TEDxAlcatraz - Musical Cast - Journey to Alcatraz Jam August 20, 2011

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Here captures the opening collaboration for the inaugural TEDxAlcatraz, introducing Alcatraz and the night's theme, "A Suspension of Disbelief." With alarms & sirens signaling escape, gunshots echoing through the room from watchtower guards, and simulated fog from the stage rolling into the unknowing audience, DJ Mikey Four (Michael May) sets a rhythm that brings us into Simon Christen's beautifully captured time-lapse photography through the San Francisco Bay. At the film's conclusion, the large screen rises and our house band emerges on the mock-prison stage. James Nash, guitar, is joined by Alisa Rose on fiddle, and Peter Gregson on cello, in an arrangement choreographed by Curator Gregory Miller. The musical jam session, based upon The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony (with Amal Lad), captures the heart and sets the mood for our exploration into various images evoked by Alcatraz Island.

It is a mythic place of opposites, dualities, and polarities: it has held dangerous criminals, and also been a site for cultural revolution when indigenous peoples assembled and occupied the island in the late 60's. Did an inmate ever escape from Alcatraz? And what becomes of it now as it has transitioned from a prison into a national park? And how has this transition changed the symbology of Alcatraz as an icon in the American consciousness? Our plan is to again be on land in 2011 as we plan for a 2012 TEDx event on Alcatraz Island itself. We're looking at, as a target date, the night of December 21, 2012. We'd have ferries to return home in case the end-of-the-world calendars are wrong.

We kicked off in downtown San Francisco on December 1, 2010. The evening began at 8PM after a three course dinner, and went until nearly 1AM, as an evening some described as an intellectual rave, or as "TEDx after-hours". TEDxAlcatraz Curator Gregory Miller and Co-curator David Gurman introduced the evening's theme, "A Suspension of Disbelief" to an invited audience of 180 optimistic & big thinkers of the nocturnal kind. That night, Alcatraz was part of the theme, and we sought a set design and look & feel of being out on the Island. Our nine TEDxAlcatraz spoken talks were peppered with live music reminiscent of the days Johnny Cash performed in old San Quentin. Music in the night from The Waybacks' James Nash, The Grateful Dead's Bob Weir, TED Fellow Iyeoka, Scottish cellist Peter Gregson, fiddle extraordinaire Alisa Rose, and London's DJ Mikey Four. Over the evening they performed our own versions of Bittersweet Symphony, Masters of War, Birdsong, All Along the Watchtower and Russell County Gorge. Our speakers and performers arrived the day before, coming from London, Scotland, Brazil, Boston, New York, Washington DC and Los Angeles, and included five TED Fellows.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

Orchestrated, produced and directed by Gregory Miller & James Nash.