This Saturday evening I’ll be playing along with 199 other guitarists (and 16 bassists) in composer Rhys Chatham’s piece “A Crimson Grail for 200 Electric Guitars.” As you might recall, I posted something similar to this about a year ago, but unfortunately the concert got rained out just a couple hours before show time. It was an epic bummer.
But they’re doing it again this year, and (after successfully postponing my jury duty) I’ll be playing in it. If you’re in or around NYC, you should come see us. It’s free!
Saturday, August 8, 2009 at 7:30 pm at the Damrosch Park Bandshell.
To quote the Lincoln Center/Wordless Music guys:
Some friendly advice: Saturday’s performance at Lincoln Center is expected to draw an audience of 10,000. In other words: get there early. Doors open at 7pm and the concert begins at 7:30 sharp.
…
[The orchestra] … includes collaborators and members of The Modern Lovers, The Jesus Lizard, Guided by Voices, Scratch Acid, Pussy Galore, Silver Jews, Lambchop, Akron/Family, Oneida, Parts & Labor, Boss Hog, La Monte Young’s Theatre of Eternal Music, Lester Bowie, John Zorn, Gamelan Son of Lion, They Might Be Giants, Opal, Cyndi Lauper, Prince, Reagan Youth, San Agustin, Flashlights, Come, Stars Like Fleas, Bear in Heaven, Mates of State, Rogue Wave, The Natural History, Glenn Branca’s Hallucination City and Symphony No. 13 for 100 Guitars, Band of Susans, Damo Suzuki, Thurston Moore, Taj Mahal, Merzbow, Panthers, The Hidden Cameras, Vietnam, The Natural History, John Lee Hooker, Johnny Thunders, Town and Country, Joan of Arc, Bird Show, XBXRX, Mike Watt, 7 Year Rabbit Cycle, Phill Niblock, Tony Conrad, Larval, Black Elf Speaks, usaisamonster, MONO, and Dragons of Zynth, as well as the Juilliard School, Berklee College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Northwestern University Classical Guitar Ensemble, NY Symphonic Arts Ensemble, and the P.S. 180 Guitar Group.
I haven’t posted much bike-related content lately, but yesterday my buddy and erstwhile bandmate, Joel, brought this series of videos to my attention. Appropriately, they combine a bunch of my interests: bikes, experimental music, and Frank Zappa!
I’m struck by how much Zappa, in his clean-shaven youth and skinny tie, could easily be a modern-day hipster. Something about his unshakable sincerity also reminds me of an composer friend of mine from college—Dan Futura, are you out there?
I also think it’s interesting how everybody on TV or the radio during that era seems to have kind of casual, polished swagger in their voice. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is…
And I love how he plugs his record at the end!
Allen: Is there anything you’d like to say in closing?
Zappa: Yes, I would… Next week this record is being released called called “How’s Your Bird?” … Go out and buy it. It’s wonderful. It has everything but a bicycle.
I’m heading up to the Megapolis audio festival at the end of the month. In preparation of sorts, I challenged myself to follow the rules of Ann Hepperman and Kara Oehler’s sound design game, Ten-Thirty-One.
It’s a game. And it all starts with 10 sounds. You, dear producer, have 30 minutes to mash those into a one-minute piece. Manipulate them any way you like. The rules are this: 1) All 10 sounds must be used. 2) The final product must be 1 minute long.
For source material I put iTunes on random shuffle and recorded the first one-two seconds of the first ten tracks it gave me. Then I cut up the clips, modified, and arranged them in various ways for the next half-hour.
Here are the first two results:
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