Sock puppets converse and intermingle with the sounds of drums, trumpet and cello. Balloons, toys and voices will add to the musical conversation.
David Grollman, Brad Henkel and Valerie Kuehne are a trio of all-purpose drums, trumpet and cello who perform freely improvised music. All three musicians are from NYC, where they play shows in art galleries, tiki bars, and venues of curious ambience made more curious by their mongrel sounds. David, Valerie and Brad bow, scrape, blow, slap, rub, caress, abuse, and generally test the limits of their instruments with the imagination of the very promiscuous and very energetic. Their drums, trumpet and cello are given a thorough workout, supplemented by happy environmental hazards, noisemaking toys and found objects, including audience members, children, and unknown animals. Anything is game. Anything may be a participant as they fearlessly experiment, all but self-flagellating if the musical conversation calls for it. Artist, instrument, audience, and environment become ambiguous terms, conspiring in a theatrical exploration of chance dynamics and serendipitous exchanges, enabled by the skillful ease with which David, Valerie and Brad play. (Lizzy McDaniel)