• https://www.dead.net/features/news/general-news/mickey-hart-debuts-rhythms-universe-project-mexico
    Mickey Hart Debuts "Rhythms of the Universe" Project in Mexico

    January 11, 2010 – Playa Del Carmen, Mexico – Grateful Dead percussionist and Grammy Award winner Mickey Hart will bring his “Rhythms Of The Universe” presentation to Nobel Prize winning physicist George F. Smoot’s upcoming conference, which is hosted by the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics and Instituto Avanzado de Cosmologia. The conference, entitled “CONGRESO COSMOLOGIA EN LA PLAYA, Essential Cosmology for the Next Generation,” takes place in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, from January 11th through 15th, 2010, and draws cosmologists and astrophysicists from around the world.

    Have you ever wondered what the planets, the stars and the universe might sound like? While working individually on very different careers, Mickey Hart and George Smoot have been wondering the same question for years. Their mutual curiosity eventually brought them together in exploring this fascinating question.

    George Smoot, Nobel Prize-winning physicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, used scientific measurements to demonstrate the “Big Bang” theory in 2006. Mickey Hart is the Grammy Award-winning percussionist for the popular American rock band The Grateful Dead. Hart has been working on converting light and electromagnetic waves collected throughout the universe into music that leads back to the sound of the “Big Bang,” the singular event 13.7 billion years ago that blew us into creation. Hart, well prepared for this long, strange trip in search of sounds says, “I knew sooner or later I would have to hear and play with the sound of the ‘Big Bang,’ beat one, the beginning of time and space...this is where we came from."

    While preparing for a concert tour with The Dead in spring 2009, Hart started incorporating sounds from space into the popular “Drums and Space” segment, a percussion-heavy experimental jam session which usually takes place during the second set of Dead concerts. After the tour, Hart returned to the Bay Area and connected with Dr. Smoot at his Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics/University of California, Berkeley. The pair began discussing Hart’s project that focused on “musically playing with the fabric of the universe.” This was a coming together of science and art. These two pioneers in their respective fields are hoping that the results of their musical and scientific mission will inspire a greater appreciation and understanding of science through art.

    Hart has written four books; two of them (“Drumming at the Edge of Magic” and “Planet Drum”) introduce the subject of the primal rhythmic experience of the “Big Bang.” Dr. Smoot, a fan of the Grateful Dead, discovered the essence of the “Big Bang,” the beginning of time and space. Now, the two have come together, along with Meyer Sound Labs, to tell this amazing story using the latest techniques in sound. They will present their findings at the conference in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, on January 13th, 2010.

    Mickey would like to thank Elizabeth Cohen, Ph.D and Cohen Acoustical for their contributions to this project.

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  • Eric Abrahamson
    14 years 1 month ago
    Yah, Pythagoras, The Silence...
    is the first stone in Wisdom's Temple. Eric Abrahamson, B.S.C.S (candidate) Yale University Class of '71 Pierson College P.O. Box 1112 2057 University Ave., Apt. 47, 94704 Berkeley, CA 94701-1112 510-356-8083 (mobile) 510-845-7342 (work) 510-809-1369 (home) ericabrahamson@aya.yale.ed
  • Eric Abrahamson
    14 years 1 month ago
    Astrophysics, Huh?
    The world was created 6000 years ago in 6 days; that's all disproven by the astroshchmizicists.I can't understand a word of that shit. Eric Abrahamson, B.S.C.S (candidate) Yale University Class of '71 Pierson College P.O. Box 1112 2057 University Ave., Apt. 47, 94704 Berkeley, CA 94701-1112 510-356-8083 (mobile) 510-845-7342 (work) 510-809-1369 (home) ericabrahamson@aya.yale.ed
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    M.Goodman
    14 years 2 months ago
    Mickey
    This sounds like a pretty spectacular feat. I am sure Mickey will pull it off quite nicely and it will be awesome to listen to. I wonder what he will come up with after he is finished with this. casino online
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January 11, 2010 – Playa Del Carmen, Mexico – Grateful Dead percussionist and Grammy Award winner Mickey Hart will bring his “Rhythms Of The Universe” presentation to Nobel Prize winning physicist George F. Smoot’s upcoming conference, which is hosted by the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics and Instituto Avanzado de Cosmologia. The conference, entitled “CONGRESO COSMOLOGIA EN LA PLAYA, Essential Cosmology for the Next Generation,” takes place in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, from January 11th through 15th, 2010, and draws cosmologists and astrophysicists from around the world.

Have you ever wondered what the planets, the stars and the universe might sound like? While working individually on very different careers, Mickey Hart and George Smoot have been wondering the same question for years. Their mutual curiosity eventually brought them together in exploring this fascinating question.

