Kingtone

We haven’t talked amps in a while. Been meaning to though as I’ve made some major changes. The first biggie was I sold my beloved 1971 Hiwatt 100 head. It was just too much juice for my tender ears. It lives with a good friend now, so I sleep well knowing that. The second is the recent addition of Harley, a 1952 Gibson GA-20 that I acquired from a nice lady named Dusty. Her dad, Harley, bought it new in nineteen and fifty-two (or three). It needed a fair amount of work done to get it into playing shape, but now it screams with a nasty early B.B. King blues tone. I have also discovered it to be a perfect combination for controlled feedback with my Gretsch and have used it for several performances to date for that express purpose.

My 1965 Princeton Reverb continues to be my main amp and it is great to be able to mix and match it with Harley and my 1959 Alamo Titan (that my comrade Rob Price used to much satisfaction on the recent ‘Steady As She Goes’ west coast tour). This is a shot of the Alamo backstage at the Boise Experimental Festival, on top of some great vintage pails and next to an amazing vintage marching drum I procured for my set.

You know, if it weren’t for the fact that there is so little money in touring (unless you are Prince who gets millions for a 2.5 hour set), it might be nice to be on tour all the time. Then again, one would miss the amenities of home, like a nice bed, home cooked food, friends, lovers, pets, etc.

However, when you are driving around the country with people that you like to spend time with and even better, like to perform with, it is an alluring thought. I am currently on a short west coast tour with two New Yawka’s, Rob Price and David Grollman. We started this mini-tour in Oakland, CA at 21 Grand, an art space that programs and supports arty and outside music. Our set was lighter than usual and peppered with moments of comedy that folks seemed to appreciate. As a first show it was quite good. One person commented that one moment it felt like being in a David Lynch movie and the next a comic strip. That works.

We played a deliciously violent set of improv last night in Sacramento, CA - home of friend and fellow musician, Ross Hammond. Fab guitarist, tireless worker and instigator for improv and experimental music there, he invited us to stop by and have a play.

Right now, we’re hanging out in Reno, with a show tonight. The weather is quite nice but there doesn’t seem to be much to do. Probably just what the casinos want. In fact, Rob has already won and lost $50 and David has lost $8. I have not set foot in one.

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)

Welcome to the new ‘blogstyle’ website. It’s all a bit of a mess and not so very sexy for now. The QC department is slowly parsing thru and transferring content from the old site. In the meantime you can check out the LucioLoud blog and Flickr photos.

The April Northwest tour with Rob Price and David Grollman was great and the final destination of the trip, the Boise Experimental Music Festival, was most excellent. My duo guitar improv with Joe Rut - otherwise known as Lumper/Splitter brought the house down with a set capped off with a hilarious presentation of Improvisational Surgery for Dummies.

My pal Steve Gerlach emailed to say that Lumper/Splitter is mentioned (w/ a pic) in the June 2007 issue (Andy Summers) of Guitar Player magazine! This apparently in association with our performance at the Y2K6 Loopfest in March. No link until next month, but it is currently on newstands (page 36-7). Seems we have arrived.

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

So we get two days in Seattle. This is nice. Seattle is nice. We know folk here and our gig at Gallery 1412 will be attended.

We have a fine salmon lunch with my college friend, Joe Snapp at ‘Chinooks’ in Ballard. A nice place on the water with the Alaskan fleet docked outside the windows. Hanging out with Joe is always entertaining and he wows us with his command of the Palm Treo PDA. Joe buys us lunch, takes our photo, and gives us the sub-plot theme of the tour, ‘Experimental music? Oh I get it, a credit card tour - audience optional.’ Indeed.

The night before, Sean, a friend of Tim Romain’s (a musical cohort from Ramona the Pest and the HO) bought everyone dinner. It seems that I have nice, generous friends. However, this has given Rob the idea that all my nice, generous friends should and will eventually, buy us a meal.

The show is excellent. My childhood friend, Chris Jordan comes to the show. He is an amazing artist (and doing very well - Radiohead has a link to him on their site’s front page). We have not seen each other since childhood, so I was pleased to have played a good set for him and a full room.

Did I mention that playing solo can be terrifying? Tonight it was not - ‘the flow’ was in the house. Rob and Dave played a really great set too - they picked up on the flow as well.

photo by joe snapp

I’m currently doing a small tour thru the Pacific Northwest performing experimental music to throngs of trees and sometimes people with my friends Rob Price and David Grollman.

Tours always get names and I believe in letting early events name them. So:

Motel 6. Redding, CA. Tired after driving for several hours after the SF gig and having stayed at this very same Mo 6 back in 1990-something on a Ramona The Pest tour, I figured it was safe. BUT NO! In the a.m., Rob got first dibs at the shower. Turns out the tub drain was seriously clogged and since we needed to split for Portland for our gig, Dave and I were not going to be showering. So I went to work the manager for a refund of some kind. He says ‘We’ll need to send someone up to the room to see if it is user error.’ A woman comes up to the room, sticks her hand in the soapy water, yanks the drain plug up out of the drain and say’s ’see this is what you have to do.’ Apparently, the regular old drain lever isn’t enough at the Redding Mo 6. User Error. No refund. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.