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MICHAEL J. LOVE

INTERDISCIPLINARY TAP DANCE ARTIST

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Livestream No. 004 Library/ 

Welcome to the Livestream No. 004 Library! This is the online home for the LIVE From The BEATBOX - Livestream No. 004 Process Draft and Livestream recording. Remember that all funds raised through the sale of Livestream tickets and Livestream Library passes go directly to the artist(s). Please kindly refrain from sharing any video or page links. Be sure to save this page/ URL to your favorites to be able to visit as you wish.

About Livestream No. 004

LIVE From The BEATBOX—Livestream No. 004 was presented on Saturday, February 27, 2021 at 4pm Central Standard Time, a week after its original scheduled stream date of February 20, 2021. An unprecedented failure of Texas' energy and water infrastructure in mid-February 2021 left millions of folks across the state to endure a winter storm without heat or other essential utilities. Consequently, guest artists Benae Beamon and Adriana J. Ray and I decided to continue developing our collaboration and to premiere it during Livestream No. 006 in April 2021.

Portions of Livestream No. 004 utilize pieces of media not original to the presenting artist(s). These items have been curated and are presented in the type of "found footage"/ "found audio" format typical of mixtapes. Each piece of media is attributed to its creator in the list of citations below.

"With Livestream No. 004, I launch myself towards a new Black ’elsewhere’ - or ‘soul territory’ à la the theory of literary scholar Nadia Ellis - of dynamic Black possibility. The cultural excavation work of Livestream No. 002 and Livestream No. 003 informs a remixing and repurposing of aesthetic and expressive strategies for realizing both my own and my ancestors’ freedom dreams. In this new location, the past and present spill into the future at a steady house bpm of about 120 and the passed-along embodied knowledge of countless generations manifests as polyrhythmic percussive phrases. This location, though, is metaphysical. It is embedded in the collective Black consciousness. And so, Livestream No. 004 is an affective, emotional-intellectual illustration of this location. Ultimately, after studying 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s visions of Afrofuturism, with Livestream No. 004, I conjure my own vision of Black futurity."

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LIVE From The BEATBOX is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and is fiscally sponsored by ARCOS Foundation for the Arts.

Livestream No. 004 Guest Artists and Collaborators

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Deja Morgan

Voice Acting

Deja Morgan is a theatre-maker, performance artist, and writer who was born and raised in Texas and currently resides in Philadelphia, PA. She is inspired by the legacies and work of figures such as Octavia E. Butler, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Alexis Pauline Gumbs and is focused on creating Afro-futurist worlds that nurture Black ancestral connection and uninhibited dreaming. Deja is also intimately invested in issues surrounding food sovereignty, farming, and cooking, interests which inform much of her artistic work. As Venus is the ruler of Deja's astrological chart (she is a Pisces sun, Cancer moon, and Libra rising, to be exact) dreaming, loving, and connection with others comes naturally—just a few of the many gifts she intends to offer back to the world.

Process Draft 004

"Process drafts" are bits of Love's personal rehearsal footage from his time spent at The BEATBOX preparing for each livestream performance. These clips are untreated—the audio is raw and unmixed and there is minimal "post" work. This footage shows how Love experiments with lighting, a/v setup, and the composition of the space. Love also records himself to take note of choreographic ideas. Ultimately, "process drafts" provide insight into how Love develops his work.

Livestream Recording 004

Livestream No. 004 took place on Saturday, February 27, 2021 at 4pm CST. It included one auralvisual "track" designed to illustrate a futuristic commercial airline-like journey to a new Black "elsewhere" capable of fully supporting Black queerness. As a sort of coda, Livestream No. 004 ended with a brief exploration of Black music traditions/ genres and improvised polyrhythms made possible through the use of an Akai beat machine and the execution of a cappella tap rhythms.

Livestream No. 004 was approximately 60 minutes in length.

The copy of the livestream available here in the Livestream No. 004 Library has been edited so that unaltered footage of the performance lives with the video content shared by the artist during the stream.

Citations

All media curated by Michael J. Love

Music (in order of appearance in program)

"Distant Planet" by Mr. Fingers on Four Most Cuts Presents - Frankie Knuckles Vs. Mr. Fingers (Casablanca Trax Inc., 1987)

"Summertime Breeze" by Larry Heard on Sceneries Not Songs, Volume 1 (Alleviated Records, Blackmarket International, 1994)

"Freefall" by KAYTRANADA featuring Durand Bernarr on BUBBA (RCA Records, 2019)

"Shadow Dancing" by Theo Parrish on Sound Signature Sounds (Sound Signature, 2000)

"On & On (Original Mega)" by Jesse Saunders on 20th Anniversary Of House Music Vol. 1: On And On (Broken Records, 2004)

"POTIONS" by J-E-T-S featuring Dawn Richard on ZOOSPA (Innovative Leisure, 2019)

"OCEAN PPL" by J-E-T-S featuring Rochelle Jordan on ZOOSPA (Innovative Leisure, 2019)

"Bussifame" by Dawn Richard (Merge Records, 2021)

"Dan Ryan" by Theo Parrish featuring Jerrald James on Sound Signature Sounds (Sound Signature, 2000)

Projections

Designed and edited by Michael J. Love. Includes “Oxygen in the Great Carina Nebula.jpg” by Dylan O’Donnell, deography.com - from the  Wikimedia Commons.

Text

"Welcome Aboard" as written by Michael J. Love. Performed and recorded by Deja Morgan (February 2021).

YouTube Videos (in alphabetical order)

"Fasten seat belt - sound signal" (by "caliSHnick," June 7, 2014) https://youtu.be/qKFrQqqPSAc

"'Freedom is a feeling! Freedom is No Fear!' - Nina Simone - New York, 1968" (by "Mathias Lacroix," June 6, 2016) https://youtu.be/nPD8f2m8WGI

"Futuristic Computer Sound Effects All Sounds" (by "All Sounds," March 16, 2018) https://youtu.be/B27WxEa97L8

"Power [ Down / Up ] Sound Effects All Sounds" (by "All Sounds," November 5, 2017) https://youtu.be/gQGQmYqolws

"Sound Effect - Surround SFX - Force Field Energy 12 - SFX Producer ( No Copyright Sound Effects )" (by "Sound Effects," November 19, 2020) https://youtu.be/MB50iQ7elfU

LIVE From The BEATBOX - Livestream No. 004

Saturday, February 27, 2021 at 4pm Central Standard Time

Streamed live from The BEATBOX (Austin, TX)

Sound, Lighting, Video, and Projection Design/ Media Curation/

Choreography and Improvisation by Michael J. Love

Graphic Design, Promotional Photography, Video Editing, and Marketing/ Public Relations by Michael J. Love

Livestream No. 004 album cover design and photography by Michael J. Love. Includes “Oxygen in the Great Carina Nebula.jpg” by Dylan O’Donnell, deography.com - from the  Wikimedia Commons

 

Special Thanks:

Sound/ Audio Mixer, courtesy of Ariel René Jackson

Projector, courtesy Eliot Fisher and Erica Gionfriddo

Streamed via Zoom and YouTube Live

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