Assistant to the Pastry Chef

This past weekend, I was hired to help out with a big baking project. Cameron got a gig baking a wedding cake (and cupcakes and cookies) for her boss' daughter's wedding. I did lots of dishes. We made an enormous amount of icing. We also learned how to stack cakes. Turns out that the secret is dowels. Looks good, huh? It's a vegan red velvet cake with butter cream icing. It's crazy delicious.

The cake was accompanied by five dozen coconut cupcakes and one zillion Mexican wedding cookies.

We borrowed my parents' kitchen to do most of the work, which was crucial to our success. Having two ovens, two mixers, and all that counter space really paid off. I don't think we could've done it in our little kitchen.

The opposite of "no more data entry."

I would very much like to develop a new relationship to money. Perhaps this would be easier if I had a little bit more of it. Towards this end, I am back to work selling my accounting skills. Temp-ing. My current assignment is at the Lincoln Theater. I got the gig through Accountemps. I do not think highly of Accountemps, so I met with another recruiter last week. We'll see if I get a better offer.

This morning, I got to work about 45 minutes early (Cameron needed to get to her office early, and I had to take Wickett to doggie day-care and then metro down to my new job site, wasn't sure how long all that would take). So I took a walk around the neighborhood (14th and U street). It's really crazy how much 14th street has changed - even in the last year or so. Lots of construction is now completed and the street is lined with upscale retail that makes me laugh. They got all of these ridiculously expensive stores open just in time for the economy to take a nose-dive. The absurdity of human activity is spilled out onto the sidewalk and I couldn't help tripping all over it. I've been thinking about the absurdity of human activity because temp-ing brings out the absurdity very efficiently.

I will say this: it's awfully nice having very little accountability. I promise to actually show up and do some work each day. I will not leave my client in worse condition that when I got there. Happily, I also will take on no stress related to the state of their financial management. It is not my problem. If it becomes my problem, I can, quite literally, walk away. Additionally, I have now re-joined the ranks of so many other white-collar workers: those sitting at a desk, bored at work. Gee, now I have time to make a blog post. Perhaps you too are bored at work. Why else would you be reading this?

Yesterday, Cameron and I performed with Daniel Burkholder/The PlayGround at Bladensburg Waterfront Park. It was nice doing the show outside, along the water. The weather cooperated, the rain that was in the forecast didn't arrive until after we got home and unloaded the gear. The show went fine, I guess. I think my interest in modern dance is waning. Maybe "has waned completely" would be more accurate. I will probably feel better about the project after I get paid.

We got our notification from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County. Once again, the Low End String Quartet has been rejected for a "Creative Projects" grant. At least this year I had the good sense not to observe the panel as they discussed the proposal. Unfortunately, they were no more enlightened this year than last year... I will no longer waste my time applying to AHCMC for funding. Too bad, though, I could've really used the money. Oh yeah, better get back to the bookkeeping...

Photo from Joe Lally at Knitting Factory

Joe Lally
Originally uploaded by Fists With Your Toes

Just found this on flickr... someone posted a shot of our show at the Knit last month. Joe Lally: bass, vocals; Ricardo Lagomasino: drums, I'm the blurry one with the guitar; and special guest Aurora Nealand: alto sax. We should've brought Aurora along for the rest of the tour because she's awesome. Joe joked about doing his next US tour just with her and without us (me and Ricardo) which would sound great. I'd like the work and all, but he should do that...

Grant Seekin' Update

I got four pieces of news on the grants front this week... first one I mentioned already, Creative Capital invited a full proposal. Neato. Then I got two rejection emails: American Music Center's "Composer Assistance Program" and Meet the Composer both said no. But tonight I got a nice phone call from Carl Banner at Washington Musica Viva -- our joint proposal to have the Low End String Quartet join up with his group for a series of concerts in "alternative venues" during 2009 was funded by the Argosy Foundation Contemporary Music Fund. Now we have to find matching funds for something like $6,000. That seems like a nice problem to have...

None of this takes care of my short term money problem, but it sure is good news! And there's a possibility that I'll do some future grant writing for Carl, for money, so that'll help.

Unrelated, I went to my first yoga class today since the tour ended. Turns out that sitting in a van for two weeks, eating badly, and drinking beer every night makes for one hard yoga class.

Tour complete; Back to Real Life

It's now been a few days since the end of my two week tour with Joe Lally. I think it may have been a strange dream... I got to play music with Joe and Ricardo every single night for two weeks straight. Did that really happen? Yes, I think it did...

The last few nights of the trip were strange, in different ways. The DC show was odd for Joe, he said he was nervous about it - playing to a room full of people he really just wanted to sit and talk to, rather than be on stage playing songs. Turnout was a little bit lighter than I expected, but there was certainly a nice size audience and the set went just fine. Ricardo was disappointed with his playing that night, but Ricardo on an off night is still pretty awesome. Philadelphia was a strange one because it was an early all-ages show at a venue in an odd neighborhood. A 7pm show on a weeknight feels odd to me, but we had a roomful of people listening - and they were there to listen. Very quiet. The soundguy was very stoned, which made me nervous but he did a fine job. There was some unfortunate lighting at the end of the show - and then we had to hustle and get our gear out so the club could switch over to DJ night which began immediately when we were done. Baltimore was strange too. The club recently moved into another club. There was a dance party upstairs and booming bass rumbled the room where our show was going on. This proved to be distracting, but not an insurmountable obstacle. In the end, our final show felt anticlimactic. I made a handful of mistakes which seemed extra frustrating since we'd been playing together so intensely for weeks - I thought I would've been able to get it right. Then we said goodbye and that was that.

Returning to home life was abrubt - and wonderful. I am eating about four million calories per day now. Hopefully that will get back to normal. Home cookin' rules. Vegan desserts are also nice. We made asparagus lemongrass risotto last night for Cameron's birthday and it was mighty delicious. I'm a little bit jet lagged. I had gotten onto a late night schedule and now it's back to the land of the workin' folks. Except that I need to find me some work now... which is strange since I'm as busy as ever, only I'm not getting paid for most of my work. I have a batch of grant proposals to write, so hopefully that will bring in something later on in the year. But that won't help me get out of debt now.

I got some great news yesterday: I had applied for Creative Capital, which is a very competitive national grant program for individual artists. Turns out I made the first cut, and I've been invited to submit a full proposal. This is very exciting. But now I need to clear a few days to sit down and get the proposal done.

I'm also supposed to be working on a new piece for the Source Festival. They set up a series of "interdisciplinary mash-ups" (their term, not mine). I'm performing in early July with two dancers: Laura Schandelmeier and Stephen Clapp. (What an exciting mash-up! Music! and dance!) We're supposed to create a new collaborative work that is 15 - 30 minutes in length. If they sell 60% of the tickets to our three performances, I will get paid about $300. That means we need to create this new 15 - 30 minute piece in approximately zero hours, but I suspect this will not be possible. Especially since I would like the piece to not suck. Not sure why I said "yes" to this gig. Probably because it was by invitation only, so I was all flattered to be invited. I am such a sucker.

Now I'm also supposed to be finding another day-job because I owe Cameron a bunch of money for our household bills over the last few months. When I am actually going to work at this new job is a bit confusing to me at the moment, but I guess I need to figure out how to make it happen... because I really need the money.

This new as-yet unnamed day-job also needs to be fairly flexible. Joe invited me to do some more touring in September, and Step Afrika is supposed to hire me for some work in the fall as well, so I might be a full-time musician again in September / October. For a little while anyway.

Relationship-land is going nicely. I was worried about how touring would play out, with Cameron stuck taking care of everything at home while I was out having fun and not getting paid enough to cover my share of the bills. Money aside, I think we were able to discuss the various issues that came up and not have things get ugly at all. Realistically, I won't be touring much at all in the near future since I don't have any road-ready or seaworthy ensembles at the moment. Maybe in 2009 I should get the Low End Quartet out of DC to start building audiences elsewhere, but we'll see. I probably have to hire a whole set of new players for that, so it seems difficult, if not unlikely. So, I think it's actually much simpler than I had feared. I do enjoy living at home, in a house, with only one other person (and a pet). I do enjoy having a car, and a yard, and health insurance. Since I'm not really in a position to even try to make a living as a touring performer, the real issue to be solved is only money. What I want for myself, and what Cameron wants for herself, in terms of creature comforts, are really pretty similar. There's only so much lower I'd be willing to drop my overhead expenses... so I don't think there's going to be any conflict there.

Being away only helped to highlight how much I miss being at home. Even though I did reaffirm that I'm a sucker for acknowledgment and validation, I also reaffirmed that I'm super lucky to have what I have at home and I don't want to trade that for anything...

Now to figure out that money problem...

