Music
First created and presented as a Tzadik New Jewish Culture offering in 1993. First performed live as a Nervous System performance with Catherine Jauniaux performing onstage, this version has been reconstructed from scratch (film-frame by film-frame) on the computer. This current embodiment does not hesitate to electronically embrace the fish-peddlers and buyers of 1903.
The Dutch band The Ex has been around for more than twenty years. All this time, nothing much has changed. Only their music is constantly developing. From straightforward punk to improvised music - again and again, new ground is broken. The music, the mutual concord and the interaction with the audience reflect an attitude to life based on obstinacy and curiosity, and certainly not on conformity or pleasing large audiences. The Ex organise their own concerts, have their own record label and play with just as much fervour in a hall with three thousand people as in a tiny squat. With this rather un-American style, the band has managed to survive for many years in a music industry that is mainly concerned with sales figures.
Himself
Money (1985) is an historical document of the early days of "language poetry" and the downtown improvised music scene. A manic collage film from the mid-80s when it still seemed that Reaganism of the soul could be defeated. Filmed primarily on the streets of Manhattan for the ambient sounds and movements and occasional pedestrian interaction to create a rich tapestry of swirling colors and juxtaposed architectural spaces in deep focus and present the intense urban overflowing energy that is experience living here. Money is thematically centered around a discussion of economic problems facing avant-garde artists. Discussion, however, is fragmented into words and phrases and reassembled into writing. Musical and movement phrases are woven through this conversation to create an almost operatic composition. Give me money!
