2020 Lowell

UTEC, 35 Warren St. Lowell MA: March 6 – 8, 2020

Organizers: Dei Xhrist, Walter Wright, Tara Toms

The venue is a beautifully renovated church – the oldest LEEDS Platinum certified building – about a mile from mass transit, with nearby off-street parking, handicap access and elevators, and wonderful beautiful necessary climate control.

Facebook event page

XFest-pre-fest at Wire Factory, Lowell: Kat Dobbins, Ras Moshe Burnett

Mathieu Bec, Bbob Drake

Friday, March 6

Improv challenges 6pm – 11pm

6:00p Joe Brown, Sean Saman

6:20p Andrew Neumann, Zachariah Beaver, Tone Moser

6:40p John Moore, Conor Perreault, Angela Sawyer, Greg Paul, Bonnie Kane

7:00p Tracy Lisk, Aly Gear, Rahul Nair, Tara Toms, Katherine Liberovskaya

7:20p Arnaud le Mindu, Duane Ingalls

7:40p Allie Berger, Kwami Winfield, Walter Wright

8:00p Steven Davis, JB Ledoux, Alessandro Maione, Bbob Drake, Ras Moshe

8:20p Jonas Bers, Scott Prato, Craig Chin, Eric Weidenhof

Irman Peck, Matt Wellins, Andrea Pensado, Will Mk

Ian Kovac, Craig Douglas, Sawyer Philips, Ben Flagg

Michael F. Dailey Jr., Dei Xhrist, Alex Pelchat, Sam Wenc, Ken Field

9:40p Psychedelic Snakeskin, Nick Bowers, Curt Haworth, Kieran Morris

Al Margolis, Kat Dobbins, Id M Theft Able, Loren Groenendaal


10:20p Emmanuel Lalande, Rick Breault, Gahlord Dewald

10:40p Dubravka Bencic, Mathieu Bec, Neil Horsky, Asimina Chremos

Saturday, March 7

1pm    Performance aspects of experimental music (Michael Mambrino). Discussion and hands-on exploration of techniques to break out of your performative comfort zone. Free, all ages

Music as a second language (Neil Horsky, Ian Kovac, Scott Mizrachi). XFest Etiquette: conversations and group musical experimentations related to listening, dynamics, supporting others, silence, etc. Free, all ages

3pm    Improvisation & Decision-making (Gahlord Dewald). Three different ways to be a part of the creation of new sounds and new ideas in our world. Free/donation/trade

4pm Icepick to the Moon screening and Q&A with director Skizz Cyzyk

“As a radio station music director in the late 80’s, a record came across my desk that changed my life. It was called “Car Radio Jerome” by Rev. Fred Lane & His Hittite Hotshots. I simply didn’t know what to make of it, but I knew that I liked it and had never heard anything quite like it before.” This led Skizz Cyzyk to investigate the origins of Fred Lane, and his subsequent exposure to the Raudelunas arts collective. 99 min screening followed by Q&A. Tickets $10 – at door or contact xfestma @ gmail . com to reserve.

Improv challenges 6pm – 11pm

Psychedelic Snakeskin, Duane Ingalls, Ras Moshe

Neil Horsky, Gahlord Dewald, Katherine Liberovskaya, Walter Wright, Tone Moser

Steven Davis, Eric Weidenhof, Andrea Pensado, Dei Xhrist

Joe Mygan, Al Margolis, Angela Sawyer, Lani Asuncion, Lali Wilde

Ken Field, Conor Perreault, Craig Chin, Craig Douglas

Ben Alman, Sawyer Philips, Kat Dobbins, Crescent Malevet, Nick Bowers

Tara Toms, Joe Brown, Emmanuel Lalande, Jefrey Hall, Curt Haworth

Id M Theft Able, Alex Pelchat, Kwami Winfield, Dubravka Bencic, Sean Saman

Sam Wenc, Arnaud le Mindu, Ian Kovac, Aly Gear

Zovi McEntee, Andrew Neumann, Thomas Watkiss, Rahul Nair, Gregory Kowalski, Curt Haworth

Bonnie Kane, Rick Breault, Michael F Dailey Jr, Gahlord Dewalt, Jonas Bers

Stella Silbert, Ben Flagg, Greg Paul, Bbob Drake

Alessandro Maione, Irman Peck, Allie Berger, Mathieu Bec

Ophra Wolf, Loren Groenendaal, Scott Prato, JB Ledoux, Jonas Bers

Ras Moshe, John Moore, Lillian Martin, Matt Wellins, Tracy Lisk, Asimina Chremos

Sunday, March 8

2pm    Improvisation 101 (Walter Wright).  Improv 101: the basics, exercises in spontaneous group composition. Listening to, looking for, and feeling form. Mutuality! Bring an instrument or just use what you are. 1.5 hrs. Free, all ages

3:30pm    Graphic Score & Found Sound (Ben Miller). Ben Miller will present a Composed Improvisation Workshop using simple structures to organize creative events. Exploring the innate talent of all those who attend will be the focus. Attendees can bring a musical instrument, or obscure soundmaking device, or voice.  There will be two small tape machines and a transistor radio for sound sources, too. Found Sound is encouraged! Regarding musical technique, we will use whatever we know. If you can sight read, great. If you are unable to read music, no problem. Whatever abilities we have as a large ensemble, we will utilize accordingly. If an attendee is more interested in Dance or Painting, rather than sound, please feel free to attend. We can incorporate more than 1 medium. Musicians, Vocalists, Non-Musicians, Dancers, Painters, anyone is welcome. In a group setting, attendees will utilize both chance operations and deliberate decision-making to create a Composed Improvisation. Chance operations include rolling dice, use of random numerical sequences, etc. The difference between Composition and Improvisation is both wide and closely knit. Composition is pre-organized ideas. Improvisation is executing, or arranging anything without previous preparation. Our Composed Improvisation will be recorded and sent to all attendees as an MP3. Attendees may videotape, if they wish. Tickets $5-10 – at door

Improv challenges 5pm – 9pm: number and names of players drawn from a hat

1 Joe Brown, Ben Miller, Dei Xhrist
2 Kwami Winfield
3 Bbob Drake
4 Alessandro Maione, Alexandra Derderian, Ras Moshe
5 Ben Miller, Vanessa LeFevre
6 Dei Xhrist, Jim Warren, Joe Brown
7 Tracy Lisk, Kwami Winfield