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the shaking ray levi society presents:
FRANK PAHL
Part of the LATE BLOOMERS 3 performance series at the
CHATTANOOGA THEATRE CENTRE (400 RIVER ST.)
FRIDAY, JULY 20, 11:00 PM - $5

The utterly unique and overwhelmingly creative FRANK PAHL wants to do it all, or so it seems. And so far, he's made a pretty good dent on that "all," being an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, composer, instrument inventor, toy/electronics tinker, and improviser who has created music for film, art installations, dance productions, musicals, cabarets, and other theatre performances. This is in addition to his acclaimed solo albums and material with the avant-folk outfit ONLY A MOTHER, not to mention his fascinating automated sound sculptures and other work as a visual artist...

Pahl channels his wartime outrage with humor and off-center song-weaving on his new album, Songs of War and Peace, and his performance in Chattanooga will draw from that. Along with searing, pointed originals such as "No Brainers" and "Rotten Corpse," the album features twisted variations of the national anthem in the form of "Scarred Mangled Spanner" and "Far Tangled Manner" plus Woody Guthrie and Phil Ochs covers to pay homage to the protest song tradition.

Some of the many, many instruments that Frank Pahl plays: buzzsaw ukulele, washing machine, banjo, prepared barrel piano, toy trumpet and trombone, Bulgarian flute, peacock harp, shrutti box, tou marimba, virtual pet: gerbil, euphonium, African harp, clarinet, autoglock, harmonium, tiple, automatic zither, cello, binary doorbell quintet...

Metro Times Detroit on In Cahoots:
...a playing field where Ukulele Ike, Charles Ives and Don Van Vliet meet in an avant-garde adjunct to the soundworld of Taking Tiger Mountain or Bone Machine...a humorously dark funhouse of musical creativity.

All Music Guide on Remove the Cork:
This is the kind of music you don't get to hear often, even in avant-garde circles. It allies genius and cuteness!