A Musical Life

Gretsch 6120W-1957

2011-09-24T12:09:00.001-04:00

Jeff Beck's Yardbirds Era Esquire Replica

2011-09-10T09:55:00.001-04:00

My Other Guitar Is A Spaceship

2011-07-20T12:06:00.003-04:00

Free improv session 7/19/11 Toledo, OH. Bill Faehnle electric guitar, Robert Klein drums & percussion, Hanna Mignano violin, Eric Wallack electric guitar, toy keyboards, microcassette and effects.

Tonebender Clone

2011-03-19T15:05:00.003-04:00

R.I.P. Don Van Vliet (The Good Captain Beefheart)

2010-12-18T09:28:00.001-05:00

No Words...

Twelve For Nothing (Minus Six)

2010-09-25T12:55:00.010-04:00

My second year of living musically has reached its equinox. My sun faces its equator head-on and the nights are growing long. The recordings drop now like leaves; some catching a draft, lifted upward, others falling like pebbles dropped to the sea by errant fish-eagles. Each time part of me dies. Part of me grows. I gave August its eulogy and embraced September with open-arms, slinging a banjo.

Earlier this month, still in the lingering too-hot-for-September throes of summer, I provided bass clef support to an album laid down by batterista extrodinaire Pete Zolli before I handed it off to musical tinder-sticks Bret Hart. We've been here before and Bret has a mind to have the mighty Don Campau shingle the the roof (so to speak).

12 For Nothing (12-4-0)

2010-06-28T12:48:00.009-04:00

Well the Twelve For Nothing (12-4-0) project is moving along. June's record was a bit of a gamble as I had recorded over 2-3 weeks but on Saturday the 26th decided I didn't like any of it. I scrapped it and began an entirely new record that was finished yesterday and uploaded today. You can download Desert Songs (zipped MP3's) HERE and follow the whole series at www.ericwallack.com.

In related news the amazing Don Campau has graciously decided to add me to the Lonely Whistle Music record label. As well as being one of the most prolific and creative music makers I know, Don's one of the world-wide impresarios for underground and home-recorded music. His No Pigeonholes radio show's European equivalent (Radio Marabu) will feature a few of the tunes from the series in July. You can listen to the podcast HERE.

In addition, Delta-Slider, one of my favorite music blogs devoted to American Primitive and related styles of guitar has posted a lovely review and download for Stella Says. I'm truly honored to be added to a blog that includes incandescent luminaries like like John Fahey, Jack Rose, Mary Flower, Ragtime Ralph, etc. Many thanks 'Slider!!

Is This Thing On?

2010-04-01T18:58:00.007-04:00

It has been a while since I posted anything because the musical activity since the end of the 365 Project slowed to a trickle or has just not gotten me interested enough to blog about it. Sadly, due to a few life changes over the past couple of years I dropped off the map from some really good friends and musicians - people who've inspired me greatly - and I promise to tend to those and build them back up (I sincerely hope)

Ok, A year ago I did write and record an album for "February Is Album Writing Month". You can listen to or download all the tracks for free HERE. If you'd like a copy in a handmade, custom cover sent to you for free just request one in the comments section below.

So anyway, it's the 3-year anniversary of the start the 365 Project and seeing how my creative output has dropped faster than Toyota stocks (I do own a Corolla) I've decided that beginning this month once again I will commit to a year-long experiment in creative self-discipline. I'll write, record and upload a record album a month for a year. 12 months, twelve albums.

Ground Rules (self-imposed)

1. A "record album" is defined as a collection of not fewer than 8 and not more than 14 songs intended to be perceived as a whole. In the event longer form pieces are required an "album" shall be no less that 36 minutes (the Creed Taylor rule) and no more than 60.

2. Instrumental and/or vocal material is acceptable

3. The work must must my own (but)

4. Collaboration with others is acceptable and desirable as long as the work is motivated by and inclusive of my creative impulse. I must be present in each and every song (and)

5. If desired, I may remake any of my previously recorded songs as long as the piece fits the vibe of the "album" and is limited to no more than one per "album"

6. All albums will contain original, cover art, printed lyrics (where applicable), liner notes and be available for free download at www.ericwallack.com. Each album will be available in its entirety by the last day of each month beginning April 2010 and ending March 2011.

Ok, here goes nothing...

The Return of The Stick!

2009-11-05T07:37:00.002-05:00

DIY Love #2

2009-03-20T09:03:00.005-04:00

My latest abomination - a wine box guitar I made totally out of recycled parts. The neck and bridge (I think from a Harmony Sovereign) came from a snag on "big trash pick up day" and the box came from a thrift store in Oberlin, OH. Total investment (counting strings), $8.75. Plays and sounds great!

DIY Love

2009-03-20T08:33:00.004-04:00

Take a look-see at this awesome retro/cowboy themed guitar case made for me by sophiaworksf8! She custom made it for my wacky Gretsch Americana "Way Out West" guitar with funky vintage styled ranch/rodeo fabric. Her etsy.com site is HERE so stop by and check out her coolness!

Lux Interior 1949-2009

2009-02-05T10:50:00.001-05:00

Best of 2008

2009-01-24T14:42:00.003-05:00

I just found out I made radio station KKUP's No Pigeonholes "Best of 2008". I'm certain I don't belong in a list of such amazing & fearless independent artists but there I am. My deepest thanks to Don Campau for his tireless championing and support for independent music.

Truly worthy is my friend Sid Vad whose record and series of improvised acapella vocals entitled Impression Sunrise is probably one of the most moving and intense listening experiences I've ever had

KKUP is 91.5 FM out of Cupertino, CA

You can check out the list HERE and listen to an archived broadcast of the show (in 2 parts) HERE

Space Bass

2009-01-18T20:29:00.003-05:00

Monk's Advice

2009-01-05T08:49:00.004-05:00

Thelonious Monk's advice to Steve Lacy:

Thanks to Len for sending this to me!

2009-01-01T09:51:00.000-05:00

New Byrne & Eno!

2008-11-20T10:54:00.000-05:00

2008-11-17T09:49:00.002-05:00

Songwriters' Workshop 11.6.08

Jack, Jack & Me

2008-10-27T09:29:00.014-04:00

Someone hit this wall in West Toledo with a Kerouac stencil

so
this is what it all comes down to

jack
all robes and no monk
pouring out
and pouring in
like some cheap sutra
in booze and tears

an unresolved riddle
haiku
or koan
is all that remains

and of course none of it matters

but i can’t stop
filling it all up
with nothingness

since after all
nothing is empty
everything is full
of some stupid desire
to bring it all on

or throw it all
away

Urequited Bewilderment

2008-07-29T07:55:00.005-04:00

"Explain it Away", from The 365 Project, got airplay on Don Campau's mighty No Pigeonholes radio show on KKUP 91.5 fm in San Cupertino, CA over the weekend. You can listen to the podcast HERE.

