I hope you will join me at 7PM this Friday evening, Feb. 18 for a special presentation by sound and media artist Jay Needham, at The (New) Corpse, 1511 N. Milwaukee Ave., 2nd floor, Chicago, Illinois 60622.

Jay will present selections from recent works in a lecture titled Ars Memoria: Several Alternate Histories of Place. Jay will be finishing a chapter on the sounds of Mashinima and planning an evening of radio art and surround sound works for the April 2011 Out of the Box Contemporary Music Festival in Carbondale, Illinois. Jay is an Associate Professor in the Communications Department at Southern Illinois University, and a member of the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology (MSAE).

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MSAE & WLP members, Jan 23 2011

Originally uploaded by eleonardson
The Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology and World Listening Project’s first meeting of 2011 was held at the venerable Woodlawn Tap in Hyde Park, Chicago.

I have organized a monthly series of meetings for the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology, featuring three public presentations by Jay Needham, Viv Corringham, and Steve Jones. Please bookmark and return to the 2011 Winter/Spring Schedule page as I will update it when more details become available: http://mwsae.org/?p=1198

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8 PM, Tuesday January 18

A large ensemble performance by…

Christopher Preissing, flute
Guillermo Gregorio, clarinet
Jonathan Chen, violin
Jamie Kempkers, cello
Brian Labycz, electronics
Eric Leonardson, springboard

7:00 PM Sunday, January 16, 2011

Celebrating Art’s Birthday with Christian Pinock and Guillermo Gregorio at…

Albuquerque-based composer Christian Pinock performs original improvised compositions on electric valve trombone. Using a computer-based instrument of his own creation (using MAX/MSP) and a system of sensors attached to the trombone, he creates solo performances that are dynamic and subtle, drawing from diverse styles such as improvised experimental music, contemporary classical, avant-garde jazz, noise, and electronica.

Christian will perform a solo electric trombone set and a trio improvisation with Guillermo Gregorio (clarinet, saxophone) and Eric Leonardson (experimental instruments, electronics).

Guillermo and Eric will open the concert at 7:30 PM with a duo set.

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9 PM Friday, January 7

The Chicago Scratch Orchestra (CSO) follows up its debut at the Green Mill with a new set of scores . The idea for the “Scratch Orchestra” was conceived in 1968 by British avant-garde composer Cornelius Cardew (1936–81), with fellow composers Howard Skempton and Michael Parsons. Its significance is provided in Cardew’s “Draft Constitution”:

“A Scratch Orchestra is a large number of enthusiasts pooling their resources  (not primarily material resources) and assembling for action (music-making, performance, edification).

The word music and its derivatives are here not understood to refer exclusively to sound and related phenomena (hearing, etc). What they do refer to is flexible and depends entirely on the members of the Scratch Orchestra.”

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On Sunday, December 19 Chicago’s longest running radio show for experimental, avant-garde music, phonography, and other genres of audio art will make its final broadcast. In less than two weeks Philip von Zweck, the host and producer of Something Else who started the show in 1995, will move on. As he told me, “It’s been 15 years.”

Writing in the past tense now…

Something Else was a non-commercial, volunteer effort that aired weekly on WLUW 88.7 FM. Aside from a 9-month haitus in 2004 (during which time Philip wrangled a string of volunteers to substitute for him while teaching at Brooklyn College), for four hours every Sunday night Philip played recordings and hosted live performances by a countless number of local, national, and international sound-text-radio artists, avant-garde composers, and experimental, improvising musicians.

I hope Philip’s effort will be remembered and appreciated. The historical significance of Something Else lies in the simple fact that there was no other Chicago radio program focused on live performances and recordings by seldom-heard artists and musicians making non-commercial, unpopular, risk-taking, art historical, bravely exploratory, and “bleeding edge” work in the new and marginal field of sound-as-art. While many occasions to hear this type of work on Chicago’s numerous public and college radio stations existed, as a regularly scheduled, weekly show, I think only WHPK’s Radio Dada and WNUR’s Airplay would compare. When WLUW began Internet streaming Philip’s show became internationally accessible.

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November’s Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology / World Listening Project meeting features a special presentation by Chicago artist and filmmaker Deborah Stratman.

Sunday, November 21, 1:00 pm

Attendance is free and open to the public

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My next performance in The Dialogues will be on November 15 and November 22 (final performance).

All shows are at 7:30 on Mondays.

Tickets $15/ $12 online/ $10 Students and Seniors

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Saturday, October 16, 2:00PM – 4:00PM

Beginning at The Corpse | Green Lantern Gallery this soundwalk engages participants a important facet of the Ukrainian Village/Humboldt Park neighborhood that is often ignored: its soundscape. Contact Eric if you would like to learn more, and visit the MSAE webpage.

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