tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12903599773681228262024-02-20T06:59:47.049-08:00The Sound Gallery, Motion Studio and IntermediaGregg Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16443218084687561500noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290359977368122826.post-48588290247378557892019-02-24T11:13:00.000-08:002019-02-24T11:13:32.353-08:00Formation of the Sound Gallery and Motion Studio 1965 -1966<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">In the fall of 1965, I was an aspiring 18
yr. old
jazz drummer, who was also a fledgling painter and art student.</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Having come from a family
where my mother, <b>Ferne Cairns</b>, was a
concert
soprano and my father,</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><b>Douglas
Simpson</b>, a pioneering west coast Modernist architect, my
fate
was sealed to either choose between</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">the two mediums of music and painting, or
somehow juggle both of them at
the same time. To me this was something</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">
akin to choosing between breathing and eating so I decided to try
to progress in both mediums. To that end I rented</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">a small (30’x 60’) storefront at West
4th Avenue and Bayswater in
Vancouver's
Kitsilano area.</span>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"> Earlier in the year I had made the acquaintance of jazz pianist <b>Al
Neil</b>
who I had seen play live twice in Vancouver</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">jazz venues and once on CBC television
from the <b>Cellar</b>,
a legendary club which among other claims to fame had</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">been the place that gave the ground
breaking<b> Ornette Coleman</b>
Quartet
their first concert outside of the U.S. in</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">1958. It had also featured through the
50's and 60's the groups
of <b>Charles
Mingus</b>, <b>Art Pepper</b>, <b>Harold Land</b></span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">and
many more west coast hard bop bands of that caliber. Al Neil was
usually
the house pianist for these visiting greats.</span>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Significantly the Cellar was also where future
Intermedia Director, <b>Barry
Cramer</b>,
produced plays such as <i>Krapp's Last</i></span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><i>Tape </i>and other works by the
writers of the Theatre of the Absurd. Vancouver,
it seems, has always had a tendency</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">to investigate a mixed media approach to
the arts and this has been
evident
through several decades since Al Neil</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">recorded with the beat poet, <b>Kenneth
Patchen</b>, on the Folkways label
producing a very well received album.</span><i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">In 1965, after an initial introduction to Neil
and his wife <b>at the time, Marguerite,</b>
in their small cottage wedged behind some highrise</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">apartments in the West End, a life long
relationship began. I was
brought to meet Al Neil by one of Vancouver's</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">other legendary figures of the beat era,
Curt Lang, a poet and painter
who had once been taken by fellow poet</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">the late Al Purdy to meet Malcolm Lowry
at
his Dollarton Beach house on
the North Shore, not far from the spot</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">where Neil himself landed a decade or
more later. (This has been well
documented in the recent book, <span style="font-style: italic;">At
the World's Edge, </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times; font-style: italic;">Curt Lang's Vancouver, 1937-1998</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"> by Claudia Cornwall).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">There was an immediate current of excitement as I
realized that after
abandoning
any regular career choices I</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">
might indeed be on the threshold of a unique musical enterprise with Al
and bassist <b>Richard
Anstey</b>, who I had</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">been
playing with in groups such as the New Dimension Jazz Trio and
with
Bob Buckley </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">was also playing
with Al's group at the <b>Flat Five </b>Jazz Club on West Broadway.</span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Our first musical strategy session was an eye opener. Al
was
pretty loaded the night he hauled out his little</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">electric Wurlizter piano with its fragile
reeds, half of
which
he managed to break while slipping from the piano</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">stool to the floor at least three times.
The 'score' for
the
music he was about to played me consisted of chopped up</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">music paper collaged together with
fragments from popular
magazines,
including
some 'girlie' pictures.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">
Al was playing a kind of tortured, mystical and lyrical music I could
only
describe as a cross between Bud Powell,</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Charles Ives and Debussy. I know,
however, that Al hadn’t yet heard
the work of a musician he superficially</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">resembles, the tumultuous New York
pianist, Cecil Taylor, whose music
was just beginning to be known in
Vancouver in 1965.</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">But </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">at that time,</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"> Al had already came up with his own
lyrical, yet cataclysmic,
style completely on his own.</span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Although an authentic hard bop musician, Neil worked in so many
other
influences from pioneer Dadaists like</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Kurt Schwitters, painters like Bradley
Tomlin and Mark Tobey to
the
cut-up writings of William S. Burroughs,</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">works on alchemy and
mysticism, and the fevered visions of the French
surrealist, Antonin Artaud, that a</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">multi-media kind of jazz was bound to
occur from the collaboration we
were
embarking on. on.</span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">For the first two rehersals the Al Neil Trio was actually a quartet
with
the presence of altoist Bob Buckley who</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">later went on to fame and fortune
with the rock band <span style="font-weight: bold;">Spring</span> and
later
as a producer. For some
reason or other</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">the trio of
Al on piano, Richard Anstey on bass and myself on drums
was
what emerged and by late fall we were</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">rehearsing regularly at the little store
front which eventually opened
as the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sound Gallery</span>.</span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">The Trio in 1968</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">photo by Michael de Courcy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Because I also need somewhere better to paint than the family
home,
the studio at 4th and Bayswater became a</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">multi-media operation from the beginning.
First I drew from the
model
there and continued working on a series</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">of abstract oil paintings
which reflected the influence of late
Modernist
geometric painting. The place was unheated</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">and several little electric space heaters
were employed to keep things
bearable as winter approached.</span><br />
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<b><i>Manifestations of Calm</i></b><br />
oil on canvas, 1965<br />
A work which hung in the Sound Gallery<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">As the little circle of friends who came to the studio expanded there
was
a movement started to have sessions</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">
and everyone chipped in on the rent to keep the place going. Fledgling
poet Michael Coutts was a regular,
although</span>, <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">he like many
others who participated in the period, didn't survive the
60's . Richard Anstey, who lived in the area of</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">the studio also brought in other
neighborhood buddies like drummer
Harley
McConnell, who helped me put</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">
together a drum kit for the great drummer, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Philly Joe Jones</span> then blowing
the roof
off </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Harold Land </span>over at the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Blue Horn</span>, formerly the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Flat Five</span>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">To this day I
credit my contact with
Philly
Joe (in photo below) as the major influence which formed my playing</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">style, although with the Al Neil Trio
waiting in the wings this was one
of the last times I played bebop jazz until a</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">decade or so later. But the last night of his gig, Philly Joe wanted to play piano after the last set and I got to play with him. We did Pennies From heaven at a great clip and at one point Joe turned around and gave me a look as if to say, 'keep workin' on it kid'. Here I was trying to play heavy bebop licks with one of the great drummers of all time. </span><br />
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The first recording session at the studio as it was
still referred to
was
on December 15th, 1965 and the</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Al Neil Trio played several
improvised pieces for a small
audience.
The music was nothing short of extraordinary,</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">combing snippits of melodies
like <span style="font-style: italic;">Summertime,</span> or a blues,
which appeared through
waves
of arpeggios, polychromatic chord</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">clusters, whirling dervish modal lines
and atonal passages.
We
were
still playing jazz we all thought, especially</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">in Anstey and my case as we were both
very recently influenced by the
work
of the John Coltrane Quartet and</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">of Charles Mingus. who we had seen live
together at the <b>Blue Horn</b>.</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Al liked to perplex other
musicians when they asked what all this stuff
was and he would say, “ I like to think I'm</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">still playing
jazz”! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Our last gig there was with <b>Don Thompson</b> and <b>P.J. Perry</b>
both
ex-associates of Neil from the Cellar days.</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Al came down to hear us but didn't sit
in. I think the other
musicians
knew we were up to something
different though.</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">In fact a
year or two later when Al played some of the trio tapes for
bassist/
pianist Don Thompson, now a Canadian</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">jazz icon, asked him, "Al, how do you get
those
guys to play that
way "<br />
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">This was no easy thing to explain. The
Trio had a unique
empathy
for improvisation not unlike a group like</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">the Bill Evans Trio. Although much
more frenzied, it did
have
some of the interwoven, independent
melodic lines</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">of the Evans
group . But that was when something like a tune or song
form
was involved. What was unique to this</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">group was the way it could move into
non-verbal chanting,
collaged
textures
utilizing toy instruments, tapes, records</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">or radios and still keep the feel of a
jazz trio. Noise music
mixed
with political protest was employed on one of a</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">kind pieces like <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">State of the Union</span>
where a radio speech by then
President Johnson on Viet Nam was smothered</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">in clattering textures and insane
shrieking, all recorded in a totallydarkened Sound Gallery. It was a
long way from</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">bebop.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"> By March, 1966 after a month long hiatus from Al, Richard
Anstey and myself returned from playing</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">an engagement at a Banff hotel and we
were back at the old studio
and
ready to take things up a notch. During the</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">winter I had thought of the
name <b>Sound Gallery</b> for the space and as
it seemed to be a hit with everyone, we designated</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">it as such for a series of weekend
concerts which began in March.
Advertising
was a large piece of construction paper</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">hung in the window with stenciled letters
advertising: <b>Al
Neil
and his Royal Rascals</b> represented by some</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">campy collage elements. Admission was by
donation as we had been
told we could avoid hassles with the</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">authorities that way. For a later concert
at the Kit's Theatre the group became the<b> Royal Canadians.</b>
Also around that time we started</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">to invite others into the evening
concerts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw20Vl5HcLqG_Zc_PfXUgKOxLvJoIG8fc3a1gN1F74iECMh9L1H4z_qsYwM4j3GHiXbFitRgNpnERQev9WoE4-tiga0jSBFt2uCXo3RWszUwDreA5gbPkVHlPOlcLTeE1IHN8Sc-F2hAE/s1600/Booklet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1108" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw20Vl5HcLqG_Zc_PfXUgKOxLvJoIG8fc3a1gN1F74iECMh9L1H4z_qsYwM4j3GHiXbFitRgNpnERQev9WoE4-tiga0jSBFt2uCXo3RWszUwDreA5gbPkVHlPOlcLTeE1IHN8Sc-F2hAE/s320/Booklet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">The first new
participant to arrive at the Sound Gallery was composer <b>Gerry
Walker</b> , a new music composer</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">
who worked with tape and prepared piano in the era before synthesizers.
