What a place. What potential. What a crowd. What gifted people live with us in this town.
Those were my thoughts I walked away with on Saturday night. TION is a place that a lot of things could be born in. I loved the huge projection wall and the sound was great until it broke.
I'm really glad that the show is over. Anytime I play out I get all stressed about handling music that was made in the past. I get so sick of my tracks and inspired to move on and make more in different directions. I get my creative license back after a show and end up experimenting again. I'm looking forward to sitting down, late at night or early in the morning, to put on my headphones and write piano pieces or design sounds that are pretty much unusable but a lot of fun to create.
I don't want to play for a while. Maybe an open mic to test out some meditative ambient piece. Another thing about playing a whole set is that I get really bored with myself. It feels so self-indulgent. About 40 minutes into it I start to think about how much more fun I could be having experiencing other people's creations, reading my friend's new book, staring at a mural, standing slack-jawed in front of La Fin Du Monde. 30 minute sets are better I guess.
Kyle Delmar called me out on the infrequency of this blog. I'm back on track with that and thanks for holding me accountable. I didn't know anybody actually read this.
Raul Gonzo's film awaits and I was having a lot of trouble getting creatively invested into that effort with the TION set looming large. Well now I'm free at last and can get back to work.
I had a lot of fun on Saturday night. Keep an eye on that place, the potential is oozing from the walls. It will be interesting to watch what is or isn't realized from that.
To those who came out, thanks so much and I'm always enriched by the people I meet and inspired by other art and mediums.
GRAND OPENING of TION is tonight babies.
Lot's of Music and excitement will be there. Many bands, artists, circus freaks, etc.
And basic will be on at
12:30am
See you there.
www.sparktheevolution.com
I love electronic music. I love making it, listening to it and dancing to it. A big part of that attraction is that technology is to the point that any resourceful person can make music on their cheap computers for virtually no investment. They can do it legally with open source freeware apps, they can code their own synthesis machines with some know how and a free programming language, they can do it illegally by pirating any number of DAW's or they can spend $400 to have capabilities that $20,000 would have bought you 15 years ago. It's incredible what technology has done for us, and it inspires me tremendously.
But that bedroom spirit, that late at night creation with no money spirit is also strong in the poet. A pencil or pen and a piece of garbage scrap of paper something is all they need. Homeless? Doesn't matter. If you have something to say and a flair for articulation pick up a pen and lay it down.
So I went to see my friend and associate Ty Gorton give a spoken word performance at Augie's tonight. First of all, there were some impressive performances, most notably from John Staedler and some cat from Louisiana named Larry. I have recordings of them if anybody wants them. Larry's ending up in a track though and hopefully I'll see him again to make sure it's okay but it has to be done either way!
Ty spoke about the American Dream. It was an excellent poem that rang true, carried weight and possessed wisdom that can only be expressed if you've lived long enough to be abandoned by the false expectations our culture tends to instill in us. He sang the praises of the beauty that can be found in the dream. He mourned it's ultimate failure. The audience loved it and it ended with a punch in the gut.
There were judges because poetry slams are stupid although poetry is great. Anyway, one of the judges was Father Hansen, the priest who started Augie's and the minister of St. Augustine's Anglican Church.
Disclaimer: I go to church from time to time, believe in God, and love Jesus.
Anyway, this Priest gives Ty a 6.66 score to make some kind of statement that nobody really understood. A Priest insinuated that Ty's poem was somehow marked by the Devil. How totally inappropriate and unfitting of a minister! I was totally blown away and offended by this guy. Was it a political thing because Ty made a Bush remark? Was it because this particular man of the cloth thinks that America is actually fulfilling our dreams? Either way, what Priest does that? Ty was pissed.
A Priest carries moral weight, right or wrong, and a priest casually throwing around 6.66 on a scorecard at a poetry slam struck me as incredibly insensitive.
Anyway Father, guess what, Ty spoke of something that is 100% true for him and probably a lot of other people. We do live in a society with backwards priorities that make people sick and depressed. George Bush does speak in single- syllable-appease-the-fearful-masses transparent rhetoric. I was so floored that he threw up the 6.66. It was an incredible insult to Ty's insightful poem and to yourself.
So, there's that, it's said. I also think that people are born gay and women can be ministers. Call me a heretic. Here's Ty's poem for you to listen to or download. Pass your own "judgment".
| tygorton_americandreams.mp3 |
| File Size: | 3196 kb |
| File Type: | mp3 |
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