Category: events

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High Zero Festival Baltimore full concerts

Stop press: here are films documenting the full performances at High Zero:

People Like Us at High Zero Festival in Baltimore on 19 and 20 September, 2014

Friday 19 September is a night of improvisation, in which People Like Us performs two sets with other improvisers, the first time Vicki has done improvisation of this type in more than 10 years.
Doors open 7.30pm, performances begin at 8.30pm

Group One:
Jack Wright (saxophone)
Dafne Vicente-Sandoval (bassoon)
Paul Neidhardt (percussion, friction)
M.C. Schmidt (store-bought electronics)
Charles Dube (electronics)
Group Two:
John Kilduff (multitasking, live art)
Vicki Bennett (found footage sample collage)
Bob Wagner (percussion, friction)
Group Three:
LaDonna Smith (violin)
Paul Neidhardt (percussion, friction)
Harry Walker (electric bass)
Michael Fischer (saxophone)
Group Four:
JD Zazie (turntables, CDJ, mixer, found sounds)
Charlotte Hug (viola, voice)
Jenny Gräf (electronics, guitar)
Stewart Mostofsky (electronics)
Vicki Bennett (found footage sample collage)

Notations at the Saturday Matinee, on 20 September 2014 at The Theatre Project, 45 W Preston St, Baltimore.
Doors open Noon, performances at 1pm. 
This time around, the performers to this live score are:
Bob Wagner (drums)
LaDonna Smith (violin)
Jenny Gräf (electronics, guitar)
“Notations” is a film by Vicki Bennett for live performance by improvising musicians and artists.  It has been created using collected and edited found footage from hundreds of different films, where the content conceptually or literally portrays different kinds of ‘instructions’ and content that can then be interpreted by musicians and artists with unique audio accompaniments.  Notations contains edits of the movies and sounds from the source films, separated into ‘sketches’ or stories that segue into one another, and it exists with a list of instructions (score) on how artist(s) working with this choose to work with these particular elements.

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People Like Us, M.C.Schmidt & Jason Willett Live at WFMU

People Like Us, M.C.Schmidt (Matmos) and Jason Willett will perform at WFMU‘s own performance space at Monty Hall, New Jersey on 13 Sept 2014 at 8pm.  Tickets must be bought in advance to ensure entry:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/819123 – there should be some tickets on the door but you have been warned since they are selling well and it’s a small venue.

We’ve not decided the order of the evening but it will include People Like Us with Consequences (One Thing Leads To Another), and then a joint improv performance by all three artists to Notations.

montyhall

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Consequences Exhibited at Sheffield Doc/Fest

We are exhibiting a rare stand-alone version of our (usually live performance) Consequences (One Thing Leads To Another) at Sheffield Doc/Fest, 7-12 June 2014.  The 40-minute musical movie is on a giant screen at Millennium Gallery from 10.00-17.00, and in the evening from 18.00-22.00 in Millennium Gallery. 

Sheffield Doc/Fest: http://sheffdocfest.com/articles/167-brand-new-for-2014-the-interactive-exhibition
Millennium Gallery: http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/museums/millennium-gallery/exhibitions/current/doc-fest-14

“Favourite new work at the festival so far; would happily have watched it 2+ times straight through.” – Tom Vincent (co-director, Bradford International Film Festival), on  twitter

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Consequences at Metamorf, Trondheim

People Like Us will perform Consequences (One Thing Leads To Another) and give an artist talk at meta.morf / Here To Go Symposium in Trondheim, Norway at the end of May 2014.

Concert: 30 May 2014
Venue: Dokkhuset
Dokkparken 4, Trondheim, 7014 Norway
http://metamorf.no/?p=604

Conference: 31 May 2014
10:00 – 17:00 @ Dokkhuset
http://metamorf.no/?p=602

10:00 – Martin Palmer: HTG2014 Opening Remarks
10:15 – Carl Abrahamsson: Paul Bowles: Expat magic
10:45 – Vicki Bennett: ‘We Edit Life’ – a journey through cut and paste collage creations by audio-visual artist Vicki Bennett (aka People Like Us)
11:30 – Break
11:45 – Z’EV: The 3-Fold Ear and the Energies of Enthusiasm
12:30 – Alkistis Dimech: The Sabbatic Dance: Butoh’s interior landscape and the terrain of Witchcraft
13:00 – Lunch and book launch
14:00 – Peter Grey: Secrecy and Revelation: A New Vision of Talismanic Books
14:30 – Angela Edwards: Taking Fine Art into the Esoteric Context in Action
15:00 – Break
15:15 – Jesper Aagaard Petersen: Operatiaon Mindfuck, Viking Edition: How Fear of the Satanic and Cartoon Exoticism Fueled the Prank of the Century
16:00 – Martin Palmer: HTG2014 Closing Remarks / Q&A

