Notes on
SFAlt sessions John Lee
otate tool" issue!
and recording recording and
festival, workshops workshops festival, performance at the the at performance
world, including including world,
by
the US and around the the around and US the
from other cities in in cities other from
Area players to to players Area
5) Provide Provide 5)
interact with players players with interact
its the "fun with r Bay for opportunities
music year-round music
scene
that support the the support that
4) Support the venues venues the Support 4) 3) Build audiences Build 3)
Selection process
Area Creative Music Music Creative Area 1) Present a variety of styles as
awareness of the Bay Bay the of awareness
international press press international defined by the coverage of the
2) Build local and and local Build 2) Transbay Creative Music Calendar and variety of styles of variety
of good music in a a in music good of
1) Present a a Present 1) bayimproviser.com: Experimental, concentrated festival festival concentrated
ma++ Noise, Electronic, Free-Jazz, Festival Objectives Festival Avant-Garde and Modern Improvised,Composition
2) Present a mixture of Bay Area and out-of-town players
Personal Observations of the Author 3) Combine local players when itand makes non-local sense
4) ’ve brought in some really great players that Attempt, over the course of 1) SFAlt has been very successful in presenting good music. With several years of only a couple of exceptions, each set has met or exceeded my Chris Forsythe and others. the festival, to expectations. We cover the broad rarely play in the Bay Area such as Joe McPhee, Scott Fields, Seth Misterka, Natsuki Tamura/Satoko Fujii, Haco, Eugene Chadbourne, spectrum of Eugene Chadbourne with Tim Perkis. musicians The pairings of out of town and local players have been great. 2) ’ll start seeing in the For example, Joe McPhee with India Cooke and Donald Robinson and local The workshops, partially subsidized by SFAlt, have been 3) musicians. scene successful. The first 2 years Damon Smith brought in Wolfgang Fuchs, and this year Gino Robair is bringing in John Butcher. 4) There has been some benefit to the local musicians, including the ability to play and record with some of the out of town ve scaled back to 5 nights with 3 sets ’t ’ each. 5) Press awareness has not increased dramatically yet, although if the festivalsome featurecontinues articles I believe and inadditional a few years press we coverage. SFAlt 2004 May 2004 6) The first two years probably had too many sets, spreading out This year it appears that we have another strong festival. Looking at the audiences. For 2004 we the lineup, it’s difficult to imagine any set being less than great. We have a number of special guests from around the world, including 7) We need to continue trying to diversify the musical content. It Ned Rothenberg, Gianni Gebbia, John Butcher, William Hooker and would be nice to have more electronics and modern composition in t played before. This year, about 70% of the musicians in others. We are presenting several rarely heard or unusual pairings: future festivals.’ We needplayed to continue in previous trying years. to include folks that Positive Knowledge with Kitundu, Subtle, William Hooker with Moe!, haven Jack Wright with German improvisers Sabine Vogel and Michael Griener, John Butcher the festival have not played the festival before, but in booking future festivals we need to continue to favor folks who haven Alex Cline with Phillip Gelb and Shoko Hikage, and Brassiosaurus with Dina Emerson. 8) The long-term viability of the festival will be dependent upon getting outside funding from grants, sponsorship, donations, etc. We are again sponsoring a workshop as part of the festival, this year This is one of the most challenging areas, since it takes a high featuring British saxophone virtuoso John Butcher. The workshop will level of concentrated focus and a certain talent for dealing with be Tuesday May 11th. For more information about this workshop, please bureaucracy, building relationships with funding sources, and this area should contact me. email Gino Robair at [email protected] and put "Workshop" in the attention to detail. Currently, there is no one working in this subject line. area, which does not bode well for the future of the festival. Anyone who feels they have the desire and aptitude to contribute in
9) There has been less feedback from audiences and musicians than I would have expected. There have been a few grumblings about the
’t heard much, nor has there been much discussion on
first first
The remaining remaining The lineups, a few pats on the back from appreciative musicians and
philosophical philosophical constraints. constraints.
committee due due committee
decided to to decided
differences differences
committee committee hold the the hold participants participants fans, and some interest from press and radio. But for the most
dropped out out dropped
members members festival together. meetings were were meetings
time, some some time,
held in 2001 2001 in held
participating participating
or time time or
interested in in interested
course of of course
to discuss discuss to
would be. be. would part, I haven
organizers of of organizers Over the the Over Bay Area. A A Area. Bay
musicians and and musicians
Music in the the in Music
people were were people
of the the of
festival festival
what the the what
and a few few a and
festival was was festival
and sent the the sent and
number of of number ba-newmus or other discussion venues. All input and suggestions word out to to out word
initial initial
a good idea idea good a
to to
Ernesto Diaz- Ernesto Creative Creative
conversations conversations are welcome, and especially positive input would be welcome in
Wright, Rent Rent Wright,
few years ago ago years few
thought a thought (SFAlt) first first (SFAlt)
Ernesto Ernesto
among Jack Jack among
other other
Romus and and Romus Rent and Rent
Infante. Infante.
