I just realized that 1967 was forty years ago. What made me think of this was seeing a note about the San Francisco Be-In in January 1967, and the one in New York City's Central Park in March. March 26th, actually.

1967 seems, at least to me, to have been a really big deal. And if you were in your 20's and you lived in New York City, as I did then, the Central Park Be-In was an all-important event that probably had an effect on everything that followed.

I know I'll be thinking about this all month, and reporting my findings here.

In the meantime, I have some pictures from that moment over here.

After doing some research on the New York Times archives website, I discovered that I had the date wrong in my photo notebook. I had the date as March 12. But it really was Sunday March 26th, Easter.

Bernard Weinraub's article that appeared on page one on Monday was titled: "10,000 Chant 'L-O-V-E'; L-O-V-E IS THEME OF PARK 'BE-IN'".

"They circled policemen and shrieked it. They strummed guitars and sang of it. They painted their foreheads pink with it. And they jumped up and down and hollered it.
Poets from the Bronx, dropouts from the East Village, interior decorators from the East Side, teachers from the West Side and teeny-boppers from Long Island trooped into muddy Central Park yesterday for a noisy, swarming, chaotic and utterly surrealistic "Be-In."
From dawn to dusk, more that 10,000 people jammed the Sheep Meadow for the "happening" (to squares) or the "Be-In" (to hippies) with the single aim to express love to mankind on Easter Sunday." (excerpt from article originally published 3/27/67 NYT)

The more I think about it, the stranger it seems. There were lots of strange things that led up to the Be-In, and not just the Be-In that happened in San Francisco the previous January.

For one thing, radio station WBAI had a history of organizing what we now would call "flash mobs". I think it was Steve Post or Bob Fass on their late night shows. Starting with "Lets all meet at Kennedy airport international arrivals and greet the travelers coming home", it became "Lets all be in Central Park on Easter Sunday". At least, that's how I found out about the event, I think.

Also, if I recall, the winter of 1966-67 was particularly dark, cold, and snowy. And, according to some of the articles I found in the NYTimes archive, March started out with unseasonably Spring like weather that suddenly reverted back to cold and snow. So the glorious weekend of March 26 seemed like a gift! And maybe the start of a real Spring!

Here's what Weinraub said in his Monday article in the Times:

   "The Be-In" was organized two weeks ago, after a San Francisco "Be-In" attracted more than 100,000 persons on Jan 14. The four chief organizers were James Fouratt, an actor; Paul Williams, the editor of "Crawdaddy," an Existential rock 'n' roll magazine; Susan Hartnett, the administrator of a group called Experiments in Art and Technology, Inc., and Claudio Badal, a poet-playwright from Chile. The Police and Parks Departments cooperated.

   "We wanted to be a celebration of being alive, of having that experience in the part," Mr. Fouratt said. "People in New York don't look at each other, don't see each other, don't talk to each other."

   "This is one time they could do all that without being up tight or afraid, an affirmation of love and happiness."

   The four organizers raised $250 for advertising posters that began appearing in Greenwich Village, the East Village and Harlem. Two newspapers -- The Village Voice and The East Village Other -- and radio station WBAI-FM also advertised the "Be-In," but word of mouth was the major reason for yesterday's turnout." (NYTimes March 27, 1967, p24)

So the dynamics were in place forty years before cell phones, email, and instant messaging.

Next weekend, March 14-17, will be the premiere performances of Kate Mitchell's SPIRIT HOUSE at ODC Theater in San Francsico. This work for seven women dancers is our third collaboration .. I did the sound design and composed some of the music.

Kate says:

"Spirit House explores the longing for transformation. Over the course of seven sections, seven dancers move along a metaphorical path of change."

The next MUSIC FROM OTHER MINDS program, Friday night 11pm (pacific time) on KALW 91.7 FM San Francisco will feature music by Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997). The program will feature some of his player piano studies and his 2 pieces for chamber orchestra. You can hear it live on KALW, or streaming in real time via http://kalw.org/. You can also hear it all next week from the MUSIC FROM OTHER MINDS website, http://otherminds.org/mfom/ Sunday the group ALARM WILL SOUND will be performing a concert of Nancarrow's music, including some transcriptions of his player piano studies. It's at Hertz Hall on the U.C. Berkeley campus. Sunday 3pm, presented by Cal Performances. The only problem (for me at least) is that they're charging $32/ticket. This is a bit outrageous. First, its Hertz Hall not Davies Symphony Hall, or Carnegie Hall. Second, it's not opera. And third, its BERKELEY! I guess they expect not to have very many people attending so to cover the cost they have to set the tickets to Chez Panisse prices. So, if you can afford it, it should be a good concert. AWS is a great ensemble doing some really interesting things. But I'll have to pass this one up. My pockets have too many holes in them. (Update: I went; scroll up for mini-review) These prices are going to kill serious live music concerts. Update: I'm told that the John Zorn concert a few months ago had a similar ticket price barrier. About 200 people showed up. The hall holds 700. At these prices, there is no defense to the claim that serious music is elitist. It's certainly not for students.

