nEWS

sTRANGEmUSIC will be closed from Friday, December 21, 2007 until Wednesday, January 2, 2008.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

05 DEC 07

LIVING GAMELAN - MP3s & Photos

LIVING GAMELAN: Music about Theater & Politics
December 2, 3 & 4, 2007
The Living Theatre, 21 Clinton Street, New York, NY
Free Workshops, Open Rehearsals, Concert Performance

Funded in part through Meet The Composer's MetLife Creative Connections program and through public funds from The New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.

Satchidananda by Peter Max

An original musical score for a documentary based on the life and teachings of
Swami Satchidananda

Satchidananda (1914–2002) was an Indian religious figure who gained fame and followers in the West, especially in the United States.

After serving his guru in India for many years, in 1966 he visited New York City at the request of a U.S. disciple, the artist Peter Max. Soon after his initial visit, Swamiji, as he was known to disciples, formally moved to the United States and became a citizen. From his new home he spread his teachings of yoga and enlightenment.

Satchidananda first came to public attention as the opening speaker at the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in 1969. Over the years he wrote numerous books and gave hundreds of lectures. He also ordained a number of western disciples into the holy order of sanyasa. He was the founder of the Integral Yoga Institute,and in 1986 opened the LOTUS, the Light of Truth Universal Shrine at Yogaville in Buckingham, Virginia.

Satchidananda's better-known disciples included Alice Coltrane, Allen Ginsberg, Jeff Goldblum, Carole King and Scott Shaw. Guitarist John Fahey spent some time living in Yogaville, and endorsed the ideals of Integral Yoga, even going so far as to dedicate his 1973 album Fare Forward Voyagers to Satchidananda. Even Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo grew up in Yogaville.

A video documentary by Stories to Remember
in association with Integral Yoga Multimedia

Produced & Directed by Joshua M. Greene and Shiva Kumar
Music composed & produced by Patrick Grant

Additional musicians:
Prakash - vocals
John Ferrari - percussion
Steve Murphy - drums & vocals
Godfrey Townsend - e. guitar, e. bass & vocals
Don Vitsentzos - e. sitar & e. guitar

Kehinde Wiley and Artware Editions are collaborating to recreate a late-French rococo mantle clock with matching candlesticks.

Like Wiley’s paintings, this traditionally-styled clock will synthesize historical and vernacular references through several surprising updates: the classical figures, or putti, traditionally shown supporting the timepiece, will be replaced with urban African American men in contemporary clothing.

While the exterior of the gilded bronze clock will be recreated with exacting attention to authenticity, it will contrast with the modernized inner-workings of the clock that incorporate a classically rearranged version by Patrick Grant of the Salt-N-Pepa hip-hop song, “Push It,” in collaboration with and sung by the brilliant contemporary performer, Shequida.

At each hour, a fragment of the song will play, and at noon and midnight the song will play in its entirety. Historically aesthetically accurate, but also blinged out, this clock will explore the intersection of power, identity, and luxury.

More details TBA

23 OCT 07

hIP-hOP eXPERIENCE III in Chicago

Quinton I. Morris, violin, Mariana Green-Hill, violin, Tyrone Tidwell,
viola, Chala Yancy, violin, Monica Davis, Violin,Dawn M. Smith,
viola, Ryan Murphy, cello, Tahirah Whittington, cello

The Young Eight will perform their mix of hIP-hOP eXPERIENCE III at Northeastern University in Chicago on November 16th. The music was created through co-commissions of Kehinde Wiley Studio, Deitch Projects, & Roberts & Tilton Gallery, and The Columbus Museum of Art

More iNFO HERE

11 OCT 07

Doris Lessing Wins the Nobel Prize in Literature 2007

"that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny"

Doris Lessing is, amongst many other works, the author of The Diary of Jane Somers, the writings upon which the play Maudie and Jane is based.

The play, with Judith Malina and Pat Russell, directed by Hanon Reznikov with lights and design by Gary Brackett and incidental music by Patrick Grant, opens on November 21 at the Living Theatre (recipient of two Obie Awards in 2007) in NYC.

More iNFO HERE

01 OCT 07

Web Stats for the Third Quarter

Almost 28,000 vistors in the months of July to September. Wow.

