Category Archives: Improvisation / new music

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.

Summer Comes To A Close

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The onslaught of sweltering humidity and routine afternoon thunderstorms marks the last full month of summer, although in Florida, September brings little relief. No new releases yet, but at least two are in the works.

The Delusionaires will soon have a new vinyl release of all new recordings. Artie Mondello has been putting in much overtime to make sure it moves forward as quickly as possible.

I have been sifting through hours and hours of Gatto Pazzo recordings to compile a sampling of what we do. I find editing to be the most difficult part of preparing a new release. Should be out in a few months. Could be a multi-disc release.

Two upcoming shows of note:

On Friday, August 17th, the one-time-only performance of Vrrrooom! by Son of CHANG will occur at Uncle Lou’s in Orlando. An all-star cast of Danny Feedback, Evan Shafran, and Todd Elliott will join me as we cue card the terrain of my imagination. 10pm start time. Son of CHANG will be only a portion of the evening’s event know as B.L.U.R.T. Other performances include Hal and Mark McGee, C.A.N.S., The Jim Parsons Project, and more. Also, as part of the B.L.U.R.T. show, I will be performing in an improvised trio with Dana Fasano and Dan Reeves, founder of B.L.U.R.T.

Urban ReThink will be the location of the second performance of my game piece, Milton Bradley, as improvisors from all over Florida will gather in Orlando for an afternoon of musical mayhem. Joining me for Milton Bradley will be Kris Gruda, Jamison Williams, and Jason Dean Arnold. The afternoon event will start at 3pm. To read more about the Milton Bradley game piece please follow this link. Also scheduled on this event will be SugaWack, Fresh Ground Umlaut, and more.

A couple of new/unavailable tracks have been added to the soundcloud page. Have a listen.

Catching Up In July

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As summer rolls along and the rains appear daily, it’s time for catching up on recordings that have been seriously neglected.

July begins with a new recording session, one I never would have predicted, with The Delusionaires at Mondello Manor. This weekend session will wind up with a live performance, but it will only be for invited guests. Yes, we are playing a wedding.

Gatto Pazzo has been a recording machine, with several hours worth of amazing sessions already captured in it’s short existence. This one is going to be fun to work on but difficult to edit down and trim for release.

Other recording that may, or may not see the light of day, include the Sun Ra tribute (needs a lot of post production), Kami No Kura live, Milton Bradley live at CageFest, The Fortune live in NYC, and a few others.

Looks like very limited time in the hammock this summer…

Summer Checklist

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Now that a hectic May is over, I get a chance to catch up on some neglected recordings and projects.

The first project I want to get back in action is a trio known as Gatto Pazzo, with Kris Gruda and Evan Shafran. Very excited about this project. We’ve already got several CD’s worth of material recorded, all of it worthy of release, however, not all of it will be. With the summer break, I’d like to get this trio back in performance mode and get some of the recordings mixed.

Crater Tater has a few shows coming up throughout the month of June: the 8th at Copper Rocket, the 23rd at Peacock Room, and I think one on the 30th, but I’m not sure of the location for that one.

Live recordings of Kami No Kura and Milton Bradley are also in the works. And never count out an unexpected solo effort showing up.

Celebrating Sun Ra, Heading North, and Heading South

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May has become a nearly overwhelmingly busy month, and it’s already a third over.

An event that has consumed much of my attention and that I am very excited about is the organizing and presentation of The Angel Race Big Band celebrating the life and work of Sun Ra. This show will be part of the grand opening of +Solo, a new experimental music gallery in Jacksonville, FL, and will take place on Friday, May 25th.

+Solo co-founder Jamison Williams has put together an amazing grand opening that will take place on the 25th and 26th. Experimental and improvising artists from all over will be on hand. Definitely, an event not to be missed.

The Sun Ra commemoration is in remembrance of the anniversary of Sun Ra leaving this plane of existence in 1993. The Angel Race Big Band, named after one of Ra’s compositions, will include many of the musicians performing during the +Solo grand opening. The piece will consist of Sun Ra compositions, improvisations conducted in the manner of Ra, as well as spoken word audio from the man himself.

Before this is to take place, there is the matter of my visit across the northern border to the town of Victoriaville, Quebec to experience the mecca of experimental and improvised music, FIMAV. This year’s line-up looks extremely tasty, even for a seasoned visitor as myself. In the years since my first FIMAV, 1989, I have missed very few. Go and check out the schedule!

The Wednesday after the Sun Ra set (May 30) finds me heading southbound on I-95 to the palm fronds of Miami and another amazing performance space, PAX, where I will be performing in the quartet, Entirely Experimental Ensemble, named by the organizer of the performance, Stephen Magagodi. The quartet will consist of some of my favorite musicians, Kris Gruda, Steve Bristol and Kyle Motl. This will be fun!
 A lot going on in the next two and a half weeks. Now, back to work.

Travelin’ The Spaceways: A Tribute to Sun Ra

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Note to Jacksonville: A new experimental music venue is opening up in late May, courtesy of Jamison Williams, saxophonist extraordinaire. The new venue, called +Solo, will have it’s official grand opening on May 25th and 26th, during the Jacksonville Jazz Festival. A veritable who’s who of Florida improvisors will be on hand, performing throughout the night.

For my contribution on the night of the 25th I am organizing a large ensemble in commemoration of the 19th anniversary of the passing of Sun Ra who left this planet on May 30, 1993. The performance will be a conducted, semi-structured improvisation that will include several of Sun Ra’s compositions. I’m very excited about this as Sun Ra was a HUGE influence on my development as an improvisor.

Stay tuned. Second stop is Jupiter.