When MASS (Movement and Sonic Sculpture) Ensemble debuted four years ago, it was the result of a collaboration among three friends: sculptor Bill Close, dancer Tatiana Sanchez and classical musician Joseph Harvey.
Using a marvelous piece by Close called “Long Bows” — a massive instrument with strings 23 feet long and a frame like a Viking ship — the trio integrated their art forms.
While Close played “Long Bows” by rubbing, plucking and pulling the strings, Harvey gave musical shape to the resulting sound through his cello. Sanchez, a trained dancer who’s spent years with Mordine and Company, served as a backup to Close on “Long Bows” and used the music and the eerie landscape created by Close’s sculptures as a stage for her movement work.
Now a variable lineup will be presenting a new piece called “Luna’s Gaze” through April 12 at the Chopin Theater in West Town. The players change because MASS now draws collaborators such as Luke Rothschild from Verbow, tabla master Kalyan Pathak, vocalist Gillian Downey, Michael Seligman from Redmoon Theater, CUBE New Music Ensemble and Kevin O’Donnell of the Quality 5 Jazz Band.
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All these folks aren’t on stage at the same time; rather, they sit in as guest artists from night to night, giving each show its own character and instigating different improvisations.
One of the most fascinating of MASS’s artistic partnerships is that with Brien Rullman, a video artist who mixes images live during the show the way a disc jockey mixes music and sounds.
“We’ve been exploring video for a while,” says Close. “The idea is to find the right balance between what’s entertaining and meaningful. We want to take the audience on a big journey, to different dimensions.”
They also wanted to give the music more drive, to play more with the rhythms and aesthetics of rock ‘n’ roll. The result is a swirling visual track that echoes the heyday of the Fillmore, and music that sounds baroque sometimes, anthemic at others, and considerably more polished than ever before.
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Last time Sonia Rutstein came through town, she was riding on the critical raves that accompanied “Seed in the Sahara,” the Roy Bittan-produced CD released under the name disappear fear. But disappear fear was already a bit of a myth: Rutstein’s partner, her sister Cindy Frank, had dropped from the touring band to stay home with her hubby and new baby and Rutstein was pretty much on her own.
The result is “Almost Chocolate,” Rutstein’s first solo effort. She’ll be debuting songs this Saturday at Schuba’s.
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Before Marc Smith became the front man at the Green Mill’s legendary Sunday night poetry slams, he was a member of a group called the Chicago Poetry Ensemble. For three years, its members — Smith, Mike Barrett, Anna Brown, David Cooper, Jean Howard, Karen Nystrom, Rob Van Tuyle and John Sheehan — worked out poly-vocal arrangements of their poems and stories, performing in hundreds of venues all over Chicago. In the process, they had a profound influence on artists such as Patricia Smith, Lisa Buscani, and the Loofah Method before they broke up in 1992.
Since then, the members have made their own paths. Howard, for example, helped found the International Poetry Video Festival. Sheehan recently released a collection titled “Leaving Indiana” with the locally based Tia Chuchas Press.
It’s Sheehan’s publication, in fact, that has brought the original group members back together. To celebrate his new book, the Chicago Poetry Ensemble will reunite for one night only — this coming Tuesday — at the Guild Complex for a kind of greatest-hits extravanganza.
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You’d think — since Shay Duffin’s been doing this bit for more than 24 years — that there wouldn’t be anybody left alive who hasn’t seen the marvelous “Brendan Behan: Confessions of an Irish Rebel.” But folks just keep coming, which is why Duffin’s one-man show at the Mercury has been extended through April 12. Call for tickets, though — it sells out often.
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the facts
Fridays, 8 p.m., Saturdays, 8 and 10:30 p.m, Sundays, 7 p.m., through April 12, “Luna’s Gaze” by the MASS Ensemble, Chopin Theater, 1543 W. Division St. Call 312-243-2366.
Fridays, 8 p.m., Saturdays, 5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., Sundays, 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., Wednesdays and Thursdays, 7:30 p.m., through April 12. “Brendan Behan: Confessions of an Irish Rebel,” by Shay Duffin, Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport Ave. Call 773-325-1700 for more information. The Mercury Theater is wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, Sonia Rutstein, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport Ave. Call 773-525-2508 for times and other information.
Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., Chicago Poetry Ensemble, Guild Complex, 1543 W. Division St. Call 773-463-7588.