Flanfire

The Cathedral of Junk was the scene for an amazing mixture of music, art, and film on Saturday night sponsored by the Museum of Ephemerata (collectible memorabilia). Both entities help keep Austin weird - and delightfully interesting. Now I heard about this event from Lauren Gurgiolo (Pistol Love Family Band and Bright Lights Society, to name a few) - though it turns out another friend of mine lives at the house where the cathedral is in the back yard.

The official word is that this was the "first display" in the museum's upcoming Machines exhibition, which is to open at its Hyde Park quarters in March. Dubbed "Machines Mimesis," the hosts promised experimental hilarity as they imitated technology using their bodies and musical instruments. You have to see the Cathedral to fully appreciate this synergistic event - metal and a little concrete and all manner of weldables have been forged into a veritable adult playground (also suitable for accompanied children) who can weave through the inner workings of its lower level or climb stairways to its soaring heights (maybe 15 to 20 feet above ground level at one point and with several rooftop patios). Those who are curious but uninitiated can call creator-high priest (?) Vince Hannemann at (512) 441-6906 or e-mail him at cathedralofjunk@hotmail.com to arrange a tour -- the guy has a real job.

The Museum itself, located in Hyde Park, has its own amazing story - told in can you believe it all fashion by curators Jen Hirt and Scott Webel (who we are told is a direct descendent of the founder of the original museum, founded in 1929 in Tucson by Rolls Joyce, Junior, and the mysterious Madame Mercury Curie..... Research is needed for the emboldened here. [NOTE: the event itself was a fundraiser for a project being funded in part by your tax dollars via the city of Austin's Cultural Arts Division, and by a grant from the Texas Commission on Fine Arts.]

Okay - the event -- Hirt and Webel were omnipresent, performing readings, banging on pieces of metal and playing strange instruments - and making noise. Ditto the "house musicians" culled from the Pistol Love Family band and Neal Kassanoff and the Infidels - who were stationed throughout the Cathedral so as to represent cogs in the finely tuned walk-through music machine that pumped out a wide variety of eclectic music -- from traditional European and American folk to avant garde interpretations (industrio-hillbilly chamber music?) of the same. There was a special screening of the 1927 short film, "Ghosts Before Breakfast," made by German Dadaist Hans Richter, in which the most interesting characters are four bowler hats -- plus a screening of the "On no concerto," another 16-mm film from Lori 16 mm Varga (aka Lori Surfer Varga) - who also hosted the "Ask Vince" segment of the evening and played some theramin.

This was truly an EVENT -- one that in another lifetime might have required chemistry. Another is the upcoming Orange Show tour of Art Adventures in Austin (which will include the Cathedral) which is sponsored by Houston's Orange Show Center for Visionary Art (www.orangeshow.org).

Meanwhile, I have been blessed with copies of some wonderful Austin-created gospel music -- including PJ Liles' Gospel Project CD, which is available already (review forthcoming ASAP) and the forthcoming Gospel According to Austin, Volume 5 -- which features previously unrecorded songs by Dale Watson, WC Clark, and lots more that I am not quite ready to tell you about -- PLUS an entire bonus CD that is mostly a 1992 recording - done by guitarist Buddy Miller with the late gospel singing preacher the Rev. Dan Smith. Now that's enough of a teaser.....