I AM an LWA....

Last Spring I got my letter-writing honey and I memberships to the Chicago-based Letter Writer's Alliance. The enrollment papers, need I say, were quite remarkable. I, nay, we now join the ranks proudly as card-carrying members of the LWA.



In their fair city, since 2007 by Kathy Zadrozny & Donovan Beeson host wonderful events, contribute to their respective blogs, and manage the alluring if not niche gift shop available on their site and space. An afternoon to evening in a public space filled with typewriters, envelopes, letterhead, and postage is an event I would love to recreate - so open, so playful. Be sure to check out their free download-able goodies HERE.

Letter writing has always been a part of my life, and my life has been so rich due to these tangible interactions. Lately my correspondence is just that, letter-form, but I do still flex the postal art aspects, too, though mostly with postcards. But, hey, though you will likely not get a return letter, write a couple of letters a year at least. Reach out and let that person/place/thing you're thinking of share something with you, though he/she/it/they are in a different time and place.



Brooklyn Art Library
call number: 038.13-9

That's right!

theme: Secret codes


project: The Sketchbook Project: 2011 This book of secret codes is the collected effort of writers, musicians, and artists living and working in middle Tennessee. The collection is intended not only as a visual piece, but as an experiment to see what, if any, larger pattern would emerge from these individual efforts. For more information on the works in this book or their creators, contact: kellishay@gmail.com.

Post-tour, the book was returned to the Brooklyn Art Library and digitized. All of your favorite Nashville artists' contributions can be seen HERE, in the order in which it all happened!

Thanks, Kelli for the follow-up.

New ep by Good Rester out today!

New ep by Good Rester out today!

released 04 August 2011
Personnel:
Andy Alexander - Moog synthesizer, acoustic guitar
Clare Burson - vocals
Brian Siskind - beats, Sequential Circuits Six-Track synth, lap steel, processing, edits

Produced by Fognode and Good Rester
Recorded in Queens, NYC
All songs copyright 2011

Cover photo/art by Andy Alexander

IF-NOT-NOW.TV

photo borrowed from the AWESOME: manystuff.org

IF-NOT-NOW.TV is an online television channel that will broadcast live from the Royal College of Art MA Communication Art & Design Graduation Show. This new and ephemeral way of experiencing the show will last for ten days, 24 hours a day, from 23rd June to 3rd July 2011.

Indeterminacies @ Zeigeist - May 10th, 2011 - Mark Volker w/ Erin Bradfield

Photo by Andrew Alexander

Zeitgeist and AIA Middle Tennessee are primed to host their third annual Indeterminacies this Tuesday night from 6-8 pm at Zeitgeist art gallery located at 1819 21st Avenue South in Nashville's Hillsboro Village.

This installation of the Indeterminacies schedule will present the works of professor Mark Volker, moderated by Erin Bradfield,  and concludes the Spring installment of Indeterminacies. The Fall schedule will be available at the gallery's/architecture firm's website soon.
Mark Volker is a composer. On the side he is Assistant Professor at Belmont's Music School. He appears on both Elemental Forces on Centaur Records CD, and Volume 3 of ERMmedia's Masterworks of the New Era. He is a highly awarded professional composer, having been performed and recorded across the globe, and being featured by numerous festivals. From a brief press release:

"Known for his colorful harmonic language and orchestration, as well as his facility with both electronic and traditional instrumentations...."

Our moderator for the evening, Erin Bradfield, is a Ph.D. candidate in the philosophy department who works on aesthetics. Her dissertation is about the role of silence in the production and reception of art and involves arguments about the work of Andy Warhol, Gordon Matta-Clark, and David Lynch.[from the Vanderbilt University department of art and science, Writing Studio staff page.]

About the evening's event, Volker is quoted:

“I will present a new work for two percussionists, flute, violin, and cello, a set of songs for voice and guitar, my flute piece “Deep Winter” and a very recent work for electric guitar, interactive electronics, and dance (I hope to have a video of the dance that I can play with the performance).”

Tony Youngblood's Theatre Intangible has a bit on the show as well HERE.
See the Facebook Event site HERE.

Newly installed works will be seen in the gallery by artists Brent Stewart and Patrick DeGuira.

