$6-10 sliding scale donations, no one turned away for lack of funds

Thursday, Feb 1 2007 8:00 PM

8pm: TBA
9pm: Cypod Electro-Acoustic Multi-media Experience (Beau Casey - Virtual Instruments, Margot Casey - Voice, Franz Keller - Video
Projection, Nora Hoffman - Violin, Kinji Hayashi - Dance, and special surprise guest.)

Thursday, Feb 8 2007 8:00 PM

8pm Bob Marsh, Theresa Wong and Bryan Eubanks
Celebrate their release on Last Visible Dog Records
LUGGAGE
Two duets recorded at the Luggage Store Gallery
Theresa Wong, cello and voice; Bob Marsh, cello and voice
Bryan Eubanks, soprano sax; Bob Marsh, cello

9pm Paper Leg -aka Trevor Healy, guitar and electronics

"a very nice clattery sound, like a fat-ass freak rumble inside some gamelan storage." The WIRE



Luggage - duets with a sense of place
The intersection of Market and Sixth Streets in San Francisco is more than a street corner in an iffy neighborhood. It is a collision course for several cultures: pasty suburbanites coming to see the Robert Goulet; stony rockers lining up outside the Warfield; Berkelians on their way to the Asian Museum or the Symphony; European families seeking cheap lodging; hookers, dopers, pan- handlers plying their wares and their ways.
Located two doors west of the corner of Market and Sixth is the Luggage Store Gallery. It was indeed a former Market Street luggage store, with many of it’s heirs still plying the luggage trade on adjacent blocks. But this one has been a gallery for a long time now, dedicated to serving the deserving but underserved inner city and marginal populations. As such, it has been the tolerant home of the longest running avante/experiment music series in the country.
Some potential audients don’t like to go there very often, maybe because the neighborhood is a little rough or sleazy, or there are too many fire engines, buses, street cars and crazy people shouting from the outside, or the room is too boomy.
However I like the echoey noisy space. I love the harsh sulfur street lights that are always in your face if you’re in the audience, or that transform you into a
shadow puppet when you are performing.
I like performing in this space. I like working with the sound of the rooms and the sounds leaking in from the outside-- the fire engines, street cars and buses, screaming maniacs, honkers and boomers. It is a special place for me and in a very secular way, a sacred place. A place where a rough kind of magic happens. So this is a fine place to engage in duetic exploration and thinking with interesting and inspirational partners.
Bryan Eubanks, whether playing soprano sax or home brewed electronics, is always full of fundamental and uncompromising surprises. He is like a train conductor who announces that you have just arrived in Fairbanks, Alaska, just when you thought you were near Toledo. An adventure of mystery and intrigue.
With either her voice or her cello, Theresa Wong improvises with the authority of perfection. I am always saying to myself: “Yes, yes, that’s exactly right�. And in the midst of her rightness, she is totally generous making it an easy delight to play with her.
Bob Marsh, San Francisco, October 20, 2006
www.bobmarsh.net
Last Visible Dog Records introduces a new series of avante-garde music with the release of “Luggage�.

Thursday, Feb 15 2007 8:00 PM

AAMS (Asian American Music Series 7) - improv Asian Stylee presented by guest curator Alex Yeung, with
Ray of Mojo of My Heart, VHOLTZ, and Say Bok Gwai Improv Ensemble
with Val Mih, Alex Yeung, Tong Long, not confrimed -, Bill Hsu

VHOLTZ

Say Bok Gwai Improv Ensemble
Val Mih (piano),Alex Yeung(6 string death dealer aka hack guitar), Tong Long(percussion/electroinics, porno),
not confrimed -, Bill Hsu(electronics)


Ray of Mojo of My Heart's music is a "bricolage of world, avant-garde, psychedelic, and lowercase packaged in a powerhouse trio of percussion, vocals/harmonium, and electronics." (The Daily Palindrome) TNC weaves a rich bed of sonic splendour upon which the dynamic duo, Musetta and Shayna, display both their virtuosity and their innate sensitivity. Their sound comes out of a collective force of musical performance that began a year ago and continued with TNC's Requiem for the American Empire, which premiered at the 2006 APAture Festival.

