Performing Cage in Southern Illinois

A couple weeks back, Dan asked me to share my experience of performing the world premiere of John Cage and Lejaren Hiller's "KNOBS" at Southern Illinois University.

To begin with, you should know that this was my first time performing another person's material, or even working with a score. I've never been a music student, and I certainly don't have the background of someone you'd expect to be performing a world premiere anything, let alone the work of two celebrated composers. But sometimes, these situations present themselves, and I find that it's often interesting to go along for the ride.

I had picked up the Nonesuch LP of Cage and Hiller's "HPSCHD" about a week before being asked to participate in an inter-arts festival being organized by a fellow WDBX-FM volunteer, Nick Yeck-Stauffer. Nick had recently been part of some downsizing at the University, but due to the institutional oddities, had found himself continuing to draw a paycheck without any actual duties. He was, in fact, asked what he would like to do-- being a gentleman of the arts, Nick found a way to finagle his way into hosting a three-day arts festival, which he dubbed "All Together Now."

All Together Now was envisioned as being an inter-arts free-for-all; the grand hope being to unite as much of the Southern Illinois arts communities in one large ballroom, not only to showcase all the weird and wonderful things going on here in Little Egypt, but to literally create new works and new ideas collaboratively.

I thought it was a great idea, and came to the first meeting to see what I could do to help. Within minutes, I had been drafted into running a circuit-bending workshop-- okay, not exactly what I was pitching. Nick was very excited about having a John Cage piece performed during the festival, so aside from the challenge of the workshop, I was good to go.

But why choose "KNOBS"? First off, I mentioned that I had gotten the LP about a week prior to the event. Well, it took about as long before I realized that there was an insert stuck between the sleeve and the jacket. This was one of the 10,000 computer-generated scores which gave precise instructions (in 5-second intervals!) for how the listener should alter bass, treble, and volume settings in the left and right channel during playback of the LP.

It was Cage and Hiller's intention that LP owners could perform this rather demanding score at home with their stereos, each creating a unique listening experience across the 21 minutes of the record side. Seeing that this remarkable score's demands laid quite heavily on my skills as a DJ, I had begun to wonder if performing the score on one of my radio broadcasts might be a good idea. The very next day, Nick told me of his plans for the festival, and I saw my path laid out.

I'm still not 100% certain that my performance of "KNOBS" was a world premiere, but after consulting the John Cage Database and asking around on the "Silence" listserv, I was okay with it possibly being hyperbole for promotion's sake. As they say, "if it's not online, it's invisible."

Needless to say, I try not to make the same mistake. Events in Carbondale live or die primarily due to the availability of alcohol, and lacking this, I did what I could do get the local press interested. I ended up with a calendar item in the regional newspaper, a couple nice paragraphs in the independent entertainment weekly, a non-music blog mention, and an article in the campus news as well. It takes a lot of energy to run down reporters, but it's usually worth it-- they reach a different audience; their voice can be helpful! However, be prepared for reporters to get things wrong. If you're doing something outside the norm, give extra focus to making sure they have the date and time right. In the end, not much else matters.

For the actual performance, I knew that I had to really develop my sense of time. The score for "KNOBS" is marked in 5-second intervals, with as many as six alterations in the playback per interval. I worked for many days with a stopwatch, seeing how many consecutive laps I could mark at exactly 5 seconds without counting aloud. It was very difficult, and I wondered if I would be able to perform the piece properly.

I also had to secure a mixer that I could use during the performance. As "KNOBS" requires separate changes to the right and left channels, my home stereo would have been inadequate. I ended up borrowing one from a friend who was also performing during the festival, but it did have one interesting quality-- fine EQ controls! Because the mixer had four EQ knobs for every channel, and the score only had "Bass" and "Treble" listed for each channel, I decided to gang the top two knobs as treble, and the bottom two as bass. This meant that for every adjustment of bass or treble in a given channel, I would have TWO knobs to adjust instead of ONE. Another challenge-- and again, I had doubts about my abilities as a performer.

