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Flanfire (Duggan Flanakin) is bringing LIFE to Austin music -- and telling the world how sweet it is!
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Ghosts in the Hill Country?
Karla Manzur with entourage; a ghostly Kim Deschamps; Mistress Stephanie at her ghoulish best!
The Hill Country String Quartet proved once again on Halloween that it is a premiere avant-garde ensemble capable of pulling off spectacular performances. The quartet - violinists Thomas van der Brook and Joseph Shuffield, violist Jessie England, and cellist Valerie Fischer - provided the backdrop for a virtual candy store full of innovative pieces with assistance from actors, other musicians, poster designers, sound and lighting geniuses, and other composers and arrangers of music. AND they did it all with flair - full dress Halloween! [The group was equally spectacular, we are told, at their debut last spring at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.]
The hour-long performance (which was repeated later in the evening) began with Maurice Jarre's stirring "Eyes without a Face," the eerie music box driven soundtrack from a 1958 French horror movie (with Karla Manzur playing the music box and wearing the porcelain mask like the one used in the movie). Next was the world premiere of Kim Deschamps' "I and I-35" (for pedal steel guitar and string quartet), followed by a rendition of Franz Schubert's "Der Erlkonig," Goethe's poem set to music that included vocals (in German) by Stephanie Stephens [whose other gig is the punk-rock cabaret act, Mistress Stephanie and Her Melodic Cat]. Very impressive here as well were the woodcut-looking drawings that also show the English translation of each line of the song (courtesy of Jennifer Drummond, whose credits include "Waking Life").
Next up was Benjamin Britten's "Rhapsody," a piece written when the composer was just 18 ... Drummond here provided an amazing movie accompaniment that featured in one set a girl in white in a peaceful paradise and in the other set a younger child with a sword comforting dead and dying soldiers and the eventual use of a dove to bring the younger child out of the war zone and into the peaceful serenity of the girl in white's world. What we saw was what looked like pieces of very ancient film being weaved together (sometimes with one film part filtering through the other) -- and with occasional clues as to what it all meant.
Then former Red Elvis (and current leader of ZeeGrass) Zhenya Rock stepped up on the stage to perform his own "Girl from Ukraine" using the bass balalaika, the regular balalaika, a power tool, and looped tracks all blended with the Quartet to tell quite a story in several movements. This was followed by perhaps the most dramatic piece of the evening -- a dramatic blending of Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen's String Quartet No. 3 (Some Aspects of Peltoniemi Hintrik's Funeral March) with a radio-style reading of the Ray Bradbury short story, "The Next in Line." Quartet violinist Shuffield had adapted the story for actors Amy Downing, Ben Wolfe, and Jose Villareal, and Buzz Moran provided foley sound effects to complete the eerie drama, set in a small Mexican village in 1950, in which a man and his wife visit a crypt with unearthed mummies whose families were unable to pay their grave rents.
On "Sus Ojos Se Cerraron," the classic piece by Carlos Gardel, Argentinian composer (and tango expert) Norberto Vogel created a special arrangement for the Quartet complete with vocals (by Karla Manzur), accordian (Mike Maddux), double bass (Tom Benton), and clarinet (Ben Saffer in his second appearance of the evening) - and with Jessie England moving to piano. The strong vocals by Manzur (who is married to van der Brook) were translated into English once again with projections created by Jennifer Drummond onto a small movie screen that prior to the show had provided tidbits about the American Legion Hall - the scene of the evening's extravaganza performances (which also included downstairs piano mood music by Hollie Sabine Thomas of Future Clouds and Radar).
The celebration of the dark and macabre ended with a rendition of Charles Ives' "Hallowe'en," in which all the musicians - including guest artists Chuck Fischer on bass and Peter Stopschinski on piano - play in entirely different key signatures to create an environment appropriate for tricking and treating. The stopper of this number, though, is the pounding tympani from the back of the room that feels like bombs bursting in air. The overall effect of this show is so astounding that all we can do is wait expectantly for their next performance.
Dana Falconberry - Catch Her While You Can!
To recover from this high energy explosion, my buddy and I drove over to Epoch Coffeehouse on North Loop, where outside on a huge concreted area (maybe an old tennis court?) a small series of lights had been strung so that folks could watch intertwined performances by Austin newcomer Dana Falconberry and two members of the jazz group Terremoto -- Austin's Michael Longoria and Albuquerque's Luis Guerra -- with the lovely Bonnie Whitmore (compleat with petticoated polka-dotted dress and roller skates) on both electric bass and cello. [There may have been another musician or two involved, but we did miss half of this show.]
Falconberry counts Patty Griffin as one of her new Austin friends, and it is easy to see why the two get along. With her face painted for Halloween and wearing pixie-like pants on this chilly evening, Falconberry moved from electric to acoustic guitar to sing her uncomplicated songs that tell stories of love and regret and much more with her untrained but very honest voice (well, she could be Patty's younger sister!). Dana, who plays at the
Dana with Bonnie Whitmore
Peacock Lounge (at 515 Pedernales) in East Austin on Thursday night with Jeremiah Birnbaum and John Embree and opens for Taj Mahal (!!!!) on November 9 at the One World Theatre, is a major talent who just happened to choose Austin to birth her new material - some of which is recorded on the six-song CD, "Paper Sailboat." Longoria and Guerra just by themselves (with the aid of some looped tracks) put on quite a show -- but Austin will have to wait until NEXT FEBRUARY for these guys (whose music is already gettiing rave reviews from the BBC and is being aired on National Public Radio) to show up at the Elephant Room for a real live concert. Indeed, this little show was the perfect complement to the string quartet in that it, too, was very creative and not your ordinary cup of Austin java. Good advice: Catch Dana Falconberry while her shows are inexpensive!
