Exploratorium After Dark
Starts Thursdays, October 1, 2009 with Hardly Strictly Science, in anticipation of the upcoming music festival, featuring renowned singer/songwriter Kieran Kane
6-10pm

Experience music with musicians and physicists, visit the Listen collection, the Sound Column — a musical artwork built inside a column of the Palace of Fine Arts — make and repair stringed instruments with Luthier Frank Ford, see Waiting for A Train: The Toshio Hirano Story about a Japanese love affair with country music, and much more

First Thursday evenings every month mix cocktails, conversation, and adult-oriented programming on science and the arts

This October, find out what’s happening After Dark at the Exploratorium. Our new extended First Thursday evening hours last from 6-10pm, and mix cocktails, conversation, and innovative programming on science and the arts. Each night will showcase a different theme, which might include live performances, films, unexpected extravaganzas, and new media, but that is essentially one night of the science behind topics of adult interest. The season kicks off by keeping time with Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (www.strictlybluegrass.com) in the form of Hardly Strictly Science – live music, listening and the physics of sound featuring renowned singer/songwriter Kieran Kane, founding member of the critically acclaimed Dead Reckoning Records. The season continues in November with Electricity with Dr. Megavolt® jousting 14-ft. arcs of electricity and up to 200,000 volts off his Tesla Coil; in December it’s explorations of Warmth; January 2010 is Resolution/Modification; and in February, the Sexploratorium. Additional monthly themes to be announced.

After Dark programs will be playful, unusual, content-rich, and often involve cutting-edge technology. Not a theater, not a cabaret, not a gallery—but involving aspects of all three—After Dark has a mood unlike anywhere else in the city. Where else can you find an intellectually stimulating playground for adults—with free parking? This event is included in the price of museum admission. Or become an After Dark/Exploratorium member and receive admission to the whole season for just $25. To join the Exploratorium After Dark email list, contact afterdark@exploratorium.edu.

Hardly Strictly Science Featuring Singer/Songwriter Kieran Kane – and More
On October 1st, join renowned singer/songwriter Kieran Kane, a founding member of the critically acclaimed Dead Reckoning Records (www.deadreckoners.com/index-2.html). Born in Queens, New York, he began drumming in his brother’s rock band at the age of nine, eventually shifting his focus from rock to bluegrass. Between 1986 and 1990, he and Jamie O’Hara composed The O’Kanes, a duo which charted seven singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles, as well as scoring a string of solo singles on Asylum Records. Kane founded Dead Reckoning Records in 1995. The Dead Reckoning collective commit themselves to putting out consistently good records and keeping costs low by working on each other’s records. He recently released a new album: Somewhere Beyond the Roses. At 8pm, in addition to performing, he explores music from vibrations to melodies, from stories to pitch and rhythm, with physicist Thomas Humphrey, and shares insights on individual and collective experiences of music.

The evening also includes demonstrations of Making and Repairing Instruments with Luthier Frank Ford. Explore how stringed instruments are made and repaired with this distinguished luthier and co-founder of Gryphon Music (gryphonstrings.com/index.php). He’ll share his 30-plus years’ experience repairing guitars, mandolins, and banjos in these compelling demonstrations, 6-9:30pm. Also sign up in the Mezzanine for special tours of our Listen (http://www.exploratorium.edu/listen/) exhibition led by Exploratorium staff. Catch Waiting for a Train: The Toshio Hirano Story (2009, 20 min.), by Oscar Bucher (ob3studios.com), as it tracks Toshio Hirano’s forty-year love affair with country music, from Tokyo to Tennessee to San Francisco, at 7:30pm. Born in Japan in the 1950s, Hirano became interested in bluegrass and country music as a teenager. Inspired by “the Father of Country Music,” Jimmie Rogers, he learned to play banjo, guitar, and mandolin, and later emigrated to the US to pursue his love of the music. A special performance by Toshio Hirano will follow the film screening.

Don’t miss a special trip to the Sound Column, an artwork created by former Artist-in-Residence Daniel Schmidt. Built into the structure of the dome of the Palace of Fine Arts, Sound Column is actually a musical instrument that lets you interact with sound and the phenomena of standing waves.

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What: Exploratorium After Dark
New extended First Thursday evening hours mix cocktails, conversation, and adult-oriented programming on science and the arts – music/cinema arts/new media – that all feed into one night of science after dark.

When: First Thursday evenings of the month beginning on October 1, 2009 from 6 to 10pm.

Cost: Included in the price of admission to the Exploratorium (free for members — $14 for non-member adults). A special After Dark only membership is available for $25 for the whole season and includes a 20% discount at the Exploratorium Store anytime during regular or evening hours. The After Dark Member Pass pays for itself in just two visits. To purchase an After Dark Member Pass, go to www.exploratorium.edu/afterdark or visit the Membership or Admissions kiosk at the museum any time.

Stay in Touch: To join the Exploratorium After Dark email list: afterdark@exploratorium.edu