This super cool synth blog has posted our video for "Signals" from JCDE 1, which begins with a "light show" by the Jupiter-6 synth!
Showing posts with label san francisco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label san francisco. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Matrixsynth blog posts "Signals" Video
http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2011/05/signals-jack-curtis-dubowsky-ensemble.html
Monday, July 12, 2010
DUBOWSKY ENSEMBLE PLAYS Depeche Mode's VIOLATOR (20th Anniversary Concert) at CAFE DU NORD !!! 7/28/10
JACK CURTIS DUBOWSKY ENSEMBLE "redefining musical boundaries" San Francisco Classical Voice 9/1/09
JACK CURTIS DUBOWSKY ENSEMBLE & STRINGS
PERFORM DEPECHE MODE’S VIOLATOR ALBUM
LIVE IN CONCERT
DATE: Wednesday, July 28, 2010. Doors 7pm, show 8pm
VENUE: Cafe Du Nord, 2170 Market Street, San Francisco CA 94114. Phone: 415 861 5016
TICKETS: $10
BOX OFFICE: Tickets available at the door
ENSEMBLE WEBSITE: http://www.destijlmusic.com/jcde.html
VENUE WEBSITE: http://www.cafedunord.com
HIGH RES PHOTOS: http://www.destijlmusic.com/jcde.html
In a very special engagement, the Jack Curtis Dubowsky Ensemble and strings perform the entire Depeche Mode album Violator, start to finish, completely live, with no pre-records or sequencing. For the 20th anniversary of this auspicious album, hear it live, as you have never heard it before.
The Jack Curtis Dubowsky Ensemble, a groundbreaking new music ensemble led by classical and film composer Jack Curtis Dubowsky, combines acoustic instruments, electronic hardware, composed material and structured improvisation. The Ensemble treats analog synth as a rare and unpredictable performance instrument. The Ensemble's contemporary electroacoustic music, is performed and recorded live with no overdubs or sequencing. The Ensemble just released its second album, II, and returned from an April tour of the east coast.
The Ensemble has played chamber concert series, new music series, galleries, alternative performance spaces, and has also presented programs of live music to experimental film.
Personnel
Jack Curtis Dubowsky : Arrangements, Synthesizer, Vocals
Jake Harris : Trombone, Vocals
Fred Morgan : Drums
Yuri Kye : Violin
Alice Kao : Violin
Adam Young : Cello
Ari Gorman: Double Bass
Also appearing:
The Hurd Ensemble exists where electronic, classical, rock, experimental and jazz intersect, combining live electronics with violin, viola, cello, upright bass, and piano for driving, accessible, wildly rhythmic music filled with melody and extremes of percussion. Listen to samples of their work at www.georgehurd.com and www.youtube.com/georgehurd.
ElectroSonic Chamber
Experience the psychedelic sounds of The ElectroSonic Chamber, a four-piece band conceived and born in the Bay Area. Comprised of a Filipino and Bay Area natives, they are a splash of good old California sunshine sprinkled with Trans-Pacific flair. Loud enough to feel some good vibrations, a splendid time is guaranteed for all!
Wilfred Galila - Guitar/Vocals,
Dominic Mercurio - Drums/Samples,
Clint Forney - Guitar,
Joey Hassid - Keyboard.
About Violator
Released twenty years ago in 1990, Depeche Mode’s seventh studio album continued a commercial and artistic flirtation with the American west, the guitar, the synth, and the sampler, all while stretching the structural form of the pop song.
Violator comprises nine songs, two un-indexed experimental “interludes,” and four singles: “Personal Jesus,” “Enjoy the Silence,” “Policy of Truth,” and “World in My Eyes.” The album has sold 13.5 million copies to date, making it DM’s biggest seller, as well as one of Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” All of the songs are composed by Martin L. Gore, a combination of recluse and exhibitionist.
“Blue Dress” is really about Martin wearing the dress, not the implied second person. Seen in this manner, “Blue Dress” attempts to elucidate a sexual fetish much in the same vein as “Strangelove” and “Master and Servant.”
The demo version of “Enjoy the Silence” suggests the song was intended to be the next “Somebody” before Alan Wilder’s production pumped the simple chord progression to dance club intensity.
“Personal Jesus” continued both the use of guitar and the homoerotic buddy/savior fixation of “Never Let Me Down Again.” It followed in the twangy footsteps of their unexpected cover of “Route 66” that had been encouraged by their American label and parlayed into an alterative radio hit.
“Clean” features an echoic homage to Pink Floyd’s “One of These Days.”
The album remains to this day both popular and enigmatic, an unlikely crossover that remains influential to this day.
Recent Press
Thursday, May 6, 2010
DUBOWSKY ENSEMBLE + STRINGS play Depeche Mode's VIOLATOR (20th Anniversary Concert) June 3, 2010
JACK CURTIS DUBOWSKY ENSEMBLE "redefining musical boundaries" San Francisco Classical Voice 9/1/09
JACK CURTIS DUBOWSKY ENSEMBLE & STRINGS
PERFORM DEPECHE MODE’S VIOLATOR ALBUM
LIVE IN CONCERT
DATE: Thursday, June 3, 2010, 9 pm
VENUE: Eagle Tavern, 398 12th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-4330. Tel. (415) 626-0880
TICKETS: $6
BOX OFFICE: Tickets available at the door
ENSEMBLE WEBSITE: http://www.destijlmusic.com/jcde.html
VENUE WEBSITE: http://www.sfeagle.com/
HIGH RES PHOTOS: http://www.destijlmusic.com/jcde.html
In a very special engagement, the Jack Curtis Dubowsky Ensemble and strings perform the entire Depeche Mode album Violator, start to finish, completely live, with no pre-records or sequencing. For the 20th anniversary of this auspicious album, hear it live, as you have never heard it before.