Wrapping up New England

After Providence, we moved on to New London, Connecticut. I haven't been there in a few years... I went to college there, but didn't really know the town too well. Sure seems like it's been nothing but hard times there since. The venue was a small bar in the heart of downtown. We had low expectations for a Monday night at the end of a holiday weekend, but it turned out to be a popular event. Sean, the promoter, was great to us and really seems to work hard trying to make a scene happen up there. It was a tough room to play since things got noisy, but the show went well.

Next day we drove into New York City for our show at the Knitting Factory. It was my first time on the main stage there. The sound in that place is perfect. The guys working the show were first-rate and the gear is a cut above any club I've played before. I'll spare the geeking out over the microphones but a club that uses an RE20 on the kick drum warms my heart. Dinner at "House of Vegetarian" was especially satisfying; yesterday in New London (on a holiday) it was slim pickings. We had no idea what the turnout would be like and it was good. The room was pretty crowded. This all made for an ideal situation... New York City, good sound, good audience, but wait - that's not all. We had another guest musician, Ricardo's friend Aurora played alto sax on a few songs which was freakin' awesome. She nailed all of them (with no rehearsal). The rest of the show went smoothly, and I think we all felt good about it. Definitely my best New York show so far...

Today it's back to DC for a show at the Black Cat. We're leaving New York in time for me to stop by the house and visit with my dog - yay! Sadly, the tour's not done yet and we head out again for two more days, but at least I get to spend one night at home with Cameron... I'm sure when this is done there will be much soul searching and relationship negotiating as we figure out if this "touring musician" thing is going to work again in the future. It's been hard for both of us, and I'm not sure how to work this out so there's no resentment on her end after she's left taking care of everything at home for weeks on end while I drive around playing shows. Doesn't seem fair, and I suppose it truly isn't. Add to that the money issues and we've got a recipe for some major relationship hurdles. Do I remember enough Landmark mumbo-jumbo to have the conversations we'll need to have to work through these issues without things getting totally ugly?

Vanity, Dim-wittedness, and Cities that start with P

We drove up to Portland, Maine and had a nice Saturday at a place called Space. It's a multi-use nonprofit arts facility that hosts lots of shows. The people there were super nice and treated us well. We had a pretty good turnout and the crowd was very attentive - a big change from the bar scene the night before. Spent the night at the venue, our first nightclub slumber party of the tour.

Spent the next morning at a Portland eco-friendly laundromat. Clean clothes rule!

Then off to Providence. We played at The Living Room, which is basically a dump. I don't think the proprietors would mind that label, as it seems to be dumpy intentionally. The sound system is equipped with enough firepower to blast the audience into another zip code. Fortunately, Pete the soundguy is skilled and doesn't overdo it (plus the mixes and monitor mix are solid and he works super fast). Smallest audience yet, but the music is good. We have a New England super fan who has spent his holiday weekend following us - from Cambridge to Portland and Providence.

My realization / insight about my vanity issue has been helpful... I think having seen it and named it, it's been almost easy to drop it. It remains to be seen whether this is more self-delusion or actual progress.

After the Portland show, a too-young cute girl was asking about the vibrator and said, "Do you need to practice with that?" The following day it occurred to me that this comment may have been a come-on. I am the dimmest bulb. And even if it wasn't a come-on, I can still go with that story, so now I got what I wanted - some little piece of validation. Ridiculous. I am ridiculous. Happily (and thankfully) I've got a super hottie sweetheart at home and this nonsense can be seen for the nonsense that it is. And we get to back DC on Wednesday - only two days away...

Tour continues: starting New England

The show in Ithaca went quite well. I was worried about turnout in the “off season” in a college town, but that was unwarranted. The people were great, the music was good, the opening bands were good, the meals were good. Ithaca was just swell, although a bit disorienting at first since all of my previous time there was spent visiting in the in-laws (now ex-in-laws), so it was a bit strange making new memories and associations with the town.

Day eight: Fairly long drive to Cambridge, Mass., but it's a scenic drive and the weather was nice. Our venue here, The Middle East, took good care of us. Sound was good, food was good. From here on out we're playing with the Glorytellers and Geoff Farina is sitting in with us on a few songs. We had a quickie rehearsal during soundcheck, and I'm delighted with the new sounds he's bringing. It was a Friday night and the place was pretty crowded. We went on late; the room was pretty well drunk. Now that we've been playing together for a week, the songs are starting to fit us. Or more accurately, our versions of these songs are starting to come into focus. After the Ithaca show, Ricardo said he felt loose and I think we're just getting looser and able to inhabit the songs more deeply.

Joe nimbly handled a couple of hecklers, and effectively established that his show isn't a party show. He also managed to address some deeper aspects of the coming together that is made possible through music. It's really something how he's able to stay focused on what a joy it is to be with a group of people and play music, even though a late-night bar scene isn't the most conducive environment for thoughtful reflection. He's somehow able to make it more hospitable by his example: who he's being and what his intention is.

Here's the part where I reveal what an incredible asshole I am. See there was this cute young lady at the show. Much too young for me, mind you, but she was right up at the front of the stage and enjoying the performance in an inebriatedly enthusiastic manner. A manner which seemed to say her mind was in the process of being blown by us. Especially the guitar playing. Of course this is flattering, and I can use the confidence boost. But here's the bad news: I was actually disappointed when she took off after the show and didn't stick around to chat for a minute. It's not that I wanted anything to happen with her (see the “too young” part above, and let's not forget that I'm in a fabulous relationship and am totally and passionately committed to Cameron) but what I learned – and would rather not admit - is that I really wanted to have the opportunity for something to happen. Because I need the affirmation somehow? This was a saddening realization. I think this makes me some kind of higher order asshole. Like asshole to the tenth power.

Tour journal continues... week 1

Day two: Cincinnati – show at Blue Rock Tavern. Neat little up-and-coming neighborhood; venue / promoter was super nice. Dinner at strange next door “community center” fundraiser event. Opening band, The Pomegranates, are coming to DC to record a CD. Why? Seems like more trouble and expense than it's worth, but best of luck to 'em! Met 1^st kid of the tour (20 something guy) who was affected by Fugazi / Dischord similarly to myself. Nice to learn that some of the young kids are still getting the message from the same source. Since then, have met people in every town with similar stories. It was a Saturday show in a small bar – decent crowd. About half were there for the music, other half was out on a Saturday night. Joe is very enlightened in his response to non-attentive audiences. He ends the set each night with “Sons and Daughters,” acapella standing in the middle of the crowd. The chattiest crowds have all gone silent during this...

Day three: First trip across Indiana, show in Chicago at Schuba's. Plush venue – nice sounding room, nice gear, good soundguy (Stan). We are joined by cellist, Alison Chesley. She rocks. An old friend from college, Chuck Jones, surprises me at the show. He's large. He gave me a whammy pedal and an electric kazoo. He said I look like an aging baby bird. Mahmood also came to the show (he booked the tour). We should have taken a photo for the alumni magazine. Show was good. We stayed with Joe's friends Damon and Wayne of The Eternals. They visited into the wee hours, I fell asleep.

Day four: Second trip across Indiana, this time south to Bloomington. Venue, the Art Hospital, is a small DIY venue, an old house in a commercial district. Not sure if anyone lives there. Seems to be run by college kids. Unfortunately, it's a rainy Sunday night and school is out for the summer. Small crowd, but super-attentive. We went for dinner late, and the nearby vegetarian restaurant had just closed. We popped into the coffee shop downstairs and happily ran into Jesse, who hosted Joe and Ricardo during their last visit. He happened to be working there. Good thing, since we didn't have arrangements for a place to stay. He took good care of us, even made vegan pancakes for breakfast and we all had a chance to play with his scottish terrier Dexter.

Fun trivia fact: Joe Lally keeps a bottle of fish oil tucked into a compartment near the driver seat at the front of the minivan, so he can take a swig as needed. Icky.

Day five: Our third and final traversal of the state of Indiana, this time heading back up north to Detroit. We have a motel room near the airport. The hotel has funky 70s soul music playing day and night. The place is funkdafied. The bathroom is a bit funkdafied, but passable. The show is a strange one. It's a large venue, with a massive stage. Joe, smartly, decides that we should set up on the floor, in front of the stage so we can perform as though we are, in fact, in the same room as the audience. This turns out to be perfect, especially given the modest size of the crowd. Mostly the opening band and their friends. Seems like everyone is pretty drunk by the time we play our set. The music goes well. I'm now “off book” and playing the set without peeking at my notes. This frees things up considerably and I feel good about it.

