Telegraph Shack

philly continues to be amazing

2007-01-23T18:34:00.001-08:00

played four times last week, oh what a lovely plethora of folk i met, too.

first i played up in new york, at the pussycat lounge, oh my there waqs nearly no one there, but my friend sten and his friend bruno did a very awsome set, and the folks there to play were people i'd met at the abc norio new years thing, so it was fun all the same. . . . . was feeling sad afterwards abbout something else entirely, but hung out with my oldest friend charlotte, which cheered me up immenseley, there at 11pm in the chinese tea house and bakery, crouched over hot ovaltime and mooncakes. . . . .

then i came home and played the ars nova show with helena esvall-santoleri and sean mattio. that was fantastic, it was(yeah this is a wee bit technical sorry), but it was really amazing to play in really. . .. SLOW. . . . hocket between them. . . . . i hope it got recorded cause i'd love to hear how it came out. . .. and it was at the rotunda. i didn't much care for the band that played afterwards, unfortunately. . . . . they were a kind of faux world music trio, they seemed very condescending in many ways, and their music bored me. oh well. . . . .

then next night i played a little at the mariposa coops thirtieth anniversiery party, which was brilliantly cool. there were old letters nad posters and things from the co-op and these guys with their very happening kombucha teas and a juggler and someoen from prometheus radio who i met- he know friends of mine in boston and ann arbor. . . . and of course lotsa lovely food. i just did a little solo playing. i didn't have amplification, as the sound system fed back too much, so i don't think so many people coudl hear, but when i switched from playing various folk fiddle music for people to eat by to doing an improv set a little bunch of folks came over and sat down nearby to listen. . . . . then the west philadelphai orchestra guys said i could join their group maybe, which i was very happy about! they play these eastern europeanm dance charts, mostly hungarian and romanian stuff, so i was most exited- they played a great set, too, everybody danced.

the next night i went out and heard this amazing iraqui ud player at the crosroads music series near my house. . . . . his name was Rahim AlHaj, beautiful beautiful player. . . . i coudl only stay for the first set, he played songs which he prefaced, saying they were about the things the war had done to iraq, his life. . . . which was intense of course, what an artist this man is, spellbinding. . . .

afterwards i went to the haunted cream egg(a soop house run by its art-like inhabitants) and played in the living room with dustin hurt, which was extreemly cool and enjoyable. . . . daniel fishkin follwed with his daxophone and bass and songs. . . . . and the next day i went over and played with the west philadelphia orchestra and i loved it and i hope they don't decide its too many violins. . . . .

and now? i have a KOLD- i had wanted to go to baltimroe and d.c. and play with these puppetshow people and go to teh giant anti-war protest, but i fear i will have to rest up so i'm not sick when i leave town for two weeks with vashti and co. . . . . --sigh-- one of these days i'll not get sick so easily!

so i'm reading Papillon! Everyone, everyone must read this book! its the autobiograhy, a true account, of a man falsely accused and convicted of a crime in 1929 in france, and sentanced to life in the then-mind-defyingly cruel and inhuman french penal colonies in south america. and he escapes several times, because he is the most resourceful, resilient, amazing dude, like, EVER- and every time they capture him he figures out an escape again- well! i recommend it HIGHLY--

pan 9

2007-01-01T17:53:00.000-08:00

dec 29th, pan 9 burned down. a fantastic underground loft-like place where hundreds of boston folk performed--meeself included-- a nexus for REAL arts in boston. the people who had space there have lost most or all of their belongings-- please help out:
http://www.par-don.com/pan9
even though i no longer live in boston, i am devastated by these evil tidings.

winter arrives-

2006-12-05T15:52:00.000-08:00

Played a great show at a historic landmark site in philly this week- a duo with evan lipson. it was in some beautiful colonial house where historic fetishists have ensgrined a lock fo gearge washington's hair, so it was with particular GLEE that I did what i Do with someone i Dig and ALSO on the bill was jesse kuddler and GEODESIC GNOME-- hah hah hah hah. well, the representative of the house seemed like a very cool human, i hope to see more interesting things there. . . .

week before that i went down to baltimore. went to anew dwelling/show spot in an undisclosed locale not far from the former tarantula hill(cause FUCK all the yuppies who want to colonize such places)-- saw ian nagoski/kate porter/andy hayleck/dan conrad doing something involving lots of strings and a kind of rough quawali-like singing, which was very cool, then saw bill nace and chris cooper which was very amazing. . . . . lexi mountain boys screamed and yelled and spit beer and threw things, and a slinky casio girl sang country ballads and scary sexy techno songz, it was a good night. . . . went back and played with j/ berndt next day- played some with him last year, too, hafta hear the recordings soon! and then did a show at red room-

teh red room show was micheal evans(percuissionist from new york) and me- we each did solos then played together, OH WOW it was fucking great. . . . . . he had this great array of glasses and bottles and things on the floor, started his solo way way way high and it moveds gradually down teh spectrum of the glasses and onto the drumset the same way, and he pointed and danced and indicated and the end-- he also did this dance where he hung symbols on his pants, well, it was very cool. . . . . a vast pleasure to play with him, ended up dancing all around and about under the influence of his humanity---

next day john berndt started telling me about henry flynt-=- a man who (as near as i can tell) invents cognitive devices to re-invent reality in a truer way than perceptions. . . . . i am fascinated by it. i had already listened to some of his fiddle music, which john gave me articles about-- also a book by blaster ackerman called Corn and Smoke(which come of spitting, not looking, hah hah)--

have been sad about the death of the zeitgeist lately. i am exited to be in philly in many ways, but also dismayed at teh destruction of everything i cared about in boston(or everything i had any ideals about- academia for instance, with its insane tuitions and spoiled trust fund whelps)-- i am gratified, at least, to learn that teh sillypad had to spend thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars coming upt o code. bastards.

but! its good to live near good people and collectives and coops and art spaces and trees- the lack of music schools, though it gives a little of a wilderness feeling, is after all one of the things taht attracted me to this place. its less of a wilderness than being shut out because of money and social stigma, certianly-- a more equanimous wilderness, and thus more full of possibility. . . . . . as dustin, with his amazign energy for teh Bowerbird series, never fails to remind me by doing what he's doing.

whew- in bed with a koff koff koff koff koff----->

Philly is Amazing

2006-11-01T21:25:00.000-08:00

In the short time i've been here thus far i've played four shows in four spaces- each one most cool, teh rotunda, the international house, the community education center, and the a-space-- and ALL of them are an EASy walk from my haus. in fact there appear to be mroe art spaces in my neighborhood ALONE than in teh entire BOSTON METRO AREA. there are coops and collectvies everywhere-- all of which seem to be functioning far better than anything i saw in boston. . . . . . . i joined the food coop a couple days ago- oh! a REAL food coop, nto a fucked up corporatized horrible one like what's in cambridge. cambridge is full of INHABITED SHELLS-- things which USED to be coola nd functional and life-making, and have become empty nests as it were, run or inhabited by people who don't get it and dont' care to. Philly is thus far NOT like that--

the free improv scene here is awsome as well. there's a huge variety of things going on, and they are all kind of in a pot together- at least in dustin's Bowerbird series, which is crazily, wonderously FULL of shows, at LEAST ocne a week-- very community oriented. and then there's ars nova, which brings folks from out fo town mostly, (also most nessasary for avibrant and excellent imrpovised music scene), and i just played on gene coleman's soundfield series, which presents in THREE cities. . . . .

our living room is bigger than zeitgeist at 186. we're hoping to do puppet shows and accoustic music here. . . . . there's lotsa futons in there for those as wish to visit-

this weekend i'l be going to new york to check otu a friend's new space, and to play music with a percussionist/soudn artists from san diego and clair, my friend who's a dancer. . . . . .. god! there hasn't been such a sense of possibility in so long. . . .

