2024
February: research trip, southern Spain, mostly Valencia.
24 March: E IL TOPO, burial under tombstone with hidden time capsule to be opened in 2074, at the Casa degli Artisti, c.so Garibaldi, Milano. Including short musical performance with Sergio Armaroli, Frederick Liver, Luca Pozzi and others.
6 April: appearance with mini-synth in new film by Sergio Armaroli per ERRATUM.
April: featured artist of the month at THE BLANK (newsletter/website), photo montage and poem, title ORDER
April: research trip, London.
15-21 April: sound installation titled ORDER, 4 channels, during Milan Design Week. Exhibition Mimesis curated by Hoperaperta at Via Sant’Andrea 8a. No visuals but accompanying poem.
May: research trip, Sicily.
4 June: exhibition of sound sculptures by Steve Hubback at ERRATUM in Milan, curated by Sergio Armaroli and Steve Piccolo.
5 June: concert at Robotaroom, via Sansovino, Milan, featuring Steve Hubback (drums and perc.), Francesca Gemmo (piano), Sergio Armaroli (vibes), Steve Piccolo (synth, crackle box, performative readings). A co-production with ERRATUM.
21 June to 20 August, Martina Franca, Palazzo Ducale, sound installation titled ORDER II, 10 channels, as part of the exhibition Mimesis curated by Hoperaperta.
July: research trip to Anafi, Greece.
August: participation in Parrot Pavilion by Nico Dockx (to be confirmed).
August-future: new contribution to the TAXI project of Gallery on the Move.
14-15 October : recording in Verona with Elliott Sharp, Sergio Armaroli, Francesca Gemmo, Magda Mayas, Tony Buck.
26 October: sound installation at MAC Lissone inside exhibition by Oscar Giaconia. Until 26 January.
November: ALL YOU CAN’T EAT, sound installation in Bergamo for ArtDate, including performance with Sergio Armaroli on 15 Nov, Monastero del Carmine, Città Alta (more to come)
December: in ERRATUM working on something with A Constructed World.
2023
JANUARY 2023: the magazine E IL TOPO receives the Italian Council grant. Work begins on the complete boxed set, leading up to performances in many museums this summer.
14 April (until end of Salone in Milan). Small group exhibition titled YES OR NO at Rabotaroom, Sansovino 27, Milan, curated by Oxana Maleeva, works by Steve, Gabriele Di Matteo, Gak Sato and Marc Kalinka.
18-23 April: during the FuoriSalone in Milan, exhibition including two different works by Steve. Title Esprit Magicien, location Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan. Curated by Hoperaperta.
15 September: recording with Sergio Armaroli, Elliott Sharp, John Edwards and Mark Sanders in Milan, vocal interludes by Steve.
16 September: trio recording session with Elliott Sharp (soprano sax, electric and acoustic guitars), Sergio Armaroli (vibraphone) and Steve (voice, electronics, bass) in Milan.
7 October: exhibition at MADRE Naples with a selection of works pertaining to E IL TOPO and a performance including sounds by Gak Sato and Steve.
20 October: “The last days of E Il TOPO” at the Italian Cultural Institute in New York, October 20, 2023, 6:00 p.m. Magazzino and the Italian Cultural Institute in New York present a book launch and performance coordinated by Gabriele Di Matteo, Franco Silvestro, Steve Piccolo, Armando della Vittoria, Frédéric Liver, and Shannon Pultz.
28-29 October: sound installation SEYRAZEN at Fondazione Coppola in Vicenza, during the opening days of the exhibition by Oscar Giaconia, The Kitbasher. About 20 small speakers spreading sound through the various levels of a 12th-century tower.
1 December: preparation in studio of “gap pieces” for upcoming LISTEN anthology by Sergio Armaroli and Steve Piccolo.
2022
April 27: lecture at University of Trento – postponed like so many other things in this anything but “post” Covid time.
May 27 – May 30 // Gallery on the Move presents the TAXI project at Armenian Art Fair.
June 27 – 30: for the festival Limitrofie 22, FRANKENSTEIN 00, dance workshop with music developed spontaneously across three days of group research, with Francesca Gemmo, Sergio Armaroli and Steve Piccolo.
July 4 – 7: ICTUS FESTIVAL, four days of concerts at Teatro Out Off in Milan with an exceptional roster of musicians put together by Andrea Centazzo. https://www.teatrooutoff.it/spettacoli/festival-ictus-festival/
July 14 – 31: music composed for photography show QUI ODESSA at Fondazione Stelline in Milan. See press release HERE
July 15 – December 11: 23rd Triennale Milano, Steve’s sounds for Alessi kitchen timers designed by George Sowden in the exhibition The Tradition of the New curated by Marco Sammicheli.
September 15 – October 31: exhibition with music installation by Steve. The title is PACE (PEACE), the show is made of outstanding photographs of peace marches from the past, but also some very jarring even horrifying images. At Fondazione Corrente in Milan, in coordination with Milano Photo Festival.
2021
January 1: entering new year with nothing scheduled, in a context of complete uncertainty, but with a pile of new projects in the making, for no currently discernible outlet. Watch for: SOTTERRATUM IGTV activity – building an archive for the future.
January 12: voice and music for video by art duo VEDOVAMAZZEI to be shown online somehow by BASE, the artspace based in Florence. The piece is rather like a singing telegram… in this case a “singing press release” of sorts.
March 5: online performance of Brera Fine Arts Academy, coordinated by Prof. Gabriele Di Matteo, “Neimand is Perfect – a tribute to Al Hansen”, Steve’s song “You Told Me That” utilised as soundtrack.
March 20-ongoing: piece in the new series of HA Magazine (Hoperaperta), an intrusion of an ERRATUM time capsule, postponed by Covid, in the Magazine… here
March 23-ongoing: duo reading of poems by Sergio Armaroli (and their synthetic translations into English by Steve Piccolo) from the book Atlante figurato di grammatiche fossili, Manni Editori. Available for stream viewing on YouTube.
April 4-ongoing: Steve has a silent video in the silent poetry mini-festival now available for streaming online: Poesia Carnosa – M Edition 2021.
April 15: video exhibition curated by Elisabetta Longari, “Un Divertimento Neoclassico”, part of the symposium of the Brera Fine Arts Academy on Giuseppe Parini. The video collage contains Steve’s piece “Electronic Window” first made for Fornasetti (in a project on hold due to lockdown).
May: first NFT work up for auction at Foundation… video by Marc Kalinka “I Miss My Enemies” with song by Steve.
June 11: Lounge Lizards featured among many great groups in the exhibition New York, New Music at Museum of the City of New York.
June 15-20: writing songs with Gak Sato for Japanese TV shows. More to come…
July 20: one-week podcast at Radio Arte Mobile on relational sound compositions.
October 1: release of CD “Blue in Mind” on Leo Records, with Elliott Sharp, Sergio Armaroli and Steve.
October 15 to October 17, 2021: TAXI (works by Sergio Armaroli, Luca Bolognesi, Eglė Budvytytė & Bart Groenendaal, Erik Bünger, Maya Dikstein, Nico Dockx, Jakup Ferri, Manuela Garcia, Khaled Hafez, Christopher Milne, Haroon Mirza, Bruno Muzzolini, Ferhat Özgür, Steve Piccolo, Damien Roach, Anri Sala, Manuel Scano Larrazàbal, Bert Theis, Josephine Turalba, Daniëlle van Ark, Shingo Yoshida, Fani Zguro), presented by Gallery on the Move at ART VILNIUS ( www.artvilnius.com)
October 15: Release of CD “Trio in Transit” for Zoar Records, live flashback to the 1980s with Denis Charles, Elliott Sharp and Steve.
October 22: concert at Teatro Arsenale in Milan, trio performing material from the CD Blue in Mind (Leo Records, see above), with Elliott Sharp, Sergio Armaroli and Steve.
October 23: recording session in Milan at White Studio 2.0 for upcoming CD, as yet untitled. With Elliott Sharp, Sergio Armaroli and Steve.
December: publication of The Way of the Yak in Hoperaperta Magazine III (online).
December: release on YouTube of Look and Learn remix by The Garden of Love with archaeological sci-fi sounds by Steve (hear it here)
December: new music by Steve with Sergio Armaroli on vibraphone for video by Ilvio Gallo on sculptures of Kris Ruhs.
2020
Start of new teaching position in Sound Studies at NABA, Milan.
February 7 et seq: exhibition Suono-Ambiente in Bolzano, at Centro Trevi, created by Città Sonora as a group effort.
February 12: Steve writes music for the Monsta video by the art team A Constructed World.
February 21: Steve makes photo-text for fanzine at Palermo newsstand by Fabrizio Basso.
March 7: work by Steve in group show curated by Fani Zguro at Nilüfer Belediyesi, Galeri N, Bursa, Turkey
March 8: recording session with David Toop, Rie Nakajima, Sergio Armaroli and Gak Sato at Robotaroom for ERRATUM. POSTPONED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK.
March 9: David Toop and Rie Nakajima at ERRATUM in ROBOTAROOM, Milan. POSTPONED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK.
March 10 – April 10: Tirana Art Center presents the project HERE in various locations in Barcelona.
March: Soundtrack for documentary film about Nathalie Du Pasquier. POSTPONED.
March: release of new remastered edition on vinyl and CD of the album DOMESTIC EXILE by Steve, Guerrsen Records – Mental Experience.
March-April-May: construction of FUEL section of this website with individual projects by NABA students and Steve.
April 1-5: open academy in Milan. CANCELLED.
April: during MiArt in Milan, performance at Brera Academy with Gabriele Di Matteo and students. CANCELLED.
April: web art project at www.hoperaperta.com magazine. Title: Hearing Hearing.
April: BLKNZM VENICE app transferred to this website.
April-May: lots of interviews and reviews for Domestic Exile album release.
https://www.soundohm.com/product/domestic-exile-clear-lp
https://pleasekillme.com/steve-piccolo/
May: BLKNZM ST. PETERSBURG app, transferred to this website.
May 5 (et seq): new work titled “Backmasking for Beginners” on web project “autoprogettazione.com” of Galleria Milano.
June: Hoperaperta Totem and Taboo show during Fuorisalone in Milan. POSTPONED TO SEPTEMBER.
May 30 – June 30: Tirana Art Center presents the project HERE in various locations in Vienna. (For more on HERE see 2019, 2020 edition probably postponed.
June 2020: Steve creates “remix” manipulation of aria from Mozart’s Don Giovanni for a project by Barnaba Fornasetti.
August 4: MUCK, an exhibition (poem plus photo, both by Steve), curated by Fani Zguro for Gallery on the Move (virtual access and physical view, Tirana).
MORE COVID BLOCKAGE
September 8: ERRATUM: A COLLECTION. The Audience of the End. Frustration at ERRATUM. Through a window, Steve shows guests relegated to courtyard all the posters for all the events that have been held in the space over the last two years.
October 5-11: exhibition HoperAperta: Totem and Taboo, Casa d’Aste Wannenes, Palazzo Recalcati, Milan.
December 1: Domestic Exile reissue chosen by RUMORE magazine as no. 3 in the top ten reissues of 2020. Nice interview in the magazine by Alessandro Besselva.
December 3: first post of the new SOTTERRATUM series, Sub-Verse, Seeping Beauty.
December 13: publication of interview in Italian Rolling Stone.
December 27: completed video for silent sound festival: “Steve Piccolo reads John Donne from Memory and converses with the poet across time.” More on this in 2021.
2019
January 15 – session with students to record sounds at Fondazione Pomodoro, Milan.
January 26: sound performance E IL TORO for presentation of what has been announced as the LAST issue of E IL TOPO, namely E IL TORO created by Jimmie Durham, with a crowd of Topists and Gak Sato at Thomas Dane Gallery, Naples. Video in limited edition now being prepared.
February 12, 22/23, 26: ERRATUM presents A_AB_B performances-exhibition by Alex Mendizabal and Roberto Clemente, curated by Sergio Armaroli and Steve Piccolo.
March 8: ERRATUM presents the book Errore e Pregiudizio by Giancarlo Schiaffini, Haze Auditorium Editions, with forward by Steve Piccolo, conversation between GC and SP.
March 22: ERRATUM presents lecture “Musica e società nell’opera di John Cage: una lettura politica” by Prof. Giacomo Fronzi.
April 9-14: sound installation Same Difference in exhibition Hoperaperta, Milan Design Week, 5vie district, SIAM space, four-channel audio environment, curated by Patrizia Catalano and Maurizio Barberis.
April 9-14: the new RABOTAROOM space in Milan hosts an exhibition by Labinac, art-design by Maria Thereza Alves, Jimmie Durham, Bev Koski, Jone Kvie, Elisa Strinna et. al.
April 9-14: at ERRATUM, exhibition “Bricosonoro (no taste)” with sound sculptures by Steve Piccolo, Sergio Armaroli, Marc Kalinka, Harry Bertoia (tribute) during Milan Design Week.
