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I like the combo of light show and slide/film projections, preferably somewhat related to the music being played. The closest I've seen to this working on a mass scale was the original Roger Waters "Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking" tour. He was able to pull off some things that required more technology than was there for Pink Floyd in the early 70's. A Warhol-style happening would not have been as tightly integrated and sync'd, more an improvised performance, which would be cool if it wasn't too chaotic, where it becomes self-cancelling. A cool thing I immediately got going in my mind at the Warhol Museum would be using that room where they have Silver Clouds floating around and setting it up as a mini-Happening, with lights and projections intermitently hitting the Clouds and bouncing all over the room, and being on the walls when the Clouds aren't floating in front of the beams. For music, use a random-play of all the albums with Warhol covers, including the spoken-word stuff. The Clouds might be the self-cancelling too much, though. -- Tom Fine ----- Original Message ----- From: "Malcolm" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2016 12:12 PM Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] World premiere of "a totally terrible piece of music" > If he's still in business I have a friend in Seattle that uses all the old gear, including those > oil-sep projectors that created the lava lamp like effects on a screen (or the wall, same thing). > He did the antique light-shows for raves back in the 90s. > I was the booking agent for The Avalon Ballroom back in 1967 and remember the psychedelic light > show set-up well. There were a half dozen companies in the SF Bay Area - Ben Van Meter's in > particular - that were outstanding at what they did. > So there are still people out there who are doing authentic light work even today. > Malcolm Rockwell > > ******* > > On 1/6/2016 5:07 AM, Tom Fine wrote: >> Hi Dave: >> >> By 1967, there were experiments in that kind of event out west, with the SF Tape Lab and the >> early Bouchla electronic music thing, which also involved the Grateful Dead and other west coast >> psychodellic bands. There is pretty good summary of this scene in the book "Analog Days," about >> the early synthesizer/electronic music scenes. The west coast "happenings" were more about >> dropping acid and tripping out than necessarily about music, but the multi-media presentation was >> an important part of the event. Having been a planetarium nerd in my youth, I really love >> multi-media with surround sound, but prefer to experience it sober. I'm not as impressed with >> what I've seen of rave-type hyper-colorful laser/LED displays. It's more like a garrish update of >> the disco floor than something new and different. When I visited the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, >> I tried to get as much detail as I could about the technical details of the Happenings, but >> surprisingly little documentation exists. There are a fair amount of photos in the archives, but >> I didn't have time to dig in. I would love to re-create a Happening, using the antique >> multi-media equipment. >> >> -- Tom Fine >> >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Lewis" <[log in to unmask]> >> To: <[log in to unmask]> >> Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2016 9:53 AM >> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] World premiere of "a totally terrible piece of music" >> >> >>> I think you've got it, Tom. "Phorion" belongs to that rave-y, cut up >>> culture which was far from existing in 1967. I too can relate it to Spike >>> Jones and Carl Stalling, >>> but it's seriously intended and something of a milestone. >>> >>> I also wanted to tip in and to let you know -- well, you might already -- >>> that jazz pianist Paul Bley, whose death was announced yesterday, had his >>> first recording >>> session at Fine Sound Studios, in 1954. >>> >>> And on the contemporary front, word is getting out that Pierre Boulez has >>> died at age 90. That's a towering figure; won 26 Grammys and held enormous >>> sway over >>> developments in European music in the last 60 years or so. >>> >>> best, >>> >>> Dave Lewis >>> Hamilton, OH >>> >>> On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 8:29 AM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >>> >>>> I think this is the Youtube of which Dave writes: >>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtQ9XZ7f_Rg >>>> >>>> Agree the performance is more coherent. I could see an interesting concept >>>> of setting that whole Baroque Variations to an intense rave-type light and >>>> video show. Create a multi-media utopia-dystopia vibe. A new take on the >>>> Warhol "Happening" concept. Do it in an old circus tent. Maybe use some >>>> pyrotechnics to enhance the percussion hits. >>>> >>>> -- Tom Fine >>>> >>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Lewis" <[log in to unmask]> >>>> To: <[log in to unmask]> >>>> Sent: Friday, January 01, 2016 2:51 PM >>>> >>>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] World premiere of "a totally terrible piece of >>>> music" >>>> >>>> >>>> There is a YouTube of the Buffalo "Baroque