This week brings in an extraordinary mix of creative events, including two performances presented by Nameless Sound, outdoor screenings of two of Sun Ra’s classic films, and a community discussion about artists’ roles and gentrification at Alabama Song.

Tuesday, May 23

Discussion — Here to There, A Call to Arms at Alabama Song

From 6 to 8 pm, Alabama Song (2521 Oakdale) presents a discussion with Teresa Silva, a writer, curator and the Director of Exhibitions & Residencies at the Chicago Artists Coalition, and Kristin Korolowicz, an independent curator and writer. The event — organized by artists Edra Soto and Gabriel Martinez, residents of the 2:2:2 Exchange initiative co-led by Project Row Houses and Chicago’s Hyde Park Art Center — will present an open discussion with the Houston community to address how artists, both directly and indirectly, impact the communities around them, specifically focusing on the complex politics of gentrification.

Wednesday, May 24

Agnes Martin, “Island No. 1,” 1960. Featured in The Menil Collection exhibition “Between Land and Sea: Artists of the Coenties Slip”

Discussion — Christina Rosenberger on Agnes Martin and Abstraction at The Menil Collection

From 7 to 8 pm, The Menil Collection (1533 Sul Ross) will host a lecture by Christina Rosenberger regarding artist Agnes Martin, the subject of her book Drawing the Line: The Early Work of Agnes Martin. Martin is one of the artists featured in the institution’s current exhibition Between Land and Sea: Artists of the Coenties Slip, which presents a group of creatives living and working during the late ’50s and early ’60s in the old seaport at the lower tip of Manhattan called the Coenties Slip. Rosenberger will examine the path of Martin’s early career, her interactions with artists like Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Indiana and Lenore Tawney, and the creative networks that formed between California, New Mexico and New York during her era.

Performance — Joe McPhee’s Survival Unit III at Studio 101 at Spring Street Studios

From 8 to 10 pm, Nameless Sound will host Survival Unit III, a performance by dynamic horn player Joe McPhee, at Studio 101 at Spring Street Studios (1824 Spring). Hailing from Poughkeepsie, McPhee is known for his use of profoundly experimental approaches in his relation to the radical movements of jazz in the ’60s. Mostly developing his career in Europe from the mid-1970s through the ’80s, this concert will mark 20 years since his inaugural performance in Houston, which was also the first concert presented by Nameless Sound founder David Dove. Tickets are $13 each or $20 for this performance as well as the Pauline Oliveros memorial on Saturday.

Thursday, May 25

Paul Ramírez Jonas, “The Commons,” 2024

Gallery Tour — Atlas, Plural, Monumental with Deborah Fisher at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

From 6:30 to 7:30 pm, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (5216 Montrose) will host a gallery tour of Paul Ramírez Jonas’ survey exhibition Atlas, Plural, Monumental. Deborah Fisher, an artist, regular collaboraor with Ramírez Jonas and the founding Executive Director of A Blade of Grass, will explore how we “see experiences” in a participatory discussion of socially engaged art.

Discussion — Adela Andea and Pablo Gimenez-Zapiola at the Galveston Arts Center

Starting at 6:30 pm, the Galveston Arts Center (2127 Strand) will host talks with Houston-based artists Adela Andea and Pablo Gimenez-Zapiola as part of their 2024 lecture series. Andea will present Within the medium of light, addressing her use of light as an artistic medium and the influence of the opposing concepts of natural versus artificial. Gimenez-Zapiola’s presentation, My Way of Seeing + Merging the Analog with the Digital, will examine his work and how art can enhance life experiences of the viewer.

Saturday, May 27

HJ Bott, “Big Alamo,” 1978

Last Chance — HJ Bott: Thick and Thin and Back Again at Anya Tish Gallery

Don’t miss your final chance to see Thick and Thin and Back Again, a solo exhibition from Houston-based artist HJ Bott. The exhibition, which celebrates Bott’s 70th year of exhibiting artwork, presents a selection of paintings from the artist’s most highly acclaimed Monochrome Series that began in the 1970s. Known for concocting his own paints to create striking metallic hues in monochromatic works, Bott has been using geometric forms as the basis for exploring adjacent or opposing forces. The gallery will be open from 10:30 am to 5 pm on Saturday.

