January 29, 2012
4pm - 10pm
Free!
Welcome Inn. Eagle Rock
1840 W. Colorado Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90041
SASSAS transforms Eagle Rock's Welcome Inn into a venue for live performances creating a free, six hour event featuring experimental music originating in Southern California, 1949 - 1977. Micro concerts take place in individual rooms allowing key moments in sound and music history to be experienced simultaneously and sequentially in a single location. A part of the Pacific Standard Time Public Art and Performance Festival.
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SCHEDULE OF PERFORMANCES
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The Calder Quartet, here but not there; there but not here, based on Arnold Schoenberg, Entwürfe zu einem Streichquartett [Draft of a String Quartet] (1949); 6:30pm, 7:30pm, 8:30pm
Eagles flock as music of Arnold Schoenberg's is re-imagined by the Calder Quartet with inspiration from Christian Wolff.
Composer Arnold Schoenberg moved to the United States in 1934 and soon settled in Los Angeles. During his time in LA, he wrote such notable pieces as the Violin Concerto (1942), A Survivor from Warsaw (1947) and Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte (1942). In addition to this and numerous other works he wrote while in Los Angeles, several were unfinished upon his death in 1951, including the Draft of a String Quartet from 1949.
Performance times: 6:30pm, 7:30pm, 8:30pm
Location: Balcony
Performers: The Calder Quartet: Benjamin Jacobson (violin), Andrew Bulbrook (violin), Jonathan Moerschel (viola), Eric Byers (cello) -
Free Jazz: Something Else! based on Something Else!!!!; 4:30pm, 5:30pm
Los Angeles was the home for several seminal free jazz recordings including, Something Else!!!! The Music of Ornette Coleman recorded February 10, 1958 at Contemporary Studios, Ornette’s first recording under his own name. In addition to Coleman (alto sax), the album included Don Cherry (trumpet), Don Payne (bass) and Billy Higgins (drums). David Ornette Cherry (the son of Don Cherry) and poet Kamau Daaood (who founded the World Stage Performance Gallery with Billy Higgins) revisit this recording along with other important free jazz works that originated or were recorded in Los Angeles.
Performance times: 4:30pm, 5:30pm
Location: Balcony
Performers: Kamau Daaood (vocals/spoken word), Justo Almario (alto sax), Roberto Miguel Miranda (Bass), Don Littleton (Drums), David Ornette Cherry (piano) -
John Cage, Variations IV (1963), continuous
Variations IV score on Room 25 of the Welcome Inn
Variations IV is intended for any number of players producing any sounds by any means, “with or without other activities.” The score consists of seven points and two circles on a transparent sheet. The sheet is cut into nine small sheets. One of the circles is then placed anywhere on a map of the area where the performance is to take place. Then the rest of the sheets are dropped anywhere on the same map and straight lines are drawn from the first circle to the seven points; if a line intersects or is tangent to another circle, the same procedure is applied to that circle. Performers do not need to confine themselves to a performance of the piece during the entire performance and are free to engage in any other activities at any time. The duration of Welcome Inn Time Machine is derived from the 1963 six hour-long premiere performance of Variations IV at UCLA.
Performance time: continuous, 4:00pm 10:00pm
Location: Rooms 11 and 25
Realized by: Scott Benzel and Dave Muller -
Anita Pace, Field Activity, 2012 (inspired by documents describing Merce Cunningham’s Field Dances performance, 1963), 4:30pm, 5:30pm, 6:30pm, 7:30pm, 8:30pm
Cunningham abandoned the traditional collaborative process among choreographer, composer, and designer while liberating his dancers from hierarchical symmetrical patterns, allowing the audience the choice of where and at whom to look. The possibilities for choreographic invention appeared limitless. Field Dances was originally performed as a part of the UCLA premiere of Variations IV. Choreographer Anita Pace revisits this work, using Cage’s description of Variations IV 'samsara', 'the turmoil of everyday life' as impetus for the movement gestalt.