The Jack Curtis Dubowsky Ensemble, a groundbreaking new music ensemble led by classical and film composer Jack Curtis Dubowsky, combines acoustic instruments, electronic hardware, composed material and structured improvisation. The Ensemble treats analog synth as a rare and unpredictable performance instrument. The Ensemble's contemporary electroacoustic music, is performed and recorded live with no overdubs or sequencing. The Ensemble just released its second album, II, and returned from an April tour of the east coast.
The Ensemble has played chamber concert series, new music series, galleries, alternative performance spaces, and has also presented programs of live music to experimental film.
Personnel
Jack Curtis Dubowsky : Arrangements, Synthesizer, Vocals
Hall Goff : Trombone, Vocals
Fred Morgan : Drums
Yuri Kye : Violin
Alice Kao : Violin
Adam Young : Cello
Also appearing: Monks of Doom. (JCDE Violator goes on first.) http://www.magneticmotorworks.com/monksofdoom.html
Monks of Doom were formed in 1986 by four members of the ever-popular college/indie rock band Camper Van Beethoven.
About Violator
Released twenty years ago in 1990, Depeche Mode’s seventh studio album continued a commercial and artistic flirtation with the American west, the guitar, the synth, and the sampler, all while stretching the structural form of the pop song.
Violator comprises nine songs, two un-indexed experimental “interludes,” and four singles: “Personal Jesus,” “Enjoy the Silence,” “Policy of Truth,” and “World in My Eyes.” The album has sold 13.5 million copies to date, making it DM’s biggest seller, as well as one of Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” All of the songs are composed by Martin L. Gore, a combination of recluse and exhibitionist.
“Blue Dress” is really about Martin wearing the dress, not the implied second person. Seen in this manner, “Blue Dress” attempts to elucidate a sexual fetish much in the same vein as “Strangelove” and “Master and Servant.”
The demo version of “Enjoy the Silence” suggests the song was intended to be the next “Somebody” before Alan Wilder’s production pumped the simple chord progression to dance club intensity.
“Personal Jesus” continued both the use of guitar and the homoerotic buddy/savior fixation of “Never Let Me Down Again.” It followed in the twangy footsteps of their unexpected cover of “Route 66” that had been encouraged by their American label and parlayed into an alterative radio hit.
“Clean” features an echoic homage to Pink Floyd’s “One of These Days.”
The album remains both popular and enigmatic, an unlikely crossover that is influential to this day.
Recent Press
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Stephin Merritt 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea SFIFF
Tuesday, May 4, 2010. Stephin Merritt's world premiere of his new score for the 1916 classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, presented by the San Francisco International Film Festival at the Castro Theatre.
I was looking forward to this event, and I must say I was pretty pleased overall.
Merritt's interest in scoring film dates to the 2000 independent film Eban and Charley, although the eccentric, urbane, deep-voiced icon is most known for The Magnetic Fields, 69 Love Songs, and lispy titles like The Sixths' Hyacinths and Thistles.
The best feature of Merritt's score was the extensive use of theatre organ, played by the Castro's own David Hegarty on the Castro's historic "Mighty Wurlizter." Merritt's score seemed custom-composed for the Castro Theatre and the Wurlitzer; a festival programmer who introduced the program indicated this event was originally slated for December, but rescheduled at Merritt's request in order to have the Castro and the organ.
There's a number of very cool things about Merritt's use of the Wurlitzer. Many programmers (SF International and SF Silent film festivals among others) bring in various ensembles (including Alloy, Clubfoot, Dengue Fever, Tom Verlaine, Brand Upon the Brain) into the Castro Theatre to do live music to film; few actually use the organ. Merritt's score feels site-specific, making the live performance extra special, incorporating not only the house instrument, but the house organist as well. The Wurlitzer is built into the Castro Theatre; what most people look at and perceive as the organ is in fact only the console. All the pipes and instruments and percussion attachments are in the walls and spaces behind mechanical louvers. It is essentially part of the building. Since the 1916 film was shot silent, organ accompaniment further reinforces romantic notions of the era. (The Castro Theatre was actually built in 1922, and the Wurlitzer actually installed in 1979, replacing a Conn 651 which probably dated from the 50s or 60s.)
Merritt and Hegarty were joined by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) on accordion, and a tuba player who was less than solid, but also suffered from passages written too fast for the instrument and without reasonable consideration for breathing. Daniel and Stephin also did some vocalizing, often through megaphones or processing which made them sound like voices from the past.
These vocalizations were amusing but at times tended to poke fun at the film, rather than draw viewers into its grainy world. While some lines might be uproariously clever (the cry of "help!" from a suspended balloonist, or the incessant falsetto "unhand me!" of a molested woman), it veered too often into Mystery Science Theatre 3000 territory - a predictable humor at the expense of the film.
This film was made nearly a century ago and deserves respect; it has been restored from a rare nitrate print at the UCLA archive, and odds are it may be around longer than any of Merritt's work. However, the director is no longer around to oversee its contemporary scoring, and was not available to guide Merritt as one might imagine: "hey, this part is not a joke. This is supposed to be sad / scary / etc." Having scored a few films myself, I have learned to become sensitive to and respectful of a director's intentions. While it is amusing to laugh at an old film, that is the easy way out. It is a greater challenge, but gives a greater cinematic experience, to compose music for an old film that creates in the mind of the viewer the same tension and immersion as a new release.
