this week at Zeitgeist on Oretha

ZEITGEIST MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ARTS CENTER
1618 ORETHA CASTLE HALEY BLVD.
(Across from Cafe Reconcile in the Saturn Screen Printing Building)
New Orleans, Louisiana 70113
(504) 827-5858Â
www.zeitgeistinc.net
zte@bellsouth.net
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CONCERT:

Saturday May 3rd @ 8:30 p.m.:
JAMES SINGLETON will present a concert that will begin with the James Singleton String quartet. Matt Rhody is the first-call bad-ass violinist in town. huge sound, chops to burn, and tons of ideas. his experience is wide-rangeing from classical to jazz. Similarly, Dave Rebeck is a great violist. he is often heard with Klezmer Allstars, LPO, and everything else including bluegrass. Hello again Helen. Gillet has done everything from french musette to indian ragas. her classical chops are way up as well. " I wanted to do an acoustic project. really whisper.With these great string improvisors in town it seemed like an obvious combination. String quartet with BASS, damn it hell YEAH. They actually beat me to it because they already were in a classical string quartet together. I called them individually and booked a rehearsal 6 weeks in advance. i had finished 2 pieces for the band and my 18-year-old pitbull became terminal. i had a minor breakdown over the loss and didn't write any more music for a while. with the rehearsal looming and schedules hard enough to coordinate, i simply wrote viola and cello parts for some of my best older pieces. it ended up feeling so good we made a record." The quartet will play, and then have 3 guest soloists. strings plus Bourgeois. then strings plus Satoru Ohashi. "Satoru moved from japan to New Orleans and learned a lot of trumpet in a hurry. he sat in one night at Donna's and just tore me up. i instantly knew he could go way way out there with me. we had a great trio. we played a handful of gigs with Cuccia and electronics. it was freakadelphia. then he took me to japan and we played traditional! ballin' the wall! last time i saw him was in the saint anne parade carnival day." ...then strings plus mr. Peake on laptop and percussion. and then all together don't you just know it? "For 30 years the festival has been a great ritual for me. it brings the listeners together from all over. and the random peripheral events are a HUGE part of it. trying the latest new youngbloods on for size. really stretching for special moments. and in New Orleans you always get the gutbucket."
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FILM:Â

Tuesday, May 6 through Thursday, May 15 @ 7:00 p.m.
TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE by Alan Gibney.

2008 Academy Award-winner, best documentary.

From the director of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Alex Gibney’s Taxi to the Dark Side is a gripping investigation into the reckless abuse of power by the Bush Administration. By probing the homicide of an innocent taxi driver at the Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, the film exposes a worldwide policy of detention and interrogation that condones torture and the abrogation of human rights. This disturbing and often brutal film is the most incisive examination to date of the Bush Administration’s willingness, in its prosecution of the “war on terror,” to undermine the essence of the rule of law. The film asks and answers a key question: What happens when a few men expand the wartime powers of the executive to undermine the very principles on which the United States was founded. Incorporating rare and never-before-seen images from inside the Bagram, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay prisons, and interviews with former government officials such as John Yoo, Alberto Mora, and Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, interrogators, prison guards, New York Times reporters Tim Golden and Carlotta Gall (who wrote the first stories about the homicides in Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan) and the families of tortured prisoners, the film dissects the progression of the Administration’s policy on torture from the secret role of key administration figures, such as Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales and others to the soldiers in the field. In the face of thousands of prisoners passing through the system, an astonishing number of admitted homicides, and a hastily drafted law -- the Military Commissions Act -- that grants immunity to government officials for crimes against humanity while denying the fundamental right of habeas corpus to others, Taxi to the Dark Side forces us to ask why, in the face of so much evidence of the ineffectiveness of cruelty as a means of obtaining information, we sought to insist on its use? Have we, by pursuing such ruthless means, lost the moral high ground in the war on terror and made ourselves less safe? Even more important, have we compromised our own sense of humanity, our democratic values and our effectiveness as a world leader?  $7 general / $6 students & seniors / $5 Zeitgeist members and children 16 and under.
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FILM & CONCERT:

Tuesday through Thursday, May 6 through 8 @ 9:00 p.m.Â

NOTE BY NOTE is a feature-length documentary that follows the creation of a Steinway concert grand, #L1037--from forest floor to concert hall. It explores the relationship between musician and instrument, chronicles the manufacturing process, and illustrates what makes each Steinway unique in this age of mass production. Each piano's journey is complex -- spanning 12 months, 12,000 parts, 450 craftsman, and countless hours of fine-tuned labor. Steinway & Sons pianos are the instrument of choice for top musicians around the world -- partly because of their uniqueness in the marketplace, mostly becuase of their quality. Based in Queens, the company continues to employ first-generation immegrants, rely on tools of techniques forged 150 years ago, and build unique personality riddled pianos. Simply stated Steinway is an anomaly in today's digital world. The award winning film asks key questions. "It takes a universal subject," says director Ben Niles, "and explores its origins and he people whose livelihoods depend on it--craftsman and musicians alike." In our age of mass-production and consumption, what is the role of the musician--both an instrument's craftsman and its player? Musically, what have we gained? More importantly, what are we loosing?
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The star of the film - STEINWAY L1037- the piano actually made in the film will be here @ Zeitgeist each night through the generous efforts of Steven O. Kichen @ Hall Piano Co. and Jim Browne, Argot Pictures. Each night after the film there will be a concert by a major area jazz musician on the piano. Tuesday, May 6 will feature a concert with Tom McDermott and Larry Siebert. $10 general/$9 students & seniors/$8 Zeitgeist members includes the film and the concert. or see just the film Wednesday or Thursday for  $7 general / $6 students & seniors / $5 Zeitgeist members and children 16 and under.