Memory Palace

One thing I've been meaning to mention is an ongoing collaboration with Brooklynite composer Chris Cerrone.  When I met Chris at a picnic table outside of MassMoCA in the summer of 2010 he immediately recognized the IFARM sticker that adorned my old laptop. That's notable because to this day no single other person has that distinction.  Sure I'm into obscure thrashers but come on, people.  Get with it.

In the year that followed I heard several performances of Chris' music.  Most memorable was the large-scale production of his opera Invisible Cities at Columbia University and the small-scale production of How to Breathe Underwater, performed by Loadbang Ensemble at a tiny violin shop in New Haven.    

The haunting, reflective, lyrical qualities of these works stuck with me and I began to think of them as qualities lacking in percussion music, known more for its bombast than coloristic subtlety.  I was keen to hear how Chris would treat a percussive medium, and the process has been one of continual discovery.  However, I wasn't much help.  

     "No big instruments," I said.  "No marimbas."  

     "How about vibraphone?"  

     "Nope."  

     "Dude, you are killing me." 

When commissioning composers I tend to get obsessed with keeping things small and "tour-able". This runs the risk of inhibiting the sonic scope of a piece, but Chris picked up that creative gauntlet and got crafty.  No marimba?  No big deal.  Instead, he prescribed that I cut and sand seven boards, fine-tuning them to specific pitches.  In our recent test run of two movements at Fast Forward Austin we close mic'd the planks, added reverb, and the electronic component of the piece did the rest.  The result?  Humming drones from the boards, with the amplification and electronics acting as the resonators of our "marimba".  Other melodic instrument workaround experiments have included tuning metal pipes, plucking pianos, autoharps and zithers, tuning glass bowls with water, and some surprises I'd like to keep under my hat just yet.

The title of the piece is Memory Palace, a reference to the method in which medieval monks constructed imaginary buildings in their mind's eye as a means to mentally store information.  The finished work will span five movements with twenty or so minutes of music within a full premiere slated for June 20th at the Stone as part of a Sleeping Giant Collective bash. However, just as with FFA we're thrilled to offer a preview at next Saturday's Hartford New Music Festival.  See below!

Memory Palace at Fast Forward Austin.  Photo: Elisa Ferrari

This week (my week) at SXSW

When the dust settled from booking SXSW and Beyond shows I was surprised to find that starting this Thursday (tomorrow!) I’m playing 6 out of the next 8 nights in various capacities.  Since my natural state is tour-mode I’m extra excited since this is the closest thing to a tour I’ve been on since Sofakindom took the West Coast and our livers by storm back in ’05 (neither coast organs have been the same since).

The hot, hot dates!

Thursday, 3/15

Big Star Tribute

I’m playing in a small orchestra (with maestro Brent Baldwin at the helm) as part of a SXSW recreation of legendary indie band Big Star’s album Third.  As I have learned, Big Star was a huge influence on R.E.M. so as I play timpani, steel drum, and cowbell this Thursday at the Paramount actual members of R.E.M. will comprise the orchestra’s rock and roll section (historically, which emerged shortly after the demise of the basso continuo keyboard conductor in the classical era, famously rising to prominence as Beethoven’s hearing diminished).

But seriously, whoa. Actual famous rock star dudes.

Check it out here.

Friday. 3/16

Nonclassical Records Showcase

This year, London’s Nonclassical label joined forces with local boys done good Fast Forward Austin for an intercontinental indie-classical love-in featuring line upon line, Bel Coure, Peter Gregson (UK), P. Kellach Waddle and more.

For my part I’m performing Tristan Perich’s Observations with Adam Bedell (line upon line), a work for amplified sculpture by Lisa Coons wherin I alternately caress and assault a spiny hunk of twisted, welded rebar with all manner of implements, and Ian Dicke’s throwback loop-romp Eight Oh Eight.

