Bang On A Can Marathon 2008 - Dan Deacon "Ultimate Reality Part 3" from Justin Levine on Vimeo.
Blogger Justin Levine caught some of the sweet spots in the weekend's Bang on a Can Marathon, including this nice video of the first two minutes from the already legendary Dan Deacon performance that touched off Bang on a Can's first-ever mosh pit. (Thanks to Alex for the tip.)
Justin's video cuts off before the music shifts into hardcore mode, the point at which the pit actually started boiling. Also not visible: The mix of terror and amusement on the faces of two elderly women who'd staked out front-row seats at 3:45am, in anticipation of Stockhausen 's Stimmung (which was due at 5am, and arrived at 5:30). One turned to me and asked whether I thought all those kids would still be standing in front of the stage after Deacon's performance was over. I said I suspected most would leave, and others might lay down flat on the floor for Brian Eno's Discreet Music, which would precede the Stockhausen.
"If they're still there," she replied, "I'm going to go sit on the stage."
One young composer from NYU came over to very sincerely congratulate these women for "representing for their generation." During the fracas, the moshing kids took pains to avoid falling on, hitting or otherwise damaging these two hardy souls.
More reportage: Bruce Hodges (who gets extra points for attending the American Symphony Orchestra's excellent space-music concert on Sunday afternoon), Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, Lauren Cartelli.
Update: One colleague just told me that she couldn't see Justin's video because her computer didn't have the appropriate version of Flash. For anyone else in that camp, Name Drop Acid has a YouTube clip of the Dan Deacon performance -- slightly longer and shot from a different angle, and once again cutting off before the real freakout began.
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