George Smoot, Nobel Prize-winning physicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, used scientific measurements to demonstrate the “Big Bang” theory in 2006. Mickey Hart is the Grammy Award-winning percussionist for the popular American rock band The Grateful Dead. Hart has been working on converting light and electromagnetic waves collected throughout the universe into music that leads back to the sound of the “Big Bang,” the singular event 13.7 billion years ago that blew us into creation. Hart, well prepared for this long, strange trip in search of sounds says, “I knew sooner or later I would have to hear and play with the sound of the ‘Big Bang,’ beat one, the beginning of time and space...this is where we came from."

While preparing for a concert tour with The Dead in spring 2009, Hart started incorporating sounds from space into the popular “Drums and Space” segment, a percussion-heavy experimental jam session which usually takes place during the second set of Dead concerts. After the tour, Hart returned to the Bay Area and connected with Dr. Smoot at his Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics/University of California, Berkeley. The pair began discussing Hart’s project that focused on “musically playing with the fabric of the universe.” This was a coming together of science and art. These two pioneers in their respective fields are hoping that the results of their musical and scientific mission will inspire a greater appreciation and understanding of science through art.

Hart has written four books; two of them (“Drumming at the Edge of Magic” and “Planet Drum”) introduce the subject of the primal rhythmic experience of the “Big Bang.” Dr. Smoot, a fan of the Grateful Dead, discovered the essence of the “Big Bang,” the beginning of time and space. Now, the two have come together, along with Meyer Sound Labs, to tell this amazing story using the latest techniques in sound. They will present their findings at the conference in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, on January 13th, 2010.

Mickey would like to thank Elizabeth Cohen, Ph.D and Cohen Acoustical for their contributions to this project.

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Leave it to Mickey to find the sounds of the fabric of the universe. I was listening to his comments ie supralingua, I wonder if RAMU will be used to make some of these sounds. Will we be able to hear any of this? Any astrophysic tapers out there? :)
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14 years 4 months
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Mickey...I'll be in Playa del Carmen on the 22nd...just stay right where you are!!!!
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16 years 10 months
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this sounds like the coolest thing since the Joe Campbell fest. I hope it gets properly recorded.
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I dont think ive ever seen or heard of anyone try and do what Hart and Dr Smoot will do in regards to the sounds of the universe . The sounds of the universe are an absolute reality , but it ll be great to see if this will be documented to see / hear its content If you’re asked: What is the silence? Respond: It is the first stone of the Wisdom’s temple. Pythagoras
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16 years 9 months
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Hi Mickey and All Involved with this project! I think this is amazing, wonderfully amazing! I too hope to get to listen to this, perhaps it can become an educational tool. You must be so well and having a great time. So very happy to be thinking about this, as is my family! Congratulations and all the best to everyone that helped make this a reality. Wish I could have been there. In lovingkindness, ----------------{------@ SherBear
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This sounds like a pretty spectacular feat. I am sure Mickey will pull it off quite nicely and it will be awesome to listen to. I wonder what he will come up with after he is finished with this. casino online
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The world was created 6000 years ago in 6 days; that's all disproven by the astroshchmizicists.I can't understand a word of that shit. Eric Abrahamson, B.S.C.S (candidate) Yale University Class of '71 Pierson College P.O. Box 1112 2057 University Ave., Apt. 47, 94704 Berkeley, CA 94701-1112 510-356-8083 (mobile) 510-845-7342 (work) 510-809-1369 (home) ericabrahamson@aya.yale.ed
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is the first stone in Wisdom's Temple. Eric Abrahamson, B.S.C.S (candidate) Yale University Class of '71 Pierson College P.O. Box 1112 2057 University Ave., Apt. 47, 94704 Berkeley, CA 94701-1112 510-356-8083 (mobile) 510-845-7342 (work) 510-809-1369 (home) ericabrahamson@aya.yale.ed
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This sounds like a cool project. Will it be any different from what Terenzi did 10 years ago w/ "Music From The Galaxies" etc?
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I watched Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy again this weekend.....and watching them create Earth again - put alot of thoughts in my head...Its crazy to think about...to me, our planet, our solar system, was all put together by intelligent higher being (s) instead of Randomness.... I bet they could put water on our planet, and life as we know it could have evolved out of simple water.... who knows?? but to think about it, how our planet works, moon phases, that if something was off in the designing process, life as we know it could have never happened.. .....Just the beauty of it all makes me feel warm and fuzzy...and thinking of all the sounds that happened when this place was created, just blows me away!!!
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..."if something was off in the designing process, life as we know it could never have happened." Now, I would like to see the cup half full instead of half empty -- but something was definitely off in the designing process -- life as we know it happened. Imagine what could have been. ~ Dizzy with the possibilities. ~