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August 2012 at the Stone 
curated by Shanir Blumenkranz / Pauline Oliveros

8/1 Wednesday (DDT)
8 pm
New York Chamber Trio
Eyal Maoz (guitars) Ron Caswell (tuba) Chris Stromquist (drums)
Featuring some of the most electrifying musicians in New York City! Eyal Maoz—guitarist of Abraxas and leader of Edom, Ron Caswell—tubist of Slavic Soul Party, and Chris Stromquist—drummer of Kultur Shock. A supercharged night of new music bringing a debut project to The Stone.

10 pm
Marty Ehrlich
Marty Ehrlich (reeds) Drew Gress (bass) Ches Smith (drums)
Marty Ehrlich’s music is celebrated for its lyricism and invention. His creative interests present a view of the musical world that puts the new and the traditional in dynamic play. Considered one of the leading multi-instrumentalists in jazz, he brings a dynamic expressionism to his concerts and musical associations. Tonight he brings a unique pairing of improvisation and composition.


8/2 Thursday (CWL)
8 pm
Mathias Kunzli
Mathias Kunzli (drums)
Drum and percussion wizard communicates his world of sound in a rare solo performance.

10 pm
Jon Madof
Jon Madof (guitar) Jeremiah Cymerman (clarinet) Mike Pride (drums)
Leader of Rashanim and Zion80 engages in a special improvised set of new music.


8/3 Friday (TO)
8 and 10 pm
Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz - ABRAXAS - John Zorn’s Masada: Book of Angels Vol. 19 — CD RELEASE CONCERT!
Aram Bajakian (guitars) Eyal Maoz (guitars) Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz (gimbri) Kenny Grohowski (drums)
ABRAXAS: Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz steps out on his own to make one of the most primal and tribal installments in the “Book of Angels”’ series. Drawing on his Sephardic roots, Shanir plays gimbri throughout, giving the music a primeval Moroccan edge. Featuring the intense guitar pyrotechnics of Eyal Maoz and Aram Bajakian (who recently has been tearing it up in Lou Reed’s new band) and the atavistic drumming of Kenny Grohowski, this is Ritualistic Jewish Rock for the 21st century by a brilliant young lion from the East Village via Brooklyn/Israel!


8/4 Saturday (RJP)
8 pm
The Micro Titans
Briggan Krauss (electric guitar) John Mettam (electric bass) Laura Cromwell (drums)
Instrumental low-tech downtown punk-prog rock.

10 pm
Wave Sleep Wave
Jerry Adler (Vocals, Guitar) Yuval Lion (drums)
“Adler is an extraordinary songwriter… his casting of Lion as his only complement further accentuates his abilities as well as Lion’s. The collaboration is a harmony of amazing feats and epic in proportion.” — New Music Michael


8/5 Sunday (DM)
8 pm
Kevin Zubek
Kevin Zubek (drums)
Beat magician Kevin Zubek brings his drum bombast to The Stone for a rare solo performance.

10 pm
Yoshie Fruchter’s Pitom
Yoshie Fruchter (guitar) Jeremy Brown (violin, viola) Ari Folman-Cohen (bass) Zubek (drums)
Avante-garde rock meets the Jewish tradition in Pitom, a shredding instrumental band led by guitarist Yoshie Fruchter. This fiery quartet combines influences from Frank Zappa, The Melvins and Masada into an exciting band performing catchy compostions that both pay tribute to and challenge it's heritage. Coming off their second release for Tzadik entitled “Blasphemy and Other Serious Crimes” produced by bassist and noisemaker Shanir Blumenkranz, Pitom continue their exploration of the New Jewish rock sound.


8/6 Monday (TO)
7:30 and 9 pm
NEW MUSIC OBSERVATORY AT THE STONE
JON MADOF’S ZION80
7:30—Open Rehearsal
9:00—Performance
The latest large group project from Jon Madof (Rashanim, CircuitBreaker) features music by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach set to arrangements inspired by Nigerian Afrobeat master Fela Anikulapo Kuti.


8/7 Tuesday (KR)
8 and 10 pm
Cyro Baptista & Friends
Cyro Baptista (percussion, voice, strategy)
Multicultural, polyphonic, highly creative entertainment that takes rhythms beyond their natural frontiers and creates a brand of music too innovative and varied to be labeled.