Indeterminacies @ Zeigeist - April 12th, 2011 - Mark Snyder w/ Jonathan Marx

Nashville is getting a real treat with next Tuesday's 2nd Annual Indeterminacies program!!! Composer and multimedia artist Mark Snyder is going to be hosted by Zeitgeist, an event moderated by Jonathan Marx. The instrumentalist storyteller is going to bring his accessible modern compositions right to us. He purports a blend of technology while building upon his ultimate desire to engage listeners, reinforced by his ability to play multiple instruments within his sets and perform a congruous simultaneous video art piece conglomerate of both found and computer generated images. His is a fascinating and humble sound, showing true marks of both his long-standing musical and professorial careers.
Mark currently lives in Florence, Alabama where he holds position as Assistant Professor of Entertainment Industry at the University of North Alabama at which he directs the Electroacoustic Juke Joint. He has taught courses ranging from general computer skills for musicians to the history and practice of electronic music, new music ensemble, and scoring for film, theater, and digital media.

From MarkSnyder.org:
Mark has written for orchestra, choir, wind ensemble, various chamber combinations, multi-media, film, theatre and dance. His music has been performed throughout the United States, Argentina, Europe, New Zealand, Taiwan and selected for festivals and conferences that include Third Practice, Electronic Music MidWest, National Flute Association, North American Saxophone Alliance, SCI, SEAMUS, Ocean, Imagine and the Imagine 2 Electro-Acoustic Festival which Mark founded and directed. His work has been supported by generous grants from several organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts.
As a performer, Mark has recorded and toured the U.S. with with an eclectic list of ensembles: One Ring Zero, Paper Radio, Dirtball, Edison's Talking Machine, Nature Boy Explorer, Amorphic Revelation, Easy Chair, Spike the Dog, Klezalachia, GB, J. D. Hutchinson, and Billy Rhinehart.  Dr. Snyder earned his D.M.A. from the University of Memphis, an M.M. from Ohio University and a B.A. from the University of Mary Washington.
Using a laptop, video projector, clarinet, tuba and accordion, Mark Snyder creates instrumental multimedia compositions, orchestrated with live instrument processing, prerecorded sounds, and video. Mark’s compositions have been described as “a fantastic and colorful sonic journey of musical storytelling.”


Do visit his Society of Composers, Vimeo, LastFM, Myspace and Facebook pages, too.


Butterfly from Mark Snyder on Vimeo.

Indeterminate and Intangible

The Indeterminacies series at Zeitgeist co-curated by Lesley Beeman and Lain York is yet another example of Nashville artists and professionals combining efforts alighting upon the presence of both the needs of our city and the ingenuity of/for original programming. Never recycling other local exhibit ideas, the series purports and sustains an edge not obfuscated by the possible comfort provided by the vetting situation. This situation is comprised of the location, half architecture studio half art gallery located next to Cotten Music Center, the presenting artists, the curators, moderators, and in most cases, the attendees (an extensive list I’ve done my best to keep short). When the events start, all constituent parts coalesce. The feeling is very progressive. That is to say, the pneuma of the events is one of an egalitarian sharing, though it is from respective perspectives that have been forged through various forms of rigor, research, and sacrifice, all which provide the launching pad for the present originality and creativity – a recognizable cocktail in the world of lasting arts.
This year’s programming is using music as its guiding theme or constraint. This theme, because of its approach, and dually due to the high level of creativity, originality, and accomplishment showcased by the performers is far from being cliché in Nashville. The events also earn their respect by constantly meriting recognition within a city with world-class music programming regularly available. As it might seem though, music is not always at the forefront of the events. By way of the structure of the event, the discussions can really lead to many places – part of the design. Often without moderation, artists are invited to present and discuss works. They are introduced, and then the attendees are free to engage and enquire – not only the artist(s) presenting, but each other oftentimes.
Another thematic characteristic of the series, and in part the more subversive element being aware of our location in Music City (a city which others often compare themselves to in the attempted workings of some invisible authority but quiet enough to keep influx down while it thrives and invents itself behind the seasons of university migration), is that the self-described indeterminate natures of these presentations intentionally keep the works presented and the preconceptions of the audience in stasis, a limbo at least, while the two hour (often longer) event develops to define and contextualize the work and the artist and audience’s place in relation to it. The events has greatly talented performers perform original pieces of music, most of which have not been heard by most if not all of the people in attendance. The idea is that the approach to the music can be kept fresh, temporarily free of predetermined values within aesthetic preferences and psychological projection. That the event is hosted, how and where the event is hosted, are promotion enough, opting out of the configuration of the exclusive and the high-profile – a respectable and reasonable way to go about the generation of economy in a culture.
Tony Youngblood, Theater Intangible founder and curator at Open Lot among other venues in Nashville, has been really coming through over the past years for the creative community here, and has provided us with yet another great podcast [available HERE] of the last Indeterminacies: Stan Link, with accompaniment, March 15th. [See Stan Link's Electro-Acoustic Music.] On Theater Intangible, there are great interviews with both curators and a great spotlight on Zeitgeist Gallery.

