Scott Benzel
Sound
Known For

Day Is Done is a carnivalesque opus, a genre-smashing epic in which vampires, dancing goths, hillbillies, mimes and demons come together in a kind of subversive musical theater/variety revue. Running over two-and-a-half hours, this riotous theatrical spectacle unfolds as a series of episodes that form a loose, fractured narrative. The video comprises parts 2 through 32 of Kelley's multi-faceted project Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstructions, in which trauma, abuse and repressed memory are refracted through personal and mass-cultural experience. The source material is a series of high school yearbook photographs of "extracurricular activities," specifically those that represent what Kelley has termed "socially accepted rituals of deviance." Kelley then stages video narratives around these found images.
Day Is Done

A documentary profiling the history of Tucson, Arizona's eclectic music scene. The past two decades have seen a number of singular talents emerge from Tucson, including Giant Sand's Howe Gelb, who has been called "the godfather of the alt-country movement," seminal blues slide-guitarist Rainer Ptaček, and original cow punk Al Perry. The city has also spawned more popular acts including Calexico, the Supersuckers and Machines of Loving Grace.
High and Dry

An evening of performance and music by Mike Kelley presented at the Judson Memorial Church in New York City in 2009. Including: The Judson Church Horse Dance and The Horse Dance of the False Virgin, and live performances of instrumental soundtrack from Kelley’s Day is Done, composed in collaboration with Scott Benzel. Plus: the world premiere of The Offer (Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #33), a composition for 12 horns and vocalist.