Saturday, October 01, 2005
The Utility Project: Live at USI
 The Utility Project, featuring College of Liberal Arts instructors Doyle Dean and Eric Braysmith, art alumnus Jonathan Walker ‘05, and senior art major Jordan Barclay, will perform songs from Dean’s innovative Utility Project recordings at 6 p.m. Friday, November 4, in Forum I, just before a screening of the Friday Night in the Forum film, “Invincible,” which begins at 7:30 p.m.Dean’s first release, The Utility Project (1; 30), contained 30 tracks created by methods of random determination, including the literal rolling of dice. Songs for the second disc, The Utility Project (1’32”), spell out the first and middle names of 31 individuals through a code pairing letters of the alphabet with musical chords. The CDs were numbered and distributed randomly throughout the world, with the hope that they be passed from person to person in perpetuity. Detailed information about Dean’s process is online at http://www.utilityproject.net. “When I conceived [the project] I thought it was something a band would never play,” Dean said. “The songs weren’t created in the traditional way a band would get together and work out a song on their own, with a singer/songwriter coming up with the words and a guitar part. That made it difficult - but interesting - to put the songs together in a band form.” The Utility Project band, featuring Dean on bass, Braysmith on accordion, Walker on drums, and Barclay on guitar, played its first gig at the Oranje Arts and Music Festival in Indianapolis in September. “I think it was well-received,” Dean said. “I think it was important that we play just to have played. It’s been fun to work on the songs, have an outlet for them, and see how they’re received as we play them live.” The next Utility Project will consist of 50 commissioned songs. For $35, Dean will write a song about any person using historical information. Forms will be available at the USI performance. Dean hopes to distribute The Utility Project 1/33 in spring 2006. |
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