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Andrew Sharpley – “Black Ships” on DO or DIY with People Like Us

Andrew Sharpley – “Black Ships” 
Monday 19 May 2014, 7pm
on DO or DIY with People Like Us
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/pl

Listen online live at 7pm NY Time http://wfmu.org

This broadcast is a based on a series of translations and re-translations of a text in a not-very-good telephone translation app, going backwards and forwards between Japanese and Portuguese and at each stage rendering the result into english – kind of like Chinese Whispers, except not Chinese.  Whats starts out as a tongue twister over the course of 30 re-translations (25 of which are used in the broadcast) ends up as something that sounds like a deranged terrorist, manifesto, talking of bomb blasts and prophets and visas and pain and country.

These short texts, read by my daughter Lia, are set against a backdrop of shifting electronic patterns and acoustic piano that mutates gradually over time as the texts themselves do.

The title, Black Ships (in Japanese, 黒船, kurofune, Edo Period term) was the name given to Western ships arriving in Japan in the 16th and 19th centuries.

In 1543 Portuguese initiated the first contacts, establishing a trade route linking Goa to Nagasaki. The large ships engaged in this trade had the hull painted black with pitch, and the term came to represent all western vessels. A modern day equivalent for the surprise and confusion the presence of these ships caused, would perhaps be someone in a modern city apartment trying to go to sleep with 4 big black flying saucers hovering outside their window…

With a nod of recognition to the WFMU presenter and exponent of ‘ uncreative writing’ – of which this is an example – I am dedicating it to Mr Kenneth Goldsmith.

– Andrew Sharpley, 16 May, 2014.

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SHUTTER – solo exhibition

14 February – 7 March 2014 (Preview 13 February 5-7pm)
Leeds College of Art Blenheim Walk, Leeds, UK

Shutter
Shutter is a new audio-visual exhibition by film and sound collagist Vicki Bennett that enables us to peer into a parallel cinematic world that exists between the edits, when we are not looking at the screen. http://www.leeds-artexhibitions.co.uk/?p=1180
The exhibition consists of three a/v video works (one projected and two on video monitors) and nine prints.  There is also an edition of 20 of two of these prints.

“The Big Sleep” [2014] Video (19 mins, 12 secs)
Sleep deficient actors drift in and out of consciousness.

“Blink” [2014] Video (1 hour, 35 mins, 39 secs)
Every frame missed while watching A Nightmare on Elm Street.


“Dreaming” [2011] Video (4 mins, 16 secs)


Nine 12×12 inch B/W and Colour Giclee PrintsThe 9 Prints

VICKI BENNETT “SHUTTER”

“Shutter” is a new audio-visual exhibition that enables us to peer into a parallel cinematic world that exists between the edits, when we are not looking at the screen.

Actors aren’t seen to rest a lot in films, considering people on average sleep 8 hours a day.  More often than not, feature films contain a stream of attention-grabbing imagery and noise, and if the mood does slow down there is still dialogue, music and other distractions.

In feature films we don’t see the real-time flow of everyday life, we don’t see the actors queuing, watching TV, reading a book, sleeping.  Nor do we witness the mundane – we see the James Bond car chase but no stopping off to eat a panini.  Reality can be brought back into film by revealing actors in their normal, uneventful moments.  Actors need to sleep as well.  Where do they go after a film has ended?  What do we miss when we blink while watching a movie?  What is it really like on the other side of the screen?  This exhibition addresses these subjects and attempts to take us to these places.

Vicki Bennett - press photo
Vicki Bennett – press photo

2 editions of 20 (below) – purchase from our shop

Bio

Since 1991 Vicki Bennett has been working across the field of audio-visual collage, and is recognized as an influential and pioneering figure in the still growing area of sampling, appropriation and cutting up of found footage and archives.  Working under the name People Like Us, Vicki specialises in the manipulation and reworking of original sources from both the experimental and popular worlds of music, film and radio.

