Jobs vs. Gigs

I remember the first time Birch Pereira told me about this scene. I had never seen Flight of the Conchords before, and this was the scene he described to me to convince me to watch the show; not because it was hilarious (it is), but because it really illustrates all the problems you have to deal with as a musician. It seems funny to me now to look at Flight of the Conchords as a deep and profound take on the plight of the modern-day musician, but this scene still sticks with me.

I’m getting closer to trying to play and teach music full time. Mid-January is when I’m aiming to make the jump, and I know it will be here more quickly than I expect. That’s probably why I’m taking on as much as I am now; I’m trying to get some momentum so that I can hit the ground running when the time comes. Will I still have to find other non-musical work to get by? Possibly, but as long as I have to time to write and play, I believe I’ll be happy, and hopefully I can make the necessary financial and lifestyle adjustments when the time comes.

It’s still months away, but I think about it all the time…

Sideman adventures continued

Last week was one the busiest playing weeks I’ve had in a long time.  It’s not often that I have many weekday/midweek performances, so it was kind of a new experience for me.  This is also on the heels of a couple of sub gigs I’ve recently done, so I’ve been thinking a bit about playing music and playing with different people.

 

– So many great musicians!  There’s always that amazing player in town that you haven’t met, or that person you’ve seen around but haven’t listened to and then they blow you away.

– Interacting with a lot of different musician friends makes me a better saxophonist.  Sometimes when playing in a band, you get really comfortable just doing what you’re already good at, so it was great to be challenged to play in a different way to fit whatever setting I was in. 

– I can see now the huge difference time can make on a band and the way musicians play together.  The level of music-making that comes from people that play together all the time and have done so for a while is super high. 

– On the other hand, there were many moments where I really felt like there was some awesome music going on with people I had either just met or didn’t know very well, so I guess it just depends.

 

I made many of these same points in my previous sideman post, but recent events brought them back to the forefront so I thought I would share them again.  That’s what a blog is for, right?

 

– Art

 

 

 

Chicag-blog 2011

 

Highlights from my recent trip to visit my sister in Chicago:

– Wiener Circle

Man these people are mean!  If you make it through your order and get a chance to stay and watch the massive hating and trash-talking they give their customers, though, it’s hilarious.  Late night it’s a madhouse.

 

 

– Chicago-style hot dogs

I’m okay with the whole no ketchup thing, and I’m definitely on board with the tomatoes and onions thing.  The celery salt and dill relish thing took me by surprise at first, but I was digging it by the end.

– Lake Michigan

It’s huge!  In Seattle we’re used to seeing the peninsula and other land masses when we look out across the Sound, but when you look across Lake Michigan it’s like being on the coast; it stretches all the way to the horizon.  The city is right on the water too, so you have a very cool juxtaposition of sandy beach next to the city.

– Elly’s

Apparently this is like the Denny’s of Chicago to locals, but my sister likes it, and I do too.  Hawaiian omelette for the win.

– Chicago Jazz Festival

FREE!  Plus, beer was sold inside Millenium Park where it was held and you could walk around no problem.  Gerald Clayton’s trio was super tight and I was hoping to catch some of Maurice Brown but ran out of time.

– BYOB restaurants

A genius idea that I would LOVE to see in Seattle more often.

– Wrigleyville/Wrigley Field

The street of bars and pubs runs right into the Field at the end of it, and there’s cubs gear EVERYWHERE.  Everyone has something related to the hometeam on, even moreso than at a Sounders game.  I liked that.  And the field:  obviously, it’s a classic ballpark, but it also is a great place to watch a game.  All the bigger concession stands are below the seats, so once you get upstairs, the seats extend almost all the way to the edge of the park.  It kind of made it feel more open.

– Chicago-style pizza

Yes, Chicago-style is thicker, and they do layer toppings, but no one told me about the crust!  Buttery and flaky deliciousness in a deep dish pan.

– Kingston Mine

Blues club in Lincoln Park.  No cover w/student ID = equals really fun party with college kids going crazy dancing to blues music.  And, of course, the music kicked ass.  These guys seemed to me to be the real deal.  Unfortunately the jam session portion had ended by the time I got there.