“Public Trust” at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

From 1 to 5 pm, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston will present “Public Trust,” an interactive artwork by Paul Ramírez Jonas. The piece asks museum visitors to examine the value of a word by declaring a promise, the words of which are recorded in a drawing that is shared with them and posted on a marquee board alongside similar pronouncements made by notable figures from the week’s headline news.

Closing Reception — United By Hand at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

From 3 to 5 pm, the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (4848 Main) will host the closing reception for United By Hand, an exhibition featuring works from Drew Cameron, Alicia Dietz, and Ehren Tool. The Memorial Day weekend event invites the public to reflect upon those who have fallen in service, and features readings from Dietz as well as poet and Vietnam War veteran David Brown. There will also be a ceremonial folding of Cameron’s “9.5 x 5: Houston Flag” and a giveaway of Tool’s unique cups.

Pauline Oliveros

Performance — Pauline Oliveros Celebration with Joe McPhee and the Nameless Sound Ensembles at MECA

From 8 to 10 pm, Nameless Sound will host a celebration and memorial for native Houstonian and distinguished composer and musician Pauline Oliveros, who passed away on November 24, 2024. The event, hosted at MECA (1900 Kane), will feature “Deep Listening Space Time Continuum,” written and performed by Joe McPhee, as well as a variety of scores from Oliveros herself, performed by the Nameless Sound Ensembles. Participating musicians include David Dove, Tom Carter, Ryan Edwards, Sonia Flores, Lisa Harris, Jason Jackson, Justin Jones, Rose Lange, Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud, Rebecca Novak, Alauna Rubin, Jawwaad Taylor, and Joe Wozny. Tickets are $13 each.

Sunday, May 28

Sun Ra

Screening — Sun Ra Sunday at Lil’ Danny Speedo’s Go Fly a Kite Lounge

From 8 until around 11 pm, join Lil’ Danny Speedo’s Go Fly a Kite Lounge (823 Dumble) for outdoor screenings of two classic Sun Ra films in honor of his belated birthday on May 22 (the event was postponed a week due to inclement weather conditions). Films include A Joyful Noise (1980) and Space is the Place (1974).

This week brings in a number of impressive arts events, including a unique projection-based film event at The Menil Collection and the opening of Paul Ramírez Jonas’ survey exhibition the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.

Wednesday, April 26

Performance — Station Sound Series at The Station Museum of Contemporary Art

Starting at 6:30 pm, The Station Museum of Contemporary Art (1502 Alabama) hosts the third of a series of experimental sound and music performances. For this installment, artists include Abinada Meza, Chin Xaou Ti Won, Illicit Relationship, White Flower, Ak’chamel, and Kathryn Fay Mitchell. You can expect dynamics to run the gamut from electronic, ambient and industrial to avant garde, noise and drone.

Performance — Nameless Sound Presents Amina Claudine Myers: Piano and Voice at Christ Church Cathedral

Amina Claudine Myers.

Starting at 8 pm, Nameless Sound presents the first of two concerts by Amina Claudine Myers at Christ Church Cathedral (1117 Texas), with this performance centered around her piano and vocal works. Myers, who came to prominence in the 1960s, is one of the first-wave artists comprising the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), encompassing what would later become the organization’s motto: “Great Black Music, From Ancient to the Future.” A talented pianist, organist, vocalist and composer, Myers has collaborated with countless greats, including Archie Shepp, Lester Bowie, Charlie Haden and James Blood Ulmer, to name a few. The appearance is her first in Texas since her teenage years spent in the church. Her second performance, focused on her pipe organ works, will take place on Thursday, April 27 at 8 pm. Tickets are $13 for one concert or $20 for both.

Thursday, April 27

Presentation — Masks and Modernité: Dogon Now at The Menil Collection

Starting at 7 pm, The Menil Collection (1533 Sul Ross) will host a presentation by Curator of Collections Paul R. Davis regarding the institution’s exhibition, ReCollecting Dogon. The Dogon peoples of Mali are renowned for crafting surreal, colorful masks worn in dances during agricultural and funerary ceremonies. Davis will present film excerpts of these dances as well as talks with scholars on the visual history of Dogon masks and their contemporary significance.

Friday, April 28

Paul Ramírez Jonas, “The Commons.”

Opening Reception — School of Art Annual Student Exhibition at Blaffer Art Museum 

From 6 to 9 pm, the University of Houston School of Art will host the opening reception for their annual student exhibition at Blaffer Art Museum (4173 Elgin). Every spring, this exhibition introduces the UH campus and the city of Houston to the varied work of the School of Art undergraduate seniors and first- and second-year graduate students. The exhibition, which features painting, photography, sculpture, video and graphic design work, will be on view through May 13.

