PZ
gazzetta
(all the gnus)
October 2015 [pz gazzetta xxiii]
Pamela Z Arts' Quarterly Newsletter (view online)
 
 

event highlights | news travels goings-on | event details | past gazzetti | pamelaz.com


Upcoming:

October 14, 2015: St. Paul
New Ruckus Composer Night
Studio Z, St. Paul, MN

October 15, 2015: St. Paul
Closed Loop at Lowertown Listening
Studio Z, St. Paul, MN

October 30, 2015: New York
Pamela Z + Miguel Frasconi
The Firehouse Space, Brooklyn NY

November 4 2015: New York
Ethel plays Z
National Sawdust, Brooklyn NY

November 5 2015: New York
Electro-Acoustic Music Festival
Brooklyn College, Brooklyn NY

November 7 2015: San Francisco
Real Future Fair
iHanger @ Palace of Fine Arts , SF, CA

November 14 2015: San Francisco
ROOM: Combinatory Duets pt 1
Royce Gallery, San Francisco, CA

November 21 2015: San Francisco
ROOM: Combinatory Duets pt 2
Royce Gallery, San Francisco, CA

November 24 2015: San Francisco
Double Divas
Center for New Music, San Francisco, CA


Memory Trace Still
My Rode mic and an ear of sweet corn

 



Closing the Loop

Gentle Gazzetta Readers,

A month and a half ago, I drove halfway across the country in "Yoko", my trusty Honda Civic Hatchback with the Audio Art vanity plate. I drove from San Francisco to Minneapolis to begin my two-month American Composers Forum/McKnight visiting composer residency in Minnesota. It amounted to four days of driving – broken up by a stop in Colorado, where I still have family. Now, with only a few weeks remaining in my Minnesota stay, I'm hard at work editing sound in Pro Tools –– creating clips of the voices of farmers, animals, chefs, prep cooks, servers, and eaters who I've been visiting with, interviewing, and recording during my time here.  I am composing a work called Closed Loop that I will present in progress in a couple of weeks at Studio Z (no relation) in Saint Paul.

From Memory Trace to Closed Loop

In late July, right before embarking on this major road trip, I performed a 3-night run of another new work, Memory Trace, at San Francisco's intimate Royce Gallery, where I regularly present my avant-chamber ROOM Series. It's a solo work, but I've created an "ensemble" of sorts using video of a remarkable cast of dreamers and rememberers who make virtual appeances throughout the piece. I will be presenting a large-scale, more developed version of Memory Trace next spring at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. In the middle of the show, there is a short video segment that could be considered the cornerstone of the piece – featuring the face and voice of my dear mother. She made her graceful departure from this world in August – about half a day before I was able to reach Colorado.  After spending some family time with my sisters in Evergreen and Denver, I continued my journey to the land of 10,000 lakes.

Art & Food in the Twin Cities

My lodging while in the Twin Cities is a room in the Minneapolis home of composer Mary Ellen Childs. Shortly after I arrived, I had the pleasure of hearing members of her Crash Ensemble perform some of her works at a fundraiser/salon in her beautiful upstairs studio here.  My residency time has been split between going to Twin Cities restaurants and cafes and to rural and urban farms to record interviews and sounds for my new piece, editing and composing in my little make-shift studio, and going out to take in local music and visual art.

I've seen a few concerts and informal music evenings at Studio Z (headquarters of the Saint Paul contemporary music ensemble Zeitgeist) – including a performance by German avant gardist Gerhard Staebler and his partner Kunsu Shim – and I attended a performance event at the Walker Art Center celebrating the work of painter Jack Whitten, who currently has a solo retrospective there. I also had an opportunity to spend a day with my old friend composer/installation artist Philip Blackburn, who gave me a private tour of his public art work The Scope at Beacon Bluff and accompanied me to the Minnesota State Fair where we saw livestock, baked goods, jams & preserves, butter sculpture, and crop art (including a seed portrait of Leon Theremin!) on display, and encountered endless stands purveying foods – savory and sweet, fried and fresh – often served on a stick.

In great contrast to the deep-fried cheese, corn dogs, and mini-donuts of the fair, I've been delighted by some excellent fine dining in the twin cities. And, in the course of doing research and making recordings for Closed Loop, I've learned a great deal – thanks to the good people at Wise Acre Eatery, Tangletown Farm, Buffalo Creek, and Tiny Diner – about the "Farm to Table" movement and about farming and sustainable food production. I've met some very happy cows, chickens, pigs, and sheep, and I've spent some time with happy humans who seem to be genuinely passionate about their jobs.

Just when I was starting to feel a little self-conscious about the fact that beneficiaries of sustainable food practice seem to disproportionately be people who can afford upscale restaurants and CSA subscriptions, I encountered Frogtown Farm, a new urban farm in Saint Paul that not only endeavors to involve the low-income community of the surrounding multi-cultural neighborhood, but is actually initiating affordable CSA and family "pick your own" programs. It made me feel more hopeful about the spread of sustainable food practices.

