The Single Wing Turquoise Bird

Single Wing Turquoise Bird

In the late 60's and early 70's a band of visual artists painted images on large screens, accompanying many of the era's greatest contemporary music groups, and also playing on their own to prerecorded sound or music - or even to ambient sound from microphones hung over a busy boulevard nearby - for audiences looking for something quite different ... welcome to the Single Wing Turquoise Bird website -

SEE some images below

Coming along ...

a chronicle, moving pictures, shapes, sounds, and more ... begun: 2 November 2002

for a good write-up of the group and its history see pOoTerLand at http://www.pooterland.com/index2/lightshow_menu/lightshows/single_wing/single_wing.html

another nice description can be found in the pioneering work on modern multimedia, Expanded Cinema by Gene Youngblood. A downloadable PDF version of the book is available at http://www.vasulka.org/Kitchen/PDF_ExpandedCinema/ExpandedCinema.html and the SWTB write-up is in Part 6.

ALSO - see some related photos below:

Announcements ...

Cindy Keefer of the Center for Visual Music just screened the Single Wing Turquoise Bird film piece at the Tate Modern Museum in London as part of the Expanded Cinema Symposium, on April 19, 2009. For details of the program please visit:

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/eventseducation/symposia/18016.htm

Larry Janss organized a REVIVAL LIGHT SHOW PERFORMANCE on February 27, 2009, in conjunction with the release of SWTB Member Jeff Perkins' excellent documentary film on Sam Francis, celebrated artist and a patron of the light show.

See the announcement PDF for details.

From the show announcement:

The Single Wing Turquoise Bird Lightshow (SWTB) was famous for its wide screen lightshows for the legendary “Pinnacle Productions Series” held at the Shrine Exposition Hall in Los Angeles in 1967 and 1969. SWTB performed with the Chambers Brothers, Velvet Underground, Grateful Dead, Big Brother and The Holding Company, Pacific Gas & Electric, Steve Miller Band, Taj Mahal, Dr. John, Sons Of Champlin, BB King, The Yardbirds, Cream and Quicksilver Messenger Service. The SWTB later performed a series of evocative multimedia performances at various venues, most notably in the loft above the Fabulous Fox Venice Theatre, 1970 - 1975.

The original members (Birds) presenting this evening’s event are Jeff Perkins (Slides), Peter Mays (Film / video), Michael Scroggins (Liquid Overheads) and Larry Janss (Film/video.)

Directly following the presentation of “THE PAINTER SAM FRANCIS” and the Q&A, members (those still standing) of the Single Wing Turquoise Bird will present examples of new materials and experimental sequences they are preparing which, hopefully, will lead eventually to a reunion of the company in the near future. The material and sequences are in early development and many have not been seen before. The event promises nothing other than the likelihood of some luscious color and screen movement, some spectacular flops, abundant humor and humility and a large dollop of fun. It’s a jam session by The Ancients of the Genre who have not worked together in 35 years.

A frame from the Single Wing Turquoise film clip from 1971

“I think one of the high points of our concert work was the Pinnacle Productions Grateful Dead concert at the Shrine in late 1968. At one point one of the musicians was bathed in a scintillating, flashing circle of flickering images of snowflakes, Indian pottery, and seashell structures on a black background, surrounded by a surging 60 foot wide sea of amazing imagery stretching the entire width of the hall. Jerry Garcia turned around and gazed up at the expanse of imagery towering over him, his back to the audience. Soon the other band members followed, and the Dead played the rest of the set facing our imagery - and we played with them, feeding off of each other’s live energy. Real magic!” ... Rol Murrow, Member, SWTB

HISTORICAL NOTE: The Painter Sam Francis was an early financial benefactor of the Single Wing Turquoise Bird Lightshow and occasionally projected with the Company

NEWS FROM THE SHOW!