Nevertheless, wry humor is a big part of Merritt's simple, straightforward score. A feral woman lost on an island sings a song about how she doesn't want to wear pants. Each successive reel begins with essentially the same title card, an opportunity Merritt seizes to humorously reprise his main theme each time.
Here's Merritt's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea main theme:
Merritt's themes were related and used well throughout, instrumentally and with voice. Undersea sections tended to rely on electronics and "doppler" like "submarine" sounds, which could get a bit tiresome after a while. While some of Merritt's electronic sounds used in action sequences or on land could be quite interesting, there was enough underwater photography (quite a feat for a 1916 motion picture) that the underwater "ping" seemed to be a repetitive crutch which didn't match the inventiveness of other electronic sections.
Here are two photographs of Merritt's electronic setup.
That upright electronic thing with knobs appears homemade and has its own little keyboard with white keys that you can barely see, as there's another little box in front of it. Does anyone know what the upright thing with knobs is? Or where Merritt got it?
Merritt's music for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916) is a mature electroacoustic score which incorporates electronics, tuba, accordion, voice, and theatre organ. It relies on humor to liven up the movie, which may or may not be the best thing for this film, although the Castro audience was certainly amused. The Castro was packed, and once again a program of live music to film was one of the finest offerings of the San Francisco International Film Festival.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Quattrocelli Free Show at Amnesia
Classical Revolution hosted a free show by Quattrocelli. Amazing. Amazing this touring German quartet can play in Turlock but not book a paying show in San Francisco. This is how low SF has fallen. Turlock has more opportunity for touring groups than San Francisco. I'm just saying.
At any rate, we are so fortunate that Classical Rev could get this happening for us. I arrived a bit late, so I didn't see all they opened with; it was apparently an Americana set featuring Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue, and the like. Lukas, the birthday boy cellist, vocalized a "trombone solo" on "Summertime" using his bow as a prop slide. It was very amusing and brought much laughter from the crowd.
The second half of the concert was an amazing set of film score music. Highlights included original arrangements of the Magnificent Seven title theme, the Empire March from Stern Kriege, some Morricone, and a really touching rendition of My Way. The entire show was performed off-book, with the notable exception being a few notes on slide-whistle, for which there was, comically and conspicuously, a music stand and part.
The sound of the group is amazing. You know how in the competitive barbershop world, the quartets carefully audition voices which blend perfectly? This was like that, but on cellos. The tone matched so perfectly, it was astounding. You could oftentimes hardly distinguish who was playing what part, you had to look closely. Quite amazing.
Outside of matched tone, there was lots of interesting cello technique on display. Notably, one large-handed cellist could strum his cello like a guitar, and also play it with a plectrum like a large guitar. This made an amazing sound.
If you missed Quattrocelli here in SF, catch them March 20 in Turlock (no kidding), or on the 21st and 22nd in Los Gatos (also no kidding.) Check their website for details on those gigs and the rest of their tour.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The Gaz Howards of San Francisco
A few days ago I attended an art opening in San Francisco. Great and iconoclastic visual artists have come out of San Francisco, but nevertheless, art openings in San Francisco are not what they are in New York or London. Much of the crowd, and what passes for galleries, can usually be described in one of four ways: catering-to-tourists, young-DIY-art-students, Valencia hipsters, or residue-of-some-old-clique.
The opening I attended fell squarely into the last category, peppered with veterans of the mid-90s San Francisco underground performing arts scene, many of them still active with their endeavors.
One such performer whom I’d not seen in years approached me, all wide eyes and smiles, and immediately began to talk about himself. Something along the lines of, “Why haven’t you seen my show?” What a way to reanimate that old cliché, “But enough about me, what do you think about me?”
The other thing it brought to mind was the Gaz Howard character from HP Mendoza’s musical film, Fruitfly. I had just seen Fruitfly for a second time when I was at image+nation in Montréal. (My own film Dan’s Big Hands was the opening short. “But enough about me…”) I found I enjoyed Fruitfly much more the second time.
Gaz Howard is a locally successful performing artist (magician) who rapturously talks about himself at every opportunity, and always turns the conversation back to his own work, events, talent, and importance.
In a similar fashion, back at the gallery opening, once that performer was done hawking his show, there was nothing else to talk about and the conversation was over.
There seems to be too much of this attitude and approach in San Francisco. I always think it’s better to have other people talk about you, rather than talking about yourself. I wonder, is this unique to San Francisco? Does it happen everywhere? Is there something about San Francisco, the narrow confines of the city, the limited possibilities, and the suffocating compression of a small but ambitious art scene that fosters such a self-centered attitude?
Fruitfly received much criticism for its lack of plot and direction. Variety said the film has “low narrative drive” and “plotwise, little happens, and once introduced, subsidiary strands … are simply neglected.”
I would suggest that, in Gaz Howard, Mendoza had the perfect villain in his lap. It was only a missed opportunity. Gaz Howard could have really given the film a powerful climax, as opposed to being a loose thread in an otherwise fine tapestry. After Gaz gets the theatre instead of Beth, Gaz disappears and that plotline fizzles. From there it could have gone to another, higher, more dramatic level. I’m not going to suggest an alternate ending, other than to say that instead of having Gaz disappear, his character and all he represents could have played a major role in the film’s ending.
While Fruitfly seems to be about Beth and Windy, Hag and Fag, it is Gaz who supplies the most dramatic tension. And rightfully so. Windy is on Beth’s side. They may have misunderstandings and adventures together, but Gaz is evil lurking in disguise beneath a smiling exterior. We never see that evil fully realized, unleashed, and combated. I’m not suggesting who would triumph, or what the denouement might be. I am just saying, there’s your story. Gaz Howard v. Beth. Gaz could have amusingly been connected to some of the other evils presented as well. After all, San Francisco is a small town with many tangled webs.
