Houdini de Sade

[dmtls]

Two unique performances (most probably many differences between them) under the intriguing title 'Houdini de Sade'. Minneapolis 1991 and Paris 1992.

The description of the MN show speaks for itself
baron-lindsey-dunn-shea-zorn (there was one other, not mike patton)
that is all i remember being there . i'll check the program to
refresh..
it was super loose... had written score on copier paper - zorn had
serveral numbered sheets taped to a music stand that were flipped as
"cells" moved by. I do remember Zorn and Lindsey and Baron having a
great time with glances and big childlish smiles and shit eating grins.
Joey behind the kit was just bouncing all over the place... Like give me
something .. and when he got it he played! I remember being inspired by
his preformance..
John Zorn conducted and played sax. I don't think he played sax more
thant 2 minutes however
david? Lindsey played gtr and read (randomly? from a bookmarked "the
120 days of Sodom" (?).
I even asked shea about his choices of CD and turntable parts and he
said "john didn't ask a lot of me for this one" He didn't exploit the
group very well...
I remember glancing at a page on one of the music stands and seeing
some graphical notation(?) as well as numbers with players names after
them....

Paris line-up was A. Lindsay, B. Frisell, F. Frith, Anthony Coleman and Steve Dury, W. Winant, J. Baron, Mike Patton and of course JZ.

I have a bootleg copy of MN performance. If anyone has any more info on this provocative "opera", photos, videos or a copy of Paris night please share.

"Zorn's gone too far this time..." is what B. Frissel is believed to have said after Paris show.

[HolgerregloH]

I have only the show in Minneapolis´91 (from bunglefever) on CD. Interesting stuff!

[DD]

Minneapolis definitely included Mike Patton. I was there. I
was fantastic.

[King]

I recently bought that book, 120 Days of Sodom.

[HolgerregloH]

king said:

I recently bought that book, 120 Days of Sodom.

The sickest book ever.
Beside "Mein Kampf" the only book I burned immediately after reading the bullshit. Only a boring and disgusting Listing of different tortures.

[acephale]

man, you're being rude ! Have you seen Pasolini's Salo or the 120 days of Sodom ?

[HolgerregloH]

acephale said:

man, you're being rude ! Have you seen Pasolini's Salo or the 120 days of Sodom ?

I heard about it. But movies are a different thing. When you read a book you are imagine all in your head and this makes it more intensive.

I can watch all Takeshi Miike movies for excample with a smile, but reading this kind of stuff, no way.

[acephale]

anyway, I love both Pasolini and Sade, and the movie is only in part influenced by the book.

[Sordel]

holgerregloh said:

Only a boring and disgusting Listing of different tortures.

Really? Boring? Morbidly repetitive, repellant, erotic, outrageously funny maybe, but boring? I think that JZ would be very sorry to think that material originally intended to transgress all barriers of taste and morality should have lost its capacity to arouse stronger emotions than boredom.

[HolgerregloH]

sordel said:

Really? Boring? Morbidly repetitive, repellant, erotic, outrageously funny maybe, but boring? I think that JZ would be very sorry to think that material originally intended to transgress all barriers of taste and morality should have lost its capacity to arouse stronger emotions than boredom.

Yes!
Don´t understand me wrong. I have nothing against Sade and his work. His book "Justine" is a way better.
Tastes are different and btw, perhaps I was to young for this. As a normal young teenager you can find nothing erotic in "shit", "torture", "killing" and so on.

[Sordel]

I'll agree that Justine and Juliette are better books than 120 Days. As for whether a (relatively) normal teenager can find 120 Days erotic, (cough) no comment. Mind you, I haven't read it for a good many years now.

[King]

holgerregloh said:

sordel said:

As a normal young teenager you can find nothing erotic in "shit", "torture", "killing" and so on.

Hahha, I don't know about that.

[abraxas]

hmmmmm I love 120 days of Sodom... i'm only 16 to.

[stefanodoug]

Maybe this is old story but I feel it's worth to be shared again. The infamous parisian performance of Houdini De Sade in April 1992 was remembered by a couple of members of Zorn's mailing list. This is their mail exchange:



On Thu, 23 May 2002 12:01:41 +0000 "Ricardo Jorge" wrote:

>it's called HOUDINI DE SADE any more info on this project? I think trevor
>dunn also played in it...

That's interesting. This project was created in France ten years for a
big festival (a commision, I would assume). From a few friends who attended
it was... quite outrageous. Prostitutes found in N.Y. on stage and wipping
Bill Frisell (and using mikes for other purposes than singing),
pornographic XXX videos (bought in Paris the same day, according to WW)
played on stage, in short everything to create a nice and comfortable
evening :-). The officials were pissed, but when you make a piece with Sade
in the title, you should be prepared for something spicier than Sesame
Street. They wanted something wild; they got it.

If my memory is correct, after that show Zorn decided to not play in France
anymore (and he sticked to that decision for a while).

Patrice.

PS: was it the last time that Arto played with Zorn?





January 1997 (254 messages) by Date | Author | Subject | Thread

Subject: Paris 1992 concert

Date: Mon Jan 27 11:33:08 1997
From: oger@wor... (Jacques Oger)


I was there.

I mean the Paris 1992 concert everybody is talking about (Houdini-De Sade).
It took place on april, 22.
In fact it was not in Paris but very near : in Saint-Ouen (a town in the
proletarian suburbs, we call it "the red belt or red suburbs" because many
inhabitants vote for the communist party) during a festival called "Blue
Suburbs" :-).

This always lasting festival is sponsorized by the mayors of several towns
of this suburb (all of them are communists). But most of people who are
attending the concerts come from Paris. Especially for this Zorn concert.
So we can say that taxes paid by the workers in these poor towns are used
to organize concerts for the rich parisian people. I hope some other french
guys are reading this message, maybe they don't agree with this a little
provocative point of view, just let me know, directly if you want.

Well, what to say about this concert ? Of course it was very provocative.
Patrice gave some details. The videos (musicians on stage couldn't see
them) on 2 little TV sets (JZ asked bigger ones, but it was refused) showed
lesbianism/SM and scatology. JZ wanted all people to leave the concert. It
didn't occur. On the first rows, there were (near the videos) the official
guests : the mayor of the city, people with great responsabilities in the
culture ministery government, sponsors VIPs=8A So you understand why there
was some trouble in the air !

To my point of view, at this time, I would prefer the music played live by
Naked City.

The musicians were :
A. Lindsay (voice, readings), B. Frisell (guit), F. Frith (bass), Anthony
Coleman and Steve Dury (synth), W. Winant (perc), J. Baron (dms), Mike
Patton (screams).

John Zorn didn'play at all. Maybe he was tired because he
had played just before (first part with Painkiller - B. Laswell, M.
Harris).
The trio (BF,FF,JB) finished the concert with the piece called "Leng
Tch'e". That was good (easy listening).
I was told that some musician(s) on stage didn't know about the porn
videos. It's hard to believe, but who knows ?

So JZ has a provocative reputation in Paris and France.
Of course, His last concert (with Masada) was very different.

=46or people who like to read french, there is a good article in "Le Monde"
(issued on january 27 1997) about the true story of Masada.

Jacques



I heard this is why Zorn was banned from France for a while after this "show". No wonder...

[HolgerregloH]

Haha, thanks for sharing it.