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THE SERIES The Gate to Moonbase Alpha is a monthly audio shelter for homeless music. So called ambient, space, psychedelic, and improvisational music, find residence here. With support from the Foundation at the University of Pennsylvania, and organized by the Philadelphia Ambient Consortium (Music and Noise), lost sounds are decorated and given their rightful homage by loving and respectful devotees. Attendees are encouraged to bring instruments to make noise. Artists are invited to perform opi of intense beauty or inspired play. THE SPACE Built in 1911, the Rotunda was designed by New York based architects, Carrere and Hastings, who were unaware of the significance of the Site. Nearby diggings for the foundations of a theatre and grocery store at 40th and Walnut, revealed powerful subterranean sonic resonances which were promptly reported to the University. Further exploratory excavations discovered what appeared to be the long lost Gate complex to the Phobos Mining Colony. The construction was immediately halted at the behest of the University Museum, and while negotiations for the entire site between the University and the theatre and grocery store investors were taking place, we managed to get an allowance to use the Rotunda for our own creative experiments. Initially, our intent was to trigger the sonic resonance used in the Gate's jaunt mechanism (as outlined in Bester, 1956), providing a temporary but reliable portal to Phobos. Although we did not succeed in this goal during the first season, phenomena experienced at our "shows" has helped us to reappraise the significance of the Rotunda building itself. Lay opinion holds that the Rotunda, through our sonic experiments last season, has since become a living architectural bio-pattern reflecting the ancient designs of the Gate mechanism miles below. In order for the precious Rotunda organism not to "die", we now must "feed" it with our musical offerings. THE ARTISTS This month, offering up into the gaping maw of our Rotund Gate, are six artists/ensembles whose sensibilities of tone and texture, play and scientific reason, represent our finest and most sincere gesture to the beast we have invented and grown. Summaries of the artist's histories, and examples of their music follow. Afterwards, please read the directions and summary of expectations and rules included for your interest and safety. SONNA [ http://www.temporaryresidence.com/ ] by Daron Garner, Fakejazz.com: Sonna (pronounced "sauna"), from Baltimore, began in January 1998. After meeting each other at an art institute, Jeremy DeVine, owner and operator of the label Temporary Residence Limited, joined an already existing three-piece of Chris Mackie, Jim Redd, and Paul Petersan. After playing shows in and around Baltimore and recording the These Windows are Pistons EP, Paul moved to Austin, TX, and Drew Nelson took his place in the band. Lineup stabilized, the band is fresh off the heals [October 2000] of a recording session with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio where they were recording their debut album...read more at http://www.fakejazz.com/interviews/sonnaiv.shtml o)) listen to Sonna in real audio: http://www.temporaryresidence.com/www/raudio/sonna.08.ram AKASH (according to Akash's John Price [summary edit by Aharon]): The early AKASH shows began with John Price doing solo space music improves at Fetishes boutique in early 1998. AKASH was not even called AKASH back then but John and Kali soon saw many areas of possibility in conjunction with Performance and sexual expression. AKASH was born. Other shows were conducted in downtown Philadelphia Adult Bookstores, (the 25 cent jerk off rooms as one female fan called them). And so with that came the actualization of That which was unquestionably AKASH. We all enjoyed Visual representations of Erotica & we found that working in areas where we could all be sincere and relate to the performance environment without a lot of the pretenses and constructions most people bring to regular clubs and bars, seriously added new twists to the newly formed AKASH performances. Most interestingly, we found playing in Adult Bookstores and going on tour all over town from Philly to NYC at a different Bookstore each week, totally pushed new areas in audience and performer relationships in ways we never thought could happen. Ed Wilcox's Background as an underground musical colossus definitely helped the sound and rhythmic thunder of AKASH and allowed us