Recently on display at 21 Grand: works by Kerri Lee Johnson (above) and Chela Fielding.
By Dina Maccabee
To be honest, I don't go to 21 Grand that often. I live in San Francisco, and 21 Grand is in Oakland. Plus, I have a tardy streak, and it's really better if you get to shows there in a timely manner, since once the music starts, it tends to have a sit-down-and-listen type of vibe - which is as it should be; performances there are unique enough to deserve an audience's full attention.
Still, it's important for me to know that 21 Grand endures, even if I only enjoy its spartan decor and mismatched chairs in my imagination. Considering recent Grammy hype, I take comfort in the idea that there are songs, pieces, and players that can't be assigned to any nomination category.
Sure, I haven't composed any graphic scores lately for coloratura and Tickle-Me Elmo. But the point is, if I wanted to, I could, and I could probably perform them at 21 Grand. Not to say that, in this case, egalitarianism begets mediocrity. The roll call truly influential underground luminaries and celebrated artists that have visited 21 Grand since it opened in 2000 is too long to list here. Some of my own favorites have included locals like Myra Melford, Ben Goldberg, Phillip Greenlief, ROVA Saxophone Quartet, and Fred Frith.
Unfortunately, permits to operate a music venue of any stripe cost money, and contemporary underground experimental music probably doesn't make all that much. So I'm hoping proprietors Sarah Lockhart and Darren Jenkins rake it in at their benefit show this week - taking place at ATA in San Francisco, not at 21 Grand - which offers a mix of improvisation, rock, electronics, and general aural mayhem. I guarantee it's the only party where you will get to hear a "conceptual project translating texts into Morse code that becomes the drum score for percussion-driven improvisation," according to Lockhart.
In truth, it's easy to be snarky about the avant-garde. But I have a feeling if I actually got myself over to 21 Grand a little more often, I would be rewarded richly by the wide variety of creative impulses ricocheting off the gallery walls - whether those walls are sanctioned by a city permit or not.
The 21 Grand Benefit includes with Murder Murder, K.I.T., Cryptacize, Face, and SL Morse on Friday, Feb. 15, at Artists' Television Access, 992 Valencia, SF. The show starts at 8:30 p.m., and the price is $7-$20 sliding scale. (415) 824-3890.
digg •
del.icio.us •
sphere •
google
•