8/8 Wednesday (DDT)
8 and 10 pm
Cyro Baptista’s Banquet of the Spirits
Cyro Baptista (percussion) Brian Marsella (piano, keyboards) Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz (bass, oud) Tim Keiper (drums, percussion, ngoni)
Baptista’s tight new quartet, Banquet of the Spirits, features some of the most exciting musicians of the New York downtown scene. Their music embodies a philosophy of anthropofagia, or cultural cannibalism, a joyous musical manifestation of the adventurous sounds they’ve collected and consumed over the years. Writes All About Jazz: “a diversity of sounds and colors that can't be found anywhere else. This is global exotica of a kind so wonderfully weird and cool that it's a must-listen.”


8/9 Thursday (HB)
8 pm
Ned Rothenberg/Ikue Mori/Catherine Jauniaux
Ned Rothenberg (woodwinds) Ikue Mori (laptop) Catherine Jauniaux (voice)
A rare visit from the elusive chanteuse in her only NYC appearance of the year, paired to two of the most exciting downtown improvisers.

10 pm
Brian Marsella
Brian Marsella (piano, keyboards)
Keyboardist for Cyro Baptista, Matisyahu, Caveman and The Flail. Solo piano journeys from one of the greatest musicians in the downtown scene.


8/10 Friday (RK)
8 pm
Ikue Mori, Sylvie Courvoisier, Erik Friedlander
Ikue Mori (laptop) Sylvie Courvoisier (piano) Erik Friedlander (cello)
One of the pioneers of laptop electronics, Ikue Mori has been breaking new ground on the musical frontier for three decades. From her early days in the landmark No Wave band DNA, to her years as a regular in the downtown improvisation community and more recently as one of the epicenters of the international laptop electronic scene, Ikue has become an underground hero.

10 pm
Sean Noonan
Sean Noonan (drums, storytelling) Alex Marcelo (piano)
Drummer, composer, storyteller, and producer, Sean Noonan has emerged as part of the next generation of cutting edge music from the Brooklyn underground, incorporating a diverse spectrum of styles ranging from Punk-Jazz, World Music, to Third Stream classical composition. Since 1999, Noonan has produced over 17 albums in his numerous projects that have featured Marc Ribot, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Mat Maneri, Abdoulaye Diabate, and Susan McKeown.


8/11 Saturday (RK)
8 and 10 pm
Yuka & MuKaSHi BaNaSHi
Yuka (voice, taishogoto, ukulele, electronics) Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz (bass) Brian Marsella (rhodes, keyboards) Tim Keiper (percussion) Yuval Lion (percussion)
Folktales from Japan. A rare performance of otherworldly original compositions rooted the tradition of tribal music commonly heard on Sado Island. Not to be missed!!!


8/12 Sunday (RJP)
8 pm
Tim Keiper’s Eclipticalia
Chris Dingman (vibraphone) John Lee (guitar, animal calls) Edward Perez (bass) Cyro Baptista (percussion) Tim Keiper (drums, hunter’s harp)
Drummer for Vieux Farka Touré and Banquet of the Spirits brings his band to The Stone for a special night of new music.

10 pm
Kevin Norton’s “Three Fifths of Breakfast”
Angelica Sanchez (piano) Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz (bass) Kevin Norton (drums, percussion, vibraphone)
Tonight Kevin presents “Three Fifths of Breakfast”—Breakfast of Champignon(s) is an ensemble that explores the borderlands of contemporary chamber music, modern jazz and free improvisation. All of the members of the ensemble can claim roots in these various sub-genres of music, while also claiming to be unique, impressive and sincere contributors on their respective instruments. Formed in 2007, Breakfast of Champignon(s) is named in honor of two events: The passing of novelist Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) and the 40th anniversary of “The Summer of Love” (Champignons = mushrooms in French).


8/13 Monday (CB)
7:30 and 9 pm
NEW MUSIC OBSERVATORY AT THE STONE
JON MADOF’S ZION80
7:30—Open Rehearsal
9:00—Performance
The latest large group project from Jon Madof (Rashanim, CircuitBreaker) features music by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach set to arrangements inspired by Nigerian Afrobeat master Fela Anikulapo Kuti.


