David Van Tieghem

[evs@sunbar.mc.duke.edu]

I sent this to L-Hs a month or so ago, but never saw it posted--so
excuse me if this is a repeat.

Well, I saw David Van Tieghem at Duke Univ. last night.  He's an
off-the-wall percussionist who is probably most well known for his work
with Laurie Anderson on Home_of_the_Brave.  He also worked with
choreographer Twyla Tharp, Eno, David Byrne, and Ryuichi Sakamoto.  When
we walked in to the auditorium we were greeted with quite a sight on the
stage.  A long table was covered with an array of "found instruments"
most of which Van Tieghem used only once during the course of the
performance.  They included things like inverted metal mixing bowls, a
drum-playing teddy bear, perfume bottles, twisted pieces of metal,
various noise-making toys, jars, a big balloon (percussive sounds made
by squeaking his fingers on the balloon surface abbreviated with the
balloon's demise!), a Mr. Microphone (in conjunction with a hand-held
radio for Hendrix-like feedback), big ears, plastic tubes, springs, a
squeaky chair leg, and the list goes on.  He even had some cymbals and a
drum.

The performance lasted for an hour and consisted of prerecorded tapes
playing a minimal synthesizer line and/or drum track that were used as
accompaniment to the live performance.  He discarded most "instruments"
after one use.  He would look around on the table for something to play
and put it up to the microphone producing sounds you never imagined
could come out of household items.  He also mixed in performances of
choreography with or without percussion.  Highlights included a spoof of
the ape sequence in "2001: A Space Odyssey" and a live tong-assisted
birth of the teddy bear from an inverted mixing bowl complete with an
operating room soundtrack.

After the show two Van Tieghem videos were displayed, including the
Ear_to_the_Ground video shown on PBS were he plays the streets of NYC.
He then answered questions from the audience while he packed up.  When
he was asked about future collaboration with Laurie Anderson, he replied
that she was making an album now and he was waiting to hear from her.
He was also asked to describe his experience in making his Levi's
commercial -- it sounded like a bogus deal.  The producers used the
least inspired section of music he performed for them and he got $600
plus royalties for the deal.  When asked who he's been listening to for
the last 10 years he said, "Ten years is a long time."  He did say that
in the last year he's been listening to Robbie Roberson, George
Harrison, Kate Bush, and Jane Siberry.

All in all it was an enlightening experience.  His latest album is
Safety_in_Numbers on Private Music.

________
ARPA: evs@cs.duke.edu  UUCP: {decvax, seismo}!mcnc!duke!evs  CSNET: evs@duke
Ed Simpson, P.O.Box 3140, Duke Univ. Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA 27710