LOS ANGELES, CA – February 6, 2012 – Nonprofit organization Overtone Industries presents the world premiere of its new opera The Woman in the Wall, with two weekends of performances opening Friday, March 23, 2012 at the Masonic Lodge in Culver City.  Reuniting the award-winning Overtone creative team of the critically-acclaimed 2010 Songs & Dances of Imaginary Lands, The Woman in the Wall is an operatic work by Composer O-Lan Jones and Librettist Kathleen Cramer, conducted by David O, and produced by Vibrant Production Management.  Inspired by the 14th Century tradition of The Anchoress, the opera is a “mystery play” in the ancient tradition; it explores the openings and paths inside that are revealed when all doors are locked shut.  For more information, please see http://www.overtoneindustries.org and https://www.facebook.com/overtoneindustries

The opera, which is written in Medieval modes using instruments of the time, will run for two weekends – on Fridays and Saturdays – from March 23 to March 31, 2012 with performances starting at 8:00pm.  Ticket prices are $25 for Peasants (seating closest to the performers), $40 for Royalty (seating in the middle of the performance space), and $50 for the Virtuous (reserved seating on an elevated platform).  Online tickets can be purchased via http://www.overtoneindustries.org or by calling Overtone Industries at 323-655-2410.  Performances, which are ceremonial in nature, will be held in the atmospheric Masonic Lodge at 9635 Venice Boulevard, Culver City, CA 90232 (http://culvercitymasons.org; 310-836-0467). The show is suitable for mature teen and adult audiences.

The subject of the production is inspired by the 14th Century tradition of The Anchoress – a woman who volunteers to be enclosed for the rest of her life in a church cell – with one window open to the sacred world and the other open to the ordinary world.  Over the course of seven days, which cover seventeen years, we follow The Anchoress, “Marianna” (Gretchen Johnson), as she becomes the inspirational advisor to everyone from the peasants to the king.  As we follow her journey inward through her temptations, doubts, revelations, and fears, we see how she transforms the people’s questions in relation to the Seven Virtues that light her way.  Ultimately, the work is a “mystery play” in the ancient tradition; it explores the openings and paths inside that are revealed when all doors are locked shut.  The production features an orchestra of 10 instrumentalists, a cast of a dozen principal singers, and a 30-member chorus from the Angel City Chorale, led by Sue Fink.

 

The Woman in the Wall is a new operatic work written in Medieval modes by Composer O-Lan Jones and Librettist Kathleen Cramer. In balcony - Livia Reiner, Kathleen Kelso, and Octavia Leclerc-Jones. Below - Gretchen Johnson as Marianna. Photo Credit: Emily Brooke Sandor

Credits –
The Woman in the Wall reunites the innovative Overtone Industries creative team of Composer O-Lan Jones, Librettist Kathleen Cramer, Conductor David O, and producer Vibrant Production Management, that most recently collaborated on the critically-acclaimed experimental opera Songs & Dances of Imaginary Lands, which was honored with Ovation Award nominations for Music Direction and Scenic Design, and a win for Costume Design for the 2009-2010 season.

- Composer & Director – O-Lan Jones
- Librettist – Kathleen Cramer
- Music Director – David O
- Scenic & Costume Designer – TBA
- Marianna, The Anchoress – Gretchen Johnson
- Remaining Cast & Orchestra – TBA
- Producer – Vibrant Production Management

O-Lan Jones, Director & Composer –
O-Lan Jones is the Artistic Director of Overtone Industries, guiding her company in the creation of new mythological operas and theatricales. Miz Jones is a full-service artist – an award-winning actor, sound designer, writer and composer.  She has been consistently involved in experimental theater, music and opera since the age of 16.  She originated roles in the plays of Sam Shepard, Julie Hebert, and Beth Henley, among others.  The press has referred to her as an “uncategorizable legend.”

As an actress she has worked with directors Tim Burton, Jonathan Demme, Ivan Reitman, Paul Schrader, John Schlesinger, Oliver Stone, Peter Weir, and Paul Bartel who directed Shelf Life, a movie she wrote and starred in.  She is perhaps best known for playing Esmeralda, the reclusive Christian organist in Edward Scissorhands, and numerous waitress roles (Seinfeld, Shoot the Moon, Miracle Mile, Natural Born Killers, and The Truman Show).  A repeat member of Burton’s ensemble casts, she also played hick trailer-dwelling mama Sue Ann Norris in Mars Attacks! Television credits include Lonesome Dove and The X-Files; and she was a series regular on CBS’s Harts of the West.

Last summer she sang a major role in Terry Wolverton & David Ornette Cherry’s opera Embers at Grand Performances in downtown LA.  She will soon appear in Aram Rappaport’s new film Syrup.

Miz Jones has worked as a composer creating original music, songs, sound designs and scores for more than 40 productions.  On the West Coast she has written music for Padua Hills Playwrights, LA Women’s Shakespeare Company, San Diego Rep, the Taper Too and California Shakespeare Festival in the Bay Area.  On the East Coast, her music has been showcased at Playwright’s Horizons, the Workhouse, La Mama, and the Kurt Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

She was the director, choreographer and one of the 11 composers who created Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands.  The critically-acclaimed opera was called “an ambitious, possibly groundbreaking new opera” (Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times), “epic avante-garde opera… a carnival fun house” (Anthony Byrnes, KCRW), and “a feast for the senses” (Mayank Keshaviah, LA Weekly).

She has composed three short operas; five musicals; and has scored two short films.  Jones is also the Founder and Artistic Director of Overtone Industries, whose work the Los Angeles Times called “audaciously experimental entertainment.”  www.o-lanjones.com

Kathleen Cramer, Librettist –

Kathleen Cramer is a Bay Area artist who has written for Overtone Industries for many years.  In San Francisco, she began a serious collaboration with O-Lan Jones, yielding five operas.  In addition to The Woman in the Wall, she collaborated with Jones on the critically-acclaimed Songs & Dances Of Imaginary Lands in 2010.  She also wrote Happy Hour Becomes Electra, for Overtone’s production String of Pearls, and collaborated with Jones on The Man Whose Brother Was Eaten by Wolves and The Woman Who Forgot Her Sweater, which premiered at [INSIDE] the Ford.

After beginning her career in New York’s Off-Off Broadway scene, working with many cutting edge playwrights, Cramer co-founded the Padua Hills Playwrights Festival in Los Angeles, which held both a school and an acclaimed festival every summer for 18 years. She also writes for the magazine Works and Conversations as a contributing editor.


David O, Music Director –
David O is an award-winning composer, performer, and musical director.  His work has been featured at Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Mark Taper Forum, and the Hollywood Bowl, as well as other venues in Los Angeles and around the world.  His choral composition, A Map of Los Angeles, was commissioned by the LA Master Chorale with performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2008 and 2009.  Thousands of Los Angeles children and their parents know David as “The Professor” for his six years of performances with Summersounds at the Hollywood Bowl, produced by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  His original musicals include The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip and The Legend of Alex, both commissioned by Center Theatre Group’s P.L.A.Y. Program, and Imagine, commissioned by South Coast Repertory Theater. The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip was performed as part of the inaugural season of the Kirk Douglas Theater.

David is the musical director, arranger, and co-composer for Disney Creative Entertainment’s new production, Toy Story: The Musical, which opened at Disney California Adventure in 2011.  Some of David’s most unique work includes non-traditional theater pieces for which he served as both musical director and composer.  Most notably, he created an entirely a capella score for Hippolytos, a new translation of Euripides’ tragedy commissioned to inaugurate the Fleischman Theater at the newly-refurbished Getty Villa in Malibu.  In addition, David was the composer, musical director, and on-stage pianist/percussionist for A Noise Within’s production of Ubu Roi, for which he received the 2006 Ovation Award for Sound Design in a Large Theater.  For the 2009-2010 season, he was nominated for an Ovation Award in Music Direction for Overtone’s Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands.

David has musically directed countless musical theater productions in the Los Angeles area, including the world premiere of 13, the musical by Jason Robert Brown.  He has also served as musical director for the West Coast premieres of Michael John LaChiusa’s The Wild Party and Little Fish.  Other notable productions as Musical Director include The Last 5 Years (Pasadena Playhouse), The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World ([INSIDE] the Ford), and Divorce: the Musical (Hudson Mainstage). http://www.davidomusic.com

Gretchen Johnson, The Anchoress “Marianna” –
The Woman in the Wall, written especially for her by O-Lan Jones and Kathleen Cramer, is Gretchen Johnson’s fourth collaboration with Overtone Industries. Johnson performed in the company’s epic performance of Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands, staged in a sprawling, empty Culver City car dealership where the production received rave reviews, including one from the Los Angeles Times’ Mark Swed.  She appeared in the Overtone presentations of Herakles and the Hydra at The Met Theater and New York’s Carnegie Hall, and The Woman Who Forgot Her Sweater, also written for her, at [Inside] the Ford.  She is currently at work on a recital of under-sung and unsung music of Hollywood composers and poets.  In addition to concert stages and recital halls, she has produced and performed recitals at the Goethe Institute and other local venues including coffee houses, private salons, retirement villages and the historic steps of Echo Park’s Delta Street.  A specialist in new music theater, she has premiered works by Meredith Monk and the BOBS and, in a role written especially for her, she toured for two seasons with the Los Angeles Opera’s community production of Who Wants To Be An Opera Singer?  An active recitalist and concert performer, she has performed new works by Los Angeles-based composer Enrique Gonzáles-Medina, including Siete Poeminimos, Los Versos de la Maestra, and concert presentations of his opera Serafina y Arcángela.

Angel City Chorale –
Angel City Chorale, conducted by Founder/Artistic Director Sue Fink, i
s a multi-talented, multicultural choir ensemble of 160 men and
 women that truly reflects the spirit of Los Angeles, the city it calls
 home.  Performing an extraordinary repertoire, ranging from Classical a
nd Folk to Pop and Gospel, has become the group’s hallmark.  Angel
 City Chorale has appeared at such venues as Staples Center, the Los A
ngeles Convention Center, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the John A
nson Ford Amphitheater.  The choir has performed with Stevie Wonder,
 Luther Vandross, and Mary Chapin Carpenter.  Angel City Chorale has b
een selected by internationally acclaimed Music Director and Record Producer Frank McNamara to appear in an hour-long PBS special, The
 American Tenors. http://www.angelcitychorale.org

Vibrant Production Management, Producers –
Vibrant Production Management works with artists of various disciplines to create and manage original, vivid artistic experiences. Vibrant offers comprehensive production services from concept to completion. Beginning with a shared vision, the firm assembles teams of artists and managers to provide energy and movement to a project. The firm handles logistics, allowing the artistic product to be presented as high-quality, seamless entertainment. Providing hands-on production management coordination from scheduling to show calling, Vibrant works in collaboration with artists to bring ideas to life. Vibrant Production Management is a partnership between Sara Adelman and Michelle Magaldi.  Adelman and Magaldi have been producing and managing live events together for over ten years in and around Los Angeles as independent contractors and employees of award-winning arts organizations. 

http://vibrantmgmt.com

Overtone Industries –
Emmy and Dramalogue award-winning Overtone Industries creates vivid, original myths and fables, bringing them to life in the form of opera and music/theater.  The organization is passionate about live performance and its transformational power, created as performers and audiences participate together in each unfolding moment.  Overtone believes that artistic expression is an essential ingredient to our lives; a catalyst for artists and audience members to understand themselves and each other in a fresh new way.  By exploring new relationships among words, acting, movement, and music, the non-profit ultimately seeks to create work geared to invite a broad demographic of people to experience together the Big Questions and the Big Joy of being alive.  Overtone Industries’ work has been performed in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and in New York at the Kurt Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall. http://www.overtoneindustries.org

Support –
Overtone Industries currently receives support from Achilles Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Metabolic Studio, The National Endowment for the Arts as well as a plethora of generous individual donors.

For more information, to request images, or arrange interviews please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

The Woman in the Wall, a “mystery play” in the ancient tradition, explores the openings and paths inside that are revealed when all doors are locked shut. Foreground - Gretchen Johnson as Marianna. Background - Livia Reiner, Octavia Leclerc-Jones, and Kathleen Kelso. Photo Credit: Emily Brooke Sandor

The Industry

The Industry Presents The World Premiere Of

Crescent City, A Hyperopera
Set Within Cityscape Installations By Six LA-Based Contemporary Artists
Thursday, May 10 – Sunday, May 27, 2012

At Atwater Crossing in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES, CA – February 2, 2012 – The Industry presents the world premiere of Crescent City, a hyperopera by composer Anne LeBaron and librettist Douglas Kearney, under the direction of Yuval Sharon, from Thursday, May 10 to Sunday, May 27, 2012 at Atwater Crossing in Los Angeles.  The massive new site-specific production, which audiences will experience in 360-degrees, is set in a mythical cityscape with abstract sets by an extraordinary group of six LA-based installation artists. The installations will be on view on select days for the run of the production, then transformed in the evening with performances of the opera.  For more information, www.TheIndustryLA.org.

With a gala opening of the opera on Thursday, May 10, 2012, Crescent City will run for three weeks, Thursdays through Sundays, closing on May 27, 2012.   All performances begin at 8:00pm.  Ticket prices range from $25 to $100 and will be available via http://theindustryla.org/tickets/ starting April 1, 2012.  Performances are suitable for audience members 12-years-old or older.  Collaborating visual artists include Mason Cooley, Brianna Gorton, Katie Grinnan, Alice Konitz, Jeff Kopp and Olga Koumoundouros – all members of the vibrant Los Angeles art scene.  On Friday, May 11, 2012, The Industry will host an artists’ reception on set, inviting guests to see the installations up close.  Installations are on view to the public on Wednesdays and Saturdays from noon to 6:00pm, with guided tours hourly during the run of the production.  Atwater Crossing is located at 3245 Casitas Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90039 (www.atwatercrossing.com).


More About Crescent City –
In the wake of a devastating hurricane, Crescent City is a shell of its former self where the few remaining inhabitants struggle for survival.  The bad waters of an impending new storm wake up the notorious ghosts of the city’s past, including the legendary voodoo goddess Marie Laveau (played by Gwendolyn Brown).   Marie pleads with the awakened voodoo gods to save the city. They agree to come to her aid on one condition: they must be able to find one good person among the ragtag and desperate citizenry.  Crescent City becomes a travelogue in search of the one who will make the city worthy of salvation.

