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Berkeley, CA, September 7, 2012 - The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive introduces a new series of L@TE: Friday Nights @ BAM/PFA and E@RLY: Sundays @ BAM/PFA events for fall. Recently named the “Best Night in the Museum” by the San Francisco Bay Guardian, the L@TE program makes good on the accolade with a schedule of performances by new-music luminaries young and old, up-and-coming alt rockers, and neofolkies, plus preconcert conversations, lectures, DJ sets, and more-all set against the colorful backdrop of artist Barry McGee's bright Gallery B op-art installations.
The fall L@TE calendar features four evenings programmed by Sarah Cahill: a return performance-for the fourth year-by legendary composer-pianist Terry Riley (with violinist Tracy Silverman); PICO (Performance Indeterminate Cage Opera), an otherworldly music/dance/video/multimedia tribute to John Cage by Emmy Award-winning video artist John Sanborn that incorporates contributions by collage artists Negativland, sound artist Wobby, pianist Sarah Cahill, violinist-cellist Theresa Wong, and the BAM/PFA audience; an evening of Raymond Scott compositions performed by Quartet San Francisco; and a concert by celebrated classical chamber ensemble Cypress String Quartet.
The student- and community-run FM voice of UC Berkeley, KALX, will mark its fiftieth anniversary with a series of L@TE performances by three Bay Area bands that reflect the adventurous sounds played on the station. These include national and local favorites The Dodos, post-punkers Weekend, and jazz/hip-hop fusion ensemble Shotgun Wedding Quintet.
BAM/PFA's enormous and acclaimed midcareer retrospective of San Francisco–based artist Barry McGee is celebrated in a series of L@TE evenings hosted by BAM/PFA Video Curator Steve Seid. These include musical performances by McGee's fellow San Francisco Art Institute alum and folk artist Devendra Banhart; bluegrass/roots artists Peggy Honeywell (the nom de plume of visual artist Claire Rojas) and Bill Daniel; and the San Francisco–based all-girl experimental heavy-rock group T.I.T.S.
Preceding several L@TE performances will be DJ sets and poetry and experimental fiction readings (as part of BAM/PFA's RE@DS program), as well as a conversation between MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch and BAM/PFA Director Lawrence Rinder about the work of Barry McGee, an illustrated lecture on the history of graffiti by photographer Jim Prigoff, and discussion by prominent art critic David Littlejohn on the art of Burning Man.
Experimental artist Ikue Mori, formerly of the pioneering no-wave band DNA, will perform a noontime concert with UC Berkeley Department of Music professor and throat singer Ken Ueno as part of L@TE's sister program, E@RLY: Sundays @ BAM/PFA.
To view the L@TE and E@RLY schedules online visit: http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/late
L@TE AND E@RLY CALENDAR
John Cage Celebration: PICO
L@TE: Friday Nights @ BAM/PFA
September 14, 7:30 p.m.
Programmed by Sarah Cahill
Come celebrate John Cage's one-hundredth birthday with video artist John Sanborn's PICO (Performance Indeterminate Cage Opera), a sprawling, circus-like environment incorporating multiple aspects of Cage's work, from Fontana Mix to the Europeras. Collaborating with sound artist Negativland, electronics wizard Wobbly, cellist/composer Theresa Wong, pianist Sarah Cahill, a group of dancers, Skip Sweeney and Roger Jones of Video Free America, and you, Sanborn pays tribute to Cage as well as Marcel Duchamp and Nam June Paik.
For more information, visit http://opera-pi.co.
To receive a “task” to perform as part of PICO, contact perform@opera-pi.co
Preceded by RE@DS: Norma Cole & Sara Wintz: Norma Cole is the author of Where Shadows Will: Selected Poems 1988–2008 (City Lights). Sara Wintz's Walking Across a Field We Are Focused On at This Time Now is forthcoming from Ugly Duckling Presse. Programmed by David Brazil.
Doors 5 p.m. / RE@DS 5:30 p.m.
Devendra Banhart, Justin Hoover and Chris Treggiari
L@TE: Friday Nights @ BAM/PFA
Friday, September 21, 7:30 p.m.
