abandoned ships Puppet/Shadow Show, Wayne-O-Rama,
Aug
6
David Greenberger and Prime Lens, Wayne-O-Rama,
Aug
18/19
Wayne-O-Rama
is open through Sept. 2017! Designed by Emmy-winning
artist Wayne White, it's a funhouse of Chattanooga history for all ages.
Wayne-O-Rama is sponsored by See Rock City, Inc. and presented by The
Shaking Ray Levi Society at the Tenn Arts space, with generous support
from the Benwood Foundation, the Footprint Foundation, the Lyndhurst
Foundation and the McKenzie Foundation.
Founded in 1986, the
Shaking Ray Levi Society is a volunteer-run, 501(c)(3) non-profit arts
education organization.
Make a
tax-deductible donation to the SRLS using PayPal:
100%
of your donation goes directly toward our outreach and
project work.
The mission of the Shaking Ray Levi Society is to nurture and support
music, film, and performance art that is challenging, non-traditional,
and falls outside the mainstream, in order to help nourish the cultural
growth of Chattanooga.
This is done by sponsoring shows by artists recognized on a national and
international level, supporting original work by area musicians and
filmmakers, and engaging the community through workshops and educational
outreach programs.
"Only in our country are our children not receiving the benefits of the
dynamic energies taking place in our culture and in the heritage of our
culture and so, the work of the Shaking Ray Levi Society in my
opinion is very important because they are seeking to provide
an alternative to the marketplace dynamics." - composer, saxophonist and
MacArthur fellowship recipient Anthony Braxton (video)
"SRLS is a very sound organization that has made a strong contribution
to Chattanooga over the years" - Dr.
Thomas Wolf, WolfBrown
Sunday, August
6, 2017, 6:30 pm Wayne-O-Rama 1800 Rossville Ave., #108 Chattanooga, TN 37408
Free admission, limited seating (kids are
welcome to bring a floor mat)
abandoned ships is
geographer, teaching artist,
storyteller and puppeteer Milissa
Orzolek. She fell into the
world of puppetry in 2010 as a
puppeteer with a production of
"Fantastic Mr. Fox" in New
Orleans. Since that time, she has
puppeteered in the New Orleans
Fringe Festival, the New Orleans
Giant Puppet Festival, Potpourri
at the National Puppetry Festival
in Hartford and Puppet Slamwich in
Baltimore. In 2016, abandoned
ships received a Jim Henson
Foundation Family Grant for the
original production "What Keeps
Us."
abandoned ships will be performing
two pieces at Wayne-O-Rama: "The
Egg" and "What's Next?" "The Egg"
is a short, funny shadow show
inspired by the works of Richard
Bradshaw. "What's Next?" is about
a puppet who values the building
blocks of society and becomes
distraught when the blocks are
stolen and no one else seems to
care. The show combines rodded and
stringed marionettes and paper
puppets in a large, toy-theatre
style stage to explore ideas of
apathy, collective action and
social responsibility.
TWO
PERFORMANCES:
Friday, August 18, 2017, 8:00 pm (doors open at 7:30
pm) Saturday, August
19, 2017, 8:00 pm (doors open at 7:30 pm) Wayne-O-Rama 1800 Rossville Ave., #108 Chattanooga, TN 37408
$10 advance, $15 door
NOTE
to advance ticketholders: no paper
tickets issued - your name will be
on a list at the door.
David
Greenberger and Prime Lens will
present a live experience
featuring the Duplex Planet
publisher and NPR contributor
narrating written pieces to the
interpretive sounds of long time
collaborator Bob Stagner, double
bassist Evan Lipson and
keyboardist Tyson Rogers, to
celebrate the release of the new
CD My
Thoughts Approximately.
Dennis Palmer of the Shaking Ray
Levis died quietly in his sleep,
succumbing to heart problems that
had been shadowing him for a
couple decades. Working with
co-founder and drummer Bob
Stagner, and David Greenberger,
they had just completed a new
album, Tramps That Go Think in
the Night on the tenth
anniversary of their first
collaboration, Mayor of the
Tennessee River. As part of
a two-night concert event
celebrating Palmer’s life and work
in 2013, David and Bob were joined
by bassist Evan Lipson and
keyboardist Tyson Rogers for a
performance. They debuted their
new ensemble, David Greenberger
and Prime Lens, at the Big Ears
Festival in 2014 (festival founder
Ashley Capps dedicated the three
day event to the memory of Palmer
and Lou Reed). Since it was Dennis
who had brought them together in
the first place, “and Prime Lens”
is an anagram of “Dennis Palmer.”