The high point of the afternoon was when Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997), dressed all in white with a red sash, made his entrance chanting and playing finger cymbals. A crowd formed around him, and wouldn't leave him alone. They treated him like a clown.

He tried as best he could to shake the crowd, even asked them to leave him alone.

Eventually he just sat down. A circle formed around him. This was the strangest thing. A sort of no-man's land between celebrity Ginsberg and the crowd, like around a street performer, sword swallower or acrobat with a trained monkey.

No one seemed to know why they were there, taking pictures. Like they were waiting for Allen to do something. Do something funny. Act like a poet, whatever.

He just sat, quietly chanting, playing his finger cymbals. Eventually people got bored. And left. I moved on, guilty that I too had invaded his privacy. I checked back later and he was gone.

Up to this point (it was already late afternoon) the day seemed joyous, everybody out on a beautiful afternoon doing their thing. But the memory of the event that I've lived with for forty years now is seriously darkened by the treatment that Allen got from the crowd. He wasn't jeered at or called names, or treated badly physically. He was just a celebrity; worse yet, a beatnik. A curiosity. A clown.

Allen was one of the most patient people I'd ever met. Years later I got to know him better and found him both uncomfortable and crafty about his celebrity status. But this time, on Easter Sunday, 1967, it was clear that he really wanted to be alone and to do his thing, and no one would let him. It was as if he was attacked by a swarm of bees.

I left the park soon after, but with a heavy sense of sadness. I had wished that Allen would have been greeted better, and I expect so did he. In the many times I met him later on, I never mentioned being there or taking these pictures. I guess I was embarrassed that no matter how appalled I was, I too was part of that crowd. To this day I wish I hadn't been.

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon on the Berkeley campus, the east coast performance group ALARM WILL SOUND gave an exceptional concert devoted to the music of Conlon Nancarrow. And I'm happy to say that despite the fine weather and steep ticket price, the hall was nearly 3/4 full, altho most of the crowd was over 40, probably even over 50.

AWS makes a habit of tackling difficult music, even transcribing music for performance that would seem otherwise unplayable. And they do it with enthusiasm.

The 20 or so young performers met at the Easman School of Music and formed AWS after graduation as a way to stay in touch. And we're glad they did stay in touch!

Nancarrow wrote little music for conventional instruments, producing over 50 "studies" for player piano. This afternoon AWS performed most of his chamber music (the String Quartet and Piece #1 for Small Ensemble (there is a #2)), and some transcriptions of player piano pieces.

The transcriptions were the most exciting. And AWS adds their own stage direction, which makes what could be heard as very dry music into something alive and fascinating.

They began with a transcription of Study #6, with players making their entrances from the audience and various stage doors. Breaking with standard proscenium convention, they moved around the stage while playing, forming tight groups, even crouching down and rolling on the floor.

Sounds silly, but it actually worked and turned the whole affair into fun. I think Conlon would have approved!

These are really great performers. And they play like a band! Finally a group is paying attention to how they look on stage. It really opened up another dimension to the music.

The program also included the Study 2A, Sonatina for Piano (marvelously played by John Orfe!), the Septet from 1940 (which Nancarrow couldn't get performed well in Mexico City because he could never get all seven performers at rehearsals at the same time), the Three Movements for Chamber Orchestra (one of his very last pieces transcribed from piano rolls), and the incredible Study 3A (a 5 minute boogie-woogie in every conceivable meter).

A wonderful performance! Standing ovations!

We need to have them out here more often!

The only way to learn about photography and to develop an "eye" is by looking at the work of masters. And one master, for me at least, is the "urban" photographer Joseph Holmes. http://www.joesnyc.streetnine.com/ There are hundreds of images on his photoblog, and he adds a new one almost every day. But if you spend some time with these images looking closely at the relationship of light and dark, use of color (or lack of color), framing/cropping, and choice of subject, you will be learning from a master of the craft of "drive-by" photography. One could say that because he lives in New York City he has an extremely rich environment to shoot. But even more so, he has an eye that catches what we normally would pass by. And to me, that's what photography is all about -- making the invisible visible. It may be that the reason why I am so attracted to his images and read his photoblog almost every day is that we seem to share a "point of view". Having grown up in the NYC, I have a visual fascination with the "grid" of streets, the exactly plumbed verticals and horizontals of urban life. You can't escape the geometry. And his work, like mine, is full of intentional geometry. So those of you with your brand new digital cameras out there, take the time to learn from a master and visit his blog often. With today's cameras, it is nearly impossible to make a mistake, and even the mistakes are interesting. Which leaves you time to concentrate on choice of subject matter and composition. Just because you can take a couple of thousand images on that 2GB flash card doesn't necessarily mean you have to. The best photographers take only a few images and rely on their eyes and brain to decide what to take and what not to. It's good discipline. And makes for better images. Another good place to look at is JPG Magazine, published here in San Francisco. You can even submit your own images to JPG. And it's a very lively community to join. You'll find me there too.