The only way to solve these problems was simply practicing the work over and over until it became repetitive enough that I was confident making quick and precise movements within the 5-second intervals. To assist me, I re-copied the score onto index cards, with each card representing a single interval. In re-writing the score, I was able to discard a large amount of redundant data. For instance, I did not need to indicate the setting of any knob that would remain unchanged in a given interval. It was enough to leave this portion of the card blank, thus freeing me from the forest of data given in the original score. Although some cards did have as many as 10 simultaneous adjustments, (2 for each of the 4 bass and treble pots, and 2 for the volume faders) most cards had anywhere from 4 to 6. Indeed, I marked some cards with an "X" to represent no changes during the interval at all.

I also created a click track for myself, having found that it was nearly impossible to keep mentally aware of a five-second interval much past a couple minutes with any real regularity. Knowing that videoclocks and stopwatches were employed by professional musicians for many Cage performances, I felt that precedent had been set, allowing me such a luxury. I put my click track on my iPod, set it to repeat 1, and allowed it to play in my right ear for the duration of my practice sessions-- and eventually, during my performance as well.

But let me back up a bit. What about the collaborative nature of the festival? Well, along with courting reporters, I was also in touch with the Southern Illinois Dance Company, a student organization at SIUC. I had been told that they were also interested in being a part of the festival, and were possibly interested in performing during "KNOBS." Although I certainly wouldn't have wanted to duplicate the working relationship of John Cage and Merce Cunningham, I was open to the possibility that this dance company would be able to bring something of value to the performance. I made arrangements to meet with their company and introduce them to "KNOBS."

The meeting didn't go very well. There were a lot of blank looks... and when I played a recording of the LP, the dance company's "artistic director" turned it off in under 15 seconds, loudly stating that she "couldn't listen" to it any longer. Nevertheless, I was given assurance that they would be working on some sort of routine, and that they'd be in touch.

If you guessed that this portion of the premiere never materialized, you were right. The Southern Illinois Dance Company flaked out on me completely. Eventually, I was to learn that the company leader had expressed her opinion to Nick that "KNOBS" was "just noise," and would be unsuitable for the dancers. Incredulous, Nick reminded her of Merce Cunningham's role in helping create modern dance while choreographing dance for just such music! You can lead a horse to water...

The night of the performance, I was nervous. I took some comfort in the number of times that I had practiced the piece, though, and was feeling pretty confident. I was to go on after the first intermission; following a percussion ensemble's lengthy improvisation with a local noise artist which resulted in a good portion of our audience leaving the auditorium in protest of "Satanic" imagery in the concurrent film display. Again, with the horses and the water...

By the time of my premiere, the audience was at about half their original number-- some curious folks who had wandered in, people who regularly listened to my late-night/early morning broadcasts, other performers, and my daughter. We all shared a laugh as my turntable belt had to be replaced at the last minute, and as the usual PA troubles were methodically traced and corrected.

And then... it went really well. Every 5-second interval seemed to slow down tremendously, and the reassuring beep of my homemade click track counted off these syrupy moments until I was finished, exactly 252 index cards later. "KNOBS" was now part of everyone's memory, and I felt pretty happy to count myself among those few who have a chance to premiere a John Cage composition!

2010 Festivals in the Midwest

...with an emphasis on jazz, improvised & experimental music...

April
April 3: Blank Slate 2 (Earth House Collective in Indianapolis, more details TBA)

September
Chicago Jazz Festival (September 4 & 5)
Edgefest (Ann Arbor, MI)

October
Fifth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival

Feel free to comment below if you can think of other festivals which could be included in this list. Thanks.

Films and Videos About Creative Music

Imagine the Sound, directed by Ron Mann (1981)

Mingus: Charles Mingus (1968), directed by Thomas Reichman

My Name Is Albert Ayler, directed by Kasper Collin (1962)

On the Edge (1992)
from ubu.com: "A series of four 55 minute films shown on Channel 4 TV in the UK in early 1992. To say this was the best and most intelligent analysis of improvisation to be screened on UK television is probably unnecessary: it has in all likelihood been the only televised programme on this form of music-making. Written and narrated by Derek Bailey, produced and directed by Jeremy Marr, it developed out of the first edition of Bailey's book on improvisation (the broadcast almost coinciding with the publication of the second edition) and attempted to provide a world-view of the subject, not being bound by country, musical genre or preconception."

