On December 8, 2013, Steven Brown and Blaine L. Reininger, co-founders of legendary cult band Tuxedomoon will perform their duo in Oaxaca, Mexico at the Teatro Macedonia Alcalá at 7 pm.
Brown and Reininger began their instrumental side project in 1981 as an offshoot of the recording of their second lp "Desire". They began to improvise for a show in a now defunct Brussels bar "Le Papaye Tropical" in an upstairs room equipped with an upright piano. The results of these sessions found their way into "The Ghost Sonata" their seminal postpunk opera, video and album. The pair decided they were on to something and a body of work appeared over the years, adjacent to their work in Tuxedomoon and their respective solo careers.
Click to play selection
(player appears in lower left)
Music Number Two
from "The Ghost Sonata" LP
Ombres Chinoise
from "The Croatian Variations"
Tarantella
from "Flower Songs"
The Ghost Sonata
from "The Ghost Sonata" LP
Pleasure
from "The Croatian Variations"
Ouverture
From the "Clear Tears" sessions
Incantato
from the "Clear Tears" sessions
It was only when they were approached to perform in Portugal in 1989 that they began to concentrate on this lineup. The concert in Lisbon, which appeared on Les Disques du Crepuscule as "100 Years of Music" became the operating template for the wide-ranging series of shows all around Europe which ensued during the early 1990's, most notably in Italy and France. Shortly after they completed work for a ballet in pre-war Croatia in 1992, released as "The Croatian Variations", Steven Brown left Brussels for Mexico, suspending operations on this format for a while. Their performance at Sala Nezahualcoyotl in Mexico City in October 1993 (later released as "Flower Songs") proved to be the last for the duo until now. While working with Belgian choreographer Thierry Smits in Brussels in a six-month residence on his dance project "Clear Tears, Troubled Waters", they decided that the time was ripe to revive this show and tour it again. They will be performing choice selections from the classic show, enhanced by new compositions from and adjacent to the recent Brussels work.
more information and musical extracts at http://blainesteven.tuxedomoon.co/
I think that the reason the Oaxaca performance last night was so poorly attended was that it was nearly impossible to find the tickets. We went to the Teatro Macedonio Alcala on three separate days, recieving vague information at the main ticket window. Finally, on the day of the performance, a kind young woman at themain ticket window walked us around thecorner anddown theblock to a locked, unmarked set of doors. She knocked on the door (how would we have known without her???) and a security guard let us in and sold us 4 tickets. I wonder how many other people with less patience and Spanish never did find where to get tickets? Que lastima as the concert was fabulous! On your next visit, there has to be a better way to sell the tickets!
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