An opera for the ages

By Meredith Deliso

Issue Project Room is taking a chance on a creation myth.

Dave Nuss, drummer for the improvisational No Neck Blues Band, has spent the last five years working on “Original Innocence,” a rock opera written with playwright Eric Sanders that puts a contemporary spin on Adam and Eve.

“It’s a new creation myth for our time,” said Sanders. “We wanted to retell Genesis in a way that we could connect with, that wasn’t so didactic.”

Major departures from that tale include the incorporation of Eastern spiritual concepts of liberation, a more feminist interpretation, where the world-saving sacrifice is performed by a woman, and sin itself championed not as corruption, but salvation.

“It doesn’t mean we’re advocating some sort of bacchanal love piece. It’s a middle way that’s being proposed here,” said Nuss, who knows something about finding a middle ground with religion — he grew up in a very evangelical Christian community in Corpus Christi, Texas, during the 1980s. “The Christian religion, as I was taught it, was about a war of opposites,” he said. “That’s not where I’m at right now.”

Writing it was almost the easy part; as for performing it, the opera’s proven to be too much of a departure for the experimental musician, who’s known more for heady, free-form pieces than devotional rock songs.

“I’m thought of as an avant-garde musician, and so when people heard the renditions of these songs, it was a surprise,” said Nuss, who plays drums in the show. “Some said no, but Issue is willing to take a chance.”

Curator Lawrence Kumps admitted that there “is a bit of a risk,” but added that “Issue Project Room should be able to support these projects.”

And, given the subject matter, Nuss’s most-recent work may also be his most accessible.

“This is a story of life. Everyone has these experiences,” said Nuss. “It’s a connecting point on a heart level, rather than a head.”

“Original Innocence” at Issue Project Room [232 Third St. at Third Avenue in Gowanus, (718) 330-0313], March 25 at 8 pm and 10 pm. Tickets $12. For info, visit www.issueprojectroom.org.

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One Sharp benefit

By Meredith Deliso

Arts heavyweights are coming out to tackle one important Issue.

On March 4, Steve Buscemi and his wife, Jo Andres, host a benefit for the avant-garde Issue Project Room at its future Downtown home on Livingston Street.

The evening will feature the concert premiere of “Trilogy” by Elliott Sharp, one of the most-prolific jazz guitarists in the city and a long-time Issue Project Room supporter. The performance features film work by Andres and text and narrative by Buscemi. Additional performers during the evening will include Jack Quartet, Sirius Quartet, Jack Womack, and Tracie Morris.

Founded in Manhattan in 2003 before moving to Gowanus two years later, Issue Project Room is in the midst of a $2.5-million campaign to move into its future location Downtown at the redeveloped Department of Education building, where David Walentas offered the group free rent for 20 years — if Issue Project Room could raise the money to build out the space.

Of course, Sharp hasn’t forgotten about Issue Project Room’s current Gowanus spot; the next night, you can you can catch him performing his new composition, “Flexagons.” Did we mention he’s prolific?

Elliott Sharp and Friends at the American Can Factory [232 Third St. at Third Avenue in Gowanus, (718) 330-0313], March 5 at 5 pm. Tickets $35; Elliott Sharp at Issue Project Room [110 Livingston St. at Boerum Place in Brooklyn Heights, (718) 330-0313], March 4 at 8 pm. Tickets $50 ($250 for a pre-concert cocktail reception). For info, visit www.issueprojectroom.org.

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Zero Film Fest lands in Brooklyn

By Meredith Deliso

No budget, no problems.

This month, the Zero Film Festival, a celebration of self-financed, zero budget films, comes to Brooklyn.Originating in Los Angeles last year, festival founder Richard Hooban decided to jump coasts and bring the festival to New York as well, rounding up as much local and international talent as he could.

The result is five days of film, with 115 films culled from over 800 entries, ranging in content from Polar Bears eating Nikon cameras to films shot on-location in Afghanistan.