8/14 Tuesday (BLG)
8 pm
Bob Musso’s Axiomatic
Bob Musso (guitar) Dave Dreiwitz (electric bass) Calvin Weston (drums) with Special Guest Mark Daterman (guitar)
An evening of power trio improvisation with guitarist Robert (Bob) Musso, Dave Dreiwitz of Ween plus Calvin Weston and Mark Daterman!

10 pm
Aram Bajakian
Aram Bajakian (guitars) Julia Ulehla (voice)
Guitarist for Lou Reed, Kef, and Abraxas brings his electrifying sound to The Stone for a special night of solo guitar explorations and duets with special guest Julia Ulehla.


8/15 Wednesday (CB)
8 pm
Louie Belogenis
Louie Belogenis (soprano and tenor saxes) Russ Lossing (piano) Kenny Wollesen (drums)
New music from this exciting improvising unit. A rare performance of the underground elite.

10 pm
PROJECT FUKUSHIMA! NYC — A benefit for Japan
Kaoru Watanabe (fue, taiko) Shanir Blumenkranz (bass, oud) Yuka (voice, taishogoto, ukulele, electronics)
Pet Bottle Ningen: Dave Scanlon (guitar) Nonoko Yoshida (sax) Dave Miller (drums)
Aya Nishina + Miho Hatori’s NEW OPTIMISM: Miho Hatori (vocal) Timo Ellis (bass) Shoko Nagai (key) Ahmed Gallab (drums) Aya Nishina (piano)
The benefit marathon concert in NYC hosted by three bands (20 minutes each) dedicates all its proceeds to “Project FUKUSHIMA!” in Japan.

PROJECT FUKUSHIMA WEBSITE— http://www.pj-fukushima.jp/index.html

Special Notes from Otomo Yoshihide and Ryoichi Wago: On August 15 we will hold a festival in Fukushima. We will organize numerous events before and after the festival, and carry out projects in and out of Fukushima under the name Fukushima! for a continuous and long-term basis.

After the disaster, Japan was faced not just with the damage from the earthquake and the tsunami, but also with the accident at a nuclear power plant for which solutions are nowhere in sight. Some may feel that this is no time for holding a festival, given that many people are faced with the potential loss of their hometowns, schoolyards are unusable due to elevated radiations levels, and many evacuees are not allowed to go back to their own homes. But we have not given up on Fukushima by any means. Even if some places have been made uninhabitable, we want to believe in Fukushima’s rebirth. That is why we need a festival. We need music. We need a place where people can gather to converse. We need hope, a motivation to live. In order to prevent Fukushima from being forgotten, and to retain Fukushima’s connection with the outside world, we want to make the festival a stepping-stone for the future. —Otomo Yoshihide

We are Fukushima. We won’t give up on Fukushima. The light of Fukushima, the clouds of Tohoku, the history, the lives, the kindheartedness, the fathers and mothers, the Abukuma river, the twinkling of the stars, the smiles of children… we believe in all those “Fukushimas”. 3.11. In order to seize “Fukushima” back from that day, we shall come together in the middle of August to make a declaration to the world. We will not give up our dreams, we will not give up on ourselves, we will not give up on Fukushima, we will not give up on Japan. Let us look up to the blue skies of Fukushima. To the light and the clouds and the lives. To father sky. To mother earth. In the fields of Fukushima, in the grounds of Fukushima, for the heartbeat of Fukushima, for you, we will be waiting. —Ryoichi Wago


8/16 Thursday (JM)
8 pm
JOHN ZORN IMPROV NIGHT—A STONE BENEFIT
John Zorn (sax) Ches Smith (drums) Kevin Norton (vibes) Ikue Mori (electronics) Sylvie Courvoisier (piano) Nonoko Yoshida (sax) Ned Rothenberg (sax) Shanir Blumenkranz (bass) and many special guests
ONE SET of wild East Village Improv to benefit the Stone! We like to start early so dont be late! TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS


8/17 Friday (MJC)
8 pm
Stephan Moore/Caroline Park/Tim Rovinelli and Evidence
Stephan Moore (electronics and objects) Caroline Park (electronics) Tim Rovinelli (circuit-bent and homemade electronics) Scott Smallwood (electronics)
Two short, high-energy improvised sets: the first by the Moore/Park/Rovinelli trio hailing from Providence, RI, and the second by Evidence, the 12-year-and-counting collaboration between Moore and Smallwood.

