Show Preview: the Waco Girls Play "Vexations"

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]