{"id":486,"date":"2010-06-29T15:00:38","date_gmt":"2010-06-29T15:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp\/?p=486"},"modified":"2010-06-29T15:00:38","modified_gmt":"2010-06-29T15:00:38","slug":"bang_ona_keyboard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/2010\/06\/bang_ona_keyboard\/","title":{"rendered":"Bang on…a keyboard?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just love press that includes marketing shout-outs. From the New York Times’<\/i> Steve Smith’s review<\/a> of Sunday’s Bang on a Can Marathon:<\/p>\n

\n

\nUsing an Internet metaphor seems especially appropriate, given an
\nincreased emphasis on social media this year. Elsewhere, using Twitter<\/a>
\nduring a performance might be viewed as bad manners; here, crew members
\nand volunteers wore T-shirts emblazoned with Twitter-friendly slogans:
\n“follow @bangonacan” and “tweet #boac.” Stage announcements called
\nattention to a social-media lounge upstairs, where Twitter users and
\nold-school bloggers could recharge their equipment. <\/p>\n

\nIf, for some reason, you grew weary of sitting and listening, you could
\nmanically strum or beat along with Bang on a Can pieces in the video
\ngame Rock Band 2 in the social-media lounge. Audience die-hards were
\ninvited to have their hands stamped at the end of each hour; collect
\nall 12, and you were a “Marathon Warrior,” with a certificate and other
\nenticements to show for it. <\/p>\n

\nThe gimmicks could have been overbearing, were it not for the striking
\nimpression made by the performers and music. Moritz Eggert, a German
\npianist and composer, showed a comedic flair in solo works that called
\nfor shouting, pounding the piano’s casing and mashing its keys with
\nfeet, chin and rear. Slagwerk Den Haag<\/a>, a dazzling Dutch percussion group, similarly combined virtuosity and theatricality. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I had 11 hopeful seconds that the Times <\/i>was linking to Bang on a Can’s Twitter feed when I saw the hyperlink, but no such luck<\/a>. Obviously, it’s not smart for any website to send people elsewhere, but I will<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Bang on a Can Twitter T’s were a hot commodity; not one but three journalists asked me where they could get them. Here’s Bang on a Can’s Matt LeMay<\/a>, modeling the goods:<\/p>\n

\"BangOnACanTwitter.jpg\"<\/p>\n

I didn’t end up playing Rock Band<\/a>, sadly (well, gladly<\/i> for everyone else). Apparently Nadia Sirota<\/a> did, though she was almost lured away from Yo Shakespeare<\/i> by some Journey song.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just love press that includes marketing shout-outs. From the New York Times’ Steve Smith’s review of Sunday’s Bang on a Can Marathon: Using an Internet metaphor seems especially appropriate, given an increased emphasis on social media this year. Elsewhere, using Twitter during a performance might be viewed as bad manners; here, crew members and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-486","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}