Anne LeBaron’s hybrid sound world encompasses an otherworldly brew of electronica, bluegrass, jazz, and improvisation. The production includes a live 16-piece orchestra (including Timur and the Dime Museum) with such diverse instrumentation as laptop, chromelodeon, and shakuhachi.

Audience members will be seated in and around the city, seeing and hearing the action in every other part of the city through live video streams and sophisticated sound technology.

“I’m excited by the different ways audiences will be able to experience the work,” says Director Yuval Sharon. “Letting imaginations run wild when the space is open during the day should increase people’s curiosity about how the opera plays out by night.”

To listen to “The Nurses’ Scene,” an excerpt from a Crescent City workshop performance at New York City Opera’s VOX in 2006, please click http://theindustryla.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Crescent-City-excerpt-nurses.mp3.

A detailed synopsis of Crescent City can be viewed at http://www.annelebaron.com/Crescent_City_synopsis.pdf

Hyperopera –
Hyperopera, a concept that has evolved in LeBaron’s work and teaching at California Institute of the Arts, is a mega collaboration bringing together artists from many different disciplines.  Crescent City unites not only the creative voices of the writers and producers, but also contemporary visual artists with the set, lighting, video, and sound designers.  Crescent City is LeBaron’s most ambitious experiment with this theory to-date.

Crescent City Credits –
- Composer – Anne LeBaron – www.annelebaron.com
- Librettist – Douglas Kearney – www.douglaskearney.com
- Director – Yuval Sharon – www.yuvalsharon.com
- Conductor – Marc Lowenstein
- Producer – Laura Kay Swanson
- Curator – Brianna Gorton – http://briannagorton.otherpeoplespixels.com/home.html
- Set Designer – Sibyl Wickersheimer – www.sawgirl.com
- Costume Designer – Ivy Chou
- Lighting Designer – Elizabeth Harper – www.eharperdesign.com
- Sound Designer – Martin Gimenez
- Video Designer – Jason Thompson
- Technical Director – Eric Nolfo

Visual Installation Artists –
- Mason Cooley – http://masoncooley.blogspot.com
- Brianna Gorton – http://briannagorton.otherpeoplespixels.com/home.html
- Katie Grinnan – http://www.artnet.com/magazine/features/honigman/honigman8-4-04.asp
- Alice Konitz – alicekonitz.com
- Jeff Kopp – http://redlingfineart.com/artists/jeff-kopp
- Olga Koumoundouros – www.vielmetter.com/artists/olga-koumoundouros.html

Timur & the Dime Museum (photo credit: Sandra Powers)

Cast –
The cast of 18 includes:
- Marie Laveau – Gwendolyn Brown – http://www.gwendolynbrown.com
- The Good Man – Cedric Berry – http://www.cedricberry.com/Cedric_Berry/Home.html
- Deadly Belle – Timur Bekbosunov – www.theoperaoftimur.com
- Homesick Woman – Lillian Sengpiehl – http://tinyurl.com/Robert-Gilder-L-Sengpiehl
- Jesse – Anthony Faatolia – http://www.ashleyfaatoalia.com
- The Nurses – Maria Elena Altany and Ji Young Yang
- The Cop – Jonathan Mack – http://www.jonathanmack.la/


Anne LeBaron –
Anne LeBaron’s compositions embrace an exotic array of subjects encompassing vast reaches of space and time, ranging from the mysterious Singing Dune of Kazakhstan, to probes into physical and cultural forms of extinction, to legendary figures such as Pope Joan, Eurydice, Marie Laveau, and the American Housewife.  Widely recognized for her work in instrumental, electronic, and performance realms, she has earned numerous awards and prizes, including a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, the Alpert Award in the Arts, a Fulbright Full Fellowship, an award from the Rockefeller MAP Fund for her opera, Sucktion, and a 2009-2010 Cultural Exchange International Grant from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs for The Silent Steppe Cantata.  Also an accomplished harpist, LeBaron is renowned for her pioneering methods of developing and implementing extended harp techniques, electronic enhancements, and notation in compositional and improvisational contexts.  She currently teaches composition and related subjects, such as Concert Theater and Hyperopera, at the California Institute of the Arts. http://www.annelebaron.com

Douglas Kearney –
Douglas Kearney’s work as a poet, performer and librettist has been featured in many fine publications and venues in print, in-the-flesh and in digital code.  His first full-length collection of poems, Fear, Some, was published in 2006 (Red Hen Press).  His second manuscript, The Black Automaton, was chosen by Catherine Wagner for the National Poetry Series and was published by Fence Books in December 2009.  In 2010, it was named a finalist for the Pen Center USA Literary Award in poetry.  In 2008, he was honored with a Whiting Writers’ Award. He lives in the San Fernando Valley with his family and teaches courses in African American poetry, opera and myth at California Institute of the Arts. http://www.douglaskearney.com

Yuval Sharon –
Yuval Sharon’s directorial work has been described as “magical” (The Village Voice), “ingenious” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “a major event, where surprise sidesteps operatic convention” (Los Angeles Times).  He has worked both with international houses like the San Francisco Opera, the Mariinsky Theater, the Bregenzer Festspiele in Austria, and the Komische Oper Berlin, as well as experimental venues like Berkeley Opera, Le Poisson Rouge, and the Deitch Projects. He was Assistant Director to Achim Freyer on the Los Angeles Ring Cycle. Sharon was Project Director for four years of New York City Opera’s VOX, an annual workshop of new American opera, which became the most important crucible for new opera in the country under his direction.  Sharon will also be directing Jessye Norman, Meredith Monk, and Joan LaBarbara in John Cage’s Song Books this March as part of San Francisco Symphony’s Mavericks Festival, which includes a Carnegie Hall performance.  The Los Angeles Times also just named Sharon a “Face to Watch” in 2012. More information is at http://www.yuvalsharon.com.

Marc Lowenstein –
Marc Lowenstein conducted the world premieres of several new operas including The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth, Dice Thrown, WET, The Scarlet Letter, and The Peach Blossom Fan, as well as the American premieres of R. Murray Schaefer’s Loving and Georges Aperghis’ Sextuor.  For four years, he conducted with the New York City Opera’s new music festival VOX and conducted on the Monday Evening Concert Series, with Jacaranda, the California Ear Unit, the Vinny Golia Ensemble, the Kadima Conservatory, the CalArts New Century Players, and Ensemble Green.  He was the founder and music director of the Berkeley Contemporary Opera, a company that produced four seasons of contemporary operas.  As a singer, he specializes in contemporary music and has performed over twenty-five opera roles including the premiere of What to Wear by Michael Gordon and Richard Foreman and he recently sang the American premiere of Frank Denyer’s Out of the Shattered Shadows.  Lowenstein has written a full-length opera based on the screenplay of The Fisher King and is working on two others.  He has written several shorter chamber works as well. He occasionally moonlights as a professional whistler and amateur Klezmer clarinetist. He teaches theory, conducting, composition and history at California Institute of the Arts.

Laura Kay Swanson –
Laura Kay Swanson brings a wide range of experience to The Industry. A graduate of the MFA Producing Program at California Institute of the Arts, she produced Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant and was musical director and assistant producer for Hellzapoppin’, a musical adaptation based on the 1941 film. She was the associate producer for the world premiere of the CalArts Center for New Performance production of Gertrude Stein’s Brewsie and Willie, winner of three 2011 LA Weekly Theater Awards.  She also produced and directed a music video of the aria, “Hymn to the Sun” from Akhnaten by Philip Glass, which premiered at REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) in 2011 as part of the CalArts Film/Video showcase. Other producing credits include Rain Coloring Forest at REDCAT, featuring Indonesian artist and choreographer Sardono Kusumo and lighting designer Jennifer Tipton, and The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth, a contemporary chamber opera by Veronika Krausas. Prior to becoming a producer, she was a professional opera singer and has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, REDCAT, Carnegie Hall, and New York City Opera.

The Industry –
Founded by Artistic Director Yuval Sharon and Producing Director Laura Kay Swanson, The Industry produces new interdisciplinary work that merges music, visual arts, and performance to expand the traditional definition of opera. The Industry is a recipient of the MAP Grant from The Doris Duke Foundation and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.  http://theindustryla.org



Atwater Crossing –
Spanning five industrial buildings across two city blocks, Atwater Crossing houses an array of creative offices and studios, artisanal manufacturing facilities, locations for photography and film shoots, theaters showcasing original productions, LEED platinum loft homes and Atwater Crossing Kitchen, serving wood-fired, Mediterranean-inspired fare. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner (atxkitchen.com).  Public programs, events, and workshops feed the evolving culture and community of ATX.  Learn more at http://www.atwatercrossing.com.



Links –
- Website – www.TheIndustryLA.org
- Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Industry/124606140952622
- Twitter – TheIndustry_LA
- YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/TheindustryArts
- Tickets - http://theindustryla.org/tickets/  (sales start 4/1/12)

For more information, images, or to request interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

The Los Angeles artists creating new installation works for Crescent City are:
1) Olga Koumoundouros (photo credit: Robert Wedemeyer)
2) Katie Grinnan (photo credit: Robert Wedemeyer)
3) Jeff Kopp (photo credit: Fredrik Nilsen; courtesy of Redling Fine Art)
4) Alice Konitz (photo credit: Gene Ogami)
5) Mason Cooley (photo credit: Josh White)
6) Brianna Gorton (photo credit: Brendan Threadgill)
Please note: Works shown are representative of these artists’ sensibility, though not the actual Crescent City installations.

Vox Femina Los Angeles

Vox Femina Los Angeles Presents
From Shakespeare to Shamrocks
A Spring Concert Joining the English & Irish in Song
At Zipper Concert Hall in the Colburn School of Music in LA
Saint Patrick’s Day – March 17, 2012

LOS ANGELES, CA - January 20, 2012 - Vox Femina Los Angeles continues its 15th anniversary season with From Shakespeare to Shamrocks, a spring concert celebration that brings the English and Irish together in song on Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2012 at the Zipper Concert Hall in the Colburn School of Music.  In this bi-cultural evening, Vox Femina will unite classic Shakespeare sonnets with authentic Irish music sung in Gaelic.  From classical works to folk songs, traditions new and old from England, Scotland and Ireland will be celebrated at the event.  The performance starts at 8:00pm. Tickets are $25-30 during presale, $35 at the door.  Group rates are also available.  Zipper Concert Hall at The Colburn School is located at 200 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Public parking is available at lots adjacent to the school and limited street parking is also available within the area.  For tickets and additional information, please see www.voxfeminala.org.

From Shakespeare to Shamrocks –
The tradition of setting Shakespeare’s texts to music has long featured both male and female voices. Vox will be turning this convention upside down with compositions arranged purely for the female voice.  The latter part of the concert comprises Irish and Scottish music including Scottish “waulking” folk songs, traditionally sung by women as they gather to clean clothes.

Singer-Composer Moira Smiley has been engaged by Vox to perform at the event, which will include Smiley singing the solo on the traditional Irish piece “Si do Mhaimeo,” as well as performing a solo set of traditional folk songs.  The last selection of the evening, “The Irish Blessing,” was arranged for Vox, for female voices only, in 2007 by Graeme Langager as a tribute to Lynn Bielefelt, a dear friend and long-time supporter of Vox, who succumbed to breast cancer in 2001.  The original composition of “The Irish Blessing” was dear to her heart.

“Music from the British Isles is diverse and rich in story – particularly from a woman’s perspective,” says Dr. Iris S. Levine, Vox Femina’s Artistic Director, “We’re excited to bring the vibrant music of this region to Los Angeles for a special Saint Patrick’s Day celebration.”

Additional Vox Femina 2012 Events –

• February 2012 – Vox has been honored with an invitation to perform Mahler No. 8 Symphony of a Thousand with 14 other choirs and the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Saturday, February 4, 2012 at Shrine Auditorium.  This spectacular performance will include over 1,000 instrumentalists and singers.

• March 2012 – Vox has been chosen via blind audition to perform at the American Choral Directors Association Western Division Conference in Reno, NV on Thursday, March 1, 2012.

• May 2012 – Colors of Love: A Celebration of 15 Years with Vox Femina Los Angeles, a fundraising event on Saturday, May 12, 2012 at the Ebell Club in Highland Park, will feature live music, dancing, food, drink, and memories from 15 wonderful years of giving women voice.

• June 2012 – Celebrating the Muse will look back at the music, people, and events that have inspired Vox Femina over the past 15 years.  This special concert will be held on Saturday, June 16, 2012 at Zipper Concert Hall in the Colburn School of Music.

Vox Femina Background –
Vox Femina Los Angeles is a women’s choral ensemble dedicated to the performance of quality choral literature from a world perspective with an emphasis on music by women composers. The chorus was founded in 1997 by Artistic Director Dr. Iris S. Levine.  The 21 founding members of Vox Femina first appeared on stage as guest artists with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles in April 1997.  Since that time, Vox has quickly established itself as one of the premier women’s choruses in the United States with a demonstrated ability to perform highly eclectic repertoire, some of which can be heard on several recordings. It actively fulfills its mission through an aggressive schedule of performances, touring and educational outreach.  Vox has demonstrated its support and encouragement of living composers through commissioning new works.  Auditions are held every August.

Dr. Iris S. Levine, Artistic Director –
Nationally recognized for her excellence in choral conducting, Dr. Iris S. Levine is the founder and artistic director of Vox Femina Los Angeles, the city’s premier women’s chorus. Through her extensive experience with women’s choral literature and innovative concert programming, Dr. Levine has charted Vox Femina’s 15-year journey, building its prominence in the choral community by way of numerous appearances at ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) conventions, and over 100 appearances throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Dr. Levine earned her Doctorate in Choral Music from the University of Southern California under the tutelage of Rod Eichenberger and James Vail, and she holds a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting from Temple University in Philadelphia, where she studied with Alan Harler.  Dr. Levine is Department Chair and Professor of Music at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona.  She is also the Artistic Director for the Master Chorus at Stephen S. Wise Temple, where her choral arrangements are often performed.  Dr. Levine is also National Chair of the ACDA Repertoire and Standards Committee for Women’s Choirs and is highly sought as guest clinician and adjudicator for choral festivals throughout the country.