01 OCT 07

Rainha Mentira / Queen Liar plays in Argentina

The play, with music by Patrick Grant & Edson Secco, plays the Festival Internacional de Teatro MERCOSUR in Cordoba, Argentina.

More iNFO and an interview with the director/writer Gerald Thomas can be found on his blog HERE.

01 SEP 07

Meet the Composer awards grants for performances including "tHE pHILOSOPHER'S sTONE" and workshops

This event made possible through support from MetLife Creative Connections

The Living Theatre will host the new music repertory ensemble Gamelan Son of Lion who will feature works by Patrick Grant, Daniel Goode, David Demnitz. The composers will participate in half-hour pre-concert discussions, open rehearsals and workshops. All events will be free and open to the public (concert admission by donation). There will be an open rehearsal on December 2, and on December 3-4 there will be free community gamelan workshops, a spiraling introduction to gamelan performance practice and rhythmic structure.

Patrick Grant produces his tone-poem for gamelan based on a scenario, tHE pHILOSOPHER'S sTONE, by Antonin Artaud (1931).

http://www.linkstew.org/1998/05/313/

Adieu à Elvire Braunschweig 1922-2007

I was very saddened to have heard the news of the passing of Elvire, a friend and an original board member of Strange Music Inc...

Adieu à Elvire Braunschweig

Elvire Braunschweig-Krémis est subitement décédée à son domicile en Suisse le 5 août 2007.

Elle avait fondé avec son mari, Philippe Braunschweig, le Prix de Lausanne en 1972.

Elvire Braunschweig possédait à la fois la rigueur et la souplesse - qualités essentielles pour le ballet - qui lui permettaient d’avoir la clairvoyance nécessaire pour encourager les jeunes artistes qui, à ses yeux, avaient de l’avenir, tout en amenant les autres à affronter la réalité.

Souvent, au cours des 35 années d’existence du Prix de Lausanne, elle a pris sous son aile des jeunes danseurs et danseuses démunis mais dont elle percevait le talent, et ces jeunes sont grâce à elle devenus de grands artistes.

Officiellement retirée depuis dix ans du Prix de Lausanne, Elvire Braunschweig continuait cependant de s’intéresser de très près au développement de cette institution. Elle assistait régulièrement aux séances du conseil en tant que membre d’honneur, et elle ne manquait aucune épreuve du concours.

Elvire Braunschweig continuera de vivre dans son œuvre en faveur des jeunes danseurs et danseuses, et dans le cœur de celles et ceux qui l’ont connue et appréciée.

Lausanne, le 8 août 2007

http://www.danse-light-magazine.com/spip.php?article232

Le Prix de Lausanne est orphelin

Elvire Braunschweig, 85 ans, cofondatrice du Prix de Lausanne, est subitement décédée à son domicile veveysan. Vivant en parfaite osmose depuis 55 ans, le couple Braunschweig a fortement marqué le développement de la danse en Suisse. A Philippe, le leadership ; à Elvire, l’influence qu’autorisait une riche expérience artistique. C’est d’ailleurs dans le studio de danse de Madame Sedova, à Nice, que le jeune Chaux-de-fonnier, alors étudiant à l’EPFZ, et Elvira Kremis, Russe blanche établie sur la Côte d’Azur, s’étaient rencontrés en juin 1950. Leur mariage, deux ans plus tard, puis la naissance de leur premier enfant, mirent prématurément fin à une prometteuse carrière chorégraphique. De ces brillantes saisons au Ballet de Vichy, notamment, elle conserva d’inaltérables amitiés, à commencer par celle de Maurice Béjart.

Par la suite, un long séjour à New York, puis de nombreux voyages autour du monde permirent au couple Braunschweig de nouer et d’entretenir des liens étroits avec la fine fleur de la danse internationale, de Rosella Hightower à Yvette Chauviré. La connaissance de la langue et de la culture russes qu’avait Elvire favorisa l’ouverture à l’Est du Prix de Lausanne. Plusieurs graines d’étoile, en provenance de ce qui était alors le bloc soviétique, n’ont pas oublié son accueil, sa générosité et son soutien indéfectible. Katarzyna Gdaniec, co-directrice de la compagnie Linga, à Pully, après avoir brillé chez Béjart, est de celles-là.