surfaced a a surfaced The idea for for idea The
Alternative Alternative order to help justify the cost and effort involved in putting the
Francisco Francisco Festival Festival
the San San the History Music Music Attendance has been ok but needs to be better. Our shows have in in 10) been betterwhich isattended25 encouraging,or so thenpaid theadmissions. but average still manyBay I would Areashows Creativeencourage have had Music only show, to make year a special as a sign effort to attend this anyone who believesof support.in Williamthe worthiness of the festival Hooker
www
1 block from west oakland bart. oakland west from block 1
acoustics of 1510. located in a quaint, lovely and historic west oakland neighborhood, oakland west historic and lovely quaint, a in located 1510. of acoustics
free improvised chamber music for strings and piano, on a fine piano in the intimate intimate the in piano fine a on piano, and strings for music chamber improvised free
previous concerts featured kjell nordeson and biggi vinkeloe. this is a rare chance to hear hear to chance rare a is this vinkeloe. biggi and nordeson kjell featured concerts previous
this is the third installment of the looney/smith duo meets an improviser from sweden. sweden. from improviser an meets duo looney/smith the of installment third the is this
piano + piano
scott r scott
double bass double
Damon Smith Damon
.balancepointacoustics.com
(sweden/philly)'cello
helena espvall-santoleri helena 8pm $6-10 tuesday may 25th 1510 8th st @chester w @chester st 8th 1510 25th may tuesday $6-10 8pm Luggage Store Gallery 3: part 1510 @ improvisers swedish
New Music Series . looney .
Thu 5/6 8:00 PM $6-10 Cheryl Leonard, Tim Blue & A.L. Dentel
Joshua Churchill . oakland .
Thu 5/13 8:00 PM $12 SFAlt Music Festival Trummerflora Collective: Marcos Fernandes, Nathan Hubbard, Amy Happ Philip Robert Montoya, Al Scholl, Ellen W eller Normal: Thomas
Fred Frith - Guitar Acevedo Joe (MetaMan) Sudhu , Tewari - Electronics Ned Rothenberg - Solo Saxophone
Ausberto
Andre Custodio Matt
ideo & Film Diary Festival , Highway 1,
Thu 5/20
im DuRoche James Edmiston Will fman Marjorie Sturm Caveh Zahedi and more CLOSED T
Films by John Church Monica Gazzo Anna Homler Bill drinking straw music!!! straw drinking Big Sur Experimental Music Festival 2004: Adam Lane Markus
Hof and John Finkbeiner's John and Sound/Shift Big SurAnais Nin V Music by 99Hooker
&
. Nelson Hal Aaron Bennett's Bennett's Aaron Balesteri Bob Bellerue CJ "Reaven" Borosque om Djll ayne Jackson David The .T Mitchell Brown Lara Bruckmann KyleT Bruckmann Jon Anthony
Brumit Jared Butler Samuel Campbell Leticia PLUS Friday to Sunday Castaneda Bob Crowmeat Thu 5/27 8:00 PM $6-10 May 28 - 30 2004 Davignon Bryan Day Ernesto Diaz-Infante noon to 7pm (music); 8:30pm to 10:30pm (video) ideo & Film Diary mundane media & Dimuzio $10 - 1 day/$15 - 2 days f Ridenour Jason (not)quiet presents Eizlini Dina Emerson Helena Espvall-Santoleri orrente Cory $30 for a festival pass Area and Beyond are coming together f Schwartz T eller Cuca Esteves Marcos Fernandes, Calif.]tel: Scott Fraser 831-667-2574 Philip TBA a benefit for the Henry Miller Memorial Library Gayle Eric Glick Rieman Lance Grabmiller Pawel . In conjunction with BSXMF2004, Aaron Ximm Grabowski Jonathon Grasse Phillip Greenlief [The Henry Miller Memorial Library Joseph Hammer Emily Hay Greg