Beyond the Black Crack: 50th Anniversary Celebration

Cropped image of the cover art for “Beyond the Black Crack” by Anal Magic & Rev. Dwight Frizzell, released in 1976. Beyond the Black Crack was the concept of Reverend Dwight Frizzell, a musician, film maker, Doctor of Metaphysics, minister in the Universal Church of Life, and a 2026 Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Fellow. It remains a little known classic, and one of the most unique listening experiences in modern experimental music. Recorded between 1974 and 1976 in locations as diverse as factories, the pyramid opposite Harry Truman’s grave site as well as more ‘conventional’ concert settings. Beyond the Black Crack is a dark, dizzying and exhilarating journey through free jazz, electronics and environmental sound, all shattered by Frizzell’s radical tape editing. This CD re-release adds further material to the original LP: – “The Wandering Madness of Basilea”, a suite from 1977 unheard until now, as well as unreleased material from the Black Crack sessions. Dwight Frizzell (b. 1956) grew up in Independence, Missouri where Harry Truman was his neighbor. They frequented the same library, had the same barber, and talked to a living fossil (a ginkgo tree) on their daily walks. As a youngster, Dwight learned of Truman’s nuclear bombing of civilian populations and became a life-long pacifist. He worked to re-elect Senator Stuart Symington and was active in student politics. By 1974 Dwight had chosen to respond to injustice with inclusive art making rather than divisive politics. That same year he was ordained in support of his Conscientious Objector status. Since then he has been creating collectively-based, socially engaged art through filmmaking, music, writing and performance. In 1976 Dwight released his Beyond the Black Crack LP, the first publication of music based on the physics of black holes. The record was widely reviewed, featured in the infamous Nurse with Wound list (1979), and reissued on Paradigm Discs (2000). “If the idea of Sun Ra’s Arkestra jamming with electric-era Miles Davis and Frank Zappa on some distant burnt-out asteroid appeals, then this could be for you.” —Edwin Pouncey, Top Dwight began an 11-year master-adept relationship with Sun Ra after meeting him in Chicago in 1980. Frizzell is a founding member of the Black Crack Revue, newEar contemporary chamber ensemble, National Audio Theatre Festivals, Alter Destiny and Myth-Science Ensemble. He has received Peabody and Golden Reel Awards for his radio work. His new projects include MU: The Cosmic Void that Created the Universe (with Shanté Clair, Jacob Souders and Brad Cox), Ergosphere (sonifying black hole physics with Michael Henry and Greg Mackender), and Journey of Turtles, a multi-channel soundscape composition featuring the rejuvenating waters of Greer Springs in Missouri’s Ozarks (with Marideth Sisco, Thomas Aber and Tony Brewer). Dwight holds a terminal degree in Sound Design for Theatre from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He is Professor and Sound Head at the Kansas City Art Institute. Creative Confluence Fund: Organizations Deadline November 24! Apply here. Roaming Center for Magnetic Alternatives African American Artists Collective Stray Cat Film Center 1662 Broadway Blvd, KCMO www.straycatfilmcenter.com Stray Cat Film Center is an artist-run non-profit media arts organization and neighborhood microcinema space. Stray Cat is dedicated to offering our community film programming that reflects the diversity of voices and visions in cinematic expression and using cinema as a conduit to inspire, educate and explore. Blackbox on Troost 4001 Troost Avenue, KCMO Follow them on Facebook Driven by artists and community leaders from the Troost Corridor and the east side of Kansas City, Blackbox on Troost hosts community theater performances, learning workshops, cross-disciplinary media collaborations and more. Cynthia Hardeman, former Neighborhood Artists Resident and Founder of Drama Time, will lead the ongoing transition from the NAR residency site into a community performance space. Kansas City Public Theatre (2019-20 StartUp Residents) 2300 Independence Avenue, KCMO https://kcpublictheatre.org Kansas City Public Theatre provides access to the arts through year-round theatre entertainment free of charge to the public. This mission is carried out in two activities: first, through producing aesthetically and ideologically diverse new works and reimagined classics which reflect the unique history and concerns of the Kansas City community; and second, to cultivate civic-minded artists, audiences, and citizens through community-based devised theatre workshops. By providing quality theatre productions free of charge to the public, Kansas City Public Theatre envisions theatre as an essential cultural good which should be fully accessible to all members of the community. Kansas City Society of Contemporary Photography (2019-20 StartUp Residents) 2300 Independence Avenue, KCMO http://kcscp.org/ Kansas