Which returns me to gallery opening, which made me realize what a brilliant take on San Francisco life and culture Fruitfly is. Gaz brilliant caricatures many artists and scenesters.
Why are people like that? Does it make me want to go see their show? Is this personality type a natural breed or is it a result of the lack of appreciation for the arts? So many people run around screaming, “Look at me! Look at me!” If I dwell on it, I think, am I like that, too?
But enough about me. What do you think of me? Oh yes, and why haven’t you seen my show?
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Opera as History Lesson ?
I did an email interview with Drew Bourne, a PhD who writes the Using SF History Blog.
http://usingsfhistory.com/2009/10/20/history-as-opera-halloween-in-the-castro/
These are the questions he asked me and my responses.
Q1) How far back in time does the opera go in presenting Halloween in Eureka Valley / the Castro?
A) It is unspecific. In Act II, the Sister recalls previous Halloweens, and recounts the involvement of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The event grew from a neighborhood event to an event which was a fund raiser which raised money for charities and had shows and donations, then after some years became unmanageable. One year, there were more arrests than Sisters present hosting the event! This led to a vote in which the Sisters decided they could no longer host the event, because of the number of arrests and threat to public safety.
Q2) What kinds of sources were used to develop the opera's version of how Halloween changed over time in the Castro? For example, did you rely primarily on published material (books, newspaper accounts, articles for periodicals), or perhaps on oral histories / interviews with living persons? Did you use any material from any Bay Area archives (such as the San Francisco History Center, or the California Historical Society, or the GLBT Historical Society, or the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley)?
A) I lived in the Castro from 1994 to 2001. I've lived in SF on and off since 1991.
Factual research was done online sourcing legitimate news sources, including national television, mainstream press, and local gay press. Please see the attachments to this email.
You should understand that I use the story of Castro Halloween in the way a librettist uses a historical backdrop. This is very common in opera. Many operas are situated in political events or times; think of Tosca, Billy Budd, Le Grand Macabre, Doctor Atomic, Appomatox, and so on. The primary story is a human story, of love, death, tragedy, and strong human emotions. The opera uses Castro Halloween as a backdrop or locale for all that. The opera is not a documentary nor a docudrama. It's not a re-enactment. It mentions, in Act II, in the scene with the Sister, the horrors of Halloweens past, and all those horrific events are true. However, the 'present day' story of the opera is a fiction, it's drama.
I did not use the GLBT Historical Society for any research for this project, although I do have a connection to the archive. Director Todd Wilson passed away in 2005. I had scored Todd's groundbreaking TLA feature film Under One Roof, about an asian-white interracial gay relationship, and we had become close friends. When Todd passed away, he left behind boxes of art, photographs, scripts, notes, and film that the family was about to throw out. No one really came to 'claim' the material, and they had a whole house of stuff to deal with, and they were really not equipped to handle anything like that. I took all the boxes, as much as I could fit into my 1977 MG Midget (that I had at the time), and took it down to Terence at the Historical Society. They took ALL the material. It was a very emotional time and thing for me. I could not bear to see anyone's creative work thrown away like that. And I felt good that the archive took it all. I don't know if it's been catalogued yet. Some of the photographs are amazing. I thought about taking some of them, but I decided it would be best for posterity if the archive had the entire collection intact. So it's all there at the archive. One day I hope it's catalogued.
Q3) how do you see the history of Halloween in the Castro as being important? In other words, do you hope that audience members, upon gaining a richer understanding of that history, might somehow use that understanding in any particular ways?
A) The history of Castro Halloween is a microcosm for the issues facing San Francisco.
For many years, Halloween in the Castro has degenerated from a fun, quirky, San Francisco neighborhood event to a massive, uncontrollable human mass plagued by bashings and murder. While cities like New Orleans profit from gay events – Southern Decadence brings the city $100 Million or more – San Francisco has been unable to harness any similar benefit from its popular celebration. While simple solutions which would raise money for the city are plentiful – re-routing traffic, metal detectors, charging admission, a Guardian Angel type program to name a few – any solution is repeatedly ignored year after year, while politicians try to ‘cancel’ the event, leaving the Castro without street closures, toilets, or police protection, and allowing the bars to stay open and profit from mass consumption of alcohol.
The yearly Castro Halloween debate and debacle has become a microcosm for San Francisco at large. As San Francisco has grown with money and population from the technology boom, the facets which reflect a quirky, queer, hippy, idiosyncratic, beat, or neighborhood population have become rare, commodified, or disrupted. While the Castro is thought of as a ‘Gay Mecca,’ it struggles with how to manage an historic event through reoccurring violence and masses of gawkers. San Francisco as whole struggles with the loss of a creative, lower-income, hippy, queer population as it becomes swamped with a mainstream influx unconcerned with the lasting impact on what was a unique and delicate human environment.
Q4) How would you describe the challenges or opportunities inherent in using opera as a format to deliver an historical account (as opposed to using other formats, such as creating a documentary; publishing a book or article; developing a website; or staging a demonstration)?