Day six: We drive through Canada to take the short-cut to Buffalo. We go through a tunnel from Detroit to Windsor, Canada. Detroit seems like a hardscrabble town. Coming out of the tunnel in Windsor, everything is sunshine and smiles. We find a Little Italy type of neighborhood, but it turns out we can't afford to eat at restaurants in Canada with the exchange rate where it is these days. We pick up a few things from a cute little Italian grocery and have a makeshift lunch on the sidewalk by the van, followed by espresso at a lovely gelato joint. My romance with Canada wears out as we drive to Buffalo; long stretches of highway through farm country is the same as in the USA, but with lower speed limits. We catch a peek of Niagra Falls on our way back over the border. The show is at Soundlab, a nice little basement club downtown. Orthrelm opens for us, and Mick sits in on a couple of songs. He's unreal. In a good way. Brian Fending puts us up for the night at his place in the suburbs. Somehow we don't wake his wife and daughter at 3am, and Reba, the Rottweiler warms up to us after a few minutes.

Day seven: Scenic drive to Ithaca. Lunch at Moosewood. On the way into Ithaca, we listen to Gillian Welch's “Time: the Revelator” in the van. It ends with an epic song, “I Dream a Highway” and every chorus (“I dream a highway back to you...”) makes me tear up. It's tough being away from home – and we're only now finishing the first week. It's going to be a while yet before I get home to Cameron.

This touring thing is a strange way to make a living. Especially when it costs $80 to fill up the van every day. The small shows we're playing mean that we're living close to the break even point. Joe's been selling a few CD's – some nights are better than others, but I'm not sure how he's going to pay for his plane fare to/from Italy plus our tour expenses. Doesn't seem like he'll have much change in his pocket when we're done... Maybe we'll do better as we get later in the week and into another weekend.

We walked around downtown after lunch and saw several posters up advertising the show. Hopefully we'll get a decent crowd, but playing a college town like this after school's out doesn't seem too promising. Joe has a great attitude about this stuff. He is so committed to playing music, he'll be doing it one way or the other and the business stuff will catch up eventually.

I'm a bit jealous that he's able to put his writing and playing first. Personally, I get all caught up in the money, or more accurately the fear of not having enough money. Ricardo, our brilliant drummer, doesn't have health insurance, doesn't have a car, and doesn't make enough money to need to file taxes. My overhead isn't so low. I have a mortgage, I choose to live with only one other person (and our dog), I have health insurance, we have a car, and comprehensive auto insurance. Otherwise, we're quite frugal – I'm not sure how I can get my overhead much lower. It seems that being a musician today means giving up attachment to all material things, not having insurance, and also giving up attachment to “normal” personal relationships, since you'd need to be touring almost constantly in order to have any kind of steady income. Of course things aren't all that bleak, and many musicians find ways to hold onto part-time or project based day-job work in addition to their writing and playing. Hopefully I can make some progress towards that when we get back from the tour. My fear is that I'm going to need a full-time day-job to get out of debt and that's going to put my musical projects on hold for three or four months at least.

On the road with Joe Lally, part 1

It's been a wacky week or so... Cameron and I got back from a trip to Egypt and Jordan with her parents. We haven't had time to go through our pictures yet... maybe I'll get to post some next month. After we recovered from the jet lag and various digestive difficulties, it was time to scramble to catch up on things before heading out for a two week tour. That was complicated by my granmother's passing away last Tuesday night. The funeral was on Friday morning. It was a nice service - short and sweet, and we had a nice chance to share memories of her.

Then I had to split real quick and get in the van. Which is, I guess, how this business works. I'm missing my other grandmother's 90th birthday party, which is taking place tonight in Boca.

I'm on the road right now with a rock band. How crazy is that? We had our first show last night in Pittsburgh. It was a little strange, it was an early show that was set up that way for kind of bizarre reasons... but the audience was enthusiastic and appreciative. It was honestly our third rehearsal more than our first show, but I felt pretty good about it. There were a few places where I felt like I was being a little tentative, but for the most part I was able to relax and let the music be. The drummer, Ricardo, is really fantastic. I haven't played with him before, so that's very cool.

I meant to bring a few things that got left behind. I left my camera at home, I didn't want to carry any more junk - so I don't have any photos of the trip. And I forgot to bring a towel. We spent the night yesterday with some college students in Pittsburgh. Very nice of them to put us up, but I would've enjoyed having my own towel. Lesson learned.

So the early show thing was because there was a big show that night, presented by the same promoter who put on our show but at a different venue. It was a reunion show by The Meatmen. There were two local reunited punk bands on the bill. I think it was a very good decision for us not to be on the same bill, although the money might have been better (but the crowd and vibe would've been wrong wrong wrong)... the place was packed. It was weird though, like it was suddenly 1981 or something. Most of the audience was in costume. Costume like they were at a punk show in 1981. That was surreal. I guess it's nothing new that punk rock is now a costume rather than a subculture, but it still makes me feel strange to see it that way. I was introduced briefly to punk icon Tesco Vee, which was also a bit surreal. Turns out that the guy who wrote "Tooling for Anus" is quite down to earth and used to live in the DC suburbs where he was an elementary school teacher. Wild to think that he still does his "act" and can draw a big crowd doing it. Or maybe that's not strange at all? Maybe being a normal guy and simultaneously being a raving madman is perfectly normal? Maybe just doing both in public is what's rare.

Tonight we're in Cincinnati. We'll see how things unfold. We talked in the van today about me adding some backing vocals. Hopefully we'll have some extra time during sound-check to practice that. Singing in public... yipes!

Gusty Winds May Exist

One of my favorite records ever is now available for free online. The self-titled debut by "Gusty Winds May Exist" has recently been posted on archive.org. It's definitely the best shakuhachi / recorder duo record you'll hear anytime soon!

I think the "transcontinental duets" are particularly striking, as the two instruments were recorded independently, yet they work so beautifully. Tom and Nancy agreed on a specific date and time when they would each record. They would meditate for a specified period (a few minutes, I think), then play and record for a specified length of time. Tom was in Washington DC, and Nancy was in California. They put the recordings together, and thanks to some kind of cosmic karma mumbo-jumbo, the resulting pieces are gorgeous.

Don't take my word for it, download your own copy:
http://www.archive.org/details/gusty-winds-may-exist

Fundraising now, touring later

Eigenvalues received a small grant from the Puffin Foundation to launch our new project. Now we're starting a new Commissioning Club campaign to raise money for the project. Click here to learn more.

In other news, I'll be on tour in May, playing guitar with Joe Lally. Here's the itinerary, for the latest version check his website.

May 17: Cincinnati, OH - Blue Rock Tavern w/Pomegranates

May 18: Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern

May 19: Bloomington, IN - Art Hospital

May 20: Detroit, MI - Alvin's

May 21: Buffalo, NY - Soundlab (Big Orbit's Soundlab)

May 22: Ithaca, NY - No Radio Records

May 23: Cambridge, MA - Middle East ~upstairs~ w/ Glorytellers

May 24: Portland, ME - Space w/ Glorytellers

May 25: Providence, RI - The Livingroom w/ Glorytellers

May 26: New London, CT - The Oasis

May 27: New York, NY - Knitting Factory w/ Glorytellers

May 28: Washington, DC - Black Cat ~backstage~ w/ Glorytellers

May 29: Philadelphia, PA - The Barbary w/ Glorytellers

May 30: Baltimore, MD - Talking Head w/ Glorytellers

Low End String Quartet: two new pieces

Yesterday we had our first rehearsal of the season for the Low End String Quartet.

Assuming we can solve the crazy logistical problems involved in scheduling additional rehearsals, we're going to get together a bit more regularly, learn several new pieces, play them out a few times, and we have a recording session booked for the beginning of September.

So far, I've completed two new pieces for the group and here are recordings of our first rehearsal. Hard to believe these folks are sight reading. It's been quite some time since I worked with players who could read this well. I just put paper in front of them and then out comes music. Crazy. No, seriously, they got these pieces immediately which really felt good. These performances aren't perfect (it was our first day with the new material after all), but I was really delighted with the results so far.

The pieces actually sound like I had imagined they would - which is also very satisfying.

And now the music:

Grinder
audio (mp3) | score (pdf)

Rondo
audio (mp3) | score (pdf)

(those are both working titles, hopefully they'll get cooler names in the future)
Andrea Vercoe: violin; Jodi Beder: cello; Daniel Barbiero: bass; and I'm playing the guitar.

Our first grant for Eigenvalues

Some good news came in the mail today: we've been awarded a small grant from the Puffin Foundation for Eigenvalues. We've got two other proposals pending for this project. We're going to create a new, fairly large-scale work built from texts taken from Supreme Court decisions. Particularly dissenting opinions from the court's worst-decisions-ever. That will include the ridiculous Bush v. Gore case in 2000, and we'll put that in context with other historical missteps made by the court such as Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson, and a handful of others that may not be quite so widely recognizable.

In a few days, we're having a rehearsal for the Low End String Quartet - it's been almost a year since we played together, it will be very exciting to finally start playing some of this new music that I've been working on. It's always gratifying to actually hear music that previously only existed in my head.

