Lovesexy25

This week marks the 25th anniversary of the first (and second) time I saw Prince. August 18 and 20, I believe. Here's a pod about Prince's greatest album from the good peoples at the Collabo Xperience.

Do or die.

Big thanks to Emma Ball.

Duke

New Work City

An imitation from New York,
New York, New York big city of dreams,
Everything in New York ain’t always what it seems
New York’s alright if you like tuberculosis
You could cut off all your hair, I don’t think they’d care in New York.
I wouldn’t live in New York City if they gave me the whole dang town.

New York City
Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go
Funky Town
New York’s a go-go and everything tastes nice
New York City, just like I pictured it
Skyscrapers and everything

New York, New York,
Forty-second Street, hustlers rustle and pimps pimp the beat
Back in the New York Groove, in the New York Groove
The police in New York City
They chased a boy right through the park

Darling here I am,
The only living boy in New York.

These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Let's hear it for New York, New York,
New York

Send Me Your Insect Duets! WFMU 17-Year Itch Special Forthcoming!

UPDATE: If you don't live on Brood II turf, I will also accept recordings with other insects! Now lick out the bug jams!
UPDATE: The broadcast on Miniature Minotaurs on WFMU will be June 21, the first day of summer.

I want to hear you sing with the cicadas! They're out in DC and starting to emerge in Jersey. From what I've been able to discern there's little agreement about where they'll be in NYC. Definitely Staten Island, maybe the north Bronx. Some say Central Park is possible, though most say no. But we do know Brood II is huge and will be singing around the Northeast for a good part of June.

So I'm asking you to jam with the bugs and help them celebrate their 17-year itch, then send me the files for future broadcast on WFMU. The only rules are:

1. Start with your own original cicada recordings. Collaborations with other humans is OK, of course, but I want you to go out and have an insect interface. You can take your axe with you, or lay a vocal or instrumental track over it later, or record and remix as you please, but please, go out and meet your collaborators.

2. Include the process with the submission. Tell me where you made the cicada recording and what your part in it was (instrumentation, multi-tracking, etc.). Also tell me how you'd like to be identified publicly. If you're interested in only doing field recordings, let me know and I'll try to match you up with someone to remix. But right now I'm not looking for straight field recordings to broadcast.

Send your files and info to miniature.minotaurs @ gmail . com

I'd like to have most of the submissions by June 15 or so. I will take them later but they might not be included in the big cicada showdown on WFMU's Miniature Minotaurs.

Also, check out the Cicada Tracker at RadioLab. And you can listen to my interview with David Rothenberg, author of Bug Music, here.

The 'thon is On! Please show your love for WFMU and Miniature Minotaurs!

2 Performances in which I won’t perform, a story for Valentine’s Day and a humble plea for support

Dear Friends,

I hope you all have plans for this shortest month Black History Valentines, eh? The weather sure has been what one expects for this time of years on some days and then not on others, eh? Especially in the area you live! And how about those sports games? Pretty exciting! On a more personal note, I’m sorry about that situation that came up at your school or place of work. I agree that your cohorts weren’t being fair with you about the whole thing.

Have I mentioned some exciting news to you already? No? Well, I have two performances this month and the best part is I won’t be performing in either of them!

On February 16, my play Under a Scar-Filled Sky: The Buddy Zinn Mysteries will be staged at Dixon Place in Manhattan’s storied Lower East Side. This is very exciting because 500 days ago I didn’t even know I was a playwright. But after a lot of work and the remarkable support and encouragement of co-producers Kristen Persinos and Urania Mylonas and director Mahayana Landowne, it seems this thing is on its way to becoming a play. Which is good news because we told Dixon Place that it was. We have a fantastic cast (which includes live music from Charlie Waters) and are hip-deep in rehearsals.

Which brings me to another point. We can’t really afford rehearsal space, not to mention costumes, props and subway fare. So please, if you’ve not, have a glance at our Indiegogo page and consider pledging your cash money love. You will get books, CDs and cocktails in evidence of our gratitude, which also you’ll receive.

The second performance I won’t perform in this month will be The Audience vs Ecstasy Mule vs John Cage vs Ecstasy Mule vs The Audience on February 24 at Willow Place Auditorium, 26 Willow Place in Brooklyn Heights as a part of the Transient Series. This will be a logical extension of Ecstasy Mule vs John Cage vs Ecstasy Mule, a performance construction situation based on a half dozen or so John Cage scores which was performed in September at the Stone and then in December in the RipRig series in Philadelphia. For this iteration, Len37 and myself will be sitting on our asses doing nothing while the entire audience figures out how to play it. Really! It’ll be fun! And it’ll be free.

The time for the first event is 10 pm. The time for the second event is 3 pm. On different days, of course. Don’t mix that up.

Meanwhile, and less specific to the metropolitan New York area, the next of my holiday stories is posted at Lulu. As some among the more faithful of you may recall, I am working on a book of holiday tales and am posting some of them along the calendrical way. Toward the end, “The St. Valentine’s Day Mackerel” is now available for your entertainment for less than a ride on the bus.

