Once again, a veteran gallery
regains its balance - this time in Fishtown.
Things looked bleak for the 20-year-old Highwire Gallery when
it got ousted from the Gilbert Building in January, during the
Convention Center's rape of Cherry Street. But now, there's
nothing but light streaming through Highwire's storefront windows
of its new home on Frankford Avenue in Fishtown.
When the co-op opens its doors
to Bonnie MacAllister's performance poetry and Radio Eris' avant
rock ruckus, things will get even brighter. Improvisational
multidiscipline happenings have been crucial within that gallery's
history: Toshi Makihara hosted poets and dance troupes when
Highwire resided in Old City. John Van Zandt promoted a wide
range of music from Eastern belly dancing to blues to punk when
Highwire got to Gilbert.
Now Lisa Spera - a photographer and gallery member for five
years - is Highwire's programmer of performance art and music.
Along with curating visuals as a co-op member, she's Highwire's
first-ever VP. And she does all this when she isn't drumming
for Radio Eris or composing her own somnolent songs under the
name "Lisa Sunshine."
"For me, 'Lisa Sunshine'
is the dish and Radio Eris is the spoon," says Spera. One
stirs the other and each is spurred on by her work as a photographer/curator.
"My life as Lisa Sunshine
is enhanced by my visual arts," says Spera, who calls her
work "neuro-explicit," objects photographed in their
environment. "Trash is what people would consider something
odd lying on the sidewalk like a shoe or a discarded toy,"
she says, referring to her own explosive Headless Doll (2002).
"I see beauty in day-after-Thanksgiving leftovers."
That's what the photographer
at home - the log cabin she shares with life partner Jeff Thomas
on the 800 block of Lawrence Street - sees and does. In Eris
and Highwire, Spera is part of a collaborative process with
improvisation as its guiding hand.
"The images I work with
seem to have a visual loudness and are often psychedelic in
color and composition." Loud and psychedelic describes
what Radio Eris sounds like on their recent Monkey Island CD
-order built from chaos, a democracy of like-minded musicians
spinning random fragments around Lora Bloom's screeching beatific
poems. Eris' sonic and visual blasts were part of so many Highwire
events.
"Highwire has openness toward risk-taking, experimentation
and collaboration with other disciplines, without losing its
depth of vision," says Highwire president Jeff Waring.
He proudly mentions past collaborators like Group Motion Dance
Co. and saxophonist/poet Elliott Levin.
Spera's predecessor Van Zandt
died in August 2006. "I miss John," she says. "If
it weren't for him I would've never met Eris. When we were told
about plans to expand the Convention Center, I was upset. The
Gilbert was huge and the exhibits there can never be equaled."
But what Highwire lost in size, they gained in acceptance once
they found a home along Frankford (so-called) Arts Corridor,
near Rocket Cat Café and Germ Books.
Now Highwire is more at one with its immediate community. "What
Frankford Ave. has to offer that both Old City and the Gilbert
Building didn't is the community aspect," says Waring.
As artists, Waring insists
that his gallery ask, "Who speaks the language?"
He's talking about their language. And one of the people in
their new neighborhood who speaks the lingo is Spera. "Lisa's
a people person and belongs to the group to interact,"
says Waring. "She'll invite in the creative grassroots
of the city."
And when she opens the doors,
what will she hope to find?
"Carefully restrained freedom," says Spera. "And
lots of pretty color."
by A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia
City Paper, December 07
…(Needles) Jones'll also host the Balcony's Monday show
with Radio Eris March 19. The multidiscipline musical improv
troupe drops its new CD, Monkey Island, that night. "The
title refers to Robert Anton Wilson's observation that it's
a mistake to expect rational behavior when trapped on the Planet
of the Apes, and that Island represents our experiences with
the Million Monkey Method of creation," says Lora Eris.
Hmm.
- AD Amorosi Philadelphia City
Paper, March 07
Mama Kangaroos
"Mama Kangaroo's is no collection of basement tapes, but
a very smoothly produced set of fully realized tracks. A well-thought
out selection of Beefheart songs, performed with skill and commitment
by a grab-bag of female (well, mostly, sort of) artists from Philadelphia's
often underrated music scene (…) In style, they range from
folk to funk to straight blues, to the spooky spoken rhythms of
Apes-Ma (my first favorite). The best of these covers take Beefheart's
songs in new directions, revealing his beautiful songwriting in
a way that's more accessible than the originals but takes nothing
away from them." R Garella - Amazon.com
Radio Eris changed the plain APES-MA recitation
into a weird live version adressed to the totally uninterested
subject of the poem.... genusrecords.com
Radio Eris's wispy-voiced "Apes Ma" turns
out almost better than the original…. No doubt about it,
these Philly women have their beefhearts in the right place -
Hans Hoes
Radio Eris - Apes Ma
Double and multi-tracking of voices plus assorted found sounds
create a fascinating soundscape with this short poem - Steve Froy
Captain Beefheart Radar Station
Radio Eris - Apes Ma
Double and multi-tracking of voices plus assorted found sounds
create a fascinating soundscape with this short poem - Genusrecords.com
The Goddess Theatre
http://citypaper.net/articles/2002-04-18/cover2.shtml
Robin Parry, who managed the 23rd Street Cafe for 10 years and
its Tuesday-night jazz jam. "Very briefly -- thank goddess!
