Red Room Reopens

Dig this:

Red Room reopens tomorrow (new and improved and full of surprises), Sat. June 26, with a performance by READERS (Shelly Blake-Plock, John Berndt, Rose Burt, Tom Boram, and Savanna Leigh), a film by Rachel Younghans, and a mystery performance by a duo of French/German wandering free improvisers. 8:30PM; $6.

RED ROOM 425 E. 31ST STREET BALTIMORE, MD. 21218, USA

www.redroom.org

Twitter: @highzero

READERS, Rachel Younghans, Mystery Sound

Live at Red Room
Saturday, June 26th, $6

READERS (a conceptual quintet of Shelly Blake-Plock, John Berndt, Rose Burt, Tom Boram, and Savanna Leigh)

+

Silent Film by Rachel Younghans

+

Mystery Sound

READERS (a conceptual quintet of Shelly Blake-Plock, John Berndt, Rose Burt, Tom Boram, and Savanna Leigh). READERS will concentrate solely on written texts. Really concentrate. Hush now. + Silent Film by Rachel Younghans. + Mystery Sound. A French / German duo of alto and percussion that will remain unnamed, but who will blow smoke rings into your mind.

Friction Brothers + Trockeneis + Snacks

Tonight at 2640 Space a show not to miss.

 (from the Red Room calendar)...

Wednesday, June 23rd, $6

Special show @ 2640 Space - Friction Brothers + Trockeneis + Snacks

Wednesday, June 23rd
8:00pm

at the 2640 Space
2640 St. Paul St.
Baltimore MD
The Baltimore experimental music community is extremely happy to be hosting
The Friction Brothers (Fred Lonberg-Holm, Michael Zerang, Michael Colligan) from Chicago. The group features virtuosic, internationally acclaimed musicians who devote this particular group to a highly specific form of disciplined improvisation including harmonic resonances, grinding objects, manipulated dry ice, and heavy friction. Expect extremely disciplined and sensitive playing as well as outrageous sonic departures and iconoclastic techniques via cello, percussion, and invented instruments.
The Friction Brothers will be joined by local improv favorites Trockeneis (Audrey Chen, Andy Hayleck, Dan Breen, Paul Neidhardt, Catherine Pancake.) Trockeneis is an acoustic musical collective devoted to New Frictionalism - the boundary between extreme tempi and sonic continuity ("tone".) Instruments include voice, percussion, bowed metal, tricks, hijinx, jokes, dry ice, bottles caps, broken cymbals, and other discarded or handy objects.
Snacks (Tom Boram and Dan Breen) will be opening the show with a short set of inspired electronic dotage & pointed musical derangement in their usual high quality, dandy style.
--
The Friction Brothers:
Reedman and dry ice-r Michael Colligan has been a member of The Flying Luttenbachers, Pillow, and Math, in addition to contributions to records by Jim O’Rourke, Smog, and Boxhead Ensemble.
After studying at Julliard, as well as with Anthony Braxton and Morton Feldman, Fred Lonberg-Holm founded the Valentine Trio, a jazz trio that started with the music of Fred Katz and now focuses of Fred’s writing, and the Lightbox Orchestra, a rotating cast of improvisers that work with a lightbox and set of cue cards that provides playing instructions. Ever busy, Fred also performs in Vandermark 5, Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet, Territory Ensemble/Band, Guillermo Gregorio Trio, Keefe Jackson’s Fast Citizens, Joe McPhee Survival Unit III, Boxhead Ensemble, among others. He has also contributed cello to albums by Wilco, Smog, Will Oldham, Califone, etc.
Michael Zerang was born in Chicago, Illinois and is a first generation American of Assyrian decent. He has been a musician, composer, and producer since 1976, focusing extensively on improvised music, free jazz, contemporary composition, puppet theater, experimental theater, and international musical forms. He has collaborated extensively with contemporary theater, dance, and other multidisciplinary forms and has received three Joseph Jefferson Awards for Original Music Composition in Theater, in 1996, 1998, and 2000. He has over sixty titles in his discography and has toured nationally and internationally since 1981 with and ever-widening pool of collaborators. He was the artistic director of the Link’s Hall Performance Series from 1985-1989 where he produced over 300 concerts of jazz, traditional ethnic folk music, electronic music, and other forms of forward thinking music. He continued to produce concerts at Cafe Urbus Orbis from 1994-1996, and at his own space, The Candlestick Maker in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood, from 2001 – 2005. He has taught as a guest artist at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in performance technique, sound design, and sound/music as it relates to puppetry; rhythmic analysis for dancers at The Dance Center of Columbia College, Northwestern University, and MoMing Dance and Arts Center; courses in Composer – Choreographer Collaborations at Northwestern University; music to children at The Jane Adams Hull House. He has held workshops in improvisational music and percussion technique and teaches private lessons in rhythmic analysis, music composition, and percussion technique.
--
Trockeneis:
From the den of pre-scientific iniquity in which Baltimore sound actors thrive on non-planning, the stately emergence of professional harsh acousticians in five-part harmony, a brash romp through the New Frictionalism, The New Spectralism, and The New Ritualism. Bowing. Rubbing. Scraping. Squealing. Squeaking. Screeching. Moaning. Silence. Anything else. Nothing else. Sound fixations waiting to unfix in the act of observation/measurement. Go ahead, measure them. Then flip to side B and watch your numbers float away in a muddy stream of ink. All sounds were made without electricity. It's portable music. You can easily move from now to the time when there was no emotion, just its precursors of permanently lingering urgency. Paul Neidhardt, Catherine Pancake, Dan Breen, and Andy Hayleck caress their idiophones until they're lost in backporch lullabies of terror. Audrey Chen's voice also gets lost, swallowed by its mechanical half-kin and trapped into the shadow world of forbidden overtones. In the center we find a steaming hunk of dry ice, hosting the sounds of molecular frenzy at the interface of hot and cold. Metal. Wood. H2O. Larynx. Danger. Safety. They say it's built into the limbic system.
ehserecords.com/ehse004.html
ehserecords.com/ehse008.html