tonight i saw teh new brotehrs quay film(and they were there to talk about ti afterwards, too)-- it is GORGEOUS, please go see it, it's called "The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes". . . .

oh! and if you'r ein boston, go to PURE. PURE is a gigantci art show in a former OFFICE MAX-- out on western ave just past teh intersection of western and n. harvard. teh empire snafu restoration project is part of it(along with a huge horde of other installation artists), and i made a (new) soundtrack for a rennovated pendulum. . . . .

teh autumn is even lovely here in philadelphia-- good night!

yes it has been months

2006-10-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

in the last two months i traveled a great deal.

first, i went on a BICYCLE TOUR! except, of course, that i rode in the CAR-- a wonderful device painted yellow, orange, and silver, with a great red BIRD scribbled on the dash. . . . . and a piece of slummerville-style paneling for a back window-- and a hand-made rack bolted to the top-- what a wonderous chariot of impossibility! We slept in the woods in cranston after i arrived at teh end of a volunteer work day at an organic farm there-- we roasted organic veggies saved aside for chickens on a fire, and found a lost orange kitten(which was adopted in providence), fiddled, and camped. . . .

next day we went to a bucolic hippie wealthy town also in RI. We helped build a pupet parade of vegetables out fo cardboard and such for two days with the folks there. In the evening, we set up a great silver mylar circus tent-- outside a feminist art gallery named for teh goddess Hera-- and put on our performances-- the best of which invovled formerly invoked chariot, a pizza box, and a burning crow. . . . . the following nite we had teh puppet parade(i was invovled in the makign of a vampiric RABBIT that took three people to operate)-- full of cardboard and painted veggies, and followed by much raucous dancing to the What Cheer marching band. . . . .

we stayed while there in an Unlikely Haus, given to us by a stranger-- a great mcmansion in the most plastic-seeming place-- o suburban society is so very strange. . . .

we came to boston next, where the first show i have EVER had get completly and totally OUT OF CONTROL had teh misfortune of happening at teh Encuentro 5 space, which i am a strong lover of. On one days notice, we had three marching bands and teh bicycle tour's little band of performance arts and such-- it went 'til one am and ended with the 35 member band from san francisco getting the space shut down after multiple pleas to please stop-- stoppage involved chasing a man around the room who was screaming intoa megaphone taht cops were on the way and we should confront them. if i'd known they had former members from Crash Worship i woudl never ever in a million years have booked it- alas nto until afterwards. . . .

next day we helped out at a brilliantly cool arts center in medford where lots of folks with autism and similar things were making paintings and sculptures and sounds. . . . . and then to walden pond, where we watched teh firemen in teh town make a huge, enourmous fountain fo water to test their hoses- which in turn made the most amazing rainbows everywhere. . . . .

after this was my first shwo in philadelphia-- at teh A-space! there i FINLAY got to see a thing i'd wanted to see for YEARS-- Jack Wright and Jamie McGlaughlin playign together at the same time! and Luke made a name game, and the zeitgeist's alan and karen came along to boot-- afterwards we went to a big arts festival at teh Cinema-- we saw a picture-from Boston of all things- of Eric Weinberger in the window of Community Church, waiting to take the food not bombs meal out to the people. . . . jaimie explained it to teh astonished photographer, who had no idea, and just took the picture 'cause eric looked interesting. . . .

so rarely have a i thrown all plans and such to teh winds-- despite the Unpleasantness with teh marching band show, it was thouroughly amazing to do so for once. . . .

next i went away to almost every city on eitehr coast of the continent as well as chicago-- with Vashti Bunyan. Oh what an amazing thing THAT was-- it is impossible to play this woman's music without being overcome with blissfulness-- go check out her music, o please! she rode in a green cart with a horse, a dog, a cat, and a boy ALL the way from south of london to the outer hebredies(don't knwo if tahts teh correct spelling). . . . over a year and a half, and she wrote songs about it, and about love and her children. she is very amazing. . . . . . i'm most lucky to have traveled and played with her a little while!

and now?

after the destruction of the zeitgeist gallery by one gil aharon adn his fucking lame assed lilypad club, i am leaving town! oh yes! even though he will only ever have teh distinction of having been a part of the Real Thing, i have no stomach for such procedings, and am instead moving to:

PHILADELPHIA!

god, what a life i've had in boston! so intense! i feel like i've lived the lives of a hundred people, so many things in such a short time! what an amazing time of it! moving here at random without knowing one, single person(well, okay, i knew my best friend's parents, and one guy i never hooked up with)-- was utterly worth it-- yes, utterly. . . . . .though i've noticed, as i'm leaving, that the closing, destruction, and dissappearance of places i lvoed here seems to be going on at an ever-accelerating rate.

my life in boston has also been one of exclusion- or the constant struggle against it. excluded from exclusive scenes, trendy cliques, expensive schools, affordable housing(along with everyone else), and eventually the very same space and its surroudns that i helped to build. . . . . i hope very muchly that it will be different in philadelphia. . . . yes, i hope so. i am already invovled in projects there without even having showed up yet- and teh neighborhood i'm moving to- west philly- has aplethora of cooperatives and collectives and such, which i am tremendously exited about.

wish me luck :) cause i'm going. . . . going. . . . gone. . . . .

so rare

2006-05-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

that i get round to this.

well!

this weekend was the boston skillshare- one of the only things remaining in Boston which makes my world Good. learned how to Start Seeds, Pick Locks, Knit, Make a Gourd Banjo, and also taught a workshop on how to read music which a whopping three people attending(so i hope it helped them out).

had my first show at the new zeitgeist/axiom space a bit ago. most hopeful, yes! the show was great beCAUSE Thad Comstock played, holy motherfucker, what an amazing guitar playing microtonal-like human that man is. . . . . . an amazing MIX of humans came, too. what a better atmosphere prevails, lacking in yuppies, spoiled trust fund assholes, white boys who claim to be Gods Gift to Jazz, beer swill, and other such grotesqueries. and heidi's art shows have kicked ASS so far. . . .

next i sang an actual song with words, melody, and a 4/4 rhythm in public for teh first time, like, ever. . . . at teh encuentro 5 benefit. Natebox and Amatul never cease to amaze and astoudn em with their events, whcih draw together so very many communities of amazing people. i also got to play with Rain House of the Living Theater. . .. and heard lots and lots of local hip-hop, which i never had, from radicalized, ultra-cool people. . . . as well as eddy dyer, richard cambridge, bambu and co, many others. . . . . i have high hopes for this new space, which i hope will become the haven for activists and artists it wants to. . . .

what more? i played with dan levin again after a logn time of not seeing him even play, and andy mcwain, after i did a duo set with matt weston. also did a duo set out in easthampton, with a solo preceding. ..

and played a wonderous- if underattended- show at PA's lounge with really amazing music from providence. . . .one of the best things i've listened to live in a long while, that, yes. . . . . sometimes i think THATS where we should move to. . . .

what else?

went to new york city and saw gordon and charlotte's opera. yee haw. wow.

ah! more shows than i can count- i am dizzy to recall them all, yeow!

but all the same. . . . I am still struggling to find my place here, since the one we all spent years building was stolen from us by a certain spoiled trust fund baby. the improvised music scene here should be astounding, given some of teh folks who live here, but it has sort of dried all out in many ways. . .. .perhaps due to high rents and puritanical entertainment liscencing rules, perhaps due to classism and teh presence of insaely expensive music conservatories, perhaps because of opportunists calling festival organizers racist for not bookign them often ro prominantly enough, or maybe even teh very high standrads which make the improvied music players here so fuckign brilliant in the first place- who knows. but i lack in further ideas to improve the situation any. the cabaret/old music scene has so far really not wanted me amongst them either- nor the proffessors and ethnomusicologists who are into the same kinds of balkan/greek/turkish/etc music I dig.