People Like Us have previously shown work at Tate Modern, The Barbican, Centro de Cultura Digital, Maxxi and Sonar, and performed radio sessions for John Peel and Mixing It.  In 2006 Vicki was the first artist to be given unrestricted access to the entire BBC Archive.  The ongoing sound art radio show ‘DO or DIY’ on WFMU has had over a million “listen again” downloads since 2003.  The People Like Us back catalogue is available for free download hosted by UbuWeb. https://peoplelikeus.org/category/biography/

Shutter

Documentation – Setting up and Preview night
vwithprintsDSC_3585 previewDSC_3702 printsonwallDSC_3643 settingupDSC_3583 puttingupprintsDSC_3604 PreviewDSC_3717 PreviewDSC_3722

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Graham Duff on DO or DIY

Graham Duff presents Dreamhouse Girls
on DO or DIY with People Like Us on WFMU
Monday 17 March 2014 @7pm-8pm NY Time
(that’s 11pm on Monday evening UK at the moment because US have already changed to daylight savings time whereas many of us elsewhere haven’t!)

Listen http://wfmu.org & broadcasting at 91.1 fm New York, at 90.1 fm in Hudson Valley

Tonight’s live playlist is now set up: http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/54851

Graham Duff, painted by Val Denham
Graham Duff, painted by Val Denham

Graham is an actor, producer and screenwriter.  He created the TV comedy shows ‘Ideal’, ’Dr. Terrible’s House of Horrible’ and ‘Hebburn’.  For radio he’s written the long running sci-fi sit-com ‘Nebulous’ and the comedy drama ‘Stereonation’.   As a script editor, he’s edited seven series of Radio 4’s Sony award winning ‘Count Arthur Strong’s Radio Show’ as well as the recent Alan Partridge movie ‘Alpha Papa’.  He’s also a part time DJ and full time music obsessive. http://www.grahamduff.co.uk

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WFMU Marathon 2014!

wfmumarathonlogo

It’s that time of the year… WFMU Marathon!
23 February – 9 March 2014 at wfmu.org and on the radio at 91.1 fm in New York, at 90.1 fm in the Hudson Valley.
Listen to the mp3 stream | Listen as a Pop-up Stream

DO or DIY in the WFMU 2014 Fundraising Marathon

Many thanks to all who pledged to our radio show DO or DIY to help raise funds to keep our lovely WFMU radio station on the air. A lot of friends here like People Like Us and listen to our show, download our work and stream years of radio archives for free… and we would really appreciate hearing from you with a pledge (and you get prizes!) between now and Monday evening when we broadcast live on the air.  Please continue to pledge direct here – some great t-shirts, CDs and more in return for pledges of 15 dollars or more, and help WFMU reach our goal to keep the station running another year.

https://www.wfmu.org/marathon/pledge.php?pr=PL

WEEK 2
Monday 3 March 7-8pm NY Time – Vicki & co-host Tim Lacy
Playlist and comments created now at http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/54609DOorDIYmarathonweek2fb

WEEK 1
Monday 24 February 7-8pm NY Time – Vicki & co-host Pseu Braun
The show playlist is active now: http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/54544
vickipseu-saladwfmumarathon

We have been broadcasting DO or DIY with People Like Us since 2003, and unlike just about any other radio station in the world, you can listen to any and all of these shows, in good quality audio, on demand, forever. But “forever” is a funny word, isn’t it. Because it’s only through our collective effort that WFMU will continue to exist.  Yes, this amazing freeform station needs your support!

The station goal is to raise enough money to make it through another year – this will cover basic operating costs, maintenance of our webcasts and archives, further improvement of our mobile apps, interactive playlists, support for our alternate programming streams and the Free Music Archive. The important and special thing about WFMU is we are a FREE and INDEPENDENT station.

Supporting WFMU does not leave you coming away with “just” the station’s security either, oh no – there are PRIZES to be had!
http://www.wfmu.org/marathon/tch.shtml

DO or DIY presents Gwilly Edmondez Sings Chart Sweep
WFMU Marathon 2014 CD
newDOorDIY-Premium2014-211PIXEL

Listeners of the show and the station will be very familiar with the Chart Sweep phenomenon, and that we had Gwilly Edmondez sing Chart Sweep specially for the show recently.  It went down so well that listeners requested this be our 2014 Marathon Premium.  And so be it!  Gwilly went back into the studio and recorded the whole thing for us.  And it can be yours too!

To pledge to our show on WFMU please go to the pledge widget on this page or follow this link: https://www.wfmu.org/marathon/pledge.php?pr=PL
If you do not follow this widget/link or pledge from elsewhere on the WFMU site may be pledging for another show, or whoever is on the air at the time.  So to ensure that you do pledge for our show then PLEDGE HERE or DO SO WHILE WE ARE ON THE AIR, and all will be fine.

pledgewfmu

Thank you for your support, and thank you WFMU for giving so much.