Harry Bertoia: Table Tonal II #71
Sergio Armaroli: cloud rattle, column rattle
Marc Kalinka: maze gong
Steve Piccolo: find the spot (1-4)
April 16: ERRATUM hosts Alessandra Eramo, A/TEM, performance and exhibition of drawings, curated by Sergio Armaroli and Steve Piccolo.
April 16: presentation of results of project with Fondazione Pomodoro – 3rd graders do a performative tour to guide 2nd graders on a visit to the labyrinth by Arnaldo Pomodoro in Milan, with collectively prepared soundtrack.
April 18: release of double CD (live/studio) SYZYGY, based on a graphic score by Elliott Sharp, with Steve Piccolo, Giancarlo Schiaffini, Walter Prati, Sergio Armaroli, Gak Sato and E. Sharp.
April 25: Città Sonora presents the first event in the series Musica Puntuale featuring Walter Prati at Piazza 25 Aprile, Milan.
April 30: ERRATUM hosts Gak Sato, “rephase,” performance-exhibition to present new album, curated by Sergio Armaroli and Steve Piccolo.
May 3-5: three evenings of theater at ERRATUM, with the production ERRATUMUbu, the return of Alfred Jarry’s Father Ubu, writing and directing by Marina Spreafico, music by Claude Terrasse, Sergio Armaroli, Francesca Gemmo, Steve Piccolo, performed by Sergio Armaroli, Francesca Gemmo, Steve Piccolo, actor/puppeteer Giovanni Di Piano, vocalist Steve Piccolo (in the role of Mother Ubu).
May 12: presentation with mini-performance in a bookstore in Venice (Bruno, Calle San Barnaba) for E IL TOPO (or actually E IL TORO), the latest and purportedly last issue of the magazine, with contents entirely by Jimmie Durham.
May 21-22: TAXI project at Accademia di Brera, Milan. For release of TAXI book.
May 31 – June 15: first exhibition organized by and in RABOTAROOM, via Sansovino 27 in Milan. With the title KILL THE BOSS, group show with works by Khaled Hafez, Marc Kalinka, Bruno Muzzolini, Ferhat Özgür, Steve Piccolo, Anri Sala, Fani Zguro. Steve’s works in the show are Bad Molecules and the four-channel sound installation Same Difference. In collaboration with Oxana Maleeva.
June 1: the project HERE organized by Fani Zguro (Gallery on the Move) puts phrases submitted by artists on top of advertising billboards around the city of Milan. Contributions by Rosa Barba, Erik Bunger, Nico Dockx, Regina Jose Galindo, Dora Garcia, Jesper Just, Haroon Mirza, Bruno Muzzolini, Steve Piccolo, Anri Sala, Santiago Sierra, Fani Zguro.
June 2: Steve Piccolo and Sergio Armaroli perform on a street named for the date June 2nd (Via 2 Giugno, Milan), for the series produced by Città Sonora titled “Musica Puntuale.”
June 21: performance (Steve Piccolo and Gak Sato) ISOLA REUNION, updated re-enactment of the “noisy chess” performance originally done at Isola Art Center in Milan and reprised during the Venice Biennale in the exhibition “I Miss My Enemies.” Part of the programming for the major retrospective on Bert Theis at MUDAM Luxembourg.
September 16 – October 16: another version of HERE, graffiti project by Fani Zguro (Gallery on the Move) with phrases by multiple artists, including Steve Piccolo, at Isola Art Center, Milan. A project by Tirana Art Center.
September 27: Another iteration of HERE, this time in Berlin, with phrases by Nico Dockx, Dora Garcia, Johan Grimonprez, Jesper Just, Haroon Mirza, Bruno Muzzolini, Steve Piccolo, Anri Sala, Santiago Sierra, Fani Zguro.
October 12: exhibition of sound works at ERRATUM, with items by Harry Bertoia, Sergio Armaroli and Steve Piccolo, for Contemporary Art day in Milan.
October 16-20: TAXI and HERE projects at Paris International, presented by Tirana Art Center (Gallery on the Move). Group shows with pieces by Steve Piccolo and many other artists (see above).
October 19-20: AMERICANA 2, concert at Spazio Tertulliano, Milan, with Sergio Armaroli, Claudio Chianura, Francesca Gemmo, Roberto Masotti, Umberto Petrin, Steve Piccolo, Walter Prati, Giancarlo Schiaffini. A production of Città Sonora.
October 31: Elliott Sharp reading from his new book IrRational Music at ERRATUM.
November 1: recording session with Elliott Sharp, Sergio Armaroli for CD slated for mix and release in 2020.
November 19-December 12: Roberto Masotti presents photo session with GINC (Gruppo d’Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza) at ERRATUM in Milan, with remarks by Giancarlo Schiaffini and listening session. Curated by Steve Piccolo and Sergio Armaroli.
November 21-24: TAXI project at Art Thessaloniki, with audio projects heard in a taxi, by Sergio Armaroli, Luca Bolognesi, Eglė Budvytytė & Bart Groenendaal, Erik Bünger, Maya Dikstein, Nico Dockx, Manuela Garcia, Khaled Hafez, Haroon Mirza, Christopher Milne, Bruno Muzzolini, Ferhat Özgür, Steve Piccolo, Damien Roach, Anri Sala, Manuel Scano Larrazàbal, Josephine Turalba, Daniëlle van Ark, Shingo Yoshida, Bert Theis.
December 15: concert at Radio Popolare Auditorium, Milan, for the 100th anniversary of the invention of the Theremin, with Steve Piccolo, Gak Sato and OoopopoiooO (Valeria Sturba + Vincenzo Vasi). A production of Città Sonora.
December 17: Tribute to Boris Policeband at ERRATUM, curated by Steve Piccolo and Sergio Armaroli, with installation by Steve using 6 walkie talkies.
2018
January 29 – February 12: ERRATUM event “Lisetta Carmi. The Shadow of a Poet” curated by Sergio Armaroli and Steve Piccolo. See ERRATUM archives for more info.
February 2.4: at Bologna ArteFiera, photographic works at booth of Gallery on the Move, Tirana, curated by Fani Zguro.
February 3: for Art City White Night, sound piece (Bedtime Story) inside “Audiovetture” cur. Fabrizio Basso, Silvia Cini and Gino Gianuizzi, Piazza Anna Magnani, Bologna. More sounds inside cars!
February 27: performance of E IL TOPO at Milan Triennale in exhibition XXXXX
March 5: Fritz Hauser at ERRATUM (see ERRATUM archives)
March 10: big performance of Tautologos III by Luc Ferrari at Teatro Arsenale, Milan.
April 5: solo performance, first part of SOLOS series, video with video by Fritz Hauser “drum with man” at ERRATUM.
April 11: opening of Pietro Grossi exhibition at ERRATUM, curated by Walter Rovere.
April 17-22: posters project in Milan with Gallery on the Move, during the so-called “FuoriSalone”.
April 26-29: sounds in the shuttle vehicles for Monaco Art Week.
May 8-22: Silvia Lelli and Roberto Masotti: photos and rare vocal recordings of Demetrio Stratos at ERRATUM.
May 25 onward: solo show in Bergamo at Room 237. Title: The Audience of the End/ The End of the Audience. Photographs words and sounds. Thanks to Oscar Giaconia and Claudia Santeroni.
May 26-27: performance/installation in group show Aqua Happenings organized by Art for the World (Adelina von Furstenberg) on Isola dei Pescatori, Lago Maggiore, Italy. Title of Steve’s piece: NeoDripsody (augmented)… a tribute to Hugh Le Caine. For six small portable USB speakers.
June 9-20: Elliott Sharp SYZYGY… graphic scores and conversation at ERRATUM.
June 16: Playbike, sounds on bicycles in Palermo for manifesta 12, an idea by Silvia Cini and Stefania Galegati Shines.
June 23: recording session with Sergio Armaroli and Gak Sato: complete reading of Indeterminacy by John Cage.
July 1: “A Day Without” – see entry at September 29.
July 21-22 and ongoing: sound lecture and action hypothesis for the project “6 declinazioni del paesaggio” between Brescia and Sellero curated by Mauro Cossu.
September 22: evening on John Cage’s Indeterminacy read by Steve, performative conversation “the meaning of instruction” with Giancarlo Schiaffini and Claudio Chianura, at ERRATUM Milan.
September 29: participation in group non-show “A Day Without,” a project by Angelo Ricciardi, Trieste Contemporanea, Trieste.
October 5-7: release of LISTEN 2 by Steve Piccolo and Sergio Armaroli with installation “The Audience of the End/ The End of the Audience” by Steve at ERRATUM Milan.
October 11: release of book “Hotello: somnia et labora. Abitare un ritardo,” edited by Ermanno Cristini and Giancarlo Norese, with documentation of performance at Milan Triennale by E IL TOPO.
October 19: studio recording of graphic score composition SYZYGY by Elliott Sharp with Steve on electric base and other objects, Sergio Armaroli, Francesca Gemmo, Gak Sato, Walter Prati, Giancarlo Schiaffini, Elliott Sharp.
October 20: live performance at Spazio Tertulliano, Milan, of SYZYGY by Elliott Sharp (see roster above), for the program AMERICANA organized by the new association Città Sonora.
October 21: continuation of the Americana program with concert of American music, including readings by Steve, again at Spazio Tertulliano Milan.
November 2 (ongoing): start of major project ExploreArt with Fondazione Pomodoro.
November 6 – May 11 2019: at Biblioteca Queriniana, materials and sounds in installation of the project “6 declinazioni del paesaggio” curated by Francesca Conchieri and Mauro Cossu for CSP Centro Studi sul Paesaggio.
November 9: Mirror exhibition of “The End of the Audience / The Audience of the End” at the new RABOTA space in Milan, Via Sansovino 27.
November 15: Walter Prati “L’ordine dei 28 suoni” at ERRATUM for Città Sonora.
November 20: release of Tautologos III by Luc Ferrari, book and DVD of performance at Teatro Arsenale, produced by ERRATUM, MMT and Teatro Arsenale.
December 3-5: video “Hunting for Parrhesia” in the program “Stranger than Kindness” at Accademia di Brera, Milan, curated by Bruno Muzzolini and Fani Zguro / Gallery on the Move.
December 6: opening at ERRATUM of the installation “Could Be” by Fani Zguro. Watch for performance before closing of show on 6 January.
December: secret recordings and performances ERRATUM, Milan, and other venues.
2017
February 1: soundtrack for video by Oscar Giaconia “Sexual Clumsiness of Amphibious Machines” to be shown at Frieze London.
February 5 – March 25: pieces by the group DE-ABC in exhibition “Io. Noi. Voi” by Luca Pancrazzi at Museo d’Inverno, Siena.
March 14: opening of new space curated by Sergio Armaroli and Steve Piccolo, ERRATUM (0). A small gallery space for listening sessions, performances, readings, sound poetry, pertinent visuals. On Via Doria in Milan. Part of StudiFestival. With photographs by Steve.
March 16: performance at MOOR, the space of Moor publishing in Milan on Via Gola, during exhibition by Sophie Usunier, for E IL TOPO, with Gak Sato. Part of StudiFestival.
March 18: exhibition “Tutto a posto, niente in ordine” at studio of Marc V. Kalinka, Via Quadrio, Milan, visual and sound works in a group show by six artists. Part of StudiFestival.
March 21: reading/performance of poems by Sylvano Bussotti at Galleria Made4Art, Via Voghera, Milan, during exhibition curated by Sergio Armaroli, with Francesca Gemmo on toy piano. Part of Festival 5 Giornate.
April 1-10: E IL TOPO papers Palermo with large black and white posters for the AFTER campaign, setting the stage for Manifesta-related activities.
May-June: photo of translation agency in Alexandropolis accompanies the activities of Studio 14 for Documenta 14 in Athens, in a very interesting program.
May 6: presentation of the book Fight-Specific Isola documenting the history of Isola Art Center, at Piazza dell’Immaginario, a project of Dryphoto, Prato.
May 6: E IL TOPO exhibition and performance “Waiting for Murphy” at Lucca Art Fair, with Steve, Armando Della Vittoria, Gabriele Di Matteo, Sophie Usunier, David Liver.
May 8: performances at ERRATUM (1) in Milan of pieces by Jackson Mac Low, with Steve, Sergio Armaroli, Walter Prati, Francesca Gemmo, Gak Sato. Bare Attention.
May 15: Steve does reading of poems by Jackson Mac Low at ERRATUM (1) in Milan. Bare Attention.
May 16: E IL TOPO project for FRAC Bretagne Fiction-Critique is back online at: new site
May 21: workshop at Galleria Nazionale Arte Moderna (GNAM) in Rome on sound in museums, part of “Leggere gli spazi del museo” organized by Senza Titolo.
May 22: performance at ERRATUM (1) in Milan of instruction piece by Jackson Mac Low, with Steve, Sergio Armaroli, Walter Prati, Francesca Gemmo, Gak Sato and audience participation. Bare Attention.
