“The Center for Visual Music is pleased to announce the release of:
3 Films by Elias Romero (1968-1972) on DVD
“Elias Romero is considered to be the Grandfather of the Light Show. In
San Francisco in 1956 he began developing a performance medium using
overhead projectors. He mixed oils and inks in dishes placed on the
projectors, passing light through the translucent blend which was then
projected onto a screen. He performed hundreds of shows throughout
California, accompanied by musicians and performers, and many of the
later psychedelic light show artists were inspired by his work.
“In 1969 he met Richard Edlund and they began making films with Bill
Spencer and others. ‘Stepping Stones’ is made up entirely of original
vintage light show projections, excerpts of which were recently
featured in the 2005 Visual Music exhibition at the Smithsonian’s
Hirshhorn Museum and The Museum of Contemporary Art in LA. ‘Za’ features
projections onto Diane Varsi as poet and alchemist, and costumes by
Cameron. ‘Lapis Lazuli,’ with Bill Fortinberry and Susan Darby, shows
them meeting simultaneously on different myth-planes.
“The DVD Bonus Features include: a documentary, ‘Notes on 3 Films,’
including interviews with Elias Romero and Edlund explaining the
visuals, sounds and creative processes of the film, and a Gallery
featuring other artwork by Elias Romero. Produced by Christopher
Romero. NTSC, Region 1. Total running time: approx 2 hours.
The title is not an exaggeration. Bruce Bickford’s art–a hallucinatory stop-motion amalgamation of Peter Pan, Ray Harryhausen, and The Wild Bunch–is nothing short of amazing. Frank Zappa first used the incredible talents of self-taught claymation wizard Bickford as visual companions to his music in the film Baby Snakes, and continued this collaboration in The Amazing Mr. Bickford. On the film’s original VHS cover, Zappa exclaimed, “Bruce Bickford is a genius!…Few other home video products can compare with the years of effort and attention to detail contained in less than an hour of The Amazing Mr. Bickford. It is a show that will be watched again and again, freeze-framed, and gasped at for years to come.” Bruce Bickford will be in attendance for a Q&A after this incredibly rare screening.
Dirs. Bruce Bickford & Frank Zappa, 1987, digital presentation, 60 min.
Tickets - $14/ $10 for members
Tuesday, August 26 @ 8pm Cas’l and Other Unreleased Bruce Bickford Films
While the greater mass of animator Bruce Bickford’s work seen by the public consists of the films he made while working for Frank Zappa, he never stopped working, either before or after his employ. We will screen some of Bruce’s early Super-8 experiments as a teenager, as well as his unfinished 45-minute opus Cas’l, the inspired result of years of solitary work, featuring a live score by The Gaslamp Killer. Also, Bickford will perform on of his “blues raps”, with musical accompaniment by Gerry Fialka.
Tickets - $14/ $10 for members
“We are heading north along Broadway, the oldest road in New York.
“The first day we will walk from Union Square to Van Cortlandt Park, in the Bronx. There are extensive woods there where we will pass the night.
“The second day we will walk from the Bronx to Sleepy Hollow and pass the night in Rockefeller State Park.
“The third day we will reach our final destination: Croton Point Park.
“There will be a ceremony in the river.
“The 1 train runs from Union Square to Van Cortlandt underneath Broadway. The Hudson Metro North line runs parallel to Broadway along the Hudson River. There are thirteen stops along it which are accessible from the walk.”
“This is my version of the new AC/DC song played and sung at the video shoot in London which I attended. Its been a tiring few days but wouldnt change it for the world - what an experience, as such this isnt exactly like the song, in fact I think the riff im doing is Love Bomb or one of the in-riffs from Hard As A Rock not sure what one haha but the main bit Runaway Train, Runniiing Riiiiight Off The Traaaack is correct and the riff im sure is to the tune I sing RUNNING RIGHT OFF THE TRACK. No rules were broken in the making of this video. This is just to let people have a wee idea of how the chorus goes - it isnt a serious attempt at singing the song.”
“Tales Designed to Thrizzle” creator Michael Kupperman
Friday, August 22, 6-9 p.m.
DESERT ISLAND
comic + artist’s book store
540 Metropolitan Ave.
Brooklyn NY 11211
(718)388-5087
“We’re very excited to host Michael Kuperman in celebration of his brand-new comic booklet [cover pictured below]. As you may know, Mr. Kupperman makes hilarious comics which look like old-timey woodcuts and don’t make any damn sense. To mark the occasion, we have also created an amazing silkscreen print in the form of an advertisement for ‘Long John Silver’s Sex Party Blimps [pictured above].’”
Issue Project Room
The (OA) Can Factory
232 3rd Street, 3rd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215
$10
“Please join us for an evening of sound and video at Issue Project Room.
“Asher, Richard and I will all play short solo sets with video and then play as a trio for the first time.
“This event will consist of a collaborative aural and visual live performance between Boston artists Asher Thal-Nir and Brendan Murray, and NYC artist Richard Garet. The sound presence will focus on exploring different parameters affecting the listening experience by ranging from quadraphonic to the full spectrum of the ISSUE Project Room’s 15 channel speaker system. The sound can be expected to range from computer processing, micro-tonal, minimal drone, phonography, phenomena found by live-room-sampling, and self-generated sounds. The live moving image will vary from an optical-sensory-overload color field exploring light phenomena, to static and minimal recorded footage.
“Asher Thal-Nir is an artist living and working in Somerville, Massachusetts. His sound work is composed using recordings of acoustic and electronic instruments, location recordings and found recordings which are combined and processed in various ways. His work has been published online and on disk by Con-V, Leerraum [ ], Mystery Sea, The Land Of, Laboratoire Moderne, Winds Measure, Transparent Radiation, Term. And Homophoni, with upcoming solo and collaborative releases on Einzeleinheit, Leerraum [ ], and/OAR, Gears of Sand, Room40, and Sourdine. myspace.com/asherthalnir
“Brendan Murray is a self-taught musician living in Somerville, MA. He has actively recorded and performed with electronics since 1999. He regards his music as a balance between spontaneous sound making and compositional rigor, with an emphasis on drones and repetition. He records and processes instruments and tapes until all traces of instrumentality are blurred, leaving only large blocks of pure sound. He has recorded four full-length CDs, four cdrs and two cassettes for various record labels in the United States and Europe. brendanmurray.com
“Richard Garet is a sound and video artist. He is interested in the phenomena found and produced in aural and visual time-based media, in nature’s processes, and human beings’ relationship with both artificial and natural environments. Garet explores the it-referential, communicational, and sensory characteristics of the various media he utilizes. Additionally, he focuses on the investigation of aural and visual spatial-contexts, relational structures, process, materiality, and form. Even though Garet’s work suits the standard gallery setting, many of his other activities as an artist explore the various practices of experimental sound and video performance. All of these modes are additional ways in which Garet’s work exposes the audience to visual and physical acoustic sensory perception. richardgaret.com
