Kingtone

Albany CA is a sleepy little city that is part of the East Bay just north of Berkeley. A mostly ‘middle class’ (for the SF Bay Area) kinda place where people raise kids without the fears of many modern urban dwellers. It has a conservative 1950s feel to it, and from what I hear the cops there like it that way. Strangely enough, it is home to some amazing talent and subversiveness. Maybe that is not strange at all.

Here’s some examples I have experienced.

This past weekend I played on a session with Drag City artist, Edith Frost. It was a nice song titled, My Euphorbia and was recorded for a possible future DC comp that apparently has something to do with the tracks being performed live. Those in attendance were Edith, Wil Hendricks on standup bass, myself on guitar, Val Esway and Heather Davison on backup vocals. Edith and Wil (via Chicago) live in Albany.

Last monday night, we kicked off a new monthly ‘Improv Hootenany’ series at the Ivy Room in, you guessed it, Albany, CA. The idea is to have a place for outsound artists to hang out and try new and crazy music collaborations in an upscale, comfy, dimly-lit place where fans can come, sip a cocktail and appreciate the music with no cover. There was a featured set from Myles Boisen and John Hanes, sets curated by Jonathan Segel, Joe Rut, John Shiurba, Carnacki and yours truly - aided and abetted by the likes of Suki O’Kane, John Brumit, Karry Walker, Pat Spurgeon (of Rogue Wave), Morgan Guberman and some great walk ons. The whole evening was glued together with special DJ sets by LA based Scrote and Carnacki.

Several now legendary punk bands hail from Albany, CA - like Operation Ivy and offshoots like Schlong and Rancid. Schlong and OPIvy’s maniac drummer was Dave Mello, whom I played with in the HO! along with Albany’s Tim Romain and Joey Schaaf - who also played in The Dance Hall Crashers and in Zebu with myself and Dave Mello’s brother, Pat Mello (also of Schlong). Tight webs, these band lineages often are.

Albany, CA is also the home of Gerald Gaxiola aka The Maestro: King of the Cowboy Artists, which is, coincidentally, also a movie by El Cerrito’s Les Blank about The Maestro and making art for art’s sake. Every time I see it I want to be and remain, an artist.

note: El Cerrito is just north of and pretty much the same kind of place as Albany. And yes, Creedence Clearwater Revival started in El Cerrito.

I’ve got some SF Bay area shows and a short West Coast tour with two extremely talented NYC based players, Rob Price and David Grollman. Every time we’ve performed our brand of NY improv/noise it has really clicked.

Do come to a show - there are none planned beyond this, although some will pop up, I’m sure.

Sat May 10 - 2.30-5.30pm (FREE)
Lanesplitter Pub Anniversary Party
San Pablo & University, Berkeley, CA
I’m playing guitar in Joe Rut’s band and then with Val Esway & el Mirage.

Mon May 12 - 8.30p
Ivy Room
San Pablo @ Solano, Albany, CA
Strangelet (Suki O’Kane, Jonathan Segel and I) will make experimental noise with a groove (or not). This oughta be interesting considering the decor and vibe of the new ‘Kingman’s Ivy Room.’ I suggest you all come to see if we get kicked out.

Fri May 16 - 8pm
Totally Intense Fractal Mindgaze Hut
671 24th St, Oakland, CA
The Cinepimps (Keith Arnold, Al Alvarez, Suki O’Kane, et al) will unleash a barrage of film and music.

Price, Grollman, Menegon West Coast Tour

Tues May 27 - 8pm
21 Grand
416 25th St., Oakland, CA
w/ Suishou no Fune (Japan)

Wed May 28 - 8pm
JavaLounge
2416 16th Street, Sacramento, CA
also w/ Ross Hammond, Panic Opera (Reno)

Thurs May 29 - 9pm
Red Rock Bar
241 S. Sierra Street, Reno, NV
w/ Schitzopolitans

Fri May 30 8pm
Boise Experimental Music Festival
El Korah Shrine Center
1118 W Idaho, Boise, ID

Sat May 31- 1.30p
Boise Experimental Music Festival
El Korah Shrine Center
1118 W Idaho, Boise, ID
Strangelet (LM solo)

Sometimes a theme comes at you from all angles and this past week it was art for art’s sake.

Last night I took in the animated film, Persepolis. It is an adaptation of the memoir by Marjane Satrapi and tells the story of a girl growing up in Tehran before, during and after the Iranian Revolution. It is a great story, told well and revealed through beautiful (mostly) black and white animation, full of shadows, contrast and shades of grey. Should anyone care how much of it is based in truth? I certainly don’t.

Earlier, while studying at the local library, I looked up from my work and staring at me was a little paperback copy of Oscar Wilde’s, The Picture of Dorian Gray. The preface by Wilde includes the thesis,

To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim, that all art is at once surface and symbol and those that go beneath the surface and those who read the symbol do so at their peril, for it is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.

Then there was the passing of Teo Macero, who produced Miles Davis in the 60’s and 70’s. Several works from that era, most notably the groundbreaking Bitches Brew, were a pastiche of improvisations and song sketch recordings, edited together. This was a controversial break from traditional jazz ‘realism’ recording philosophy.

Mr. Macero strongly believed that the finished versions of Davis’s LPs, with all their intricate splices and sequencing — done on tape with a razor blade, in the days before digital editing — were the work of art, the entire point of the exercise. He opposed the current practice of releasing boxed sets that include all the material recorded in the studio, including alternate and unreleased takes.

Lumper/Splitter, a 2004 collaboration with Joe Rut lives up to this ideal. We recorded some 40 hours of our guitar duo improvisations, narrowed it down to several hours of material and then edited out all semblance of overt melody and rhythm. We merged, added and manipulated, eventually creating a soundscape with a whole new vibe, rhythm and melody - quite different from anything we perform live. That was the point of the exercise and a work we are very proud of.

3 sets at the 2nd Boise Experimental Music Festival!

1st was a trio improv with Joe Rut on guitars and things, Krispen Hartung on Max MSP warped vocal and myself on Noise Swash. Very fun.

2nd was an improv with Rob Price and Dave Grollman, who I had been touring in support of for the past week. We did a short set and definitely added a little extra NYC to the festival after the amazing set they did Friday night.

3rd was Lumper/Spitter (Joe Rut and myself) in a headline evening spot. We did four distinct improvisations, focusing on different aspects of our playing. We started with some acoustic ambience (metal sculpture and objects), cycled thru a Glenn Branca influenced piece (me on unison tuned guitar, Joe on his new ‘microphonaphone‘ invention), morphed into a dual guitar improv and ended with our skit, ‘Improvisational Surgery for Dummies.’ Surgery involves us performing sonic surgery on an ‘ill guitar patient’ on a stagefront ‘triage table’ - brought to the room’s attention in dramatic fashion by our buddy Jeff Kaiser. All I can tell ya is we tore up. Joe and I both felt it going in, while playing and afterwards.

A good feeling and a good day, indeed.

photo by Jeff Kaiser

Lisa Mezzacappa and Jon Brumit are running Community Music Sound Project/Gold Record Studios - a free recording studio every Sunday through mid-May at the Laney College flea market in Oakland. They have an antique record cutter and are inviting YOU, the public, to join them and weekly special guests (me, Joe Rut and John Hanes on this day), and record a gold record on the spot!

It was insane fun. I was out there hustling potential stars to make a record. Some people took up the challenge and we had some hilarious jams, which will be published on a compilation CD.