Present, Past, and Future Members
Paul Labrise – guitar & vocals
Ray Vasko - bass & vocals
Jay Matula – drums
Greg Anderson - electric guitar
Tom Emmerling - drums
"Labrise's penchant for humble, concrete images over abstraction and explication gives his songs a bit of a William Carlos Williams feel." Pittsburgh City Paper Review
Planet of the Love Guitars
Almost famous instrumental CD available at
CD Baby and iTunes
"The songs retain a simple beauty that could be described as indie folk, peppered with a few jazz chords and sampled voices." In Pittsburgh Review
Crawl Out of This
Paul Labrise and The Trees debut CD available at CD Baby and iTunes
Mark Dignam has been bumping into Paul Luc and Ben Shannon a lot, at Treelady Studios, where they are all working, on their upcoming albums. They admire each others work so much, they decided to put together what promises to be, a mini singer/songwriter festival.. Watch for special guests and a very memorable night at The Rex Theater, 1602 East Carson Street. Pittsburgh, PA 15203. 8pm. $10.
Wishful Thinking Paintings by Victoria Cessna and David Wallace
Opening Friday, August 7, 2009. 6-10pm. Zombo Gallery. 4900 Hatfield St., Pittsburgh, PA 15201 www.zomboworld.com With live music by Slim and George Cessna with Rob Loveclutch. Showing through Friday, August 28.
With great excitement and a touch of wise doubt, local painters Victoria Cessna and David Wallace present ‘Wishful Thinking’ at Zombo Gallery on August 7, showcasing works that were completed by the artists over the past year.
Both artists have an affinity for using found imagery from bygone eras as inspiration for their work.
Cessna’s paintings explore the mysterious allure of the random snapshot and capture the quality of a long-forgotten photograph in paint. Her work takes these photographs out of their original context and suggests that there is more than meets the eye in these seemingly tranquil domestic environments.
As a graphic designer, Wallace has always been interested in the power of images and words in advertising. The pairing of innocent, naïve images from mid-century home magazine ads with more modern, direct text create a more complex world than those ‘50s magazines imply. New meanings are derived and questions are posed. As in Cessna’s work, things are not always as they seem or as we wish they could be.
Just as the phrase ‘Wishful Thinking’ can either cheerfully conjure a joyful hope or sarcastically imply a skeptical doubt, the work of Cessna and Wallace explores the duality of meaning inherent within mundane, everyday imagery.
‘Wishful Thinking’ opens Friday, August 7 at Zombo Gallery in Lawrenceville and continues through August 28. For more information on Zombo Gallery visit www.zomboworld.com To view David Wallace’s artwork visit www.salaczar.com To view Victoria Cessna’s artwork visit www.vicskitschn.com
Come and party with Squonk Opera on Friday May 22nd at 8:00 pm at the Pittsburgh Filmmakers’ Melwood Screening Room for the Galaxy Premiere of Astro-rama!
Astro-rama is a joyous large scale outdoor event that unifies an audience in creating humanity’s message for far-flung galaxies. The show features live music, dynamic video, 3 stories of scaffolding, a 40' radio telescope, cherry pickers, scissor lifts and a giant robot. Astro-rama was filmed over 2 chilly nights in October 2008 at Pittsburgh's Schenley Plaza.
Astro-rama premiere and party with the Squonkers. Friday, May 22, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. for $25 Pittsburgh Filmmakers’ Melwood Screening Room 477 Melwood Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Hand to Hand - the coast to coast collaborative collage of Rebecca Trawick and David Wallace
Over the course of two years, Rebecca and I traded collages back and forth through the mail, adding to each work as it changed hands. Throughout this process, we never met in person - I live in Pittsburgh, and Rebecca lives in Southern CA. We found that working together was a way to communicate on a purely creative level. We weren’t interested in becoming “pen pals,” but rather in seeing how our two styles could combine to create work that was not completely me, not totally her, but something new and surprising to us both. The work debuted at Moxie Dada in Pittsburgh in January 2007 and has since been shown at Phd Gallery in St. Louis and Tangent Lab in Wichita, working its way across the U.S. in much the same way the pieces themselves traveled between the two of us.
"This beautiful collection of collages holds no specific thematic intentions; there are no hidden messages to interpret. Each piece offers its own vocabulary, images for which viewers can create their own meanings. Or one can simply appreciate the image for its aesthetic value as a beautiful work of art." - Janera Soloman, Pittsburgh City Paper
'Hand to Hand' February 11 – March 13, 2009 Hub-Bub 149 S.Daniel Morgan Ave. Suite 2 Spartanburg, SC 29306 864-582-0056
Opening reception Wednesday, February 11, 2009 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.
Squonk Opera and the Lively Arts College of Fine Arts Performance Plus present Indiana County: The Opera.
Come celebrate Indiana County with a new installment in our ‘Hometown Series’, a show that has been called “noisy, colorful, funny, outrageous” by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and “a quirky, playful, music- and image-driven piece of performance art “ by the Tribune Review.
Our show is not exactly ‘opera’, but a multi-media live concert that weaves music with video projections, props and puppets. To see more of what we do, check out our website at http://www. squonkopera. org.
Indiana County: The Opera includes amazing Indiana based dance and choral groups, and lots of video interviews with Indiana County residents.
Friday, January 30 at 8:00 pm Fisher Auditorium IUP Performing Arts Center
Tickets are available in advance at the Hadley Union Building, at iuptickets. com, the door starting at 7:00 p.m. or call (724) 357-2547 for information
Come join us and say Hi! Hope to see you there! Squonk Opera
What people have been whispering about is TRUE! Strange sightings… Unexplained phenomena. . . scientific anomalies… Squonk Opera will be responding to the cover-ups with… ASTRO - RAMA!
With 3 stories of scaffolding and a 40 ft radio telescope, Squonk Opera will take you on a wild visual and musical celebration of the universe and our place in it.
Part symphony, part cacophony, Astro-Rama dares to go where no multi-media/theater/performance group has gone before.
Rising in scissor lift platforms and cherry pickers, Squonk will compose a proud message from our species, power up and transmit.
Stand with us, and the truth will be revealed.
Pittsburgh, PA at Schenley Plaza, Oakland October 15-18, 2008
Weather permitting, all broadcasts begin at 8:00 p.m., are outdoors and are FREE for all bipedal primates!
![[Greg Hoy &] The Enablers](http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/119/s_d02a6e644534b6e88c1d84460fc8fe5b.jpg)
