Tonight, we're debuting new work by Christopher DeLaurenti (known for The Phonographers Union, 'The Score' column at The Stranger and my favorite of his pieces "Favorite Intermissions: Music Before and Between Beethoven, Stravinsky, Holst" -recordings made secretly during breaks at orchestral concerts.)
Tonight we'll be playing "To The Cooling Tower, Satsop"
From the liner notes:
" In 1972, Washington Public Power Supper System (WPPSS) proposed building two nuclear power plants at opposite ends of Washington state, one in Hanford, the other at Satsop, near Elma, a slender town you can walk through in less than 5 minutes. Due to construction delays and cost overruns, WPPSS was soon mocked statewide by emphatically pronouncing its acronym, "Whoops!" Neither plant was completed. In 1982, WPPSS halted construction, defaulting on 2.25 billion in bonds.
Satsop's two cooling towers and an attendant network of tunnels remained for 25 years, fenced off. Tunnels were buried or blocked. In 1999 at the behest of local and state officials, the facility was renamed Satsop Development Park. As more small manufacturers and warehouses moved in, the area was rechristened Satsop Business Park in 2011.
But the tunnels and towers - as well as their unique acoustic signatures - survive to this day, and should be counted among the sonic wonders of Washington: the Dan Harpole Cistern at Fort Worden, Seattle's A Sound Garden by Douglass Hollis at Sand Point Naval Station, and the One Square Inch of Silence discovered by Gordon Hempten in the Hoh Rain Forest. All of these places beckon us to listen to the world in a new way.
The tunnels of Satsop acoustically altered my sense of depth, space, and presence. Most of the giant duct-like passageway is a perfect tube, yet random debris, pools of water, boxy alcoves, turns, and the occasional vestibule all contribute to a sound-scape where sounds near and far reverberate, echo, and smear.
To the Cooling Tower, Satsop documents my subterranean journey into these tunnels, humble concrete troughs designed to deliver water for cooling the reactor core. I made no measure in miles or meters; instead, the 44 minute duration of this album captures my exploration from entrance to exit." - Christopher DeLaurenti