As Don reveals in the program, I compiled 20 songs from The 365 Project at his request to be released on his Lonely Whistle Records label. Should be ready to ship by next week and you can contact Don through the Lonely Whistle Records website if you'd like a copy. The songjournal finally rests.

Don's huge presence on the indie scene - through his own music, the radio show and a vast, international network of close music connections - is beyond staggering. I hosted a podcast interview with Don where he discussed and shared some of his long history of independent music making. You can check it out and listen HERE.

Cheers to Don Campau!!

Trout Mask Zen

2008-07-09T10:27:00.001-04:00

Captain Beefheart's 10 Commandments of Guitar Playing

(From the Captain Beefheart Radar Station)

1. Listen to the birds.

That's where all the music comes from. Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren't going anywhere.

2. Your guitar is not really a guitar Your guitar is a divining rod.

Use it to find spirits in the other world and bring them over. A guitar is also a fishing rod. If you're good, you'll land a big one.

3. Practice in front of a bush

Wait until the moon is out, then go outside, eat a multi-grained bread and play your guitar to a bush. If the bush dosen't shake, eat another piece of bread.

4. Walk with the devil

Old Delta blues players referred to guitar amplifiers as the "devil box." And they were right. You have to be an equal opportunity employerin terms of who you're brining over from the other side. Electricity attracts devils and demons. Other instruments attract other spirits. An acoustic guitar attracts Casper. A mandolin attracts Wendy. But an electric guitar attracts Beelzebub.

5. If you're guilty of thinking, you're out

If your brain is part of the process, you're missing it. You should play like a drowning man, struggling to reach shore. If you can trap that feeling, then you have something that is fur bearing.

6. Never point your guitar at anyone

Your instrument has more clout than lightning. Just hit a big chord then run outside to hear it. But make sure you are not standing in an open field.

7. Always carry a church key

That's your key-man clause. Like One String Sam. He's one. He was a Detroit street musician who played in the fifties on a homemade instrument. His song "I Need a Hundered Dollars" is warm pie. Another key to the church is Hubert Sumlin, Howlin' Wolf's guitar player. He just stands there like the Statue of Liberty-making you want to look up her dress the whole time to see how he's doing it.

8. Don't wipe the sweat off your instrument

You need that stink on there. Then you have to get that stink onto your music.

9. Keep your guitar in a dark place

When you're not playin your guitar, cover it and keep it in a dark place. If you don't play your guitar for more than a day, be sure you put a saucer of water in with it.

10. You gotta have a hood for your engine

Keep that hat on. A hat is a pressure cooker. If you have a roof on your house, the hot air can't escape. Even a lima bean has to have a piece of wet paper around it to make it grow.

Some Karma

2008-06-30T08:01:00.005-04:00

Basement + guitar + Ohio rain + power outage = ruined guitar

What Is The Matter With Me

2008-06-17T15:00:00.007-04:00

I admit it (the first step is admitting you have a problem); I've had a secret love affair with (and undying passion for) tragically sentimental (but genius) pop music created by almostwere's and nevertobe's, bands like The La's. I need a 12-step program and a weekly meeting.

"Hello, my name is Eric and listen to janglepop when nobody's looking."

700 Hobos

2008-06-04T08:19:00.003-04:00

This is the real deal and ends up a sort of sublime, epic poem of the old weird America.

Listen to the reading of 700 Hobo names (to the accompaniment of a folk guitar and ghostly radio signal) HERE. All 700 Hobos illustrated (a gargantuan project) over HERE.

I can't explain why, but this is one of the most powerful things I've come across in a long time.

#153 Slo-Mo Deuteronomy:

Over and Onward

2008-05-07T08:43:00.004-04:00

It's been a few weeks since the last chord rang out on the song journal. People have asked what I'm going to do with it (would I make a compilation disc, publish the lyrics, etc) and I just don't know. My gut feeling is to leave it as-is and move on.

I've finished my interpretation of page 65 of Cornelius Cardew's Treatise and sent it to Tom Furgas who's in charge of the project. Should be released in early summer.

All Things Are Empty

2008-04-15T15:05:00.010-04:00

With a couple of days to go in the songjournal I'm faced with the dilemma I worried about months ago - the last song. There's the part of me that wants it to be the best one, whatever that means. There's also the part of me that hopes it goes out understated and small; a bow to the zen master upon realizing I haven't learned or accomplished anything. Well, of course I don't know what it will be. I won't until sometime on Saturday.

I don't think any of it has been about "best" (or product) at all. It's been about process, perseverance, keeping creativity alive, self discovery and loss.

Loss. That's going to be the most difficult. I've become very attached to the thing (eliminating any possibility for zen mastery here) and to stop dead in my tracks on Saturday (which, coincidentally, is also the 1st day of Passover) is going to be hard. This quote (which I cannot attribute to any reliable source) pretty much nails it, “It's weird...you know the end of something great is coming, but you want to hold on, just for one more second...just so it can hurt a little more.”

The Hive Itself a Teacup

2008-04-14T08:56:00.006-04:00

A whirlwind of activity as I near the end (five days left) of the songjournal.

The EP I did for.ala jazz records is now available for free download HERE. The Hive Itself a Teacup is a suite of five solo free-improvisations on several acoustic stringed instruments. My deepest thanks to Omar at .ala jazz records for the label invite. I also really, really like the cover art "Oink! Oink!" made for the release. In addition, I'm almost done with a limited edition, cassette-only release (working title: Know Your Lake Monsters) for his Goat Folk label.

Also, almost done with my realization for part of Cornelius Cardew's Treatise to be released by Tom Furgas later this summer.

It's good to be busy again!

Those Who've Gone Before, Those to Come

2008-01-22T16:37:00.000-05:00

Out of the blue I got a really nice note and some encouragement from a musician named Tim Walker who did his own 365-songs-in-a-year project. HERE is the link to his year of songs (scroll down). I'm blown away by the amount time he spent on arrangements and the care he took with each of his recordings. I'm a slacker in comparison.

I want to get in touch with other musicians, writers, poets, artists, etc who've made a commitment to a piece-a-day for 365 days. I wonder how many of us had the same motivations and expectations. I wonder how we would agree or disagree regarding the personal struggles and outcomes.

