Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Kenny Wollesen @ The Stone 1/1/08

Yes, more Kenny. It was excellent and a great way to start the year. The first show was his marching band, playing music similar to the other night, but with about 15 or so more people. That means it was quite different. They all stood in the middle of the room and I got to get up an dance as I was in the other front row, and there were only 2 rows over there, so we could get up and move a little back to see better. Jessica Lurie and Tina Richerson were there, Tony Scherr was there, I think a guy from Burnt Sugar, a bunch of horns, an accordion, many percussionists. It was awesome! Most of the horns and the accordion got a chance to do a solo. It was great from start to finish and lots of fun.

Next up was Sun Ra stuff with lots of percussionists. A lot of the poetry was read by a guy who probably played with Sun Ra, I can’t remember his name. They had a few different readers. It was such a nice follow-up to the Mule show. One girl was reading, sitting on the floor and then walking around in bare feet. I couldn’t help but think about the 60s. It was really awesome.

There was one bad guy, the kind that thinks he’s part of the band, banging really loudly on the floor. Luckily, an audience member, maybe from the band before, was able to shut him up relatively quickly.

The 2nd set started with many of the people from the 1st set to do Space is the Place. Then, they sat down and it was mainly percussionists, and one guy I’ve seen before on bass clarinet. It was wonderful.

1/1 Tuesday (CW)
8 pm
Kenny Wollesen's Himalayas Marching Band
Kenny Wollesen and a host of anarchistic zanies
An experience of unbridled madness. Bring in the new year with this outrageous and impossible ensemble party!

10 pm
The Wollesens with poetry and prose by Sun Ra
Kenny Wollesen (drums) and his new unit
An evening of Wollesen music and readings from another planet channeling the galactic traveller Sun Ra.

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