Space Is the Place, directed by John Coney

Feel free to comment on this post if you can think of other films and videos that you think should be included here. Thanks.

Music Destinations in the Midwest

...an incomplete list of great music-related places to visit in the Midwest...

ILLINOIS
Willie Dixon's Blues Heaven Foundation (Chicago)

MICHIGAN
Motown Historical Museum

MISSOURI
Scott Joplin House (St. Louis)

OTHER LOCATIONS OUTSIDE THE MIDWEST
Louis Armstrong House Museum (New York City)
Stax Museum of American Soul Music (Memphis, TN)

Feel free to comment on this post if you can think of other destinations that you think should be included here. Thanks.

Independent Record Stores in the Midwest

ILLINOIS
Dr. Wax (Chicago)
Dusty Groove America (Chicago)
Jazz Record Mart (Chicago)
Reckless Records (Chicago)

INDIANA
Indy CD & Vinyl (Indianapolis)

MISSOURI
Apop Records (St. Louis)
Euclid Records (St. Louis)
Vintage Vinyl (St. Louis)

MINNESOTA
The Electric Fetus (Minneapolis)

OHIO
Shake-It Records (Cincinnati)

PENNSYLVANIA

GREAT RECORD STORES OUTSIDE THE MIDWEST
Amoeba Music (California)
Downtown Music Gallery (New York City)
Louisiana Music Factory (New Orleans)

RELATED LINKS
Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMP)
Record Store Day
ThinkIndie.com


Feel free to comment on this post if you can think of other stores which you think should be included. Thanks.

Midwest-Based Record Labels

...with an emphasis on jazz, experimental, & improvised music...

ILLINOIS
482 Music (Chicago)
Atavistic Worldwide
Delmark (Chicago)
Imaginary Chicago Records

INDIANA

IOWA

MICHIGAN

MINNESOTA

OHIO
Exit Stencil Recordings (Cleveland)

PENNSYLVANIA

WISCONSIN
Crouton Music

Please let me know if you can think of other labels, I'd be happy to include those if you'd comment on this post. Thanks.

Publications & Other Media Outlets

Here're some great publications & other media outlets which include reviews of recordings, info about concerts, etc.:

IN THE MIDWEST
Illinois
Chicago Reader
New City
Time Out Chicago

Indiana
NUVO (Indianapolis)

Michigan
Detroit Free Press

Ohio
Columbus Alive
CityBeat (Cincinnati)


Wisconsin
Isthmus (Madison)

* * * *

NATIONAL PUBLICATIONS
DownBeat Magazine
Signal to Noise: The Journal of Improvised and Experimental Music
TapeOp: The Creative Music Recording Magazine

* * * *

INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS
The Wire: Adventures in Modern Music

* * * *

WEBSITES
AllAboutJazz.com
Destination Out
Point of Departure

Feel free to comment on this post if you can think of other publications and/or websites which could be included here. Thanks.

Radio Stations in the Midwest

Here are some excellent independent radio stations in the Midwest. Some are student-run at colleges and universities, and others are independent community radio stations:

ILLINOIS
WDBX "ITDE" show -- 91.1 FM in Carbondale
WLUW: "Something Else" show -- 88.7 FM in Chicago
WNUR -- 89.3 FM in Evanston
WZRD -- 88.3 FM in Chicago

INDIANA

MICHIGAN
Blue Lake Public Radio
WCBN -- 88.3 FM in Ann Arbor

MINNESOTA
KFAI -- 90.3 in Minneapolis

MISSOURI
WDHX -- 88.1 FM in St. Louis

OHIO
WAIF -- 88.3 FM in Cincinnati

IOWA

WISCONSIN
WORT -- 89.9 FM in Madison

OTHER GREAT RADIO STATIONS ELSEWHERE IN THE U.S.
KCRW -- 89.9 FM in Santa Monica, CA
KQED -- in northern California
KUSP -- 89.9 FM in Santa Cruz, CA
WKCR -- 89.9 FM in New York City
WFMU -- 91.1 FM in Jersey City, NJ
WWOZ -- 90.7 FM in New Orleans
WNYC -- 93.0 in New York City

* * * *

Feel free to comment on this post if you can think of any other radio stations that should be added to this list. Thanks.