Nouveaux horizons

Partie prenante dans toutes les entreprises artistiques de son mari, Elvire Braunschweig aurait pu vivre difficilement la décision de ce dernier de se retirer, l’âge venu, de la présidence du Béjart Ballet Lausanne, puis du Prix. La peinture lui ouvrit de nouveaux horizons. A la surprise générale, elle se découvrit une palette des plus imaginatives, riche de rythmes et de couleurs, dont témoignent deux expositions à la galerie Nelly L’Eplattenier, à Lausanne.

Mais la danse restait la première de ses préoccupations, avec sa famille. Une famille dispersée : ses deux enfants, Valerie Filipovna et Georgik, vivent respectivement à New York et Paris. Et ses deux petits-fils, à Washington et Los Angeles. La mort a d’ailleurs saisi Elvire à la veille d’un voyage en Bielo-Russie où elle comptait retrouver de lointains cousins.

http://www.prixdelausanne.org/pdf/SadNews2.pdf

05 AUG 07

Reviews for Rainha Mentira / Queen Liar from São Paolo, Brazil

"Queen Liar" is a total Wagnerian spectacle! What a soundtrack! What lighting! A 'dry opera' with the raw musicality of this eddy of words and images that is the world in which we live! I loved it!
- Evaldo Mocarzel (filmmaker & former cultural editor of the Estado de Sao Paulo - Aug. 9, 2007)

Rainha Mentira / Queen Liar
A new play by GERALD THOMAS
& The Dry Opera Company

Original music by
Patrick GRANT & Edson SECCO

Com Fabiana Gugli, Fábio Pinheiro, Pancho Cappeletti e Anna Américo

Read the reviews at Gerald Thomas' blog HERE

21 JUL 07

hIP-hOP eXPERIENCE - Charts & Parts

"...the third piece was arranged in such a colorful manner that it was even difficult for some of the younger audience members to tell which song belonged to which Grammy-winning artist." - June 5, 2007 - The Jibsheet

Kehinde Wiley, The Three Graces, 2005

hIP-hOP eXPERIENCE III
permutations on hip-hop themes 4 string quartet+
(optional flute, harpsichord/piano& double bass)
by Patrick GRANT
2005-2006

Created through co-commissions of Kehinde Wiley Studio, Deitch Projects, Roberts & Tilton Gallery, and the Columbus Museum of Art

PDF Charts & Parts

=====================================================================================

As an extension of his exhibitions and events throughout 2005 & 2006, the artist Kehinde Wiley, with Deitch Projects, Roberts & Tilton Gallery and the Columbus Museum commissioned hip-hop inspired classical & baroque music productions for me to create and organize for his openings. Performers have included Shequida, the West Village Quartet & Ensemble, the Young Eight, and the Malcolm X. Shabazz High School Marching Band as well as Patrick Grant Group and other ensembles outside the context of Wiley's events.

In order to keep it, you have to give it away: I've decided to post some early incarnations from the series partly due to public curiosity regarding the work (I even found out about some unauthorized performances!) but mostly with how I went about transforming the CD audio we know into readable music to be performed. Also, it's due to the fact that I'm now working on bigger and better hip-hop-hybrids and they've become my focus. Plus, it's good that these earlier pieces start getting around some more. The public response at every performance has been great.

In selecting the material for this particular instrumental suite much care was put into selecting pieces that could more or less be easily identified by the musical content alone when the rap vocal is not present, and with more than a fistful of original hooks and grooves running throughout the mix to hold it together. A lot of figurations had to be invented to make up for the lack of percussion though body sounds like clapping, stomping and finger snapping have always been welcome in my performances.

The scores and parts presented are Urtext Editions, very much like a score by Bach, that is, without dynamics, articulations and idiomatic embellishments like grace notes and glissandi. These, as in the Baroque and Classical eras, were always left up to the descretion of the performers and worked out in the rehearsal process if not extemporaneously, a very similar performance practice that lives on today in the contemporary music scene of Downtown New York City and other urban hotbeds of creativity where the ideas are coming so fast that it just doesn't make any sense to waste time writing these kinds of details down. At least that's what they say.

