. . . . .. . . . .
GATE TO MOONBASE ALPHA
Friday, April 27th, 2001
8:00 PM : Free for all ages
at the Rotunda, 4012 Walnut Street ::
performing :
Sonna
Akash
Theatre of the Mind
The Verso Ensemble
Emit Peels
and the Great Quentini
. . . . .. . . . .
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/artsits/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/artsits/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.
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