Wordless Wednesday: The Docks at Mission Rock

Docks at Mission Rock, San Francisco

Docks near Mission Rock in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco (more info in the comments).

Pitta of the Mind at Lost Church, San Francisco

Today we look back at Pitta of the Mind’s set at Word Performances, which took place at the Lost Church in San Francisco. It was, in our opinion, one of our best performances. You can see and hear for yourself in this video.


[Video by Todd Siegel]

It was a short performance, but very tight, mixing the poems with piano, theremin and acoustic elements. I like using the percussion instruments along with the electronics, as it adds to the timbre and theatrics. We will definitely do more of that.

The evening featured readings and dance in addition to music. Our host Cybele Zufolo read some of her writings while dancing flamenco with Damien Alvarez.

20160623-IMG_0588

Colleen McKee read another of Cybele Zufolo’s pieces about her adventures as a show girl in Japan, in addition to some of her own writing. She even featured some singing in the set.

20160623-IMG_0555

Daniel Berkman performed a solo set on kora a visually and sonically beautiful instrument.

20160623-IMG_0588

Every set featured performative elements. For her reading, Zarina Zabrisky appeared as a super villain.

20160623-IMG_0570

Overall it was a fun night, and we had an overflowing crowd. Many thanks to Cybele Zufolo and Todd Siegel for hosting us and all their work putting these shows together, and to the Lost Church for providing such a unique space in San Francisco.

NextNow Presents All Tomorrows’ After Parties 2016 (with Vacuum Tree Head and CDP Trio)



[Artwork by J.B.]

Well, it’s finally here, the big show at Berkeley Arts, Next Now Presents All Tomorrows’ After Parties. I will be performing tonight with Vacuum Tree Head at 9:30PM, and tomorrow with my new CDP Trio at 7:00, preceded by the Lingua Incognita Session at 5PM. If you are in the Bay Area, please join us either or both nights for this great event. Details are below.


NextNow’s All Tomorrows’ After-Parties 2016

June 3rd-4th-5th 2016 Berkeley Ca

PURPOSE
A spring celebration of the creative music community in the Bay Area and beyond. Coming together
to support worthy grass roots non-profit organizations, this Spring our proceeds will benefit the
Homeless Action Center http://homelessactioncenter.org
SF Coalition On Homelessness http://www.cohsf.org

DATES
JUNE 3,4,5 (Friday Evening, All-day Saturday and Sunday)

LOCATION
Berkeley Arts Festival Space, 2133 University Ave, Berkeley CA

ADMISSION
$12 for one day, $20 for all three days.

ARTISTS

Friday June 3rd
07:00 PM Pompelly/Allen Duo
08:00 PM Cartoon Justice w/Authors Meg Pontecorvo&David Gill
08:30 PM Poetics of Narrative
09:00 PM Oa
09:30 PM Vacuum Tree Head

Saturday June 4th
02:00 PM SHIVA X
02:30 PM Trois Chapeaux w/Jorge Bachmann
03:00 PM Jack Hertz
03:30 PM T.D. Skatchit
04:00 PM Reconnaissance Fly
05:00 PM Lingua Incognita Session
06:00 PM Matti Bye Ensemble (Sweden)
06:30 PM Jeffrey Alexander Trio
07:00 PM CDP
07:30 PM Lau Nau (Finland)
08:00 PM v’Maa w/kinetic video sculpture
08:30 PM Bill Wolter Project
09:00 PM Ear Spray
09:30 PM Tri-Cornered Tent Show

Sunday June 5th
02:00 PM Alphastare
02:30 PM Denny Joints
03:00 PM zBug
03:30 PM Will Alexander
04:00 PM United Separatists
05:00 PM Colin Dyer
05:30 PM Mark Clifford Project
06:00 PM John Shiurba/Philip Greenlief Duo
06:30 PM Cosmists
07:00 PM Jordan Glenn
07:30 PM R Duck, Wayne Jackson, Doug Lynner
08:00 PM Amy Reed
09:00 PM Ebolabuddha

Mensa Cat Monday: All Tomorrows’ After Parties 2016

Next Now Presents’ All Tomorrows’ After Parties is a three-day festival of music happening in Berkeley on Friday June 3 through Sunday June 5. Here is our video for the event, courtesy of Jason Berry (J.B.) of Vacuum Tree Head.

