Daniel Blacksberg & Friends (performing John Zorn's COBRA)
The Sublimator (member of Spaceseed)
DJ Reverie

RARE PHILADELPHIA PERFORMANCE OF JOHN ZORN'S GAME PIECE COBRA! This month, Daniel Blacksberg leads a group of local Phildelphia improvisers in a performance of John Zorn's famous game piece Cobra, which is performed often around the world, officially, under Zorn's direction, and unnoficially, in "Renegade" versions that occur regularly, often as a result of Zorn's visits. This "Renegade" performance of Zorn's most well known composition is a way to bring his music to a city that rarely gets to experience it live.

Cobra is Zorn's most comprehensive game piece, which are pieces for groups of improvisers guided by rules derived from sports and board games, as well as game theory. Each unique performance involves a prompter/conductor that a myriad of cues from the players through the use of cue cards that give a specific musical direction. These directions cover a huge range of musical possibilities, from solos to mass textures to layering duos to instant cartoon soundtracks.

Cobra is a piece of music that casts the act of group improvisation in a light that puts many of the usually internal musical choices of the players out in the open for people to see. The composer has said about the piece: "At its worst it can become psychodrama… at its best it's like magic." Psychodrama or magic, Cobra is a powerful musical experience that is often exciting and always unique.

DANIEL BLACKSBERG is a trombonist who is starting to make waves in the jazz, improvised and new music scenes along the east coast. He has performed with such artists as Frank London, Joe Morris and Jack Wright in locations such as the Knitting Factory and The Stone in New York City, the Zeitgiest Gallery in Boston and The Rotunda in Philadelphia.

THE SUBLIMATOR was found in a state of suspended animation in an abandoned crate by spacerock guitar ace John Pack in 2002. Col. Pack immediately installed him in his band Spaceseed, America's premier spacerock band. The Subliminator toured nationally with Spaceseed in '03 and '04, occasionally opening shows and performing with such luminaries as Nik Turner (Hawkwind), Harvy Bainbridge (Hawkwind) and Cotton Casino (Acid Mothers Temple). Recent Subliminator sightings and sonic attacks have been reported in the Atlanta area.

DJ REVERIE is a UPenn undergraduate involved with a new student group that focuses on the appreciation of electronic music. He (and cohorts) will end the night with IDM, tech ambient, and then a sample of faster tunes that might coerce you to dance, jump, or sail away.