Squonk Opera's Mayhem and Majesty - Show Excerpts

In "Mayhem and Majesty," the sonic hooligans of Squonk Opera explore the poetry of music making and the power of sound with camera jibs, projection puppets and kinetic machines.

Each song evokes different atmospheres and dynamics, which are made vivid through mesmerizing projections and constantly transforming scenery. One moment you are alone in a swarm of stars with a gently swaying keyboard and a sparse lullaby your only guide. The next, you see how romance is just a series of cell mutations set to post-punk beats.

The Squonkers journey from the depths of moody minimalism to the heights of gypsy rock raucous delight. And our award-winning multimedia canvas takes your eyes to those wondrous places your ears have long kept secret.

"Mayhem and Majesty" will premiere on March 11, 2010 and will run for two weekends at Pittsburghs Kelly-Strayhorn Theater. These clips are from our work-in-progress showings from November 2009.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Squonk Opera
• Mayhem and Majesty
• music
• theater
• contemporary
• performance
• visual
• art
• live music
• live concert
• jazz
• ballad
• female vocalist
• pop
• recital
• concert
• vocal
• zen drum
• piano
• electric guitar
• wind synthesizer
• kinetic sculptures
• kinetic machines
• umbrellas
• video projections

[SalientK]

@screamingcockatoo No, not even close.

1. Again, there is a difference between *singing about* politics and *having* politics.

2. Again, the phrase "no guns, we're democrats" is not enough to go off of. She could be all about second amendment rights for all you know. Maybe she just doesn't like guns. Some people don't like tomato soup. Doesn't mean they want to outlaw it.

3. Just enjoy the music. How the hell do you enjoy anything if your whole life revolves around red vs. blue politics?

[screamingcockatoo]

@SalientK

She declared herself the spokesperson of the group.

She stated the politics of their whole group when she said "no guns, we're democrats"

So yes. Just as if they were a gangster rap group preaching hate and violence.

Or a punk group calling for anarchy.

Or a white supremacist group calling for racial hatred.

She's just as stupid.

[SalientK]

@screamingcockatoo Okay, great cover, but let me ask you this: if you found out that one of the guitarists disagreed with your politics, would you then retroactively declare that the band as a whole is no longer good and refuse to listen to them? Because if that notion sounds ridiculous to you (and I hope it would), then now you understand how ridiculous I think *you* sound when you say you won't listen to Sqounk Opera because the pianist doesn't like guns.

[SalientK]

@screamingcockatoo Okay, change the topic. Whatever man. But thanks for the recommendation I guess.

[screamingcockatoo]

@SalientK

Here, let me give you a benchmark for awesome.

ADELE - ROLLING IN THE DEEP(COVER), AMERICAN AIRMAN SINGS IT BETTER

[screamingcockatoo]

@SalientK

No, I refuse to support them for their beliefs, not their ethnicity.

If I found out a band was muslim extremists, to the cornfield with them.

Antisocial gangster dogfighting bullshit - off to the cornfield.

Radical anti-constitutional democrats - off to the cornfield.

It's just that simple.

Again, it wasn't their music, it was her bullshit statement she made on national TV.

If you can't grasp that, you're looking for something that isn't there.

[SalientK]

@screamingcockatoo This is not the same thing as listening to music which is *about* things with which you disagree. They're not singing *about* their beliefs. Their music itself contains no politics; you refuse to listen to it because the people *making* the music have beliefs which clash with your own. I wouldn't expect you to listen to songs about things you don't like. This is something else entirely. What you're doing is like liking a singer before finding out he is Asian. And it's silly.

[screamingcockatoo]

@SalientK

Yes it is art.

But I won't listen to gangster rap either that degrades women and encourages killing either.

But I do support their freedom of expression, First Amendment.

Where Squonk admits to voting away the Second Amendment.

There's plenty of other liberal musicians to take their place I'll support.

[SalientK]

@screamingcockatoo Music and politics are two different things. You can enjoy someone's music without enjoying their politics. Your whole life shouldn't revolve around somethings as divisive as modern politics. I'm not ignoring what you're saying, I just don't agree.

"Music is business."

Maybe this is our larger disagreement. Music is art, first and foremost. It just happens to be profitable for a select few musicians.

[screamingcockatoo]

@SalientK

I quit supporting U2 after Bono brought his politics to our shores.

Make music, not politics. You ignored what I was saying.

The Dixie Chicks learned what happens when you bring politics to your target audience.

Music is a business.