tonyyoungblood

New Circuit Benders’ Ball Kickstarter Reward: A Ticket to the Ball!

Circuit Benders Ball, Circuit-Bending, Concerts No Responses »

Sep 112012

Due to popular request, we’ve added a new reward to our Kickstarter campaign: a ticket to the Ball! For $15, you get an advance ticket to the Ball, ensuring your admission in case of a sell out, plus a personalized thank you on TheatreIntangible.com, CircuitBendersBall.com, and the Facebook CBB page, AND your name spoken on the Theatre Intangible podcast covering the Circuit Benders’ Ball!

The $15 pledge is a perfect way for those already planning on attending to show their support. Donate here.

We’ve also dropped the price of the $40 pledge rewards to $35! For $35, you get a ticket upgrade to VIP status and a special handmade VIP badge, featuring an LED light and to-be-announced coolness. VIP access gets you into the artist green room full of free drinks and munchies. You also get a cd or tape from one of the CBB participants, including Robbie Hunsinger, Tony Youngblood, Brain Lesion, and more PLUS all rewards from the previous award limits! If you can’t attend the Ball, you can request an additional cd or tape. Donate here.

What’s better, if you’ve already donate at or above these values, you will still get the newly-announced goodies!

Shipping is FREE for all rewards!

Spread the word by telling all your friends and posting the Kickstarter campaign link on your Facebook page and Twitter feed: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tonyyoungblood/2012-circuit-benders-ball-nashvlle/

E091 Trevor Watts and Veryan Weston Artist Showcase 2012-09-07

All Podcasts, Artist Showcases, Post-WRVU Era, Trevor Watts, Veryan Weston No Responses »

Sep 072012

Trevor Watts & Veryan Weston live in Vancouver, July 3, 2011. Photo by Peter Gannushkin.

On today’s podcast, I’m incredibly excited to have legendary British free jazz pioneers Trevor Watts and Veryan Weston!

Saxophonist Trevor Watts, along with drummer John Stevens, is co-founder of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, a loosely-knit group of free improvisers first assembled in London in the mid-60’s. The SME’s influence in the avant garde and free improv communities cannot be overstated. Members at various times include Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Peter Kowald, John Butcher, Julie Tippetts, Robert Calvert, Kenny Wheeler, Roger Smith, Nigel Coombes, Maggie Nichols, Colin Wood, Dave Holland, Barry Guy, and Kent Carter. In addition to his work in the SME, Trevor formed the groups Amalgam and Moiré Music ensemble and has performed with jazz greats such as Steve Lacy, Don Cherry, and Archie Shepp.

Pianist Veryan Weston performed with Trevor Watts in Moiré Music and on the duet album 6 Dialogues. He’s also played with the Eddie Prévost Quartet, Lol Coxhill, Phil Minton, and John Butcher.

On Friday, July 13th, 2012, Watts and Weston performed together at the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville. It was a phenomenal experience. Trevor and Veryan very kindly gave me permission to record and release the performance, and that’s what you’re about to hear.

I recorded the show with two Shure SM58 Beta vocal microphones hard panned left/right, mounted high on mic stands placed in the second pew of the Chapel. The mics went directly into a Marantz digital field recorder. The room’s natural reverb sounds just about right two pews from the performers.

In post, I added a light amount of compression, turned up the left channel a little, edited out pauses between songs, and that’s about it.

Without further ado, here’s Trevor Watts and Veryan Weston live at the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville. Enjoy!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:39 — 145.8MB)

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

Tonight at Zeitgeist Indeterminacies: Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd with Moderator Stan Link 2012-09-06

Concerts No Responses »

Sep 062012

Rodger Coleman. Photo by Kim Sherman.

Tonight at 6pm, Zeitgeist Gallery‘s fantastic Indeterminacies series is kicking off the fall season with a free improvisation duet between Nashville pianist Rodger Coleman and Richmond, VA drummer Sam Byrd. Rodger writes the excellent music blog Nu-Void, and I believe I’ve seen him in attendance at every Indeterminacies show.

The discussion will be led by composer, former Indeterminacies guest, and Vanderbilt professor Stan Link. Up until this year, I released the Indeterminacies shows as podcasts, and you can hear Stan’s among the rest. (I had to stop because of time constraints.)

