Music

The Eighth Annual Transbay Skronkathon BBQ

The announcement for my upcoming show with Polly Moller and Company this Sunday. Folks in the Bay Area are encouraged to come by for free music, food and interesting people.

THE EIGHTH ANNUAL TRANSBAY SKRONKATHON BBQ

21 Grand
416 25th St., Oakland, CA 94612
Sunday, July 13th – 12:00 Noon to 11:00pm
FREE

The annual Transbay Skronkathon BBQ is an all-day marathon music and BBQ
extravaganza. Admission is free, but we’ll pass the hat for the benefit
of the Transbay Creative Music Calendar. We’ll have a couple of charcoal
grills out in the alleyway for your food-searing pleasure (BRING STUFF
TO GRILL!) and a huge roster of the Bay Area’s best creative musicians
inside for your listening pleasure.

The Transbay Creative Music Calendar is a newsletter devoted to
experimental music in the Bay Area. Published monthly, it’s four to
six pages of lively coverage, including features, artistic rants,
reviews and announcements of music so far out that you won’t hear
about it anywhere else. It’s available free at many local music venues
and independent record stores, and is mailed free of charge to anyone
interested enough to subscribe. The entire contents are also available
over the world-wide web at www.transbaycalendar.org.

Performance schedule:

12:00 Morgan Sully
12:25 Jay Korber
12:50 Mana: Michael Mantra and DJ Cypod
01:15 Michael Guarino, solo percussion & electronics
01:40 ANIMAL VEGETABLE TELEVISION
Ron Chornow (percussion, Found Objects, Clarinet.)
Gary Schwantes (Winds, Electronics)
02:05 Baker/Djll duo [tentative]
Jen Baker & Ron Heglin (trombones),
possibly with Tom Djll (trumpet)
02:30 Respectable Citizen
Bruce Bennett (keyboards and electronics),
Michael Zbyszynski (Winds and electronics)
02:55 Sophisticuffs
Jeremy Kearney (bass), Micaela Petersen (drums),
Errol Stewart (guitar)
03:20 Dan Plonsey
03:45 Dirty Patina
Thomas Scandura (drums),
Morgan Guberman (bass),
Gene Baker (trumpet)
04:10 League of Art Game composers
Luke Selden, Cole Ingraham, Peter Musselman,
Chad McKinney, Curtis McKinney
04:35 Yoyo Mama
Sandra Yolles (electronic percussion),
Bob Marsh (electric strings, voice and tap shoes)
05:00 Headloss
05:25 Polly Moller & Co.
Polly Moller, Amar Chaudhary, Bill Wolter, Jim Carr
05:50 Chris Brown & James Fei
06:15 Hydrogen Pellets [tentative]
Cactus Daniel Hintz & Elvis Johnson (both electronics)
06:40 John Shiurba (guitar) & Scott Rosenberg (reeds)
07:05 Jon Raskin (sax) & Kanoko Nishi (koto)
07:30 lx rudis (electronics)
07:55 RTD3
Ron Heglin (brass),
Tom Nunn (percussion),
Doug Carroll (cello)
08:20 KINDA GREEN: Tom Djll (trumpet), Tim Perkis (electronics)
accompanying archival recordings of John Cage readings.
08:45 REEL CHANGE with Dada films
09:30 Jorrit Dijkstra & Phillip Greenlief (alto saxes)
09:55 Ba-NewMus Discussion List Duo
Ava Mendoza (guitar), Moe Staiano (percussion)


Garden of Memory 2008

I had to the opportunity to attend the Garden of Memory, a walk-thru performance to celebrate the summer solstice at the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland.

The Chapel of the Chimes is a columbarium, a building dedicated to the placement of cremated remains. It is an exquisite building both in terms of shape and lighting, and thus a rather interesting place to experience late evening sunlight:

There were so many performances throughout the building that it was difficult to see them all, and we only provide a small sampling here.