Kege Snö

Listening to Kege Snö. New takes on music from another age played by those who were there and those who were not. Compelling stuff.

It's Anything But Normal...

Happy 20th Anniversary, Normal's!

Everyone Dances To Relabi

From John Berndt...

Date:	Friday, June 25, 2010
Time:	6:00pm - 11:30pm
Location:	The Hexagon
Street:	1825 North Charles Street

Baltimore Relabi style twists your hips into a Gordian Knot and your knickers in parallel lines back to infinity in this, the third Deadmix Dancebeat party at the Hexagon. Relabi, the "pulse-that-is-not-a pulse" enters its second year as Baltimore dance music...

Things will be starting early with an OPEN CASTING CALL video shoot for the soon-to-be-viral youtube video "Everyone Dances To Relabi." Come 6-10PM and spend a few minutes dancing to Relabi grooves so you can be part of history. We need your most charismatic, hottest self to carry the day here... people who seriously participate in filming will get into the dance party afterwards FREE.

The main event (10PM-whenever) will be a dance party with music by CEX/Karl Ekdahl, Empty Vessel (video/sound Relabi by John Berndt and Samuel Burt) and Polygons (Miguel Sabogal, Joshua Atkins)...

All of this is in advance of the record THE SWARM by John Berndt, due out in 2011 and executive produced by Matmos and CEX...

www.johnberndt.org/relabi

The Future of Education Now: SBP on WYPR

Via TeachPaperless:

Got together recently with folks at our local public radio station to talk about education.

And so, here's pretty much my thoughts on education in the 21C: http://mdmorn.wordpress.com/2010/06/13/614102-teaching-paperless/ (45 minute interview on local Baltimore public radio.)

Thanks to the folks at 88.1 WYPR for inviting me over to chat -- especially everyone at Maryland Morning.

2010 Solstice Picnic

June 20, 2010
Patapsco State Park, Glen Artney Pavilion 61 (off Rt. 1, Elkridge)

Noon 'til Sundown.

Musical Performances by:

* Snacks
* Ear Monsters
* Melissa Moore
* microkingdom
* Rose and Sam Burt Duo
* and more!

Directions:

Bring something to grill or share. Bring friends!
Hiking, music, biking, playground, water, and friendship abound!

Ant

Just when I think I am on to something, I am again washed away.

I am an ant on the sink of the mind.

Ear Monsters: "Sand Cake"

Thanks to Savanna Leigh for some Ear Monsters video coverage:

Got a Taste at Taster

The High Zero 'Taster' event was this evening. Great performances all around and a wonderful crowd and great comraderie.

Here is a drawing my son Cicero made of Neil Feather during his performance:

It was especially fun for me to have a laugh with Will Redman; and it looks like Bob Wagner and I may actually get this sailboat racing thing going!

This is the type of beautiful thing that reminds me why I'm so happy to live here.

Taster

Get a Taste at Taster:

Thursday, June 3th, Free

At 2640 Space: a collectively run events venue in Baltimore, located at 2640 St. Paul St. 

 TASTER! A free introductory concert to experimental / improvised music with a bevy of stellar Baltimore musicians.

Are you interested in experimental music but not sure where to start? Or do you have friends or family members that you think might be interested in this stuff if it was introduced to them in the right way? In order to make this sort of thing happen more frequently, High Zero has put together this special free event at 2640 space called TASTER. Its a buffet of virtuoso experimental music styles.

In addition to good food and drink and casual conversation, this event will feature short, highly varied sets by these hand-picked ensembles of great Baltimore area musicians:

Neil Feather: inventions
Eric Franklin: inventions
Dan Breen: inventions

John Dierker: bass clarinet
Samuel Burt: bass clarinet
Britton Powell: bass
Will Redman: drums

Susan Alcorn: pedal steel guitar
Paul Neidhardt: drums
Chris Pumphrey: alto saxophone

Andy Hayleck: inventions
Ayako Katoaka: inventions
Peter Blasser: inventions

Audrey Chen: cello, voice
Shodekeh: human beat-boxing
Brian Sacawa: saxophones

Please come and bring interested friends and family. Its a chance to get them to peek into the amazing, exotic world of Baltimore experimental music and see what you like. We think they will find it interesting, and it may open some interesting doors for people. The whole event will last about an hour and a half, starting at the Church at 8PM sharp.