Moira Smiley, Special Guest–
LA-based Singer-Composer Moira Smiley leads moira smiley & VOCO, travels the world as a vocalist and creates music for dance, theater and film.  Her voice, improvisations and compositions can be heard on feature films, documentaries, BBC, PBS, and on over 40 recordings including her recent albums blink (with VOCO) and rua (solo): fiercely spare and elegantly lush collections of warped traditionals and new songcraft.  She has sung with leading ensembles and artists around the world including Paul Hillier’s Theater of Voices, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, KITKA Vocal Ensemble, New World Symphony, and Shakespeare Santa Cruz.  Featured in Lincoln Center, UCLALive, Royal Festival Hall, folk and classical music festivals across the U.S. and Canada, Smiley’s work has received praise in Billboard and Gramophone.  For more information please visit www.moirasmiley.com and www.myspace.com/vocoinfo.

The Colburn School/Zipper Hall –
The Colburn School’s mission is to provide the highest quality performing arts education in an optimal learning environment.  Founded in 1950, The Colburn School was established as a small preparatory school in connection with the University of Southern California’s School of Music.  The School became an independent, nonprofit institution in 1980 through the generous support of its benefactor, Richard D. Colburn.  In 1998, The Colburn School moved to its current location on South Grand Avenue.  One of LA’s most popular performance halls, the intimate 435-seat Zipper Hall at The Colburn School is home to many arts groups from the greater Los Angeles area, including the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Pacifica, Southwest Chamber Music, Monday Evening Concerts, Lark Musical Society, and Piano Spheres.  For more information, please call 213-621-4514 or visit http://www.colburnschool.edu.

Vox Femina –
Vox Femina Los Angeles gives women voice through the performance of quality choral literature.  Diverse in culture, age, race, belief, and sexual identity, Vox is a chorus committed to commissioning new works and raising awareness about issues that affect the family of women.  Through music, the chorus aims to create a world that affirms the worth and dignity of every person.
Key Links –
- Official Site – http://www.voxfeminala.org
- Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/VoxFemina

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For more information, images, and interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Vox Femina Los Angeles 2012 (photo credit: Paul Kawabori)

Photo credit Jeff Woodward.

501 (see three) ARTS and Highways Performance Space present Who’s Hungry -Santa Monica, part of an ongoing series of experimental tabletop puppet plays that give a voice and face to hunger, with four performances on Fridays and Saturdays from January 27 to February 4, 2012.  The plays, produced and written by Dan Froot, designed and directed by Dan Hurlin, with music by Amy Denio (a Meet The Composer commission), aim to raise awareness of the lives of those of us who, on a daily basis, must choose between life’s basic necessities – food or rent, food or medicine, food or bus fare. The upcoming production weaves together the stories of five homeless and/or hungry residents of Santa Monica, California, incorporating puppetry, dance, music, and text.

501 (see three) ARTS & Highways Performance Space Present

Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica

Experimental Puppet Theater

Putting a Face on Food Insecurity

With Four Performances on Fridays & Saturdays
January 27 to February 4, 2012

JUST ADDED: A 5th Show on Sat. 1/4 at 5:00pm [details here]

LOS ANGELES, CA – October 24, 2011 – 501 (see three) ARTS and Highways Performance Space present Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica, part of an ongoing series of experimental tabletop puppet plays that give a voice and face to hunger, with four performances on Fridays and Saturdays from January 27 to February 4, 2012.  The plays, produced and written by Dan Froot, designed and directed by Dan Hurlin, with music by Amy Denio (a Meet The Composer commission), aim to raise awareness of the lives of those of us who, on a daily basis, must choose between life’s basic necessities – food or rent, food or medicine, food or bus fare. The upcoming production weaves together the stories of five homeless and/or hungry residents of Santa Monica, California, incorporating puppetry, dance, music, and text.  Nightly shows start at 8:30pm. General admission tickets are $20, students and seniors are $15. Highways Performance Space at the 18th Street Arts Center is located at 1651 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404 (310-315-1459; http://highwaysperformance.org).  For more information on Who’s Hungry, please visit http://danfroot.com/repertory/.

“This project is about people’s lives – people who, at times, happen to go without food,” says Froot, “They have some truly beautiful, moving and hilarious stories that might otherwise go untold.”

Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica Synopsis -
In Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica, the performers serve the audience a visual and narrative feast.  The 90-minute puppet theater adaptation tells the oral histories of five very different homeless and hungry Santa Monicans, through five 15- to 20-minute segments, woven together much as a chef weaves a succession of flavors into a cohesive multi-course meal.  Overall, the project incorporates a range of puppetry styles in order to give each of the five stories its own aesthetic treatment. Presented on a specially built 24-foot dinner table, the audience views the action from one side, as if they are banquet guests.  Incorporated into the evening are Delft china, Matchbox cars, televisions, rod puppets, as well as puppets inspired by Japanese Bunraku, and much more.

Joining the audience at the table are:
- Angel – who tumbled into homelessness after a prominent career as an interior designer
- Sharon – a caseworker for an addiction recovery agency and recovering heroin addict herself
- Chris – an original member of the notorious 1970s surfing/skateboarding crew known as the Z-Boys
- Mike – who endured an eviction from subsidized housing while undergoing a dire health crisis
- Chanel – who headed to New York City when the World Trade Center towers collapsed, feeling the need to run down the street in fear with her fellow New Yorkers

The production will feature four puppeteers and three musicians.  The highly collaborative cast, performers with rich puppetry, dance, and acting backgrounds, includes Zachary Tolchinsky, Rachael Lincoln, Sheetal Gandhi, and Darius Mannino. Original scores have been commissioned from the award winning Seattle-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Amy Denio (a Meet The Composer commission), to be performed live.  Denio’s work merges jazz, experimental folk, ska, and funk with a range of instruments including, but not limited to, many that are in scale with the puppetry such as toy pianos, ukuleles, and bongos.  Denio will lead a small ensemble, choreographed and staged in the space to interact with the puppeteers and the puppets/objects themselves. Collaborating with Denio in the ensemble are musicians Mike Flanagan and Daniel Corral.

"Sharon" puppet designed by Dan Hurlin. She's a Bunraku-style puppet, operated by three people simultaneously: one on feet and/or arm, one on one or both arms, one on head/torso. Photo credit: Jeff Woodward

The inaugural set of Who’s Hungry puppet plays premiered in West Hollywood in 2008 with narrators from that area.  This new Santa Monica installment in the series takes the experimental strategy of the project to a new level, primarily by inviting the local community narrators into the heart of the creative team. These narrators have collaborated with Hurlin and Froot throughout the process – from story adaptation through construction, rehearsal and performance.

“The project allows each of these individuals to clearly imprint their agency onto the play, deepening it,” says Hurlin, “While they may not have complete control over their lives, we wanted them to have control of their own stories.”

Robert Coughlin, one of the community narrators from the West Hollywood pilot project, reflected on sharing his story with the Who’s Hungry audience: “I’m just so grateful that I’ve had this opportunity to have some clarity and to pull back from my own life.  I get to detach from all that and use it as a tool, and not let it consume me any longer.  I get to build from it; not let it bring me down.  It’s beautiful.”

Object Theater –
Object Theater, a sub-category of puppetry, is a performance style that utilizes the animation of objects – found and/or constructed – for theatrical effect.  A theater of objects goes beyond merely “containing objects” – practitioners of the genre employ the rich functional and symbolic values inherent in objects as potent tools for the theater.  Froot felt that combing puppets with the materiality of Object Theater – bridging theater, visual art and puppetry – was the perfect way to tell these stories for, among other things, the intimate environment and endless creative potential to create a vast range of sensibilities from intense depth to whimsy, from realism to poetry.

“This form of puppet theater creates a very close, communal experience since the audience must sit together, near the action, in order to see these small objects,” says Froot, “It also puts the audience in an empathic role, more so than live theater with human actors – when we watch object theater, we must engage and project ourselves onto the puppets and objects with an active imagination.”

Food Insecurity –

The USDA classifies those who at times go hungry because they cannot afford enough food as having “very low food security.” According to the USDA, around one in six Americans had a hard time putting food on the table at some point last year. That’s roughly 49 million people (14.5% of the population). This figure is virtually unchanged from the previous year.

“To clarify, though, we’re not making a statement about world hunger, or even about hunger in the U.S. per se,” says Froot, “The project is more about who is going through your recycling bins… we want to help them tell their stories.”

left-to-right: Dan Froot (producer/playwright), Amy Denio (composer) and Dan Hurlin (designer/director) Photo credit: Jeff Woodward

Dan Froot, Producer / Playwright –

Dan Froot’s work has toured internationally since 1983. Awards include a Bessie (New York Dance & Performance Award) and a City of Los Angeles Artist Fellowship. He has worked with Yoshiko Chuma, Ping Chong, David Dorfman, Mabou Mines, Ralph Lemon, and Victoria Marks, among others. He teaches at UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures / Dance.

Dan Hurlin, Designer / Director –

Dan Hurlin received a United States Artists Fellowship, two Obie awards, a 2001 Bessie, and a 2004 Alpert Award. His puppet theater work tours internationally. He has performed with Ping Chong, Janie Geiser, and Jeffrey M. Jones, and directed works by Lisa Kron, Holly Hughes, and John C. Russell among others. Hurlin currently teaches dance and puppetry at Sarah Lawrence College.

Amy Denio, Composer –

Amy Denio is a multi-instrumentalist composer and singer based in Seattle, WA. Her music has been heard at Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Seattle Opera House, Detroit Institute of Art, and the Venice Biennale, among many other venues. She tours as a soloist as well as with her projects Tiptons Sax Quartet and Kultur Shock.

Highway’s Performance Space –

Highways Performance Space is Southern California’s boldest center for new performance. Now in its 23rd year, Highways continues to be an important alternative cultural center in Los Angeles that encourages fierce new artists from diverse communities to develop and present innovative works.  Recently described by the Los Angeles Times as “a hub of experimental theater, dance, solo drama, and other multimedia performance,” Highways promotes the development of contemporary socially involved artists and art forms.

501 (see three) ARTS –

Who’s Hungry is a project of 501 (see three) ARTS, an independent artist-run non-profit corporation supporting the creation and production of original dance, music, theater and interdisciplinary performance works by its members. The company is dedicated to redefining the role of the performing arts, artists and audiences in a globalized world through innovative approaches to artistic production.

Supporters –

Who’s Hungry – Santa Monica was commissioned in part by Vermont Performance Lab and was developed in part during a creative residency at Vermont Performance Lab. The project is supported in part by awards from the National Endowment for the Arts Challenge America Program; Los Angeles County Arts Commission; UCLA Center for Community Partnership; Southwest Oral History Association; The MAP Fund; a program of Creative Capital supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation; The Jim Henson Foundation; a Performance Practice and Research grant from the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts; and a grant from Meet The Composer’s New Music USA’s MetLife Creative Connections program, leadership support for which is generously provided by MetLife Foundation.  Additional support is provided by ASCAP, BMI Foundation, Inc., Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Jerome Foundation, mediaThefoundation, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Rodgers & Hammerstein Foundation and the Virgil Thomson Foundation, Ltd.  The score is commissioned through Meet The Composer’s Commissioning Music/USA program, which is made possible by generous support from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the Ford Foundation, the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Helen F. Whitaker Fund.

“This is not didactic victim art, some sort of pity party,” says Froot, summing up the production, “It’s not about feeling sorry for anybody – each of these people is sharing their unique oral history with us, their lives – with dignity and a fair amount of humor.”

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For more information, images, or to request an interview, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Rachael Lincoln in rehearsal for "Who's Hungry - Santa Monica," with Delft Buddha by Dan Hurlin Photo credit: Jeff Woodward

The Society for the Activation of Social Space Through Art and Sound (SASSAS)

Schedule and Musicians Announced For
Welcome Inn Time Machine
Over a Dozen Micro Concerts in Motel Rooms
Touring LA’s Experimental Music History
At Welcome Inn in Eagle Rock
Presented by SASSAS
Part of Pacific Standard Time Performance & Public Art Festival
Sunday, January 29, 2012

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Society for the Activation of Social Space Through Art and Sound (SASSAS) will transform Eagle Rock’s Welcome Inn into a six-hour tour through key moments in LA’s experimental music history with Welcome Inn Time Machine on Sunday, January 29, 2012.  Over a dozen concurrent micro concerts will transform individual motel rooms into venues for installations and live performances allowing key moments in Southern California sound and music history to be experienced simultaneously and sequentially in a single location. Welcome Inn Time Machine runs from 4:00pm to 10:00pm. The event is free.  The Welcome Inn is located at 1840 Colorado Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90041. For more information on SASSAS and this event please call 323-960-5723 or visit http://www.sassas.org/welcomeinn.

Welcome Inn Time Machine revisits works created between 1949 and 1977. The duration of the event is derived from the 1963 premiere performance of John Cage’s Variations IV at UCLA, which was six hours in length. Among the more than 40 works included are John Cage’s Variations IV, Bruce Nauman’s Violin Tuned D.E.A.D., Pauline Oliveros’ Sonic Meditations, The Los Angeles Free Music Society’s Pyramid Headphones, James Tenney’s Postal Pieces, and David Ornette Cherry and poet Kamau Daaood will revisit Something Else, The Music of Ornette Coleman.  In addition to presenting historic works, SASSAS is commissioning two new works based on existing fragments and documents. The Calder Quartet will premiere a new work derived from Arnold Schoenberg’s Entwürfe zu einem Streichquartett [Draft of a String Quartet] (1949) and choreographer Anita Pace will re-envision Merce Cunningham’s Field Dances (1963) as part of a presentation of Variations IV.

Welcome Inn motel in Eagle Rock

Welcome Inn Time Machine Micro Concerts –

The Calder Quartet, Untitled
Based on: Arnold Schoenberg, Entwürfe zu einem Streichquartett [Draft of a String Quartet] (1949)
Composer Arnold Schoenberg moved to the United States in 1934 and soon settled in Los Angeles. During his time in LA, he wrote such notable pieces as the Violin Concerto (1942), A Survivor from Warsaw (1947) and Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte (1942). In addition to this and numerous other works he wrote while in Los Angeles, several were unfinished upon his death in 1951, including the Draft of a String Quartet from 1949.

