The second to last Downtown@Dusk concert on August 8 from 6:30-8:30 pm will feature local Abstract Blues and Rock band 15 60 75 The Numbers Band. Attendees can also attend a lecture from Chief Curator Janice Driesbach and food from Old Carolina BBQ while kids can partake in fun and wacky art activities in the museum’s classroom for ArtCamp@Dusk.
Concert goers will enjoy rocking out to the 15 60 75 The Numbers Band’s boisterous sound and style.
The band, which formed over 40 years ago, has remained without a record label and therefore able to create original, uncategorized music. Formed after guitarist Robert Kidney opened for another band, Pig Iron, here at the Akron Art Museum, 15 60 75 The Numbers Band has continued to delight audiences across Ohio with their fun-loving sound.
Chief Curator Janice Driesbach will be giving a lecture titled Women of Surrealism for this Thursday’s ArtTalks@Dusk from 7:30-8 pm. Featuring more than 60 paintings, drawings, prints and photographs dating from 1930 to 1955 drawn from the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, Real/Surreal examines how American artists used strikingly naturalistic details to imaginative images inspired by dreams and how they introduced disconcerting undertones into compositions that featured seemingly ordinary scenes.
Thursday’s ArtCamp@Dusk class is SOLD OUT! Sign up for the final class here.
The Museum Store and galleries are open during Downtown@Dusk until 9 pm (admission is not required to shop in the store). Museum galleries and exhibitions will be open until 9 pm with paid admission.
Exhibitions currently on view in the museum galleries include Line Color Illusion: 40 Years of Julian Stanczak, With a Trace: Photographs of Absence and Real/Surreal. For information about these exhibitions and other events, please visit the museum’s exhibitions page and calendar.
Finally, 15 60 75 The Numbers Band answered a few questions about themselves and Downtown@Dusk.
The band was formed after Kidney opened for another group at the Akron Art Museum. Does the museum have any special meaning to the band?
That took place in 1968 when the art museum was in the very small building across the street. We’ve been playing Downtown@Dusk since the late 1990s. It remains the band’s favorite show of the year for many reasons; we’ve always been treated well by the people at the museum, it is also an opportunity for many fans with families who support our music to come out and hear us play. We are always humbled by their respect and appreciation.
On the band’s site, it is stated that the band is in it for the music, not the fame. Has that affected the band in any way?
Yes, we are not famous. We are not rich. We are highly respected for our music which is truly unique and original because we have the freedom to do what we want to do creatively, and our fans expect it. We are now in our 43rd year. Music is an art form, and does not need to just be a commodity. In my opinion, our culture at this point is glutted with entertainment and starved of artistic commitment.
After 40 years of shows and recordings, what keeps the band motivated to keep playing?
Two things; one is the continuing support of the people who come to see the band in northeast Ohio, the media and organizations like the Akron Art Museum. Two, the band is in a constant process of creating new material, which is the driving factor that attracts people to the band in the first place, our original music.
What keeps the band coming back to perform at Downtown@Dusk?
You invite us, we love to play outdoors, we love the crowd.
What is your favorite memory of playing at Downtown@Dusk?
Looking out over the mass of people who come to see us, the diversity, and the fact that they are paying attention to the subtlety our music offers.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUaPm4zu4qk]
Downtown@Dusk 2013 is made possible by The City of Akron. It is presented in cooperation with 89.7 WKSU.
ArtCamp@Dusk 2013 is made possible by a gift from The Howland Memorial Fun and the House of LaRose.
ArtTalks@Dusk 2013 is made possible by a gift from the Sam & Kathy Salem Philanthropic Fund of the Jewish Community Board of Akron.