Close Glow

Today

Today has been a day of visions and thinking out loud.

Red Room 5/22: Skinny Vinny (Josh Jefferson and Andrew Eisenberg ) with Audrey Chen

At the Red Room this weekend...

Saturday 5/22, 8:30, $6
The Red Room presents a night of fantastic experimental improvised music with:

Skinny Vinny
(Josh Jefferson and Andrew Eisenberg )
with Audrey Chen

The duo of Skinny Vinny has been making music and playing together since 2002. Inspired by speed chess, fast art, and all things Duchamp, Josh Jefferson and Andrew Eisenberg work together to define, refine and otherwise extend their understanding of music.

Andrew Eisenberg plays percussion on an assortment of modified drum parts that he has reduced and eroded thru a process of playing and breaking them.

Josh Jefferson is a collage artist and a alto saxophone and bass clarinet player whose music can not be easily confined to such limiting descriptions as "noise", "free jazz", "improv", etc. He plays locally in the groups Skinny Vinny, Duck That, Hospice for the 300 and Grizzlier and has developed a highly idiosyncratic approach to his instruments and a sharp edged approach to what we once knew as music.

For this concert they will be joined by Baltimore and international improvisation sensation Audrey Chen, on Cello and voice.
at The Red Room
c/o. Normals Books and Records
425 E. 31st Street
Baltimore

http://www.redroom.org

The Red Room: expanding the definition of expanding the definition.

Red Room - May 29 - Square Pi (Bethany Dinsick) + Cornelius F. Van Stafrin the 3rd + Tärr

Stuff going on at Red Room soon:

The Red Room
at Normals Books and Records
425 E. 31st Street Baltimore
Doors open at 8:30 


Saturday, May 29th, $6

Square Pi (Bethany Dinsick) + Cornelius F. Van Stafrin the 3rd + Tärr

"Square Pi" is the name of Baltimore based musician/artist Bethany Dinsick's experimental solo side project. Square Pi uses meditation and improvisation to create sound using wordless vocal-based music. The voice is the main instrument which can be bare, incorporate rythmic or ambient looping, pedal-based effects, a children's spring toy microphone, and minimal accompanying instrumentation. Video is also sometimes used to further create strange environments. Bethany Dinsick is a self-taught singer and musician and visual artist that graduated from Towson University in 2008 with a concentration in painting. She performs "meditational r & b" music under her own name as well as works with other musicians, vocal percussionists and vocalists doing improvisations that sometimes encourage audience participation.
www.bethanydinsick.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/squarepi
www.myspace.com/bethanydinsick

----------------------

Tärr: (Chicago)
http://virb.com/philipkruse

An all encompassing dynamic range of sound, from minimal haunting dirge drone floating through the cosmos, to maximalist harsh noise wall, created with all hand built modular synth units and tape manipulation.

Chad Parsons of Foxy Digitalis review of cd - "The tracks are each comprised of just a few granules of sound being slowly pushed this way and that....There's the general hum of something incandescent, the far away table saw, and the rumbling solar winds."

----------------------

Cornelius F. Van Stafrin III: (Los Angeles/North Carolina) http://www.myspace.com/corneliusfvanstafrinthe3rd (Hours of videos here, as well as audio tracks)

Vast sculpted noise, organic drone, or deep orchestral groans on a sinking ship, would be descriptions that would get you in the right mind set of the sounds you might expect to hear. All created with reel to reel tape machines, a harmonium, tibetan singing bowls, amongst an array of other sound experiments and hand built instruments.

By Phillafil Gregorious - The Trunk Space - Phoenix AZ "Stop what you're doing. Hear that? That's music, man. At the very least, whatever is within earshot right now (and at all times) is sound. Whether it's the ringing in your ears or the fabric on your body that sings every time you move, there are heaps of fugitive noises awaiting capture. One can also look at it like this: think of sounds as feelings that need to be paid attention to or else they hibernate and eventually die. That's why the sound art of folks such as Cornelius F. Van Stafrin III is so crucial to healthy living on this planet. The sound cultivator showcases found-sound audio that's slowed down, percussion that listens like a kitchen-utensil percussion ensemble, and haunted house-like piano interspersed with skin-crawling bowed cymbals. There are also plenty of meditative drone and feedback arias that sound like chirping crickets. Or are they real crickets? We're not sure. That's the beauty of it."

---

The Red Room
at Normals Books and Records
425 E. 31st Street Baltimore
Doors open at 8:30

Heaven

Traces

Horned

Megapolis Schedule

The full schedule for the 2010 Megapolis Audio Festival is now posted.

