Imagine a music video made especially for a Greek chorus — if that Greek chorus were, say, reciting your favorite poems. Well, that’s what Parallel Octave do, and trust me — it’s the kind of thing you never knew you were missing til you see it for the first time. For many people, the first time will be this Friday, when Parallel Octave — those zany local choral improvisers/poem lovers/mash-up artists — throw a party at the Creative Alliance to celebrate their first film anthology.
Here’s some of the things they promise: eight videos for Parallel Octave tracks shot by local creative types (“W.B. Yeats performed by giant plastic lizards! Emily Dickinson read over a soundtrack of pitch-shifting synthesizers!”); opening short films and performances by Baltimore superstars (including Cricket Arrison, Jimmy Joe Roche, and Bethany Dinsick); and a live set by Forks of Ivy.
If all that spectating starts to make you feel left out, no worries — the evening will also include a collaborative improvisation of a Hart Crane poem, complete with audience participation and kazoos.
It’ll be the most poetical fun — or the funnest poetry? — you’ll have all year.
