Today, The Supernatural Bride according to the Universal Solar Calendar, Knoxville's Big Ears Festival released it's full schedule, including set times and venues. Naturally, as in years past, so many of the sets I want to see are scheduled to occur simultaneously, and there are many hours-long intervals with nothing of particular interest to me.
Case in point: the festival kicks off Thursday evening with a multi-media performance of Just Charles & Cello in The Romantic Chord in a setting of Abstract #1 from Quadrilateral Phase Angle Traversals in Dream Light, a composition by La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela for cellist Charles Curtis and gradually shifting light projections. It's a three-hour performance, so naturally it overlaps with many other sets, and while Just Charles is playing, there are also simultaneous sets by Henry Threadgill’s Very Very Circus, Mary Halvorson's Amaryllis sextet, and the Tord Gustavsen Trio (ECM-style Norwegian jazz piano).
There are other performances of Just Charles scheduled for the weekend so that could safely be skipped on Thursday, but the other three sets at that time have significant overlap in performing time. Gustavsen plays from 6:00 to 7:15 at the Bijou Theater, while Halvorson plays just up the street at the lovely Tennessee Theater from 7:00 to 8:15, so one could conceivably see most of Gustavsen's performance, skip out early, and miss only the earliest part of Halvorson's set. But Threadgill's Very Very Circus, probably the most exciting and unique of the three sets, plays a half-mile away at The Mill & Mine (or as a friend calls it, "The Swill & Swine") from 6:15 to 7:30.
I take little pleasure in leaving sets early and arriving late. Not only does it interrupt the whole experience, but watching the clock and plotting time-speed-distance calculations throughout a set is a stressful distraction. Most likely, I will make my way up to the "Swill & Swine" for Very, Very Circus, and regretfully pass on Gustavsen and Halvorson. Very, Very Circus was Threadgill's band in the early 1990s (or as kids say these days, "the late 20th Century"), and it's unlikely I'll ever get the chance to see them again. Plus, it's probably the liveliest of the sets at that hour, and should be a good way to kick-start the weekend. For the record, Threadgill's set also overlaps with performances by Third Coast Percussion, The Tennessee Sheiks, Yvette Janine, Zoe Keating, and Zsela (most of whom I never heard of.)
The whole weekend is full of difficult decisions like that. After Threadgill finishes at 7:30, I have to decide on hanging around the Swill & Swine until 8:45 to see Secret Chiefs 3, an eclectic ensemble led by guitarist Trey Spruance of Mr. Bungle, or high-tailing it down to the Bijou by 8:15 to see Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin. I've seen Bärtsch at Big Ears before and enjoyed it thoroughly, and Secret Chiefs 3 will be playing again later in the weekend, so it's another difficult choice. Curiosity and inertia will probably keep me at the Swill & Swine for Secret Chiefs 3.
Finally, the day's headliners, the 90s post-punk/post-rock band Unwound, will be taking the stage at the Swill & Swine at 11:00, while at the same time at the nearby Old City Performing Arts Center, keyboardist John Medeski and cornetist Kirk Knuffke will be starting a set as The Angelic Brothers for a performance of Sun Ra compositions. Unwound disbanded in 2002 and have only recently gotten back together for a tour, and there's no telling if they'll still perform after the tour is over. On the other hand, I've seen Medeski interpret Sun Ra before on solo piano and it was amazing. Again, I could go either way, but the Unwound set will be very popular (in other words, crowded) and I'll most likely go with my introvert instincts and head to the Old City PAC.
So, as things stand right now, I'm leaning toward Henry Threadgill's Very Very Circus, followed by Secret Chiefs 3, and then The Angelic Brothers. Mind you, all of this and I still haven't even mentioned other performers that day, including Kurt Vile & the Violators, Adrianne Lenker of the band Big Thief, André 3000's ambient flute project New Blue Sun, jazz legend Charles Lloyd, electronic musician Jlin, and European jazz artist Francesco Turrisi.
I could probably Groundhog Day this night over and over again at least three times, seeing different sets each time, and still enjoy myself on each incarnation.
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