These Are Ear Monsters

Red Room: May 1st -- Don't Think of A Crystal Escalator

Live at Red Room

Saturday, May 1th, $6

Don't Think of A Crystal Escalator: A Night of Baltimore/Washington Friendship!

This night is to celebrate the exciting musicians in Washington who might not be known in Baltimore, and to create collaborative relationships between them and musicians from our fertile city. So this will be a mind-blowing night of distinctive experimental improvised music with Washingtonians Aaron Martin (clarinet and saxophone), Seth Dellinger (phonemes), Britton Powell (bass) and Dave Vosh (electronics); playing with them in different formations will be Jerry Mak (vocals), Samuel Burt (clarinets, electronics), Adam Hopkins (bass), Mike Muniak (electronics) and others. Don't miss this inspired, oddball meeting of the minds!

April 30: Salamander Wool LP Release

Repost from DIY Mummy...

Reminder from Ehse Records:

Salamander Wool LP Release

Friday, April 30th, 9pm
at Tarantula Hill, 2118 W. Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD 21223

With performances by:
Salamander Wool
Needle Gun
Weyes Bluhd
Ami Dang & Jenny Graf & Nathan Bell

May Day at the Red Room

Be sure to check the official Red Room calendar for all our events in May.

Up next:

Saturday, May 1st, at the Red Room

Don't Think of A Crystal Escalator: A Night of Baltimore/Washington Friendship!

This night is to celebrate the exciting musicians in Washington who might not be known in Baltimore, and to create collaborative relationships between them and musicians from our fertile city. So this will be a mind-blowing night of distinctive experimental improvised music with Washingtonians Aaron Martin (clarinet and saxophone), Seth Dellinger (phonemes), Britton Powell (bass) and Dave Vosh (electronics); playing with them in different formations will be Jerry Mak (vocals), Samuel Burt (clarinets, electronics), Adam Hopkins (bass), Mike Muniak (electronics) and others. Don't miss this inspired, oddball meeting of the minds!

Tonight at Red Room: Triple Point ++ Michael Bullock ++ Joe Reinsel

from redroom.org:

Triple Point ++ Michael Bullock ++ Joe Reinsel

Live at Red Room

The Red Room
at Normals Books and Records
425 E. 31st Street Baltimore
Doors open at 8:30

Saturday, April 24th, $6

Triple Point ++ Michael Bullock ++ Joe Reinsel 

 

Triple Point - Pauline Oliveros (digital accordion), Jonas Braasch (soprano sax) and Doug Van Nort (laptop) - are an improvising trio in which a variety of synthesized acoustic sounds emanate from an accordion, acoustic saxophone is bent beyond recognition and all of these timbres are captured and transformed into a third set of sonic material via greis/laptop. The result is an ever-shifting tapestry guided by Deep Listening. Triple Point is the performance outlet for the trio's research/creation project that explores and experiments with intelligent interactive systems. Triple Point is also the location on a phase diagram wherein all phases of matter exist in thermodynamic equilibrium - a metaphor for the group's performance practice. This is where the trio operates exploring musical spaces and boundary conditions where contrasting ideas and streams can co-exist, while expanding the vocabulary of musical instruments acoustically (Braasch on soprano saxophone) and electronically (Oliveros, digital accordion and Expanded Instrument System, EIS, Doug van Nort on laptop and GREIS). 

For many decades Pauline Oliveros has been actively expanding the voice of her main instrument, the accordion. Given the limited natural possibilities of this instrument with respect to sound (fixed tuning, no pitch bends, narrow variety in overtone spectrum), Oliveros has begun half a century ago to alter the sound of her instrument using tape delays and other electronic devices. Van Nort's work is based in digital signal processing, transforming Oliveros', Braasch's and his own sounds using Granular Synthesis, psychoacoustically-motivated sound analysis tools and Genetic Algorithms to explore new musical textures and timbres. 

Michael Bullock does terrible, wonderful things with his contrabass. He rattles its thick, braid-like strings until they come to resemble a cyclone fence doing battle with a ferocious wind. He bows it with a quiet intensity that brings out every fiber of its physical being. He attacks it with alternative materials, leaving the bow aside like so much antiquated performance history. He takes the proud beast of an instrument and uses it to make expressly quiet noises. He takes an instrument capable of deeply sonorous experience, and turns it — mischievously, perhaps, but also concertedly — into a tool for sonic abrasion. 

Joe Reinsel’s works have been performed at national and international events including: SIGGRAPH 2006, Zero One San Jose, Art Interactive, Contemporary Museum (Baltimore), University of Glasgow, Pixelache, Roulette, Deep Listening Space, Galapogos Arts Space, Tonic/subtonic, Engine27, and Mobius. 

Also his projects have been supported by the Baltimore Museum of Art. New York State Council for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts,Maryland State Arts Council, William G. Baker Jr. Memorial Fund, Baltimore City Office of Promotion and the Arts, Freefall Baltimore,and Baltimore Community Foundation.


