Warning: Declaration of Suffusion_MM_Walker::start_el(&$output, $item, $depth, $args) should be compatible with Walker_Nav_Menu::start_el(&$output, $item, $depth = 0, $args = Array, $id = 0) in /home/theatr23/public_html/wp-content/themes/suffusion/library/suffusion-walkers.php on line 39
Mar 142010
 

Nine of us sat in my cold basement, sitting on amplifiers arranged in a circle and armed with guitars of all shapes and calibers.  We had just recorded a level-check for the all guitar episode, and Charlie was uncomfortable.  I shared his worry that the episode may degenerate into a cacophonous kludge of competing frequencies, each guitarist in his own little world.  We solved the problem by dividing the show into mini-concepts lasting between 5 and 15 minutes each.  It wasn’t long before the tape rolled and JJ sprang into action as one concept’s conductor; waving, pointing, raising and lowering his appendages, signaling players when to play and with what intensity.  After an inspired smoke break, Will Floyd orchestrated the theme of a bank heist as told through guitar.  Charlie played the carefree bank customer whose happy notes took a turn for the sour when the bank robbers shot up the place with distorted axes.  Charlie’s departed ghost rose from the grave and played a sweet coda as the bank concept ended.

All in all we recorded an hour and seventeen minutes worth of material — some good, some bad, some golden.  When I edited the show a month later, I had forgotten most of the themes, which was probably for the best.  Free of our intentions, I was able to edit simply on what sounded good.  The parts that didn’t work or felt too much like a jam band got thrown to the side, leaving a brisk thirty seven minutes.  All Guitars stars Anthony William Herndon, Brey McCoy, Charlie Rauh, and first-time participants Ben Lowry, Brady Sharp, and Adam Louis.  Each brought something unique to the table, and I look forward to having them on again.  Will Floyd and JJ Jones each directed a segment.  We recorded live to my Tascam 80-8 reel to reel tape recorder.  I did the live mixing and editing.

We had a great time making this one, and I hope you get the same pleasure out of hearing it.  All Guitars.  Enjoy.

Mar 022010
 

From left: Wess, pds, Paul, Jimmy, Charlie, & Tim. Taken by Paul.

Here’s an episode that almost never happened.  It was designed as a simple photo-op for an article The Tennessean is writing wrote about local podcasts.  In order to make the deadline, they had to shoot a photograph for the story by the end of the weekend.  The writer Dave Paulson thought our show would make for an engaging picture.  I quickly called in the troops; and we assembled last Saturday in my basement, squeezed tightly together to make for a nice picture and blindfolded because it looked cool and because . . . well . . . we’ve never done that theme before.

I’ve been working on a computer program that reads Twitter messages aurally via an open-source speech synthesizer called Festival.  I’m preparing that program for next Saturday’s Podcamp Nashville.  We’re doing a live improv for the conference where audience members can tweet to the hashtag #pcn10ore and hear those tweets in the mix.  This little last-minute improv was a perfect vehicle to test that program.

It was a complete coincidence that last Saturday happened to be the day when all hell broke loose.  Saturday was the day after the Chilean earthquake; the day of the tsunamis; and, if you searched for the keywords earthquake and tsunami in Twitter like I did, the end of the world as we knew it.  I fed those two keywords into my tweet synthesizing program, and the resulting narration became the backbone of the show.  Some of the tweeters posted on-the-scene updates, while others joked about the impending disasters, and others prayed for the areas affected and called out to loved ones.

The theme was being helpless in the face of tragedy.  The blindfolds seemed fitting, though, I admit, they weren’t practical.  Most of the performers had them off within 10 minutes (exception being Charlie Rauh whom Jimmy had to poke to make him aware the rest of us had already de-blinded).

I’m quite fond of this show.  We were in the right time, the right place, with the right performers and the right technology.  Helpless features John Westberry on drums; pimpdaddysupreme on records, vocals, and effects, Paul Cain on accordian, saw, and water bottle; Charlie Rauh on guitar; Jimmy  Thorn on keyboard and chaos pad; Tim Carey on keyboard and mandolin; and Wess Youngblood on guitar and delay pedal.  I pressed the buttons on the laptop feeding the tweets and did the live mixing.  Portions of the show were edited for pacing.  The show ended before the tsunami reached Hawaii, so I continued recording the tweets for about 20 minutes after the show was over and inserted the most fitting ones into the show.

