Bumping Into... is a series of mini-chats with a variety of peeps that you might run into in some of our local music communities. (There's a bit of an intro and my thoughts behind the series here.)
How are you? Where are you?
Oh hi Joe! Fancy running into you here! I am well, thanks.
What have you been up to since March or so?
Visual art is my first love so I reverted to it, as it is well suited to domestic solitude. So I am drawing, painting and collaging like there’s no tomorrow (ahem). The rare contacts with other artists and audience are a treasure, of course. The socially distanced DUST performance in Humber Valley was almost overwhelming — so many friends in one place!
What else? I made a very silly puppet show written entirely in anagrams of the phrase “Happy Birthday to You”. This was for the Concrete Cabaret event series, which has moved from the Tranzac to Zoom like everything else. Also I made an appearance on Laura Gillis’ solo album for her project VIVIDNESS. I play guitar and humdrum, an instrument of my invention. Laura is currently making trippy, abstract videos for each track on the album and I am helping her a little bit with that. Oh, and I jammed with Tomasz Krakowiak in the park a couple of times during the summer. He’s reverted to violoncello — his first instrument — and of course he slays it.
Also I am having rather vivid dreams. Here’s one: “I am in a room with a blue ceiling that has the face of god on it. He has no mouth and his eyes are closed. I ask him for sight even though I can see. He births two eyes out of his eyelids: they look like boiled eggs. I receive one in each hand, thank him and go on my way."
Have you found any new ways to do old things? How are you feeling about the shifts in how music is being made/shared/listened to?
Drum machines! Who knew they’re so much fun? Umm, everyone else, I guess. As audience member under the current constraints I’m having trouble getting excited about live streaming and online events. They don’t deliver the communal feel for me. When cooped up I’d rather enjoy formats that are better suited for the home: music recordings, films, books, etc. However I am grateful for video communication channels that allow me to see and hear my friends and especially my family in Italy. Who knows when I will see them again.
Any works of art that have been a light for you in these times? Anything that's just been a good diversion?
- Ammar 808 will have you bounce around the room, which is always a good thing.
- Hindi devotional films have everything that I love about cinema and none of the filler.
The best thing I’ve read this year is Isaac Babel’s Red Cavalry but it's not what you would call uplifting. I highly recommend Robert Sapolski’s Behave, which is a humane, nuanced and and masterful condensation of a vast, difficult field: the biology of human behaviour. My friends Marina Kaganova & Leo Decristoforo just finished Life in Three Voices, a documentary about Georgian traditional singers Ensemble Adilei and Chamgeliani sisters, who also happen to be friends. The singing is extraordinary and the film radiates the warmth and joy of communal music making that we miss so much.
How are you feeling about 2021?
Feeding hope is the highway to disappointment.
Anything else we'd chat about if we bumped into each other?
Oy! I’d love to know about any plans you have for live music when such things start to happen again. Also, I want to start a band. You know everyone; can you put me in touch?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment