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Black Cat Orchestra

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44-596: Black Cat Orchestra was an American musical group formed in Seattle, Washington, active from 1991 to 2004. It consisted, in various forms over the years, of Lori Goldston (cello), Kyle Hanson (accordion), Don Crevie (horn), Scott Granlund (saxophone), Russ Meltzer (guitar), Jason Munger and Jeff Teitelbaum (bass), Matthew Sperry (double bass), Detonator Beth, Gina Sala and Jessika Kenney (vocals), Emily Marsh and Joseph Zajonc (drums), Jack Magai (percussion), and Friese Undine (harmonica). The band released two albums, as well as

88-544: A "Renaissance Processional" for the kilometer or so from downtown to the center; Mayor Wes Uhlman and most of the city council participated that year, in roles ranging from clowning to reading children's stories aloud to, in the mayor's case, running the Lost Child Center. Another prominent Bumbershoot event from this era was the Bumbernationals Artists' Soapbox Derby , which continued into

132-515: A Sunn Beta Lead, or a Soldano Astroverb. Pedals usually include a vintage Pro Co RAT and/or MXR Bass Octave Deluxe, often with various combinations of MXR Phase 90 , Boss TR2, Boss RV-6, Cry Baby, and/or Eau Claire Thunder, among others. Goldston also uses one of the first twenty manufactured Juggernautics Fuzz Fixx pedals. Goldston has received awards and grants from 4Culture, Meet The Composer , Artist Trust , Jack Straw, and Seattle Arts Commission, King County Arts Commission, Allied Arts (as

176-1355: A co-creator (with Stacey Levine and Goldston's partner Kyle Hanson) of the puppet opera The Wreck of the St. Nikolai (2003) for On the Boards and the radio play The Post Office . Goldston has worked on performances with composers including Eyvind Kang , Jherek Bischoff , Cynthia Hopkins , Malcolm Goldstein , Matana Roberts , Terry Riley , Eddie Prevost , Steve Moore , Bob Marsh, Olivia Block, Byron Au Yong, Erin Jorgensen, Bill Horist, Threnody Ensemble , Scott Fields , Christian Asplund, and Julio Lopezhiler. She has ongoing and/or long-term collaborations with Jessika Kenney , Robert Jenkins (a.k.a. Buzz Gundersen), Paul Hoskin, Ellen Fullman , Angelina Baldoz, Ed Pias, Vanessa Renwick, Greg Campbell, Stuart Dempster , Dan Sasaki, and Clyde Petersen . With an emphasis on improvisational work, Goldston has composed on-the-spot in performances with Lonnie Holley , Vratislav Brabenec , Ilan Volkov , Amy Denio , Thollem McDonnas , Mazen Kerbaj , Marika Anderson , Dan Peek , Balász Pándi , Kanako Pooknyw, Stuart Dempster , Dana Reason , Mary Oliver , and Jaap Blonk . From 2015 to 2017, Goldston traveled to Tel Aviv, Athens, and Glasgow for

220-677: A collaboration with Mirah , To All We Stretch the Open Arm , and appeared on the David Byrne album Feelings . Three members of the band, Kyle Hanson, Lori Goldston, and Don Crevie, had previously played together in a Seattle-area band called The Run/Remain Ensemble. John Helle Otto (baritone sax) was also a member of the original Run/Remain group and continued into the Black Cat configuration. They played their first show together at

264-640: A degree and would later describe herself as “rigorously detrained.” In 1986, Goldston moved to Seattle. Through the late eighties, Goldston performed with the Run/Remain Ensemble, a multimedia collaboration with Dayna Hanson, Kyle Hanson , Greg Lachow, and Megan Murphy. In 1989, Goldston co-founded the Black Cat Orchestra , with Don Crevie on horn, Scott Granlund on saxophone, Jessika Kenney on vocals, and Goldston's partner and fellow Run/Remain alum Kyle Hanson on accordion. In

