ABOUT The Mile Long Jam
Modeling itself after Tokyo's popular music jams held at famous Yoyogi Park, The Mile Long Jam - Vancouver, is the first ever linear audio art installation. The Mile Long Jam will attempt to mix, blend, layer, & overlap both human energy & sound, to form a continuous musical art piece.
The (FREE) Mile Long Jam takes place on Saturday July 17th, along Vancouver's popular & trendy, Main Street. It will co-exist the same weekend as the Vancouver Folk Festival.
Saturday's event will proceed a 'pre-launch' July 16th CD release performance by Artist, & Singer / Songwriter, Poet, Bruce Pashak, who will debut his new album, Echoes of the Day :
"My songs/music, like my artwork, are intimate and multilayered, enriched by metaphor and haunting melody. They seek to explore the inner self in relationship to the social self in a complex interwoven fabric of introspection, emotion, and will."
The following day, JULY 17TH, The Mile Long Jam will take place & showcase the creativity & talents of hundreds of professional, amateur, local & national.The Mile
From Main Street Sky Train Station (Science World) - to - Main & 25th (King Edward Avenue) (1.8mb pdf)The places to play, will be in front of or near popular cafes, restaurants, & some of Vancouver coolest shops, where each Musician or Band will be free to perform, meet, entertain, & solicit their original music for the day in the company of other amateur & professional Musicians, Bands, DJs, Ensembles, Orchestras, Quartets, Vocalists, Singers, etc.
Check this website, or our facebook account for any updates or a possible cancelation (due to weather, or other reason).
Call for Musicians:
To join The Mile Long Jam, register at: themilelongjam@gmail.comEmail us your name, a contact number, the name of your Act - if you have one, including the number of performers, type of music, & your choice on Main Street where you'd like to play, be heard, & be seen.
This will secure each Performer or Group the opportunity to play at designated & pre-selected 'Hot Spots' along Main Street, where They will be encouraged to play - the whole. day
Hot Spots will be secured on a first come first serve basis. However, this is only to help organize people & equally distribute the music along the street.
We will encourage Musicians light on gear & equipment, to move from one Hot Spot to another, to alter their experience, & not only for themselves, but for the audience who will show up to hear them play.
We have initially selected 66 Hot Spots as places to play. These locations are noted on the map.
Notice to Musicians & Acts:
This is a Musician-generated event. It has not / will not be sanctioned or approved by the City of Vancouver. It is therefore an unknown. A success, or a failure. Except that from the initial response, we expect it to be a free-form & improvised jam of likely 100+ 'street Musicians' coming together to share their creativity.See an upcoming article in the Georgia Straight newspaper.
The Creator's concept, and the organization & posting on FaceBook, and this website representing the event, are - merely to bring You, the Groups, Bands, Musicians, DJs, & Singers - together, & to help You - not US - self-generate & self-make the Jam a reality.
What transpires, whether it will be successful or not, is yet to be seen, & heard...
Every Act, Musician, Performer, Band, will agree to & assure the right-of-way access to pedestrians, dogs, cats, wheel chairs, bicycles, etc. by not blocking sidewalks, & you will break down large crowds if they form on the street in front of you. Play on the sidewalk if you will, but not on the street or where store owners state they do not want you to play.
Lastly, assure people & traffic can get by / move past the place you play to avoid any congestion, aka : potential problems with the City.
If we, the Organizers, notice a potential issue or potential problem that may result with the City, you will respect our decision to get you to move or adjust you / your Band's position/location. However, as a 'Street Musician' it is possible that you should have freedom to play almost anywhere you want, so long as you do not block or impede the flow of traffic along Main Street throughout the day.
If Police or Owners of shops or restaurants, ask you to turn down the volume, or want you to leave, do so.
We recommend that in the event the Police come by, and they ask you to stop playing, simply de-band or de-group, and move on to the next Hot Spot - where they think it is ok for you to perform.
Technically, an act or performer is required to have a permit license to play on a street in Vancouver. To arrange this was not possible for this first time event... We apologize should any problems occur for you or your group. This is why we are asking 'everyone' to obey the rules of the road; do what the City or Police ask / instruct you to do if they come by.
Please note that we are already planning another Jam for next year; albeit, one that is properly sponsored and supported by the City of Vancouver. So please accept our apologies again, for any / if any things transpire and the City tells you to stop playing, or, they shut down the event.
Some Hot Spots we have chosen may also conflict with some Residents, Shop Owners, or Restaurants. This is the reason we have pre-chosen 66 locations and places to play. This is also the reason why we created a linear stage (Main Street), as it will allow musicians a chance to move up and down the street. Find another spot for yourself / your group should any problems arise.
It will also be up to each Musician, Band, etc. to participate, organize themselves, show up (play), set up / take down any required gear or staging, provide their own gear, supply their own power, permit?, food, liability insurance, medical coverage (!), rain cover, parking, expenses, transportation, etc.
& each Musician or Act will be respectful of & be responsible for the place or area they play. & as a participant of this first-ever event, you will be asked to clean up (as required) after you perform.
Thank you !
The Mile Long Jam Team
Artist' Statement
The intention & thought behind conceptualizing The Mile Long Jam is to identify public creativity & entertainment, outside the rules & guidelines that often impose & restrict the freedom of creative expression.In this case, a public staging, to generate a free form & improvised musical waveform.
Albeit a doctored & multi-edited description, as the inventor, & now organizer of The Mile Long Jam, my main purpose is to initiate a creative & free public art installation. No different than the smaller, free, self-made performances by Street Musicians.
Except in this case, The Mile Long Jam will attenuate this idea of separation, & instead, stitch or string these separate musical performances together, for the first time, & attempt to produce a singular, linear, audible orchestration - of every type, colour, sound...
A hybrid-ic overlap
Vancouver's own 'The Carnival Band' were first to sign on to play, & they will act as the unofficial Embassadors of The Mile Long Jam. They are to initially perform next to the Main Street Skytrain Station.From there, other Musicians & musical Acts (local, & some National) will play up & along Main to King Edward Avenue. If the response from Musicians is too great, we will extend the 'venue' further, in either / both directions.
What will transpire, is really, up to the Musicians & each Performer who sign on & who show up.
Most certainly though, those who do participate, will help to produce a mile or more of creative human energy, that will overlap, mutate, self-generate, be random, & ever changing, for a whole day...
Sponsors / Un-official Creative Act Supporters
GNG Design Printing, Gene Cafe, The Whip Restaurant, Refind, Space-Lab, Rath Art Supply, Anti-Social Skateboard Shop, Foundation Restaurant, Toninas Deli Caters, The Georgia Straight, Java-licious & Goods Goods.Others to be announced.