Listening Lounge recently partnered with the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities to produce Audio Portraits.  Head over to the D.C. Convention Center (N Street NW between 7th and 9th), walk down the street, gaze at the photography displayed on the exterior of the windows, pull out your cell phone and dial in to hear the audio portraits!

Photographs on display were selected as part of the “51 Faces of D.C.: Census 2010 Portraits Contest” curated by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities and D.C. Counts.

Audio Portraits Exhibit
Where: N Street NW between 7th and 9th
When: LIVE from Thursday July 29, 2010 forward

Flyer design and artwork by Malaka Gharib

DC Listening Lounge presents Sound Scene: Work & Play, Saturday, May 22! This audio-rich event takes place at La Casa Community Center, 3166, Mt Pleasant Street, NW, Washington DC, 20010. 7pm- 11:00pm; suggested donation $6.

In addition to audio installations, there will be live music from the New Atlantis IVtet, The Torches (http://www.facebook.com/TheeTorches), Black Snake in the Daisy Patch, and Weed Tree.

Flyer design and artwork by Malaka Gharib

Eight Listening Lounge producers gathered on the frigid Mall in the nation’s capital last Saturday. The mission: to record one minute of sound. The 60 seconds are strung together here for your enjoyment. It’s not quite 8 minutes flat, but it’s close enough. The producers are listed here in order of the sound clip: Jocelyn Frank, Selena Simmons-Duffin, Tina Tennessen, Ben Pagac, Melati Keye, Dan Poppy, Teague Lyons, and Ben Bloom.

2010 Recording Spree #1: The Mall

Here’s another piece from the body installation at the 2009 Sound Scene. Tina’s niece and nephew consider the guts.

> Listen to Cheerios by Tina Tennessen (1:15)

You’re Hot played at the 2009 Sound Scene installation — here is dj bent’s artist statement: This piece by dj bent documents the first visit to a gun range by her 14 year old god daughter. Guns are controversial, but they exist, and knowledge of their use will be crucial to survive the coming/present apocalypse, whether it includes zombies or not; dj bent and her goddaughter are set on survival. Guns that we shot included two rifles (Savage Arms 64F and Yugo SKS), five semi automatic hand guns (Ruger MK II, Walther P1, Makarov, CZ52 and Colt 1911), and one fully automatic machine gun (NFA HK 416) to cap off the day at Blue Ridge Arsenal in Chantilly, Virginia, where they even have zombie posters for target practice. With thanks to our teacher Dexter and help from dj mothersheister and dj rAt.

>Listen to You’re Hot by dj bent (3:02)

Credit: dj bent

This is a recording of the call to prayer and rush hour at sunset in July 2007, recorded by DC Listening Lounge member Maureen Loughran. She writes,”This picture was taken by my sister Kate. It is a view of the mosques across the Nile at sunset, when the recording was done. The squiggly lines in the sky are kites that were flown at this time of day everyday, while the call to prayer was happening.”

> Listen to Cairo by Maureen Loughran (4:20)

There was much recent hubbub over Obama’s first 100 days but nothing compares to the first. Listen to a collection of inaugural sounds, from the festive to the entrepreneurial, with a celebrity appearance by Denzel Washington, and more…all for only $40.99.

>Listen to Ohhh-ba-ma! by Ben Bloom (8:53)

In this audio piece, DC Listening Lounge member Vige Millington stumbles across a story of summer love and icy fruit flavors. It was recorded at an elusive snow cone stand in Northwest DC.

>Listen to Ice by Vige Millington (1:40)

This audio piece comes from DC’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, recorded by DC Listening Lounge members Ben Bloom and Tina Tennessen. “Beer and milk were never more convenient than the three years we had a grocery store in our basement. In that time we struck up a friendship with the store owner, Shital Patel. Every once in a while, we’d find him in a deep slumber behind the counter – but that’s excusable; the man works harder than anyone we know. In this recording we discover his musical tastes.”

> Listen to Lincoln Park Market (2:08), by Ben Bloom and Tina Tennessen