On the next MUSIC FROM OTHER MINDS, a program of leftovers... things I didn't have time for in previous programs.

Dan Becker: S.T.I.C. (Sensitivity to Initial Conditions)
New Millennium Ensemble - Albany TROY899 (2007)

Ingram Marshall: Authentic Presence (Sarah Cahill);
Five Easy Pieces (Sarah Cahill + Joseph Kubera) - New Albion NA130 (2006)

Linda Catlin Smith: Among the Tarnished Stars (1998)
The Burdocks Ens; Artifact ART 024 (2001)

Music From Other Minds program number 99(!) this Friday (March 16) night, 11pm (Pacific) on KALW 91.7

You can hear it live on KALW, or streaming in real time via http://kalw.org/. You can also hear it all next week from the MUSIC FROM OTHER MINDS website, http://otherminds.org/mfom/

I had an early dinner tonight at one of my favorite tapas restaurants in the Mission in S.F., Ramblas. And was great, as usual. But once again I found myself in restaurant with a specific regional cuisine, Spanish in this case, with Spanish art on the wall (Picasso, Miro, photo of Barcelona, etc.), and really nice setting. But WHAT are they playing on the sound system? Jamaican Reggae. This really bothers me.

Many restaurants do this. It seems the last thing a Chinese restaurant would ever play on their sound system is Chinese music, so they play Muzak. What's wrong with pipa music with my wonton soup?

There is a Japanese restaurant in our hood that plays Tokyo nightclub music. It's so bad it's wonderful. I love it. Only problem, they seem to only have 2 cds that they play over and over again. I asked one of my friends living in Japan (Carl Stone) to bring over some new CDs of Japanese pop music and he did, but they never play them.

I was once in a hill town in Switzerland having raclette in a small hole in the wall cafe where no one spoke English. On their sound system was American country music. Bad, Hollywood type country music. Made me feel I was back in the Ol' U S of A. Except that was Mt Blanc in the distance over there. I wanted to hide.

I guess when I go to a restaurant that focuses on a specific cuisine, I expect an ambiance that fits. And that includes the sound in the air as well as the furniture. (Don't get me started about what the waiters choose to wear!) But why be ignorant (or ashamed) of the music from the region whose dishes are being served?

There was an Ethiopian place in downtown Oakland I used to go to often, mainly because they played Ethiopian tunes recorded on a cassette by one of the owner's relatives in Addis Ababa and mailed in. The music was strangely enchanting and totally enjoyable. It even made me find out more about Ethiopian music, which I still love. And it made me come back to the place often.

I tried to imagine my dinner at Ramblas listening to Paco de Lucia or Manitas de Plata. Or some of the really good new groups from Spain that I've heard of but don't know their names. I should be able to go to a restaurant for not just Spanish food, but total immersion. I'd like to leave California when I enter and arrive in Barcelona, at least for as long as a meal. And I'd like to hear something new from the same cuisine that sits on my plate. Because they do go together.

I guess the music being served is not really for the customers, but the staff. I guess if you have to be on the job for 8 to 10 hours over a stove and chopping block, you'd want some tunes. But that's what makes a great restaurant out of just a good one: the details, as seen by the customer. And in this case, I think the food at Ramblas, good as it is, could have been so much better if the tunes went with the music.

It's true that a lot of people are deaf to music, and wouldn't even be aware of it, like wallpaper. But some of us do, and I think the only way to make restaurant owners aware of this is by letting them know. Tonight I chose not to say anything, and it bothered me all evening. I could have confronted my waiter with something clever like "You know, Jamaica's no longer part of Spain". But I didn't, and just left. It was a fine early dinner. But not the experience I hoped for.

I'll probably still keep going back to Ramblas, but the next time I'm in a Spanish restaurant, I'm going to ask "..and can I have some Spanish music with that?" Let see what happens.

