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 |  The Fantastic Merlins : every Friday at the Black Dog Photo: Benny Moreno | |||||||
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Sep 9, 2010 - Mississippi Peace
The Black Dog is please to host a return performance by Mississippi Peace as part of the Concrete and Grass Music Festival in Lowertown. Thursday, September 9th, 8:00pm. Christopher Cunningham (Neverwas) presents a new micro orchestra for a new era:MISSISSIPPI PEACE Featuring: Christopher Cunningham (Neverwas) : guitars, fretted stringed instruments, percussion Melissa Mathews: violin Michelle Kinney: cello Graham O’Brien: drums Gregory Reese: voice Nicholas Gaudette: bass Mississippi Peace is a string- driven, urban acoustic ensemble dedicated to pushing deep into unexplored rhythmic, virtuosic, and stylistic territories -while having as much fun as possible in the process. Designed for the post-national realities of the current world crunch, Mississippi Peace can run on rechargeable batteries or caffeine only, when necessary. The group is committed to creating a strong, courageous, and sleek new music for a weaker, more timid, and much fatter America. Christopher Cunningham (a.k.a. Neverwas)grew up amidst the rising noise floor of the hyperactive 1960’s American youth culture, and hit the ground running - directly into the maw of the early 1980’s No Wave and downtown punk funk scenes of both American coasts. His lead guitar gig with James Chance (James White) and The Contortions (Blacks) began a twenty-five year period of global wandering, involving a multitude of subsequent groupings, pairings, and breakups. Although NYC was always the homeland of insecurity, his collaborations on stages and in studios with the likes of Marianne Faithfull, John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards, Gavin Friday, Boukman Eksperyans, Omar Farouk Tekbilek, Katell Keineg, The Golden Paliminos, Marshall Crenshaw, Richie Havens, and The Saqqara Dogs kept the time zones and languages constantly changing outside the van/plane/train/taxi /limo window. In the late nineties he released his debut solo CD, Stories to Play, to much critical acclaim. His more recent second full length, Neverwas, has garnered even more. Time Out New York wrote: “Now residing in Minneapolis, the former Contortions, Lounge Lizards an Golden Paliminos guitarist prizes instrumental precision above all else -invention excepted. On Neverwas,…he turns exception into rule….” Since the mid-90’s he has been scoring and sound designing independent features and feature documentaries, including several gothic horror films for local cult director, Jon Springer. As Chris Cunningham, Neverwas serves as head of the McNally Smith College of Music’s Songwriting and Composition Department. | ||||||||
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