Stanford University Live presents The Colorado: a Documentary Film by Murat Eyüboğlu featuring Roomful of Teeth, with Glenn Kotche, and Jeffrey Ziegler
Bing Concert Hall
Stanford University, 327 Lasuen St, Stanford, CA 94305-5005 USA
7:30 PM, Friday, April 21, 2017

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2017 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2017 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[7:35 PM lights down, announcements from Chris Lorway, band out]

1. [7:40 PM] Beginnings (Glenn Kotche)
2. [7:50 PM] A Padre, a Horse, a Telescope (Paola Prestini)
3. [7:58 PM] An Unknown Distance Yet to Run (Shara Nova)
4. [8:08 PM] the Shimmering Desert (William Brittelle)
5. [8:19 PM] the Colossus (Glenn Kotche & Jeffrey Zeigler)
6. [8:26 PM] Cathedrals in the Desert (John Luther Adams)
7. [8:37 PM] El corrido de Joe R. (Paola Prestini)
8. [8:47 PM] Welcome to the Anthropocene (Shara Nova)
9. [8:56 PM] the Palette of a New Creation (Glenn Kotche)
   [set ends 9:08 PM; bows, then all off after a few minutes]

Roomful of Teeth

• Eliza Bagg: alto vox;
• Cameron Beauchamp: bass vox;
• Martha Cluver: soprano vox;
• Eric Dudley: tenor vox;
• Estelí Gomez: soprano vox;
• Thomas McCargar: baritone vox;
• Thann Scoggin: baritone vox;
• Virginia Warnken: alto vox;
• Brad Wells: artistic director, founder.

• Glenn Kotche: drums, vibraphone, percussion;
• Jeffrey Ziegler: cello.

I thoroughly enjoyed tonight's movie, especially because of the live accompaniment, but I'm sorry to relate that I had a hard time staying awake during the first half. Not sure whether I should blame food stupor from the giant poke bowl I ate for dinner (oh so yummy, but the “normal” bowl is clearly too big for me… Next time Ting and I will go halfsies on a large instead), or just general exhaustion from a busy week. No matter. I guess that's a warning that parts of the movie are slow and meditative … And so quite conducive to napping!

I'd like to see the film again in true large screen format: all the better to appreciate the magnificent vistas!

One thing I found distracting was the way the film makers point of view seemed to evolve over the course of the film: from a nature-oriented piece, towards an examination of man's heavy handed manipulation of the Colorado River basin, and then by extension, to a critique of civilization's excess. Maybe it all hangs together as a way of alerting folks to the trouble that we've (collectively) caused; I dunno. The segment on the Clear Lake fire seemed to me to be a pretty random tangent: that ecosystem is nowhere near the Colorado River basin. So it was included to show how human induced global warming is making things worse for nature? Would have been interesting to follow up the film with a Q&A or group discussion.

Lisa Houston posted an interesting promo article that offers a bit more insight into the creation of this event, and Tysen Dauer followed up with a review for SFCV that echoes a few of my comments.

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2017 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2017 event list! ☸ On to the next event!