On Solstice Eve 2022 #TiltedAxes had the honor to premiere their arrangement of “Knee Play 3” from “Einstein on the Beach” for the composer himself, Philip Glass, outside his East Village home. Moments like this remind me of the power of possibility. The video was taken by Saori Tsukada who was so gracious in helping us make this happen.
“I love hearing the music played on the streets of NYC. You were great. Thank you.” — Philip Glass
French surrealist and theatre theorist Antonin Artaud, so wished for a searing realness upon the stage, that he called for the actors to strip themselves of all artifice and to present themselves as “…being like victims burnt at the stake, signaling through the flames.” (The Theater and Its Double, 1931)
His writings had a tremendous influence on the creators of The Living Theatre, Julian Back and Judith Malina, when their vision was coming together in the 50s and 60s. A 1983 documentary about The Living is even titled, “Signals Through the Flames,” such is their association with the Artaud.
In their early days, the LT’s history is almost like a who’s-who of Village artists and aesthetic innovators from the theater, art, musical, and progressive political worlds. In 1959, with the help of a producer in collaboration with John Cage and Merce Cunningham they were able to open the theater on 14th St. and 6th Ave. which was the Theatre’s home for five years. Cunningham had his dance studio on the top floor. The Living occupied floors two and three.
Many years after that I met Judith when I was in my 20s and was lucky to work alongside her, creating music for theater, off and on for the group, for over twenty years. This included performances in the USA and extensively throughout Europe. The modus operandi abroad was that we would perform whatever current production we were touring plus we’d give workshops and create activist street theater with the local population. NYC was no exception. Performative political protests were a part of city life when the LT was based here. Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars might not have ever come into being had I not had this experience in my formation.
It is in that spirit, taking it to the streets, that we present our latest musical procession, as part of The Village Trip Festival opening on September 10th in Greenwich Village. For the event, we will premiere a new piece with that name: “Signals Through the Flames.”
This performance is dedicated to all of the politically active artists and troupes that The Village has given birth to over the years, but especially to The Living Theatre. Our aim is to bring positive attention to their work and legacy and to all of us who owe them a debt for initially breaking down The Fourth Wall.
#TiltedAxes performs Elisa Corona Aguilar‘s piece “Invasive Species” outside Veselka :: Beceлкa and the Ukrainian National Center in NYC on May 1st. A choir of electric guitar EBows filled up 2nd Ave. with tones of healing and reflection. The city stopped for a moment. Incredible.
Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars is one of the many spectacular bands that will be performing in the HONK NYC! 2021 Festival.
“For the Honk NYC procession, Tilted Axes is performing “Unlikely Characters,” a piece especially created for HONK NYC!. The title comes from the Robert Fripp quote: “Music so wishes to be heard that it sometimes calls upon unlikely characters to give it voice and to give it ears.”
We hope you join us from October 18 to 24 to see all of the “Unlikely Characters” that will be performing all across New York City.
HONK NYC! is a donation based volunteer-run organization, and each dollar pledged helps to fund and organize incredible community events for all music lovers. Please go to our kickstarter link (in our bio and comments) to contribute now to our 2021 campaign to support incredible performances like these.”
Tilted Axes Begins Its 10th Anniversary Season With a Return to Astor Place as part of Make Music Autumn
On September 19th, between 1pm-4pm, Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars returns to Astor Place and environs with a procession and performance as part of the inaugural Make Music Autumn. Tilted Axes is a group of guitarists and percussionists lead by classically trained post-rocker Patrick Grant. They perform original music untethered via mini-amps strapped over their shoulders. For this occassion they have partnered with the iconic Astor Place Hair Stylists who also serve as their base. The performance spectacle will begin at the plaza sculpture The Alamo (a.k.a. The Cube). From there they will perform in-procession around the neighborhoods that have been key to their origin: The East Village and Greenwich Village. They will stop along the way at various landmarks to perform special compositions significant to the location. Bringing the event full circle, they will return to Astor Place Plaza to complete their performance.
Meet the core members of Tilted Axes 2021:
Angela Babin — e. guitar
John Halo — e. guitar
Jeremy Nesse — chapman stick
jc (jon clancy) — percussion & composer
Elisa Corona Aguilar — e. guitar & composer
Howie Kenty — e. guitar, composer & asst. music director
Dan Cooper — 7-string e. bass
Patrick Grant — e. guitar, composer, & artistic director
Caitlin Cawley — percussion
Kevin Pfeiffer — axe alternate
Christopher Caines — movement director
Jocelyn Gonzales — media producer
Tilted Axes is powered by Vox Amplification & Blackstar Amps courtesy of KORG USA. Our Tilted@10 anniversary season is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The ASCAP Plus+ Awards, the NYU Tisch Adjunct Development Fund, Alchemical Studios, but mostly through the generous support of people like you. Thank you for helping us keep our performances and events free to the public whenever and wherever possible. Join our Tilted Team at http://www.tiltedaxes.com.
A huge thanks to James Burke of Make Music New York, Rachel Brandon of The Village Alliance, but especially Big Mike Saviello of Astor Place Hair Stylists. For this event Big Mike will be curating artwork on the street in front of the shop. Check it out!
Sunday, December 20, 12 noon to 3pm EST: Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars presents “A Tilt for Our Time”, a new music procession and socially distanced public action through Lower Manhattan. Post-rock composer Patrick Grant will lead the group in a “tilt” from Greenwich Village to the East Village and back again with a ceremonial stop at the Astor Place Cube (The Alamo). Tilted Axes will present a program of new pieces created for the event along with classics from their catalog. Procession route and performance details TBA. “A Tilt for Our Time” is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. This event is part of Make Music Winter NYC. Tilted Axes is powered by Vox Amplification.
For the 1st annual Make Music Winter, notorious composer and producer Patrick Grantcreates and leads a “precession” of over a dozen electric guitarists playing throughDanelectro Honeytonemini-amps through the East Village, around Union Square, and back.
The public is invited to march along and bring light hand percussion to join in if they wish.
The result will be a moving, polyphonic sound cloud layered in compelling, electric rhythms all in honor of this season’s axial tilt.
The precession will begin at 6:30 PM at Rivington Guitars, 73 East 4th Street, between 2nd Ave. & Bowery, and will end at 7:30 PM at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery, 131 E 10th Street, NW corner of 2nd Ave.
Tilted Axes guitarists include: Cristian Amigo, Angela Babin, Alexander Baxter, Dan Cooper, Glenn Cornett, Nick Didkovsky, Toby Driver, Kurt Gottschalk, Randolph A. Hudson III, Taylor Levine, Joshua Lopes, James Moore, Gene Pritsker, Larry Simon, Geremy Schulick, and Patrick Grant.
More information and bios for all the participating guitarists can be found at the Make Music Winter 2011 website.
The MMiXdown 