May 25 – June 1: exhibition, conversation, listening session and book presentation by Giancarlo Schiaffini at ERRATUM (2) Milan. Imagining Music.
June 11: performance (with Gak Sato) at Museo Vincenzo Vela, during exhibition by Lawrence Carroll, Ligornetto, Switzerland. Our sound installation for the entire museum remains in the collection for use on special occasions.
June 19: ERRATUM 3: Normalement Grotesque, a tribute to Julien Blaine. Curated by Steve Piccolo and Sergio Armaroli.
July 5-12: Chinatown Biennial exhibition at Galleria Davide Gallo, Milan.
September 12 – October 12: solo sound show entitled ≤5”/∞ at Gallery On The Move in collaboration with Furra e Books, Tirana.
September 17: performance with A Constructed World during Alison Knowles show “House of Dust” at Magasins Généraux, Pantin, just outside Paris.
September 19 – October 10: tribute to Brunhild and Luc Ferrari at ERRATUM, Milan, including open call for new works made in the spirit of Presque Rien, cur. Sergio Armaroli and Steve Piccolo, with help from Andrea Cernotto.
September 19 – 24: Parallel Vienna, photo set in booth of Gallery On The Move.
September 25: publication by ERRATUM Made4Art of the catalogue PHOTOGravuresMontages of Luc and Brunhild Ferrari, with text by Steve on “audiography.”
October 1 – November 24: group show at AssabOne in Milan, “The Painter and the Model,” including the work AHI! by Gabriele Di Matteo, Salvatore and Steve. Soon to be a video as well.
October 10 – performance shot for video of Tautologos by Luc Ferrari at ERRATUM with Sergio Armaroli, Gak Sato, Francesca Gemmo, Walter Prati, Andrea Cernotto, Gabriele Di Matteo. Also shot 5-minute solo videos of Sergio Armaroli, Gak Sato and Walter Prati for ERRATUM video album project.
October 13: making of video with FLOS (Luca Formentini and Stefano Castagna) for ERRATUM album project.
October 13-16: at the fair Art Verona, special edition of Fiction-Critique without images, by E IL TOPO.
October 23: ERRATUM 5, special edition of TAXI with Gallery on the Move, listening session with all the various artists’ sound pieces from the TAXI project… see ERRATUM ARCHIVE page for more info.
October 29: performance by a large assembly of E IL TOPO editorial staff at MAGA Museum, Gallarate. Photo opportunity with indoor fog and outdoor atmospheric psychedelic pollution-foehn light show.
November 1: performance at ICA Philadelphia during exhibition by Nathalie Du Pasquier “Big Objects Not Always Silent”
November 8 – January 28 2018: E IL TOPO is one of the many publications featured in “Publishing as an Artistic Toolbox” at Kunsthalle Vienna.
November 11: presentation of Steve’s new book “Hunting for Parrhesia” published by Galleria Peccolo Livorno, Memorie d’Artista series, with performance.
November 28 – December 19: ERRATUM 6 – From the Alvin Curran Facebook: SIGNAGE. Curated by Steve Piccolo and Sergio Armaroli, with photos by Roberto Masotti and Silvia Lelli.
December 20: E IL TOPO red letter edition no. 5, Luca Vitone, presentation and installation at Marselleria, Milan.
2016
March 10-13: actor/voice with Linda Fregni Nagler in performance at Innsbruck International Biennial.
March 18-22: visual/verbal score “Vocal not Verbal” for the exhibition “afterNotations” curated by Sergio Armaroli at M4A – MADE4ART in Milan, part of Festival Cinque Giornate, with catalogue.
March 31: Publication online of Sergio Messina’s Radio Radio episode “Radio Rant” with writing and voice by SP. Now available at YouTube.
April 2: actor/voice with Linda Fregni Nagler in performance at artist’s studio.
April 5 – May 6: five small visual works (nocturnal diary photos) in the exhibition “Airmail” coordinated by Richard Gorman at Assabone, Milan.
June 1-8: Tirana International Film Festival, Breathless Fanfare video, special art video program curated by Fani Zguro.
June 29: first “remote” performance of a series – Blur no. 5 Her Variation, at Caffè Internazionale, Palermo. Start of a series of lead-up events to Manifesta Palermo.
July 1: performance with E IL TOPO entitled “The Stolen Manifesto” at MADRE museum, Naples.
July 14: performance project “Vegetal Import” organized by Traslochi Emotivi at Cabaret Voltaire, during Manifesta 11 in Zurich, a large team project with sound compositions, writings and vocals by SP (and others).
July 15 – November 13: Vienna Kunsthalle, sounds and stories for the exhibition by Nathalie Du Pasquier “Big Objects Not Always Silent”
August 31: vocal recording and writing of text for a piece by FLOS (Stefano Castagna & Luca Formentini) entitled “File it Away” for upcoming album “Songs.”
September 17: LISTEN radio at Premio Suzzarra including abridged performance of “Hunting for Parrhesia (or the dog)” with Gak Sato, Walter Prati and Sergio Armaroli. Part of the very populous Noplace initiative.
September 25: performance with many members of the Topist movement at riss(e), ZENTRUM, Varese, a very nice artist-run gallery in a garage. With LISTEN radio and Sergio Armaroli.
October 1: abridged version of “Hunting for Parrhesia (or the dog)” at the “Help Yourself” festival for the 40th anniversary of Teatro Out Off in Milan. With Sergio Armaroli.
October 12: APPUNTO verbal tic piece in the exhibition Naturalia/Artificialia by Eccentric gallery at Superstudio in Milan, until 21 October see post
October 21: performance at closing of exhibition Naturalia/Artificialia by Eccentric Gallery in Milan: Don(ald) Giovanni, (anti-)Topista (appunto) e il cieco by Steve Piccolo and Armando Della Vittoria.
October 25: first section of ongoing soundscape project in Taranto with Green Routes.
October 27: article for onMAPS#3 about deviation and postcards.
November 3-11: on the jury for the art video section of TIFF, Tirana International Film Festival in Albania.
November 30 (until February 5 2017): sounds for installation LABYR-INTO, curated by Eugenio Alberti Schatz, virtual reality visuals by Oliver Pavicevic, at Palazzo Reale in Milan, in the context of the major retrospective on Arnaldo Pomodoro.
December 15 (until February 1 2017) ONUFRI XXII, exhibition at National Gallery of Arts, Tirana, Albania, curated by Fani Zguro. Steve contributes video Hunting for Parrhesia (or the dog), a photographic overlay work (Night Diary). Also in Albania: participation in the latest iteration of Anri Sala’s taxi installation “No Formula 1 No Cry.”
2015
February 26: concert at Dinamo Club, Reggio Emilia, with great Lounge Lizards cover band called “Incident on South Street”
March 28: La Mappa Errata, Bergamo Maps Project
April 17: at Milan Triennale for reopening of the Teatro dell’Arte, performance evening chaired by Barnaba Fornasetti
April 19: ArtTransit Performance Boat from Arona to Ascona, three-part performance. Works: Keep Your Head Down, participatory micro-alteration ritual; This is Your Captain Speaking (interruptions for public service announcements throughout the trip); Boat Motor listening session (manipulated recordings of Lago Maggiore ferry boat motors).
April 29: Expo project “Postprandial World”, Milan, private showing.
May 6-8 during opening of Venice Biennale:
a) E IL TOPO sells silver Mussels at Rob Pruitt’s Flea Market
b) reading performances with text by Mark Twain in Belgian Pavilion for Elisabetta Benassi inside her amazing bone sculpture
May 14: performance with E IL TOPO at SpazioBorgogno Milan, featuring first outing of the Chinese speakers.
May 15: sound installation in the studio of Oscar Giaconia, Bergamo, for Art Date initiative.
May 16: Mappa Errata returns in Bergamo for MAPS, another iteration of the momentary map project. Watch for construction of website – group show.
June 2-13: The Home of Your Dreams, group show curated by Oxana Maleeva and Steve Piccolo for the Italian Cultural Institute in Bratislava, in the space of the Slovakian Ministry of Culture, with works by vedovamazzei, Antonio Paradiso, Aldo Damioli, Marc Vincent Kalinka, Gabriele Di Matteo, Steve Piccolo. Furnishings for the installation supplied by Studio Galbiati, Milan.
June 10: release of the new MILANGRAD App for the Russian participation in EXPO Milano 2015, for ipad and iphone, available free at App Store.
July 4-19: video (Breathless Fanfare) in exhibition “All about these… Ladies and Gentlemen” produced by Gallery on the Move at Temporary Gallery, Zentrum für Zeitgenössische Kunst in Cologne.
September 11-12: Stockholm, Moderna Museet, performance by Linda Fregni Nagler, voice by SP, title: Things That Death Cannot Destroy.
Sept 22-27 piece in TAXI, Parallel Vienna, curated by Gallery on the Move.
Oct 7-11, piece in show at Art Market Budapest, curated by Gallery on the Move.
Oct 10 performance at Leonesiarte, Puegnago, with Luca Formentini and Stefano Castagna (Flos), produced by Galleria Peccolo Livorno.
Nov 22: “Hunting for Parrhesia (or the dog),” a performance in Greek Pavilion for the last day of Venice Biennale, by Steve Piccolo with Flos (Stefano Castagna & Luca Formentini) and Gak Sato. A musical storytelling session featuring rickety homemade instruments, theremin, popular songs, jokes, anecdotal legends about whistle-blowers. Curated by Gabi Scardi. Special thanks to Maria Papadimitriou with her beautiful pavilion “AGRIMKA – why look at animals?”
Dec 4:
Title: Conducted Composition for Russolo-authorized reconstructions of INTONARUMORI instruments. Date: 4 December 2015. Group: King Tongue (Michele Robecchi) invites Sergio Armaroli, Andrea Contin, Gabriele Marsile and Steve Piccolo to improvise with the INTONARUMORI. Location: Circolo Filological Milanese, Milan
Ongoing: the new MILANGRAD APP about historic Russians in Milan. FKTOKRTZM with E IL TOPO. Art book release with Nathalie Du Pasquier entitled “Click Here!”, and reprint of “Achtung Blumen!” by SP and NDP, available at Printed Matter, NYC and 10 Corso Como Milan.
2014
Jan 7-25: All About These Ladies and Gentlemen, curated by Fani Zguro (Gallery on the Move) at Co-Pilot, Istanbul, with video by Steve
January 21 – Steve plays Armando Della Vittoria at opening of show by Gabriele Di Matteo at Spazio Borgogno, Milan.
January 23 – The video clip “Culture don’t grow on trees” by Isola Art’s Club Band and Isola Art Center at the Vienna Secession.
January 28 – conference with Gabriele Di Matteo at Spazio Borgogno/Museo Pecci, Milan.
January 30 – March 2: Ongoing Fight Specific Isola at Sale Docks, Venice.
February 1 – March 7 – E IL TOPO exhibition at Frans Masereel Centrum, Masereeldijk 5, Kasterlee, Belgium, with performance at opening.
February 3-6: Fightclub Everyday, National Gallery of Tirana, Albania, group show curated by Fani Zguro (Gallery on the Move)
February 13 – screening of films by Gabriele Di Matteo with soundtracks by Steve Piccolo and Gak Sato, Cinema Beltrade, Milan.
15 Feb-31 Mar: Myopia Anthology, a show by Vedovamazzei at Magazzino d’Arte Moderna Rome, with soundtrack by Steve. Soon to be a catalogue/work with CD.
March 10-20: All About These Ladies and Gentlemen, curated by Fani Zguro (Gallery on the Move) at National Gallery of Art, Tirana, with video by Steve.
March 22: Hobbes Opera with A Constructed World in Montpellier at La Panacée. Performance with a great team of local volunteer musicians.
April 1-3: food noises workshop at Scuola Narcisi, gathering material for exhibition during Expo. Curators: Gabi Scardi and Ivan Bargna. Fondazione Feltrinelli.
April 9: E IL TOPO invades via Bagnera in Milan during FuoriSalone, with The Monster and the Mouse, completely covering a street in black and white photo posters of the street itself in actual size, with soundtrack by Steve. Part of the 5Vie initiative.
April 17: live soundtrack/performance for film on astronomical observatories in Chile by Francesco Pedrini in Milan, organized by Abernergie.
May 8-9: All about these ladies and gentlemen, group video show at SOMA, Mexico City, curated by Fani Zguro for Gallery on the Move, including a video by SP.
May 18: Isola Arts Club Band at Isola Pepe Verde, Milan.
May 22-24: All about these ladies and gentlemen, group video show at Studio Arte Gallery, Bucharest, curated by Fani Zguro for Gallery on the Move, including a video by SP.
May 31 – June 1: Isola Art Center at CAFA Museum, Beijing, for the Collective Eye Symposium.
