RNR
RENAISSANCE NOISE RESTORATION
AUGUST 2024 TOUR REPORT
by CillaVee
This year (2024) I began a new music performance project with collaborator Tom Law entitled Renaissance Noise Restoration (or RNR).
Tom and I both have a great interest in – and experience with two genres of music that would normally be considered incompatible …. early Renaissance and Baroque music of the 16th and17th centuries …. and contemporary Noise!
Anyhow … we decided to go ahead and book a tour!
Then we figured we’d better work on putting together a show!
We took two Baroque “greatest hit” songs from Henry Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas as our innocent victims and performed torturous experiments on them – leaving them barely recognizable!
We added a simple stage set and costuming elusive to the period, called it a show and took it on the road!
We had a trial run in June at Roanoke Virginia’s “AfterMAF” Marginal Arts Festival – with the forgiving crowd at Art Rat Studios.
Then in August we plunged into a month-long tour of the North East USA plus a hop across the Canadian border.
(Please note when viewing videos - the opening sections of the songs are performed "straight" before going into an improvization on the song ... Each improvization is different)
FEED Media Art Center – Erie PA
Artist talk + demo for OPEN FEED x Infrasonic Series
FEED is an incredible media arts emporium – still a work in progress – created by veteran media artist Benton C Bainbridge - https://www.feed.art/
Sacred Root Kava bar – Ithaca NY
Also featuring: Wooden Lung, Josh Oxford & E
Event by The Electrozone and E Weber-Han
Verbatim Text and Sound Expo 2024 at Glen Falls House – Round Top NY
The Verbatim book fair is an annual event featuring small independent press printing and recording labels – this all day event hosts a myriad of live performances as well.
This year it was held at the scenic Glen Falls House – and Wave Farm’s WGXC radio was there to broadcast …
A bill of artists too numerous to mention - RNR is in there somewhere!
https://wavefarm.org/radio/wgxc/schedule/ebxsj6
Mount Ida Preservation Hall – Troy NY
Mount Ida is a good, solid community project. Gradually restoring an old, crumbling church to its former glory, while providing many necessary services to the community – including performing arts of all kinds.
Also featuring: Giant Enemy, Cancer Cult and Structure Affliction.
Thanx to Manny for show production.
Psychic Garden in Rochester was cancelled last minute – a large collective of young, well meaning folks who drop the ball sometimes!
The house show in Syracuse was in a big basement space that frequently hosts experimental, punk, noise type events.
Also featuring: Adam Arritola & friends, Transcendental Filth and
Flesh Shuddering/Caleb Crittenden – show producer.
Eddie’s in the Space Time Continuo
(an evening of Baroque, Noise and Beyond)
Parts ONE and TWO
ONE
Som Art at the Hive – Somerville MA
Also featuring: Laurie Amat, Andrew Neumann, and Paul Kafka-Gibbons with Shereen Salem
TWO
AS220 Black Box – Providence RI
Also featuring: Laurie Amat, Kristina Warren and Project Decameron: l’Umana Commedia
The Eddie’s shows were probably the most fun of the tour!
Two evenings that Tom and I produced ourselves in the Boston /Providence area – inviting local artists we knew or were recommended to us – including the delightful Laurie Amat (of The Residents). The show at AS220 included a fantastic art installation piece comprised of a Muselar and organ pipes with photography and sound by Project Decameron – Robyn Thomas, Enno Fritsch and Gearge Angelovski.
Robyn has written a extensive account of their project – which is well worth viewing:
https://www.robynthomas-explorations.com/current-research/2024/8/20/eddies-reflection-project-decameron-lumana-commedia
AS220 is also worth a mention. A community run multiple art space organization.
Check them out: https://as220.org/
Video capture at Som Art by Andrew Neumann:
https://youtu.be/5u3YI8bH68Q
Community of Sound – Burlington VT
A very odd little place that’s built into the side of the Burlington Amtrak station!
Lots of great resources for the community though.
Also featuring: Jo Bled (the show’s producer) plus the wonderful Claude & Ola.
Here – we continued up into Canada. Tom performing a couple of solo shows, while I had another installation project. We picked back up on RNR in Montreal with a radio show at CKUT-FM at McGill University. Followed by an RNR performance that night:
La Poele – Montreal ON
Holyoke Media Center – Holyoke MA
The renowned Masters of Sonic Liberation series run by Bonnie Kane and John Loggia.
This is a fabulous new community TV media center – so performing there holds the additional opportunity to get a professional quality video recording!
Also featuring: Al Margolis plus Eric Plaks, Ayumi Ishito, Aron Namenwirth trio.
Unfortunately Bonnie had contracted covid at X-Fest – and was unable to play at her own series, so John joined the trio to make a quartet.
Video by Holyoke Media Center:
performance in Holyoke MA
118 Elliot Gallery – Brattleboro VT
A very cool art space that accommodates a great variety of projects.
Featuring a repeat Masters of Sonic Liberation series line up same as in Holyoke.
The Golden Owl – New London CT
Our final show of the tour!
The Golden Owl seems to be the hip hot-spot of New London – a book store, coffee shop, plants, herbs and other nick-nacks – and lots of hanging out on the street outside!
Also featuring: Slyne & Friends Play, Shake/Drag/Distort and a band called Angel Piss … well what’s not to love about Angel Piss?
Producer – Michael Slyne.
Video capture at Golden Owl by Robyn Thomas:
https://youtu.be/7W_uha-s0pw?si=PX37pTuHQos9CBft
performance in New London CT
Somewhere in the middle of our touring schedule we spent a rainy evening in a barn in Saugerties NY with photographer William Loeb. William was interested in trying his hand at capturing moving image, rather than his usual still image – and we were willing subjects.
William Loeb – video shoot
https://youtu.be/BWRFMu7wUac?si=PE02Qs-YeJ1zvGEB
For the future of the Renaissance Noise Restoration project we will be increasing our repertoire of songs and seeking further performance opportunities.
Ideally we are hoping to persue two avenues of event types:
One is to open for a more well known act who feels we are a good fit, and to tour with them. Another is to take the project to festivals.
For booking – please contact:
cillaveelifearts@gmail.com or tomlaw@bigsphinx.com
Heading photo by Jeff Heveron
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