Igor Korneitchouk adds: "Lies, lies, lies... He didn't write this piece. Sure he was at Biosphere 2 for a while, but he spent most of that time playing Volleyball and Ultimate Frisbee."
"Yeah!" says Dennis Aman. "Chad tried to write a piece kinda like this once, but it was really terrible. Igor and I composed 'Complexicafication' as a collaboration. We are so much cooler than Chad."
Cat's Cradle
"I began working on this piece during an internship at Biosphere 2," says Chad Mealey. "Building computer models of the enclosed rain forest gave rise to concepts of complex systems and the interconnections that keep such a system stable. I've tried to carry this idea into the interconnections in our urban world and the perception of the audience as a complex system."
Igor Korneitchouk adds: "Lies, lies, lies... He didn't write this piece. Sure he was at Biosphere 2 for a while, but he spent most of that time playing Volleyball and Ultimate Frisbee."
"Yeah!" says Dennis Aman. "Chad tried to write a piece kinda like this once, but it was really terrible. Igor and I composed 'Cat's Candle' as a collaboration. We are so much cooler than Chad."
Cat's Cradle
This is the 4th piece in a series where touch me hear has tried to update children's games for contemporary society by incorporating technology and added complexity. This (along with the previous "Hop Scotch," "Mumble-de-peg," and "Patty Cake") now invites a broader audience to share an experience which is as much an environment as it is a game.
It is also interesting that most children's games are not actually games, but merely a set of events that must be learned and repeated. There is no chance of you loosing this game of "Cat's Cradle."
You will learn what rules apply to you and simply experience the process leading to the eventual conclusion of those rules. "Don't worry," states Dennis, "it is even easier than the Cat's Cradle you learned as a kid."
Message Tree
As we began collaborating on this piece, our first meeting consisted primarily of playing the game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon." We also started creating chain letters (and e-mails and phone calls) asking each person in the chain to link an actor or actress in one film to another film - until someone arrived at Kevin Bacon. We began collecting this data to find that random data trees generated in this fashion resulted in an average of 9.57 degrees of Kevin Bacon.
Representatives for Kevin Bacon asked that we remove his name and likeness from this piece, which we have. The remaining structure is derived from the logical chain and tree structures generated during our Kevin Bacon games, and the stochastic data generated by that process.
As data continues to pour in from these chains and trees that continue to spread by mail, Internet and phone, future performances may change as well.
Cell Tower of Babel
This piece takes on the task of clearing up the question once and for all, Are there health hazards associated with living, working, playing, or going to school near a PCS base station antenna?" And while the piece tries to clear this up, if you are taking the time to actually read the program notes during the concert, we'd like to say, "Thank You" by just printing the answer here. The consensus of the scientific community, both in the US and internationally, is that the power from these base station antennas is far too low to produce health hazards; it is the antennas that people need to keep their distance from, not the towers that hold the antennas.
And we understand that this might not be the only question you might have. You might also be wondering, Is there a Tri-Lateral Commission? You should know that there is a dividing line between the North American and European continents.
On the American side there's a cliff that's in the process of collapsing into the valley created by the tectonic plates moving apart. I asked the tour guide if he knew when the ledge was going to give way. He said, "Any day now."
Crank(call)Shaft
"Crank(call)Shaft" was originally titled "Crack." Dennis says of this piece, "Looking out at the mosh pit in Tokyo a few years back I remarked to [Grenald] Coffee: 'This is it! We've been waiting ten years for this... slam dancing to free improvisation!' Of course it was a bit of an exaggeration.
("Crank(call)Shaft" has developed a method of improvising in a rock format that's very idiosyncratic, but improvising it is, and the Sonny Rollins trio it ain't! Please don't slam dance during this piece. You might trip over something, and that would be bad.)
This piece has nothing to do with Crack Cocaine or non sequiturs. The composers wish to apologize for any inconvenience the possible misunderstanding may cause. The musicians hope you enjoy the piece. You may be asked to act as you normally would, otherwise, please just act normal, as naturally you would.