Reinsel presently directs the Digital Media Arts Program at College of Notre Dame of Maryland. He has a Master of Fine Arts in Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute(iEAR Studios), and a Master of Arts in Composition from Radford University.

www.deeplistening.org/site/catalog/Triple+Point
www.finenoiseandlight.net/
joereinsel.org/

Paperless Earth Day Recap

Over 1,500 teachers from around the world signed our pledge to go paperless in their classrooms for Earth Day 2010.

Here is the full documentation of the event.

And here are examples of what teachers did in their classrooms.

Thank you to all of the teachers, students, and admins who took part and who supported our effort!

TeachPaperless for Earth Day 2010: a Repost of Posts from TeachPaperless

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

NY Times: Ten Ways to ‘Go Green’ and Mark Earth Day

The New York Times takes notice of the Paperless Earth Day Pledge in its list of Ten Ways to 'Go Green' and Mark Earth Day.

Lots of great ideas there. My fav: "Plant a Tree". 

 

Update on Paperless Earth Day

As of 9:20PM EST, there are 1,458 teachers worldwide pledged to go paperless on Earth Day.

News about the pledge has been reported this evening on the blogs of the Baltimore Sun, Arizona Republic, and Dallas Examiner. And Edutopia ran a piece on the pledge in the just-released issue of Think Green.

Most exciting, documentation is already cropping up on the Paperless Earth Day Wiki!

The pledge form is still open: you can sign it here. 

 

With Hours to Go: We've Got 1,443 Teachers Pledged to Go Paperless for Earth Day 2010

Here's the story: Earth Day is tomorrow.

As of 4PM EST, we've got 1,443 teachers pledged to go paperless in their classrooms tomorrow.

That's awesome.

Click here to see the full list of our paperless teachers (alphabetical by school).

And click here to sign the pledge. 

 

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Teachers are Going Paperless for Earth Day

Teachers are celebrating the 40th annual Earth Day by going paperless in their classrooms.

Nearly Over 1,400 teachers from six continents have pledged to go paperless for Earth Day [updated 4.21]. They are sharing ideas and documentation of their experiences on the Paperless Earth Day Wiki which has been created especially for the event as well as on educator Steve Katz's "Going Paperless" Google Doc.

The pledge drive is being supported by the Earth Day Network as well as a word-of-tweet network of educators on Twitter.

TeachPaperless will be working over the next two days to help teachers work out last minute paperless plans and to help them document their work. Follow @TeachPaperless to get the latest information and to keep up with the paperless discussion.

Teachers can sign the pledge to go paperless on Earth Day by following this link to the Pledge Form. 

 

Posted by A Faire Alchemist

Entrance

Live at the Red Room: April 2010

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES:


The Red Room
at Normals Books and Records
425 E. 31st Street Baltimore
Doors open at 8:30 
 

---

Tuesday, April 20th, $6

Cellist Charles Curtis, plus "Deacon at Bernie's" 
 

Charles Curtis is one of the most important 'cellists in new music. He has had works written for him by La Monte Young (Curtis being his foremost interpreter), Eliane Radigue and Alvin Lucier and is likewise experienced in more traditional classical music, having served as first solo 'cellist of the Symphony Orchestra of the North German Radio for over 10 years. That's not all! He's performed at all the cool weirdo clubs in New York (Tonic, Knitting Factory, CBGB's etc.) and collaborated with people like Elliott Sharp, David First, Bongwater and Borbetomagus.

Deacon at Bernie's is a collaboration between Baltimore musicians Dan Deacon (electronics) and Andrew Bernstein (saxophone, Teeth Mountain). Deacon is best-known for his more pop-oriented solo work, the subtle experimentalism of which comes full flower in this collaborative context with Bernie's nurturing saxophone. The two will be accompanying, modulating or overtaking three short films by Lillian Schwartz and Stan Van Der Beek, lovingly chosen by local experimental film maven Mary Helena Clark.

musicweb.ucsd.edu/people/people.php?cmd=fm_music_directory_detail&query_Full_Name=%20Charles%20Curtis&query_Active_Status=Faculty
www.myspace.com/dandeacon
www.myspace.com/teethmountain

---

Wednesday, April 21st, $6

Improvised music with Jack Wright (saxophones), Pascal Batus (objects, pickup), Michael Johnsen (saw, electronics), Tyler Wilcox (saxophones), Andy Hayleck (electronics, amplified Gong) and Paul Neidhardt (percussion). 
 

The Red Room is overjoyed to present these improvisers of super-human sensitivity and creativity on its humble stage. Jack Wright is a legend of North American improvisation. Pascal Batus is an amazing sound-oriented guitarist from France who utilizes an unusual method of "stringless guitar". This is his first visit to Baltimore. Michael Johnsen is a singular mind, a contemporary improvement on both David Tudor's electronics and Paul Loven's saw playing. His visits to Bmore from Pittsburg are rare. 