He shared a studio four blocks
down</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">4th Ave.with film maker
<b>Sam Perry </b>who was to become the guru for
multi-media presentation in the next year,</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">the last of his life. The atmosphere in
their studio was a little like
a laboratory in a 50's sci-fi movie. It was a</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">perfect complement to our operation down
the street and a collaboration
seemed inevitable and natural.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Almost immediately the Saturday night concerts at the Sound Gallery
became
a place for poets, artists and</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">dancers to collaborate. Among those who
appeared were painter <b>Gary
Lee Nova</b> who had just shown</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">a remarkable set of hexagon shaped
paintings at the UBC Fine Arts Gallery and
would go on to collaborate with Perry</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">on the making of imagery for</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"> the light shows, a name that wasn't
being used yet
in Vancouver.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0fVY9a6WGQugythauS_2tfYYmO65cm7NKozaTa_z-NRxLg9Qu5_vX01DuAWLYN1Q2KjcIrbAIL81cCCW3WNJoaQsMyk5MUrgV6KBMUzXK1LEi-rcQWy1MXgmy2EXtcyRxkl2a3rZjh84/s1600/Gary_Lee_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="719" data-original-width="630" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0fVY9a6WGQugythauS_2tfYYmO65cm7NKozaTa_z-NRxLg9Qu5_vX01DuAWLYN1Q2KjcIrbAIL81cCCW3WNJoaQsMyk5MUrgV6KBMUzXK1LEi-rcQWy1MXgmy2EXtcyRxkl2a3rZjh84/s320/Gary_Lee_1.jpg" width="280" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">Gary
Lee Nova: </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Dreadnaught</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><small><span style="font-family: arial;">acrylic on canvas, 1966</span></small></span></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Soon after we were joined by dancer/choreographer <b>Helen Goodwin</b>
who had recently worked with New</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">York-based Jean Erdman, a pioneer
performance/ dance artist. The Sound Gallery cast was assembling and</span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">it included the Al Neil Trio's
music, Sam Perry's films and
projections,
the Helen Goodwin dancers, composer, Gerry Walker</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">and often a poet.</span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Poetry was an important medium in the 1960's and readings were given
regularly
at the Sound Gallery. One</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">notable one was by <b>Milton Acorn</b>
which was a raucous affair as
always
with the crusty writer. Also in</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">attendance were <b>bill
bissett</b>, <b>Gerry Gilbert </b>and<b>
Judith Copithorne</b>, the latter also one of Goodwin's dancers.</span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">One memorable solo piece,
involved Copithorne improvising a dance which
evoked flying to one of the Trio's</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">melancholic ballads, with Perry's
projected film of an actual flying
bird
playing over her. It was one of the best</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">pieces in the collective repetoire.
Copithorne
stayed with Goodwin for
a number of years through the Intermedia</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">period, but later preferred to work
solely as a poet, producing several
books of verse and visual poetry done in a
beautifuly fluid calligraphy. to her credit. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Two others in Goodwin's</span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">company also became noted
perfomers later, <b>Karen Jameison</b> and <b>Evelyn
Roth</b>. In addition she employed</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">other modern dancers, such as <b>Heather
MacCallum</b>, <b>Judith Schwarz, Rita Watson</b>
and <b>Joan Payne</b>.<br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcVqLmowjeEtWCImr9IFNNyBAZauBqhruXaVchVB3AfgJ6J7BKAhXTou-P8EIgejzTgSedcKBh2PjGr0nSJ3OhRacB_UBPo4RluOk9Aqo8k3vXpH85NrMtkEPmicTxuoDcSLCHZy-DFK0/s1600/IMedia_Goodwin.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="132" data-original-width="280" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcVqLmowjeEtWCImr9IFNNyBAZauBqhruXaVchVB3AfgJ6J7BKAhXTou-P8EIgejzTgSedcKBh2PjGr0nSJ3OhRacB_UBPo4RluOk9Aqo8k3vXpH85NrMtkEPmicTxuoDcSLCHZy-DFK0/s400/IMedia_Goodwin.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">The spawning ground for both Helen Goodwin, and most of the
poets,
was the University of British Columbia</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">where the remarkable English professor, <b>Warren
Tallman</b>, a
friend
of both Allen Ginsberg and Charles
Mingus</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">among others, taught
during the 1960's
and 1970's. The group of poets
who
published the periodical <b><i>TISH</i></b></span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">
including <b>Jamie Reid</b>, <b>Peter Auxier,</b> <b>Maxine Gadd</b>,
<b>Dan
MacLeod</b> and later, <b>Jim Brown</b>, all
participated</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">in the earliest
days of multi-media in
Vancouver. The poetry scene was
the most advanced and communicative of</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">any of the groups in Vancouver then.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">The University of British Columbia during the 1960s was a revolutionary
cauldron of poetry, left wing politics</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">and ground-breaking art exhibitions and
festivals. The Fine Arts
Gallery, under the direction of <b>Alvin
Balkind</b></span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">who formerly ran
the <b>New Design
Gallery </b>downtown,
the
first to show <b>Claude Breeze</b>, <b>Audrey Capel Doray</b>,</span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><b>Joy Long, Toni Onley </b>and <b>
Jack Wise</b> to a wider
audience. The
dynamic
survey exhibition, <b><i>Joy and
Celebration</i></b> </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">at The
Fine Arts Gallery in 1967 brought
together several artists
who would later work at Intermedia (below: catalogue cover image by Michael Morris for the exhibiton)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3J6SjjN_0FJo6O5AE2AMVpR5GkQ98UPmwzV9wnnK3Fb4Fd5E2__ruVmh5Db_jUTlyQiPX-aSHS-vmildqLLYaHs1DwO0uWtHlqlVXfYfI8orTjQZSHab4p9NPf3UtShr4SD1icYBYBnI/s1600/MMorris.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="300" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3J6SjjN_0FJo6O5AE2AMVpR5GkQ98UPmwzV9wnnK3Fb4Fd5E2__ruVmh5Db_jUTlyQiPX-aSHS-vmildqLLYaHs1DwO0uWtHlqlVXfYfI8orTjQZSHab4p9NPf3UtShr4SD1icYBYBnI/s320/MMorris.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">The 1965 <b>Armory Show</b> and the1967 <b>Festival of Contemporary
Arts</b>
were two other important events which</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">brought together artists, poets and
musicians from B.C. and across Canada
including such luminaries as Leonard</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Cohen and Margaret Atwood. The
experimental media experimenter and
puppeteer<b>
Dave Orcutt </b>was one of</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">the
figures who emerged from this milieu and was to be an
early
instigator of the Intermedia Society.</span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">The events at the Sound Gallery were getting increasingly popular and
by
June we realized that a larger space</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">was going to be necessary. The crowds in
the 30' by 60' store front
were making it increasingly difficult
to fit in</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">an audience
with the band, dancers and
projectionists Perry, Lee Nova and another artist
of the period, <b>Dallas Selman, </b>who,</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">along with audio/electronic innovator, <b>Ken
Ryan</b>, worked at Sam Perry's
4th Avenue studio. The problem was solved</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">when Helen Goodwin's husband, a local
realtor, came up with a
reasonably
cheap old building at</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">1236
Seymour Street on the edge of Vancouver's downtown.</span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">MOTION
STUDIO</span></h2>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibeP9z_DimPTme041i1AH_-aLFd22BSarLYH922yzKbfscqYgtRzhWzRpDwryJhMB-XG-OX_3NNDtKE343cM8Y8DJ4OdnlWVD5quvCMzHMGsPRuZ5X8YFxJX33bts6E1UxISVPm-ddwwE/s1600/ja02_sound_gallery_001_Judith_Shwartz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="764" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibeP9z_DimPTme041i1AH_-aLFd22BSarLYH922yzKbfscqYgtRzhWzRpDwryJhMB-XG-OX_3NNDtKE343cM8Y8DJ4OdnlWVD5quvCMzHMGsPRuZ5X8YFxJX33bts6E1UxISVPm-ddwwE/s400/ja02_sound_gallery_001_Judith_Shwartz.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<center>
<br />
</center>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">The ramshackle office/warehouse which was the new home of the
Sound
Gallery operation was now called</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"> <b>Motion Studio</b>, the name
reflecting an increased effort on
Goodwin's part to create a more effective
dance</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">environment in
collaboration with Sam
Perry's light show. The
name
chosen for this collaboration, WECO,</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">was a tribute to the multi-media
collective in New York,<b> USCO</b>,
whose
founder, Steve Dirkey, was a very</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">influential on Perry. The dance
troupe eventually became known as <b>TheCo</b>.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><b><br />
<br />Sam Perry</b> was a figure who
was both inspiring and perplexing,
His pioneering film and projection work was</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">ahead of its time with its multiple
layered imagery drawn largely from
from Tibetan Buddhist sources. Perry,</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">like the painter <b>Jack Wise</b>,
had
been to Nepal and met the Dalai
Lama. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Originally working in 16 mm film,</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Perry progressed to creating montages of
film loops which were
augmented
for performances with magic lantern,</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">slide carousel, and overhead
liquid projectors, anticipating the
subsequent
development of rock era light shows.</span>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">During this period the underground rock scene had been developing
rapidly
giving the WECO projectionists</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">several gigs accompanying the rock bands
at the <b>Afterthought</b>, located in the old Pender
Auditorium</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">where groups like
the <b>United Empire
Loyalists</b> held forth to
swaying
crowds of hippies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">THE TRIPS FESTIVAL</span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">The largest and best</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">attended of these early psychedellic era
events was the <b>Trips
Festival</b>,
held in the Garden Auditorium of</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">the Pacific National Exhibition grounds
near the eastern boundary of
the
city.</span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_4vfcR6B7GXGAHpA_DNA3ggRvNjr3mlmaUXgdDMtj67EnOF-4_rJHWuTt6RFjNXFsJWe5uptUDjI9zNIIj17yXz4bOtoSXHPGLhBCMrUEUAoACILu6eECku35ng1xwtRQx8UW1zMxCHk/s1600/PNE_Trips_1024x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="1024" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_4vfcR6B7GXGAHpA_DNA3ggRvNjr3mlmaUXgdDMtj67EnOF-4_rJHWuTt6RFjNXFsJWe5uptUDjI9zNIIj17yXz4bOtoSXHPGLhBCMrUEUAoACILu6eECku35ng1xwtRQx8UW1zMxCHk/s400/PNE_Trips_1024x1024.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">The <b>Trips Festival</b> was organized by <b>Linda Crane, Ken Ryan, </b>the
late <span style="font-weight: bold;">Doug Hawthorn</span>, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sam Perry</span> and</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">
a co-founder of <span style="font-weight: bold;">WECO</span>. Inside
this huge auditorium were 100 rear projection
screens for everthing from old</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Chaplin films to abstract 16mm film loops
and everything else from
liquid
overhead projectors to magic lantern</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">slides from the turn of the century.</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">The
