Le Révélateur
with live score by Mary Lattimore & Jeff Zeigler
December 30, 2013
Crowley Theater, Marfa, Texas
Doors at 7 pm ∙ Show at 7:30 pm
Free

Listen to Marfa Public Radio’s Talk at Ten radio interview with Mary Lattimore & Jeff Zeigler, December 30, at 10 am on KRTS 93.5 FM or via their online stream.

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Celebrate the coming new year with Ballroom Marfa! For our fifth annual New Year’s film program, we’ll host a film screening of Philippe Garrel’s 1968 film Le Révélateur, with a live score by Philadelphia harpist Mary Lattimore and synth player Jeff Zeigler.

Mary Lattimore is a classically trained harpist whose collaborations have seen her working with such esteemed luminaries as Kurt Vile, Meg Baird, Thurston Moore, Ed Askew, Fursaxa, Jarvis Cocker and the Valerie Project. On her debut record, The Withdrawing Room, she found a worthy sideman in Philadelphia’s Jeff Zeigler, whose contemplative Korg echoes and holds a mood for Mary’s runs.

Zeigler has amassed quite the resume in recent years, between his space-rock outfit Arc in Round and his production work for local luminaries Kurt Vile, Purling Hiss and The War on Drugs. Zeigler’s also been expanding into the solo / collaborative experimental zone, playing solo shows with Lattimore and opening for English ambient artist Benoît Pioulard.

We talked with Lattimore about her interest in avant-garde film, her approach to improvisation and her plans for New Year’s Eve in Marfa.

How would you describe your music to new listeners?

I would describe it as sort of underwater, spacey harp through effects and delay, loops of decaying noise, droney sometimes, ethereal crushed-up diamond sounds. Jeff plays a Korg Mono/Poly synth and does cool textural stuff, plays beautiful, haunting melodica that sounds like a sad, distant train, and plays guitar, too. It’s gonna be fun. Our sets are usually all improvised, but with this one we are establishing themes and trying to be thoughtful about the changing scenes.

Why did you choose Le Révélateur for this project?

I consulted a very film-knowledgable friend. He suggested a few silent films and I checked them out and this one seemed to have some really memorable images. It’s a very strange film, very stunning, filmed in 1968.

What else can you tell us about the score you and Jeff will be performing?

It’ll be thought-out improvisation, with harp through a Line 6 looper and melodica, guitar, and synth. It’s a little over an hour long and will probably be a combination of melodic, hypnotic strings and maybe some harsh-ish noise. We want to be conscious of space, too, and also to incorporate minimal moments because the images are so affecting on their own.

Do you have any other experience doing film scores? Or with filmmaking in general?

I have done a few film projects. I was a member of this 11-person ensemble that composed an alternate score for the Czech New Wave Film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders in 2007. We traveled around with the original print of the film and performed in theaters, recorded it and Drag City put out the record. I learned a lot from the way we composed the music together. Recently, I did a soundtrack for a film that’s set in Iceland. I played on the score for the documentary Marina Abramovic – The Artist Is Present. The interaction between music and story/visuals, how they can complement each other to create a singular, memorable experience is something I really love. Jeff recently did an original live score for 2001: A Space Odyssey with our friend Dave (Nightlands) as a cool, creative project. Hopefully, our ideas will be true to the vibe of this gorgeous, weird film.

How does your background in improvisation inform this work?

Whenever I improvise or whenever Jeff and I improvise together, we’re always trying to paint a picture or to inspire a mood and often there’s a narrative structure where things get stirred up in the middle and resolve themselves by the end. But I think this one should contain a lot of in-the-minute decisions and negative space that will make it hopefully a unique performance that we can only half-predict, so that’s exciting.

What other projects are you working on?

Jeff and I are working on a Lattimore/Zeigler Duo record that we’re recording at his studio, Uniform Recording in Philly. I just played on the new Sharon Van Etten record, which will be out next year. We are going to try to repeat our Le Révélateur performance in Philadelphia, too, so that’s in the works. Got some upcoming gigs with my mom, who is also a harpist, and we’ll be playing carols to spread some holiday happiness. Lots of fun stuff ahead!

Is this your first trip to Marfa? What do you know of our town?

Yes, it’s my first visit to Marfa! I don’t know much, but I have a bunch of friends who have visited and who’ve fallen in love with it, so I’m psyched. Have read about the Marfa lights and the great art. I love that I get to spend New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day in this far-away place – great way to start 2014. Jeff has been before while on tour with his band. Really looking forward to it!

What are your plans for Marfa and Far West Texas beyond your performance?

Hmm, I’m not sure. I guess to just relax, hang out, walk around. We are staying for a few extra days. I have a close friend Rachel who moved there recently. My pal Matt, who owns the excellent Harvest Records, is coming from Asheville, NC.

Ballroom Marfa 2013 from Ballroom Marfa on Vimeo.

Thank you, Ballroom Marfa supporters, for being an essential part of 2013’s thrilling programming. From Marfa Dialogues/New York to Graham Reynolds’ Marfa Triptych, DJ Camp to Comic Future, it’s been a year where we’ve paid tribute to our Far West Texas home ground while, in the words of the New York Times, “expanding our sphere of influence” internationally.