Programmed by Steve Seid
The community of coequals finds its voice in Devendra Banhart, that freaky folky who weaves acid-laced anthems for the New Weird America. We'll find him unplugged and in touch when he tops a very delectable evening. The opening course is Justin Hoover and Chris Treggiari's comestible pop-up, built on a bike chassis. Street-based chefs, Hoover and Treggiari share some appetizing thoughts about food as the marker of global cultural movements. Serving as a grinding garnish are moving-image works by Brian Bress, Martha Colburn, and Ari Marcopoulos. Programmed in conjunction with the exhibition Barry McGee.
Prior to the L@TE performance join BAM/PFA Director Lawrence Rinder and MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch, who presented groundbreaking installations by Barry McGee at his Deitch Projects gallery in New York, as they talk about McGee's work in the context of international street art.
Doors 5 p.m. / Jeffrey Deitch and Lawrence Rinder in Conversation 6 p.m.
The Dodos
L@TE: Friday Nights @ BAM/PFA
Friday, September 28, 7:30 p.m.
Programmed by KALX
Help us kick off KALX's fiftieth-anniversary celebration with a special performance by acclaimed San Francisco indie duo The Dodos. Influenced by styles as varied as African drumming, metal guitar, and Balinese gamelan, Meric Long and Logan Kroeber began playing their blend of frenzied folk in 2005, never losing sight of their mutual love of nineties flannel rock. Four albums later, they have become national as well as local favorites.
Preceded by RE@DS: Kevin Killian & Andrew Kenower: Kevin Killian has written fourteen books, most recently Spreadeagle (Publication Studio, 2012). Poet Andrew Kenower curates the online audio archive A Voice Box and is coeditor of Trafficker Press. Programmed by David Brazil.
Doors 5 p.m. / RE@DS 5:30 p.m. / DJ 6:30 p.m.
Weekend
L@TE: Friday Nights @ BAM/PFA
Friday, October 5, 7:30 p.m.
Programmed by KALX
The celebration of KALX's fiftieth anniversary continues with post-punk rockers Weekend, whose reflective, personal musings on loss and tribulation are rendered in hauntingly beautiful layers of distortion. The band's soaring, reverb-soaked soundscapes touch on lo-fi, shoegaze, and noise rock traditions, yet its music carries a sense of dramatic urgency that has garnered critical acclaim.
Prior to the L@TE performance join journalist David Littlejohn, an avid and long-standing Burning Man attendee, for an illustrated exploration of the many artistic facets of the festival, which Littlejohn calls “one of the most imaginative and creative artistic resources in the country.”
Doors 5 p.m. / David Littlejohn on Burning Man 6 p.m.
Terry Riley with Tracy Silverman
L@TE: Friday Nights @ BAM/PFA
Friday, October 12, 7:30 p.m.
Programmed by Sarah Cahill
An annual favorite since the beginning of L@TE, pioneering composer-pianist Terry Riley performs his open-ended solo piano compositions and improvisations with occasional raga vocals. The program includes Requiem for Wally as well as other sections of Night Music and The Universal Bridge. Terry's special guest is electric six-string violinist Tracy Silverman, who earlier this year received triumphant standing ovations at Carnegie Hall for his performances of Riley's The Palmian Chord Ryddle with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. Riley and Silverman will improvise a new work as we listen.
Preceded by RE@DS: Lyn Hejinian & Yosefa Raz: Lyn Hejinian's many books include this year's The Book of a Thousand Eyes (Omnidawn). Yosefa Raz, poet and biblical scholar, lives in Oakland and sometimes Tel-Aviv. Programmed by David Brazil.
Doors 5 p.m. / RE@DS: Lyn Hejinian and Yosefa Raz 5:30 p.m.
