The Lab: May, 2025

The Lab has prepared only three concerts for this month. However, one of them will be given two performances; and another will be devoted to an 80-minute composition by Morton Feldman. For those that do not yet know, The Lab is located in the Mission at 2948 16th Street. This is particularly convenient for those using public transportation, since it is a short walk to the corner of 16th Street and Mission Street. Busses stop at that corner for both north-south and east-west travel, and downstairs there is a station for the BART line running under Mission Street. Doors open half an hour in advance of the performance; and specific information for each event, including a hyperlink to the Web page that provides both background material and hyperlinks for ticket purchases, is as follows:

Friday, May 9, and Saturday, May 10, 8:30 p.m.: Scales for the Living under Duress: 2020–2025 is a poem-dialogue trilogy by Carla Harryman. She will deliver selections from her text accompanied by improvised music, which will be led by Jon Raskin. There will be three instrumentalists, Ben Davis on cello, trumpeter Darren Johnston, and Raskin alternating between alto saxophone and concertina. There will also be improvised movement by Roham Sheikhani. All four of these performers will also contribute vocal work.

Friday, May 16, 8 p.m.: Feldman composed “Patterns in a Chromatic Field” for cello and piano in 1981. It will be performed by Tyler J. Borden (who usually performs as T.J. Borden) and Mari Kawamura, respectively. The program will begin with three earlier (and shorter) Feldman compositions: “Durations 2,” “Film Music for JP,” and “Intersection 3.”

Imaginatively inventive composer Bill Orcutt (from The Lab’s event page for his coming performance)

Saturday, May 31, 8:30 p.m.: The month will conclude with a two-set program. The first set will be taken by the art rock band Gumby’s Junk, which is no stranger to opening for touring acts. The group is a trio whose members are guitarist Jas Stade, Emmalee Johnson-Kao on bass, and Eli Streich, alternating among drums, toy piano, and cowbell. All three of them also contribute vocals. The second set will be a performance of The Four Louies by Bill Orcutt. This is a synthesis of Richard Berry’s “Louie Louie” in the version recorded by the Kingsmen with Steve Reich’s “Four Organs.” Both of these sources are given a slice-and-dice treatment with the resulting segments accompanied by maracas and a rhythm section.