Performance times: 4:30pm, 5:30pm, 6:30pm, 7:30pm, 8:30pm
Location: Rooms 11, 25 and adjacent stairway
Performers: Anita Pace, Michelle Lai -
James Tenney, Postal Pieces (1965 - 1971), continuous on the half hour
The Postal Pieces are a series of 11 indeterminate scores composed between 1965 and 1971. Called Postal Pieces because they were printed on post cards (or as Tenney referred to them, “score cards”), most of the works were produced for the first time while Tenney was teaching at CalArts between 1971 and 1976.
SASSAS has a long connection with Tenneyhe was an advisor to the organization from the time it was formed. Additionally SASSAS worked with him on two concerts during his lifetime a performance of his own works in 2001, which included Having Never Written a Note for Percussion and a performance of several early works of John Cage in 2002. As a part of the 2009 Anniversary Concert, SASSAS presented Tributaries: Dedicated to the Memory of James Tenney, which included both Having Never Written a Note for Percussion and Koan among other works.
“To some extent, he was the ultimate Western composer. He approached each new piece as an adventure, with the goal of discovering original territory and, if need be, taming some theoretical musical beast or acoustical bugbear.” Mark Swed, in Tenney’s obituary for Los Angeles Times in 2006.
Location: All works in Room 3 unless otherwise noted
A Rose is a Rose is a Round(1970)
Performance time: 4:00pm (Balcony)
Played by: Jessica Catron, Julia Holter, Adrian Tenney
Beast(1971),
Performance time: 4:30pm
Played by: Dave Tranchina
Koan (1971)
Performance time: 5:00pm
Played by: Andrew McIntosh
Cellogram (1971)
Performance time: 5:30pm
Played by: Eric Byers
Swell Piece #2 (1971)
Performance time: 6:00pm
Played by: Matt Barbier, Jessica Catron, Jeremy Drake, Andrew Macintosh, Dave Tranchina
August Harp (1971)
Performance time: 6:30pm
Played by: Jane Grothe
Having Never Written a Note for Percussion (1971)
Performance time: 7:00pm
Played by: Danny Holt
For Percussion Perhaps, Or (night)(1971)
Performance time: 7:30pm
Played by: Julia Holter
Swell Piece #3 (1971)
Performance time: 8:00pm
Played by: Matt Barbier, Andrew Bulbrook, Danny Holt , Julie Holter, Andrew McIntosh, Nick Terry, Andrew Tholl, Dave Tranchina
Maximusic (1975)
Performance time: 8:45pm
Played by: Nick Terry
Swell Piece (1967)
Performance time: 9:30pm (Balcony and across site) -
Pauline Oliveros, Sonic Meditations (1971), continuous, quarter past and 45 past the hour
Leaving the Bay Area to accept a teaching position at the University of California, San Diego, Pauline Oliveros began learning about meditation. This interest created a shift in her own musical composition in which she began focusing on the significance of long tones. By 1971, Oliveros had collected a number of meditations and published them together as Sonic Meditations. These sonic explorations, open to anyone who wished to participate, were rooted in ancient musical forms that precluded the listener focusing on the healing power of Sonic Energy and its transmission within groups. Each meditation is an activity conceived to assist in making, imagining, listening and remembering sounds. The meditations exist as text giving the participants activities to do and think about over an indeterminate period of time.
