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May 28.2009
My talented friends at the Art Pack made a piece about me, which includes footage shot at One Shot Not, the show I did feverish and sick!, an interview with Mauro Gioia, and a couple performances me and my musician friends did while we were in Paris. I am really proud to have a piece done by these guys, as they are very very talented. Take a look at the link, but make sure to check out their other stuff as well. They recently won a contest to create a whole short narrative in I think 48 hours, soup to nuts. The Art Pack
HOORAY! LAUS WIN!!!May 19.2009
Just now found out that theturn.tv, won a Laus award for Interactivity! This is great news! Many thanks to Cristo Castille and José Hernandez of Aer Visual Studio as well as Guille Lopez. They all did such an amazing job with the flash and coding (they truly are wizards!), as well as of course to Steph Thyrion who helped conceive the idea of the site itself. Cristo just wrote to me and told me the site won three awards!
Silver in “Corporate Websites”
Gold in “Interactive Innovation”
it also won the Grand Laus, which is the highest award of the whole “Interactive” category
I’m going to get cracking on some more videos to upload and take advantage of the wave of traffic that maybe will come!
Hooray!!!!
final entry to the trial by fire (and fever)
May 16.2009
Okeedokes, so that was a long bit of time before the next blog post! Sorry about that. I have been working so hard on new videos.
First off, just to let you know, me, Autopilot and Scalde have prepared another international cluster video. Come and take a look on either theturn.tv, youtube link or vimeo link.
Anyway, ok, so where were we? I’d performed without having more than an hour of really restless sleep on a tv show in Manchester. I started to feel extremely run down and felt perhaps that a cold was coming on, tried to get to sleep very early, but never-the-less, woke up early the next morning with a very bad cold, and it was clutching at my throat! This was the day that me and Ben were set to travel to Paris and perform on Manu Katché’s show One Shot Not.
So off we went. I hadn’t tried singing yet and was actually not speaking as much as possible. Ben, who is one of the most level-headed and sensitive persons I have ever met, was being very calming and affirmative. The plane landing was incredibly painful though. I felt that my head would explode.
Once we arrived at the studio a couple dapper French men met the car and explained that cameras would be following us around everywhere, that we should just follow them to the green room. Ugh, I so wanted some privacy to see where my voice was. We followed them off to the room, played with some percussion instruments for them, mugging a bit for the camera, and finally had a moment of privacy.
With the door shut I tried to sing and made the horrible discovery that I really had no voice. My falsetto was completely gone and my regular singing voice was wildly inaccurate. I just had very little control over pitch or intonation.
Suddenly who would knock and enter the room: David Byrne. That’s right, David Byrne. He was playing on the show tonight as well. He said, “Hi, I’m David.” Both Ben and I were bowled over. At this point, my head was really throbbing and I felt quite feverish. Soon one of the nice gentlemen from the show came and said it was time to meet Manu Katché and Avishai Cohen and see the studio. Manu and Avishai would be accompanying us tonight and hadn’t heard the songs yet. They are both totally brilliant musicians - it was an honor to have the opportunity to play with them.
We stepped out into the studio and it was an absolute dream come true. Lights everywhere, about six oriental rugs with a separate drumset on each. Amazing mixing console. Just dreamy. The cameras followed us out and I had to open my mouth and perform and it sounded like absolute CRAP! I mean truly. I kept looking over at Ben, who would respond with the kindest look of encouragement, but I could see in his eyes that it was a bit pathetic! I sounded like I couldn’t sing a note in key! I started to cough, partially just to prove I was really sick, and explained to Manu and Avishai that I had awoken really really sick. Manu was very kind and said I should just relax and try to heal the throat as best as possible before the show.
At this point I just felt so desperate and sad. I called my singing teacher, William Riley, in NY. He gave me the number of a great doc in France, Dr. Abitbol, and told him to mention that he sent me and use the words “career emergency”. So off I went to the doc, who confirmed there was no damage. I could sing without fear of causing damage. But it may not sound good. Period. He gave me some meds that would help, but basically I would be singing with a bit of a crippled voice.
