About the Show
Odd animals like blobfish, elephant shrews, giant Chinese salamanders, and other bizarre beasts slither, hop, swim, and jump in projected images and videos while being portrayed in music by author and composer Michael Hearst. He takes the audience on a fun, interactive investigation through the kingdom of weird animals with the help of his 5-piece band and a variety of quirky instruments.
About the Artist
Michael Hearst is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and writer, whose vast output is marked by a fascination with extremely specific themes, and with wanting to learn as much as he can about almost everything. His most recent project is a three-part book series, each book geared toward a different large theme: Unusual Creatures, Extraordinary People, and Curious Constructions. Two of the books are completed. The first book, Unusual Creatures, includes the companion album, Songs For Unusual Creatures, and sections of the book have been made into a PBS Digital series. His previous album, Songs For Ice Cream Trucks has been used by at least 50 ice cream trucks around the world. Hearst has also composed soundtracks for the movies To Be Takei, Magic Camp, The House Of Suh, and The Good Mother among others.
Michael Hearst is a founding member of the band One Ring Zero, who have released nine albums, including the literary collaboration As Smart As We Are (The Author Project), featuring lyrics by Paul Auster, Margaret Atwood, Dave Eggers, and Neil Gaiman, among others; Planets, a collection of new compositions to represent the solar system and beyond; and their most recent, The Recipe Project, in which the band has taken recipes from today’s top chefs (Mario Batali, Tom Colicchio, David Chang, etc.), set them to music, and sing them word for word.
Hearst has performed and given lectures and workshops at universities, museums, and cultural centers around the world. He has toured with The Magnetic Fields, performed with The Kronos Quartet at Carnegie Hall, and has appeared on such shows as NPR’s Fresh Air, A+E’s Breakfast With The Arts, and NBC’s The Today Show.
This performance was sponsored in part by the Village Voice.
