i attended both nights... though, the second sold out, they added some extra tickets last minute so i had the chance to go. the first set of the first night included flamingo horizons (opened by a completely insane soprano solo by bruce ackley) and paint another take of the shootpop... which featured the marvelous jon raskin baritone solo in the middle, as heard on 'as was' the first set of the second night was even better (for me)... they played testimony and the unquestioned answer. both beautiful pieces played incredibly tight. i've seen them a handful of times in the last year and this is the best i've seen 'em. the theme seemed to be resurrecting pieces they hadn't performed in a while. their playing was incredible... really emotional and always moving together as a unit. i don't know how else to describe it. saxophone special was already discussed. i second the "damn!!!" going to nels and otomo. the second night's main feature was ascension which casted chris brown and ikue on electronics, frith on bass, nels on guitar, carla kihlstedt and jenny scheinman on violin, otomo on the 1200s, don robinson on drums, and rova doin' the sax stuff. jon raskin was the bandleader... giving the hand signals to transition into the different phases. highlights for me include; carla kihlstedt's playing, especially when her and jenny improvised together (so so great!) with don and frith backing them... they pulled some amazing sounds out of their violins. carla's playing was really crazy, i had no idea where this dirty metallic feedback sound was coming from until everyone ceased playing their instruments except her... gently bowing overtones with a handful of effects on her violin. nels always impresses me... in a situation like this i'm reminded what a great listener he is and how brilliantly he compliments other people's playing when he's behind them... and when he steps in front, it's all over :) frith's bass playing was also fabulous... he was doing some pretty freaky stuff... percussive and textured but still solid in his role as the rhythm section... i saw some alligator clips go on and off his strings. there's a ton more to add... the piece lasted over 60 minutes. everyone seemed to be really into and having fun. beautiful clashing sounds! i hope someone else can give their thoughts on this show too. don't leave it up to lill' ol' me to give everyone on the list a smidge of input. i too, hope a cd of this surfaces. it was broadcasted over kfjc, so their should be some recordings floating around in the netherworlds. peace, __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Send Flowers for Valentine's Day http://shopping.yahoo.com