As I've said here before, David Andrew Strackany (aka PALEO) was my inspiration and he's still going strong a year after completing 365 consecutive songs. He now continues to write and record a weekly "sunday prayer" until the day he dies (I'm not kidding and I believe he'll do it). I wonder if he knows about the rest of us. He tours relentlessly and I'm going to try to get to a show to meet and thank him. Suzan-Lori Parks wrote a play a day for 365 days.

So what are you waiting for? Make the commitment to being creative every day for just one year - make it public or keep it private but do it (and stick with it). I guarantee nothing. Or everything.

Continuously Egging the Universe

2007-11-25T08:46:00.000-05:00

In progress:

Click here to get your own player.

Here's the archive of the first six months:

Click here to get your own player.

Gigging

2007-10-24T16:31:00.001-04:00

My friend and frequent artistic collaborator Leonard Kress and I performed at a local gallery opening last Friday (which included works by his wife Mania Dajnak). Among other things I performed, for the first time in public, songs from the 365 Project.

Crossing the Divide

2007-10-23T07:41:00.001-04:00

Well, the six-month mark has passed at the songjournal and I have exhausted the storage limit at my original Podomatic site and I'm either too cheap or too punk to pony up the $100. they want to bump up the storage allocation (viva la free music revolution!). I've now set up Part II HERE so if you want to continue following along or subscribe to the new feed please take a moment to stop by.

The Tortoise Faints in Coils

2007-10-08T16:31:00.000-04:00

I'm not saying the songs are getting better but the they (good or bad) are coming easily again.

Maybe it is because they are bad!

Upcoming Releases

2007-09-12T16:18:00.000-04:00

I was recently contacted to supply a track for an Ala Jazz Records compilation. They want "Cenitipede" from Vermis and I wasted no time with a quick "yes!"

Ala Jazz Records is a net label located in Mexico and after communicating with the owner I was invited to do a special solo guitar record for them as well! The types of music and people currently associated with he label are fantastic, edgy, experimental and special.

HERE are links to free downloads from their catalog. Who knew I would become part of the Mexican musical underground? I'm totally honored!

It's a Free Show Now!

2007-08-28T09:44:00.000-04:00

I've begun uploading my back catalog to last.fm, a nifty site from England that allows both independent and signed artists the ability to upload and sell (or give away) their music as MP3 downloads. Also, there is a "community" there of artists and listeners who can contribute journal entries, photos and editorialism ala wikipedia.

HERE'S the link. You'll get to my artist page and near the top you will see a variety of tabs. The tab marked "albums" will take you to all the full-length recordings I have there so far, all fully download-able for free. I plan on getting everything I've done there soon enough. Please keep checking in.

Once again, click HERE to check it out.

Creative Corner (4 Months of Songjournaling)

2007-08-21T08:11:00.000-04:00

At about 5:30 every morning here's where I sit and worry about what should come next

Approaching the Century

2007-07-20T07:36:00.000-04:00

I just uploaded #92, ending month 3 of the song journal. In 8 days I'll hit 100.

Something happened this month that I was unprepared for - I have become emotionally attached to several of the songs. I don't know, maybe it's the events or ideas that the songs are about that I'm attached to but I think it's more than that. I have to rid myself of sentimentality. Something else happened in this batch of songs - in some cases small groupings of songs seem to work together to make a complete statement, like little song cycles. In the case of the NY songs (#64-#68) that's true by virtue of the trip and in others it's because of being centered around the same subject or person. I didn't plan ahead to do that - it seems to have just happened.

In 90 days the song journal has become part of my daily ritual. I don't think about it, it just seems to happen.

I'll Be Your Mirror

2007-06-20T07:56:00.000-04:00

Another month of the songjournal has passed and it's reflection time.

What I feel most right now is that it's hard to believe only two months have passed - it feels like I've been doing this for much, much longer.

Except for the very first song I haven't made any conscious attempt to "bookend" any of the months. # 1 ("what a thing is this") was a deliberate, referential beginning to the whole project - "here it is the eve of/the end of all my dreaming" - both an invocation and a lie. I can't recall two months of more intense dreaming. I kicked off this month (#32 "hey hey") wishing somehow to get "...back to the beginning/i want to start all over again". I think that was also a lie unless I was talking about something bigger (like a re-do on my whole life which is more likely true). I end this month breathing, or more accurately concentrating on breathing (as in zazen), as a metaphor for love.

Love figures heavily in both months. I am preoccupied with it - almost as much as the dreaming (which continues unabated) and the many times I continue to ask all sorts of questions. Last night I realized the songjournal itself is like a lover - a lover destined for a long-term relationship. At this stage it's early, we're still infatuated but we've moved past the nervous stage and are feeling comfortable enough to explore the kinky stuff. Of course infatuation wears off and I wonder how the project and I will mature in our relationship. Sadly it's a relationship with a terminal illness - I've already set the "death date" at April 20, 2008 (euthanasia?). If we age gracefully our golden years will likely be January and March with a weepy decline in the first weeks of April. Like I sang in #58 ("yesterday's me and i"), "...we both cry/not wanting to lose the other/ but one of us has to go"

Songjournal On The "Air"

2007-06-18T10:52:00.000-04:00

Got a note from Jerry Kranitz over at Aural Innovations that he's included a few of the songs from The 365 Project on his recent web radio shows:

This month "lion, be not afraid cried the tick-tock man" and "words, like origami moths flutter then fall into the unknown" were both included in his Drool Trough broadcast. Many thanks Jerry!

I'm nearing the end of month two and will write up a bit of reflection (as I did for month one) a little later in the week. On Friday I'm taking a train to upstate NY for a long weekend with the parental units so this will be my first experience posting songjounal entries from the road (or rails). It's pretty damn remote up there in the Adirondacks but I should have no trouble finding a coal-burning internet provider. Should be able to come up with some interesting material on a 9-hour train ride!

On Reflection

2007-05-22T09:07:00.000-04:00

Since this thing is supposed to be a personal growth (or loss) experience I guess I should take some time to reflect on the first month of the song journal in a little more detail:

I ask a lot of questions. In 33 songs I’ve asked about 55 questions. I’ve gotten only one answer but it was a good one. Answers are hard to come by.

I dream a lot (or at least I talk about dreaming a lot). The word “dream” appears (so far) more than 20 times.

I address “you” with shocking regularity. “You” doesn’t always refer to the same person (though a couple of “you” are invoked multiple times).

I make reference to illness often in here – either to acknowledge it or suggest (or desire) possible “cures”.

As of song #33 I’ve only recorded one “guitar solo” (it’s actually at the end of song #33). It’s probably too many. I cried when I recorded it.

I cover a lot of stylist territory. Either I’m “willfully eclectic” or I lack focus and direction.