308-456: A jazz musician, Goldston has studied and listened to jazz extensively, particularly Eric Dolphy , Wes Montgomery , John Coltrane , Charles Mingus , Thelonious Monk , Albert Ayler , and Pharoah Sanders . At the award ceremony for her 2012 Genius Award for Music, Goldston handed the orchestra written directions on how to follow her rather than sheet music, a move she traced back to Ornette Colman . The Stranger said that "listening to her

352-700: A member of the Run/Remain Ensemble), and was a 2010 City Artist for Seattle. Goldston was also the recipient of a Stranger Genius Award in 2012. Most recently, Goldston's work with Steve Fisk and Alexander Miranda was nominated for Best Score for Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust at the 2021 IDA Documentary Awards. Bumbershoot Bumbershoot is an annual international music and arts festival held in Seattle , Washington . One of North America's largest such festivals, it takes place every Labor Day weekend (leading up to and including

396-521: A number of albums, both for her own bands and as a session musician. Goldston plays a cello made in Seattle in 2013 by Jason Starkie, modeled after Giovanno Grantino. Prior to 2013 she played an instrument made in the 1950s in the shop of Anton Schroetter. Electrified, she uses a Schertler pickup through a variety of amplifiers, most often a Softscience modeled after Marshall Plexi, a 1970s Fender Deluxe Reverb modified by Kevin Hilbiber of Softscience,

440-495: A secondary production role from 2007 to 2009 during which they experienced "significant losses due to rain and the Great Recession of 2009". Contrary to their time as secondary producers AEG would now have majority control as One Reel was no longer a "financially healthy company". Because of this struggle Chris Porter, "Bumbershoot's music booker of nearly two decades", said that "this time [One Reel] had to bow down to

484-518: A solo artist on Mirah's recent albums (a)spera (2009) and Changing Light (2014). In 2005, Goldston formed another ensemble, Instead Of, with Angelina Baldoz (trumpet, flute, and bass), Jaison Scott (drums), and Torben Ulrich (text and vocals). The group independently released the album Live on Sonarchy in 2007. By 2009, Goldston was also regularly touring and recording with Earth . She appeared on their two-part Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light ( 2011 , 2012 ), but by 2015, Goldston had left

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528-488: A three-year programming and promotional agreement in 2008 with AEG Live , one of the largest for-profit international promoters of rock concerts and large events. The deal allowed AEG to assist One Reel with booking musical acts and sponsorship but ultimately proved unfruitful for both parties. As the region's largest single showcase for regional talent, Bumbershoot became a cultural tastemaker. The festival—which has become Seattle's longest-lived music and arts festival—paved

572-531: A wedding in 1989, but would not officially form until 1991. Since then, they have released two albums, a self-released and self-titled debut in 1996 and Mysteries Explained from Irene Records in 2001. In the intervening time, they appeared on David Byrne 's 1997 album Feelings , performed for This American Life (a performance that would be featured on the 2006 compilation This American Life: Stories of Hope and Fear ), and appeared at numerous film festivals providing live scores for early silent films. In 2003,

616-816: A wide variety of styles, including classical, world music, rock and free improvisation, she came to prominence as the touring cellist for Nirvana from 1993–1994 and appears on their live album MTV Unplugged in New York . She was a member of Earth , the Black Cat Orchestra , and Spectratone International, and also performs solo. Raised in the Long Island town of East Meadow , Goldston received training on cello, guitar, piano, and voice. She studied cello with Aaron Shapinsky, and guitar with Bob Suppan and Joe Monk. At Bennington College , Goldston trained with Maxine Neuman , Milford Graves , Arthur Brooks, Vivian Fine , and Frank Baker. Goldston dropped out before attaining

660-509: Is notable for a disorienting emphasis on pizzicato , which Goldston has said stemmed from attempts to play her cello like a guitar. Goldston has been heavily influenced by Western classical music and folk tunes, citing the Folkways folk and ethnographic records as childhood touchstones and Arnold Schoenberg , Toru Takemitsu , John Cage , George Crumb , Olivier Messiaen , and Carl Maria von Weber as influences later in her life. Though not