Opening Reception — Paul Ramírez Jonas: Atlas, Plural, Monumental at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

From 6:30 to 9 pm, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (5216 Montrose) hosts the opening reception for Paul Ramírez Jonas’ first survey exhibition, Atlas, Plural, Monumental. The exhibition, which includes sculptures, photographs, videos, drawings, and participatory works made from 1991 to 2024, demonstrates how the artist redefines what public art means in terms of what constitutes the public and what brings them together. The exhibition will be on view in the Brown Foundation Gallery through August 6.

Saturday, April 29

“Public Trust” by Paul Ramírez Jonas at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

From 1 to 5 pm, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston will present “Public Trust,” an interactive artwork by Paul Ramírez Jonas. The piece asks museum visitors to examine the value of a word by declaring a promise, the words of which are recorded in a drawing that is shared with them and posted on a marquee board alongside similar pronouncements made by notable figures from the week’s headline news. Additionally, from 11 am to noon, the artist will also participate in a discussion with curator Dean Daderko about Ramírez Jonas’ exhibition Atlas, Plural, Monumental.

John Slaby, “A House Divided.”

Opening — The First 100 Days: Artists Respond at The Silos on Sawyer

From 6 to 9 pm, The Silos on Sawyer (1502 Sawyer) presents The First 100 Days: Artists Respond, a group exhibition of works responding to President Trump’s first 100 days in office. Although there is no pro-Trump work presented in the exhibition that features more than 30 artists, the theme of the show itself is not “anti-Trump.” Artists present their statements on the current administration through paintings, photographs and more.

BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer) at The Menil Collection

From 8:30 to 10:30 pm, The Menil Collection and Aurora Picture Show are co-hosting the fourth annual BYOB: Bring Your Own Beamer event at the Menil campus (1533 Sul Ross). The event brings together a new wave of filmmakers and videographers aiming their beamers (projectors) at the museum’s exterior, creating a free-form display composed of an array of media types. Admission is free.

Sunday, April 30

Performance — Threshold: A Site-Specific New Music Work at The Silos on Sawyer

Starting at 7 pm, the Silos on Sawyer hosts Threshold, a site-specific music performance conceived by Misha Penton. Presented within the cavernous silos, the new work features music by Penton, George Heathco and Luke Hubley and aims to explore the concepts that surround our existence within our communities. Admission is free.

As the country’s capital, Mexico City has spent decades transforming into a formidable cultural hub of northern and southern America and becoming a key art city on a global level. It wasn’t brought to the public eye as an art center, as could be said about Donald Judd and Marfa. Aside from being historically culturally vibrant, the city has been a hidden destination for artist, architects, musicians, and filmmakers alike for the past century. Names like Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Sergei Eisenstein are first to come to mind as art history visionaries, but the list goes on. As many artists and cultural pioneers are aware, travel and new exposure is key to the creative growth process. Finding a city you love and call home is important, but to find that enchanting mistress of a city is also a main ingredient for artist to thrive. With hundreds of museums, institutions, and galleries, both locally and ‘expat’ run, Mexico City has kept its visitors engaged and returning with cultivated interest. This dialog has continued for a greater part of this century, but it’s growing in momentum, exposure, and a solid foundation in the arts world for further projects, fairs, residencies and more.

Living in North America, we often forget to turn our gaze south when it comes to our city’s art destinations and art fair travels. Between the emphasis on the idea of a “Border” and overblown media coverage of southern violence, we lose sight of the great cities we call our neighbors. Dozens of Houston’s creatives have been working with Mexico City for some time and the cultural exchanges are growing in number. Within the past few months alone, half of dozen conversations and projects have been planned between these two hubs. From grant funded projects to individually funded gallery trips, many progressive endeavors are brewing and launching very soon. However, these cultural pollinations don’t simply remain within the visual arts, but has always been a main pulse throughout the music realm.

