SUSHI’S NEOFEST : EGG BEATERS TUNED UP FOR SPECTACULAR

“Surprise me” were the instructions Diaghilev, the great impresario of the Ballets Russes, once gave Jean Cocteau when he commissioned a new ballet.

The faithful who flock to the Sushi Gallery have learned to expect the unexpected from this tiny downtown pocket of performance art.

But tonight, even die-hard avant-gardists may do a double take when they behold the outdoor extravaganza that ushers in Sushi’s third annual Festival of the New Arts--a monthlong event known to Sushi-buffs as Neofest.

The kickoff concert, dubbed “Headlights,” will be anything but ordinary--even by Sushi standards. The instruments in this off-beat concert are all one-of-a-kinds--designed by San Diego-based artist Arthur Frick, the mastermind of the entire enterprise. And both the musicians and their audience will take to the streets in front of Sushi’s 8th Avenue gallery for the spectacle.

“I designed 200 or 300 instruments (over the years),” said Frick in an interview this week, “but I decided I had to get something practical. I had to make an ensemble.”

The ensemble Frick devised is a 10-piece orchestra that includes strings, wind, percussion, and electronic instruments. But not one of these new music makers bears any resemblance to its traditional counterpart, either in sight or sound.

Although Frick insists “these are legitimate instruments,” it’s easy to scoff at names like the beepmobile (a trumpet with two mouthpieces and tuned car horns), the hop box (a dance instrument “played” by sitting, standing, or pounding on a pattern of boxes) and a hummer (a large organ made from telephone lines, a vacuum cleaner and various other household appliances).

There are a lot of two-person instruments in this bizarre band, and there will be 12 musicians on hand, including the inventor, to play the 10 music machines tonight. If that isn’t unusual enough, add to the show the fact that “all the instruments drive,” and you have some inkling of what’s going on here.

One of the “instruments” is a dancing bulldozer, driven by Richard Kelmer, a professional driver who will put his handy bulldozer through its paces alongside the rest of the music machines.

Frick acknowledges the instruments sound nonsensical. He even agrees that the performance might resemble a three-ring circus. But, for him, there is a serious side to the madness, and Frick is proud of the “top of the line” musicians he has mustered into a group for this performance.

“I’m interested in developing new thinking about music,” he said. “There hasn’t been any interest in sound semantics, the language of sound. A couple of these instruments were invented to explore these concepts. I like to use an artistic event to reach outside of itself.”

In “Breakfast Is Ready,” for example, Frick will conjure up sonics that suggest a typical morning, using mundane sounds like electric shavers, egg beaters and sewing machines to achieve his aural evocation.

Frick is a visual artist, composer, poet and musician, as well as an inventor. He has an impressive background in professional music (he played rock ‘n’ roll and recorded for RCA). Tonight’s “menu,” which includes no less than 15 different styles of music, will feature classical, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, new wave and even computer music (the only piece Frick did not compose himself).

To the artist in Frick, his instruments are “dancing sculpture.” But there will be live dancers performing as well, including an exotic fire dancer.

“You wouldn’t believe the number of permits we had to get to put this show together,” Frick said, chuckling. (Getting the caravan of oversized instruments into the area will be a major happening by itself.)

Frick’s outlandish sense of humor will serve him in good stead when he performs an off-color comedy routine with sex symbols that are tuned into bio-feedback.

“We’re doing it in real time,” he explained, “and you never know what will happen until it actually happens.”

There is an element of uncertainty in everything this 33-year-old iconoclast does, and that doesn’t bother him a bit.

“The performers are very good at improvisation. Although the music is all written, I left it so the musicians can take a solo here and there. I always liked the rawness and vulnerability of (improvisation).”

Along with Frick’s “Headlights,” the monthlong Neofest will feature a cornucopia of indoor events. Some of these one-night stands will be performed by widely acclaimed artists. Among the 11 performances slated for the festival, count on an appearance by dancer/actress Blondell Cummings in a new work titled “Food for Thought” on Saturday, and the San Diego debut of the dance world’s newest guru, Kei Takei on May 22.

Visits from Mexican performance artists Marcos Kurtycz (May 24) and the team of Rosa Romero and Jorge Dominguez (May 25) are other highlights, as is the West Coast premiere of Eric Bogosian’s “Drinking in America.”

To San Diego performance art buffs, Sushi is synonymous with multi-media artistry. Now Neofest is spreading the word around the country.

“This is the second time we’ve received funding from the National Foundation of the Arts for the festival,” said Sushi owner Lynn Schuette. “We’ve been able to establish a national reputation as one of the country’s most important venues for new performance. Because of this, artists are more willing to work with us, and this year’s Neofest is our best offering to date.”