704-694: The Sub Rosa record label. In January 2017, Goldston was commissioned to compose and perform a solo acoustic cello score for Étude's Paris Fashion Week runway show. The score was recorded at the Paris Red Bull studio and released as a limited edition LP by Ed Banger. Goldston did a solo set at the Le Guess Who? musical festival in Utrecht, Netherlands in 2021. Goldston is known in large part for her improvisational work. Her work in cello

748-502: The Boards's Northwest New Works Festival and in 2009 scored Shelton's feature film Humpday . She has collaborated extensively with choreographer Peter Kyle composing for dance pieces. She has also contributed to numerous film scores, including the 2016 stop-motion film Torrey Pines and the documentaries Water Is Life and Where the House Was . In 2013, Goldston released a solo album of such work, entitled Film Scores , through

792-669: The Land Truth Company, and an electronic jam session. Other events included dance, theater, folk music, arts and crafts, art cars , body painting , a Miss Hot Pants Contest, amateur motorcycle races, and one out-of-town performer: country singer Sheb Wooley . In 1972, "Festival '72", held on July 21–23, took in 175,000 guests. In 1973 the festival adopted the present name "Bumbershoot", grew to five days, and pulled in 200,000 visitors. National acts included Cal Tjader , Joe Venuti , and John Handy . In 1974 it grew again, to 10 days and 325,000 visitors. The festival opened with

836-1016: The New Foundation, and the Henry Art Gallery . Numerous theaters, film organizations, and dance companies have commissioned Goldston to compose scores including the Olympia Film Society , the Rebecca Stenn Dance Company, 33 Fainting Spells, Seattle Jewish Film Festival, and the Regenbogen Kino in Germany. Numerous of these commissions, including those for Bumbershoot 's One Reel Film Festival, Northwest Film Forum, and Seattle International Film Festival , have included composing scores for early silent films. In 2001, Goldston collaborated with filmmaker Lynn Shelton on “Our Round Earth” for On

880-583: The One Reel Film Festival (at that time under the aegis of Bumbershoot ), and NPR's This American Life . In 1996, the group recorded and independently released a self-titled debut album. They followed it in 2001 with Mysteries Explained , co-produced with Irene Records, and then and Long Shadows at Noon from Yoyo Recordings (2003). In 2003, Goldston and Hanson entered the first of many collaborations with then-Portland-based artist Mirah . The Black Cat Orchestra teamed up with Mirah for

924-653: The One Reel Vaudeville Show, the organization had been involved in the event since its second year, 1972, but with their new role as festival producer came big change.Once again, the festival featured headlining national and international talent (acts that year included Emmylou Harris , Chuck Berry , the Art Ensemble of Chicago , Etta James , Clifton Chenier , Eugene Fodor and Martin Mull ), but added an admission charge.Initially that admission charge

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968-501: The Orchestra collaborated with then-Portland-based artist Mirah on a politically-themed album called To All We Stretch the Open Arm . The band dissolved in 2004 but Goldston and Hanson's next band, Spectratone International, collaborated with Mirah on the 2007 album Share This Place: Stories and Observations . Lori Goldston Lori Goldston (born 1963 or 1964) is an American cellist and composer. Accomplished in

1012-769: The Tectonics Festival, culminating in a composition for the BBC Scottish Symphony . Goldston has been commissioned by numerous established arts organizations, including performing arts companies like On the Boards , Portland Institute for Contemporary Art 's Time-Based Art (TBA) Festival, the Degenerate Art Ensemble ; and art institutions such as the Frye Art Museum , the Seattle Asian Art Museum ,

1056-466: The area available for festival use, most significantly, KeyArena. Industry experts have noted that "it was likely that AEG lost upwards of a million dollars each year it promoted Bumbershoot". In many festival-hosting cities, government funding – such as grants – have been organized as to continue the festival and maintain profits from tourism and tax gains. Bumbershoot has not experienced such economic profitability, and thus AEG chose to step down. In

1100-483: The band to pursue independent projects. As a solo artist, Goldston has recorded and performed around the country and the world. Her work is often eclectic, irreverent, and genre-bending. She has appeared as a voiceover artist on The Dina Martina Holiday Album (playing the role of Martina's eleven-year-old daughter Phoebe); and composed a suite of solo cello work in response to Melinda Mueller's poetry collection Mary’s Dust . She has also worked on numerous dramas, and as