Brief Jumps to the Coasts

I slipped away from my Minnesota residency for a few days a couple of times. I flew to New York to attend an orientation for awardees of the Doris Duke Artist Impact Award of which I was a recipient this year. It was great meeting and celebrating with the other artists and with the DDAIA and Creative Capital staff. While there, I also saw the Yoko Ono retrospective at MoMA and the "China: Through the Looking Glass" exhibition at the Met Museum. In the same month, I flew home for a few days to attend and work the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival – of which I've been an organizer since its start 16 years ago. The festival was just great this year! From the opening night multi-channel diffusion of Charles Cohen and Tom Dimuzio's analogue synths to the perfect close with Olivia Block's cinematic surround piece, it was well worth the trip.

Performing again...

I've enjoyed a bit of a respite from giving public performances since the closing night of my summer run of Memory Trace, but my usual crammed schedule is coming back with a vengance starting with the mid-October Closed Loop presentations in St Paul, continuing through a New York shared evening with Miguel Frasconi in late October, and exploding out of control in November, when I'll have performances and public appearances every week – sometimes twice in a week – and on both coasts without cease right up until Thanksgiving. Read on or scroll down for the details of my upcoming events.

Closing the Loop

So, as you read this, I am trying to prepare for the upcoming presentations of my new work, and very soon I'll be preparing to pack all my things, fill up Yoko's tank, and begin my long cross-country trek in reverse – back to San Francisco.

PZ performing Memory Trace
PZ performing Memory Trace

I hope to see many of you at the various events I'll be doing in the coming weeks. Happy autumn to all! Happy harvest.

 

Love,

PZ


Pamela Z at the offices of the American Composers Forum
PZ at the American Composers Forum

PZ in Memory Trace
PZ in Memory Trace at the Royce

Crash Ensemble performing Hands
Crash Ensemble in Mary Ellen Childs' Studio

Philip Blackburn and Pamela Z with Giant Kaleidoscope
Philip Blackburn w/PZ under the Scope

Crop Art: Leon Theremin
Leon Theremin done in seeds

Butter Artist at MN State Fair
Butter artist at work at MN State Fair

Wise Acre Staff
Chefs and line cooks at Wise Acre Eatery

Yoko Ono Chess Table
Yoko Ono white chess table at MoMA

Camille Norment and David Toop
The Barringers, who I interviews on their farm

Jack Whitten exhibition at the Walker
Whitten exhibition at the Walker

Pamela Z and her sisters
With my sisters in Colorado

Ravel Mural in Downtown Minneapolis
Mural of a Ravel piano score in downtown Minneapolis



Photos: Pamela Z, Laura Krider, Silvia Matheus, Philip Blackburn, Pinchas Carwin


top

gazzetta | event highlights | news travels goings-on | event details | past gazzetti | pamelaz.com


upcoming event details:


New Ruckus Composers Night
in St Paul
Wednesday October 14, 2015, 7pm

Pamela Z gives a brief presentation about her new work as part of New Ruckus Composer Nights at Studio Z at 7pm in Saint Paul, MN USA.

Four composers present their work, and then chat with the audience. Pamela Z will be presenting an excerpt from the new work she is developing during her McKnight Visiting Composers residency in Minnesota.

Studio Z
275 East Fourth Street, Suite 200
Saint Paul, MN, USA

top

New Ruckus

Pamela Z
photo: rubra (courtesy Ars Electronica)

Pamela Z at Zeitgeist's Lower Town Listening Sessions
Thursday October 15, 2015, 6 pm (doors open 5:30pm)

Pamela Z performs solo works for voice & electronics and presents her new work developed during her McKnight Visiting Composer residency as part of Lowertown Listening Sessions at Studio Z at 6pm in Saint Paul, MN USA .

Doors open at 5:30pm for mingling, and the performance begins at 6pm. Ms. Z will give a performance of solo works for voice, live processing, gesture controllers, and projected image. She will feature her new work Closed Loop exploring “Farm to Table”, which will include music composed around sampled voices and sounds from farms, restaurants, and the spaces in between.

Studio Z
275 East Fourth Street, Suite 200
Saint Paul, MN, USA

 

top


Pamela Z + Miguel Frasconi at The Firehouse Space
Friday, October 30, 2015, 8pm

Miguel Frasconi & Pamela Z

Pamela Z and Miguel Frasconi perform an evening of solos and duets for voices, electronics, glass, and video at The Firehouse Space at 8pm in Brooklyn, NY USA

The Firehouse Space
246 Frost Street, Brooklyn, NY


Ethel Plays Z
Wednesday November 4, 2015, 7pm

Pamela Z’s work Ethel Dreams of Temporal Disturbances for string quartet and tape will be performed by Ethel as part of Blue Dress (IN SITU: ETHEL) at National Sawdust at 7pm in Brooklyn, NY USA.

