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Re: BAY AREA new music scene
David Gans wrote:
"I tried, believe me. But I just wasn't weird enough."
Oh, I"m sure you did and sometimes, I agree, we are just not the right
thing
for a gig and it's good to 'get' it.
Although another thought I had about this later was that one of the most
enjoyable experimental music
gigs I"ve seen in the past year was when our own Ted Killian played with
Jeff Kaiser.
Ted did an amazing job of providing Jeff with beautiful and relatively
inside and consonant background
pads that were constantly evolving..................judged alone, they
would
have fit in with most ambient concerts
but the backdrop was exquisite for Jeff's really fascinating and more
avanted garde explorations.
I have to admit, a lot of new music and experimental music performances
leave me cold because they
tend to be devoid of contrast other than the:
Cliche formula for multiple person free improvs:
play disonantly and really sparsely........................(the quiet
section)
now play disonantly and really fill all the space (the loud part).
go back to the disonant, sparse approach until you just stop playing.
Of course, there are wonderful free players who avoid these cliches.
My
wife and I were lucky enough to participate in the longest running free
music weekly improv in London a couple of years ago when the fantastic
musician Paul Shearsmith took us.
we had nothing to play but what people lent us, objects in the room and
our
voices and there were a good 7 or 8 musicians in a couple of hour improv
that never stopped. It was amazing. I wish to hell we had taped it
because
it was one of the best things I've ever heard or participated in in the
free
improv scene.
D: "That's the ticket. As I've said before, I am a pretty
straightforward singer-songwriter type with a passion for loop
improv. I'm better off slipping my weirdness into straighter gigs
than vice versa."
R: I'm with you there.
D: "BTW, I played a gig with Joe Rut a couple of months ago. He left all
his gear at home and delivered a set of great solo acoustic songs."
R: Many, I am impressed with Joe Rut, I have to say. He just seems
like
someone who really listens
and really thinks about his response to everything. I can't wait to see
Lucio and him play in Boise in a
couple of weeks. That show that had Ted and Jeff on it also
featured
Lumper/Splitter
was really enjoyable that evening too, one of the best 2nd Sundays shows
we've had to date.
D: I've been playing with Henry off and on since 1988. The last time we
played together, on March 9, the set list included Richard Thompson,
the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, "Spill the Wine" (Eric Burdon and War),
and other pop classics.
R: Wow, that's incredible. I"m soooo jealous of you.
D: There was a gig in 1993 (I think) in which I found myself on stage
between Henry and the saxophonist David Murray - two veritable fire
hydrants of music - hanging on for dear life. That was a blast!
R: Again, what an amazing experience that must have been.
D: But I too, feel that I like conventional music too much for the
avante garde scene and am too 'out' for the conventional pop world
R: I so relate to you.
D: We need to find a scene that supports precisely our weirdness quotient!
R: Well, funny you should mention it.
Are you familiar with AmyXs work? her husband, Herb Heinz's music?
Do you know the SF band, Eddy the Rat? Niki Selkin's work? Peter
Whitehead's work? eve someone big
like the Sleep Time Gorilla Museum.
They are all bay area people doing unusual pop music that is decidedly out
of the box.
I've been thinking that someday I should put together an experimental pop
festival here in Santa Cruz and over at an art gallery
in San Jose. Would you want to participate?