Sounding into World Listening Day

Saturday, July 17 (10 p.m.)
Brown Rice
4432 N. Kedzie Ave., 1st floor
Chicago, IL 60625

“Sounding into World Listening Day” is an event that starts on the eve of the first World Listening Day and concludes on World Listening Day. This event is being organized by members of the World Listening Project. The purposes of World Listening Day are:
• to celebrate the practice of listening as it relates to the world around us, environmental awareness, and acoustic ecology;
• to raise awareness about issues related to the World Soundscape Project, World Listening Project, World Forum for Acoustic Ecology, and individual and group efforts to creatively explore phonography;
• and to design and implement educational initiatives which explore these concepts and practices.

performers and performances:
excerpted performance of Staring at Walls, a play by Spencer Hutchinson
Paul Hartsaw -- tenor saxophone
Jayve Montgomery -- reeds, electronics
Alpha Bruton -- Vibrational Sound Narratives Projection
Alex Wing -- upright bass, guitar
Dan Godston -- trumpet, poetry
Kai Kraatz -- electronics
Williwaw -- amplified ukelele
Christopher Bruce -- percussion

Audio contributed by other World Listening Day participants will be integrated into the performance, including an excerpt from Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica by DJ Spooky, contributions from other individuals, and audio which will be streaming live from locations around the world.

$10 suggested donation / sliding scale

For more info, email worldlistening@gmail.com.

World Listening Day

You are invited to participate in the first World Listening Day, which happens on Sunday, July 18, 2010. The purposes of World Listening Day are:
• to celebrate the practice of listening as it relates to the world around us, environmental awareness, and acoustic ecology
• to raise awareness about issues related to the World Soundscape Project, World Listening Project, World Forum for Acoustic Ecology, and individual and group efforts to creatively explore phonography
• to design and implement educational initiatives which explore these concepts and practices

World Listening Day is being organized by the World Listening Project, in partnership with other organizations. July 18 was chosen as the date for World Listening Day because it is the birthday of the Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer. Schafer is one of the founders of the Acoustic Ecology movement. The World Soundscape Project, which he directed, is an important organization which has inspired a lot of activity in this field, and his book Soundscape: The Tuning of the World helped to define many of the terms and background behind the acoustic ecology movement.

Here are some organizations and projects that will be part of World Listening Day:
American Society for Acoustic Ecology
Auroral Borealis Listening Group (Alaska)
Berg 26 (Berlin)
Chicago Phonography
Citizen Sound
Community Sound [e]Scapes
free103point9’s broadcast of GIANT EAR))) archives
Fruit for the Apocalypse – “The Stepney Soundscape”
Global Soundmap
Hellenic Association for Acoustic Ecology – “A Listening Demonstration-Performance and Sunset Silence Meditation” (Corfu, Greece)
Im Namen des Raumes (Berlin)
“Improv with Nature” (Sterling Heights, MI)
KKWNE (Paris)
LagosSoundscape
“Listening Around the A4074” (Oxford, England)
Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology
Music for the Soul: A Performance of Inspiring Music for Choir, Ensemble & Concert Band (Mackay, Qld, Australia)
New England Phonographers Union
New York Society for Acoustic Ecology
OISTAT Sound Design Working Group -- SixtySecond Theatre(Taipei)
PVA (Bridgport, England)
Radio Aporee
Seattle Phonographers Union
“Song Path” (Banning State Park, MN)
“Sonic Survey of Weymouth Seaside” (Dorset, England)
Sound Studies / Berlin University of the Arts
“Sounds Like Radio” (WDBX FM)
Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival (Dorset, England)
Wild Sanctuary
World Forum for Acoustic Ecology
World Listening Project

Here is how you can participate in World Listening Day:
• You can set aside some time when you pay attention to your soundscape.
• You can organize a listening party when people play field recordings.
• You can organize a soundwalk.
• Other possibilities…

Updates regarding more events and participating individuals on World Listening Day will be announced soon. For more info, please email worldlistening@gmail.com.

Sounds Like Radio

The Carbondale Nightlife has a nice article/interview with me in their April 1-8 edition. But since you're probably not local, here's a link so you can read it.

Also, I have accepted the challenge of producing Part 1 of the 4-part World Listening Project contributions to Resonance FM's "Framework: Afield" radio show. The theme is "Sounds You Might Have Heard". If you're involved with the World Listening Project, get in touch!

2nd Annual Noise Summit

The 2nd Annual Noise Summit happens April 18th at the Carterville Civic Center in Carterville, Illinois. This is a 5-hour event, with free admission, starting at noon. Come hear Southern Illinois' emerging "flyover noise" sound-- this is no-coast rural experimentalia at its most pure.

Second Annual Blank Slate Festival

Greetings everyone --

We're excited to present to you, the second edition of our Blank Slate festival in Indianapolis, at Earth House Collective on Saturday, April 3rd. Blank Slate celebrates the art of improvised music -- that art form where the onus is on musicians to create compelling, engaging music with little to no preconceptions, and in real time.