Karla Manzur with entourage; a ghostly Kim Deschamps; Mistress Stephanie at her ghoulish best!
The Hill Country String Quartet proved once again on Halloween that it is a premiere avant-garde ensemble capable of pulling off spectacular performances. The quartet - violinists Thomas van der Brook and Joseph Shuffield, violist Jessie England, and cellist Valerie Fischer - provided the backdrop for a virtual candy store full of innovative pieces with assistance from actors, other musicians, poster designers, sound and lighting geniuses, and other composers and arrangers of music. AND they did it all with flair - full dress Halloween! [The group was equally spectacular, we are told, at their debut last spring at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.]
The hour-long performance (which was repeated later in the evening) began with Maurice Jarre's stirring "Eyes without a Face," the eerie music box driven soundtrack from a 1958 French horror movie (with Karla Manzur playing the music box and wearing the porcelain mask like the one used in the movie). Next was the world premiere of Kim Deschamps' "I and I-35" (for pedal steel guitar and string quartet), followed by a rendition of Franz Schubert's "Der Erlkonig," Goethe's poem set to music that included vocals (in German) by Stephanie Stephens [whose other gig is the punk-rock cabaret act, Mistress Stephanie and Her Melodic Cat]. Very impressive here as well were the woodcut-looking drawings that also show the English translation of each line of the song (courtesy of Jennifer Drummond, whose credits include "Waking Life").
Next up was Benjamin Britten's "Rhapsody," a piece written when the composer was just 18 ... Drummond here provided an amazing movie accompaniment that featured in one set a girl in white in a peaceful paradise and in the other set a younger child with a sword comforting dead and dying soldiers and the eventual use of a dove to bring the younger child out of the war zone and into the peaceful serenity of the girl in white's world. What we saw was what looked like pieces of very ancient film being weaved together (sometimes with one film part filtering through the other) -- and with occasional clues as to what it all meant.
Then former Red Elvis (and current leader of ZeeGrass) Zhenya Rock stepped up on the stage to perform his own "Girl from Ukraine" using the bass balalaika, the regular balalaika, a power tool, and looped tracks all blended with the Quartet to tell quite a story in several movements. This was followed by perhaps the most dramatic piece of the evening -- a dramatic blending of Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen's String Quartet No. 3 (Some Aspects of Peltoniemi Hintrik's Funeral March) with a radio-style reading of the Ray Bradbury short story, "The Next in Line." Quartet violinist Shuffield had adapted the story for actors Amy Downing, Ben Wolfe, and Jose Villareal, and Buzz Moran provided foley sound effects to complete the eerie drama, set in a small Mexican village in 1950, in which a man and his wife visit a crypt with unearthed mummies whose families were unable to pay their grave rents.
On "Sus Ojos Se Cerraron," the classic piece by Carlos Gardel, Argentinian composer (and tango expert) Norberto Vogel created a special arrangement for the Quartet complete with vocals (by Karla Manzur), accordian (Mike Maddux), double bass (Tom Benton), and clarinet (Ben Saffer in his second appearance of the evening) - and with Jessie England moving to piano. The strong vocals by Manzur (who is married to van der Brook) were translated into English once again with projections created by Jennifer Drummond onto a small movie screen that prior to the show had provided tidbits about the American Legion Hall - the scene of the evening's extravaganza performances (which also included downstairs piano mood music by Hollie Sabine Thomas of Future Clouds and Radar).
The celebration of the dark and macabre ended with a rendition of Charles Ives' "Hallowe'en," in which all the musicians - including guest artists Chuck Fischer on bass and Peter Stopschinski on piano - play in entirely different key signatures to create an environment appropriate for tricking and treating. The stopper of this number, though, is the pounding tympani from the back of the room that feels like bombs bursting in air. The overall effect of this show is so astounding that all we can do is wait expectantly for their next performance.
Dana Falconberry - Catch Her While You Can!
To recover from this high energy explosion, my buddy and I drove over to Epoch Coffeehouse on North Loop, where outside on a huge concreted area (maybe an old tennis court?) a small series of lights had been strung so that folks could watch intertwined performances by Austin newcomer Dana Falconberry and two members of the jazz group Terremoto -- Austin's Michael Longoria and Albuquerque's Luis Guerra -- with the lovely Bonnie Whitmore (compleat with petticoated polka-dotted dress and roller skates) on both electric bass and cello. [There may have been another musician or two involved, but we did miss half of this show.]Falconberry counts Patty Griffin as one of her new Austin friends, and it is easy to see why the two get along. With her face painted for Halloween and wearing pixie-like pants on this chilly evening, Falconberry moved from electric to acoustic guitar to sing her uncomplicated songs that tell stories of love and regret and much more with her untrained but very honest voice (well, she could be Patty's younger sister!). Dana, who plays at the
Dana with Bonnie Whitmore
Peacock Lounge (at 515 Pedernales) in East Austin on Thursday night with Jeremiah Birnbaum and John Embree and opens for Taj Mahal (!!!!) on November 9 at the One World Theatre, is a major talent who just happened to choose Austin to birth her new material - some of which is recorded on the six-song CD, "Paper Sailboat." Longoria and Guerra just by themselves (with the aid of some looped tracks) put on quite a show -- but Austin will have to wait until NEXT FEBRUARY for these guys (whose music is already gettiing rave reviews from the BBC and is being aired on National Public Radio) to show up at the Elephant Room for a real live concert. Indeed, this little show was the perfect complement to the string quartet in that it, too, was very creative and not your ordinary cup of Austin java. Good advice: Catch Dana Falconberry while her shows are inexpensive!