- Performance times: 6:30pm, 7:30pm 8:30pm
- Location: Balcony
- Performers: The Calder Quartet [Benjamin Jacobson (violin), Andrew Bulbrook (violin), Jonathan Moerschel (viola), Eric Byers (cello)

Free Jazz: Something Else! based on Something Else!!!
Los Angeles was the home for several seminal free jazz recordings including, Something Else!!! The Music of Ornette Coleman recorded February 10, 1958 at Contemporary Studios, Ornette’s first recording under his own name.  In addition to Coleman (alto sax), the album included Don Cherry (trumpet), Don Payne (bass) and Billy Higgins (drums).   David Ornette Cherry (the son of Don Cherry) and poet Kamau Daaood (who founded the World Stage Performance Gallery with Billy Higgins) revisit this recording along with other important free jazz works that originated or were recorded in Los Angeles.

- Performance times: 4:30pm, 5:30pm
- Location: Balcony
- Performers: Kamau Daaood (vocals/spoken word), Justo Almario (alto sax), Roberto Miguel Miranda (Bass), Don Littleton (Drums), David Ornette Cherry (piano)

John Cage, Variations IV (1963)
Variations IV is intended for any number of players producing any sounds by any means, “with or without other activities.” The score consists of seven points and two circles on a transparent sheet. The sheet is cut into nine small sheets. One of the circles is then placed anywhere on a map of the area where the performance is to take place. Then the rest of the sheets are dropped anywhere on the same map and straight lines are drawn from the first circle to the seven points; if a line intersects or is tangent to another circle, the same procedure is applied to that circle. Performers do not need to confine themselves to a performance of the piece during the entire performance and are free to engage in any other activities at any time. The duration of Welcome Inn Time Machine is derived from the 1963 six hour-long premiere performance of Variations IV at UCLA.

- Performance time: continuous, 4:00pm – 10:00pm
- Location: Rooms 11 and 25
- Realized by: Scott Benzel and Dave Muller

Anita Pace, Field Activity, 2012 (inspired by documents describing the performance of Merce Cunningham’s Field Dances, 1963)
Cunningham abandoned the traditional collaborative process among choreographer, composer, and designer while liberating his dancers from hierarchical symmetrical patterns, allowing the audience the choice of where and at whom to look. The possibilities for choreographic invention appeared limitless. Field Dances was originally performed as a part of the UCLA premiere of Variations IV. Choreographer Anita Pace revisits this work, using Cage’s description of Variations IV – 'samsara', 'the turmoil of everyday life' – as impetus for the movement gestalt.

- Performance times: 4:30pm, 5:30pm, 6:30pm, 7:30pm, 8:30pm
- Location: Rooms 11, 25 and adjacent stairway
- Performers: Anita Pace, Michelle Lai

Instrument and telephone from Bob Wilhite in Concert, A Telephone Concert, 1975 (Photo credit: Gary Bedyer & Jerry Byrd)

James Tenney, Postal Pieces (1965 – 1971)
The Postal Pieces are a series of 11 indeterminate scores composed between 1965 and 1971. Called Postal Pieces because they were printed on post cards (or as Tenney referred to them, “score cards”), most of the works were produced for the first time while Tenney was teaching at CalArts between 1971 and 1976.

SASSAS has a long connection with Tenney—he was an advisor to the organization from the time it was formed. Additionally SASSAS worked with him on two concerts during his lifetime – a performance of his own works in 2001, which included Having Never Written a Note for Percussion and a performance of several early works of John Cage in 2002. As a part of the 2009 Anniversary Concert, SASSAS presented Tributaries: Dedicated to the Memory of James Tenney, which included both Having Never Written a Note for Percussion and Koan among other works.

“To some extent, he was the ultimate Western composer. He approached each new piece as an adventure, with the goal of discovering original territory and, if need be, taming some theoretical musical beast or acoustical bugbear.”  Mark Swed, in Tenney’s obituary for Los Angeles Times in 2006.

- All eleven Postal Pieces will be performed.
- Location: All works in Room 8 unless otherwise noted

A Rose is a Rose is a Round (1970)
- Performance time: 4:00pm (Balcony)
- Played by: Jessica Catron, Julia Holter, Adrian Tenney

Beast (1971)
- Performance time: 4:30pm
- Played by: Dave Tranchina

Koan (1971)
- Performance time: 5:00pm
- Played by: Andrew McIntosh

Cellogram (1971)
- Performance time: 5:30pm
- Played by: Eric Byers

Swell Piece #2 (1971)
- Performance time: 6:00pm
- Played by: Matt Barbier, Jessica Catron, Jeremy Drake, Andrew Macintosh, Dave Tranchina

August Harp (1971)
- Performance time: 6:30pm
- Played by: Jane Grothe

Having Never Written a Note for Percussion (1971)
- Performance time: 7:00pm
- Played by: Danny Holt

For Percussion Perhaps, Or (night) (1971)
- Performance time: 7:30pm
- Played by: Julia Holter

Swell Piece #3 (1971)
- Performance time: 8:00pm
- Played by: Matt Barbier, Andrew Bulbrook, Danny Holt , Julie Holter, Andrew McIntosh, Nick Terry, Andrew Tholl, Dave Tranchina

Maximusic (1975)
- Performance time: 8:45pm
- Played by: Nick Terry

Swell Piece (1967)
- Performance time: 9:30pm (Balcony and across site)

Pauline Oliveros, Sonic Meditations (1971)
Leaving the Bay Area to accept a teaching position at the University of California, San Diego, Pauline Oliveros began learning about meditation. This interest created a shift in her own musical composition in which she began focusing on the significance of long tones. By 1971, Oliveros had collected a number of meditations and published them together as Sonic Meditations. These sonic explorations, open to anyone who wished to participate, were rooted in ancient musical forms that precluded the listener focusing on the healing power of Sonic Energy and its transmission within groups. Each meditation is an activity conceived to assist in making, imagining, listening and remembering sounds. The meditations exist as text giving the participants activities to do and think about over an indeterminate period of time.

- Location: Room 22
- Performers: Jessica Catron, Jeremy Drake, Adam Overton, Elana Mann

Sonic Meditations (1971)
IX. The Greeting
- Performance time: 4:45pm

XXV. Your Name – The Signature Meditation
- Performance time: 5:15pm

X.  (no name)
- Performance time: 5:45 PM

I. Teach Yourself To Fly
- Performance time: 6:15pm

XV. Zina’s Circle
- Performance time: 6:45pm

VIII. Environmental Dialogue
- Performance time: 7:15pm

III. Pacific Tell
- Performance time: 7:45pm

XII.  One Word
- Performance time: 8:15pm

XVII. Ear Ly
- Performance time 8:40pm

XVI. (no name)
- Performance time: 9:00pm

Bruce Nauman, Violin Tuned D.E.A.D. (1969)
Bruce Nauman’s Violin Tuned D.E.A.D. exemplifies his practice of incorporating boredom, exhaustion, and the superimposition of unlike systems into art and, in this case, music. In an interview with Willoughby Sharp, Nauman stated: “I wanted to set up a problem where it wouldn’t matter whether I knew how to play the violin or not. What I did was to play as fast as I could on all four strings with the violin tuned D, E, A, D. I thought it would just be a lot of noise, but it turned out to be musically very interesting. It is a very tense piece.” The D.E.A.D. tuned violin will be played for approximately 2 hours over the course of the event.

- Location: Room 4
- Played by:
- 5:00 PM: Ben Jacobson
- 6:00 PM: Andrew Tholl
- 7:00 PM: Andrew McIntosh
- 8:00 PM: Melinda Rice

Currents Series at the Theater Vanguard (1973 – 1978)
Theater Vanguard presented regular performances of experimental music, theater, film, animation and performance art. Located in the former Stage Society Theatre on Melrose in West Hollywood, The Vanguard provided a nurturing environment for LA performing arts as well as a much-needed venue for local and international artists. Currents was a regular program of electro-acoustic music at the Vanguard, founded by composer Barry Schrader in 1973 and continuing through 1978. It was the first regular presentation of electro-acoustic music in the U.S.

This installation will feature works by Pierre Schaeffer, Louis and Bebe Barron, Barry Schrader, Carl Stone, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Otto Luening, Michel Chion, Warren Burt, and Ilhan Mimaroglu as well as ephemera from the series.

- Performance time: continuous, 4:00pm – 10:00pm
- Location: Room 17

- Pierre Schaeffer, Etudes des bruits (1948)
Etude aux chemins de fer; Etude aux tourniquets; Etude violette; Etude noire; Etude pathétique
- Vladimir Ussachevsky, Sonic Contours (1952)
- Otto Luening & Vladimir Ussachevsky, Incantation (1952)
- Louis & Bebe Barron, score from The Bells of Atlantis (1952) with Anais Nin reading her poem The Bells of Atlantis
- Vladimir Ussachevsky, Piece for Tape Recorder (1956)
- Ilhan Mimaroglu, Bowery Bum (1964)
- Mel Powell, Analogs (1966)
Analog I; Analog II; Analog III; Analog I
- Michel Chion, Requiem (excerpts) (1973)
Dies Irae; Libera Me
- Warren Burt, for Anne, who broke my heart (1974)
- Carl Stone, Sukothai (1977)
- Barry Schrader, Lost Atlantis (excerpts) (1977)
Introduction:  The Pillars of Hercules – The Great Harbor; The Destruction of Atlantis – Epilogue:  “…and Atlantis shall rise”

Robert Wilhite, Bob Wilhite In Concert (1975)
In 1975, Bob Wilhite created his first musical sculpture – a unique one stringed instrument. As a gesture to establish the object and provide it with a provenance, Wilhite gave two concerts heard only via the telephone.  Wilhite placed display advertisements in the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle announcing both performances. Patrons who phoned during the specified time periods heard a short instrumental played live on the one stringed instrument.  Both concerts were performed at his Los Angeles studio. The on-site audience at the Eagle Rock event will access Wilhite’s live performance by calling his motel room from another room in the motel.

- Performance time: continuous, 4:00pm – 10:00pm
- Performer: Robert Wilhite
- Location: Room 6
- To access performance phone 310-739-5773, day of show only

The Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS), Pyramid Headphones (1976)
The Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS), the banner heading of a loose collective of experimental musicians founded in the early 1970s, have had immeasurable influence on the spread and evolution of noise and avant-garde music and DIY culture over the past almost 40 years. In July of 1976, Le Forte Four, one of the earliest groups in the collective, created an installation at the Brand Library Art Center in Glendale, California, which consisted of forty-four black, pyramid-shaped, stereo headphones, with lights on the top, through which were played an audio collage entitled Box Your Ears (which was released in 1976 as part of the double LP LAFMS: Live at the Brand).  This installation recreates the original utilizing the twelve extant original pyramid headphones.

- Performance time: continuous, 4:00pm – 10:00pm
- Location: Room 16

Members of the Los Angeles Free Music Society Testing Pyramid Headphones, 1976. (Photo credit: Fredrik Nilsen)

Credits –
Welcome Inn Time Machine is produced by Cindy Bernard in collaboration with Jessica Catron and the SASSAS Board of Directors.  Project curators are Cindy Bernard, Scott Benzel, Gregory Lenczycki, Renee Petropoulos, Joseph Potts, and Dawson Weber.

Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival –
Los Angeles was a key international birthplace of performance art. Engaging the innovative spirit of that period and LA’s vibrant contemporary art scene, the Performance and Public Art Festival will transform Southern California over eleven days (January 19-29, 2012) during Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980. Featuring more than 30 major performances and large-scale outdoor projects, the festival will include new commissions, reinventions, and restagings inspired by the radical and trailblazing public and performance works that were created by artists during the Pacific Standard Time era. Performances and projects will be located at institutions and sites throughout Southern California, in close proximity to more than two dozen Pacific Standard Time exhibitions.

The festival is organized by the Getty Research Institute and LA > < ART; support is provided by the Getty Foundation. http://www.pacificstandardtimefestival.org

SASSAS –
SASSAS (The Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that serves as a catalyst for the creation, presentation, and recognition of experimental art and sound practices in the Greater Los Angeles area.  Inspired by the resonance that occurs when experimental music is combined with unconventional performance environments, SASSAS seeks to foster new collaborations and improvisation to spark further exploration in the field. The organization is supported in part through grants from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Good Works Foundation, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and the West Hollywood Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission. http://www.sassas.org

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For more information, images, or to request an interview, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Create: Fixate Presents
I Art You
Ten Year Anniversary Valentine-Themed Art & Music Celebration
At Premiere Events Center in Downtown Los Angeles
Saturday, February 11, 2012

LOS ANGELES, CA – January 16, 2012 – Arts organization Create:Fixate (C:F) celebrates 10 years of existence with its next exhibit I Art You on Saturday, February 11, 2012 at the Premiere Events Center in Downtown Los Angeles. C:F’s signature blend features vibrant artwork and music produced by over forty local artists, DJs, and musicians. The excitement begins at 4:00pm with a three-hour gallery preview.  The main event starts at 7:00pm and closes at 2:00am.  Admission is $15.00 before 9:00pm and $20.00 for the remainder of the night. Premiere Events Center is located at 613 Imperial St., Los Angeles, CA 90021. For more information, including an image gallery of participating artists works, please visit www.createfixate.com. C:F can be reached by phone at 310-590-7199 for other inquiries.

The evening begins with a preview of the exhibit from 4:00pm to 7:00pm. There is a $5 suggested donation during this period but kids twelve-years old and younger are allowed free entry.  Parents are encouraged to bring the whole family during the preview hours and take advantage of the Kids Kreativity Zone.  Overflowing with art supplies, the Zone provides a supervised space where youth can dive into their own expression while parents explore the exhibit.  While all ages are welcome during the preview, attendees must be 21-years old or older to enter after 7:00pm.

