(NY Exclusive) What to Hear This Weekend: UnSilent Night

This Saturday grab your boombox and head down to Greenwich Village’s Washington Square Park at 6:45 pm to take part in composer Phillip Kline’s civilian orchestra UnSilent Night.

UnSilent night, first debuting in 1992, has become a cult tradition. Attendees are handed out cassette tapes that each have a “voice in the piece.” Your tape may include the bells to the score while your neighbors tape will include only the piano. This creates a symphony of infinite players and runs street long as the processions is moved from its starting place eastward towards Tompkins Square Park.

Last year over 1000 people attended. To register email boombox@mindspring.com. If you don’t own this anachronistic piece of musical machinery, head down anyways. They have a number for loan that you can use or just go and enjoy the music. Those with ipods with speakers can download the mp3 from (myspace.com/unsilentnight) to participate.

Date and Time: Saturday, December 15

Washington Square Park at 6:45 pm

Background Info: Phil Kline was raised in Akron, Ohio. He graduated from Columbia University with a degree in English Literature before embarking on a musical career. A figure in the downtown New York rock scene in the 1980s he has also produced and curated a number of unique events. He has been reviewed by CNN, NPR, The London Guardian, and many others, and his cd ZIPPO SONGS was named "Best of the Year" by The New York Times, Newsday, Time Out, and Gramophone.

UnSilent Night also takes place in: Baltimore, Charleston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Diego, and San Francisco, as well as Canada (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Vancouver), Germany (Berlin), the UK (Middlesborough), Australia (Sydney), and the Yukon.