May 31-permanent: Taxi program of sound pieces, curated by Fani Zguro, Gallery on the Move. at National Gallery of Arts, Tirana
June 21 – Itinerario Stabile Festival, Cesena, with E IL TOPO. Performance Il Mostro & IL TOPO, Rocca Malatestiana, Cesena, with Gak Sato, David Liver, Gabriele Di Matteo.
June 28 onward: new BLKNZM Saint Petersburg App in Parallel Program of Manifesta 10 in Saint Petersburg Russia, an Art Apart production.
July 9 – Speaking Eels in Milan with A Constructed World, at Fonderia Battaglia/Peephole, with all-star band: Geoff and Jacqui (ACW), Steve, Michele Robecchi, Simeone Crispino, grand whistling duo from France Charles Dubois and Jules Bernagaud.
July 31 – with Marcello Lorrai at Radio Pop Milano 14.30: Prosody Session.
August 4-12 – Isola Utopia at San Mauro Cilento, residency organized with the association Creative Olive, musical interactions with local residents and project crew.
Sept 3: Museo Pietro Canonico di Villa Borghese, Rome, sound portraits for Sguardi Sonori 2014, group show.
Sept 4-29: Isola Art Center at Survival Kit, Riga.
Sept 24-31: Secession Vienna, isola Art Center, music sessions with Steve and Gak inside exhibition in progress.
Oct 4: Theremin Lecture for Isola Art Center at MAXXI museum in Rome.
Oct 11 – Jan 6: at PAC Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea in Milan, as part of the show GLITCH, video by F. Fei with soundtrack by Steve, title Cantiere Expo. Unscrupulous use of work without contacting our studio.
Nov 2014: release of new book CLICK HERE limited edition with Nathalie Du Pasquier.
Reprint of Achtung Blumen, book with Nathalie Du Pasquier.
Nov 28: Isola Art Center in Santiago Chile, for the exhibition “ESPEJOS. TRABAJADORES DE LA LUNA” organized by Etcétera at MAC-Museo de Arte Contemporáneo November 28, 2014 to January 18, 2015.
Dec 3: Isola Art Center at Fabbrica del Vapore Milan.
Dec 5: presentation of “Postprandial World” project for Fondazione Feltrinelli/Expo at Expogate Milan.
Dec 13: opening of show with Fictioncritique project with & IL TOPO at Frac Bretagne.
2013
January 1 (appx): publication of essay on instruction sets in art, written with Elio Grazioli, in the book “John Cage. Una rivoluzione lunga cent’anni”, Mimesis Editore
January 30: performance for Red Letter Edition of E IL TOPO at Careof/Viafarini/DOCVA in MIlan.
February 9: performance at Shake Editions Calusca space for commemorative evening on poet Dario Villa, Milan.
February 11: music for Hache pret-a-porter fashion show in New York.
February 23: music for Ter et Bantine fashion show in Milan.
March 12: Make it easy make it porn, group show by Gallery on the Move, cur. Fani Zguro, Casa Tres Patios, Medellin, Colombia.
March 23-24: E IL TOPO Red Letter Edition at Artists Print in Brussels.
April 5-7: MIArt Milan Italy 2013 with Gallery on the Move, based in Tirana and Berlin.
May 16: opening at Assab One in Milan, exhibition The Voyage of Roland Ultra, with installation by Steve Piccolo, titled Hermitage (on view until further notice)
May 17: release of the BALCONISM App (www.balconism.org)
May 20: release of the new BALCONISM issue of E IL TOPO (E IL TOPO AL BALCONE)
May 28: party on Venetian galleon in Venice one day before Biennale opening for launch of Balconism app.
May 31: presentation of the book Fight-Specific Isola at Sale Docks, Venice, on the story of Isola Art Center.
June 8 – Sept 29: show of E IL TOPO magazine at CNEAI, Paris.
June 30: Fight-Specific Isola, presentation in Milan at Isola Pepe Verde.
August 1: piece in book by Cecilia Guida, “the archive of forgotten ideas,” published by “a certain number of books.”
September 1: short story published in issue no. 2 of the international magazine ANEW.
October 5: performance with E IL TOPO at Salon Light of CNEAI Nuit Blanche Paris.
October 12: performance at Isola Pepe Verde, preparation for event in Ljubljana.
October 10-13: works at ViennaFair with Gallery on the Move.
October 18: presentation of Fight Specific Isola (the book) at MSUM Ljubljana.
November 8-10: works at Artissima (Turin) with Gallery on the Move.
November 17: shooting and recording of Culture Don’t Grow on Trees, Isola Art Center, Milan.
December 10-14: Viafarini DOCVA Milan video by Steve in All About These… Ladies and Gentlemen, curated by Fani Zguro (Gallery on the Move)
December 14: Isola Art Center performance at SLAM X Cox 18 Milan, Isola Arts Club Band performs Culture Don’t Grow on Trees.
December 16: soundtrack for video for architects under 30 issue of Casabella, Casabella Laboratorio and online.
December 19: BLKNZM party in Milan, with part of new BLKNZM video.
Fight Specific Isola at MSUM in Ljubljana, on view till January 2014, part of Stopover 1:1 exhibition.
2012
January: soundtrack for HK:ID, documentary about HongKong handover, directed by F. Fei, prod. Apneafilm/Ray Yip.
January: soundtrack for new Ter et Bantine fashion video (no. 4)
Feb 24-25 project/workshop Sondaggio at CRAC Cremona
Feb 25 music Ter et Bantine fashion show, Milan
March 8-11: Armory Show Barnacle in NY
Mar 21: sound installation in Montreal at 24 Gauche, using voices recorded at Bordeaux.
Mar 24-Apr 21: Carta Bianca Milano, group show at Villa Croce Museum, Genoa, new installation of the piece The Bell.
Mar 27: performance with Gak Sato for E Il Topo at Careof, Milan.
April 3-May 3: video-audio project by Francesco Fei and Steve Piccolo, part of Milano Update, Fondazione Corrente Milan.
April 21: conference at Teatro Pierlombardo Milan “Sound 4 – Conferenza sul suono applicato”
April 27: Canon night out in Milan, urban nocturnal module photography tour.
May 2: Forte Piano, Auditorium-Parco della Musica, Rome, sound show cur. Achille Bonito Oliva. Includes piece entitled As I Was Saying (or, er, um, ah, the death of discourse and its possible rebirth)
May 12: group talk on Isola Art Center at occupied skyscraper MACAO, Milano.
May 19 night of museums, Genoa, Panic Box chorus at Villa Croce. Rehearsals and recording went perfectly, then the Italian authorities decided to call off the open-museums night on a national scale due to terrorist bombing in Brindisi that same day. To make matters even stranger, stores and other facilities stayed open for the night anyway, and the last remaining revelers were surprised at 4.00 in the morning by an earthquake which could be felt very vividly in Milan as well. Long day.
May 19: On the same European night of museums, the magazine E Il Topo was in Paris to take part in Rob Pruitt’s Flea Market at the Monnaie de Paris. Apart from the popcorn, I have no idea if my stuttering sound piece was heard.
May 26: back to CRAC Cremona for chorus/performance of Sondaggio-Panic Box project. Performed and recorded good chorus in town center. At the same time, the chorus was finally being performed at Villa Croce in Genoa.
June 1-2-3: Black Room, Human Bike exhibition, Bergamo, set of seven short stories (Pirate Cycles) as a prelude to the Pirate’s Cave story.
June 11: Casabella Laboratorio, Milan, performance Rising Rubble with Gak Sato, video by Francesco Fei.
June 27: seance-performance by Steve Piccolo and Gak Sato with Gabriele Di Matteo and Martin Gimenez for E Il Topo at Supportico Lopez Gallery, Berlin.
July 29 – Sept 9: Contemporary Locus II, Bergamo, installation “Michael’s Fire” with materic sound path, eight-channel installation of vocal sounds, lightbox with sound, all in the Cannoniera di San Giacomo, a hidden cavernous space under the fortified walls of Bergamo. Including last night performance on Sept. 9. Curated by Paola Tognon and Paola Vischetti.
September 14: lecture on Sound Objects at Festival della Filosofia, Modena, Galleria Civica, with voice processing by Gak Sato.
Sept 20 – Jan 13 2013: piece in group show Funding for Isola at Galleria Bianconi, Milan, curated by Julia Draganovic.
Sept 22 – music for Ter et Bantine fashion show, Milan, with Gak Sato.
Sept 25 – Make it easy, make it porn. One-day show at Isola Libri, in collaboration with Isola Art Center, curated by Fani Zguro, Gallery on the Move. Works by Anri Sala, Santiago Sierra, Pipilotti Rist, Thomas Hirschhorn, Steve Piccolo et al.
Oct 2 – performance with Gak Sato at Isola Art Center show Milan, Frigoriferi Milanesi, Settimana della Comunicazione.
Nov 17: presentation of the new E Il Topo Red Letter Issue at Printed Matter NYC, with stories by Steve Piccolo and a special contribution by John Lurie.
Nov 25: presentation of Red Letter issue of E IL TOPO and upcoming book on Isola Art Center, Frigoriferi Milanesi, 11.30, part of the weekend event “Writers”.
Nov 27: presentation of Fight Specific book on Isola Art Center at MAMCO Geneva.
PUBLICATIONS:
Pirate Cycles for Temporary Black Space, Bergamo, brochures and online.
Michael’s Fire, short story, brochures, Temporary Locus, Bergamo.
E IL TOPO Red Letter Edition, magazine of short stories, printed in Naples, available at Printed Matter NY and Palais de Tokyo Paris.
Achtung Blumen, short story with illustrations by Nathalie Du Pasquier, limited edition of 50 copies published by NDP.
Essay (with Elio Grazioli) on instructions in art and John Cage, in the book John Cage. Una rivoluzione lunga cent’anni, Mimesis.
2011
until 15 January: video-audio project with Francesco Fei in the exhibition Urban X at Red Gallery, Milan.
1 February: Museo Pecci, Prato, presentation of book by Bert Theis.
February: soundtracks for second Ter et Bantine fashion video and fashion show in Milan.
24-26 February: recording with A Constructed World Medicine Show with Michele Robecchi and lots of great guests at Paola Pivi’s Grrrr Jamming Squeak, Rotterdam.
24 February-10 April: contribution in GizmoWeb exhibition at MAXXI in Rome, The Architecture You Like.
30 March: remix of piece by Painé and Sergio Messina for ongoing SoSlo project.
16 April: lecture by Francesco Dal Co on the story of Madison Square Garden (and more), with live musical background by Steve Piccolo and Gak Sato, staging by Giancarlo Cauteruccio at TeatroStudio Scandicci.
19 April: acting stint in Marcella Vanzo’s video work based on Medea entitled Rumors.
3 May: performance Decoding by Consensus with Gak Sato at O’, Milan.
24-31 May: sounds at Festival of Imperial Gardens, St. Petersburg, Russia.
1 June – 1 July: I Miss My Enemies, collateral event of Venice Biennial.
5 Sept: Tirana Art Center special project “Panic Box”, curated by Fani Zguro.
14 Sept: soundtracks for videos with Francesco Fei (director) at Milano Film Festival, part of ongoing project about the city of Milan.
24 Sept: music for Ter et Bantine fashion show, Milan.
7 October – permanent: Taxi Project, Taller 7, Medellin, Colombia, curated by Fani Zguro.
TAXI
9-17 October: Evento Bordeaux, invited as artist (Panic Box installation) and musician (SoundRes). This huge citywide event directed by Michelangelo Pistoletto was quite impressive.
29 October: panel discussion at Dublin Contemporary, the cool first-time citywide art event curated by Jota Castro and Christian Viveros-Fauné.
November: soundtracks for films and fashion videos (Hong Kong, new Ter et Bantine video, new chapters of Milano Update).
December 29: special project for Gallery on the Move in collaboration with Promenade Gallery, Vlore, Albania, curated by Fani Zguro.
Not sure what date: Steve performs on the Medicine Show vinyl release of Speech and What Archives, by A Constructed World.
2010
12-25 January – Liceo Artistico Caravaggio, Milan, screening of video on the project Chinatown Temporary Art Museum, a project by Undo.net and Steve Piccolo, part of the ArtHub Project (see 2009).
4 Feb-11 Apr – Parco d’Arte Vivente Turin sounds for TAFKAV installation by Francesco Monico
27 Feb – 25 May – Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, sounds for installation by Luca Pancrazzi “Temporundum Continuo”
March: sounds for fashion show in Milan, Ter et Bantine.
7 April to 6 May: Expossible exhibition, Fondazione Corrente, sound for video by Francesco Fei.
7 April: TOP TEN project at Leoncavallo in Milan w/Gak Sato & Xabier Iriondo.
20 May: videos at Loop Festival, Barcelona. Steve’s video “Accident”, soundtracks on videos by Marc Vincent Kalinka, Francesco Fei, Adrian Paci. Program curated by Oxana Maleeva (ArtApart).
