Our benefactors, well-wishers and friends at Proctors Theatre in Schenectady, NY have graciously requested that we open their new, soon-to-be-completed GE Theatre, a tuneable, 400-seat, "black as the pit from pole to pole" auditorium complete with full multimedia capability, cumulus clouds and lava lamp. The Grand Opening will take place on the 30th of September and may well include some sort of christening ritual. To wit, it’s rumoured that Philip “Hagrid” Morris, Proctors’ Director and CEO, will pelt us with bottles of NY State bubbly while we intone the official Prcotors hymn, which begins,
O build me a theatre worthy of F’loom,
Just big enough to dispel the g’loom,
But not so big as to mandate a b’room,
A black, yet happy space, not unlike a t’omb,
With fluffy white clouds for a tuneable r’oom.
(Now is that a scrumptious quintain of pterodactylic tetrameter or whom?)
Be there, or be rhomboid, postliteratae from near and afar! Without you we're just three humanoids standing all alone on a stage staring out into an empty room and crying voluptuous tears of scalding aesthetic woe ...
7/12/2007
Since
F’loom = Music
and
F’loom = Danger
it therefore follows that
F’loom should be the driving force
behind a new series entitled
— what else? —
Dangerous Music
And so it is. As artists-in-residence at The Proctors Performing Arts Center in Schenectady, NY, F’loom will perform in, direct, and curate the Dangerous Music series, a two-year panoply of cutting-edge performances with an amazing roster of vocal, instrumental, electronic, spoken word, performance art, and dance ensembles.
F’loom has the privilege of opening the series on February 2, 2008 with a performance of frighteningly new and terribly dangerous pieces commissioned expressly for the occasion. Witness it at your own peril.
To prepare ourselves for this ordeal, we have begun intensive all-night training in an abandoned lingerie warehouse at an unmentionable location near Scranton, PA. During the day we meditate, doze, and watch Monk reruns.
Hooray, hoorah! Proctor's Theater got the payola grant and we will begin our two-year residency there this summer!! Planned activities include: various F'loom events, workshops, community outreach programs, and 8 guest artist residencies in the Dangerous Music series. Now back to a snowy (finally!) Rochester twilight ... :-)
Longtrail
was delightful. After a five-hour blue-sky drive, we turned left
onto the six-mile stretch leading to Dorset and it started snowing;
Vermont was greeting us. :-) The Longtrail School is very cool,
150 students, especially strong in the arts. We did two workshops
and a concert for receptive students and faculty. Invite us back!
The
A Cappella Summit was quite an elaborate affair. There we were,
two little language musicians surrounded by a slew of powerhouse
a cappella quartets, quintets, sextets. F'loom as palate cleanser?
Response to our pieces was solid. We love a cappella audiences;
they are warm and appreciative listeners. :-) Special thanks to
the wild and wacky and very gifted Solvay singers, our new best
friends. ;-)
10/4/2005
We're baaaaack
... ;-) You just can't keep a good language music ensemble down.
Our calendar is quickly filling up (well, sort of) for the next
year with performances and workshops in Bloomington, Davenport,
Rochester, Schenectady, Trumansburg, und so weiter. So if you
want (need) to be F'loomed, now is the time to email
us.
6/29/2005
Robert
has embarked on a F'loom sabbatical. To take up the temporary
slack, Bess and Rick are concentrating on their vocal duo, zee
lovely Dick und Jane. Similar to F'loom in terms of language-musical
exploration, but with more of an emphasis on two-headed storytelling
(with F'loomular attitude, of course). Performances to begin in
September.
1/25/2005
Just
got back from our third annual APAP booking conference at the
luxurious Hilton Hotel ($25 for a room-service sandwich, but who's
counting?) in The City (the one with all the Korean delis?) where
we spent four days in our cozy little 5x10 exhibitor's booth nestled
between a contortionist bird creature and Jackie Oh (she looked
febulous!) and met wondrous new colleagues (Ulla Suokko, Finnish
flautiste extraordinaire, the astounding Glen Velez / Lori Cotler
drum/voice duo, da Bazar Blå boyss from Sweden, Mike Super,
the greatest magician of all time/space) and got recharged to
continue our sacred mission to put F'loom into the world.
Soon
we'll slither into the catacombs of our Retreat House, where we'll
conjure up new language-musical delights for the coming season.
Stay tuned ...
