I share this performance memory from -ING
"San Francisco, September 8th, 1984
The final public performance of the San Francisco Bay Area Performing Duo called “–ING” showcased Charles Rice Goff III and Steve Schaer opening the second night of a Dada variety show which featured several bizarre acts from all over the world. The “Inter Dada ‘84” festival was a well-coordinated presentation of still art, film, drama, music, and theater, held in San Francisco during September, 1984. Venues all over the city hosted the festival’s various displays of absurdity. The main stage for the two nights of Inter Dada performance was the large old Victoria Theater on 16th Street in San Francisco’s Mission District. This was the last place that –ING ever played for an audience.
The temperature in San Francisco on the date of -ING's performance was 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which is unnaturally hot for the city. This heat combined with fate to afflict Goff and Schaer with a number of technical problems. The reel of recording tape that they had brought for their Frippertronics-style tape loop system developed an unusual tendency to feedback, requiring the volume of the tape loop repetitions to be reduced. One of two monitor speakers blew out during the soundcheck, making it difficult for Goff and Schaer to hear these subdued tape repetitions and, consequently, making it difficult for them to get their tape loop timing right. To top all of this off, during the middle of the performance, Schaer’s ARP Odyssey synthesizer began to produce unexpected shifts in pitch and waveform.
Despite all of these problems, Goff and Schaer performed their set with bravado, and the large audience gave no indication that it was aware of –ING’s technical travails. The duo received a standing ovation, then left the stage sweaty and jittery. Goff and Schaer never performed publicly as –ING again. A tragic coincidence must be mentioned here as well: Schaer took his own life exactly 14 years to the day after this performance."
The live music can be found at: http://www.archive.org/details/INGinterDada
Thanks much for posting all this information about the Inter Dada Festival! I have been looking for information about Inter Dada online for years and had begun to think that the Orwellians had outlawed any internet posts. A few years back, I was living in Lawrence, Kansas, where the mayor had declared an International Dada Month. I organized an evening of Dada entertainment, which while it was not in any way comparable to Inter Dada, it helped me carry on the inspiration in some small way.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes, Charles Goff III, -ING