Tomorrow, Thursday, June 16, the CAM and the St. Louis Secret Sound Society will host a “secret show” at the Annual Concerts in the Courtyard. You won’t know who’s playing until you get here, but trust us – this lineup is worth the wait!

The St. Louis Complaint Choir – the final installment of a Winter 2011 Front Room exhibition – opens the show at 7:00 pm with their music compilation of over 100 complaints submitted by local St. Louisans. The concert kicks off the weekend-long St. Louis Arts Project Conference – a national arts and music conference held at select local venues.  For more information visit http://www.stlartproject.org/.

Concerts in the Courtyard is presented in partnership with the St. Louis Secret Sound Society, Yelp, KDHX, and Eleven Music Magazine.

WHAT: Annual Concerts in the Courtyard
WHERE: CAM / 3750 Washington Boulevard / St. Louis, MO / 63108
WHEN: Thursday, June 16 / 6:00 – 11:00 pm.
Free admission and cash bar.

“Free Night of Theater invites you to find yourself…on stage.”

This is such an exciting program…a national program, which allows people to experience theatre for FREE! It is organized by Theatre Communications Group (TCG), a national organization for the not-for-profit American theatre and provided more than 30,000 tickets and 600 performances in 70 cities in 2007. This year there are 100 cities involved; there are 750 individual theatres participating and an anticipated 750,000 free tickets will be used. This will allow theatre lovers to give their wallets a break and enjoy something they truly enjoy and will also give new audiences a chance to experience theatre for the first time…which is so incredible. I hope schools, families, theatre troops, arts groups, etc. take advantage of this. (I am picturing a group of young students walking into a theatre for the first time completely amazed).
Help spread the word.

To see a list of participating cities and show, click here.

The last of our Summer 08 series, the Playground of the Ridiculous, is tomorrow evening. The night will offer a film screening of The Stan Laurel Collection, poetry readings hosted by Observable Books, “The Revival!” by BenchPress Burlesque, and music by Curb Service. There is so much going on during these nights…there is always something for everyone. A blog post on Vital Voice said it perfect: “Most people I know would jump at a chance to hear live music or see a visual art exhibit – but they get a bit reluctant when I mention poetry readings and contemporary dance. Luckily, the Contemporary Art Museum has created an event that allows people to enjoy what they already know they’ll like, while getting a taste of something that might be a bit new to them.”

Read more here. And read about BenchPress Burlesque here.

A while back I mentioned that at times the Contemporary offers some really unique events to the public. It is time for another one! Tomorrow night is the first of a three-part series titled the Playground of the Ridiculous. For three Friday evenings this summer people can come to the museum (free admission) for art, music, film poetry, and theater. This Friday night there will be a film screening of Metropolis, poetry readings, dance performances by Atrek Dance Collective, and music by STRIVE, a piano-driven rock-pop band mixing sounds of The Fray and Switchfoot. (I also heard rumors of Opera Singers in the bathroom). This series is perfect for a variety of people; those who want to experience art, as well as those who want to experience a unique night out in a different type of setting with new kinds of entertainment.

 This past weekend not only led the way to much discussion and deliberation over the exhibition in our Main Galleries, it also led the way to a great deal of wonderment because of Front Room artist, Ei Arakawa. Arakawa and special guests staged a one-time live performance that lasted the whole evening. At 5:00 pm he began working in The Front Room (a few guests thought maybe we didn’t quite finish on time, others just looked bewildered). Arakawa walked in and out of the museum carrying large pieces of paper and metal, asking guests to help him hold doors open and help him stuff trash in a bag. The remains, his exhibition, were left on display in The Front Room and will remain there for two weeks. This live performance was quite an experience. Click on the video below to see what the Contemporary’s Curator had to say about this performance.

So if you are caught up on your Contemporary blog reading you are probably aware that we hosted a performance by electronic rocker Silverio this past Thursday. All I am going to say is WOW and let the pictures and videos speak for themselves. If you want to see Silverio’s performance, visit the Contemporary’s YouTube page. Click on our favorites and find four video clips of his performance here.

