Avant-Garde Music Night delayed by Lakers Game Result

Now that's a headline I thought I would never write. Yes, even some members of the commie-pinko alternative music community in LA cannot help but show their local pride in mass-market athletics. As the final game of the NBA championship was winding down the ResBox show was pushed back, until curator Hans stepped in and restored order and sanity.

ResBox is "A monthly event featuring the world's best experimental music, curated by musician and filmmaker Hans Fjellestad." It happens the 3rd Thursday of every month at the Steve Allen Theater at Center For Inquiry West (CFI) in Los Feliz. I've been to ResBox a couple times now and it's a great night if you love avant-garde music, Musique concrète, improvisational jazz, performance art, or live electronics. The musicianship is really pretty impressive and tonight was no exception.

The lineup included the SCOTT HEUSTIS GROUP featuring Breeze Smith + Jeff Schwartz + Robert Leng + Scott Heustis, a quartet of sorts including ANNA HOMLER + TED BYRNES + JORGE MARTIN + STEUART LIEBIG, and the FPR TRIO featuring Frank Gratkowski + Phillip Greenlief + Jon Raskin. I know, a lot of names and if you're not into this scene it wouldn't mean much to you probably. But, it was good stuff I tells you. There were three very distinct sets.



First a lively set from a quartet of electric guitar, drums, saxophone and standup bass featuring dynamic, improvised jazz in front of clips from old silent films. It was out there but still probably the most standard and identifiable music of the night.



Next was a free form weirdness. Anna Homler was in da house with a table full of noise-making toys. Robot rayguns, pull string dolls, and various other beeping, crying, and clicking plastic devices were held up to the microphone and then further manipulated with an array of pedals and effects. This set also featured the first 6 string bass sighting of the night, and somebody torturing a drum kit while crumbling up aluminum cans. Pretty nutty.



The 3rd set featured a fantastic saxophone trio. Apparently deciding their music was not quite bizarre enough, they all decided to play separate compositions simultaneously overlapping them. But, somehow it worked, though I probably wouldn't have known if it didn't.

STEVE ALLEN THEATER

at the Center For Inquiry
West
4773 Hollywood Blvd
http://www.steveallentheater.com

ResBox Facebook Page