I Art You will be filled with Valentine-themed merriment:

• The Love Car Art Competition – a live painting face-off on a 2003 Nissan Sentra
LA’s favorite live painters take on a Nissan Sentra in an art competition like no other! Through a live drawing on the spot, each artist will be assigned a section of the car and then randomly assigned a rock song title - love ballad, of course - to paint their own interpretation of the song on the car!  They have two hours to complete their painting.  Who might the winner be?  The crowd will be called upon to express their inner art critic when their cheers are measured by our judges!  Participating live painters include some of LA favorites  – John Park, Christina Angelina, Max Neutra, and Michael Pukac.

• Valentine’s Day Card Making Station Open All Night Long – Adult Friendly!

• The Art of Romance: Singles Mingle – Guided by relationship & passion consultant Barry Selby
Barry is The Passion Consultant, and his life purpose is inspiring people to live authentic lives. The vehicle that most effectively expresses his purpose is his facilitation and guidance with singles and couples to have amazing relationships, living purposefully and authentically, and fulfilling their highest potential.  About to be released through Amazon, his new book, Rules of Romance – 50 ways to love your lover, is your answer to many questions.  Comprised of 50 powerful relationship and romance principles, it will inspire and give you food for thought and will show you how to have what you want (in relationship and romance), whether you are single or in relationship.

Create:Fixate Founder and Artistic Director Michelle Berc explains the Valentine’s Day theme… “For ten years, we’ve been loving Los Angeles with art, music, and all things creative. I Art You seemed like the perfect title to express this accomplishment of serving our mission and reaching this milestone.  And as always, I love using our event themes to inspire people to think about who they are and who they are becoming.

“I Art You focuses on appreciating the special people in our lives and how we can express our gratitude by giving a gift that is made with our very own hands. I teamed up with a dear friend, Jessica Viola, who helped write our theme, which opens up with the line “We are how we hold each other.” It continues to say “to understand another, selflessly, purely and with good intention is the fire that feeds the desire to give and to find new ways of expressing our love… True love knows the greatest joys are not in receiving as much as in giving.”  This Valentine’s Day, we want to inspire everyone to remember that some of the greatest gifts can only be felt by the heart and to touch those hearts with art!”

All participating artists along with high school students from C:F’s community partner A Place Called Home will be creating one piece of artwork that expresses the show’s theme.

As part of Create:Fixate’s community outreach efforts the organization continues to empower youth through arts education projects. For the first time C:F will join forces with A Place Called Home (APCH).  APCH is a safe haven in South Central Los Angeles where underserved youth are empowered to take ownership of the quality and direction of their lives through programs in education, arts, and well being; and are inspired to make a meaningful difference in their community and the world.

I Art You will feature the creativity of over twenty visual artists in the Optical Lounge, the evening’s visual feast, presenting a stunning array of painting, photography, multi-media, interactive installation, and performance art. Highlights include:
• Curtis Brooks, who is motivated and driven most by the materials he works with in the home improvement industry, uses sheets of acrylic and latex enamel paint skins to create paint sculptures.
• Brian Robertson bridges the terrain between abstraction and representation. One finds in his collaged paintings meticulous geometric patterning and a highly developed sense of rhythm and movement.
• Emily White works with code to explore the aesthetics of inundation. Her recent drawings exist at the threshold between control and chaos. She has exhibited, lectured and published on topics ranging from manufactured islands to the use of code in engineered textiles.

The Audio Lab, otherwise known as the music portion of the evening, completes Create:Fixate’s vision.  Highlights include:
• John Tejada – “LA’s own techno hero” – LA Weekly
• Silver Pesos – a blend of tropical bass rhythms, soulful Spanish & English female vocals, and West African guitar psychedelia
• Valida – as heard on KCRW’s The Lab, late-night Saturday’s
• Aimé – electronic artist/hip-hop beat-maker, occasionally likened to artists such as Boards of Canada, Ulrich Schnauss, Amiina and Air

Create:Fixate is an arts organization that has now completed a decade of serving the emerging art and music community of Los Angeles.  The organization is best know for its signature blend of art and music, along with thousands of art lovers and party goers in massive – and at times intimate – warehouse locations and alternative spaces on a quarterly basis.  Founder Michelle Berc curates, produces and hosts these ambitious group art shows that present creative beings from around the globe with an emphasis on the local talent of Los Angeles. The production team also includes Music Coordinator Andrea Giardina, and a core team of volunteers and dedicated advisory board members. Awe-inspiring painters, photographers, sculptors, and multi-media artists exhibit alongside an equally impressive array of Los Angeles’ finest DJs and musicians. Each event’s aural artists are poised to create a soundtrack for the night that transforms this from a simple art show into one of the city’s most anticipated art events.

Optical Lounge:

Annie Terrazzo
Annie Terrazzo has been creating mixed media portraiture for almost 10 years and has sold over 450 works of art in that time. “Detritus”, Terrazzo’s current artistic endeavor is made completely out of newspapers from around the world. Her latest series, entitled “Head Lines” will be completed  in January 2012. Her latest work, Power Lines had a very well received exhibition in Toronto, Canada in September 2011 at Communication Art Gallery And Toast Gallery. 6 out of 10 pieces sold in 3 weeks time. Other projects include “Art Is Trash”, born in 2001, which mainly focused on creating portraits made with objects found on the streets of L.A. at 3am.

Annie spends most of her down time in Los Angeles, but travels most of the year doing shows in other countries and collecting new newspapers. She is inspired by the likes of Ralph Steadman, JR, Roy Lichstenstine, strippers that don’t speak English, box tape and expensive champagne.

Art Weeks
Formerly an advertising Art Director for over 20 years, Art Weeks had always had a dream to one day quit the advertising world to become a full time artist, and in 2007 he did just that.  His work often incorporates graphic elements, patterns and precisely rendered shapes, an obvious influence from his former career.  Since then, Weeks has participated in over 60 group shows, including five solo shows, even having had the prestigious honor of being chosen to exhibit a painting at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

Brian Robertson
Los Angeles based artist, Brian Robertson bridges the terrain between abstraction and representation. Within the artist’s figurative works, a convergence of disparate styles and technique combine to create a blended aesthetic. One finds in his collaged paintings meticulous geometric patterning and a highly developed sense of rhythm and movement. Robertson’s highly graphic and vibrant pieces – themselves a hybrid of processes – invoke a fusion of personal and referenced mythologies to create works of great emotional weight.

Curtis Brooks
Curtis Brooks is a southern California native and self-taught artist living in Santa Monica. A carpenter and house painter by trade, his work has evolved out of his twenty years of experience in the construction industry.  His wood sculptures and paintings, each with their own unique visible history, are inspired by and created with the left over paint, paint sticks, and scraps of wood used in his work as a home improvement contractor.

Donna Trousdale
Donna Trousdale considers herself more of a scientist than an artist – a scientist of Consciousness. She became interested in Sacred Geometry several years ago as a way to understand the fundamental structure of the Universe. Her paintings depict the Flower of Life and the Torus, which represent the underlying architecture of Conscious Vibration. It’s the geometry that naturally forms as Unity divides and expands itself. The sacred image of the Flower of Life has been found across the globe and its formation holds innumerable secrets to the mysteries of Creation. Its structure is a divine expression of L.O.V.E. – the Law of Vibrational Equilibrium. Trousdale has spent the last several years studying the dynamics of this Universal principle and has given talks around the world regarding the constant whole number solution to the Pi ratio, which was revealed to her while working with and painting this geometry.

Emily White
Emily White is an artist and architect working in Los Angeles. She graduated from Barnard College and holds a Master in Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). Together with partner Lisa Little, she runs the design office LAYER. LAYER’s installations and buildings have appeared in the LA Times, Interior Design magazine, the 2010 California Design Biennial, the New Children’s Museum and the Skirball Cultural Center. White has exhibited, lectured, and published on topics ranging from manufactured islands to the aesthetics of inundation. She is currently on the faculty at the Southern California Institute of Architecture.

Erik Abel
Born in Ventura County, Erik Abel is an artist inspired by the subtle dynamics of the ocean, ancient cultures, and patterns of the natural world. With over 15 years experience as a freelance designer, Abel has fused his curiosity of nature and design with his passion for surfing and the sea. Through his unique mix of acrylic paint, markers, and colored pencil, Abel’s pieces intrigue clients and collectors to explore their affinity for the environment and appreciation of visual balance. Abel’s clients include private collectors along with notable brands such as Reef, Patagonia, Billabong, and Oxbow. His work has been featured in Surfing Magazine, Fluir, Tide, Juxtapoz, PDX Magazine, Citizen LA, and Oddica.

Gus Harper
Gus Harper was born and raised in Santa Monica.  For the last eleven years he has worked full time as an artist.  His first show was at Ground Zero in Marina Del Rey and since then has shown his work in New York, Denver, New Orleans, Mexico City, and Puerto Vallarta.  His best known work is from the series, “Signs of A Benevolent Universe.”  His most recent solo show, Daydreams, the Awakening was at Gus Harper studios, which he maintains full time at 11306 Venice Blvd. (90066).  His art can be viewed at www.gusharperart.com.  The work on display at Create:Fixate is from the “Signs of Life” series.

Isabelle Alford-Lago
Originally from Santa Cruz, CA, Isabelle Alford-Lago came to Los Angeles to receive her BA from University of Southern California, and has since been working as a painter.  Her current work is distinctly defined by her Gorilla portraits, which are both oils on canvas as well as large public murals.  The Gorillas are a satirical representation of classic portraiture, using an unlikely subject to portray real human emotion and individualized presence.  Alford-Lago is now based in Venice, CA.

Jeremy Crabtree
Jeremy Crabtree’s paintings are made to evoke a comparison between the dreams when we sleep and the dreams of our waking existence. Behind the many layers of color and texture lie varying methods of communication felt collectively from moment to moment, or from space to time. He uses whatever forms of paint or plaster is convenient at the time to maintain the spontaneity felt in our daily lives. He lives and works in downtown Los Angeles.

JK Wasson
JK Wasson is a Venice-based painter and filmmaker. His current series explores the heart– it’s mechanics as a pump, it’s place within the body, it’s rhythms, it’s mood swings. He draws inspiration from his own heart’s struggle to balance order and chaos.

John Park
John Park is an artist and teacher living in Venice.  He received his training at the Rhode Island School of Design where he studied classical figure drawing, painting, sculpture and anatomy.  His current body of work is an attempt to reconcile these classical influences with the modern aesthetic of the New Contemporary Art movement.  The paintings themselves are executed in a public setting in front of an audience at the various galleries, clubs, bars and music festivals that serve as his studio.  He teaches drawing and painting at Concord Prep in Santa Monica.

Jon Measures
Jon Measures is a British artist, designer, and educator based in Los Angeles. Measures produces intriguing mixed media images depicting Los Angeles, and in particular, the East side of LA. These pieces often combine multiple views; slicing and dicing bits of the city’s rich fabric together. The images are usually digitally edited, and collaged together with painted elements. Paint is used to stylize or emphasize aspects of the photographic materials and to add texture and layering. Measures has described his approach to image making as a hybrid between painting, photography, and collage.

Kat Shoa
Kat Shoa is an artist, a world traveler, and a businesswoman. A self taught artist, she combines her art influences from late 19th century to early 20th century impressionism with her unique ink drawing style. As an art collector from around the world, she uses acrylic painting as her creative outlet. She’s a late bloomer who discovered her artistic talents in 2008 with custom portrait paintings, and quickly expanded to figurative paintings, trees, vines, and other subject matters.

In real life, she’s the Managing Director of The Directive Group, a management consulting practice providing strategic business services to companies developing products, services, and intellectual properties. She also sits on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Boys & Girls Club, a 60 year old nonprofit organization helping disadvantaged youth with education, sports, and citizenry programs. She has degrees in Computer Engineering and Executive Management.

L. Croskey
Inspired by vintage pin up art, design, and advertising, LC creates a world of imagination, a very distinct world of his own, an image that reflects a metaphor or fantasy or delusion, a false paradise. By using magazines and books ranging from vintage pin up to children’s books and numerous others, he takes these classic beauties and other collected images and places them in a modern design setting. Years of collected wrapping paper, wallpaper, scrap booking paper, and magazines are the materials LC uses to build this girl inspired world, luring you in to find out that the story might actually be saying more than what it may have initially alluded to.

LC’s art is a diary of emotions from his past and the lessons he has learned from these various, funny, sometimes dark relationships, and sometimes just good old fashioned sex.

Luis Sanchez
For his paintings, Luis Sanchez utilizes a number of mediums, including acrylic, dry pigments and stucco. His two-dimensional works are often noted for his masterful use of trompe l’oeil, leaving viewers with the impression that he has used photography, collage, or other techniques when he has only used the brush. His work seamlessly combines the past, present and the future.

Born in 1968, Sanchez lived the first ten years of his life in Mexico City with his family (a Cuban born father, a Mexican-Lebanese mother, and an older brother and sister.) He and his family immigrated to Seattle, WA in 1979.  He attended Cornish College of the Arts and the Academy of Realist Art in Seattle, WA.  In 2002 Sanchez moved to Los Angeles to pursue painting and sculpture full time. He exhibits in Los Angeles, Indiana, Chicago, Miami and New York.

Michelle Nielsen
Michelle Nielsen is a young Bolivian visual artist educated in San Francisco, Chile, and Mexico. Her oil paintings use a combination of narrative figuration and pop influence inspired by fashion and photography. Letting the canvas capture frozen moments in liquid environments filled with color and transparency, her latest work shows a different stroke of what her development as an artist can offer to the eye. Determined to stay true to her feminine sensibility, imagination, and sense of humor, Michelle’s artwork invites the spectator to enjoy the pleasure of looking.

Mike Russek
Mike Russek graduated with an MFA from Maryland Institute of Art in 2001, with a focus in sculpture. He started his own company,1028 Designs, in 2005. 1028 Designs is a custom design and fabrication facility utilizing laser tooling to create furniture, interiors and various products and solutions. Russek is also the co-owner and curator of d i a l e c t satellite gallery, a cutting edge mobile gallery which travels to special events and festivals around the country, showcasing works from established and emerging local and global talents.

Sal Escobar
An advertising creative during the day and conceptual artist at night, Sal Escobar originally from Puebla, Mexico, started his artistic expression in Mexico City doing videos and installations. In 2005 he moved to Los Angeles where he explores new techniques using recycled materials to create diverse objects. For his collection “Banderas” (Flags), he uses mixed-media to express the wear and tear of relationships and the confrontation of ideals where love is the battlefield.

