The Rig as seen in the wild at Rattlesnake Park on the LA River
WHEW! John Schneider of KPFK here in Los Angeles called me just yesterday to confirm a spot on his very popular Global Village program on air this morning. I just got to the studio after pretty much the funnest interview ever… I’ve done aplenty, but this man does rock the house in the interview department. (and yes, I just like saying funnest, I know how off the english charts I am here.) We covered a whole bunch of stuff, and, last minute, even worked it out to play live… had a great time. I’ll post a link as soon as its archived just in case you’re looking for ipod fodder. Thanks John!
For those of you tuning in for the first time to the blog, I hope you got here by the main site which is perenially under construction, we’ll get it right soon, though. Do subscribe the blog and/or mailing list while you’re here though, over to the right of the page.
The pic is of the Mobile Rig or ‘The Todd’ as they call it here at JonSound, designed by Jon Gottlieb and Pablo Molina. All the stuff I shipped or brought from the east, racked up and ready for battle. More about that and TaskForce soon, just wanted to say hi and greet any new readers! Feel free to say hi back in the comments. See you at Banning’s Center or FarmLab, or on the River!!!! (gotta go write some more music now.)
Three weeks of collaboration with artist Stephen Koplowitz and his group, TaskForce, which features eight dancers from across the nation, culminates in six weeks of performance starting today at CalPlaza in Los Angeles. Writing music for these events has kept me away from the blog, but I’ll do my best to cover these spectacular events, but do enjoy this little preview rehearsal video, and if you’re anywhere near Los Angeles, do be in touch, or visit this link.
Dear Readers, I want to invite you to a very special performance this week. Still Life with Microphone is my performance format for mixed up styles and genres. Version X, in process for the 3 years, has the live interactive video art of Luke DuBois at its foundation, and tomorrow night we welcome Bass Clarinetist and composer Michael Lowenstern, and one of my favorite musicians, percussionist Satoshi Takeishi. Presented by The Electronic Music Foundation’s EMFLab, the show opens with a set by Jen Stock, which I’m looking forward to very much.
Want to know more about Still Life with Microphone history and what you’ll be seeing? Read the program note here.
Electronic Music Foundation presents the first annual EMF Lab, a new concert series bringing together emerging and established composers and improvisers to explore the convergence of sound and technology.
The Flea Theater inhabits the building at:
41 White St (between Broadway and Church St)
Tribeca
212-352-3101
Subway: A, C, E, J, M, Z, N, Q, R, W, 6 to Canal St; 1 to Franklin St | Directions
Saturday, May 10, 2008 — 8pm & 10pm (THIS Saturday!)
at The Stone
(Corner of Ave C and 2nd St, NYC)
Slow Boys was formed by Todd Reynolds and Michael Lowenstern (me) in 1990, in the heyday of Eastern Long Island’s fertile hip-hop music production vanguard. Yep, a hip-hop group it was.
Very (very) soon it mutated into an all-out electronica funk techno house avant classical jazz quartet called Portable Electronic Coffee House. That was a hard band to classify, much less book.
Well, fast-forward nearly 20 years, and during the intervening time as Todd and I followed our separate — but always intersecting — paths, we often talked about getting the band back together.
So, we’re getting the band back together. Now.
This show, in two sets, will feature some of the new work Todd and I have been writing together, including the new commission from Meet the Composer that Todd premiered back in March. It’ll also feature some never-performed duo works from my CD Fade and Todd’s new CD-EP.
8pm set - Mike with Todd; electro funk and jazz
10pm set - Todd with Mike: down-tempo and ambient
The cover is $10 for each set, or $25 for both shows which includes a CD from each of us.
Please come down and check it out! We’d love to see you.
Eye to Ear is a lecture series which explores the inside of the artist mind. Hosted by Cultural Pittsfield and The Berkshire Museum, this series has invited me to present my work and creative process tonight for what I’m sure will be a lovely bunch of Berkshire residents and art-lovers. I’ll blog more about it tomorrow, but for now it’s back to collecting the baby-pictures…
March 24, 2008 — Recital Hall, SUNY Purchase College, Purchase, NY
Late last year, I received a call from Meet The Composer. MTC is, for me, one of the most important organizations present in the classical music field today. Committed to the creation of new work and the visibility of composers and what we’re still calling ‘new music’, for lack of a better term, John Duffie, Heather Hitchens, and now Ed Harsh, the leaders of MTC, have kept its projects alive with new ideas and forward-looking concepts.
This call was from Victoria Roth of MTC, and it was a request to be part of its Soloist Champions program. Funded by a grant from the New York State Music Fund, Soloist Champions was initiated by Meet The Composer in an attempt to recognize and support performers who have long been at the forefront of championing new music.
“Individual performers are the engines of innovation in the new music field,” says MTC President Ed Harsh. “With the Soloist Champions project, Meet The Composer wanted to give eight artists in this key group the resources to amplify their own initiative, to commission composers whose work they believe is rich and powerful.” Read the rest of this entry »
February 22, 2008 at 1:22 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Not that I mind it, not that I’m not completely used to it these days, but … greeted by a winter storm, AND on the day of my first gig in New York in a while? What a greeting. Last night I had no problem whatsoever finding a parking place in Sunnyside, go figure, it’s usually a nightmare. By now I’m sure I’m completely plowed in, with chance of precipitation at 77percent for the next 24. ugh.
In New York for rehearsals and shows and meetings for about the next two weeks now, reawakening and assaulting all my regular sushi and places… It’s real good to be back for longer than 2 days at a time, and nice to see old friends and colleagues… Odds of the winning jackpot today are 1 in 175,711,536… $175 million.
