Jazz Funk Fest

The Talking Stick proudly presents JAZZ FUNK FEST on Sunday, June 24, and Tues, Oct 30 and Sunday, Dec 23 from 6-10pm, free admission at 1411 Lincoln Blvd, Venice CA 90291, phone 310-450-6052, more info: laughtears.com 310-306-7330

In the tradition of the Venice West Cafe (the legendary Beat hang-out at 7 Dudley Ave, aka Sponto Gallery from 1984-2008), local Venice musicians will celebrate the rebellious liberation of tuneful creativity.

At 6pm, BLUE MOON CRESCENT - Vet jazz bassist Ollie Steinberg and drummer extraordinare Moon Orangest combine improv forces with guests to merge outness and inward sonics. Think Fred Frith & Derek Bailey's bicycle built for fools colliding into Carl Palmer & Ansley Dunbar's repair shop as Tex Avery projects psychedelic animation at Hollis Frampton's drive-in theater of the absurd, all over the cosmic moonshine of Sun Ra. With experimental films. Turn your eye into an ear.

At 7pm,  MAP - Steve Binder, Gerry Fialka & guests improvise live music (with avant garde films) evoking sonic sculptures that drive through the known boundaries of consciousness and unconsciousness. GPS may let you down, but MAP never will. 
 
At 8pm, BLACK SHOE POLISH. Within the free collective BSP, words that should never be said collide with notes that should never be played. Fiery poetic painter Rex Butters slap sense into words through multi-dimensional discourse. Gerry Fialka & guests combine fantastical funky fretwork with keyboards and a cauldron of controlled chaos, creating ink stained improvisational interplay. Spoken Word and Free Improvisation as it was never meant to be, Black Shoe Polish reconvenes the Inconceivable with righteous rascality. 

At 9pm, Lyrical multi-instrumentalist ERIC AHLBERG'S JAZZ WORKSHOP recall the explorations of Public Enemy, Hank Williams, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, George Carlin and John Coltrane with tasty world beat tangents.

"To funk is only peternatural its daring feers divine. Bebold!" - Finnegans Wake by James Joyce