T.I.T.S. and Erick Lyle (formerly Iggy Scam)
L@TE: Friday Nights @ BAM/PFA
Friday, October 19, 7:30
Programmed by Steve Seid
The shock troops in pantyhose are back: T.I.T.S., an All-Grrrl quartet, brash and loud, and prone to an excess of rhythmic tribalisms, definitely more hard-ass metal than fragrant petal. They'll hammer down an evening that launches with Erick Lyle (formerly Iggy Scam), zinester of the influential nineties Scam, a digest about politics, people, and punk. Iggy will get wiggy about those days of second-wave zines and the provocations of a truly creative press. Before the ink dries, films and videos by Ben Coonley, Ari Marcopolous, and Shana Moulton will deliver news and noise from nowhere.
Prior to the L@TE performance join photographer Jim Prigoff, who has been documenting murals, graffiti, and street art for the past forty years, to learn about graffiti artists from the Bay Area and beyond-including Dream (RIP), Raevyn, NME, Katch One, Brett Cook, Chor Boogie, and SEEN-as well as the early work of Barry McGee.
Prigoff's lecture is preceded by RE@DS: David Meltzer & Julie Rodgers: David Meltzer reads with his wife, poet Julie Rogers. Meltzer's most recent book, When I Was A Poet (City Lights), was nominated for a 2012 Northern California Book Award; Julie Rogers's House of the Unexpected (Wild Ocean Press) was released this year. Programmed by David Brazil.
Doors 5 p.m. / RE@DS 5:30 p.m. / Graffiti: A History in Photographs with Jim Prigoff 6 p.m.
DJ 7 p.m.
Shotgun Wedding Quintet
L@TE: Friday Nights @ BAM/PFA
Friday, November 2, 7:30 p.m.
Programmed by KALX
The Shotgun Wedding Quintet has worked to create an illicit blend of hip-hop and jazz that is rooted in tradition, but looks ever forward. Each member of the band is a multi-instrumentalist, shifting from instrument to instrument, building continuous layers of music and rhythm. As a result, this four-piece ensemble creates the sound of a larger group that is equal parts big band and boom-bap, paying homage to the art of improvisation. This performance concludes KALX's fiftieth-anniversary concert series.
Prior to the L@TE performance join BAM/PFA Chief Curator and Director of Programs and Collections Lucinda Barnes and internationally acclaimed Seattle-based artist Trimpin, whose work is foremost about visualizing sound, for a conversation about the artist's new MATRIX exhibition Nancarrow Percussion Orchestra.
Also preceding the L@TE performance is RE@DS: Franck André Jamme: Franck André Jamme is one of France's leading contemporary poets, the author of more than a dozen books, and a specialist in Indian Tantric and tribal art. His latest book, Tantra Song, combines rare abstract paintings from Rajasthan with prose poetry and contemplative essays. Programmed by Jaime Cortez
Doors 5 p.m. / In Conversation: Trimpin and Lucinda Barnes 5:30 / RE@DS 5:30 / DJ 6:30
Cypress String Quartet
L@TE: Friday Nights @ BAM/PFA
Friday, November 9, 7:30 p.m.
Programmed by Sarah Cahill
Hailed for its “artistry of uncommon insight and cohesion” in Gramophone Magazine, and for its "beautifully proportioned and powerful" sound by the Washington Post, the San Francisco–based Cypress String Quartet (violinists Cecily Ward and Tom Stone, violist Ethan Filner, and cellist Jennifer Kloetzel) performs a special contemporary program featuring recent works by Elena Ruehr, George Tsontakis, and Kevin Puts.
Preceded by RE@DS: Tisa Bryant: Tisa Bryant is the author of Unexplained Presence and cofounder of The Encyclopedia Project. Bryant has worked in both traditional and experimental writing forms and she is currently on the faculty of the California Institute of the Arts. Programmed by Jaime Cortez.
Doors 5 p.m. / RE@DS 5:30 p.m.
Peggy Honeywell and Bill Daniel
L@TE: Friday Nights @ BAM/PFA
Friday, November 16, 7:30 p.m.
Programmed by Steve Seid
Retro country girl Peggy Honeywell, a.k.a. Clare Rojas, charmingly belts ballads and adds oodles of yodels, while Bill Daniel presents “dirt lot cinema,” tracking alt culture from hobos to hot rods. Video shorts by Brian Bress and Clare Rojas with Andrew Jeffrey Wright will put the “you” back in unique.