Since before 1999, musician David Dove — also the Artistic Director and Founder of Nameless Sound — has been engaged in conversations of cross pollinating with Latin musicians, students, and colleagues who were either living in Houston or visiting as artists. In 2024, Dove was invited to the Cha’ak’ab Paaxil, a free jazz and improv festival in Merida. The festival introduced him to many Mexico City musicians, and through the relationships made in Merida, the Acuerdo Festival was planned. Also called “Acuerdo de Musica Libre” — translating to “Free Music Agreement” — the festival started in 2024 as Dove’s vast project involving collaborations between Mexican and Texan artists. Nameless Sound’s four night festival (two in Mexico City and two in Houston) gathers some of Texas’ and Mexico’s most vital voices in creative music. Both festivals involved concerts and workshops in Mexico City and Houston (2010 and 2024) with another coming up in January 2024.

Robin Hayward at No Idea Festival.

Another prime example of creative cultural exchange brings Chris Cogburn, a musician and creative who travels between Austin and Mexico City. Cogburn started No Idea Festival in 2024 with the vision of offering collaborations between free improvisational musicians from around the world who have never played together, performing at locations in Austin and San Antonio. Such Houston artists as Dove, Sandy Ewen, and Damon Smith have performed together and over the years and traveled back to Mexico City for further collaborations. After Houston was added to the schedule, No Idea Festival ended a weekend-long tour at galleryHOMELAND’s HOMEcore performance venue this past February. “Living part-time in Mexico City, I have made efforts to bring Mexican artists to No Idea annually since 2024 with the intention of facilitating enduring bi-national exchange,” Cogburn says. “The festival itself has grown along with my work as an artist and now encompasses an international community of musicians, dancers, writers, filmmakers, etcetera.”

DiverseWorks Curator Rachel Cook describes a similar experience after traveling to Mexico City for research and partnerships. Over the years, DiverseWorks has brought several Mexico City players to Houston, including Sofia Hernandez Chong Chuy, curator of contemporary art for the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and past director of the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, and curator, critic and director of Lulu, Chris Sharp. Both of them had presented at Diverse Discourse and toured many of Houston’s art spaces and artist studios. The conference for the Association of American Museum Directors was held in Mexico City last year and drew two of Houston’s top arts administrators, Arning from Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Director Gary Tinterow. “From my own trip there for the conference in 2024, it was really an amazing experience  with hidden gems as Lulu, Bikini Wax, and House of Gaga,” Arning says. “It is so accessible and has really become a place curators and artists want to be.”

Leslie Moody Castro has been working on creating cultural dialog for many years now with our neighboring southern cities. Last Fall, she curated and created The Other Mexico at the Texas Contemporary Art Fair, with Art Fair concept support from Arning. A focus section of the fair that highlighted galleries from Mexico City, The Other Mexico reflected the city’s rapid materialization as an incredibly unique focal point of the global art forum. The Texas Contemporary brought eight Mexico City galleries and project spaces and presented lectures, tours, and special events that stirred conversation and future collaboration. Moody Castro elaborated in conversation: “I really wanted to show the heterogeneity of Mexico City, and these exchange collaborations just seemed like the best fit to do that. The art world in Mexico is so full of multi-faceted voices that experiment and collaborate in dialog with each other. I came to my professional life learning that from the city.” In response to the positive results of the Texas Contemporary’s programming, Moody Castro stated: “One of the biggest outcomes is that Texas Contemporary decided to continue with the program. The Other Mexico will happen again in 2024, but branching out to other parts of Mexico as well. We will have emerging and experimental spaces from Oaxaca City, Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey. These are all spaces I’ve been following for quite some time, so it’s very exciting that this is happening.”

Fat Tony.

During my visit, I happened upon many of these spaces myself. The group I was with had taken an organic approach to our itinerary with word of mouth invites to amazing 48-hour performances, micro-exhibitions behind the walls of Material Art Fair, and even Houston hip hop artists, including Fat Tony and Ill Faded commanding the festival closing party at a local club where we ran into dozens of our city’s creatives. Fat Tony has typically been known for his high energy tight beat shows here in Houston, but has recently been traveling non-stop for Function, his new monthly project and cultural exchange hip hop residency hosted by alternative rock publication Revista Marvin. Function is a monthly party bridging the gap between American rap and Mexico City’s art, entertainment, and nightlife communities. Fat Tony first came to Mexico City in 2024 to perform at NRMAL, a music festival that “focuses on presenting fresh, purposeful and edgy musical programming, with emphasis on the power and quality of live acts, rather than its impact on the musical market.” Now he will host, DJ, and bring U.S. rap artists to perform at his event at Pata Negra in Condesa. His first evening was this past June at Pata Negra’s new location in Centro (downtown) where he presented Mexican-American rapper Dat Boi T from Houston. Fat Tony describes a very natural feeling to his interactions between Texas and Mexico and boldly claims there are many more great cross border collaborations to come.