<b>Al Neil Trio </b>opened for <b>Janis Joplin and Big Brother
and
the Holding Company</b> and other acts</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">including the <b>Grateful Dead,
Quicksilver Messenger Sevice, The Daily
Flash, </b>poet <b>Michael McClure</b></span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">and other Seattle and Bay area
acts. This was before these groups
achieved
any national prominence and were</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">
basically still underground Bay area groups. Topping everything
off
the Motion Studio played host to the already</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">legendary <b>Ken Kesey and the Merry
Pranksters</b> with their
soon-to-be
legendary bus. Vancouver was into</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">the 60's full tilt.</span>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_u32gRvFVpQczi97gGSyiD6Ee1_VkWC_VYf67vMc7y6S3DU-0GRqxTTTOfT5Z1uV4lmNQiQtlEP9mMbYKfvOUIDfyQU4yneIldh9D1JOKr4z0TpB1V9zlWZuXEKp-DTEWlOnOC9zqQ5s/s1600/Tripsfest_poster.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="722" data-original-width="509" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_u32gRvFVpQczi97gGSyiD6Ee1_VkWC_VYf67vMc7y6S3DU-0GRqxTTTOfT5Z1uV4lmNQiQtlEP9mMbYKfvOUIDfyQU4yneIldh9D1JOKr4z0TpB1V9zlWZuXEKp-DTEWlOnOC9zqQ5s/s400/Tripsfest_poster.JPG" width="281" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">In the fall of 1966 after the long hot summer of the
<b>Trips Festival</b>,
we had the space at 1236 Seymour almost</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">rennovated and ready to open. The weekend
before the official opening there
was a jam session with the</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><b>Al
Neil Trio</b> plus tenor sax
player, <b>Glenn MacDonald</b>, a
talented
musician who had worked with Neil at the</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><b>Cellar</b> in
the early 60's. In the middle of one tune, probably a
bebop
standard which is what Glenn favoured,</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">
I looked up from the drums at one point to see to my amazement a ring
of
overcoated, fedora-wearing figures</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">all about 6' 4" and very mean
looking
surrounding the bandstand. They looked like the cops in a 1940's
detective B-movie.</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br />
<br />
This was none other than the Vancouver Police Drug Squad led by the
inimitable
Abe Snedenko, who had</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">harassed
both Neil and MacDonald throughout the years. I just lowered
my head and kept playing. It turned</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">out that a certain well known
rock
promoter was stopped earlier in the
evening and when asked where he was</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">going with all the LSD, he said: "Motion
Studio" and there we were
playing
our private opening party for a</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">handful of friends. No one
actually was arrested, but some people,
anyone
faintly odd looking, were taken</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">upstairs and searched. The next
weekend, the official opening,
went smoothly and our old audiences
from</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">4th Ave. made the trek
to the new home of multi-media in Vancouver.</span> <br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">The Motion Studio itself was a rabbit warren of rooms, somewhat dimly
lit,
but generally spacious compared</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">to the 4th Ave. Sound Gallery. The
entrance room I made into a
small
gallery where I displayed the work I was</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">doing at the Vancouver School
of
Art. These were boxes hung on
the
wall with back lit mandala patterns,</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">modest hommages to the more
sophisticated electric sculptures made by
Vancouver artist<span style="font-weight: bold;">, Audrey Doray</span>.
The most popular LP
we played around the studio at the time was the Beatles <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Revolver</span>.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br />
<br />The next series of rooms were offices and shops largely devoted to
sound
and light equipment with experiments</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">going on continually under the resident
electronic experts, Ken Ryan and <b>Al
Hewitt</b>. Following through to the</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">back the visitor came upon the main
performance area which was a large
hall, about 30' x 60' with a high ceiling</span>. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Suspended from the ceiling was the famous
cage built for composer Gerry
Walker
made of L-shaped grey industrial</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">metal. It became both the control for
the sound system which was an
early
version of quadrophonic surround sound, a perfect vehicle
for</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"> Walker's tape
compositions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">The sound was manipulated around the speakers and the room via a joy
stick
similar to an airplane control stick.</span> <span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">It was reported by
Ken Ryan that this
system knocked him over when he</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">
walked
through the convergent point</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">where the sound from the four speakers
crossed during a light show at
the<b>
Kits Theatre</b> in 1967. The cage</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">looked like something from an old sci-fi
movie but was in effect a
floating command module for the tape</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">s</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">and the sound system.</span>
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFdocB4OUBxvGVR1fSd0pWo0SlD8i4E2hako6ZiL8UAz6yC1A_QOkm8g2noFPXU2WDjhgEyt3AUXCss4pLeua3KHDIaE3R5Jo6G_Ku6DmfBc4jXKLb7vRsBNwkuDLTGXSDu7QX05bGTiM/s1600/ja02_sound_gallery_67_006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFdocB4OUBxvGVR1fSd0pWo0SlD8i4E2hako6ZiL8UAz6yC1A_QOkm8g2noFPXU2WDjhgEyt3AUXCss4pLeua3KHDIaE3R5Jo6G_Ku6DmfBc4jXKLb7vRsBNwkuDLTGXSDu7QX05bGTiM/s400/ja02_sound_gallery_67_006.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"> Another innovative development from <b>WECO</b> was the 3 storied
projection
tower that was built to house the</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">array of projectors which were utilized
in the weekend
performances
by the Al Neil Trio, Gerry Walker and the</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">WECO Dancers. Contolling
the
battery of projectors on the
tower
was a keyboard made from photo cells stuck</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">in a strip of foam. When the
fingers of the 'player'
lifted
up, a rheostat brought on the
projector. A resulting</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">kaleidoscope
of projections shot forth hitting the turning mirror
strips
interspersed with strobe flashes. </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">The
effect was totally
kaleidoscopic.</span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">The incredibly dense montage of imagery emanating from this battery
included
Sam Perry's 16mm films, many</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">with
imagery suggesting Tantric or Hindu deities, old campy magic
lantern slides, Himalayan mountain
footage,</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">all tied together
by the liquid
projections and film loops. Sam Perry's
films have mostly been lost or are</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">otherwise untraceable, although there is
some footage shown at the Trips
Festival which has been preserved by film
maker<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Stan Fox</span>.</span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Two other special effects were debuted that fall, one being the first
strobe
light in Vancouver. One of the first</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">experiments involved WECO associate <span style="font-weight: bold;">Gordon Bell</span> with red,
flowing beard and shoulder length hair
performing with a skipping</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">rope
under a fast strobe. It was
definitely hallucinatory but in
an innocent and experimental way sense. Then there</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">were the lengths of mirror hung by
wires
from the ceiling which turned
and caught the light from the
projectors</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">spinning
fragmented shards of images around the room The
psychedelic
trance for one couple was momentarily</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">broken one evening when a length of
mirror crashed down beside them,
luckily
with no ill effects.</span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Weekend evening performances continued through the fall of 1966,
until the tragic suicide of Sam Perry which</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">ended the existence of WECO and Helen
Goodwin eventually renamed her dance
troupe <b>TheCo</b>. Aside from</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">the regular appearances of the Al Neil
Trio the only other event
involving
music was the evening given by poet</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><b>Gerry Gilbert,</b> reading from <b><i>Phone
Book, </i></b>with the
late <b>Martin
Bartlett</b>'s music for <b><i>Seven Distances</i></b>.</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">This collaboration in many
ways pre-figured the type of work which
Bartlett
and others would carry on at the</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><b>Western Front </b>seven years
later.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
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<center>
<small><big><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Formation of the Intermedia
Society</span></span></big></small></center>
<center>
<small><big><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></big></small></center>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">On one particularly great evening that fall saw a distinguished member
in the audience from the Canada Council.</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">This was <b>David Silcox </b>who was in
Vancouver to have a look at
funding a multi-media collective. The
obvious</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">success of the
Motion Studio and Sound
Gallery which consistenly
brought
out large audiences offered unqualified</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">proof of the interest in multi- media
performance. Subsequently,
several meetings were held</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">which determined the eventual creation of
Intermedia.</span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Over the next few months , after we abandoned the Motion Studio, the Al
Neil
Trio, which had launched the original</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Sound Gallery evenings and steadily drew
in the crowds, continued to
rehearse
and perform locally, notably at</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">
Simon Fraser University and the University of B.C. Likewise Helen
Goodwin’s
THECO dancers kept together</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">and
perfected their particular approach. Visual artists like
Gary Lee Nova and Dallas Selman who had worked</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">with Sam Perry forged ahead
with new paintings and sculptural projects
which would come to full fruition in 1968</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">and 1969 with the <b><i>Intermedia
Nights </i></b>at
the Vancouver Art
Gallery.</span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">There was a feeling of expectancy in the air as if we hadn't quite seen
the total fulfillment of the promise of</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">
multi-media. When many of the artists from the Sound Gallery and Motion
Studio attended a meeting in early</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">1967 at the building at 575 Beatty Street
we were now looking at a
co-operative
venture with more secure</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">underwriting
than we had previously. Personally I have always
felt
that perhaps the original, experimental energy</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">was going to suffer under an
institutional format, yet there wasn't
much
choice except to participate in the new</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">venture rather than lose a connection to
something we had helped to start.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Two groups had been meeting to help create the entity which became the