11/14/2004
We're
baaaaack ... from our thrill-packed week-long residency at Manchester
College, in bustling North Manchester, Indiana, home of the dueling
cow-milking funeral parlors. (Really.) 'Twas intense ... rehearsals,
performances, master classes every day. But worth it. :-)
Manchester
College is a very cool place. The students and faculty are friendly,
uncynical (always a shock for us Easterners), open to new experiences.
It felt like an oasis of sanity in a pre-election desert of vicious
campaigning brutality. Robert was so taken with the place that
he might end up putting in a visiting professor stint there!
Special
thanks to Debra Lynn, whose unswerving support, kindness, and
warped humor helped make our stay at Manchester delightful. We
sincerely hope we get invited back for F'loom, Part II: The Reckoning!
;-)
10/12/2004
F'loom
banned in Boston!
As
PR for our recent performance at the lovely Stellar A Cappella
concert in Concord, the presenters sent our Uvula Rasa CD to an
all a cappella radio show in Boston. The DJ refused to air any
of our songs or have us appear live in studio. When asked why,
she said "We don't play that kind of stuff on our station."
We'd
like to send a big F'loom group hug to the discerning DJ for brightening
our lives and letting us know we're on the right track. Because
banning, like imitation, is surely the sincerest form of flattery.
;-)
You
can purchase the banned CD itself right over here
... that is, if you dare!
8/30/2004
Drove
four hours to Oneonta (with poor Bess wedged into the back "seat"
of a Mini Cooper) to perform at The
West Kortright Centre. What a beautiful place! Originally
a Scots-Irish church (built in 1850), it's nestled in a valley
at the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, hard to find (we speak
from experience), sitting there like a tall white secret in the
middle of rolling farmland. Inside, the woodwork, pews, and stained
glass windows are all gorgeously restored. Anyone who lives within
an hour or two of Oneonta (Ithaca residents, take note!) should
check it out; well worth a scenic drive.
We
had a lovely time, f'loomed well, were treated kindly by the staff,
met some great people. Would we make the trek to perform there
again? O ja! :-)
7/5/2004
Back
home (under the lowering Rochester skies) after our whirlwind
"AEI tourlette" last week: Tuesday AEI performance in
Syracuse, Wednesday/Thursday AEI workshops at Nazareth College,
Friday AEI performance in Utica. All went very well, thanks to
the enthusiasm of our captive audience members. ;-) We are really
excited about the prospect of performing and workshopping in schools
this season for all age groups, K-12.
5/10/2004
Just
returned from a whirlwind jaunt to Wesleyan to perform with the
febbulous comedy troupe, Desperate Measures: Adam, Ben, Dana,
Max, Mike, und Tom. Known for their short-form boundary-pushing
politically-way-incorrect improv, they are all very smart and
funny and fast and fractious and feral. We had a great time and
got a huge kick out of participating in several of DM's improv
games; it's hard work! Big thanks to Adam and all of DM for letting
us share the stage with them.
4/26/2004
Two
delightfully different experiences for us in the last two weeks:
1) MCing the Fort Wayne
Dance Collective's gala 25th anniversary party in the near-mythical
city of Fort Wayne, Indiana; 2) adjudicating the the first annual
A Cappella Festival at our artistic home away from home, the wunnaful
Proctors Theatre
in Schenectady, New York.
Working
with the FWDC was, as always, big fun and good for the heart.
Liz and Lisa and their dedicated compatriots are doing great and
important work with dancers of all persuasions: pros, amateurs,
novices, the handicapped, the barefoot, the Board of Directors
... ;-) It was the first time F'loom got to do our three-headed
Billy Crystal at the Oscars impression in public, and we had a
ball!
Adjudicating
the Proctors A Cappella Festival was huge fun. (Phillip and Kathy
and Drew, oh my!) It was an honor and privilege to be able to
offer constructive criticism to so many fine a cappella groups,
ranging from quartets to 20+-member choruses. Afterwards we demonstrated
some F'loomular vocal techniques, hoping as always to spread the
beneficial f'loomular avant-cappella virus far and wide ... A
great learning experience for everyone involved.
3/28/2004
We
had the good fortune to win two prizes at the recent Harmony Sweepstakes
A Cappella Festival held at Tufts University in Boston: best arrangement
(for YesMiEl, a skewed medley of Beatles songs) and second best
in show. Many thanks to Marty and the other festival organizers
for a very fun and well-run program!