A little retrospective on my experience presenting...

I've been active in throwing shows and trying to develop as an improviser in my own right, as well as encourage those around me, for going on 7 years here in Columbus.

The question of audience development has always been at the forefront of my mind. I've never been content with the idea of creating some kind of secret society/insider-y scene for the music here, and have been careful to avoid any intellectual trappings in how I promote and produce shows. That's just a personal choice though. In some of the experimental music shows I attended early on, I may have enjoyed the music but found the people and the climate to be suffocatingly "in the know." When I started doing shows I determined that I would do what I could to cultivate a different kind of climate. Music can be serious but the people at an event-- musicians and audience alike--- don't need to take themselves so seriously.

This may not after all be the most strategic or astute thing. One of the things you find in a place like Columbus is that people yearn for the high art cred of New York/east coast....and that if you feed them pretentiousness, they'll often eat it up. A number of people have remarked that my shows would seem like a natural overlap for people who attend events at the Wexner Center (the local "mod" performing arts center). As such, I've attempted to distribute handbills outside of relevant Wexner Center concerts. That was eye-opening to say the least. I can't tell you how disinterested people were, even as I found myself making a pretty good pitch. I had nice, attractive handbills and I was polite, earnest, and all-- but I might as well have been selling wristwatches under my trenchcoat.

If something has the Wexner seal of approval though, people turn out. I'm convinced to this day that if some of the people I'd brought in-- Tatsuya, Tom Abbs, Josh Berman-- had performed at the Wexner Center instead of one of my "free jazz ghetto" shows, they would have had probably 10 times the attendance and pay. I don't have a personal need to present these guys on my turf either, which is why I've repeatedly contacted the Wexner Center on their behalf. Never heard a word from them.

While I would be happy for these artists getting a show at the Wexner, for their finances and their egos (getting to play in front of a larg(er) crowd)-- at the same time, I don't feel like busting into the concert hall, being legitimized by the mod art institutions, is what the music needs. I am a staunch believer in the music having a primarily grassroots existence....the problem is, of course, that musicians and promoters like myself or Dan get discouraged when the audience grows at such a snail's pace.

I will say, small as my crowds may be, I'm fairly proud of the kind of people who turn out for the shows. There's a range of ages, cultures, occupations, and even political persuasions. (The only thing that is sorely missing is gender diversity. Yes, they're mostly "man meets."). I would say too that a number of these folks might not have turned out for the shows if I had adopted some kind of knowingly mod/"cutting edge" presentation from the outset. There are some really down-to-earth people who would just be turned off by that. At the same time, I believe that my lack of pretentiousness has resulted in some people not turning out. It's a hard balance to strike, to cultivate the sort of climate you want to see take place, while knowing that you may be forfeiting some of the obvious suspects for audience members. I am just very resistant to creating another "scene" in a city rife with "scenes", and so, admittedly, have made very little effort to ingratiate myself with the young, white hipster community here.

If anything, I have tried to lean further to the "accessible" end of presentation. I have produced some mixed bill shows that featured free jazz alongside straight-ahead jazz, or hip-hop, or spoken word forums. Here though, I think this kind of program is just CONFUSING to people though. In the late 60s or 70s this wouldn't have been any big deal, but you're really screwing with people's sense of order when you do this now. I am still glad to have made attempts in this direction though. I think if you have the right venue, one that is eclectic by nature--- you could pull this off, especially if it was regular, revue-type event.

Speaking of which.....regularity, predictability, and consistency of quality. These are the things that are key to any presenter's success in buiding an audience. When I was having the most success here, it was because I had a regular venue to work with and the shows were happening on fairly regular intervals. Alas, the two regular venues I've worked with have both went bust, and that always takes you a step back. For the past 3 years I have just done shows with venues by committee-- where I could get an appropriate room and who was simply willing to host.

So-- if you have a hospitable venue, MILK IT for all it's worth because there is no telling how long it will last. I know ad hoc/by commitee is the reality for a lot of presenters and musicians in this music, and yet-- if I could go back in time I would have done even more shows at the regular venues I had.