I have very few (if any) up-tempo tunes. I need to rock out more.

My titles are sometimes better (and longer) than the tunes.

Only 11 months To Go

2007-05-21T13:17:00.001-04:00

Well, I've completed the first month of my song-a-day for a year madness. Even though it's early in the process I've been able to determine a few things:

1. I work best in the early morning. Most of these were written and recorded between 4 and 5AM. Who needs alpha stage sleep?

2. Mandolin always works in a track

3. Shackuhachi never works in a track

4. I am not a faulty antenna

5. Birds go uncredited

6. I am running out of chords

7. I am running out of cords

A Year of Living Musically

2007-04-26T11:11:00.000-04:00

This is David Strackany (aka PALEO), the guy who got me fired up about recording a song a day for year. Not only am I down with his dedication to his art but I really love his stuff:

what have i gotten myself into?!

2007-04-23T09:59:00.000-04:00

Five days into the song journal and this is already the most difficult, hair-brained thing I've ever attempted. 361 songs to go! This is gonna kick my ass

Just found out that iTunes has picked up my song journal so folks can subscribe there if they want. Just fire up (or download it first) i-Tunes, go to i-Tunes Store, click on "Podcasts", go to "Power Search" and type "bhagiti" in the box that says "artist".

The 365 Project

2007-04-20T07:58:00.000-04:00

Well, here we go - I've begun my Herculean song journal project - that's a song a day for 365 days! First post begins today:

Song Diary

2007-04-19T09:20:00.000-04:00

After listening to an NPR story on musicians who create "song diaries" I followed a link to David Andrew Strackany (aka PALEO)'s site (HERE). Strackany recorded a song every day for 365 days while on tour. The songs reveal a deep, personalized mythology and symbolic quirkiness that I like as much as the whispery intamacy of his vocals and the lo-fi "audio verite" of the recordings. The link above takes you to the page where you can read the lyrics and listen to every one of the 365 songs.

I'm fascinated by this & am considering trying it for myself. Tough discipline to do it everyday!! If I try it I'll post the link to the diary page here.

Gig Report

2007-03-29T14:16:00.000-04:00

Played a gig today at school with the "Coincident Currents" crew - that would be my friends poet Leonard Kress, visual artist Mania Dajnak and myself as musical hyjinks-ician. I think it was a particularly good version of what we do - we seem to be getting the hang of doing this together. I played guitar and (for the first time) shakuhachi. The old bamboo wind machine seemed to be particularly effective, esp during Len's poems that referenced Zen, asceticism and nature. In fact, I was shocked at my own spontaneous reaction to the last poem he read - a love letter to the earth. I started to cry (not sure why, but it got me) and had to catch myself to play out the rest of the poem and a brief shaku-finale to the set. One of our colleagues who was there sent me this (very moving) e-mail poem minutes afterwards so I'm posting it here with her permission (thanks Joy!):

Improvisation for Eric

Eric plays the flute

The notes seem to lift my breastbone

The notes breathe for me

They pour through me like a river of light

Eric plays the flute

The music asks a question

Asks it again and again

I don’t need to have the answer

Eric plays the flute

More WooSH

2007-03-14T13:43:00.000-04:00

Two tracks from Woosh (my project with Jeff Sampson and Bret Hart) were recently played on WDBX.91 (FM out of Southern Illinois) on the "It's Too Damn Early" show. The playlist and a download of the program can be found HERE (click on "listen" for the download).

Woosh is also now available through iTunes. You can preview and download some or all of the tracks if you have iTunes installed on your 'puter. I'm not sure what that means in the greater sense of mass distribution but it certainly puts us squarely in the "level playing field" of 300,000,000 or so other "standout releases".

WooSH was the last record were I performed exclusively on the Chapman Stick and I hope to return to it again in the future.

You can read the Aural Innovations review of WooSH HERE

You can also Woosh over HERE, HERE, and HERE

Our Japanese friends can Woosh HERE

In Germany, try HERE

How's that for mass-marketing??

Happy New Year!

2007-01-04T08:53:00.000-05:00

Hi Folks:

Just changed the MP3s if you want to take a listen. I added a couple of solo acoustic guitar improvisations from previous records and added two tracks to illustrate the typical collaborative process by which I make music with people thousands of miles away.

You can check 'em out HERE

Concepts in Flux

2006-12-11T15:01:00.000-05:00

Due to interest in my recent podcast and questions from my students, I’ve had to think and talk a lot lately about my approach to the guitar. As with all things, it’s in a state of flux. Change is afoot in this chaos-ruled universe.

Over the past 5-6 years all of my guitar playing has been improvised in non-standard, "open" tunings. About 30% of my guitar playing has been done with some sort of bottleneck slide. Ironically (or hypocritically) enough, I teach using “standard” tuning! This struck me powerfully the other night – as if music for me exists in two separate worlds: the world of personal, artistic expression and the world of non-performance, non-art pedagogy. It should be one world = one music. Right? RIGHT??

Plus, the world of standard tuning (i.e. western music pedagogy) sorta sucks.

Standard tuning on a guitar is one of the most convoluted, un-intuitive and confounding systems in organized music. It’s the kind of thing that HAD to have been invented by a few aristocratic, European whites as a way of preventing the indigenous peoples they had just conquered from playing their precious, studied “classical” music. Standard tuning on a guitar is such that you HAVE to study the thing for a LONG time before you can actually have fun and/or make music. As Bob Brozman says, “…standard tuning should be called CRAZY tuning.”

“Standard" tuning is actually not the most commonly used tuning throughout the world. Most common are “open” tunings, where the unfretted (open) strings ring out as a chord or drone. If by simply strumming one finger across the strings without having to do anything else to get a pleasing sound, then you’re making music. From there it’s pretty simple (and intuitive) to find a few other notes to create melody, etc and make your statement (from the heart, not the head!)

The guitar didn’t become an instrument of the people, or even a popular instrument, until it spread throughout the world through COLONIZATION. In these colonized areas of the world the guitar was tuned “open” and became an instrument of the masses. Some of the early cultures of open tuned guitar popped up in Africa, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and even the continental United States on the slave plantations (in an extention of African idioms). Another characteristic feature of this culture of open tuned guitar is the use of a device (usually glass or metal) to slide individual or multiple notes in pitch on the guitar. This is where things get really interesting since at this point one enters the world of microtonality. Microtonality is where the heart and soul of human musical expression exists. Of course the irony now is that white, European descendents (like me) are benefiting greatly from these innovations in the post-colonial (apologies to Michel Foucault) world.