OK, to make a very long story a tiny bit shorter, Matthias Labarbe, the marketing director based in France, gave me a kind of Rocky Balboa speech before the show that was very very important. He said the songs were good. The voice, maybe not so good tonight, but there’s also the heart and the love that is put into the music. He promised me that if I gave enough of that the audience would respond favorably.
Somehow this freed me up completely. Even as I listened to the totally amazing Avashai Cohen who performed just before me, I didn’t feel bitter, frustrated or even scared. I just felt lucky. Very grateful to have this opportunity. Truly. It was a wonderful audience, a fantastic group of musicians. I had Ben Evans playing with me. I’ll just do the best I can. And I did. And it sounded pretty crap! But during The Turn I got a really nice response from the audience, so learned a big lesson there!
Anyway, I think it might have been two days later that Ben and I met with Scalde for a single day of practice. Scalde is another one of my favorite musicians who I met on myspace a year or so ago. He has a very angelic voice and plays so many eclectic instruments, so it was just really really fun practicing with him, although he too arrived sick!
We played a live TV show called Ce Soir Ou Jamais, which I felt went horribly. Not so much the musicians, but me… I froze up. Got so nervous. It’s just an odd situation when the audience doesn’t know you or know what to make of you. It’s even stranger to have to stand silently behind a curtain, waiting for the silent cue from the stage manager to start playing. That was the absolute emotional low point of the whole trip, although I have since seen the show and it actually sounded pretty good.
But a couple days later we played a Blogotheque Soiree de poche! This was actually a show that from the start I very worried about, because they required 30 minutes and we had only had 3 days between us to prepare. But once we got to the apartment where it was being held and met the kind owner and all the folks involved, the excitement and warmth just helped us to have a really fun show. Plus, I had the idea of staging a little circular video with the audience, and with that fun goal in mind it just set a really creative tone.
I have promised to upload this video since a week after the performance, and obviously it has been much longer than that! To all you folks who were there at the show and waiting, so sorry! The video portion has been complete for some time. I am just awaiting a final mix from the show’s producers and it will be uploaded to my website.
Which reminds me… another fun afternoon was spent at the fabulous apartment of Isabelle Chelley. It’s sort of a strange mix of dark, magic theatre antiques and some very colorful kitch! I love it. She has a really bizarre collection of dolls which I took some photographs of. Also I shot a circular video here, and I will be uploading that even sooner than the Blogotheque one, as it’s nearly done.
OK, so I guess the Blogotheque show went really well. We had such a good time, and played for about 45 minutes. I had no problems communicating with the audience. In fact, I quite surprised myself and really enjoyed it. So now we had just a whole bunch of internet performances scheduled and our first big show, opening for Peter von Poehl at La Cigale!
The internet performances went pretty well. My favorite is one we shot in the stairwell at the Because office. I learned a big lesson about singing when mic’d with a lapelle mic - do NOT over pronunciate! And make sure to sing in pitch!!!!! hahah.
But finally the night of La Cigale arrived. What an incredibly gorgeous theatre.
Me and the Pilots were so happy walking around there. We did our sound check and it really sounded amazing to hear so much sound bouncing back at us. Off we went to the green room to await the show.
Jane from the UK office arrived and said hello. I did an interview for AFP. All this was good because it kept me distracted. And I had learned, over the course of the trip, that it’s best just to pretend nothing new is happening, stay connected to the music, to the songs, to the vocal technique. Ignore all the scary thoughts. Finally our time came and we were led out to a packed crowd of nearly 1000 people. Folks started to applaud, and thus began a really really fun night! Again, I surprised myself fully by really enjoying speaking with the audience. The Pilots all played so well. We looked at each other throughout the performance and I could tell everyone was very happy.
So ended quite a rigorous trip. I have to thank first I Am Your Autopilot and Scalde. Ben, Graeme, Jasper and Sylvain are all great musicians and working with them has been and continues to be a real pleasure. Also, Matthias Labarbe was especially wonderful. He brought such a warmth and kept everything moving forward at breakneck speed.
Anyway, really there are so many details (for instance, one of the Pilots was a horrible SNORER and that caused lots of trouble for the Pilot who had to share a room with him!!!) I have left out these details because already this blog is TOO LONG!!!