Spring is here and I have the allergies to prove it. I spent yesterday like a good suburbanite working in the yard. Fired up the lawnmower for the first time of the season. Happily, it started right up. Then I spent about an hour doing my spring/summer ritual: the dandelion meditation. That's what I call it when I take to the yard with my weed hound and pull up dandelion's one at a time. It's, how-do-you-say, Quixotic? But I really don't want to use chemical fertilizers or herbicides so I stand out there for hours pulling up each little plant.

Yesterday, I timed my dandelion session by listening to the new Silver Mt. Zion record "13 Blues for 13 Moons." Despite what Pitchfork had to say about it, this is a fine fine recording. Pitchfork got all caught up in a discussion of political whatnot, but I think the album succeeds largely on the power of the instruments. The lyrics aren't necessarily the focal point (at least for me). In any event, the political content of the lyrics is cast mostly in metaphor - at least enough so that it doesn't weigh down the music. It's not like they're playing Billy Bragg songs or anything... If I wasn't so broke, I'd order the 2-disc vinyl version. They do a lovely job of incorporating strings (2 violins and cello) with loud electric guitars, no easy feat in my opinion. The last track, "BlindBlindBlind,"is especially awesome.

New piece for Low End Quartet

I'm chipping away at my goal of an evening length set of music for the Low End String Quartet. Here's a new piece, tentatively named "Grinder."

This mock-up version uses a sad MIDI organ sound for the bass part, and all the other parts are played on the guitar. The cello is in the left channel, violin on the right, and the actual guitar part is in the center.

The mock-up is missing one important thing: there's a cello solo in the middle of the piece. I didn't take a crack at that on the guitar, it's just missing. We have quartet rehearsal this coming week, so hopefully we'll get to record it and I'll be able to post something a little better than this wacky home version.

If you're curious, here's a link to the score: pdf

DCIC on the radio

I got word from a DJ on the Pacifica station in Seattle that we had a track featured on his program last week (the same track that's available for free download from the CityPaper).

And here in the other Washington, I was interviewed on "Metro Connection" on WAMU. The feature is over 9 minutes long. Quite generous of them, in my opinion. If you want to hear the interview, it's available streaming on their site:
[link]
or if you want an mp3, you can download from my site, it's under "DCIC Press Clips"
[link]

DCIC In the News

DC Improvisers Collective (DCIC) has a cd release show coming up on Saturday. A couple of articles appeared in local media today:
The Washington CityPaper did a "One track mind" review of the new album
The Washington Post Express interviewed Steve Lehman (who we are sharing the bill with)

Unrelated: Jodi Beder, cellist in the Low End String Quartet, is profiled in a feature story in the Prince George's County Gazette. Her band, Zen for Primates, is also performing on Saturday. Our quartet got a mention (although she is credited as being the group's "erstwhile composer" which is a little off... but so what).

Click here for details about Saturday's show.

-------------
UPDATE: Friday Mar 21
We got another hit, this time in the Washington Post's Style section. Apparently the facetious headline that I put on our press release actually got some traction. Funny.

Guitar piece, work-in-progress

It's been a while since I wrote a piece that's notated from start to finish... so I'm unduly proud of myself for taking the time to write this one out.

I'm working on a guitar piece that's going to be adaptable for a few different uses. First, it's performable as a solo for electric guitar and laptop, next it's got a version for electric guitar and electric piano, and finally I'm going to arrange the piano part so I can do this with my Low End String Quartet as well.

I made a mock-up recording of the guitar / piano version, and the draft of the score is posted too:

Audio: mp3
Score: pdf

Any ideas for the title? So far I've just been calling it "Rondo for Guitar" since that's the form of it. I think that's a boring title, though.

DCIC rehearsal

A few nights ago, DCIC got together for a rehearsal. Sadly, it has been a few months since we played together, so there was much excitement.

I've been working quite a bit during the last several weeks on the business side of the group, trying to generate some media interest in our forthcoming album... hopefully we'll start to see some reviews in the next couple of months.

Well it sure was nice to get back into the music. Here's something we came up with. Be patient, the opening is populated mostly with skittery conversational stuff back and forth among the three of us, but wait for it... right about the three minute mark, a heavy rock thing comes out of nowhere and holds together pretty well for the next couple of minutes - up to the end of the track.

Political Song Cycle

I have an idea for a series of poems, possibly to be turned into some kind of song cycle or something? I'm not going to get to this for a while, so I'm publishing something here, now, so I can claim some kind of ownership of the idea. Mine:

So far, two poems to be written - titles:
1. "This is all Grover Norquist's Fault"
(probably about Republican's succesful strategy to win over working class by tricking them to vote against their own interests, especially by changing public perception of certain terms / language)
2. "Karen Hughes Blows my Fuckin' Mind"
(something about "how do you sleep at night" knowing that you are travelling the globe lying through your teeth, in order to support a policy platform of greed, inequality, and the weakening of actual democracy and freedom in so many ways)

As this takes shape I'll share what I've got...

Rejection Ritual: Year Seven Complete

It's that time of year again, when the Maryland State Arts Council's "Individual Artist Awards" are announced. The award comes with money, from $1,000 to $6,000. One of the few sources of unencumbered support for artists - there's no project that has to be done, no community outreach, nothing. Just an award in recognition of your previous work. It also happens to be the only source of funding for artists (as opposed to arts-organizations) from the state.

Every year I apply (since 2001) and every year I am rejected. This year's music category is "Solo Instrumental Performance." Next year will likely be composition - they alternate yearly. Every summer I submit my application and every January I get my rejection letter. I have quite a collection of rejection letters now. If only I could find some way of monetizing my collection ;-)

In other news, I'm in the process of mailing out copies of our new DCIC album, "Triangulation." We're working with a publicist who put together a list for us of around 150 freelancers and publications. Hopefully we get some nice things written about the new record... The official release date is April 1. We're doing a local release show on March 22nd (opening for Steve Lehman at Velvet Lounge).

Low End String Quartet article published

I was invited to write an article for "Bourgeon: Journal of Dance," a local publication covering the dance scene, for the most part. I'm not sure when the print version hits the streets, but it's online now. I wrote about the Low End String Quartet, specifically why I started the group.

More good news on the grants front

This month has been a good one for me... I just found out that the Argosy Foundation Contemporary Music Fund has awarded a generous grant to the Low End String Quartet to commission new music (from me). The kind folks at Argosy also funded a proposal from the American Composers Forum (one of my day-jobs) to launch a new small-grants program for local composers. There's nothing else like that in the area, so it will make a big difference, I think. But wait, that's not all! They also funded a proposal from Step Afrika to continue working with me. Exciting stuff. Looks like I get to start 2008 as a nearly full-time composer. Woo hoo!

Two "yes"es

Finally some good news on the grants front. I've written quite a stack of proposals this year and I've been batting exactly zero -- until now.

Back in October, I submitted two proposals for the "Small Projects Program" of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. One for DCIC (to hire a publicist to help with the release of our new CD) and one for the Low End String Quartet (to help pay for studio time to make a nice recording). I just found out a few days ago that we got both.

I've still got one more proposal pending for the Low End Quartet, keep your fingers crossed and let's hope the Argosy Contemporary Music Fund finds our work irresistible.

Nxt/Step

For the last couple of weeks, I've been working pretty much full time for Step Afrika. We started collaborating over a year ago, on a multi-media piece called "Nxt/Step." Slowly things have evolved and we've got a version of the piece now that's fairly stable. Earlier performances were marred by technical problems (mostly with the interactive video cues), but we're getting a handle on it.

We worked intensely for about two weeks, culminating in three performances in an unfortunately named show, "Winter Heat." This was a mixed dance program featuring three african-american dance companies from DC: Step Afrika, Washington Reflections, and Coyoba Dance Theater; presented by WPAS and Dance Place, held at the Lansburgh Theater (a.k.a the Shakespeare Theatre, but now they have two venues so it has a different name).

After those performances wrapped up, we flew to New Orleans for the National Performance Network conference, where we have a showcase performance coming up on Saturday. We've been in New Orleans for two days now, and it's been kinda crazy. We had our tech time last night and it was, um, not so good. It seems to me like the showcase performances are beyond the means of the venue and it's production staff, but we'll see how things work out. I guess we're spoiled, having done the piece at two large theaters with union crew. This one's going to be a little rougher around the edges - which is too bad since the audience will be performing arts presenters from around the country. We'll just have to wow 'em even if the lights, sound, and video aren't implemented quite right.

First impressions of New Orleans: (second impression? I was here for a couple of days a few years ago) It's beautiful, and the "vibe" is quite unlike any other American city I've been to. It feels much more European, with people sitting at coffee shops, sidwalk cafes, and generally being more laid back than us East Coasters. I guess they don't call it the Big Easy for nothing. Also seems to be more interest in going out at night? Not just the tourist trap places in the French Quarter; it seems like there are restaurants and bars everywhere, so people must be out and about much more than in DC (which has plenty of restaurants and bars, but people seem much more focused on work than socializing).