Saturday, 3/17

Innova Records Showcase

It’s high time I met the nice folks at Innova Records because they are from Minnesota and so am I.  Hell, my mom is from St. Paul, where Innova is based.  Well, I finally get my chance when I sit in on drums with Austin renegade classical heroes Golden Hornet Project as we put the “rok” in Prokofiev.  I am really excited that also on that show are the masterfully innovative composer-performers Sxip Shirey and Todd Reynolds: Fiddle Wizard.  Does the fun ever stop?  No, it does not and please don’t talk with your mouth full of tacos like that.

Sunday, 3/18

Texas Lutheran University Perucssion Festival

This marks the first of 3 post-SXSW university stops.  The TLU visit is an especially exciting reunion since I was on faculty there, teaching percussion before I moved to the East Coast for love. These things happen, but I’m really excited to see the gang again. 

Again, I’ll play music by Tristan Perich, Lisa Coons, and Ian Dicke, but also Javier Alvarez, and Steve Snowden.  Professor Bedell has put together a great festival lineup of line upon line, Chris Lizak working his marimba magic, and the percussion groups of TLU and UT Austin.  So many old drum friends in one place it’s unreal.

Wednesday, 3/21

University of Texas San Antonio

I’m taking my electro-percussion show for a visit to my dear friend and Prince Edward Island native Dr. Graeme Francis and the UTSA percussion studio for a recital and open discussion about commissioning works and collaborating with composers.

Thursday, 3/22

Southwestern University

The final salvo in This Wild Week brings me to Southwestern University, where the wonderful Erin Martysz hosts me for a recital.  Of note is that Ian Dicke himself is also on faculty at SU, lending EXTRA GRAVITAS to my performance of his piece.

So if you’re in Austin come out to a show and say hi!  Or, can find me Saturday afternoon at Lovejoy’s, furiously bobbing my head at the Brooklyn Vegan heavy metal extravaganza.

Dual Loves: College Hoops and SXSW

 Some thoughtful thoughts as I plunge headlong into this year's South by Southwest festival.  

 

     Sporting isn’t often the first thing that comes to mind as one journeys forth to the cultural din of SXSW.   However, this year I’m considering similarities between two distinct worlds of March Madness, only one of which involves basketball.  Obviously, SXSW and the NCAA’s Annual Platform for Really Good Beer Commercials occur simultaneously, but underneath that coincidence lies a number of oddly unifying factors.  Each have an official selection process, although the real fun of SXSW are the innumerable and free unofficial shows attached to the festival like an iceberg’s bulk floating beneath the surface.  Fans pore over venue and show listings, charting their daily course through music, food, and booze as fervently as those who fill out basketball tournament brackets making agonizing decisions along the way about whether the 8 or 9 seeded team will come through in the first round, with the office money pool at stake.   

     For the players, both hold an opportunity to make it to the big leagues--to get noticed above the noise and be drafted by a small market NBA franchise or a major label.  But for most rockers and ballers alike it’s not as much a grab for glory as it is a chance to make much ado about having fun living in the moment, whether drunk on the camaraderie of hoops or Hornitos.  Each has their Cinderella stories of plucky 16 seeds that make the hallowed Final Four, or nobody bands propelled to sleazy stardom by the right combination of talent, buzz, and posturing.   

     64 teams. 2,000 bands. OK, that last statistic throws off my game, but each event represents the pinnacle of zeal and fanaticism for music and sports in America.  During March enthusiasm knows no bounds.  Ultimately, in the Final Four there is only one champion crowned, one net cut down (or do all Final Four goers do that?), whereas one could argue that at SXSW everybody wins, at least until you find yourself back at work the Monday after sleep deprived, sick as a dog, with irreversible hearing loss.

Fast Forward Austin

On this fine Sunday I have two things Fast Forward Austin related. One past, one future, both totally awesome.

