“Kihlstedt is a monster virtuoso . . . a truly original songwriter, and an inven¬tive, singular artist.” —Stereophile
2 Foot Yard shatters the boundaries between art song and pop song by merg¬ing the visceral power of rock with the intimacy and warmth of chamber music. Violin, cello, voice, and drums combine to create a cacophony of harmonic (im)balance culled from an astonishing array of musical influences, from acous¬tic punk to the twang of old country love ballads. This trio led by Tzadik record¬ing artist Carla Kihlstedt (Tin Hat Trio, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) guarantees an off-kilter ride through the worlds of drama and melody. Art/alt rocker Carla Bozulich (Geraldine Fibbers, Scarnella), acclaimed for her recent remake of Willie Nelson’s 1975 classic Red Headed Stranger, has been called “the missing link between Patti Smith and Marlene Dietrich” (Uncut magazine). Joined by percussionist Ches Smith (The Night Porter), Bozulich shares the evening with 2 Foot Yard on Saturday, March 18, at 8 pm in the Walker Art Center’s William and Nadine McGuire Theater.
Carla Kihlstedt
Carla Kihlstedt, violinist in the Tin Hat Trio, has also collaborated with a variety of avant-garde and jazz musicians. She majored in classical violin performance at the Oberlin Conservatory and went on to become a prominent performer in both classical and improvised music, playing with artists like John Zorn and Roscoe Mitchell and recording with Eugene Chadbourne, the Grassy Knoll, and Tom Waits. She appeared on Philip Glass’ series Music at the Anthology, collaborated with choreographer Jo Kreiter, and is a graphic designer/illustrator as well. Kihlstedt played with the ’90s Bay Area band, Charming Hostess, and co-founded the chamber jazz group Tin Hat Trio with accordionist Rob Burger and guitarist Mark Orton. The group’s music is a unique blend of structure,
improvisation, and contemporary classical, with folk, world, and jazz elements. The Tin Hat Trio’s recording debut, Memory Is an Elephant, came out in early 1999 on Angel Records, and Helium followed in spring 2000.
Carla Bozulich
Carla Bozulich is best known as the singer from LA-based band The Geraldine Fibbers and as the woman who, last year, re-made Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger, with Nelson as a special guest. Her unique voice lends her work a quality that is at once brutally raw and strangely visionary.
Born in New York City in 1965, Bozulich spent her early childhood in Greenwich Village before moving to Los Angeles’ harbor town San Pedro. In 1993, she founded The Geraldine Fibbers who released albums on LA’s Sympathy For The Record Industry label before signing with Virgin Records and releasing Lost Somewhere Between the Earth and My Home. Avant-rock guitarist Nels Cline, a regular collaborator, joined the group for its second album Butch. Despite almost unanimous praise for the album, Virgin dropped the band in 1998.
Recently, Bozulich has been exploring mixed media projects. Her “Fake Party!” launched a series of explorations into her obsession with sound/art/architecture/silliness. Last year The Getty Foundation commissioned her to create another full-scale art/sound experience that premiered at The Getty Museum in Los Angeles. In 2005 Bozulich released a “Europe only” album with two songs off Red Headed Stranger. The album, which features live music, illustrates how her seemingly divergent tastes, and styles come together in her own universe of sight and sound.
Tickets to 2 Foot Yard with Carla Bozulich are $15 ($12 Walker members) and are available by contacting the Walker Art Center box office at 612.375.7600 or walkerart.org/tickets.