Category: musica

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New Kickstarter Call-Out: State of the Re:Union

state of the re:union kickstarter

UPDATE: Just got an email that my funds went through! After a whole month SOTRU hit its Kickstarter fundraising goal with just two minutes to spare! Congrats!

Having just heard that one of my recent Kickstarter investments, CicLAvia, has been funded, a new project has conveniently crossed my path and if you’re into it too, you’ve got a few days left to chip in a few bucks.

State of the Re:Union (SOTRU) is a public media show that seeks to unify its audience by telling the stories of real people through an innovative exploration of a city, detailing how things come together and what pulls them apart. Each radio episode, host Al Letson travels to a different American city or town and explores how community is created. Who are the people who help bring it together? What are the issues they face? How does the culture of an area shape the people and vice versa? Through a unique mix of storytelling, cultural excavation, music and multimedia, SOTRU brings community to life. — Read more | website | Facebook | Twitter.

Kickstarter is a groundbreaking concept in microdonations and in awesome website and community. You pledge to donate the amount you choose — with great incentive rewards for various dollar amounts — and the money is taken via your Amazon.com account only if the fundraising goal is met.

State of the Re:Union is closing in on 50% funded with only 4 days remaining (after a month on the site) so let’s give it a boost by August 21st!

Continue reading “New Kickstarter Call-Out: State of the Re:Union”

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From the Archives: Chicago Jazz Scene, Turn of the Century

poster from 2nd Jazz and Improvised fest at Empty Bottle Chicago 1998It’s often dawned on me that my early scribblings on the web may someday disappear without a trace yet I continuously forget to archive said posts — for posterity if nothing else. Well today I listened to this blistering set from last week’s Newport Jazz Festival and was transported to ten years ago, Empty Bottle, Tuesday night Vandermark Five sessions and the frenetic rhythm from the band set up living room style disrupting the magic in the air. Love how that sound pumps through my veins and so does the rest of the world.

Ken Vandermark continues blazing trails across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East while basing himself in Chicago with many of the same cats. I keep up with Ken via his daily Twitter and Facebook updates which highlight the daily undertakings of a creative troubadour in brief, diary-like entries. I still subscribe to the chi-improv Yahoo! group for sentiment. Little has changed in Chicago I imagine — although my visits are too rare. (Save for the tragic death of Malachi Ritscher and the recent passing of Fred Anderson). Still a few active venues and occasional improv backrooms shifted throughout the town and Peter Brötzmann, Ab Baars and the finest European improvisers still come over almost every year and the Chicago contingent of the Tentet visits Europe at least once a year.

Thanks to NPR for recording this set by Vandermark’s Powerhouse Sound combo and making it available for download, you can listen to it right here.

Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound at Newport Jazz Festival, August 8, 2010 (via NPR) [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Powerhouse Sound features Vandermark on reeds with longtime collaborator Nate McBride on electric bass; Jeff Parker, guitar and John Herndon, drums – both of whom are known for their work with Tortoise.

Below, three articles I wrote in 1998 for Centerstage.net relating to the Chicago Jazz scene. Still buried in some closet — minidiscs of interviews that I conducted with several of the players for a piece I never completed. There’s a nice long interview with Fred Anderson there and hopefully i’ll find it and when I do I’ll post it for all to share.

Poster above by Dan Grzeca via this webpage Continue reading “From the Archives: Chicago Jazz Scene, Turn of the Century”

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Suggest Songs for Gulf Coast Benefit Mixes!

Like many on the #CitizenGulf team, I’m powered in part by listening to a great deal of music. Now that we’re focused on raising funds for the families of the fishermen whose livelihoods are affected by the Gulf Coast Oil Spill, we must look to the sounds of the Gulf Coast and the Louisiana Bayou for inspiration and motivation.

Here is the first in a series of digital mixtapes. I’d love your input and suggestions on upcoming mixes. You can suggest a song very easily:

  1. Go to Blip.fm (login or register)
  2. Search for a song and click “Blip”
  3. Include @gulfbenefit in the text and/or #CitizenGulf

Can’t find it on Blip.fm? You can also tweet a song to us via Grooveshark, Twt.fm, Song.ly, or Tinysong.

For more information on #CitizenGulf Gulf Coast Benefit’s August 25th National Day of Action visit gulfcoastbenefit.com.

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Love it Live

tokimonstaAnyone who knows me quickly finds out that I am a live music junkie. I don’t have a problem, per se, but I do go out to see bands perform multiple times each week. Last night was one of those excellent, multiphonic nights that reminds me why it’s so important to live in a large cultural hub such as Los Angeles.

Over the course of a couple hours I saw two bands and three electronic beat mixer-uppers (DJs, I guess we call them) all within a couple miles of my Echo Park home. Money well spent on a broad experiential night. Everest tore up the Bootleg Theater, and later I caught the final three beatmasters at Proximal Records Proximity One: Narrative of a City (listen below) Release Party: Sahy Uhns, TOKiMONSTA, and Daedelus. I was torn between going to one show or the other and was ecstatic to have the timing to get the best of both worlds. It helped that a small lighting fire at The Echo set the show back a half hour or so.

I got a few decent photos. Plus see below for a list of podcasts and websites that I check regularly to get my fill of live music (video and audio) when I’m not at the show myself. People talk about digital downloads and physical music. Physical music for me means hearing it live. Feeling it.

Continue reading “Love it Live”