Results tagged “churchofthefriendlyghost”

This Saturday evening the Church of the Friendly Ghost is presenting three experimental musicians performing solo sets and then working in tandem. Brent Fariss, Nick Hennies and Rick Reed have long histories working within an alternative musical framework here in Austin, but this concert will be the rare opportunity to see the three working together under the name Knob Jobs.

This Sunday at the Salvage Vanguard Theater, The Church of the Friendly Ghost is kicking off their inaugural "Lady Friends" concert, the first of four events to showcase dynamic and fresh female voices in the Austin music scene.

We'd also like to give you the chance to win tickets to the Church of the Friendly Ghost sponsored Fusebox event, entitled Modern Aural Sculpture Symposium South, or M.A.S.S.S for short. This two day symposium begins tomorrow, and features two lectures per day. All of the presentations will take place at the Acton business school on Riverside.

Dear Austin fans of jazz, please don't sleep on this performance by Burton Greene and Perry Robinson. The organizers at the Church of the Friendly Ghost are tickled pink about this performance, which should tell you something: "Since 2003, in the course of organizing over 400 performances, this date with Burton Greene and Perry Robinson stands out as one of the most highly anticipated within our organization as well as the close community of musicians and great lovers of new music that we have become friends with over the years."

The Church of the Friendly Ghost is planning a special performance at The Compound this Wednesday, featuring eclectic performer Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu performing solo.

Who are The Visitations, and why might you care? If you've got any stock in the southern pop renaissance of Elephant Six, you probably will.

Erring on the experimental this evening, The Church of the Friendly Ghost has put together a quite remarkable lineup of experimental artists that range from noise lovers to the more traditionally psychedelic.

Today, we're picking Aaron Mace's brain. Mace has taken up the Church of the Friendly Ghost torch at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre, continuing the tradition of providing space and support for some of Austin's most avant and experimental groups. Earlier this year, Pastiche columnist Adam Schragin interviewed Mace, and you can keep up with the COTFG through their email list. We recommend it: no active listener should ever stop taking the time to hear things that are new and challenging. We're so proud of Mace and his tireless contributions to the local scene, we just had to hear what he was listening to this year. He noted earlier this week, "One major common thread is that 4 of 5 here are what i consider "in miniature." That is to say collections of short songs that are perfectly short due to artistic refinement and ex-positive nature, and also short compared to other recordings typical of the genre." Sounds good to us, Aaron.

Tonight at the Salvage Vanguard, the Church of the Friendly Ghost is hosting Eugene Chadbourne, an artist whose thirty-plus years of making music have swooped across blues, jazz, rock, and especially jazz.

With 2008 slowly winding down, The Church of the Friendly Ghost is wasting no time at all. The spirited (heh) organization has five shows planned for the remainder of the year, and arguably the most exciting is happening tonight, bringing together three acts from the far ends of the experimental, folk, and punk canons.

With the ravaging of our coasts by hurricanes and the continued downturn of world markets, it’s not uncommon to momentarily forget that we’re also in big trouble overseas, especially in regard to the un-winnable quagmire we call the War in Iraq. Local jazz musician Alex Coke first put aired his thoughts on the war and the act of terrorism that supposedly provoked it back in 2005, and called it Iraqnophobia. Some three years later we’re still as entrenched as ever, and Coke is joining with the Creative Opportunity Orchestra to perform this piece today at the Salvage Vanguard Theater as part of the Church of the Friendly Ghost’s ongoing concert series.

Undoubtedly, the oddness of The Church of the Friendly Ghost is what caught my attention first. You’ve got that amazing name, for one thing, and it’s hard to beat seeing a show in a converted tiny chapel out on the southeast side. Over the years, the Church put on a multitude of fantastic performances, but what made the events so special was undoubtedly the community, a term that feels “It Takes a Village” trite but which nonetheless was a big part of what made the Church shows so unique. Many shows were potlucks, all were B.Y.O.B., and the atmosphere was much warmer and inviting than any club, at least. And the music – where else could a person see an acoustic evening featuring Carolyn Berk of Lovers and the super-solitary Josh Pearson of Lift to Experience one night, and then witness a local group of jazz musicians running through John Zorn’s game-piece Cobra on another?

Editor’s note: Pastiche is a bi-weekly column exploring the diversity within the Austin music community. The views expressed in Pastiche are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the outlook or beliefs of anyone else in the IST network.

Fans of jazz and improvisational music will not want to miss a performance and album release event courtesy of flutist and reeds player Alex Coke, his associates at The Creative Opportunity Orchestra, and of course The Church of the Friendly Ghost.

Photos courtesy Nari

Come on out tonight to see what may be the biggest, most interesting event the Church of the Friendly Ghost has hosted at their year-long residency at The Salvage Vanguard Theater. While the Tuesday night events the Church has held so far have ranged from completely offbeat to downright accessible and everywhere in-between, tonight’s act is really special in that in should bridge both those worlds in an exciting, active, and large-scale way.

