Williamsburg's Bright New Diamond National Sawdust Will Change the Way Modern Music is Made.

Via The Village Voice, written by Lindsey Rhoades:

In a new piece Terry Riley wrote for Grammy-winning experimental vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, eight voices rose and fell in polyphonic rounds of one repeated lyric: “You may not believe it, but it will happen.” Positioned amongst the angular paneled walls of National Sawdust, a brand-new Williamsburg venue wholly dedicated to contemporary classical music, the octet could have been singing the nascent space’s mantra. State of the art, but not-for-profit, National Sawdust is an ambitious undertaking, and its programs are curated and helmed by composers and musicians themselves. The idea is that it will serve as more of an incubator than simple concert hall, with the ultimate goal of ushering contemporary composers through the entire process of writing, performing, and recording specifically commissioned pieces all under one roof. Nothing quite like it exists in New York City, or anywhere else in the world, and it must be seen (and heard) to be believed indeed.

National Sawdust capped off its opening weekend with a festival honoring Riley, known for his pioneering minimalist synth works in the Sixties. Celebrating his eightieth birthday this year, Riley also composed many works for strings via his longtime association with Kronos Quartet, and his October 5 performance began with a tempestuous composition for eight cellos entitled “ArchAngels.” The three-day dedication to Riley’s varied career featured improvisations from the man himself, as well as appearances by his guitar-playing son Gyan, Matmos, John Zorn, and more across five unique performances – and a lecture. As an introduction to National Sawdust, the Terry Riley festival was certainly fitting, because no other venue would have dared to attempt such an undertaking, let alone been able to accommodate it. Now, it’s looking to give creative birth to a new generation of artists like Riley, while also celebrating other pioneers in the field.

After a recent tour, Gothamist said the interior of National Sawdust’s main performance room looked like a spaceship, but Creative Director Paola Prestini begs to differ. “Personally, I think it looks like a little diamond, the cuts of the light — that’s my perspective on it. It’s a little jewel,” she said proudly over the phone last Wednesday, just as construction crews were installing the final touches. Her description speaks more truly to its beauty and its rarity, as well as the process of change the space has undergone; as part of Williamsburg’s industrial waterfront at the turn of the century, it actually operated as a sawdust processing center, hence the name.

Redesigned by Bureau V Architects and Arup Theatrical Consultants, its acoustics are exquisite. i\Its interior is fluid, a box-within-a-box suspended on springs, wired for amplification or unplugged events, the whole room projection-mapped for audiovisual performances. In other words, it’s a modernized version of an eighteenth century chamber hall where almost anything is possible so long as someone is creative enough to come up with a concept befitting the space. “[Artists] can imagine the room in different ways,” Prestini explains, growing excited. “The seating is completely loose – for example, one artist is using the entire lower space, and the audience can only sit in the balcony. [Anyone] can play around with all these configurations.”

Performance art, modern dance, hip-hop, jazz, experimental choirs, Norwegian youth orchestras performing live re-scores, “extreme guitar” ensembles, and indie darlings Majical Cloudz all figure into October’s decidedly eccentric programming. There are artists- and curators-in-residence, but also a regular house series of one-off shows called In Situ, which serve as a kind of test-run partnership. “They’re coming in, we’re hearing them in our house space, and then deciding, 'You know, this is the perfect artist to come and develop an entire album here,'” Prestini elaborates. “What makes us unique in terms of a small organization is that we do give commissions from $2,500 to $15,000 to work with our artists in residence.”

If it seems lofty, that’s because it is, but these incredible goals are also very sincere. Prestini is also a composer, and she founded VisionIntoArt, an interdisciplinary music fostering program that has its own record label, in 1999. She has its logo tattooed on the nape of her neck; in many ways, VIA was a precursor to the work she’s doing now at National Sawdust, and likely what caught the attention of the project’s founding visionary and Vice President, Kevin Dolan. Prestini will also get the opportunity to develop her own works, and is presenting an “installation concerto” in February. 

