Image: Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield will host ‘Happy Hour Friday with Weird Music Night’ on Friday, August 7, from 4 to 8 pm. The event is free with museum admission and takes place across the museum’s campus, with performances scheduled inside the museum as part of the Aldrich’s summer Happy Hour Fridays series.
According to the museum’s event listing, the evening will pair an exhibition highlights tour with a lineup of experimental music and performance. The schedule begins with Happy Hour at 4 pm, followed by a 5:30 pm exhibition tour in the atrium. Music performances are listed for 6 pm, 6:30 pm, and 7 pm, with sets by Skull Tower 4E, Cryptwarbler, and Panos/Ruggiero Magnetic Dynamics.
The collaboration with Weird Music Night places sound and performance in direct conversation with the museum’s current exhibition, ‘The Aldrich Decennial: I am what is around me’. The event page describes the program as an eclectic lineup of experimental musicians and performers that pushes the boundaries of traditional music. The museum’s broader summer framing for Happy Hour Fridays invites visitors to explore the galleries, use The Studio for hands-on activities, and spend time in the Sculpture Garden, where newly installed outdoor artworks are on view.
Weird Music Night is presented as a community collaborator for the evening. The event page identifies John O’Donnell as the creator, curator, and performer of the series. It also notes that O’Donnell is a professor at the University of Connecticut and a member of The Ely Center of Contemporary Art’s Governing Board. The listing presents Weird Music Night as a platform for musicians, artists, and performers to connect with audiences through sound, art, and experimentation.
The performance roster spans several distinct practices. ‘A.I. Pacino’ is described as the performance persona of artist John O’Donnell, combining live music, performance art, and apocalyptic absurdist humor, with improvised commentary and original songs appearing throughout the evening. ‘Panos/Ruggiero Magnetic Dynamics’ will debut a new piece titled ‘THE GLORIES OF YOUR PAST FADE SLOWLY BUT SO DO YOUR MISTAKES’, performed on cello, trumpet, and four tape machines.
The pair behind that project, Yannis Panos and Chris Ruggiero, are identified on the museum page as members of Secular Music Group, which recently released its third LP on LoveAllDay Records. Panos is described as a Connecticut-based multi-instrumentalist whose work explores jazz, free improvisation, and experimental music. Ruggiero is identified as an Emmy-nominated composer, musician, and producer whose scores have appeared in award-winning films and who founded Preservation Sound.
‘Cryptwarbler’ is presented as a custom modular synthesizer built around a circuit-bent Casio MT-240 and performed by Worcester-based experimental electronic musician Alex Bernhardt. The museum notes that since 2023, Cryptwarbler has appeared in more than 145 live performances at venues across the eastern United States. ‘Skull Tower 4E’, formed by John O’Donnell and Peter Fulop, is described as an American experimental sound project that uses guitar, circuit-bent toys, and analog tape loops to create improvised soundscapes in response to visual stimuli. The Aldrich lists the event at 258 Main Street in Ridgefield.
