Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe

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the-book-of-knotsMay means many things but for me, May means great music. May marks the greening of the grounds, but first and foremost, May marks the time for the wonderful FIMAV festival in Victoriaville!

zorn1This year’s line-up is, once again, outstanding: Iva Bittova/Gyan Riley/Evan Ziporyn, Michel Doneda/Tatsuya Nakatani, Haunted House, Oxbow, ZGA, Anna Homler, The Book of Knots (!), The Thing and Thurston Moore, Hikashu, and many more. And to close out the festival this year, a full day of John Zorn projects to mark his 60th birthday, including Moonchild, The Dreamers, Electric Masada, chamber ensembles, a “song project”, and solo church organ! Hooray for May! More details here.

wilmer14_7950To top off the month of May, there will be a tribute to Albert Ayler at Jacksonville’s Burro Bar on May 26th. This show was set up and organized by Jamison Williams, who asked me to participate. I have arranged The Spiritual Unity Suite, a suite based upon the Spiritual Unity album, with a bit of other Ayler thrown in. Other musicians participating in the evening include Jamison Williams, Kris Gruda, Steve Bristol, A.J. Herring, Bill Henderson, Jack Allen, Jeff Abbott, Kathy Burkett, Jason Dean Arnold, Dan Kozak, Tim Albro, Micheal Lanier, and Lucy Bonk. It will be a monumental tribute to a monumental artist. Be there if you can.

Of Gongs and Kings…

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Mark your calendars:

nakataniTatsuya Nakatani solo and Gong Orchestra will be performing at the Church of Holy Colors in Gainesville, Florida on February 27th. Gatto Pazzo will open the show. Gatto Evan will also be participating in the Gong Orchestra. If you’ve never witnessed Tatsuya Nakatani, then what are you waiting for?

Nakatani’s approach to music is visceral, non-linear and intuitively primitive, expressing an unusually strong spirit while avoiding any categorization. He creates sound via both traditional and extended percussion techniques, utilizing drums, bowed gongs, cymbals, singing bowls, metal objects and bells, as well as various sticks, kitchen tools and homemade bows, all of which manifest in an intense and organic music that represents a very personal sonic world. His approach is steeped in the sensibilities of free improvisation, experimental music, jazz, rock, and noise, and yet retains the sense of space and quiet beauty found in traditional Japanese folk music. His percussion instruments can imitate the sounds of a trumpet, a stringed instrument or an electronic device to the extent that it becomes difficult to recognize the source of the sound. He has devoted himself to a musical aesthetic where rhythm gives way to pulse, often in a way that is not always audible or visible, in currents that incorporate silence and texture.

KingKhanBBQThe Delusionaires will be opening two shows for King Khan and BBQ Show (!!!!), April 22nd at The Basement in Atlanta, and 23rd at Siberia in New Orleans. If we all survive this extravaganza, there will be many sordid stories to tell. THESE ARE THE ONLY TWO SOUTHERN U.S. SHOWS OF THIS TOUR! DON’T MISS IT!

AuschAlso of note: the new limited edition CD from Gatto Pazzo, Ausch Dönitz, will be available at the Tatsuya Nakatani show, all in an artfully crafted, hand made slim case. Buy it while it lasts. Thank you for your patronage.

Auld Lang Syne 2012

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As 2012 gives way to 2013, there are a few notes worth mentioning.

folderAlthough the Mayan prophecy proved uneventful and we are all still here, The Delusionaires plan to at least kill a good amount of your brain cells. Friday, January 18th marks to release of their long anticipated (?) long-playing vinyl record Flooze Party. To celebrate the event, there will be a much more anticipated hoedown at Will’s Pub that night. Also on the bill will be Gravitron and Golden Pelicans. There will be much rejoicing, as well as a lot of falling down.

Danny Feedback’s Crack Rock Opera has been selected to participate in the 2013 International Fringe Festival in May. That’ll be seven shows in ten days! More detail forthcoming.

Sanjiro-smallAnd, finally, the Son of CHANG release, Sanjiro, will be available the first day of 2013. There are some audio excerpts on the Audio page. Son of CHANG is a project using sets of musical quotes and themes that are arranged live by holding up cue cards. An all-star cast of Danny Feedback, Evan Shafran, and Todd Elliott join me on this roller coaster of a ride.

I hope your 2012 was joyous and successful and your 2013 will be the best year yet.

Until The End Of The World

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2012 winds down and unless the Mayan myths are correct, 2013 is just over the horizon. As always, much to do, not enough time to get it done quickly.

