[ attempt #2... now in two parts each under 7K... sheesh! ] greetings. long time no write :) so i saw both sets of XU FENG... for once, i was not in a rush, heading downtown from work to meet my brother and his wife (i was running late for both Bar Kokhba last friday and Frith/Zorn on monday). i hadnt really thought about going to see XU FENG too much but my brother told me about the lineup -- JOEY BARON and Susie Ibarra (not getting out much anymore i have only see her play maybe once or twice so that wasnt a big deal to me but i think rob was pretty psyched) and MARC RIBOT and FRED FRITH, not to mention Anthony Coleman and, well Jamie Saft was gonna play but i gather he was stuck somewhere (Germany??) for some reason (plane flight issue??) so Yuka Honda substituted. we got to Tonic at around 7pm, an hour early, and there were probably 15-20 people in front of us in line. wow. i guess 6:30pm might be better... i wonder if masada will be much worse (i assume so?). anyway it was great weather so quite pleasant to hang out, enjoy the sunset (over a WTC mural, with building under construction in background)... given the crowd we were worried we wouldnt get seats, but we did. (oh yeah while we were waiting outside we saw joey and susie arrive.) also fortunately i was able to buy tickets to both sets so i could stay and save a seat for *my* wife who had decided (to my surprise) that she was interested in seeing this piece. actually i think once she expressed this interest, i made it hard for her not to go, because i was so excited about the possibility of her seeing a zorn game piece, instead of "just masada", clearly i would be let down if she backed out. (i even explained the concept of "wife-friendly" repertoire and how i could brag about it on the zorn-list. ha! ps no offense i know "wife-friendly" is sexist) zorn's 1993 program notes: "The favorite actress of legendary director King Hu, Xu Feng was one of the biggest stars in the Chinese film industry and more recently has become a powerful producer. Game pieces after Cobra tended to be more tangible than abstract, more dramatic, and this piece, written directly after Cobra, focuses in on strategic elements resulting in a fast paced competitive game not unlike the kung fu films Xu Feng starred in. The introduction of sound MODIFIERS and the special instrumentation (although it has been done with six drummers) helps give the piece a distinctive identity." zorn's 2003 program notes: "i saw [WTF?? zorn is writing all lowercase these days too??] *xu feng* in king hu's masterpiece _touch of zen_ and was blown away by her power, beauty and spiritual intensity. i'm amazed king hu's films are not more known. he was the original master of the chinese martial arts genre. this piece is one of my favorites, a fast-paced, dynamic piece with some options and strategies not available in cobra. more improvisers should check this piece out. there is life beyond cobra." i wrote this in 1993: | The "sound modifiers" were cards Zorn would hold up that said things | like "fast", "slow", "loud", "soft", "dense". There were other | cards that indicated other things I can only speculate about (there | was a "Runner" card and a "Pool" card), possibly they had something | to do with who played or who "led" the improvisation. There was a | "crossfade" card which Zorn would raise and lower gradually, causing | one half of the band to become loud as the other faded out. | Headbands were worn by various people. Zorn had a hat that he wore | and took off at certain times, which I imagine meant something. | There was a big card that simply said "End" which had a predictable | effect. well zorn wore a hat again :) and i still dont know what it means! headbands were again worn by various members of the band, mainly anthony coleman and fred frith so far as i noticed, but also baron at least once. [ CONTINUED IN PART 2. ]