Mexico City has always been attracting talent and been a cultural hub for Mexico for a very long time. It has certainly seen an upswing in riveting new projects, press, and seen a rise as a contemporary destination. With the next few years we are expected to see art fair appearances by Cardoza Fine Art and David Shelton Gallery to list a few. This summer alone, creatives such as Jonathan Beitler, Julep’s Alba Huerta, Bret Shirley, and galleryHOMELAND have all hinted at possible travels and projects there in the near future. New York and Miami might be nice as art hot spots, but Mexico City is stealing the stage as of late and its momentum and influence on Houston doesn’t seem to be losing steam anytime soon.

It is not the sort of thing you would want to dance to, nor even the sort of thing to leave in the background as you talk with your friends or try to charm someone. Experimental music is for deep listening because after it is finished you will want to know the results of the experiment. Did you feel it in your gut? Your spine? Perhaps just above the top of your head? Did you imagine a forest, mountains, or something more urban? Was it busy like a freshly kicked ant bed or more textural like swimming in an ocean of coffee beans? Do you think you felt what the artist wanted you to feel? Did you like it?

Not all art is for liking, but the reasons you may not like something can be at least as compelling as the art itself. Consider paintings in a gallery that make you face demons you’d been ignoring. Experimental music can be like that. If you get something out of it, then the experiment was a success. The audience, therefore, is studiously attentive, sometimes with their elbows resting on their knees, perhaps with eyes closed, carefully trying to find the needles hidden in the sonic haystack.

Sometimes there is a visual component, but often there is not. You may sometimes see a portable audio recorder placed on an acoustically advantageous chair. Many of these pieces have never been heard before and will never be heard again, so recording the show is not usually a problem if you don’t mind making copies for the rest of us. Just try not to distract others and remember: if you are fiddling with your technology the whole time, you will miss the actual show.

After about twenty minutes or so, the sound will stop, often without warning and sometimes abruptly. Ending cadences are not currently in fashion, so members of the audience typically remain motionless for a few heartbeats after the performance has descended into silence, and for these few seconds, like the ones after the penultimate move in a game of Jenga, we begin to wonder if the experiment is complete. Eventually, by synchronicitous agreement, it is determined that the fragile tower of silence is not going to crumble, which signifies that the piece is over. It is now safe to applaud, get another drink, or socialize until the next piece begins.

As the name implies, experimental music involves a search for truth, but the experiment you conduct depends on the kind of truth you are looking for. There are approximately two factions contributing here. One is a descendant of the classical tradition in the sense that it continues the quest for the purest and most complete sound. These artists are the soundscape cartographers: the electronic musicians.

I am sitting at Khon’s listening to Paul Connolly as he debuts his new piece called Seasons. Paul is dressed in traditional stagehand black, his face lit from below by the glow of his computer screen. To his right is a sturdy black trunk with chrome metal corners filled with all manner of patch cables, push buttons, LED lights, and the mysterious sound equipment they belong to. My mind wanders for a moment, and I begin to wonder how much of the show is live. After thinking about it for a minute, I arrive at a speculative 80%. He is a chef to me, sautéing the chopped vegetables and stirring the prepared sauces, spooning each ingredient out in appropriate portions and wiping the rim of the place with a clean towel, but I will never know his recipe. The contents of the laptop screen and the configuration of the knobs and cables is traditionally a closely guarded secret of the electronic musician. What this ratio of live to Memorex is, or even whether it should exist, is an all too common question or topic for debate, but pursuing this angle exclusively does not further an understanding of the piece, so when I reach this point in my internal dialogue, I just close my eyes again and resume focusing on such things as quality and meaning, which Paul always provides in spades.