My Thoughts Approximately
draws on four decades of
conversations David Greenberger
has had with elderly in various
cities and circumstances, which
are the starting point for the
thirty emotionally, rich,
character driven monologues.
For two decades artist David
Greenberger (best known
for 32 years of his periodical,
The Duplex Planet) has been
exploring the ways in which music
can be wedded to spoken
monologues. His conversations with
old people are the basis for the
text he develops. He presents
characters who still find pleasure
in the company of others, and who
open up, sometimes in very small
ways, to someone taking an
interest in them. This is
Greenberger’s art: eschewing oral
history, abstracting dialogues by
shaping them into works that
resonate with shared humanity.
Over the years he has worked with
a range of musical collaborators,
among them Terry Adams (NRBQ),
David Hidalgo & Louie Perez
(Los Lobos), Glenn Jones, Chris
Corsano, Robyn Hitchcock,
Wreckless Eric, 3 Leg Torso, Paul
Cebar, and Birdsongs of the
Mesozoic.
Bob Stagner has
been a percussionist, teacher,
speaker, and leader in arts
advocacy for thirty years. He
co-founded the duo the Shaking Ray
Levis, as well as the Shaking Ray
Levi Society, an arts education
organization that supports
emerging artists in performance,
visual art, and film. Stagner is
the Southeast director of the
Rhythmic Arts Project providing
music workshops for people with
disabilities. He has performed and
recorded with a wide range of
musicians, including Derek Bailey,
Rev. Howard Finster, Wayne White,
Bob Dorough, Vassar Clements, June
Carter Cash, Tony Oxley, Fred
Frith, Amy Denio, Shelley Hirsch,
Col. Bruce Hampton, John Zorn, and
Roger Alan Wade (with whom he
tours regularly).
Evan
Lipson tours with
Roughhousing (featuring Jack
Wright and Zach Darrup). Past
units include Normal Love,
Satanized, Wrest, Dynamite Club,
Psychotic Quartet, Femme Tops, and
the Weasel Walter Trio. He has
collaborated in performance and on
recordings with, among others,
Susan Alcorn, Mick Barr, Kath
Bloom, Peter Evans, David Grubbs,
Col. Bruce Hampton, Mary
Halvorson, Konk Pack, Byard
Lancaster, Pauline Oliveros,
Jessica Pavone, Ruins (Yoshida
Tatsuya), Shaking Ray Levis,
Veryan Weston, Wolter Wierbos,
Davey Williams, and Nate Wooley.
Pitchfork magazine called Tyson
Rogers a
“wayfaring keyboard wrangler” for
his multi-faceted abilities as a
recording and touring musician.
Tyson toured extensively with
bluesman Tony Joe White and
country legend Don Williams,
playing on his Grammy nominated
duet with Alison Krauss, “I Just
Come Here for the Music.” Tyson’s
original music has been featured
by National Geographic, The North
Face, and Tom’s Shoes. His
recordings have received critical
acclaim, earning “Best CDs of the
Year” by Downbeat magazine and
others.
The Shaking Ray Levi Society celebrates thirty
years of extraordinary and
challenging music and art in Chattanooga and
beyond.
It is with our deepest sorrow at the Shaking Ray
Levi Society that we have learned of the passing
of Rev. Terry Fugate on February 13, 2015, who was
the first treasurer of the Shaking Ray Levi
Society and a co-founder.
We will have strong memories of Terry's infinite
kindness, great musical talents, intelligence and
rare insight. Terry is a former pastor of St.
James Lutheran Church in Brunswick, Georgia and an
early member of the Shaking Ray Levis performing
group.
The
Shaking Ray Levi Society is greatly saddened by
the loss of Julian Ray Norwood on February 16,
2014, who was a co-founder and the first
president of The Shaking Ray Levi Society.