This brings us back to where I was talking about my current approach to the guitar. I’m finding that my personal music is becoming more and more microtonal. Now I’m playing about 90% slide guitar in open tunings, most all of it all improvised. I’ve even gone so far as to begin playing “lap style” with the action jacked up so high it’s impossible to fret the notes and the only pitches (outside of open strings) to be obtained HAVE to be played with a slide. This is a very humbling way to play the guitar. It is forcing me out of my clichés and “automatic actions”. It’s making me much more melody conscious and it’s making me much more aware of shaping the attack and release of pitches, with subtle inflections of tone and nuance.

This is the stuff that is VERY exciting to me right now!

So here's the only guitar lesson anybody really needs: fool with the tuners until it sounds good to you, wiggle your fingers, enjoy, share.

Silence

2006-12-08T18:59:00.000-05:00

Does being musical make one automatically stupid? - John Cage

Or just dumb?

The YouTube of the Avant Garde

2006-12-01T08:06:00.000-05:00

Need I say MORE?

Great googly-boogly

Electronic Cottage

2006-11-28T08:54:00.000-05:00

Just found out that "Fontana Groove" from my record with Tom Furgas (re: Visions) got airplay on Jerry Kranitz' Electronic Cottage show!

"Fontana Groove" was created, partly, by applying concepts from John Cage's "Fontana Mix" to the overall electronic music picture Furgas presented to me.

You can listen to an archived copy of the program over HERE

Max Distro

2006-11-22T12:35:00.000-05:00

Just found out E-ssential Sounds has been "approved" for distribution through iTunes!

Don't worry folks, we here at E-ssential Sounds will keep the shows free and will continue to concentrate on the best in underground, non-mainstream home recordists and improvisors!

You can now subscribe, download or listen to E-ssential Sounds through iTunes HERE

You can download iTunes for free (Windows or Mac) HERE

E-ssential Sounds #3

2006-11-20T07:53:00.000-05:00

New episode of my podcast is up - this time featuring yours truly! This is the first in a short series of episodes that will address different aspects of my own music. In this episode I discuss my development as a solo acoustic guitarist through both composition and improvisation. The musical examples I share are culled from work tapes and current recordings spanning twenty years and detail different elements of my growth as a guitarist and musician.

Drop in, tune in and turn on!

Vermis Sympatico

2006-11-08T07:37:00.000-05:00

I received this VERY FLATTERING e-mail the other day from an absolutely terrific musician who got a copy of Vermis from me about three years ago (posted here with his permission):

Hi Eric.
Your Vermis record is a favorite going on three years now, and I recognized ghosts of your sounds in a new half-tune I made. If you are interested, you can hear it at http://www.zebox.com/chrissh/ or http://www.myspace.com/chrissh. It is called "Por Lamor". Of course, I don't mean to implicate you in anything you might not be crazy about, but I'd like to recognize credit where it's due. I hope you are well.
Chris S.

I wanted to get this up here so you would click on the links and check out his incredible stuff (great art too)! This is what it's all about.

Sure-fire Cure For The Blues:

2006-10-25T15:51:00.000-04:00

Play the banjo!
(also alleviates inter-species tensions)

Harry Smith's Cipher

2006-10-24T07:59:00.000-04:00

Lately I have been driven by unknown forces to spend all my listening time with the weird-but-compelling (and often frightening) music of early rural America. This is the stuff of Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music. Of course Smith was equally weird-but-compelling; a Theosophist claiming to be the son of Aleister Crowley and Grand Duchess (Czarina) Anastasia Romanov. As an avant garde filmmaker and self-proclaimed (but unschooled) folklorist, Smith unwittingly shaped the course of American popular music in the late 50's and early 60's by producing the musical Rosetta Stone upon which the voices of phantom prophets were indelibly etched in an awkwardly bound collection of six LP's. The 84 songs on these sides dropped Bob Dylan (like a reverse alien abduction) almost fully formed into the death throes of 1960's Greenwich Village (then populated by yet another generation of hip hucksters, tricksters, derelict geniuses, boozy romantics and lost souls not unlike the creators of the sounds preserved in Smith's talismanic grooves). The music of this lost, "old, weird America" (as Greil Marcus calls it) hits me as hard as (and isn't that different really than) Albert Ayler's ("old bicycle horn") Salvation Army band on acid or the speaking-in-tongues funk of Charles Mingus' Wednesday Night Prayer Meetings. In the early days of electricity (and even before), there was music that out-rocked and out-punked all the rockers and punks to come.

No-Space

2006-10-23T11:03:00.000-04:00

I've decided to cancel the MySpace account.

I thought it would be a cheap and convenient "e-press kit" but it turned out to be less about the music and more about ranking and teeny-boppers posing as adults requesting to be my "friend" (and more)

blech

I've begun to revamp my original site with some updates and new freebie music downloads - stay tuned for more cool doo-dads!

Give it a Spin

2006-10-17T08:29:00.001-04:00

Don Campau's the most generous guy in alt-radio!! Once again he's included a track from re: Visions on his No Pigeonholes radio program. This time it's "Mingus Mongus" and you can listen to an archived podcast of the show HERE (please give it a listen - there some GREAT stuff in this program!!)

You da man Don!

"No Pigeonholes"

Hi Kids!!!

2006-10-12T08:03:00.000-04:00

Sorry I've been away for so long!!

A few curious things:

Found a new review of my now-classic Vermis HERE - interesting (and humorous) review by one of my heroes Eugene Chadbourne - hey, it's published in the All Music Guide and got 2 & 1/2 (out of 5) stars!! (The same review also appears HERE)

I also discovered that Orion's Specialty Music is selling copies Vermis for $10.00 (hmmm...)
Then I found out MP3.com is selling downloads of Vermis HERE! I hope they remember to send me some $ now and again!

The inimitable Don Campau has included a track from re: Visions in the latest broadcast of No Pigeonholes out of San Cupertino, CA. The podcast version of the show is over HERE (we're in Part 2) - thanks Don!!!

Won't wait so long between posts next time - I promise!

New Podcast Up!

2006-08-13T11:23:00.000-04:00

I just uploaded my most recent E-ssential Sounds program, this time featuring the legendary progressive guitarist/improvisor Greg Segal.

You can download or subscribe to E-ssential Sounds HERE

Many thanks to Greg for going ALL-OUT on this one!!

Enjoy!

re: Visions

2006-08-12T11:44:00.000-04:00

After nearly two years I have finally completed mixing and mastering re: Visions, my electronic music collaboration with longtime underground music guru Tom Furgas. This was my first foray into purely electronic music (I cheated by recording some bass and Chapman Stick in places) and includes an emotional homage to the great bassist, activist & bandleader Charles Mingus.