Anyway, if you have a chance, do check out the Robinson Crusoe cluster. I’m returning to France on June 22nd to play at Café de la Dance, so hopefully I will see some of you there!
UK release!May 05.2009
I just got word from my label that my album has finally been released in the UK! Hooray! So anyone who likes my music and lives anywhere in the UK, I hope you will consider buying it! It’s a double disc set: one with the album’s music, the other a dvd with eight of my videos.
next chapter, coming right up…May 04.2009
Hello there,
So just wanted to let you all know the next little chapter of my trip will be written about very soon. I’m just trying to finish a circular video shot while I was in France and I want the blog to coincide with that. In the meantime… I can announce my next live performance! It’s June 22nd, 7:30PM at Café de la Dance in Paris! Hooray! So please, if you are around Paris at that time, come and hear us! It’s going to be me singing with the instrumental/vocal support of I Am Your Autopilot and Scalde.
If you are interested in seeing what we sound like live, there’s a clip from a performance we did in a hallway in France you can see here:
Wood Smoke - the third circular video
Apr 28.2009
I just uploaded my third circular video, which I made to play against the edited voice improvisation entitled Wood Smoke. The imagery was inspired by the arrival of summer. There’s a smell of heated wood from the forest and all the trees are in bloom.
Anyway, It’s the large dark green circle found at theturn.tv. I hope you enjoy it!
the wonderful writings of my momApr 27.2009
My mother, Diana Serbe, has just started a little website devoted to her fiction writing. This makes me so happy, as she’s really talented! I invite you all to do some good reading!
a brief interruptionApr 27.2009
Just want to mention that I have a couple new improvised pieces on exhibition at luvsound.org, a really awesome netlabel run by good friend and musician hecanjog.
The song is called Wood Smoke, and it’s an edit down from 12 minutes to 3! I really like this one, it’s peaceful and feels a bit summery.
The second is my new video Crater Lake, which is an unedited 14 minute journey. It gets kind of intense if you give yourself to it.
Anyway, great thanks to hecanjog for including me on his wonderful site! They have a great many wonderful artists released in the past. Make sure to check some of the previous releases out.
Entry number two of my trial by fire!Apr 25.2009
But first, I have added three new rectangular videos in the last month to theturn.tv site. Red States international cluster - this is one we did live with Autopilot shooting their voices in Manchester, Scalde shooting his in Lyon and me shooting mine in Woodstock. Then I have uploaded two improvisations - Crater Lake and an Untitled one. Both are relatively trippy. Crater Lake gets extremely disturbing musically and it’s very long, so be warned! Soon I will add these videos to this site as well.
OK, so where were we? I had just arrived in Manchester, met Jasper Wilkinson for the first time (forgot to mention that, he’s the only Autopilot member I hadn’t met, and he’s loverly!) We’d spent a grueling, but highly satisfying two days practicing several new arrangements of songs and now it was off to London to perform…
The UK… somehow I’m not quite feeling the love there yet. I’m hoping for it. Obviously most of my favorite pop music has come from there. So I went off with two of the members of I Am Your Autopilot hoping for the best.
First we played a radio show called Q. It was pretty strange. Not as scary as I thought it would be (yes this was a first!) Actually the only thing I would say is it takes some getting used to singing in a seriously dead quiet room! While there I shot a little circular souvenir video, and here’s an image from it:
While in London the schedule was quite tight. I had a full day of what I thought would be interviews but ended up being little performances for different websites! Because of the misunderstanding I didn’t have any musicians there to support me, so I ended up just doing it similar to how I used to in the hallway on 14th street. And all in all it went well.
Now, I had been told that Jasper, with whom I was meant to share a room while in London, was a noisy snorer. Seeking to avoid a sleepless night, I asked my friend Lucas Howe who was also visiting London on work if there was any space on a couch where he was staying. Lucas was staying at his friend Rory’s flat and said I was welcome to come and take the second room. The place was so swank! Here’s a shot of Lucas in Rory’s flat, followed by one of us in a cab testing out my new camera.
Anyway, it was lovely to see Lucas, but I noticed he was just coming down with a horrible cold. I’m actually a bit of a hypochondriac and worried instantly that I would get sick.