“Because my work tends to be long-process multimedia work, it’s going to be extraordinary to have a home,” she admits. “But one of the things that’s always been part of the way I think is that you really have to help create the context in which you’re living as an artist. The beauty of the space is that it can offer artists so much. We are open 24/7. There are two shows a night. There’s an entire year of programming, and it’s entirely artist-led, curating their discoveries. I can dream forward now in a way that I didn’t have the luxury [of doing in the past], but it also is an extension of everything I’ve been working for over the past fifteen years.” 

'They’re coming in, we’re hearing them in our house space, and then deciding, "You know, this is the perfect artist to come and develop an entire album here."'

She came to National Sawdust five years ago, before a location had been found, and was “tasked with the idea of how to build an institution” that would serve emerging artists and be composer-centric, while also spearheading fundraising efforts alongside Dolan. But now that National Sawdust is open, it’s the unique programming that will keep it afloat, and Prestini turned to her extensive network of talented, taste-making cohorts to help flesh out the calendar. “It was a group that I felt could showcase the mission, the depth, and the variety, but at the same time, that I had trust in, that would support the institution though this incredible opening,” she says. “As a practicing artist, you’re constantly listening, and that’s what I’m looking for in the curators – people who are listening and discovering.”

Prestini could also be describing the neighborhood in which National Sawdust now makes its home. Williamsburg’s demographic of hip, affluent, and culturally curious residents will hopefully welcome its presence at North 6th and Wythe (and buy tickets to its performances). Though National Sawdust forges new territory, Prestini says the founders were not without inspirational blueprints. “Le Poisson Rouge and Subculture really opened the door in terms of clubs with that kind of relaxed atmosphere, where classical music and contemporary music and indie and rock and jazz and improv can live side by side in a very fluid way. So this is very much an outcome of all of these successes that we’ve had in the city,” she notes. “The thing about New York is that it’s a city of impermanence, so what you have to do is just constantly catch up. As a composer and as someone who understands how hard it is to make a career, I feel poised to just keep my ear to the ground and keep evolving.” With so much ahead for National Sawdust, their vision could be game-changing, so when Roomful of Teeth sang Terry Riley’s new composition, it felt prophetic. Believe it. It is happening.

Convention Detention

Via The Village Voice, written by Tom Robbins:

Among those Mayor Bloomberg would have "just plead guilty" to arrest charges stemming from the Republican National Convention is Alex Pincus, 28, who spent 27 hours in jail and suffered a dislocated shoulder—all while trying to get chicken soup for his ailing girlfriend.

A graduate student in architecture at Columbia University, Pincus and a friend rode their bikes over to the Second Avenue Deli at the corner of East 10th Street on Friday evening, August 27. In addition to the soup, they bought corned beef and pastrami sandwiches, latkes, and soda. As they were waiting, they saw that the block had filled with bicyclists. These, they later learned, were some of the 5,000 people who had taken part in the Critical Mass ride, pedaling through Manhattan streets shouting anti-Bush slogans. When Pincus and his pal, Isa Wipfli, 29, went to retrieve their own bikes, they found that police had cordoned off the block at both ends. Pincus approached a nearby officer. "I said, 'Hi. We're just here buying dinner. We're not involved. How do we get out of here?' " Pincus said the cop led them down the street and then called two other police officers over, and shouted, "These guys!"

Pincus and Wipfli were immediately seized. "We tried to show them the bags of food and the receipt. We said, 'Look, it's still warm.' They wouldn't listen." One officer took Wipfli's bag and looked inside. "He said, 'Mmm, sandwiches. Looks good,' " said Pincus. What Pincus was more worried about was his chronically ailing shoulder as cops pulled his arms back and placed him in plastic flex-cuffs. "I tried to tell them I can't put it in that position, that it will dislocate. Instead, they pulled my shoulder out of its socket. The pain was tremendous."

Taken to the improvised holding pens at Pier 57 on the West Side, Pincus pleaded with police to at least let him be cuffed in front to ease the pain. "I must've tried to explain to 10 different people until they finally took me to see a nurse. She didn't know what to do, so they took me to St. Vincent's Hospital." On the way there, an apologetic officer told him that under normal circumstances, Pincus would be out of jail already. "He said usually I'd be released within two, three hours. But they had decided to hold people overnight to keep them off the streets so that they'd get the message and not do it again."