 
Silverio working crowd

Photo: Georgia Kotretsos, Courtesy: Boots Contemporary Art Space

 
Silverio rocking out

Photo: Georgia Kotretsos, Courtesy: Boots Contemporary Art Space

 
Laura Fried, Silverio, Paul Ha

Photo: Georgia Kotretsos, Courtesy: Boots Contemporary Art Space

This past weekend there was an all day performance by Deva Eveland, who was brought to us by our most recent Front Room occupant, Boots Contemporary Art Space. For his performance, Eveland summoned the spirit of Louis IX (aka St. Louis). For four hours, Deva sat on the concrete steps in a trance, when finally he stood up to transcribe the lyrics of the song “Louie Louie” on the floor, playing the song forward  and backward, over and over again.  At 3:00 pm, before a gathered crowd, Eveland began to channel the spirit of St. Louis. In the final moments and with help from the audience, Eveland offered St. Louis’s spirit a “gift bag” tied with balloons. A great performance! Check out some photos. . . -mrq of camstl

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of working with a variety of printmakers from all over the United States and even a few internationals.  Prints Gone Wild was a two day event to coincide with Tom Huck’s Outlaw Printmakers show in our new Front Room Gallery.  Dubbed as an “Affordable Print Fair,” all pieces were priced at $50 and under; some venders even dropped more expensive pieces to $50 for the weekend.  Oh wait, there’s more–to add to the excitement of Saturday night we also had live music, a performance by The Amazing Hancock Brothers onsite printmaking by Drive by Press, and enough peanut butter and banana sandwiches to squash even an Elvis-sized appetite.  Of course the weekend wouldn’t of been complete without not one, but two unique performances by Non Grata, an Estonian Performance Art group.  Check out the video from their Saturday Night performance here.

 All-in-all, it was an awesome weekend for everyone, even earning us a mention from my hommies at MATW.

 cjvc signing out- with an extra special  thanks to the folks at Evil Prints and Cannonball Press without which Prints Gone Wild would not have been possible. 

We needed a good stretch to center our minds for the upcoming week. Opening Night was phenomenal — we had the more guests in over the weekend than I believe we’ve had since our Groundbreaking! More than 2,000 guests (count them! it was exactly 2,001) came in to celebrate the exhibition opening with Artists Jim Hodges and Slater Bradley. On Saturday, our brunch was followed by an informal dialog between Guest Curator Susan Cahan and Jim Hodges. Susan’s dialog was interesting and she would break occasionally to comment on the beauty of the light streaming in from our windows and hitting all the reflective surfaces in the exhibition. So, Monday, while we were closed to the public, we enjoyed some stretching during our lunch hours and had a marvelous time. I’m slightly sore from such a long holiday break — but I’m definitely ready to conquer the week — the month for that matter. It will already be February by Tuesday and there’s plenty of programming this month — including Select Nights featuring fire and books, followed by Warhol films being screened next week, and more films near the end of the month, and a dance performance incorporating the exhibition, called HeavenSense. We have brown bag gallery tours and lunch and learns also scheduled — so, in short, there will be plenty of ways to experience the exhibition in many contexts. We’ll keep sharing. And for all you Grand Center employees — let me know if you want to Yoga in the space.

You’ve heard me talk about it on and off for months – the day has finally arrived where Select Night meets Larry Krone (and Family) for Larry Krone’s artist performance. Doors open at 6 tonight, and Larry and friends take the stage at 7. The evening will be spectacular – we’ll of course be serving Budweiser Select and Krone’s featured drink, the Kro-Jack (see recipe posted here). I’m not a huge fan of the Kro-Jack, but maybe that’s because it’s whiskey – or because it’s an incredibly strong drink. . . but regardless, there are those who love it (including Larry), so you’re welcome to have a taste. We’ll also have Deviled Pickled Eggs (they’re pinkish purple in color. . . yum!) and Larry’s version of St. Louis Sushi and St. Paul Canape. Anyway, I sneaked into NAN, now serving as Larry’s dressing room – to grab some more pictures of the costumes – including some new ones he’s made. This will be quite the production. Also, the shots with the mylar – are taken from behind the curtain, along the entrance way where Larry and Family will make their journey to the stage.  How’s that for behind-the-scenes?