Outside the chapel, I saw a performance by Jaroba that featured the gopichand, a single string instrument from India that we have mentioned on numerous occasions here at CatSynth.

Inside the chapel, performances ranged from more conventional to the more exotic. Sarah Cahill performed the music of James Tenney and others (yes, here at CatSynth James Tenney is considered “conventional”). Dan Plonsey’s Daniel Popsicle played several avant-guard jazz sets for most of the evening on the roof garden.

Edmund Campion, a former colleague of mine from CNMAT, performed with Daniel De Gruttola and John Campion, with digital piano, cello, live electronics, poetry, and a row of triangles. I was listening to hear how the triangles were being processed or used to trigger other sounds in the performance.

In the meditation chapel, Randy Porter performed a set of compositions that featured a 1940s portable electric organ, prepared guitar, and series of “brass instruments”, consisting of tubing and custom horns. The result was both musically and architecturally interesting, and seemed to “fit” into the space:

Custom instruments were in abundance, with these offerings from Walter Kitundu, including the “phonoharp” illustrated below:


[click to enlarge]

I am definitely curious to check out more of his instruments.

This installation by http://www.maggipayne.com/]Maggi Payne[/url] used one of the many fountains to control one of my favorite hardware synths, the E-MU Morpheus:


[click to enlarge]

I haven’t even plugged in the Morpheus since we moved into the new CatSynth HQ :(. Maybe this will provide some inspiration to do so.

More tubes, this time with both air and water. Krystina Bobrowski performs on special water glasses with electrical pickups, with Brenda Hutchinson (in the background) playing a large metal tube.

Brenda Hutchinson has also been involved in a project called dailybell2008, in which people observe every time the sun crosses the horizon and mark the event by ringing bells. The solstice sunset is a particular special crossing, and most everyone in attendance participated in bell ringing at 8:34 PM. Given the time and the location, it was also an occasion to remember those who have left us.

After sunset, darkness began to descend quickly and many of the chambers in the building, providing an appropriate end to the event.

Primary Highways: Oregon

Our series returns to the west coast, and to a state I know from personal experience. I have traveled through the western part of Oregon multiple times. It is a state that at first glance has much in common with northern California, politically and geographically, but has its own unique characteristics.

Traveling north on I-5, one crosses an arbitrary line the separates the spectacular landscape of far-northern California from the spectacular landscape of southwestern Oregon. The highway weaves through the mountains and valleys of the Cascade Range, including numerous volcanic (or formerly volcanic) peaks.

At the town of Medford, one can continue north, or take a detour east on state highway 62 to Crater Lake. Crater Lake fills a caldera in the Cascade Range, and is the deepest lake the United States. It's circular shape is quite distinctive, as are its internal landmarks, including Wizard Island (the pointy island to one side of the lake), the “Old Man of the Lake“, and several volcanic formations. I had the opportunity to visit Crater Lake many years ago.

More recently, I traveled the other route from Medford, on I-5 north to Portland, while I was on tour last October.

We experienced Portland's famously variable weather. Fortunately, many of the city's attractions are indoors. This includes Powell's Books. I could have spent the whole day in the Pearl Room, which contained the art and architecture offerings, as well as their extensive rare book collection.

Portland also has abundant public art. Across from Powell's is this “brush,” a noted landmark:


[Click to enlarge]

This building brings to mind the city's nickname, Rose City.


[Click to enlarge]

These are only a few of the photos I took while on tour. Please visit the original article for more images, including the intriguing “recursive elephant” sculpture (and the hidden cat).

Portland is someplace I could see living, and indeed the idea crossed my mind during my period of unemployment last year. Ironically, it was en route to Portland that I took the fateful phone call that led to my current job and new life in San Francisco.

We also performed in the coastal town of Astoria, which can be reached by traversing the coast range or traveling along the Columbia River on US 30. This is actually the western end of US 30, which starts at a junction with our friend US 101.