Variations," via "the Wellesz >>>>> Company," which posts a lot of albums of modern music. But the LP copy >>>>> they >>>>> used is >>>>> IMHO unacceptably scratchy and, indeed, clean copies of that particular >>>>> Nonesuch are hard to find. It occurs to me that a fair number of Nonesuch >>>>> albums are >>>>> noisy above and beyond the call, though the worst ones are their Digital >>>>> LPs from the 80s, which were from the factory defective. >>>>> >>>>> best, >>>>> >>>>> UD >>>>> >>>>> On Fri, Jan 1, 2016 at 2:42 PM, Malcolm <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Your upload is still there as of about 5 minutes ago, Tom. >>>>>> If you, or anyone else here, should locate a later, better, more balanced >>>>>> performance of this piece I would like to hear it. >>>>>> Malcolm >>>>>> >>>>>> ******* >>>>>> >>>>>> On 12/31/2015 3:45 PM, Tom Fine wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> I've now put the audio of the premiere performance up at Dropbox: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> https://www.dropbox.com/s/fl7s8skcq3q3ggw/NY%20Philharmonic%20670427%20-%2001-Lukas%20Foss%20-%20Phorion%20%28world%20premiere%29.mp3?dl=0 >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I cannot guarantee Dropbox will allow too many downloads, so if you want >>>>>>> it, grab it. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Anyone who knows a better no-fee system, I'm all ears. I have a lot of >>>>>>> offbeat and obscure audio I'd love to share, but don't want to pay to >>>>>>> share >>>>>>> it. Is there any easy way to do Youtubes with just audio, for instance >>>>>>> is >>>>>>> there software that will just put some generic image around an audio >>>>>>> file >>>>>>> and render it to a video? Youtube apparently requires some sort of video >>>>>>> element for a file upload. I certainly don't have the time or >>>>>>> inclination >>>>>>> to get into video production to share audio, but if there's some >>>>>>> automated >>>>>>> way to select an audio file and a photo file and get a MPEG or MOV file >>>>>>> that's Youtube compatible rendered out of it, I'll try it. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> -- Tom Fine >>>>>>> >>>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Lewis" <[log in to unmask]> >>>>>>> To: <[log in to unmask]> >>>>>>> Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2015 7:04 PM >>>>>>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] World premiere of "a totally terrible piece of >>>>>>> music" >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I've always known it from recordings and like it -- I think it is an >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> important piece, just by virtue of being a "mash-up." >>>>>>>> I do think that Foss' own recording, with Buffalo for Nonesuch, is a >>>>>>>> bit >>>>>>>> more convincing than Bernstein's, which seems >>>>>>>> more exploratory and tentative. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Happy New Year! >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Uncle Dave Lewis >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 6:16 PM, Steven Smolian <[log in to unmask]> >>>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> I was at that concert and hated the piece. PDQ Bach it wasn't, nor had >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> it >>>>>>>>> the snarkiness of Alfred Schnittke nor the dry gumor of Cage. It >>>>>>>>> seemed >>>>>>>>> a >>>>>>>>> mash-up with no apparent connections of the inserts to one another nor >>>>>>>>> to >>>>>>>>> the musical framework. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Steve Smolian >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> -----Original Message----- >>>>>>>>> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List >>>>>>>>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tom Fine >>>>>>>>> Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2015 4:41 PM >>>>>>>>> To: [log in to unmask] >>>>>>>>> Subject: [ARSCLIST] World premiere of "a totally terrible piece of >>>>>>>>> music" >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> It's not often that a scathing review like this gets written: >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> https://www.dropbox.com/s/4qbixnsusqkd5c2/World%20Journal%20Tribune%20670428 >>>>>>>>> %20Lucas%20Foss%20piece%20booed%20by%20NYPO%20audience.pdf?dl=0 >>>>>>>>> or that people jeer at a NY Philharmonic concert! >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Listen and judge for yourself: >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> https://soundcloud.com/tom-fine-1/ny-philharmonic-concert-april-27-1967-luka >>>>>>>>> s-foss-phorion-world-premiere/s-LZz7Y >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Recording found on a yard-sale reel tape, the review was included in >>>>>>>>> the >>>>>>>>> box. Surprisingly good fidelity for quarter-track off-air taping, >>>>>>>>> although >>>>>>>>> the channels were reversed and there's considerable edge warp on the >>>>>>>>> ancient >>>>>>>>> acetate-backed 1-mil tape. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Happy New Year! >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> -- Tom Fine >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>> >>> >> > >