SoNoGram from Dave Ayer on Vimeo.
2010-10-02: Our final SoundWalk 2010 performance of “SoNoGram” is now posted in its entirety.
SoNoGram
Personnel
- SoCal J J L (Jacob) Dickinson
Photos and LA river poetry - Gaia Rebecca (Becky) Ayer
Solo violin and source loops - NoCal D A (Dave) Ayer
Mixing and The Dream West
Text and stage directions
Here is the libretto used for the debut performance of SoNoGram at Long Beach SoundWalk 2010 on October 2, 2010.
| So Cal | Gaia | No Cal |
|---|---|---|
| Jacob | Rebecca | Dave |
| Prelude | ||
| [Largely musical intro] | ||
| [Becky and the time machines] | ||
| Introduction | ||
| [Bell crescendo/decrescendo] | ||
| A river runs through it | ||
| A river runs through the City of Angels | ||
| A river washes the feet of the angels | ||
| The Dream West | ||
| When you’re born in the middle, | ||
| in the center, | ||
| at the crossroads, | ||
| you can go | ||
| any which way: | ||
| north, | ||
| south, | ||
| east, | ||
| west, | ||
| even over the cuckoo’s nest; | ||
| any which way. | ||
| But one thing that becomes clear to you at a very early age is that you must not, |
||
| must not, | ||
| fail | ||
| to go some other way, | ||
| some way or other, | ||
| somewhere | ||
| else. | ||
| Sources | ||
| [Bell chime] | ||
| Water falls from the sky | ||
| Water churns from wells | ||
| Water moves through an aqueduct, up and
down the hills |
||
| Water splashes on rocks | ||
| Water runs down mountains | ||
| Water runs off rooftops | ||
| Water pours through pipes underground | ||
| Water runs through parking lots | ||
| Tires hiss in wet streets | ||
| Water runs to the river | ||
| Price of Passage | ||
| We hear there’s gold out West. We hear there’s jobs out West. In San Francisco we hear the streets are paved with Opportunity and never mind about them earthquakes, they don’t scare us none, not when my grandma was sucked up by a twister and set down in the next county back in 1885, next to two dead cows and a kerosene lamp still lit, no sir; not when my uncle used to go fishing with a saw in the winter ’cause the ice was so thick the fish were frozen in it all the way to the bottom, just frozen and lookin’ at him like, no sir. |
||
| We hear there’s jobs out west. We hear there’s gold out west. In Menlo Park–it’s just like Edison’s only his is in New Jersey–there’s men who will pay you just to have an idea, just to think of something nobody ever thought before. |
||
| There’s ways to get out west: steam locomotives; covered wagons; the Pony Express; sailboats on wheels! I’ll catch me a wagon, a truck, hitch-hike, talk to an army recruiter if I have to. I got a bit saved up to get me through, to help me cross over. |
||
| We hear there’s gold out West. We hear there’s jobs out West. We hear it’s real nice. |
||
| Landmarks | ||
| [Bell chime] | ||
| The river runs: | ||
| between concrete walls | ||
| past dry hills | ||
| jacaranda | ||
| eucalyptus | ||
| willow | ||
| over tree roots | [STOP] | |
| Birds stand in the river | [STOP] | |
| Fish swim in the river | [STOP] | |
| The river runs: | ||
| past quartz towers | ||
| past a buried opium den | ||
| under a freeway | ||
| past refinery flares | ||
| past a tent village | [STOP] | |
| A horse walks by the river | ||
| “They slaughter goats down by the river” | [STOP] | |
| The river runs: | ||
| under bridges | ||
| under a train | ||
| down to the harbor | ||
| down to the ships | ||
| down to the sea | [STOP] | |
| There’s a field of flowers no one sees | ||
| There’s a treehouse with no one in it | ||
| It’s a poem no one reads | ||
| written on a scrap | ||
| thrown in the river | ||
| washed down to the harbor | ||
| down to the ships | ||
| down to the sea | [FULL STOP] | |
| One Life, One Arrow | ||
| A single arrow shot from anywhere east of the Mississippi is going to have to go a way, a long way, to fly over the mountains and the valleys and the plains and the badlands all the way to the land of milk and honey, let me tell you: |
||
| MY LIFE | ||
| Stretched across the country from sea to shining sea, from east to west, from edge to edge, from alpha to omega lies a ribbon of hot concrete and steel and tar and Macadam like a rubber band between two knees, like the drawn string of a long bow with an arrow fletched to fly, a river of manmade stuff poured in the shape of commerce, the shape of progress, the shortest distance from then ’til now: |
||
| ONE STRAIGHT LINE | ||
| Aim your arrow well, and stretch the string across that bow; now back, and back, and back, until your arm shakes, the sweat breaks on your brow; now breathe out slowly and let go… |
||
| ONE ARROW | ||
| …landing half buried and quivering in the eastfacing hills just outside Olema, just before the epicenter, a little placename north of nowhere and west of no one cares and calls this |
||
| HOME | ||
| The Bridge of Dreams | ||
| [Bell chime] | ||
| Cool sea breeze blows up a hot concrete ditch | ||
| Dark water slides under a bridge | ||
| A chandelier hangs from the bridge | ||
| Candles flicker in the chandelier | ||
| Light shimmers on the dark water | ||
| The shimmer is the same | ||
| but the dark water slides under the bridge | ||
| the candles burn down | ||
| You can’t step in the same river twice | ||
| [Bell crescendo/decrescendo] | ||
| On the Fault Line | ||
| [Largely musical close] | ||
| [Becky and the Time Machines] | ||
| [The Long Tail] |
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