FFA in NYC
As the weekend wraps up my head is still spinning from an exhilarating show last Thursday at the Gerswhin Hotel's Contagious Sounds Series.  To bring you up to speed, this concert series is curated by the Bang on a Can Allstar's pianist Vicky Chow and this particular event was presented by Fast Forward Austin,  a collective in Austin, TX who debuted their first annual Fast Forward Austin Festival last spring to much critical acclaim.  Thursday's show saw myself--a quasi-Austin artist, thanks to my time living there and wonderful friendships that remain--paired with ATX saxophone quartet Bel Cuore, who brought the house down with a truly face-melting (memorized!) set featuring music by Jennifer Higdon and Nick Sibicky as well as FFA co-founders Robert Honstein and Steve Snowden.  In fact, you can watch their entire set here, and I think you should!
[Click for SAXSPLOSION]

For my part, I was thrilled to represent the exploding Austin new music community in addition to serving as a sort of Central Texas new music ambassador, excited to share some hot new tracks (if you will) with an East Coast audience.  I picked pieces I had commissioned from an all star, all-Austin cast of composers including Graham Reynolds and the entire FFA crew, Steve, Robert, and Ian Dicke.  The only "non-Austin" piece was a duo for percussion, piano, and electronics by Daniel Wohl, but it fit the theme just fine since I was joined by Vicky who happens to be this year's Fast Forward Austin Festival headlining artist.  If you're curious, you can watch my set here.
[Click for JAMS]

Which brings us nicely to...
Fast Forward Austin: April 15, 2012
I won't go on and on about how great this will be.  For your convenience I will list the Reasons of Greatness in a handy, linked, bullet-point format.

• Killer lineup
• Sweet venue
• Great cause
• There will be beer.  No link there, it's just kind of obvious
• Handsome festival co-founders

Beats to Brooklyn

This Friday, November 4th is shaping up to be killer time at Brooklyn's Cafe Orwell!  Thanks to Iktus Percussion Quartet for bringing together a very cool and diverse lineup.  The show was even a Time Out New York critic's pick, which is awesome.  For you social media blitzers, here is the Facebook invite.

Here's how it's gonna go down...

Iktus Percussion will open the evening with some serious glockenspiel rockenspiel in the form of Steve Reich's Drumming Part III in addition to an excerpt of Dark Full Ride, a face-melting drum set quartet by Julia Wolfe.

Next will be three short solo sets from myself, bass master general Lisa Dowling, and the inventive french horn/accordion guru Nathan Koci.

Rounding out the evening will be an Iktus/Elevator Rose team up for Philip Glass' entrancing work Music in Similar Motion.

8pm, suggested donation, map.

Color Field Festival Preview

Next week brings the 2nd annual Color Field festival,  organized by a similarly named group of musicians from the contemporary music graduate program at Bowling Green State University. The Color Field Ensemble mounted a new music festival last summer in Omaha and this year are taking their show on the road to Madison, Wisconsin.  As a proud Midwesterner I may be biased, but I'm especially psyched that the ensemble and the festival are targeting that region of the country.  With "contemporary classical music" you've got to build your own audience, and with the exception of emerging new music powerhouse Chicago, the Midwest has plenty of room for ensembles/bands/etc. Even culture capitol Minneapolis lacks a strong, local new music presence (if anyone can beg to differ please clue me in!).  So this year we're taking our talent to Madison to see what sort of audience and support we can drum for the likes of Andriessen, Crumb, Reich, Romitelli, and a bunch more.

The starting lineup for this year looks fierce. In addition to Color Field members Amanda DeBoer (soprano), James Fusik (saxophone), Karl Larson (piano, shred hands), and Jeff Weston (bass), we have a roster of guest artists including myself, Liz Ann (soprano), Molly McLaughlin (flute), Domenica Fossati (flute), Liz Lee (cello), Alejandro Acierto (clarinet), and Derek Johnson (guitar/composer/Meshuggah enthusiast).  Also joining us in Madtown for the affair are two of my favorite NYC composers and dudes in general, Robert Honstein and Ravi Kittappa.