All of this aside, I just keep doing what I do. I have gone back and forth at times about whether I wanted to continue doing shows, because just when I get some kind of little breakthrough-- a good crowd-- the next show would be sparsely attended. But in the course of time there's been a community of sorts that has evolved here. People who were once simply unconnected audience members are now playing in bands together, going to each other's weddings, sharing memories about good times, all that stuff. Shows are now an occasion for these guys to hang out and catch up, as well as experiencing a common interest. So that keeps me going, and is gratifying in its own right.

Lest I sound at all jaded or resigned here, I should add that I'm open to reconceiving how I present and promote shows. I just recognize that if one isn't willing to dress the music in intellectual trappings and ingratiate themselves with the local hiperati, you're counting on people being both honestly curious and honest in their intentions (to simply hear some interesting music...). I do believe there are more people in Columbus, and the Midwest in general, who might be curious about experiencing something "different", but are put off by the scenesterism. Precisely because they are not part of a pre-existing scene and do not travel by packs, they are harder to reach though.

Friends of friends, of friends....and don't forget grandma-- she might like free jazz if she tried it.

funding for the arts in the Midwest

Everybody knows that the current economic climate is pretty terrible, yet creative people continue to make projects happen, and audiences continue to support those projects. Recently a "No Cuts to Chicago Music, Arts & Cultural Programs" petition has been going around. Several months ago the Chicago Music Commission website ran a story entitled "Moving the Story Forward on the Promoter Ordinance,"; the music community must continue to be vigilant about this, since one never knows when the promoter ordinance situation will take a new turn.

The arts always needs more funding and support. Of course, people who are dedicated to the arts will continue to put their effort, time, and money into making projects happen. But institutions -- corporations, foundations, government -- need to do their part and step up to support the arts. Recently Chicago Tribune music critic Howard Reich wrote an op-ed piece about how budget cutbacks have been affecting Chicago's music festivals. In rough economic times, it's the arts that often get slashed first, because many people seem to think that the arts are "luxury" or not core things that need to be saved. That is wrong-headed thinking: the arts should always continue to be supported. A healthy society encourages and supports its arts and artists.

Chicago is world renowned for innovations in architecture, music, visual art, film, etc., yet the effects of more budget cuts can be seen and felt. Empty storefronts seem to be everywhere you look. But let's not focus on just doom and gloom, because exciting things continue to happen. What glimmers of hope can be found in the Midwest -- in Chicago, Madison, Cincinnati, Green Bay, St. Paul, Cleveland, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbus, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Carbondale, Urbana-Champaign, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, etc. -- in terms of new opportunities, new revenue streams, new funding initiatives?

"Heartland" show at the Smart Museum

The current Heartland show at the University of Chicago's Smart Museum of Art is fantastic. It includes projects by the Radical Midwest Culture Corridor, Design 99 (Detroit), The Miss Rockaway Armada, Simparch with Chris Vorhees, Tree of Heaven Woodshop (Detroit), Theaster Gates and the Black Monks of Mississippi (Chicago), Whoop Dee Doo (St. Louis), as well as essays by Rebecca Solnit, Dan S. Wang, Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Andrea Lisle, Matthew Strauss, Dave Eggers, and others.

One thing I found interesting about the show was the curators' definition of "heartland." Personally my concept of the "American heartland" is more about the Midwest, but the curators have a different definition.

The Heartland publication is informative and well-produced. You can find out more about it by visiting the Smart Museum website, and the e-book version can be downloaded for free if you click here.

Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival

Thursday, October 1 till Sunday, October 11, 2009

The Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival (CCAF4) features Chicago-based artists collaborating with artists in other locations -- both here in the U.S. and abroad. These collaborations involve a range of art forms -- including music, dance, film, literature, and intermedia -- and they are prepared or improvised. Some CCAF4 events involve live feeds between Chicago and other locations.

Please visit chicagocalling.org for a complete schedule of events.

Blank Slate Festival follow-up

Blank Slate Festival was fantastic. The quality of musicianship was great, and it was great to see the visual artists -- painters & videographers -- contribute to all the artmaking. The audience was receptive, and there was a lot of genuine community spirit. Blank Slate Festival's venue, the beautiful old Methodist church, was unique. Thanks to Gerard Cox, the festival's main organizer, and thanks of course to all the artists, all the other people who helped out, the audience for supporting the festival, and the good people at Earth House Collective for hosting Blank Slate Festival!

