[agoston]

i left right before the haters - so i have no info on this. that sounds wack though. regardless - lee's set was in my opinion absolutely incredible.
started w/ pre-recorded harsh noise bits .. then 2 blind-folded drummers (pete from markers, and someone else) led onto
stage by a guy - then lee was lead up, also blind-folded. he did a poetry
piece over the beats and then was handed a guitar, proceeded to totally shread. the mic got off the stand so he was playing w/ one hand w/ the mic in the other. dropped the mic and then smashed the shit out of his
guitar and fucked w/ his pedals for a while and zoned out and was led off. all in all like a 15-20 min set. he later gave me his program for it and
said it was written in 1985, and the gituar will go towards sonic youth's
incredible-sounding museum tour. it was my favorite moment at no fun fest, personally.

[whorefrost]

Originally Posted by Georgekrz

Also, I have to say it, I think The Haters set to end the fest was bullshit. what was the point? to get us to storm the stage so they would stop pushing that woman around? they did some violence to a woman and we just stood there like idiots and watched? Fuck them, I feel bad I was part of that little theater.

What is this, some sort of No Fun tradition now?

[deflinus]

what the fuck happened to the woman?

[agoston]

photos from the haters set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladd_halsey/

[tesla69]

There's some pix here

http://flickr.com/photos/tisue/sets/...366195/?page=2

Looks like they seat her blindfolded (a festivaL theme?) and do shit and then dump her out of the chair? Oh boi, edgey shit flirting with fascist sexuality! yawn.

[agoston]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladd_ha...7605137221014/

[deflinus]

what the hell is the point of that? i dont get it.

[Everyneurotic]

i don't see what the big deal was, it's not like they beat up a woman or humiliated her. it was a performance thing, just like lee's blindfold thing.

it's no fun fest, it's noise, you should have expected some sort of violence and bondage involved.

it seemed kind of lame, to tell you the truth, don't see the point but i'm also not beating my puritanical heart about it being morally wrong.

if it was a guy who got knocked out of the chair, would it make a difference?

and also, doesn't this board worship magik markers? didn't elisa banged her head and bled once? when i saw them opening for dinosaur jr in central park, she tried to pick a fight with a security guard, is that any different?

"what's wrong with being 'sexy'?"

[agoston]

pitchfork review - bummer there is no mention of lee's set though:
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/n...k-ny-0516-1808

[Georgekrz]

I put some scans up, Lee's program notes that he handed out, postcard from Noise/Art, and program schedule: here, I shot some clips and they came out surprisingly good, for that cheap little camera, I will see if I can post something in next few day.

btw- flyers were up at Knit for Text of Light show on June 28th. Lee's set was a lot of fun, somebody must have posted it already there were several/many people filming.

favorite set overall for me Id rate Hair Police, 2nd best Id rate Thurston and Nancy, also the set on sunday at Noise Art- Bill Nace and Thurston and Paul Flaherty on sax was freaking fantastic. Actually all the sets on sunday were great, there was Tovah with some of the same players from the aborted show on Sat (i think the sound woman overracted a bit, btw., blame Thurston for the moshing though). almost forgot- Dead Machines on Sat across the street, fucking great as well, have to mention that.

some sets I didnt see: - Kim on Friday at Noise/Art (missed friday completely), Damian Romero (Im sure he killed, I regret not making my way down there), and Religious Knives on sat.

[Moshe]

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/...n_fest_kee.php

No Fun Fest Keeps It Real—Real Loud: Bring Yr Earplugs!

Posted by David Cotner at 11:00 AM, May 16, 2008

No Fun Fest takes place this weekend at the Knitting Factory. Single-day tickets are sold out for tonight May 16 and tomorrow May 17. But there're still some left for Sunday, May 18. Buy one here.

"I don't have a career, I'm on a mission! Careers make you money. Missions cost you money. Mine has cost me a great deal." — G.X. Jupitter-Larsen of the Haters

 

Between all the Pitchforks and Coachellas and Tomorrow's Parties, it's difficult to rouse flagging interest in music festivals—the special-guest stars, lighters held high, aspirations thrust even further aloft. But when there's that funny noise coming from the backyard—where you buried those flagged expectations—you go out and investigate. Hence No Fun.

