Robert Geary and the Piedmont East Bay Childrens Choirs will present the California premieres of Looking for the Perfect Planet at 8:00 pm, Thursday, May 21, at  Berkeley's Gaia Art Center (subject to change), and at San Francisco's Golden Gate Festival Community Concert on July 16, 2009 at 7:30 pm.  These multimedia events span the cultural gulf between the academic and the underground with hip hop-inspired choral music, dramatic technological applications, and the slam poetic vision of a nonviolent future for a culture numbed by violence in mass media.  University of Colorado Denver professors Catherine Wiley and Michelle Comstock have conducted slam poetry workshops at Denver's South High School and developed spoken word material that will be featured.  The centerpiece of the programs is a musical setting of the South High School slam poetry workshop team's work, Gregory T.S. Walker's Looking for the Perfect Planet for Amplified Chorus and Video Sampler. It showcases the "video sampler", cutting edge MAX MSP software that will enable Walker to digitally sample, deconstruct, and project the teenagers' videotaped performances on a large screen beside the choir - with gestures of his hands in the air. The goal: to sensitize the audience to the deeper nature of domestic violence in America.  More event questions?  Call 510.547.4441, ext. 0 - or just click on this text!