June Lounge highlights bonus reel:

1) Here's the theme tune to the famous British detective drama 'Morse' (which is the name of the lead character) that was mentioned during the Lounge; it's set in Oxford and the theme music opens with Morse code for 'M.O.R.S.E'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u20sVtCxf_8


2) And Chantel's sweet funky mix
She writes "I will warn you, this playlist induces chillaxing, so please listen responsibly. Enjoy!"

https://open.spotify.com/user/121788184/playlist/5lVO9rlMCVTY9Cx7e6TtKM?si=ZgoYbFmvQLOKo0DiifmiZg

4 things below:
1) Join us for a Sound Scene Planning meeting

Wednesday 6/13 (tomorrow) in "Lamont Park" across from Don Juan’s Restaurant in Mount Pleasant. (17th and Lamont St NW). 7:30pm-9pm
Please RSVP. Questions? text Jocelyn 

2) And save the date! Sound Scene July 7th and 8th at the Smithsonian Hirshhorn! Full list of audio artists (from DC, Spain, Germany, India and more!), live performances and free workshops is here and here!

2b) Please volunteer at Sound Scene! You could lead a mini listening lounge! (No notes required). Please sign up to help out (you can choose a short shift)

3) Highlights from yesterday’s June Listening Lounge (courtesy of Rene):Jocelyn observed that Rene had a notepad and pen. This resulted in the end of Rene’s two year run of shirking note-taking responsibilities. 

Teague suggested the ice-breaker, Favorite Strangely instrumented song. 

Teague led off recalling a song by Mexican Rock Band, “Zurdock”, that made effective use of a Kazoo. 

Rene’s favorite use of a strange instrument is featured by the steampunk robot group “Steam Powered Giraffe”. They use a melodica to pleasing effect in “Clockwork Vaudeville”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eH2i26Uegw

Chantelle Described a piece from an Icelandic Music Festival in which the artist recorded heartbeats of participants and mixed it at the end of the festival. 

Camilla recalled the theme from “Inspector Morse”, in which Morse Code is used in the music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u20sVtCxf_8

Abby mentioned that there is now a type of ham radio license that does not require proficiency in Morse Code. 

Daniella recalled a version of Johnny Cash, “Sunday Morning Coming Down” that used silverware in the mix. 

Abby recalled a song by Dakhabrakha that utilized a playhouse roof.

Jocelyn recalled a piece David Schulman played for a previous lounge. He
started with field recordings of live roosters and accompanied them on his violin. 

Dave discussed a piece in which someone created music that was designed in tempo and pitch to be enjoyed by various animals. “Monkey Music” was successful. https://www.wired.com/2009/09/monkeymusic/ (On a side note, my dog doesn’t love the Monkey Music) 

David (No relation to Dave above) recalled a concert of Japanese Rock Group “Acid Mothers Temple”. One member of the group seemed to only be gesticulating and smoking cigarettes and drinking beer. He later bought the album and read the liner notes to learn that she was credited as playing “beer and cigarettes”. 

Meg(h)an said something very interesting and Rene forgot to take note of it. 

Lizzie recalled a piece by Breakmaster Cylinder that utilized spinning plates and dropping water. 
 
Abby shared first. She has been working on the “Howling Dome”. One or more participants express grief through vocalization. Roughly inspired by an episode of Invisibilia: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/06/01/529876861/an-anthropologist-discovers-the-terrible-emotion-locked-in-a-word There is an indigenous word “Leggett” which captures the feeling.

Abby shared audio from a group of co-workers in the Howling Dome. She said she is trying to capture the sound of “Humanity searching for the key of grief”. 

Camilla was reminded of 5Rhythms dance. Chantelle mentioned Ecstatic Dance on the theme of cathartic expression through vocalization and movement. 
 
Jocelyn shared clips recorded from local radio during a recent trip to Alaska. One was a remarkably well produced commercial for a local feed store, and one station ID in which all the many (radio) stations linked were listed by the host. 

Teague was reminded of his one-hour as a fill-in host for a local station in Alaska. When he played a Johnny Cash track he got three phone calls right away. Apparently, everyone loves Johnny Cash. 

David and Abby suggested “Sublime Frequencies” to listen to broadcasts from around the world. Abby also noted that ham radio broadcasts can be heard on Spotify. 

Chantelle shared a song from her rainy-day funk mix. When this is on, you don’t have to leave the house. “Didn’t I” by Darondo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZqQT5904_U

David and Dave discussed the label “Numero” and the groups “Eccentric Soul” and the “Universal Togetherness band” 

Daniella shared a piece she produced which was featured on “The Splendid Table” She reported on seeds being shipped to Puerto Rico as a facet of the recovery. Her piece closes the episode: https://www.splendidtable.org/episode/655

Chantelle shared her experience of waiting for news from her family in the Caribbean during the storm. This led to discussion of how people react in time of disaster. 

Abby had insight into the aesthetic difference between podcasts and broadcast radio. Discussion turned to techniques for tracking. Lizzie and
David pointed to this episode of How Sound: https://transom.org/2018/dont-write-tell/

Camilla has coached journalists to track for audio and video and notes that, “Print journalists really know their beat.” So if you can get them to tell what they know the result are good. 

