TICKET GIVEAWAY & CONCERT PREVIEW: City Arts Presents Genre Bender

by Maggie Stapleton

GenreBender_Banner

Each year, City Arts pairs artists who work in different media, commissioning them to leap out of their comfort zones to create a unique experience. Genre Bender is a refreshing look at what interdisciplinary art can and should be in the 21st century – diverse, expressive, free, rich, thoughtful, and collaborative. Any one of these ten artists could hold their own for a solo set this Friday and Saturday evening, but the combined powers in these five duos is sure to spark emotion, inspiration, and optimism for the future of art.

Second Inversion is a Genre Bender sponsor this year and we want to give away two tickets (to either night) to a lucky winner! Simply leave a comment at the bottom of this post and let us know which of the 5 duos sounds the most intriguing to you! You can visit us on Facebook or Twitter to enter, too. The winner will be chosen and notified on Thursday, March 3 at 1pm. (Ticket giveaway has now closed – congratulations to our lucky winner, Cam!)

Genre Bender runs this Friday, March 4 and Saturday, March 5 at 8pm (doors open at 7pm) at the Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center. Tickets are $20 in advance $30 at the door. The show is the same both nights, but a party in the lobby will follow the Saturday night performance.

Hear’s a taste of each of the duos by City Arts’ Jonathan Zwickel and Gemma Wilson – follow the links for more details!

Musician/producer Erik Blood + dancer/choreographer Markeith Wiley

blood_wiley

Photo by Megumi Shauna Arai.

Both Wiley and Blood are chameleon-like in their ability to adapt and evolve their output. Both are natural collaborators. Both have honed their own expressive personal style and are adept at drawing out the most expressive efforts in others. To paraphrase Blood, Wiley works with dancers the way Blood works with musicians. – by City Arts’ Jonathan Zwickel

 

Performance artist Alice Gosti + ritualist Timothy White Eagle

GB16_Alice_Timothy_MegumiShaunaArai_square

Photo by Megumi Shauna Arai.

The two are preparing a symbolic setting within which they’ll present a new, modern myth about departure and nonattachment that personally involves the audience. – by City Arts’ Jonathan Zwickel

 

Actor/playwright/cellist Justin Huertas + composer/clarinetist/vocalist Beth Fleenor

GB16_beth_justin_BruceClaytonTom_square

Photo by Bruce Clayton Tom.

“At Cornish Playhouse, Fleenor and Huertas will keep themselves as close to the audience as possible, and make the theatre as inviting and comfortable as they can. “We want to share light and space with the audience, and we want them to participate in our music,” Huertas says. Music will feature Fleenor on clarinet, Huertas on cello and the audience on…no one knows yet.” – by City Arts’ Gemma Wilson 

 

Writer/artist Tessa Hulls + performance/visual artist Kyle Loven

GB_kyle_tessa_sm

Photo by Megumi Shauna Arai.

“Both Hulls and Loven bring an introspective lyricism and an earnest interest in humanity to their work, liberally sprinkled with a wry sense of humor. When they first met to discuss their collaboration for this year’s Genre Bender, they started with a Venn diagram that just kept overlapping. Last night at the Cloud Room, Hulls and Loven were decked out in matching houndstooth jackets as they talked about bonding over what Hulls called a “curmudgeonly distrust of/despair over technology and what it does to relationships.” At Genre Bender, they’ll jump from that theme into a piece blending ’50s camp with an apocalyptic flavor.” – by City Arts’ Gemma Wilson 

 

Dancer/choreographer Jody Kuehner + actor/solo performer Keira McDonald

jody_keira

Photo by Megumi Shauna Arai.

“‘Someone falling down the stairs is really funny—unless they die,’ McDonald says. When Kuehner and McDonald first met and began working together, they found a common interest in exploring that intersection of laughter and death, humor and pain: the absurdity that comes from catastrophe. To get things rolling, they told a lot of stories about people dying in tragic ways, of which McDonald says she has many and Kuehner really has just one, about her cat.

“‘We’re all going to die, but we have no idea how or when. It’s the greatest mystery of being alive,” says McDonald.'” – by City Arts’ Gemma Wilson

LIVE CONCERT SPOTLIGHT: March 6-9

by Maggie Molloy

This week’s music calendar features a multitude of musical genres and artistic mediums!

Genre Bender 2015

GB collage 600

This weekend Seattle musicians are bending the rules. They’re bending the rules of functional harmony, they’re bending the rules of performance—in fact, they’re bending the very constructs of the music medium itself. City Arts Magazine’s annual Genre Bender event pairs innovative artists working in different media, inviting them to collaborate with one another to create the ultimate genre-defying performance.

This year’s artistic duos include conceptual artist C. Davida Ingram and composer/multi-instrumentalist Hanna Benn, rapper Raz Simone and multimedia artist Justin Roberts, photographer Steven Miller and actress/singer Sarah Rudinoff, vocalist/poet okanomodé and aerialist Lara Paxton, and last but not least, poet Sarah Galvin and musician/filmmaker/philosopher David Nixon.

Genre Bender 2015 is this Friday, March 6 and Saturday, March 7 at the Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show begins at 8 p.m. A party in the lobby will follow the performance on Saturday evening.

Seattle Rock Orchestra Performs Beck

54512dce066c18.90957048

Beck shocked audiences around the world when he beat out Beyoncé for the Album of the Year at the Grammys last month. The lowly singer-songwriter who first made it big in 1994 with a song titled “Loser” (you know the one: “I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me?”) proved that maybe, just maybe, he’s not such a loser after all.

This weekend, Seattle Rock Orchestra is paying tribute to this musical underdog with a retrospective of Beck’s lengthy career. With his 12 studio releases, they definitely have a lot to draw from. From the lo-fi folk releases of “One Foot in the Grave” to the funky party music of “Midnite Vultures” to the pensive ballads of “Sea Change,” Beck has never written the same album twice.

The performance is this Saturday, March 7 at the Moore Theatre. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show begins at 8 p.m.

Seattle Composers Alliance’s 2015 Spring Fling

As the winter months melt away and the beautiful blossoms of spring begin to bloom, it’s always nice to get out of the house and go celebrate the new season. And what better way to do it than with an evening of new music?

Next week Seattle Composers Alliance is presenting its 2015 Spring Fling, featuring live music by a wide range of local musicians. From the jazzy jams of Industrial Revolution Trio and the Tim Carey Quartet to the folksongs of Alchymeia and Aslan Rife, this concert has it all! The evening also includes a silent auction and generous door prizes.

The performance is this Monday, March 9 at the Royal Room at 7 p.m.