Special Programming

Photography by Jake Armour

 
First & First will invite guest artists and academics to challenge the project through a series of performances and discussions.  Please join us for a series of “Please Play Dates” where you can bring an acoustical instrument and jam along with the organ as well as our special performers.  Watch videos of previous Playing the Building jam sessions here.

Friday, November 9:  Irregular Readings
8-10pm
Featuring:
Tigger Lunney
Chris Besinger
Rayna May
John Henry

Saturday, November 10:  Play Date/Jam Session
Featuring:
Mark McGee (Father You See the Queen) & Friends
2pm – Danny Sigelman (Secret Stash Records) & Jon Davis (Ghostband/Something Else)
4pm – Michael Barone & Friends
5pm – The Threat of a Banjo with Jim McGuinn from The Current & Friends
6:30pm – Mark McGee & Friends
8pm – Andrea Swensson & Friends

Saturday, November 17:  Play Date/Jam Session
Featuring:
2-5pm – Adam Levy of the Honeydogs / Bunny Clogs + Friends & Family
6:30pm – Crystal J. & Crystal M. of Brute Heart

Sunday, November 18:  Improvisation Ensemble
2-4pm
Featuring:
St. Thomas University & McNally Smith College of Music

Saturday, November 24:  A Heliotrope Excerpt
5-10pm
Featuring:
Davu Seru
Milo Fine
Paul Metzger
International Novelty Gamelan

Sunday, November 25:  Physical Plant
1pm, 2:30 & 4pm
A site & sound specific work by Taja Will.  Physical Plant mirrors and communes with the installation using the potential of the body to respond and instantly compose sound, space, and movement.  Choreographer Taja Will with collaborative performers (Blake Nellis, Dustin Haug, Sharon Picasso) inhabit the installation in an aesthetic of spontaneity, improvising moment to moment, their relationship to the site, and it’s sounds as played by local musician Justin Nellis.  Physical Plant embodies the agency, beauty, efficiency,experimentation, and grand allure of Byrne’s installation.

Photography by Jake Armour

Thursday, November 29th:  Please Play (the Building) with Beatrix*Jar
7:30pm – 10:00pm
A hands-on sound art collage with battery-powered children’s toys, AM Radios + Flash Cameras & handmade birds and cats (ArtPets).

Friday, November 30:  Emerging Musicians Night
Featuring:
7pm – David Sutton
8pm – Kara Laudon
9pm – Lydia Hoglund (of Bomba De Luz)
Current McNally Smith College of Music Students

Saturday, December 1:  Please Play Day
12pm — 8pm
Featuring:
12pm — Drew Christopherson (Polica) & Mark McGee (Father You See the Queen)
2pm — Adam Conrad (Project Coffee Pot / Improvestra)
3:30pm — Chris Danforth (MPR Classical / McKnight Grant Winner) & Friends
5pm — Martin Dosh & Friends
6:30pm — Bryce Beverlin II
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Dance Improvisation by SuperGroup