A) Well, I'd like to emphasize that we're not delivering an historical account. We're putting on an opera. There's historical references in it, which are necessary to act as exposition for fictional events which unfold. Some bits of the opera are very Gilbert and Sullivan. The characters are archetypes, amalgamations, archetypical representations of classic San Francisco characters. The Bitter Queen. Castro Gym Queens. The City Supervisor. The Policewoman. And so on. Each of the characters is either archetypal, or an amalgamation of various San Francisco public figures. So there isn’t any direct, one-to-one correspondence with real people or historical figures. However, different political factions and popular approaches are represented. It’s fairly well known who the major interests in the Halloween situation are. Of course, some of the archetypes are mocked, in a very Gilbert and Sullivan kind of way, and there are of course references to real events and situations. The goal was to tell a story and to be real and true to the political concerns which are facing the Castro and San Francisco at large. Many of the characters are also based on personalities you commonly find here. And it’s a big cast with many important roles.
When opera tackles an historical account, contemporarily Doctor Atomic or Appomatox, for example, it's good in the sense that people know the story coming into the opera. They may not know all the details, or how it will be done, but they have an idea of what it's about. So it helps get an audience in the door and it helps get an audience interested and it helps find an audience which will relate to the subject matter.
The opera is very different from publishing a book or an article in a peer-reviewed journal, or making a website or staging a demonstration. To me that's a bit like comparing apples and oranges, and I'm not sure where to begin. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps they all fall into some kind of community activism. Because LGCSF, the commissioning arts organization, is a community organization, they are boldly making a political statement about Castro Halloween as a community. So much of the community has been subject to policy decisions (like closing muni stations, or putting up barricades not to protect pedestrian crowds from traffic, but to keep them crowded on the sidewalk). There have been "community meetings" but if you look at, for example, homeforhalloween.com, there's references to meetings which were never announced. Why not blog about the meeting before it happens so people will know about it? This opera could be considered a form of community activism, like a website or a demonstration. It's the community having their own say about the matter. The opera mocks the foibles and hypocrisies of local politics. It doesn't give out any solutions. It doesn't attempt to solve any problems. Like Gilbert and Sullivan, it just points out the flaws in the system, and suggests that Castro Halloween is worth caring about, and that there is a viable solution out there.
http://usingsfhistory.com/2009/10/20/history-as-opera-halloween-in-the-castro/
These are the questions he asked me and my responses.
Q1) How far back in time does the opera go in presenting Halloween in Eureka Valley / the Castro?
A) It is unspecific. In Act II, the Sister recalls previous Halloweens, and recounts the involvement of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The event grew from a neighborhood event to an event which was a fund raiser which raised money for charities and had shows and donations, then after some years became unmanageable. One year, there were more arrests than Sisters present hosting the event! This led to a vote in which the Sisters decided they could no longer host the event, because of the number of arrests and threat to public safety.
Q2) What kinds of sources were used to develop the opera's version of how Halloween changed over time in the Castro? For example, did you rely primarily on published material (books, newspaper accounts, articles for periodicals), or perhaps on oral histories / interviews with living persons? Did you use any material from any Bay Area archives (such as the San Francisco History Center, or the California Historical Society, or the GLBT Historical Society, or the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley)?
A) I lived in the Castro from 1994 to 2001. I've lived in SF on and off since 1991.
Factual research was done online sourcing legitimate news sources, including national television, mainstream press, and local gay press. Please see the attachments to this email.
You should understand that I use the story of Castro Halloween in the way a librettist uses a historical backdrop. This is very common in opera. Many operas are situated in political events or times; think of Tosca, Billy Budd, Le Grand Macabre, Doctor Atomic, Appomatox, and so on. The primary story is a human story, of love, death, tragedy, and strong human emotions. The opera uses Castro Halloween as a backdrop or locale for all that. The opera is not a documentary nor a docudrama. It's not a re-enactment. It mentions, in Act II, in the scene with the Sister, the horrors of Halloweens past, and all those horrific events are true. However, the 'present day' story of the opera is a fiction, it's drama.
I did not use the GLBT Historical Society for any research for this project, although I do have a connection to the archive. Director Todd Wilson passed away in 2005. I had scored Todd's groundbreaking TLA feature film Under One Roof, about an asian-white interracial gay relationship, and we had become close friends. When Todd passed away, he left behind boxes of art, photographs, scripts, notes, and film that the family was about to throw out. No one really came to 'claim' the material, and they had a whole house of stuff to deal with, and they were really not equipped to handle anything like that. I took all the boxes, as much as I could fit into my 1977 MG Midget (that I had at the time), and took it down to Terence at the Historical Society. They took ALL the material. It was a very emotional time and thing for me. I could not bear to see anyone's creative work thrown away like that. And I felt good that the archive took it all. I don't know if it's been catalogued yet. Some of the photographs are amazing. I thought about taking some of them, but I decided it would be best for posterity if the archive had the entire collection intact. So it's all there at the archive. One day I hope it's catalogued.
Q3) how do you see the history of Halloween in the Castro as being important? In other words, do you hope that audience members, upon gaining a richer understanding of that history, might somehow use that understanding in any particular ways?
A) The history of Castro Halloween is a microcosm for the issues facing San Francisco.
For many years, Halloween in the Castro has degenerated from a fun, quirky, San Francisco neighborhood event to a massive, uncontrollable human mass plagued by bashings and murder. While cities like New Orleans profit from gay events – Southern Decadence brings the city $100 Million or more – San Francisco has been unable to harness any similar benefit from its popular celebration. While simple solutions which would raise money for the city are plentiful – re-routing traffic, metal detectors, charging admission, a Guardian Angel type program to name a few – any solution is repeatedly ignored year after year, while politicians try to ‘cancel’ the event, leaving the Castro without street closures, toilets, or police protection, and allowing the bars to stay open and profit from mass consumption of alcohol.