22 May: concert at Sound Metak Milan, duo with Simone Massaron (guitar).
29 May: Novara Jazz Festival at Casalbeltrame, duo with Simone Massaron.
4 June: lecture/discussion at Milan Polytech on Chinatown Temporary Art Museum.
7 June: seminar on urban sound at Milan Polytech Piacenza (with many illustrious guests).
7-17 June: site-specific installation for MUSA project, Via Roma, Piacenza, work done together with Gak Sato, title Global Wind.
10 June: sounds for TAFKAV installation by Francesco Monico at Nowhere Gallery, Milan.
11-15 June: Barnacle project in St. Petersburg, Russia.
July: soundtrack for new fashion video for Ter et Bantine.
July: Merano, installation at (un)defined festival with Gak Sato and all-star cast of students from Accademia Carrara, Bergamo.
8 August: concert in northern Italy, at Premeno, with Simone Massaron.
26 September: sounds for fashion show in Milan, Ter et Bantine.
7 October: oracle prototype with Gak Sato at Made in Filandia, event organized by Luca Pancrazzi and others in Tuscany.
13-23 October – CLUB 21 at One Marylebone, London, during Frieze and after. Curator of sound and performance sections. Premiere of my installation ‘Oracle’. For more info on this very big project see c
6 November: performance during the long Vexations-Satie session organized at Milan Triennale by Massimiliano Viel (Sincronie).
8 December: voiceover in art-theater piece Rumors by Marcella Vanzo, pilot at Teatro Studio Scandicci
12 December: sound piece for Una Situazione Costruita, for the launch of new Isola Pepe Verde park in Milan, a project with the participation of Isola Art Center.
14 December: video-audio project with Francesco Fei in the exhibition Urban X at Red Gallery, Milan.
2009
feb 17 – A Secret Rose by Rhys Chatham – 100 guitars at the Auditorium in Rome.
feb 22 – Casino Luxembourg w/Gak Sato and Xabier Iriondo (Isola Arts Club Band).
mar 14 – Kunstbrulé LX 3.0 at studio of Umberto Cavenago, exhibition in darkness.
march: mental karaoke works (“atrocity” and “less gods say”), respectively for Vegetali Ignoti and Maurizio Nannucci’s 70th.
april 21 – august 2: video of musical performance from NY 1979, shot by Ericka Beckmann, seen in the show The Pictures Generation at Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Eventually should be released as DVD by SoulJazz records.
22-26 april: piece in show Public Art Crossing at NeonFdv Milan (with Barbara Faessler)
6 may – conference with Bert Theis and Undo.net on public art and political action for the closing of the exhibition Expossible? Fondazione Corrente, Milan
8-10 May – Chinatown Temporary Art Museum project with Undo.net, Milan Triennale, for the show InContemporanea ’09 organized by the Province of Milan
18 and 25 May – lecture/workshops at Milan Polytechnic, Piacenza campus.
19 May – two karaoke pieces in Playlist curated by Marinella Paderni at Neon Gallery, Bologna
22 May – open lecture at Naba, Milan, hosted by the course on architecture and sound taught by Michele Porcu, on the sounds of museums and the problems of sound in architectural spaces in general.
24 May – Isola Arts Club Band with Xabier Iriondo and Manuel Scano at discussion/event for Isola Art Center, Milan “Public Turbulence”.
4-7 June – Worlds . rhyming dictionary, a sound blog in progress on Venice Biennial and vanishing cultural worlds, pieces for Sounds of Art at Undo.net and RadioArteMobile during opening of Venice Biennial.
8-11 June – shooting/completing documentary film for SoundRes in Lecce.
18 June concert with Alterazioni Video, at Villa Serra Breakout Festival, Genoa.
13-15 July sound-image workshop with Marc Kalinka, Francesca di Nardo and Undo.net in Milan for Lombardy Region and Cariplo.
11-13 Sept installation/performance (title Sleeper) at Aspetti che non ti aspetti, group show in 15 rural complexes, Castiadas, Cagliari, Sardinia.
27 Sept – music/soundscape for Ter et Bantine fashion show, Milan.
13-15 Nov installation (title Rehearse) in the crypt of Santo Sepolcro church, Cagliari, Sardinia.
18-19 Nov barnacle project Art Lisboa.
25 Nov – music for videos for London store, Valentino.
2008
Jan 2008 – recording and writing the Museum of Meaningless Sounds.
Feb 1-10: “SULLA STESSA BARCA” SOUND ART SHOW Il Lazzaretto, Borgo S.Elia, Cagliari, Sardinia with piece by Steve.
Mar 28 with Rhys Chatham at OArtoteca Milan
Apr 5-20 Barnacle Project, NYC, recordings in NYC for Museum of Meaningless Sounds, production of Bang Bang CD.
Apr 28 conference BANG BANG at Spazio Oberdan, Milan, on noise pollution and sound in art
May 5 the Chorus of Musicless Sounds, Teatro Arsenale, Milan
May 16 Barnacle project continues in New York with choral commission and documentary film
May 20 video lecture by Steve included in program DVD of Art Shakes the Politics is now published on the occasion of BJCEM, the 13th Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean.
June 21-29 – Rotonda della Besana Milan Giostra dell’Apocalisse art/theater/music event with three sound projects by Steve (Fanfara del fiato corto, Telegiorfunerale, Coro della discordia
June 28 – Steve and Simone Massaron at SoundMetak completely unplugged
Sept 4-5 – Venice Film Festival short by F. Fei w/sound by Steve
Sept 9-14 Plektrum Festival of Visual Sound, Tallinn, Estonia, installation “Trip” with Anja Puntari
Sept 24 – music for Ter et Bantine fashion show, Milan
Until November – Venice Arch. Biennial, soundtrack of film by Francesco Fei for the Uneternal City section on projects for Rome
14 October – another outing for Francesco Monico’s talking orchid TAFKAV with sounds by Steve, this time at a gallery in Milan.
16-20 October at ArtVerona Walls Have Ears project, a listening room where the sounds all come from behind a wall, mixing recorded sound and live intervention, with interactive segments controlled by the positions and movements of listeners. Sound works by Steve Piccolo, Anja Puntari, Gabriele Di Matteo, Elliott Sharp, Haleh Abghari, Gak Sato, Claudia Losi, Marc Kalinka. An experiment on the sensation of eavesdropping. Video shot of listeners with small camera will be included in DVD catalogue for upcoming release.
8 Nov GAM Gallarate workshop with Giancarlo Norese and Gak Sato a name is a name is a name.
10 Nov completed soundtrack for video by Adrian Paci “Nobody is a Romantic Anymore”, shown at Stuk kunstencentrum, Leuven, Belgium, 21 nov 08 – 25 jan 09
28-29 Nov video in show “fame_hunger” at Het Wilde Weten, Rotterdam
2 Dec screening of film Big Bother/Grande Fardello shot in San Vittore prison, Milan, with soundtrack by Steve, directed by Marianna Schivardi and Simone Pera, at NABA Milan.
4 Dec talk in Milan, ‘incontri in biblioteca’ biblioteca tibaldi.
5 Dec Flora festival at CanGo in Florence Steve live with film by Francesco Fei.
6 dec- 6 jan Bergamo public holiday sound project, with the secret name “Storyville”. 11 public sound installations around the city of Bergamo during the holiday season.
9 dec – encounter with Ramuntcho Matta at O, Milan, a musical conversation about New York, the 1970s scene, Gordon Matta-Clark and his brother.
late dec – early jan: projects in progress in NY, part of the Walls Have Ears chorus.
9 dec encounter with Ramuntcho Matta at O, Milan. late dec – early jan: projects in NY.
2007
13 Jan 07 – 8-bit Collective at SoundMetak with NRGiga, Tonylight, Gak Sato, Steve P. Check out the 8-bit interview feature in the January issue of InSound, which I’ll probably put up somewhere on this site in English.
19 Jan 07 – Steve and Donata (credited as ‘Soundforum’… interesting how a word selected just to make an email address is becoming a sort of institution!) participate with poster in the Plausible Artworlds initiative of Basekamp, produced by ICA in Philadelphia. Find out more at http://plausibleartworlds.org/
30 Jan 07 – A Constructed World hits Milan for a show that happens in a gallery (N.O.) and in four apartments around town. Steve and Gak play at one of the events on the 30th, a tuning fork piece with Pea and Shell video by Constructed World.
1 Feb 07 – same Constructed World video shown at N.O. Gallery in Milan, with different soundtrack by Steve and Gak.
Jan-Feb – Steve’s interview on gameboy/8-bit music published in InSound. Start of regular monthly column (InAudito) in the magazine.
Feb – Steve starts curating Sound of Art pages at Undo.Net, with special consulting by Ricciarda Belgiojoso.
Feb 23 – Performance with Micene Chorus at Ter et Bantine fashion show.
Mar 1 – translation of several poems by Giovanni Raboni in collaboration with Patrizia Valduga.
March-April – soundtrack of video at 2nd Moscow Biennial (with Luca Pancrazzi and Gak Sato).
Mar 28 – De(s)cant – Decantare, workshop/exhibition on games involving sound, open for one week at Hublab, with Matteo Pennese, Gak Sato, Xabier Iriondo, Walter Prati, Limiteazero, Alterazioni Video.
Mar 30 – Steve and Gak do the tuning fork thing (L’accordo) in the Cultural Kiosk by Fabiana de Barros at Mi-Art, an initiative of Art for the World.
Mar 30 at Assab One, Milan: DE-ABC for unopening of Stasi Bar. A strangely emotional evening.
April 4 at Hublab, Milan: closing concert of games workshop and exhibition with Xabier Iriondo, Walter Prati, Matteo Pennese, Limiteazero, Alterazioni Video, Steve and Gak. Big turnout, good gallery, thanks to everyone involved!
April 13-14: Cesena, Backstage Film Festival, Onde backstage by Donata Clovis with soundtrack by Steve.
April 16: SituazionIsola, Isola Art Center Milan, including sound projects by Steve with Donata Clovis and Manuel Scano, other works by Xabier Iriondo, Tomas Saraceno, Flying City, Paola Di Bello et al. The work by Piccolo-Clovis-Scano is a sound derive in the Isola neighborhood looking for all the buildings with number 13 or 17. It’s called VIXI, from the anagram of the Roman numeral for XVII. VIXI means “I lived”, implying not living any longer, hence the Italians’ superstitious fear of the number 17 (though nobody remembers why!)
April 17: Right on schedule for VIXI, the police raid the Stecca degli Artigiani and try to close down Isola Art Center. For the moment they have not succeeded… fortunately some of the valiant crew were on hand at 6 in the morning to ask for a search warrant. The law enforcement ossifers were utterly sans papiers.
April 22: 8-bit collective at Troc, CS Torquiera, Milan. Cool outing with Xabier Iriondo, Gak Sato, Tonylight and friends, followed by a rousing set by French trigger-drummer extraordinaire Duracell.
May 10: Steve at Swiss Cultural Institute in Rome with Domenico Ferrari for Edo Bertoglio Face Addict Party… the Institute is beautiful and this first encounter with Domenico F. was a very positive one indeed.
May 11-13: InContemporanea at Milan Triennale, BuzzBox project for Assab One, project by Nathalie Du Pasquier and Steve Piccolo, produced by Elena Quarestani. Non-stop visitors to our cabin and map for three days, check out http://www.buzzbox.it to see the results.
May 16: Spazio Mudima, Milan, for exPulsi festival of improv, performance with Barbara Faessler, Filippo Armati, Steve. Title: Passi.
May 26 (and every Sunday for one month): Isola Art Center included in show at Palazzo Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Guarene, including mix by Steve of sound works presented at Isola Art Center.
June 2 – July 26: sounds by Steve on videos by A Constructed World at ACCA (Australian Centre for Contemporary Art), Melbourne, Australia.
June 4: workshop at Milan Polytechnic Piacenza campus.
June 8: theater piece at PIM spazio scenico, Milan, Esito Infausto directed by Donata Clovis with music by Gak and Steve.
June 10-19: residence at SoundRes, Lecce. Interview sound piece and concert.
June 20: Sguardi Sonori, Auditorium di Roma, Steve and Gak present the new piece Unreliable Sources.
June 21: Siena, Palazzo delle Papesse, Steve and Gak perform Unreliable Sources.
June 23: Esito Infausto by Donata Clovis at I-Net interactivity festival, Conservatorio Como, music by Steve.
June 26-27: Sguardi Sonori, Isola di San Servolo, Venice, Steve and Gak in concert doing Unreliable Sources.
June 28 – July 1: rehearsals and performance, “Tradizione (C)orale”, at Itinerario Festival, Cesena, with Steve, Gak, chorus (Coro Polifonico Malatestiano) and special guest soprano Rurie Ogata.
July 8-15: Art Shakes Politics, workshop in Messina with video lectures, Santa Lucia del Mela.
August 1: weird timing of the release of new Box Man CD (CrowdofOne) on Tracce series by Rai Trade.