When i ask, gee, am i playing not well enough, i always hear to the contrary. i have never yet had anyone tell me i had not played well and therefore would not be a part of their band/group/scene. when i ask other people, i hear consistently- in fact i never hear otherwise- that they have never heard anyone say anything but good things about the way i play music. so unless people are that terrified of critisicing another person, even when asked, that's not it.

i've seen people use prettier, skinnier, younger women instead. i've seen people use folks who were trendier, had some sort of coolness cred, or had a Space to showcase things in- even if they didn't play so well. i even saw a band i had relatively desparately wanted to be in NOT turn on a micropphone for someone who was clearly there to be a pretty face. There she stood, playing away, looking pretty, and no one could hear a damned thing she played(which might even have been for the better, but is still pretty fucking sexist, cruel, and grotesque). . . . why are so many musicians such tremendous assholes? is it nessasary?

Boston's "Cabaret" Scene. Cabaret my ass. . . . . aristide bruant was the fucking ORIGINAL cabaret singer. he was NOT comely, annd spent his days hanging out with prisoners, fuck-ups, and used up prostitutes at the paris prisons and montmarte. he expressed open disdain for the poeple who came to hear him sing. he was not Pretty. he was not Cool. and god-damn, what about some of the other folks? but thats the world now- everything is an imitation. Small Town USA is now a disney exhibit, because the REAL small town is all shut down factories and walmart and so forth. . . . . yuck yuck yuck. . . . the original cabaret performers everyone is imitating were NOT second rate computer programers and website designers, thats for damn sure. . . even Rouseu was a postal clerk.

--sigh--

at all events, something i do seems to place me squarely on the OUTSIDE of everything i try to enter into. . .i dare nto leave boston until i learn what this is, or it may well be a mute excercise.

and!

my car has six inches of standing water on the passenger side floor. and is still running! she's a trooper.

music and brakes

2006-03-01T20:31:00.000-08:00

last night played at 119 gallery-- got to do a duet with jessica rylan, which i was very happy about. . ... .also playing- vic rawlings/bryan eubanks, bonnie jones/andy hayleck, and Ron LeSart before his one-year sabatical, so i was x-try lucky. . . . .to hear. . . . .i brought chalfen, the lone audience member, but it was good anyway. . . . .

night before or so, went and heard teh bsc, who shocked me by playing tones, which i was not sure whether or not to feel betrayed by, as it suprised me after over 20 hearings of the group(not tones from sounds, but to-nal-i-tee, an almost movie-esque arrival which i can't decide if it was stunningly beautiful or stunning offensive, which i'm enjoying maybe its both)-- saw also sfsound group playing compositions, mostly graphic, had not heard anything of that nature for a long, long, long time, and though it was almost alien and distant in its far-removed subculture (from whence it comes) it was so perfectly, flawlessly, beautiful *executed* i had to be more than a little spellbound by it. . . . even if taht genere makes me confused with conflicts about academia and isolation and whther it is Good or Bad. . ..

i also got a car. brakes failed six hours after purchase. yee haw.

and i made gorp. gorp-y gorp-y gorp-y gorp, now i am like un elvin trvel-in fuk- up ya ya. . . .. raisins and walnuts and carob and korn nuts and dates, oh my. . . .

also put down a FALSE zeitgeist myspace this week. his parents bought him the building. his stuff is there. his friends are there. we left- he successfully kicked everyone out. its his to do with as he pleases. teh cantabridgian jackpot that no-one deserving can ever have.

what gives? what more do they possibily want from us? other than the occasional flash, i have no desire to see anyone suffer. . . . . if there are two spaces rather than one its good, even if it was a fucking hostile take-over- better in fact! what more do they want from us? god. . . well, its gone, and hopefuly they'll stop the business of fucking with people who've already been throughly fucked over, and START the business of making a decent jazz club out of a bachlor party hole. . . . . even if i will never see it. --sigh-- made me have nightmares about nazi skinheads for days. . . . .i still hate bullies after all these long years.

anyway, exited to have a more z-like z again, free of places yuppies desire to go, thank you!

oh my

2006-02-08T19:27:00.000-08:00

i really don't keep up with the computerized false communities- i really don't.

well!

On the 13th of January I had a FABULOUS night-- First i went to the very fine Haus of my very cool Friends, who had a performance party, and played there- in front of a kick ass amazing display/installation that marcus nechay made for the event-- played and yodeled and so forth, most luv'li--

then i went over to the (former) zeitgeist gallery to open for ken vandermark and pandelis karayorgis, which was fantastic! had not seen k.v. play in many, many years live, but i used to go and see him quite a bit when I lived in ann arbor- my favorite set i ever saw him do was at the lunar caberet with jim baker, but anyway, they were really wonderous to listen to, very intricate but not self conciously so at all, soulfully intracate, and god thats so rare. . .. . was honored to open for them, yes i was, and alot of my favorite people were there to listen-- after that i went back to the party and listened to humanwine and eddy dyer, which was also fabulous, i love eddy dyer's accoustic sets very muchly, he's so fucking real i love that. . . .

went to ne wyork and played for my friend jane's rent party, she is a fucking amazing writer, no i really mean it, she is. . .. . i was so very glad to see her again. . . .

then on the 22nd i went and saw the bhob rainey/dave gross showdown show at PA's Lounge, which was fun to be sure. . . .. a most astounding performance being given by one of the Agents of teh Boxing Tournamentos. . . . but actualy i'd like to (in all seriousness) see more of different improvisers- like REALLY different- collaborating. . . .boston's scene has eaten its own tail in so many ways, everyone off in their own corner, very hard to know how to facilitate such occurances, hafta (heh) call it boxing. . ..

on the 4th(february) went out to Schwamb Mill in arlington, its still operational and make soval-shaped picture frames on weird lathes that are the last of their kind anywhere- to see marcus nechay's show there. . . . i really dug taht mightily, yes, his objects and paintings. . . .. made from polish towers and hundred-year-old steel etchings and chess knights and fragile bird skeletons, and clay and flags and cut up type and popes and kingdoms, oh yes. . . and most well-placed in that old, old mill, full of operating belt drives and saw dust. . . . . .

and THEN I played at a really beautiful ne wspace in union square called Third Life STudios- owned and operated by women from Libana. . . . with Tim Feeney, Lou Bunk, James Coleman, Jorrit Dykestra, Hilary Zipper, Ken Ueda. . . .and opening were. . .ooooooooh, this couple from argentina who live in salemm, they did a really beautiful piece, where the man sat with a bald head with diodes sticking out of it, with all these swirls of yellows and oranges projected onto him, drawing themselevs all about him, and every time he touched his head it was a huge sounds. . . . and he moved very carefully. . . well, anyway, i'm happy those ONDA guys are here, most DEFinitely, they are a good morning hello breath of fresh air, and its good.

and, i'm trying to figure out how to bring cooperatives and community and other such beautiful endevours to my neighborhood- winter hill. i'm tired of seeing hateful flags and aluminium siding and liquor stores and chain pharmacies all over the place, YUCK! gotta do something, cause i KNOW there's lots of cantabridgian, bostonian, and other housing refugees up here who like to read and make things and think and drink something other than Bud Lite. we gotta get together and make cool shit happen here, yes we do. . .. .

well! also the zeitgeist is moving, because one the landlords is a jerk, so we're well rid of him. . .. oh how i hate spoiled rich brats who think they are better than everybody who could have made it all okay for everybody including them and you and me. . . .. but there's some good people invovled with His new space that he's replacing zeitgeist with, so it'll hopefully end up being better for everybody in the end- two spaces instead of one, which are desparately needed. . . .

