Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

3

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · 3d

Tonight Flotation Device previews Earshot Jazz Fest w/Ches Smith's Tone Row showing how Schoenberg might have sounded as a rock-n-roller. +Threadgill, Rzewski, Ohana, Bayle, Parkins & Roscoe Mitchell.
Sun 10pm PDT 91.3fm kbcs.fm @maryhalvorson.bsky.social @libertyellman.bsky.social @kbcs.bsky.social

Photo credits: Zeena Parkins by Andy Newcombe, Henry Threadgill via Pi Recordings, Clone Row (Ches Smith, Nick Dunston, Mary Halvorson, Liberty Ellman) by Bianca Zwerlein, Robert Fokkens via Music Theatre Wales, Maurice Ohana by Dominique Souse, Interpret It Well (Craig Taborn, Mat Maneri, Ches Smith, Bill Frisell) by Bianca Claircidor, François Bayle creating Vibrations composes, William Winant by Dennis Letbetter, Frederic Rzewski by Michael Wilson.

Flotation Device features creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world with host Michael Schell, Sunday nights 10pm–Midnight Pacific Time on 91.3 KBCS-FM Bellevue/Seattle/Tacoma. Visit us online at https://www.mixcloud.com/FlotationDevice.

Flotation Device 2025-09-14 - Morris, Rudolph, Hosokawa

Reposted by Michael Schell

Caga Tio @scottgoeke.bsky.social · 4d

These Rite-Aid assholes came into Seattle, bought up a great local chain in Bartell Drugs, systematically destroyed it, and then just went out of business

just absolute parasite actions that only made things worse for people

CNN @cnn.com · 4d

Rite Aid, once one of America’s biggest pharmacy chains, shuttered its remaining 89 stores this week after filing for bankruptcy in May for the second time in less than two years. https://cnn.it/3KUZkfl

1 6 9

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · 9d

Happy Podcast Monday and happy 70th birthday to Joe Morris & Adam Rudolph. Plus Hosokawa, Gabriela Ortiz, Gabriel Prokofiev, Shardik, Marshall Allen, Gustavo Dudamel, the LA Phil and The Residents.
www.mixcloud.com/FlotationDev... @kbcs.bsky.social @theresidents.bsky.social @nonclsscl.bsky.social

A pair of 70th birthday celebrations take the spotlight in this podcast. We hear septuagenarian Joe Morris on both guitar and bass in the company of Matt Shipp, Marshall Allen and Seattle’s own Tom Va...

Flotation Device 2025-09-07 - Arvo Pärt At 90

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · 10d

Tonite Flotation Device features premiere recordings of Gubaidulina and Amelia Cuni. Plus the Tim Berne and Cuong Vu Trios, the Bozzini Quartet Talk Show & more.
Sun 10pm PDT 91.3fm kbcs.fm
@nonesuch.com @ooyhrecords.bsky.social @orenambarchi.bsky.social @quatuorbozzini.bsky.social @kbcs.bsky.social

Photo credits: Oasis Boom (Vincent Duchosal, Mélissa Acchiardi) by Julie Ricosse, Cuong Vu Trio (Stomu Takeishi, Cuong Vu, Ted Poor) by William Poor, Sofia Gubaidulina by Mario Wezel, John Cage by Ann Keyvan, Amelia Cuni via the artist, Quatuor Bozzini (Alissa Cheung, Stéphanie Bozzini, Clemens Merkel, Isabelle Bozzini) by Michael Slobodian, Blake DeGraw via the artist, Arlene Sierra by Ian Phillips-McLaren, Steph Richards by Chris Weiss, Tim Berne Trio (Gregg Belisle-Chi, Tom Rainey, TB) by Sarah Berne, Pat Metheny by William Ellis, Conlon Nancarrow by Michael MacIntyre, Marshall Allen by Alexis Maryon.

Flotation Device features creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world with host Michael Schell, Sunday nights 10pm–Midnight Pacific Time on 91.3 KBCS-FM Bellevue/Seattle/Tacoma. Visit us online at https://www.mixcloud.com/FlotationDevice.