Lastly – not forever, just for now – I’ve posted a new track over at SoundCloud. It was an experiment that went awry, a sketch for something that will happen next month. The first person to guess the source material will get a factory sealed reward carrying a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price of greater than $10.

As always, if you’re getting this crass commercial mass email and we haven’t talked in a while, get in touch! And, if you’re getting this and we have talked recently but you want to talk some more, get in touch! And if you don't want to be in touch, just say so! But mostly if you can, please come to Dixon Place on the 16^th.  A strong showing there could help us get a full and proper run, just like the theater folks do!

New Indiegogo (and everything tastes nice)

Quick! What's the song I'm riffing on? First one who gets it gets a prize worth more than $10!

And yes, so, we've launched a modest Indiegogo campaign to get us through prep and rehearsals for the Feb. 16 production of Under a Star-Filled Sky: The Buddy Zinn Mysteries at Dixon Place Theater. You can get all up in that by going here and pledging a bit of your hard-earned money to help us take it to the stage. On the page you'll find outlined the books, CDs, drinks and meals you can get as expressions of our gratitude.

Don't know what I'm talking about? Scroll down to the next post.

And OK, Smoofus, here's another song for ya'. Just cuz it's in my head now.

New Play by Author, Journalist and WFMU Host Kurt Gottschalk to be Staged at Dixon Place Theatre

Under a Scar-Filled Sky: The Buddy Zinn Mysteries – directed by Mahayana Landowne and produced by Kristen Persinos with live music by Charlie Waters – draws from film noir and Taoist Buddhism to tell the tale of a P.I. trapped in a purgatory of his own devise.

Saturday, February 16, 10 pm

Dixon Place Theater

161 Chrystie Pl.

NYC NY

www.dixonplace.org

January 18, 2013 (For Immediate Release) – Solon Productions is pleased to announce a staging of its first collective effort, Under a Scar-Filled Sky: The Buddy Zinn Mysteries, as a part of the Dixon Place “Works in Progress” series.

The one-act philosophical farce is based a series on four flash fictions contained in Kurt Gottschalk’s 2011 collection Little Apples: A Story Cycle concerning Buddy Zinn, a koan-spouting private investigator more interested in intellectual posturing than solving a case. At the suggestion of musician and actress Kristen Persinos, the four stories were developed for the stage, with well more than twice as much new material penned. When the first-time playwright and the first-time producer met the experienced director Mahayana  Landowne, the project began to get off its feet.

Buddy Zinn, the hero of the story, ruminates about crossword puzzles, pop music, the devil, Greek mythology and Buddhist parables in a dingy office he never seems to leave. The potential clients who attempt to hire his services end up frustrated with his seeming indifference and unamused by his pontificating. But is he enlightened or just drunk? Is he divinely unattached or miserably detached. Ultimately, the answer may be uncomfortably unclear.

The one friend, or foil, in Buddy’s life is Charlie, a confidante and yes-man who may be a product of Buddy’s imagination. In a unique act of staging, Charlie is played by musician and composer Charlie Waters, who provides a jazzy soundtrack live on the set while giving Buddy the ego support he needs.

Casting will be announced soon. The production staff is available for comment.

Watch http://buddyzinn.blogspot.com/ for updates.

Writer, journalist and musician Kurt Gottschalk's first published piece was a letter to Trouser Press magazine about David Bowie when he was 13. He received a Master’s in journalism from Columbia 
University and has written for the Village Voice, Time Out, Wire, The Brooklyn Rail and magazines in England, France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Russia. He produces and hosts the weekly program Miniature Minotaurs on WFMU radio.  “Under a Scar-Filled Sky” was originally conceived as four short stories within his Little Apples: A Story Cycle, published by Lulu in 2011. Last year his Sentences was published under the Lulu imprint. http://spearmintmusic.blogspot.com/

Director Mahayana Landowne looks to create work with dramatic visions that transcend daily life. Recent productions include : MIXED (Baruch Performing Arts), Impossible Country (Mudbone Collective), Baruch Voices (Baruch),  Picasso Project (Luna Stage), Blue, (Vital Theater), Carcass (Diaspora Drama), The Heiress, (The Roundtable Ensemble at the Mint), Machinal (U. of Rochester), Post-Code (American Living Room, HERE) and Terrible Infant (Fringe Festival). Musicals include: Spring Bling, Summer in the Hummer, and The Dick Cheney Holiday Spectacular (Ace of Clubs), Western Unidad (Ice Factory Festival, Ohio Theater) and Post-Code (American Living Room, HERE). Favorite past productions include: The Skriker, Antony and Cleopatra, The Seagull, brass logic, Streetcar Named Desire, Obgynt, King Lear, and Mud. Affiliations/ Fellowships include: Drama League 00’, Second Stage, NYU-BFA Acting and Yale School of Drama, MFA Directing. As a Director, Landowne has also used her skills for creative grassroots organizing for social issues including the NYC Dance Parade which brings together over one hundred dance organizations to dance down Broadway and many art action activities that promote participatory art culture. yana.landowne.org