Our new space will be pretty fucking cool, methinks, because it will LACK in yuppie appeal, which is something we OUGHT to lack-- the Zeitgeist had become one of the very things it was meant(as far as i always could tell) to be a kind of secret cave refuge from-- so i'm glad, i'm glad, wherever it ends up. and this ALSO means i can be INVOLVED again without getting an ULCER. . . . which is really amazing. dont' know if i'll ever be able to repair the damage said Jerk did to all the series' and projects and human connections and communities i was building and making and helping to water and grow, but its always better to be hopeful and try. . . . though its still eternally unfair that two hundred people who didn't know the Jerk from Adam turned out to help the zeitgeist, only to have its advantage go to him for the Priveledge of being a Property owner. . . .. . but, thats that. It was probably a dr. faustus situation to begin with, and Perhaps we were feudal lords in all our past lives. . . . the new space- in fact pretty much ANY space AWAY from all that- will be WAY WAY cooler, so i'm actualy very exited about it--

and i'm starting to get more students. which i am extreemely happy about. yep!

gail brand and co

2005-10-30T21:10:00.000-08:00

Met Gail Brand an dplayed with her tis past weekend- through jack wright. We played a trio at the Pourhouse in Brooklyn- a funny littl eunpretentious place with video games, cheez curls, and a back room where improvised music has been happening. . . . .great to play with her, and while there played with jack one of the coolest duos i think i've ever played with him, which was most beautious.

went back to easton, pa- so funny, its this pretty little pennsyvania town, and jack wright, tatsuya nakatani, anita and dan dechellis ALL live there now. . . .played in the afternoon with tasuya, jack, adn gail at jack's house- holy shit i love tatsuya's playing so much. . . .amazing. . . . . then did a house concert there in the evening with gail. . . . these wonderous kids from allentown came to see it, and a writer from easton, and tatsuya and claire barret. . . . music had really cool structures i think, alot of really beautiful arrivals in places- gail has an amazing and interestign efect on the structure of things. . . . . i want to play more with her to eplore that further for definite sure.

talked to gail for a long time about london and so fort, oo wow made me want to move to europe. . . . . she does so much cool stuff there. . . . . seems like musicians are treated more like humans than heroin addicts there(but there's history and all kinds of other gobbeldy-gook and bull for you here. . . .). talked to barbara (married to jack) alot too, about the direction things are going in the world. . . . . .

went back to new york the next day with jack to play sessions with people- played with bryan eubanks and andrew lafkas- both of whom played electronics, circut boards and open effects pedals with bits of wire. i want to do more of that kind of playing- with sounds. . . .people tell me that my instrument is inheratly tonal- but then so are ALL sounds when held against their own physicallity/harmonic series- esPECIALLY electronic sounds. . . . . except those based purely on various colored noise(pink, white, brown- oh how very human-like). still. . ..

then went and did very melodic/harmonic playing with alot of side trips to other kinds fo sonic terrain with chris welcome and shayna dulberger(guitar with sliding devices and upright bass)--
wow so much music, wow wow wow hurray for jack who always brings all these people together to improvise. . . . .

food, performance, and belly dance

2005-10-23T17:08:00.000-07:00

yep that was my week. played for a bunch of belly dancers at All Asia-- a struggling but much needed venue in central square. . . . .much as i love that music, it was the very first time i've actualy played with a belly dancer, so i was happy about it. there was a "space" theme to the part of the evening prior to the mor etraditional set i was invovled with- yeow, belly dancers in vulcan ears dancing to start trek music in front of tee vees playing the "Lost in SPace" pilot. . . oy!

last night went to mass art to a group performance art show. gerti berg did a piece involving the swallowing of an m&m on a string, then the unswallowing of it. she did it in the middle of a carefully arranged ring of color-sorted m&ms. . . . there was a man reading eyewitness accounts of people getting mutilated, maimed, and graphically killed by american bombs and soldiers-- at four intervals he offered his head to be bludgeoned with a solid metal pipe by members of the audience at four points of the room. he went on to make a giant yellow ribbon, wearing it he spatter, spit, and spluttered out- "sppp. . .rt o. . . . r trppppppsssssss! sssssssspbbbpbpbt our. . .. trpsssssss!" There was a white box to tell a secret or lie to a woman inside, a woman at teh end of the hall with candles and scissors doing a monolouge combined with "cutting piece", peole wrapped in celophane, blindfolded, wiggling through a maze on the grass made of nails, plywood, and broken glass- guided only by people in the audience calling them on cell phones from the windows. still processing. . . is he doing penance? is she showing what its made of? can a lie be a secret? what is vulnerability? the show was entitled "live art dead art", but thats nto teh questions it made me ask. . . . .

tonight went to see the Future of Food- a documentary about genetic engineering. Yick! Nothing I didn't already know but PLEASE people, shit we hafta get it together and try not to BUY things from corporate BASTARDS-- yes? how can we do that? man, i've been looking over this course put out by Womens League for International Peace and Freedom taht you can teach in yrou living room(or a bunch of folks cna all teach one another, is more more accurate)-- been thinkign of doing that this winter here. . . . . anyway, you can find out more at http://www.futureoffood.com. And the WILPF course is at http://wilpf.org/issues/ccp/CPOWER_10sessions.htm

spent yesterday memorizing songs from my friend's tape taht he got from ran blake when he studied with him years ago. if i cannot afford to go to school i will replicate it as best as i can- as i have always done-------

(please love the rain)

roomates and red tail

2005-10-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

oooh i'm lookin for a roomate- met two very promising humans today i hope one of them wants it! if not, anyone interested?

played at red tail for the open studios this weekend. did a solo and a duo with a dancer, Joe Burgio, who i work with quite often now. . . . . there were a gaggle of ariel dancers as well, and an aromatherapy demonstration. yep. lotsa pictures and scultures all over, a truely COOPERATIVE spirit prevailing, and lots of people coming into experience it. . . . very very cool.

went to another building afterwards- full of mostly really awful art that has not changed in any way in teh last eight years i've been checking it out during open studios-- big lofts full of expensive furniture mostly, i only know of two good people there- anyway, when i said hello and when asked said what i'd done that afternoon, someone accosted me with their view that no oen who's not part of the fort point artists association has a right to open their studio on open studios day. of course, this person has had a studio in a pretty well protected building where they are actualy allowed to live for a GOOD long time. . . so they are ALL SET- and obviously NOT interested in teh kind fo really amazing community and interaction i experienced in the "non-affiliated" space. rude snobbery and classist cliquishness- its whats for dinner. let's hear it for NOn AFFILIATION! HAH! I bet i'll NEVER be allowed to have an affordable artist housing unit NOW. . . . .

playing was great, though. . .

beautiful haus

2005-10-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

yes there is a BEAUTIFUL haus- its a busted up old shack-like thing on this DOCK, an old, old bridge near the barkign crab. when i first saw it, i asked some suits if they woudl stop and consider buying it for me! what an art space it woudl make out there! looks to be an old seafood resteraunt- me and hans BLESSED it with some JACK BALLS> . . . . yep! boing boing boing boing boing biong BOING!

arboreteum with hans

2005-10-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

its fall, went to teh arboreteum with hans yesterday, walked through teh grass and ate hikory nuts. . . . . wish we lived nearer to it. . . .
went to early music rehearsal today(affter two hour stint on train)-- buxtehude, strozzi, and leclair seem to be what we're playing. i hope sometime i can fidn some people who really wanna look into late fourteenth century music, the smokers and teh montpellier and chantilly codexes, etc. . .. weird avant-harde-esque movement that came and went, populated with freaks and fucked up lovely musics. . .. . . .but it was fun to play with a baroque bow, and laurie the cellist has all kinds of cool info and advise which i love trying out, and its fun to do that stuff again. . . . strung an instrument with gut strings. . . . . .very different technique for playing it. it squeaks and screeches easily, so it all has to be brushes and delicacy. . . . . which is good for me, i think.

been memorizing the chaconne, got it almost all done, hafta add beethoven sonata and schoenberg phantasy. . . . .or maybe bartok violin concerto? we'll see. i wanna have a good set of audition material ready for things, and maybe put on a recital, whcih i have not doen in years. the written and set music i play makes the structure and whirlwind from which the improvisation comes- its all pattern breaking, it all forces evolution to happen so its not all easy and fall back and so forth. so taht even if there is not a place for me in the world my pursuits do not ever become banal, oh no.