Two performances left of SPIRIT HOUSE with Kate Mitchell's dance company at ODC Theater in S.F. tonight (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday) night. (Saturday there's a reception after the performance, and I will be there.)

So far the performances have gone really well. Considering all the details and challenges to putting this thing on, thankfully I only had to worry about the music.

It's our third collaboration -- I supplied some of my own music and suggested music by others. This time I claimed the first and last of the seven sections. And it's still really exciting to see dancers interpreting the sounds I produced in my cramped little studio. Even better to hear it all over four large speakers and really loud. And there's also some wallpaper music I made for the entrance to the ODC theater, while people mill around before and after the performance.

Kate also choreographed two pieces I had suggested to her: Evan Ziporyn's Pondok from his Typical Music release on New Albion (with Sarah Cahill performing), and Alarm Will Sound's reconstruction of Blue Calx by Aphex Twin (Richard James) on their Cantaloupe release, ACOUSTICA. What she does with them was a great surprise.

I don't know how the dancers do it, tho. How do you remember an hour's worth of complicated movements, stage positions, entrances and exits? It's an exceptional group of seven young women that Kate has assembled for Spirit House.

This Friday's MUSIC FROM OTHER MINDS program on KALW (91.7 San Francisco, 11pm) will the the one-hundredth program that I've produced since January 2005, when the series started.

213 composers (see the complete playlist), from Adams (John Luther) to Ziporyn (Evan), and more than 340 individual works served.

And still going strong. There's a lot of music still to discover.

So, I thought we'd do something special this Friday and play four pieces that were featured during the first few months of the series, back in 2005:

Gavin Bryars: SOUTH DOWNS
John Luther Adams: THE IMMEASURABLE SPACE OF TONES
Jim Fox: APPEARANCE OF RED
Peter Garland: NOSTALGIA FOR THE SOUTHERN CROSS

In the meantime, for the rest of the week, you can still catch last Friday's program of Leftovers. The audio stream is still available from the website.

Also, starting in April the program will be rebroadcast the following Monday night (also at 11pm).

Stay tuned.

The New York edition of Time Out magazine picked up on my blogging about the great Be-In in New York's Central Park forty years ago (scroll down to see those entries), and used one of my photos and some quotes for a short blurb about it. It will be in the printed Time Out/New York editions, and it's also online today.

I got a call from one of their reporters (Dan Avery) last week who had seen my series of blog entries about the Be-In and he started asking a couple of good questions... pretty much the same questions I was asking myself... like, why did this happen? And, what did it (really) feel like.

But I'll have more to say about it by this weekend. Stay tuned.

Santa Barbara based ROBIN COX ENSEMBLE will be making a rare appearance this Friday and Saturday in San Francisco: This Friday and Saturday at 8pm!
The Robin Cox Ensemble

Z Programs: ROOM a new chamber music series
Royce Gallery, San Francisco
2901 Mariposa Street (between Harrison & Alabama)
Admission is $10

What was remarkable about this event is more about what it wasn't. It wasn't a protest, or a concert. It wasn't organized in any normal way. It didn't devolve into violence. It wasn't a picnic, or a rally. Just a few thousand people celebrating the end of a particularly boring winter on an especially nice day in the park. And, it was not something our parents would have done. I think that pretty much sums it up. And this is the way I'll always remember it.

The next MUSIC FROM OTHER MINDS program this Friday (March 30) on KALW 91.7 at 11pm will feature music for piano(s).

Kevin Volans: Cicada for two pianos (1994) - Mathilde Hornsveld, Jill Richards - BlackBox Music BBM1029 (2000)
Alvin Curran: The Last Acts of Julian Beck (1985) - Yvar Mikhashoff - Mode 49 (1995)
Philip Glass: Elizabeth Chooses a Career, from "Les Enfants Terribles" (1996) - Dennis Russell Davies, Maki Namekawa - Ars Electronica Linz 0022 (2004)

Cicada by Kevin Volans (pictured) runs about 26 minutes, and is a very accurate sound image of its namesake insect on a summer's night. I'd never heard it before and it was quite a surprise. But unfortunately I pronounced the title the way I always pronounced the word, ch'-KA-da. But now I'm told the proper pronunciation is si-KAY-da. Out on Long Island NY, where I grew up, we always called them ch'-KA-das. And we had lots of them. On hot summer nights the sound around the swamp areas could be so loud you couldn't talk above it. Anyway, it's too late to redo the program. It goes in the mail tomorrow to KALW. I still believe CI- should be pronounced CH' the way the Italians do. Altho, I'm sure some listeners may wince when I say it.

Last week's program, our 100th, is still available as a stream from the MFOM website.

And, starting with 101, the Friday programs will be repeated the following Monday at 11pm.