Opening the night is the (semi) local trio of Paul Niedhardt, Andy Hayleck and Tyler Wilcox. Paul and Andy are amongst the finest members of the local inprovised music scene. Both members of Trockeneis, they share some like-minded goals of psychically transporting, disorienting electronacoutic timbres. They are both masters of subtle, shifting sound fields full of odd colors and dark, metallic friction. Tyler Wilcox is a one-time resident of Baltimore and returns throughout the year to play with Paul, Andy and others. He is a multiple reeds player. Together, the music they make is likely to be really transcendent. You'd be a fool to miss this one.

---

Friday, April 23rd, Free

Double Quadraphonic Endurance Event at the True Vine

Can you endure all the quadraphony? Test your senses! 

Strotter (turntable-machines) from Switzerland
Ear, Nose and Throat
Electric Junk Band
Zomes
FunkHouse


Strotter Inst. is Christoph Hess from Switzerland. He creates music through the use of old, modified, Lenco turntables which he modifies and manipulates in countless ways. Rubber bands are affixed to the rotating turntable and plucked by the stylus, records have tape affixed in patterns to create textural rhythms, electrical current is sent via live wires to the needle to create pulsing feedback. These sounds are then manipulated by Hess through effects pedals to create warm and dense sound structures, looping, rumbling rhythms and multilayered broken beats. 

The music of Strotter Inst. has more in common with the anti-electronica of Pan Sonic or the early minimalism of Steve Reich, than to other experimental turntablists like eRikm, Philip Jeck or Christian Marclay. Hess’ roots are not in improvised music, but in industrial culture, the electronic avantgarde and electro-acoustic composition. 

Christoph Hess is also a member of post-industrial band, Herpes Ö DeLuxe (since 1995) and the experimental doom-trio Sum Of R (since 2007). He has collaborated live with Sudden Infant, Maja Ratkje, and others. Strotter Inst. has performed throughout Europe, China, Russia, and Bolivia. 

PLEASE NOTE
This event will be held at the
True Vine Record Shop
3544 Hickory St (just off the Avenue in Hampden)
Event begins at 4 PM 

www.strotter.org
www.thetruevinerecordshop.com/

---

Saturday, April 24th, $6

Triple Point ++ Michael Bullock ++ Joe Reinsel 


Triple Point - Pauline Oliveros (digital accordion), Jonas Braasch (soprano sax) and Doug Van Nort (laptop) - are an improvising trio in which a variety of synthesized acoustic sounds emanate from an accordion, acoustic saxophone is bent beyond recognition and all of these timbres are captured and transformed into a third set of sonic material via greis/laptop. The result is an ever-shifting tapestry guided by Deep Listening. Triple Point is the performance outlet for the trio's research/creation project that explores and experiments with intelligent interactive systems. Triple Point is also the location on a phase diagram wherein all phases of matter exist in thermodynamic equilibrium - a metaphor for the group's performance practice. This is where the trio operates exploring musical spaces and boundary conditions where contrasting ideas and streams can co-exist, while expanding the vocabulary of musical instruments acoustically (Braasch on soprano saxophone) and electronically (Oliveros, digital accordion and Expanded Instrument System, EIS, Doug van Nort on laptop and GREIS). 

For many decades Pauline Oliveros has been actively expanding the voice of her main instrument, the accordion. Given the limited natural possibilities of this instrument with respect to sound (fixed tuning, no pitch bends, narrow variety in overtone spectrum), Oliveros has begun half a century ago to alter the sound of her instrument using tape delays and other electronic devices. Van Nort's work is based in digital signal processing, transforming Oliveros', Braasch's and his own sounds using Granular Synthesis, psychoacoustically-motivated sound analysis tools and Genetic Algorithms to explore new musical textures and timbres. 

Michael Bullock does terrible, wonderful things with his contrabass. He rattles its thick, braid-like strings until they come to resemble a cyclone fence doing battle with a ferocious wind. He bows it with a quiet intensity that brings out every fiber of its physical being. He attacks it with alternative materials, leaving the bow aside like so much antiquated performance history. He takes the proud beast of an instrument and uses it to make expressly quiet noises. He takes an instrument capable of deeply sonorous experience, and turns it — mischievously, perhaps, but also concertedly — into a tool for sonic abrasion. 

Joe Reinsel’s works have been performed at national and international events including: SIGGRAPH 2006, Zero One San Jose, Art Interactive, Contemporary Museum (Baltimore), University of Glasgow, Pixelache, Roulette, Deep Listening Space, Galapogos Arts Space, Tonic/subtonic, Engine27, and Mobius. 

Also his projects have been supported by the Baltimore Museum of Art. New York State Council for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Maryland State Arts Council, William G. Baker Jr. Memorial Fund, Baltimore City Office of Promotion and the Arts, Freefall Baltimore, and Baltimore Community Foundation.

Reinsel presently directs the Digital Media Arts Program at College of Notre Dame of Maryland. He has a Master of Fine Arts in Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (iEAR Studios), and a Master of Arts in Composition from Radford University.

www.deeplistening.org/site/catalog/Triple+Point
www.finenoiseandlight.net/
joereinsel.org/

Thoughts After Seeing Evan Parker, Susan Alcorn, and Michael Formanek live in Baltimore

Sound is only the illusion of sound
Where illusions are illustrations of bound bindings
And illustrations are illusions of sound sonics.