Photo by Kim Sherman, Cotten Music Center;
in photo: David Maddox and Stan Link, 2011.

Thanks to Lain York, Lesley Beeman, Tony Youngblood, David Maddox, and a very special thanks to Kim Sherman for permission to use her photograph.

Sugar Skulls //\\ Hobbledeions -- Split Release

Hobbledeions (Scott Martin; Hands Off Cuba, Forest Bride, Fever Queen, Lambchop) and Sugar Sk*-*lls (Ben Marcantel; Hands Off Cuba, Forest Bride) are teaming up to "bring you a slice of your summer sound track." They are busy preparing a new cassette tape release, Secret Fugue Machine, and are having an in-store at Grimey's Saturday, May 28th at 5pm. 

The Sugar Sk*-*lls video (the first of a pair) was shot on kodachrome super-8 film stock around 1998 by Kelli Shay Hix. It was shot on super 8mm film stock. This track was taken from the critically acclaimed* digital album Another Micheal Mann Film which can be downloaded HERE via his bandcamp site.

About the footage, she said: "the water footage was originally intended for use in an imaginary geography collage piece, in which a wild geographical landscape would be created using footage shot all over the world.  In order to keep the landscape imaginary, I'd rather not say where I shot the footage.  I will say this:  It's all shot street photography style, though-- no shots set up, no effects, etc.  Just a nuts n bolts camera that I used to carry with me through my travels."

Here is the video:

sugar sk*-*lls: c. de gualle rilye'd up from Kelli Shay Hix on Vimeo.

*Ryan "I am smiling" Norris: Local album of the year? Nay, album of the year. 

Christopher Davison

I by chance met this man while in Rome. We were both studying there. As per the incredible synchronicity which has driven my life thusfar, we ran into each other again the following day at the Museo del Corso at the Kazimir Malevich exhibit in 2005.
I remember that he was studying art at Temple.
I have kept his information and looked into his work. I have been rewarded incredibly for the diligence in following the progression of his work. I have been blown away over the past few years at what he has done - from his etchings, to the drawings and watercolors; books and strange dolls.
I have been looking forward to spreading my appreciation for his work, and dually letting the intense ingenuity of it to speak for itself among those who become acquainted through this channel.

© 2011 Christopher Davison

© 2011 Christopher Davison

© 2011 Christopher Davison

© 2011 Christopher Davison

He is featured in a new book as of February 2011. Beautiful/Decay #5: Psychonauts (see their video HERE) an art subscription, or, as they put it, "a printed book series and apparel line with a focus on experimental, grotesque, and groundbreaking art." Um... check and check and check. 

Through having kept in some modicum of contact with Davison, I was fortunate enought to see his show at Nicelle Beauchene in New York in 2009, reviewed in Art Info by Paul Laster:

“Christopher Davison, meanwhile, is an artist of another ilk. Exhibiting regularly at offbeat and emerging galleries since 2000 — including a solo show at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery on New York’s Lower East Side in 2009 — he mixes ink with flashe and gouache on paper to construct psychological studies of dreamy archetypes. Referencing both art history and myths, Davison’s drawings offer fragmented men in motion, minotaurs getting philosophy lessons, and processions of nude women. Eloquently drawn, they explore a wide variety of mark-making techniques to marvelous results.” - Paul Laster

Keep an eye out for his coming works, and look for any publications with him included. His virtual galleries through his site are great, and his work displayed in a gallery is breathtaking.