Headley Ron Heglin Big Sur Anais Nin V Matt Herman Damon Holzborn eung Y Horist Jonathan Horne W Over 90 experimental musicians from the San Javelosa David Kendall Kitundu Francisco Bay alentino ebbDouglas Ellen C B W Launsburry Marina Lazzara Bill Leikam David .com Alex to play a freely improvised seven-hour piece of .org Alexandre St-Onge Moe! Staiano "d.bug" Leikam Eric Leonardson NathanAlbert LevineOrtega Osso Bucco Jesse Quattro music each day Thompson Carolyn Scott R. Looney Fred Malouf Ben McAllister Jim the first-ever ong Meneses Marianne McDonald Kristen Miltner Polly [1007 Market St. @ 6th Street SF] Festival of personal first-person narratives (no Moller Luis Monne Robert Montoya W www sexual or political limits). .outsound.org Onserud .paxrecordings.comoko Sato Ignaz Schick Jef omita Max V Y T www Alwyn J.S. Quebido Raven Jef .bayimproviser schedule, performers.henrymiller and info: ard Michelle W Robinson Rent Romus Jess Rowland LX Rudis Jonah .com www .bayimproviser Theresa W Rust www oyoji T Seck Sam Shalabi John Shiurba Robert Silverman www Michael Sokolowski
Marjorie Sturm Ron This event may be the largest grouping of free
Thrall Sunday May 2 8:15p 2 May Sunday improvisingadle Chris musicians W ever attempted in North W America. Marc Williams May 2004 Concert Calendar
Sat 5/1 2:00 PM Yerba Buena Gardens [701 Mission (btwn 3rd and 4th St.) SF] TRANSMISSION MISSION : FREE live audience-interactive radio performance by Guillermo Galindo and Chris Brown
Sun 5/2 8:15 PM Free (donations accepted) ACME Observatory at The Jazz House [3192 Adeline Berkeley] Tom Nunn, solo percussion and Aaron Bennett and John Finkbeiner's drinking straw music.
Mon 5/3 7:30 PM free Mills College Concert Hall [5000 MacArthur Blvd Oakland] FLUX: The Mills Vocal Improvisation Ensemble Directed by Molly Holm
Mon 5/3 8:00 PM $18 Yoshi's [510 Embarcadero West Oakland] Dave Douglas New Quintet Featuring Seamus Blake, Uri Caine, James Genus, Clarence Penn
Tue 5/4 2:00 PM $30 Jazzschool [2087 Addison Street Berkeley] Improvisation and Ear Training Workshop with Dave Douglas
Tue 5/4 7:30 PM 5 Jazzschool [2087 Addison Street Berkeley] Jam Session featuring the David Michel-Ruddy Quartet
Tue 5/4 8:00 PM $18 Yoshi's [510 Embarcadero West Oakland] Dave Douglas New Quintet Featuring Seamus Blake, Uri Caine, James Genus, Clarence Penn
Wed 5/5 7:00 PM $12, free for members Exploratorium Museum [At the Palace of Fine Arts 3601 Lyon Street San Francisco, CA 94123] Radio dramatist Tony Palermo and UC San Diego professor and researcher Diana Deutsch, explore mechanical devices for making sound effects and provide direct experiences of the illusions and curiosities of sound.
Wed 5/5 8:00 PM $5.00 The Jazz House [3192 Adeline @ MLK Berkeley] The I.C.E. series is back. Bring your instrument and help explore themes, music and other musicians.
Thu 5/6 8:00 PM $6-10 Luggage Store Gallery New Music Series [1007 Market St. @ 6th Street SF] 8pm: Cheryl Leonard, Tim Blue & A.L. Dentel 9pm: Joshua Churchill
Fri 5/7 8:00 PM Meridian Gallery [545 Sutter Street SF] Tom Baker, solo fretless, microtonal guitars
Sun 5/9 12:00 AM $10 gen ($9 stdnts/sen, $8 BACA members) Berkeley Art Center [1275 Walnut Street (in Live Oak Park) Berkeley, CA 94709] Cardew Choir Mayday Celebration Concert! works by Cornelius Cardew, Tom Duff, Margot Bevington, Viv Corringham and others.