August 8-15: Steve’s Accident video at Experimenta arts festival, Alberobello (Puglia).
Sept – Nov: Biennial of Istanbul (opening 6-7-8 Sept until Nov), film on Isola Art Center w music by Steve and documentation of sound works, including DE-ABC.
20 Sept: presention of the CD “wurmkos in concert” with live recording of performance by Steve Piccolo and Gak Sato at O’Artoteca, Milan, in 2005. Also with a fine track by Filippo Monico.
29 Sept: video by Steve at Galleria BLUORG, Bari, for EXPERIMENTA ARTE 2007.
2-6 Oct: Cersaie fair in Bologna, piece by Steve in show of tiles (Gabbianelli, 100E+)designed to benefit the school at Sergio Calatroni’s research center on anonymous design in Morocco.
12 Oct: Steve and Gak perform “Unreliable Sources” at The Stone, New York City.
3 Nov: Steve on live feed from Rome for Performa Festival, Sculpture Center, LIC New York, in performance by Cesare Pietroiusti, Giancarlo Norese, Emilio Fantin, Luigi Negro, also with a contribution by Joan Jonas.
9-17 Nov: Tobacco Warehouse, Istanbul, sounds by Steve in installation by Francesco Monico at A-M-B-E-R ’07 Body Process Art Festival.
28 Nov: workshop at Accademia Carrara with Dan Donadel and students from the fine arts academy of Grenoble.
29 Nov: presentation of Face Addict DVD by Edo Bertoglio at Shake Editions in Milan.
30 Nov: sounds by Steve on video by Francesco Fei at BaseB, Milan.
15 Dec: 30th birthday Radio Popolare Milan Conservatory 9 pm, a tribute to Enzo Jannacci. Steve does solo reworking of a Jannacci song and scares most of the audience.
2006
Jan 9/10 – Sound Fetish piece played almost entirely (45 min) on Radio Classica, Milan.
Jan 12 – Technical Breakdown Copenhagen project with Steve’s piece on Resonance FM (cool new London art radio) http://www.resonancefm.com/
Jan 18 – Fujiwara fashion gig with quartet (Sato, Piccolo, Massaron, Falascone), including 45 rpm vinyl, Milan.
Feb 5-6 – vocals on recording sessions in Rome for the Fingerprints Snakefinger tribute album featuring musicians from Neo, Splatterpink, Squartet and other projects.
Feb 8 – lecture at NABA Milan during symposium on Transmodal research.
Feb 25 – Steve and Gak do Ter et Bantine fashion show, Milan.
Mar 15 – release of new Gak Sato CD “Informed Consent” on Temposphere Records, with several pieces co-written (and performed) by Steve Piccolo and Gak Sato. Available at iTunes.
Mar 27 – May 15 – sound guides for People’s Choice, Isola Art Center, Milan guides
Mar 28 – Jakattak (Tony Light, Xabier Iriondo, Gak Sato, Steve Piccolo) at Esterni show “Arte Momentanea”, ex magazzini di Porta Genova, Milan, hands-on listening (permanent sound check)
April 7-14 – Steve and Gak artists-in-residence at Turchin Arts Center, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina.
April 8 onward – installation Infrastructure Hotel by DE-ABC at Kettle’s Yard Gallery, Cambridge, England.
April 14 – soundtrack by Steve and Gak for “No Matter Where / ‘Sdim Ots Ble”, dance performance at Trinity College, Dawns Dyfed production, Carmarthenshire, Wales, directed by Solveig Frykman-Lloyd.
April 15 – release of new CD “Breaking News” by Simone Massaron, on Long Song Records. Featuring Elliott Sharp, Tiziano Tononi, Daniele Cavallanti, Steve Piccolo.
April 27 – sound performance with project presentation by Wurmkos at O’Artoteca gallery, Milan (Steve and Gak)
April 28 – Simone Massaron, Elliott Sharp, Daniele Cavallanti, Tiziano Tononi and Steve at Gheroarté, Milan, premiere of the new CD Breaking News with the same line-up. Special guest Nels Kline.
May 4 – Steve and Gak in performance for Nathalie Du Pasquier show, Assab One, Milan.
May 11-14 – CONTACT – very local radio of an apartment house, Il Cairo, with Sitart. See RadioCairo project in the art section on this site. Prepared with NABA students. Cool neighborhood art event involving all the residents of a big courtyard building.
May 17 – Presentation of People’s Choice Audio Guides done with young artists from NABA in the special NABA event at Isola Art Center, Milan, 6 PM. Show stays open for a couple of weeks.
May 18 – Jakattak in concert at CS Garibaldi, Milan for Trok. Another fun outing with Xabier Iriondo, Tony Light, Simone Massaron, Gak Sato.
May 23 – magazzenobis radio show bologna, radiophonic karaoke on surveillance, realtime audio production by Gak and Steve. On the air on thirty radio stations in Italy and Europe at different times over the next couple of weeks.
June 1 – Steve accompanies Ramuntcho Matta at A+M bookshop, Milan, 6.30 pm.
June 10 – Isola Forum festival, via Confalonieri, Milan, Jakattak (Xabier Iriondo and Steve Piccolo) live in the doomed park beside Isola Art Center.
June 22-25 – Itinerario Festival, Cesena, Italy (www.itinerariofestival.it). Big concert Sunday with Aidoru and Mariposa (Steve Piccolo and Gak Sato, using sounds from the days of the festival). Day-to-day sound work in the evenings at the supine outdoor cinema (lie-in?) and posted on Festival webpage. This project really managed to get its tentacles into a city, causing discussion on the subject of local traditions whose origins are no longer known to almost anyone.
July 5 – Special event for end of course in Bergamo… only voices. Great spoken chorus experiments.
July 5-7 – Music by Steve in Spazio Tendenza at Pitti Filati, Florence. Keeping a hand in the fashion stuff.
July 29 – Viareggio, Palazzo Paolina, opening of exhibition Mirabilia Maris, “La Mappa Errata” with Steve Piccolo, Gak Sato and Walter Prati, video by Francesco Pedrini. Cool exhibition but think twice about visiting this town during summer crunch (absolute world’s record for population density, in all senses of the latter term).
August 25/26 – Ancona, Acusmatiq Festival, Steve with Matteo Pennese, Walter Prati, Massimo Falascone, and sets by Paolo Bragaglia, Martin Brandlmayr (cool drum-vibes set w/ computer), Giuseppe Ielasi. At the Lazzaretto, Mole Vanvitelliana, organized by Arci Ancona. Good sound, nice space, attentive audience.
August 27 – in a piazza in Itri with Fingerprints (Snakefinger Project). Steve on vocals with group composed of elements from Neo and Jazzcore/Squartet. Turns out Itri is just 12 km from Gaeta, birthplace of Steve’s grandfather. Town feels remote, but Emiliano organizes some pretty radical listening experiences for an enthusiastic local audience.
September 5 – Monticello Golf near Como – La Mappa Errata (Steve, Walter Prati, Gak Sato). Country club culture. Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it. Our reward for keeping a straight face: suitable for framing, the newsletter of the club reports “this innovative concert left the guests feeling rather perplexed”. Priceless.
September 16 – Steve as special guest vocalist with Simone Massaron and Carlo Garofalo in their “Tiptoe” project at Alex Etxea, Milan.
September 19 – happening at opening of Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibition at Milan Triennale. With an exceptional crew of participants, including Alessandro Belussi as the mute celebrity. Our raucous, rapid invasion of the high-society opening would, I hope, have made WM smile. It definitely scared the Milan’s new celeb alderman of cul-chah, who looked about ready to dive for cover. Documentation of the event can be seen here
September 22 – Babel Festival (of Literature and Translation), Bellinzona: another Disturbance Chorus at opening in the early evening at the courtyard of the Town Hall. Morning workshop for young people (Sound Affects) at the Castle. Excellent volunteer chorus assembled on-site by organizers. Documentation here.
September 24 – Livorno Galleria Peccolo 300th show celebration! La Mappa Errata (Steve Piccolo and Gak Sato), with video by Donata C and Francesco Pedrini. A real art gallery.
September 28 – Steve writes libretto and does vocals in premiere of new composition by Elliott Sharp entitled EmPyre, Teatro Fondamenta Nuove, Venice, with soprano Donella Del Monaco and a great line-up of local musicians. For the Venice Music Biennial.
September 29 – Steve and Gak do music for Ter et Bantine fashion show, Milan.
October 1 – Coro dei disturbi / Disturbance Chorus at Milan Triennale, Sunday 11.30 am for J-M Basquiat show. In spite of the challenging acoustics of the lobby of Muzzi’s beautiful Palazzo dell’Arte, our volunteer chorus turned out to be a crowd pleaser, surprisingly enough. For documentation go here.
October 26 – Gak Sato composer for “Circostanze” at Gheroarte, Milan, with Steve Piccolo and Xabier Iriondo. Documentation of the event can be seen here
October 27 – also at Gheroartè, another Disturbance Chorus, this time with a fantastic crew of volunteers from the Coro di Micene. Composition by Steve, with Gak Sato on theremin, Massimo Falascone on sax, live electronics by Donata Clovis, Steve and Gak. Documentation of the event can be seen here
October 28 – IMPROV SUMMIT: Xabier Iriondo, Steve Piccolo, Mirko Sabatini, Vincenzo Vasi
at: Sound Metak, piazzale Segrino 1, Milan, Xabier’s very cool music shop meeting place. Photos to the right.
tel 02/45493391
http://www.soundmetak.com
October 31 – HORROR VACUI: Steve Piccolo, Walter Prati, Massimo Falascone, Matteo Pennese. Four electro-acoustic interpretations of a theme for Halloween: silence/void/horror/density/sound.
Teatro Comunale Camploy, Verona, first concert of the new festival “Jazz e altro”.
November 18 – Waiting Room at Cra party, Stecca degli artigiani, Isola, Milan. Installation with sounds by Steve and images by Donata C. Getting ready for the Clynic. Nothing ever happens in Milan but at least now we have a place to sit and wait. If you wait long enough something will happen. Sure enough in this case it did, and we didn’t have to wait very long either. Almost as soon as the room was up and running a man came down the stairs and entered. He was middle-aged and quite normally, respectably dressed. Without any hesitation he removed his suede jacket and draped it over a chair, unbuttoned collar and cuffs of a well-pressed shirt, and began to dance, alone, to the music. He perfectly interpreted all of its almost arhythmic lurches and shudders, in a way that would have seemed spastic or crazy had it not been so precisely in sync with what was happening in the room.
November 30 – presentation of special edition of catalogue by Nathalie Du Pasquier with the CD Concentrate by Steve Piccolo and Gak Sato at Artbook, Milan, published by Corraini.
Dec 7-10 – ArtBasel Miami, sound by Steve with mastering by Gak in an installation by Luca Pancrazzi.
Dec 9 – Rome, Casa del Cinema, DietroleQuinte Festival of ‘backstage’ a/k/a ‘making of’ films, backstage by Donata Clovis (from the shooting of Onde by Francesco Fei) with sounds by Steve takes prize for best editing.
2005
Jan 29 – EXPEDITION to Villa Croce Contemporary Art Museum in Genoa, with special guest Marco Tindiglia. Organized by ArciLiguria (good scene).
Feb 10 – video Twoways by Luca Pancrazzi with music by Steve and Gak (DE-ABC) in the Clip-it show at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin
February 12 – CrowdofOne big Carnival Bash organized by OppostiConcordi at Dromokart Buccinasco (Milan)
Feb 17 – video Twoways (see 10 Feb) at British School of Rome.
Feb 25 – video Twoways (see 10 Feb) at MAMA afterparty, Gay Palace, Rotterdam
Feb 26 – Steve and Gak do sound for Ter et Bantine fashion show, Milan
Mar 2 – RadioArteMobile broadcasts live from French Cultural Center, Milan, with conference on “Inhabitual” sounds. Including an inhabitual recorded lecture by Steve.
March 2 – CrowdofOne does Box Man in concert, auditorium RAI, Via Asiago, Rome.
March 3 – same show at Pirobutirro, Pistoia (canceled due to blizzard, to be rescheduled)
March 10 – broadcast of CrowdofOne Box Man concert at RAI auditorium, Rome, on RAI Radio 3 (Battiti).
April 1 – launch of the Sound Affects Forum. Over 500 responses with sound preference contributions received in one week.
April 8 – opening of Isola Art Center, Milan, with the exhibition Art-chitecture and “Isolated Fanfare”, a project with Matteo Pennese (trumpet) and Diego Ruvidotti (flugelhorn).
April 13-19 Hear sounds by Steve during the “incursions” of Esterni around Milan during the Furniture Fair.
April 13-19 Sounds by Steve and Gak with video by Ilvio Gallo at the Alias stand, Milan Furniture Fair.
