Due to some technical difficulties, this blog has been quiet lately.  Thus, I’m overdue in praising my old friend Jay Dees and the owner of the Literary Bookpost, Deal Safrit, for throwing an awesome JLP event in Salisbury, NC.  Around 120 people turned out and thirty-some JLP books were sold.  The Ron Free Trio (Royce Campbell guitar, Bob Bowen bass played and sounded fantastic.  Photographer Jan Jenson made photographs at the event, which are here.

Many thanks to Jay and Deal.  What a wonderful town and bookstore.

-S.S.

Sam Stephenson and the Ron Free Trio (with Royce Campbell on guitar, Bob Bowen on bass) will appear in Salisbury, NC on Thursday October 13.  Here’s the listing from the Salisbury Post:

The Jazz Loft Project book signing and reception — 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 13: Author Sam Stephenson will discuss and sign copies of The Jazz Loft Project, a collection of the photography of W. Eugene Smith taken in the late 1950s and early 1960s of the jazz scene in NYC. Tickets $10 at Literary Bookpost, Salisbury Visitor Center, jazzloft.eventbrite.com. Portion of ticket sales goes to Rowan Blues & Jazz Society. Ticket purchase price can be applied to purchase of book. Cash wine bar. Live jazz by the Ron Free Trio. Literary Bookpost, 110 S. Main St.

Photographer Kate Joyce, a member of the Chaos Manor creative collective, checks in from Chicago with an early sequence of images from the Invisible Dog, Brooklyn, September 16-17.  Enjoy.

Sometime in the near future we’ll be posting photographs from Chaos Manor made by the photographers in our creative collective, Kate Joyce and Jason Goodman.  Jason, who is also creating a video trailer for the show, flew to Milan for a 10-day commission the morning after Chaos Manor, and Kate returned home to Chicago with a Smith-like number of photographs from the proceedings.  Kate revealed today that, so far, she’d eliminated about 1000 pictures from consideration, with a couple thousand remaining.  Somewhere, Smith must be smiling.

Meanwhile, the following photographs were made on the first night by Anthony Sabatino, the grandson of drummer and former 821 Sixth Avenue resident, Frank Amoss.

These are from actor and producer Julia Watt, a member of the Chaos Manor creative collective.  Check back soon for work by the collective’s photographers Jason Goodman and Kate Joyce.

Chaos Manor command central. 3rd floor, Invisible Dog.

Saxophonist Levon Henry against projections of images of Jimmy Giuffre by Gene Smith circa 1959.

I’m back in North Carolina after two weeks in Brooklyn.  The experiment succeeded, thanks to the efforts of the remarkable director Christopher McElroen and an inspiring and dedicated collective of video, photography, and audio pros, performers, musicians, and production assistants.  More to come on Step 1 of Chaos Manor, including photos and audio-video.  Meanwhile, here is a series of photographs by the Invisible Dog’s Simon Courchel indicating what was done this past weekend.

-Sam Stephenson

Paris Review Daily previews Chaos Manor.  Meanwhile, here are some scenes from the last twenty-four hours at the Invisible Dog.

Third floor, Invisible Dog. Projection screens hanging by windows.

Invisible Dog, third floor, l/r photographer Kate Joyce, video designers David Tennent, Alex Koch, Kate Freer

L-R, Kate Freer, David Tennent, Alex Koch

Alex Koch, David Tennent, Kate Freer

Sound designer Dominic Mekky, pianist Martha Kato, saxophonist Levon Henry, drummer Eric Read.

Sunday was 9 hours grinding out the story boards visually, working with video designer Alex Koch.  Yesterday was the same thing from the sonic perspective, working with saxophonist and bandleader Levon Henry and sound designer Dominic Mekky.  For the rest of the week we’ll try to synch the two, and add actors.  It’s a free workshop, an experiment, so it can’t go too far wrong.  Director Chris McElroen likes to quote John Waters, who said that “success” is when you work with good, kind people.  Mission accomplished.  Longtime JLP Research Associate and chief tape cataloger Dan Partridge joins the fray today.

Brigid Hughes and A Public Space posted a thoughtful note about the event this morning, Excavating a Life.

-S.S.

Yesterday director Chris McElroen took an afternoon break from Chaos Manor to work with his longtime collaborator Troy Hourie on the stage sets for the first-ever adaption of Ralph Ellison’s novel, Invisible Man, which premiers in Chicago in January, directed by Chris.  They were working in the restaurant/bar, Local 61, on Bergen St. in Brooklyn, a couple doors down from the Invisible Dog.  I stopped by a couple of times to look over their shoulders.  I was an Economics major in college but I think the best grade I ever made was in a Drama course called “stage craft.”  At the time it didn’t seem significant but looking back, maybe I missed my calling.

I made the photo above with my phone.  Pictured is Troy’s model of the Chicago stage with their set.  Chris and Troy went through the Invisible Man script page by page and moved pieces on the model to depict what would be happening on-stage at every moment.  They made photographs of each momentary change.  It was a remarkable show of precision, something like medical surgery, I thought.

We don’t know if Chaos Manor will grow into a full-blown theater production.  But it would be fun to have a model of 821 Sixth Avenue and be moving tiny figures around the space.

-S.S.

The second Chaos Manor performance, 9/17, is the one billed on the BBF schedule.  This gives us a night to get some kinks out, or revamp the whole thing.