Here are some photographs. Several people were taking photos throughout the seven hours of artmaking, and the entire festival was captured with video and audio recording. Examples of the festival -- in photos, video, and audio -- will be more readily available shortly.

Wizards -- Hasan Abdur-Razzaq (saxophones), Gerard Cox (piano), Adam Smith (drums), with Josh Burke (painting). Photo credit: Dan Godston.


Wizards, with Josh Burke. Photo credit: Dan Godston.

Constellation Grid -- Scott Deal (percussion), Dan Godston (trumpet), Alex Wing (piano), Michael Drews (laptop), & Jordan Munson (videography with MaxMSP Jitter). Photo credit: Curtis Glatter.

Constellation Grid performing. Photo credit: Curtis Glatter.

Gibson Thorne and Cory Salas painting during the James Cornish Group's performance


Gibson Thorne and Cory Salas (painting) and the James Cornish Group -- James Cornish (trumpet), Marco Novachcoff (saxophones and contrabass clarinet), & Curtis Glatter (percussion)

James Cornish Group -- James Cornish (trumpet), Marco Novachcoff (saxophones and contrabass clarinet), & Curtis Glatter (percussion)

Marco Novachcoff (baritone saxophone) and James Cornish (trumpet), during the James Cornish Group's set


Curtis Glatter (percussion), during the James Cornish Group's set

balcony shot of the James Cornish Group

Cory Salas (painting), Gerard Cox (piano), Marco Novachcoff (baritone saxophone), Hasan Abdur-Razzaq (tenor saxophone, and James Cornish

Gibson Thorne and Cory Salas (painting), Gerard Cox (piano), Marco Novachcoff (baritone saxophone), Hasan Abdur-Razzaq (tenor saxophone, and James Cornish

disassembled organ pedals at Earth House Collective

Southern Illinois-- it's nowhere near Chicago!

Things are moving slow (but steady) down here in Southern Illinois. I believe we have many of the necessary ingredients for a vibrant music scene, but we're still quite a ways from being truly inclusive of more experimental work.

Southern Illinois has been fortunate to have WDBX-FM, a not-for-profit community radio station. Due to WDBX's inclusive, highly-eclectic format, I've been able to present experimental music and sound art for the past seven years on my radio show, "It's Too Damn Early." The station has grown tremendously since its founding-- we are now broadcasting at 3000 watts throughout most of Southern Illinois, as well as streaming live online.

Although WDBX is not affiliated with our local college, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, the regular influx of Chicago-raised students often helps bring interesting ideas and viewpoints to our area. Of course, the somewhat transient student population is difficult to rely on in the long-term-- building a regular listenership among students is a task performed over and over with little net gain. Gathering a local listenership has been more difficult, and many of the techniques Gerard described in his previous post can easily be applied here. The trick seems to be staying flexible and attentive to the needs of my listeners, as well as providing a helpful and valuable environment for visiting musicians.

I often feel a greater burden on my part with visiting musicians. Although Carbondale is somewhat conveniently located on the way to and from St. Louis, Chicago, Memphis, and Nashville; many seem to prefer traveling between Chicago, Bloomington, IN and St. Louis-- often bypassing Southern Illinois completely. When I DO convince someone to come down; I'll often try to get some advance notice in the local entertainment press, blog about it, make a promo spot, etc... a little professionalism goes a long way.

Because Southern Illinois does not yet have any sort of regular venue for this sort of music, I have tried to make my show a central place for locals interested in or performing it. This past year; I hosted two DVD "screenings" of experimental music and film, presented a handful of live performing artists, and participated in a local documentary about experimental music.

Right now, one of my main challenges is drawing live performers. I've had some luck with paying close attention to musicians coming through St. Louis, particularly those performing at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. Some musicians have been able to add "It's Too Damn Early" to their day's itinerary-- with the show airing between 4 and 6:30 a.m. Saturday mornings, it's relatively easy to drop in after a Friday night show or before a Saturday evening elsewhere. My experience has been that the musicians benefit from increased exposure and airplay, and we benefit locally from the exposure to new ideas and methods.