Producer Kristen Persinos is no stranger to downtown theater and a graduate of the Boston University acting program. She has performed at the Downstairs Series in some early pieces by playwright Anne Washburn and the first Blueprint Directors Series, both at the Richard Foreman Ontological Theater.  She participated in a Mabou Mines workshop her first year in NYC, has acted in many pieces over the years and has performed in her own rock band, Impostor Syndrome. http://impostorsyndrome.net/

Musical Director Charlie Waters: composer, performer, fighter of uptown hegemony, dealer in stolen tonalities, processor of metaphysical alpha notations, geographer of city sounds, leader of the nuAtonality, sparkler, father & husband, Concertomentist, Baptist, Southerner, flower-lover, Williamsburger, day-jobber.

Please note: As per Dixon Place policy, complimentary tickets are only available to industry professionals. Please visit the dixonplace.org to buy tickets or contact the production staff at buddyzinn@gmail.com for passes or for further information. 

Closet Cleaning Sale

Some stuff I've worked on that's piling up on the shelves. Deals and trades considered. Paypal preferred. Satisfaction guaranteed.

READING

White Fungus #12: 156 page journal from Taiwan (printed in English) with my profile of David First. Also includes interviews with Carolee Schneemann and Pauline Oliveros, comics, art and a CD with tracks by If Bwana, David Watson & Sean Meehan and Our Love Will Destroy the World. $9

Signal to Noise #62: 82-page magazine with my cover story on the ICP Orchestra, also pieces on Liturgy, Time-Lag, Andrew Ford, Erdem Halvacioglu and Nick Hennies. $4

Signal to Noise #61: 74-page magazine with my cover story on Mostly Other People Do the Killing, plus features on Thollem McDonas, Rahim Al Haj, Jason Robinson, John Berndt and Tim Foster. $4.

Burning Ambulance #3: 104-page journal (solid! no ads) with my cover story on Anthony Braxton. Plus features on David Weiss, Jon Irabagon, the Moritz von Oswald Trio, Hollywood in the 1960s, composing for orchestra and progressive metal. Only one copy left in my closet. $7. 

Little Apples: A Story Cycle (Spearmint Lit) by Kurt Gottschalk: 17 short stories which might also be a novel, also includes original artwork by Gill Arno, Ben Owen, MP Landis, Cooper-Moore, Peter Evans, Steve Dalachinsky, Yuko Otomo and others. 180-page paperback, $12.

Sentences (SpearmintLit) by Kurt Gottschalk
A nice square book filled with lovingly crafted and unconnected sentences. 100-page paperback, $12.

LISTENING

Joëlle Léandre & Jérôme Bourdellon: Evidence (Relative Pitch) Beautiful flute and bass (plus some vocals and bass clarinet) duets. I wrote the liners. Sealed CD $10. 

Loren Connors & Suzanne Langille: I Wish I Didn't Dream (Northern Spy)
Man, I'm proud of this one. While working on a forthcoming book of MP Landis's paintings, I started wanting a soundtrack and my first choice was Loren Connors and Suzanne Langille. Northern Spy readily agreed and we were soon underway! Comes with a booklet of Landis's paintings. I produced and wrote liners. Sealed CD, $10.

Haunted House: Blue Ghost Blues (Northern Spy) Man, this kills! New album by the great quartet of Loren Connors, Andrew Burnes, Suzanne Langille and Neel Murgai. Thunderous avant blues. I produced and wrote liner notes. Sealed CD, $10; Sealed LP, $12

The Spanish Donkey: XYX (Northern Spy) Blasting session by Joe Morris, Mike Pride and Jamie Saft. I wrote the liners. Sealed CD, $10

VA: Clandestine Cassette #2 (Northern Spy) Compilation I produced of tape-manipulation artists. Exclusive tracks by Aki Onda, Nonhorse, Bonnie Jones and Jason Lescalleet. Cover design by MP Landis. Two copies left, out of print. Cassette, $5

Yuganaut: Sharks (Engine) Inventive out jazz by Stephen Rush, Tom Abbs and Geoff Mann. I wrote liner notes. Sealed CD, $8

VA: Dictaphonia #2 (HalTapes) 24-track compilation of pieces recorded on mini-cassette, includes my piece “Difficult Fortnight” performed on alto saxophone and radio. Mini-cassette, $5

VA: Dictaphonia #7 (HalTapes) 13-track compilation of mini-cassette works, includes my “Magnibanjoscope” recorded with dictaphone placed inside a banjo, plus a found recording by Stephanie Stone on piano and voice. Mini-cassette, $5.

Kurt Gottschalk: 24b Abstract blues recorded at home, solo electric guitar. CDR $5

Kurt Gottschalk: Bluefly Variations Abstract blues recorded on a riverbank in Vermont, solo acoustic guitar. CDR $5