Rodger wrote a commentary on his upcoming performance at Nu-Void. It’s a really thoughtful read, and I recommend you check it out. Like any self-reflective artist, he begins with trepidations:

On Thursday, September 6, I will be playing improvised piano/drums duets with my friend and former bandmate, Sam Byrd, at the opening Indeterminacies event at Zeitgeist Gallery. This will be first time I have performed in public since the dissolution of UYA in 1995 and the first time on piano since…when?…1984? I can’t remember. I’m a little bit nervous—not so much about the music (Sam always inspires me to play beyond my abilities—which is why I insisted he travel from Richmond to join me)—but more concerned about the discussion segments, which will be led by Vanderbilt professor, Stan Link. Stan is a good friend and I’m sure he’ll go easy on me, but he is a brilliant and articulate composer with deep suspicions about the whole notion of improvisation as a legitimate artistic practice. Of course, this is what makes Indeterminacies unique: these are not concerts per se; they are investigations into the phenomena of performance and reception, critical thinking and audience participation. The result is unscripted, deliberately indeterminate and always challenging. We will be required to explain and, perhaps, justify and defend whatever it is we’re doing from rhetorical attacks from Stan and a potentially hostile, disapproving audience. Maybe not, but I’d be disappointed if we weren’t.

Stan goes on to quote Christopher Small in his book Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening. I’ve been thinking quite a lot lately on the nature of art, aesthetics, and the limits of our judgement calls, and Small’s quote really struck a chord with me:

Music is not a thing at all but an activity, something that people do. The apparent thing “music” is a figment, an abstraction of the action, whose reality vanishes as soon as we examine it at all closely. This habit of thinking in abstractions, of taking from an action what appears to be its essence and giving that essence a name, is probably as old as language; it is useful in the conceptualizing of our world but it has its dangers. It is very easy to come to think of the abstraction as more real than the reality it represents, to think, for example, of those abstractions we call love, hate, good and evil as having an existence apart of the acts of loving, hating, or performing good and evil deeds and even to think of them as being in some way more real than the acts themselves, a kind of universal or ideal lying behind and suffusing the actions. This is the trap of reifications, and it has been a besetting fault of Western thinking ever since Plato, who was one of its earliest perpetrators.

When we say a piece of music is “good” or “bad,” some of us mean more than an aesthetic choice. Some of us really believe that the work is intrinsically, inherently imbued with this quality. “Mozart’s music is beautiful, and if you don’t agree, you are wrong.” (Substitute Mozart with Brittany Spears, Kandinsky, or any other artist.) But an aesthetic judgement means nothing without an observer. And observers see reality through their own customized filter of life experience and perceptive and cognitive uniqueness (for example, the degree one is able to perceive pitch or taste bitter). I get an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach when art professors authoritatively stamp good and bad, right and wrong. But this doesn’t mean the role of critic or theory professor is useless. Because of the professor’s point of view, not in spite of it, she can steer students towards different approaches in understanding. The professor can make comparisons and present an aesthetically constructed narrative. But we have to be careful to not see it as gospel. It’s a point of view. The aesthetic judgement is just a link between the observer and the observed. It’s not an inherent quality of either.

In other words, if a person’s opinion contributes to your understanding and appreciation of a piece of work (whether that person is a professor or a blue-haired teenager), take it. If it doesn’t, leave it.

And if they say you are wrong, tell them to go fuck themselves.

Do read Stan’s commentary. The aesthetic link between me and it is this: “It’s great.” I really look forward to tonight’s Indeterminacies.

More info on the event’s Facebook page.

September 6th, 6pm
Indeterminacies with Rodger Coleman, Sam Byrd, and Stan Link

Zeitgeist Gallery
1819 21st Avenue South
Nashville, Tennessee

Circuit Benders’ Ball Kickstarter Campaign Now Live! Tickets for Workshops Now Available on TheSkillery.com!

Brick Factory, Circuit Benders Ball, Circuit-Bending, Concerts No Responses »

Sep 052012

Funding for the Circuit Benders’ Ball has officially launched on our Kickstarter page! There are all sorts of great rewards for donating, including CBB t-shirts and posters and one-of-a-kind artwork and devices from CBB participants! Who will be the lucky person to scoop up Josh Gumiela’s one-of-a-kind sound sculpture? Many of the rewards are limited quantity, so hurry on over to Kickstarter.com and donate what you can! The success of the CBB depends entirely upon the support and the enthusiasm of our volunteers, participants, and audience. We can’t do this without you!