Intermedia Society. One was centred</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">around <b>Victor and Audrey Doray</b> 's
circle which contained one of Sam Perry's colleagues, <b>David
Orcutt</b>,</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">a pioneer in
holistic theatre and
puppetry. A second set of
meetings
at <b>Jack and Doris Shadbolt</b>'s were held</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">which also involved UBC's <span style="font-weight: bold;">Archie MacKinnon</span>. Board members
at
various
times also included architects</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><b>Arthur Erickson, Archie MacKinnon </b>and<b>
Bruno Freschi</b>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">The name Intermedia was arrived most likely at the suggestion of its
first
director,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>the late <b>Joseph
Kyle</b>. Kyle, also</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">
an accomplished hard-edge abstract painter, was then a devoted
follower
of Canadian media guru, Marshall</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">McLuhan. The promise of an new erawhere
artists would combine art with
technology was being made and the</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">multi-media performers of the Motion
Studio working with the most
advanced visual artists in Vancouver at the</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">time were the logical ones to
carry out the program.</span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">With painter <b>Jack Shadbolt</b> as the head of the Board, the
Intermedia
Society was formally constituted and</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">dedicated to forging new links between
art and technology. Canada
Council support became available and</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">the four story building on
Beatty
Street, Intermedia's first home
was leased. It was another rambling, but more</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">solid old building than past venues, with
plenty of room for studios
and
rehearsal spaces including large open</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">performance areas.</span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Film editing was located on the ground floor with open spaces for
performance
on the second. The third floor</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">included the Al Neil Trio's studio and
blewointment press run by poet
and visual artist <b>bill bissett</b>.The
top</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">floor contained more
technical and
fabrication spaces including tape
recording
and editing rooms. The truly interesting thing about this interface
between art and
technology
is that, by today's standards, there was</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">hardly any technology available. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Beyond a
few cheap tape recorders, a 16mm
film editor and some other very rudimentary</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">equipment there was not a lot to build a
technological art experiment
on. What Intermedia really represented</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">was collaboration between like
minded artists and performers, just as
it
had been at the <b>Sound Gallery </b>and</span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><b>Motion Studio.</b></span>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">The year 1967 was a watershed for the future of Vancouver art. </span><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;"><a href="http://soundgalleryintermedia.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=4" target="_blank">Intermedia</a> was
about to begin.</span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Gregg Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16443218084687561500noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290359977368122826.post-81772729973766419392011-10-13T12:13:00.000-07:002019-02-25T11:40:31.130-08:00Intermedia presentation/<a href="http://www.michaeldecourcy.com/INTERMEDIATE_REVOLUTION/" target="_blank">http://www.michaeldecourcy.com/INTERMEDIATE_REVOLUTION/</a>Gregg Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16443218084687561500noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290359977368122826.post-85620698832819733782011-01-29T21:39:00.000-08:002011-01-29T22:08:13.394-08:00Intermedia 1969<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU3ZBkX0m9tF1HiXOtUUC-mEkQeZo3HAO4UfVOiZ8Qeq0nYNqvCS_TAdgeRedkOP-QT7fv_ZANZbg3bTEEqWSd2z9t8iNiZpNwHJG6co59Mp1UMoW5L8pq5QpFHEZzM24JhNcrQyCM_Pk/s1600/IMedia_neilpata.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 237px; height: 242px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU3ZBkX0m9tF1HiXOtUUC-mEkQeZo3HAO4UfVOiZ8Qeq0nYNqvCS_TAdgeRedkOP-QT7fv_ZANZbg3bTEEqWSd2z9t8iNiZpNwHJG6co59Mp1UMoW5L8pq5QpFHEZzM24JhNcrQyCM_Pk/s400/IMedia_neilpata.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567851444213036290" /></a><br /><br /><br />Al Neil: Pataphysical dance, CBC TV live at Intermedia<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />January 8: event, Intermedia Film Co-operative Marathon Benefit at the Vancouver Art Gallery produced by Al Razutis. Article: by M.J. Ruvinsky in The Province (Poster by Al Razutis)<br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPRNljeDOhaAEdmLSYzFAhLyvP7xnhJYgOV2SZiMZNhCflL0aMBGK7KRuFo2KydLh6AqOECCQOC7AXFDpT_yZzjddO_FSkzPCKgg-p59vyAHItsC0Wiv6jAdW2WZ__C3XQzGfulGvIS1I/s1600/Imedia_glennandgathieL.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 366px; height: 231px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPRNljeDOhaAEdmLSYzFAhLyvP7xnhJYgOV2SZiMZNhCflL0aMBGK7KRuFo2KydLh6AqOECCQOC7AXFDpT_yZzjddO_FSkzPCKgg-p59vyAHItsC0Wiv6jAdW2WZ__C3XQzGfulGvIS1I/s400/Imedia_glennandgathieL.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567851994426715234" /></a><br /><br /><br />Glenn Lewis and Gathie Falk, performance piece for CBC TV at Intermedia<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Event: CBC Television documentary on Intermedia included music by the Al Neil /Gregg Simpson Duo and Glenn Lewis and Gathie Falk's theatre pieces.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxYvBrLQRPFwRrbLI3w0nrn6_7gbdpCEP6fPLfrBK6896yT_qcTqasF5WLQNHYoTqHJNP-tBlZvlBRdq5easRM4W_jx9MHswRME1UTt7ebUB3JsxY99NhxL3ZQaP_GVDc8j5ginphe1Vo/s1600/IMedia_cbcgig.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 207px; height: 141px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxYvBrLQRPFwRrbLI3w0nrn6_7gbdpCEP6fPLfrBK6896yT_qcTqasF5WLQNHYoTqHJNP-tBlZvlBRdq5easRM4W_jx9MHswRME1UTt7ebUB3JsxY99NhxL3ZQaP_GVDc8j5ginphe1Vo/s400/IMedia_cbcgig.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567852497638012946" /></a><br /><br />Al Neil and Gregg Simpson, CBC TV, recording at Intermedia, Nov. 1969<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />March 14: preview of Electrical Connection, annual Intermedia exhibition and events at the Vancouver Art Gallery in The Province. Includes fibre optic installation by Tom Osborne.<br /><br />March: event, publication of Ed Varney's Openings, first book from Intermedia Press.<br /><br />Vancouver Sun interview, <span style="font-style:italic;">Intermedia Assaults the Interface</span>, Ann Finkel and Werner Aellen.<br /><br />April: event, publication of <span style="font-style:italic;">Circular Causation<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span>, edited by Jorg Heyman and Scott Lawrance.<br /><br />April 2: event, Performance Fractions For the West Coast, Yvonne Ranier<br /><br />April event, <span style="font-weight:bold;">Electrical Connection<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span>, Intermedia exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery.<br /><br />April 9: review, <span style="font-style:italic;">Electrical Connection</span>, Richard Anstey concert in The Vancouver Sun. The following are reviews of the exhibition which appeared in the Vancouver Sun:<br /><br />April 10: article, <span style="font-style:italic;">Electrical Connection</span>: Day 3 by Andreas Schroeder.<br /><br />April 11: article, <span style="font-style:italic;">Electrical Connection Day 4</span> by James Barber<br /><br />April 12: article, <span style="font-style:italic;">Electrical Connection Day 5</span> by Brian McLeod<br /><br />April 18 :article, Varney's Moving Kitchen, article by Norm Severud.<br /><br />Two reviews of <span style="font-style:italic;">Electrical Connection</span> in The Province.<br /><br />May 16: article, Summer Festival Proposal by Norm Wilson in the Vancouver Province.<br /><br />June 20: event, Intermedia Nights Film Night, Victoria Art Gallery. Included films by David Rimmer: <span style="font-style:italic;">Migration</span>; Danny Fisher: <span style="font-style:italic;">Seatta</span>; Tom Shandell: <span style="font-style:italic;">El Diablo</span>; Arnold Saba: <span style="font-style:italic;">Euphoria</span>; Peter Bryant: <span style="font-style:italic;">Felix</span>; Gordon Fidler: <span style="font-style:italic;">Phase 2</span>; Bill Fix: <span style="font-style:italic;">Underground</span>; and Al Sens: <span style="font-style:italic;">Cartoon</span>.<br /><br />June 21: Exhibition: Spaces (Sound and Light Sculpture and environmental installations) at Victoria Art Gallery included Dave Rimmer, Gregg Simpson, Bob Arnold, David Knox, Gary Lee Nova and others.<br /><br />July 19, 20 & 21: Moon Festival, at the Vancouver Planetarium, Sunset and Second Beaches. Included:Herb Gilbert-balloons, Werner Alien - moon phone and data links, Rare Boutique - banners, Tad Young - bubble machine, also featured Helen Goodwin, Dean Fogal and Chuck Rief.<br /><br />August 8: event, Trudeau Dinner, at the Seaforth Armoury. Articles by Ian Macdonald & Kay Alsop in The Vancouver Sun.<br /><br />Article: Intermedia at 4th Avenue by Charlotte Townsend in November<br /><br />Production of magazine, Radio Free Rainforest edited by Gerry Gilbert.<br />November 17 - 28: Poet-Critic '69, Concrete Poetry Show, SUB Galery, UBC included Judy Copithorne and Ed Varney.<br /><br />November 30 - December 6: <span style="font-style:italic;">Walls Graph<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span>, Glenn Lewis at the Ace Gallery,Vancouver.<br /><br />December 4: event, <span style="font-weight:bold;">Intermedia Illusions<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span>, University of Alberta SUB, including Don Druick - music,Maxine Gadd - poetry, Dave Rimmer - film, Judy Copithorne - poetry, Ed Varney – poetry/projections,Henry Rappaport – poetry, Dennis Vance - sound.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrlxkC7gslo3UrwguSAV5d3ZZyJ8YGz_bg4n4D3LErUayBO9IdIN-jySBfIDo1Dtcla_Gtafjkfvu40yM8ZYvpZpCovOEy3BM-zgUvndpsSHcp2bAa3YrY5f7THul3YouJOUCcvpXSKys/s1600/IMedia-moonfest.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 201px; height: 126px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrlxkC7gslo3UrwguSAV5d3ZZyJ8YGz_bg4n4D3LErUayBO9IdIN-jySBfIDo1Dtcla_Gtafjkfvu40yM8ZYvpZpCovOEy3BM-zgUvndpsSHcp2bAa3YrY5f7THul3YouJOUCcvpXSKys/s400/IMedia-moonfest.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567856136948952898" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">1969</span><br /><br />Herb Gilbert at the <span style="font-weight:bold;">Moon Festival<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span>, Vancouver Planetarium<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />December 5: event, <span style="font-style:italic;">Intermedia Illusions<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span>, Edmonton Art Gallery, same personnel as above.<br /><br />Event: publication of Free Media Bulletin, edited by Jeff Wall, Duane Lunden and Ian Wallace.Gregg Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16443218084687561500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290359977368122826.post-65971656031857870592011-01-29T09:59:00.000-08:002011-01-29T17:01:56.509-08:00Intermedia 19681968
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<br />Werner Allen, a film maker and former architect appointed as the Director of Intermedia. Ellie Gomber hired as the administrative secretary and remains for the duration of Intermedia's existence.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrsPgq8rLMCvLFTPZcEwn51j5khJKva6EUJPde_KGDEHE8FLIjyerUBsJ0Bfbl8mcswryvUeElqbuKMm2QabjvmKSIMlGvw_KVjddmQU6uilqeuJvfCeWLdhBwCrmYHIKZFU1t40nIOy8/s1600/IMedia_Werner.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 262px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrsPgq8rLMCvLFTPZcEwn51j5khJKva6EUJPde_KGDEHE8FLIjyerUBsJ0Bfbl8mcswryvUeElqbuKMm2QabjvmKSIMlGvw_KVjddmQU6uilqeuJvfCeWLdhBwCrmYHIKZFU1t40nIOy8/s400/IMedia_Werner.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567670512439483154" /></a>
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<br />Werner Allen, Intermedia Director 1968-70
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<br />February: event at Douglas Gallery with TheCo, including Helen Goodwin, Steve Cummings, Evelyn Roth,Gary Lee Nova, and others.
