Radio Without Boundaries

A highlight from today's Radio Without Boundaries conference was an early afternoon soundwalk led by Andra McCartney. Walking through the Ryerson University quad, we paid special attention to the musicality of the sounds around us and the sonic ecology of the space.

Deep Wireless: where the POWER resides

Opening the inaugural Radio Theatre presentation, Trevor Wishart was quick to clarify that his interest in vocal work resulted from a frustration with the limitations of technology – not, as one might expect, the other way around. Wishart’s American Triptych massaged the listener’s senses as his interpretation of the 20^th century’s most iconic voices traveled across the octaphonic sound field. Wishart’s performance possessed the emotional crests and troughs that one might expect from such tragicomic source material.

Micheline Roi’s pre-recorded piece, Silent Cecilia, was created for CBC Radio’s Out Front program. Roi’s voice emanated from the darkness, surrounding the audience with richly textured sound, made all the more compelling by the sense of urgency that fired it: “I am begging/begging her to answer, to witness/my…empty grinding at sound.” Gorgeous in its intensity, Silent Cecilia’s lyricism pulled the listener through its impressionistic and at times surreal storyline. Replacing the conventional narrative arc with an emotional one, the listener’s experience was guided by Roi’s evocation of image and memory.

Utilizing the voice to create a story, Gregory Whitehead’s The Power Play explored the power of “the lone voice in the night” that emanates from your radio. Anna Friz, the Fabulous Announcer, led her congregation – the audience – into the world of conjuring. Assisted by three mediums - Matthew, Idara the granola girl and Mike the dollar store owner (played by Richard Windeyer, Christine Duncan and Richard Lee respectively) - Fabulous drifted across the ether, catching various sonic spirits in her net.

Kathy Kennedy closed the evening with Sonic Choreographies, her multi-track pieces for 5.1 surround sound. Composed almost entirely of Kennedy’s voice and combining prerecorded material with live improvisation, Sonic Choreographies mesmerized the audience with moments of exquisite beauty that were, at various points, peppered with humor and sensuality. The first piece introduced the audience to the primal forces underlying vocal performance with an intermingling of howls and wails. The clearly female wails rose from under the howling and then descended as if to align their humanity with a more primal force. Breathe, inspired by a Deep Listening retreat led by Pauline Oliveros, exploited the musical possibilities of the human breath. Kennedy created some eerie effects by evoking images of thunder clouds and the sound of a whistling wind. Then, shifting gears, she ended with a playful sound collage representing last Sunday’s Power Up session. The collage opened with the sound of shoes scraping the sidewalk before moving on to a variety of reactions to HMMM. Ranging from the observation that it “sounds like they’re in the stars” to the certainty that humming is “good for your physical health,” the reactions underlined the idea that humming is a “good way to prepare yourself to be a vocal [element] in the world.”

Each year, the Radio Theatre performances remind me of Forest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates: while there is always one performance that just isn’t my thing, often the performance that follows it turns out to be more than I could have asked for and blows me away. One thing I can always count on, I’ve learned, is that I never leave the theatre disappointed.

Radio Art Salon

Curated by composer Darren Copeland, the Deep Wireless Radio Art Salon features three sound art installations.

Of the three, I was most interested in Journee sonores, canal de Lachine. I first learned about the project when I interviewed one of the participants, sound artist Anna Friz, during the Deep Wireless festival last year. The project, undertaken during a phase of urban renewal, involved a whole slew of earwitnesses, sound designers and editors, writers and photographers. Aside from the fact that I was already intrigued by the project, Journee sonores was my favorite because it is the most interactive. The installation is equipped with a pocket fader loaded with 16 tracks of audio recordings, allowing the listener to create their own soundscape by raising and lowering the faders.

Conceived by Andra McCartney, the Lachine project attempts to document shifts in the evolving soundscape while "point[ing] to the relationships among different [sound] sources, such as auto and boating traffic, cyclists, industrial/construction machines and pedestrians.” Recorded on minidisc during a series of soundwalks, Journee sonores draws attention to the everyday sounds around us, encouraging each of us to explore the "murmurs of everyday life."

The Radio Art Salon is in the Drake Hotel back lobby until May 31st -- check it out while you can.

Looking forward

to Zoe Keating & Imogen Heap @ The Guvernment tomorrow night!

ecopoetics

At last, a copy of my favorite lit journal, ecopoetics, arrived in the mail today. Although it's a long wait between issues -- it seems like eons since I sent off my review of The Book of Music and Nature -- it's well worth it. Kudos to Jonathan Skinner for another excellent edition. Chock full of poetry, reviews and discussion, this is writing to savour.