[Click to enlarge]

Astoria was cool and rainy and very green, as one would expect along the northern Pacific coast. The people we met there were also very welcoming to a group of Bay Area musicians playing weird experimental music. Again, you can read more about our visit at the original tour article.

I have never been to the eastern part of Oregon, which is a very different place altogether. I am quite intrigued by the descriptions of part of eastern Oregon as a desert landscape. But it seems like one has to be very motivated to visit, as it is far less populated and less accessible via major highways. The east-west divide also seems to extend to politics, with western Oregon being more liberal in the “northern California” sense, and eastern Oregon being more conservative. I wonder how this divide is going to play, at least in the media, given the patterns of this election…

Midnight Monday: Gallery Cat

No, this is not Luna. This is the unofficial “gallery cat” at the Luggage Store Gallery.
He came over to check out my gear as I loaded in on Thursday.

It's always a good sign to see a cat, especially a black cat, before playing.

Check out more Midnight Monday on House Panthers.

Preparing for tomorrow's performance

Well, the first big solo show since moving to the city is nearly upon us. And it's a big one, at least in terms of the setup and preparation. Indeed, this is the largest and most complex setup I have used for a live show in quite a while, with both Mac and PC laptops, the tablet, MIDI keyboard, the Evolver synth, and the Proteus 2000 module. And of course the rather byzantine wiring and signal routing to keep it all together.

In the photo, one can see not only the equipment, but a couple of the acoustic instruments I will be playing including the ektar and the gopichand.

Why such a complex setup? Well, I wanted to a variety of pieces for this performance, combining both the newer simplified performances (such as those I did last year on tour with Polly Moller and Company), with some of the older more complex works. I also wanted to play the tablet, which I haven't done in a while, and it only runs on the older PC laptop; and include a couple of pieces from the CD, including Chimera and a variation on Xi. I was a little bit concerned about pulling out the old laptop for this performance, but after some effort it's running decently, and it's great to be able to blend elements from my older performances with the more recent ones. And in truth some of the older pieces are more fun to play, such as Chimera on the tablet, and the patch that responds to live drumming (officially called “drummer boy”).

Luna has of course had to make her presence felt during the rehearsals, as you can see here.

After a shaky start, the program has come together quite nicely in the last few days, and I am now looking forward to performing tomorrow.

For those interested, the time and location is:

Thursday, May 8, 8PM
Luggage Store Gallery
1007 Market St.
@ 6th Street
San Francisco, California

More details can be found here.

Upcoming Concert: Luggage Store Gallery (San Francisco), May 8

An announcement for upcoming show in the city:

Thursday, May 8, 8PM

Luggage Store Gallery
1007 Market St.
@ 6th Street
San Francisco, California
Admission $6-10 sliding scale.

I will be performing a live electronic set, with two laptops, standalone
synths, “circuit-bent” toys and my collection of Indian instruments.
Mostly ambient and experimental, with bits of rhythm, beats and familiar
sounds thrown in.

I might even pull out the old graphics tablet, which I haven't really used
in the last year and a half!

Regular readers may recognize the Luggage Store Gallery from previous articles, including music reviews and my show w/ Polly Moller and Company in Feburary.

There's a lot going into this show, which is my first solo in a while. Watch for some more details during the week…

Weekend events in San Francisco (Music, Art and Cats)

Another busy weekend, especially with the number of things going on. We only have time for a partial review…

First, there a quick stop at downtown pub to see some friends/colleagues. Then a rush to BART to get across the bay to Berkeley and my old stomping ground, the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT).

I was a few minutes late, but still had plenty of time to hear Joker Neils and Gino Robair performing a improvised duet. Robair has an amazing talent for getting electronic-like sounds out of acoustic percussion instruments, and did so again on this evening. Neils was primarily using custom synthesizers, both professional instruments as well as circuit-bent toys. We have discussed circuit bending previously here at CatSynth. He brought several well-crafted examples, including Suziki Omnichords with contact-resistance interfaces; and he also brought a tremendous enthusiasm to his performance and to his discussion of circuit bending in between sets.