My highest accolades to one of the most visceral artists I am aware of currently.

Also of note is his work with Kristopher Porter displayed on the blog Call & Response (now at a new site HERE)  a project between the two artists in which they collaborate on drawings with twenty-four hours in which to add and hand off. At the year's wrap-up, the positive attitudes and good natures of the artists are expressed in their encouraging: "Best wishes to all of you in the coming year(s). We encourage anyone who wants to start up a similar Response project to do so and send us a link so we can see what you are up to!"

Both artists also have their own respective Tumblr pages CD-HERE and KP-HERE.

Matter of Factor

I have just learned about Matter of Factor. I found an ad on the e-flux Time/Bank describing a crowdsourcing project. The MOF folks are running a site where they post a daily image composite of those that the participants submit. The crowdsourced images are to, however strictly, adhere to the task of making some kind of statement about the given word of the day. This word is the guide, and there are no rules for the submission. Anyone can be a participant by simply following the link to their site and selecting the respective Choose File and Upload buttons. While you're there, browse the previous days' results.
Here is a sample from February:

Date 2/21/11
Word: Sensation

The Singing Shadow at Zeitgeist, Nashville, October 28th, 2010

Thursday October 28th starting at 7PM

LYLAS
Adrian Rose
Kelli Shay Hix
Ben Marcantel

Zeitgeist
1819 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN in Hillsboro Village

Nashville band, LYLAS, in conjunction with puppeteer and puppet-maker, Adrian Rose (of the Nashville Public Library's Wishing Chair Productions and the Mechanical Animals Puppet Caravan) presents the premiere of their musical shadow puppet piece, The Singing Shadow. Through live music, live action, and the magic of shadow puppetry, the piece tells the story of The Singing Shadow, a wayward creature of the night who stumbles into Halloween, where he encounters a world of bizarre creatures led by the stately Miss Halloween. 

The Singing Shadow is a 15 minute piece and incorporates live music written and performed by longtime Nashville band, LYLAS, and video animation by local filmmakers Ben Marcantel and Kelli Shay Hix. The show is recommended for adults and for children over 7 years of age and will be followed by a question and answer session and a short chat on shadow puppetry and its history. The entire program is scheduled for 45 minutes. 

Kyle Hamlett composed the music for, and performs in, LYLAS present The Singing Shadow. A musician and songwriter Hamlett founded the musical project LYLAS over ten years ago. LYLAS morphed over the years into an amorphous musical project, utilizing a rotating cast of some of the finest musicians living in Nashville and incorporating a vast array of instrumentation from cello and violin to theramin, pedal steel, and the singing saw. 

Adrian Rose is the primary puppeteer and puppet-maker for the show. For the past five years, she has worked as puppeteer and puppet-maker for Nashville's Wishing Chair Productions at the Nashville Public Library. Adrian has built puppets for companies including Dollywood and BriAnimations, and performed with the Nashville Symphony's production of Peter and the Wolf. In 2007, she founded the puppet company, Mechanical Animals Puppet Caravan. 

View a video trailer of the piece!

Find Zeitgeist on Facebook

Ben Marcantel created the video effects for the performance. Marcantel is one of the founders of the Nashville musical collective, Forrest Bride (named one of the top 10 bands to watch 2010 for by the Scene), and has created numerous short videos and music videos for bands including Hands Off Cuba, William Tyler, and LYLAS. 

Kelli Shay Hix is animator, screenplay writer, and violinist for LYLAS present The Singing Shadow. Hix is also a solo musician and member of several bands in Nashville, including LYLAS and the Forrest Bride Collective, and maker of visual art and short films. 

There will be a suggested donation for the troupe.