Last week saw The Church of the Friendly Ghost’s weekly residency at The Salvage Vanguard Theater flirting with more accessible, poppy sounds, but today their craziest inclinations are out in full force, with a dollop of drone and a side heaping of experimental jazz.

While it’s an established fact that The Church of the Friendly Ghost can be relied upon for the unusual, the unabashed, and the extreme – everything from noise bands to crazy projectionists to avant-jazz trios have showed up on the Salvage Vanguard’s stage these last few months – sometimes they like to surprise by pulling a sharp turn right into accessibility, charm and simplicity. And that’s what we can expect for Tuesday night’s show, four bands who stray from the beaten path enough to keep you interested but who are also mostly avant-garde tomfoolery-free.

In Austin, we’ve got so much weird that it needs in-depth classification. For example, you’ve got the guy-inexplicably-dressed-as-a-panda type of weird, and the guy-inexplicably-vomiting-blue-stuff-all-over-the-bus weird. We’ve got happy weird and sick/sad weird, epic weirdness and little sprigs of weird popping up all over the place. And musically, we have everything from the honestly odd Daniel Johnston to the bad-strange of Blue October – from the massive drum circle-cum-circle jerk held during Eeyore’s birthday to the more underground but even more visceral strangeness held each week by The Church of the Friendly Ghost at The Salvage Vanguard Theater.

It’s a weird weird weird weird weird weird world, and The Weird Weeds are emblematic of our times. Our favorite avant-garde local pop band gets quite a few mentions on this site, and here’s why: the band are simultaneously challenging and odd while remaining irrepressibly goofy and even a little cute and cuddle-able. The same can be said for very few experimental rock bands out there, save for Weird Weeds stage-sharers Xiu Xiu – and even they traipse on the “creepy” side a little too often for many of us.

Here at Austinist, we're always looking for compelling (read: freaky-deaky) events to attend. In addition, one of our raison d'etres is making sure that, you, our readers get a heads-up so you can meet us out. One of the best things about this city is the bountiful selection of artists and their intangible wares, so we've got a humdinger for you that's going on tomorrow night.

Whoa, that Church of the Friendly Ghost is getting crazy ambitious for April. They've booked four shows already, and have two more in the works. Sure, that’s nothing for your average nu-metal dive, but the Church is different, you know, with each show they put on infused with some odd, unique flavor. And speaking of flavor, their performances are now extra-delicious. Yes - these performances at the Salvage Vanguard Theater will all be catered by Ararat, who serve up some pretty damn delectable Mediterranean food. Call it added incentive to hear some new music. To top it all off, Miss Lori 16MM will compliment the food, drinks, and sound with visuals including slides and film projections.

Our barely-frigid winter is turning tail and running, with nary an “ice storm” or onslaught of freezing rain thrown at us all season. Though spring in Austin doesn’t mean the slow rebirth of nature like it does up north, March still brings good tidings like SXSW, the promise of sunny and beautiful days - not to mention a new season of concerts, shows, and all that jazz. Always on the ball, The Church of the Friendly Ghost is here to welcome March with a show on the 1st featuring a three-part show from notable local and far-off acts.

Arson may have damaged the studio that housed 91.7’s KOOP Radio, but they, and the Austin community at large, will be damned if they let the station go without a fight. Another benefit is happening this Saturday, presented by Church of the Friendly Ghost and Commercial Suicide, and taking the shape of Rick Reed’s 6th installment of the Toneburst series. Begun about two years ago, Toneburst is billed as “new and unusual experimental music from Austin and beyond...” and this will be its first show in The Salvage Vanguard Theater.

Unlike San Antonio, Austin has so many more opportunities for musicians to play in actual venues attended by actual attendees, so at first glance the need for more private, unique places for bands to play seemed to be less of a necessity. But the deeper a person burrowed, the more they could uncover – with The Church of the Friendly Ghost, out on Pedernales street, standing in as the most odd and accommodating venue for which a music geek could wish. A former site of a real, honest-to-god church whose landlord was glad to rent it out to musicians and curators of The Church of the Friendly Ghost – a step above the wacky fundamentalists who had the space before – the Church had a distinction of being a welcoming place that also catered to fringe music for those in the know.

The Church of the Friendly Ghost is only scheduling two events this month, to make room for the No Idea Fest which starts on the 14th and goes through the 16th. But quality always makes up for quantity. The first of February’s Salvage Vanguard shows plans to be a doozy, with four acts starting at 9 p.m.

The Church of the Friendly Ghost’s forte is bringing its audience a range of new sounds, and this Friday night is no exception as four Texas experimental musicians will take the stage at the Salvage Vanguard Theater paired with artist LORI 16MM, who will be projecting a film and visual installation.

The Church of the Friendly Ghost is invading the Salvage Vanguard theater on a Tuesday this week, featuring performances from the E.C.F.A. trio and Attic Ted.