4

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · 16d

Happy Podcast Monday. This week it's a two-hour Arvo Pärt celebration for his 90th birthday. Featuring Gidon Kremer, Keith Jarrett, the Kronos Quartet, Neeme and Paavo Järvi, and two premiere recordings.
www.mixcloud.com/FlotationDev... @kbcs.bsky.social @tasmin01.bsky.social @nonesuch.com

Flotation Device 2025-08-31 - Horvitz And Galás At 70

1 3

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · 17d

Tonight on Flotation Device: Laurie Spiegel & Ye Xiaogang at 70, Zappa's Orchestral Favorites & Andriessen's Workers Union at 50. Plus Rzewski, Frith & The Dwarfs of East Agouza
Sun 10pm PDT 91.3fm kbcs.fm
@kbcs.bsky.social @cantaloupe-music.bsky.social @nonclsscl.bsky.social @frankzappa.bsky.social

Photo credits: The Dwarfs of East Agouza (Alan Bishop, Maurice Louca, Sam Shalabi) by Maged Nader, Laurie Spiegel via Drew Schlesinger, Frederic Rzewski and Daan Vandewalle via Passacaille Records, Irène Schweizer via the artist, Alexander Hawkins via the artist, Workers Union by Louis Andriessen, Ye Xiaogang via Resonus Classics, Blasio Kavuma via the artist, Cosa Brava (Zeena Parkins, Norman Teale, Fred Frith, Carla Kihlstedt, Matthias Boss) by Heike Liss, Frank Zappa recording Orchestral Favorites by John Williams, Louis Andriessen by Marco Borggreve.

Flotation Device features creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world with host Michael Schell, Sunday nights 10pm–Midnight Pacific Time on 91.3 KBCS-FM Bellevue/Seattle/Tacoma. Visit us online at https://www.mixcloud.com/FlotationDevice.

3

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · 23d

Happy Podcast Monday! Wayne Horvitz and Diamanda Galás at 70, plus Tania León and Sivan Eldar. With help from Bill Frisell, John Zorn, Fred Frith, Robin Holcomb, Le Balcon, Maxime Pascal, the London Philharmonic and more.
www.mixcloud.com/FlotationDev... @kbcs.bsky.social @diamandagalas.com

1 4

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · 24d

Tonight on Flotation Device
-Joe Morris & Adam Rudolph at 70
-Crossover w/Gabriel Prokofiev, Shaun Robert & The Residents
-Hosokowa's new album
-Gabriela Ortiz on Violeta Parra
-New Shardik & Joane Hétu
Sunday 10pm PDT 91.3fm kbcs.fm
@kbcs.bsky.social @theresidents.bsky.social @nonclsscl.bsky.social

Flotation Device 2025-08-24 - Mary Halvorson interviewed

Reposted by Michael Schell

ML @mlpoole.bsky.social · 24d

1 600 2.2K

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · Sep 8

Today's podcast features an extensive interview with Mary Halvorson and a survey of her new albums with Sylvie Courvoisier, Ches Smith and her Amaryllis sextet. Plus Wet Ink Ensemble, Alex Paxton and more.
www.mixcloud.com/FlotationDev... @kbcs.bsky.social @maryhalvorson.bsky.social @nonesuch.com

Guitarist Mary Halvorson joins us to talk about her new albums with Sylvie Courvoisier, Ches Smith and her own Amaryllis sextet, as well as her formative influences, her guitar setup and her Fall 2025...

Flotation Device 2025-08-17 - Berne, Saariaho, Silvestrov

3 6

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · Sep 7

Tonight Flotation Device celebrates Arvo Pärt at 90 with a two-hour retrospective, including his iconic spiritual minimalist works of 1976–8 plus early and later works, including two brand-new premiere recordings.
Sunday 10pm PDT 91.3fm kbcs.fm @kbcs.bsky.social @tasmin01.bsky.social @nonesuch.com

Photo credits: Arvo Pärt and Heino Eller via Arvo Pärt Centre, Arvo Pärt by Eric Marinitsch, Arvo Pärt in 1962 by Armin Alla, Arvo and Nora Pärt by Rene Riisalu, Paavo Järvi and Arvo Pärt by Kaupo Kikkas, Für Alina, Between Two Sounds by Joonas Sildre.

Flotation Device features creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world with host Michael Schell, Sunday nights 10pm–Midnight Pacific Time on 91.3 KBCS-FM Bellevue/Seattle/Tacoma. Visit us online at https://www.mixcloud.com/FlotationDevice.

4

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · Sep 1

Happy Podcast Monday! This week features premiere recordings of Silvestrov and Saariaho, plus Dan Weiss, Tim Berne, Tomas Fujiwara, Donnacha Dennehy, Maiguashca, Kalitzke, Christopher Hoffman & more.
www.mixcloud.com/FlotationDev... @kbcs.bsky.social @ooyhrecords.bsky.social @buhrecords.bsky.social

Flotation Device presents music of many places and sensibilities, led by Ukraine's leading contemporary composer, Valentin Silvestrov and his Violin Concerto, whose soloist is often dominated by uncon...