The yearly Castro Halloween debate and debacle has become a microcosm for San Francisco at large. As San Francisco has grown with money and population from the technology boom, the facets which reflect a quirky, queer, hippy, idiosyncratic, beat, or neighborhood population have become rare, commodified, or disrupted. While the Castro is thought of as a ‘Gay Mecca,’ it struggles with how to manage an historic event through reoccurring violence and masses of gawkers. San Francisco as whole struggles with the loss of a creative, lower-income, hippy, queer population as it becomes swamped with a mainstream influx unconcerned with the lasting impact on what was a unique and delicate human environment.
Q4) How would you describe the challenges or opportunities inherent in using opera as a format to deliver an historical account (as opposed to using other formats, such as creating a documentary; publishing a book or article; developing a website; or staging a demonstration)?
A) Well, I'd like to emphasize that we're not delivering an historical account. We're putting on an opera. There's historical references in it, which are necessary to act as exposition for fictional events which unfold. Some bits of the opera are very Gilbert and Sullivan. The characters are archetypes, amalgamations, archetypical representations of classic San Francisco characters. The Bitter Queen. Castro Gym Queens. The City Supervisor. The Policewoman. And so on. Each of the characters is either archetypal, or an amalgamation of various San Francisco public figures. So there isn’t any direct, one-to-one correspondence with real people or historical figures. However, different political factions and popular approaches are represented. It’s fairly well known who the major interests in the Halloween situation are. Of course, some of the archetypes are mocked, in a very Gilbert and Sullivan kind of way, and there are of course references to real events and situations. The goal was to tell a story and to be real and true to the political concerns which are facing the Castro and San Francisco at large. Many of the characters are also based on personalities you commonly find here. And it’s a big cast with many important roles.
When opera tackles an historical account, contemporarily Doctor Atomic or Appomatox, for example, it's good in the sense that people know the story coming into the opera. They may not know all the details, or how it will be done, but they have an idea of what it's about. So it helps get an audience in the door and it helps get an audience interested and it helps find an audience which will relate to the subject matter.
The opera is very different from publishing a book or an article in a peer-reviewed journal, or making a website or staging a demonstration. To me that's a bit like comparing apples and oranges, and I'm not sure where to begin. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps they all fall into some kind of community activism. Because LGCSF, the commissioning arts organization, is a community organization, they are boldly making a political statement about Castro Halloween as a community. So much of the community has been subject to policy decisions (like closing muni stations, or putting up barricades not to protect pedestrian crowds from traffic, but to keep them crowded on the sidewalk). There have been "community meetings" but if you look at, for example, homeforhalloween.com, there's references to meetings which were never announced. Why not blog about the meeting before it happens so people will know about it? This opera could be considered a form of community activism, like a website or a demonstration. It's the community having their own say about the matter. The opera mocks the foibles and hypocrisies of local politics. It doesn't give out any solutions. It doesn't attempt to solve any problems. Like Gilbert and Sullivan, it just points out the flaws in the system, and suggests that Castro Halloween is worth caring about, and that there is a viable solution out there.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
José Antonio Sistiaga / Savage Republic / SF Cinématheque
Sunday 20 Septembre 2009. Victoria Theatre. San Francisco Cinématheque presented a rare screening of José Antonio Sistiaga's Ere Erera Baleibu Icik Subua Aruaren (1970). (The whimsical title does not have any literal meaning.) This 75-minute, entirely hand-painted, silent, abstract film is rarely screened anywhere. The 35mm print, along with a 7 minute short also by Sistiaga, was flown from Paris for this screening. Sistiaga painted on both sides of the film, to give it an extra-dimensional effect, according to Cinématheque Executive Director Jonathan Marlow.
As the film begins, it looks like you are driving through a heavy rainstorm of paint droplets. No image holds longer than a single frame throughout the whole film. Mesmerizingly, the film continues, treating us to dynamic visuals reminiscent of rippling water, veined leaves, bubbles, splotches of blood, or burrowing through rock and stone.
What is clearly magical is the way the brain makes the images appear to move. In fact, each frame of film is very small and while projected large, is still a separate image. The appearance of movement is manufactured effortlessly by our own perception.
Savage Republic provided a confident, highly appropriate musical accompaniment. Guitarist / percussionist / vocalist Ethan Port told me the music was in fact instrumental songs of the band's, strung together and extended for the performance. So while not precisely new music composed specifically for the film, it was a perfect fit, loud, psychedelic, dreamy, and hypnotic, a few "eastern" scales, and lots of jam band stylings. One section of the show was an erstwhile concerto for oil drum; that oil drum was the loudest thing there!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Recent Press
Sequenza21
SFGate City Insider Blog (same story as SF Chronicle, as a blog post)
San Francisco Classical Voice critics' pick and preview of Jack Curtis Dubowsky Ensemble concert at Meridian Gallery Composers in Performance Series
Friday, May 15, 2009
Chanticleer / Composers | Our Age
I'm finally getting around to writing about this Chanticleer concert March 20, 2009 at the San Francisco Conservatory. I have been quite busy composing Halloween in the Castro and other projects, so I'm going to rely on notes sketched in my program.
This concert featured new work from young emerging composers. All chose mature, literary selections of text for their work.
Tarik O'Regan didn't attend the concert. My notes on his "No Matter" indicate it made use of pyramids, which I think is interesting for vocal music. My notes also indicate "sustained high male falsetto will lead to much throat clearing." Chanticleer are a truly virtuoso group, and if you can force too much throat clearing from them, the problem is with you, pal, not the singers. Don't get carried away with groups who can "do anything." It's not an abusive proving ground for poor ideas. Now that my harsh critique is out of the way, my notes also say there was a moment of Ligeti Bagatelle like artifical overtones. That sounds very cool. Ligeti did that with woodwinds. I didn't expect to hear it in voices. The effect is when two high pitched tones rub or beat against each other, a third artifical overtone can be created, with the right combination. Way cool.