“I have always believed when a person truly stands up for what they believe in, it is possible to change the world,” said Hooban. “Zero Film Festival stands as a testament to this fact, and we have seen change even in the most powerful industry festival in the world: Sundance,” which this year announced for the first time a “no-budget” category in their festival.

New York’s own no-budget festival kicks off with an opening night party Wednesday, December 9 at Cobble Hill’s Invisible Dog Gallery (51 Bergen St.).

Thursday, December 10, it’s animation and experimental shorts at Galapagos Art Space (16 Main St.) in DUMBO, and a spotlight on Afghanistan at Issue Project Room (232 3rd St.) in Gowanus. Making its festival premiere that night is “Rethink Afghanistan, a ground-breaking full-length documentary focusing on the key issues surrounding this war. Directed by Robert Greenwald, the film portrays Afghanistan as a nation—or more accurately a collection of tribal affiliations—that has never been pacified by force in its long history and the present American endeavor as doomed to failure.

Also that night is a 7-minute teaser for “Skateistan,” a feature-length documentary due April 2010 that chronicles the efforts of a grass-roots organization to build the first skate hall in Kabul, follows the first international crew of pro skaters on their visit to Afghanistan and tells a tale of the irrepressible hope found within a nation’s children.

Galapagos hosts the New York premiere of the feature-length film “Modern Love is Automatic” on Friday, December 11. An official selection of SXSW 2009, “Modern Love” follows an apathetic nurse who moonlights as a dominatrix, her aspiring model roommate and the sad, strange world they live in. Also that night, the festival crosses the river with a night of “Cinema of Substance” at Anthology Film Archives (32 Second Ave.).

It’s a marathon of shorts at Invisible Dog on Saturday, December 12, as the festival closes, with screenings including the US premiere of “Colin,” a British zombie pick made for less than $100 and an official selection of the Cannes Film Festival.

Zero Film Fest comes to an official close December 13 at Galapagos with an afternoon of documentaries and an evening awards ceremony.

Get a taste of what's to come in this video:

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Sonic you

By Meredith Deliso

It’s no mystery that the city is loud, a noisy, cacophonous landscape.

But on June 7, you can experience Brooklyn like you never have before in one of ISSUE Project Room’s Soundwalk-A-Thon, a take on the “walk-a-thon” and a fundraiser for the Gowanus-based performance space.

Throughout the day, 20 leading sound artists and musicians will become sonic tour guides as they lead groups of 10-20 people on walks that range from meditative deep listening to sing-alongs, complete with instruments and iPods.

“ISSUE’s Soundwalk-a-thon takes the live experience from our venue and brings it outdoors,” says IPR’s Founder and Artistic Director Suzanne Fiol. “While many people in the experimental arts community are familiar with the work we do, the public-at-large is not. This event will bring together artists and audience, physically demonstrating the dynamic impact that experimental art is constantly having on New York City culture.”

Gowanus
As ISSUE is located in Gowanus, at the Old American Can Factory at Third Street and Third Avenue, it’s no surprise that a number of the soundwalks occur in the neighborhood. “Gowanus Field Reflections & The Great Steel Elevator,” led by composer Bradford Reed, moves through the neighborhood, ultimately ending up at the freight elevator of the Old American Can Factory, where the group will experience spontaneous “elevator music” being automatically created by custom software and the sounds of the elevator. Artist Betsey Bigg’s “Detox Project” starts at the courtyard of the factory and loops around the Gowanus Canal, as participants walk, hum and sing together. And Dylan Gauthier’s “Crudophonic Sound Event” places the “maligned urban oasis” of the Gowanus Canal, which potentially awaits a Superfund makeover, at the center of a meditation on open space, the open sea, floating gardens, green industry and utopian redevelopment.

Carroll Gardens
Nearby in Carroll Gardens, the Tin Can Telewalk, led by composer Kurt Gottshalk and vocalist Marie Evelyn, takes inspiration from the childhood game of “Telephone” and has participants echoing what they hear through tin can phones as they move through the neighborhood. Performance and installation artist Todd Shalom will guide walkers on a “Carroll Street Soundwalk,” encouraging different ways of listening.