 

 

CHICAGO IN GENERAL 

I had a great trip to Chicago.  Some of that may have been because it was my first visit, but I definitely plan on going back and exploring more.  SO MANY PARKS, and big ones too.  The whole city feels very open, and the people are friendly while still being straightforward and honest.

Until next time!

– Art

Structure

Some new things adding a bit of organization to my life:

 

This Sunday I start teaching again. I’m really looking forward to it, and I’m motivated to be a better teacher this time around.

I wasn’t awful before, just disorganized, constantly scribbling things out for my kids on staff paper or making copies out of the various books I had. Now I want to have a solid curriculum, a better plan with goals and markers I can use for students to actually mark progress. We’ll see how it goes.

Teaching also affects the way I look at my own playing, which would be good for me right now. (And it ensures that I will be in a practice room all day, another good thing).

I started swimming laps a couple of times a week. I swam in 7th and 8th grade, but that was it. I enjoy it though; maybe I get some sort of Zen thing out of it, being isolated from the rest of the world, just focused on yourself and your breathing, and it feels good to exercise again (it’s been a little while). Who knows, maybe that will help my playing too.

I think what I really hope to get out of adding this stuff is a bit of direction, or at least some more productivity.  I’m pretty sure most of the time I’m not feeling great it’s because I don’t feel like I’m doing anything of value, to other people or to myself, so hopefully these will help. Time will tell!

– Art

Listening

Above: an old favorite from dogsitting not too long ago

 

 

I’m in a funk, and not the good kind.
Some tunes that have been helping me when I’m feeling down lately:

 

Homebase NYC – Sleep (featuring Coco O.)

Band of Horses – No One’s Gonna Love You

Gretchen Parlato – Weak

Updates

Above:  A friendly moth from Lopez Island.  Just for fun.

 

 

Hardcoretet is packaging the new recordings and video footage for release as well as writing and rehearsing new material for the next round of performances.

The Polyrhythmics debut album will be released next week, with some fun festival work coming up this Spring/Summer.

Theoretics still has strong momentum from the album release a couple of months ago, and plans are in the works for possibly another music video and new material in the near future.

So some exciting things on the horizon!  Always work to do though…

I’ve been writing and trying to complete the same Hardcoretet music for quite a while, and it’s starting to get frustrating.  I’m practicing more, but the routine is still pretty inconsistent.  And I need to go to more shows.  I find myself in this 3-band cocoon where I play shows with them but don’t often get out and check out other music, as though I’m isolated from all of the other awesome bands and communities out there.

That’s just complainer-mode though; I’m lucky to be involved in such rewarding projects, and super lucky to have loved ones that are smart, funny, encouraging, and generally a joy to be around.  I know that if everything went to hell I would still have great friends, which is comforting.

I think I’m on the edge of something, but I’m not sure what’s to come.  I guess we’ll see.

-Art

 

Slumgum/Post lengths

 

This past weekend the group Slumgum came to Seattle as part of their album release tour.  Slumgum is a quartet that plays a blend of free and composed elements that give them a really individual sound, sometimes delicate and other times in your face, sometimes long waves of sounds and other times precise rhythms, sometimes loose improvisations and other times intricate composed melodies.  The result is a style that is a lot of things all at once, and a really creative band that works as a team to bring a creative experience to the listener without losing interest or energy.  They’re awesome. 

My old roommate and friend Jon Armstrong, who graciously offered up his residence to all of us in Hardcoretet when we played with Slumgum in L.A. a while back, is the saxophonist in Slumgum, and it was wonderful to get the chance to catch up with him as well as talk to Trevor, Dave, and Rory a little bit about the band.  As it always happens with these kinds of conversations, I end up going Chris Farley on myself (“stupid, STUPID!”) 5 minutes after or the next day thinking of what I should have said or asked and wondering why the heck I said whatever it was I said.  And, of course, there was so much more I wanted to cover, but I guess I also didn’t want to corner them in an hour-long music conversation; another time, I suppose.

That’s it for now.  I’m planning on changing up the blogging a bit here.  Past posts have been fairly long, which has set up kind of a self-imposed pressure to only write if I can write extensively, and those longer posts can often be intimidating reading as well.  I’m hoping that with shorter entries from here on out, I can write more often and with more variety, and you will enjoy the site a little more too.

