Show Preview: the Waco Girls Play "Vexations"

the Waco Girls Play \"Vexations\"
Friday, October 16
Salvage Vanguard Theater (2803 Manor Road)
Free, 10pm
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Sometimes, it's just another Friday night, and sometimes, it's an opportunity to hear a local noise band perform an incredibly long piece of music accompanied by a reading that involves the names of thousands of metal band. Kicking off at 10 p.m. tonight, the Waco Girls will be performing Erik Satie's 24-hour composition, "Vexations" while a crew of folks reads aloud from Dan Nelson's All Known Metal Bands.

Although "Vexations" is undated, music historians usually date the composition to 1893. Written in bizarre notation, it's only a page long but includes advice on how to prepare to play the theme 840 times in succession. The advice has led to a general consensus that the piece is meant to be played 840 times in succession. As the Waco Girls are soldiering through "Vexations" giving what they've described as a "heavy metal reading" of the eccentric bit of music, performers will read from All Known Metal Bands, a book which claims to contain the names of every documented metal band.

This extra special event is a collaboration brought to life by Gnap! Theater Projects and the Church of the Friendly Ghost. Although the show will kick off at 10 p.m., it will be continuing for quite some time. Pop by into the wee hours of the morning and partake of the mayhem. The performance is free to observe, but donations made will be passed along to the SIMS Foundation and the Austin Bat Cave. Whether or not the event will inadvertently or intentionally summons the devil, provoke the dead, or otherwise wreak havoc is unknown.

the Waco Girls [MySpace]

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By Carly Kocurek in Arts & Entertainment on October 16, 2009 12:38 PM 0 Comments

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seth

the Waco Girls will be performing Erik Satie's 24-hour composition, "Vexations" while a crew of folks reads aloud from Dan Nelson's All Known Metal Bands.

So I showed up at 9:30 Saturday to catch the finale. Nothing. They were gone. Someone from an improv comedy troup told me they bailed at 17 hours. He said the last band name was 'ZZ Bottom.'

Seth

seth

Cool event. In the main theater, they had another band playing, Black Coffins, I think, and later screened evil dead 2 on a projection screen.

Two hours into the performance of Vexations, they were on Artemus Pyle. They had been on Apostle when I arrived.

Here's a photo.

Seth