But somewhere there on the other plateau
Sound is the heartbeat of the irregular love;
And the space between note vibrated and audience ear

Is the width between eyelid and eye.


- SBP April 18, 2010

Blue Trail

Saturday Night Schedule for the Transmodern Festival

Lots of great stuff happening this evening at the Transmodern Festival. You can get tix at their website; here are the details of tonight's events straight from the festsite:

TRANSMODERN FESTIVAL

H&H BUILDING
405 W. Franklin Street
Baltimore, MD 21218
Directions
Tickets: $10
Doors Open: 8:30pm
On Saturday, April 17th, the Transmodern Festival will continue major installations in Whole Gallery, Nudashank Gallery, Gallery Four, 5th Dimension.  We will be featuring a stage based performance and experimental music program at the critically acclaimed Floristree space.  The night will feature an eclectic mix of local and international artists including Carly Ptak (Baltimore), Robby Rackleff (Baltimore), Joseph Keckler (NYC), People Like Us (UK) and Blues Control (NYC.)

Floristree
Carly Ptak
Robby Rackleff
Joseph Keckler
People Like Us
Blues Control

High Zero 2009 Photo Documentation

Extensive photo documentation of High Zero 2009 now posted!

High Zero Foundation on Twitter

The High Zero Foundation is now on Twitter. Follow us and keep up with the goings-on of the more experimental side of Baltimore.

Let the TweetJinx begin!

Greening Education: Teachers Pledging to Go Paperless for Earth Day 2010

Nearly 1200 teachers worldwide have signed our pledge to go paperless for Earth Day.

This year's Earth Day (April 22nd) marks the 40th anniversary of the event. Check out the Earth Day Network for more info about the classroom pledge as well as many many more projects taking place across the planet.

Charles Curtis, Dan Deacon, Andrew Bernstein, and films curated by Mary Helena Clark at the Red Room

Coming soon at the Red Room:

Tuesday, April 20th, $6

Charles Curtis

Charles Curtis is one of the most important 'cellists in new music. He has had works written for him by La Monte Young (Curtis being his foremost interpreter), Eliane Radigue and Alvin Lucier and is likewise experienced in more traditional classical music, having served as first solo 'cellist of the Symphony Orchestra of the North German Radio for over 10 years. 

That's not all! 

He's performed at all the cool weirdo clubs in New York (Tonic, Knitting Factory, CBGB's etc.) and collaborated with people like Elliott Sharp, David First, Bongwater and Borbetomagus. 

Deacon at Bernie's is a collaboration between Baltimore musicians Dan Deacon (electronics) and Andrew Bernstein (saxophone, Teeth Mountain). Deacon is best-known for his more pop-oriented solo work, the subtle experimentalism of which comes full flower in this collaborative context with Bernie's nurturing saxophone. 

The two will be accompanying, modulating or overtaking three short films by Lillian Schwartz and Stan Van Der Beek, lovingly chosen by local experimental film maven Mary Helena Clark.

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The Red Room
at Normals Books and Records
425 E. 31st Street Baltimore
Doors open at 8:30

7th Annual Transmodern Festival: April 15 - 18, 2010

Looking forward to this year's Transmodern Festival (April 15 - 18 in Baltimore).

Here's a blurb from the festival website (go there for a list of artists, venues, showtimes, etc):

The 7^th Annual Transmodern Festival (Live.Art.Action) will be held from April 15^th to Sunday, April 18^th. Following last year’s record attendance and crowds, the festival expands programming to the Baltimore Museum of Art, continues programming on all four floors of the H&H Building, and moves outdoor site-specific work to selected areas of Baltimore waterfront.

Susan Alcorn, JahHannibal, Megumi and Junichi Matsuzaki: Live at 2640 Space

Tonight at 2640 Space.

Here's the blurb from FB:

Date:	Thursday, April 8, 2010
Time:	8:00pm - 10:00pm
Location:	2640 St. Paul St. Improvisers from near and very, very far... the evening begins with stellar pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn, percussionist JahHannibal (Eric James), and tenor saxophonist Tiffany DeFoe, with a special guest appearance from John Berndt! Next, sitar player Megumi Matsuzaki and saxophonist Jun Matsuzaki will perform - a rare treat, one of their last performances before they depart the States for Japan. They'll be joined by experimental guitarist Kurtis Kouns, the shooting star experiment of lights! Please visit http://joyfulsonicwash.com for more on Megumi and Jun. $5 - $10 sliding scale suggested donation.

Salamander Wool “Lunarsophic Somnambulist” Record Release Party

Friday, April 30th, 9pm
at Tarantula Hill, 2118 W. Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD 21223

With performances by:
Salamander Wool
Needle Gun
Weyes Bluhd
Ami Dang & Jenny Graf & Nate Bell

Evan Parker, Susan Alcorn & Michael Formanek

Highly, highly recommended:

Evan Parker, Susan Alcorn, and Michael Formanek

Sunday, April 18, 2010 / 6PM

@ The Wind Up Space - 12 W. North Ave. Baltimore

Here's the info via FB from Wind Up:

Don't miss this one... We are recording for future release. Doors at 5pm, concert at 6pm sharp. Evan solo and then the trio!