Also presenting was Rob Hordijk, who designs custom synthesizers (or “works of art” as he described them). Among the technologies he employed in the “Blippobox” that he presented were chaotic oscillator pairs, where two oscillators feed back into one another to create non-linear modulation, and a filter that he called the “twin peaks” filter (presumably because it has two resonant peaks).

Amy X Newburg lent her vocal and electronic-music talents during the presentation and in the second half of the show – readers may remember her from a a recent music festival that we reviewed.

I had some interesting conversions with both Amy X Newburg and Joker Neils following the performances, which is always a nice coda to a concert.

It was another exceptionally warm weekend in San Francisco (I wouldn’t mind it becoming less exceptional), so more opportunities for walking events. First off I finally made the trip to the San Francisco SPCA to inquire about volunteer opportunities and see their much touted adoption center. The cat area featured large rooms, “kitty condos” as well as comfy areas to hide – it actually seemed on par with the “cat resorts” where I looked into boarding Luna. The SPCA is actually a short work away from CatSynth HQ (well, it’s at least short from my perspective).

Another short walk in the opposite direction from CatSynth HQ led to the Yerba Buena Gallery Walk. Open studios and gallery events are pretty regular occurrences, even within walking distance. Plus, there’s often free food and drink. I didn’t see too many things that truly interested me, except for some abstract paintings at 111 Minna that I had already seen during the first Thursday earlier this month. But that doesn’t mean the afternoon wasn’t without its attractions. Some of the galleries, such as Varnish, were in very interesting spaces, such as converted industrial buildings from the early 20th century. A view of Varnish is in the photo to the left. Additionally, some of the sights on a gallery tour aren’t the works of art, but the people viewing them – and this is even more true on a warm sunny day. Finally, I did have a delightful conversation with Jesse Allen at Chandler Fine Art – his very psychedelic/natural works aren’t what I am usually drawn to, but some of them did include abstract representations of cats and other animals and one “wild cat” in particular caught my attention.

More art on Sunday, this time photography. This Sunday was “Pinhole Photography Day” (who knew?) and the RayKo Photo center featured an exhibit, demonstrations, and most notably a ride on the Bus Obscura a school bus converted into a large camera obscura.

The bus obscura toured our South-of-Market neighborhood, providing a unique view via the pinhole-camera images. Small dots of blurry light would suddenly come into focus as a sidewalk or car or storefront.

Because the image were so localized, it wasn’t always clear exactly where the bus was, though every so often a familiar landmark would emerge. The ride was accompanied by live acoustic and electronic music, adding to the experience and making it different from the regular “tours” of our neighborhood.

Last Saturday at 1510 8th Street

A quick review of a pair of performance at 1510 8th Street in the Oakland last Saturday. Yes, I’m a bit slow on posting these. Hence, the “quick” part. Plus, I didn’t bring a camera…

…which is unfortunate, because the first performance was quite visual. It featured improvised music and movement by saxophonist Phillip Greenlief and dancer Karen Fox. Greenlief’s performances are often full of motion, but the combination with Fox was something quite different, indeed her improvised movement was quite fun and provocative.

The second set was the “Kristian Aspelin Quartet” featuring (not surprisingly), Kristian Aspelin on Guitar, Damon Smith on bass and electronics, Scott Looney on piano and electronics, and Weasel Walter on drums. Although both Looney and Smith had laptop-based electronics, I probably would not characterize this performance as “electronic music.” But that’s not a criticism, I do like to hear more acoustic sets. The main word I would use to describe this set is loud, indeed one of the louder I have heard at 1510. Of course, these are were plenty of quieter moments, where I was able to hear Looney’s prepared-piano work (I would love to do more prepared piano myself). There were moments when all four members seemed to match the sound of the piano, or one of the other instruments, all bells, or all harmonics. And then there were more the loud moments.