Circuit Benders Ball - Nashville October 23rd

Circuit Benders’ Ball


Open Lot
1307 Jewell Street
Nashville, TN
37207

Saturday October 23rd
Workshops 2pm-6pm
Performances 6:30pm -12:30am
Open Lot in association with Geek Media Expo and Theatre Intangible present the Circuit Benders’ Ball, a day-long celebration of the art of the bend. American artist Reed Ghazala accidentally discovered circuit bending in 1966 when a toy amplifier short circuited with his metal desk. Since then, circuit bending has become its own genre of visual and auditory art with masters such as Tim Kaiser and Thriftsore Boratorium advancing the field. The Circuit Benders’ Ball will feature two stages, eleven bands, an interactive art gallery, and two electronic workshops. The roster of talent includes Tim Kaiser, Thrifsore Boratorium, CMKT4, Ben Marcantel, Dave X, Jeremy Walker, Robbie Hunsinger, and more. The festival is $10, and the workshops are $15 each. If you buy a ticket for both workshops, you get into the festival for free. Geek Media Expo passholders also get in for free.


Workshops:
The workshops at the Circuit Benders Ball are for all ages and all skill levels. These classes are a perfect introduction to electronics for children, students, and everyone! The classes have limited seating and will fill up fast. To reserve your spot, send an e-mail to tony@theatreintangible.com. Specify which class(es) you want and how many spots you want to reserve.

Make Your Own Contact Mic w/ CMKT4 2pm-3:30pm $15
If you’ve ever frequented GetLoFi.com, then you’ve probably seen the famous bottle-cap contact mic. The mic’s creators will guide you in making your own, using their newly unveiled contact mic kit. Purchase additional kits for just $10 and take your creations home with you!

Circuit Bending 101 w/ Cincinatti’s Thriftsore Boratorium 4pm-6pm $10-$15
Don’t know one end of a soldering iron from another? Mark and Karl from the Cincinnati hackerspace Thriftsore Boratorium will show you how to make your electronic toys howl, squelch, sputter, and sing. The workshop is absolutely essential for beginners with enough fresh insights to make it worthwhile for the experienced bender. Learn soldering/bending tips, how to scope our your local thrift stores, what make the best bending candidates, and more. For $15, we will provide all the equipment you need, including components soldering tools. After the workshop, you get to keep your newly-bent bent toy!
Bring your own toy and electronics and pay only $10.

With performances by:
Tim Kaiser, Thriftsore Boratorium, CMKT4, Ben Marcantel, DaveX, Jeremy Walker, Robbie Hunsinger, Malocchio, Theatre Intangible LIVE, Freya West Electric Burlesque w/ Score by Aaron Doenges, and The Blight Side of Life.

Visual Art & Video Projections by:
Derek Schartung, Sabine Schlunk, Kelli Shay Hix, Austin Alexander, Alex Wolfe, Anderson Cook, Matt Christy, Tim Kaiser, CMKT4, Patricia Earnhardt, Devin Lamp, Thriftsore Boratorium, William Davis, Devin Bell, Jeremy Walker, Ben Marcantel.

All Ages

Festival Pass $10

Free to Geek Media Expo Passholders

Workshops $15 each

Both Workshops + Festival Pass $30

Thinking Celluar

These prints are the first efforts in a project I am looking to initiate with a friend and artist, Marc Byndas. He is currently away working on a 60" boat named Kailani heading from Marmaris to Gibraltar to San Francisco..., or Seattle, ... I forget because I believe it changed once already....may have come up with that on my own.
But, I am following his lead with these prints, trying to inhabit his dangerous mind space, hoping to make this into a different collaborative project in the near future, on with a better scanner.
Here's to Marc. Careful out there, sailor.

Cell I_II

Cell II_I

Cell III_I






 

Cell IV_I

Rangda Follow-Up

Wow!

That was a hell of a show!

John Allingham of legendary Nashville psych outfit Cherry Blossoms opened up the set with a solo electric set, also playing the staple kazoo and harmonica. The last two songs he performed, he asked Chris Corsano (Corsano Flower Duo) to join him. What a treat it was to see that occur. John's style of guitar is so fresh and expressive. He holds nothing back.

As it turns out, no one holding a guitar tonight had any other idea in mind but to play to the bitter end! It was a night full full full of incredibly talented and inventive guitars ... and more.

Following John's set was Seattle, Washington's Diminished Men. Just read these reviews to get a feel.... I had no idea what I was getting myself in to. Indeed it was a really wild carnival-surf-psych-dub event. A great and talented trio. These guys had a great connection which lent itself to some impeccably braided guitar and very physical drumming. Pretty seamless and space surfy....truly the best of combinations.

