2023 April Catskill Listening Club Offerings
Again, it was a lovely hang.Folks came early and stayed late. We gathered out on the front porch before and after the listening session. Because it’s spring! (ish).
Present were Steph Spera, Abigail Simon, Rodney Greenblat, David Garland, Jack Magai, Meredith Kooi, Jeff Economy, Eric Fraser, Jon Cohrs, Cynthia Lowen, Rebecca Bray and me (Jimmy Garver).
Jack Magai shared a new interactive scheme he’s devising called Interviewing the Sidewalk. This is an audio dérive happening Saturday, May 6 at the Future of Small Cities Institute in Troy. I’m facilitating its audio needs using a new tool called Mezcal. Mezcal is a live radio platform developed by August Black and co-hosted by Wave Farm in New York's Upper Hudson Valley. More at august.black/mezcal and wavefarm.org. Interviewing the Sidewalk takes place in a storefront gallery; visitors will be given access to the Mezcal platform, and then guided through meditative listening prompts that will encourage them to capture outside sounds using their phone’s microphone. These sounds are broadcast back into the gallery and played thru a sound system there.
May 6 at noon. Info and tickets.
David Garland shared a guitar piece. Similar to his other work with this particular guitar, this piece was really driving and has a definite (and constant) pulse. Give it a listen.
Steph Spera shared a song called Bird Dance. Lush and massively broad and full of imaginative space. No real birds were used in the creation of this piece! There are many birds outside of Steph’s window and he decided one day to imitate them with his electronic wizardry. This led to a discussion about the nature of hearing things that are “real” and if it matters.
Eric Fraser shared a song from his album Reveal. This was a rare treat for the listening club members because Eric shared this same piece in a draft form while he was building Reveal. The album is a gorgeous mix of contemporary song structure and Eric's masterful bansuri flute lines.
Eric's playing a concert with other members of the Brooklyn Raga Massive to benefit the Hudson Festival Orchestra. May 20, 3-5pm in Hudson. Tickets and Info