Sunday Playlist #48: In memoriam Ron Gaskin
We lost one of the good 'uns this week with the passing of Ron Gaskin, a sender of sounds and a listener of note. Under his Rough Idea banner, RG was a huge part of this city's out-music history, specializing in bringing musicians to town who were too creative or adventurous for the more conservative institutional presenters. As a storyteller and conversational improviser, RG could make strangers feel like friends and as a presenter and host, his generosity of spirit and freewheeling associational logic encouraged audiences to enter into a dialogue with musicians earnestly and wholeheartedly. His presence will be missed by so many.
These selections from my archives are from shows where my memories of my encounters with RG are as vivid and precious as the actual music. (It's certainly not meant to be comprehensive in any way!) I also did a bit of a digging to find some moments from a couple of those famous intros — and we get to hear his voice as well, in character, playing the part of William S. Burroughs in the multimedia presentation of "Rub Out The Word".
- Recorded at Lee's Palace, May 18, 2011.
Matthew Shipp Trio - Psychic Counterpoint
- Recorded at Lula Lounge, March 10, 2013.
- Recorded at Ratio, December 18, 2016.
Perch Hen Brock & Rain - RG intro
Perch Hen Brock & Rain - [first piece, first section]
- Recorded at Array Space (TONE Festival – Show #4), June 20, 2017.
- Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (TONE Festival 3.6: Peter Gough Presents), June 27, 2019.
Rub Out The Word - The Penny Arcade Peep Show
- Recorded at Dundas Video (Track Could Bend #9), December 1, 2015.
Sunday Playlist is a semi-regular feature that brings back some of this blog's previously-posted original live recordings for an encore. You can always click the tags below to see what I originally wrote about the shows these songs came from.
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