April – Sounds by Steve and Gak in the Alessandro Mendini show at Milan Triennale. Unfortunate incident of sounds ending up on a CD in the catalogue without our permission. The Unauthorized Earthly Paradise Bootleg. More to come on this…
April 25-May 2 New program by Steve and Gak on playlist of WPS1.
April 29 – DE-ABC performs Bibliosong, Palazzo delle Papesse, Siena, to complete the bookstore project by Luca Pancrazzi.
May 21 – CrowdofOne does the Box Man at Niska, Locarno.
May 26 – CrowdofOne concert including pieces from Gak’s new CD at a designer club in Cusago near Milan.
May 27 – July 31 2005 – sounds by Steve among the many ‘found’ treasures in the A-temporary exhibition of Sergio Calatroni and Miyuki Yajima at Koishikawa Annex, University Museum, Univ. of Tokyo
May 31 – Swiss Cultural Center, Milan, “Sound Affects” concert on initial results of the Sound Affects Forum.
June 12 – Effetto Deleuze, show at Isola Art Center, with special sounds by Steve, Christian Alati and Cristian Raimondi, featuring the inimitable voice of Bruno Pizzul.
June 16-18 – NYC dates w/ Elliott Sharp, Zebulon & Issue, both in Brooklyn.
June 16 at Zebulon (great club!) with special guest Dougie Bowne:http://www.zebuloncafeconcert.com/
June 18 at the new cylinder of Issue Project Room, with special guest Jim Pugliese: http://www.issueprojectroom.org/
June 18 – special music installation by Steve and many guests at Isola Art Center for the “white night” in Milan.
June 24 – Oct 2
Houston Contemporary Arts Museum: Adrian Paci show includes the video PilgrImage with soundtrack by Steve Piccolo and Gak Sato.
June 25 – CrowdofOne does the Box Man at Itinerario Festival, Cesena. Cool gig at first year of festival organized by one of our favorite Italian bands: Aidoru.
July 1 – CrowdofOne with Marco Tindiglia in Genoa, Palazzo Ducale.
July 2 – Expedition at Sant’Arcangelo Festival. Great festival (mostly theater), cool people, highly recommended!
July 7 – Sound Affects at Palazzo delle Papesse Museum of Contemporary Art, Siena. Great echoes in the old cloister-courtyard.
July 10 – webradio piece “Sound Fetish” compiled by Steve with sounds by about 50 artists living and working in Italy now up and running at WPS1 Art Radio.
July 16 Turin, Piazza San Carlo – Expedition on big construction site. Cool gig with mega production by Richi Ferrero. Seehttp://www.richiferrero.it
July 18-22: in Berlin preparing for Jazz Fest. Intensive recordings around the city with the invaluable help of video artist Bianka Goebel.
August 24 Palermo, Kalsart Festival, Expedition at former locomotive depot. Nice spot but they cultivate a disco inferno clientele mostly interested in wiggling and giggling with commercial mainstream thump. Thump!
September 18 – recording session organized by Simone Massaron with Elliott Sharp, Daniele Cavallanti, Tiziano Tononi, Steve Piccolo.
September 25 – music for Mila Schon fashion show in Milan (Steve and Gak).
September 29 – music for Ter et Bantine fashion show in Milan (Steve and Gak).
October 6-11 – Sardegna Arte Fiera – Cagliari – Steve’s first art karaoke piece (Losing Faith) in beachfront cabin installation.
October 8 – CrowdofOne performance (The Box Man recycled) at Roe Volciano for THE ART OF REUTILIZATION: IN VALLE SABBIA (BS) an exhibition of contemporary art. Luca Formentini saves the day with his monitors. Curator: Roberto Peccolo.
October 16-17 – Poetry festival in Milan for grand opening of the CASA DEI POETI at the Palazzina Liberty: with Walter Prati, Gak Sato, Massimo Falascone, Matteo Pennese and others.
October 17 – MoMA New York: screening of videos by Adrian Paci, including PilgrImage with soundtrack by Steve Piccolo and Gak Sato.
October 29 – Benefit in Bologna for Assoc. Margherita (health care for kids in Brazil) with Steve Piccolo and Luca Gemma, acoustic songs.
Nov 5 – BERLIN JAZZ FESTIVAL – Hidden Tracks – Steve Piccolo & Gak Sato with Walter Prati, Massimo Falascone and special guest Elliott Sharp.
Nov 17 – Steve and Gak at CS Conchetta Cox 18 Milan – Naked Lunch remix – Beat Hippy Autonomi Punk event.
Nov 22 – Steve at conference chaired by G. Dorfles and A. Caronia on the question ‘shd science be taught in art schools?’, at NABA Milan. Conclusion: probably. Next question: how?
Nov 26 – Jan 31 – Technical Breakdown, Copenhagen / public sound art installations organized by AUX. For more info see http://www.aux.dk
Dec 9-11 – Fact and sound finding mission to Wales to prepare “Missing Sounds” with choreographer Solveig Frykman-Lloyd.
Dec 12-13 – Exploratory probe of Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge UK, to prepare DE-ABC project for 1:1 exhibition in Spring 2006.
Dec 14 – Steve interview and music on Danish Radio (DR) for Technical Breakdown AUX show.http://www.dr.dk/P2/lyttilnyt/Udsendelser/20051214122537.htm
Dec 19 – interview conducted by Ricciarda Belgiojoso at Radio Classica, Milan.
2004
Feb 4 – open mike at Isola Art Project 1st birthday party in Milan.
House band: Gak Sato, Massimo Falascone, Vincenzo Vasi, Steve Piccolo.
For all the info on Isola Art Project.
Feb 5 – workshop Accademia Carrara, Bergamo with Vincenzo Vasi and Mirko Sabatini.
Feb 27 – The Duellants – Base Gallery, via San Nicolo, Florence, 10 PM, see slide show of recent performance.
Mar 1 – Right Tempo event at Blue Note, Milan, featuring Gak Sato, Massimo Falascone, Steve Piccolo, Painè and the Record Maniacs, Astronaughty and the Afrodrummers.
Mar 13 – The Box Man in NY at Issue Project Room, 619 East 6th Street, NYC, Steve and Gak. Also improv with Elliott Sharp, Dougie Bowne, Eric Mingus.
Mar 26 – CrowdofOne at Libreria Acustica, Monza, via Raiberti 14.
Massimo Falascone – saxes
Steve Piccolo – vocals, bass, guitar
Gak Sato – theremin, percussion, sounds
Mar 30 – Steve Piccolo and Gak Sato, “Conversations and Duels”, at presentation of the video by Gabriele Di Matteo “Voyage to the Earth”, Meeting Festival, FRAC Bretagne, Le Tambour, Rennes
Apr 16 – Presentation of new El Muniria CD at Radio Popolare, Milan, live in auditorium with Emidio Clementi and Massimo Carrozzi. Steve does his track from the CD, entitled “Narrating a photograph over the phone”.
Apr 18 – new event at Isola dell’Arte with performance by Ivo Bonacorsi, Gabriele Di Matteo (music by Steve and Gak for both)
April 21 – Opening of the “Just ask Mike” exhibition at Victoria College of Art, Melbourne, Australia. A joint project of the Mike sound program at VCA conducted by Jon Campbell, the sound course at Accademia Carrara of Bergamo taught by Gak and Steve, and A Constructed World. Simultaneous show of some of the work at Accademia Carrara.
May 8 – CrowdofOne concert, school auditorium via Vivaio, Milan, Steve Massimo and Gak. Pre-premiere of the piece on The Life and Times of Leon Theremin.
May 10 – Soundtrack for video by Ivo Bonacorsi Galleria CareOf, Milan.
May 15 – CrowdofOne at CS Garibaldi, Milan, special guests Neo (from Latina) link Good gig, cool place… watch for upcoming collaboration with Neo.
June 7 – RightTempoNight III at BlueNote Milan: Gak Sato leads CrowdofOne with Steve, Massimo Falascone, special guest Roberto Cecchetto on guitar. Also Paine, Rocco, others.
June 18 – workshop-concert ACCADEMIA DEI FLUTTUANTI at Bergamo Conservatory (Istituto Musicale Donizetti).
June 19 – conference in Venice (Domus Academy) with Christian Marklay, Antonio Somaini.
July 8 – at Assab Uno, Milan, DE-ABC performs TWOWAYS, for presentation of new book by Elio Grazioli.
July 10 – at the Stecca degli Artigiani, Milan. CrowdofOne Massimo Falascone and Matteo Pennese, live version in progress of TKBK CTRL sound segments.
Aug 3-28 – videos with sound by Steve in the Big Dirty Love show by A Constructed World at Uplands Gallery, Melbourne.
Sept 16 Piccolo-Sato duo for Adrian Paci at ViaFarini Milan after opening at Galleria Francesca Kaufmann.
Sept 23 Presentation new series of limited editions (including book-cd by Steve and Gak). Il Ragazzo Innocuo series contains an unpublished recipe by Cage, a Duchamp original contributed by A. Schwarz, a cool Walrus by Dario Borso, Mesostics. More to come.
Sept 29 Piccolo-Sato duo with Gerard Malanga at opening of his show at Galleria Carla Sozzani Milan.
Oct 2 Piccolo-Sato duo perform at fashion show Ter et Bantine, Mediateca Santa Teresa, Milan.
Oct 2 Live interview with Steve on RAI Stereo Notte for Expedition CD launch.
October 15-18 2004 soundtracks for Constructed World videos at Frieze Art Fair Regent’s Park London.
Oct 22 Presentation of the Expedition at Radio Popolare, Milan, concert open to the public in the Auditorium Demetrio Stratos + live broadcast.
Oct 27 and 30 (midnight): live performance of two songs from EXPEDITION plus interview on MTV Italy.
Oct 29 EXPEDITION (THE DIG) returns to Cox 18 Milan, special guest Elliott Sharp.
Oct 30 Expedition at Mercati Generali, Catania, special guest Elliott Sharp.
Oct 31 Halloween: Belfagor Night in Milan produced by MMT with FullMetalCage Ensemble and guests (including Elliott Sharp).
Nov 5 – music from Expedition on All Music TV in a show called All Moda.
Nov 12 – Steve recites poetry (not by him) with Daniele Cavallanti, Tito Mangialaio and Tiziano Tononi at Castellanza.
Nov 13-14: CrowdofOne at “Percorsi di Poesia”, La Rada, Locarno.
Nov 14 – Picnic 1 at Isola dell’Arte, Milan. Works from More Fools in Town, Turin, including video by A Constructed World with soundtrack by Steve.
Nov 19 – acoustic live presentation CD at Riot Store, Milan.
Nov 20 – CrowdofOne in Milan for film and music fest “Senza Parole”. Music for three silent films with Laurel and Hardy.
EXPEDITION (The Dig) Italian tour (Steve Piccolo, Luca Gemma, Gak Sato)
Dec 4 – Bari, Agorà – nice place
Dec 7 – Naples TAM – small theater with cabaret stage, very good atmosphere
Dec 8 – Salerno, Pia Casa, Comunicativo Festival – cool set-up in a boomy vaulted space, excellent programming
Dec 9 – Rome Locanda Atlantide – nice club but troublesome sound system, be prepared!
Dec 10 – Brescia Freemuzik – great club, great sound and stage, we like this place!
Dec 15 – Rome, Rai Radio Uno, Musica Village Live at 13.30 pm
2003
2 February – world premiere of the Foolcage Sextet at CS Moncucco, Milan (see concert pages).
7 February – Gak Sato and Steve Piccolo at Japanese Institute of Culture, Rome. Performance of the piece “The Box Man”, based on the book by Kobo Abe.
April: with DE-ABC, installation of two urban listening points in Milan, one in the park on Via Confalonieri, for Isola Art Project, and one at Porta Ticinese for the Public Design Festival of Esterni.
May 11 – Recorded sounds by Steve and Gak for slide show, Isola Art Project, via Confalonieri, Milan (with Bert Theis)
May 27-Sept: Fragments of an Italian Discourse (!), MAMCO, Geneva, piece by DE-ABC and video sounds by Steve and Gak for Isola Art Project
June 8 – Natural Mixer, a sound project by DE-ABC (see press release with special guests at Isola(ted) Art Project show, Milan
June 8 – Closing event of “A Year from Cage”, centro sociale Moncucco, Milan (with Foolcage Sextet and Gak Sato)
June 18 – the Box Man (by Gak Sato and Steve Piccolo) at CS Garibaldi, Milan, special guests Massimo Falascone (sax) and Marco Tindiglia (guitar).
June 20 – Sept: DE-ABC installation “Temples”, Siena, Palazzo delle Papesse Center for Contemporary Art.
July 15 – Steve and Gak accompany Gerard Malanga at the opening of the SuperWarhol exhibition at Grimaldi Forum, Monaco.
July 31 – The Expedition at Grimaldi Forum, part of the Warhol festival (including concerts by Lou Reed and John Cale)
Aug 1 – The Expedition, special guest Massimo Falascone, double bill with Marco Tindiglia at GenovaEstate, summer festival at the Waterfront area.
