STAGE

OCTOBER 13-19, 2005

.HE VANCOUVER SUN

09

LIVE

Where cabaret and
marching bands
blend beautifully
The extended celebration stretches the
boundaries of performance art
BY PETER BIRNIE
VANCOUVER SUN

• JUST THE FACTS

trike up the band, because here WHAT: LIVE Biennial of Performance
comes LIVE. Held every other
Art 2005
year, the fourth biennial of performance art from all over the world WHERE: Galleries, theatres and
is a six-week festival kicking off Friday
spaces all over t o w n , w i t h focal
at the grunt gallery. Opening remarks
points at the grunt gallery (350
and a welcome to the festival are to be
East Second Ave.) and the Westfollowed by a performance by the
ern Front (303 East Eighth Ave.).
band of the 15th Field Regiment, Royal
Canadian Artillery.
WHEN: Friday, Oct. 14 to Friday, Nov.
The regimental band will play as it
25.
marches from the grunt gallery on East for more information go t o : www.liveSecond Avenue to the Western Front
vancouver.bcca
on East Eighth Avenue. If it seems an
incongruous fit for a marching band to
kick off a festival celebrating some of
the most innovative movements in the
The project is named after Nova
world of the avant-garde, remember Express by William Burroughs, perthat performance art, by its very haps as well known for his addictions
nature, plays against convention. In as for his writings.
this case the traditional sounds of the
The unique reading room will also
Knightsbridge March could be heard host another facet of The Al Neil Proon the way to its complete opposite, a ject when, on Friday, Oct. 21, Michael
performance at the Western Front by Turner also curates and hosts Under
the Nihilist Spasm Band.
the Influence. From Malcolm Lowry to
NSB declares itself the world's old- such modern equivalents as Bud
est "noise" band, which means its Osborn, the readings are by and about
members play without regard for the Vancouver writers walking the hightraditional conventions of music. As wire of booze and drugs.
Robert Fulford famously declared in
This year's LIVE includes an importhe National Post in 2000, "these per- tant pair of concerts at the Chan Cenformances are music with keys, tre. On Saturday, Oct. 22, Astrid Hadad
chords, tunes and rhythm omitted."
roars into town from Mexico with her
Formed in London, Ont., 40 years amazing cabaret, which mixes music
ago, the Nihilist Spasm Band infuriates from ranchera to rumba with a politipurists with its utter disregard, if not cal fury aimed at the iiberclass. Expect
outright contempt, for standard songs. everything from the Virgin of Guade"These sounds," thundered Fulford, loupe to La Malinche, the evil gal who
"have no discernible value or mean- handed the Aztecs over to Spain, in
Hadad's wildly colourful rollicking
ing." You decide.
Saturday sees the first show in a revue.
series dubbed The Al Neil Project. Van- On Saturday, Nov. 12, the Chan hosts
couver's beloved jazz legend was a key pioneer performance artist Meredith
seed in the growth of jazz in Vancou- Monk.
ver, and the pianist and wordsmith is
Even after 35 years of innovative
honoured with performances by his artistic work she's dubbed a "voice of
many fans. On Saturday that means the future," exploring the amazing
everyone from Kate Hammett Vaugh- ability of the human voice as an instruan and her trio to author Michael ment for music, language and sound.
Turner, who will read from Neil's
From Anthony Schrag's tour of Gastexts.
town in an attempt to both unnerve
Every facet of LIVE strives to be audiences and promote a phenomounique. Monday evening sees the logical understanding of the urban
opening of The Nova Library in the environment, to Peter Baren's "perforAlice Mackay Room of the Vancouver mative" pieces "rumoured to include
Public Library's main branch. Artist nude performers, molasses, fog, drawHans Winkler surveyed drug users and ing, texts and boomerangs," LIVE
ex-addicts on the Downtown Eastside promises to be as lively as modern art
about their reading habits, collated that gets.
information with the library's staff and
Like the weather, it's just too cool.
came up with a "social sculpture"
Sun Theatre Critic
about the marginalized community.
pbirnie@png.canwest.com

S

The Nihilist Spasm Band
(above) which will be
appearing at t h e Western
Front during LIVE which is
held every other year t o
celebrate performance art
f r o m across t h e w o r l d .
Right: Meredith Monk
dance will be featured at
this year's event.

i

MARK FEWER
AND BIG SUR
STRAVINSKY'S PETROUCHKA, AND AN ELECTRIC FIDDLE!

VANCOUVER
SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA

BRAMWELL
MUSIC

"In Mr. Fewer's performance, you could hear....jaws dropping all through
the audience."
—Chronicle Herald

TOVEY

DIRECTOR

VSO Concertmaster Mark Fewer makes his solo debut performing John
Adams' The Dharma at Big Sur, a unique and extraordinary work for sixstring electric fiddle and orchestra! This piece is filled with fascinating
soundscapes, and hums with intensity and frenetic energy. An equally
exciting second half features a piece that was as much a groundbreaker in
its time: Stravinsky's famous Petrouchka. Bramwell Tovey conducts this
blockbuster concert.
SAT&MON

NOVEMBER 5 & 7

MICHIO KITAZUME
JOHN ADAMS
STRAVINSKY
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8PM

ORPHEUM THEATRE

Ei-Sho
The Dharma at Big Sur
(Canadian Premiere)
Petrouchka (1947)

Bramwell Tovey conductor
Mark Fewer violin

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