Part of Jun 2012 by Ellen Berkovitch

John Cage Celebrated in Santa Fe. The Invisible War Reviewed.

In 1976 composer John Cage said, “music as a I conceive it is ecological.” He added that maybe “music IS ecology.”

John Cage would have turned 100 years old in September 2012. Santa Fe New Music presents a Music As Environmental Consciousness festival, in homage to John Cage, from June 21-23, at Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe.

I had a conversation with John Kennedy, founding artistic director of Santa Fe New Music, which has organized the Music As Environmental Consciousness Festival. Kennedy is also resident conductor of the SpoletoUSA Festival Orchestra where on June 9th he presented a program including works by Cage with work by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. Composers whom Kennedy has commissioned to create works for Music As Environmental Consciousness include Lisa Coons, Nathan Davis, David Dunn. A work by the last surviving member of the New York School of composers, Christian Wolff, is also on the program.

Contributing writer Don Simpson gives us, for our Austin original music feature this week, the Eastern Sea. Don writes: Led by songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Matt Hines, The Eastern Sea recorded Plague over the course of nearly 2 years, but this was not by choice. The unforeseen eviction of the studiothey started out in forced the band to move to another studio which later found itself in the heart of the Bastrop fires. Seemingly against all odds, the band eventually finished the album in temporary studios and homes across Central Texas. Plague is The Eastern Sea’s most cohesive collection of songs to date. Due out June 26 on WhiteLabBlackLab, Plague exists in its own unique musical category somewhere between indie-rock, post-rock, and traditional Americana folk music. Our featured track, “Santa Rosa”, is a perfect example of the utterly unclassifiable nature of Plague. Check out www.theeasternsea.com.

David D’Arcy reports on an independent documentary by Kirby Dick, an Oscar-nominated director who lives in L.A., The Invisible War. It won the Sundance Film Festival 2012 audience award. It will disturb you.

And, David Richard Gallery, announces a public opening for artist Judy Chicago, Reviewing PowerPlay, on July 6th. On Saturday, July 7th, Judy Chicago and Dr. Jonathan Katz engage in an hour-long conversation about Reviewing PowerPlay, at New Mexico Museum of Art, from 3-4 p.m. That talk is free and open to the public. Listeners who want to buy a reserved seat, and have a private tour of Reviewing PowerPlay from 5-7 p.m. at David Richard Gallery on July 7th, please click this link to contact Through the Flower dot org for more information about this tax-deductible event.

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