RE: Patti - Meltdown - 16 June 2005

["Gart, Mitchell" <MGart>]

Thanks so much for posting the review.  Please keep 'em coming!
It sounds like an incredible evening and an incredible festival.
Maybe this is a new phase for Patti - impressario of collaborations
between artists.  She seems to be really good at it and hopefully
she is enjoying it too.

I used to envy the folks located in New York for all the Patti
shows they get to see but now my focus of envy shifts to London :-)

- Mitch


> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-babel-list
> [mailto:owner-babel-list]On Behalf Of Andrew F Wilson
> Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 5:23 AM
> To: babel-list; GordonComs
> Subject: Patti - Meltdown - 16 June 2005
> 
> 
> Thursday night's Meltdown concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall was
> "Pages from Chaos: A Homage to William Burroughs".
> 
> The performance began with guitarist Marc Ribot (pronounced Ree-bow) -
> a captivating performance that included using a handheld electric fan
> to play flamenco style.  He was then joined by the novelist Iain
> Sinclair and the comic book story writer Alan Moore.  Whilst Ribot
> continued to play in the background, Moore and then Sinclair read from
> their own writings about William Burroughs.
> 
> For the next part of the event, Patti came on stage and told a story
> about how Burroughs came to give her a copy of THE WILD BOYS. 
> Accompanied by Ribot she read, and partly sang, from the final pages
> of the book, before taking up her clarinet.  As the music continued
> Tilda Swinton came on stage and read the same piece.  It was an
> improvisational tour-de-force and nothing less.
> 
> Following a 15 minute interval, jazz pianist Matthew Shipp and
> guitarist Jason Spaceman came on stage and performed a duet.  Whilst
> they continued to play, Sinclair and Moore then took turns to read,
> the latter reading from THE NAKED LUNCH.  Sinclair read partly from
> his SLOW CHOCOLATE AUTOPSY.
> 
> Patti next joined Shipp and Spaceman on stage to perform as a trio,
> and she recounted a story about her first meetings with Burroughs,
> which revolved around her calling taxis for him at the Chelsea Hotel. 
> She then read from the preface to QUEER before taking up her clarinet.
>  At one point she telescoped the mike stand down, to better pick up
> the music.  When she moved back to the book later in the piece she
> knelt in front of the now-low microphone with arms raised in an
> arresting image.
> 
> This was formally the end of the concert, but after some thank-you's
> Patti told another Burroughs/taxi story, was temporarily overcome by
> emotion, then read a poem for William Burroughs, ps/alm 23 revisited. 
> Finally, she asked everyone (except Ribot, who appeared to have left)
> to improvise another piece.  This involved Sinclair telling a story,
> Moore reading from THE NAKED LUNCH and Tilda Swinton reading from
> QUEER.  Meanwhile, Patti marched around the auditorium playing
> clarinet.  The improvisation ended with Patti lying on her back at the
> front of the stage.  There was no way to follow that and the evening
> ended, literally, on a high note.
> 
> This was clearly a unique performance.  We will not see this one
> again, although we may well witness further nights of this calibre
> over the coming week.  As an added bonus, my seat was front row centre
> tonight, and this experience is going to stay with me for a long time.
> 
> kind regards
> 
> 
> Andrew