The Trump era is so rife with salacious rumors and absurd, imagined truths that many outrageous and otherwise memorable stories instantly disappear into the ether of the moment. Yet the (debunked, obviously) #Pizzagate conspiracy remains as one of the most memorable and absurd of all the alt-right’s recent conceits.
In short: Pizzagate posited the existence of a child sex ring, with members including Hillary Clinton and John Podesta and with a headquarters in the hidden basement of a DC pizza restaurant and music venue Comet Ping Pong. Of course, no such ring exists (and no such basement exists, either), but the idea was juicy enough to convince a North Carolina man to show up at Comet and fire his assault rifle as a warning. Nobody was hurt; but for weeks, anyone associated with Comet, however tangentially, received death threats. One of those loosely associated threat recipients was Arrington de Dionyso, whose Bacchanalian art graces a couple of Comet’s walls.
But rather than capitulate, Arrington has decided to defy the 4chan trolls who would silence him by embarking on a spring tour of the US under the moniker This Saxophone Kills Fascists. Despite the difficulties of the past year, he considers it a fundamentally optimistic project, firmly of these times but timeless in its methods. As he puts it, “through the guttural delivery of ancient horns and stretched skins, a resounding echo cracks the foundations of the walls built to divide us.” On a more practical level, if the alt-right unwittingly helps Arrington live a little more easily off his art, maybe #Pizzagate wasn’t all bad.
To get in the spirit, listen to the track “Fuck This Shit” from his recently-released and then They Came For the Trade Unionists album, and then check out the complete list of dates down below.
THIS SAXOPHONE KILLS FASCISTS tour dates*:
02.25.17 - Portland, OR - Mothership Music #
03.01.17 - Arcata, CA - TBA
03.02.17 - San Francisco, CA - The Luggage Store Gallery $
03.03.17 - Sacramento, CA - Gold Lion Arts w/Alto!
03.04.17 - Berkley, CA - Finnish Kalevala Hall (Hardly Strictly Personal Fest)
03.05.17 - San Francisco, CA - The Hemlock Tavern
03.06.17 - Los Angeles, CA - TBA
03.07.17 - Los Angeles, CA - The Smell
03.08.17 - San Diego, CA - The Studio Door
03.09.17 - Tucson, AZ - Pomoro
03.10.17 - Phoenix, AZ - Trunk Space
03.11.17 - Albuquerque, NM - TBA
03.12.17 - Taos, NM - Ennui Gallery
03.13.17 - Santa Fe, NM - FRESH Santa Fe
03.14.17 - Norman, OK - Resonator Arts Space
03.15.17 - Oklahoma City, OK - TBA
03.16-18.17 - Texas - TBA
03.19.17 - New Orleans, LA - TBA
03.20.17 - New Orleans, LA - Hi Ho Series
03.21.17 - New Orleans, LA - TBA
03.22.17 - Mississippi - TBA
03.23.17 - Alabama - TBA
03.24.17 - Knoxville, TN - *Secret Show*
03.26.17 - Baltimore, MD - EMP
03.27.17 - Washington, DC - Comet Ping Pong
03.28.17 - Philadelphia, PA - TBA
03.30.17 - New York, NY - National Sawdust ^
03.31.17 - New York, NY - TBA
04.01.17 - Baltimore, MD - TBA
04.02.17 - New York, NY - Baby Castles &
04.03.17 - New York, NY - Alphaville !
04.04.17 - Pawtucket, RI - Machines With Magnets
04.05.17 - Boston, MA - TBA
04.06.17 - New York, NY - TBA %
04.07.17 - Buffalo, NY - TBA
04.08.17 - Ann Arbor, MI - TBA
04.09.17 - Saginaw, MI - Counter Culture Arts Collective
04.10.17 - Kalamazoo, MI - TBA
04.12.17- Columbus, OH - Bourbon Street Cafe
04.13.17 - Cincinnati, OH - MOTR
04.14.17 - Louisville, KY - Dreamland
04.15.17 - Saint Louis, MO - FOAM
04.16.17 - Chicago, IL - TBA
04.17.17 - Chicago, IL - TBA
04.18.17 - Milwaukee, WI - TBA
04.19.17 - Madison, WI - Art-In
04.20.17 - Minneapolis, MN - Khyber Cafe
04.21.17 - Minneapolis, MN - TBA *
04.22.17 - Iowa City, IA - Governor’s Mansion
04.23.17 - Kansas City, MO - TBA
04.24.17 - Kansas City, MO - TBA
04.25.17 - Denver, CO - TBA
04.26.17 - Colorado - TBA
04.27.17 - Salt Lake City, UT - TBA
04.28.17 - Boise, ID - TBA
# Alto! Faxes, Fred Nemo
$ Ken Ueno & Matt Ingalls
^ Lukas Ligeti and Rupert Huber
& Calvin Johnson and Larkin Grimm
! Calvin Johnson and Yonatan Gat
* International Novelty Gamelan and John Zuma
% Ka Baird, Laura Ortman, Lia Simone Braswell
*Note: all dates feature Arrington de Dionyso on saxophones, bass clarinet, invented horns, and Indonesian flutes — most dates will feature locally-based guest artists in ensemble situations conducted by Arrington. For reasons of security, not all venues will be listed for internet distribution until day of show. For up-to-date location and collaborator information, please email thissaxophonekillsfascists@gmail.com.
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