SNAFU

2005-10-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

You should look at the empire snafu restoration project:
http://www.empiresnafu.org

working on one of the late snafu's pieces, weird, sing-songy and difficult.
hung out with jaimie, too, its her birthday, bought her Gyn/Ecology by Mary Daly, which i hope she digs very much. . . ...

gordon's piece

2005-10-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

went to new york this week, spent alot of time with my very close old friends charlotte and gordon. gordon had a piano premiere at Thalia hall, Symphony space. . . . his whole family came(and it was wonderful to see them, too), and his piece was FUCKIGN AMAZING, god damn it, it was amazing, too, how much of it had stayed with me from when he was showing me teh sketches. . . ... its forty minutes long. a frenetic, manic first movement(somewhat liek teh ninjitsky diaries he was reading then, a second movement thats a love song, and a third movement for draming and sleeping. . .. . its extreemely intense all the way through, but while intense manages to have all the huge variety you can imagine. . . . its barely playable by a Human, so only a really ridiculous amazing pianist can play it- and one did. wow.
also saw my old friend Kirby from school, it was beautiful to see her, she's so smart and sweet and cool. . . ... talked to gordona dn charlotte both alot about my dismay with boston and gentrification and cliques and stoopid behaviors of various ilks in the art scene here. . . . .. MIGHT move into charlotte's house when she's done renovating ina few months, not sure, not sure. . . . . new york is vast, i'm not sure how much community can be built there, we'll seee. . . . .. my heaaaarrrrrtt belongs to Charm City, oooooohhhhhh--

we went to the metropolita museum fo art, too, cause kirby's never been to ne wyork, looked at al; teh whhacked out medieval art, yeow i love that shit

Engstrom's Opening

2005-10-01T18:32:00.000-07:00

Went to my friend John Engstrom's opening this afternoon at Zeitgeist. IIt was great to see his pictures- especially the ones from teh OLD Zeitgeist. I am always so horrified by this new thing, this new zeitgeist gallery that has nothing to do with what any of us were trying to build. But! It was, at least, cool to see John's photos. . . . lots of layered and superimposed images, alot of really rich colors and great depth. . . .many things to look at in each.

-sigh- fucking fuckign clueless selfish yuppies ruin everything good, in the end. still searching for something new to do. not easy in a town where people come to get knighted with the socio-economic class designation of their choice. oh how i miss the old gallery!

providence radio show and hypnotist, dirt palace

2005-09-30T18:30:00.000-07:00

Played a show on the Live Block at Brown Student Radio last night. Played some solos, some recordings with others, and some recordings OF others. . . . . it can be heard here:

Katt on BSR 88.1 Providence

Afterwards went to this beautiful space called teh Carriage House and played with a guitar player i met a while ago- with a hypnotist! Who was the first part of a sound collage piece. .. he put everyone in a hypnotic state, and then this sound collage piece happened while people were all lying down and relaxed. . . . . . wild to play with a hypnotist while he hypnotizes. .. .. the sound collage was mostly conversation and bits and pieces of motivational speakers all pasted together out of context. . . .. .

after that stayed at the dirt palace, which was beautiful beautiful, ooooohhhhh how i wish to be immersed in such a conflaguration, muchly like what i dream of, god damn sing god damn!! it is always at the tips of my fingers- i held in my hands here a little, there a little, but never for real. met a film maker and her partner, tried xander's honey wine and talked to her about art and community, read books in the librarym looked at all the insane shit all over the walls, then had a brilliant hour-long conversation with my friend jeff on the phone, talked to oolanda a little, tried to find her in town before my train, but couldn't oh well- i wanna go back down there and play with jeff and his harmonium ( and i hope their beautiful dog gets well soon. . . . )

high zero 1, 2, 3

2005-09-29T18:24:00.000-07:00

Went to see a bit of High Zero this week. holy shit i wish moving were not such an issue!!! god i wannna move there every time i go, after last high zero, after transmodern age, but hans really doesn't want to, we had an arguement about it.
anyway, the festival!

saw some really great sets of music, there was this ridiculously amazing bass player from europe, he played ferociously, and made teh most amazing sounds by putting crushed cans between his strings, technically brilliant, too. and there was a woman from austrailia who played one of those korean zither-like instruments with moveable bridges. . . . .. they and carly ptak did this staggering set-- carly is fuckign wonderous to watch, the way she just moved the whole structure of the thing around, first by deciding to and not to make sound, then she made three circles from chalk around each player, which makes you hear everythign differently, all separate, instead of all together, liek jumpropes or territory lines. . . .so taht was my favroite set that was.

Tatsuya Nakatani did a solo, which I always love(i wish i was sitting closer, though)
There was a bizzare set between jjohn berndt, Tatsuya Nakatani, and a sitar player who is classically trained. . . . . . . where john and teh sitar player played, like they were puttign eachh others languages through each others computer arrays, reminded me of chalfen's sets from days way gone when he would put, like, five or six brilliant players together from totally different traditions and let them figure each otehr out, was cool to see somethign like that on hhigh zero, unexpected. . . . and tatsuya between them . . . ..

there was this player from beirut, he played trumpets with tubes and mouthpieces, all sound, sort fo raspy and gritty and delicate all at once. he's also a fantastic cartoonist. . . ...

Phil Minton was there, he had a choir of vocalists, which i saw. many textures commenced, vocal sunds are so intense, its strange, they are one of the only soudns that make people laff, because they are so very unexpected. . . . . anyway a whoel choir of strange-o beautiful weird vocal sounds, all structured in spontaneous sections. . .. he did a solo, too, in the evening, which blew me through the wall.

