new york, new york
29 July, 2008
sunday night was Share in manhattan. Share is a really great event. every sunday, electronic audio and visual artists gather and just make music and video together. i lucked up and was able to play a featured set this past sunday. it’s always great to play to an audience with previous experience in the kind of music i play. i feel like too often, people have no idea where i’m coming from. i can imagine that my music might not make a lot of since with no reference points to jump off from. i got some good constructive criticism. that’s rare.
monday we took the train to long island, the land of andrew marino. i had never been there before. the show was at the home of joe mcnulty, in sayville. a lot of the long island experimental musicians are people that i’ve been aware of for a long time, mostly through andy. it was great to see everyone play. a train was missed on the way back, so bret ruscha, steve flato and myself played music in the ronkonkoma train station at midnight. we didn’t have a lot with us, only two casio sk-1s, a few singing bowls and an assortment of cymbals. i thought it was really beautiful. it was less making music, and more interacting with the environment we found ourselves in.
buffalo, ny
25 July, 2008
the past three shows i’ve played have been outside. surprisingly, i think it’s a good place for me to play. there is a lot more interaction with ambient sound than inside a venue.
i got to play two shows in westminster. there are great people there.
greensboro, nc
22 July, 2008
after leaving louisiana, the van died. the fuel pump gave out, and drew and i we stranded on the side of I-20, at least seven hours and a time change away from atlanta. we got picked up by a tow truck, and needless to say, i had to cancel the show at wonderroot. i really hate to do that, more than anything. we ended up having to stay the night in a motel.
we expected to be able to make the south carolina show, but that didn’t happen.
the van was finally running at about 530, and we hurried to get home. we drove all night, through mississippi, alabama, georgia and south carolina. until about six in the morning, the gas tank started leaking. we had to pull over, just outside of charlotte, nc. that’s really not where i want to be at six in the morning, after not sleeping all night.
we got lucky, and my father was able to come and get us and help get the van to a repair shop. we made it to greensboro in time for me to do the WUAG show on sunday night. i was happy to not have to cancel yet another show.
so tonight i’ll be playing at nightlight in chapel hill, with olafur arnalds. i’m really looking forward to it. both the show, and to seeing some familiar faces.
after that i’ll be heading north to play in maryland, and do some performances at the buffalo infringement festival, as well as some shows in the new york city area.
there are some recordings from a couple of the shows so far.
here is a podcast from mark rushton, with performances from the iowa city show.
here are the recordings from the really great show in new orleans. it’s a set from myself, and one from justin peake, as well as a set that justin and i did together.
houston, tx
12 July, 2008
first, oklahoma city is a dead place.
second, houston, texas is not. there is a lot of life here.
we saw massive busts of every U.S. president, hidden in the warehouse district, in the parking lot of an artist’s studio.
the show, scheduled for saturday, was moved for friday. it worked out surprisingly well. notsuoh reminded me of goodbye blue monday, in brooklyn. i liked it a lot, even if the bathroom door didn’t close.
someone tried to steal a t-shirt from the merch table. i had been watching him for a while, and i jumped up to grab him after he put the shirt in his pocket. i really can’t believe anyone would think to even do that. it had to have been someone who exists completely outside of the world of independent music, anyone with even the slightest involvement would understand how completely inappropriate that is. but i caught it, and i’m glad for that.
kansas city, mo
8 July, 2008
we had a lot of time to kill in kansas city. eric lived here for a year, so he tried to find some spots that he remembered. most of them were long gone. it’s been a while since we’ve had time to explore a city. kansas city is somewhat nondescript. there wasn’t anything to remind me that i’m actually several hundred miles from home.
the venue was in the gallery district, in a converted old warehouse. i liked the space a lot. it was somewhat hot, but as the sun went down, the wind picked up, and things cooled off. expo ‘70 played after eric and i. i thought his set was really excellent. it wasn’t exactly what i was expecting.
we stayed at the venue last night, i slept on the same stage i performed on. eric didn’t stay at the gallery, he had another option, which turned out poorly apparently.
we are headed to manhattan, kansas in a few minutes. after that, we make our way down to texas. i’m looking forward to being in texas. i feel like i haven’t been in a long time, and i really like it there. it’ll be interesting to explore texas in a completely different context than i have before.
tonight is the last show with eric hall.
iowa city
6 July, 2008
in st louis, the show was at a diner on cherokee st called shangri-la. it was probably the most colorful place i’ve ever played. everyone played behind beads hanging from the ceiling. cherokee st seems like it’s on the verge of being a really cool place to be.
we ended up just hanging out in st louis for the fourth. at one point, we walked down cherokee to go to a show at apop reocrds. the entire time fireworks were exploding, literally everywhere. it was actually somewhat frightening.
saturday we made a long drive up to madison, wi. i did not know that the city was on the edge of several lakes. the venue was a house, in the middle of UW – madison’s frat court, on the edge of one of those lakes. it actually turned out to be a decent spot for a show. there was a decent, attentive turn out.
now we’re in iowa city. iowa is a surprisingly pretty place. we made the drive without any stops.
st. louis
3 July, 2008
akron was good. we wandered around for a good time, and ate peanut butter sandwiches on the top of the van. i met the first coffee shop that i haven’t liked. the turn out was decent. better than i was expecting, especially considering how last minute the whole thing was. we drove back to youngstown, ohio after the show.
in the morning, we woke up and drew discovered he was sick. we took him to a walk-in doctor. the people there were not that friendly, but they gave him drugs that made him better. he slept the entire way to cincinnati.
cincinnati reminded me a lot of richmond, virginia. the venue kept going on and on. it was a large place. i liked playing with a movie playing. for part of the set, ballet mechanique was playing. i am george anteil.
now we are in st. louis for the next couple of days. there’s been a lot of driving for the past couple of days, so i’m looking forward to having a break in that.