Sun 5/9 4:00 PM $20 Chez Hanny [145 Fillmore SF, CA 94117] Jonathan Kreisberg Trio with Gary Versace and Mark Ferber
Tue 5/11 6:00 PM $25 SFAlt Music Festival [21 Grand 449B 23rd St. Near 19th Street BART Oakland] As part of the SFAlt Festival, there will be a workshop with British saxophone virtuoso John Butcher
Tue 5/11 7:30 PM $5 Jazzschool [2087 Addison Street Berkeley] Jam Session featuring the David Michel-Ruddy Quartet
Wed 5/12 8:00 PM $12 SFAlt Music Festival [21 Grand 449B 23rd St. Near 19th Street BART Oakland] Adam Lane/Vinnie Golia/Vijay Anderson Trio John Butcher/Gino Robair Duo Philip Gelb/Shoko Hikage/Alex Cline Trio
Thu 5/13 8:00 PM $12 SFAlt Music Festival [The Luggage Store 1007 Market St. @ 6th Street SF] Trummerflora Collective : Marcos Fernandes, Nathan Hubbard, Robert Montoya, Al Scholl, Ellen Weller Normal : Fred Frith - Guitar, Sudhu Tewari - Electronics Ned Rothenberg - Solo Saxophone
Fri 5/14 8:00 PM $8-12 Sliding Scale Donation The Jazz House [3192 Adeline @ MLK Berkeley] BLACK HAT RECORDS presents CKW Trio @ the Jazz House, playing some new works they recently recorded, a sneak preview of there new CD.
Fri 5/14 10:00 PM $12 SFAlt Music Festival [The Hemlock Tavern 1131 Polk Street Between Post and Sutter SF] Randy Yau, voice William Hooker, with Moe! Staiano percussion Uncle : Myles Boisen John Shiurba Guitars Sat 5/15 8:00 PM $12 SFAlt Music Festival [21 Grand 449B 23rd St. Near 19th Street BART Oakland] Subtle Positive Knowledge with Kitundu Pepito
Sun 5/16 8:00 PM $12 SFAlt Music Festival [Musicians Union Hall 116 9th St @ Mission SF] Gianni Gebbia/Garth Powell/Matthew Goodheart Trio Brassiosaurus with Dina Emerson Jack Wright/Sabine Vogel/Michael Griener Trio
Mon 5/17 8:00 PM $10 Yoshi's [510 Embarcadero West Oakland] John Schott's Typical Orchestra is a camp holler, old-time revival meeting, medicine show, sawdust on the floor, stompin', church-basement celebration of American music.
Tue 5/18 7:30 PM $5 Jazzschool [2087 Addison Street Berkeley] Jam Session featuring the David Michel-Ruddy Quartet.
Thu 5/20 8:00 PM $6-10 Luggage Store Gallery New Music Series [1007 Market St. @ 6th Street SF] Poetry & Electronics Workshop 1
Sat 5/22 2:00 PM KFJC 89.7 FM [Los Altos Hills, CA] Inter-Action: The John Bischoff Radio Special 2:00-6:00 PM. Recorded music, discussion w/ John, and a live performance.
Tue 5/25 7:30 PM $5 Jazzschool [2087 Addison Street Berkeley] Jam Session featuring the David Michel-Ruddy Quartet
Tue 5/25 8:00 PM $6-10 1510 8th St Performance Space [1510 8th Street Oakland] helena espvall-santoleri (sweden/philly)-'cello /Damon Smith-double bass/scott r. looney-piano +
Tue 5/25 10:00 PM Hemlock Tavern [1131 Polk Street Between Post and Sutter SF] sound on survival w/ Lisle Ellis, Marco Eneidi and Peter Valsamis. just back from their cross-country road warrior tour. www.soundonsurvival.com
Wed 5/26 12:00 AM Mission Creek Music Festival [venues in SF] Mission Creek Music Festival 2004. May 26th – June 5th, 2004 at Venues throughout San Francisco. A local music festival featuring a wide range of SF alternative music
Thu 5/27 8:00 PM $6-10 Luggage Store Gallery New Music Series [1007 Market St. @ 6th Street SF] The Swinging Chandeliers (Joseph Hammer project with Visuals) & CCAC Ensemble performs Cage's "Imaginary Landscape #4)
Thu 5/27 8:00 PM $7-$15 sliding scale The Lab [2948 16th St SF] Cheryl E. Leonard's "Instruments in Trees," a composition for arboreal materials and strings; & Loren Chasse performing solo on natural materials
Fri 5/28 8:00 PM $10 - 1 day / $15 - 2 days The Big Sur Experimental Music Festival 2004 [Henry Miller Memorial Library Highway One Big Sur] Big Sur Experimental Music Festival 2004: SoundShift Big Sur & Anias Nin Diary Video Festival
Fri 5/28 8:00 PM free Campbell Recital Hall, Stanford [Braun Music Center 541 Lasuen Mall, Stanford University Palo Alto] Alea II new music series: Mark Menzies/CalArts musicians perform Ferneyhough Terrain, Breitling, Jones, Prestia, Sigman, and others
Scott Looney [ibook] Jacob Lindsay [bass clarinet] and Gino Robair [stick & whistle] on The ACME Series @ The JazzHouse in Berkeley 4/18/04
photo by Aurora