Gate to Moonbase Alpha experimental series w/John Zorn's COBRA, The Sublimator, DJ Reverie October 21, 2005

Gate to Moonbase Alpha (GTMBA) ambient/experimental
music/video/experience series
3rd Fridays through April

Performances this month by:

COBRA (game piece by John Zorn)
The Sublimator (of Spaceseed)
DJ Reverie
+ a free vegetarian buffet

Admission is free for all ages.

RARE PHILADELPHIA PERFORMANCE OF JOHN ZORN'S GAME PIECE COBRA! This
month, Daniel Blacksberg leads a group of local Phildelphia
improvisers in a performance of John Zorn's famous game piece Cobra,
which is performed often around the world, officially, under Zorn's
direction and unnoficially, in "Renegade" versions that occur
regularly, often as a result of Zorn's visits. This "Renegade"
performance of Zorn's most well known composition is a way to bring
his music to a city that rarely gets to experience it live.

Cobra is Zorn's most comprehensive game piece, which are pieces for
groups of improvisers guided by rules derived from sports and board
games, as well as game theory. Each unique performance involves a
prompter/conductor that a myriad of cues from the players through the
use of cue cards that give a specific musical direction. These
direction cover a huge range of musical possibilities, from solos to
mass textures to layering duos to instant cartoon soundtracks.

Cobra is a piece of music that casts the act of group improvisation in
a light that puts many of the usually internal musical choices of the
players out in the open for people to see. The composer has said about
the piece: "At its worst it can become psychodrama� at its best it's
like magic." Psychodrama or magic, Cobra is a powerful musical
experience that is often exciting and always unique.

Daniel Blacksberg is a trombonist who is starting to make waves in the
jazz, improvised and new music scenes along the east coast. He has
performed with such artists as Frank London, Joe Morris and Jack
Wright in locations such as the Knitting Factory and The Stone in New
York City, the Zeitgiest Gallery in Boston and the Rotunda in
Philadelphia.

THE SUBLIMATOR was found in a state of suspended animation in an
abandoned crate by spacerock guitar ace John Pack in 2002. Col. Pack
immediately installed him in his band Spaceseed, America's premier
spacerock band. The Subliminator toured nationally with Spaceseed in
'03 and '04, occasionly opening shows and performing with such
luminaries as Nik Turner (Hawkwind), Harvy Bainbridge (Hawkwind) and
Cotton Casino (Acid Mothers Temple). Recent Subliminator sightings and
sonic attacks have been reported in the Atlanta area

DJ REVERIE is a UPenn undergraduate involved with a new student group
that focuses on the appreciation of electronic music. He (and cohorts)
will end the night with IDM, tech ambient, and then a sample of faster
tunes that might coerce you to dance, jump, or sail away.