Besides, it does enable every performer and every performance to find their unique way through the notes. Especially when I'm part of the performance, it's just much faster to call things out as they're discovered especially when working in forms and styles that have no classical origin.

Also, all the sections presented here are modular, just like a set list, and may be moved around, edited, cut and pasted as to the performing ensemble's need and to match whatever particular flow they wish to project. Any re-ordering of the movements is acceptable.

Not one of the above mentioned performances ever did, nor was meant to, stick hard and fast to the printed page. The movements are numbered then, not for order, but for reference. In a way, they're more jazz charts than actual scores if one wants to take them that way, although they do stay within the margins of certain classical techniques. It's a mood of conviviality not too far from Terry Riley's "In C," although that piece doesn't allow re-ordering.

So, though the instruments used here may be antique, hip-hop is not, and this music should be adapted to the feel of the venue and to the spirit of the performers. Thus, any reordering will be referred to as a "mix," i.e. "hIP-hOP eXPERIENCE - The Imaginary Quartet Mix" - etc. - by Patrick Grant, to use an example. This also keeps a parallel with DJ culture and acknowledges the contributions of the performing ensemble.

I do look forward to performances of this work and others from the series (i.e. Historical Black Music Roller Coaster) taking place in the upcoming season. Stay tuned for nEWS of other scores from this series being posted as soon as I can make them available.

Thanks again to Kehinde for getting the ball rolling.

Patrick GRANT
NYC

For hIP-hOP eXPERIENCE III Charts & Parts click HERE

18 JUL 07

SERVER PROBLEMS or "Dare Thou Goest in the Machine?"

I deeply regret the problems caused by a new and problematic server in NJ to all those on my mailing list though I'll man-up and take responsibility if a human face need be attached. It is not a virus. Breathe easy. It is a sTRANGE loop that was caused by the changing of a simple setting that an unpersoned machine couldn't handle due to something that must have hit it at its end. Still don't know exactly what that was except that it was benign although extremely annoying.

In all fairness to all those involved, the mailing list server is currently being dismantled, PERMANENTLY, and I will be starting afresh when the season resumes in September. I was due for a change anyway, like so many things this year.

BTW: If you've received spam from others on the list, your email was never compromised. It was a function of a "Reply to All" feature of the list which is now, like all its features, inert.

Once again, my deepest regrets. I'm sure it's not my idea, or more importantly, your idea of how to start a day! Whew. Give me strength...

PG*
NYC
09:59 EDT

UPDATE 11:30 PM

Whatta day. Looks like it's over and that the server has queued and spewed about all it can do.

My deepest regrets again for hitting the button that sent a server going crazy. I did everything I could as fast as I could do take care of it. A special mention to the fine folks at WAMU FM-Radio in Washington, D.C. and to all Dianes everywhere who seemed to have beared the major brunt of this technological misadventure.

HOW IT HAPPENED

1. I, the list-owner, tried to send out an announcement.

2. It bounced back to me saying that only the list-owner had permission to do that (?)

3. I went to my server's settings page and changed it so that it would accept postings from anybody to see if my announcement would go through that way. It did. I changed the setting back to what it was, postings from list-owner only. Still, that was weird why it did that.

4. I went to bed then, at 1:30 AM

5. Right away, automatic responses started coming in, while I was logged-off, notably from WAMU-FM in Wash., D.C. These went out to everybody on the list.

6. People, understandably irate, responded to be taken off the list. These too went out to the list initiating more responses to be taken off, etc. etc. etc.

7. The telephone calls start coming in at 6:15 AM and the general opinion, if one were to have taken a poll, was that I was the assh*le du jour.

8. I logged-on and went back to the settings page. It was set to "Accept postings from list-owner only." But I had changed it back! I tried to do so again. It wouldn't budge. It and all other settings on the page were, and are still, jammed, broken, NFG. F--k!

9. Even more people now, as the Western world awoke, and even more understandably irate, responded to be taken off the list. These too went out to the list initiating more responses to be taken off, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

10. My only recourse was to go to the one page of the list-serve that was working, the list itself, and unsubscribe everybody. But that took forever. The system was so jammed with everything going on it was taking forever for it to load. I knew it was looping but couldn't stop it until, after an hour, I eventually could get into it.

