Risk, October 18, beginning of play
Duration: 3 hours
Players: Sarah (blue), Mauro (black), Jacob (yellow), Dalia (late entry: green)
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Category: News
Tonight at Barbès, this is not happening:
What is, happening, however, is one of my favorite bands in Brooklyn, VaVatican. With Owen Stewart-Robertson, guitar; Nathaniel Morgan, alto; and Weston Minissali, synthesizer. Their music, I would say, is emblematic of the new compositional style emerging out of my generation of composer/improvisers in Brooklyn. Do it. See it. Love it.
I decided to return to Asheville a few days early; it is an honor to be on the series at Barbès, but I was hemorrhaging money and feeling dislocated and had to go. I’ve lately been feeling similar to the way I did just before I came out ten years ago: a wall that exists between myself and the world has suddenly become visible in my mind and I must break it. Sitting around New York for four days and doing nothing about anything seemed impossible; I had to, among other things, start writing.
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Jeff Kimmel (bass clarinet)
David Moré (saw)
Jacob Wick (trumpet)
cd-r 34:31 min
released 4/2011
photo: david moré
edition of 100
for more information, including audio samples and purchasing information, visit peira records.
I have recently been awarded fiscal sponsorship by the Manhattan-based arts service organization Fractured Atlas. Unlike the sponsorship I was awarded in 2009 for my ROAD TRIP: drawing a perimeter of the united states project, this sponsorship is not for a specific project, but rather for my ongoing output as a whole. Or, if you’d like to think of it this way, the sponsorship is for the specific project of my (artistic) life.
What does this mean? Maybe this handy legal text will shine some light: Jacob Wick is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purposes of Jacob Wick must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Essentially, if you like what I am doing and would like me to do more, or to just keep on doing what I’m doing, you can make a tax-deductible donation to my cause via Fractured Atlas. To that end, let me describe, in brief, my current output, which your donations will help to support:
In expectation of receiving 1000 new (non-phantom) “IF YOU SEE/SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING” cards, I have finally launched information-department.net, the home base of Information Department. Check back soon for an open call to bloggers, artists, and researchers, and in the future for (hopefully) further actions, guest contributions, and more.
So – the Secret Swarm tour went really well. It is wonderful, gratifying, and sometimes surprising that audiences exist for experimental, improvised, whatever-you-want-to-tag-it music all around the US, in cities large and small. The idea that the rest of America – that is, those who do not live in urban centers and/or live in the South – consists of a bunch of uneducated slobs is completely ridiculous and utterly false. And the idea that it is somehow “not worth” touring domestically is totally backwards, unproductive, and lazy to boot. There are interested audiences everywhere – it is simply a matter of inviting them.
a slightly blurry secret swarm @ All Day Records, Carrboro, NC
To take one example from this tour, our show at SquidCo Records in Wilmington, NC – one of the smallest cities we played and somewhere neither of us had ever been before – was one of our most well-attended shows. SquidCo, run by NYC transplant Phil Zampino, has only been in Wilmington for 7 months and had only put on one show before ours, but still managed to bring an enthusiastic, attentive, and diverse crowd to our show. These people did not suddenly appear in a cloud of smoke when Phil and his partner JM moved to Wilmington and opened an improvised- and experimental-music record store – they have been there the whole time. I’m not trying to get all Field of Dreams on everybody, nor am I trying to say that people in Wilmington have been slavering to hear me spit and hiss through a piece of metal for years, because they haven’t and building it isn’t enough; what I am saying is that these people came because they were invited, because Phil and JM have made a concerted effort to go out and meet people and invite them to come to their store and hang out and listen to music. On a somewhat related note, it was incredibly exciting to meet a gay couple running a creative-music record store, thus doubling the amount of gay people I know (including me), or at least can think of off the top of my head, playing or maintaining an active presence in the improvised/experimental music scene. Indeed, the total lack of an out LGBT presence in this community is worth a lengthy discussion. But I digress…
Post-show at SquidCo, Wilmington, NC
A brief summary of the future beneath the jump…
A word on bats from the NYS Dept of Environmental Conservation:
Bats are misunderstood creatures. Repulsive to many and feared by others, these amazing, beneficial animals have an undeserved bad reputation. They are the only mammal that can truly fly (flying squirrels glide, not fly), and most bat species are insect-eating machines, performing incredible aerial acrobatics as they chase and devour 20-50% of their weight in insects each night.
Although often described as “flying mice,” bats are not rodents and are more closely related to primates and people. In fact, bats’ wings are similar to the human hand, having a thumb and four fingers. Bats’ fingers can be as long as their body and provide support for the thin leathery wing membrane that extends to the ankle and tail. This thin membrane enables them to quickly and precisely maneuver during flight. The place where a bat sleeps is called its roost. Some bats roost in ones and twos, but many sleep in large groups. They typically hang upside down and can tilt their heads so far back, they can look behind them.
You see: it’s not all bad.
On Friday I am leaving for a 10 or 11 day tour (it’s a matter of perspective) with Katherine Young. I am excited about this. We are going to play solo trumpet and solo bassoon – can you guess who is going to play which? Then, the day before Friday, I am going to play a piece by composer and synthesist Weston Minissali (one n, two s’s) that he wrote for Brad Henkel, himself, and myself.
Also, I wrote something for (((unartig))) on Mike Pride‘s band Bacteria to Boys. Maybe you should look at it.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11
(((chirping))) with Weston Minissali and Brad Henkel
9PM @ CakeForeArms
538 Johnson Ave #202
Brooklyn, NY 111237
L to Jefferson
then…
Overcash, natural habitat
Mr Choate deigned to edit this month’s Facsimile. I’m in it, looking sassed in a snake shirt in front of some chicken. So are a bunch of other great people, some of whom I even know; also, there is Marc Riordan in front of an ice cream cone. The audio you can hear is a very early proto-excerpt of swarm, recorded in Athens, GA in late June. Headphones highly recommended.
Christine Elmo, who is very dear to me, has recently not only gotten an outstanding review in the New York Times, but also has ten minutes of her piece (which I was unfortunate enough not to see in person, but fortunate enough to a piece of it at La Mama) screening at Art Beast at the Daily Beast. Look at it!
Donate
Jacob Wick is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization.
Contributions for the purposes of Jacob Wick must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
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