(There's a really nifty Furgas profile/interview HERE)

I'm sending CD's to Tom & the usual suspects this week and may consider a free MP3 upload if Tom's ok with that.

Herbie-Blood-Sharrock

2006-07-10T15:26:00.000-04:00

My buddy Bret Hart (spoken of many times here) is posting some MP3s and podcasts. His recent post is a tune we did together called Herbie-Blood-Sharrock (ostensibly because we paid tribute to Herbie Hancock, James "Blood" Ulmer and the late Sonny Sharrock). I play electric guitar (Les Paul) and alto saxophone.

Check it out HERE

Thanks Bret!!

New Collaboration

2006-07-10T10:37:00.000-04:00

My friend Frank Gingeleit from Germany recently contacted me about a musical collaboration and I did not hesitate to say, "Yes!" Frank's a gifted electronic musician who creates "spacescapes" that recall Tangerine Dream, Vangelis and Robert Fripp.

Frank's also a respected music journalist and many of his articles can be found here in English.

Invisible Airwaves Crackle With Life

2006-06-29T07:44:00.000-04:00

More airplay, this time for Woosh (my trio with Jeff Sampson and Bret Hart) on Don' Campau's "No Pigeonholes" out of San Cupertino, California.

We're in part 3 but dig the whole show, it's a kickass cornucopia of some amazing and classic underground musicians.

Info and the link to the podcast version below:

No Pigeonholes Radio Show 25 June 2006

Featuring home recordings and independent, small studio productions.

Hosted by Don Campau

The second and fourth Sundays of each month from 3-5 PM

on KKUP 91.5 FM broadcasting to the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Areas.

Listen to the No Pigeonholes podcast now:

http://doncampau.podomatic.com/

More Radio!

2006-06-19T08:09:00.002-04:00

The Three Channel Switch record is getting more airplay, this time on the Ear-Relevant Hoedown program over at Aural Innovations!!

The show is HERE

You can stream or download the program, so pop on over and give a listen - there are some terrific other artists featured on the show and Jerry Kranitz always does a great job finding and presenting this amazing music.

Thanks again Jerry!

Recent Airplay

2006-06-12T10:06:00.001-04:00

The recent Three Channel Switch (the trio I have with Bret Hart and Bob Jordan) album, Hi Neighbor! is getting some airplay at Aural Innovations!

Click on over to their Space Rock Radio program HERE and their wacky avant garde show, Drool Trough (HERE) to have a web-based listen!

My deepest thanks to Jerry Kranitz at A.I. for his continued support of underground and experimental music!!

Quick Update

2006-06-08T12:28:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm trying something out.

I'm going to explore a collaborative writing/recording project - most likely a sort of experimental post-rock kind of thing. Looking forward to rocking again! Details and mp3's are sure to follow.

Also working on recording instrumental guitar stuff, as from the charts posted below. I'm enlisting my brother to help with production.

Ab Uno

2006-05-26T11:01:00.000-04:00

Lake Geneva

2006-05-24T13:33:00.000-04:00

The Moment: Redux

2006-05-12T09:22:00.001-04:00

Because several people have been concerned, I would like to clarify my interest in the Pat Martino quote I dropped on May 10.

For me, the reason why I ever got interested in expressing myself as an artist through music was to be able to find, create and exist in "the moment", not necessarily to make recordings (when I first got into music, recording at home consisted of holding the tape recorder close to the guitar - professional home recording then was a snipe hunt). The greatest pleasure and fulfillment I have gotten as “an artist” has been in the creation of music in front of living, breathing people. I continue to find the recording process tiring, contrived and uncreative - it stifles.

I am always moved beyond description when someone finds something special in a recording I have made but at that point it is one-sided communication - a dialog with unreality - speaking with phantoms.

I’ve never had a desire to "share myself with others" through recordings. It's a prostitution of sorts – recording being a necessary evil required to reconcile the world of the living (art) with the realm of the dead (commerce). Does the rest of the world have the right to have access to my heart whenever they wish? I’m interested in sharing real moments (short, controlled periods of time where something shared happens) with people, nothing more.

This is why I’m not a poet, painter or filmmaker *

I do find recording technology fun and I have enjoyed it immensely during different periods but (as I've said before) it is an art form which requires its own dedication and discipline - effort, time and labor that ultimately detracts from the precious little time I currently have to develop/maintain any facility on my instrument. The long-distance collaborative recordings I have made with others pale in comparison to the difference live interaction would have enabled (I deeply miss the fact that my “collaborate-by-mail” projects with others have kept me from recording in the same room, at the same time as them). An improvisational (or otherwise) collaboration done through the mail is a cumbersome process and the result is a sort of lie (an interaction that never really occurred). I wish I could actually hang out and play with Greg Segal, Don Campau, Bret Hart, Rotcod Zzaj, etc. Now THOSE would be some moments! I wish they could happen. I wish you could be there too.

I perform not to "share myself with others", but to share a moment in time with others. There is a difference - one is ego-centered the other is communal. One is "me and you", the other is "us". I don't want to create music as much as I want to create sound-influenced, shared communal experiences.

I will continue to record, I guess, out of necessity but I don't have to like it.

* I’m no storyteller.

Interested in Now, Later...

2006-05-10T16:20:00.001-04:00

Sorry no post in so long - it's finals week here, I broke my toe, etc. Will return soon. The most intense food-for-thought that's crossed my synapses lately is this quote from an interview with the amazing guitarist/philosopher Pat Martino:

"I find that recordings immobilize the creative process. Recordings are reminders of what was. I'm more interested in now."

Could this change everything?
Will it change anything?
Will it I Ching?

Structure vs. Freedom

2006-04-18T10:29:00.000-04:00

Funny. With all of the free improvisation I’ve done one over the past six or seven years (to the exclusion of about all other forms of music making), I’ve recently had the hankering for some structure. I don’t know where this is coming from - maybe I’m experiencing a sort of “burn out” on the totally free thing. I’m not thinking totally composed music (though I will be playing an entirely composed – and conventional – guitar part in a local symphony performance next Sunday), but working with structures that have clearly defined melodic and harmonic parameters and still allow for improvisation. I guess the definition of this is “jazz” but man, I’m no jazz musician. I like the idea of jazz (and my record and CD collection is 90% “jazz” of one sort or another) but I just haven’t paid the jazz dues like all the other cats. I haven’t spent fifteen or twenty years working on my bebop chops. I don’t own the Charlie Parker Omnibook. I like the concept of jazz and some of the jazz vocabulary (harmonic and melodic), but I haven’t what it takes to be a straight-ahead “jazz” musician. I guess I see myself moving toward a music that allows for improvisation on composed melodic and harmonic structures and I don’t know why. Maybe there’s a sort of security in structure (am I insecure?) or possibly I’m feeling underwhelmed by my own abstract noodling. Maybe my own free improvisations were getting formulaic; that is, moving toward structures and repeated motifs (licks).