The pioneering quartet ETHEL will perform Blue Dress, a new evening-length program that pays special homage to women who are making their musical mark on the 21st century, including Pulitzer-winner Julia Wolfe, Missy Mazzoli, Aleksandra Vrebalov, Lainie Fefferman, Mary Ellen Childs, Anna Clyne, Pamela Z, Paola Prestini and ETHEL’s own Dorothy Lawson. The concert features a visual montage by projection designer Grant MacDonald (Esperanza Spalding’s D+ Evolutionworld tour, Black Mountain Songs at BAM and the Barbican). The centerpiece of Blue Dress is a quartet of the same name, composed for ETHEL by Julia Wolfe.

National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street, Brooklyn, NY

 

top

Ethel

International Electroacoustic Festival

Pamela Z Performance/Talk at Electroacoustic Music Festival
Thursday November 5, 2015, 7pm

Pamela Z will give a performative lecture/demo in which she discusses her work, shows video and audio documentation, and performs live works for voice, electronics and video. as part of 28th Biannual International Electroacoustic Music Festival at Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music - CUNY at 7pm in Brooklyn, NY.

Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music - CUNY
Studio 312, Roosevelt Extension
2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY USA

 

top


Peter having tea.

Real Future Fair
Saturday November 7, 2015, 7pm

Pamela Z will give a brief solo performance for voice and electronics followed by an onstage interview as part of the REAL FUTURE FAIR at The Innovation Hangar at 7pm in San Francisco, CA USA.

The Innovation Hangar
Palace of Fine Arts Exhibition Hall
3601 Lyon Street, San Francisco, CA

top

 


ROOM: Combinatory Duets

DUETS Pt. 1
Saturday November 14, 2015, 8pm

The ROOM Series presents the first of two evenings  each featuring four Bay Area contemporary/creative musicians performing improvised duets in every possible combination at The Royce Gallery at 8pm in San Francisco, CA

Jorge Bachmann
Lisa Mezzacappa
Amy X Neuburg
Teddy Rankin-Parker
(w/Pamela Z joining for the finale)

All four musicians will perform duets in every combination, and then they will finish the evening with an improvised quintet (including ROOM host Pamela Z)

Tickets Available at Brown Paper Tickets

Royce Gallery
2901 Mariposa Street @ Harrison
San Francisco, CA 94110 USA

Ethel
DUETS Pt. 2
Saturday November 21, 2015, 8pm

The ROOM Series presents the first of two evenings  each featuring four Bay Area contemporary/creative musicians performing improvised duets in every possible combination at The Royce Gallery at 8pm in San Francisco, CA.

Crystal Pascucci
Tim Perkis
Ken Ueno
Pamela Z

All four musicians will perform duets in every combination, and then they will finish the evening with an improvised quartet.

Tickets Available at Brown Paper Tickets

Royce Gallery
2901 Mariposa Street @ Harrison
San Francisco, CA 94110 USA

Ethel

top


Pamela Z in a shared evening with Viv Corringham
(with Multimedia Consort)

Tuesday, November 24, 2015, 8pm
Pina Bausch Tanztheater

"Double Divas"
An evening with two post-modern voice artists: the Bay Area’s Pamela Z and London/New York vocal artist Viv
Corringham as part of Double Divas of Multimedia Voice at Center for New Music at 8pm in San Francisco, CA USA.

Center for New Music
55 Taylor Street, San Francisco, CA USA

 

top

 


gazzetta | event highlights | news travels goings-on | event details | past gazzetti | pamelaz.com


Pamela Z is a composer/performer and media artist whose solo works combine a wide range of vocal techniques with electronic processing, samples, video, and gesture activated MIDI controllers. Ms. Z has toured extensively throughout the US, Europe, and Japan. Her work has been presented at venues and exhibitions including Bang on a Can (NY), the Japan Interlink Festival, Other Minds (SF), the Venice Biennale, and the Dakar Biennale. She's created installation works and composed scores for dance, film, and new music chamber ensembles. Her numerous awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Creative Capital Fund, the CalArts Alpert Award, the ASCAP Award, an Ars Electronica honorable mention and the NEA/JUSFC Fellowship. www.pamelaz.com


Pamela Z is represented and fiscally sponsored by Circuit Network. If you wish to make a tax-deductible contribution to Pamela Z or Pamela Z Arts, you can make a donation via PayPal:


or you can write a check to Circuit Network with "Pamela Z Arts" in the notation and send it to:
Circuit Network, 499 Alabama Street, Suite 203, San Francisco, CA 94110

For booking inquiries contact Elisabeth Beaird at Circuit: 415 863 2441 or info@circuitnetwork.com


gazzetta | event highlights | news travels goings-on | event details | past gazzetti | pamelaz.com



Pamela Z Productions | 540 Alabama Street, Studio 213 | San Francisco, CA | 94110 | tel: 415 861 EARS

You received this email because you are in my database of friends, colleagues, and people who have shown interest in my activities.
This little digital gazette is published only 3 to 4 times a year.