Location: Room 17
Performers: Jessica Catron, Jeremy Drake, Adam Overton, Elana Mann
Sonic Meditations (1971)
IX. The Greeting
Performance time: 4:45pm
XXV. Your Name - The Signature Meditation
Performance time: 5:15pm
X. (no name)
Performance time: 5:45 PM
I. Teach Yourself To Fly
Performance time: 6:15pm
XV. Zina's Circle
Performance time: 6:45pm
VIII. Environmental Dialogue
Performance time: 7:15pm
III. Pacific Tell
Performance time: 7:45pm
XII. One Word
Performance time: 8:15pm
XVII. Ear Ly
Performance time 8:40pm
XVI. (no name)
Performance time: 9:00pm -
Bruce Nauman, Violin Tuned D.E.A.D. (1969) , on the hour starting at 5:00pm
Bruce Nauman's Violin Tuned D.E.A.D. exemplifies his practice of incorporating boredom, exhaustion, and the superimposition of unlike systems into art and, in this case, music. In an interview with Willoughby Sharp, Nauman stated: “I wanted to set up a problem where it wouldn’t matter whether I knew how to play the violin or not. What I did was to play as fast as I could on all four strings with the violin tuned D, E, A, D. I thought it would just be a lot of noise, but it turned out to be musically very interesting. It is a very tense piece.” The D.E.A.D. tuned violin will be played for approximately 2 hours over the course of the event.
Location: Room 8
Played by:
5:00pm: Ben Jacobson
6:00pm: Andrew Tholl
7:00pm: Andrew McIntosh
8:00pm: Melinda Rice -
Currents Series at the Theater Vanguard (1973 - 1978), continuous
Theater Vanguard presented regular performances of experimental music, theater, film, animation and performance art. Located in the former Stage Society Theatre on Melrose in West Hollywood, The Vanguard provided a nurturing environment for LA performing arts as well as a much-needed venue for local and international artists. Currents was a regular program of electro-acoustic music at the Vanguard, founded by composer Barry Schrader in 1973 and continuing through 1978. It was the first regular presentation of electro-acoustic music in the U.S.
Location: Room 23
Performance time: continuous, 4pm - 10pm
Pierre Schaeffer, Etudes des bruits (1948)
Etude aux chemins de fer; Etude aux tourniquets; Etude violette; Etude noire;
Etude pathtique
Vladimir Ussachevsky, Sonic Contours (1952)
Otto Luening & Vladimir Ussachevsky, Incantation (1952)
Louis & Bebe Barron, score from The Bells of Atlantis (1952)
with Anais Nin reading her poem The Bells of Atlantis
Vladimir Ussachevsky, Piece for Tape Recorder (1956)
Ilhan Mimaroglu, Bowery Bum (1964)
Mel Powell, Analogs (1966)
Analog I; Analog II; Analog III; Analog IV
Michel Chion, Requiem (excerpts) (1973)
Dies Irae; Libera Me
Warren Burt, for Anne, who broke my heart (1974)
Carl Stone, Sukothai (1977)
Barry Schrader, Lost Atlantis (excerpts) (1977)
"and Atlantis shall rise" -
Robert Wilhite, Bob Wilhite In Concert (1975), continuous
In 1975, Bob Wilhite created his first musical sculpture a unique one stringed instrument. As a gesture to establish the object and provide it with a provenance, Wilhite gave two concerts heard only via the telephone. Wilhite placed display advertisements in the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle announcing both performances. Patrons who phoned during the specified time periods heard a short instrumental played live on the one stringed instrument. Both concerts were performed at his Los Angeles studio. The on-site audience at the Eagle Rock event will access Wilhite's live performance by calling his motel room from another room in the motel.
To access performance phone 310/739-5773, day of show only
Performance time: continuous, 4:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: Room 9
To access performance dial 106 from Room 9 or phone 310/739-5773, day of show only
Performer: Robert Wilhite -
The Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS), Pyramid Headphones (1976)
The Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS), the banner heading of a loose collective of experimental musicians founded in the early 1970s, have had immeasurable influence on the spread and evolution of noise and avant-garde music and DIY culture over the past almost 40 years. In July of 1976, Le Forte Four, one of the earliest groups in the collective, created an installation at the Brand Library Art Center in Glendale, California, which consisted of forty-four black, pyramid-shaped, stereo headphones, with lights on the top, through which were played an audio collage entitled Box Your Ears (which was released in 1976 as part of the double LP LAFMS: Live at the Brand). This installation recreates the original utilizing the twelve extant original pyramid headphones.
Performance time: continuous, 4:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: Room 16