Special thanks to Jayesh Salvi for writing the initial Python program Talking Twitter Client and to Bryan Kemp for helping me modify it to suit my purposes.  Thanks also to the developers of Festival, to Tennessean writer Dave Paulson and to photographer Jeanne Reasonover.  Thanks to Paul Cain for taking the above-photograph.  A big thank you to all the performers!

Feb 152010
 

I know that I have a habit of saying each show is my favorite . . . but really now, this show IS my favorite thus far.  Doublebass avant-jazz artist Thomas Helton joined us for an improv with ~ORE~ regulars Lawrence Crow, Charlie Rauh, and Craig Schenker.  Because Thomas was only here for one day, we pre-recorded this episode in my basement 10 days before the original WRVU air date of June 21st, 2009.  Consequently, it’s the first show where the players were at least a little soused.  (Charlie now loves Hopslam beer.)   We didn’t have a theme per say, just the cues to play texturally and in ways the instruments weren’t necessarily made for.  This happened to be a strong suit for every one of the players.  This show is a textbook example of musicians playing experimental music musically and LISTENING to each other.  Helton on doublebass, Crow on violin and detuned autoharp, Rauh on guitar, Schenker on flute and saxophone.

Lawrence Crow just released a new album, and you can download it for free at his website.  I’ll be reviewing the album on this blog very soon.  

Thomas Helton’s bio from his web site:

For 15 years Thomas Helton has laid down basslines for jazz ensembles in Houston and around the US. He has appeared  at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and has recorded with Joe LoCascio, Carol Morgan, Chris Connolly, Smitty, Kevin Patton, & Cindy Scott.
Thomas brings all of his passion and experience for jazz to the table when it comes to his other half, avant-garde music. Early in his jazz career, Thomas was inspired by the sounds of John Zorn and Peter Kowald to venture outside mainstream musical bounds. This journey began with the Rosta Jazz Avengers, a Houston-based quartet all about free improvisation and sonic exploration. Thomas quickly jumped into composition, beginning to develop a style that combines thematic composition with free improvisation, a sort of loosely controlled writing style showcasing his hand-selected performers.
Thomas has released three albums to date. “Good Robot” (2007) and “Experimentations in Minimalism” (2006) feature compositions for small ensemble. “Doublebass” (2003) is a collection of live, freely-improvised solo performances. Thomas also appears on the 2003 Norcal Noise Fest compilation CD, as well as the KUHF “The Front Row” 2006 compilation CD.
Without further ado, we bring you Crow Helton Rauh Schenker:
Jan 112010
 

Starring Charlie Rauh, Chris Rauh, John Bohannon, John Westberry, DaveX, and Tony Youngblood.

It’s Sunday, January 10th, 2010 and today’s episode is The Sound of Teeth.

We recorded this episode in my basement on August 22nd, 2009 live on a Tascam 80-8 ½” 8 track reel to reel.  It’s taken me this long to edit it.  The Sound of Teeth features Charlie Rauh on Guitar, Chris Rauh on Bass, John Bohannon on Accoustic Guitar and Effects, John Westberry on Drums, and myself on Jenn Analog Synth and Field Recordings.   Some of the field recordings were pulled from Freesound.org. (See below for Freesound contributors.)  DaveX contributed the show narrative.  I did the live mixing, the post-mixing, and the editing.

The Sound of Teeth was the second episode we recorded on the reel to reel and the first of which to premiere on this podcast.  The sound of the tape gives the episode a real organic, textural quality – further explored by the addition of various forms of hiss & pop, such as vinyl clicks, mosquitoes, frying oil, and dirt in the volume knob of an old electric organ.   All of the performers on this episode really shine, and it’s one of our best yet.  It was a hell of a job to edit.  Enjoy.

The following samples were used under a Creative Commons license from Freesound.org.  The usernames of the sound creators follow the number in the track titles.  Extra special thanks to Freesound and the contributors.
2257__Andrew_Duke__click1.wav
2258__Andrew_Duke__click2.wav
2262__Andrew_Duke__hiss2.wav
11863__medialint__nord_analog_howling_wind_storm.wav
42656__zwang__record029.aif
48742__moca__37sec_phono_thru_gran_A
57027__NoiseCollector__deepwoods.wav
59985__gadzooks__stylus2.wav