A Night of Surrealist Games
Hosted by Roger Clark Miller (of Mission of Burma)
Thursday, February 29
Doors 7pm / Event 8pm
Pay-what-you-choose (starting at $15)
All ages / Seated
The Exquisite Corpse game: create a drawing, fold it up, discreetly pass it on to your neighbor to add to.
Come collaborate to create! Host Roger Clark Miller guides participants through a series of riotous, mind-bending games developed by Andre Breton and his co-conspirators during the 1920s and 30s heyday of surrealism.
“The wonder of these games is the unexpected juxtapositions that occur, creating amazingly synchronistic sequences and unexpected meanings and connections.” - Roger Clark Miller
Games will include the basic Exquisite Corpse word game, the basic Exquisite Corpse drawing game, the Dream Game, and other varieties of surrealist word games.
All skill levels are welcome!
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About Roger Clark Miller:
Roger Clark Miller was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He began studying piano at age 6. Seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan in 6th grade changed his life. By the end of high school in the turbulent 60's, he was playing guitar, bass, piano and cornet, and led his first all-original rock band, Sproton Layer. As well, he developed a personal drawing style and an unusual approach to words in his writing.
In the mid-'70's his interest in rock music waned. But while in college he realized that "Surrealism" was a more concrete version of "Psychedelic." This opened things up quite a bit - witness the B side of the first Mission of Burma 45, "Max Ernst." He moved to Boston in 1978 and within a year had co-formed Mission of Burma on guitar and voice, which became the lynch-pin of his career.He continued playing keyboards and other instruments during and after Burma, resulting in over 50 albums under his band leadership. All these recordings pushed various envelopes, and generally received high praise (NYTimes, Rolling Stone, Boston Globe, Spin, Pop Matters, etc...). His music tends to vacillate between the two poles of "rock" (guitar,
small bands) and "modern" (prepared piano, chamber ensembles), often combining the
two with open improvisation.
In 2012, Miller put on his first "Surrealist Games Night" at the Arts at the Armory cafe in Somerville, MA. It was so successful it became a staple of his work. He has put on Surrealist Games at the ICA Boston, Mass MoCA, 3S Artspace and many other venues. It gives him great joy to watch people, many who never considered themselves artists, creating collective work with people they'd never met before.
Currently he plays keyboards for the internationally acclaimed silent film accompanying ensemble The Anvil Orchestra, and guitar and voice in his current rock band Trinary System. His unorthodox "Solo Electric Guitar Ensemble", where he incorporates four electric guitars and extensive looping, utilizes dreams as the basis for the compositions. And that is about as surrealist as it can get.
He is also a visual artist: his installation "Transmuting the Prosaic" has been in art galleries, including 3S Artspace. His chamber music has been performed at the New England Conservatory, Tufts University, and other institutions. He currently lives in Vermont.
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Thank you to our year-round Lead Sponsors: AC Hotel Portsmouth, MacEdge, and Raka.