As we continue to build on the last 10 years of bringing electrifying art and culture to our remarkable high desert town — and in turn, as we share Marfa with the world — we thank you for the inspiration, collaboration and support that you’ve given us. Please enjoy this look back at all of the spectacular happenings you helped us realize this year.

Plans are underway for another year of innovative and community-minded programming, and we’re inviting you to join us in keeping Ballroom Marfa’s 2014 calendar as dynamic and accessible as possible.

It’s only with your help that we can continue to offer this wide range of art, film, music and educational events to everyone in our Far West Texas community.

As part of our ongoing feature “Who’s At Ballroom Marfa This Week?”, I had the pleasure of speaking with K. Brandt Knapp and her boyfriend, Ash Kamel. K. Brandt and Ash were visiting Marfa from New York as part of (what has to be) the greatest holiday party. They were originally drawn to the Drive-In project space, because of K. Brandt’s relationship with MOS — she studied with Hilary Sample of the company in college — but ended up exploring the rest of our Comic Future exhibition. It had been a dreary and quiet Saturday, but they helped liven up the day, telling me about their impressions of Marfa, what they had done so far in town, and what they were up to next. In turn, they allowed me to gush about my favorite places in town (including a particularly long monologue about the boots at Cobra Rock) and provide some advice on what to explore during their final hours in town.

Ballroom Marfa: Is this your first time in Marfa?
K. Brandt Knapp: It is!

BM: Where are you guys from?
KBK: New York. Harlem, New York.

BM: You’ve been around Marfa today, so what was the highlight of your day?
KBK: Highlight… hmmm. We just came from the Block, where Judd had lived, so that was really exciting.
Ash Kamel: I liked the Block.
AK: I guess everything that we’ve done we’ve had a different experience, I don’t necessarily know that I would say there was a favorite… We did the sunrise tour at Chinati and then we saw the Flavin work as well, so it’s been a big day that I still need to process. There’s a lot here to see, as you know.

BM: I totally understand. It took me a few days for everything to really hit me… but I’m still processing it all four months later.
KBK: Yeah, I know it’s a lot to go through. Especially when you’ve seen pictures for so long, my first project ever in studio was based off of the concrete blocks, those works. That’s probably 13 years ago, so I’ve seen images and that was a founding thing for me in my education so to actually go and experience it and see what was directly in relation to it, for instance, I had no idea there would be a street behind it. I just thought it would be in the middle of nowhere.

Just got in the Le Révélateur posters, hand-drawn by the multi-talented Ross Cashiola. This is our fifth (!) annual New Year’s film program, and we’re screening Philippe Garrel’s Le Révélateur (1968) with a live score by harpist Mary Lattimore and synth player Jeff Zeigler. That’s December 30 at 7 pm — more details here.

Also for your calendars: we’ll have a New Year’s Eve Open House at the gallery on December 31 from 4-6pm. Stop by for refreshments and a two-for-one poster sale (may I recommend the Le Révélateur poster, with perhaps this, this, this, this, this, or this?)

¡Feliz navidad y próspero año nuevo!

While rooting around in the archives, found this flyer from the Thunderbird Lounge, featuring photos of the old Thunderbird and Capri motels here in Marfa, Texas. Flyer circa 2004? 2005? Original photos circa the ’60s? ’70s? The motor inns have long since transformed into the Thunderbird Hotel and the Capri Lounge, used for weddings (our own Melissa McDonnell Luján had her reception there) and our concerts (Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth, Tinariwen, At the Drive-In, among others).

Photo by clovenhoovedgangster

Photo by Ginger Griffice

Photo by Felix de Voss

Photo by Vero Snow

Photo by whammygirl

Photo by Lesley Brown

Photo by Fredrik Nilsen

We’re excited to announce that Ballroom Marfa’s spring 2013 exhibition, Rashid Johnson’s New Growth will be traveling to Museum of Contemporary Art Denver this February. The solo exhibition will feature works by Johnson, including the film Samuel in Space and the Shea Butter Irrigation System, both of which were commissioned by Ballroom and produced during Johnson’s stay in Marfa.

Johnson begins the exhibition with the question “What would happen if Sun Ra, George Washington Carver and Robert Smithson started a community together in the desert?” and proceeds to construct that imagined escape using “personally and historically loaded material” such as shea butter and black soap, as well as LP covers and books “in an attempt to blur the lines separating past, present and future.”

Rashid Johnson: New Growth opens on February 21, 2014 at MCA Denver and continues until June 15, 2014.

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In 2009, Green Mountain Energy Donated a Solar Array to Ballroom Marfa, making Ballroom the first place in West Texas to receive such an installation from the company. Since then, our solar panels have helped us reduce our Carbon footprint and promote cleaner energy, which is why we were so excited when the Green Mountain Sun Club stopped by the gallery back in November on their way to another Solar Array dedication ceremony at the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute in Fort Davis.

Here are some of the images from their travels around Marfa and the surrounding area:

To read more about the Sun Club’s adventures through Texas be sure to check out their blog.

All images courtesy of Caitlin Conran at Green Mountain Energy.

Images of Julianna Barwick from her performance at the Ballroom Marfa gallery last night, December 3, 2013. All photos by Lesley Brown.

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