The Circuit Benders’ Ball workshops are now for sale on TheSkillery.com, a Brick Factory partner and “an online marketplace for affordable, offline classes and workshops led by experts in your community.” The three workshops are limited to 15 students each, so get your tickets before they sell out. Take one class and get a Circuit Benders’ Ball t-shirt for free! Take all three classes and get a free ticket to the music performances at 8pm!

Here are the workshop full descriptions:

Chip to be Square: Build Your Own Synthesizer

Buy tickets.
$55, Saturday September 29, 2012 10:00AM – 1:00PM

This workshop will teach you how to build your own square wave synthesizer. A synthesizer is an electronic musical instrument capable of producing a wide range of frequencies (notes) to make melodies. Square waves are one of the most commonly used waveforms in all synthesizers. They sound somewhat rough to our ears and might remind you of old 8-bit video game systems such as the Atari 2600 or Nintendo Entertainment System.

In this workshop you will:

– build a square wave synthesizer with sequencer you can take home
– learn the fundamentals of electronics from a beginner’s perspective
– acquire a collection of electronic components you can use after the workshop
– learn how to expand and experiment with the circuit you build
– be given a list of handy DIY resources for building future projects
The synthesizer you’ll build in this workshop (like this one) will play an adjustable melody using an integrated step sequencer. A step sequencer is an automated device that “steps through” each note one at a time in a repeating pattern. So instead of pressing keys as you would on a piano, you adjust each step of the sequencer to play a particular note in order to form your melody. You can adjust the rate (speed) at which your melody plays and change the individual notes in real time (via potentiometers) as the sequencer runs.
Your sequencer will consist of eight steps so your synth will thus play eight different notes. Your synth will include an audio output jack so you can plug it into a stereo system, amplifier, or computer to hear or record your performances. Amps will be provided at the workshop for testing and playing your synth.

In the process of building your synthesizer, you’ll learn the fundamentals of electronics, and specialized logic components such as integrated circuits (ICs) and digital waveform synthesis. You’ll also learn how you can modify your circuit to customize your synth and how you can incorporate the circuit into a larger musical system.

You’ll build your synthesizer on the provided breadboard, which means:

– you don’t have to solder a darn thing
– you can easily make modifications to your circuit to customize your synth
– you can reuse the breadboard and components to build other circuits

If you ever wanted to get into electronics but didn’t know where to begin, this workshop will give you all the materials and know-how you need to get started. You’ll be able to reuse your breadboard and components to build a variety of other projects in the future. You’ll also be provided with a list of handy DIY resources, such as useful tools & components, DIY-friendly vendors, and other cool circuits you can easily build and modify.

This event is part of the Circuit Benders’ Ball, a day-long celebration of hardware hacking, music, art, and the creative spirit. Register for one Circuit Benders’ Ball workshop and get a CBB t-shirt for free! (Limit 1 per student.) Register for all three Circuit Benders’ Ball workshops and get into the music showcase for free! (A $15 value.)

About the teacher: Josh Gumiela

Josh Gumiela is a sound designer, electronics tinkerer, and educator. He’s the proprietor of GumiElectronic.net, a DIY electronics blog providing free-as-in-freedom tutorials on circuit bending, modification, and design of electronic audio devices. He’s been teaching audio and interactive media classes since 2005. Josh is currently designing interactive sound sculptures and making peculiar sounds with his hand-made devices.

Ideal For: Teens (13-18), Adults (18+), Males, Intellectuals, Professionals, Parents, Females, Techies and Nerds, Artists & Creative Souls
Skills Taught: Electronics, circuitry, Create a Synthesizer

Class Requirements

This is a beginner’s level class. No prior electronics experience is necessary. At the end of the workshop you’ll take home a fully functional eight-step synthesizer to annoy your friends with. Come with the desire to learn and create. All materials are included.

Buy tickets.

Introduction to Circuit Bending with Roth Mobot

Buy tickets.
$45, Saturday September 29, 2012 2:00PM – 5:00PM

Circuit Bending (also called Hardware Hacking) is the creative recycling of common discarded technology, often children’s toys, by opening the device and soldering in new connections within the device’s pre-existing circuitry to create unique musical and video instruments.

