20150903

Czech Pop (in Czech)


My friend Pavel Klusák interviewed me for this article on Czech pop of the '60s and I can't read what I said.

20150814

Boohbayler

Click on the YouTube Doubler link at the bottom to make it go. 
YouTube Doubler

20150630

Cough Piece (after Ono)

Clear throat during a concert or recital, to be performed during a leap second.

Composer's statement: Cough Piece (after Ono) continues in the Fluxus philosophy of questioning what constitutes "performance" by using as its medium a gestural act (the clearing of one's throat) usually considered to be prepatory for performance. By placing it in a concert setting, the piece is performed for an audience, albeit one which will likely either ignore or be perturbed by its execution. 

Note: The performance of Cough Piece (after Ono) should not last longer than one second and should only be undertaken at an interval when UTC time is adjusted by one second. A commiserate piece, involving coughing for an hour during a concert when Daylight Savings Time adjustments are made, is also permissible. A third variation, involving coughing for a full day, requires the performer to find and attend (but not organize) a 24-hour concert on February 29 of a leap year.

Performance note: Premiered at the Naumburg Bandshell, Central Park, New York City on January 29, 2015 at 8pm (00:00 UTC) during a performance of John Adams' Shaker Loops by Ensemble LPR. A recording of the performance can be found here

For more information, see the Leap Second Event Facebook page. 

20150514

some upcoming things i've got coming up.

should i have posted this earlier? maybe so. probably. but i'm playing twice this weekend and both are early starts so you might still be able to do that thing you really want to do after.

i'll tell you about them, then i'll tell you about the next wfmu literary guild reading and also i'll tell you about a new story i wrote. this is what they told us to do in journalism school. tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em, tell 'em, tell 'em what you told 'em. like that. telling 'em about telling 'em is my own innovation, tho. (in this example, you are "'em."}

ok, here goes. 'em ready?

i was flattered and pleased to be asked to be a part of the nyc book release party for nina hart's new collection of stories that bears the title somewhere in a town you never knew existed somewhere. it'll be a round robin of written word spoken and unwritten music played with miguel frasconi. besides playing a littel something with miguel, i'll be reading a littler something i wrote called mother's waiting.

Nina Hart Book Launch with Kurt Gottschalk and Miguel Frasconi
Saturday, May 16, 6-8 pm
Word Up Books
2113 Amsterdam Ave., (@ 165th St.)
Manhattan Island
https://www.facebook.com/events/1579449145664025/

then, the following day, nina, miguel and myself will head downtown to do something shorter at a benefit for abc no-rio. the music goes on 'till 10:30 or so but we'll be on from 5:40 till 6 in the back yard.

Inside / Outside COMA Benefit for ABC No Rio
Sunday, May 17, 5:15-10:30
ABC No-Rio
156 Rivington
Manhattan Island
https://www.facebook.com/events/1606702136241556/

then, on june 20, i'll be reading something shorter than the thing i'm reading this weekend, which even that isn't very long, at kgb bar. these have been really fun nights. looks like this time around will be bronwyn c., dave mandl, amanda nazzario, dan bodah and myself.

WFMU LIterary Guild Reading
Saturday, June 20, 8:30-10:30
KGB Bar
85 E. 4th St.
Manhattan Island
http://www.kgbbar.com/

ok, so one other thing. the latest of my holiday stories is posted at lulu. and get this: it's called "mother's waiting"! the same name as the story i'm reading this weekend! you can get that (and a couple few other things if you like) up at Lulu.

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/SpearmintLit

that's all for now. thanks for reading this. i've got some beautiful stuff pulled for the radio show tomorrow, so tune in to wfmu at 3 pm.

(p-funk, july 15)


happy spring. 

20150414

Applause

(found in an old notebook)

I like clapping
Like Christmas
Like ritual
Like noise
Like everything
Like everyone
Likes Christmas
Likes clapping
Likes ritual
Would it be easier
To start clapping?
To go caroling?
When everyone
Else does?

I like clapping
Like slapping
like monkeys
Like a moment
To misbehave
To make some noise
Wouldn't it be better
To do it all the time?

I like clapping like
Contusions like
Confusion like
Group dynamics
Like dynamite
Like everything might
Happen if I refuse
But nothing does
Just like applause
Like out of step
"Did you forget?"
Like firecrackers
On cue
Did you?

I like laughing
I like yelling
I like falling
I like things
When they
Don't happen
On cue.


ZS from TERROREYES.TV on Vimeo.