Shawn Crouch spoke a bit about his "The Garden of Paradise." This commission was made possible by a Chorus America Award through the Dale Warland Singers Fund; Dale was in the audience himself. Thanks Dale. Shawn said the text, a mash up of poems by Brian Turner and 13th century Persian Rumi, was inspired by his brother Kyle, who served as a Marine in Iraq, and the dilemma of "how to go before God knowing you've killed on the battlefield." There was a memorable chirping bit on the words "I am the bird from the Garden of Paradise." Of course, many composers have imitated bird sounds in their choral pieces. My notes on the program also indicate an "active refrain" on the words "It should make you shake and sweat."
Mason Bates, pictured above at the concert, discussed his piece "Sirens" and his interest in "electronica." I use quotes around "electronica" because I have my suspicions the word may grow dated, and may in fact trivialize the type of music it so succinctly describes. Moreover, "electronica" seems to both apply to a very narrow slice of electronic music and to be used as an overbroad brush stroke to pigeonhole a large body of music. At any rate, Mason said there were two aspects of "electronica" that he is particularly drawn to and which inform his classical work as well. First, there is a rhythmic aspect. Second, there is strong use of sonorities and textures.
Mason said that the movements of "Sirens" are "indebted to language" for their music; the movements are in Greek, German, Italian, Quechua, and English. I found the movements to be related but severable. Movement II, Die Lorelei, my notes describe as "grandiose, jazzy, tonal, chorale." Movement III featured a "twinkly Maj7." Movement IV, in Quechua, had spoken, rhythmic, whispering which reminded me of Mylène Farmer's "Alice"; it also had shakers and a catchy little rock refrain which I notated above. Movement V, my notes call "stunning. real music." Movement VI, my notes indicate "ends Sailor Moon." That is, if I heard it correctly. That's a mM7 chord used to end a piece, this is also used a lot in James Bond soundtracks. Mason's piece went really well, and shows he can write very strong choral as well as instrumental music.
I conclude this post by stating the obvious, how wonderful it is that a group as talented and respected as Chanticleer would have the enthusiasm, courage, and vision to program new works by emerging composers. I expect them to continue to do so. I hope they will program lots of new music into regular concerts as well. That's the best way for new work to penetrate public consciousness.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
The Lost World with Dengue Fever at SF International Film Festival
I am a big advocate of live music to film. I've curated and performed such shows myself. I think it's a great way to experience the art of music and theatre and film and performance all together in an exciting vibrant spectacle.
It's great that film festivals more and more are programming these kinds of events. At San Francisco International Film Festival this year, Dengue Fever performed a live sountrack to the silent stop-motion classic The Lost World (1925).
I'll acknowledge that I'd not heard of Dengue Fever, which people uniformly pronounced "Dengay Fever." The conductor-less group struck me as first and foremost a band. Which is to say, they are quite interesting and cross-cultural and great musicians, but they appear to traffic primarily in a pop idiom and are mostly comfortable working in song structures.
Apparently they are quite popular, and given their strengths, The Lost World was an excellent choice for them as a vehicle for performing a live, original score.
The Lost World features extensive stop-motion dinosaur action by animator Willis O'Brien, who later did King Kong. Especially remarkable were scenes including the heaving breaths of a fallen dino and closeups of snarling dinos. On the big screen at the Castro, with the live music, this was better than Jurassic Park. Dengue Fever's music, with contemporary beats, live trumpet and trombone, and effective keyboards, gave the film a great energy, and made it feel quite contemporary.
Today at a screening of Kimjongilia at the Kabuki, I was engaged in conversation with some other festival filmgoers who had also attended the Lost World program. Although the Lost World audience was terrifically enthusiastic (despite the guy next to me texting during the movie... what is it with some people?), not everyone, it turns out, was convinced.
While I was a little surprised these festivalgoers could be critical, I was able to pin-point what was at issue for them, having some expertise in these matters.
While Dengue Fever did play throughout the entire film, the music was structured primarily as a string of songs, not as actual underscore. So the main difference between their performance and the music you might ordinarily expect to accompany a motion picture was a difference of form. In cinema, the moving image typically creates or dictates the form of the music, which will fluidly accompany, support, and react to the film. Dengue Fever, as a band, is clearly more at home with song form. This was particularly in evidence when the band would stop at some points, and the audience would applaud, as it were the end of a song. Clearly for many in the audience, this was a Dengue Fever concert with film, which is okay too. I was told that some people in the audience had come wearing Dengue Fever t-shirts; if this is a popular band that brings in a new audience to experience live music with film, great. I can certainly forgive them their issues with form, which all musicians go through.
Another interesting facet of The Lost World relates to race in film. While the film is ostensibly set in London and the Amazon, there is included in the cast an obligatory blackface comic character who speaks (in intertitles) in the requisite jargon. He's paired with a cockney-accented British fellow, and they are both, as you might expect, servants or helpers or whatever you want to call it.
The film has been restored, but still appears washed out, with low contrast, and the color is inconsistent. It was suggested to me this was intentional tinting in the original, but I don't know about that. It was also suggested to me that this restoration was done on a very low budget and privately finanaced; this page seems to support that idea.
It's great that film festivals more and more are programming these kinds of events. At San Francisco International Film Festival this year, Dengue Fever performed a live sountrack to the silent stop-motion classic The Lost World (1925).