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<br />June 21: article in the Province, <span style="font-style:italic;">What John Neon Can and Cannot Do</span>.
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<br />Summer event, Intermedia Nights, Vancouver Art Gallery. Exhibition includes Prisma, a mirrored hexagonal room by Gary Lee Nova, Michael Morris, Ken Ryan and Al Hewitt. Debut of John Neon's fluorescent tube sculptures and installations.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB0Mx07_OXB6uGwGzyVoYKFuOoIxGYLmY80I0nf783b0sNltl15L8oL3ummhHVNImmHQkue1DzNVk2GopMHmbxvIP8knsUc8rbewHQdjJVRA0Ml9grjdEOjyMpkhK8N0MYNZERqz0aHsI/s1600/IMedia_neon.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 111px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB0Mx07_OXB6uGwGzyVoYKFuOoIxGYLmY80I0nf783b0sNltl15L8oL3ummhHVNImmHQkue1DzNVk2GopMHmbxvIP8knsUc8rbewHQdjJVRA0Ml9grjdEOjyMpkhK8N0MYNZERqz0aHsI/s400/IMedia_neon.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567670965906400018" /></a>
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<br />Installation by John Neon during Intermedia Nights, Vancouver Art Gallery, 1968
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<br />Events: bill bissett's Mandan Ghetto Massacre, poetry and music performance. The Al Neil /Gregg Simpson Duo: <span style="font-style:italic;">39 Wonderful Years in Show Business</span> which included John Neon's <span style="font-style:italic;">Musical Steps</span> sculpture. Also featured were James Barber-audience participation pieces and evenings by Helen Goodwin, Evelyn Roth and others.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioVHRvtsL4BW_iL2Vr37bn7Wsb54QWguvw1hlXYtWAGZmqupPYYjT7D70eZUgWw-cwnU2e26_RvsotIdyxy8gjvV2J3p2gCORvbfOiD7ToRbiEDXMN1JNxIHZ54DccsZ98ORh-nm9WW4g/s1600/IMedia_alneil-Duo.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 232px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioVHRvtsL4BW_iL2Vr37bn7Wsb54QWguvw1hlXYtWAGZmqupPYYjT7D70eZUgWw-cwnU2e26_RvsotIdyxy8gjvV2J3p2gCORvbfOiD7ToRbiEDXMN1JNxIHZ54DccsZ98ORh-nm9WW4g/s400/IMedia_alneil-Duo.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567671302425539298" /></a>
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<br />Al Neil and Gregg Simpson prepare for <span style="font-style:italic;">39 Wonderful Years in Show Business</span>
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<br />Various articles in Vancouver Sun by Joan Lowndes, Norman Wilson and James Barber.
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<br />Sept. 9: event at 575 Beatty St.: Underwater Movies included a triple screen projection by Gerry Gilbert and several short films by david w and Gregg Simpson.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiejyb-mthYj7toIAvRw4piZYiFR6aNmBL2OEIqZl9NOFoACPYbDtV5FSoti86ahg_0NSTdb-slaNi9SEj7jACyBR1N5YrliT62f7raWc70phNdeE-4bfWJJiGrt4Cf9dlZC7KAXsZmK2o/s1600/IMedia_underwater.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 276px; height: 377px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiejyb-mthYj7toIAvRw4piZYiFR6aNmBL2OEIqZl9NOFoACPYbDtV5FSoti86ahg_0NSTdb-slaNi9SEj7jACyBR1N5YrliT62f7raWc70phNdeE-4bfWJJiGrt4Cf9dlZC7KAXsZmK2o/s400/IMedia_underwater.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567671892526736818" /></a>
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<br />Poster by Gregg Simpson for Underwater Movies, Sept. 9, 1968
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">1968</span>
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<br />Featured films were: <span style="font-style:italic;">Home Movie<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span> by Gerry Gilbert; <span style="font-weight:bold;">Haitian Hiatus,Transcendent Melancholy,Tibetan Mix, Merde in the Cathedral<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span> and <span style="font-style:italic;">Charisma Cowboys<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span> by Gregg Simpson; <span style="font-weight:bold;">The White Bore, Love as in Joy, Mantra, Oregon <span style="font-style:italic;">and<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span> Francesca<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span> by david w.
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<br />October 4: review in Georgia Straight of Spectrum 68 at the Vancouver Art Gallery (included work by Ed Varney, Gregg Simpson and others)
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<br />October 5: article in Vancouver Sun, <span style="font-style:italic;">Grant Awarded</span>.