20150307

Take Your Action Figure to Work Day

Minotorious Rexenbottom joined me at WFMU yesterday to mark Take Your Action Figure to Work Day. I'm not sure he's an action figure. He's kind of lazy for all that, but we had a good day. 

First we stopped by Dichter Pharmacy for $1 bialy Friday. 


Then we caught the A train downtown, 


transferred to the D at Columbus Circle, 


then caught the R at Herald Square. 



We had a little time to kill so we stopped by the Strand


before heading over to Grace Church for the Bach Meditation. 


Leaving a can of soup in the basket,  


we headed into the chapel and took a seat. 



We particularly enjoyed the Prelude & Fugue in E-flat Mayor, which was divided to open and close the recital. 



Afterwards, we got back on the R



and got off at the huge new Fulton Street station.




then walked over to the PATH station to catch the train to Jersey City.






After stopping at the Curry Hill truck to pick up lunch


we headed to the station, did our chores and some show prep and we were on the air!


You can listen to yesterday's show by clicking here. And please consider supporting WFMU. 





20150105

Ebb of Year Report

Mindy told me I had an ebb year last year. She wasn't judging, she was reacting to my saying that I felt like I hadn't gotten much done in 2014. This was back in the fall, on the telephone. Mindy lives in Chicago.

She said that it was OK to have an ebb year, that everyone has them, but I didn't like the sound of it. I don't want an ebb year. I suppose it gave me a bit of a start.

Or a restart. It pushed me to finish two stories for my collection of holiday tales – one for Thanksgiving (simply called "That Thanksgiving") and one for St. Lucy's Day. I wanted there to be a name day story in the collection and St. Lucy's story is so great that she inspired me to write about my own Lucy, or Lucia, in "The Enculeation of Lucia."

OK, give me a second here. “Write a short story every week," Ray Bradbury once said. "It’s not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.” I still haven't been that productive but having finished two more stories made me feel like a first draft of the collection is within grasp. I am working on a rather vulgar thing for St. Patrick's Day now and finally have an idea for a Mother's Day story and I think then I'll be nearly done.

That said, I'm in no way convinced that it's impossible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.

Anyway, what's your favorite holiday?

As for the stories, I've been continuing to make them available for limited times via Lulu and I've had occasion to read two of them out loud via the WFMU Literary Guild reading series, which happens once per quarter at KGB Bar in the East Village. You can see a video of me reading excerpts from one of them (a series of imagined letters to Prince) as well as my stand-up comedy debut and retirement here.

So yeah, that's something else I did this year. In keeping with my general policy of saying "yes" to whatever people ask me to do (this is not a binding rule so don't get any bright ideas), I accepted an offer from a fellow named Andrew Singer to do five minutes or so of stand-up. He runs a night at Sidewalk Cafe that is all people he invites who have never done stand-up comedy before.

Another thing I did was travel, which is my favorite thing to do. Was lucky enough to make another trip to my beloved Prague (where I saw Bob Dylan for the first time) and went back to Lisbon as well, while covering a couple of very nice music festivals. I would link to the articles but they were for publications that don't put stuff online. Funny, I used to prefer writing for publications that didn't put stuff online. And I spoke on a panel about the future of music at the Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium in Ontario which was kinda hilarious.

I was also – and this was exciting – asked to contribute a chapter to a book by the brilliantly mad Jon Rose. He was soliciting fake music criticism written prior to 1985, all of it to be published under pseudonyms. There is, of course, huge concept and backstory to the book, which I suggest you buy. I'm not telling anybody what I wrote but if you correctly guess which one is mine I'll tell you.

Other than that it was business as usual. I contintued to listen to and write about music I love. I continued to make music as well, if only occasionally, but Ecstasy Mule played a piece I conceived called "Wild Bill's Burro" at the WSB100 William S. Burroughs centennial festival in NYC. And I entered my 8th year of broadcasting at WFMU.

Speaking of WFMU, I am involved in a tribute to the Residents on January 31 at Art House Productions in Jersey City. It's kind of a jukebox musical spearheaded by Amedeo Turturro with musical direction by Scott Williams and a host of your favorite WFMU on-air personalities performing. You can find more information here.

I also wrote a profile of the Residents which will be in the upcoming issue of White Fungus.Oh, and I decided somewhere along the line that I should have a website, so I made one on one of those rinky-dink free services. It's imperfect but, hey, it exists.

Here's to mo flo in 2015!

Kurt