So far it doesn't seem like New Orleans is a veg-friendly city. Since I'm here for a week and have to live on the cheap (but in a plush hotel, life is tough) I took a bus to Whole Foods and stocked up on all sorts of stuff. I asked the hotel for a fridge and they brought me one, so I think I'll be ok nutrition-wise. Last night I found a cool (and cheap) hybrid Thai / Vietnamese restaurant not too far from the hotel: Hipstix. They didn't have loads of veggie options, but easy to get tofu instead of chicken, beef, or seafood on the noodle dishes. The "Siam Street Noodles with Tofu" were delicious, so maybe I'll head over there again during the next few days. Dinner with the company tonight was at a touristy place in the French Quarter - only vegan option was a salad (iceberg lettuce and one slice of tomato) and french fries. My carnivorous companions didn't seem to fare so well either - everything in the place (other than red beans and rice or jambalya) was deep fried. The steppers must burn through a million calories a day, so I guess they can eat that stuff? Before I left home, Cameron helped me look up a yoga studio that does Bikram, so I'm going to try to squeeze in a class tomorrow. I just have to figure out the bus routes to get there...

Comissioning Club

Over the last two years, I've used the "commissioning club" concept to raise money for two projects: first was for writing a piece for the ensemble Fireworks - that was recorded during a reading at the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium in 2005. In the fall of 2006, the club matched a grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities for DCIC to make a studio recording. That turned into "Triangulation," our forthcoming CD. It's at Oasis CD Manufacturing now - we should get 500 copies delivered later this month.

The idea of the commissioning club is to aggregate gifts from a group of donors, at all levels, in order to commission new music, an opportunity that is typically only available to very wealthy individuals. Bang on a Can uses this model very effectively, they call theirs the "People's Commissioning Fund." My nonprofit, Improv Arts, hasn't come up with a catchy name yet.

For 2007, the Improv Arts Commissioning Club is collecting money to develop new music for The Low End String Quartet. In addition to this high-falutin' pan handling campaign, I wrote a bunch of grant proposals for the project. I already got rejected by Montgomery County, but haven't heard yet from the Argosy Foundation's Contemporary Music Fund or the DC Commission. Hopefully at least one of those will come through. My batting average for grants this year is pretty low. Zero, actually. So I'm due for a "yes" one of these days. It's discouraging to be rejected so many times, but that's the way it works.

For complete info about the commissioning club, click here.
For more about the Low End String Quartet, click here.

Pange Lingua

I started working on this song / recording a few weeks ago. Again, it's another project that I've started and I don't know where it's headed.

A few notable aspects of this one:

• It's a song. Like, with words and stuff.
• It's got a steady pulse and chords and other trappings of "song" in the common usage of the term. It's got loud guitars and even a short shred-y solo.
  
• Text is from a latin hymn. It's one that you encounter during music history class because the plain chant became the basis of various polyphonic pieces... so you run into it first as chant, then as organum, and eventually as the basis for a mass by Josquin. I didn't use any of that music, though. Just swiped the first three lines of the text:
  

Pange lingua gloriosi
Corporis mysterium
Sanguinisque pretiosi

in English:
Sing, my tongue
The mystery of the glorious body
And the precious blood.

I tried to take this religious text out of context and get at the strictly physical / sensual side of things. That's probably why I'm stuck and don't know where it's headed - I'm not sure what comes next. Maybe a related (musically) song with original or found text? Maybe something that has spirituality and sex and love all tangled up nicely. If it's going to be a found text, I need something public domain. Preferably really old. But then I don't want something that sounds stilted, since I want it to be visceral and sensual. Or maybe I get away from text altogether and just write some instrumental music?

Maybe I just leave it in the "incubator" for a while. Suggestions welcome.

Death Slug rears its Forgotten Head

I almost deleted an email yesterday, assuming it was spam, but luckily I read it first. Turns out it was an honest-to-goodness online order for five copies of "Death Slug 2000," a CD I made with Ty Braxton when we were both in school at Hartt.

This was pretty surprising, since the only place you can order a copy is this very outdated page at Metatron Press.

Ty has become something of a rock-star (deservedly so) now that his band, Battles, has become a favorite of critics and hipsters alike (deservedly so). Maybe it figures that as more people get to hear him, a few brave geeks venture far, far down the Google search results and find our sad, forgotten web page about dear old Death Slug. (Maybe it helps that I added it to Ty's Wikipedia entry a couple of years ago... come on - wouldn't you add yourself to the entry of an up-and-coming celebrity that you happened to make a CD with many years ago? Oh, you're too cool for that... Humbug! I'm sure you'd do the same. You're not fooling anyone, you smug imaginary reader of my blog that I am addressing in parentheses)

So last night I had to dig around for left-over copies of the DS2K packaging and I burned the discs, and now I'm on my way to the post office to mail them out.

Here's a link to a funny YouTube video of Ty's feet during a Battle's show. And here's a short snippet from their show last spring in DC. I had the good fortune of being there - it was a very good show. If you're curious, or just too cheap to buy their album, hype machine scours the blogosphere for you and finds free mp3's.

UPDATE (Aug. 11, 2009): Death Slug 2000 is now available online via our bandcamp page. You can listen to the whole thing, or download your own copy for only $3.

Romance of the Surveillance Machines

I made this recording a couple of weeks ago. It's been a while since I did any ambient guitar music, so I thought I'd revisit some familiar territory. I think this might be the opening section of a larger scale composition, although I'm not exactly sure what that's going to look like yet. For now, it's just a 7 1/2 minute piece of ambient-electronic-stoner-rock (maybe?).

It's all guitar, except for the electric piano and sampled french horns (horns enter around 5:30). I'd love to replace them with real horn tracks -- if you know a good horn player in the DC area please let me know...

bizness

Today was the deadline for a local grant program (the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities' "Small Projects" program). It's one of the few funding opportunities in our region that accepts applications from individual artists (as opposed to nonprofit organizations).

There's one catch: to be eligible, you have to be a D.C. resident. Fortunately, both projects I proposed involve residents, so the applications came from them (technically).

First, I wrote one asking for money for studio time to record a demo for the Low End String Quartet. Fortunately, our violinist lives in D.C. Unfortunately, she is out of the country at the moment, so getting her signature on the forms was a little tricky. Fortunately, she had access to email and a scanner, so we worked it out. I sure hope this one gets funded... I feel like this group has great potential, and if we can get some good recordings, we'll have good work samples to use for other grant programs and then we'll be well positioned for suckling at the teat of institutional arts funders. Oh right, as the economy tanks (which is imminent) arts funding will be the first slice of the nonprofit sector to dry up. Fantastic. Anyway, maybe the recordings will help us get some gigs... part of the idea behind this group is that we're designed to play in "alternative" venues (that's highbrow-speak for bars and clubs, you know, like the places I'm usually playing in).

Back in '06, DCIC put in a similar proposal, and that paid for 2/3 of our studio time used in making our forthcoming CD. Since we're self-releasing the album, I wrote a proposal this round for help with marketing. Our drummer lives in D.C., so this one is in his name. I sent out a barrage of emails last week searching for marketing help. I got several good referrals and lots of good ideas. Eventually, I was referred to Riot Act Media, and David really seemed to "get it" in terms of what we're doing and what would make sense given our limited resources. This doesn't seem like as much fun as a trip to the recording studio, but I've never had help with publicity before, so that actually is kind of exciting.

In other grantseeking news, I found out recently that my proposal to the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County was rejected. I don't live in Montgomery County, but Dan (bass player for the Low End Quartet and sometimes DCIC) does... I was able to "observe" the review panel as they discussed our proposal. That was surreal, and I get a little taste of vomit in the back of my throat every time I tell the story - so I'm not going to type it all up here, but anyway, it was frustrating - and also hilarious, in a dark-comedy kind of way. I wasn't surprised we got rejected having observed the proceedings, but that still sucks. We submitted a really solid proposal for that one (for Dan and I to collaborate on new material for the Low End Quartet, rehearse it, do two "in progress" performances at small venues in Montgomery County, and then do a recording session). I haven't seen the list of who got funded yet, but from what I saw of the panel, I'm pretty sure our local chapter of Sweet Adelines got the money they asked for.

Station ID's for your MP3 Player

I made a few little snippets, in the style of radio station ID messages - only but for your iPod (or mp3 player of your choice). Here's the idea:

1. Download this zip file.
2. Unzip and load the mp3's into your player.
3. Add them to a playlist or two, or perhaps just leave them to be found while you're shuffling everything in your collection.
4. As your player shuffles through things, once in a while one of these little messages gets played.
   
5. You may be amused.

There are seven of 'em in the zip file. Here are a few as individual mp3's, in case you're too lazy to deal with unzipping....