Started out staying with friends of Hans', cause H went to the comic con in bethesda. . . . i guess he met harvey pekar there and they talked about how much they love joe maneri and how harvey wants to do a joe maneri book and might come to boston to do it. anyway, we stayed with medical illustrators, one a very fine, fine oil painter who writes beethoven-esque music. so in the evening we listened to this man's requiem, this man, oh! why am i so terrible with names? anyone know this man's requiem?it was very intense, written in the forties and fifties, and amazing neo-classic work of massiv eproportions, very strikign and terrible. . . . . an odd thing to come across before high zero.

but after that i stayed with liz tonne and fran Szostek where they were staying in charles village. . . oh wow its been so kick ass to re-connect with fran. . . . . last day i was there connected up with dan breen, we played outside (hee hee) symphony hall, across the street from each other, what a weird bouncey accoustic the impenaqtrable symphony wall made! and people looked at us from their cars. . . . . . went to see the sound exhibits but some yuppie rich dippy-shits had shoved it all out of the way for a dumb-ass party, yick! cleared cups and napkins off of sculptures(doncha hate how they think teh whole world is their motherfuckign oyster?) and reconnected one. . ....

re-met with hans on bus home, made up, must talk and think and meditate and consider. boston has ceased to be a place where anythhing much is possible for me. either have to change it(again) or go elsewhere. must think must think. . . . .

recording with assif

2005-09-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

recorded with assif tsahar yesterday, with audrey chen, tatsuya nakatani, Lev zurbin and ----. Same as last year, oh but teh music i think it came out much better this time, we did it in his house, which he's built all these little isolation booths into. . . . ... i was glad to get another crack at it, the first time the separated strings/sax/percussion elements didn't work, but this time i'm under the impression we made it like he wanted it. i hope so. . . . ...

gallery 119

2005-09-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

walter and marianne's gallery is up! went up there and played heather's open floor with joe burgio. . .. VERY cool, the community is TOTALY embracing it- neighbor's, kids, folks. . . . really nice vibe there. horay for walter and marriane! go check it out--

http://www.911gallery.org

Jack, Ben, and Joe

2005-09-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

Jack WRight and Ben Wright came to town this week. We Hung out at my place and ate soem indian food- Ben brought some CDs of our playign in Albuquerque earlier this year, which i'm really lookin forward to hearing. . ... . then we went and visited Joe Maneri's class, and played for Joe with a trombone player from Philly wo goes to teh conservatory named. . .. . . JJoe was seemign sad, I think seeing Jack cheered him up, while I played I thought only of how much I completely love that man. . . ... anyway, we played a little afterwards with some folks from the conservatory. Then we went to red tail

Red Tail was a GREAT show, yes! A wide crosssection of about 25 folks came to listen, and vic rawlings, matt samolis, tim feeeney, and joe burgio joined us for different conigurations. We did two simalar structures-- a trio with jack, a matt and shhoe super super super quiet duo, and anotehr duo or trio, Marcus drew windmills, luke contemplated community, lou cohen talked about hsi computer music, oh yes it was a most fabulously luv'lee night.

Frantasia

2005-08-30T18:14:00.000-07:00

oh WOW oh WOW, i just met up again with this man, i've been lookign around for him, i knew he left town, and i've foudn him in MAINE! HA! I met him at a show, where he listened to music energetically(with his hands), so amazing nd unexpected to learn that the FRANtasia festival is indeed run by Fran--

next day went to an amazing place full of piano makers in fitchburg to meet a man wo is a microtonalist and is building things-- 33-note pump organ and harsichord. . . the place itself is most dreamlike, hundreds of pianos stacked up everywhere, and everythign is MADE out fo piano parts, stools, tool holders, racks, handles, doors, pianos everywhere- like a tribe that lives on the bounty of a single species of plant(except its pianos). the instruments he was building looked quite lovely, he showed me also an instrument another man built with bizaar stalks eminating from each hammer, color coded in some way i could not make out. . . . . . . also littered about were old computers and antique european power tools. . . .. he seemed of a certain kinship with my friend who took us there- anyway, i am tremendously hoping to hear some of teh instruments in the nearer rather than farther future. . . . . beautiful to look at, at least, different kinds of woods and beautiful workmanship., . . .and he made them look MUCH older than they are, too. . . . oooohhhh, yes so very amazing.

afterwards went back to his house and played around with an old, old "music" makign electronic device called teh MUSE- an antique primitive single oscillator sequencer with a random genorator in it. . . so ANYONE circa teh early fifties coudl be their OWN change elktronik composer(sic)-- it had these pointless but christmas-like robot looking blue and green lights that travel somewhat along with the ticker taoe of square waves it spits forth.

matt weston in easthampton

2005-08-27T18:13:00.000-07:00

Played with Matt Weston tonight in easthampton at teh wonderous flywheel- o! how i miss thinking taht oen day the zeitgeist woudl be like that! And what a diasterous mess it is now, glad i am no longer involved. . . anyway! Playing with Matt I always love it. . ... . lookin forward to getting teh recording of that, yes.

had to leave early though, because my brother died yesterday. . . . . he was blind, autistic, and diabetic, and i think he had seizures, too. Not to mentioned completely messed up and traumatized from growing up in the House of my fucked up La Familia. my mother asked me if i would like to play for teh funeral out of politeness. They played amazing grace. i coudl have played amazing grace, but i think it woudl have created fear. . . . . . and well it shhould. the ground in front of teh church door was spattered with boxelder bugs- those same that came in on his window when we were children, so thickly that you couldn't seen several inches of wall. sick sick sick. i can't imagine he's any worse off. my old friend des came. he was my onyl friennd there. we talked about radio, which was good, and i hung out with my cousin ron later on.

ron's house is amazing, he's got it all tripped out. . . . a DJ room, and illuminated painting of a girl in the rain(the painter was hopelesslyt in love with her), a jacuzzi and a spiral staircase to a roof deck. I was glad to see he was moved his busy, stressful WORK rooms to the UPstairs and BACKground. . . . . .... was good to hang out with him. he's doign music, video, and interesting music communications projects. . . . .
wasn't there long, whew.

Now on my way to Maine with Walter for some kind of thing involving vic rawlings and liz tonne, we'll see what it is. . . .

Mitch Ahern's Show

2005-08-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

FewDays ago went to zeitgeist after wandering about all day. Saw Mitch Ahern and a Theramin player- also from that CREW at Clark all that time ago, nidle and mitch and that painter in Provincetown and teh guy who did teh boston social forum- anyway! Also with Mike Niblock(o how do you spell it?)-- They did this bizzarro space age music withh various world drums, and mitch played the most beautiful solo on his elecrtro-luxo-phone-- an instrument made out of an electrolux vacuum cleaner with pipes and organ reeds attached to it. . . . . ..

next was susan deleo and her friend. They came in waving insense and played. . . . . . susan played guitar and sang, the other girl played cassettes-- very rainy dreamy indie-rock sort of music, yes, trancey and ritual like. . . . . . . .

couple days later mitch came over to show me how to do lino block printing. he made these amazing perky pat t-shirts with rockets and hand-cut letters. . . . . its pretty simple, and he was so amazing nice he gave me his old tools and everything. . . . . . started one, making more.

next night saw Mikey, US Belt, etc at Art Interactive, followed by rembetiko
Oh what a most lovely show, yes! Opened with Liz Tonne doign stuff i NEVER saw her do before, she started out reciting, and making distortions in it, so taht you weren't sure if you were realy hearing them, and went into John Browns Body, whoa with a metronome tickign inside a mic-ed aluminium cookie tin. . . . . very intense. . . . ."The Sun is an Orange Cookie"- which is Linda Aubrey playing her electrical things and mike bullock playing a video program. . . . . the video he did was actualy really amazing. . . . .. very restrained in sources, which made it cool, like tape music taht onyl has one sound source, and it culminated very very slowly in this teddy bear, and it was full of Linda Colours. . . they played beautifully, yes. Then US of Belt came-- Ross was stuck in traffic somewhere so he wasn't there, so the other US of Belt guy(wose name i've forgotten, o please do not kill), he started to play with records and sounds, and then ross clomped in with his hat and guitar case, like he'd walked all the way. And he set up and they played Good Sound. . . . . . then they did "Art Rock" where ross got on a chair and played a rock song on his guitar and teh other guy drew lotsa pictures of him. . . . then they gave out toys and instrutions to the Audience, and recorded us all making teh sounds with them. . . . . it was all at art interactive, which is normally too expensive for anythign like this, but somehow mike got ahold of it for the summer. . . . high ceilings, modular slates, a perfect space for all this. . .. . .

so i left afterwards, ddint' speak to anyone, just wanted to walk, ran into a rembetiko band at the central square greek festival, too loud and garrish, not what i love about it, and billy ruane trapsed by down the street and i walked home. . .. . . .

dan conrad show

2005-08-19T18:10:00.000-07:00

Dan Conrad came to town today with his Veena Bambina- a monochord made out of a drain pipe and a discarded speaker head from something like an elementary school-- a great mellow TWANG, and many other sound besides utilizing a variety of objects. He played it in various self-created modes. . . . .wonderous. Followed by Jesse Kudler and Howie Stelzer, who remains my fav'rit electronic music improivsor in boston . . . . unfortunately, there was a "sweet sixteen" party in the next room over. The womenn at the Y were very apologetic and very helpful, but it did not stop the BOOM BOOM music from penetrating the wall. . . . . . . . .