Let’s see what happens.

They said it couldn't be done...

2006-04-10T15:44:00.000-04:00

On Sunday I managed to fit my upright bass into my Corolla!

Group Mind

2006-04-03T10:27:00.000-04:00

It's odd and difficult, the vacuum of the solitary, solo performer and recordist. Even with my collab-by mail interaction with others I miss and (sometimes) long for the interaction and give & take of live musicians in the same room. To this end I have started to work with a group again. A drummer and guitarist asked me if I knew a bassist or maybe keyboardist interested in quirky, jazz-influenced, electric instrumental music. I said, "sure, I play bass!" We got together a couple of times to "jam and see what happens" and it was kind of fun - the drummer is good and can put up the Elvin Jones polyrhythm stuff, and the guitarist is interesting in that he is more textural than note-y. Last night things changed for the much better as an alto sax player showed up and we all got quickly into a harmolodic funk straight out of Prime Time. Wow! It was terrific and at that moment things changed from being a fun little Sunday night jam with friends to something much more serious and vital - at that moment we were involved with something more real and important. Things got even better when the keyboardist showed up, dialed in a Rhodes sound and we got all Bitches Brew. Everybody was listening and responding to each other musically and we immediately (I feel) developed a "group identity" (rather than just being individuals playing in the same room together, as the earlier jam sessions had been).

I'm looking forward to seeing (and hearing) what happens with this!

Gig Report

2006-03-28T11:01:00.000-05:00

The gig a Larry's Bar was a fun experience. Leonard read some new poems in the 1st set (where we took turns with music and poetry) that are among the best things he's done (they went over well with the good and attentive poetry crowd). In the second set we worked together (in our music/reading duet of sorts) and we hit (I thought) a good groove.

A personal highlight for me was meeing Jerry Kranitz from Aural Innovations in person (thanks for coming Jerry!!) and having such a positive reaction (I sold all the CDs I brought) from the enthusiastic folks who came out to the show.

Thanks, Leonard, for setting this up and thanks also to Steve and the folks at Larry's Bar in Columbus!

Special thanks also to the observant vigilance of the mercenary towing forces in the greater Columbus area

Gigging Again!

2006-03-24T08:41:00.000-05:00

After a fairly long break from public performance I'm happy to announce a gig this Monday (March 27) with poet extraordinare Leonard Kress. We'll be at Larry's Bar in Columbus, OH sharing poetry and improvised solo guitar, 2 sets 20-25 minutes each. Fun starts at 7pm!

Larry's Bar
Corner of Woodruff and High on OSU Campus
2040 North High Street
Columbus, Ohio 43201
(614) 299-6010

Out Angels, Out: An Investigation

2006-03-17T13:20:00.000-05:00

PART I: The Muse is a Harsh Mistress

There is some music that I’m unable (for a variety of reasons) to make or contribute to at this point in my life. I can’t play the “good” or “real” (normal??) music any more – and I’m not sure I ever could. I’m not sure that what I do is even music at all, but possibly some twisted form of aural sculpture or automatic sound painting.

Here’s what (noted North Carolina based improviser) Bret Hart wrote to me for our first collaboration*: “Ask yourself, ‘What are your extended techniques?’ Then, exploit them to tape… Avoid all overdubbing (live looping/sampling does not constitute overdubbing). Simultaneous use of multiple instruments is great. Signal processing encouraged, if it it’s your thing” (Hart).

To me, “extended techniques” means much more than doing goofy things to the instruments (though certainly I do that), it means digging deep into yourself to find out what and who you REALLY are and express that in spontaneous, unfettered (by rules, clichés, hang-ups, chops, equipment, etc.) music. It’s like Zen meditation – once you realize you’re thinking you’ve failed – you’ve limited yourself. For me it’s time to play the unheard music – time to trust the impulse. To quote Blake, “I must Create a System or be enslav’d by another Man’s”.

No slavery for me, man.

“Exploit” means to take fullest advantage of – in this case – that which is uniquely yours. When I scrutinized my own playing in early 2002 I discovered that I didn’t exist. Literally. There was nothing in there that was mine – A realization that horrified and demoralized me. I began the discovery of my musical self by going to the beginning – or the bottom – of my material, human existence. I sought myself through the lowest (highest), most elemental and eternal constructs of life on this planet – bugs. Vermis (imcr –001) was my rebirth through the primordial logic and simplicity of the scamperers. Next came myth (Grendel – imcr #002). All good myths express the meta-reality of human existence.

Now I’m losing my sense (and appreciation) of linearity in music. I’m trying play (like we think) in an all-at-once ness (as in a cubist painting where the forms are so abstracted as to show all sides of a subject simultaneously on a flat, two dimensional surface). This means that the poor, suffering listener is hearing the beginning, middle and end of the piece at the same time (or at least an approximation of that). Here’s the aforementioned Blake quote again (in anagram), now in the (more) non-linear (?):

baby’s
envy
atherosClerosis
menStruate
at
Ma’dmen

Isn’t that better? Well, it’s much more interesting to me (and hey, I’m deconstructing my own motto here) I think it’s time to express more clearly the human condition using the true, essential “vocabulary” of the human being. Sure, time is linear (and by such law our mundane physical lifespan is too), but our thoughts, energies, emotions, desires and souls (how I hate that word) are not. To work in an art that is linear is to suckle the most meaningless aspect of our existence – the frailty and emptiness of our limited physical duration – at the teat of vile, egocentric materialism. To work in the all-at-once ness is to affirm the true essence of what is really the most profoundly “human” – the metaphysical. The musical cliché (the dung of decrepit, colonized Western harmony) sows seeds of the mundane – the banal (vapid dross). Surprise celebrates and nurtures the new (the previously unknown – unheard) in its shocking, primal appeal to our deepest human, known (but yet unknown) selves.