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · Aug 31

Tonight Flotation Device celebrates the 70th birthdays of Wayne Horvitz & Diamanda Galás with a retrospective and a look at recent albums & upcoming concerts. Plus Tania Léon for orchestra, and Sivan Eldar revisits the Daphne myth.
Sunday 10pm PDT 91.3fm kbcs.fm @kbcs.bsky.social @diamandagalas.com

Photo credits: Tania León via the artist, Wayne Horvitz by Daniel Sheehan, Sivan Eldar via the artist, Wayne Horvitz and Butch Morris by Dany Gignoux, Wayne Horvitz and Robin Holcomb by Robin Laanenan, Naked City (Wayne Horvitz, John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Joey Baron, Fred Frith) by Timothy Greenfield Sanders, Diamanda Galás by Pere Masramon, Pigpen (Briggan Krauss, Fred Chalenor, Mike Stone, Wayne Horvitz) via Wayne Horvitz, William Dazeley and Juliette Allen in Like Flesh by Simon Gosselin.

Flotation Device features creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world with host Michael Schell, Sunday nights 10pm–Midnight Pacific Time on 91.3 KBCS-FM Bellevue/Seattle/Tacoma. Visit us online at https://www.mixcloud.com/FlotationDevice.

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · Aug 31

Two impressions from the Ai Weiwei retrospective which closes Sep-7:
1. Admiration for the courage of this artist
2. If the US looks like China in 5–10 years, historians will be amazed which issues its cultural left focused on while it still mattered
@seattleartmuseum.bsky.social @aiww.bsky.social

Mockup of the padded cell where Ai Weiwei was incarcerated by Chinese authorities for nearly three months

Some of the 100 million porcelain sunflower seeds that Ai had made by hand by Chinese crafters, a comment on their ubiquity as snacks and propaganda icons in the People's Republic of China, and an example of Ai's obsession with images and an example of Ai's obsession with images that viewed closely turn out not to be what they might seem from a distance

Flotation Device 2025-08-10 - Introitus/Exodus

Reposted by Michael Schell

The Yellow Boot League @yellowbootleague.bsky.social · Aug 27

The left makes every potential winning candidate walk an ideological plank that makes it impossible for them to win a national election. Democrats are winning quiet local elections because they largely aren't saddled with this chorus of the impossible to please.

5 6 68

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · Aug 26

Now in podcast format:
-Shostakovich's death and Gubaidulina's emergence
-Grateful Dead's Blues for Allah
-Morricone on harpsichord
-Miriodor, Cecil Taylor, Joe McPhee, Djuro Zivkovic and more
www.mixcloud.com/FlotationDev... @kbcs.bsky.social @gratefuldead.bsky.social @burningambulance.bsky.social

The Grateful Dead make an unusual appearance on Flotation Device with an unusually outside fantasy on Blues for Allah in honor of its 50th anniversary, and we revisit concerts by Cecil Taylor, Tony Ox...

Mary Halvorson interviewed by Michael Schell

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · Aug 25

Now at YouTube, my Flotation Device interview with Mary Halvorson, where she talks about her new albums for Nonesuch and Pyroclastic, her guitar setup, her studies with Anthony Braxton and Joe Morris, and more.
youtu.be/NeRQI2xOA8I @kbcs.bsky.social @maryhalvorson.bsky.social @nonesuch.com

YouTube video by Schell77

youtu.be

5

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · Aug 24

Mary Halvorson joins us on Flotation Device tonight for an interview and a survey of new albums w/Sylvie Courvoisier, Ches Smith and her own Amaryllis sextet. Plus Braxton, Carla Bley, Wet Ink Ensemble, Alex Paxton and more.
Sunday 10pm PDT 91.3fm kbcs.fm @kbcs.bsky.social @maryhalvorson.bsky.social

Photo credits: Mary Halvorson and Anthony Braxton by Peter Gannushkin, Carla Bley by Klaus Muempfer, Mary Halvorson with Guild Artist Award Archtop by Steve DiBenedetto, Clone Row (Liberty Ellman, Mary Halvorson, Nick Dunston, Ches Smith) by Chase Pierson, Shaun Robert via the artist, Anthony Braxton: Composition No. 355, Amaryllis sextet (Nick Dunston, Adam O'Farrill, Patricia Brennan, Jacob Garchik, Mary Halvorson, Tomas Fujiwara) by Ernest Stuart, Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson by Caroline Mardok, Mary Halvorson and Jamaaladeen Tacuma via the artists, Wet Ink Ensemble (Ian Antonio, Erin Lesser, Sam Pluta, Alex Mincek, Kate Soper, Eric Wubbels, Josh Modney) via the artists, Thumbscrew (Michael Formanek, Mary Halvorson, Tomas Fujiwara) by Amy Touchette.

Flotation Device features creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world with host Michael Schell, Sunday nights 10pm–Midnight Pacific Time on 91.3 KBCS-FM Bellevue/Seattle/Tacoma. Visit us online at https://www.mixcloud.com/FlotationDevice.