Full report later - in the meantime here are some photos from the show taken by photographer Dana Ross - see his work at http://danaross.com

More News Items:

Cindy Keefer of the Center for Visual Music has continued to book retrospective shows in both the U.S. and internationally in which the SWTB segment is included. For further information see the CVM website www.centerforvisualmusic.org.

Archive News

A note from Cindy Keefer of the Center for Visual Music www.centerforvisualmusic.org

"Film historian/Professor David James' new article "Expanded Cinema in Los Angeles: The Single Wing Turquoise Bird" has just been published in Millenium Film Journal nos. 43/44 - available online through amazon.com, follow the link:

http://mfj-online.org/journalPages/MFJ43/MFJ43TOC.html "

The article provides the most comprehensive history of the SWTB to date - a must-read!

Cindy Keefer, Executive Director of the Center for Visual Music, produced a show called Visual Music, which includes work from SWTB and from filmmakers who contributed to SWTB such as David LeBrun. Here are the details from the site at http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/ :

Visual Music" - Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (opens February 13, 2005) and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC (opens June 2005). The exhibition features painting and photographs; installations; and films, videos, color organ and light projections by artists including Stephen Beck, Jordan Belson (Allures, Samadhi, plus a new film premiering at the Hirshhorn), Mark Boyle and Joan Hills, Larry Cuba, Charles Dockum (1952 Mobilcolor Performance), Oskar Fischinger (Study No. 7, Allegretto, Radio Dynamics, Lumigraph film, Ornament Sound), Viking Eggeling, Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack, Hy Hirsh (Eneri), Len Lye (A Colour Box), Stanton MacDonald-Wright, Elias Romero, Hans Richter (Rhythm 21), Walter Ruttmann, Dan Sandin, Single Wing Turquoise Bird, Harry Smith (Film No. 3), James Whitney (Yantra, Lapis, Film Exercise No. 4), John Whitney (Permutations), John Whitney, Jr., Thomas Wilfred, and Joshua White. CVM provided numerous films and videotapes, plus research and assistance, for this exhibition.

March 24, 2006 - An Evening of Visual Music Films curated by CVM. Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. 6:30 pm.
Please check the calendar on the MOCA site for additional screenings and events related to the exhibition: Art Talk by David James (March 31); performance of Stanton MacDonald-Wright's "Kineidoscope" color organ.

Plan to see this show if it comes to your area! It is a must! Contact Cindy at the Center for Visual Music to inquire about future shows or to arrange one in your area.

Link to information at the Hirschorn: http://www.hirshhorn.si.edu/visualmusic/index.html

Here is also a link to Doug Harvey's LA Weekly review of the VM show :

http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/14/features-harvey.php

from 2003:

Cindy Keefer, previously of iotaCenter, produced a stunning compilation called Kinetica 4, which included work from SWTB, and which began touring the world in 2003.

The Los Angeles Premiere of Kinetica 4 was held as follows:
Part 1 January 17, 2003 (including SWTB footage) and Part 2 January 18, 2003 (including work of SWTB member David Lebrun)

Click image for details:

http://www.kinetica.org/K4/

a page from the program guide:

click image above to see it full size

NOTE: SWTB member Larry Janss rebuilt the Theatre on High Street
in Moorpark, California!

The Single Wing Turquoise Bird in performance:

Photo: The Single Wing Turquoise Bird performing in the Cumberland Mountain Film Company studio in 1970. The studio was located above the Fox Venice Theatre and housed SWTB from 1970 to its final performance in 1978.

click on image to enlarge

Note - additional ionformation about SWTB and the Fox Venice Theatre can be found on the Virtual Venice site - http://www.virtualvenice.info/

Contact Information:

Electronic mail & sites: General Information: mail@swtb.info; Larry: mail@swtb.info; Michael: aka@emsh.calarts.edu Site: http://emsh.calarts.edu/~aka/; Rol: rol@swtb.info Site: http://www.murrow.info/rol
Webmaster: webmaster@swtb.info

SEE some images below

Coming along ...