Still Lucas and I had a grand old time. In fact, the last radio gig I did there, which was LIVE (yes, another first) I invited Lucas to come and play some hand percussion. This was a bit crafty of me, because while it was fun to have Lucas on the radio with me, it also strengthened me to know somebody was more nervous there than me! Anyway, that was the John Kennedy show, and the interview and performances went well! We were all so excited when we left, and it was quite late, around 1AM.
We had to pick up all the equipment from Jasper’s room, move it back to Rory’s where we would be leaving at 5AM the next morning. This left us about 3 hours to sleep. Ever tried sleeping when you have to get up in 3 hours? Impossible. I had about an hour of restless rest that morning before we hit the road to do another first: perform 5 songs on a TV show in Manchester. Despite being absolutely bushed and truly running on fumes the show went pretty derned well. Especially the first three songs.
But directly after the show I suddenly felt like I was getting sick. The next morning Ben and I were meant to go to Paris ahead of Graeme and Jasper to do a special show called One Shot Not, with very amazing drummer Manu Katché. So it was super important that I didn’t awake sick. I hit the hay early that night, and the outcome I will save for the next installment. (But keep in mind, I’m calling this my trial by fire, so you can imagine what happens next!!!!!)
Till next time!
UK and France: Entry OneApr 14.2009
A month ago I took a two week trip to the UK and France to do some promotional performances. That may be a very normal part of every musicians’ life, doing various kinds of performing, but for me it has been anything but normal. Actually, I have been petrified, absolutely terrified, about even the idea of performing. I knew I had to do it, so I have been practicing steadily, but… I suppose when the fear is great enough, really nothing can prepare you. You just have to do it and hope things work out.
So I did. I met up with the great band I Am Your Autopilot and started rehearsing with them in their home town of Manchester, England.
The first two days
First of all, Manchester is lovely. The people are so friendly. I mean, jokey too, of course. In fact, on the airplane ride over I was seated next to a rather heavily inebriated Mancunian who suggested that for this red eye he was going to get me drunk as a skunk. Of course that was out of the question for me as the following two days would be filled with very intense rehearsing. No way I was going to go into that hung over. He was a kind guy and decided that he would instead just drink my portion of alcohol, and proceeded to play me whole albums by some of Manchester’s most famous musical treasures. For hours. It was nice, but… I needed to sleep!
Well, anyway, the next day I met with I Am Your Autopilot, who are Ben Evans, Graeme Brooker and Jasper Wilkinson. These guys are all great musicians, but also extremely nice guys. And what I discovered, after freaking out about having to prepare 7 songs in 2 days, is how fun it is to play music with musicians. Again, this seems like a really basic truth for most musicians, one that perhaps is even taken for granted. But for me, I’ve been a headphones musician, working alone, constructing my music like… well, I guess a bit like an alchemist (or at least a pharmacist!) It was extremely inspiring to discover another spirit to music. And it was very moving to hear my songs played by somebody else!
While I was there I stayed at Ben’s house with his lovely, friendly family. Ben has a lovely wife named Rebecca and two children, Noah and Charlie - Charlie is a really talented bass player. So it was really a warm environment to come into.
We ended up rehearsing for 7 hours each day and prepared 5 songs… Red States, The Turn, Robinson Crusoe, The Original Man and Friendship Is…
The place where we rehearsed was super cool looking too! At the top is an image within the actual studio, and below that is a shot of Graeme (on right) and Jasper. And just below that a shot me Ben, Rebecca with Lee, who is another artist I have known only through the internet! Finally on the bottom you can see a shot of the outside of the studio which was fascinatingly bland.
I’ll post the next chapter of my trip next week with more picts. Next up: a trip to London with some live radio performances and a visit with my New York friend Lucas…
warming up to loopingJan 24.2009
Hi folks,
Sorry it’s been a little while since I’ve written. I’ve been extremely busy, as I have finally finished setting up my studio in my new place in the country and have been settling down to business. Why did it take so long… well, that’s another story! But rather than gripe, I’ll keep positive and talk about what I have been up to creatively.