Here's the breakdown of events:

Capitol Square Event
Friday, 8/19. 6:30pm: Capitol Square
Decantations 3, by Ravi Kittappa (premiere)

Concert One
Friday, 8/19. 8:30pm: The Overture Center for the Arts Rotunda Stage
Animans                         Andrew Smith (premiere)
Temazcal                        Javier Alvarez
Trash Tv Trance            Fausto Romitelli
cotrol/option/delete       Marcos Balter
Is It Auburn?                 Robert Honstein

Concert Two
Saturday, 8/20. 8:30pm: The Overture Center for the Arts Rotunda Stage
Duo for Flute and Voice                                   David Grant
Electric Counterpoint                                       Steve Reich
Madrigals, Book Two                                       George Crumb
Presence, Consequence & Submissiveness      Edward Hamel (premiere)

Concert Three
Sunday, 8/21. 2:30pm: The Overture Center for the Arts Rotunda Stage
Why are you not answering me?      Robert Honstein
Slapback                                           Michael Fiday
Two Seaming                                    Jane Rigler
Decantations                                    Ravi Kittappa
Workers’ Union                                Louis Andriessen

And YES, we are performing Workers Union in Madison, the epicenter of a recent, epic, and ongoing struggle for teachers' collective bargaining rights. Don't get much better than that.

My Three Favorite Books About Drumming, Ever.

 I'm no book reviewer, but I've always liked to read and I've always liked to play the drums (well, that came a while after the reading).  Lucky for me, they even have books about drumming, fancy that! With a quick holler to the Drumchattr crew and their summer book club that got my brain on the matter, I give you three drumming books that really brought it, each in their own special way.

 

The Percussionist's Art, by Steven Schick 

I read this one while working on a master's degree in Austin and was taken by its versatility and usefulness.  The book, written by legendary percussionist Steven Schick, offers intelligent and engaging anecdotes and philosophies about the author's journey into the then mostly uncharted world of "modern percussion" and serves as an invaluable performance resource for those attempting to play (or simply learn about) a number pieces written for and performed by the author.  Oh, and it comes with a CD of Schick rocking a good number of the music discussed at length in the book.  Basically, the guy who wrote the book on modern solo percussion playing has actually written the book on solo percussion playing, and it is equal parts smart, interesting, and enlightening.

Drumming at the Edge of Magic, by Mickey Hart.

This book found me (as some books do) during my freshman year of college, given to me by a hippie friend's hippie father.  Incidentally, those of the second generation are the only hippies my age I can get behind.  I prefer an apple fallen close to the tree to dreadlocked trustafarians in Northface parkas, but I digress, as always.  Mickey Hart is best known for drumming with Grateful Dead but his book, written with ethnomusicologist Jay Stevens, covers a broad range of times and places encompassing the supernatural, ritualistic, militaristic, and rock and roll applications of The Drum.  Above all, Hart expresses a true reverence not only for drumming and rhythm but also a drummer's opportunity to tap into something more powerful than him or herself.  It's his genuine love and appreciation of this stuff that carries the book, and all its winding stories with it.

Who is Bugs Potter?, by Gordon Korman

This book is the one.  It's the reason I started playing the drums, simple as that.  Why, you ask? Please...  It's about a kid named Bugs Potter that goes to Toronto for Canada's version of All State band, sneaks out of his dormitory every night in disguise to get into rock clubs, sits in on the drums with his favorite heavy metal bands, blows peoples minds with his drumming skillz, and becomes a sensation ALL THE WHILE  making sure no one at band camp is the wiser except his "flute guy" roommate who tags along to keep Bugs from getting mobbed by fans.  You try reading this in elementary school and not becoming a drummer. I dare you. You would fail. How this is not required primary school reading I'll never know...
I tell you what, I haven't thought about this book in years, but now that I have...it might explain a lot.

So there you have it, three awesome books about drumming. What are your favorite books about drumming or music, kids?  Read on, readers.