Stay tuned!

Art

Adam Danger Bacot and Covers

I got a chance to sit in with my friend, vocalist and guitarist Adam Danger Bacot, on Saturday night.  I enjoyed myself for so many reasons, but the one in particular that prompted this post was the notion of cover songs and why they are so much fun to play (at least in certain settings and contexts).  For the most part, I play original music – songs and compositions written by someone in the band (oftentimes someone other than me), which I don’t regret by any means.  I feel pretty strongly that I want to spend the majority of my time playing music that either I write or my peers write, because I want that to be the main way that I express myself.

That said, what a shame it would be if all the great music of the past was never performed again!  There was a conversation a while ago among jazz bloggers about jazz tribute shows (basically jazz “cover bands”).  I believe Jason Parker got the last word here, but it looks like he cited the other posts, and I stayed out of that, but jamming on Van Morrison, MJ, Dave Mathews, and other covers with Adam got me thinking about it again.  Often, the only opportunities people have to hear rock and pop songs they like being performed is either at a casino or karaoke, so to play some of those songs, and then to be in the audience and hear Adam do them while singing and dancing myself, was a real treat, and I hope to do it again.

Disclaimer:  Don’t misunderstand, I absolutely LOVE karaoke.

Mark de Clive-Lowe at Nectar

This is a repost of my entry for my friends over at Rust and Rum:

Mcguirk met up with me to check out Mark de Clive-Lowe at Nectar in Fremont. MdCL is not necessarily a DJ as much as a beatmaker, with a bunch of drum machines and keyboards around him on stage that he uses together, and he does it really well. The music was awesome, and the vocalist who was with him, Sy Smith, was on everything perfectly, even doing some a capella dj-ing of her own.

There definitely seems to be this strand of electronica that’s jazzier and a little less driving than other linear, hypnotic trance and techno, and I definitely dig it. My main resource for it is City Soul Radio, a program on KBCS 91.3 that is put on by Sun Tzu Sound, a local DJ collective, but watching MdCL do his thing last night made me want to get more into it. Here’s a clip I got from Mcguirk that does a pretty good job of showing what we saw last night:

And here’s another song that I would put in the same genre. I heard this a long time ago and still want to buy it, but so much of this stuff is impossible to get in the U.S. I may just have to pony up the money to buy an import…

New Blog & the Importance of Friends

I’ve started contributing to a new blog that was started by a close friend of mine called Rust and Rum.  Although some of it is still under construction, there are already a bunch of posts from our circle of friends and us, focusing on nothing in particular.

Word of warning, though:  some posts may be R rated…but they won’t be in (completely) poor taste, I promise!

The idea behind the blog was fairly simple.  We are all fairly intelligent people (we like to believe we are, anyway) and we have a wide range of interests and passions between us, and we all enjoy talking about what we are into or getting into at any given point in time.  Why not have a forum where we can share those things with other people instead of just ourselves? 

It won’t be specialized or have any particular focus, just the perspectives of a handful of Seattleites that like to talk about “stuff”. 

Could pretty much anybody do this?  Yes.  Is it possible that some of the rants/musings that are posted will be completely meaningless?  Yes, but a gathering of friends in conversation isn’t any different, and once in a while, out of all the ramblings, drunken and otherwise, you learn something that really excites you, and you never would have discovered it if not for that gathering of math students, divers, bicyclists, skiers/snowboarders, musicians, teachers, etc. that you call friends.

I’ve discovered over the past couple of months that as important as it is to build community among musicians and network with other players, the people that provide me with the most support and are the most important for how I play music are friends and family, many of whom are not musicians.  It means so much to have people that are there for me when I play, people who listen when I’m up there basically saying “this is what I’m about and part of who I am”, and who have an open mind coming out to see their friend perform music that isn’t exactly the most accessible stuff in the world.

And they have FUN!  If they don’t enjoy coming out to shows, they are really good at hiding it, and it always puts a smile on my face to see them there.  So, parents/girlfriend/old buddies/new friends/friends of friends/siblings/acquaintances, once again thanks for everything.

And be sure to check out the blog!

Art