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<br />December 20: event, Radio Free Rainforest, tape loops, sound, etc. Gerry Gilbert and Dennis Vance at 575 Beatty Street.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHG2r5Ws7xUWhDSJDZjppODFSzuUq0K9z7MoYvnYAvuhWG3b0__Y7fPp_pc1uNTpsacKWf6b41aFiMjf9ymK3VvmUfqfwP_A-ILfiV1J7erqtr4066XxeEwIOMj9ArB4mIiwnvyYXX9E4/s1600/InterMedianights.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 231px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHG2r5Ws7xUWhDSJDZjppODFSzuUq0K9z7MoYvnYAvuhWG3b0__Y7fPp_pc1uNTpsacKWf6b41aFiMjf9ymK3VvmUfqfwP_A-ILfiV1J7erqtr4066XxeEwIOMj9ArB4mIiwnvyYXX9E4/s400/InterMedianights.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567671590566831298" /></a
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<br />Intermedia Nights, Vancouver Art Gallery, summer, 1968
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<br /> Gregg Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16443218084687561500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290359977368122826.post-48994652848357751612011-01-28T19:49:00.000-08:002011-01-28T19:59:52.890-08:00IntermediaINTERMEDIA: An Illustrated Chronology<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">1967</span><br /><br />Contemporary Arts Festival, University of British Columbia<br />CBC Television Series, <span style="font-weight:bold;">The Enterprise<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span>, featured half hour productions by artists, many of who worked at the Motion Studios including The Helen Goodwin Dancers and the Al Neil Trio.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsJp56J9kWX0Gzw3Lq18OXfHOmuDI5HswOa0VomJawhA44_FnZE94k_VmqOWkS-nbJZicA8UzTEuJB3tpMItr7UrV2f115pZfR3zPDBRR1MBY8mhiaAi6KnyxfphHpvB8zpZeSClz8u5Q/s1600/IMedia_goodwin.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 280px; height: 132px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsJp56J9kWX0Gzw3Lq18OXfHOmuDI5HswOa0VomJawhA44_FnZE94k_VmqOWkS-nbJZicA8UzTEuJB3tpMItr7UrV2f115pZfR3zPDBRR1MBY8mhiaAi6KnyxfphHpvB8zpZeSClz8u5Q/s400/IMedia_goodwin.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567450634596532706" /></a><br /><br />Helen Goodwin (left);<br />(right) THECO Dancers:(Clockwise) Joan Payne, Evelyn Roth, Rita Watson<br /><br /><br />Intermedia Society leased a four storey building at 575 Beatty St. There were studios for film editing and sound recording, bill bissett's blewointment press, the Al Neil Trio's rehersal space, and open spaces on the first and second floors for performances.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh43wx8pt1hOlBmulnuRValf34pC5a0nx_5E0_jU19iowrer-EEnABDaP_sZ94B82uMp9Y6_a4oVt00kRk5HSLrb-3tujHd3oVfQYrUemOfx1h2-wsz_9cDLPNAksZXH0Zmx5xClitcddM/s1600/IMedia_alneiltrio.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh43wx8pt1hOlBmulnuRValf34pC5a0nx_5E0_jU19iowrer-EEnABDaP_sZ94B82uMp9Y6_a4oVt00kRk5HSLrb-3tujHd3oVfQYrUemOfx1h2-wsz_9cDLPNAksZXH0Zmx5xClitcddM/s400/IMedia_alneiltrio.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567451053437519378" /></a><br /><br />The Al Neil Trio in rehearsal in their studio at Intermedia's Beatty St. location<br />(Photo: Michael deCourcy<br /><br /><br />April 15: article in Vancouver Sun, <span style="font-style:italic;">Grant Sought</span>.<br /><br />Exhibition: <span style="font-style:italic;">Joy and Celebration<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span>, U.B.C. Fine Arts Gallery presented several artists associated with both the Sound Gallery/Motion Studios and Intermedia including Gary Lee Nova, Dallas Selman, Michael Morris,Audrey Doray, Roy Kiyooka, Ian Wallace and Darcy Henderson.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6mtIGOgTcOz2ObCnuJjXowXxvd39ggIFAVor0gzkQ9EVtJqUH9csEhJVgyf-fEIyxojk_wdW7uOH4Zg6NfiYivVCm0Egmwyzlp3puYDZTtB6kdIz9ONtFxBBLkXCY6HQiaQkQGWixoCI/s1600/MMorris.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 183px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6mtIGOgTcOz2ObCnuJjXowXxvd39ggIFAVor0gzkQ9EVtJqUH9csEhJVgyf-fEIyxojk_wdW7uOH4Zg6NfiYivVCm0Egmwyzlp3puYDZTtB6kdIz9ONtFxBBLkXCY6HQiaQkQGWixoCI/s400/MMorris.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567451780327356098" /></a><br /><br />Michael Morris: Cover of Catalogue for Joy and Celebration<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />May: article in The Vancouver Sun, Understanding Intermedia<br /><br />July 21: article in The Province on American artist, Robert Rauschenberg mentions Intermedia finding a space.<br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Article in Vancouver Sun, </span>Sam Perry's Last Trip.Gregg Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16443218084687561500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290359977368122826.post-4589555155104368942010-12-30T23:43:00.000-08:002010-12-31T00:20:29.291-08:00Motion StudioThe ramshackle office/warehouse which was the new home of the Sound Gallery operation was now called Motion Studio, the name reflecting an increased effort on Goodwin's part to create a more effective dance environment in collaboration with Sam Perry's light show. The name chosen for this collaboration, WECO, was a tribute to the multi-media collective in New York, USCO, whose founder, Steve Dirkey, was a very influential on Perry. <br /><br />Sam Perry was a figure who was both inspiring and perplexing, His pioneering film and projection work was ahead of its time with its multiple layered imagery drawn largely from from Tibetan Buddhist sources. Perry, like the painter Jack Wise, had been to Nepal and met the Dalai Lama. Originally working in 16mm, Perry progressed to creating montages of film loops which were augmented for performances with magic lantern, slide carousels and overhead liquid projectors, anticipating the subsequent development of rock era light shows.<br /><br />During this period the underground rock scene had been developing rapidly giving the WECO projectionists several gigs accompanying the rock bands at the Afterthought, a club located in the old Pender Auditorium where groups like the United Empire Loyalists held forth to swaying crowds of hippies.The largest and best attended of these early psychedelic era events was the Trips Festival, held in the Garden Auditorium of the Pacific National Exhibition grounds near the eastern boundary of the city.<br /><br />The Trips Festival was organized by a number of people but was coordinated through the efforts of a number of people. Inside this huge auditorium were 100 rear projection screens for everything from old Chaplin films to abstract 16mm film loops and everything else from liquid overhead projectors to magic lantern slides from the turn of the century.<br /> <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ZcgWPkq7KtIncsiwjf3bEMr8EIuVsDT6kcyZqfkuUnClFyAEvxI853HrikCqxUu59BaJVJUjXPxFyRRKfwUK0AEv0fdHs7ryaatt-6sjqmlLBHLCIjSmfzi6Zgq_AEI0oo3RXdVpqR4/s1600/TripsfestL.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 216px; height: 304px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ZcgWPkq7KtIncsiwjf3bEMr8EIuVsDT6kcyZqfkuUnClFyAEvxI853HrikCqxUu59BaJVJUjXPxFyRRKfwUK0AEv0fdHs7ryaatt-6sjqmlLBHLCIjSmfzi6Zgq_AEI0oo3RXdVpqR4/s400/TripsfestL.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556754251951966034" /></a><br /><br />Poster for the Trips Festival, 1966<br />Drawing by Jack Wise, design by Michael Sawyer<br /><br /><br />The Al Neil Trio opened the first set of the evening, which included Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Daily Flash, poet Michael McClure and other Seattle and San Francisco rock bands. This was before these groups achieved any national prominence and were basically still underground Bay area groups. Topping everything off, the Motion Studio played host as a crash pad for the already legendary, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, with their soon-to-be legendary bus. Vancouver was into the 60's full tilt.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXda0s1HXOkL1nVZBzSUUex-5LhVFTGk-DeNpKOEzjE-9geucpTlH_EedWZC8dnNwFnrncm0C3sJ02_vG0aHmAJzhx5HvdjKR-t7jvepFeCwH7Jgi20swkpO6Eg3RvvBBalsuuBTrVXJY/s1600/Motion_Studio_THECO.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 248px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXda0s1HXOkL1nVZBzSUUex-5LhVFTGk-DeNpKOEzjE-9geucpTlH_EedWZC8dnNwFnrncm0C3sJ02_vG0aHmAJzhx5HvdjKR-t7jvepFeCwH7Jgi20swkpO6Eg3RvvBBalsuuBTrVXJY/s400/Motion_Studio_THECO.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556756190286052914" /></a> <br />WECO Dancers in at Motion Studio performance, 1966<br />(Photos by Jack Dale)<br /><br />In the fall of 1966 after the long hot summer of the Trips Festival we had the space at 1266 Seymour almost renovated and ready to open. The weekend before the official opening there was a jam session with the Al Neil Trio plus tenor sax player, Glenn MacDonald, a talented musician who had worked with Neil at the Cellar in the early 60's. In the middle of one tune, probably a bebop standard which is what Glenn favoured, I looked up from the drums at one point to see to my amazement a ring of over coated, fedora-wearing figures all about 6' 4" and very mean looking surrounding the bandstand.<br /><br />This was none other than the Vancouver Police Drug Squad led by the inimitable Abe Snedenko, who had harassed both Neil and MacDonald throughout the years. I just lowered my head and kept playing. No one actually was arrested, but some people, anyone faintly odd looking, were taken upstairs and searched. The next weekend, the official opening, went smoothly and our old audiences from 4th Ave. made the trek to the new home of multi-media in Vancouver.<br /><br />The Motion Studio itself was a rabbit warren of rooms, somewhat dimly lit, but generally spacious compared to the 4th Ave. Sound Gallery. The entrance room I made into a small gallery where I displayed works I was doing at the Vancouver School of Art, boxes hung on the wall with back-lit mandala patterns that slowly stobed. These were modest, low-tech works influenced by the more sophisticated electric sculptures made during the Intermedia years by Audrey Doray, Gary Lee Nova and Michael Morris.<br /><br />The next series of rooms were offices and shops largely devoted to sound and light equipment with experiments going on continually under the resident electronic experts, Ken Ryan and Al Hewitt. Following through to the back the visitor came upon the main performance area which was a large hall, about 30' x 60' with a high ceiling. Suspended from the ceiling was the famous cage for composer Gerry Walker made of L-shaped gray industrial metal. <br /><br />It became both the control for the sound system which was an early version of quadraphonic and a module for the playing of Walker’s own tape compositions. This ‘sound cage’ looked like something from a B-grade sci-fi movie but was in effect a floating command module for his electronic tapes and for the house sound system.<br /><br />The sound was manipulated around the speakers and the room via a joy stick similar to an airplane control stick. It was reported by Ken Ryan that the same system literally knocked him over when he walked through the convergent point where the sound from the four speakers crossed during a light show at the Kits Theatre where local rock group Uncle Als' Fantastic Sensations played a double bill with the Al Neil Trio.