THE SOCIETYPAST Founded in 1986, the Society has presented such diverse acts as England's improvisational guitar pioneer Derek Bailey, West African kora player Foday Mussa Susso, classical Indian violinist L.Shankar, National Public Radio correspondents Andrei Codrescu and David Sedaris, New York jazz violinist Leroy Jenkins, multi-wind instrumentalist J. D. Parran, saxophone legend Anthony Braxton, the last traveling Minstrel Performer Abner Jay, and the famous folk artist Rev. Howard Finster. In 1994 the Shaking Ray Levi Society was awarded a Number One rating as a "presenter of adventurous music" by Einstein's Guide to the Musical Universe, a nationally recognized database produced by Roulette out of New York.
PRESENT The SRLS continues to expand and diversify its audience by presenting performance art such as Laurie Anderson and the Melted Men, independent rock such as Olivia Tremor Control, Cat Power and David Pajo, and multicultural music such as the Tibetan Monks and Djalma. Upcoming events
EDUCATION The Society also offers educational programs in area schools. Many of the Society's guest artists hold workshops for students on jazz instrumentation, composition, and improvisation. In the classroom the Shaking Ray Levi duo directly involve the students in designing, discovering, and playing musical instruments. Their curriculum is multi-disciplinary in nature, created with the goal of helping students to develop valuable skills such as problem solving, group cooperation, active listening, and effective use of available resources.
PARTNERSHIPS AND SUPPORT Allied Arts of Greater Chattanooga supports the Shaking Ray Levi Society through ageneral operating support grant as well as specific project support. Grants from the Tennessee Arts Commission, Southern Arts Federation, Lyndhurst Foundation, British Arts Council, and the Canadian Arts Council have also funded specific projects. The Society serves as a valuable resource for many regional agencies, providing an extensive range of original music to enhance local productions. Partnerships include involvement with the Hunter Museum of Art, the Chattanooga Downtown Partnership, Miller Plaza, the Association for Visual Artists, Friends of the Riverbend Festival, the Tula Foundation and Gallery of Atlanta, Chattanooga State Technical Community College, Incus Records, WREK of Atlanta, WUTC of Chattanooga, and the Chattanooga Little Theatre. The Shaking Ray Levi Society relies on a private membership cabinet of financial supporters and volunteers in addition to corporate donations in order to sustain its quality programs. Please contact us at shakingray@chattanooga.net or SHAKING RAY LEVI SOCIETY P.O. BOX 21534 Chattanooga, TN 37424-0534.
SHAKING RAY LEVI DUO The performing element of the SRLS is Dennis Palmer and Bob Stagner, who together form the Shaking Ray Levi duo. They have performed extensively from New York to London and have received critical acclaim from the Village Voice, Keyboard, National Public Radio, The New Art Examiner, Tower Records' Pulse! magazine and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The duo uses storytelling, electronics and percussion in addition to handmade instruments of their own design to achieve their distinctive sound. The Shaking Ray Levi Duo has performed extensively with their educational outreach program in many public schools and malls throughout the country. Additionally, they have performed on an international level on London's BBC Program Midnight Oil, at Quebec's International Festival Musique Actuelle, Newfoundland's Sound Symposium, Denver's ReThink Conference and London's Company Week.
Their first CD appeared in 1993 on the distinguished Incus label of London and a second Incus CD is due in late 1995. Also in 1995 they have performed with Japan's renowned Butoh dancer Min Tanaka and Quebec's interactive video artist Don Ritter. In recognition of their abilities they have been awarded grants for their work by the British Arts Council and Meet the Composer.
OUTSIDE PLEASURES From 1988-1995 the Shaking Ray Levi Society produced the weekly radio program, Outside Pleasures, which provided access to innovative, multi-ethnic and adventurous music. The show was broadcast live each Saturday from 10 PM to 1 AM on WUTC Jazz 88 at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Their enthusiastic staff of announcers consistently presented poets, storytellers and live original music, creating the largest and most loyal radio audience of original improvisation in the South.
PERFORMANCE SERIES Since 1986 the Shaking Ray Levi Society has hosted annual festivals such as Artstravaganza and Incus Week, various concert series and their spoken word performance art series, ALL TALK. In May 2001, the Society presented NPR correspondent David Greenberger (accompanied by the Shaking Ray Levis), Folkways recording artist Michael Hurley, and Frank Pahl's Scavenger Quartet at the 4 Bridges Arts Festival in Chattanooga, TN. In 2002, the Society will participate in the Destroy All Music Festival in Atlanta, as well as in the upcoming 4 Bridges Festival in Chattanooga.
Some of the artists the Society has brought to Chattanooga include:
