We’re pleased to announce that Strudelmedia has just released “Not So Fast,” the debut CD of The Spokes – a unique wind trio co-led by three composer/instrumentalists: Andy Biskin (clarinet), Curtis Hasselbring (trombone) and Phillip Johnston (soprano saxophone). All three compose for the group with their own personal approach, but their music is linked by a lyrical sense of melody, a wry sense of humor, and a distinctive, idiosyncratic compositional voice. The Spokes channel influences from early 20th-century chamber music, New Orleans jazz, Third Stream music, Civil War brass bands, and contemporary classical idioms, all delivered with wit and agility (think Jimmy Giuffre’s trios, Debussy’s chamber pieces, or Raymond Scott’s horn section).
The CD is available now at the Strudelmedia Store, and in the near future at iTunes, Amazon.com and more.
“The Paris Film” — our latest film project — was accepted into the New Hope Film Festival and will be screened on Sunday, July 17 at 1:30pm. We’re excited that our film will be shown close to home (New Hope is in Pennsylvania, along the Delaware River, about 90 minutes from New York City).
We will be present at the screening, so please join us! Click here to purchase tickets to the screening, get more info, or watch the trailer of our film. More info on the film is on our website here.
Anja was invited to participate in the Third International Festival of Flags, an exhibition that was part of the street festival “Cest is d’ Best” in Zagreb, Croatia, June 8–12, 2011. The flags were exhibited on the main square in Zagreb, the “Trg bana Josipa Jelacica.” Anja’s flags featured photos of David Zambrano and Nina Fajdiga. You can see more photos of this exhibition here.
Anja Hitzenberger was commissioned to create portraits of 12 Austrian artists for a new book created by the design shop Lichterloh about the historic Viennese Würfeluhren (80 very large public clocks spread throughout Vienna). The book, “Normalzeit,” will be published October 2011.
Anja will be working on photography and video projects for two months in Beijing this fall, thanks to an artist residency grant from the Salzburger Landesregierung. More news to follow!
“The Paris Film” — our latest film project — was accepted into the Festival International du Film sur l’Art (FIFA) in Montréal and will have two screenings: Saturday, March 19 at 6:30pm and Friday, March 25 at 9pm, both at the Place des Arts, Cinquième Salle. FIFA is an annual 10-day festival focused on films about art and is “considered first among equals on the global arts film festival circuit.” We will be attending the March 25 screening if you’d like to join us! Visit FIFA for tickets and more info. “The Paris Film” is a visual short story inspired by the work of Argentine writer Julio Cortázar, starring Jimena Paz and directed by Edward Ratliff and Anja Hitzenberger.
Exhibition Opening Feb 25 in New Delhi, India: Part of Anja Hitzenberger’s exhibition “Portraits of a City” will be shown in New Delhi this month. For this project, she photographed Salzburg residents from as many different countries as possible, in locations of their choice. The photographs were first shown in Salzburg this past summer and were originally commissioned by the 2010 Salzburg Szene Festival. This exhibition is supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum New Delhi, Stadt Salzburg and Salzburger Landesregierung.
Here are the details:
Portraits of a City
Photographs by Anja Hitzenberger and Anusha S. Yadav
Opening: Friday, February 25 at 7pm (Anja will attend the opening)
Location: Dhoomimal Art Centre, A-8 Connaught Place, New Delhi, Tel: (11)233.24492
Exhibition Dates: Feb 25—March 4, 10am—7pm (closed Sunday)
Please join Edward Ratliff and his band for a set at Local 269 (269 East Houston) on Tuesday, Sept 21 at 8pm (one set). The band includes Doug Wieselman (baritone saxophone/e-flat clarinet), Beth Schenck (alto/soprano saxophone), Sean Conly (bass), Satoshi Takeishi (drums), Jonathan Goldberger (guitar) and Edward on accordion, trombone and cornet.
And last week we had quite a fine time playing a show at a street fair in one of New Jersey’s Koreatowns (Paterson). That really satisfying group of musicians included Pheeroan akLaff (drums), Briggan Krauss (baritone saxophone), Dave Phillips (bass), Nate Radley (guitar) and Edward on accordion, trombone and cornet. We had such a nice time playing at this really nice event. Thanks to Moro Oh for the photo!
There was a very nice profile of Edward Ratliff in the Wall Street Journal (September 21, 2010) titled “Cinema Inspires Sounds of the City,“ and you can read it here or download a PDF of the article here.
“Café Cortado,” a track from Edward’s latest CD (”Those Moments Before”), was featured recently on WNYC’s “New Sounds” in a program called The New Latin Tinge. The music is in good company in this show, and you can listen to the entire program here.