Think about it… When was the last time you sat down next to someone you didn’t know at all, and started up a conversation?  But, like, a REAL conversation, one which you knew would go on for 90 minutes come hell or high water, and would be entirely about ANYTHING which came up?

Alright, now, multiply that by two, so you’ve got four people talking at once, take away the syntactical element of ‘talking’ (which seems to be so very ‘in play’ during this campaign season), get away from the politics and rhetoric, plug into the board, take instruments in hand, and you have a lovely gathering of minds at WBCR Studios in Great Barrington, MA today at 3pm with the details as printed below.

Yours truly is feeling a little under the weather but will happily be making the trip for this extraordinary conversation, and I’m really looking forward to it.  You can join us in real time by tuning in at BerkshireRadio.org or at 97.7 fm if you’re in the area!

This week the Splatto Festival (3 PM Friday) is honored to
host a special jazz-improv performance featuring The Splatto
Festival Chorus:

Todd Reynolds (Bang on a Can, Ethel, Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road
Ensemble) violin and laptop
Dave Barrett (Splatter Trio, Banda Elastica) saxophones
Ed Mann (Frank Zappa Band) vibes, percussion, electronics
Michael Bisio (Joe McPhee, Michael Bisio Quartet), bass

Join as as four astounding musicians meet and perform for
the first time, totally free form, for 90 minutes live in
WBCR studios.
Stop by and watch!  Tell everybody!

No, Free Hugs is not the name of my ‘new band’.  Neither is ‘The Todd Reynolds Situation’ or even ‘The Todd Reynolds String Quartet’. Nope, nothing official there, just monikers to identify some very joyous artistic collaborations of late with new and formidable artistic partners.

Free Hugs are, however, a serious issue and something we might benefit from a little more of.  In these days of stump speeches, repeated endlessly and daily by both parties, each time with a little less meaning and impact, sounding sadly pedantic and passé with every flip of the channel past CNN or MSNBC, I’d like to offer up a little more of a personal connection.  And perhaps it will symbiotically rock the vote.

So – I hereby declare Sunday’s New York Art Ensemble offering of Neil Rolnick’s music, including a premiere of Economic Engine in collaboration with Music From China, one of New York’s premiere purveyors of Chinese Traditional Music, a Free Hugs opportunity.  Not only at The Flea Theater, but everywhere.  Share them liberally and come down to see us play Neil’s music which was premiered in Beijing, but lives again here.

I’ll be conducting that premiere, with Victor Schultz and Ben Russell on violins, Nadia Sirota on viola, and Ha-Yang Kim on cello. Also featured on concert will be Neil’s Shadow Quartet, originally written for ETHEL in the old days.  I’ll sit down in the chair for that one and play a little.

Please consider including us in your post-brunch plans. I promise you a fantastic concert – and a hug.  Just ask… They’re free!  (Details on the concert)


click image above to go big with it.

I have to give a huge recommendation to this piece I’m conducting tonite and tomorrow at Le Poisson Rouge.  Working with a wonderful creative team including composer David Little, director Yuval Sharon and Producer Beth Morrison, as well as the show’s leading man, David Adam Moore has been a pleasure.  David Little’s band, Newspeak, is rockin’ and the music and theater speak to the depth of what’s ‘behind the curtain’ of the soldier experience.  Perhaps it even speaks to what’s hidden for all of us, an illusion, and a disillusion which has us embrace war as a species, thinking it a necessary evil.  A pick in New York Magazine, among others, this show is one I’m proud to be part of and to support.  Click here for Tickets.

This show might be a sellout on both nights.  To read more about it, you can visit my own newsletter or the site of its producer, Beth Morrison Projects