So the album is being formally, and physically, released in late March. It’s actually been available on iTunes, but for a number of problems originating either with my label or iTunes I haven’t wanted to make an announcement. Looks like soon I will have to be performing some of my music and I’ve been trying to develop an interesting way to merge the sound experience of multi-vocals and some of my visual techniques.
It’s slow going though. Video is very difficult to stream live. That’s just a fact. But I have been practicing my live looping technique and have had some interesting results.
I’ve been a bit on the fence for a while about live looping. Why? Because I like structure! A lot! I like key changes. I like the transformations a finished piece of music makes. Looping live seems a similar, but at once wildly different aesthetic. It’s constantly growing. The repetitions are a bit of a challenge for me, frankly. But I’ve been having a lot of fun and will soon have some new videos.
Here’s a tiny image:
Anyway, I’m heading off to France next Saturday to do some promo and possibly a first tiny performance. I’m QUITE nervous! hahah.
My new studio…
Jan 07.2009
I’ve moved back to the countryside! I now live back in Woodstock again. I’m so happy, and slightly sad as well, as I have left several close friends and creative acquaintances… and all that lovely energy of the city. But it’s quiet here. And I can sing at the top of my lungs without worries! I have to say, the first night I spent here I had a very schizophrenic night of dreaming. The first was a horrible nightmare, which I won’t recount as it will wig me out again. I awoke almost screaming. But when I went back to sleep I dreamt a lovely new song sung by a female soprano, and recorded it immediately into my cell phone!
I’ll post some pictures once the room is done. It’s lovely. The house came with all this great, colorful Danish Modern furniture. Piles of it. There were some down in the basement that I dragged up to my music room and it feels so great.
By the way… how could I ever have avoided hearing the music of Moondog??? I recently came upon it and really love it so much! Such a strange eclectic mix of styles, and a wonderful sense of rhythm and… well the word verve comes to mind, hahah! But I guess it’s appropriate. Anyway, the ones that caught my ear instantaneously (and set my imagination on fire Viking 1, Pigmy Pig, Sea Horse, Do Your Thing, Frost Flower. It’s outrageous. Gorgeous. All the -geous words!
two bits of awesome news!Dec 04.2008
Today I found out that theturn.tv has won as website of the day over at thefwa.com! This is really great news for me, because it will bring my work, and the work of Aer Studio into the eyes of a lot more people! It’s going to be featured on their site starting on December 8th, 2008.
But the most awesome part is that is the same day my full album is being released on iTunes, so how’s that for timing!?
I’ll post links once all this good stuff starts happening. I’m so excited to see things moving forward, and obviously feel fortunate for the good luck!
My second EP is now availableDec 01.2008
Hello there, folks
Just wanted to announce the digital release of my second EP, Red States, available starting today on iTunes worldwide.
The EP includes the following:
Red States
Oh My Love
Occam’s Razor
Let the Sad Out (featuring wonderful and strange words written and spoken by Donavan Freberg)
Our Lips Are Sealed
and then a wonderful remix by Fink of my song The Turn.
Come check out the songs!
US iTUNES
FRANCE iTUNES
UK iTUNES
CANADA iTUNES
Nov 22.2008
Just a little note, about a month ago I did an interview with Per for the launching of Sofarock.org. Per is simultaneously featuring an interview with photographer Heidi Johansen and a splendid, vibrant electronic release from Greg Hoffmann, known as Utofbu.
Go take a look, and bookmark his site!
theturn.tv is launched!Nov 09.2008
Hello folks,
I’m happy to announce the launch of my new site, theturn.tv
Although the site was developed to frame a bunch of new audio/visual concepts, I like to think of it more as a web-toy - it’s completely interactive and there are a lot of controls that the user can play with. I’ll leave many of these for you all to discover for yourselves.
I’ve drawn a couple little pictures to show you two of the most important aspects of the site.
1. Grab the shapes.
2. Drag them to the anchor.
3. Drop them in the anchor.
Hexagon and circle shaped videos are turnable. For example, if you want to watch something that’s in an upper panel, click on that panel and it will be turned so you can watch it right side up. Or, if you just like to turn things, knock yourself out!
This site was developed in collaboration with the talented folks at Aer Studios. Links and full credits are on the site.
Anyway, there are many more videos in production for later release, so please keep checking back for new shapes and experiences. Hope you enjoy!
