August Interim

Concurrent to the work on the Margots recording project during early August, I was asked to participate on a fundraiser to help Frank Rosaly, whose car was stolen at the end of July, along with most of his drum equipment (including cymbals). There was a concert organized at the Experimental Sound Studio for Friday, August 3rd. On that morning I got a phone call from the ESS director, Lou Mallozzi, letting me Frank’s car and equipment had been found, and that he wanted to know if I still wanted to participate- Frank was going to take the money collected at the show and put it toward sponsoring Improvised Music concerts in Chicago. I told Lou, “Yes,” and got the full story from Frank that evening. At about 4am on Friday morning police had spotted a car weaving down a Chicago street, and pulled the driver over, who was completely drunk. The cops noticed that permit stickers had been scratched off the windshield, and something odd was up with the license plates, so they called dispatch to check on the auto- it came up as Frank’s stolen car. The police arrested the driver and opened the trunk, it was filled with stolen merchandise, including all of Frank’s missing drum equipment; the thief had been using the car around town since he stole it, ripping buy online in australia more people off and just putting those items in the trunk on top of Frank’s stuff. The only thing missing were Frank’s drum instruction books that he used with his students… As planned, the concert took place and ESS was packed with musicians and fans- it was incredibly gratifying to see the solidarity of the scene here, with the realization that the artists and listeners who participated (and those that couldn’t make it that night) would have done the same for someone else faced with Frank’s circumstances. It was a beautiful night, with strong music played by musicians like Josh Abrams, Jim Baker, Josh Berman, James Falzone, Jeff Kimmel, Jason Stein, Mars Williams and, of course, Frank Rosaly. Got a trip in to New York with Ellen following the Margots recording session. Visited the permanent collection at MoMA (knocked out by the photo exhibit, “The Shaping of New Visions: Photography, Film, Photobook”) on the 13th; and the, “Weegee: Murder Is My Business,” and, “A Short History of Photography,” at the ICP on the 14th. Explored the visual landscape of Giacometti while reading David Sylvester’s book, “Looking at Giacometti,” and started wrestling with Godard for the first time since my university days by starting with, “2 or 3 Things I Know About Her.” I’m still in way over my head.

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1247