• iPod Station ID no. 1
• iPod Station ID no. 2
• iPod Station ID no. 6
• iPod Station ID no. 7
  

Soda Can Mambo

I just recorded the number one jam of the summer. A bit late, so let's call it the number one jam of late September 2007. It's a dada-esque pop song. That may sound like an oxymoron at first, but have a listen to "Soda Can Mambo" and try to tell me it's not stuck in your head for days.

The number one jam of late September 2007 is missing one thing: Dance Craze.

That's where you come in:

1. Invent the "Soda Can Mambo" dance
2. Make a video of yourself doing the dance
3. We all become internet superstars for a few minutes

The headline of this post is a link to the mp3 file. The blue play button plays it in your browser. If you're curious, download the lyrics (pdf)

Shoot me an email when your video is done. And don't be mad at me when having this song stuck in your head for days and days drives you crazy. Trust me, I've had it worse. Now let's get cracking on that dance craze...

Quarry House wrap-up

DCIC played last night, opening up for Chris Black. It was the first show I put together at the Quarry House Tavern in Silver Spring, MD. It was a unique evening in many ways. In no particular order:

1. Quarry House is a neat little venue. It's a nice bar with great atmosphere. The ceiling is almost high enough for an upright bass. The staff that I've met so far have all be super nice and laid back. And how can you go wrong at a joint where they serve tater tots with Old Bay on them?

2. Cameron and Jen invited many friends, so we had a nice audience. Not huge, but nice. Which is much better than huge.

3. Mike, our sax player, called in sick. I made a few calls to try and get a sub, but it was short notice and that didn't pan out. So we played the show as a duo - guitar and drums. Chris joined us on bass for our last number. Lately, I've been playing without effects and gizmos - just my new guitar and amp (with distortion pedal and volume pedal, but that's it). The thought of doing a set of improvised music with just guitar and drums (and none of the looping and gizmonics that I used to use) was actually kind of terrifying. I think it worked out ok, actually. The music was quite different from what DCIC typically sounds like, but I think it was ok. We didn't record it though, so I only know how it sounded at the time, and while I'm in the midst of it, it's hard to judge.

On the sixth anniversary of 9-11

I should have been doing other work today, but instead I made this recording. I've been in a bit of a funk lately. Maybe it was the Dance Awards last night (tedious) (and I didn't win... which may have more to do with it than I'd like to admit), or maybe it was listening to the news this morning. Anyway, I couldn't concentrate on my work this morning so I made this.

Don't forget - DCIC and Chris Black coming up on Sunday at the Quarry House. Mmmm tater tots.

More vocals in my monitor (revised)

A while back, we were at a show and the opening act, a solo singer/songwriter, was being particularly fussy about the stage monitors. It seemed like between almost every song he was asking for something to be fixed in his monitor. I jokingly said to Cameron, "Some day I'm gonna write a song called 'Can I get some more vocals in my monitor?'" A few months later, I did.

I posted a rough sketch of this piece back then... Recently, Cameron and I (aka Eigenvalues) have made some tweaks and here's the new & improved version.

(little blue play button by the headline will play it in your browser; headline is a link to the mp3)

Chris Black and DCIC - coming soon

Rusty's adopted

UPDATE: 9/1/07
Actually, that didn't work out and now he's back with us (and we couldn't be happier)
------------------------------

Our lovable furry foster dog was adopted two weeks ago. I was waiting to make sure the arrangements "stuck" before writing about it.

He was adopted by a nice young couple from Philadelphia. They have one aussie already, a grumpy old codger named Rocky, who is also red; he and Rusty look like a matched set. We got word today that Rocky has come to terms with the new arrival and things are going well. We knew they would get attached to Rusty immediately - he's the sweetest puppy and just loves to snuggle. It sure was hard to let him go, but it's great to know that he's doing well and has found a good permanent home.

DCIC with Glorytellers at the Black Cat

Last night DCIC performed our first trio show of the season. All of our concerts since April or May were with Joe Lally, playing his songs. It was nice to get back to our regular thing; I think that spending some time learning songs and playing more structured music was a good exercise for us.

Playing at the Black Cat is fun. They treat the performers nicely there and since Ben knows the staff people so well, it's almost like we're playing at his house. Well, his house is a lot cleaner, but the sound system at the club is much better. They've made some upgrades to the system on the backstage and it sounds pretty good in there.

The Glorytellers drew a good crowd (especially for a Sunday night in August) so we had a substantial audience. Quite a change from our last few shows at Warehouse Next Door where it was just Ted and the sound guy. Ted was at this show too... so we didn't have any worries.

I've seriously down-sized my guitar rig for DCIC shows so I have no gadgets and gizmos. No fancy laptop guitar effects and I didn't even use any prepared guitar tricks. No alligator clips, no dulcimer hammers, no vibrator. I just played the guitar with my fingers and a pick. Ok, I brought a distortion pedal and a volume pedal, but that was it. I do love my new guitar. It just sounds so nice no matter what I do with it.... Ben was rocking a new translucent red drum kit. It sounds nice - and looks cool too. The guy's got it going on. And with Mike always looking the bad-ass, that means I've got some styling to do, huh? Cameron is really trying her best, but I'm a difficult case.

For this show we had our first composed material. One of the pieces was built around some patterns I actually notated. Another was built around a short melodic theme that Mike composed. That still left plenty of time for complete improvisations as well. I think we rocked. I'll know better after I hear the recording.

Eigenvalues with The PlayGround at Carter Barron

A little over a week ago, Cameron and I (aka Eigenvalues) had our first performance at the lovely & historic Carter Barron Amphitheater in Rock Creek Park. We were performing a condensed version of "My ocean is never blue" - a dance piece by Daniel Burkholder / the PlayGround. We provide the music. And we did.

The program was a mixed bag of dance companies - all of whom won awards in last year's Metro DC Dance Awards. Fortunately, there was one company with lots of kids - a youth tap company - so there was a decent crowd of relatives and well-wishers. The venue is large - it could have really felt empty but the turnout was ok. These mixed dance programs are always trouble, I think. They are typically not curated, per se, but thrown together for some logistical reason or another. There was no relationship between any of the work on the program. Daniel and I have done a lot of these kinds of shows over the last few years and we're always the weirdos.

In any event, our piece went very smoothly. No glitches or computer crashes (like we had in rehearsal) and I got to play my new guitar through the venue's massive sound system. That was nice. Also, the weather was perfect. Not your typical summer night in DC - it was actually really nice out - a perfect night for a free outdoor concert. I sure got lucky with the weather this summer - this one and the Joe Lally - DCIC show at Fort Reno had perfect weather.

Duodenum

I just made this little ditty for no particular reason. The 80's are cool again, so I used cheesy canned drums and a synth horn section. The horn stabs really crack me up. The voices are from online pronunciation guides for medical terms.

The headline is a link to the mp3 file, or press the play button next to the headline to hear it in your browser.

August's upcoming shows

I'm performing in two shows I'd like y'all to know about:

1. Eigenvalues will be appearing with The PlayGround again for a shortened version of "My ocean is never blue," a dance piece that we performed in last spring. The show is at the lovely Carter Barron Amphitheater in Rock Creek Park, and it's free. The evening will also feature performances by other dance companies that picked up awards in last year's Metro DC Dance Awards.

The details:
Saturday August 11th, 7:30 pm, FREE >>Link

2. DC Improvisers Collective will be at the Black Cat opening for Glorytellers. It's been quite some time since we did our thing... over the last few months we were busy being Joe Lally's back-up band (which was great fun). I've written a few things that we'll play around with at our next rehearsals. It's likely that we'll have some different material for this show. Well, actually, we always have different material because it's all improvised; what I mean is that this new material has some (gasp!) composed elements.

The details:
Sunday August 19th, 9:00pm, $7.00 >>Link

Rusty update

It's been about three weeks since Rusty arrived from the shelter. At the time he was in sad shape. His fur was matted badly, he had just been fixed, and he was severely under weight - he was 33 pounds, and should probably be around 60. And he stank, too. Now it's been a few weeks of a steady diet, two baths, and he's doing much better. We're just fostering him for an Aussie rescue. He's ready to adopt now. How could you not want a sweet dog like this?

Last weekend, we were in Atlanta visiting the un-laws, and another Aussie rescue volunteer took care of Rusty for us. While he was there, she snapped this glamour shot:

Pattern Sketch

Here's some more new music. I just made this recording, and I'm not exactly sure where this material might be headed. I am playing around with minimalist sorts of interlocking patterns, but trying to find ways to make the texture breathe, and have a more human feel. Often this sort of thing gets to be too mechanical, I think.

Headline of this post is a link to the mp3, or just click the little play button next to the headline.

Triple Helix

This is a guitar piece I recorded yesterday. It's loud and feisty.

