When guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp performs on Thursday in the Walker galleries, he’ll bring an instrument befitting the unusual setting. Beneath Ernesto Neto’s otherworldly otheranimal sculptural installation, he’ll be playing a customized six-string designed by luthier Saul Kroll, modified to include two additional bass strings, a Novax fanned fretboard system, a Jason Lollar pickup, an oval soundhole, and a piezo pickup system.
To get a feel for this relentless experimenter’s thinking, we posed some of life’s most–and possibly least–pressing questions. Here’s his answers:
What global issue most excites or angers you?
Climate-change/global warming and its denial by the multinational corporate forces of greed and ignorance.
Who’s your favorite poet?
Chuang Tzu
What artist turned your world upside-down as a teenager?
Too many! But to start the list: Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Iannis Xenakis, Captain Beefheart, Robert Johnson, John Cage, Thelonious Monk, Edgar Varese, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Howlin’ Wolf, Ornette Coleman, Harry Partch…
Who’s your favorite cartoon character?
Finn and Jake (current), Rocky and Bullwinkle (classic)
What artists would you like to collaborate with?
Idjah Hadidjah, James Turrell, Konono Nr. 1, Bob Dylan, Min Tanaka
What have you been listening to lately?
Glenn Gould: Bach – The Partitas
Bob Dylan: Studio Outtakes: Vol. 2 – Now Your Mouth Cries Wolf
Ian Bostridge: Winterreise
Fred McDowell – Mississippi Delta Blues
What have you been reading lately?
Jonathan Lethem: The Ecstasy of Influence
Philip Kerr: Field Gray
Richard Dawkins: The Blind Watchmaker
Nathanael West: Complete Works
Steven Nadler: Spinoza, A Life
What’s your favorite mode of transport?
Walking.
Sharp performs as part of Target Free Thursday Night this Thursday at 6, 7, and 8 pm in the Walker’s Perlman Gallery. The three-part Sound Horizon series concludes with a free performance by Colin Stetson on May 10.
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