mark stewart w/ david cossin & very special guests
Thursday, December 1
Mark Stewart and David Cossin, two members of Bang on a Can All Stars, will grace our “circle” in an evening of music with rare & neglected instruments and their dulcet, surprising and powerful sounds. The performance will also feature the ISSUE Project Room NOSEFLUTE CHOIR and noseflutes will be provided for all attendees.
Mark Stewart lives in New York and makes his living playing and writing popular music, semi-popular music and unpopular music, while designing and building new musical instruments to be his allies in these endeavors. He plays regularly with Paul Simon, Fred Frith, Steve Reich, Zeena Parkins and Polygraph Lounge.
David Cossin has recorded and performed internationally with Talujon Percussion Quartet, Newband (micro-tonal music played on the Harry Partch instruments), New Music Consort, Sudden Sight, Blue Man Group and with a German-accordion-polka-lounge band called B. Blush. He’s done a number of additional theatrical performances such as The Lion King, Peony Pavilion (Peter Sellars/Tan Dun), and Mabou Mines and recorded music for the films Fallen and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee) both composed by Tan Dun. He has been working on two installation-pieces, SwingSet, a sonic sculpture with large suspended aluminum pipes, and SpinCycle, an oscillating quadraphonic tape piece, both of which were exhibited in New York in 1999. This year, he has been performing solo percussion concerts throughout Italy and the United States incorporating video, electronic processing, and homemade instruments.
8:00 p.m., $10
an evening of theremin
Friday, December 2
Featuring solos and various combinations performed by a wide-range of today’s skilled thereminists, including: Dorit Chrysler, Armin Ra, David Simons, Anthony Ptak and Rob Schwimmer…
ISSUE Project Room and composer/musician Dorit Chrysler, best known for her theremin style, launch a new series of events based on investigating the sound and range of the theremin. In addition, the series will begin the Theremin Orchestra, an innovative ensemble of musicians who are composing new music for the theremin and who are interested in using the instrument in sound performances today.
8:00 p.m., $10
literary reading: short story & prose
Saturday, December 3
Tonight’s writers include Frederic Tuten, Sharon Wexler, Peter Wortsman, Quentin Rowanand David Lefkowitz.
8:00 p.m.
james fei & sean meehan
Tuesday, December 6
Sean Meehan snare drum
James Fei microphone feedback & live electronics
James Fei (b. Taipei) moved to the US in 1992 to study electrical engineering. He has since been active in New York as a composer and improviser on saxophone and electronics. Recent recordings include Alto Quartets, with his ensemble of four alto saxophones, and Sieves, an electro-acoustic duo with Kato Hideki. www.jamesfei.com
Sean Meehan became musically active in the late 80′s at the amica bunker series for improvised music which was then housed at ABC No Rio in New York City. Current performances generally find Meehan playing only the snare drum in a manner that sheds conventional usage and reconstructs the conception and function of the instrument. Concert activities, both at home and away, are generally divided between playing in conventional settings for experimental music and in seeking out unique locations that are often in the unobserved and unconsidered corners of the city. Meehan’s recordings document some of his collaborations and solo work. Other contributions to the material world include the construction of performance objects that serve as “compositional things”. Included in this are the pieces gift iii which musically activated a sink full of dishes; gift iv for woodblock; and audio, a boxed set of four cassettes to be played in the mind.
8:00 p.m., $10
jub-cat
Thursday, December 8
Jeff Arnal percussion
Briggan Krauss alto saxophone
Tomas Ulrich cello
JUB-KAT is a collaborative trio inspired by many musical traditions. Each player contributes a personal sound and influence that navigates the collision of melodic lines and crashing events. Pushing and pulling the vibrations through the gravity of each piece, sound is at rest in the cavity of the horns’ bell – a murmur from the shell of a drum – strings dissolve into breathing air with scraping skins. All touching a mindful sensibility that stems from the fluidity of a collective thought.
8:00 p.m., $10
billy martin
Thursday, December 15
Percussionist Billy Martin will perform his “Black Elk Speaks” compositions and other spontaneous pieces for bass drums, gongs, drum set, balaphones, mbiras and more. . .
Billy Martin, founding member of Medeski, Martin & Wood, can truly be considered a musical veteran, and has performed on over 55 albums during the last 18 years, ranging from John Scofield to Iggy Pop as well as Bobby Previte’s ensemble at Next Wave, Sam Bennett’s Chunk, Ned Rothenburg’s Double Band, Oren Bloedow’s band, John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards, John Zorn’s Electric Masada and the Sweet Lizard Illtet (where he received the nick name illy B).
In 1995, Martin started Amulet Records (www.amuletrecords.com), a label that has released a number of percussion recordings, traditional Gamelan music and reissues of several of Bob Moses’ recordings. He has also delved headlong onto the art world with several art exhibitions (www.illyb.com) and more to follow coinciding with MMW tours. Martin has several projects expected to be completed in the next year ranging from a breakbeats record, illy B Eats, a book to a line of clothing (www.illywear.com).
8:00 p.m., $10
chris mann
Sunday, December 18
F is always in speaker 5, A is always speaker 9, T is always 3… 42 phonemes, 16 speakers, one voice. the performance space as larynx.
Chris Mann
“Language is the mechanism whereby you understand what I’m thinking better than I do. (Where ‘I’ is defined by those changes for which I is required).”
Poet, writer, performer, improviser, Chris Mann’s works for voice are based on complex texts, freely composed to allow a play of wit and humor. He explores the textures and gestures of Australian speech, with its rhythms and qualities of color, pitch, intonation and emphasis.
He has collaborated widely with composers, film-makers, and electronic music composers. He has received commissions from Radio France, Paris Autumn, National Public Radio, Composers Forum, Australian Biennale, Ars Electronica, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, BBC … He has held residencies at the Shire of Healesville in Victoria, ABC Staff Union, Harvestworks, RPI’s iEar Studios …
Chris Mann performs extensively worldwide with Machine for Making Sense, Chris Mann and the Impediments, and solo.
8:00 p.m., $10
*CANCELLED due to MTA strike*
peeesseye + alessandro bosetti + nate wooley
ben owen + mpld
meke meke trio – tatsuya nakatani + kenta nagai + minoshima osechi
Tuesday, December 20
An acoustic noise castle as peeesseye welcomes soprano saxophonist Alessandro Bosetti (Berlin) and trumpter Nate Wooley (Jersey City) to the fold. Ben Owen and mpld continue their sound / slide projector performances. And MInoshima Osechi (soprano saxophone) making an extremely rare appearance with local heroes Tatsuya Nakatani(percussion) and Kenta Nagai (strings) as the Meke Meke Trio. Presented by the King Collision Collective.
8:00 p.m., $10
new year’s eve party
Saturday, December 31
Join us on for an amazing ensemble of sound and performance with various artists including Rebecca Moore, Phill Niblock, Katherine Liberovskaya, Stephan Moore, Anthony Coleman performing Jelly Roll Morton, Jim Pugliese’s Phase 3 plus special guests, some big surprises and more…
8:00 p.m., pay what you will; suggested donation; $20