"Vholtz has been the going concern of Randy Lee Sutherland since 2003. Centered around different concepts in each lineup and varying from performance to performance, former members include Nick Lesley (Necking, Oma Yang), Gene Bae (Battleship), Eva Saelens (Inca Ore, Jackie O Motherfucker), Rob Enbom (Hale Zukas, Gang Wizard), and one-off appearances from guests like Brian Miller (DeathbombArc, Gang Wizard), James Ferraro (Skaters), Chad Stockdale (Weird Forest Records). Current line up includes Sutherland (Thin Ensemble, Control R Workshop, Brown Un, Sword and Sandals), George Chen (KIT, 7 Year Rabbit Cycle), Matthew Grothman (Wives, Neighbors, Woman's Worth), Paul Morgan (Business Lady), and Daron Key (Aciddrop, Stereo Motherfuckers)."

Bill Hsu plays piano and works with electronics. He has performed in the Bay area, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Karlsruhe (Germany), and London. He has built systems, tools and installations in collaboration with John Butcher, Peter van Bergen, and Matthew Heckert.

Say Bok Gwai is the first Chinese American hardcore band combining American hardcore, metal, punk, and thrash music with Cantonese vocals. Canto-Core is a new direction in music that borrows from Chinese culture as well as American culture.


Say Bok Gwai consists of Alex Yeung(composer/guitarist/vocalist) and Andre Custodio aka Tong Long(drummer). The subject matter of the songs touches upon bicultural upbringing, white demon's America, sex, food, metal, and other topics that would scare "the man". The CD is comprised of 30 short fast and heavy songs derived from influences like Slayer, Minor Threat, and BBQ Pork and Egg over rice. “Straight Outta HK” talks about the difficulties and benefits of growing up between Chinese and American cultures. “Senior Pride” and “True Words” focuses on some Chinese values while “Radio Star” and “Chinese Racism” criticize Chinese culture. White America is put under the microscope in songs like “White in You” and “White Guilt”. On the lighter side “$8 Sandwich” and “Stick It In” poke fun at commercial radio and sex.


Both members are native to San Francisco and have been active in the local music scene for over 15 years. Alex Yeung, born in Hong Kong but raised in San Francisco, started music in the local 80's punk and metal scenes playing. During the 90's, he shifted his focus to experimental, improvisational, and progressive music. Collaborating with harder bands like SPAZZ and NO LESS as well as more experimental projects like PAWN and MUSTARD SEED. In the late 90's Alex played with the progressive music group CENTIPEDE as well as instrumental trio FEAR OF MATH. Currently, Alex is part of a hardcore project called CONQUEST FOR DEATH featuring members of WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?, ASSFORT, and ALL YOU CAN EAT. The project has just released a 7’ and will tour California west coast August 2006.


Andre Custodio's first musical collaboration with Alex Yeung was during the mid-90s. Their improv-core trio, PAWN and experimental coffee shop trio, FLOJO took hard music fused with improvisation to create aggressive edged unpredictable variety of soundscapes and songs. After PAWN, Andre continued to thrive in the San Francisco improvisational/experimental scene collaborating with the likes of David Slusser, Rent Romus, Ernesto Diaz-Infante, Eddie Gale and The Splatter Trio. In 2000 Andre took the role of conga player and back up vocalist for Bay Area local pop rock group VEGAS DE MILO. Andre currently is a member of SAY BOK GWAI, TRI-CORNERED TENT SHOW and his solo project NIHIL COMMUNICATION. Recently, Andre has started a noise project called CHOCHOTA featuring a revolving all star cast of local Bay Area experimental musicians collaborating in a violent, noise project featuring women vocalist.

Val Mih is a pianist, composer and filmmaker living in the Bay Area. She has performed with the Eddie Gale Now Band since 2002, including appearances at the 2006 San Jose Jazz Festival; the 2005 Vision Festival, Sista's Place, and the Zebulon Concert Cafe in New York; and the Bach Dynamite Society in Half Moon Bay. She has also p erformed with Mark Izu, notably for his original score to the silent film, Dragon Painter (1919), presented at the Castro Theater as part of the 2005 San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Her compositions incorporate improvisation and free jazz approaches to music making. As a filmmaker, she works in both the animation and documentary genres. Her recent documentary, Voices of Patriots, was co-directed/produced with fellow animator Don Richards and was aired on Free Speech TV. She currently directs the Animation program at a local art college, the Art Institute of California-San Francisco.

Say Bok Gwai has been featured at Noise Pop, Pinoise Pop , Tidal Wave ,Chinese Rock Showcase, and the Asian American Musicians Showcase. In 2005, SBG has brought it’s brand of old school SF metalcore to Hong Kong performing at the Rock On Festival and Hard Rock Café in Kowloon.

Thursday, Feb 22 2007 8:00 PM

8pm Simon Rose (UK) - alto saxophone
Damon Smith - double bass
Donald Robinson - drums

9pm Ara Anderson with Dave Mihaly