Light Licks

2005-08-09T14:32:00.000-07:00

Had a fantastic show at Mass Art playing with some of Saul Levine's silent films on the 3rd. . . . almost a practice unto itself- the films are about mystic experience in many ways, and I felt like I had to try and evoke that in playign with them-- very rigrous. . . . . which I was glad for. Perhaps it will come about again at some point- I woudl like that. I was also happy to note that there were folks there to see it. . .... .

rebetiko

2005-08-03T08:26:00.000-07:00

rehearsed with rembetiko folks last night. joe and dean live in the most wonderous house, full of beautiful things everywhere the eyes rest- they have victrolas, and old 78s of greek music-- and a huge, enoumous compendium of greek song lyrics taht looks like a sort of arcane spell-book. . . . learned a song whhich translates "Five Greeks in Hades"-- where five greeks are playing and singing and dancing, and all the demons and the damned are dancing wildly in their wake, the Devil standing a-gape at the scene- oh! what awonderous image, and isn't that what i am looking for? reminds me of my friend crazyhorse- one day as i crossed to the Diag- a kind of Commons in Ann Arbor- there was a fundie, right wing git preacher doing his anti-everybody thing. . .. and there was Crazy-Horse, a local wandering visionary, wearing lots of colorful skirts flaring all about him, with his loooong beard, hands outstretched, spinning and apinning and spinning! and the preacher shouted "You'll never get to heavan like that!" and he shouted back"I'm already there! I'm already there!"

at all events, i'm loving the rembetiko music every bit as much as i knew I would if i found some folks to play it with. here's teh sheet music if anyoen wants to try it:

Five Greeks in Hades

tonight i'm playing with saul levine's silent films over at mass-art-- and today i'm staying in from work, after having a weeee buit of a collapse on eth subway platform. i guess teh 4:30 am thing is not going to qwork out for me. really what i must do is put up sign after sign after sign until i get some students. . .. . . which is what i love and should be doing.

providence and goddard

2005-08-01T18:29:00.000-07:00

played in providence the other night with fifty people, a show arranged by Jason McGill. . . . . he had astructure he wanted to try. I liked the structure muchly, but I couldn't hear much. . . .owing to my quiet little bundle of wood and such. it was quite a gathering though-- will be doing a show at Oolanda's art show closing. . . . and will finaly get to play with jefff koch(on harmonium) that night. also ran into brian carpenter, and have just listened to the roughs from the cartoon. . . . .they sound pretty good. . . . . .

taught an improv workshop at goddard college last night with walter wright and joe burgio. . . . we each did asegment- walter sennt them outside to use video cameras first.m then joe led a movement workshop-- i was so very comfortable there, to try things, its seems to have an energy like that, Goddard. i led one in ensemble improv, mostly excercises which require people to really listen hard and pay attention. i had them sing a duet with the (very quiet) room fan, where they had to be able to hear teh fan at all times, and then had them sing in contrast, and then in GROUPS in contrast, adn finaly had two groups, each with a texture they were qorkign with, create a semi-spontaneous swicth-- then i explained that structures, compositional structures, can be spontaneously realized. . . . . . then amalgam played, and then tehre was ajam at the end.

it would be nice to go to Goddard. maybe. it seems liek one of teh only schools i could actualy stand. . . . . . . i liked it very, very much there. an open school for adults. . . . lots of amazing folks. i certainly see my violin-playing as "interdisciplinary" in many ways, though i wonder if they would.

ugh, exhausted. if anyone has any ideas of hwo Katt coudl Quit her Latest Day Job and still have Mool-law, let me know!

more music

2005-07-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

played a benefit for "Stop Excision" last night, put together by jaimie. lo-lo and her friend, adn some others were there, adn kore played. . . . . The woman who runs it is so fabulous and amazing, she is so hopeful. . . .played a solo, and then with Kore', which was very fun. . . .. .and raised money for it. a night full of strong women kicking ass-- not something i often get to partake of in the worlds i inhabit. well check out their project:
http://www.stopexcision.net

been playing with Rembetiko group, which i am very much enjoying. got to learn a little about saba mode, which is a very weird animal, and spent the day learning a beautiful tune in saba. . . . . called melachrino. . . . i hope we get to play out often and soon.

also went and played with ensembel suave, an early music with occasional eclectica group. . .. i really want to explore my interest in fourteenth century music. . .. . its so bizzarre, all those strange contrpuntal things with slight, vauge, microtonal leanings that tell you what color they are. . . . . . ohhhh, solage and all his now-anonymous counterparts must've been beautiful whack jobs to write such stuff.

just started wittgensteins vienna- judging from its authors first chapter decrying specialization, it must've ceom abotu before "interdisciplinary" mstudies came back in vouge- not that it matters what with most fo teh study in universities these days going to beer in plastci cups and britney spears. . . .. snort. anyway, i've bene wantign to read it for a while, looking forward to continuing it -- tomorrow. . . .. . . . .. .. . . . . .and still yearning for some convergence/explosion of ideas to occur in the face of these sorry times. . . . . . .anicha, anicha, anicha. . . .. . .. .

wonderous musics

2005-07-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

Have been to some really great shows teh last week. Wennt to one last weekcalled"the Odd instrument Show", put on by Jorrit Dykstra. . . . .featuredMattSamolis on steel cello, Tim Feeney on tom drum played symbols and bizzarreboxstrung with things, Hilary Zipper on violin, and the vocalist from ONDA,JamesColeman on Theramin, Jorrit on analouge synth altered flute with saxophonemouthpiece,and a woman named kate i think, who played glass and metal bowlswith waterand mallets--- absolutely teh best improv show i've been to ina long time,really wonderous music. . . . .

last night was the raquibhassan inter-dimensionalscience research orchestra, whhich played huge sufifree jazz spiritualistmusic for peace, and dave gross' CD release, where-indave gross and pollyand mike bullock played very happy blithe rock n' roll(withDave on drums)and then davve did a solo on his horn, all full of teeth andhair and sweat.. .... yes many good musics.

have gotten a jobbiejob where i can READand PRACTICE. If anyone has any ideas of written musicpieces i might beginto pursue. . .. i have none at present otehr than tehmostly-finish Chacooneand its accompanyign sonata from Bach. MOst auditionsi see require a classicalperiod sonata, a romantic concerto and a twentiethcentury piece-- troubelis i really dont' care for alot fo classical periodsonatas, and concertosoften bore me to tears with all their posturing. ... . . . i have a wholestack of twentieth century music, but i'm not surewhhich I shoudl make myown(its like takign ona lover or some such)-- well!suggestions are welcome!

readthe banquet years. how could computersever create such wild abandon, coupledwith such ferocious focus? i am surethe time and its work are now clichedbeyond imagining, but the book waswritten in 1953, by someone who probablyyearned to be there. . . . .. .i loved reading about eachh of them(satie,rousseau, apollonaire, and jarry),about whne they lived, before what theywere doign became commonplace a lifesttyle,when it took far greater braveryto do these things. . . . .. far greaterattention to detail, yes-- i am bloggingbecause i keep hearing tell tahtcomputers can be a gateway to renaissance,but i dont' really believe itNIET not for one single minute!

