On January 14, 2012, the Twenty-first Century Chamber Ensemble performs at the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Silver Spring, MD; details: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/8550407.

On January 15, the Lost Civilizations experimental music project performs at The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in Takoma Park, MD; details: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/8601606.

On January 17, 2012, the Lost Civilizations experimental music project appears with Sansyou at the Dynasty Ethiopian Restaurant in Washington, DC; details: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/8520441/

On November 26, the Lost Civilizations experimental music project performed with Fugazi’s Jerry Busher: http://bit.ly/rG5QHa;

On December 20, the Lost Civilizations experimental music project performed with DC Improviser Collective’s Ben Azzara: http://bit.ly/st3cao .

A recording of the September 25, 2011 performance by the Lost Civilizations experimental music project featuring Angela Morrish at the Arlington CD Cellar has been released on the Ozky e-sound label: http://www.archive.org/details/oz047.

The Lost Civilizations experimental music project extends its most sincere appreciation to Ms. Morrish for joining us for this performance, to the Arlington CD Cellar for hosting the performance and to Massimo Croce and his ozky e-sound netlabel for their trail-blazing work in documenting the past, present and future of experimental music in general, and in particular for the support of the music we are privileged to have come through us. Through Sig. Croce’s efforts, our music is able to reach ears that it could not have reached otherwise, for which we are deeply thankful.

September 25: Lost Civilizations performs w/ Angela Morrish @ Arlington’s CD Cellar. Details: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/8273613 .

October 8: Lost Civilizations performs at Lalibela Restaurant. Details: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/8484844

November 26: Lost Civilizations performs at a benefit for the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center. Details: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/8487265/ .

A recording of the Lost Civilizations experimental music project’s September 13, 2011 benefit performance for the 2011 Sonic Circuits Festival of Experimental Music with Angela Morrish and Doug Kallmeyer has been posted at http://soundcloud.com/lost-civilizations

A recording of the Acorn, Sebastian & Zook Trio performance at Baltimore’s iconic Red Room has been posted at http://soundcloud.com/t-a-zook/alcorn-sebastian-zook-live-at.

Excerpts from the ”september impressions” CD by the Centazzo, Leppin, Sebastian and Zook Project has been posted at http://www.myspace.com/andreacentazzomusic/music/albums/september-impressions-17574362 .

September 13: Lost Civilizations w/ Angela Morrish & Doug Kallmeyer at Sonic Circuits Fundraiser at Bella’s!
8:00pm
Bella Cafe and Restaurant
900 Florida Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
The Lost Civilizations experimental music project (http://www.soundclick.com/lostcivilizations; free, full-length download at http://www.archive.org/details/oz033) will feature Phonic Riot’s Angela Morrish (http://www.myspace.com/phonicriot; http://www.justmusicthatilike.com/2011/02/phonic-riot-new-music-introducing.html) on vocals and bassist Doug Kallmeyer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/302_Acid; http://www.myspace.com/302acid; http://www.myspace.com/themantis) at a fundraiser for the 2011 Sonic Circuits Festival of Experimental Music (http://www.dc-soniccircuits.org/festival/2011/).

Ticket Info: $5

Details: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/8273411

”september impressions” is being released on ICTUS Records (http://www.ictusrecords.com). It is a session with my collaborators Mike Sebastian and Janel Leppin, together with with Italian-American überpercussionist Andrea Centazzo. My wife Francesca and I hosted Dr. Centazzo (http://www.andreacentazzo.com) for the 2010 Sonic Circuits Festival, which included a solo performance at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage (http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/videos/?id=M4402) and an appearance with the Lost Civilizations experimental music project (http://www.soundclick.com/lostcivilizations; http://www.soundclick.com/members/default.cfm?member=Lost%20Civilizations) at The Mansion at Strathmore. On September 23, the day following Dr. Centazzo’s Kennedy Center appearance, Janel and Mike came over to my home to record with Dr. Centazzo. That date was an anniversary of Coltrane’s birth — thus, “impressions” in the CD’s ”september impressions” title to honor the master’s legacy. I set up my recording rig to capture what I could. It was, in Dr. Centazzo’s words, “battlefield conditions”: his expansive percussion rig in the living room, my basscello rig in my music room, with Janel and Mike squeezed into the very short connecting hallway. Although Dr. Centazzo used some pre-recorded material during our session and did a magnificent job in augmenting the session in postproduction, the music that Janel, Mike and I contributed was unscored, unrehearsed and improvised extemporaneously on the spot — and it was the first time that the four of us had all played together.

My friend and mentor (and 2010 Grammy winner!) David Darling (http://www.daviddarling.com) was kind enough to offer the following review for the CD:

”I would easily say that this cellist and this group is inspirational and the cellist has the best lines and sound that I have ever heard including myself… Great and Unique music.”

More information about the recording is posted at http://ictusrecords.com/covers/155.htm; http://www.amazon.com/September-Impressions-Centazzo-Leppin-Sebastian/dp/B004QVMTLW . Short mp3 samples of the tracks are posted @ http://www.amazon.com/September-Impressions/dp/B004VCO2Q6/ref=tmm_msc_title_0 and http://musicishere.com/artist/163884-Andrea-Centazzo-Janel-Leppin-Mike-Sebastian-and-T-A-Zook/133304-September-Impressions.

Among other things, I’m involved in an effort to save my community’s David M. Brown Planetarium, which is named for a resident of my community who perished in the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy. For further information concerning this effort, please visit http://www.saveplanetarium.org/. I’ve staged eleven performances to raise funds to support this effort; details are posted @ http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/6736161; http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/6760903; http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/7137708; http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/6806041; http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/7158911/; http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/7406477; and http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/7406483.

The composition ”Save the David M. Brown Planetarium” (© T. A. Zook, 2010, Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License (http://www.myspace.com/tazook)) is posted @ http://www.myspace.com/savetheplanetarium. It is based on the application of a rather basic algorithmic translation of the phrase ”Save the David M. Brown Planetarium” into Morse code, where each letter of the phrase has a specific note assigned to it; e.g., the letter ”a” corresponds to the note ”a” and is rendered thus: ”._” ; notes above ”g” repeat an additional octave higher (e.g. , the letter ”h” corresponds to an ”a” one octave higher than ”a” does, so it’s ”. . . .”, but sounded as an ”a” an octave higher.)

The ”message” in Morse code: … .- …- . / – …. . / -.. .- …- .. -.. / — / -… .-. — .– -. / .–. .-.. .- -. . – .- .-. .. ..- –

If it sounds like a far-away shortwave distress signal over the high seas on a starry night, I’ve succeeded in communicating my vision about this matter!

Please, help us save the Planetarium!