Headline of this post is a link to the mp3, or just click the little play button next to the headline.

Our new arrival

Rusty
Originally uploaded by J_matis

Meet Rusty. We're now a foster home for Aussie Rescue, and Rusty here is our first guest. Cameron picked him up last night at the vet. He's had a rough patch... in addition to just getting fixed, he's been at the local shelter for a while. Long enough that he was going to be put down, so the Aussie Rescue folks sprang into action and now he's living with us. He's bigger than Wickett, but only weighs 33 pounds. And he needs a bath. So far, he's getting along well with Wickett and he's proving to be a real sweetheart. If you'd like to adopt Rusty, let me know!

Joe Lally and DCIC at Fort Reno

IMG_1919
Originally uploaded by J_matis

The weather yesterday was perfect. Perfect for a picnic and a free outdoor concert. So that's what we did. A good time was had by all (especially Wickett who played fetch for hours and befriended many children). Some rocking occurred. We made delicious peanut noodles and they couldn't have been better. Photo by Cameron.

Time to update the resume

I just got word that I've been selected as a "finalist" for the Metro DC Dance Awards in the category of "Excellence in Sound Design/Original Composition." This year, the nomination is for my piece with Step Afrika!. It's the second year in a row that I've been a finalist. Woo hoo!

Haircut

All the boys in the house are freshly shorn for summer. Cameron buzzed my head last week, step one in her rock-star makeover plan. Wickett got his shave yesterday. Now he looks nothing like a rock-star, but hopefully he won't be so hot.

Stupid Pitchfork - Pimpin' Fort Reno

Stupid Pitchfork posted this article last week... plugging the upcoming Fort Reno show: Joe Lally and DCIC, opening for The Evens. No mention of DCIC, though. Stupid Pitchfork. Anyway, good press for the show. Hopefully it will get some local media mentions too. In any event, I'm sure it will draw a good crowd and be the most fun event of the summer. Don't miss it. Most fun event of the summer. And it's free.

My Laptop Guitar Rig

I've been getting many hits on the blog with search terms like "guitar and laptop" so I figured I'd take a few minutes and give the lowdown on my laptop guitar rig... this post will only be of interest to a subsection of guitar & computer geeks. If that ain't you, then read no further my friend.

Several years ago, I sold my racks of guitar effects & processors, convinced that it was redundant (and heavy) to use all of this dedicated hardware to perform functions that my laptop oughtta be able to handle by itself. I've since learned that this is not entirely true, although improving steadily as technology (and market demand for these gadgets) progresses.

I sold my tube pre-amp (an ADA MP-1) and my Rocktron Hush IIcx (guitar noise reduction). I still regret it to this day. I bought them both used, and sold them several years later for what I paid... they retained all their value, and sounded great. Oh well. I've since picked up a tube preamp, and a new guitar (with a humbucker, so I can avoid using my noisy single coil pickups if necessary).

So that's the first lesson... get the guitar signal into the computer using actual tubes. The amp and cabinet simulators are impressive, but still don't cut it (in my opinion). I use Amplitube, and Guitar Rig, but they both sound better when there's a tube in the signal chain before they get any audio. Here's the geeky goodness from the start of my signal chain to the finish:

1. Guitar
I have a heavily customized strat-style guitar. It has three Van Zandt "rock model" single coil pickups. They sound beautiful, but my guitar is very noisy. It doesn't play well with theater lights and clubs that don't have properly grounded outlets. I don't know if that's the pickups or my guitar - it could be that the guitar is not properly insulated and a good guitar tech could make it nice and quiet, but I haven't spent the money to find out. I've also got a custom neck, made by Warmoth. It's the biggest thing they could make for me that would still fit on a strat. I have Gotoh tuners. Recently, I bought a Les Paul "BFG" that has a humbucker and a single coil pickup. The humbucker solves my noise problem.

1b. Distortion pedal
When I'm not too lazy to bring it with me to gigs, I use a Buda tube overdrive pedal. It has two actual tubes in it and it sounds delicious.

2. Preamp
The output of the guitar heads to a PreSonus BlueTube preamp to get some real tube color before I send it into the computer. This is a nice, versatile, piece of gear. I got mine used, and I'm very happy with it. When I'm not using my laptop rig, I use this preamp & my Roland keyboard amp. This thing actually gives me a decent guitar tone through a keyboard amp.

3. Audio Interface
I'm using a PreSonus FirePod to get audio in and out of my laptop. It took me a few weeks to get it working nicely with Windows XP, but now that I have it set up, I'm very happy with it. It sounds nice. I've used it for recording in many different contexts, and it always does the trick. I picked mine up used (thanks Graham!).

When I first set up my laptop rig, I was using an M-Audio MobilPre interface. That thing is a piece of junk. I don't recommend it. The preamps do, in fact boost incoming signals. They do not, however, sound particularly good.

4. Laptop
I have a Sony Vaio with a Pentium 4. I will not buy another Sony laptop. It had a problem with overheating, which caused the CPU to slow down, which caused glitchy audio. Blowing the vents with canned air fixed the problem (for now). I also get some nice noisy interference, even when things are grounded properly. I've tried my audio interface on an old iBook, and there's NO NOISE. So I'm pretty sure the problem is inside the Sony.

5. Software
Once the guitar gets into the laptop, I'm using a variety of things. Mostly, I'm using Audiomulch. This is fabulous software (and cheap!). There's a large, active user community, and it keeps improving. It does lots of things that I don't use, but it makes a great environment for patching together contraptions for signal processing. It hosts VST's, so I can use lots of third-party processing contraptions, and it's very easy to manage signal routing and mixing. In some ways, it's like Max/MSP for guitarists (i.e. idiots). You can't build your own gadgets, but most guitar gizmos have been duplicated as free VST's. Almost all of the VST plugins that I use are available for free. The exceptions being Guitar Rig and Amplitube. Audiomulch is great for real-time processing, and I've been performing with it for several years. It's reliable. Can't say the same for all of those free VST's, so you need to keep an eye out for sloppily coded plugins that can make things unstable.

6. Control Surfaces
Now that all my processing is happening "in the box" I need some knobs and buttons so I can actually perform live and control this stuff. I use two: one UC-33, so I have knobs and faders, and one ART X-15 Ultrafoot. I picked it up used, very cheap, and it seems to be durable. One drawback is that the paint job is so horrifyingly ugly. I solved this with black paint and a paintbrush. I also don't like to have manufacturer's logos visible on stage, so I was happy to paint over that junk anyway. Audiomulch makes it so easy to map MIDI controllers to the software processors, even a guitarist can do it. With these two control surfaces, I have all the knobs, faders, and footswitches I could want, and set up is a piece of cake.

7. Outboard gear
When my laptop was overheating, I didn't trust it to do looping. So I put a Lexicon JamMan in my rack with the FirePod. Since the FirePod has 8 ins and outs, it was very simple within Audiomulch to make an aux send to feed the JamMan, and an aux return to bring it back into the laptop. Now that I have the laptop heat issue resolved, I still use the JamMan just to take that function off my CPU, and leave processor power for other stuff.

8. Amplifier
So, now the laptop has done it's magic and it's time to bring audio out into the real world... I use a pair of Roland KC-150 keyboard amps as a makeshift stereo PA. They are fairly small and lightweight, and versatile. They are transparent sounding, so there's no additional amp color added at this point. I also bought two long (50 foot) cables to go from balanced TRS 1/4" (the output of the FirePod) to XLR, so I can patch into a house PA when I'm playing in places with good sound systems -- and keep a balanced connection.

So I think that's it... that's my laptop guitar rig in a nutshell.

The Recap

I've got a few assorted bits of news to share... in no particular order:

1. Last Sunday was the end of my run of shows with Step Afrika. It was loads of fun. They are incredible. The new theater at Atlas is really nice (and really well equipped), it was a treat to do five shows in a row at such a plush venue. Step Afrika packed the place too. Most of the shows were sold out - or damn close to sold out. The crowd went nuts every night. There were many families with kids there, and the kids were adorable; after the show some of them wanted all the performers' autographs. That was new (and hilarious) for me... I had to sign autographs! The show got a great review in the Post. Thankfully, there's hardly any mention of my piece (and no, it's not techno music). The critic was there on opening night, when our piece, "Nxt/Step" was marred by technical problems (we didn't get the live video stuff really worked out until the final show, actually). After the first two shows, I was asked to change my little "solo" section - so it would rock more. Which I did, so I got a little solo every night where I got to rock out. I just got word that they've been asked to do this piece in New Orleans at the NPN conference in December. I probably shouldn't mention that so as not to jinx anything... but keep your fingers crossed - it would be cool to travel with them & cool to perform and mingle at NPN.

2. The DC Improvisers Collective's latest CD, "Meme and Variations" got reviewed in Cadence Magazine... and the critic singled out the prepared guitar work... and compared me (favorably) to Keith Rowe and Sonny Sharrock. Crazeee.