If it could get better than that, something along the lines of Rangda would have had to follow-up. Headlining convincingly, they jumped right into two great songs off of their record, False Flag. Long, endless, swimmy, mile-deep guitar drones of Ben Chasny and Richard Bishop. Chris Corsano behind them choreographing a distant battalion of independently moving boulders and lightning bolts somehow steeped in the wold's finest improvisational music. Kudos to both of these touring groups, Best of luck on the Road, and everyone should check them out. They're coming up to NY in a couple of weeks and many points in between.

The last set of the night was the other local bookend for the evening. Two more highly motivated and talented artists we've got on lock-down here in Nashville - Leslie Keffer (Laundromat Squelchers) and Scott Martin (Forrest Bride, Hands Off Cuba) finished the night off with some swervy electric music from deep within their individual foggy skulls. Just how we like 'em.
Thanks to all, to Open Lot and Chris Davis.

Rangda does Nashville, Monday September 13th

Rangda is an incredible psych and rock trio consisting of Richard Bishop (Sun City Girls, Eddy Detroit, Alvarius B), Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance, Comets On Fire), and Chris Corsano (Flower Corsano Duo, Jailbreak). They have released their only record so far on Drag City records, and goddamn it is beautiful! The trance elements and rough, swelling compositions are hypnotic and enchanting.

Rangda is coming to Nashville to play Open Lot fresh off of this year's Boomslang Fest courtesy, I hear, of the ever hard-working Chris Davis.

Rangda was Reviewed this year by the BBC in May, and Here is a whole slew of video of their live performances.

The performance is to start promptly at 9 and the suggested price is $15, $10 if you can't. Though, you are way welcome to pay more than that. 

It is incredibly important for Nashville to be able to get shows like this, so come out and if you're not in the area, spread the word. This is gonna be big!

Rounding out the evening we have many great sonic treats!

John Allingham (Cherry Blossoms) will be playing. John is one of my top guitar players locally and otherwise! His style is so real and uninhbited, a pure and free guitar sound certainly folky and pretty surfy to boot!

Leslie Keffer (Laundromat Squelchers) and Scott Martin (Hands Off Cuba, Forrest Bride) will also be duo'ing it up! Two great minds and busy busy hard-working artists coming together! Together, they're going to fry your mind, or what's left of it, just as separately they never fail to impress.

Diminished Men on Abduction records will be sharing the bill with them all. Their lp Shadow Instrumentals is sold out on Forced Exposure (they only pressed 500), so you gotta come and see if you can get one! They're on their way down on a tour that will be putting them back up in Brooklyn here shortly. I am very excited to see what they're showing around the East Coast these days.....

Among this constituency of John, Leslie, Scott, and Chris, one has an irreplaceable production unit generating some of the best music programming in the city currently. Thank you guys for all you do -- officially! Thanks!

Third Live Projection 2010, Little Hamilton, July 26th

Film Projection for, and in-between, live music performances by:
Sugar Skulls (Ben Marcantel)
Kelli Shay Hix (w/ Amy Marcantel & Kyle Xavier)
Sons of an Illustrious Father (New York)

Kelli Shay gave me a call over the weekend to ask if we would be interested in projecting for these live bands she had booked at the Nashville art space, Little Hamilton. Of course I said yes, and as usual with no consulting my partner. To be asked by such talented artists to assist in augmenting an artistic performance is  a very gratifying sensation which, if taken seriously, can completely alter the performance and elevate the propensity for full effect. The audience is also often engaging and stimulated and vocal, as was the case this evening. The reception was incredible, again....
The previous screenings, albeit successful, culminated on this showing. It was the most last-minute one yet, but one for which my partner and I were well prepared. On this occasion, Alcamy played the initial set of composite film images for both Ben and Kelli's sets, while perpendicular to those images, I screened segments of more known films and some rare Chris Marker early VHS projects. I also played a really psychedelic Wim Wenders short, "Ten Miles to Trona," off of the very interesting project reproached from the 1978 original in 2002 in two 10-film projects titled "Trumpet: Ten Minutes Older," the other film set simultaneously released was "Cello: Ten Minutes Older." Incredible short films there.
It was a great success. Some great hosting was done, particularly by those at Little Hamilton, Dave I believe it was. But, we had a ton of fun, got some great film in front of some great people, and all the while, got some projects out there of ours while instigating new collaborations.
The folks of Sons of an Illustrious Father were very talented and open young people, loving their travels and playing music that seems to me to have been very emotionally cathartic. Best of luck to them, as I hope they've had a safe return, and thanks to everyone for the wonderful comments and questions, namely Scott Zeman of Vanderbilt University and Holly, whose comments are never taken lightly. Lastly, thanks to the great performers Marcantels and Kyle and Kelli Shay, thanks for the invite!!!!
Below are some stills from Chris Marker's "2084," which insitigated a lot of questions and comments...a great work of Marker's VHS output!