Voice credits:
Jason Berry…………Male Mensa Cat, Announcer
Amanda Chaudhary…….Female Mensa Cat, Trump Duck

I will be performing Friday night at 9:30PM as part of Vacuum Tree Head. We have a great new lineup and sound, and I am really excited about the direction of the band.

I am also playing in two additional sets on Saturday June 4. At 5PM, I will be with Mika Pontecorvo and others in Lingua Incognita Project, and at 7PM I will debut one of my new bands, Census Designated Place (CDP) with guest Rent Romus. All three sets I am playing in will be funky!

Please join us, not just for these sets for the rest of the performances as well. It’s going to be some great music for a great cause (all proceeds go to benefit local homeless action projects in the Bay Area).

JERK, Future Death Agency + Amanda Chaudhary, Chani Bockwinkel

Today we look back at a a set of very unusual performances featuring friends by way of Portland and New York. When they came to perform at the Temescal Arts Center in Oakland, I was there to join them both as a collaborator and an audience member.

The evening began with a performance by Chani Bockwinkel in which she channeled the persona of Justin Bieber giving a TED talk.

Chani Bockwinkel channeling Justin Bieber

I have done my best to avoid sounds and sights related to Justin Bieber, but Bockwinkel definitely perfected the look and mannerisms of a swaggering young man steeped in sexuality and narcissism. The content of the fictionalized TED talk also seemed to dwell into aspects of his Christian faith, which itself seems intertwined with ego. There was also a mayonnaise taco. Bockwinkel’s performance was a well crafted presentation of an entirely repulsive individual.

Then it was time to take the stage as part of Future Death Agency. The set featured dance and performance by tippi and 3dwardsharp (aka Edward Sharp) for which I provided improvised sound from a Moog Sub Phatty, Mother-32 and Theremini.

Amanda Chaudhary and Tippi in Future Death Agency

One of the primary visual features during the performance was the dancers ensconced in garbage bags as the moved around the space, speaking backwards.

Garbage bag.  Future Death Agency

There were also numerous photographs scattered around the space, each of which had a handwritten statement on the back. 3dwardsharp and tippi occasionally read from these as they moved around, and also whispered some to members of the audience. Musically, I kept things fairly minimal, but trying to mix different textures and dynamics throughout. I looked for opportunities where I could match the sound with the movement, though as both were ever changing this could be challenging. We did have a few great moments of synchronicity that were frenetic and sensual. You can see the entirety of our performance in these videos.

Overall, it was a lot of fun to perform, and I was happy with the result especially after seeing how it worked with the dance from the audience’s perspective. (One item to note is that the woman who blurts out a question about the structure of the piece in the second video was not herself part of the piece. We simply reacted as best we could in the moment, as one does in live performance.)

The final set featured Alex Romania performing excerpts from his piece JERK.

Alex Romania performing JERK
[JERK. Photo by Daniela Sanchez]

From Romania’s notes on the piece:

This physically vulnerable choreography frames the male body between violence and pleasure — a microphone is bound to the body and swung from the pelvis evoking forms in the realm of BDSM, pornography, athletics, games, and flagellation. Through genital hypnosis and rigorous discomfort, this is a dance of (narcissistic) pleasure and (quiet) longing, (self) mutilation and (self) care. A dance to flatten and complexify the male body, to tenderize the flesh, to move beyond and to newly inhabit — a phallic solo to recompose the phallus.

From the start it was both provocative and physically rigorous, with Romania wrapping himself and tying himself in microphones and cords that were attached to effects pedals and a loudspeaker. The microphones against his body produced the primary sound of the piece. At first the sound was sparse and matched exactly his movement against the cords in the manner of BDSM play. But then he released some of the cords it took a more athletic direction as he twirled the microphones through the air using not his hands other parts of his body (e.g., pelvis and genital area), adeptly leaping over and ducking under the cords to avoid collision. There was a quieter, more textual and conceptual moment towards the end which I assume helped Romania recover from the tremendous energy of the main sections of the performance. The intensity of the experience was increased by the otherwise silent room with flat white lighting.

Alex Romania performs JERK

[JERK. Photo by Daniela Sanchez]

It is interesting to note that both the first and final sets focused on a single character who embodied male sexuality, but in very different ways. “Justin Bieber” in his TED talk was all swagger, narcissism and unwavering self-confidence even with his vaguely provocative dance during the mayonnaise-taco part of the set. Romania’s persona in JERK was both frighteningly powerful and vulnerable, more adept and genuine in his movements but also projecting a bit of uncertainty.

I was happy to have been a part of this unique evening of performances and hope to work with everyone again.