More about that later, after I've had a chance to digest.

Some Powerful Art

On a drizzly Sunday afternoon, a dozen or so radio art enthusiasts gathered outside the Drake Hotel for Kathy Kennedy’s final Power Up session. Kennedy’s goal was to create a HMMM down Queen Street West by combining a radio broadcast with the human voice. The HMMM was quite fluid; as Scott & I strolled eastward from the Drake, we listened to the hum of our transistor radio commingling with the lingering sounds from the other participants and pedestrians whose paths we crossed.

Renowned for her skills in sonic choreography and public guerrilla art, Kathy Kennedy aims to create situations that provide participants with the “opportunity to situate the self through making sound” in public spaces. Without a “critical mass of people,” though, Kennedy felt that today’s HMMM was not as successful as the one at the Music Gallery last week. According to Kennedy, it lacked the sense of community that the energy of a larger crowd creates.

In the midst of Power Up, Scott & I were lured into the Engine Gallery by a metal sculpture in the window that turned out to be part of a show by Cory Fuhr. The last time I visited the AGO, it occurred to me that most of what I’ve learned about the world – outside of my own lived experience – I’ve learned in art galleries. This thought returned to me as I explored the Engine Gallery, half listening to Scott’s conversation with Steven Schwartz, co-owner of the gallery and a painter himself, about the effect of various frequencies on the human nervous system. From there, the conversation turned to the effects of the large crystals Schwartz uses in the gallery’s display of Olga Zyta Balicki’s jewellery before moving on to a discussion about individual pieces in the gallery.

Just a few doors down the street from the Drake, the Engine Gallery presents the work of an interesting variety of visual artists ranging from mixed media paintings to photographs to jewellery. My favourite pieces were Jeremy Downe’s landscapes created en plein air; Cory Fuhr’s whimsical spider and violin metal sculptures; and a series mixed media pieces by Susan Szenes that looked like a lot of fun to create. I was particularly taken with Olga Zyta Balicki’s silver and pearl necklaces: they were both edgy and elegant. I also enjoyed the interplay of art and image in the some of the photographs in Scott Johnston’s show. The Church is a series of colour photographs depicting Toronto churches in various states of demolition. Some of the photographs were accompanied by verses from the Gospels. I was struck by the way meaning resonated in the juxtaposition of these moving images and familiar biblical verses.

After Power Up, we regrouped in the Drake’s Underground space for a panel discussion by the Deep Wireless artists-in-residence. John Oswald started things off by talking about Power Down, his attempt to change the climate of the Drake by bringing in new sound experiences for its patrons. Oswald pointed to the way constant, “canned” sound overwhelms the listener’s sensibilities. In conjunction with this, he noted the way his All Request Redirect Band also subverts audience expectations by drawing unexpected connections between musical requests and lesser known – and possibly more interesting – alternatives.

Kathy Kennedy’s talk emphasized her fascination with the way that “we hear through the body.” Interested in blurring the boundary between performer and audience, Kennedy finds herself creating opportunities for people to make sound in public spaces in order to “gain a sense of identity and relationship to that space through sound-making.” Kennedy’s HMMM project “gives people a context to listen to their environment in a new way.” Underlying HMMM is a commitment to a more active approach to technology and listening.

Contrasting the parallels between the aural and visual arts, Trevor Wishart commented on the evocative, dreamlike quality of aural landscapes, underlining the richness that a sound artist can achieve by exploiting the uncertainties found in this territory.

After the panel discussion, we moved above ground to the lounge for a Power Down session featuring Laurel MacDonald. I’d been looking forward to experiencing Power Down since John Oswald mentioned it at the artist’s reception a few weeks ago. After we made ourselves comfortable, I began to notice the absence of canned music. I felt a subtle but discernible shift in the environment, almost as though I’d removed a layer of clothing. The Drake patrons continued to talk until the lights were lights lowered and Laurel began performing. While there was still some talking, Laurel’s Gaelic songs, performed acoustically with some stamping for percussion elicited “shhh”s from all around us. According to John Oswald, this Power Down was much quieter than the last one.

Shortly after this, we reassembled in the Drake’s café. This time, I didn’t even notice the absence of canned music; I was too busy anticipating another Gaelic song from Laurel. Aside from my affinity to all things Gaelic, I really enjoyed the guerrilla element of this Power Down and the way Laurel’s singing reinforced Kathy Kennedy’s ideas about the physicality of vocal performances.