- Fredo
Oct 08.2008
Hi there,
Well, we’re in the final days of work on the new website, and I’m so excited to share it with everybody. The folks at Aerstudio have absolutely astounded me with their brilliance and speed. The site is everything I hoped it would be and then some. Anyway, yes there has been a few months quiet patch on this site, but it will be made up for, I promise. When the new site comes there will be new music and at least four new videos. Plus… well, the site. It’s fun!
Did I mention that I’m wildly excited to be able to share this site???
Hope to upload a link very soon!
- Fredo
Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine ShowSep 18.2008
Hey there, folks
Does anyone here know the internet program called Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show? I was contacted a couple months ago by Greg Benson, the show’s director and husband of it’s star and creator, Kiko Evey. Kiko is playing a very enthusiastic, if wonky, Japanese tv talk show host. It’s kind of Peewee Herman’s playhouse meets one of those insane Japanese shows, and I think it’s very funny.
Anyway, every week they end their show with a new cover, similar to how the show Weeds begins and asked if I wanted to submit a cover…
I used layers of counterpoint voices, dulcitone, hand percussion, some sinewave and finally got a use for this odd little percussive instrument which I don’t know the name of! I’ve included a photograph of it below.
The first episode of the second season starts tomorrow, and that’s where they have placed my cover. So go take a peak! Hope you enjoy!
You can see it here [UPDATED LINK]
Sep 16.2008
Hi folks,
Just wanted to give you an update on what’s going on with my cluster performances… I’m at work on a new batch done in a very particular new way. Also, I’m working with a team of very talented designers based in Spain (called Aerstudio) on a new site dedicated just to the experience of the images and sounds… This site will still be here, and I will be updating it with news, standard videos, blogs as things progress. I have a new set of screensavers that I will be releasing here quite soon as well. But for the time being my focus is on development of the new site and videos.
About the Spanish design team - Aerstudio are amazing. I am eternally grateful to Steph Thirion for having made the introduction. And you can see some of their work here!
dream of my father and tall wavesAug 14.2008
I had a dream the other night that has stuck in my psyche. I was in the ocean with my father. It was daylight, crisp and clear. Comfortable. There was no wind or stormy weather, and yet the waves were intense. Me and my dad were fighting to stay on the surface. We kept getting pounded into the water by what looked like 10 to 15 foot waves. I remember watching as they grew into tall peaks, and then began to tip and fall into a crashing mass on top of us. My dad was closer to the shore than me. I was deeper, thus closer to the source of the waves, and I remember watching a massive giant begin to build. It looked like it could be 20 feet tall already and it had barely reached it’s peak… This one is going to hurt… I figured I had better dive into it’s base before it began to crash. My plan payed off, I was able to look back and watch it transform into a massive crashing storm from inside out… but I lost my dad.
What is it about the ocean? It’s so scary to me. So mysterious. I need to get over my fear of the ocean, I think.
Fredo Viola’s vimeo pageJul 23.2008
Just a note… I have started a vimeo page to have high resolution representations of my video work which will be embedable. So if you are interested in seeing any of these pieces in higher res, or embedding within your facebook/myspace/blog pages… here’s where you can find them.
The Turn Ghosts is up!Jul 22.2008
Hi there, folks
First of all, for those of you on my mailing list, sorry about sending you three emails. It was a morning filled with stupid email mistakes!!
Anyway, I have finally uploaded The Turn ghost cluster performance and really hope you all enjoy it.
Click me to watch!
Jul 17.2008
YAYAY!!! I got my glockenspiel in the mail today! It’s from the 50s, of Deagan make. I was directed by a very generous and knowledgeable man by the name of Mike to buy this used instrument, despite it having some rust on a bunch of the bells. He explained that in the 50s and before that the manufacturers used different kinds of metal that, in his opinion, could not be matched today. Anyway, I LOVE the rusty bells. Love the weathered wood, broken case. This instrument makes me really happy to look at it, and it sounds lovely (although a few of the bells I have to position them specially to get a really clear tone.)
Anyway, look forward to hearing and seeing this in some upcoming cluster videos.