Second Live Projection 2010, Betty’s Nashville, July 22nd

Live set that evening at Betty’s Grill, 49th & Charlotte:
Sugar Skulls [Ben Marcantel]
Black Patch [John Adams, Joe Garcia, Nathan Vasquez, Adam Bednarik]
Doberman [Scott Martin, Ryan Norris]

Scott Martin and I had talked one evening after a set of his at Betty’s about doing some video projection during one of his shows. He asked me if we could work that out because he wanted to play with some images really going on around him.
I lucked into it really. Only one other time has Scott called me accidentally, but one Sunday morning, Scott called and woke me up, asking if he could get in my liquor cabinet on a dry, eventful Sunday. I had to refuse because I currently don’t have a liquor cabinet, and was not who he thought he was talking to. I got the opportunity to ask him if he had any shows coming up though, and right then and there we made arrangements for Alcamy Henriksen and I to provide video for his show that following Thursday. I agreed immediately on our behalf.
The next few days were set-up for Alcamy Henriksen and I to get together to view, shoot, compile, and edit something for the occasion. With two laptops, two projectors, and two screens, we shot many films on top of and beside one another. Some of these films being paired had already gone through various multiple exposure, performance, and re-filming processes.
The images we worked with were both commercial and generated by working artists we know, a lot of which was work of Alcamy’s. My awareness of the film work being done among Ben Marcantel, Dustin Zemel, and Alcamy Henriksen is that upon which my enthusiasm and ability to create such a live video environment are contingent.

Stills from film;
Compiled by ABA & ASPHH; edited by ASPHH, 2010.

The show was a great success. The music, all around, was yet another incredible showing of just some of Nashville’s immense pool of dedicated and extremely talented artists and musicians. I am amazed, as usual, and dually honored to have been a part of it. Having heard and seen the progression of these musicians over the past ten years, there is hardly any effort left to lacking. The opportunity to collaborate with these artists to create a more succinct environment in which their work can be experienced is an opportunity not to be turned down.

Alcamy worked crazy hours and by her determination we were well over prepared with footage for the show. My heartfelt out to she and Scott for the great work, initial invite, and the desire for collaboration. Let’s fucking do it again!

First live projection 2010, Georgia Copeland's housewarming, June 13th

A very eventful night. Met a Nashville painter Richard Heinsohn, grandson of Miguel Fleta. I was assisted in part by Joseph Hudson’s bringing some Kuchar and Hollis Frampton discs. I used two screens, one smaller, folding up from its case on the ground; the other a standard tripod projector screen. I used two projectors, one much larger than the other. Larger screen and projector showed just a segment of “Weird Faction – Grand Detour – Portland, Oregon – 6/25/10,” mailed to me by Dustin Zemel, a filmmaker and curator currently working in Portland. The smaller screen showed “Goodiepal Presentation – MPH – May 2010 – Portland, Oregon” in its entirety. This too was mailed to me by Dustin Zemel.
These showed simultaneously as the sun finally began to sink. Beforehand, when visibility was hindered, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s “Fando y Lis,” and, off of the McSweeney’s Wholphin No. 9, Jörg Wagner’s “Motodrom” were shown on the clapboards of the back of Georgia’s house.
The third and final projection was Jodorowski’s “El Topo” shown on the dense, lush vegetation of the back yard. The contrasts of rider, horse and desert, sky were the goals, and they affected brilliantly! Faces emerged - whole characters disappeared when the wind blew. It was a huge image as well, maybe twenty or more feet wide.
During this, the smaller screen with smaller projector was showing very colorful text-based film by Hollis Frampton.
The contrasts and qualities of the films of this final part of the screening paired perfectly and stunned individually. We ended with Spenser Susser’s “I Love Sara Jane,” a highly entertaining short film made last year in Australia also introduced to me by the contemporary film quarterly Wholphin.

