Ravels in Review Friday

You'll be happy to know that dinner last night was delicious: tilapia, brussel sprouts, and potatoes; and a good time was had be all. (I know you were anxious about my entertaining abilities.)

As it is finally Friday, it's time for a Ravels in Review post. I think the week certainly started out on a good note with a long-overdue introduction.

• So if you had any lingering questions about yours truly, check out the video post in which I formally introduce myself.
  
• In another video post, I give you a glimpse into Nearly Ninety at BAM, at which Merce Cunningham, Sonic Youth, and John Paul Jones created an interesting collaboration.
  
• The performance inspired me to learn more about experimental composer John Cage.
  
• I discussed the Pulitzer Prize process (say that 3 times fast..) and Holland Cotter's win for Criticism.
  
• I shared some of my recent reading with a poem by Emiliy Dickinson.
  
• Yesterday, I left you with a To Do list of great gallery openings.

If anybody had a chance to check things out in Chelsea, let us know. Hopefully I'll follow that gallery list myself! Today is 70 degrees and sunny--what could be better?

Happy Friday all!

Connections: John Cage

When an unfamiliar name pops up, I may or may not pay attention, unless it happens twice in a day. John Cage was big at the Guggenheim's The Third Mind and then at Merce Cunningham's Nearly Ninety at BAM, where the program noted that the Merce Cunningham Dance Company was partly founded by John Cage. I started to pay attention.

John Cage, Where R = Ryoanji (3R/17), 1992

John Cage with Pianist David Tudor

Yes, the same man is connected with the circle drawings above at the Guggenheim, the photo on the left, the Fluxus movement, Merce Cunningham, and silent music. I was surprised by the collaboration of Sonic Youth and Merce Cunningham, but apparently Sonic Youth, the experimental rock band, are fans of Cage who included 3 of his pieces on their album SYR4.

John Cage (1912-1992) was primarily a composer, albeit one more fascinated by sounds in themselves than creating structure. His most (in)famous piece, 4'33, consists of three movements of silence, signaled by the pianist opening and shutting the piano. The idea behind it is to open you the the noises in the room, the rustling, the whispers, sounds from the street. Many people at the original performance did not appreciate this.

Cage is now a well-established cutural influence, whose Bhuddist-inspired work left a huge-impression on American art. As the Guggenheim describes it, "Cage staunchly refused to create art in keeping with expectations, and all his creative endeavors, including dance, music, and visual art, were revolutionary. His Lecture on Nothing began with his statement, “I am here and there is nothing to say.” His concerts were even more challenging."

John Cage, Not Wanting to Say Anything About Marcel, 1969

John Cage's Experimental Composition classes in the 1950s have become legendary as an American source of Fluxus, the international network of artists, composers, and designers. In addition to music, Cage created works of visual art, like the one above referring to his old chess partner Marcel Duchamp, and writings. Cage was also a life-long mushroom collector.

Merce Cunningham's Nearly Ninety at BAM

So this is your very dance-uniformed reviewer thanking her lucky stars that she brought her camera with her last night. I wouldn't know how to describe what I saw properly. I caught the sold-out production of Nearly Ninety arranged by legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham. Cunningham is a legend, but not one I had heard of when I bought these tickets months ago--I came for Sonic Youth.



As you can see in this short video, this was no Sonic Youth concert, but it was a interesting and exciting collaboration. I enjoyed it, but let me say that the experimental music did not strive to be harmonious and the dance was at times slow. The glittery spaceship-like set that the musicians played on and the black and white costumes were great. But check out some snippets for yourself and see what you think. And don't hesitate to enlighten me!

Sonic Youth: A Case of Art and Rock n' Roll

There used to be few things cooler than expiremental guitar band Sonic Youth. Despite the unfortunate fact that years pass regardless of one’s coolness, Sonic Youth has remained vibrant and interesting. I don’t even mean that in a senior citizens way. Recent activities include: Sonic Youth Etc.: Sensational Fix, an multidisciplinary and collaborative art exhibition, and playing along with Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones to choreographer Merce Cunningham’s latest project at BAM.

So in addition to rocking out, they're doing art. Or as their press release documents, exposing the band's historical connection to the art world:

"By the early 1980s, an alternative scene emerged in downtown New York City in which music and visual art were tightly connected. Both the raw and rebellious attitude of punk and the atonal, violent guitar music with abstract lyrics of no-wave inspired artists like Robert Longo, Richard Prince, Lee Ranaldo and Kim Gordon to play in bands, while performances by these 'art-rock' bands were held in exhibition spaces and so-called 'art lofts'.... The natural crossover between art and experimental music, as was apparent in those days, laid the foundations for the multidisciplinary activities of Sonic Youth. "

Sensational Fix is in Europe until 2010. (It won’t be coming to New York as far as I know.) However, there is a great looking catalog. The 720 pg. book is limited to 600 copies and includes two 7″ records, each one recorded by a different member of the band.