In addition to the music acts, there will also be several visual artists who are improvising works of their own, often in dialogue with the music on stage.

It's a unique challenge for any artist or musician: to create a coherent work of art, in the moment. Come and see how this process unfolds and how different groups and artists will have very different approaches to this challenge.

This year we have a number of groups from Indianapolis and from throughout the Midwest. New to the festival is that music will be taking place concurrently in the venue's cafe as well as on the main cathedral stage. While the cafe, being a business in its own right, will not involve a cover charge, one will have to pay cover in order to hear all of the ensembles upstairs. A $10 admission fee covers all 6 sets upstairs.

CAFE STAGE

DJ Moodswing (Eric Brown), and LA Jenkins (guitarist), alternate throughout the evening and with occasional guests.

* * *

CATHEDRAL STAGE

Illusion of Control (Indianapolis) (6:00)

James Cornish - Curtis Glatter Duo (6:45)
James Cornish -- trumpet
Curtis Glatter -- percussion

Hartsaw - Godston - Royal - Putnam - Cox Quintet (7:20)
Paul Hartsaw -- saxophones
Dan Godston -- trumpet
Andrew Royal -- violin
Aaron Putnam -- piano
Gerard Cox -- drums

Good Hands Team Improv (INDIANAPOLIS) (8:15)
with members of BASILICA

Wizards (8:45)
Hasan Abdur-Razzaq -- saxophones
Gerad Cox -- piano
Adam Smith -- drums

Midwest Improvised Music Summit (10:00)
Musicians from different sets within the festival will convene for a collaborative set to close the evening with a truly spontaneous encounter, as most of these musicians will have never played together before.

$10 admission fee covers 6 sets of music

Earth House Collective
237 N. East St.
Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 636-4060

Interview about experimental radio in Southern Illinois

I'm starting a second broadcast of experimental music here in Southern Illinois, and this one's going to be huge-- I've been told that the station can be heard in the lower third of Illinois, as well as portions of Indiana and Missouri. Our regional newspaper, The Southern, featured me on the cover of their weekly entertainment magazine this week. Enjoy the interview:



And hey, if you're interested in sending something in for broadcast consideration:

WSIU-FM, c/o Dave Armstrong
Communications Building 1003, Mail Code 6602
SIUC, 1100 Lincoln Dr.
Carbondale, IL 62901 USA

I'm starting a new broadcast!

In addition to my ongoing weekly of experimental, improv, and avant-garde music at WDBX-FM, I've recently been allowed to create a second weekly program at WSIU-FM!

I'll be focusing on more electroacoustic works, ensemble/solo improvisations, and sound art-- so if you have something you want me to hear, get in touch!

Needless to say, I'm very excited about the entire process, and about the opportunity to greatly expand my listenership. I've been told that WSIU is heard throughout the lower third of Illinois, and also in parts of Indiana and Missouri. Naturally, we're online as well.

Dan will recall our avian "guests" during his last live session in Southern Illinois, no doubt... which is why I'm also pretty enthused that WSIU have a lovely little studio for us to record some proper in-studio sets. Are you planning to pass through Southern Illinois? Let me know!

In the meantime, fill my mailbox. I've got two shows to feed!

WSIU-FM, c/o Dave Armstrong
Communications Building 1003, Mail Code 6602
SIUC, 1100 Lincoln Dr.
Carbondale, IL 62901 USA

Jazz Composers Series at Nu-Art Series Metropolitan Gallery in St. Louis

T. Renner, "John Coltrane: A Love Supreme #2," 2009, oil on paper, 11" x 17".

Each week of Black History Month and into mid-April, the Nu-Art Series in St. Louis, Missouri, will present a different local composer playing their own music and selections by a master.

Artist Tony Renner will also have a number of his jazz-inspired paintings on exhibit throughout the Jazz Composers Series.

The schedule:

* Sat. Feb. 6: The Darrell Mixon Quartet (the work of Charles Mingus)
* Sat. Feb. 13: The Charles "Bobo" Shaw Art Ensemble (the work of Eric Dolphy)
* Sat. Feb. 20: The Ptah Williams Trio (the work of Bud Powell)
* Sat. Feb. 27: The Chad Evans Ensemble (the work of Charlie Parker)
* Sat. March 6: The Chris Burchett Quartet (the work of Thelonious Monk)
* Sat. March 13: The Anthony Wiggins Quintet (the work of Freddie Hubbard)
* Sun. March 21: The Willie Akins Quartet (the work of Sonny Rollins)
* Sat. March 27: The Jerome "Scrooge" Harris Ensemble (the work of Miles Davis/Wayne Shorter)
* Sat. April 3: JD Parran (the work of John Coltrane)
* Sat. April 17: The Stan Coleman Youth Jazz Band (the work of Duke Ellington).

All performances will be held at the Nu-Art Series’ Metropolitan Gallery, 2936 Locust Street, St. Louis, Missouri, from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Admission is $10.

For more information, contact George Sams at 314-535-6500, nu-artseries@charter.net, or http://www.thenu-artseries.org.