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Yes, he indeed was (the best) and very much missed. On May 31, 2013, at 5:17 AM, Douglas Baldwin wrote: > Dr. Z was THE BEST. I miss him. Thanks for posting, Rick. > ==== dB ============== > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rick Walker" <looppool@cruzio.com> > To: "LOOPERS DELIGHT (posting)" <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com> > Sent: Friday, May 31, 2013 1:49 AM > Subject: Remembering Composer (and live looper) Dr. Richard Zvonar > > >> *I was just remembering Dr. Richard Zvonar today with great fondness >> (and more than a little sadness >> that he's no longer with us). >> I found this biography/obituary of him and wanted to share it with >> anyone who didn't know of his important >> work, artistically. >> >> R.I.P. Dr. Richard Zvonar 1946-2005 >> >> *Rick Walker* >> * >> >> >> Dr. Richard 'RZ' Zvonar >> >> Composer Richard Zvonar, 1946-2005 >> by E. "Doc" Smith‚ Aug. 05‚ 2005 >> Review it on >> NewsTrust<http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.beyondchron.org?itemid=343> >> "I'm sad to report that Richard "RZ" Zvonar has passed away after a >> long bout with cancer.", wrote good friend Steve Ellison last night. >> "He was a breath of fresh air to me when I moved out here, and was a >> big help and very supportive over the years." Indeed, I'll miss him >> too, as will countless others who benefited from his vast musical and >> electronic knowledge, from Jon Hassell, to Diamanda Galas to the >> Grateful Dead. Zvonar once told me of how he first arrived in >> California from New England, nearly broke and living out of his car. >> Yet his determination, conviction kept him going. He succeeded, earned >> a doctorate, and became one of the most respected innovators in his >> field. >> >> Richard Zvonar was a composer/performer and intermedia artist who >> specialized in electroacoustic music. Some of his significant early >> influences included Louis and Bebe Barron's electronic sound track to >> the 1956 film Forbidden Planet, the Wizard of Oz ("Pay no attention to >> the man behind the curtain"), and the Witch Doctor and Chipmunk >> recordings of David Seville. >> >> During his freshman year as an Aeronautics and Astronautics major at >> MIT the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan. Intensive guitar practice and >> first attempts at song writing ensued. >> >> Boston was not a major center for avant garde music in those years (has >> it ever been?) but Zvonar pursued an autodidactic education courtesy of >> the electronic music and new music bins at the record department of the >> Harvard Coop. Recordings of Stockhausen, Cage, Oliveros, Reich, Riley, >> Subotnick, and the Columbia-Princeton crowd were as influential on his >> musical thinking as the music of Zappa, Hendrix, the Beatles, the Who, >> and other '60s pop experimentalists. >> >> Zvonar's undergraduate thesis was a short film for three synchronized >> projectors. During this period he also began composing tape music.??His >> first performances of electroacoustic music, using quadraphonic sound >> and tape delay systems, as well as several short theater pieces, came >> while a student at Cabrillo College in the Santa Cruz area. This >> supportive community college environment was an ideal springboard into >> graduate study, and Zvonar was accepted to the composition program at >> US San Diego. His teachers included Pauline Oliveros, Bernard Rands, >> Roger Reynolds, Robert Erickson, F.R. Moore and others, all active >> contemporary music thinkers and practitioners. >> >> Zvonar emerged from academia after seven years with a PhD in >> Composition from UCSD and a brain filled unto bursting. Zvonar's work >> at this time included purely electronic music, musique concrete, pieces >> for live performer and tape, and intermedia performance works. His >> Doctoral piece was a 45-minute intermedia theater piece based on the >> memoirs of a schizophrenia German judge ("soul murder"), combining >> multi-screen slide projections, kinetic staging, choreography, and a >> mix of electronic and processed vocal sound played through a >> multichannel sound system. >> >> In 1980 Zvonar started a five-year collaboration with singer Diamanda >> Galas, recording and performing works for solo voice, live electronic >> processing, and multitrack tape. The two split in 1985 and Zvonar began >> working with Macintosh computers and MIDI systems for composition and >> performance. >> >> For several years after his move to Los Angeles in 1986 Zvonar was part >> of the technical staff of Good Sound Foundation, researching and >> promoting the use of high-quality multichannel sound systems for live >> performance. He also worked as an independent consultant and software >> developer for clients such as Pauline Oliveros, Jon Hassell, the >> Grateful Dead, sound artist Max Neuhaus, and Marc Canter's Media Band. >> In 1994 he started working with Steve Ellison's company, Level Control >> Systems, bringing similar concepts and technologies to the world of >> commercial entertainment. The work with LCS included training and >> technical support for theme parks and Broadway and Las Vegas shows. >> >> Also during the 1990s, Zvonar's work with live signal processing >> continued in the context of the "ambient groove and spoken word" band >> Cosmic Debris. Live recordings of the group's performances have been >> compiled into several CDs (available from MP3.com), and a studio remix >> project under the name of Alias Zone was released commercially, >> debuting at the #1 position in the New Age Voice chart in February >> 2002. Zvonar's recent work includes pieces for multichannel surround >> sound (the 8-channel tape piece "Frikkit!") as well as solo >> performances using digital looping and signal processing (recent >> participation in the Y2K2 Loopfest and Woodstockhausen Festival). He >> was also in a "woodshedding" phase of learning new software and >> re-learning the guitar, with the vague notion of melding all his past >> musical lives into some Frankensteinian new genre. >> >> Some of his more recent works and writings included his "History of >> Spatial Music" and "An Extremely Brief History of Spatial Music in the >> 20th Century", his famous L.A. "Technology Salons", and I couldn't help >> but notice Tower Records still sporting his "State of the Bass" >> compilation album with the likes of James Sellars, Orlando Jacinto >> Garcia, Amy Knoles, Paul Dresher, Robert Black and the great John Cage >> on "snare drum". >> >> Dr. Richard Zvonar, aka "RZ", will always have a place in our hearts, >> for his insights, his genius, his humor, and in these final years, his >> compassion. He was one of those unsung heroes you never hear about, but >> are unknowingly influenced by everyday. >> >> We will miss him... >> >> /E. "Doc" Smith is a musician and recording engineer who has worked >> with the likes of Brian Eno, Madonna, Warren Zevon, Mickey Hart, Jimmy >> Cliff, and John Mayall among others. He is also the inventor of the >> musical instrument, the Drummstick. He can be reached at >> drummstick@earthlink.net/ >