Craig Smith and Dave Copenhaver
THE PARASITE; A SOUND AND TEXT COMPOSITION
"How Performance Thinks"
Friday, April 13, 2012
Saturday, April 14, 2012

London Studio Centre
42-50 York Way
N1 9AB London
United Kingdom

THE PARASITE; A SOUND AND TEXT COMPOSITION will be featured at the London Studio Center in the 2012 "How Performance Thinks"organized by the London Studio Center, the PSi Performance and Philosophy working group, and Kingston University’s practice.research.unit. This event will bring together practitioners and scholars concerned with the question of how performance thinks from a wide range of overlapping perspectives and contexts including practice-as-research, professional practice and the emerging sub-field of ‘performance & philosophy’.

Smith and Copenhaver's Parasite is a recorded soundscape composed in 2011 and published on vinyl and Compact Disc by Lunacy Records. The recording includes Smith's vocal and piano work with Copenhaver's bass, guitar, and computer programming. The recording illustrate the fable of The Parasite as presented in the work of philosopher Michel Serres; a story of social relations between a city rat and a country dweller, between two players in a wrestling match, or between the virtual and immanent power of evil as it materializes itself in social, theatrical relations. Smith's adaptations of Serres' text feature activity by the characters of Serres’ fable: the country rat, howlin’ wolf as pure evil, a herd of stampeding buffalo, the violent encounter of predator and prey, double-cage wrestling matches, snake wrestling, and hog roasts.

HOSTED EVENT | THE PARASITE: A SOUND AND TEXT PERFORMANCE WITH CRAIG SMITH AND DAVE COPENHAVER
Presented by CEPA and Big Orbit
Saturday, March 10, 2012, 8–11 pm
Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Auditorium

Multimedia and performing artist Craig Smith will premier The Parasite: A Sound and Text Performance, with bassist and producer Dave Copenhaver and Buffalo's own Vores appearing as the 'Vorchestra.'

DOORS WILL OPEN AT 7:30PM AND PERFORMANCE WILL BEGIN PROMPTLY AT 8:00PM

The Parasite was composed as a full length album and sound performance in 2011 and released on vinyl and CD in June, 2011 by Lunacy Records. The musical soundscape of the Parasite's compositions range from the psychadelic, poetic wandering of tracks such as "The Announcement of Exchange" to the driving blues-rich, lizard king force of "Phoenix of Hosts." All lyrics have been adapted by Smith from an original text of philosophy authored by Michel Serres and translated by Lawrence Scher, Serres' original text is a philosophical fable of social relations; those between a city rat and a country dweller, between two players in a wrestling match, or between the virtual and immanent power of evil as it materialized itself in social relations.

The live performance will feature Smith, Copenhaver, and the Vores at the Burchfield Penney auditorium, accompanied by a series of video montages projected over the performers and audience. The videos illustrate the fable presented in the work of Michel Serres: the country rat, evil, stampeding buffalo, the violent encounter of predator and prey, double-cage wrestling matches, snake wrestling, and hog roasts. The performance is 48 minutes in duration and is performed without breaks. The live performance is a combination of avant garde theater (Laurie Anderson, Richard Foreman), beaten beer barn brawl (Mudhoney Black Angels, Wanda Jackson), and out-of-body, transcendent stage personas (the Lizard King, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Keith Jarret, Beryl Korot with Steve Reich).

For more information about The Parasite, please visit their website at:

http://www.sonicbids.com/epk/epk.aspx?epk_id=330283

Congratulations!

LeRoy Jones, Dave Copenhaver, and Terry Scarberry win the 2010 Wran gler Award for Best Original Composition. Click here for more details