Sean “Chango” Caffey
Sean Caffey came into the arts naturally with a painter for a mother and a jazz composer of a father. With a family full of artists ranging from photographers and graphic designers to fine mixed media artists, he was exposed to the raw knowledge used to create art.  At a young age, Caffey learned drawing, painting, carpentry, costume design and various forms of dance all before he entered high school.  Over the last ten years he has developed into a metal artist.  His latest permanent installation can be found at the Holy Cow night club in San Francisco where he integrated edge glowing fiber optics into his sculpture to make a dynamic lighting display over the DJ booth that pulses to life with the music.  As of late “Chango” has found perforated sheet metal to be his favorite material, the Moiré patterns from stacking the material allow for significant light and shadow play.

Sebastian Halmagean
Residing in San Diego, Sebastian Halmagean is an emerging artist whose education in art is rooted at the Watts Atelier in Encinitas, CA. His paintings can be defined as “snapshot narratives” that have a tale to tell… an asymmetric and riddled tale that is fueled by longings, nuanced by reverie, laced with a dreamy romanticism, and punctuated by a flare for elegance.

Stephanie Han
Stephanie Han emigrated to the U.S. in 1978 from Seoul, S. Korea. She obtained her MFA degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 1999 and now pursues careers in painting and graphic design.  She exhibits all over Southern California and also works as an Art Director at a graphic design firm in Long Beach. She explores themes of loss and hope with her current series of abstract expressionist paintings.

Tari Karkanen (Video Projections)
- bio coming soon

Terry Hutton
Terry Hutton was born in London, England in 1960. With no formal education, apart from a long spell in Florence, Italy, and some junior college credit, he is self-taught. Undecided if this is an advantage or not, he works closely with a silent voice, many call it a natural instinct, or intuition. As a direct result of this, he is setting a new purpose, by veering away from representational work he’s known for, to peer closely into color and just sheer paint. There is nothing under the sun that has not been done before, so with this in mind, a new endeavor has evolved to let the paint sing louder then his brush.

Zig Gron
A performing musician (percussionist) born in Detroit, sound and rhythm are often integral components of Zig Gron’s films and videos, which he has been making for the past 25 years.  Fascinated with the way seemingly insignificant images can merge to form something more powerful than any individual part (the way a musical ensemble is the culmination of separate instruments), his work often results in complex visual graphics based on simple tropes, using time-honored compositional techniques such as theme and variation, repetition and counterpoint.

• Fashion / Jewelry / Crafts:

Irene LAVA Jewels
Irene LAVA jewels, a line of vintage-inspired beaded jewelry, was started by Interior Designer/Personal Shopper/Photographer Janet Grey as an antidote to a debilitating e-bay habit.  Thankfully, it worked out!  Named after her two grandmothers, Irene Jeanette Goldman and Leona Lava, each one-of-a-kind Irene LAVA creation is lovingly hand-assembled by Grey using a unique combination of vintage, czech glass, Swarovski Crystal, gemstone, rare, unusual and just simply SPECTACULAR beads from the early 20th century through current times. Gems include onyx, amethyst, labradorite, garnet, peridot, jade, aventurine and more.

Delevo Designs
After graduating from Columbia College, Deborah Vogt became a founding member of The Conjugate Projekt, Transamoeba Studios and The Chicago Art Department, participating in the creation of many collectives, multitudes of events and performance art installations throughout Chicago. She began creating her line of jewelry, Delevo designs, in the year 2000, even traveling to Bali to teach her stylized designs to the master artisans there. Upon landing in Los Angeles, she worked with several high end designers, and early in 2010 co-founded d i a l e c t gallery on 6th Street downtown. She now divides her time between curating and singing in her band, Early Bird Circus. Her jewelry is hand-crafted, elegant and simple, using fine woods, sterling silver and gold, precious and semi-precious stones and recycled materials to create universal and distinctive designs.

Luv Warrior/WittyKitty
Witty Kitty is all about fashion with flavor!  We are inspired by anything and everything Witty! Our “Kittys” also known as leather sleeves or fingerless gloves are all handmade, no two “Kittys” are a like!  Whether casually worn or dressy they complete any look! The buttery soft leather makes them so comfortable, and there is no thumb or finger cut-outs so your fingers are literally free! Our “Kittys” definitely qualify as a classic in the right wardrobe! Enjoy!

Viola Living Jewels
Jessica Viola is a botanical designer and the founder of Viola Living Jewels and Viola Gardens. For the past thirteen years, Viola has been cultivating her design portfolio and practice based on sustainability, whole-system solutions and artistic vision.  Viola Gardens was born nearly six years ago, specializing in permaculture-based botanical design, CA native plant restoration, drought-tolerant water-wise artscapes, edible gardens and organics.  Viola Gardens has worked with a large range of clients throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, both residentially and commercially.  Viola lectures on sustainable landscape design and permaculture at Santa Monica College, Venice Community Housing and Pepperdine University.  After many years of working in design, studying, stretching, exploring holistic living, traveling to South and Central America, playing music, singing, making art, creating gardens and teaching, Viola Living Jewels was born.  The collection features fashion-forward botanical jewelry; amulets of our wild essence.

Jenneration Fix
Jenneration Fix is a small company made up of two Jennifers:  two women who wanted to help the environment in their own way.  They aim to make a difference in the world by transforming rescued materials into art and supporting various non-profit organizations at the same time.  Jenneration Fix, in effect, makes a complete circle back into the community by taking potential pollutants in the world from businesses and individuals, creating fun and useful items and then donating a portion of their profits back into a wide variety of charities.  The crafty ladies use materials such as discarded fabrics and clothing pieces, leather, scrap wood, e-waste, warped vinyl records, corks, and plastic packaging to make art work, jewelry, purses and clutches, pet toys, clocks, greeting cards and other quirky and fun gifts!

(soy’-ka designs)
Natalie Sojka found her first elements of inspiration for this line at an antique shop in rural Pennsylvania. After seeing the unique blend of metal shapes and textures she was inspired to produce her current line of jewelry.  Her goal with this line is to give her clients something unique, sexy, authentic, and edgy to wear, as well as a conversation starter.  All pieces are handmade, one of a kind, and made from all recycled materials.

Audio Lab:

Silver Pesos
The Silver Pesos blend tropical bass rhythms, soulful female vocals in Spanish and English, and West African guitar psychedelia. Formed in 2009 by producer/instrumentalist Peter Brambl, singer Chloe Conger, and guitarist Robert Weber, the group’s debut album Born at Midnight features the single “Regresando,” which has created a buzz on and offline.  Currently based in Los Angeles, the Silver Pesos also feature jazz bassist John von Seggern, percussionist Jason Kadlec, drummer Krishnanda Adipurba and vocalist/keyboardist Joanna Ellis.
www.thesilverpesos.com For free download of album, enter: http://www.thesilverpesos.com/create-fixate

John Tejada (Palette)
Normally associated with his peers in techno from Detroit, Europe and elsewhere, John Tejada has embraced electronic music as a personal frontier, expanding on his formidable resume as a techno recording artist as producer and remixer, DJ, and label owner. With dozens of singles, remixes, some film and TV work, and contributions to sample CDs to his credit, this recent expansion has born a slew of tracks deeply informed by his uncompromised aesthetic honed over years of diligent production, which finds its roots in Detroit techno but references a far broader range of music, both in and outside of electronic music. His musically formative years were steeped in classical music, growing up in family of performing artists – his mother a soprano singer and his father a conductor – which then widened to include hip hop, DJing and finally, electronic music. www.paletterecordings.com

Valida (KCRW)
Dubbed by LA.com as “one of the most important figures in L.A.’s nightlife scene,” Valida’s steady rise comes from her uncanny ability to seamlessly blend a variety of music styles that include house, hip-hop, indie rock, b-more/electro, and some classic 80s, disco and pop tracks thrown in for good measure. Since purchasing her first set of turntables in 1998, Valida has straddled the music and modeling arena with skills and ease. Worldwide bookings have brought her musical eloquence to Winter Music Conference in Miami, Regine in Paris, Dragon-I in Hong Kong, Mystique in Kuala Lumpur, Budoir in Dubai, Nuphoria event in Tokyo, Candela Party in Puerto Rico, Organic Party in Mexico, Barbados and her native Bosnia.  She can be heard on air on KCRW (89.9 FM) in Los Angeles on rotating Sundays from 3:00 to 6:00am as part of their program The Lab. www.valida.com

HouseMates (Venice)
HouseMates are a DJ trio reigning from Venice Beach consisting of founders Jacob Vaynshtok & Aidan Ramos of Jacob’s List and Matt Xavier of Railyard Recordings. After a series of convivial Venice gatherings the trio continue to provide an indubitable source of thoughtful art and house music events at unique venues along LA’s westside.  http://facebook.com/housemates.venice

Mr. NumberOnederful (Cannibal Flower)
LC has been passionately spinning vinyl since 82’. Specializing in remixes, mash ups and covers. But what creates LC’s sound is the hip hop, lounge, reggae, trip hop, dance and some pop music mixed together to harmonize this DJ’s acoustic signature. A sound that has made him a vital piece of the musical group Bitter:Sweet, as featured on 89.9fm KCRW.  LC spreads his vibe and sound around to various events around LA such as, Cannibal Flower, Bacchanal,  at the Del Monte Speak Easy, L.A. Beatdown at the Henry Fonda, the Mar Vista Farmers Market every second and third Saturday of the month, and is the tour DJ for Shana Halligan formerly of Bitter:Sweet. But his creative spirit doesn’t end there. Out from behind the DJ booth, LC is a collage artist and also a co-owner and curator of Thinkspace Gallery and Cannibal Flower. If you like the vibe LC spins you can download mixes, contact, and book him at www.lcroskeyart.com

Santana (TruthSeekers Radio | KPFK)
Santana Westbrook is the host of TruthSeekers which airs Midnight-2am every Friday Night/Saturday morning on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles. The musical selections cover a wide range of genres from downtempo electronic instrumentals to soul and beyond. Santana also produces music under the aliases of BuddhaSupreme and Nexus102. The show can be heard on demand at www.truthseekersradio.org.

Aimé (Aimemusic ltd)
Los Angeles resident Fran Dominguez a.k.a. Aimé is an electronic artist/hip-hop beat-maker, occasionally likened to artists such as Boards of Canada, Ulrich Schnauss and the Icelandic band Amiina and French duo Air, for his more hybridized orchestral styles. Following the success of his first album Place Your Hands Over Your Eyes, that included accolades (Los Angeles Music Awards “Electronic Album of the Year” 2007) and diverse college and internet radio airplay, Aimé has since gone on to produce music for cable channels (Plum Television, Comcast Cable Programming), short films (“Cop” 2009) and has remixed the work of artists both mainstream (Radiohead, Minus The Bear, Gorillaz, Brian Eno & David Byrne) and underground (Pinklogik, The Dead Amps). A highly anticipated follow up album titled Times When I Know You Will Watch the Sky will be out in 2012. http://www.facebook.com/aimespace

Dj Sebiseb (SD Mixmasters)
Originally from France, DJ Sebiseb  brings European feels to her mixes. Her versatile skills on either vinyl or CDs lets her play different style of music to accommodate many different types of music lovers. She has started to incorporate her music skills into the music producing world. For more info, schedules and booking www.djsebiseb.com.

Theory Abstract (Deep funk records)
Theory Abstract is a 20 year experienced DJ coming from a strong family musical background. He has embraced many styles of music and incorporated them into his sets. He has appeared in small lounges & LA underground events to large clubs in Vegas. He has opened and performed with the likes of MAW, Osunlade, Mark Farina, Doc Martin, Nickodemos, Dj AM, MixMasterMike, Thievery Corporation, and the list goes on. He has collaborations with live bands such as the funk sensation “Kool In The Gang”, as well as the live nujazz project “Modern Groove Assembly”, with singer Sy Smith. www.mixcrate.com/theoryabstract

Charles Guilterre (Fallen Fronds)
Producer/DJ Charles Guilterre is a recent transplant from Brooklyn to LA. Best known for his Hump Wednesday parties in New York City’s East Village in the late 1990s, his electronic sound incorporates elements of lounge, experimental, electro, synthwave, heady house, and a hint of industrial, the latter heavily influenced by music from Chicago’s WaxTrax! label from the mid-1980s. He is currently concentrating his production/remixing efforts on his production team, Fallen Fronds.  http://www.facebook.com/guilterre

Christos Kedras (Kapa Music, SOAK Brasil) -
Originally from Greece and based in Los Angeles, Christos Kedras is a globetrotting ambassador of music sophistication thanks to his ultra-unique music style. Kedras hand-picks the finest ingredients from all over the world: African & Latin rhythms, Disco/Funk/Soul grooves, Brazilian bossa, Jazzy brass & pianos, and dancefloor-adorned Deep House beats. He mixes these into unmatched music cocktails that caress the senses, move the body, and expand the mind. With DJ gigs in Europe, Japan, Brazil and several US cities, a radio show that airs globally, and a constant supply of high-quality productions, Christos Kedras is one of the most international Los Angelinos in the house/electronic genre! www.christoskedras.com

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For more information, images, or to request interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Bottom Floor

Bottom Floor
Celebrates One Year Of Building Down
Featuring Boo Williams, John Tejada, and More
Saturday, January 21, 2012

LOS ANGELES, CA – Bottom Floor is pleased to announce that the celebration of its one year anniversary will feature a rare Los Angeles appearance by legendary Chicago deep house producer and DJ, Boo Williams, on Saturday, January 21, 2012 from 10:00pm to 6:00am at a private venue in downtown Los Angeles.  Attendees must RSVP to receive location information.  The event also promises a peak-time set by John Tejada, in support of his latest album, Parabolas, released last summer on the revered German label, Kompakt Records.  Rounding out the lineup will be LA underground favorite Suli Belarto and Bottom Floor resident DJs Morgan Alexander and Reg Xelle.  Guests must be 21 years of age or older to attend. The entrance fee will range from $15 to $20, dependent on a number of presale and early arrival options.  Venue capacity is limited and early arrival is strongly suggested.  For more information, please visit www.thebottomfloor.com.