more textural and timbre areas of variation and intensity. Ed Wilcox happened to be walking by us unloading for a show in an adult bookstore and saw the guitars and mikes and said what type of gig are u guys playing...we knew who he was and immediately asked if he would be interested in joining and Ed said "sign me uP". ed has been with us ever since then. Ed is very musical and very intuitive in his playing and personality which is extremely passionate, charming, fun and psychologically intense. Loralai came on board for the Philly Fringe Fest. We met her reading poetry in The basement of Fetishes boutique and fell in Love with her style and delivery of erotic exhibitionism and performance art blended with cutting edge spoken word dialog. The Stuff you will hear at any AKASH performance is usually done live and right there on the spot. The AKASH Approach involves thinking like a DJ in a number of processes. AKASH starts from the premise that the musicians already have the record collection in their heads and they just need to do some remixing on the spot. John & Ed are inventing and traveling both forward and backward thorough shared musical imaginations while expressly being "in the moment" & not having to lock in to any particular time signature or MIDI time code, though they do sometimes )...cuz we can groove and we stew our textures .( synth and Guitar Loops, samplers, etc. ) In AKASH we have a polished and very canned synthetic/textural sound that is at times either hokey, ethereal and or heavy or hard boppin. read the full interview or o)) listen to Akash at http://simpletone.com/pacman/artists/akash/akash.htm THEATRE OF THE MIND Mark Baechtle, aka Theatre of the Mind, has been performing live in a variety of venues around Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore for many years. T.o.M. performances have included art installations at the Philadelphia Museum of Contemporary Art, live music and dance performance at the Science Building and Annenberg Theatre in Philadelphia, outdoor festivals in St. Peter's Village, Hemp Festivals and coffee houses as well as the infamous Woodstock Festival Gatherings. Theatre of the Mind held residencey in producing music and writing for Ausdruckstanz Dance Theater between 1985 and 1990. Mark's other collaborations include bands such as "Arttek" and "Mr. Mark and the Siezmatics" and have appeared in clubs, theaters and galleries as well as frequent live performances on WMUH radio. "Veil of Eden" was created for a 1994, 1995 appearance for the original Woodstock gathering. Theatre of the Mind produced and performed a weekly series called "The Portal" where at some part of the evening guest musicians would be invited onstage for a jam session. More recently, in 1998 T.o.M. produced and performed a monthly series called "Electrolust" in which computer-generated videos, DJ's and featured guest performers were included as part of the evening's event. In 1998, Mark Baechtle was organizing an ambient/weird/space music series at Upstairs at Nicks. Featuring mostly local artists these events were our inspiration for the Consortium and the Gate to Moonbase Alpha performance series. We were disappointed at the lack of attendance to some truly great gigs and felt deeply that bars like Nicks were an awful setting for such mind expanding music. The Electrolust series died late that year but the performances were all recorded by Mark. We'll be trying to get those recordings available here at simpletone. Always a pleasure to watch, Mark operates synthesizers and drum machine's to create an entrancing non-linear space trip. For the last two years though he's been immersed in his studio, releasing two albums and looking forward to his gig at the Gate to Moonbase Alpha in 2001. Mark sort of looks like a grizzled Biker guy with leather jacket and hat. You can always make a good friend by introducing yourself to this cool space faring fellow. read more or o)) listen to Theatre of the Mind at http://simpletone.com/pacman/artists/mark_baechtle/ THE VERSO ENSEMBLE Verso is a direct descendant of Sounds, an ensemble which was on the Philadelphia scene in the early '80s doing prestructured improvisations in a new composition system. Venues included the Wet Spot and the Painted Bride as well as the WRTI studios for several late night broadcasts in the winter of 1984. Thereafter, Sounds took a seventeen year break, turning up again in 2000 at the Philadelphia Fringe with a new name, Verso, and a new style of improvisation which was still based