Rene asked the group for examples of silence used in music or storytelling. 

Abby pointed to her piece from 2012 ShortDocs Challenge: https://www.thirdcoastfestival.org/feature/glass-not-glitter
She also mentioned a piece regarding snail sex. Having come full circle from “Monkey Music” the evening was almost complete. 

Lizzie was reminded of a frog she met during an apocalyptic rain storm at a recent wedding. She had been recording a story booth. But the when the rain hit, the water rose so quickly that some people lost their shoes forever. Lizzie took refuge in a barn with her gear. She was joined by a frog who had been alarmed by the storm. Much like the final scene in Titanic, she was able to save her gear by placing it on an old door. Luckily the only casualties of this disaster were the shoes. And more importantly, she got the tape. The frog said softly, “rrrribt.”


4) Community Audio Events
Soul Tent June 13 and 20th @ BloomBars
a space for shared listening and creating art from our lived experiences of economic hardship and other struggles. In collaboration with the Poor People's Campaign, BloomBars is proud to host a series of art-making workshops on connection, liberation and radical community. Led by actor/activist/organizer Anu Yadav and singer/songwriter/activist/organizer Courtney Dowe.

Wednesday(s) June 13 & 20, 6:30-8:30pm @ BloomBars
Donation $10 (no one turned away for lack of funds)
This series is inspired by 1968 Poor People’s Campaign led by Dr. Martin Luther King, where thousands of poor people across colorlines protested poverty, forming a "Resurrection City "40-day encampment on the National Mall. The original “Soul Tent,” also called the "Many Races Soul Center," was a site of cultural exchange at Resurrection City to celebrate shared experiences of struggle through arts and cultural expression. This summer marks the 50th Anniversary of the original campaign and the launch of the new Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival co-chaired by Rev. Liz Theoharis and Rev. William Barber.

Anu Yadav 
Anu Yadav is an actress, playwright and theater-based educator dedicated to art and social justice. She wrote and performed the solo plays Meena's Dream and 'Capers, co-founded the storytelling project Classlines and recently wrote The Princess and the Pauper, a feminist adaptation of the Mark Twain tale produced by Imagination Stage. She is DC Public Library's first Artist-in-Residence as part of the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Poor People's Campaign. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and holds an M.F.A. in Performance from University of Maryland, College Park. She was recently named a “Person to Watch” in American Theatre Magazine. She is a 2018 DC Artist Fellow and a proud member of Actor's Equity Association, the Dramatist's Guild, Alternate ROOTS, Network of Ensemble Theaters and the new Poor People's Campaign.

Courtney Dowe 
Growing up with a musically gifted mother, Courtney Dowe began writing songs from a very early age. She does not think of her relationship to music as a career as much as a calling. Guided by the philosophy that music should be accessible to as many people as possible and in as many ways as possible she has performed in places as humble as subway stations and as legendary as The Filmore in San Francisco. Her interest in human rights has inspired "protest songs" ranging from the subject of police brutality in the United States to the persecution of Falun Gong by the Communist Regime in China. In recent years, she has felt called to repair her relationship with the Earth and hopes to support as many others as possible to do the same.

Check it out!
Sound Scene: Mapping Memory 
​registration is here, free!

Sound Scene: Mapping Memory is a FREE and INTERACTIVE audio art installation for all ages, presented by the DC Listening Lounge.
Come rest in a dream tent, hold sound in your hands and listen through your fingertips and build your own wind chime. Take a guided audio architectural tour, practice mixing samples into a live DJ set, and transform words from speech, to text, to dance.
Now in it's 11th year, Sound Scene will feature sonic surprises and thought provoking listening opportunities produced by DC-based artists as well as works from artists from Spain, India, Armenia, Germany, New York, Michigan and elsewhere.

Live performances from Layne Garrett, David Schulman, members of the National Symphony Orchestra and dance ensemble, Errant Movement. A full schedule of live performances is available online and on location.

Small group workshops (all first come, first served) will include:
Deep Listening: A guided sonic meditation inspired by Pauline Oliveros.
Perform the Building: An architectural listening walk with international guest artist Sam Auinger.
Sample DJ : A demo and hands-on opportunity to sample and construct your own tunes, with Sonia Herrero.
Your DC Oral History: Enrich the cultural heritage of our city by contributing a story of your own or an interview of a neighbor or friend. Audio links available after the event.
Hand Games Project: Join OnRaé LaTeal from the Hirshhorn ArtLab for an interactive audio workshop where participants remember childhood hand games and remix the sounds and stories into hip-hop songs. Girls and women-identified participants of all ages welcome. 
Mini Listening Lounge: Grab a seat and join members of the DC Listening Lounge audio collective for a faciliated listening session of diverse audio, including: found sound, original music, oral history, video sound and narrative. Feel free to bring a sound to share.

