THE FOUNDRY TOUR0403
WE BEGIN...
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In April 2003 we presented the first Foundry shows outside the Bay Area, playing dates in NYC, Syracuse and Toronto. This is an online scrapbook of our trip. To accompany this we offer the following MP3, an excerpt from the end of Jonathan Hughes' set in Toronto, an improvised duet with Michael Bentley/eM. MP3 (live 4/29/03)
Here is our blurbiage for the tour (more photos follow below):
FOUNDRY EAST COAST DATES (APRIL 2003)
An Evening with The Foundry will feature performances from Dean Santomieri and Michael Bentley, and Jonathan Hughes for some dates (see schedule below).
Santomieri's The Boy Beneath the Sea weaves together music, spoken word and video to create an affecting and timeless fable. Themes of wonder, guilt, love, and fear run as deep currents throughout this work. A Book Bound in Red Buckram is a chilling circular tale of a descent into madness told against a backdrop of abstract sounds and images. Santomierišs narratives are both evocative and personal, dreamlike yet familiar.
Michael Bentley uses a variety of sound sources and computer based compositional techniques to create the first permutation of his new long form piece entitled Chronos and Kairos (part of This World), a subjective traverse of audio and visual referents, a kind of autobiography under erasure. There will be accompanying video as well, a further elaboration of these ideas. Bentley has recorded solo CDs under the name eM and Mollusk, and has also contributed to projects from Fällt, No Type, and MIT's Computer Music Journal.
Jonathan Hughes employs various digital synthesizers and processing to create rich textural and glitchy soundscapes. His Fluid pieces build layers of sonic events, generating complex arrangements that form new structures in each performance. Hughes has released CDs on both the Sunburst Fifty Music and Foundry labels in recent years.
At left: Michael and Dean make an early morning departure
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NEW YORK CITY 4/22/03
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In NYC we played at Collective Unconscious, a cool venue about a block below Houston on Ludlow. The large screen showed off our videos to good effect, and Dean and I (Jonathan did not play this date) were happy to have Malcolm Mooney (ex-Can singer), Darren Bergstein (publisher of e/i magazine), RJ Valeo (Io Records), and Charles Browning (Foundry associate), among other fine folks, in attendance.
At left: Bradley (Collective Unconscious), Michael and Dean after the show and after a few drinks...
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SYRACUSE 4/25/03
Our Syracuse show took place during the opening weekend of ThINC's Company Gallery. Located in the heart of the downtown, this gallery space was hosting several artists' work as well our Foundry evening. Jonathan and I followed the three solo sets with an impromptu improvisation, which was a lot of fun. Great to meet some more of our online friends here too.
Above: Jonathan and Michael (left) making final adjustments on the equipment (right).
Below: some of the art being shown at the Company Gallery.
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ON THE ROAD
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We all spent a fair amount of time in transit, here Dean and I (the shadow) wait in the Hudson train station.
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TORONTO 4/29/03
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Our adventure north of the border nearly stopped before it began (due to a lengthy border cross examination... ahem), but once we reached Toronto things went smoothly. C'est What?, the restaurant/pub that hosts The Ambient Ping, provides a nice atmosphere as well as tasty food and beers. As with other occassions on this trip it was fun to put a face to an online friend, in this case Scott McGregor Moore (DreamSTATE and instigator of "da Ping"). Everyone was extremely friendly and helped us improvise a video screen with white plastic trash bags... good thinking Scott!
Above: eM performs in Toronto (left) and our improvised screen (right).
Below: Michael and Jonathan (left) at the Ambient Ping's door (and signage; right). After consultation amongst us, we decided that Canadians should be encouraged to trade Aero bars for Foundry CDs!
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