Stay tuned: although it’s unlikely I’ll be able to catch Tuesday’s performances at the Drake (instead I'll be buried under a pile of marking), I’ll be at the Radio Without Boundaries performances and workshops coming up this weekend.

Falstaff a Hit with Grade 9 English Students!

Yesterday morning, four buses left Weston CI for Stratford, ON. Every year, students from the IB program visit the Stratford Festival to see a play. This year, we saw Henry IV at the Tom Patterson theatre. I was pleased to hear my students laughing at Falstaff's antics during the show. For most students, this was their first visit to the theatre and I'm happy to report that it was an overwhelmingly positive experience for them.

RADiO iN AMBiENCE PART 2: NOiNO

NOiNO (James Bailey, Matthew Poulakakis and Jamie Todd) delighted this evening's PiNG audience with two sets of richly layered soundscapes. Using various radio broadcasts as their source material, NOiNO manipulated the signals, exploiting their compositional possibilities with passages that drifted from pure ambience to eerie between-station noise. For most of the audience, the result was a satisfying sonic journey across the airwaves of the radio art universe. After an especially long day in an inner city high school, though, the noise element was more than I was up for. While I enjoyed the ambient sections more, overall I was glad to have made the trip downtown to hear my friends from NOiNO make their contribution to the Deep Wireless festival.

Deep Wireless 2006 - RADiO iN AMBiENCE Part 2

Coming up this Tuesday: after the Weston Arts Evening, I'll be at THE AMBiENT PiNG taking in Part 2 of RADiO iN AMBiENCE. I'm looking forward to hearing from NOiNO (Jim Bailey, Matthew Poulakakis, and Jamie Todd).

Moon Sea Crossing rehearsal

The Toronto Fringe Festival is less than two months away and our show is really coming together.

Sarah & Ange came over this afternoon; we talked about Sarah's costume, props, and the set.

After a read-through, we discussed the script and I began work on the new writing that needs to be done.

We've been assigned a venue: the Factory Studio Theatre. Our performance dates are listed below:

Thu, July 6 @ 8:45 PM

Sat, July 8 @ 6:00 PM

Sun, July 9 @ Noon

Mon, July 10 @ 11:00 PM

Tue, July 11 @ 1:00 PM

Thu, July 13 @ 7:30 PM

Sat, July 15 @ 5:15 PM

Welcome Madison Lee!

Spring Arts Evening @ Weston CI

Tonight is the next-to-last rehearsal for Three Women, a radio play by Sylvia Plath that I adapted for the stage this spring. Our tech run/dress rehearsal is on Monday after school and the show opens on Tuesday @ 7 pm. The performance features three outstanding actors -- Olga, Georgie, and Angela -- who are senior students at Weston CI.

In the second set

Kathy Kennedy’s focus this evening was on HMMM, her community-based project of vocal improvisations. Using pre-recorded material as well as a field recording made outside her hotel room window at the Drake, Kennedy presented a series of vocal improvisations underpinned by the ubiquitous hum. The resulting sound was always interesting, whether gorgeous or edgy.

RADiO IN AMBiENCE PART I

Using radio as their starting point, Debashis Sinha and Ben Grossman explored a range of moods drifting across the airwaves. Amidst the buzz and hum between channels, Sinha and Grossman created sound points of startling beauty. From snippets of talk radio to ragtime jazz, these sound points presented sonic snapshots of radio culture through the decades. Layers of percussion heightened the effect of their ambient atmospherics.

                                  ...

Between sets, John Oswald (saxophone) and Scott Thomson (trombone) treated the PiNG audience to guerrilla sound art with a spatialized horn interlude. Very cool indeed.

LiVE @ THE AMBiENT PiNG

Last year, I wrote ll: iN THE LOOP :ll a weekly column for THE AMBiENT PiNG newsletter under the pen name, Luna Tek. I had to take a break this past school year when my teaching load got the better of me but I look forward to writing about PiNG events regularly over the summer.

To that end, I'm at the PiNG tonight, poised to review the Deep Wireless festival's RADiO iN AMBiENCE show. The first set features Indian percussionist and sound artist Debashis Sinha with world musician Ben Grossman. Kathy Kennedy, one of three Deep Wireless artists-in-residence, will perform a solo set of electroacoustic vocal compositions later this evening.

In Your Ear

Featuring performances by well-known Canadian artists such as Christine Duncan, Paul Dutton and John Oswald with Sook Yin Lee, In Your Ear kicked off the month-long Deep Wireless festival with a radio program that ranged from the hilarious to the gut-wrenching to the just plain wacky.