On Sunday, Bloomberg insisted that there is not "one shred of evidence" that protesters were kept locked up longer than usual. But he has blocked all efforts to find out. Last week his administration boycotted a hearing of the Committee on Governmental Operations called by Deputy City Council Majority Leader Bill Perkins, who was trying to get some answers about city arrest and detention policies during the protests. Perkins has vowed to issue subpoenas to city officials to compel their appearance, but no subpoena has been issued yet. Perkins said Council Speaker Gifford Miller is personally trying to reach an agreement with the administration to have officials appear before another hearing to be held in early October.

Just how Michael Bloomberg has handled the civil-liberties issues stemming from the convention—his refusal to allow an anti-war rally in Central Park and the controversies surrounding police treatment of protesters—would seem to be a likely issue for those eager to seek his job next year. But the top contenders have been mostly silent on the issue.

Miller, who has raised $3.3 million for a potential citywide race next year, is pushing the mayor to send representatives to the next hearing, aides said. But the council speaker declined to be interviewed about his own views on the subject of how the city handled the convention arrests.

He wasn't the only one ducking the issue. Comptroller William Thompson, another would-be Democratic mayoral contender, also begged off, citing the (largely administrative) role his office plays in overseeing legal claims against the city that will arise from the arrests.

In response to Voice questions, Manhattan borough president C. Virginia Fields, another mayoral wannabe, said she was disappointed in the city's performance. "We all knew, almost a year in advance, that hundreds of thousands of protesters were coming to New York," she said. "We all made the assumption that this is what the police department and city were preparing to address—not violating civil liberties or keeping people locked up for more than 24 hours without being arraigned."

"Detaining people for over 24 hours for the equivalent of a parking ticket is way over the top," former Bronx borough president Freddy Ferrer, a likely candidate in 2005, told the Voice. "The council is appropriately holding hearings, and the administration should appropriately answer questions. [Police commissioner] Ray Kelly is a good guy, but that doesn't give him immunity from answering in public."

Actually, as Perkins and several witnesses at the hearing pointed out, it's not that the mayor and Kelly aren't talking about the convention arrests; they're just picking their spots.

The two men authored a joint New York Post op-ed piece on September 10 hailing their own performance as a success, and insisting that Pier 57—where protesters said they were forced to lie down on oil-coated, rash-producing floors—"was run in a humane fashion and was well-equipped." Delays in processing arrestees had occurred, they wrote, "but not before nearly 1,200 protesters decided to break the law" on August 31 during a day of multiple demonstrations. Because of that upswell, "it shouldn't come as a surprise that waiting time [for release] may exceed the norm."

At the hearing, however, lawyers from the New York Civil Liberties Union produced a videotape of one mass arrest indicating that many of those jailed that day had not actually participated in civil disobedience. The tape showed police officials arresting more than 100 people who were peacefully walking near ground zero, heeding police orders to not block the sidewalk.

Kelly also told New York magazine's Robert Kolker that the Friday night arrests at which Pincus and his friend were picked up were part of a purposeful get-tough strategy. "Kelly admits now that he was sending a message," Kolker wrote. " 'It was clear,' [Kelly] says, 'that if they succeeded on Friday night, you were going to see a lot more of this when the convention kicked in.' "

If that was the direction that top police commanders issued to their troops, then it's little wonder that soup-and-sandwich-buying bystanders like Pincus and Wipfli got swept up in the nets. Last Friday, Pincus, wearing a suit and tie, showed up in Manhattan criminal court, where he pled not guilty to two counts of disorderly conduct and one count of parading without a permit, all violations punishable by up to 15 days in jail.

"I think Bloomberg and Kelly thought there would be a lot of praise for keeping the city quiet," said civil liberties lawyer Norman Siegel, who, along with Earl Ward, represented Pincus. "They'd floated the idea there was going to be all this violence, and they kept saying, 'We're prepared. Citizens can go about their business.' Well, what about this citizen?"