11. So, everyone's unsubscribed from my list. That's cool, that's the price one pays. BUT STILL, the server had to spew out all the data from this strange loop that had been created and that was stuck in the queue. It was a matter of letting it run out. AND IT HAS.

* * * * * * * *

Oh, and did I mention that the person who had been in charge of the server died two years ago and left in running in perpetuo without any contact information? I've been coasting ever since sans problem until now. Truly, that's the ghost in my machine until I can change my situation (asap). May he rest in piece.

So, enjoy being off the list. When I do start one up again, it will be up to the subscriber's descretion whether to join or not via my web site. Fair enough.

All my best,
-Patrick*

15 JUL 07

Young and Hip and Classical, Too

hIP-hOP eXPERIENCE performed by The Young Eight
w/ LIVE WEBCASTS on WSU Internet Radio

The Young Eight, an African-American string octet, plays a new kind of concert this week at Chamber Music at the Barn
July 15, 2007 By Chris Schull - The Wichita Eagle

Audiences have learned to accept more than straight classical music at Chamber Music at the Barn - July 18, 19 & 20

The Barn will take another step away from the classical music mainstream at concerts Wednesday through Friday at the Barn at Prairie Pines when it presents hip-hop music -- hit songs by Beyonce, 50 Cent, Kanye West and others arranged as string quartets. The hip-hop quartets are part of an adventurous, innovative program to be played by guest artists The Young Eight, a string octet of young African-American string players. The ensemble will also present two new octets by young composers and the classical "Lyric for Strings" by George Walker and "Introduction and Allegro" by Edward Elgar.

Though they are bringing new twists to classical concerts, playing hip-hop quartets is no gimmick for the musicians in the Young Eight. "We did not want to sound like classical musicians trying to play hip hop," said Quinton Morris, the group's founder and artistic director. "We didn't want to sound like we were trying to be hip. We just wanted to be us. "We're the Young Eight. We're all in our 20s and early 30s" -- serious musicians in tune with all aspects of the musical culture around them.

Morris, 29, founded the Young Eight in 2002 during his senior year at the North Carolina School of the Arts. The groundwork for the ensemble was laid during a career development class. The ensemble's membership was filled by friends and friends-of-friends -- violinists, violists and cellists from many of America's top music schools. "The day after I graduated was our first concert," Morris said. "I managed in six weeks to do all the fundraising and marketing. That was my first step into the music biz."

Morris' decision to form a string octet was calculated. "There's a bunch of string quartets out here and there are gobs of piano trios out here -- why not do something different?" Morris said. Since that first concert in 2002, Morris has helped steer the Young Eight toward greater prominence. Last year, the group initiated a competition to inspire young composers to write pieces for string octet.

During its performances this week at the Barn, the Young Eight will perform the winning pieces, each about five minutes long --"African Rhapsody" by Michael Mikulka and "Conch Shells Memories" by Robert Tanner. "Both pieces are really cute and humorous," Morris said. "They are not the kind of contemporary pieces that people will frown upon and say, 'Oh, god, it's another 'new' work.' "These are young composers and you can hear the youthfulness in the music. And I think we do an excellent job of displaying that on stage."

Besides playing concerts, the Young Eight presents many workshops and music camps for young musicians. On Friday, they'll work with African-American students enrolled in the Northeast Area Strings Academy of Wichita. "We stress academics a lot to our students," Morris said. "We tell them it is not good enough to just be talented; you have to be smart as well."

The Young Eight's performances this week of "hIP-hOP eXPERIENCE III" -- hip hop hits arranged for strings by Patrick Grant -- is intended to interest young people who are into today's pop music. "Ensembles all the time are looking for ways to build audiences, to get kids more interested and involved in classical music," Morris said. "Well, the way that you do that is by being able to bring something (into concerts) that they know and can relate to. "That is how we are able to get kids so involved in classical music. We're able to play Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn but also 50 Cent 'In Da Club' and make it sound like it is off of the radio. And kids love it."

Morris' musical ideas are gaining momentum -- and paying dividends. Morris recently accepted a position as assistant professor of music at Seattle University. The Young Eight will be artists-in-residence there.