Danny Feedback’s Crack Rock Opera will be presenting it’s newest tale in a very limited run (two nights) on December 20th (Will’s Pub) and 21st (Peacock Room) because, according to Mayan prophecy, there will be no December 22nd. So get your fill of rock and roll debauchery while you can.

Flooze Party the upcoming full-length vinyl release from The Delusionaires makes its debut at the release party, Friday, January 18, 2013 (providing we are all still alive) at Will’s Pub. An evening sure to be remembered, at least until the next morning. Joining the Dels will be Gravitron and Golden Pelicans.

Hal McGee continues his long running Apartment Music series in Gainesville on the afternoon of December 22nd. These shows are intimate and a LOT of fun.

A few other items to mention before the world ends:

Gatto Pazzo‘s two extremely limited edition art-packaged CDs are still available here or from me directly. There are 8 copies of Japanese Lunches and 9 copies of Doberman Dalmatian left, so if you want one, what are you waiting for?

Work is well underway on the Son of CHANG studio release. This should be completed just after the beginning of the year. Man, it sounds great! Excellently recorded by Evan Shafran.

At the recent Urban ReThink Sunday afternoon improvised music show I performed in a trio with John David Eriksen (cello) and A.J. Herring (guitar). I was very pleased with how it sounded. The performance was recorded and may eventually be available, but I look forward to more collaborations with these two gentlemen.

New CDs From Gatto Pazzo…

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We are hard at work to bring you the first two releases by Gatto Pazzo. Both releases are home-made, limited edition productions. There will be a total of 15 of each release made and that will be it. They will be available at the B.L.U.R.T show on Wednesday, October 10th at Sip.

The first CD is “Doberman Dalmatian”. It comes in a custom Dalmatian fur jewel case. The music is one long improvisation that has been split for listener convenience.

The other release that will be available at Sip is the EP length “Japanese Lunches/Lamb Package Toe Prick”. This will come in a custom translucent sleeve containing original artwork by the band, one framable piece per song title. There will be a total of 15 prints along with the CDEP.

Very excited about these creations!

Another new development that I am excited about is the addition of The Dex Romweber Duo to the Tav Falco/Panther Burns show with The Delusionaires as opening act in Atlanta on October 19th. This will be an amazing show, one that you will be very sad if you miss it!!!

Great shows coming up. Hope to see everyone there.

October Feast

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There is plenty brewing for the month of October.

Gatto Pazzo will deliver a rare (only the third) performance at the October 10th B.L.U.R.T. show at SIP in Orlando. Gonna be a great show with other artists including Kevin Greenspon (from California), Electric Inertia (from Ohio), Hardon Collider (from Ohio), Whitey Alabastard (from outer space), Quantyzer, and our ol’ pal Trotsky’s Watercooler.

Available for the first time at this B.L.U.R.T. show will be the first two releases from the extremely limited edition art/CD projects by Gatto Pazzo. These items will be hand-made, unique, beautiful, will include lots of artwork by the trio, and will not last long, as they will be produced in very small numbers.

A very exciting event on October 19th: The Delusionaires will crawl out of the basement for a one-time special show, filling the honorable slot of warm up band for the amazing Tav Falco and Panther Burns!!!!! This will be a very special evening. Hangovers predicted.

And rounding out the month will be the latest installment of the improvised music showcase at Urban ReThink on October 28th beginning at 3pm. Details are still being worked out, but, as always, these showcases are not to be missed.

September Show

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A quick group of shows happening the early part of September has kept me busy with rehearsals: Crater Tater will be sharing the stage with Gargamel on Friday, September 7th, Hal McGee will host a new Apartment Music afternoon on September 15th (I will be performing a duo with cellist John David Eriksen), and Son of CHANG will make it’s second and last (?) one-time-only performance at Uncle Lou’s on Wednesday, September 19th.

I pulled out the first of the cue card pieces from 2009 which was originally performed by CHANG and have reworked it for Son of CHANG and our show at Uncle Lou’s. We will be performing two pieces: VRRROOOM! and Zip-Zip-Tang. Also on the bill that night is SSLOTS, Free Dr*gs, and more.

On track from a fall release is the new vinyl offering from The Delusionaires, Flooze Party.

Some very creative and clever ideas for limited edition artwork/CD releases from Gatto Pazzo will be emerging over the next few months. This is very exciting to me, as the releases will be available in very limited quantities and all will be hand made, one-of-a-kind packaging incorporating our artwork with unique ideas.