During January's CES, John Atkinson and I attended a
Furman Sound press briefing, where we became acquainted with the company's new line of power conditioners.
I enjoyed listening to Furman's Garth Powell discuss the importance of pure AC. I wrote:
He's as intense as some of the most beautiful music we've heard at the show, sharing his ideas with a conviction appropriate for song, and punctuating his lyrics with a clap of the hands and a fist into palm: "When that power comes through," he says, "BAM!"
And now I've just quoted myself. I'm not sure what to think about that.
Anyway, a reader named "Chaney" points us to
Powell's biography on the Bay Area Improvisers Network directory, "a forum for Creative Musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area," where we learn that Powell has been a member of several ensembles and makes an appearance in
Noisy People, a new documentary by experimental musician Tim Perkins.
Noisy People is a feature length video documentary that opens a window into a tightly-knit group of unusual sound artists and musicians from the San Francisco improvisational music community.
Filmmaker Tim Perkis, himself a well-respected player in the Bay Area experimental music scene, followed his subjects for a year, filming them in their homes and studios, rehearsals and performances. What emerges is a set of funny and lively portraits of some very creative and quirky people — and a portrait of a way of life outside the commercial musical mainstream of America.
Noisy People will premiere on April 25, at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, CA. The DVD is available now.