This year the No Fun Fest, the tireless effort of musician Carlos Giffoni, enters its fifth year with a move from Red Hook to the Knitting Factory. The geography may now be more accessible, but the audio isn't: for the next three days, you'll hear fifty of the most challenging sonic sorcerors working today. For the uninitiated, it's a chance to stain those stain-resistant Dockers and realize that you're not dark and disturbed, but light and fruity when suddenly confronted with everything from transcendent Kosmische music to the aural equivalent of Internet dating pop-up ads. Much of what you'll hear this weekend doesn't base its existence in poems or song-forms; composition is a coincidence at most, and there are no clear choruses, middles or ends. Gone are the loping outros of the blues and feel-good sing-a-longs to which one naturally cleaves, no goosebumps generating from the pull of two poles of nostalgia and melody. No Fun exists to show you that that trip isn't really necessary—that there is beauty in noise and a freedom of expression that carries with it great risk: misunderstanding, scorn, and potential ear damage.
MV Carbon, one half of Metalux (the Wendy & Lisa of noise), explains part of the festival's allure: "No Fun Fest feels like a reunion and a celebration for a genre of music that I have been part of for a long time. It's an important festival—it exposes some people to a type of expression that they are new to." New expressions included this year are those of Dror Feiler, the composer whose recent works were soundly rejected by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra this past April because gatekeepers claimed that his work "Halat Hisar (State of Siege)" was "adverse to the health" of the orchestra, let alone the audience itself. Also: various increments of Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, wunderkind Philip Best and his violent sonic beast Consumer Electronics, and the return of Krautrock legends Cluster. Hans-Joachim Roedelius of Cluster: "We don't know much about the framework of noise, but I guess what we'll be doing (at No Fun) will fit perfectly into it. There's already a new record out, released by Important Records: the recording of Cluster's first live concert in Berlin after a gap of almost 40 years."
In a nod to the perplexed adherents to the Protestant work ethic, the question should be asked: is there a system here? Noise music isn't the easiest sell to make, but as its properties trickle up into the mainstream—dissonance in classical music, assorted production quirks in Britney Spears singles, New Order—are there exciting new careers to be had in noise music? G.X. Jupitter-Larsen of the Haters—whose appearance at No Fun marks almost 30 years since the Haters' New York City debut, involving the amplified destruction of videotapes by videocamera—laughs, "I don't have a career, I'm on a mission! Careers make you money. Missions cost you money. Mine has cost me a great deal!"
Composer Lasse Marhaug, who with his band Jazkamer stands at the forefront of the Norwegian noise scene adds, "No Fun is by far the biggest festival for noise music—but I don't think you can say it's good for a so-called career, because you can't really make a career in noise music. Hardly any of the artists playing earn their living making noise full-time. For a scene as scattered and eclectic as noise music. No Fun Festival has been something of a revolution."
One last thing. Is it ever too loud? Marhaug: "My experience is that no matter how loud you play there's always someone in the audience who claims 'It wasn't loud enough.' It seems if you love the music, you can take a lot." Roedelius: "Our own music in the late ‘60s sometimes, but we wanted to deal with it, to learn from it; there was no other way for us as one of originators at the time." Carbon: "I love most noise music! I feel like it reaches to the core. It is raw and spontaneous. . . it pulsates. I want to feel it."

[tesla69]

<<I don't have a career, I'm on a mission! Careers make you money. Missions <<cost you money. Mine has cost me a great deal!"

perfect!

[golden child]

yeah whats the big deal about the Haters set? Its not like it was against her will, it was a performance.

[batreleaser]

haters had the best set of the weekend me thinks, at least of what i caught.

the crowd was tamer than usual it seemed to me.

[SonicAcrobat]

Originally Posted by Georgekrz

yeah that was Bill Nace, however who was the second drummer who played with Lee, one of them was Tom Surgal, the other one I didnt recognize.

Also, I have to say it, I think The Haters set to end the fest was bullshit. what was the point? to get us to storm the stage so they would stop pushing that woman around? they did some violence to a woman and we just stood there like idiots and watched? Fuck them, I feel bad I was part of that little theater.

Man..you make it sound like they pulled some girl out of the crowd and started pushing her around.... it was a fucking PERFORMANCE....and she was a WILLING PART to the whole thing...

[Tokolosh]

 

More photos:

http://www.prefixmag.com/photos/no-f...tting-factory/

[Georgekrz]

I got to chat a bit with Lori the photographer who took those pics on that Sat, right before Keith Fullerton Whitman's set, very nice person.

Going back to the Haters, I know it was a "performance", thats why I wrote I didnt want to be part of their "theater". Sorry I didnt make it clear right away that it was not a person from the audience, didnt mean to imply that.

I found it disturbing (although point could be made - he wanted to disturb us). Keep in mind watching this you dont know how far they are going to push it. Admittedly they didnt go beyond some shoving and pushing, but in my mind the threat of more violence was there (and my gut feeling is, if they did push it more, people would have rushed the stage to stop them). I should mention couple of beers did get thrown their way during that set, so not everyone just stood there and watched.

I dont know, maybe im giving the guy too much credit, maybe he saw it as a pro wrestling type skit and it was all fun and games. I guess you can interpret it whatever way you want. to me, cheering that set would be like cheering at the end of "Funny Games".