String Planet is two lifelong string players, Novi Novog on viola and Larry Tuttle on Chapman Stick, playing an energetic fusion of space-age originals and quirky cover versions. Their new CD, “SONGS FROM THE HOME PLANET”, re-imagines pop music from “Lady Madonna” to “Sukiyaki” and de-constructs the classics – Prokofiev, Saint-Saens and Edvard Grieg. It’s “world music from another world” – virtuosic, exciting, slightly twisted and strangely fun. Larry and Novi met playing in the band FREEWAY PHILHARMONIC. With that group they released four albums and toured all over North America, staying together for fifteen years. STRING PLANET is the next step in that evolution. STRING PLANET’s odd blend of pop and classical comes from Novi and Larry’s common history – heavy-duty saturation in orchestral music early in life, followed by serious misadventures in pop music later on. Novi’s groups include Chunky, Novi and Ernie, Sumner and Lauren Wood. She was even a member of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention for a short while. As a session musician, she has a huge list of studio credits including the famous solo on The Doobie Brothers' "Black Water" and Prince's "Purple Rain" and "Raspberry Beret." Larry’s turn through rock music was centered around the power-pop/progressive rock group Russia, later called Force 10, with whom he played bass on two albums for Warner Brothers Records. Then in 1984 he discovered the Chapman Stick and everything changed, leading to the formation of FREEWAY PHILHARMONIC and meeting Novi in 1986. “SONGS FROM THE HOME PLANET” uses creative and sometimes outlandish readings of familiar music to introduce an unsuspecting world to the sound of STRING PLANET. Jo Pusateri contributes drums, percussion and mallets to the proceedings.