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Hi Tom. I won�t say I was there for the famous �acid tests� and the earliest type of event, but you need to understand that the happenings you describe pre-dated and in fact inspired the disco scene, not the other way around.

I�ve experienced similar events both enhanced and not enhanced chemically, and there is musch to be said about both ways. The Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa {and a few others) concerts at Pepperland in San Rafael with the first generation of Meyer Glyph speakers were DEFINITELY all about the music! I saw a couple of those� (That concert hall, started as a ballrom cum speakeasy in the 30s, is now a carpet store, I drive by it nearly every day).
<http://cryptdev.blogspot.com/2011/02/pepperland-then-and-now.html>

Most of the later era (after 1974) events were manufacured and crude by the standards of the 60s avant garde experiments� so I agree with you there! :-) And the drugs were not as good :-/
<L>
Lou Judson
Intuitive Audio
415-883-2689

On Jan 6, 2016, at 7:07 AM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]> 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
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>