10 pm
Straylight
Jason Finkelman (african and brazilian percussion) Geoff Gersh (guitar) Charles Cohen (buchla music easel)
Charles Cohen, Geoff Gersh and Jason Finkelman reunite the ambient, avant world trio Straylight, which uniquely combines vintage Buchla synthesizer, electric guitar, and African & Brazilian percussion


8/18 Saturday (JI)
8 pm
Scott Smallwood
Scott Smallwood (electronics)

10 pm
Microcosm: Sonic Territories
Jonas Braasch (soprano sax, arturia moog synthesizer pedal, live audio/video electronics)
Microcosm is Jonas Braasch’s new project. Expanding from his solo work, Microcosm is — in a nutshell — in a band with Jonas on the soprano saxophone, his alter ego on the Arturia Moog foot pedal, and Caira, an intelligent agent who improvises autonomously with the trio using auditory scene analysis techniques, machine listening, and logic-based reasoning. The agent is currently being developed through support from the National Science Foundation, together with team members Doug Van Nort, Pauline Oliveros, and Selmer Bringsjord. The Microcosm project was conceived to cross traditional boundaries between arts and science, and was conceptualized out of the desire to perform with an inspiring ensemble that can follow and provide musical cues very quickly. The concert will include adaptations from Jonas’ previous works: “Global Reflections”, “Sonic Territories”, and “Quartet for the End of Space”, which were released on Deep Listening and Pogus.


8/19 Sunday (JR)
8 pm
Doug Van Nort
Doug Van Nort (electronics)
In this solo set, Van Nort will present his unique brand of improvised sonic sculpting, performed on laptop with his custom GREIS system and drawing on all manner of sound materials. The set will also include a live version of an as yet unreleased electroacoustic composition.

10 pm
Monique Buzzarté
Monique Buzzarté (trombone)


8/20 Monday (TY)
7:30 and 9 pm
NEW MUSIC OBSERVATORY AT THE STONE
JON MADOF’S ZION80
7:30—Open Rehearsal
9:00—Performance
The latest large group project from Jon Madof (Rashanim, CircuitBreaker) features music by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach set to arrangements inspired by Nigerian Afrobeat master Fela Anikulapo Kuti.


8/21 Tuesday (DDT)
8 pm
Pauline Oliveros and Susie Ibarra Duet
Pauline Oliveros (digital accordion) Susie Ibarra (drumset, percussion)

10 pm
Susie Ibarra, Thollem McDonas, Pauline Oliveros Trio
Pauline Oliveros (digital accordion) Susie Ibarra (drumset, percussion) Thollem McDonas (piano)


8/22 Wednesday (KR)
8 pm
What Can You Do?
Brenda Hutchinson (invitational performance)
What Can You Do? is a celebration and reclamation of public space through direct interaction among strangers presented as a series of encounters ranging from direct engagement through electronically mediated experience. What Can You Do? is also the question teams of people in Portland, San Francisco and most recently at Tompkins Square Park in NY have been asking strangers. We have been learning and documenting the responses and invite you to share the results and to share something you can do as well.

10 pm
Remember, Dream v. 2.5
Norman Lowrey (singing masks, electronics) Ezra Lowrey (guitar, vocals, dance) Caleb Lowrey (guitar, drums, electronics)
All are invited to be present in Dream Time, listening into the moment, discovering who we are in this moment, within and without, listening, sounding, moving, seriously playing the moment, exploring the moment as a community of listeners/viewers. A sound/video dreamscape which has evolved from Norman’s prior Singing Mask ceremonies, his latest work “Mysterium Magnum,” home videos and recent electronic music by Ezra will accompany us in this journey. As a shared dream, Ezra, Caleb and Norman will explore and guide us into the present moment with sound/movement/Singing Masks as we are all interdependently interconnected within the intricate interwoven depths and delights of Dream Time.