LIVE BROADCASTS on Wichita State University Internet Radio
Click HERE for Details on How to Listen
Note: Concerts are at 8PM Central Daylight Time (-5 hrs. UTC)

====================================

IN A RELATED STORY:

A promo video of the opening of Kehinde Wiley's "Rumors of War" at Deitch Projects has just been posted by someone on YouTube.

You can watch it HERE.

This was the event where I was commissioned to create a hip-hop performance for The Malcolm X. Shabazz High School Marching Band as led by the inimitable Hassan Williams. If you look closely, that's me asking the audience to give it up for the band at the 3:08 mark.

07 JUL 07

www.verisimilitunes.com

The Treachery of Notation (2007)

music & audio for visual media
A division of sTRANGEmUSIC

Ver-i-si-mil'-i-tune (from Latin verisimilitudo, from verus true + similitudo similitude + tune organized sound), is the state or quality of works that exhibit the appearance of truth or reality. The term denotes the extent to which a work exhibits realism or authenticity, or otherwise conforms to our sense of reality. A work with a high degree of verisimilitune means that the work is very realistic and believable; works of this nature are often said to be "true to life." Verisimilitune can also refer to a neoclassic idea of reality (realism), morality, and universality. Universality means that certain tunes are common to all people. A verisimilitune that is true of one person is true of all.

www.verisimilitunes.com

05 JUL 07

PG Signs to Create Original Score for Documentary

Satchidananda by Peter Max

An original musical score for a documentary based on the life and teachings of Swami Satchidananda: more details TBA

Satchidananda (1914–2002) was an Indian religious figure who gained fame and followers in the West, especially in the United States.

After serving his guru in India for many years, in 1966 he visited New York City at the request of a U.S. disciple, the artist Peter Max. Soon after his initial visit, Swamiji, as he was known to disciples, formally moved to the United States and became a citizen. From his new home he spread his teachings of yoga and enlightenment.

Satchidananda first came to public attention as the opening speaker at the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in 1969. Over the years he wrote numerous books and gave hundreds of lectures. He also ordained a number of western disciples into the holy order of sanyasa. He was the founder of the Integral Yoga Institute,and in 1986 opened the LOTUS, the Light of Truth Universal Shrine at Yogaville in Buckingham, Virginia.

NY Times Review - Terry Riley's "In C"

By Vivien Schweitzer

An unsuspecting passerby wandering down Cornelia Street in Greenwich Village on Thursday evening would have been surprised to hear pulsating waves of sound from a large, eclectic orchestra massed in the middle of the street.

The alfresco performance of “In C,” Terry Riley’s minimalist classic, was one of hundreds of musical events, by amateurs and professionals of all ages in genres from classical to hip-hop, that took place in all five boroughs throughout the day as part of the inaugural Make Music New York festival. It was modeled on Fête de la Musique, an annual French project, founded in 1982, that has spurred similar events in more than 300 cities around the world on the summer solstice.

Read the full review of this All-Day Festival of Sounds HERE.

CCi's Performance of Terry Riley's "In C" on Cornelia Street, NYC

Pictures of just a tiny fraction of the near 100 musicians who played Terry Riley's "In C" as the Mighty CCi House Band & Friends on June 21. This page cannot do it justice until some of the more aerial-oriented photographs come in (showing larger perspectives of the show), but here goes:

Left to right, top to bottom: 1. Composers Collaborative Inc.'s artistic director and conductor for the event Jed Distler, 2. composer/performer and event co-organizer Patrick Grant on the analog synthesizer, 3. Jenny Lin on the Casio, Kathleen Supové on the Exploding Melodica, and Chris Tignor (wearing red) playing violin in the background, 4. some of the many accordionists, 5. the dudes blowing in the reed section, 6. violist Stephanie Griffin, 7. composer/percussionist David Simons playing various metallic objects, 8. keyboardist Marija Ilic at the toy piano, 9. Theaterlab co-director and composer/performer Carlo Altomare on the SK-1, 10. some of the many woodwinds and, 11. an oboe up against the brass section.

Maximalism?

A very special thanks to the Home Restaurant for letting us borrow some electricity in a pinch.

