nether regions

the site of mary jane leach is the source for all the photos of julius and further biographical
and musicological perspective from another vantage.

my first experience of her was as a fellow visiting artist/professor
at the bard graduate summer program who intrigued me with the
presentation of her current researches into resonant frequencies
within tubes of various lengths and then proceeded to more than
graciously assist me in the studio with the intricacies of proTools
necessary for me to complete the audio accompaniment to my own
putatively visual presentation.

there is the distinct possibility of inappropriately discerning metaphorical
intent where there isn't any with much non-objective work but i couldn't
help but feel some parallel between her emotional givingness and support
(to a stranger and soon-to-be shunned character) and the purely acoustical
lacunae she was exploring as mystery and foundation for composition.

that became only more evident when i learned that she had labored both long
and eventually successfully in salvaging and collecting julius' work.

another fortuitous overlap is that of kyle gann (someone with whom i have
had no personal connection but crossed paths with in terms of working
at the village voice during some of the same era and who was, like jill johnston in her
day, alone reason enough to read the paper--as was his predecessor tom johnson) being involved in helping julius' work be known. 'nonpop' is no longer really covered
outside of a specialty press...

there is a performance including both one of julius' pieces as well as one
dedicated to him at bard on december 14th, so if one is in the vicinity of
croton-on-hudson/tivoli/etc (or can be) one can experience directly some
of what kyle speaks of below.

The Excitement of Open Music

I just now got out of a three-and-a-half-hour rehearsal for the concert I'm presenting next week, of my Open Instrumentation Ensemble at Bard. December 14 at 7:30 in Bard Hall, we'll be presenting the following marathon program:

Philip Glass: Music in Fifths
Willy Berliner: Persistence of Vision*
Samuel Vriezen: The Weather Riots
Frederic Rzewski: Attica
Brian Baumbusch: Cyclical Counterpoint with Sangse *
Rzewski: Les Moutons de Panurge
Julius Eastman: Gay Guerrilla
Jonathan Nocera: Blues for Julius Eastman*
Rhys Chatham: Guitar Trio
Terry Riley: In C

The pieces with asterisks are by Bard students, written for the ensemble. The historical highlight is Eastman's Gay Guerrilla, which is scored for multiples of any instrument; he always performed it with pianos, and we're giving what is, as far as I know, the world premiere of an electric guitar version. The students love the piece (you'll note one of them wrote a piece dedicated to Julius), and they did a dynamite job of playing it tonight. When they started echoing the hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" back and forth, which Julius subverted as a gay manifesto, it was a goosebump moment, and I suddenly felt his sardonic spirit fill the room. To be an audience of one at such a performance (since the other players had gone home) was a humbling privilege.


he is also the author of the most comprehensive study of conlon nancarrow,
who i once considered my favorite composer for a variety of reasons. there
is a brief indication of the hair-splitting concerning his provenance/nationality/etc
also on kyle's blog, not entirely irrelevant to the case of julius since nancarrow
left the united states essentially permanently as a result of political persecution
and settled more hospitably in mexico.