About Bottom Floor -
Bottom Floor was established as a multi-faceted platform for DJs and producers prolific in their ability to squeeze soul out of machines.  Championing the electronic dance music sub-genre of true deep house, its first incarnation was that of a weekly event that served as an intimate home for a specific yet eclectic sound.  Spinning alongside creator and resident DJ, Morgan Alexander, Bottom Floor played host to many of Los Angeles’ finest DJs, including numerous appearances by fan-favorites John Tejada (Palette Recordings), Santiago Salazar (Planet E), DJ Dex (Underground Resistance), and Lars Behrenroth (Deeper Shades of House).  In some cases better known for their more aggressive styles of production, each guest effortlessly delivered on the request to explore the deeper side of their record collection.

Currently, Bottom Floor’s focus is producing the “Bottom Floor Welcomes:” series.  There you’ll find talent that arrives on planes, coupled with talent that arrives on roller skates.  Guests to date have included Kai Alcé (NDATL Muzik), Chris Brann (Wamdue Project), Brett Dancer (Track Mode Recordings), Jordan Fields (MoWax), and Jus-Ed (Underground Quality).

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For more information, photos or to set up interviews please contact Green Galacticʼs Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Hybrid Cinema

For Immediate Release:

LOS ANGELES, CA – December 29, 2011 – Hybrid Cinema, The Colburn School and the California Dance Institute (CDI) are pleased to announce the Los Angeles premiere of the feature length documentary Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance at Zipper Concert Hall at The Colburn School on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 8:00pm.  Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance, directed by Bob Hercules, is the first film to chronicle how the legendary Joffrey Ballet revolutionized American ballet by daringly combining modern dance with traditional ballet.  The Los Angeles premiere will include a Q&A immediately following the screening moderated by Sasha Anawalt, Director, Arts Journalism Programs at USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, with panelists Leslie Carothers-Aromaa, Artistic Director of the Colburn School’s Trudl Zipper Dance Institute, Carole Valleskey, Founder and Director of CDI, Francoise Martinet Moriarty, former Joffrey dancer from the company’s earliest days in the late 1950s, and Jodie Gates, Artistic Director of the Laguna Beach Dance Festival, Associate Professor of Dance at UC Irvine and former Joffrey principal dancer.

General admission tickets are $20 and will go on sale the first week of January.  The Los Angeles event follows the film’s world premiere, which will be held at Dance On Camera Festival January 27th in NYC at Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center.  Zipper Concert Hall at The Colburn School is located at 200 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Public parking is available at lots adjacent to the school and limited street parking is also available within the area.  For more information, please visit http://www.joffreymovie.com/

Joffrey Ballet Dancers April Daly & Fabrice Calmels 2007 Photo courtesy Joffrey Ballet

Synopsis –
Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance
Director: Bob Hercules
Country: USA, 2012, 90min.
This insightful documentary, executive produced by Harold Ramis and Jay Alix and produced by Una Jackman and Erica Mann Ramis, examines the dynamic trajectory of the groundbreaking American ballet company – The Joffrey Ballet – which daringly combined traditional ballet and modern dance at a time when it was not routinely accepted. Weaving together a wealth of archival footage, behind-the-scene photos and interviews with former and current Joffrey star dancers, director Bob Hercules (Bill T. Jones: A Good Man) documents the struggles and achievements of the Joffrey from its newfound beginnings in 1956 to the Company’s present international success. The film features rare excerpts from many seminal Joffrey works including Astarte, Trinity and Billboards, as well as breakthrough collaborations with choreographers such as Twyla Tharp, Leonid Massine, Laura Dean, and Kurt Jooss. Founders Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino and a host of ballet notables, including Gary Chryst, Trinette Singleton, Helgi Tomasson, Kevin McKenzie and more, are featured in the film. Narrated by Tony® and Emmy® Award winner Mandy Patinkin, the film is a rich chronicle of a ballet company that continues to reinvent itself, raise the bar and invigorate audiences worldwide.  See list of full credits at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1829041/fullcredits.

Gerald Arpino's "Light Rain" Photo credit: Herbert Migdoll

Distribution –
Following the film’s world premiere in NYC in late January, Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance will embark on a U.S. tour through Spring 2012 with stops not only in Los Angeles but also in Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit, Aspen, St. Louis, and many other cities. Special one-off events with Joffrey alumni and limited theatrical engagements are planned. The documentary will then have a VOD/DVD/digital release in June of 2012 through New Video.

Simultaneous Screenings –
The film will also simultaneously premiere in theaters around the country via simulcast through Emerging Pictures network of theaters on the weekend of Saturday, January 28th. A pioneering project, this marks the first time a film has simulcast its world premiere out of a major festival (learn more here).  Audiences at screenings across the country will be able to participate in a Q&A session from the New York City world premiere through a live Twitter feed.  Visit http://www.emergingpictures.com/2011/12/19/joffrey for updates on exact theater locations.


Multimedia – The Expanded Joffrey Story –
Hybrid Cinema is also releasing multimedia companion projects with exclusive content for fans wishing to further explore the Joffrey legend beyond the film.  The first of these initiatives is a series of digital photobooks called Joffrey Maverick Moments.  Each new edition will be available for free from the film’s website and Facebook page.  The digital photobooks are based on themes and time frames found in the film with photos accompanied by quotes from Robert Joffrey, his friends and associates, as well as alumni interviews that provide further insight and background into the Company. Future Joffrey Maverick Moments may explore such themes as Joffrey’s Nutcracker through the years, Joffrey’s psychedelic rock ballet Astarte, Arpino’s most well regarded ballets (The Clowns, Trinity, Olympics, Round of Angels, Light Rain), and more.  Hybrid Cinema has started releasing a series of audio podcasts with exclusive new interviews of Joffrey alumni.  These podcasts utilize the SoundCloud platform and are available through the film’s Facebook page for fans only.  The multimedia companion projects will be released over the next few months, through the premieres and leading up to the DVD release in June.  Regular content, including film clips, bonus outtakes, and blog articles, is also available on the film’s website and YouTube channel.


Director Bob Hercules –
Bob Hercules is an award-winning veteran producer/director (Forgiving Dr. Mengele, Bill T. Jones: A Good Man, Senator Obama Goes to Africa).  The co-founder of Media Process Group, his work has been seen widely on PBS, The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel and the Independent Film Channel (IFC). He has also directed commercials for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Alzheimer’s Association, McDonald’s Corporation, Gap Clothing Stores and the Obama For President Campaign.  His documentary, A Good Man, co-directed by Gordon Quinn, chronicles the intense creative journey of Bill T. Jones – a 2010 Kennedy Center Honors recipient and two-time Tony® Award winner for Best Choreography.  It premiered on November 11, 2011 on PBS’ celebrated series American Masters.


The Joffrey Ballet –
For more than a half-century, The Joffrey Ballet’s commitment to taking world-class, artistically vibrant work to a broad and varied audience has created a solid foundation that continues to support the Company’s unprecedented capacity for achieving important “firsts.” Today, the Joffrey, which has been hugely successful in its former residences in New York and Los Angeles, lives permanently in a brilliant new facility, Joffrey Tower, in the heart of America – Chicago, Illinois. The Company’s commitment to accessibility is met through the most extensive touring schedule of any dance company in history, an innovative and highly effective education program including the much lauded Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official School of The Joffrey Ballet, and collaborations with myriad other visual and performing arts organizations.

Co-founded in 1956 by visionary teacher Robert Joffrey and dancer Gerald Arpino, who would become the organization’s principal choreographer, The Joffrey Ballet began as a DIY dance company of six dancers touring the United States in a borrowed station wagon. What started as a childhood dream quickly grew into one of the world’s most exciting and prominent ballet companies. Together, Joffrey and Arpino transformed the face of dance by merging classical ballet technique with bold new perspectives for edgy new ballets that challenged conventions. Aggressive touring took the Company from school auditoriums across America’s Heartland, to the White House at Jacqueline Kennedy’s invitation, on to Russia for a month-long tour during the height of the Cold War, and beyond.  They also garnered extensive media attention for their daring originality, which included appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, the cover of Time Magazine, and in major motion pictures such as Save the Last Dance and Robert Altman’s The Company (which is based on the Joffrey).

Classically trained to the highest standards, The Joffrey Ballet expresses a unique, inclusive perspective on dance, proudly reflecting the diversity of America with its Company, audiences and repertoire, which includes major story ballets, reconstructions of masterpieces, and contemporary works. The Joffrey Ballet continues to thrive under internationally renowned Artistic Director Ashley C. Wheater and Executive Director Christopher Clinton Conway. The Joffrey Ballet has become one of the most revered and recognizable arts organizations in America and one of the top dance companies in the world. To learn more, please visit http://joffrey.org/.


The Colburn School/Zipper Hall –

The Colburn School’s mission is to provide the highest quality performing arts education in an optimal learning environment. Founded in 1950, The Colburn School was established as a small preparatory school in connection with the University of Southern California’s School of Music. The School became an independent, nonprofit institution in 1980 through the generous support of its benefactor, Richard D. Colburn. In 1998, The Colburn School moved to its current location on South Grand Avenue. One of LA’s most popular performance halls, the intimate 435-seat Zipper Hall at The Colburn School is home to many arts groups from the greater Los Angeles area, including the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Pacifica, Southwest Chamber Music, Monday Evening Concerts, Lark Musical Society, and Piano Spheres. For more information, please call 213-621-4514 or visit http://www.colburnschool.edu.

The California Dance Institute –

California Dance Institute (CDI) is an in-school and after-school arts education program for low-income elementary school children that encourages discipline, self-expression and the pursuit of excellence through dance. CDI is the newest affiliate of the world-renowned National Dance Institute, founded in 1976 by New York City Ballet’s Jacques d’Amboise, and the subject of the Academy Award-winning film He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin’.  Directed by former Joffrey Ballet principal dancer, Carole Valleskey, the CDI program consists of weekly dance classes in the schools, primarily for 3rd – 6th grade students.  Today the program serves 1,400 students in eight elementary schools in which over 91% of students qualify for the Free Lunch Program (indicating income of less than $33,000 for a family of four). http://www.californiadanceinstitute.org


Hybrid Cinema –
Hybrid Cinema was created by filmmaker and author Jon Reiss (Think Outside the Box Office, Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul) to help filmmakers navigate the ever-changing world of film distribution and marketing.  Hybrid Cinema consults with filmmakers to help them with the new digital era of distribution and marketing by utilizing modern strategies of audience engagement, special theatrical events, as well as innovative merchandising and release patterns.  Hybrid Cinema also supervises film releases. Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance is Hybrid’s second full release of a film following the graffiti documentary Bomb It.  Indicative of the innovative release and audience engagement strategies used by Hybrid, the Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance release marks the first time that a film has simulcast its film festival world premiere throughout the U.S. as the launch of its theatrical release.  Hybrid Cinema orchestrated this pioneering release strategy by, among other things, bringing the participating organizations together for these milestone premiere events.  For more information on Hybrid Cinema, please visit http://www.hybridcinema.com/

Key Links –
Official Movie Site – http://www.joffreymovie.com/
Movie YouTube Channel – http://www.youtube.com/user/JoffreyMovie
Movie Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/JoffreyBalletMovie
Movie Twitter – http://twitter.com/#%21/JoffreyMovie
Joffrey Ballet Site – http://joffrey.org/

For more information, or to request screeners, images, and interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com

Save the Date: 

What:
The Industry presents World Premiere of
Crescent City, a hyperopera

Crescent City is a hyperopera by composer Anne LeBaron, widely recognized for her work in instrumental, electronic, and performance realms, and librettist Douglas Kearney, a poet, performer and recipient of the Whiting Writer’s Award. The opera, which incorporates installations by six contemporary LA-based artists, tells the epic story of a mythical city, decimated by one hurricane and on the verge of being wiped off the face of the earth by another, and the voodoo priestess determined to save it. A roving band of revelers spreads chaos throughout the streets of the city, capturing the action of the opera with live video along the way. www.TheIndustryLA.org

When:
Thu. May 10 – Sun. May 27, 2012
Thu. – Sun. for 3 Weeks

- Special Sneak-Peek Reading at the Annenberg Community Beach House - http://www.annenbergbeachhouse.com
- Mon. Feb. 6, 2012

- Performance – Gala Opening Night – Thu. May 10, 2012
- Art Gallery – Opening – Fri. May 11, 2012
- Performance – Closing Night – Sun. May 27, 2012

Where:
Atwater Crossing
3245 Casitas Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90039
www.atwatercrossing.com

Who:
About The Industry –
Founded by Artistic Director Yuval Sharon and Producing Director Laura Kay Swanson, The Industry produces new interdisciplinary work that merges music, visual arts, and performance to expand the traditional definition of opera. The Industry has received support for Crescent City from The Doris Duke Foundation and the generosity of individual supporters.

Crescent City Credits –
Director – Yuval Sharon – www.yuvalsharon.com
Producer – Laura Kay Swanson
Associate Producer – Rachel Scandling
Music – Anne LeBaron – www.annelebaron.com
Libretto – Douglas Kearney – www.douglaskearney.com
Curator – Brianna Gorton – http://briannagorton.otherpeoplespixels.com/home.html

Visual Installation Artists –
Mason Cooley – http://masoncooley.blogspot.com
Brianna Gorton – http://briannagorton.otherpeoplespixels.com/home.html
Katie Grinnan – http://www.artnet.com/magazine/features/honigman/honigman8-4-04.asp
Alice Konitz – alicekonitz.com
Olga Koumoundouros – www.vielmetter.com/artists/olga-koumoundouros.html

Set Designer – Sibyl Wickersheimer – www.sawgirl.com
Lighting Designer – Elizabeth Harper – www.eharperdesign.com
Sound Designer – Martin Gimenez
Video Designer – Jason Thompson

Timur & the Dime Museum (photo credit: Sandra Powers)

Cast –
The cast of 18 includes:
Marie Laveau – Gwendolyn Brown – http://www.gwendolynbrown.com
The Good Man – Cedric Berry –  http://www.cedricberry.com/Cedric_Berry/Home.html
Deadly Belle – Timur Bekbosunov – www.theoperaoftimur.com
Homesick Woman – Lillian Sengpiehl – http://tinyurl.com/Robert-Gilder-L-Sengpiehl
Jesse – Anthony Faatolia – http://www.ashleyfaatoalia.com
The Nurses – Maria Elena Altany and Ji Young Yang

More About Crescent City:
Previously featured in workshop performances at New York City Opera’s VOX Festival of new American opera, this massive site-specific production, which audiences will experience in 360 degrees, will be realized in an industrial warehouse space with abstract sets by an extraordinary group of visual installation artists.  At the world premiere, each audience member will be seated in a section of the city – the Cemetery, Swamp, Hospital, Dive Bar, Good Man’s Shack or Junk Heap. They will be able to see and hear the action in every other part of the city through live video streams and sophisticated sound technology.

