When I was 8, I made my first—and maybe the
best—do-it-yourself audio project of all time: the soup-can
telephone.
Take two empty soup cans, punch a small hole in the bottom
of each can, thread a long string through both holes, and tie each end
with a knot. Hand one can to your best friend. Walk far away so the
string is taut, and start telling secrets, making fart
sounds, or doing whatever feels right into the can.
The soup-can telephone is elegantly primitive. Acting as a
transmitting wire, the string attached to the can vibrates, carrying
the waves of sound inside one can to the other can. Compared to the
crappy sound of cell phones and land lines, the soup can’s resolution
mimics a wax cylinder or a well-played 78 rpm record. Any resemblance
to the originating sound is cramped and hollowed out. The can acts
as a miniature cavern, sonically fogging whatever is inside; the
stiffness of the string impedes the stuff our ears take for granted,
filtering out high tones and low rumble.
At first glance, Jason Kahn‘s installation
Wires suggests a series of suspended soup-can telephones. Four
pairs of wired-up soup cans stretch across Jack Straw’s New Media
Gallery. Yet Kahn, an American sound artist based in Zurich, cannily
exploits the humble container’s lo-fi flaws. Focusing on resonance and
repetition, Kahn sends a high-pitched 2400 Hz sine wave coursing along
the wires connecting the cans. We hear the waves collect inside the
can, quietly shivering, whining, purring, and rumbling. Wires reminds us that a wire (or a simple string) is a frozen wave waiting to
be thawed by transmitting a message—or music. 
Wires runs through Fri March 28 at Jack Straw
Productions, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE, 634-091, Mon–Fri 9 am–6
pm, free.
Thurs 3/20
SEATTLE SYMPHONY
Gerry Schwarz and the band mount one of the tallest summits of
Western music, J. S. Bach’s Mass in B minor, BWV 232. With
soloists Sarah Coburn (soprano), Mary Phillips (mezzo-soprano),
Stanford Olsen (tenor), and Charles Robert Austin, the compelling
bass-baritone in last summer’s performance of Bluebeard’s
Castle. Also Fri March 21 at 1 pm and Sat March 22 at 8 pm.
Benaroya Hall, 200 University St, 215-4747, 7:30 pm,
$17—$105.
Fri 3/21
YOLANDA KONDONASSIS
I love the harp; in its modern (and comparatively giant) form, this
instrument is a hybrid of a guitar and the guts of a grand piano.
Kondonassis, whose disc Salzedo’s Harp (Telarc) remains on
regular rotation in my stereo, proffers a solo recital of music by
Scarlatti, Handel, and Debussy as well as pieces by Donald, Erb, Alan
Hovhaness, and the godfather of 20th-century harp technique, Carlos
Salzedo. Recital Hall at Benaroya, 200 University St, 292-2787, 8
pm, $20.
HADLEY CALIMAN
Once nicknamed “little Dex,” this friend and disciple of Dexter
Gordon still sounds robust and lyrical at the age of 77. Caliman and
his tenor saxophone were superb at the Ballard Jazz Walk last November,
smoldering his way through Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage” with
trumpeter Thomas Marriott. Here, he joins forces with Marriott and
kickass vibraphonist Joe Locke to celebrate the release of his new
disc, Gratitude (Origin). Reservations recommended.
Tula’s, 2214 Second Ave, 443-4221, 8:30 pm, $20.
Sat 3/22
JIM KNAPP ORCHESTRA
Usually heard at their monthly date up north at the Seattle Drum
School, Knapp and company offer a rare performance at Cornish, where
Knapp began developing the jazz program over three decades ago. Without
Knapp, jazz in our burg might be a desert with two or three select
oases. Instead, the masters who were hired—Julian Priester,
Hadley Caliman, Jovino Santos Neto, and many others—and the
impossibly long list of impressive students including Eyvind Kang,
Briggan Krauss, Dawn Clement, and assorted musicians from the Monktail
Creative Music Concern attest to Knapp’s crucial contribution to jazz
in Seattle. PONCHO Concert Hall at Cornish College, 710 E Roy St,
325-6500, 8 pm, $7.50/$15.
MAEG O’DONOGHUE-WILLIAMS
This improvising vocalist presents improvisations in tandem with
compositions featuring singers Jessika Kenney, Stephen Fandrich, and
others. Gallery 1412, 1412 18th Ave, 322-1533, 8 pm, free but
donations accepted.
Mon 3/24
CAMERATA IRELAND
Noted pianist Barry Douglas captains this Irish orchestra in a slew
of pieces for strings: the mandatory Eine kleine Nachtmusik by
Mozart and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, along with the
“Andante for Strings” of Prokofiev and the seldom heard Concerto in
D by Stravinsky. Douglas is the soloist in Mozart’s Piano
Concerto No. 14. Benaroya Hall, 200 University St, 215-4747,
7:30 pm, $21—$81.
Tues 3/25
KATSAOUNIS & SCOTT
Chiefly known as the pop group Locks, the Chicago-based duo appears
here improvising minimal and utterly engaging electronic music.
Gallery 1412, 1412 18th Ave, 322-1533, 8 pm, free but donations
accepted.
