The bartender invented a fantastic Chromatic Cocktail for the evening, an extremely tasty and potent $1,000 value for the low low price of $8. This improvised partnership of art and commerce allowed us to meet the business expectations of the bar owner, flatten the customers, and give the Albany PoPo something to hunt after we closed. Isn’t. Music. Wonderful?

So, I’m thinking it was three years and, what, 30 shows? I’ll say 30 because it’s alliterative, and while possibly only a drop in the cosmic aural bucket, a memorable one, filled with tender and awesome moments. Thanks to Lucio Menegon for founding the Hoot,  to Eric Leppo and Ken McCown, former bartenders at the Ivy, for supporting it, to Alan Korn for stepping in and to all of the musicians for convening and creating. You can read the whole history here and repeat it to your grandchildren, or your housemate who’s thinking of starting an informal convening of musicians during a slow night at a nearby bar. Good luck with that.

Bay area music documentarian Michael Zelner has 14 of the hoots wrapped up in flickr sets. We’ll be posting his audio recordings here in a helpful streaming radio format real soon now, but in meantime check out some samples.

Whither the Hoot?

We’ll take a break while we find a new home for the Hoot, definitely in EastBaynia, definitely back to Monday nights,  definitely not before September, and definitely involving fermented liquid. Meanwhile, sate your need for the off-night out with Jacob Zimmerman’s Sunday Actual Jazz Series, Lisa Mezzacappa’s Monday MakeOuts, Aram Shelton’s Oakland Active Orchestra Tuesdays at the Uptown, and Rent Romus’ Thursdays at the Luggage Store.

Thanks everyone!

experimental film, heavy metal jazz, and neo-fictional electronics

The last Hoot of the Ivy curated by artist Kattt Atchley who walked into the Hoot many moons ago and (a) instantly ordered a martini, so should you they’re really very good here and (b) declared the whole thing reminded her of Berlin, something Hoot founder Lucio Menegon said he wanted to achieve from the beginning. It is an honor to close the Hoot’s residency at the Ivy with a show springing from the creative mind of Kattt.

featuring

• Go-Go Fightmaster
• Kenneth Atchley
• Film by Kerry Laitala

About the Artists

Kerry Laitala is a media archeologist who investigates the past and retrieves cultural artifacts from the limbo of forgotten things, and has a penchant for medical imagery and artifacts of decay. Laitala is deeply invested in the process of working directly with the film medium basically is involved in all aspects of production: shooting, developing, editing and sound design as well as optical printing much of material to further re-work it into another form.

Go-Go Fightmaster is a band. Go-Go Fightmaster is Aaron Bennett (saxophones and drinking straw), John Finkbeiner (guitar and drinking straw), Vijay Anderson (drum set), Lisa Mezzacappa (contrabass), Aram Shelton (saxophone), and maybe a special guest.

Kenneth Atchley is a composer and performer who uses a laptop computer, sine waves, electro-acoustic signals, and noise in service to absorbed  attention: to detail in which one’s own thoughts are another aspect of the electro-acoustic soundscape; hierarchies noticed to form then shift or disappear, not struggling to hold, an appreciation of the being and the passing on; yet in near-constant, languidly awake and awaiting the frameless mind; and in it’s absence.

Do. Not. Miss.

:: hey, people, it’s the last the ivy room improv/experimental hootenanny and social club ::
comfy couches • delicious beverages • NEVER a cover • many musicians • total surprises

Not today.

BECAUSE WE’RE GETTING RIPPED ON POPSICLES!

2009 United States Broad Fellow Dan Plonsey convenes his large ensemble Daniel Popsicle for a couple sets of the New Monster music, now up to 168 compositions, many of them highlighting clarinet quartets, all passed from the left. Between sets, DJ The Music Behind The Music spins rare and classic recordings from Plonsey’s creative influences and collaborators: Anthony Braxton, Sun Ra, Charles Ives, Eugene Chadbourne, Toychestra and more.

Stay frosty!

:: hey, people, it’s the ivy room improv/experimental hootenanny and social club ::
comfy couches • delicious beverages • NEVER a cover • many musicians • total surprises