read "My Thirty Years War" by Margaret Naderson teh creator of The Little Review, which was the first publisher of Ulysses. . . .. which I haven't read- BUT! OOOOHH what an amazing woman! entirely insearch of teh extraordinairy in humans, surroundings and conversation-- her salons included so many extraordinary people, yes, james joyce, marcel duchamp, ezra pound, emma goldman, oh! my fuckign goodness. . . i want to be LIKE this woman, yes. except taht her life begs taht you be LIEK only yourself, so this is rteally what i mean. she had not a dime much fo the time, yet managed to put out teh magazine for ten YEARS, alive in fabulous golld and magenta rooms, ride her horse, and ALWAYS have her mason hamlin grand piano! even while living in a tennt on lake michigan---- she knew all of the kick ass writers or her day, as well as painters, dancers, politicos, and of course, pianists. her writing is about her conversations, which were so full of new things, even to me, a hundred years later, new-- it reminded me taht i do not have to worship HUMANITY no, but only what it/we are CAPABLE of, yes- only what is new and real, adn nothign taht is banal. . . . .. . . . . .. though again i saw how different teh world is now, and wondered and dispaired of how ayting can come about-- though no one ever seems to know the true zeitgeist of their era and whether or not they are included. and nostalgia remains danngerous, as dangerous as ever. . . . . .

well i recommend both boths highly! they are each liek no otehr art history or autobiography(respectively) taht I have ever read, and worth every minute. i've been reading about "scenes" lately a great deal- not scenes based on stupidity and banality, but based on passion and creation and other forms of holy fuckign splendor. . . . . . ...

teachin and kittens and cars, oh my

2005-06-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

wow my typing is bad, is it not? cannot seem to get teh composition screen workign this morning, so i guess there will be no paragraphs today- been trying to put together a written music "set" that actualy exites me- will have to listen to many recordings, i think. have been practicign tons of bach for years as i always have- when i was a girl i refused to play anythign else until i was about thirteen. . . . .and of course improvising and playing "tunes" or "songs". . . . mundanity has been swamping me of late, though. between tax payments, insurance bills, cars, and so forth. ... i must NOT allow these things to take me away from my real pursuits. i just got hired to teach violin lessons at teh boston center for adult education, which i am exited about- i hope it will lead in soem directions which bring me soem evolution. and i found an abandoned kitten, which is sittign next to me as i write- barely old enough to eat solid food- i played her (i think its a her) some bach, which she(it) really seemed to dig- met a beautiful human last night who goes dowsing, races cars, builds things, and is friends with a ghost. i lvoe it when i meet good people. he fixed my sagging muffler for me, too. and makes lovely wine. . . . . playign with zacka nd jonathan and dave this weekend, which i am exited about. and with lindy's radio at teh whimsey, which i hope will be good. was also on chronicle(or will be) at pan 9, playign duets with an empire snafu construction. . . . .. . . .. . .and thats all.

show at NAO

2005-06-18T15:41:00.000-07:00

played a concert at teh NAO Gallery last night- a duo with shackuhachi player Phil James. Then heard ONDA and the BSC- which was quite different without bhob rainey. since i've heard them play amny times over teh past several years, this was an interesting thing to hear. ONDA was great- teh structure that emerged was really, really lovely. . . i am very happy about this new series.

next week i'm playign with jonathan vincent and zack fuller. and i've been playign greek rembetiko music too, which i've always wanted to do!

went and got my car back from framingham- oy. . . .

wonderous travels

2005-06-02T15:21:00.000-07:00

have been traveling alot lately. first i went to albuqueque to play music. i met people there who i wanna be like whne i "grow up"-- played with Kurt Heyl and Ben Wright-- both fabulous musicians and amazing humans who contructed their own houses. i stayed with kurt in the far out and away desert full of red sand, yucca, juniper, and prickley pears. allwere most alien and beautiful to me, i may as well have visited mars. the house is an adobe one, and was full of fanntastic books on architecture of africa and other such far away desert places. . . . .the music was really amazing, too. played every day, and at the Outpost space. Met also a bassoon player and a tuba player and a second bass player. . . it was wonderful. . . .

came home to the usual financial streeses. we have moved half teh week to vermont. i hopign to turn thsi financial nessecity into a piece of Good Work-- it is silent and beautiful there-- when i ask myself "is this what i want" i hear a resounding YES from the stillest inner-most part fo me, but i am unsure of what will come of it. the silo house is far away adn up a dirt road. . . . .not to mention expensive to maintain. i have to get some money together in a serious way if i am to make all my tax, insurance, rent, utility, car, and repair payments!

been working in darwin's coffee shop. i really ought to overcome my terror that some beer addled shithead with careen into me with a butcher knife and go BUSK.

ooohhh, i have so much to learn and it is so difficult to focus!!

went last night and played rembetikko music with heather kuhn and her friends in roslindale in their beautiful house with beautiful old greek 78s and a beautiful viktrola to play them on. practiced bach this monring. . . . . .went to walden pond with chalfenn in my new car, which i still have to find a good, HONEST veggie deisel supplier for. . . . . .

whew!

ear-lie in the morn-nin

2005-05-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

well, not really- first morn-nin i haven'r risen at 6 am to go to my wonderous new job at the coffee haus i now work at-- 54th job in eight years, hooray!! hee hee hee

still looking for a roomate who doesn't drink, drug, or rot their brains out on corporate bullshit eminating from tee vee and the like. someone actualy called me a draconian! haw haw haw, maybe he's an alchoholic loser.

went and saw a beautiful band called "Dirty knees" at a house show last night! fantastic, just teh sort of band i wanna have, the sort of thing lindy's radio isn't quite turnin into. . .. . . . they were all ten years younger than me, everyone at teh house party was, which was strange-- makes you think a little- though i've read taht one is useless until one relaizes one's own mortality. well, as soon as c--- is out of the house, and i'm goign to vermont, i can get my practice shit back together again. i need a rest and retreat, every attempt i've made at buildign one has been even MORE heartbreak adn bullshit than the last. i wanna get my spiritual strength back so i can start booking shows and the like again. . . ..

watched fuckin silly jesus films, watched "the bgreatest story ever told" and "teh ten commandments"- both with silly oooh, whats that actor's name, he playe dmoses, haw haw. i really don't get christianity. i really don't. never did. went to church for years and didn't fucking get it. here's this wack job in ancient judea runnign around with other wack jobs (like john the baptist)-- whores, scam artists, and so forth. not that i'm not a wack job myself. thought i ought to re-aquaint myself with some portion of the popular american kulture thats probably going to destroy everything i DO get- or love. and it was funny to boot.

well, i'm of, gotta find a new roommate to replace my (wack job) one i'm in the process of booting out. hopefully we'll end up with less fucked up folk next time around.

first post

2005-05-13T18:04:00.000-07:00

got a blog. yep. thought it might be a good thing to have something of this nature, as i am a rotten corresepondant. and maybe i'll remember everything i do by way of it, as events seem to slip through my mind into a vacuum.

got a gold mercedes to run on veggie deisel. goign to live part of teh week in vermont to connect with my violin in a rural quiet setting. and perhaps we can use it as a woods-liek performance space as well- and maybe a free tinker workshop.

need to learn greek rembetiko tunes and walkign shoe revival stuff for this month. just checked out a copy of teh berg violin concerto, too. and learning "there'll be some changes made" and "i found a new baby".

lookin forward to playing jaimie mcglaughlin's cd release. adn REALLY lookin forward to goign to albequerque, NM to play at teh Outpost.
:)