Art Sabotage: Break In/Out - May 7th, 2010

After mentioning it twice between us, ASPHH and I decided to take over an unoccupied apartment in her building for a couple of hours on Friday, the 7th of May. We sent out close to twenty-five emails at three pm, followed by another dozen or so text messages, giving eveyone five hours to react. The exhibition was therein scheduled that evening from seven until nine, followed by a film screening across the hall at a properly occupied apartment.

The works displayed were paintings, drawings, photographs, plaster molds, and other works on paper, glass, and chalkboard. During the exhibition, Aleksandr Medvedkin's Happiness played on a wall while the sound art disc, part of Stockholm-based Styx Forlag's Autistisk Skilskrift publication provided the soundtrack. This audio addition was originally released in 2006 as supplement to the book of the same title, and features, among other artists, works by Leif Elggren, Sten Hanson, CM Lundberg.

Due to the process of presenting these works, and the place in which it was executed, there were many unexpected, unforeseeable, and palpable though intangible authors and attendees, in the curatorial and viewing processes. The time constraint certainly had great effect on the exhibition as a majority of the work shown did not arrive until just ten before seven. The space constraint of hauling the audio/visual equipment and art work in a compact sedan; the effect of viewing art for a short window of time in an unoccupied apartment in which none had permission to be, all had significant authorship and presence in the show. These presences, these constraints, were of immense help, across the board.
The constraints mentioned in getting the work to the apartment are self-descriptive. It's hand was apparent in the selection process of the curation. The time constraint followed a similar trajectory, but to a lesser extent as the two respective collections from which we culled the exhibit, containing original works by artists, almost all still living and working in San Francisco, Nashville, New York, Stockholm, and Los Angeles, are housed in three locations central to the room we temporarily inhabited for the exhibit. Of course, with further planning, plenty of other works could have been requested, reclaimed, or created for the show, but the required intentionality for this exhibit to have happened did not extend to that possible function, it is out of scope. The need and desire met, were equal, and as the progenative wave, the monad made another equal, another palpable, intangible third whose presence was of substantial breadth to provide the necessary force to assert itself.

photo: Ben Marcantel; image: Alcamy Henriksen, “10012009-11202009, TN/CA/TX/AZ" 2009, [42 Polaroids]

photo: Ben Marcantel; image: Marc Byndas, "Universitá (immobile)," 2005 [ink, paper]

Local Music Sent To My Mailbox, I

I just received Helen Southall's cdr in the mail from Melbourne.

I was suprised when I heard it. Something worked on me after a few tracks and I moved closer in to the music, took my time to hear it, more of it.

The recordings are personal. The guitar is audible in a way secondary to the voice, strumming with a loose wrist bard's chords; picking sparse notes. Her voice has all the natural folk feeling imbedded into it, the English accent subtle.

The record I received, a self-titled and released disc came with recommendations from a friend and a record store owner in Melbourne just recently.

Having played regular sessions at Brisbane's Audiopollen, she often felt seperate from the other artists. Likely the impetus of making her type of music would provide that, saying that she goes for ther guitar when feeling melancholic. Being from Birmingham originally, she claims strong and initial influences of British folk music on her singing and playing.

Helen Southall listens to Charalambides, Christina Carter, and Spires That in the Sunset Rise among many other things of course. Her music is very original in its personality, and informed as well, in the best ways.

I have an outright affinity for psychedelic music and was pleased to hear these recordings. They come to me after a few years or so of being cognizant of Pip Proud, The Cherry Blossoms, Linda Perhacs, and These Trails. This ethereal music is some of the most creative I have heard, being so by being personal music, experimental music.

Here you can see Helen Southall's internet presence, and I am sure contact her should you have any further questions about obtaining her recordings:

Myspace

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