Collection of Gene Nichols

The projects and contributions area at dekalborama.com
GN Disc anim 125.gif
GN Disc 001.gif

On June 25, 2012 I received a bundle of history from the Right Coast courtesy of Gene Nichols and have been uploading that material over the course of the summer. Along with posters, programs, and scores, Gene included an extensive library of audio which is being posted for your listening pleasure.

Neoteric Ensemble[edit]

The Neoteric Ensemble, April 17, 1981
Program, The Neoteric Ensemble
Tim Blickhan, Joe Pinzarrone, et al
Plain paper copy (2nd gen)
8 1/2 x 11 inches
April, 1981
© 1981 The Neoteric Ensemble
Commentary to follow. Please contact us with more information about this work.


Edit, comment, or add something: Nichols_Collection_0000


File:Use Your Pencil 810417.mp3

Audio, Use Your Pencil (A 12-Tone Piece)
Robert Mendell
Audio file
6' 48"
Performed by the Neoteric Ensemble
April 17, 1981
Northern Illinois University
© 1981 Robert Mendell
Commentary to follow. Please contact us with more information about this work.


Edit, comment, or add something: Nichols_Collection_0001


Audio, Yellow
Brent Davids
Audio file
4' 53"
Performed by the Neoteric Ensemble
April 17, 1981
Northern Illinois University
© 1981 Brent Davids
Commentary to follow. Please contact us with more information about this work.


Edit, comment, or add something: Nichols_Collection_0002


File:Improvisation 810417.mp3

Audio, Improvisation #2
John Butera
Audio file
3' 40"
Performed by the Neoteric Ensemble
April 17, 1981
Northern Illinois University
© 1981 John Butera
Commentary to follow. Please contact us with more information about this work.


Edit, comment, or add something: Nichols_Collection_0003


File:I Am Joes Body 810417.mp3

Audio, I am Joe's Body
Roger Hintzsche and Gene Nichols
Audio file
13' 43"
Performed by the Neoteric Ensemble
April 17, 1981
Northern Illinois University
© 1981 Hintzsche and Nichols, with a hat tip to the Reader's Digest series
Commentary to follow. Please contact us with more information about this work.


Edit, comment, or add something: Nichols_Collection_0004


Loading Mercury with a Pitchfork
A Song Cycle on Poems by Richard Brautigan
Gene Nichols. Text by Richard Brautigan
Stereo audio tape, with score
Performed by Gene Nichols with the Neoteric Ensemble
April 17, 1981
Northern Illinois University
Music © 1980-1981 Gene Nichols, text © 1971 Richard Brautigan
The second half of 1981's April 17 program was given over to these interpretations of Brautigan's 1971 poem collection Loading Mercury with a Pitchfork. Each segment is a separate poem, with its own instrumentation and score. (In what I take to be the spirit of the work, though, I have made each Flash player a separate instance; so, if you like, you can play all the poems at once.—daa)
Please contact us with more information about this work or the performance itself. Notes and commentary can be inserted along with each file below.

Score Neo 810417 0001.jpg
Score Neo 810417 0002.jpg


4' 19"

Dedication 1: for Diane Ragains

Dedication 2: for Diane Ragains, Joe Pinzarrone + the Neoteric boys

November 1980

Score Neo 810417 0003.jpg


0' 47"

Things begin to look a little looser...

Score Neo 810417 0004.jpg
Score Neo 810417 0005.jpg


1' 19"

Score Neo 810417 0006.jpg


1' 09"

Score Neo 810417 0007.jpg


1' 32"

Things become looser still...

Score Neo 810417 0008.jpg


1'28"

Score Neo 810417 0009.jpg


1' 26"

A brief return to conventional notation...

Score Neo 810417 0010.jpg


1' 20"

Score Neo 810417 0011.jpg
Score Neo 810417 0012.jpg
Score Neo 810417 0013.jpg


6' 06"

Score Neo 810417 0014.jpg


1' 44"

...followed by "Hot wailing"...

Score Neo 810417 0015.jpg
Score Neo 810417 0016.jpg


3' 44"

Score Neo 810417 0017.jpg
Score Neo 810417 0018.jpg


3' 10"

The score flirts with orthogonality, then segues to something a bit more episodic and instructive: "Some instrumentalists apply light, fast 'karate chops' to the vocalist's back during this passage."

Score Neo 810417 0019.jpg


1' 26"

Coffee (or something) has its way with the score.

Score Neo 810417 0020.jpg
Score Neo 810417 0021.jpg


0' 42"

Score Neo 810417 0022.jpg


0' 34"

Score Neo 810417 0023.jpg


1' 19"

(There's something about this work that wants to stay a secret. The published poem includes the comment, "...[I can't make the next two words out. I first wrote this poem in longhand]..." which Gene transcribes in the score, along with stage directions. This sheet [page 23] came to me with a folded-back top right-hand corner. It had clearly been fed into the copier that way, as the print runs right up to the bent edge. The page number is missing. Of the twenty six pages of score, this sheet is the only one that misfed in the scanner. It survived, not without a struggle.—daa)

Score Neo 810417 0024.jpg
Score Neo 810417 0025.jpg


3' 09"

Score Neo 810417 0026.jpg


2' 54"

The final note: "November 25-26, 1980; rearranged Spring, 1981 DeKalb, Illinois"


Edit, comment, or add something: Nichols_Collection_0005