25 April 2014

4/18/14: The drive to Buffalo was made longer because we couldn’t cut through Canada, I was too worried about going over the border and back into the States with Christof and Jasper in the van. We arrived at Hallwalls and soundchecked, running the C series again, which is used on Cherchez La Femme, to solidify that material. The turnout for the show was very good based on past experience, maybe 40 people, and the band played two sets, with the music opening up really well, a strong step forward from the night before. Jet lag was hitting Jasper pretty hard but he did an excellent job of staying focused despite this. Some misunderstandings regarding a few pieces (we still haven’t played the “ballad” C(8) correctly), but overall this was a good gig and the audience responded strongly. It was great to see David Kennedy, who subsidized the concert, and to catch up with him.

4/19/14: I started the day by cashing a check from Hallwalls for the band while being forced to listen to a woman on a cellphone behind me describe her trip to the bank, which took longer than the trip itself. Everyone then visited the Albright museum with David Kennedy which had some excellent Clifford Still paintings on display, but 55 of the main pieces from its permanent collection had been shipped to Denver for an exhibition there- most of the great pieces (de Kooning, etc.) from my last visit were gone and that was rather disappointing. The main current exhibition was four large, recent Anselm Kiefer’s on display. There was one of the sea that was strong but the others seemed rehashed or merely pretty to me. David told a great story about John Lindberg getting fed up with conservatory teaching and the student/parent relations. One of the students went AWOL and his parents came to the school to discuss what had happened with Lindberg. Somehow they had found their son’s cellphone and wanted to show its address book to Lindberg as an example of their child’s “difficulties.” Most of the names on the phone were listed as, “Asshole,” or “Scum Bag,” etc. John said, yeah that’s pretty extreme, but maybe we should just try and call one of the numbers to see what happens, maybe the person on the other end of the line knows where your son is. So Lindberg dials, “Asshole,” and the father’s phone starts to ring.

The group got through the border without trouble, which always feels like a victory. Christof had an espresso at Tim Horton’s once we were in Canada and responded, “I don’t think I’ll be getting a Tim Horton’s card.” I transcribed parts for two new noted pieces and two game pieces for MTB (first in the D series) while traveling in the van, trying hard to write while bouncing around. Arrived in Toronto at the Drake Hotel club to find Nate Wooley waiting for us. As always it was great to see him and his calm straightforward presence was just what I needed. MTB set up and ran the two noted pieces. Christof had worked up parts for one of the game pieces in the van, and we played that piece and one of the new notated pieces at the show, both went well as music but need some work to better express the intention of the pieces. Nate Wooley opened the night with a tremendous solo set. It was the first time I’ve heard him solo and I was really, really impressed. He used a guitar amp to great effect, raising the volume on small sounds to create an amazing extended vocabulary to work with, in addition to more conventional playing. MTB performed two “suites” of material in our set. It felt like a step back in the development process, things played correctly but the principles of the music somehow less understood (pieces that should groove were too deconstructed to do so, free pieces too uniform in dynamics and density to open up). The mix onstage made if feel as if Christof was only using a wash of sound most of the night, just coloring the rest of the group with textures, but I knew this wasn’t the case, just unfortunate sound on stage. The gig felt like a struggle for me. There was a good turn out, probably 70 folks, but even with 60 paid we only cleared $440 on a door gig. Sold some merch so all was not lost economically.