8/23 Thursday (KR)
8 pm
If, Bwana
Al Margolis (violin) James Ilgenfritz (bass) Lisa B Kelley, Sangeeta Laura Biagi (vocals) Doug Van Nort (laptop)
When worlds collide: Al (If, Bwana) Margolis crosses his sonic string duo (with James Ilgenfritz) with his laptop duo (with Doug Van Nort) and adds a dollop of voice from occasional If, Bwana cohort Lisa B Kelley for a who knows what we will get blend of electro-acoustic weirdness.

10 pm
Lisa B Kelley
Lisa B Kelley, Sangeeta Laura Biagi (voices) Sam Golter (flute) Al Margolis (violin) and special guests
Solo performance of Pauline Oliveros’ “The Witness” along with various configurations of duo and ensemble performance.


8/24 Friday (KR)
8 pm
Jackie Heyen
Jackie Heyen (voice, objects, electronics)
Improvisation with voice, objects and electronics. Small sounds, Large sounds, story telling and imagining. 

10 pm
Thollem Sworld
Thollem McDonas (piano)
Thollem Sworld is the result of a musician who has been traveling perpetually and playing internationally for years.  Absorbing approaches to the musics of a wide variety of cultures, Thollem spins them outwards in new and unusual musical free associations. His compositions, both premeditated and spontaneous, contain nuances and collisions from his studies of 350 years of keyboard musics, Gamelan, West African Drumming, Persian, Karnatac, Chinese, punk and Native American musics and those he finds in the ever-changing environments he encounters.


8/25 Saturday (JI)
8 pm
Andrew Deutsch / Peer Bode Carrier Band
Andrew Deutsch (synthesizer, voice, electronics) Peer Bode (voice, vocoder) Rebekkah Palov (computer generated sound)
Andrew Deutsch and Peer Bode, founding members of Carrier Band will perform an invisible sculpture using the Bode Vocoder, shortwave radio, hand made electronic instruments and archival recordings from the Harald Bode Archive and unpublished recordings by Pauline Oliveros. Andrew Deutsch will also be performing shortwave radio, modified television, and live data set mixing comprised of early electronic compositions by Pauline Oliveros, and GRM software produced sounds.

Andrew Deutsch is a visual and sonic artist who’s work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of Art, the Tampa Contemporary Museum of Art, the Robert Rauschenberg Gallery and the Central Academy of Art Beijing, China. His sound works have been published by Deep Listening Publications, SIRR, Lucky Kitchen, Elevator Bath, AND/Oar, IEA, and Anomalous Records. Andrew Deutsch is the owner of Magic If Recordings which is distributed world wide by Art Into Life, Japan. The term “electro-dynamic drawing” has been developed by Deutsch to describe his work in video and he describes his sonic art as “invisible sculpture”.

Peer Bode, is Co-founder of the Institute for Electronic Arts, Alfred University, Alfred, NY. His work has been exhibited at the Anthology Film Archives, The Kitchen, Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Everson Museum, MOMA, the Whitney Biennial, Techno Bop, V-Tape and Trinity Square Media, the European Media Arts Festival and the Viper Festival as well as new media exhibitions in China, Japan and New Zealand, with recent exhibitions at the Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery and the New York Electronic Arts Festival, NY. Collaborations and projects include, Movements for Video, Dance and Music with Meryl Blackman, Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane, guest editor of Tellus#17 audio magazine, the films‚ “We Can’t Go Home Again”, by Nicholas Ray (1973 Cannes premiere) and the Susan Ray documentary‚ “Don’t Expect Too Much” (2011 Venice Film Festival, 2011 New York Film Festival, 2012 Turner Classic Movies). Bode’s other collaborators include Ralph Hocking, David Jones, Kjell Bjorgengen, Andrew Deutsch, Caspar Abocab, Rebekkah Palov, Don Metz and Pauline Oliveros. Rebekkah Palov works in sound, video and objects for screens. She was a member of early 90's DC and Olympia punk scenes where she played bass-guitar in project bands.  Her sound compositions have been programmed at SoundFjord Gallery London UK,  Digital Art Weeks, Zurich and SoundLAB, Cologne. Her research on Harald Bode includes the museum exhibitions and guest editor for CEC eContact! 13.4 Harald Bode.

