Erin Rogers - Composer/saxophonist

THINGNY WANTS YOUR SPAM

Dear Friend,

We are thingNY, a collective of composer-instrumentalists based in New York City. On Saturday, December 19, 2009, we will be presenting a concert called SPAM, based on responses we get to this very email. Congratulations! If you’re reading this email, you’ve been selected to write us some music – even if you’ve never written music before. It could be a few words, a notated score, a set of instructions, a drawing, a video of your dog, your favorite photo of Leonard Nimoy, or anything else you can imagine. It could even be something that takes a second or two to perform.

Please send your new work to thingNY@gmail.com or post on our blog and be sure to include your name and where you’re from. Any reply that we receive by Saturday, November 19th has the potential to be included in whole or in part. You are, of course, welcomed and encouraged to attend the performance, which will be held at the University of the Streets in New York City. Please forward this email to your friends, family, and acquaintances – let’s make this a great show! We look forward to receiving your composition, and we promise we will do our best to satisfy your artistic desires.

Best wishes,

Paul, Jeff (violin), Isabel (cello), Gelsey (vocals), Erin (saxophone), Alejandro (clarinet)

Season Opener: Around the World in 24 Hours Festival
New York avant-garders, thingNY take the stage of the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (along with over a dozen other acts from around the world) as part of a 24-hour marathon of performances curated by The Internationalists. thingNY’s performance will feature painted scores, video projection, sonic theatre, empty bottles, punishments, eskimos, and both newly-penned and gently used works by composers Brad Baumgardner, Hans Buetow, Morton Feldman, Art Jarvinen, David Lang, Luis Menacho and Stephen Rogers.

thingNY goes on around 11pm
(marathon runs from 5pm on Nov. 7 to 5pm on Nov. 8)

LaGuardia Performing Arts Center
31-10 Thompson Ave. Long Island City, Queens, NY
admission: $24 (full festival line-up), $12 (all shows after midnight)
www.theinternationalists.org for more info

Alejandro Acierto, clarinet
Gelsey Bell, soprano
Isabel Castellvi, cello
Michael Hanf, percussion
Andrew Livingston, bass
Paul Pinto, conductor
Erin Rogers, saxophone
Jeffrey Young, violin

$5 donation goes to support the University of the Streets (a not-for-profit performance space)
Donations for the musicians are also encouraged.

Hooray! We’re now a Non-Profit!
Come out and Support thingNY
For Our First Fundraiser
Monday, June 22, 2009
5:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
At Vig 27
(In The Back Room)
Located at 119 East 27th Street (between Park and Lex)

Ticket Price Ranges:
$501 – Better than an Opera Star
$201 – $500 – Opera Star
$101 – $200 – Elitist
$51- $100 – Storn Child
$20 – $51 – Groupie

Stop by for a cocktail and some great conversation. There will also be musical performances from the group, special words from a special guest and highlights from our past and upcoming seasons. Please feel free to attend even if you have not already RSVP’d.

Hope to see you there!

Saturday June 20, 2009 – 7pm
The Tank – 354 W 45^th Street

$10 advance/ $15 at the door

A D D D D D D D D D

a 9Ds opera by thingNY

Written and performed by Isabel Castellvi, Andrew Livingston, Paul Pinto, Erin Rogers, Jeffrey Young

Focus. The composers of thingNY will tell you stories, sing you songs, scream in your face, try to sell you stuff and rant recklessly to themselves, filling your ears with the sweet sweet sounds of excess. This new experimental opera by NYC’s freshest avant-garde band highlights the everyday excesses of our lives (workaholism, the thrill of consumption, the joys of gluttony, the elation of libation) and turns them into a suite of attention-deficient songs, monologues and infomercials.

Isabel Castellvi, Andrew Livingston, Paul Pinto, Erin Rogers and Jeffrey Young’s collaboration on this project began a year ago with the specific goal to create (and along the way, define) an opera together. The end result is a stream of poetically verbose scenes and songs (most in English, some in… well, Bizarre-Speak) and a musical score (for various instruments, electronics and toys) that is mentally engaging and heartfelt.

“How do you tell if it’s bleeding?

Put gauze on it……..

……….gauze.”