Category: news

Unsocial media

The tail end of COVID in my region means my social life can go back to being casual but sophisticated dinner parties, rollicking house concerts, nights at the bijou, and playful country drives in ridiculous old French cars, but even more, it means I can start edging towards the exit of the various manipulative, cynical, and life-diminishing social media platforms we’ve all depended on for the past year.

Here’s to a return to real life—surprisingly, I’ve come to miss it.

[2022 update: Alas, the antivax/antimaskers kept us in it for a while longer, with the Omicron variant heating up and set (supposedly) to peak this month. Still, we have vaccines, quick tests, and smart people to hang out with on small scales while the rest of the crowd gets their act together.]

The Red Pen

So I wrote this book, and then I had a lot of unexpected life changes and I got way off track editing the draft, and I ended up expanding it in unproductive directions and vandalizing myself with a million edits and replacing the light touch of stream-of-consciousness narrative with ponderous literary pomp and then I had a bunch of additional life changes and then I got real busy and it just sat while I focused on my storytelling work on stage.

I’d revived it briefly a while back when my friend Keith Sinzinger badgered me into working on it with the very, very generous offer (since he was a master editor with faith in my stories) of being my editor, but he left us before we could roll up our sleeves to get down to it and I just left it alone, feeling sort of wrung out and sad.

Now that it’s going to be a while before I can do much stage work during the pandemic lockdown, I thought hey, I have a book manuscript—maybe I should finish that.

Continue reading The Red Pen

Pondering the social internet.

I’ve been writing a lot, performing here and there, and gearing up for more performances in the summer and fall, and in the midst of it all, I’m missing the way I used the internet as a social tool and a medium back when I was first venturing on the web.

It’s all very topical, of course, but I’ve been reminded quite often that Facebook just isn’t what Livejournal was, and it really games the system to generate revenue while not making us better off.

Cal Newton wrote a great piece (which I’ve linked to here) about managing the social internet in the era of social media, and I’m increasingly interested in using the internet as a tool instead of as an obligatory ludic loop, forever devouring time and attention in exchange for…well…what, exactly?

It’ll be interesting to see how I do. Watch.

Electro-Music Northeast 2017

I’ll be performing as a part of the wonderful Electro-Music Northeast Festival in Homer, NY, on 9 September 2017 (I’m in the 4:20 PM slot on the second stage). The festival is a two-day coming-together of fantastic players, composers, video artists, experimentalists, and other electro-acoustic explorers, and I’m honored to be participating for my fifth year with the group. It’s an absolute bargain for the diversity and density of work on tap, and there are seminars and a synthesizer petting zoo to get your hands on the greatest and latest gear in the field.

September 9-10, 2017
ABOUT THE NORTHEASTERN ELECTRO-MUSIC FESTIVAL:

For years, the Electro-Music festival was held in the Catskill region of Upstate, NY.

For the first ever Northeastern Electro-Music Festival, a new location has been discovered at the Center for the Arts in Homer, NY. This year’s gathering features two full days of innovative electronic music concerts, seminars, workshops, demonstrations, jam sessions, video artists, and a mini swap-meet.

There will be a hands-on “Synthesizer Petting Zoo,” with various rare and odd synthesizers, drum machines, and other pieces of electronic music gear you hadn’t known existed.
 
Please bring your own headphones for the Petting Zoo, otherwise a community set of headphones will be made available; iPhone/iPod headsets work well, too.
 
The NorthEast Electro-Music Festival 2017 is being hosted at the The Center for the Arts of Homer, in Homer, New York.  SCHEDULE

Where:  Center for the Arts of Homer, in Homer, NY (near Rt. 81 Exit 12)

When:  Saturday, September 9,   1:00PM – 11:30PM
Sunday, September 10, 12:00PM – 10:00PM

Tickets:  $10 for a One-Day Pass
$15 for a Two-Day Pass
$5 Suggested Donation for Center Members
$5 Suggested Donation for Students

More information, including a complete schedule of events and information on performers can be found on the web site at: electromusicfestivals.org.
You may also contact us at andrew@electromusicfestivals.org.

Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1917847358492754/

Electro-Music Festival 2017

13TH ANNUAL ELECTRO-MUSIC FESTIVAL poster

I’ll be performing a piece for spoken word and electronics on Sunday, 6 August 2017 at 2:30 PM as part of the 13th Annual Electro-Music Festival at the Irving Theater in Indianapolis, Indiana [directions]. The entire weekend is a long-form celebration of electronic, electro-acoustic, and experimental music that runs the alphabetic gamut from the abrasively new to the zestfully soothing, with a three-day bill jam-packed with amazing musicians I’ve had the pleasure to work with and otherwise revel in for several years now. I’m bringing my combination of left-field storytelling and digital atmospherics to the party, and I get to spend the rest of the time enjoying and educating myself in how it’s done.

All ages show – tickets at the door
Weekend pass $25, or by day: Friday $10, Saturday $15, Sunday $12

[Poster design by Jack Hertz]

My Fairy Godmothers [Still] Smoke Too Much

mfgstm-fourpanel

It’s less than two weeks to my first big show in a faraway city—I’m going to be telling stories in St. Louis, Missouri at the Kranzberg Arts Center, thanks to the HEARDing Cats Collective on Saturday, 10 October 2015, at 7:30PM.

The show page at Kranzberg Arts Center is Joe Belknap Wall at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and tickets are $12 for adults and $7 for students/artists.

The Kranzberg Arts Center is located at 501 N Grand Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63103.

[Warning: Show contains explicit content and adult concepts. Please note that Performer now comes with 82% more beard than pictured and will be wearing a nicer shirt.]

Out and about in 2015.

JBW at EM2015 no. 2I performed on Friday, 11 September, 2015, as part of the Electro-Music 2015 Conference at YMCA Greenkill in Huguenot, NY. I’m gearing up for a revival of my award-winning spoken word piece, My Fairy Godmothers Smoke Too Much, and shared an abbreviated episode of lopsided stories of unlikely fairy godmothers, dancing with distant strangers, and otherwise trying to make sense out of the senseless eighties, accompanied by a freewheeling electronic score.

• I’ll be performing in Saint Louis, Missouri at 7:30 PM on Saturday 10 October 2015 at the Kranzberg Art Center [tickets $12 regular, $7 students/artists].

[thanks to Hong Waltzer for the fabulous photo]

Kantoendrato vs. alternating.bit

kantoendratovsalternatingdotbit

Played a brief, but energetic, set on Friday, 27 February 2015 at Electric Maid in Takoma Park as part of the Baltimore SDIY group’s 2 day winter electronic music event. First go-round for my Kantoendrato alter-ego (to make PR a bit easier, I’m going to be going by Kantoendrato for my ambient and experimental electronic sets and by my given name for my storytelling work), and was delighted to work with alternating.bit for the set.

I predict big things for this collaboration in time.

Upping the voltage.

flyer - Sonic Circuits 2014

I’m thrilled to be playing with the inimitable Keith Sinzinger once again, this time as a participant in the Sonic Circuits Festival 2014, a three-day assortment of aural delights held from 3-5 October 2014 at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, 8230 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910. We’re on during the final evening of the festival, on Sunday, 5 October, performing under our collective monicker, Fast Against The Wall, in a playful set of peculiar noises, particular grooves, and happy accidents. We’ll be in good company, and the folks behind Sonic Circuits bring together the best audiences for new and experimental music in the area and the best performers. I’m always delighted by the variety and quality of the music Sonic Circuits puts on, and I am happy as a dang lark to be playing.

Come on out and listen!