CNMAT; has been a long-time performing modern & avant jazz musician; & has lived, played and listened in several Asian and European countries (now in San Francisco).\u00a0He\u2019s keen on the application of artificial intelligence techniques to improvisation and the meeting of traditional Asian musics with the 21st century. His recent album, Turquoise Sessions<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, is available on Edgetone Records; with new releases planned in 2015.<\/p>\n

Joe had a weekly residency for 3\u00bd years+ in the afternoon piano series at Viracocha<\/strong>, and has started a new residency at San Francisco’s PianoFight<\/strong>. He’s appeared recently with Bruce Ackley<\/a> and Steve Adams<\/a> of ROVA Saxophone Quartet<\/strong><\/a>, Aaron Bennett\u2019s<\/a> Electro-Magnetic Trans-Personal Orchestra, <\/strong>the London Improvisers Orchestra<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0Phillip Greenlief\u2019s<\/a> Orchesperry<\/strong>, his own Renga-kai (<\/strong>\u9023\u6b4c\u4f1a<\/strong>)<\/strong>, Mukaiji-kai (<\/strong>\u9727\u6d77<\/strong>\u7b8e\u4f1a)<\/strong>, and Fushigi Kenky\u016bkai (<\/strong>\u4e0d\u601d\u8b70\u7814\u7a76\u4f1a<\/strong>) <\/strong>ensembles, synthesist Thomas Dimuzio<\/a>, clarinetist\/vocalist Beth Custer<\/a>, pianist Thollem McDonas<\/a>, percussionist Suki O\u2019Kane<\/a>, sound artists Joe Snape<\/a> (UK) & Lucie V\u00edtkov\u00e1<\/a> (Czech Rep.), technodivas \/ electronic musicians Pamela Z<\/a> &\u00a0Viv Corringham<\/a> (NYC\/London), saxophonists Adrian Northover<\/a> & Sue Lynch<\/a> (London), and many others.<\/p>\n

au quotidien<\/em><\/strong>, a new album with German-Swedish saxist\/flautist Biggi Vinkeloe<\/a>, master drummer Donald Robinson<\/a>, and cello madman Teddy Rankin-Parker<\/a> is in production for release in early 2016.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/a>

John McCowen performs his piece BONE(THIN)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u25c9 John\u00a0McCowen<\/a> (dada prepared clarinet + drum resonator)<\/p>\n

John\u00a0McCowen\u2019s<\/a> musical path is rooted in the DIY culture of American hardcore music. John was a vocalist in hardcore music until he heard the music of Albert Ayler. At that point, he began channeling his energy through the saxophone, and was further influenced by the music of Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane.<\/p>\n