A Musical Event with Punch
by Joseph Pehrson ©2006
“STRIKE,” a New Music and Boxing Extravaganza. The International Street Cannibals at Gleason’s Gym, 83 Front Street, Brooklyn. Saturday, October 7, 2006.
A life in contemporary music seems sometimes like a big fight. It’s a boxing match when writing a “knock out” work and pushing it before the public. We need “killer” publicity. Every thrust and counterthrust of performance success can land the “black eye” of a bad review. Before the applause, the lights go out. So why not bring the fight right out in the open and hold concerts in a real boxing ring? This is exactly what directors Dan Barrett and Gene Pritsker of the International Street Cannibals decided to do in their partnership with the legendary Gleason’s boxing gym.
Gleason’s is run by owner Bruce Silverglade, who was approached by Dan Barrett with the concept of a joint concert/exhibition boxing demonstration, and who enthusiastically agreed to it. The gym has a long and distinguished history, starting in 1937. Over the years many renowned fighters have trained there, including Muhammad Ali and Roberto Duran. As a long-time New York institution, it has garnered much media attention. Several full-length films with boxing themes have been shot there, including Rage of Angels and Raging Bull (please see www.gleasonsgym.net for full details).
Although it had been the site of several fashion shoots and corporate parties, concerts of classical music, jazz, or contemporary music had never been tried there. And, a potential new audience which has never been adequately introduced to this music is here. As Silverglade states on Gleason’s website: “For the most part, professional boxers come from the lower socioeconomic areas. Boxing is the sport of the underclass, a sport of the underdog. Men have used boxing to fight their way out of poverty, to fight their way out of prison, to fight their way out of hopelessness. When you spend a little time at Gleason’s, even as a spectator, you feel this.” At this event, all the boxers at the concert/demonstration were children. Most averaged about 11 years in age, and they didn’t seriously hurt one another. One can imagi! ne the outcry of parents if that were to happen. The demonstrations showed more a genre of aerobics, with the child boxers thrusting at one another in calculated gestures, for which they had carefully trained. The concert was a way of introducing these youngsters to instrumental music.
Practice, concentration and training is the connection with the musical part of the program, as Barrett’s musicians also parried careful musical thrusts through concentrated and dedicated preparation. Silverglade pointedly made this comparison in addressing the
audience. Barrett added to the celebratory atmosphere by offering delicious, free Middle Eastern cuisine.
But, how did the musical segments actually turn out, and what was the audience reaction? The first work on the concert segment was an early modern piece, Trio, by composer Erwin Schulhoff. Its intricacies were nicely articulated by Margaret Lancaster on flute/piccolo, Gregor Kitzis on viola and John Feeney on contrabass. Before the piece one heard the ringing of a boxing bell to indicate the start of the event. The Schulhoff was a rather lighthearted, almost jazzy number, and it worked well in the
curious gym environment.
Next was the ringing of the match bell and a children’s boxing demonstration began. The little guys came out in the ring having it at one another. For the rest of the evening boxing similarly alternated with musical works. The event was well attended, with perhaps the only caveat being that attentive audience members, according to Silverglade, were too quiet during the boxing segments. He emphasized that, in distinction to the concert portions, audience members were supposed to make noise and cheer on the boxers. At the end of each boxing bout, the children received not only a trophy, but a classical (I’m presuming new music) CD.
Of the musical segments, I found Gene Pritsker’s Cauldron of Unsatisfied Hatred for Franz Hackl, trumpet, and Pritsker on electric guitar to be particularly effective. Not surprisingly, an electric guitar and trumpet had the right “fighting edge” for this concert. David Lang’s solo flute piece Thorn was propelled aggressively by Margaret Lancaster. This work makes much use of loud repeated “overblown” pitches and certainly has a fighting spirit. Trombonist Dave Taylor sang and played bass trombone in his Der Doppelganger . Always a theatrical presence, Taylor, of all the instrumentalists, portrayed the movements of a boxer best in his playing. However, he had an advantage, a slide that gave the impression of a fist thrust. He also made the most of mimicking a boxer’s dancing feet movements. Composer Arthur Kampela’s young son Julian, the age of the demonstration boxers, made waves with his enthusiastic conga drum playing. One could tell that it resonated quite well with the young fighters.