on the same composition system. Paul Billbrough plays acoustic or electric guitar with Verso. His performance style helps to make the music exciting and meaningful. Paul earned a degree in music performance at West Chester U. in PA and Montclair State College in NJ. He has played in many bands, including Verso's predecessor, Sounds, the She Males, Throttle, Third Eye Nation, and Humbleman Band. and has scored music for The Egg Family puppet theatre and Gennexus Dance Troope. Paul also plays bass guitar, keyboards and kitchen utensils, and has been playing music for twenty-four years. Paula Diehl's music education was obtained at American U. in Washington, DC and at Temple U. Her main interest is composition but she does play the piano, some cello, and keyboard. Her instrument in Verso is the keyboard. From it, she tells the members when it is time to move into a new section of the music, when to get louder or softer, etc. Diehl was in the field of choreography from 1984 to 1993. During that period she wrote music for her dance or composed dance for her music. Bill Bussone, Jr. plays the composed percussion line for Verso improvs. He has lived in Delaware County for many years and has racked up experience playing drums for a large variety of bands, including ASHTRAY, Kathead, and Square and the Roots, and playing percussion for Peptones and Brown Brothers, bands which do everything from jazz, blues, funk, rhythm and blues to soul. To fill in this schedule, Bussone teaches drums in the School District as well as privately, instructs and arranges percussion for a number of marching bands in the area and plays for high and middle school musicals. To balance these activities, Bussone judges School District bands, and is an Honorary Member of the Tri-M. Music Honor Society. The music in use in Verso's improvisations is based on Diehl's own system of composition. In brief, it concerns the gradual decrease of interlock of fourths, leading to their total separation from each other at the end of the music. A certain number of these intervals are used in each of the three to five parts which constitute an improv. Two features, openness and closure of the fourths on one or both sides, are the basic elements of musical interaction. The KB plays the pitches which represent these features; they constitute a kind of drone. The guitar and, if included, the piano play the exposed notes. The percussionist plays a composed line which represents what is going on in each section of the music. He can choose the tempo of this line, but cannot change the line. The same is true of the guitarist and keyboard player; they can only play the pitches they are given. An improv usually lasts between fifteen and thirty minutes. EMIT PEELS Emit Peels is Shok, his Guitar, Percussion, and Synths. At the Gate to Moonbase Alpha, he will be backed by dancers and a film presentation. Gina describes his music as visual, very sensual and atmospheric, almost lazy, but just as tight. Shok's presence in Philadelphia was established with his work on zeitmahl (drum n bass, samples, dark moody tunes), Anita Haxswa, Lavender Hill Mob, and plenty of other projects. Two of his tracks appear on the submit_wkdu compilation. We're not sure what his film is except that it's his work and maybe it'll be a window into what he's been doing in Los Angeles for the last half a year or so. We know he's been doing something interesting with a philly talent, Jimi Budah (electronica, indie rock, etc). They send songs back and forth while he is in California... Jimi in philly, Shok in L.A. The project is called calidelphia. Jimi does a song, sends it to shok, who adds to it and fixes it up, and they collaborate that way. http://www.mp3.com/calidelphia o)) listen to Emit Peels at http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/22/emit_peels.html http://www.mp3.com/trik THE GREAT QUENTINI : Performance artist/dancer the Great Quentini, dressed as a yeti or man-bird, dressed as a stilted alien scavenger, talking to Barbie, performing public rituals to popcorn poppers, pounding away on pots and styrofoam, and generally inspiring the genius out of us to go out and make good on the creative prowess we're endowed with, and which he makes look so easy to be playful with, and romp within. Why is the Great Quentini here? Answer: Greatness. Plus, maybe some day he'll play Dungeons and Dragons with me. Or maybe he already has, what is the Gate but a game map superimposed on a simple structure: a Friday night performance series. Can you