Pioneers of the Art
We gathered last evening in an unfinished 6th floor penthouse space atop a Peck School of the Arts venue at Kenilworth and Prospect Avenue as the sun set over Milwaukee. It was the third eclectic gathering of souls sharing a mutual interest in music, poetry, and the counter cultural history of Milwaukee. John and McKim Stropes, along with many other dedicated students, archivists and volunteers continue to loosely anchor live performances to historical ideas found within the Avant Garde Coffee House (which presented folk and blues music, poetry and independent films) as well as the alternative news paper, Kaleidoscope (which provided a print venue for artists, designers, photographers, poets and writers) during the vibrant, tumultuous, and highly political Sixties. These wonderful events have included theatre performances, photography exhibits, live music, poetry, film, as well as the bringing together of private collections of artifacts from the Sixties.
The complete set of photographs from this event can be viewed here.
(right click to open in new tab or window for larger view)
To the East… the Great Lake Michigan
Stefano Berone presented guitar work which defied categorization; beyond gorgeous.
You can hear what I mean on some youtube offerings here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YE-GPXYeTA.
UWM’s Finger Style Guitar Department students detailed many more traditional styles equally beautifully.
Stefano hit the perfect nostalgic tone, as he married his unique, contemporary sound
to the moving pictures from Color Study, 1950-52 and Mirror Animations, 1956 -57, by Harry Smith.
The evening culminated with an all too still apropos presentation of Allen Ginsberg performing Hum Bom.