The other group of experimental musicians have arrived from the direction of jazz. This kind of thing is sometimes called free jazz because if you don’t know what it is, then it’s jazz, and “free” because there are no rules about anything except to just be in the moment. I learned this explicitly one evening at the Jenner House after listening to a set that included Damon Smith who, instead of playing his usual acoustic double-bass, was playing a very concise electric version of that instrument which was connected to an array of effects pedals. After the performance, I committed the faux pas of asking him, with reference to his electronic equipment, about his ratio of performed to sampled music, and his face became very serious. He told me emphatically that he does not do samples, and every sound I heard him play that evening was the direct and immediate result of his efforts onstage. This was a long time ago, and I have forgotten his exact words, but their spirit remains with me and informs my own work. For people like Damon, the performance is the experiment, and seasoning it with recorded material compromises the results. Free jazz musicians will respond mid-solo to a passing ambulance, a barking dog, or dishes clattering in a bus tub. Because their fellow players follow neither rhythm nor key, they have to be ready to roll with any punch and play something that fits with whatever they hear. We think about how the performers are communicating and how the different instruments are complimenting each other. Is it a conversation or just some people playing stuff at the same time?

With experimental music there is always a risk that it won’t work. This element of chance suffuses the atmosphere and gives the genre its power. If the electronic experiment fails, you won’t feel what the artist wants you to feel. If a free jazz experiment fails, the music will cease to resonate with the ambient mood and our collective unconscious until the players manage to haul the performance back into harmony with the universe, or perhaps just stop playing. It should be added that there is also a great deal of mixing, as the two groups typically go to each other’s shows or perform pieces together, but in any case there is always suspense about the outcome. Music had always been safe before. Either it was a cover or a well-rehearsed original, and there was always a degree of certainty that the piece would follow certain baseline expectations about music. At these shows, however, when music and meaning erupts spontaneously from a substrate of white noise and nothingness, the result is miraculous.

The idea of real uncertainty is gaining popularity these days. We see it in everything from politics to the weather, so it is no surprise that it is turning up in our art. Another thing to consider is that it cannot be mass-produced. A performance may be recorded, but its relevance to the moment it is performed in (and whether the piece comes together and makes sense) cannot be duplicated any more than the forever dissipated suspense leading up to past sporting events. For that level of experience, it is necessary to attend the experiment in person.

They need a hand with some teaching equipment. If you have any of the following, give them a shout at 713.928.5653 or administration@namelesssound.org.

Bicycles: 8 working bicycles for a specific public art project happening this fall.

iPads: 2 working iPads for teaching staff to use when running class (assessment, attendance, recording, etc).

One Laptop: “Mac, please”

If you have a spare bicycle, iPad or Mac and would like to donate it to a good cause, call or email them.

Ab Baars and Ig Henneman Perform Compositions and Improvisations for Autumn:

Next Friday at Studio 101, Houston music enthusiasts will be getting a very special treat, as acclaimed Netherlands’ musicians Ab Baars and Ig Hennemen perform their “Autumn Songs”, a program which has been described by Baars as “compositions and improvisations inspired by poems on autumn in all its different meanings.”

Nameless Sound will be hosting the event on October 19^th at 8 pm, which will be located on Spring Street at Studio 101. The general admission is $13, but you can get in for $10 with a student I.D. Minors get in for free.

These Dutch instrumentalists have accomplished much in their long spanning careers, and their respective pedigrees range from film composition to performing in the definitive Dutch jazz group, the Instant Composer’s Pool Orchestra.

Both artists are from Amsterdam, which I just recently visited (it’s awesome), and will be performing as a duo, with Baars on tenor saxophone, clarinet, and the shakuhachi (a traditional Japanese bamboo flute, I had to look that up.) Henneman will be performing on the viola.

Baars has performed in Houston on several occasions. Once with his own trio, and another time with the ICP Orchestra. This will be Henneman’s Houston and Nameless Sound debut, so we should make her feel welcome and show them our good southern hospitality.

Henneman has been making music for over fifty years, and in that time, she has traversed through genre after genre, and composed for an equally wide array of performance situations. Her music has been described as “open-minded…with a meticulous attention to detail, with no wasted notes.”

Baars, whose music has been described as “joyously obstinate,” has been performing since the age of 15, and as a composer, has displayed an “unwillingness to treat music as a fixed art form.”

I am including a performance that I found on Youtube of the duo from 2024. I have not yet heard their performance of “Autumn Songs,” but if the experience is anything like this video, then you can be sure to expect the unexpected.

Video Here

Pauline Oliveros (Photo by Gisela Gamper)

Deep Listening is an approach to music “that distinguishes the difference between the involuntary nature of hearing and the voluntary selective nature of listening. The result of the practice cultivates appreciation of sounds on a heightened level, expanding the potential for connection and interaction with one’s environment, technology and performance with others in music and related arts.” Houston native and Moore’s School of music graduate Pauline Oliveros has been espousing this aesthetic for decades now and her influence on the way musicians and others approach music and sound cannot be overstated. This Saturday at Rice University, Oliveros will perform live with two other musicians who are thousands of miles apart using internet2 technology. Being a fan of her work we contacted her to ask her a bit about this weekend’s show.