Another challenge is people's awareness of Southern Illinois-- we've got 300,000 people down here in a rather tight-knit bunch of communities, but Illinois is often perceived to end just south of Chicago... or on a good day, at Champaign. I'm not sure how much can be done about this, frankly.

Of course, I'm also interested to see how Fire Music's cooperation among presenters and venues will pan out. It will be nice to get to know everyone a little better, and to be able to recommend other broadcasts and venues to interested musicians in the future. A bit of organization on our collective part could be a tremendous help.

--DaveX, "It's Too Damn Early," Carbondale IL

Greetings from Gerard (Columbus OH)

We are trying to keep the "fire" burning here in Columbus, OH. We have an improvisers collective called Outpost and we stage shows which typically involve both musicians from the collective and touring artists. I myself have been putting on shows for over 5 years. In the course of that time we've built a small but stable audience. Recently in the past year we've been putting together more in the way of mixed bills....DJs, some alt-folk, etc. Presenting this music in a town where people haven't really been exposed to it on any consistent basis demands a more flexible approach in order to bring new people into the tent.

I encourage presenters in other Midwestern burgs to do eclectic shows that involve improvised music but are not an all-or-nothing proposition. Being pure and dedicated solely to improv/experimental music is beautiful but makes the task of building an audience way more difficult. I am also an advocate of "theme" shows. I know some might find it cheesy or slick, but a lot of the names in this music have very little wider currency/recognition so developing a theme around an evening allows you to promote the evening in a way beyond just asking people to come out to see individual musicians. Examples of theme nights: "Percussion Discussion" --- experimental percussion, plus a world music rhythm group....."Guitars on the edge" --- (varied progressive approaches to guitar).....you get the idea.

Creating a positive, welcoming climate is what I find has probably been the most important thing in our shows success though. Being human, people are going to remember evenings not just for the music they heard but for the hang and the people they met. So I'm proud that the guys in our collective are as much ambassadors for the music on a social level as in playing. They don't have insular/exclusivist attitudes and make a point to be friendly and helpful. One of the perils of "art music" is that it can quickly descend into just another insular, pretentious scene if this climate isn't actively created. I guess some people don't mind this. I think we in the Midwest though are less likely to succumb to that, and I'm thankful that's the case.

I will keep offering more insights that I've gained presenting shows here in the future. Feel free to ask me any questions if you like.

- Gerard Cox, Columbus OH

writers & books

Arcana: Musicians on Music, edited by John Zorn

Michael Azerrad: Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Music Scene 1981-1991

Derek Bailey: Improvisation: Its Nature and Practice in Music

Richard Florida: The Rise of the Creative Class

Bob Gilmore: Harry Partch: A Biography

Steve Isoardi: The Dark Tree: Jazz and the Community Arts in Los Angeles

George Lewis: A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music

Graham Lock: Blutopia: Visions of the Future and Revisions of the Past in the Work of Sun Ra, Duke Ellington, and Anthony Braxton, by Graham Lock

Alan Lomax: The Land Where the Blues Began

Benjamin Looker: Point from Which Creation Begins: The Black Artists' Group of St. Louis

Lloyd Peterson: Music and the Creative Spirit: Innovators in Jazz, Improvisation, and the Avant Garde

Gene Santoro: Myself When I Am Real: The Life and Music of Charles Mingus

Vladimir Simosko and Barry Tepperman: Eric Dolphy: A Musical Biography And Discography

John Swed: Space Is the Place: The Life and Times of Sun Ra

Kevin Whitehead: New Dutch Swing

Valerie Wilmer: As Serious as Your Life: The Story of the New Jazz

Sharon Zukin: Loft Living: Culture and Capital in Urban Change

support for local presenters

I would be curious to hear news about recent initiatives to help out presenters and artists who want to bring their music to new audiences. Last year some legislators in Chicago tried to pass an ordinance which would cost promoters and presenters more money, but that has been tabled.

Welcome to the Fire Music Consortium blog

The Fire Music Consortium is a collective of presenters and venues in the Midwest whose goal is to promote and support creative music.