Julian will be remembered for his remarkable
energy and passion for the arts, generosity, and
persistence to challenge the SRLS and others in
meaningful, illuminating ways.
Funeral
Service for Julian Norwood
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Visitation: 12 PM
Service: 1 PM Shawn
Chapman Funeral Home
2362 Highway 76
Chatsworth, GA 30705
The work of the Shaking Ray Levi
Society was praised in the latest VSA
TN (Very Special Arts) newsletter:
"VSA Tennessee teaching artist, Bob
Stagner, recently completed an artist
residency at the Dawn School in Chattanooga
involving studying the relationship between music
and architecture. In this residency, the students
first had to comprehend two art forms, then begin to
understand advanced concepts for sound formation and
structures, and build a vocabulary with a variety of
percussion instruments. The students worked in
groups with electronic devises and building models
as well as with a variety of percussion instruments.
The stories below are shared by the teaching artist
with the permission of the students and their
families:
Adeline is a 6th grader at Dawn School with severe
depression and learning disabilities. She’s a
delicate, soft spoken young lady who rarely talks
above a whisper and remains part of the woodwork in
most classes. Our workshop included architectural
city shapes and their sound wave counterparts.
Adeline created wave forms using two Moog
devices, one for constant sound, the other for tone
manipulation: vibrato, tempo, rate, pitch, and
frequency. The result was a dynamic shift in
her mood as she turned each dial to a new setting to
match our cityscape of over 15 models. Her smile
showed pure joy as she retained the concept and
gained control of understanding wave/sound shape and
an architectural shape.
Victor is 6th grader at Dawn School with Autism. His
speech therapist felt our project would be ideal to
encourage speech. After our 1st week, it was clear
he would retain the exercises and gain confidence.
Victor’s mother has remarked how excited her son was
to be a valued group member. He has also shown more
focus with tasks/lessons at home. Victor seemed very
proud of new skills and has proved to be a strong
class leader.
Funding provided by a grant through the VSA offices
of the John F Kennedy Center for the Arts and the
Tennessee Department of Education."
We at
the Shaking Ray Levi Society are deeply saddened
by the passing of Dennis Palmer, SRLS co-founder
and artistic director for over 26 years, on
February 15, 2013.
Chattanooga native Dennis Palmer, 55, was a
beloved musician, visual artist, storyteller,
educator, mentor, and devoted friend of many.
A singular vocalist and nontraditional musician,
called "the world's most colorfully inventive
synthesizer player" by Creative Loafing, he
co-founded the acclaimed free improvisation group
The Shaking Ray Levis with drummer Bob Stagner in
1986, which was the first American band to record
an album for the legendary British label Incus
Records. Palmer has performed internationally with
collaborators including Derek Bailey, Steve
Beresford, Reverend Howard Finster, David
Greenberger, Col. Bruce Hampton, Shelley Hirsch,
Frank Pahl, Roger Turner, and Davey Williams.
As a visual artist, Palmer has exhibited his
paintings, silk-screened prints, and other
unconventional artwork both locally and
internationally in cities including London and Los
Angeles, and he has designed many CD and record
covers.
A leader in the arts community, Palmer promoted
the ideas of improvisation and creativity in
thought, performance, and visual art to students
of all ages through his work with the Shaking Ray
Levi Society and developed outreach programs for
under-served populations including students with
developmental, emotional, or physical
disabilities. Palmer served as President of The
Association for Visual Arts (AVA) and on the board
of directors for Mark Making, and he taught art in
Hamilton County schools.
When teaching children, Dennis would ask them
about the last time they had a good feeling.
In his own words: "Clap your hands once and put
your hands over your heart and give that good
feeling to yourself. Next is to clap your hands
again and sound off and give that feeling to
everybody within the room. The third thing is to
clap your hands, sound off and give that feeling
out off to the whole universe."
Dennis was an inspiration for many and a strong
advocate of "living in the moment" and "doing the
highest good for all" in the community and beyond.
The
Shaking Ray Levis are featured in the latest
issue of Signal
to Noise magazine (issue #64, Fall
2012), gracing the cover
(photography by Bob Wright) and interviewed by
Chad Radford in a fascinating and provocative
article.