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbwrSW59QDN0GYtoYpfVxGpKZvM-ZF3rmvh7zdMktUAGBmeipb6H1jOM9zCEDNkrmUWz_cCQGijjaUjb2sfdmY5cXhj8CIjGhXsHOogrKTb88-saDHHLUUSAPi9p9S4Kv_PDTiW-zO60w/s1600/KitsTheatre_Poster_sm.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 254px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbwrSW59QDN0GYtoYpfVxGpKZvM-ZF3rmvh7zdMktUAGBmeipb6H1jOM9zCEDNkrmUWz_cCQGijjaUjb2sfdmY5cXhj8CIjGhXsHOogrKTb88-saDHHLUUSAPi9p9S4Kv_PDTiW-zO60w/s400/KitsTheatre_Poster_sm.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556756731544014146" /></a><br />Poster for the Al Neil Trio (aka Al Neil and His Royal Canadians) and Uncle Al's Fantastic Sensations, Kits Theatre, 1966<br /><br />Another innovative development from WECO was the 3 tiered projection tower that was built to house the array of projectors which were utilized in the weekend performances by the Al Neil Trio, Gerry Walker and the WECO Dancers. Controlling the battery of projectors on the tower was a keyboard made from photo cells stuck in a strip of foam plastic. When the fingers of the 'player' lifted up, a rheostat brought on the projector. A kaleidoscope of projections shot forth hitting the turning mirror strips interspersed with strobe flashes. In the relatively confined performance room the effect was totally amazing.<br /><br />The incredibly dense montage of imagery emanating from this battery included Sam Perry's 16mm films, many with imagery suggesting Tantric Buddhist deities, alongside old magic lantern slides, and footage of the Himalayas, all tied together by the liquid projections and film loops. Sam Perry's films have apparently been lost or are otherwise untraceable now. The only footage remaining was included in Stan Fox's documentary film on the Trips Festival.<br /><br />Two other special effects were debuted that fall, one being the first strobe light in Vancouver. One of the first experiments involved WECO associate Gordon Bell with red, flowing beard and hair performing with a skipping rope under a fast strobe. It was definitely hallucinatory but in an innocent and experimental way sense. Then there were the lengths of mirror hung by wires from the ceiling which turned and caught the light from the projectors spinning fragmented shards of images around the room. The psychedelic trance for one couple was momentarily broken one evening when a length of mirror crashed down beside them, luckily with no ill effects.<br /><br />Weekend evening performances continued through the fall of 1966, until the tragic suicide of Sam Perry which ended the existence of WECO and Helen Goodwin eventually renamed her dance troupe <span style="font-weight:bold;">TheCo</span>. Aside from the regular appearances of the Al Neil Trio the only other event involving music was the evening given by poet Gerry Gilbert reading from Phone Book with Martin Bartlett's music for <span style="font-style:italic;">Seven Distances</span>. This collaboration in many ways pre-figured the type of work which Bartlett and others would carry on at the Western Front seven years later. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFbJY-kXsH6ptH1TnQS9yTKyahCAgeHkoeJ1qYfmgUBSMuBbRcGDEnXqBG2CpRZGFIaHfOMqSw27QwJUD2H2Jj3tm3ipbt_7HAEXsHQ3Z2FGmCuhQLIBL8Doj487iP8dwF7x7e9IFKK4o/s1600/IMedia_bartlett.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 257px; height: 331px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFbJY-kXsH6ptH1TnQS9yTKyahCAgeHkoeJ1qYfmgUBSMuBbRcGDEnXqBG2CpRZGFIaHfOMqSw27QwJUD2H2Jj3tm3ipbt_7HAEXsHQ3Z2FGmCuhQLIBL8Doj487iP8dwF7x7e9IFKK4o/s400/IMedia_bartlett.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556757345199918610" /></a><br />Poster from <span style="font-style:italic;">Seven Distances</span> and <span style="font-style:italic;">Phone Book</span>, Motion Studio, with<br />Martin Bartlett and Gerry Gilbert<br /><br />On one particularly great evening that fall saw a distinguished member of the Canada Council in the audience. This was David Silcox, who was in Vancouver to see what the Council could do for this newly emerging multi-media collective. The obvious success of the Motion Studio and Sound Gallery which consistently brought out large audiences offered proof of the interest of the public in multi-media performance. Subsequently several meetings were held which determined the eventual creation of the Intermedia Society.<br /><br />Over the next few months after we abandoned the Motion Studio the Al Neil Trio which had launched the original Sound Gallery evenings, continued to rehearse and perform locally, notably at Simon Fraser University and the University of B.C. Likewise Helen Goodwin’s THeCo dancers stayed together and perfected their particular approach. Visual artists like Gary Lee Nova and Dallas Selman, who had worked with Sam Perry, forged ahead with new paintings, sculptures and installation projects which would come to full fruition in 1968 and 69 with the Intermedia Nights at the Vancouver Art Gallery.<br /><br />The Intermedia Society formed in 1967, a watershed for the future of Vancouver art.Gregg Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16443218084687561500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290359977368122826.post-23873519438257149112010-12-28T22:03:00.000-08:002012-06-04T11:55:59.265-07:00The Sound GalleryIn the fall of 1965, I was an aspiring 18 yr.old jazz drummer, who was also a fledgling painter and art student. Having come from a family where my mother, Ferne Cairns, was a concert soprano, who had sung with Nicholas Goldschmidt and John Avison, and my father, Douglas Simpson, a pioneering west coast Modernist architect, my fate was sealed to either choose between the two mediums of music and painting or somehow juggle both of them at the same time. To me this was something akin to choosing between breathing and eating so I decided to try to progress in both forms of expression.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioxUTgqJZ-3ZLrERgnylzNmpJs08zMG60SUWM1fmInbkc3V_I8vjNTwtSexvrZZVTEhwRwNURgowV-fpiS2DTBWzqA5Wrd0Sc4No6kRewe8R79REoxmcbxMMvJo5JnhHsKj-D2XFdiHLo/s1600/IMedia_alneiltrio.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioxUTgqJZ-3ZLrERgnylzNmpJs08zMG60SUWM1fmInbkc3V_I8vjNTwtSexvrZZVTEhwRwNURgowV-fpiS2DTBWzqA5Wrd0Sc4No6kRewe8R79REoxmcbxMMvJo5JnhHsKj-D2XFdiHLo/s400/IMedia_alneiltrio.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555985184642401458" /></a><br /><br /> <br />The Al Neil Trio in Rehearsal (Al Neil-piano, Richard Anstey- bass, Gregg Simpson- drums) Photo: Michael deCourcy<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Earlier in the year I had made the acquaintance of jazz pianist Al Neil who I had seen play live twice in Vancouver jazz venues and once on CBC television from the Cellar. The Cellar was a legendary club which among other claims to fame had been the place that gave the ground breaking Ornette Coleman Quartet their first concert outside of the U.S. in 1958. It had also featured through the 50's and 60's the groups of Charles Mingus, Art Pepper, Harold Land (with Elmo Hope, Scott LaFaro and Lennie McBrowne) and many more high caliber west coast hard bop bands of the day. Al Neil was often the house pianist for these visiting greats.<br /><br /><br />Significantly, it was also where future Intermedia Director, Barry Cramer, produced plays such as Krapp's Last Tape and other works by the writers of the Theatre of the Absurd. Vancouver, it seems, has always had a tendency to investigate a mixed media approach to the arts and this has been evident through several decades since Al Neil recorded with the beat poet, Kenneth Patchen, on the Folkways label producing a very well received album entitled Kenneth Patchen Reads Poetry In Canada (With the Alan Neil Quartet).<br /> <br />After an initial introduction to Neil and then wife Marguerite, in their small cottage wedged behind some high rise apartments in the West End, a lifelong relationship began. I was brought to meet Al Neil by one of Vancouver's other legendary figures of the beat era, Curt Lang, a poet and painter who had once been taken by fellow poet, the late Al Purdy to meet Malcolm Lowry at his Dollarton Beach house on the North Shore, not far from the spot where Neil himself landed a decade or more later.<br /><br />There was an immediate current of excitement as I realized that after abandoning any regular career choices, I might indeed be on the threshold of a unique musical enterprise with Al, and bassist Richard Anstey, who I had been playing with in groups such as the New Dimension Jazz Trio and with pianist, Bob Buckley. Richard, who lived in Vienna until his passing in 2004, was also playing with Al's group at the Flat Five Jazz Club on West Broadway.<br /><br />Our first musical strategy session was an eye opener. Al was pretty well into his cups the night he hauled out his little electric Wurlizter piano with its fragile reeds, half of which he managed to break while slipping from the piano stool to the floor at least three times. The 'score' for the music he was about to played me consisted of chopped up music paper collaged together with fragments from various popular magazines.<br /> <br />Al was playing a kind of tortured, mystical yet intensely lyrical music I could only describe as a cross between Bud Powell, Edgar Varese and Debussy. I know however that Al hadn’t yet heard the work of a musician he superficially resembles, the tumultuous New York pianist, Cecil Taylor whose music was just beginning to be known in 1965. But Al at this time and had come up with this lyrical, yet cataclysmic, style on his own.<br /><br />Although an authentic hard bop musician, Neil worked in many other influences from pioneer dadaists like Kurt Schwitters, painters like Bradley Tomlin and Mark Tobey to the cut-up writings of William S. Burroughs, works on alchemy and mysticism, and the fevered visions of the French surrealist, Antonin Artaud. Obviously a multi-media kind of jazz was bound to occur from the collaboration we were embarking on..<br /><br />For the first two rehearsals the Al Neil Trio was actually a quartet with the presence of alto sax player, Bob Buckley, who went on to fame and fortune with the rock band Spring and later as a producer. But it was the trio of Al on piano, Richard Anstey on bass and myself on drums that emerged.<br /><br />By late fall of 1965 we were rehearsing regularly at the little store front which eventually opened as the <span style="font-weight:bold;">Sound Gallery</span>, a name I contrived to encompass both my two fields of endeavor, which also presaged the era of multi-media that followed.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnVxwPJ6gJCgbmcRhVXipU0d1Yv4fH21jOiuIaA8YF4Ckm9b9pKtLxJRFnI8mmT6tEj63N2iDqRyZfjZqLKnGUPHDINuaS8IkCUY69pYQ0j4FecEp7tqT6CDsN4N9W3Ndv1kyFS9zAn7w/s1600/SoundGallery_1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 394px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnVxwPJ6gJCgbmcRhVXipU0d1Yv4fH21jOiuIaA8YF4Ckm9b9pKtLxJRFnI8mmT6tEj63N2iDqRyZfjZqLKnGUPHDINuaS8IkCUY69pYQ0j4FecEp7tqT6CDsN4N9W3Ndv1kyFS9zAn7w/s400/SoundGallery_1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555990611199163154" /></a><br /><br />The Sound Gallery as it is today. (Photo by Gregg Simpson)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Because I also needed somewhere better to paint than the family home, the studio at 4th and Bayswater became a multi-media operation from the beginning. First I drew from the model there and continued working on a series of abstract oil paintings which reflected the influence of late Modernist geometric painting. The place was unheated and several little electric space heaters were employed to keep things bearable as winter approached.