Sept 27 – Piccolo/Sato Sound Workshop with Massimo Falascone at Dulcamara Jazz Festival (near Bologna)
Oct 7 – Natural Mixer 2 by DE-ABC performed by the Full Metal Cage Collective at Abitare opening party, Milan see press release
Oct. 20 – Steve plays on sets orchestrated by Gak Sato and Painè at Blue Note, Milan, with Massimo Falascone and many special guests.
Nov. 9 – Full Metal Cage Collective at Ahh-Uhmm Jazz Festival, Milan
Nov. 12 – another event by Isola Art Project, show of new works by members of the group and performance by Steve and Gak at the Stecca degli Artigiani, Isola, Milan
Nov. 20 – opening of exhibition by Natale Galli with soundtrack by Steve, Sassetti Cultura, via Volturno, Milan
Dec. 12 – CrowdofOne trio (Steve, Gak, M. Falascone) launches m.a.x.Museum, cornerstone ceremony for Max Huber Museum, Chiasso (Switzerland)
ALSO IN 2003:
Steve co-wrote and sang the title track “Spontaneous” for the recent CD by DJ-composer Painé, for Temposphere Records Spring 2003. In May 2003 Spontaneous was in the German Top 30 club charts.
Steve collaborates with the radio program Remix on Rai 3, by Istituto Barlumen.
With the group DE-ABC (Steve Piccolo, Gak Sato, Luca Pancrazzi), design of an urban installation, seen in the Urban Furnishings Fair of Esterni and the Isola Art Project show, both in Milan (April 2003).
Steve and Gak have composed, performed and recorded many soundtracks for films and videos, including recent projects (2003) with Gabriele Di Matteo and a video on the history of the Compasso d’Oro design award for ADI. The latest video sound works have been for Adrian Paci, Ivo Bonacorsi and A Constructed World.
Participation in the Isola Art Project, an initiative of a group of artists and critics to save an abandoned factory surrounded by two parks in a cool neighborhood in Milan and make it into a contemporary art center, instead of the shopping center fashion promo speculation planned by the city.
Steve and Gak have recorded a one-hour program for WPS1 Art Radio (NY), entitled “Expedition”.
2002
11 March: Teatro di Portaromana, Milan, for the series “Suoni e Visioni”, full scale production of Expedition/Dérive with new texts, new songs and new videos (see press release). With Gak Sato and Luca Gemma. Special guest Elliott Sharp. Videos by Janene Higgins, Paola Di Bello, Armin Linke.
14 May: Polvere Contemporanea (CMYK), quartet for obsolete technology and flawed printing, Steve Piccolo, Gak Sato, Luca Gemma, Luca Pancrazzi. GEA, via Assab One, Milan. (Future gallery Assab One).
28 May: Drifting through Milan Central Station
14 NOVEMBER 2002, Latina, Newton Festival, Municipal Theater. Expedition/Dérive with Gak Sato and Luca Gemma.
2001
21 March 2001 – The first day of Spring at Radio Popolare in Milan
The trio performed a live set at the radio of the new Expedition/Dérive. The theme of the dérive as formulated by Guy Debord and the Situationist International was added to the show as a way of interpreting and utilizing the sound documents recorded in many different cities.
15 June: Milan Polytechnic, concert and workshop on urban sounds, Architecture Workshop for the Multiethnic City
27 June: for the exhibition “Terraferma”, Centro Culturale Cambiani, Mestre. Concert “Expedition/Dérive” with special Mestre module (and new video by Luca Pancrazzi)
4 July: Concert “Expedition/Dérive” at the festival Sesto.com, Sesto San Giovanni (Milan) with special SSG module, and the participation of the percussionist Yajima Eriko
14 July: Mercati Generali in Catania (Sicily), concert “Expedition/Dérive” with special Catania module created with the participation of local poets.
8 September: Concert with Massimo Volume in Alghero, Sardinia, festival Sons Nous, feat. Steve Piccolo.
22 September: Milano Film Festival, Piccolo Teatro Studio, concert “Effetto Cinema: musica alla deriva”
4 October: Tangram launch concert for new CD by Gak Sato at Tunnel, Milan.
13 October: Galleria Emilio Mazzoli, Modena, sound work for the exhibition by Luca Pancrazzi “Intruso-Estruso” – the video and the sounds have become part of Expedition/Dérive
26 November: 26 November, Teatro Fondamenta Nuove, Songs from the Frozen Zone, Steve P. and Elliott Sharp.
30 November: Istituto Universitario Architettura di Venezia (IUAV), concert + urban sound workshop, with special guest Elliott Sharp.
2000
Steve and Luca Gemma began to rework the entire concept. The anthropologists of the story began to record the sounds of the places they went, rather than always inviting local musicians to be “the natives”. This focus on soundscape documentation, arriving in a city, recording its sounds and often surprising the natives in the audience with familiar, perhaps subconscious associations, changed our entire approach.
The concerts in 2000 were often just duets with tapes, entitled “The Secret Diaries of Bruce Chatwin” (see description elsewhere on this site). This concert was performed in festivals in Livorno and Pisa and at Cox 18 in Milan.
In Autumn 2000 Gak Sato began working with Hilarity Workshop, and the urban field recordings and sound manipulations became more intense.
The concert theme changed to “Songs about Danger”, as performed at Frontiere Festival in Milan.
In November 2000 the trio tried to work with the photographer Armin Linke. These were the first Expedition concerts with video. Steve combined material from the first Expedition, the Chatwin concert and the Danger concert to create a new framework. The concerts began to be tightly scripted with spoken word, video, actions, even gags.
3 November 2000, CS Rivolta, Marghera “Getting Ready for the Expedition” with Giancarlo Locatelli, Gak Sato, Luca Gemma, video by Armin Linke.
28 December 2000, Mercati Generali, Catania, “Getting Ready for the Expedition”
IN ADDITION, in 2000 Steve toured Italy with the band Massimo Volume – the “Almost Blue” (Alex Infascelli film, soundtrack by MV) tour, including the participation of Amaury Cambuzat.
1999
At Leoncavallo in Milan, in January, a very large production with 11 or 12 musicians on stage. Many were from a very popular new wave of Italian “alternative” rock groups (Manuel Agnelli of Afterhours, Mimi and Egle of Massimo Volume, Luca Gemma of Rosso Maltese). A jazz trio (Steve, G. Locatelli and F. Monico) clashed on stage with the rock musicians. The drummer fainted before the concert began so we had to start without him. There were something like 5000 people in the audience.
This version of the Expedition was repeated in the summer at the festival Brescia MusicArte.
1998
February 14: Steve provides choral vocals in huge gathering of exponents of the “alternative rock scene” in Italy, recorded in Milan. Title: “Un amore lungo un giorno”.
December 9: performance at PergolaTribe, via della Pergola, Milan. Steve with Zeena Parkins and Elliott Sharp.
The Expedition began in Milan in a very small club called Porte Aperte in 1998. Three evenings, the same script with different musicians, a story of a team of anthropologists who explore an island looking for a lost tribe. The entire ecosystem of the island turns against them, and the tribe is never found. The musicians involved included Rhys Chatham, Giulio Capiozzo, Mamadi Kaba, Giancarlo Locatelli, Filippo Monico and many others.
The leitmotiv of the text was a line I actually found in a newspaper story about an expedition of anthropologists. “The worst part of the entire journey was when the island rats attacked our camp”.
1997
Release of the CD Hilarity Workshop issued by Underground Records, after three years of work with musicians in Florence, Italy (ex Bella Band) and New York. Tracks with Elliott Sharp, Zeena Parkins and Mamadi Kaba.
Alessi timers designed by George Sowden with melodies by Steve.
July 20: Steve Piccolo’s Hilarity Workshop, with Mamadi’ Kaba, Filippo Monico, Giancarlo Locatelli, special guests Zeena Parkins and Elliott Sharp, Chiostro dei Tolentini, Santa Croce 191, Venice.
November 11: DECODE THIS!, Steve Piccolo, Hilarity Workshop with Elliott Sharp, video by Janene Higgins. Thanks to Shake Editions, Milan.
1995
June 16: publication of the Millelire Stampa Alternativa edition “Kerouac and Co.” with translation into Italian by SP of Gregory Corso’s “Requiem for Bird Parker.” With cover by Matteo Guarnaccia.
1987
Work at Documenta 8, Kassel.
Steve plays bass and does backing vocals on album by David Riondino, Tango del Miracoli.
1987
Together with Raffaele Riefoli (Raf) and Giancarlo Bigazzi, Steve writes the song Self Control, which tops worldwide charts in Raf’s version and in a parallel version by Laura Branigan.
1982
Release of album “Domestic Exile” by Steve with Evan Lurie and Gerry Lindahl on Materiali Sonori label.
29 Nov – 1 Dec: exhibition and performance at Zona Gallery, Florence, with Adriano Primadei, “Le Pietre Graffiate delle Prigioni del Duca d’Auge”
1981
Release of the album THE LOUNGE LIZARDS on EG Records.
1980
The Lounge Lizards in a period of very intense almost instant fame in NYC, with unpredictable repercussions elsewhere.
One example: we did the music for an advertising video starring Debbie Harry of Blondie for Gloria Vanderbilt jeans.
This was also right in the middle of the several-year run of TV Party, the public access TV talk show hosted by the great Glenn O’Brien, where we were occasionally on hand.
1978
Formation of the Lounge Lizards, with John and Evan Lurie, Anton Fier and Arto Lindsay. The story has been told elsewhere, mostly in interviews. It seems John was in a club and there was a band on stage, probably some rockabilly outfit. The background is provided by this article from the New York Times, a couple of years later… sub-header “Went to Work on Wall St.”
“Playing fake jazz was Mr. Lurie’s idea and grew out of his music for films. First he played informally with his brother and Mr. Lindsay, and then, just before the 1979 debut of the Lounge Lizards at Hurrah, Mr. Piccolo and Mr. Fier were brought in on bass and drums. Mr. Piccolo had studied and later played jazz but became disillusioned with music in the 70’s and took a job as a Wall Street systems analyst. He used a borrowed bass for the first Lounge Lizards performances. Mr. Fier had also studied jazz, but he was working with the Feelies, a New Jersey-based rock group.”
Copyright New York Times, 1981
Since our first gig was at Hurrah’s, I like to think that the person Mr. Lurie was talking to on the night of the band’s conception was Jim Fouratt, the guy who booked acts into this and many other clubs back in the day and a rarity in the music business, namely someone who actually cares about music, musicians and lots of other more important things. The story has it that John made a bet that in a couple of weeks he could put together a better band than the one on stage at the time.
I got a call from John asking me if I wanted to get back into music. We started rehearsing. There was a relatively clear idea right from the start. We were going to make fun of the brutalism of punk and so-called new wave while posing as jazz hipsters from the past. It would be loud, simple, violent even, mixing the willful ignorance of punk with the vital catharsis of free jazz. The strange and beautiful ethno-african subtext heard in John’s later music with subsequent Lizard generations was there somewhere, but it didn’t manage to make itself heard, probably because the rest of us were a bit relentless and heavy.
For the record, we did not think of the name of the band, which was probably one of its biggest assets. I remember that we considered the names Black & Decker and Rotary Power Tools. Luckily for everyone, a gentlemanly scholar named John Ende (I think it was him) who lived on 2nd Ave. came up with the LL name. Nobody knew what it meant. After he explained we agreed that it was perfect.
1972
Conducted several “Nocturnal Modules”, all-night guided walks through secret places in the city of Worcester Mass…the customer-tourists were college students, usually from out of town, but the secret places were unknown to most natives too. Abandoned “haunted” houses, forgotten historic cemeteries, rail yards, formal gardens accessed through secret holes cut in chain-link fences, sewer infrastructures, lost bomb shelters, airport runways, connecting rooftops. As far as I know no documentation exists of these trips. If anyone has pictures…
Dynamy Program, Worcester, Mass.
1970-71
Formation of band called Crud to play clubs, dances, parties, etc., with John Lurie (blues harp), Evan Lurie (keys), SP (bass or rhythm guitar), Howard Root (bass), Eddie Lavessar (drums), or Mark Pluff (sp.?, drums), and at times an eccentric guitarist called Preston Wenchelbaum. To publicize the band a graffiti contest spontaneously took form, in which the participants had to write Crud (with a personal identification number – tag) in the most daring and risky places possible around the city. Another group (with Lurie brothers) was called Dean and the Dents, with a blues guitarist called Dean, who had a huskie dog with one brown eye and one blue eye. Highlights included hitchhiking trips in which we tried to get on stage with famous bands, or actually tried to get John Lurie up on stage with famous bands, because it was easier to hitchhike with harmonicas than with guitars and keyboards. We sneaked into dressing rooms and got acquainted with the group Canned Heat, and John actually played with them on stage in front of an audience of thousands at the Philadelphia spectrum.