1144-457: The early 1980s. 1975's 11-day festival was produced by Parks Department employee John Chambless, a former University of Washington professor of history and philosophy who had produced the 1968 Sky River Rock Festival , a Pacific Northwest hippie -era festival. With declining government grant support, Bumbershoot tried to keep afloat on donations and sales of posters, buttons, and T-shirts, but poor weather hurt attendance some years and left

1188-542: The fall of 2019 it was announced that AEG Live "declined to renew its option to produce Bumbershoot in 2020" following its five-year run as lead producer. The 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The 2022 edition was cancelled to allow new operator New Rising Sun to revamp the festival in time for the golden anniversary in 2023. In 2023, Third Stone and New Rising Sun announced that they would be re-launching Bumbershoot. New Rising Sun (NRS),

1232-500: The festival on a bedrock of Pacific Northwest talent. Record numbers of art and music lovers flocked to the multiple indoor and outdoor stages, galleries, and food, art and craft vendors. Artists such as The Eurythmics , James Brown , Spinal Tap and Tina Turner shared the turf with art oddities like the gigantic flying pencil, the Bumbernationals soapbox derby and robotic art. Although initially resistant to hip hop , in

1276-601: The festival should be saved, and not because it represented a potential chance to make money". After signing the contact with AEG, One Reel's founder Norm Langill met with Chad Queirolo and Rob Thomas of AEG's Pacific Northwest chapter. Langill reported to the Seattle Times that he had full faith in Queirolo and Thomas to take over Bumbershoot's operations. In November 2019, AEG Live announced that they decided not to continue producing Bumbershoot when their contract

1320-439: The first Monday of September) at the 74-acre (299,000 m ) Seattle Center , which was built for the 1962 World's Fair . Seattle Center includes both indoor theaters and outdoor stages. Bumbershoot began as a city-funded ($ 25,000 budget) arts and music festival called "Mayor's Arts Festival", also known as "Festival '71", held at Seattle Center on August 13–15, 1971. This event had a total attendance of 125,000 visitors. Amidst

1364-435: The free Festival scrambling for more financially stable options. First, the festival retrenched on the number of days and on bringing in national talent. According to John Chambless, about 25 percent of the 1975 budget went to out-of-town talent; the 1976 festival was nearly 100 percent local and was cut to two weekends; in 1977, it was further cut to just Labor Day weekend; as it happened, in both 1977 and 1978, Labor Day weekend

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1408-546: The local economic depression triggered by the near collapse of Boeing , the festival attempted to revive local spirits, and was the largest event held in Seattle Center since the 1962 World's Fair . Talk radio host Irving Clark Jr. chaired the fair committee, and avant-garde impresario Anne Focke used one-fifth of the budget for light shows (which incorporated lasers , still something of a novelty at that time), computer graphics , enormous inflatable soft sculptures by

1452-454: The local talent that would read on the performance stage. This was a precursor to the Poetry slam . According to its website, One Reel originated as a traveling show, "The One Reel Vaudeville Show" in 1972 and was founded by former One Reel president and CEO Norman Langill.One Reel has also operated Teatro ZinZanni , the "Summer Nights" concert series and "Family 4th at Lake Union" events. As

1496-861: The mid-'90s Bumbershoot introduced some of the first large-scale hip hop shows ever held in Seattle, a tradition that's still very much alive. From the ashes of the grunge rock scene came a new brand of Seattle sound; influential alternative rock bands such as Sleater Kinney , Modest Mouse , Death Cab for Cutie and Grand Archives have played Bumbershoot. In the new millennium, international artists have included groups such as Baba Maal , The Grand Kabuki Theatre of Japan, and an Ethiopian youth circus. The One Reel Film Festival, held within Bumbershoot, celebrates American independent film shorts. Bumbershoot incorporated new arts forms such as poetry slams and break dancing as well as older arts such as circus, contortion, aerial, and street theater. One Reel signed