High Zero Foundation Facebook Group

Join the High Zero Foundation Facebook Group for info, updates, and discussion about the annual High Zero Festival, ArtScape's Exotic Hypnotic stage, and the Red Room performance series.

Red Room: Release event for Royer/Milad "She Saw Ghosts, He Saw Bodies"

Sunday, April 4th, 8:30PM

Release event for "She Saw Ghosts, He Saw Bodies"

a book by Ric Royer with illustrations by Jackie Milad.


A night of excellent experimental language and images with readings by
Ric Royer, Adam Robinson (who also has a new book out from Narrow
House) and Stephanie Barber (whose book FOR A LAWN POEM is headed to a
second printing). Free.

at The Red Room
c/o. Normals Books and Records, 425 E. 31st Street, Baltimore

http://www.redroom.org

Megapolis Audio Festival 2010

Straight from the mouth of Megapolis:

THE BEAST FROM THE EAST RETURNS FOR ANOTHER THREE DAYS CELEBRATING THE KING OF ALL HUMAN SENSORY ORGANS.

Start Time:	Friday, May 14, 2010 at 6:00pm
End Time:	Sunday, May 16, 2010 at 6:00pm
Location:	B-B-B-B-Baltimore!!!!!!
Street:	Windup Space, 12 West North Avenue
City/Town:	Baltimore, MD

circuit bending / noisemaker constructions, sonic slumber parties, free-form audio editing sessions, kickass musics, interactive demonstrations, urban sonic explorations, experimental musical practice and theory, film with funfun sounds, musical performances, subversive audio tours, (un-boring) lectures, and moremoremoremore.

stay tuned for updates at:
http://megapolisfestival.org

and on Facebook...

PHILOSOPHERS UNION EDITION #1: Alphonso Lingis!

The Red Room is sponsoring a new series. Here's the details on the first edition...

*PHILOSOPHERS UNION EDITION #1: Alphonso Lingis!*

Friday, April 9th, 8:30 PM, Free
The Red Room
425 E. 31st Street, Baltimore

*PHILOSOPHERS UNION EDITION #1: Alphonso Lingis!*

The Red Room has a new series: PHILOSOPHER'S UNION ("Keep thinking live!").* For the first installment, we are extraordinarily happy to have Alphonso Lingis, one of the most interesting philosophers of the present age. Lingis has created a unique synthesis of the concerns of academic philosophy, with a highly creative and risk-taking existential endeavor. A description of his talk is included below.

*The Outsiders--A Talk by Alphonso Lingis.*
In 1922 Dr. Hans Prinzhorn published Artistry of the Mentally Ill--in which he reproduced and analyzed 187 from the more than 5000 paintings, drawings, and carvings he had collected from insane asylums in and around Heidelberg, mostly from patients diagnosed as schizophrenic. Professional artists were astouned by what they saw in this book; Paul Elouard called it "the most beautiful book of images there is." Jean Dubuffet argued that the mentally ill had access to the fundamental sources of human creativity, and launched a far-reaching criticism of the professional "art world" and the taste of the cultivated elite. The paper examines the new conceptions of art, of creativity, and of authenticity that were advanced by the champions of this art. It also examines the subsequent production of the art of the self-taught, and the ideas about all this work that have been elaborated since.

*About Alphonso Lingis*
Alphonso Lingis (born November 23, 1933 in Crete, Illinois) is an American philosopher, writer and translator, and was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Pennsylvania State University. His areas of specialization include phenomenology, existentialism, modern philosophy, and ethics.

Lingis has had wide success as a public lecturer due both to his captivating style of writing and also the performance art atmosphere of his lectures. During public talks he generally appears in costume or speaks amidst strange background music or recorded screams, often in total darkness. Throughout his years at Penn State, he was also well known as a classic college town cult celebrity, welcoming students to a strange home filled with rare birds, dangerous fish and insects, and numerous third world artifacts. In this period his travels shifted increasingly from Europe to the developing world, with especial bases in Bangkok and Rio de Janeiro, and most recently Africa. In recent years he has also renewed contact with his ancestral heritage, reaching a certain degree of prominence in Lithuania. Now retired from Penn State, Lingis lives near Baltimore, where he continues to write books similar to his earlier works. His books have been translated into French and Turkish, among other languages. In the spring of 2004 the first college course on Lingis was offered at Towson University in Towson, Maryland, taught by Wolfgang W. Fuchs co-editor of "Encounters with Lingis" (2003).

* in the 90's, The Philosophers Union was an ill-defined collective project involving Stephen Schzelkun, tENTATIVELY, a cONVENINECE, and many others. We have resurrected it at the Red Room for this new free lecture series.