In this workshop, you can take apart an old toy and make a brand new musical instrument! You’ll be able to identify and explore the basic components of a typical circuit board, the basics of soldering, install output jacks, switches, body contacts (and more!), and control a world of new sounds. Tools and components will be provided.

IMPORTANT: This workshop is BYOT (Bring Your Own Toy). Participants are required to bring one battery-powered device (with batteries!) to the class. It’s best to bring more than one toy too. Some toys just don’t bend. Sometimes a toy fries during the workshop. We don’t want anyone to be left out.

What’s a good toy to bend? Find out on Roth Mobot’s workshop page: http://www.rubbermonkey.org/rothmobot/workshops.htm

About the teachers: Roth Mobot

Roth Mobot is the Chicago-based Circuit Bent musical duo of Tommy Stephenson and Patrick McCarthy. Roth Mobot’s invention of “recursive jazz” controls the random juxtaposition of improvised dark ambient drones, languid melodies, randomly discovered rhythms, percussive accidents, the humorous language of toys, and common discarded electronic devices, in what they refer to as “strategic improvisation.”

Tommy Stephenson has been at the center of the Circuit Bending movement since the early 1990’s. His specialties include speed bending, mercury switches, capacitor cascades, and rehousing devices in trash-picked containers.

Patrick McCarthy has been conducting Circuit Bending workshops and courses in various Museums, Galleries, Schools, Symposium, Salons, and Corporate Seminars, since 1999. He is on staff at the Wanger Family Fab Lab at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. He’s also on faculty at the Old Town School of Folk Music and teaches workshops at the school and teaches multiple residencies at various Chicago Public Schools via the OTSFM’s Education Outreach Program. He conducts regular teaching residencies at Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio, and currently has an extended teaching residency at Near North Montessori School.

Class Details

Ideal For: Artists & Creative Souls, Intellectuals, Females, Males, Techies and Nerds
Skills Taught: circuity, circuit bending, hardware hacking

Class Requirements

No previous electronics experience is required. Participants are required to bring one or two battery-powered devices (with batteries!) to the class. All other class materials are included.

Buy tickets.

Build a Buckawatt “Bend-a-Boost” Modular Boost Kit

Buy tickets.
$45, Saturday September 29, 2012 5:30PM – 7:00PM

In this workshop, attendees will learn how to build and design a single stage amplifier using sockets. Attendees will practice beginner soldering skills, populating a circuit board with sockets, before experimenting with a number of different custom biasing configurations with no additional soldering. The lecture portion will include how the various different configurations work, while covering topics on the different modes and biasing of the transistors, as well as a brief intro on how the boosts work together in multiple stages to create overdrive and fuzz.

The Bend-a-Boost is a transistor-based boost kit that is easily configured on modular sockets. It is a single stage amplifier used to boost an audio signal, which works as an active volume control. This can be used to add color and character to other devices, and can be configured in a number of different ways to create signal clipping and oscillations. It has practical applications for circuit benders and stomp box lovers alike, and teaches building blocks of amplification, overdrive, and fuzz. The modular socket design allows builders to design multiple circuits and keep them semi-prematurely, to swap them out with no additional soldering.

About the teacher: Zach Adams

Zach Adams is a very active, genre hopping, experimental musician as a member of CMKT 4, The American Association of Robotic Philharmonics, Dumpling, and Gary Mullis’ Country Two Band, just to name a few. Zach, along with the members of CMKT 4, has performed and given nearly 100 workshops at over 50 hackersapces coast to coast, including The Brick Factory. In addition, he builds piezo mics and other bent devices for Creme DeMentia Labs, and in conjunction with Glass Hero Amplification, designs Buckawatt Electronic Kits. Zach is also an enthusiast for outsider education and unschooling.

Class Details

Ideal For: Adults (18+), Artists & Creative Souls, College Students, Intellectuals, Females, Males, Techies and Nerds
Skills Taught: Electronics, How to Build an Amplifier

Class Requirements

This workshop is Ideal for learning beginning soldering, and beginner to intermediate circuit theory. Come with the desire to learn and create. All materials included.

Buy tickets.

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