10 pm
Gayle Young with Reinhard Reitzenstein
Gayle Young (home-made instruments) Reinhard Reitzenstein
Young and Reitzenstein combine pre-recorded sounds — ranging from oceans to railways — with two of Young’s stringed instruments, one wood and the other a prototype in aluminum. Their approach is a playful exploration of sound that integrates soundscape with unusual tunings.


8/26 Sunday (DS)
8 pm
Transcendentalities
David Arner (piano)
Out there with intentionalities, inevitabilities, interactivities, incarnations, indeterminacies, inclinations, inherencies, inventions and intuitions.

10 pm
Rosi Hertlein Trio
Rosi Hertlein(violin, vocals, composition, words) Dave Taylor (bass trombone) David Arner (piano)
The Trio will perform new compositions and concepts by Rosi Hertlein. The musician’s talents of free improvisation and imagination will lift the compositions to elevated realms.


8/27 Monday (JC)
7:30 and 9 pm
NEW MUSIC OBSERVATORY AT THE STONE
JON MADOF’S ZION80
7:30—Open Rehearsal
9:00—Performance
The latest large group project from Jon Madof (Rashanim, CircuitBreaker) features music by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach set to arrangements inspired by Nigerian Afrobeat master Fela Anikulapo Kuti.


8/28 Tuesday (CWL)
8 pm
Curtis Bahn/Steve Gorn
Curtis Bahn (computer-extended sitar, dilruba) Steve Gorn (bansuri flute)
“Laajawab”—music crossing all borders, raga-electronica-sound collage and live interactive performance.

10 pm
Dana Reason
Dana Reason (piano) Peter Valsamis (drums)


8/29 Wednesday (TY)
8 pm
Kristin Norderval
Kristin Norderval (voice, electronics)
An evening of live voice, real-time sampling and manipulation of pre-recorded sounds from various places around the world—from the Arctic to Mexico. This concert celebrates the upcoming release of Kristin’s new solo CD “Aural Histories” (post-ambient arias for voice and electronics) on the Deep Listening Label.

10 pm
Neil Rolnick
Neil Rolnick (electronics)
Neil Rolnick works for violin, piano and computer, with violinist Todd Reynolds and pianist Vicky Chow. Including Hammer & Hair, Digits, Fiddle Faddle and Robert Johnson Sampler.


8/30 Thursday (NY)
8 pm
Nancy Beckman and Tom Bickley
Nancy Beckman (shakuhachi, voice) Tom Bickley (recorders, voice, electronics) Viv Corringham (voice)
Gusty Winds May Exist / Dream Down Duvet —soundscapes from the western pure land and not so pure land Nancy Beckman, Tom Bickley with Viv Corringham (from the trio Dream Down Duvet): combinations of flutes, voices, [extended techniques], environmental sounds, and live processing in various combinations of structured improvisations.

10 pm
Viv Corringham)
Viv Corringham (voice) Nancy Beckman (shakuhachi, voice) Tom Bickley (recorders, voice, electronics)
Structured improvisations with natural and unnatural sounds. Viv Corringham, with Nancy Beckman and Tom Bickley (from the trio Dream Down Duvet): solos, duos, trios!


8/31 Friday (JR)
8 pm
Double Dempster Dive Duo
Stuart Dempster (trombone) Loren Dempster (cello)
An exploratory dig within two side-by-side Dempsters that, besides cello and trombone, will include conchs, didjeridus, voices, and little instruments including cheap (and maybe not so cheap) electronics, “Putting the ‘play’ back into playing music!”

10 pm
Chris Brown
Chris Brown (electronics)
Oakland composer/performer Chris Brown performs three of his interactive pieces for piano and computer. Included are: “Artificial Birds” (2009), based on Messiaen’s “Oiseaux Exotiques”; “Matrix Improv” (2012) for piano and signal processing; and Branches (2001) for piano and interactive rhythm machine. A rare opportunity to hear music that seamlessly blends composition, improvisation, interactive electronics, and virtuosic, extended pianism.