On June 8th in NYC, the Don Vitsentzos Trio (Don Vitsentzos - guitar, Aloke Dasgupta - the featured musician on sitar, and Aditya Bannerji - tablas), played one of the hottest concerts in town that night at the Jivamukti Center. It was hosted by Joshua Greene.

Click HERE to see more pictures from the event.

24 MAY 07

Catalog of Works Updated

After quite some time, a selective catalog of works has been updated. Scores and MP3s will be added to this page as it continues to evolve.

To view it click HERE.

21 MAY 07

Living Theatre Wins 2 Obie Awards for Direction & Ensemble!

Living Theatre logo created by Jean Cocteau, "The Brig" poster art by Luba Lukova

On Monday night at NYU's Skirball Center, the Living Theatre won two awards at the Village Voice's Obie Awards for Off-Off Broadway. The awards were for Direction and for Ensemble.

"Which brings us to a quip by the first playwright ever to win an Obie Award, Lionel Abel. Close on 60 years ago, when a young couple, Julian Beck and Judith Malina, announced that they would name their newly formed troupe the Living Theatre, Abel joked, "You can't have a living theater until you've had a dead one." In a sense, it's taken us till now to discover that he was right. The old theater—every old way of making theater, even the old Off-Off theater—is dead and gone. All that remains is to take the scripts it left behind and make them live again, older than Methuselah and yet brand-new. The Living Theatre itself, living again as of this spring, with a new young company, in a shiny new Lower East Side space, must know exactly what I mean, busy as they are displaying the bleakest truths of 1963, painfully true again today, to the eager young faces lining up nightly to see The Brig." --- Michael Feingold, The Village Voice

“The Brig” at the Living Theatre, 21 Clinton Street, Lower East Side, Wed-Sun (212) 352-3101

See the show. More info HERE.

15 MAY 07

Private Goodbyes Win Tomorrow (Thus) Avoiding Confusion When It Rains

A (not so) secret desire to be Scottish?

A singer/songwriter in Pennsylvania named Patrick J. Mencel (unhappy with his own heritage?) recently announced that, in order to have a better stage name, has changed it to "Patrick Grant." His brother Paul Mencel, in back-up band The Rising, so far seems content with his birth-given moniker.

Gosh. I guess that Patrick Grants everywhere should be deeply honored.

Anyway, I thought that was kinda sTRANGE...

Craigellachie!
patrick mencel and the rising star

01 MAY 07

Projects-in-Development are Now Updated

Get the iNFO HERE

26 APR 07

The Living Theatre Opens a New Space on NYC's Lower East Side with "The Brig"

Richard Termine for The New York Times - Clink on image for NY Times Review

The big event (this week) is the return of the LIVING THEATRE, the celebrated avant-garde company founded by Judith Malina and Julian Beck. This unabashedly radical troupe hit its stride in the early 1960s, winning its third Obie award in 1963 for “The Brig,” the autobiographical play by Kenneth H. Brown about the brutality of a Marine Corps prison. Itinerant for many years, the company now has a permanent space to play in, and Ms. Malina, still very much in charge (Mr. Beck died in 1985), will direct the new production.

“The Brig” opens Thursday, April 26th at the Living Theatre, 21 Clinton Street, Lower East Side, (212) 352-3101, livingtheatre.org; $20 to $30, Wed-Sun (Wed. is pay-what-you-can).

Living Theatre WIKI

Added April 27: REVIEWS Updated May 1

On National Public Radio's "Day to Day"

On a musical note: a page about John Cage and the Living Theatre

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From the sTRANGEmUSIC archives:

MP3: FIVE SONGS from "THE RULES OF CIVILITY"

a production of the Living Theatre 1991/1993
adapted & directed by Hanon Reznikov
text: George Washington, music: Patrick Grant
vocals: Joanie Fritz Zosike & Robert Hieger

PDF Score

1. Don't sit at the head of the table unless it is your proper place or if the master of the house wishes it. It is the decent thing to do to give anyone at table a meal. Try to help others unless your master desires it not.

2. Pay attention when others talk at the table. Don't lay your arm but only your hand on the table. Keep your fingers clean and when dirty wipe them on a napkin.