The production features a live orchestra comprised of The Dime Museum and includes such diverse instrumentation as laptop, chromelodeon, and didjeridu. LeBaron’s hybrid sound world encompasses electronica, bluegrass, jazz, and improvisation.

The installation will function as an art exhibition by day, which transforms into the performance space at night, providing viewers multiple opportunities to engage with the world of Crescent City. “I’m excited by the different ways audiences will be able to experience the work,” says director Yuval Sharon. “Letting imaginations run wild when the space is open during the day should increase people’s curiosity about how the opera plays out by night.”

With every purchase of a ticket to Crescent City, audiences will be provided with downloadable audio program notes and an insider’s guide to the production that is meant to be listened to on the way to the performance space.  These notes are meant to enhance the Crescent City experience and extend the production out into the world.

With a gala opening of the opera on Thursday, May 10, 2012 and gallery exhibition opening on Friday, May 11, 2012, Crescent City will run for three weeks, Thursdays through Sundays, closing on May 27, 2012.

Yuval Sharon –
Yuval Sharon’s directorial work has been described as “magical” (The Village Voice), “ingenious” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “a major event, where surprise sidesteps operatic convention” (Los Angeles Times). He has worked both with international houses like the San Francisco Opera, the Mariinsky Theater, the Bregenzer Festspiele in Austria, and the Komische Oper Berlin, as well as experimental venues like Berkeley Opera, Le Poisson Rouge, and the Deitch Projects. He was assistant director to Achim Freyer on the Los Angeles Ring Cycle. Sharon was Project Director for four years of New York City Opera’s VOX, an annual workshop of new American opera, which became the most important crucible for new opera in the country under his direction.  Sharon will also be directing Jessye Norman, Meredith Monk, and Joan LaBarbara in the John Cage Songbooks this March as part of San Francisco Symphony’s Mavericks Festival at Carnegie Hall.  More information is at http://www.yuvalsharon.com.

Ages –
For 12 and older

Tix –
TBD

Website – www.TheIndustryLA.org
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Industry/124606140952622
Twitter - TheIndustry_LA
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/TheindustryArts

Press Contact:
Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada – 213-840-1201 – lynn@greengalactic.com

The Los Angeles artists creating new installation works for Crescent City are:
1) Olga Koumoundouros (photo credit: Robert Wedemeyer)
2) Katie Grinnan (photo credit: Robert Wedemeyer)
3) Liz Glynn (photo credit: Maryanne Williams)
4) Alice Konitz (photo credit: Gene Ogami)
5) Mason Cooley (photo credit: Josh White)
6) Brianna Gorton (photo credit: Brendan Threadgill)
Please note: Works shown are representative of these artists’ sensibility, though not the actual Crescent City installations. 

(Photo credit: Fredrik Nilsen)

The Society for the Activation of Social Space Through Art and Sound (SASSAS) will transform Eagle Rock’s Welcome Inn into a six-hour tour through key moments in LA’s experimental music history with Welcome Inn Time Machine on Sunday, January 29, 2012.  Over a dozen concurrent micro concerts will transform individual motel rooms into venues for installations and live performances allowing key moments in Southern California sound and music history to be experienced simultaneously and sequentially in a single location. Welcome Inn Time Machine runs from 4:00pm to 10:00pm. The event is free.  

For Immediate Release:

LOS ANGELES, CA – December 13, 2011 – The Society for the Activation of Social Space Through Art and Sound (SASSAS) will transform Eagle Rock’s Welcome Inn into a six-hour tour through key moments in LA’s experimental music history with Welcome Inn Time Machine on Sunday, January 29, 2012.  Over a dozen concurrent micro concerts will transform individual motel rooms into venues for installations and live performances allowing key moments in Southern California sound and music history to be experienced simultaneously and sequentially in a single location. Welcome Inn Time Machine runs from 4:00pm to 10:00pm. The event is free.  The Welcome Inn is located at 1840 Colorado Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90041. For more information on SASSAS and this event please visit http://www.sassas.org or phone 323-960-5723.

Members of the Los Angeles Free Music Society Testing Pyramid Headphones, 1976. (Photo credit: Fredrik Nilsen)



Welcome Inn Time Machine revisits works created between 1949 and 1977. The duration of the event is derived from the 1963 premiere performance of John Cage’s Variations IV at UCLA, which was six hours in length. Among the more than 40 works included are John Cage’s Variations IV, Bruce Nauman’s Violin Tuned D.E.A.D., Pauline Oliveros’ Sonic Meditations, The Los Angeles Free Music Society’s Pyramid Headphones, James Tenney’s Postal Pieces, and David Ornette Cherry and poet Kamau Daaood will revisit Something Else, The Music of Ornette Coleman.  In addition to presenting historic works, SASSAS is commissioning two new works based on existing fragments and documents. The Calder Quartet will premiere a new work derived from Arnold Schoenberg’s Entwürfe zu einem Streichquartett [Draft of a String Quartet] (1949) and choreographer Anita Pace will re-envision Merce Cunningham’s Field Dances (1963) as part of a presentation of Variations IV.

Welcome Inn Time Machine Micro Concerts –


Arnold Schoenberg, Entwürfe zu einem Streichquartett [Draft of a String Quartet] (1949)
Composer Arnold Schoenberg moved to the United States in 1934 and soon settled in Los Angeles. During his time in LA, he wrote such notable pieces as the Violin Concerto (1942), A Survivor from Warsaw (1947) and Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte (1942). In addition to this and numerous other works he wrote while in Los Angeles, several were unfinished upon his death in 1951, including the Draft of a String Quartet from 1949. The Draft will be the generative source for a yet to be titled new work by the Calder Quartet.

Los Angeles Free Jazz Tribute
Los Angeles was the home for several seminal free jazz recordings including, Something Else!!! The Music of Ornette Coleman recorded February 10, 1958 at Contemporary Studios, Ornette’s first recording under his own name.  In addition to Coleman (alto sax), the album included Don Cherry (trumpet), Don Payne (bass) and Billy Higgins (drums).   David Ornette Cherry (the son of Don Cherry) and poet Kamau Daaood (who founded the World Stage Performance Gallery with Billy Higgins) will revisit this among other important works that originated or were recorded in Los Angeles.

John Cage, Variations IV (1963)

Variations IV is intended for any number of players producing any sounds by any means, “with or without other activities.” The score consists of seven points and two circles on a transparent sheet. The sheet is cut into nine small sheets. One of the circles is then placed anywhere on a map of the area where the performance is to take place. Then the rest of the sheets are dropped anywhere on the same map and straight lines are drawn from the first circle to the seven points; if a line intersects or is tangent to another circle, the same procedure is applied to that circle. Performers do not need to confine themselves to a performance of the piece during the entire performance and are free to engage in any other activities at any time. The duration of Welcome Inn Time Machine is derived from the 1963 six hour long premiere performance of Variations IV at UCLA.

Field Activity, 2012 (inspired by documents describing the performance of Merce Cunningham’s Field Dances, 1963)
Cunningham abandoned the traditional collaborative process among choreographer, composer, and designer while liberating his dancers from hierarchical symmetrical patterns, allowing the audience the choice of where and at whom to look. The possibilities for choreographic invention appeared limitless. Field Dances was originally performed as a part of the UCLA premiere of Variations IV. Choreographer Anita Pace will revisit this work, use Cage’s description of Variations IV – ‘samsara’, ‘the turmoil of everyday life’ – as impetus for the movement gestalt.

Bruce Nauman, Violin Tuned D.E.A.D., (1969)
Bruce Nauman’s Violin Tuned D.E.A.D. exemplifies his practice of incorporating boredom, exhaustion, and the superimposition of unlike systems into art and, in this case, music. In an interview with Willoughby Sharp, Nauman stated: “I wanted to set up a problem where it wouldn’t matter whether I knew how to play the violin or not. What I did was to play as fast as I could on all four strings with the violin tuned D, E, A, D. I thought it would just be a lot of noise, but it turned out to be musically very interesting. It is a very tense piece.” The D.E.A.D. tuned violin will be played for approximately 2 hours over the course of the event.


James Tenney, Postal Pieces (1965 – 1971)
The Postal Pieces are a series of 11 indeterminate scores composed between 1965 and 1971. Called Postal Pieces because they were printed on post cards (or as Tenney referred to them, “score cards”), most of the works were produced for the first time while Tenney was teaching at CalArts between 1971 and 1976. The scores are: Swell Piece (1967); A Rose is a Rose is a Round (1970); Beast (1971); (night) (1971), Koan (1971), Swell Piece #2 and Swell Piece #3, 1971; August Harp (1971); Cellogram (1971); Having Never Written a Note for Percussion (1971) and Maximusic (1975).

SASSAS has a long connection with Tenney—he was an advisor to the organization from the time it was formed. Additionally SASSAS worked with him on two concerts during his lifetime – a performance of his own works in 2001, which included Having Never Written a Note for Percussion and a performance of several early works of John Cage in 2002. As a part of the 2009 Anniversary Concert, SASSAS presented Tributaries: Dedicated to the Memory of James Tenney, which included both Having Never Written a Note for Percussion and Koan among other works.

“To some extent, he was the ultimate Western composer. He approached each new piece as an adventure, with the goal of discovering original territory and, if need be, taming some theoretical musical beast or acoustical bugbear.”  Mark Swed, in Tenney’s obituary for Los Angeles Times in 2006.

All 11 Postal Pieces will be performed.

Pauline Oliveros, Sonic Meditations (1971)
Leaving the Bay Area to accept a teaching position at the University of California, San Diego, Pauline Oliveros began learning about meditation. This interest created a shift in her own musical composition in which she began focusing on the significance of long tones. By 1971, Oliveros had collected a number of meditations and published them together as Sonic Meditations. These sonic explorations, open to anyone who wished to participate, were rooted in ancient musical forms that precluded the listener focusing on the healing power of Sonic Energy and its transmission within groups. Each meditation is an activity conceived to assist in making, imagining, listening and remembering sounds. The meditations exist as text giving the participants activities to do and think about over an indeterminate period of time. 10 of Oliveros’ 25 Sonic Meditations will be presented.


Currents Series at the Theater Vanguard (1973 – 1978)
Theater Vanguard presented regular performances of experimental music, theater, film, animation and performance art. Located in the former Stage Society Theatre on Melrose in West Hollywood, The Vanguard provided a nurturing environment for LA performing arts as well as a much needed venue for local and international artists. Currents was a regular program of electro-acoustic music at the Vanguard, founded by composer Barry Schrader in 1973 and continuing through 1978. It was the first regular presentation of electro-acoustic music in the U.S. This installation will feature works by Pierre Schaeffer, Louis and Bebe Barron, Barry Schrader, Carl Stone, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Otto Luening, Michel Chion, Warren Burt, and Ilhan Mimaroglu as well as ephemera from the series.

The Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS), Pyramid Headphones (1976)
The Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS), the banner heading of a loose collective of experimental musicians founded in the early 1970s, have had immeasurable influence on the 
spread and evolution of noise and avant-garde music and DIY culture over the past almost 40 years. In July of 1976, Le Forte Four, one of the earliest groups in the collective, created an installation at the Brand Library Art Center in Glendale, California, which consisted of forty-four black, pyramid-shaped, stereo headphones, with lights on the top,  through which were played an audio collage entitled Box Your Ears (which was released in 1976 as part of the double LP LAFMS: Live at the Brand).  This installation recreates the original utilizing the twelve extant original pyramid headphones.

Robert Wilhite, Bob Wilhite In Concert (1975)
In 1975, Bob Wilhite created his first musical sculpture – a unique one stringed instrument. As a gesture to establish the object and provide it with a provenance, Wilhite gave two concerts heard only via the telephone.  Wilhite placed display advertisements in the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle announcing both performances. Patrons who phoned during the specified time periods heard a short instrumental played live on the one stringed instrument.  Both concerts were performed at his Los Angeles studio. The on-site audience at the Eagle Rock event will access Wilhite’s live performance by calling his motel room from another room in the motel.

Instrument and telephone from Bob Wilhite in Concert, A Telephone Concert, 1975 (Photo credit: Gary Bedyer & Jerry Byrd)

Credits –
Welcome Inn Time Machine is produced by Cindy Bernard in collaboration with Jessica Catron and the SASSAS Board of Directors.  Project curators are Cindy Bernard, Scott Benzel, Gregory Lenczycki, Renee Petropoulos, Joseph Potts, and Dawson Weber.

Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival –
Los Angeles was a key international birthplace of performance art. Engaging the innovative spirit of that period and LA’s vibrant contemporary art scene, the performance and public art festival will transform Southern California over ten days during Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945 – 1980. Featuring as many as 30 major performances and large-scale outdoor projects, the festival will include new commissions, reinventions, and restagings inspired by the many radical and trailblazing public and performative works that were created by artists during the Pacific Standard Time era. The Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival is organized by  LA><Art and the Getty Research Institute; support provided by the Getty Foundation. http://www.pacificstandardtimefestival.org

SASSAS –

SASSAS (The Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that serves as a catalyst for the creation, presentation, and recognition of experimental art and sound practices in the Greater Los Angeles area.  Inspired by the resonance that occurs when experimental music is combined with unconventional performance environments, SASSAS seeks to foster new collaborations and improvisation to spark further exploration in the field. The organization is supported in part through grants from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and the West Hollywood Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission. http://www.sassas.org

For more information, images, or to request an interview, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.