see the lines, the symbols, and conventions, the secret doors, the treasures, the mind-flayer behind the corner? Quentin can. He is the exoteric game master. We finally miked the Gate to record one of Quentin's pieces. Captured is the audio and no video, so you will have to imagine what Quentin is doing when you listen to these. View pics or o)) listen to the Great Quentini at: https://phobos.simpletone.com/index.php?path=the_great_quentini Just click 'ok' when prompted for a username and password RULES and EXPECTATIONS If the jaunt mechanism is activated after 8:00PM and you have not yet arrived, then you will have missed your opportunity to suck air on Phobos. So arrive as close to 8:00 PM as you can. Also, if you come late then you'll miss some rare music by some quite obscure and wonderful artists. In between sets, you are invited to create cacophony, so bring an instrument of music or noise. If you have any opinions on the sound quality or volume which is seriously impacting your enjoyment of the evening, see Aharon Varady, the fellow in the orange jumpsuit who seems to demand so much attention before and after each performance. Some comestibles will be supplied by the Comet Coffeehouse (located around the corner on 41st Street between Walnut & Chestnut). Hot Cider, Iced Ginger Tea, and assorted pastries are all FREE. You should definitely bring your own protein food though. If you can, bring VEGETARIAN food to share for the potluck. ALL THIS TAKES PLACE AT THE ROTUNDA, 4012 WALNUT STREET, FRIDAY APRIL 27th AT 8 O'CLOCK PM (ends sometime after 12 midnight). Rotunda Building Information: http://www.facilities.upenn.edu/mapsBldgs/view_bldg.php3?id=140 A Map for the Rotunda in Philly: http://www.facilities.upenn.edu/mapsBldgs/view_map.php3?id=85 ---------------------------- Artists who are interested in performing at the Gate should bring a demo cd and get it to Aharon by the end of the evening. The CD itself should be marked with all the relevant contact info. ALL OUR MOONBASE ARE COLLECTIVELY OWNED: The Gate to MoonBase Alpha performance series is funded with a budget from the University of Pennsylvania and made possible by the volunteer contributions of the Foundation Crew (a UPenn student run organization promoting cultural exchange and opportunities in and for West Philadelphia). That means due to the low overhead all artists are paid and there is absolutely no cover! If you wish, donations can be made to the Consortium or the Foundation to support future events. The Foundation website is: http://www.upenn.edu/philly/foundation/ The Gate to Moonbase Alpha is organized by the Philadelphia Ambient Consortium (Music and Noise), or PAC(MaN) for short, an autonomous cabal centered in Philadelphia, PA. It was established in 1998 to unify the city's dedicated space, ambient, psychedelic instrumental, improvisational, drone, new classical, and experimental electronic audiophiles by providing a centralized information resource and the kernel of a community. We hope that through this activity, the scene may grow strong and large enough to make our work largely irrelevant. But we remain constantly inspired by our disgust in how typical music cliques will represent a narrow musical appreciation, pose as a "sub-culture", and even worse, manifest itself in real generational gaps. The Gate is our attempt to present an eclectic performance series representing the rich diversity of new sound artists, young and old, and a wide spectrum of styles. The seemingly arbitrary nature of the selections is the work of the curator, Aharon Varady ( spaceling@iname.com ), and co-organizer Gina Renzi ( mistsojorn@aol.com ). PAC(MaN) is sponsored by the volunteer contributions of its members. While it is not technically a nonprofit organization by U.S. law, PAC(MaN) does not seek any gain for its organizing members, and intends to follow the principles as set forth in Hakim Bey's Temporal Autonomous Zone: http://www.hermetic.com/bey/taz_cont.html PAC(MaN) publishes the PAC(MaN) Event Update, administers the philly_ambient discussion list, curates the Gate to Moonbase Alpha performance series, and operates the simpletone.com website. For more information, email spaceling@iname.com , browse to http://simpletone.com or write THE PHILADELPHIA AMBIENT CONSORTIUM (MUSIC AND NOISE), 512 S. 46th St. Philadelphia PA 19143,tel: 1 215 349 7725. _______________________________________________ Pacman_events mailing list Pacman_events@phobos.serve.com http://phobos.serve.com/mailman/listinfo/pacman_events | |