*Curated and produced by the DC Listening Lounge and the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden with support from the Goethe-Institut Washington, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Below are highlights from the May Listening Lounge

AND

4) Call for Volunteers:
We'd love to have your help at Sound Scene: Mapping Memory July 7+8.  Do you want to introduce a small group of visitors to the joys of listening? Love giving directions to people who are lost? Want to  play with small children as they turn chaos into art? Interested in recording oral histories?
Please check out this short form.


Thanks to Lynn for hosting the listening lounge in May and thanks to Faith for making notes!
DC Listening Lounge, May 17, 2018: Highlights!
Icebreaker question: Jukebox from Hell: Your Favorite Bad Song

• Rene: Been at LL a couple of years, song is Candy Girl by The Archies – it’s kind of ridiculous.
  
• David: Just moved to DC, met Jocelyn at Panoply. Song is Funky Town by Lips Inc. Fond memories of listening at the roller rink. “Genuinely horrible,” says David.
  
• Anne: Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves. “A great song!”
  
• Ken: “That’s an easy one! Hotel California by The Eagles.” Listened to it while lying in a hospital bed, recovering from surgery.
  
• Nathan: Been coming in and out for the past two years. DO--The Last in Line He urges us to all watch the music video for this
  
• Bond: Been going to DCLL meetings for two and a half to three years. Song is Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire. Works for Serious XM, and they have a Billy Joel channel that plays 30 straight days of Billy Joel. It’s “Still super catchy...I’ll defend Billy Joel.”
  
• Brandon: Lucas Nelson song with Lady Gaga--Find Yourself. Heard it in concert and realized it’s actually pretty bad.
  
• Lynn: “I am such a music ignoramus” – Muskrat Love by Captain & Tenille. Just started coming to DCLL; WERA producer
  
• Bishop: Just moved here from Colorado, been once before. I’ll Make Love to You -- Boys to Men
  

Sounds to Share:

Bishop: The podcast 20,000 Hertz has tracked the rhythm of voices in a podcast.
Brain picks up on the rhythm of our speech. A guy on Youtube David Dockery drums to the syllables of the characters in movies.

[Listened to a clip of that] You can hear the rhythm of their speech!

Rene compares to Phonics Monkey from South Park.

Lynn listened to a pocket podcast from Third Coast and someone was doing something on generative sound – did project in Australia working with road noise, then matching it to chords and creating music generated by the traffic. When he took the traffic noise out it was amazing music, and then when you add it back in you can still hear the song.

Diana Deutsch does research into music hidden in dialogue. Take any line of dialogue and if you repeat it enough you’ll start hearing rhythm/music in it.

Ken notes that sometimes he hears a British rhythm in American speakers

Song Road in CA – rumble strips make road sing like jingle bells when you ride across it

Lynn: Piece from her show, “Choose to Be Curious” Summer has its own soundscape. Sounds from Adirondacks—even caught sound of mosquito! You realize when you pay attention that every place has it sounds.

Bernie Kraus – records soundscapes, thinking that animals communicate with sound and if humans encroach on that, it’ll interfere. Documents those soundscapes dimming, dying out.

Others share sound memories: sounds of ship’s bell equated with summer; alarm clock that said “Charge!” – and then hearing it at a baseball game

Brandon: Recording from his work, when they had of a lecture for Shakespeare’s birthday on his virtues. Between parts of lecture, two spoken performances of Shakespeare and one song based on a Shakespeare sonnet

Lynn notes that she started hearing percussion in it!

Bond: Scott Hutchins, lead singer of band “Frightened Rabbit” recently went missing and then was found dead, so we listened to his song “An Otherwise Disappointing Life” in tribute. “He really wore his heart on his sleeve,” says Bond.

Nathan: Played song called “Flora” by Japanese artist named Hiroshi Yoshimura (?), an artist and musician who did “environmental music” that was meant to complement and fill the space wherever it was played. First album in 1982.

Talked about how it has a synthetic kind of quality that sounds like old video games and makes it sound dated, like music in David Lynch movies. Discussion of old forms of music...will we talk in future about how CDs sounded the best?

Ken: From north of England, his accent sounds different than some of his family members—disappearing accents and cultures. His is a working class Northern accent. Working classes often make humor of things, Ken notes—plays recording from a comedian (name?) “Pork Pies at the Crem” (short for crematorium)

Notes that this way of speaking is actually closer to Old English

Lynn notes she lived as a child outside of Boston when she was learning to read, so she’d read with a hard Boston accent—but not for speaking!

Disappearance of accents ties back to disappearance of natural soundscapes

Beatles had this Northern English accent! Ann noted Hard Days Night holds up well.

Rene: recorded song from Tyco drum group at Tacoma Park PorchFest

Faith: played clip of interview with her mother, about her (mother’s) mother

Other/Announcements:

• Yanny/Laurel – what’s the science behind what we hear? New York Times has app
  
• SoundScene is coming July 7-8 at Hirschorn; volunteers needed. There will be “mini lounges” and guided listening.
  
• Rene will have a segment he shared at an earlier DCLL (interview with his mom on prompt “tell me about your first best friend”) aired on Choose to be Curious May 30, 10am WERA 96.7FM (streaming at wera.fm)
  
• Ann recommends the David Bowie Is exhibit in NYC
  
• NEXT MEETING – June 11th