Jul 17.2008
Hello there folks,
OK, so… I know it seems I have missed two months of cluster feedage, but I’m preparing to release the one I made last month in the next five days. I have been sooooooooooooo busy preparing for the upcoming release! On top of that, I am working on a second website which… well, it’s going to be quite different, and I’ll be adding a bunch of new videos to that site, so possibly this cluster I will be releasing soon will be the last for a short while.
Anyway, stay tuned for my very first ghost cluster....
love,
Fredo
Jun 22.2008
Hi folks,
This has been an extremely busy month for me. I know I’m due a cluster performance video, and actually I have done two this month, but it may have to wait. Here’s what I’ve been up to…
I’m working with Liuh-Wen Ting. She’s a fantastic violist, and considering her background and skills I feel really honored to be working with her. We’re collaborating on a cluster of The Turn, and, as I mentioned, I’ve done two relatively successful tests already. But I don’t want to share until it’s perfect!
The first time I met with her we talked a lot about music. As some of you may know, I’m a fan of a whole bunch of different styles, classical and modern classical being two of my favorites. So we spoke a lot about Stravinsky and Bach. And then Liuh-Wen surprised me with an impromptu performance of Stravinsky’s Elegy. I was really moved by her performance, and rather in awe of her ability to do this from memory!
Anyway, sorry again for the delay. Hopefully it will be done soon!
Test of Friendship
May 18.2008
My fourth cluster performance is now online. It’s a song called “Friendship Is...” This video is different as one of the voices is actually going through some filters and distortion that cause it to sound like an instrument when I sing through the mic. Watch for it, it’s voice five all the way on the right. Hope you enjoy!
CLICK ME to watch Test of Friendship!
Old friends and new clusters
May 18.2008
About a month or so ago, after The Sad Song video got featured on Youtube, I got contacted by a guy who used to be one of my best friends back when I was in 6th grade. I think I saw him once in the early 90s, but it really had been a very very long time! So anyway, he happens to be a director and was coming to NYC to do a video for a band called tastiskank. It was really fun, and quite refreshing not having total responsibility for once!
Théo has barely changed at all. He looks just the way I thought he would. Here’s a shot of me and Mistah Théo:
Anyway, helping with the video caused a slight delay for the release of my May cluster performance, but it’s coming tomorrow. I shot it the day before yesterday and have been doing final touches on it the last couple days. Hope you will come and take a look. It’s for a fun song called Friendship Is…
Apr 14.2008
Hi there, folks
I’ve just released my third cluster video into the media section. It’s a second performance of Moon After Berceuse I performed in my hallway (poor neighbors!)
Moon After Berceuse - Hall Cluster
It’s a second performance of Moon After Berceuse that I shot with my little hand-held Digital Elph camera. I think it’s more intimate then the one I did with Ike. I’m holding the camera myself, and each move of my body causes a camera move as well, and I think it works to have that for a spare song like this one.
Hope you enjoy it!
Martha’s VineyardMar 21.2008
What a great trip I just had to the Martha’s Vineyard Independent Festival. I’m so appreciative to Jeremy Mayhew for selecting my two videos and arranging for me to perform. Also I’m grateful to founder Thomas Pena and to Brad Wescott, who I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time.
Martha’s Vineyard is a place that takes me back to some part of my childhood I guess. The first time I set foot on the island I felt like I’d been there many times before. Anyway, I was a bit worried that the magical effect this island and it’s great community had on me might during my first trip the festival two years ago may have been due to the fact that Sad Song was shown three times and I had received such an outpouring of love from the folks there. But I’m happy to say it wasn’t any of these things. It’s just a great place. I consider it to be one of my favorite places on the planet.
Here’s a few images from some footage I took walking with Jeremy and his friend photographer friend Josh Marowitz:
Look at how rich in color the cliffs are.
This is my good friend Jeremy Mayhew.
We showed Puss and The Turn at the festival. I think Puss went over better than the Turn, but I was really nervous during the Turn because an hour later I was set to give a performance. Still, folks were laughing a lot during Puss and many people came and told me they really enjoyed it. Never under-estimate the power of laughter!