-- I managed Doc Watson's and, when the world was more glamorous,
was the official hair teaser for Heaven's Edge and original photographer
for Cinderella," claims Parry.
Moments
Parry: "The second night we were opened, we featured Radio
Eris, an experimental spoken-word band who brought in four exotic
dancers and much pink cellophane. Coincidentally, there were four
photographers in the house who just happened to have their cameras.
They lost their minds and were crawling all over the floor shooting.
It was like a funny version of the Vogue' video.
Philadelphia Independent, vol
1 issue 14 - Winter 2004
"Eris is a little-known,
under-appreciated goddess - the goddess of discord. Eris inadvertently
started the Trojan war and is thus responsible for Homer's Iliad.
The Philadelphia music scene is also harboring a little-known,
under-appreciated conglomeration of gods and goddesses - Radio
Eris. Taking as a starting point the hysterical exuberance of
the Velvets, Patti Smith, and Television, Radio Eris craft discordant
loveliness from poetry and sound. Founded by shamanic poetess
Lora Bloom and studio visionary Matt Stevenson, Radio Eris have
released two mind-shattering compact discs, Loralai and Beautiful
Losers. Their live shows are cathartic and over-powering, a vibrant
wall of sound incorporating dance, improvisation, and spontaneous
anarchy into a heady mix. Lora Bloom, founding editor of Philadelphia
journal Siren's Silence and freelance journalist, keeps things
on edge with ear-piercing wails, imaginative contortions, and
gut-level diatribes. Matt Stevenson, keyboard virtuoso, dishes
out stuttering Cale-isms and Eno-like washes of musical color.
Dan Baker sets the stage aflame with piercing garage-style blue
notes. Drums and bass provide the final link in the volatile chain,
searing themselves and the whole band into a coherent whole. Radio
ERIS are in the process of recording their third album, and play
out in Philly with heartening regularity. They are not to be missed."
- Adam Fieled.
Passional Magazine, July-Sept
2006
Three Core Bands Propel Philly's
Space Rock by CCRB
Deep in the bowels of Philly lies
a very supportive network of space-rock bands. They bring elements
of punk, old-school rock and psychedelia to the plate with a hunger
to never stop playing.
For several years these bands
have set up their own shows with help from the Rotunda and High
Wire Gallery, and have gone out to see and support other local
music performances. These venues have been some of the vehicles
helping make the live music dream become a reality.
Among them is Scattered Planets
(www.myspace.com/scatteredplanets), a noisy wall of sound created
by syths, Kaoss pad, electric violin and guitars, taking you on
a trip to to other worlds with stories of drinking with aliens.
Ohio transplant Doug McMahan is
the center of this band, bringing years of experience to the plate.
He describes Scattered Planets' sound as "the smashing of
sharp particles against each other…the results are often
deep lacerations, sheer chaos and permanent injury."
He also organized the annual show
Landing Pad calling local talent and touring acts from all over
the country. McMahan also organizes another event, Space Rock
Bar-b-que, a summer suburb an all-day affair with many local space
rockers, including JCP, The Freedom People and Sub Primitive.
Scattered Planets, Radio Eris and Audiophyle have been the diehard
attendees at this affair for several years.
Radio Eris (www.myspace.com/radioeris)
is the product of duo Matt Stevenson and Lora Bloom's drive to
keep music crafted and experimental. Together for several years
now, the band's drive inspires musical growth that is sometimes
improvisational, sometimes very structured and sometimes really
chaotic.
Bloom's spoken-word stylings are
brought to life with Dan "Redbeard" on guitar, Kenny
on synths, Stevenson on bass and Lisa Spera on drums. The blends
of synths through effects, bass, classic Fender guitar tones,
and grooving acid-rock drums have created some really memorable
shows in some of West Philly's finest warehouses and made a strong
show at Clark Park Festival. The future is unwritten, but for
Eris one thing is sure: They won't quit.
Blinking in and out of this reality
is the ever-changing but consistently good Audiophyle (www. Myspace.com/audiophyle)
. When Audiophyle first started playing, they were a tight, dubbed-out
space jam band that slowly shifted into very heavy punk-infused
rock and then launched into space by Doug Mcmahan's Kaoss pad
synths. More recently the band has been inspired to write some
serious revolutionary songs.
They have had many members drift
in and out of the band, but the core has always been Colin McDonnell
bass and Tia Refait on guitar and vocals. You may show up to a
gig and and get a completely electronic sound sculpture but don't
be fooled. We gotta remember our roots: deep in the chaos and
the void of space", McDonnell says, "We will never surrender
without a fight"
The Rotunda has always been a
welcoming home to Philly's avant and space musicians, hosting
monthly events such as Gate to Moon Base Alpha, Landing Pad, and
other various world and alternative concerts. The Rotunda has
a beautiful turn-of-the-century décor and a great sound
system, and provides University City with even more culture. All
this topped off with free buffets of hot and cold dishes provided
by rock music's finest caterer, Chef Jeff. Oh, and did I mention
that most concerts are free?
A lot of people complain about
Philly not having an active music scene, but I see it differently.
Philly musicians work real hard to create their own network of
DIY shows and promotion, and many of these talented bands have
had lengthy existences and, most importantly, fun life spans.
This is only one window into Philly's
music culture. I chose to look a little to the left beyond what
is placed right in front of me, and have found that the left is
a hell of a lot more fun.
