NYSAE members Andrea Polli and Jonny Farrow interview artist China Blue about her recent CD, Under Voices, for which she recorded the seismic vibrations of the Eiffel Tower. With excerpts of the CD and other sonic curiosities. More information about China Blue's project here.

“Lecture on Democracy as Word and Brand” is a new performance work by sound artist Alexis Bhagat, commissioned by Parsons, presented as part of the exhibition “OURS: Democracy in the Age of Branding,” and integrated into the actual exhibition layout. Turn out in person or tune in on free103point9 Online Radio at www.free103point9.org.

The lecture activates a large platform designed by Liam Gillick with two different channels of pre-recorded audio. From 4 small speakers embedded into the “fora” (4 circular benches included in Gillick’s installation), recordings play that Baghat made previously during a charrette with New School students. These recordings are juxtaposed with the “Voice of Authority,” emanating from an overhead loudspeaker and delivering recorded proclamations on democracy by Edward Bernays, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and others. Illustrating the divergent connotations of the word “democracy,” the Voice of Authority abuses the term, while the voices from the “fora” attempt to use it. In the midst of this controversy is the artist, who stands at a lectern and talks on the history of the term “democracy”--a lecture delivered to the audience via little portable radio transmitters that will be distributed at the performance. Considering democracy as an example of a “brand,” Bhagat urges the abandonment of this hollow term.

Audience members have the choice of tuning in to the lecture via radios and headphones, or following the recordings from the Voice of Authority or the “for a.” At the end, they are encouraged to devise new terms to succeed “democracy.”

Generated in collaboration with Jesal Kapadia and students of her “Witness and Intervention: Media” class at Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts. Produced in collaboration (and with much appreciation) with free103point9. Commissioned by Parsons for OURS and presented as part of the Vera List Center’s program cycle on “Branding Democracy.”

The monthly show from the New York Society for Acoustic Ecology, this month curated and produced by David Watson. This show includes an older piece from Dallas Simpson, "Releasing the Bird of the Soul," originally intended for the Sacred Spaces show. Also three pieces, with interviews exploring the act of recording and replaying : natural sound recordist Grant Finlay; Live foley performer Sam Hamilton, and sound effects designer Rowan Watson. Intermissions by the Cicada Raiders.

Local arts organization free103point9 begins public workshops for a new community radio station this month with events at the Catskill Community Center and hosted by the Cairo Library at the Cairo Town Hall. free103point9, an 11-year-old arts organization, recently won a license for a 3,300-watt non-commercial radio station broadcasting at 90.7-FM that will be a community-run media project, re-envisioning radio as an innovative platform for local participation. The station’s inclusive programming will connect diverse voices, and distribute information across the public spectrum in New York's Greene and Columbia Counties.

Studios for the station will be in the Catskill Community Center as well as in Hudson, Cairo, and other towns throughout the two counties, and live programming may also originate from a number of other local venues, and including town meetings, workshops, lectures, school events, and local performances. “We are being overwhelmed with people calling and e-mailing that want to be involved,” says free103point9 Program Director Tom Roe. “These first public meetings are a chance for anyone who wants to be be a DJ, or help organize fundraisers, or interview your neighbors, to come out and meet others who are working to bring community radio to this area in person.” The station is hosting a community meeting and workshop for anyone who wants to get involved. The first is from 1-3 p.m. Sat. Feb. 14 at the Catskill Community Center, with a live internet radio show. Admission is free. Tune in at www.free103point9.org.

The meeting at the Catskill Community Center will be in conjunction with a children’s Valentine’s Day program there. Children (ages 5 - 10) will participate in arts and crafts, have a snack, and watch a Valentine's Day movie. (The children’s program is free, but registration is required. To register please call 518-719-8244.) “Murals of Catskill’s Historical Buildings” is the current art show on view at the Catskill Community Center. Admission on Feb. 14 to this work by local fourth-grade students, a joint project of the Catskill Central School District, Arts in Education Program of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and Ruth Leonard, artist and teacher, is free. Folks who stop by that afternoon can also record audio for the new community station, and meet organizers behind the effort.

An online version of the new community radio station will begin in May, and the FM community radio station is expected to get on the air by June, 2010. To volunteer to help get the radio station started contact Tom Roe at tr@free103point9.org, or call 518-622-2598. A web site with more information about the station and these events is at: http://www.free103point9.org/communityradio/

The Catskill Community Center is located at 344 Main St. in Catskill, 518-719-8244.

Percussionist William Hooker, the genre-bending free jazz legend, will improvise a soundtrack to pioneering African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux’s 1920 silent film classic — originally advertised as a chance to come see “the annihilation of the Ku Klux Klan.” Live video feed from Troy, New York. Watch video below or at www.free103point9.org. Use controls below video to adjust audio. Refresh page if video freezes. Video will only show image during live event.