[NewMusic] best of

[Michael Zelner]

On 5/4/07, Jon Raskin wrote:

>Nice to get an article about the scene.  I tried to find the article 
>on the East Bay Express site but it didn't come up in a search.  I 
>guess I'll have to find the paper version.

Damon posted the links in the post that started this thread on Thursday.
Here they are again, along with the text of the "Best ofs" for those 
who prefer not to sully their fingers with East Bay Express ink:


<http://bestof.eastbayexpress.com/bestof/award.php?award=423932>

>Best Multidisciplinary Art Gallery: Broadest definition of taste
>21 Grand
>21 Grand Gallery/Performance Space [Map]
>416 25th St.
>Oakland, CA 94612
>510-444-7263
>http://21Grand.org
>
>Even in the ultracosmopolitan East Bay, it's difficult to find 
>venues that are willing to book the kind of wacky, 
>experimental-music shows that wouldn't go over in a place like the 
>Stork Club - shows in which you'd expect to see Tom Djll blowing 
>into the wrong end of a trumpet, Phillip Greenlief bobbling a 
>triplet figure over and over, or the Moe!kestra! reading from a 
>graphically notated score. It's even harder to find venues with a 
>desire to make such music accessible for all ages. Enter 21 Grand, a 
>beloved gallery and performance space that showcases some of the 
>best avant-garde poets, authors, playwrights, experimental 
>filmmakers, photographers, conceptual artists, and musicians from 
>local and national underground scenes. Neither self-consciously hip 
>nor beholden to any particular genre, 21 Grand founders Sarah 
>Lockhart and Darren Jenkins take risks on new projects and artists 
>who fall outside the bounds of convention. Many of the works they 
>feature are less about finding aesthetic bliss than deconstructing 
>the creative process. Chancy ventures, indeed, but Jenkins and 
>Lockhart have little left to fear. Since opening their original 
>space in 2000, they've already weathered two evictions. When they 
>say they're in it for the long haul, they really mean it.


<http://bestof.eastbayexpress.com/bestof/award.php?award=423953>

>Best Labor-of-Love Venue: A sonically adventurous financial sacrifice
>1510 8th St., Oakland
>1510 8th St., Oakland, CA
>Run by local avant-garde pianist Scott Looney - whose improvisations 
>go so far off the beaten track that it's hard for others to play 
>with him - West Oakland's 1510 8th Street performance space has 
>featured everything from Ornette Coleman tributes to bizarre, 
>improvised quartet music. It's one of the few places to showcase 
>left-field "noise" heads like bassist Damon Smith or the members of 
>electronic band Vholtz, who enjoy stretching the boundaries between 
>punk rock and free jazz. International names like German flutist 
>Frank Gratkowski schedule dates here, even if they don't plan to gig 
>at Yoshi's. And its bimonthly "Free Jazz Fridays" series - launched 
>by Jazz House founder Rob Woodworth - features everything from the 
>hardcore, atonal sounds of Woman's Worth to blues by Howard Wiley 
>and D'Armous Boone. Though they come from different traditions, 
>these performers all share a voracious curiosity about music, and 
>generally seem more concerned with engaging the audience than 
>showing off their musical chops. Most shows cost only $5-$10 at the 
>door, all of which goes to the musicians. It's a shoestring 
>operation indeed, but one that will hopefully persist for years to 
>come.



MZ







--------------michaelz at zoka.com---
             Michael Zelner
---Oakland CA USA------------------