Cherokee Soundtrack

This April (and as usual these days), several streams come into confluence on Cherokee Street. How gratifying it will be to serve a small part in the confluence.

This past November, I went to check out this place on Cherokee Street called Stirrup Pants. It's a poetry chapbook shop (open for business on Saturdays), and a space for readings. My friend Maggie runs the place. There was a hint of stinging winter chill in the breeze that afternoon, but when I walked into Stirrup Pants I felt nothing but gentle and exuding warmth. I hung out with some great folks, most of whom are affiliated with or related to the Washington University creative writing MFA program. The conversation was relaxed, but not idle. Like a lot of the hanging out lately on Cherokee Street, this was hanging out with a purpose.

I started to attend the readings put on at Stirrup, and met some really great folk. One of the great folk I met is Heather. She runs a reading series called "Exploding Swan." I love that name. For the December edition of the series, Heather recruited my friend Jaffa and I to play some music. I composed a little 10-minute piece - minimalist type music for me on trombone and Jaffa on this reed keyboard and on xaphoon. We performed it at Heather's house for the reading. It seemed to have gone well.

Still another great folk I met through hanging out at Stirrup Pants is Eileen. She teaches at Wash U and works at their Kemper Art Museum. In December, the Kemper had this exhibit of chance art. Eileen put on a free chance aesthetics poetry workshop at the Kemper, complete with free lunch. I went primarily for the free lunch. (Wash U's loaded, so I knew that it would be a good lunch.) The lunch was, in fact, good. The workshop was, in fact, even better. I took away from the workshop two ideas that I have been contemplating ever since. The first idea comes from chance aesthetics' sublimation of the ego. Chance aesthetics often stand for the proposition that art can (and often should) be made not from within the artist's "soul" or even consciousness, but from the artist receiving the material outside herself or himself. The second idea comes from chance aesthetics' necessity for structure. There are always rules or protocols to follow in chance aesthetics. Often the method is the substance, and there must be a method else there will be no pleasing result or construction. Neither of these ideas are new or novel, but both of them are currently embedded in my brain as an approach to musical composition and performance. These ideas also coincidentally related well to the musical group in which I spend the large balance of my time.

I am in a musical group called the Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra. One of the big things that we do is compose scores and then perform them live to silent films such as F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu or Buster Keaton's Go West. Ideally, we want the audience not to realize that there is a live band playing to the film, or even for the audience to consciously register the music that we're playing. We're secondary to the film, and we compose our scores with that in mind. The idea is not necessarily to respond to the action on the screen, but to complement and support the visual narrative's present mood. Not only to be unseen, but also in a certain sense to be unheard. (Talk about sublimating a performing musician's ego!) There are also real rules and protocols to the music. It is entirely composed. There are very few improvisational moments. Each sound during a 90-minute film is planned. We think that this compositional approach brings about the most pleasing result for the audience.

The Archive is a new & used bookstore that just opened up on Cherokee Street. I attended their grand opening this winter, and found at least a dozen little gems that I hope are still there when I have some money. Like Stirrup Pants, The Archive is a really warm and inviting place full of warm and inviting folk. Authors are coming there from around the country to read and discuss their books. A lot of the authors have written books about localism. Like many businesses on Cherokee, the store also serves as a space for visual art and musical performance. (There's a really nice piano in there.) One of the people who owns and operates The Archive is Mike. Mike's also a film maker. Mike, too, is fascinated with and a big advocate of localism - in what and how we eat, in what and how we are entertained and express ourselves, etc., etc.. Mike's especially fascinated with the co-existence of and interaction between the urban environment and the natural environment. He believes that exploring this relationship between the urban and the natural is a key to creating vibrant and sustainable local urban community. He's kind of on a mission.

Mike made a short film called "Chicken and Waffles." The film documents the raising of three chickens, their slaughter, their preparation, their frying, and their consumption (with waffles) by people. The chickens were raised in the city, slaughtered by people in the city, prepared by people in the city, cooked by people in the city, and consumed (with waffles) by people in the city. It's kind of a how-to manual on localism. Mike filmed the big chicken and waffle cookout at Artica. Artica is this art and music gathering every year on the Mississippi River waterfront - one of those areas where the co-existence of and relationship between the urban and the natural are readily apparent.

This past Winter, Mike asked the R&P MPO to write and to record the musical score and soundtrack for "Chicken and Waffles." This is another big thing that we do, and we happily obliged. We usually record and perform music with very classical and folk influences. Mike asked us to do something with a more heavy rock influence. Again, we happily obliged. We're all former rock musicians, and Mike afforded us the opportunity to scratch a latent itch. The premiere of the finished product is at The Archive on April 6.

Also this past Winter, Heather asked me whether I would compose an R&P MPO piece for the Spring "Exploding Swan" reading series. A really great poet by the name of Zachary Schomburg is coming to town to read at Stirrup Pants. Zach has read to musical accompaniment several times before, and he really enjoys it. There's a group of musicians and poets here in St. Louis called Poetry Scores that records musical accompaniment to spoken word. It's an idea that really fascinates me and that I secretly always wanted to try ... spoken word as melody. Another happy obligation. Another latent itch scratched.

When Zach comes to town on April 14, he'll read selections from a 72-page epic poem he wrote called "Viking." It's about a young man who leaves Earth for Mars, then spends his middle age on Mars, then returns to Earth. When the man returns to Earth, he finds Earth now made of glass. The form remains the same, but the substance now is different ... translucent. I am composing the piece in a way that I hope complements and supports "Viking's" narrative arc. The piece uses just 5 tones: C,D,E,Ab,Bb (e.g. the "form" ... the "rules"). Whether the hero is on earth Earth, Mars, or glass Earth dictates the composed chordal colors derived from the 5 tones (e.g. the "substance" ... the "ego sublimation"). The musical accompaniments to earth Earth and glass Earth will have the same form, but a very different substance. The musical accompaniment for Mars will be similar to Earth's form and substance but just enough different, too.

So ... on Cherokee Street this April, a confluence of ideas, aesthetics, fascinations, missions, form and substance.

Here's hoping that the soundtrack will complement and support.

Movie Night featuring "Chicken and Waffles"
Tuesday, April 6
8 PM
The Archive
3213 Cherokee Street

R&P MPO Accompany Zachary Schomburg
w/ David Weinberg and Jaffa Aharonov
Part of the "Exploding Swan" Reading Series
Wednesday, April 14
8 PM
Stirrup Pants
2122 Cherokee Street

Stirrup Pants http://stirruppants.blogspot.com/

R&P MPO http://www.theratsandpeople.com/mpo.html

The Archive http://www.archivescribe.com/

Zachary Schomburg http://lovelyarc.blogspot.com/

Poetry Scores http://poetryscores.blogspot.com/