"...No such limitations [on spontaneity] hamper the free blowing of the DC Improvisers Collective (Ben Azzara, d, perc; Daniel Barbiero, b; Jonathan Matis, g, prepared g, electronics; Mike Sebastian, ts, ss, bcl.) The 57-minute Meme and Variations (Sachimay 31) presents ample opportunity for everyone to solo, and this is accomplished with skill and thoughtfulness. The prepared guitar work is especially noteworthy, sounding at first like a mixture of Keith Rowe and Sonny Sharrock but taking on a refreshing life of its own as the disc proceeds. The four long tracks (Affinity is as Infinity Does/Four Soliloquies (a) The Composition of Air (b) Opaque Mirrors (c) A Portrait of Jerome Horwitz as a Young Man (d) The Unwobbling Pivot/After Europe After the Rain/Meme & Variations) veer between modality, swing, and controlled freedom."

3. And to top it all off... The Fort Reno schedule is out - and we'll be playing with Joe Lally on July 2nd, opening for The Evens. (I get to open for The Evens two years in a row - how lucky is that?) It's free... and it's going to be a really fun night. Come on out, I'll bring a big cooler full of soft drinks and snacks, and you can throw a ball for Wickett. He'll be your friend for life.

A very special day

Today was certainly a good day. For many reasons...

1. Cameron and I both kind of took the day off (now that we're both freelancing it's hard to tell if it's a day off, or just a day unemployed) and had lunch at Sticky Fingers Bakery. Yum. They have vegan soft-serve ice cream. I haven't had soft-serve in many years. That was very special.

2. After lunch, we went and bought my new guitar. I shouldn't have spent the money, but I felt like I found "the one." I found out about it yesterday. It's not particularly rare or hard to come by. I stumbled across the manufacturer's website because I googled "Duane Denison" (I've been on a Jesus Lizard kick lately) and there's a promo video where he gives a sales pitch for the guitar. It's a Gibson Les Paul "BFG." The marketing stuff from Gibson is hilarious. "It's a stripped down rock 'n' roll flamethrower..." (and that's only the first sentence in their hyperbole-drenched promo blurb). I guess the demographics for electric guitar buyers must be a strange mix of knuckle dragging Neanderthals and teenage metal enthusiasts. My inner caveman head-banger must be the one that controls my wallet, because I ran out and bought one. It's black. Sort of... The idea behind this instrument is that it's sort of unfinished and raw looking. It has all the components of a "real" Les Paul, but none of the fancy finishing touches. The top isn't sanded, there are no covers on the pickups, no truss rod cover, etc etc - but it sounds like the real thing, because it is. But it's a little bit cheaper since it's kind of unfinished. A perfect match considering what my current guitar looks like (hacked up with a circular saw and the paint stripped off). But this one sounds and plays soooo much nicer. I've never actually had a "pro" grade instrument before. Woo hoo! Very special.

3. Today was my first peach of the summer. Nothing fancy, just from the neighborhood Safeway. A white peach. Ripe and delicious. Very special.

4. The weather was really nice and we made dinner on the grill. Tofu and vegetable fajitas - with a cilantro-lime marinade. Delicious. We made it with cilantro from our herb garden, and ate outside on the deck. Very special.

Stepping, and Rocking (and Jammin' Java)

The DC Improvisers Collective just played our second show backing Joe Lally. This little project has been just great... I think we're getting the hang of Joe's songs, and actually starting to figure out what this material - and ensemble - should sound like. And more importantly, it's been fun fun fun.

We played last night at Jammin' Java in Vienna, Virginia. It's a funny little club / coffee-house in a strip mall in the suburbs. I hadn't played there before - it turns out that it's quite the plush venue. There's like a green room and stuff. And they have music stands, and some nice microphones - and the sound guy was terrific. Sadly, the vegetarian chili is not vegan. Cameron and I walked across the street to Amma - a vegetarian Indian restaurant - and they botched up our order (by not actually cooking our food) so we had to leave without dinner, since I had to be on stage. Soft pretzel and beer for dinner at the club. Why do Virginia clubs only sell the meat-food? (Besides Galaxy Hut, are there any other veg-friendly rock clubs on that side of the Potomac?) I shouldn't be so complainy - the club was quite nice and the people there were very friendly - and I did mention the good sound, right?

Anyway, the show went quite well. I think Joe is writing some excellent songs, and I think the combo of his composed music with our improv group is really clicking. I actually "composed" quite a bit of my own parts, so I'm not really improvising all that much - but there's still plenty of room in the songs to let them go where they seem to want to go in the moment. Joe is heading off to Japan for a month of shows - but (please keep fingers crossed) we hope to be playing at Fort Reno with him in July.

After our last rehearsal, he gave me a CD of rough mixes of nine new songs that he's recorded - and he invited me to work up some guitar parts and come down to the studio and see what happens. I had to act all cool and collected and professional, and respond like, "yeah, of course, I'd be happy to," like this sort of thing happens all the time. But really I'm like a giddy little kid jumping up and down and hooting and hollering (on the inside). I've listened to the new songs - and have LOTS of ideas, hope to begin working them out in earnest later next week. His songs are really spacious. One of their greatest charms is all of the open space - so I have to try not to clutter them up. But you know, I'm a guitarist, so I want to play all over everything. Let's see how well I'm able to practice restraint. His songs are also very minimalist - with lots of simple (in a good way) riffs that repeat and repeat. I think it's a good fit for me these days - I'm enjoying playing only a few notes over and over and over lately. For the dance piece I just did with the Playground, there were several sections where I played for three or four minutes at a time with only three notes to choose from.

And in a totally different musical universe, I've also begun rehearsals with Step Afrika for our upcoming shows at Atlas (May 30 - June 3). We're re-mounting a piece that we performed last November at Dance Place - with some nice improvements. I spent the last two days in rehearsal with them, and head back on Monday and Tuesday for more. They're loads of fun to work with, and it's an interesting challenge for me. It's kind of hilarious that this professional step company hired little white jew-boy with glasses to write and perform the music for their Big Ambitious Major New work - but I'm loving it. There are a few sections where I get to rock out with the heavy distorted guitar. With all the steppers, it's like playing with a whole percussion section (that happens to have crazy moves as well as chops). Someday I'd love to work this piece up for a larger instrumental group - it would be super cool to do with the Low End String Quartet... But that's just pipe dream for now. This time around I'm keeping it all solo, you know, so I can eat.

"no more data entry"

Last night DCIC played our first show backing Joe Lally. We had two rehearsals. I think we sounded pretty good. But I might be biased. The show was at La Casa in Mt. Pleasant - sponsored by Hear Mount Pleasant and a benefit for Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School.

The room reminded me very much of playing shows at Abbey House at Connecticut College. With the addition of crosses and some other Christian paraphernalia. And a small stage. And lots of toddlers. Don Zientara opened the show, and was upstaged by a gaggle of squirmy kids. They either got worn out, went home, or went to play somewhere else by the time we came on? Maybe kids don't like us. The audience was a who's who of DC Hardcore ex-scenesters (and their toddlers). It was like Fort Reno, but more exclusive (and with gross carpeting and the faint odor of rat poop). Watching all the kids rolling around on that carpet made me queasy.

But seriously, the venue was cool... a nice small room, and appreciative audience. Way better than playing in a bar.

Joe Lally has a recent CD out on Dischord, "From There to Here," and we played most of the songs on that record plus a handful of new ones. Thankfully, I didn't see Guy Picciotto in the audience until halfway through the set - that would have made me super nervous. Especially since he actually played most of the guitar parts on the record that I am butchering. Ian Mackaye and Brendan Canty were there too... Am I a rockstar yet?

We're playing with Joe again on May 17 at Jammin' Java in Vienna, Virginia (just down the street from Sunflower Vegetarian Restaurant). Don opens again.

rock... and roll and lift and turn

Last weekend Eigenvalues performed with the PlayGround at Dance Place. Three shows, and they all went pretty well. Actually that's not true. The first one was super shaky but after that all was good. The show went well - we got a pretty nice review in the Post. Daniel and I also re-staged our duet, "unmapped" that we did for 24 hours last summer. Apparently, according to the critic, it's about "male energy" and my guitar is a remote control. That's all news to us but I'll take it - I think those were generally good comments about the piece?

Coming up this weekend: DCIC performs with Joe Lally. Super exciting! We had one rehearsal scheduled before the show, so I had to learn all the songs on his new album last week (while in rehearsal for the big production at Dance Place). Thankfully, they're nice and simple. And good... simple is good. We had our one rehearsal, and it sounded pretty good, I think. We're squeezing in one more rehearsal tomorrow night... so I'm certain we'll rock the house.

Vacation over

Just got back from an incredible trip to the Galapagos Islands. Photos coming soon...

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