The performance went well too, although I have to admit, it was a little odd… I was singing in front of a food line! haha. I guess any experience is a good experience, and really I was just grateful to have the opportunity to give my heart to these good folks. Here’s an image:
I left the island with plans to make a video with Jeremy within the next two months. I’ve got all kinds of ideas. As was the case last time I left Martha’s Vineyard, the place has set my imagination on fire.
Mar 17.2008
I’m going to keep this short because I’m still in Martha’s Vineyard and am trying to spend as little time on the computer as possible.
I’m proud to announce the release of March’s cluster performance, Moon After Berceuse - duet with Ike Sturm. Hope you enjoy it! It was very very fun to shoot and perform.
I’ll be back at you soon with images and thoughts from the Martha’s Vineyard festival, which was even more lovely than I thought it would be!
Moon Duet, featuring Ike Sturm
dreams of Martha’s VineyardMar 12.2008
I had rather strange sleep last night. I’d say it was kind of fluorescent, electric sleep… constant but buzzing. Obsessive thoughts about the Martha’s Vineyard Independent Festival and all my lovely friends there.
At some point I was at a video store with a couple friends and I saw a poster for Fellini’s Clowns (one of my favorite films) and asked my pals a question: does this mean it’s available on dvd...? The dream response was a widescreen dvd cover in messy black and white video, but… endlessly, horizontally wide, and it spread out before my eyes, honest, slightly sad and beautiful… and it was of the Sea at Martha’s Vineyard. Somehow I imagine seeing my friend Jeremy’s face kind of translucent smiling over this vista with his friends. I was lost in a trance. Then snapping back to the video store I said, Oh yes I’m definitely going to buy The Clowns.
What is the meaning of this? I suppose it’s obnoxious to over-analyze dreams. Especially in public! So let’s just chalk it up to me being very excited. I’m going to bring my whole video and audio rig, so there should be plenty of material to work with when I return.
On a side note… The Moon Duet cluster video has been finished for five days now, but we’re having some technical difficulties with the site. But if we can’t get them figured out before I leave they will be up by the time I get back. Thanks for your patience.
Puerto Rico / shooting with Ike / strange powersMar 06.2008
Howdy folks,
So just got back from a nice week off in Puerto Rico. Such a beautiful island. I brought my camera and made a lot of little movies, hopefully some of which will make it into some future work. Here’s an image from Old San Juan:
I got back just in time to shoot my next cluster video with my friend, the great upright bassist, Ike Sturm. We captured ten voices in five passes live to my p2 card for you. It’s a performance of my song Moon After Berceuse sung at St. Peter’s church. That’s a church famously known as “the jazz church” and Ike is the musical director there. Anyway, aroudn the middle of March I’ll be going live with it, so check back.
While I was away in Puerto Rico “The Sad Song” got featured on youtube, and in one day the stats went from 1,110 views to 175,000 views, and continued to climb until the video left the front page. It was very exciting, but most beautiful about it was hearing from folks who’d seen it.
Actually, I heard from an old friend with whom I went to elementary school. His name is Theo Burkhardt, and he has a great video which I totally love, so I wanted to post a link to it. Go watch it! The song is “Strange Powers” by the Magnetic Fields. Great song. Great video.
click here to watch Strange Powers
Feb 11.2008
It’s been a long time in the making and the site is rich in content, so I here’s a little introduction to what you will find.
Opus Videos
The Sad Song is now joined by a new video for The Turn. You will find both of these videos in the media section under the heading “opus”, joined by my Silent Night video. Keep checking back for updates, there are many more in the works.
Cluster Videos
Also in the media section you’ll also find a heading called Cluster Videos. Once a month I will do a new live performance of all of the vocals of my song and cluster them together graphically. Until science finds a way to clone human beings, this is probably the purest way I can possibly perform my music live. Please head on over and take in my first performance. And if you have any requests email me!
Downloads
In the download area you will find a full set of desktop images and avatars from images by the very cool designer Richard Colman, and my own cat as avatar. Keep checking here for future treats.
Do search the site carefully, as there may be some hidden content…
I owe many thanks to Mike Grigg of Royal Magnet, who designed the site, as well as to Joey Trimmer who did the code. And the marvelous artwork is by Richard Colman.
Please enjoy the site and come back again soon!