NEWS:

Dogma Dance Off - Oct 21, Cherry St. Tavern

A Night of Bob (Stagner) w/ Kenito Murray, The Heroes Are Horses, Jon Brumit - Nov 11, Barking Legs Theater

Trevor Watts & Jamie Harris - Nov 15, Barking Legs Theater

History Funhouse: The Wayne-O-Rama Story - through Dec 31, 2023

Wayne-O-Rama is now closed! It was open from Nov. 19, 2016 through Sept. 30, 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.

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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



The SRLS is a funded agency of ArtsBuild

 

STORE:
UPDATE JAN. 2015:

Prices are for U.S.A. ORDERS ONLY.


Due to the currently prohibitively expensive cost of international shipping, we request that before placing an international order (including Canada), please contact us so that we can provide an estimate of the shipping cost. Be warned: it will be a lot (and very likely, more than the price of the merchandise.)

ORDERS TO INTERNATIONAL DESTINATIONS WILL NOT BE FULFILLED UNLESS YOU CONTACT US FIRST.
Thanks for your understanding!

CD's:

A.S.A.P. Wings (SRR CD-005)
Killick Erik Hinds, Bob Stagner, & Dennis Palmer
Cover art by Dennis Palmer

A.S.A.P. Wings now on iTunes!

A.S.A.P. Wings is the first album from the trio of Killick Erik Hinds, Dennis Palmer and Bob Stagner, a.k.a. the Shaking Ray Levis. The music is a juggernaut, a whale of a hoot. Post-post-modern revivalism at its ornery and most unabashed best, and there's even a cover of The Residents' Red Rider. Open up yr wind-ers, open up yr doors...

The Shaking Ray Levis is an ongoing collaboration of musicians with a common interest in improvisation. The project was conceived and led by the Chattanooga-based team of Dennis J. Palmer and Bob Stagner. The latest incarnation of the group is a trio with Killick of Athens, Georgia. They use storytelling, synthesizers, samplers, percussion, and Killick's one-of-a-kind H'arpeggione to achieve their distinctive sound. They are the first American group to have recorded for Incus Records, the record label of late British free improvisational guitarist Derek Bailey. Additionally, they have performed and recorded with John Zorn, David Greenberger, Fred Frith, Min Tanaka, Amy Denio, Ken Vandermark, Peter Kowald, Susan Alcorn, Larry Ochs, Habib Koite, Chris Cutler, Susie Allen, and Derek Bailey, as well as many other critically acclaimed artists. Click here to learn more about "Thealm Ol' Levi Boys."

Killick, of Athens, Georgia is a tireless advocate for improvised and the other kind of music. He plays here his devil cello: the H'arpeggione, an upright acoustic instrument with sympathetic strings. Killick focuses on the raw sound of his strings in all their microtonal glory; his style blends primitive folk, heavy metal, and sacred musics from around the world into a doomy/pretty/physically exhausting voice. He runs Solponticello Records and is the fellow who put out a solo acoustic H'arpeggione version of Slayer's Reign In Blood.

$12.00 ($3 s/h)

   

The Gospel Record (SRR CD-004)
Derek Bailey, Amy Denio, & Dennis Palmer

7 traditional Southern Gospel songs.

This project combines Southern Gospel compositions with firey yet lovely improvisations, a crossover that transcends qualities characteristic of both genres. The Gospel Record (Reference Edition) expresses the spirit of improvisation: it freely juxtaposes the atonal style of Derek’s playing with Amy and Dennis’ diverging interpretations of Southern Gospel, and takes on a striking depth as a result of this convergence.

The pairing of Southern Gospel and “Old-Timey Avant Garde” partners traditional Gospel lyrics and vocal melodies with nontraditional and expressive guitar sounds and cross-rhythmic homemade heavy metal and funk samples. The effect is at once jubilant and haunting, a reminder of our own mortality and materiality and the inexhaustible presence of the spirit.

