Upcoming show: Low End String Quartet, Sept 21

Our next performance of the Low End String Quartet is coming up soon:

Tues. Sept. 21

at Strathmore Mansion in Rockville, Maryland.

Part of the Sonic Circuits Festival.

We're performing along with Fennesz (from Austria) and Janel & Anthony + Arturas Bumsteinas.

Very exciting. They told me that this show will sell out. Click here for tickets ($20).

Anthony, of Janel & Anthony, was my guitar teacher last year. He's amazing. So is Janel. There are many reasons to attend this performance. The music being at the top of my list. Check the links above and enjoy.

See you there?

Facebook event page: click here and RSVP, invite your friends, etc, etc.

Low End String Quartet: live

Recorded live last week at "Word Free DC"

I think I get ice cream now.

It's been a crazy few weeks, work-wise, and is shaping up to remain crazy for at least two more... but I just finished a whole bunch of things that all had to be done at the same time. What just happened?

• In the last two weeks, I got four proposals submitted to my county arts council. (They have all of their deadlines for the year in a three-week period, which is really awesome) Two from my nonprofit, and two from me as an individual artist. This year, I successfully delegated one of the Improv Arts proposals (thanks, Daniel!). We'll see if any of them work, but if funded we might:

1. do after-school shows at Joe's and the College Park Community Center;
2. hire a marketing strategy consultant to help us figure out how to put together all the different threads of our organization's communications - which is now a huge clusterf***;
3. "commission" myself to develop more solo repertoire - so I can do more concerts like the one I did back in March;
4. and take composition lessons from Alexandra Gardner.

• I finished up a big job that had a very short timeframe: producing original (recorded) music for a dance / theater show that goes up next weekend. I'm really happy with the results, and the process. This one had enough of a budget that I was able to hire some great people to play on it, I recorded all the live tracks at home, then took it to a professional studio and got it mixed right. The end result is nice. Sounds so much better than what I can do by myself in my home project studio. (for info about the performances next weekend, see facebook event)
  
  
• That job led to a booking for Low End String Quartet: we're doing "street performances" on May 15/16 in Reston, Virginia as part of the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival. Our regular cellist is out of town that weekend, but I lined up Gordon Withers to join us again (he played with us at Comet last summer) and the contract and associated paperwork is all done done done. We'll be at Reston Town Center's "South Market Promenade" Saturday, May 15, at noon, 2:45pm, and 4pm; Sunday, May 16, 11:30am. Free free free. Hopefully the weather will be nice.
  
  
• I'm working hard promoting "Word Free DC" on May 21st. That's proving to be a challenging task, but today we got some love from The Pink Line Project. Hopefully we'll get some more mentions around town in the coming weeks.

I'm also delighted to be back on my bike after a week. The weather is perfect and my nuts don't hurt! Yay!

Now I'm going to Island Style, where the non-dairy flavors still deserve the name "ice cream."

Later.

Thanks, mom.

So, I have a concert coming up on Saturday. I'm performing, as well as three other bands. There's an "event" set up in Facebook for it. My parents are coming. See that 2nd comment above? It's on the event's "wall" on Facebook. That's my mom saying "We wouldn't miss this for the world! You are the best!"

Thanks, mom. That's not embarrassing at all. Really.

Matis solo concert: March 27

I'm performing a solo recital as part of an upcoming Sonic Circuits event. I'll be playing one of my own pieces, and several works by other composers. Strangely, I've chosen pieces that were all written in the 1970's.

Maybe see you there?



the details:
Seijiro Murayama, Chris Forsyth, Lost Civilizations, Jonathan Matis
When: Sat, Mar 27, 2010 7:30 PM
Where: Pyramid Atlantic, 8230 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring, MD 20910 [map]
Doors: 7pm. $8

[facebook event link]

Costa Rica Bike Trip

Costa Rica bike trip 2010

C and I went on vacation with C's parents... on a "bike adventure" in Costa Rica. It was great. (photo is link to gallery)

UPDATE: Another member of our tour group, Teri Darnell, is a much better photographer and she posted much better photos on her site.

Apple Blossom

This is a piece composed by Peter Garland in 1972. It's originally written for, "3 or more marimbas, played by 4 or more musicians."

I've arranged it for guitar(s). I'll be playing this live, solo, on March 27th. I haven't done a solo performance in years. For this upcoming show, I'm working on a few pieces by other American composers and this is the first one I've prepared. I'm going to tackle James Tenney's "Saxony" next, and I haven't decided but I might do one of Charles Amirkhanian's text pieces (Church Car is ready to go). I'll do one or two of my own pieces too...

This one could easily be done with a large group of guitarists, like 9 or more. That would be awesome. Maybe not as awesome as the original marimba version, but I don't play the marimba. For now, here's the version of just me, nine times.

mp3, 7:36 (7.0 mb)

More info about Peter Garland:
Kyle Gann
Wikipedia
New Albion