The $100 Guitar Project on Now Is the Time

Two guys buy a cheap guitar and get all their friends to write for it on Now Is the Time, Sunday, July 14th at 10 pm. Nick Didkovsky and Chuck O’Meara set some ground rules: keep the guitar for a week, don’t alter it, and pay to send it to the next person. Other than that, just have fun. Out of two CDs’ worth of short pieces on the album they call The $100 Guitar Project, we’ll hear a dozen, ranging from metal to metaphysical, from downtown to out there.

Keeping to the guitar motif is George Crumb’s paean to the dogs in his family over the years, Mundus Canis for solo guitar and percussion. There’s also lots of guitar and percussion in a live excerpt from Annie Gosfield’s written-and-improvised Daughters of the Industrial Revolution. David Leisner’s trio for flute, guitar, and cello sounded vaguely Italian to him, so he gave it an Italian title, Trittico. Finally, Steve Bowman assembles his keyboard/computer electronica from live performances; Gutterball sounds all the world like electric guitar to us; other than that, it’s just fun.

from The $100 Guitar Project. Joe Berger: D & B Eurotunnel 

PROGRAM:
Amy Denio: Demi-zen Koan
Josh Lopes: Hundo
Nick Didkovsky: A Fire in God’s Path
Biota: Watch and Watch
Caroline Feldmeier: A Fond Lover
Ron Anderson: Chainring Compatibility
Joe Berger: D & B Eurotunnel
Mike Lerner: Requiem
Mike Keneally: Hi Ma
Mark Solomon: Stethoscope
Barry Cleveland: Arab Spring
Raymond T. Kallas: Malchiro (when blossoms fall they look like they’re dancing)
George Crumb: Mundus Canis
Annie Gosfield: Daughters of the Industrial Revolution, excerpt
David Leisner: Trittico
Steve Bowman: Gutterball

Watch Barry Cleveland assembling Arab Spring on the $100 guitar:

Every Sunday night at 10, Kile Smith brings you Now Is the Time, all styles of contemporary concert music by living American composers on WRTI-HD2 and the all-classical stream at wrti.org. Here are the recording details and complete schedule.