I'll acknowledge that I'd not heard of Dengue Fever, which people uniformly pronounced "Dengay Fever." The conductor-less group struck me as first and foremost a band. Which is to say, they are quite interesting and cross-cultural and great musicians, but they appear to traffic primarily in a pop idiom and are mostly comfortable working in song structures.
Apparently they are quite popular, and given their strengths, The Lost World was an excellent choice for them as a vehicle for performing a live, original score.
The Lost World features extensive stop-motion dinosaur action by animator Willis O'Brien, who later did King Kong. Especially remarkable were scenes including the heaving breaths of a fallen dino and closeups of snarling dinos. On the big screen at the Castro, with the live music, this was better than Jurassic Park. Dengue Fever's music, with contemporary beats, live trumpet and trombone, and effective keyboards, gave the film a great energy, and made it feel quite contemporary.
Today at a screening of Kimjongilia at the Kabuki, I was engaged in conversation with some other festival filmgoers who had also attended the Lost World program. Although the Lost World audience was terrifically enthusiastic (despite the guy next to me texting during the movie... what is it with some people?), not everyone, it turns out, was convinced.
While I was a little surprised these festivalgoers could be critical, I was able to pin-point what was at issue for them, having some expertise in these matters.
While Dengue Fever did play throughout the entire film, the music was structured primarily as a string of songs, not as actual underscore. So the main difference between their performance and the music you might ordinarily expect to accompany a motion picture was a difference of form. In cinema, the moving image typically creates or dictates the form of the music, which will fluidly accompany, support, and react to the film. Dengue Fever, as a band, is clearly more at home with song form. This was particularly in evidence when the band would stop at some points, and the audience would applaud, as it were the end of a song. Clearly for many in the audience, this was a Dengue Fever concert with film, which is okay too. I was told that some people in the audience had come wearing Dengue Fever t-shirts; if this is a popular band that brings in a new audience to experience live music with film, great. I can certainly forgive them their issues with form, which all musicians go through.
Another interesting facet of The Lost World relates to race in film. While the film is ostensibly set in London and the Amazon, there is included in the cast an obligatory blackface comic character who speaks (in intertitles) in the requisite jargon. He's paired with a cockney-accented British fellow, and they are both, as you might expect, servants or helpers or whatever you want to call it.
The film has been restored, but still appears washed out, with low contrast, and the color is inconsistent. It was suggested to me this was intentional tinting in the original, but I don't know about that. It was also suggested to me that this restoration was done on a very low budget and privately finanaced; this page seems to support that idea.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Dubowsky Ensemble Live Music to Experimental Film at ATA Feb 20
JACK CURTIS DUBOWSKY ENSEMBLE
Performs Live Music to Experimental Film
Featuring Jean Genet’s Chant d’Amour, works by Derek Jarman, and contemporary experimental filmmakers.
DATE: Friday February 20, 2009, 8pm
VENUE: Artists’ Television Access (ATA)
992 Valencia Street San Francisco CA 94110
(415) 824-3890
http://www.atasite.org/calendar/?x=3524
COST: $6
HIGH RES PHOTOS: http://www.destijlmusic.com/jcde.html
The Jack Curtis Dubowsky Ensemble, a groundbreaking new music ensemble led by classical and film composer Jack Curtis Dubowsky, performs live musical soundtracks to experimental films including Jean Genet’s underground classic Chant d’Amour (shot by Jean Cocteau), works by Derek Jarman, and new works by Phil Maxwell (UK), Hazuan Hashim (UK), Ben Coopersmith (NYC), and Samara Halperin (SF).
The Jack Curtis Dubowsky Ensemble specializes in abstract, spacious, free form, transcendental, electro-acoustic contemporary music. Dubowsky has scored five feature films including That Man Peter Berlin and Rock Haven. Dubowsky has received grants from Meet the Composer, Zellerbach Family Fund, Friends of the SF Public Library, and this year from the American Composers Forum.
The Jack Curtis Dubowsky Ensemble I album was performed and recorded live with no overdubs; no pre-recorded music is used in concert either.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
2009 San Francisco Tape Music Festival, Friday Jan 30
Schaeffer / McKinnon / Mercer / Block / Ussachevsky / Blum performances first half.
Had been sitting in the studio and working on Redwoods score all day.
So couldn't really sit and listen to any more loud music and didn't stay for the second half.
Sometimes you just need a break.
But you should go. Really. It was packed. And a young hip crowd too.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Chelsea on the Rocks at Doc Fest
Friday October 17, 2008. Opening night of Doc Fest.
Abel Ferrara's Chelsea on the Rocks made a wonderful selection for opening night film, very timely and apropos for San Francisco. This quirky, semi-vérité, semi-docudrama, multiple-format documentary film really stokes the fires of bitterness as corporate greed and management consume and destroy the living, beating heart of a building which has housed artists, writers, and musicians for over one hundred years. Like the post-ordinateur San Francisco, why suffer an indigenous population of struggling artists to live in units which can be rented for $250-900 a night?
The appearances of many famous artists, writers, and musicians are disguised by not having introductory subtitles. As a result, you're not bombarded by résumés, but allowed to appreciate idiosyncratic artists for their own eccentricities.
You know, if you go to Paris, great artists and writers are no longer to be found at Café de Flore either. It is just for tourists. It is a bygone era.
You can preserve a building. Sadly it is more difficult to preserve the human element, especially those on the fringes of an urban society increasingly interested in war and money, and not trifling things like art and culture.
Ironically this film is sure to increase interest in a night's stay at the Chelsea, for those who can afford it. Come and meet the artists you're pushing out. Then again, maybe it will keep you in Manhattan and out of Bushwick for a while.
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