$10.00 ($3 s/h)

   

Transmutating (SRR CD-001)
LaDonna Smith and Davey Williams

Ah!-prime hooten-nanny of improvised, new fangled and hand-crafted music to boot!

$10.00 ($3 s/h)

   

Boss Witch (SRR CD-002) -1997
Dennis Palmer, Bob Stagner, JD Parran, Steve Beresford, Davey Williams, Frank Pahl, Mary Richards.

One rollicking record of improvised music that is fun enough to bedevil the best out of apocalyptic culture. "...In improv flights ranging from stretched-out countrified shit kickers to rococo drone-alongs, the Levis confirm their skills as integral elements in group ensemble playing." - Andy Pierce, Creative Loafing Atlanta

$10.00 ($3 s/h)

   

Live at Lamar's (SRR CD-003) - Rec. 1999, Rel. 2003
Derek Bailey, Dennis Palmer, and Bob Stagner

Live at Lamar’s, the latest recording by British guitar legend Derek Bailey and his East Tennessee co-conspirators, Dennis Palmer (synthesizer) and Bob Stagner (percussion), is a testament to their long-standing collaboration that now spans three decades. The ensemble playing found on Live at Lamar’s, shifting from the heavenly, gospel-tinged opening to the sounds of one-hundred-twenty-three devils riding giant catfish atop waves of hellfire, speaks well to the notion that “all that rises must converge.” Live at Lamar’s is a Shaking Ray Records release, limited edition of 1,000. Only $10.

"The Shaking Ray Levis have an aptitude for sounding fresh and free from cliché while not appearing self-consciously outlandish. They accommodate Bailey's singular playing in ways that set his idiosyncrasies to advantage, cast them in a relatively unfamiliar light and whet the appetite for more."
-The Wire

READ TONY MOSTROM'S REVIEW.

$10.00 ($3 s/h)

   

Mayor of the Tennessee River (PP-8701) - 2003
David Greenberger and the Shaking Ray Levis (with Kenny Palmer & Frank Pahl)

PelPel Recordings. Mayor of the Tennessee River is the newest Duplex Planet CD presenting 17 awe-inspiring stories from senior residents of Chattanooga Tennessee. This CD has been featured on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" and includes monologues by David Greenberger, with music written and performed by the Shaking Ray Levis (Dennis Palmer-synthesizers, samples & vocoder, Bob Stagner-drums, Kenny Palmer-bass, Frank Pahl-guitar, National steel guitar & samples).

$10.00 ($3 s/h)

VINYL:

10" Picture Disc (AG-1991) - 1991
Borbetomagus & the Shaking Ray Levis

Agaric Records. Spin magazine says it's "gorgeous" and that the Shaking Ray Levis are from Alabama! (an action packed picture disc in full dang color by Dennis Palmer, individually numbered for adults and kids alike! Limited supply!)

$15.00 ($4.50 s/h)

DVD's:
Pieces and two other shorts by Jarrod Whaley (OSDVD-2) - 2003-2004

This disc includes the new film Pieces, as well as two bonus shorts: Type & Slow Night. Extras include the trailer for Pieces and scene selection. Comes in an ultra-thin snapcase.

Pieces, the sixth short film by Jarrod Whaley, is a darkly surreal cinematic concoction in which three “friends” (Chuck Draper, Sheila Sharifi, and Whaley himself) continue playing a bizarre parlor game together in spite of the fact that their friendships have become stale and tiresome. Two of them spend their time fighting over how best to “play the game,” while the other obsessively brushes her teeth and bleeds profusely from the mouth. As the day progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that the three are inescapably mired in a shared morass of loathsome banality. Their lives have become so closely connected that when one of them finally goes over the edge, the others find themselves dragged along behind...

With:
Jarrod Whaley
Sheila Sharifi

Chuck Draper
Tom Landis

Music by:
Dennis Palmer & Frank Pahl.

$12.00 ($3 s/h)


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