Preceded by RE@DS: Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano: Author and editor Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano wrote Santo de la Pata Alzada: Poems from the Queer/Xicano/Positive Pen, and he coauthored Tragic Bitches. His poems have been widely anthologized in journals such as Yellow Medicine Review and Zyzzyva. Programmed by Jaime Cortez.
Doors 5 p.m. / RE@DS 5:30 p.m.
Ikue Mori
E@RLY: Sundays @ BAM/PFA
Sunday, December 2, 12 p.m.
Programmed by Sarah Cahill
Former DNA drummer Mori brings her collection of doctored drum machines, laptop loops, and slippery samplers to improvise an anarchic sonic swirl in our atrium gallery, joined by UC Berkeley composer and renowned throat-singer Ken Ueno. Video works featuring music by Mori precede the performance. Presented in collaboration with the Center for Japanese Studies.
Doors 11 a.m.
Quartet San Francisco Plays the Music of Raymond Scott
L@TE: Friday Nights @ BAM/PFA
Friday, December 7, 7:30 p.m.
Programmed by Sarah Cahill
Founded by Berkeley native Jeremy Cohen in 2001, Quartet San Francisco performs an eclectic program featuring the high-energy, zany compositions of Raymond Scott, used later as cartoon music but originally written for concert performance. Cohen and fellow violinist Matthew Szemela, violist Keith Lawrence, and cellist Kelley Maulbetsch have created a signature crossover style that has earned them invitations to tour China, Korea, Japan, and Turkey.
Preceded by RE@DS: Sam Sax: Writer and spoken-word performer Sam Sax is Oakland's first two-time queer grand-slam champ and the first-ever Bay Area Unified Grand Slam Champion. He has toured internationally in all manner of venues and he currently curates The New Sh!t Show, a poetry reading series in San Francisco. Programmed by Jaime Cortez
Doors 5 p.m. / RE@DS 5:30 p.m.
L@TE and E@RLY Tickets
Admission to L@TE and E@ARLY is $7; free for BAM/PFA members and Cal students, faculty, and staff. Tickets are available exclusively to members, students, faculty, and staff until one week before each event, at which time they go on sale to the general public.
Advance tickets for members available online, in person at the BAM/PFA admissions desk, and by phone. Cal students, faculty, and staff may obtain advance tickets at the BAM/PFA admissions desk with valid Cal ID. If a show is sold out, rush tickets may be available at the door beginning at 8 p.m. Please note that there is limited seating at L@TE and E@RLY events.
Support
L@TE and E@RLY are made possible in part by the continued support of the BAM/PFA Trustees. Special thanks to promotional sponsor Amoeba Music.
More Online
For updates and advance tickets, visit http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/late.
About BAM/PFA
Founded in 1963, the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) is UC Berkeley's primary visual arts venue and among the largest university art museums in terms of size and audience in the United States. Internationally recognized for its art and film programming, BAM/PFA is a platform for cultural experiences that transform individuals, engage communities, and advance the local, national and global discourse on art and ideas. BAM/PFA's mission is “to inspire the imagination and ignite critical dialogue through art and film.”
BAM/PFA presents approximately fifteen art exhibitions and 380 film programs each year. The museum's collection of over 16,000 works of art includes important holdings of Neolithic Chinese ceramics, Ming and Qing Dynasty Chinese painting, Old Master works on paper, Italian Baroque painting, early American painting, Abstract Expressionist painting, contemporary photography, and video art. Its film archive of over 14,000 films and videos includes the largest collection of Japanese cinema outside of Japan, Hollywood classics, and silent film, as well hundreds of thousands of articles, reviews, posters, and other ephemera related to the history of film, many of which are digitally scanned and accessible online.
Berkeley Art Museum Information
Location: 2626 Bancroft Way, just below College Avenue across from the UC Berkeley campus.
Gallery and Museum Store Hours: Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Open L@TE Fridays until 9 p.m. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
Information: 24-hour recorded message (510) 642-0808; fax (510) 642-4889; TDD (510) 642-8734.
Website: bampfa.berkeley.edu
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