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjhrJdnZBpFa9gn31t2aniqUfH4dSQT6hqlwjbYJXOVBR9dQBoeKzCVHVNFGuCORQVyATkVd779QeXRzymeMp3T0-J9oIJ0HffWOTnzOqzf86AdFJoMMNm6q6OodLgBiP79DkpllOyj3o/s1600/Speak_Softly.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjhrJdnZBpFa9gn31t2aniqUfH4dSQT6hqlwjbYJXOVBR9dQBoeKzCVHVNFGuCORQVyATkVd779QeXRzymeMp3T0-J9oIJ0HffWOTnzOqzf86AdFJoMMNm6q6OodLgBiP79DkpllOyj3o/s400/Speak_Softly.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555986691384577266" /></a><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgGonBTs570EWd6EwYBoM_ycGJ51qRrussj08q81qc2HUDOGLt5uSbeyhRzYqJTMrWywHkpRzLDYZIrUDoDc6h-IP_1NqPukGyzRjm6PKUulbx_tWFk1a9QoG_PpE3ax_mrQpMOsdWyf8/s1600/Manifestations_of_Calm.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 316px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgGonBTs570EWd6EwYBoM_ycGJ51qRrussj08q81qc2HUDOGLt5uSbeyhRzYqJTMrWywHkpRzLDYZIrUDoDc6h-IP_1NqPukGyzRjm6PKUulbx_tWFk1a9QoG_PpE3ax_mrQpMOsdWyf8/s400/Manifestations_of_Calm.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555986855716522978" /></a><br /><br /><br />Paintings by Gregg Simpson from 1965, the first art installation in the Sound Gallery<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As the little circle of friends who came to the studio expanded there was a movement started to have sessions and everyone chipped in on the rent to keep the place going. Fledgling poet Michael Coutts was a regular, although he like many others who participated in the period, didn't survive the 1960's. Richard Anstey, who lived in the area of the studio also brought in other neighborhood buddies like drummer Harley McConnell, who helped me put together a drum kit for the great drummer, Philly Joe Jones then playing, with mind shattering volume and relentless drive, over at the Flat Five. To this day I credit my contact with Philly Joe as the major influence which formed my playing style although with the Al Neil Trio waiting in the wings this<br />was one of the last times I played hard bop style jazz until a decade or so later.<br /><br />Our first recording session was on December 15th, 1965 and the Al Neil Trio played several improvised pieces for a small audience. The music was nothing short of extraordinary, combing snippets of melodies like Summertime, which appeared through waves of arpeggios, polychromatic chord clusters, whirling dervish modal lines and atonal passages. We were still playing jazz we all thought. In Anstey and my case, we were both very recently influenced by the work of the John Coltrane Quartet and of Charles Mingus who we had seen live together at the Blue Horn as the Flat Five Club had been renamed.<br /><br />Al came down to hear us play with his old band mates from the Cellar, a quintet with pianist Don Thompson, alto sax player, P.J. Perry, trumpeter Ron Probie and tenor player, Glenn MacDonald, but he didn't sit in. I think the other musicians knew we were up to something different though.<br /><br />In fact a year or two later when Al played some of the trio recordings for bassist/ pianist Thompson, now a Canadian jazz icon, asked him,"Al, how do you get those guys to play that way ?"<br /><br />This was no easy thing to explain. The Trio had a unique empathy for improvisation not unlike a group like the Bill Evans Trio. Although much more frenzied, it did have some of the interwoven, independent melodic lines of the Evans group. But that was when something like a tune or song form was involved. <br /><br />What was unique to this group was the way it could move into non-verbal chanting, collaged textures utilizing toy instruments, tapes, records or radios and still keep the feel of a jazz trio. Noise music mixed with political protest was employed on one of a kind pieces like State of the Union where a radio speech by then President Johnson on Viet Nam was smothered in clattering textures and insane shrieking, all recorded in<br />a totally darkened Sound Gallery. It was a long way from bebop. <br /><br />In later years, Al liked to perplex other musicians when they asked what all this stuff was and he would say," I like to think I'm still playing jazz”! <br /><br /> <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzZ1p1KchkdT6JRauLfi2Wb8Ey2Va4iLWnpQDeH-Q9dcm4SHy6W7AAeDCTrzN9f_wZOkSMMv1KnBfKljVmUoQb2yJD9xhfZ84RhoZb6Vl4z7-aJOwhB0FkM1v7Qew8acMwgv33_PWfacE/s1600/IMedia_AllNeil.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 299px; height: 209px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzZ1p1KchkdT6JRauLfi2Wb8Ey2Va4iLWnpQDeH-Q9dcm4SHy6W7AAeDCTrzN9f_wZOkSMMv1KnBfKljVmUoQb2yJD9xhfZ84RhoZb6Vl4z7-aJOwhB0FkM1v7Qew8acMwgv33_PWfacE/s400/IMedia_AllNeil.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555987453235759234" /></a><br /><br />Al Neil playing zither and piano, Intermedia, 1968<br />(Photo: Michael de Courcy)<br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />By the spring of 1966 after a month long hiatus from Al, when Richard Anstey and myself returned from playing an engagement at a Banff hotel. We were back at the old studio and ready to take things up a notch. During the winter I had hit on the name Sound Gallery for the space and as it seemed to be a hit with everyone, we designated it as such for a series of weekend concerts which began in March. Advertising was on a large piece of construction paper hung in the window with stenciled letters advertising: <span style="font-style:italic;">Al Neil and his Royal Canadian<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span>s represented by some campy collage elements. Admission was by donation as we had been told we could avoid hassles with the authorities that way. The next concert the group became <span style="font-style:italic;">The Royal Rascals<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span> and around that time we started to invite others to perform the evening concerts.<br /><br />The first new participant to arrive at the Sound Gallery was composer Gerry Walker, a new music composer who worked with tape and prepared piano in the era before synthesizers. He shared a studio a few blocks down 4th Ave.with film maker Sam Perry who was to become the guru for multi-media light shows in 1966, the last of his life. The atmosphere in their studio was a little like a laboratory in a 50's sci-fi movie. It was a perfect complement to our operation down the street and a collaboration seemed inevitable and natural.<br /><br />Almost immediately the Saturday night concerts at the Sound Gallery became a place for poets, artists and dancers to collaborate. Among those who appeared were the Pop artist Gary Lee Nova who had just shown a remarkable set of hexagon paintings at the UBC Fine Arts Gallery and would go on to collaborate with Perry on the making of imagery for the light shows. Soon after we were joined by dancer/choreographer Helen Goodwin who had recently worked with New York-based Jean Erdman, a pioneer performance/ dance artist. The Sound Gallery cast was assembling and it included the Al Neil Trio's music, Sam Perry's films and projections, the Helen Goodwin dancers, Gerry Walker and often a poet.<br /><br />Poetry was an important medium in the 1960's and readings were given regularly at the Sound Gallery. One notable performance was by Milton Acorn which was a raucous affair as always with the crusty writer. Also in attendance were bill bissett, Gerry Gilbert and Judith Copithorne, the latter also one of Goodwin's dancers. One memorable solo piece, involved Copithorne improvising a dance which evoked flying to one of the Trio's melancholic ballads, with Perry's projected film of an actual flying bird playing over her. It was one of the best pieces in the collective repetoire. Judith stayed with Goodwin for a number of years through the Intermedia period, but later preferred to work solely as a poet and has several books to her credit. Two others in Goodwin's company also became noted performers later, Karen Jameison, and Evelyn Roth, a multi-media pioneer who came to prominence in the 1970's. In addition she employed other modern dancers, notably Heather MacCallum, Rita Watson and Joan Payne.<br /><br />The spawning ground for both Helen Goodwin, and most of the poets, was the University of British Columbia where the remarkable English professor, Warren Tallman, a friend of both Allen Ginsberg and Charles Mingus among others, taught during the 1960's and 1970's. The group of poets who published the periodical TISH including Jamie Reid, Peter Auxier, Maxine Gadd, and Dan MacLeod. Jim Brown, a poet, noveist and co-founder of Talon Books. Brown showed an early interest in multi-media and put out the 1968 anthology LP, <span style="font-style:italic;">See Hear<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span> and bill bissett's <span style="font-style:italic;">Awake in the Red Desert<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span>. <br /><br />Poets like Gerry Gilbert participated in the earliest days of multi-media in Vancouver with films and multi-media readings. The poetry scene was the most advanced and communicative of any of the groups in Vancouver then. The University of British Columbia during the 1960s was a cauldron of contemporary poetry, left wing politics and ground-breaking art exhibitions and festivals. The Fine Arts Gallery, under the direction of Alvin Balkind, who formerly ran the New Design Gallery downtown, the first to show Claude Breeze, Audrey Capel Doray, Joy Long and the late Jack Wise to a wider audience. The dynamic survey exhibition, <span style="font-style:italic;">Joy and Celebration<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span>, shown at The Fine Arts Gallery in 1967 brought together several artists who would later work at Intermedia.<br /><br />The 1965 Armory Show and the 1967 <span style="font-style:italic;">Festival of Contemporary Arts <span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span>were two other important events which brought together artists, poets and musicians from B.C. and across Canada including such luminaries as Leonard Cohen and Margaret Atwood. The experimental media experimenter and puppeteer Dave Orcutt was one of the figures who emerged from this milieu and was to be an early instigator of the Intermedia Society.<br /><br />The events at the Sound Gallery were getting increasingly popular and by June we realized that a larger space was going to be necessary. The crowds in the 30' by 60' store front were making it increasingly difficult to fit in the band, dancers and projectionists Perry, Lee Nova and another artist of the period Dallas Selman who, with audio/electronic genius Ken Ryan, worked at Sam Perry's 4th Avenue studio. The problem was solved when Helen Goodwin's husband, a local realtor, came up with a reasonably cheap old building at 1236 Seymour Street on the edge of Vancouver's downtown.<br /> <br /> <br />Next Blog will be on the Motion Studio and Trips Festival in 1966.Gregg Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16443218084687561500noreply@blogger.com0