The Wake

It happens every time. You hold your breath and tiptoe into the concert hall to take a seat just as the pianist flips their tuxedo tails over the piano bench. Parched, you reach into your sack and fish for a cold beverage. You lean forward, holding the can of Grain Belt inconspicuously near the floor as you slip your fingernail under the metal tab. Unfortunately, there is no feasible way to mute the telltale crack and foam sizzle. You raise the can to your lips to slurp off the golden river, but, suddenly, whatever buzz you were about to enjoy is prematurely killed by hundreds of simultaneous dirty looks. All you wanted to do was get your Chopin on, but once again you find yourself stifling the urge to mutter even the faintest catcall, slamming beers in the bathroom stall between movements. You’re not impolite or uncultured, and you’ve lived in shame for too long.

This is where Salon 3136 comes in. Their mission: to offer “concert music” for the rest of us. The venue is welcoming and geared toward the events at which a younger, more relaxed audience would typically show up. Walking through the front door, it seems you’d be just as likely to stumble upon a game of beer pong or a poker night as you would an evening of concert music. They’ve hosted a series of events aimed at reinventing the image of concert music as something approachable, free from the potential pretentiousness of typical concert halls.

Their latest premiere, Rock Rite, featured a collaborative electronic remix of Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, the salon’s fourth 24-hour concert. No, you can put away the No Doze, the concert doesn’t last 24 hours. The standard rules are as follows: beginning at 8 p.m. on Friday night, composers are given 12 hours to write a piece for a randomly selected ensemble. Performers then have 12 hours to prepare beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday morning for an 8 p.m. performance Saturday night. This latest incarnation had a slight twist—it was the groups first all-electronic 24 hour concert. The fourteen movements of Stravinsky’s controversial ballet were randomly assigned on Friday night to seven artists, including five University grad students (J. Anthony Allen, Noah Keesecker, Zachary Crockett, Elliot Miles McKinley and Matt Dorn), and two local DJs (Oliver Grudem and Holly Hansen) to be remixed as they saw fit. There were no external samples allowed; source material could only be extracted from a shoddy 1950s RCA classic recording. The remixes were showcased Saturday evening along with a crudely edited video of the original performance in which each movement was sped up or slowed according to the length of the remix. The results were oddly poetic, ranging from moshpit-inducing to tensely ambient.

J. Anthony Allen’s thick textures and intense bursts of rhythm morphed from intense soundscapes to an exhilarating climax, and his second movement had the kind of pulse that sends most children into epileptic ecstasy. Josh Clausen extracted excruciatingly blunt samples and used them to build fiery textures reminiscent of Aphex Twin. Noah Keesecker’s movement held onto static texture while embellishing on the piece’s original motives. Zachary Crockett says, “I wanted to accentuate Stravinsky’s intentions, so I made the shorter movement ‘Abduction Ritual’ even shorter, more fleeting. The ‘Ancestor’s Ritual’ was relatively long and intense, so I stretched it out and made it more highly charged.” Oliver Grudem’s comfort with electronica and electronic music were evident in his remixes, which, completely unrecognizable from the original piece, sounded more club than classical.

The Salon 3136 experience bridges an uncomfortable gap for a more humble music listening audience. The musical line-up might involve a work from Bach followed by a piece by Elliot Smith. Sporadically inspired applause and trips to the fridge for a Leinie’s are encouraged. “We’re trying to say, that’s okay,” says Keseeker.

Salon 3136 will be hosting one more concert at their current location, after which they will be in transition to a new venue and seeking new sponsorships. For information about upcoming shows or about how to get involved as a composer, performer, or a sponsor, visit .