3. Don't eat in the street or in the house out of season. Don't eat too leisurely or too hastily. Don't spit, don't scratch, don't cough or blow your nose except when really necessary. Don't cut your bread with a greasy knife.

4. Don't put your food in your mouth with a knife. Don't stare while you are eating. Don't put another bite of food in until the first bite is finished (gone) and do not talk when your mouth is full.

5. Don't get angry at the table no matter what should happen especially if there are strangers present you should put on a cheerful face. Good humor makes one dish of food a feast.

Patrick Grant is the current Music Director of the Living Theatre.

18 APR 07

The Young Eight Featured in the Seattle Times

The Young Eight, a stellar octet of classical strings and performers of PG's "hIP-hOP eXPERIENCE III," are featured in the Seattle Times in a piece in support of their current national tour.

Read all about it HERE.

After completing its run in Rio de Janeiro, Rainha Mentira/Queen Liar moves to São Paolo in an expanded form. From there it will go on to performances in Rome, Vienna, Munich and Copenhagen.

More details TBA

05 APR 07

If One Should Happen To Fall...

"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall,
Ninety-nine bottles of beer,
If one of those bottles should happen to fall..."
-Traditional

If One Should Happen To Fall
music: Patrick Grant
lyrics: Roget's Thesaurus
vocal: Lisa Karrer
drums: John Ferrari
© sTRANGE mUSIC

MP3 - 3.3 MB

Reviews of Terra em trânsito & Rainha mentira / Queen Liar are coming in...

In Portugese for now. Click HERE.

21 MAR 07

Roamin' Numeral

12 MAR 07

O GLOBO Preview of "Rainha Mentira" from Rio de Janiero

Click on the above images for the article (in Portugese).

03 MAR 07

The moon over NYC

The year's first total lunar eclipse occurs on Saturday, March 3, 2007, as Earth's shadow crosses in front of the full moon.

The moon first enters the faint part of Earth's shadow at 3:16 p.m. EST. During the penumbral stage of lunar eclipses, it can be very hard to notice any change taking place with only a slight darkening. The moon enters the dark part of Earth's shadow at 4:30 p.m. EST. At this time the moon will still be behind the horizon for US observers. The moon finally crests over the horizon for the northeast at the onset of total eclipse (5:44 p.m. EST). Remember that the Sun has to be opposite the Moon in our sky in order to produce a total eclipse. The point of mideclipse, when the moon will be darkest, is at 6:21 p.m. EST. The total eclipse phase ends at 6:58 p.m. EST, and the moon will then begin to slowly regain some of its reflected light, slowing spreading across the surface. By 8:12 p.m. EST, the darkest part of Earth's shadow will have completely left the Moon's surface.

01 MAR 07

A New Play by GERALD THOMAS & The Dry Opera Company

at the
Espaço Cultural Oi Futuro

Nesse espetáculo, Gerald Thomas faz um levantamento alegórico da pulverização das tragédias históricas, como o holocausto, as guerras em geral e de assuntos absolutamente pessoaís. Como a vida extremamente triste de sua mãe, acusada aos nove anos de idade pelo enforcamento do próprio irmão, um jovem de 17 anos em uma Alemanha já por WWII.

L to R: Chala Yancy, Quinton I. Morris, Amber Archibald, Caleb Jones

Last night scores of New Yorkers braved the arctic cold and and packed the auditorium in the Performing Arts Center at CUNY's York College in Queens. They came to hear The Young Eight, a string octet of highly talented players, as they stopped in town for the NY leg of their Black Colleges Tour. On the program was the NY Premiere of Hip-Hop Experience III, a concert suite of mash-ups for string quartet. Needless to say, the public, young and old, went wild hearing this music in a classical context and played with much fire by members of the group led by Quinton I. Morris.

14 FEB 07

I've been away in sunnier places for the last 6 weeks and have just returned to this cold, cold city where the current climate keeps my thermostat set to its highest power. Brrr!

As they say, pardon the impersonal nature of this notice, and, if you had been trying to get a hold of me during my absence, I will be making amends in this New Year.

Hoping to see you all soon, and thanks to all who've hung with me. You make the city, the world, a warmer place. And we need that.