DUMBO/Downtown Brooklyn
In DUMBO, let visual and sound artist Bruce Tovsky lead you on an underpass walk starting at the York Street F train station. Nearby at Brooklyn Bridge Park, sound artist Daniel Neumann leads “Demasking The Bridges,” exploring the noisy triangle between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges while wearing masks to uncover more sounds. Walkers will sport iPods, not masks, on the Collective Opera Company’s “Shuffle Sing-a-Long,” and sing along - and out loud - with their music during the walk to create an a capella chorus (albeit one that’s not harmonizing together).

Prospect Park
Though Prospect Park may be a place Brooklynites go to escape the more chaotic, noisy elements of their lives, several soundwalks will make their way through the park. Sound and installation artist Andrea Williams’s walk focuses on to learn about the park’s sound and ecology; the “Prospect Park Ravine Walk,” led by interdisciplinary sound artist and composer Jonny Farrow, will explore those sounds occurring in the middle of Brooklyn – in the park’s ravine; drummer Kenny Wollesen will teach Lithuanian folk songs on his Balloon Bassoon Promenade soundwalk; and composer Edmund Mooney looks to lead a soundwalk through the park to “explore the unique sonic signature of various places in and out of the park.”

Starting Place Unknown
Other walks that might be for the more brave include Steve Dalachinsky’s Poets March, where an undisclosed number of poets will gather in Brooklyn and march toward ISSUE Project Room; Flaming Fire’s “We will run past all your walkers, opposite direction, screaming songs” soundwalk; Michele Nagai’s All Borough Bag Walk, which starts at the location of the participants’ choice, and Jonathan Kane’s “Bang a gong for ISSUE” soundwalk, a percussion improv march to ISSUE.

Beyond Brooklyn
The soundwalk-a-thon extends throughout the city as well, with ones along the East River Park (“Listen2009”), near the Bronx Museum of Art [“Transmutation in the Shift (---Documenting the Grand Concourse)”] and at the Battery Park Labyrynth (“Urban Zen Sound Meditation and Labyrinth Walk”).

Walkers interested in participating are committed to raising a minimum of $100 from “sponsors.” Registration for walks ends June 1.

All walk participants are invited to attend a post-walk after-party at ISSUE Project Room (232 3rd St.), with a musical performance by Ne(x)tworks. Food will be provided.

For more information, including start times and locations of the soundwalks, call 718-330-0313.

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Six years and counting

For the past six years, ISSUE Project Room has been a supportive place of creative exploration in Brooklyn, with cutting-edge exhibitions, concerts and site-specific work from emerging artists and musicians.

They celebrate their sixth anniversary with a benefit at DUMBO's Galapagos Art Space tomorrow night.

There will be live visuals by Brock Monroe of the Joshua Light Show, films by Martha Colburn and Tony Conrad, performances by Elysian Fields, Mountains, JG Thirlwell, WFMU's DJ Fabio, MC Bob Holman and much, much more.

As this party will be loosely inspired by Alejandro Jodorowsky's cult classic "The Holy Mountain," prizes will be given out for the best "Holy Mountain"-inspired costume (I'm seeing big black hats and cloaks). There will also be auctions of visual art and raffle prizes.

Tickets are $100 for 6:30 pm reception with reserved seating for 8:00 pm performances, $50 for 7:30 pm admission with reserved seating, and $30 for 7:30 pm general admission. Galapagos is located at 16 Main St. in DUMBO.

The neighborhood will incidently be the site of the performance space's new home, as they prepare for a move from Gowanus in the American Can Factory to DUMBO, at 110 Livingston St. Issue Project Room will get the space from Two Trees developer David Walentas for 20 years, rent-free, though they've been busy fundraising to raise the half a million dollars they need to renovate the space and prepare it for a year-round program of music, film, video, and literature.

For a look at the new space, click here.

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