Fela Kuti

Second Sundays: Streamcast & Open House, November 2014

Clocktower Radio joins in the monthly Pioneer Works open house festivities with a reception and performance in our studios as we record artist interviews and stream performances live for the November 9, 2014 edition.

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For this event, Isn't Ours aka Mike Sheffield will perform for Clocktower Radio in a special set at 6pm at our third floor studio, in a solo project described as mixing techno, "dusty" house, and experimental ambience.

This day marks the magazine launch of another issue of the Pioneer Works art magazine, Intercourse 3, and a performance bill that features songs by Weyes Blood, a DJ set from Chances With Wolves, and Chop and Quench, a Fela Kuti celebration band.

Plus open studios, exhibitions, food and artists in residence projects on view from: Dorit Chrysler, Magdalena Dukiewiscz, Zach Nader, David Horvitz, Micah Ganske, Sara Magenheimer, Emily Spivack, Brett Swenson, Science Lab demos, Young New Yorkers, and Alex Verhaest.

This event, along with all performances and interviews captured during the Second Sundays events, will be archived for on demand listening on the Clocktower's Pioneer Works Radio Channel.

About the performances (streamed live on Clocktower Radio at clocktower.org/listen):

MIKE SHEFFIELD is musician and writer living in Brooklyn, performs in a solo project called Isn't Ours, and plays in Heaven's Gate, Alan Watts, and Weed Hounds. He has described his Isn't Ours EP, White Floods, as an experimental, open-ended exploration of ambient sound. Isn't Ours's music consists of everything from techno, "dusty" house, and beautiful, succinct experimental sounds. In addition to performing music, Mike throws conceptual art events as She Was Freaks, and writes creative nonfiction, short stories, and poetry. He lives at the Silent Barn, an all-ages music venue and art space in Bushwick.

WEYES BLOOD is the mysterious ghost folk project of Natalie Mering, (former member of Jackie-O Motherfucker, Axolotl). Weaving sound textures with delicate folk songs, Weyes Blood is truly bridge music, combining the sonic influences of tape experimentation with the ancient art of song. Her voice is singular and timeless, unadorned yet soulful and penetrating. She has provided her pipes on Ariel Pink’s new record Mature Themes, singing back up on the song Early Birds of Babylon. She also accompanied the haunted graffiti live on an east coast tour in Sept 2012. Aside from small run releases such as the self-released “Strange Chalices of Seeing” (2007), and a 7″ entitled Liquor Castle (Smoker’s Gifts, UK, 2008) Weyes Blood released her first full length in March 2011 on the Not Not Fun label entitled The Outside Room.

CHOP AND QUENCH: “The Fela! Band”, is comprised of members of the cast and band of FELA! the musical. The musicians are some of the finest in New York, having performed with The Roots, India Arie, Elvis Costello, and many others. Lead singer Sahr Ngaujah was nominated for a TONY Award for his performance in the Broadway show and has been featured on film and television. As a unit, the band has gotten to accompany performers such as Beyonce, Femi Kuti, and Angelique Kidjo. Known for their straightforward performances of classic Fela Kuti compositions, they have branched out, bringing their own original music to the stage. After performing around the world, they recently performed at the Sundance Film Festival in conjunction with the premier of Alex Gibney’s film “Finding Fela”. They are working on their first recording since the Fela! Broadway cast recording.

CHANCES WITH WOLVES Well-known for their long-running show on the now-defunct EVR Radio, they spin classic soul, 90s hip hop, and 50s throwback, among other unclassifiable sounds.

SECOND SUNDAYS is a recurring open-door event at Pioneer Works, a new Art Center housed in a converted factory in Red Hook. This monthly event is intended to showcase the center's multidisciplinary mix of art, science, and performing arts. In addition to Pioneer Works' Open Studios and existing programs and exhibitions, each second Sunday of the month presents musicians drawn from a pool of Brooklyn and international talent and curated in collaboration with Olivier Conan of Barbés.

Graham Nash, Adam Green & Natalie Mering

A conversation between singer/songwriters Graham Nash (of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), Adam Green (of The Moldy Peaches), and Natalie Mering (of Weyes Blood) that took place at the Clocktower Radio's studios at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn on July 15, 2014. The unmoderated, freestyle discussion covers subjects including, magic, Alan Watts, Adam Greene's film on the tale of Aladdin, Woodstock, Bob Dylan, The Everly Brothers, The Hollies, and mushrooms. Green and Mering are featured in the Fall 2014 edition of the Pioneer Works magazine, Intercourse 3, the latest bi-annual admixture of prose, poetry, memoir, conversation, and artwork described as a "thermal dynamic, company-keeping, soul-warming winter edition … philosophy without the jargon, porn without the boredom, boredom without the Internet." Mering also performs as Weyes Blood at the Second Sundays magazine launch party for Intercourse on November 9, 2014 in a bill that also features Chances With Wolves and Chop and Quench, a Fela Kuti celebration band.

Second Sundays: Intercourse 3 & Videofreex

Jake Nussbaum hosts INTERCOURSE Magazine editors Catherine Despont, Joey Frank, Randy Lee Maitland, and Dustin Yellin, along with special guest and magazine contributor Dorothea Rockburne. They discuss Black Mountain College, free sex, and the many splendors of the new issue of INTERCOURSE. Then, an interview with members and historians of the Videofreex collective, pioneers of video art. First up, Videofreex founders Skip Blumberg and Davidson Gigliotti share stories of their early experiments with video and documenting the political upheaval of the early 70s. Following that, documentarian Jon Nealon discusses his upcoming film, Here Come the Videofreex, and curator Andrew Ingall explains his approach to curating a retrospective at the Dorsky Museum of Art in New Paltz. Moderated with Liz Flyntz, INTERCOURSE contributor and art historian. Recorded during Pioneer Works Second Sundays open house and INTERCOURSE publication celebration in November 2014.