FPH – The telematic performance uses Internet2 technology to connect you with other performers who are in other locations – a kind of teleconferenced live show. Can you elaborate a little on how the idea came about, why Internet2 technology is a factor in this, and why your goal is in this type of performance?

Oliveros – I have been working with distance performance since 1990 moving through such technologies as video telephone, picture tel (now video conferencing), iCHATav, SKYPE and internet2. because I have musician friends in many parts of the world I am happy that these technologies have allowed us to play together even though not in the same room or geographical location. Internet2 is a broadband internet intended for transmission of large audio and video files thus it is suited to concerts such as the one at Rice on Nov 19. The software interface JackTrip developed by Chris Chafe director of CCRMA, Stanford University and one of the performers provides for low latency CD quality transmission of audio.

FPH – How is not having the physical presence of the other person affect your playing and interaction during a performance?

Oliveros – With the proper set up and monitoring of the distant locations especially good sound the performance can feel very present.

FPH – Is it something that takes some getting used to?

Oliveros – If you are listening then you can adapt and play very well with others.

FPH – Tell us a little about the music you will be performing on Saturday and how you approached it given the format.

Oliveros – We will be improvising the music that we perform on Saturday. As I said good audio and listening is key to the music.

FPH – You are playing with Ricardo Arias who will be performing in Colombia. He plays a balloon kit. Can you tell us a little about him and why you chose to work with him for this performance?

Oliveros – I have played with Ricardo before in a transmission from the University of Guelph in Canada. Ricardo brought me to the Universidad de Bogota a few years ago to perform. He is an excellent improviser so I thought it would be interesting to perform with him some more.
Ricardo has been developing his balloon kit for a long time and has a large repertoire of sounds that he can play using the balloon.

FPH – The other person you are playing with is Chris Chafe who will be playing in California. He’s also kind of interesting in that he plays a cello but he also plays an instrument he created called the electronic celletto which, if I gather correctly is a kind of cello he built himself that allows him to use midi devices to expand his sound. Can you tell us a bit about him as well and also why you felt he was right for this performance?

Oliveros – I have been collaborating with Chris Chafe to develop the use of his software interface JackTrip for a few years. We had a weekly connection to play with our ensembles together between Stanford and RPI. This partnership has produced many concerts and furthered the development of JackTrip.

FPH – What do you see as the larger goal of performances like this and how does it fit in with the larger body of your work?

Oliveros – These performances allow for many new connections among performers in many parts of the world. These transmissions make it possible to explore different cultural connections that otherwise might not be affordable or might not happen.

My body of work since Sonic Meditations (1970) is about bringing people together.

Saturday, November 19, 2024
Pauline Oliveros in a Live Telematic Trio with Ricardo Arias and Chris Chafe
Presented by Nameless Sound in collaboration with REMLABS
@ The Wortham Opera Theatre at the Shepherd School of Music in Rice University (6100 S. Main Houston, TX 77251)
7pm*
$13 General, $10 Students, Everyone under 18 gets in for free

*Please Note: The concert begins at 7pm, not 8pm as was previously stated in earlier releases.

First get your costume on, then get your drink on as the Crawl goes from bar to bar between Dunlavy & Montrose on Westheimer, starting with dinner at Brasiland ending with midnight munchies at El Real Tex-Mex.  Stops include Poison Girl, Boondocks, Anvil, Etro Lounge,Catbirds, Royal Oak, Slick Willie’s, and The Hay Merchant.

As always, there’ll be no covers and no tickets, plus drink specials all night long.  And prizes will be awarded for the best outfits at each stop, so get into the spirit before you get into the spirits.

Our grand costume prize will be awarded by this year’s honorary Grand Crawler, Neartown President and City Council candidate David W. Robinson. Check out last year’s finalistsand grand prize recipients to see what it takes to win.

The 5th Annual Montrose Crawl is brought to you by Saint Arnold Brewing Company, Houston’s own brewer,Free Press Houston, Houston’s only locally owned alternative newspaper, and the Montrose Management District, the only public organization dedicated exclusively to Montrose.