1540-584: The mid-nineties, Goldston rose to prominence in the Pacific Northwest music scene as a session cellist, notably joining Nirvana on a US tour and appearing on their famous MTV Unplugged in New York set. Through the nineties and early millennium, Goldston played on dozens of studio albums. Meanwhile, with the Black Cat Orchestra, she toured and recorded for prominent national acts, including David Byrne (on his 1997 album Feelings ),

1584-459: The political album To All We Stretch the Open Arm . Goldston's group disbanded in 2004, but soon after, she and Hanson founded Spectratone International. Goldston and Hanson reprised their roles on cello and accordion, respectively. They were joined by Kane Mathis on oud, Jane Hall on percussion, and Darko Vukmanic on bass. With Spectratone International, Goldston's rejoined Mirah for the 2007 album Share This Place: Stories and Observations . For

1628-605: The project, Goldston commissioned stop-motion animator Britta Johnson to make short films for the band to perform against live; Share This Place premiered at the 2006 Seattle International Children's Festival and was performed throughout the US, including the Kennedy Center , Museum of Fine Arts, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art 's TBA Festival, Henry Art Gallery , and What the Heck Fest . Goldston has also appeared as

1672-414: The significance of the city's history and its culture fell to the background. Local artists were replaced by money making headliners. Though there were concerns, the truth of the matter was that the local AEG team believed in Bumbershoot and Seattle. AEG "took over in 2015 after nearly a million dollars of debt threatened the festivals future". A source told Crosscut magazine that "local AEG staff thought

1716-561: The way AEG wanted to do things in order to get the deal done". In other words, AEG kept the festival alive but would make the major decisions it didn't have the authority to do in the past. Locals were worried that AEG stepping in would change the deep cultural significance the festival served for the city highlighting local creatives. Having experienced a similar situation in New Orleans, a Seattle local interviewed by The Seattle Times said that as soon as AEG began to produce JazzFest that

1760-534: The way for other Seattle-area outdoor events, festivals, and happenings. Many of these, such as the Northwest Folklife Festival that premiered at Seattle Center on Memorial Day weekend nine months after the first Bumbershoot, have become established traditions in their own right. After several years of financial trouble, AEG Live took over as lead promoter in 2015, with One Reel providing supporting programming. AEG had previously taken on

1804-474: Was US$ 2.50 a day (although there was a "Free Friday", a tradition lasted for over a decade ); as of 2007, it had grown to US$ 40 a day, and to $ 62 by 2013. Substantial new premium ticket offerings have also been introduced, including Gold and Platinum passes, full-event tickets providing guaranteed inclusive admission to limited-seating events and reserved VIP seating at certain live music venues. The new formula featured world-class acts while continuing to ground

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1848-681: Was not entirely an earthbound experience [...] the music could only be described as a storm or flock of sound." Goldston draws on musical styles from around the world. She has performed as a member of the Seattle Turkish Music Ensemble and Seattle Chinese Orchestra, Volunteer Park Conservatory Orchestra, with Turkish Sufi singer Latif Bolat, Brazilian music with guitarist Marco De Carvalho, Japanese 20th-century and classical repertoire with Elizabeth Falconer , Klezmer music with Jack Falk, Lev Lieberman, Sandra Layman, Hank Bradley and Cathy Whitesides. Goldston has appeared on

1892-624: Was rainy. In 1980 the city brought in Northwest non-profit organization One Reel to produce the event; they have been running it ever since. A mid-1980s attempt by Seattle Center itself to wrest back control was overruled by the City Council. In the early 1980s, One Reel worked with Red Sky Poetry Theatre (RSPT) which ran many of the Literary Arts aspects of Bumbershoot for several years. RSPT would hold competitions to determine

1936-425: Was up for renewal. AEG's Rob Thomas said the decision was "heartbreaking" as they initially invested in saving the music festival because they believed in it. This decision came after years of problems. Since Seattle maintains ownership of Bumbershoot, related problems arise such as unions, city overtime pay and police fees. The Seattle Center has also been under construction for the last several years which restricts

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