Fire Museum Presents: Ava Mendoza, John Dikeman & Matt Hollenburg/Julius Masri
Wednesday, April 3, 2019 | 8-11pm
$8 – $10 sliding scale | Tickets & Additional Info
About the Line Up
AVA MENDOZA
Ava Mendoza is a Brooklyn-based guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer. Born in 1983, she started performing her own music, and as a sidewoman and collaborator in many different projects, as soon as she was old enough to get into 18+ venues. As a guitarist, Mendoza has received acclaim for her technique and viscerality. Her most ongoing work is as leader of experimental rock band Unnatural Ways, and as a solo performer on guitar/voice. In any context she is committed to bringing expressivity, energy and a wide sonic range to the music. Mendoza has toured throughout the U.S. and Europe and recorded or performed with musicians including Carla Bozulich, Fred Frith, Mick Barr, Nels Cline, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Mike Watt, Matana Roberts, Ikue Mori, Matt Mitchell, Adele Bertei, William Hooker, Jon Irabagon, members of Caroliner, the Violent Femmes, and more. Recordings are available on labels Tzadik, Weird Forest, Clean Feed, NotTwo, Resipiscent, and New Atlantis.
Friendly critics have quoted: “It’s… Ava Mendoza’s deconstructing of blues and punk into brutal shredfests that’s causing a ruckus in NYC’s DIY hubs” (Brad Cohan, Noisey.Vice). “A wizard on a semi-circle of effects pedals, but… equally adept with FX-less technique,” (Lars Gotrich, NPR). She was featured as one of Guitar World‘s “10 Female Guitarists You Should Know”.
JOHN DIKEMAN
John Dikeman is an American saxophonist currently residing in Amsterdam. Drawing inspiration from a wide range of sources, John’s playing runs the gamut of improvised music and technique. He is currently active as a member of numerous groups including Cactus Truck, a band made up guitarist/bass guitarist Jasper Stadhouders and Onno Govaert; Universal Indians with Norwegian rhythm section Tollef Østvang and Jon Rune Strøm and often featuring Joe McPhee; the trio Dikeman, Parker, Drake with William Parker and Hamid Drake, and numerous other collaborations. Dikeman has performed as a soloist for groups ranging from Godspeed You! Black Emperor and the Metropole Orkest to Mohamed Mounir and the Cairo Symphony Orchestra.
“He has the most powerful voice in the Dutch jazz music of the last decade: saxophonist John Dikeman.”-Tim Sprangers, Jazzism
MATT HOLLENBERG/JULIUS MASRI
Matt Hollenberg descends from the Trey Spruance/Jim Martin school of scooped mids and Dick Dale leads, subverting heavy metal formalism with authentic CVLT perspective. It’s fitting that Hollenberg’s doom-, grind-, and ambient-laced quartet Cleric released their 2010 debut on Spruance’s Web of Mimicry label. Keith Carman of Exclaim writes of Cleric, “One hears the detonation of Pig Destroyer, adrenaline of Converge, creative technicality of Nomeansno and Psyopus, and outright weirdness of Fantômas uniting with P.I.L.’s Flowers Of Romance.” Hollenberg also serves in Zorn’s Simulacrum trio alongside John Hollenbeck and drummer Kenny Grohowski.
Julius Masri is a multi-instrumentalist based in Philadelphia, and is a performer/ composer for the city’s modern dance community at large. Born in Tripoli, Lebanon, he moved to the States in 1990, and picked up drumming a year later. He studied with famed Philadelphia instructors Carl Mottola and Elaine Hoffman Watts, and, as an undergrad at Bard College, AACM’s Thurman Barker, Richard Teitelbaum, and Joan Tower. As a drummer, Julius performs in such bands as hasidic punk group Electric Simcha, psychotic Ragtime duo Mahogany Stompers, Metal Duo Night Raids, Van Sutra with guitarist George Draguns, (of Don Caballero), and countless other projects. He also performs on circuit modified keyboards in duos such as Superlith, with Trombonist Dan Blacksberg (Deveykus, Anthony Braxton Quartet), Thurman Barker duo, and electronic music phenoms Charles Cohen and Joo Won Park. Julius has also composed and performed music for many Philadelphia based choreographers, and is currently working with Graffito Works dance collective.
About Fire Museum Presents
“Since arriving in Philadelphia, Fire Museum Presents has provided an essential resource for open-eared local audiences. Guided by founder Steven Tobin’s impeccable taste and adventurous spirit, the series has brought cutting-edge artists spanning diverse genres to the city, from legendary avant-gardists to up-and-coming envelope-pushers. Fire Museum’s offerings have ranged from free jazz to electronic noise, American Primitive folk to world music fusions, experimental rock to progressive psychedelia, often bleeding over from one hybrid genre to the next. With bills that regularly offer unexpected pairings and often result in spontaneous collaborations, the mere fact that a concert is being presented by Fire Museum is usually sufficient to guarantee that it merits notice.” – Shaun Brady
ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT
Please note that Vox Populi is located on the third floor of a historic warehouse building at 319 N. 11th Street and that there are five steps leading from the street-level to the first-floor landing where the passenger elevator picks-up/drops-off. The entry into/out of the elevator is 29-inches wide, so may not accommodate all wheelchairs or motorized chairs. Any individual requiring a ramp to navigate this entryway is encouraged to get in touch with Vox Populi ahead of time to coordinate ramp-access and discuss accessibility details. Our ramps may not be suitable for all wheelchairs or motorized chairs, so we strongly encourage anyone requiring a ramp to be in touch at: events@voxpopuligallery.org or 215.238.1236