The program was hosted by Anna Friz, last year’s Deep Wireless artist-in-residence, and broadcast live on CKLN 88.1 FM. Unable to make it down to the Drake for the evening, I tuned into CKLN and experienced the performances downstairs in my living room and upstairs in my studio as I finished preparing for my trip to Windsor the next day.

Highlights included Tell, a work-in-progress by Soraya Peerbaye and originally produced by Theatre Direct. A poem cycle based on the murder of Reena Virk, the performance riffs off various meanings of the word “tell” through a sequence of emotionally-charged imagistic poems.

On a lighter note, John Oswald & Sook Yin Lee presented the first North American performance of the All Request Redirect Band. Designed to expand the musical palette of audience members, the DJs asked for requests – specific or stylistic – and then redirected the listener to another selection. The first request, for Celtic fiddle music, was redirected to Konono No. 1, a band from the Congo known for playing the likembe, or thumb piano. Much silliness ensued as the DJs carried on from here, aiming to redirect 12 requests over 12 minutes. One redirect (from London Calling by The Clash to a song by the Young Marble Giants) turned me on to a post-punk band I’d like to hear more from.

Among the wackier performances, the antics of the Harvey Christ gang lived up the rep that they established at last year’s festival. Although I missed out on the visual dimension of the underground live performance, the comedic effects and vocal pyrotechnics came through over the air waves loud and clear. The same held true for the Bat, an improv performance by Toronto’s Impatient Theatre Co. As compelling as it was over the radio, though, I do hope I have another chance to experience this show live.

Always provocative, the radio art offerings presented this evening set the bar high for the events to follow. If you missed Wednesday night’s show, don’t worry: a one-hour version of In Your Ear will be featured on CBC Radio’s Ideas program later this year.

Danger: Power Down In Progress

After school last Tuesday, I headed down to the Drake Hotel for the Deep Wireless artists' reception. The artists-in-residence introduced themselves and talked a bit about their contribution to this year's festival.

I'm especially looking forward to the Power Down performances scheduled this month:

May 3 to 28, various times
Power Down performances
curated by John Oswald
free
@ Drake Hotel + weekly radio broadcasts on CKLN-FM every Thursday at 2 PM

Radio without electricity! Well, almost. About once every second day the Drake Hotel will unexpectedly turn off the music in the restaurant, cafe or other locations and transform itself into an Avant Garde Irish Pub with singers, acoustic musicians, and battery powered radio artists curated and directed by John Oswald. Hang around the Drake and re-live the unexpected perks of the 2003 blackout!

Last day on campus

I'm in the CAW student centre, catching up on work and enjoying my last day on campus. The University of Windsor has wireless access EVERYWHERE: woohoo!!

Scott & Charlie will be here mid-afternoon to pick me up. Then we're off to Amherstburg for dinner and a visit with Mimi.

The past few days have been glorious. The time I spent at the University of Windsor in the early 1990s was exhilerating and returning at this point in my life is even more so. I finally get why grads join the alumni association and maintain a connection with their alma mater. I'm at home again.

Pathways to Success

The conference is wrapping up as I write this. What a phenomenal experience! It's been an intense two days: the stakes are high and every person at this conference knows it. The challenges facing our students - and those of us committed to supporting them - are very real and often daunting.

Commitment is what it comes down to: whether you're talking about the commitment to show up for class on time or to finish a writing project, it all depends on follow-through. That will be the challenge for each of the students who attended this conference: taking what they've learned here and using it to create change in their own lives. Anyone who has ever got to the other side - followed-through on a plan - knows that it takes passion and determination and tenacity. In the end, I hope this conference has stirred these qualities in our students. I hope they take something away from this conference that sustains them through the struggles ahead.

Back on Campus

Our first stop today was the John Freeman Walls Historic Site in Puce, just outside of Windsor. We explored the route of the Underground Railroad and toured the site. One student was so moved by the experience, she picked up a twig from The Historic Walkway to save as a momento.

We arrived at the University of Windsor in plenty of time to settle into our rooms before dinner. Dinner at Vanier Hall was nothing like I remember it: the theme was Italian and the food was delicious. Definitely not your usual dorm fare.

There are a number of activities planned for the students this evening. Meanwhile, I'll be putting the finishing touches on my workshop presentation tomorrow. I'm feeling kind of nervous, hoping the kids will like what I have planned for them.

African Diaspora Youth Conference 2006

I'm off to the third annual African Diaspora Youth Conference at the University of Windsor (my alma mater) tomorrow morning. On Friday, I'll be presenting a workshop that explores the parallels between the Irish and African diasporas.