YouTube video by Roscoe Mitchell Official YouTube Channel

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · Aug 24

Now available at YouTube: Flotation Device's 85th birthday tribute show to Roscoe Mitchell. With Anthony Braxton, Wadada Leo Smith, Muhal Richard Abrams, Pauline Oliveros, Weasel Walter, and of course the great Art Ensemble of Chicago!
youtu.be/_QysOPON9TA @kbcs.bsky.social @jamesfei.bsky.social

KBCS Tribute

youtu.be

Flotation Device 2025-08-03 - Roscoe Mitchell at 85

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · Aug 18

Happy Podcast Monday! Celebrate Roscoe Mitchell's 85th birthday with this two hour retrospective of his career before, during and after the Art Ensemble of Chicago. From Flotation Device on 91.3 KBCS.
www.mixcloud.com/FlotationDev... @kbcs.bsky.social @audiobuzz.bsky.social @jamesfei.bsky.social

Flotation Device celebrates Roscoe Mitchell for his 85th birthday with a two-hour retrospective of this storied saxophonist, bandleader, composer—and co-founder and last surviving original member of t...

Flotation Device 2025-07-27 - Sun Ra, Allen, Chacon

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · Aug 18

Tonight on Flotation Device:
-Premiere Silvestrov & Saariaho recs
-Tim Berne, Tomas Fujiwara & Christopher Hoffman do new things
-Donnacha Dennehy & Mesías Maiguashca
Sunday 10pm PDT, 91.3fm www.kbcs.fm
@kbcs.bsky.social @ooyhrecords.bsky.social @cantaloupe-music.bsky.social @buhrecords.bsky.social

Photo credits: Valentin Silvestrov by Marco Caselli, Mesías Maiguashca at WDR Köln Studio für Elektronische Musik 1973, Fall (Jean-Baptiste Barrière, Kaija Saariaho, Tuija Hakkila in 1983) by Pirkko Tanttu, Tim Berne Trio (Gregg Belisle-Chi, Tom Rainey, TB) by Sarah Berne, Tomas Fujiwara by Peter Gannushkin, Bridget Riley and Firebird (1971), Crazy Doberman via the artists, Donnacha Dennehy by Iarla, Nastasia Khrushcheva via Melodiya, Dan Weiss Quartet (Dan Weiss, Patricia Brennan, Miles Okazaki, Peter Evans) via Firehouse 12, Christopher Hoffman via the artist.

Flotation Device features creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world with host Michael Schell, Sunday nights 10pm–Midnight Pacific Time on 91.3 KBCS-FM Bellevue/Seattle/Tacoma. Visit us online at https://www.mixcloud.com/FlotationDevice.

1 3

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · Aug 11

Happy Podcast Monday! Sun Ra and Raven Chacon spare the spotlight with the former's solo playing and the latter's cross-cultural music emphasized in new releases. Plus Morgan Darragh new solo album.
www.mixcloud.com/FlotationDev... @kbcs.bsky.social @ssskdist.bsky.social @sunrauniverse.bsky.social

Sun Ra returns to our spotlight with a new batch of archival releases that highlight his solo playing on both piano and synthesizer. We’ll use the opportunity to check in with his indestructible alto ...

Michael Schell @schellsburg.com · Aug 10

Tonight on Flotation Device:
-Grateful Dead's Blues for Allah at 50
-Gubaidulina premiere recording
-Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley
-Miriodor, Djuro Zivkovic, Steve Swell, Joe McPhee & Flow Trio
Sunday 10pm PDT, 91.3fm www.kbcs.fm
@kbcs.bsky.social @gratefuldead.bsky.social @burningambulance.bsky.social

Photo credits: Sylvain Kassap by Schorle, Grateful Dead in 1975 (Jerry Garcia, Bobby Weir, Phil Lesh, Donna Godchaux), Miriodor (Bernard Falaise, Pascal Globensky, Rémi Leclerc) by Marc Tessier, Robert Linn via Roger Linn, Dmitri Shostakovich via National Portrait Gallery London, Ennio Morricone by Georges Biard, Cecil Taylor and Tony Oxley by Heinrich Brinkmöller-Becker, young Sofia Gubaidulina, Djuro Zivkovic via the artist, Joe McPhee by Bernd Scholkemper, Agathe Vidal in Jacopo Baboni Schilingi: Scarlet K141.

Flotation Device features creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world with host Michael Schell, Sunday nights 10pm–Midnight Pacific Time on 91.3 KBCS-FM Bellevue/Seattle/Tacoma. Visit us online at https://www.mixcloud.com/FlotationDevice.