Pearlann Porter and The Pillow Project are casting their artistic net further afoot. When they decided to play with time for the next installment of Second Saturdays on September 12, resident percussionist PJ Roduta immediately came up with the idea of teaming with Bill Burke, Maryland resident who performs with uncommon “tappistry” on the 8-string Warr guitar.
His sounds on YouTube (see below) are delicious, spawning a need for more information. Burke was a talented, if more common bass guitarist on the usual 4- or 6-string. In the market for something new, he settled on the Warr, which can also be found in variations up to and including 14 strings.
“The technique was basically the same,” he comments over the phone, with a voice as ethereally cool as his music on the guitar. “I had been doing tap techniques for years and I could keep the scale patterns the same for both the left and right hands.”
The Warr gives the musician two-handed independence, much like a keyboard with strings — no picking usually needed. The left hand provides the bass, while the right hand fills in the upper melodies and/or harmonic stylings, which Burke draws from the classical and jazz repertoires.
Now — about this “time” thing.
The Pillowers are calling this performance “Time Capture,” an evening of “speeding up, stretching out and reversing time through movement, photography and sound.” Porter promises “moving installations,” with time-lapse video, where onlookers can see shadows of where the performers have been and an environmental installation featuring alarm clocks that the company has been collecting for a year.
Porter sees “the idea of time and memory and reality intertwined” in a philosophical, if not scientific sense. She compares it to the pages of a book which are read one at a time moving forward. But the book itself still exists.
Porter also plans to tackle the idea of past, where technology like photos and videos can help us remember, but don’t allow us to physically return. “Where are our memories occurring?” she ponders.
Burke, on the other hand, will take a more linear approach in playing with modal concepts over a fluctuating drone bass, much like that found in Hindustani music. “It’s my first time in this [dance] format,” he explains. “We’ll be feeding off one another.”
“Time Capture” will be performed at The Space Upstairs from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. The performance will evolve, with Bill Burke and musicians in the middle portion and the silent segment (bring your iPods and mp3 players) beginning at 10 p.m. Suggested donation: $5; visit The Pillow Project on Facebook for more information. Bill Burke will be back in Pittsburgh on Sept. 19 at Your Inner Vagabond coffeehouse and world lounge on Butler Street in Lawrenceville. Call 412-683-1623 for more information.
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