Mythologies: Discovery of Musical Self

When blocked, maybe consider an alter ego? I originally had to invent a persona who played "the forbidden music" (props to Ra) exclusively ‘cause I was too chicken to do it myself (I was Bhagiti**). I believe mythologies are important and can help us give 100% to any given task - I certainly wouldn't ever think of running my croaking voice through a fuzz pedal and a Leslie cabinet, but Bhagiti did all the time (goofball). Hart invented this guy named Alonzo Phillips who's even more "out there" than Bret himself (I asked Bret about Phillips when I couldn't find ol' Alonzo during some online research - Bret told me the truth with a sort of laugh). The really significant thing is that Bret recorded Bret Hart and Alonzo Phillips, Duets Volume 1 (itids #7) with him. When I asked Bret if this was difficult he told me, “No, we understand each other.”

The reason why I say this is because an alter ego may help solve musical identity issues related to "who the hell AM I, and why or what do I play?" Slamming your instrument through the window out of frustration or despair isn't necessarily the answer (but if you do, record it!). If you're at the same crossroads I was facing it's time to be what you're supposed to be as a musician; that is, accept that what comes out is YOU (like it or not), and work on fine tuning from there. Trust the universe, it's much bigger than we can ever know and it operates on energies that we can't possibly understand. I had to learn to accept my music (even though it sort of shocked me - still does) as being the music that was me. You have to accept YOUR music and be willing to stand by it.

“Growth" and "change" are part of the joys of old age. Paradox: the more physically decrepit we get (and more unable to manipulate our twangers), the more musical we become.

So where am I going with all this contradictory linearity (am I a hypocrite)? I don’t know. Have I made any meaningful sense? Probably not. Words fail to express that which I can easily grunt and pound – wood and wire. Flesh on implement – wind through pipe.

PART II: The Lords of True Slack - A Personal Reflection

The Lords of True Slack were:

B.J. (William) Price: Moog, Electric Guitar, Live Effects & Loops
Eric Wallack: Electric and Electro-Acoustic Guitar, Guitar Synth, Upright Bass
Nick (Comet Emission) Conrad: Drums, Percussion

As Robert Fripp once said about that titan of largely improvisational eclectic rock, King Crimson; The Lords of True Slack was, more or less, “a way of doing things.”

Hitory:

B.J. says elsewhere that in his formative years he was influenced by the idea (but not the practice) of free jazz. I was different; I embraced both the idea AND practice of free jazz; studying, analyzing, and actually transcribing the work of such artists as Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman, Archie Shepp, late John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, and Eric Dolphy. I frittered away my formal music training years attempting to develop enough fluency on my instruments to express myself at the same high level of creativity as my “heroes”. The ideal improviser is able to “think it and do it”, without relying on licks and patterns, to be able to respond immediately to musical stimuli in the heat of “spontaneous combustion”. This, in theory, is the way the Lords of True Slack “did things”.

When I first met B.J. (1989?), we had an instant rapport based on our interest in under-appreciated, obsolete musical gear (also discussed elsewhere), and found common musical ground in King Crimson & Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band. We had spoken of collaborative musical projects for years, even getting together for a couple of impromptu recordings (the fabled Morning of the Magician’s project, now “safely” in the hands of Gong’s Pierre Morland, comes to mind). It wasn’t until 1999 that we actually arranged for a gig of entirely improvised music at the local Anarchist Bookstore (Pauper’s Books). The “success” of that encounter led to further gigs, recordings, and the eventual inclusion of percussionist/drummer, Nick Conrad.

Apologia:

The Lords of True Slack did not play free jazz, or any other individual style of music. We did was improvise, and we wore our separate influences on our respective sleeves. The listener was likely to recognize references to early 70’s rock surrealism, freak-out surf and psycho-billy guitar, the aforementioned free jazz, Frippertronics, gut-bucket blues, prog-rock noodlings, ambient soundscapes, and whatever else floated through the aether.

Methodology; or, Expect Nothing:

Each gig was a living, breathing entity based on the ideology of the unexpected. Not only was there no pre-preparation of musical material, there were no guarantees as to what instruments would be hauled to any given performance.

* (This became Bret Hart and Eric Wallack, Duets Volume 1 – itids #36)

** (and worked in two bands and recorded 5 cassettes worth of music under the name)

Woosh!

2006-02-20T08:12:00.000-05:00

Got a note from Jeff Sampson this morning that Woosh, the project I did with him and Bret Hart, is ready and available from Burning Shirt records and also from CD Baby.

We did Woosh a while ago (and have almost completed the follow-up) and it's a good example of how I was playing Chapman Stick then, using it to glue Jeff's ethereal vocals and electronics to Bret's stream-of-conciousness entropic energy playing.

HERE's the link to Woosh, complete with MP3 soundclips!

Thanks Jeff & Bret for yet another wild ride!

Independent Musician Lower-archy:

2006-02-03T14:43:00.000-05:00

Indie Level I
Signed to Subsidized* “Independent” Record Label

You’re pampered like a rock star** but treated (and paid) like a pizza delivery boy*** (your roadie will make more money than you at the end of the tour).

*Actually owned by Time Warner or Disney in an attempt to suck in cash from alt-musos
**Everything is done for you, including having your songs written, played and produced by others
*** You will actually become a pizza delivery boy

Indie Level II
Signed to or Distributed by Small, Independent Record Label

You get to call the artistic shots but your record (and career) will languish in a cardboard box on the merch table during your opening spot at “Nick’s Chug ‘n’ Spew”. Your fortune cookie says: “You like to travel (and sleep) in “vintage” Econoline vans. Collecting money is a challenge for you. Your lucky numbers, 8675309* ”

*With apologies to Tommy Tutone

Indie Level III
Owner/Operator, Micro-label

You are an “uncompromising artist*" with eclectic taste**
You smugly refer to your real job as your “day gig”
You still play Dungeons & Dragons*

*You are also “single” for good reason
** You own copies of Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music in all formats, including 8-track

Update Soon

2006-01-30T15:25:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lapse in posts. Look for update and new MP3's in early Feb!

E-ssential Sounds

2006-01-08T11:30:00.000-05:00

New to the world of Podcasting, I have uploaded the first of what will hopefully be many programs devoted to the best in eclectic & underground music. The series is entitled E-ssential Sounds and the 1st program is available HERE. Program #1 features the generous and articulate Don Campau who talks at length about his music, influences and the art of musical collaboration. Many, many thanks to Don for his inspiration, friendship and for his huge assistance in helping to put this program together!!

Derek Bailey

2006-01-04T07:46:00.000-05:00

I just learned that great free improvising guitarist Derek Bailey died this Christmas. Bailey was a fearless improviser who all but single-handedly invented a new vocabulary for the guitar and for free improvisation in general. He was a tireless performer, founder and CEO of his own independent record label (Incus Records) and all-around catalyst for so much good in the international world of creative music.

My record Grendel was an audio "thank you" to Derek for his deep inspiration and effect on my own music.

Please check out his Bailey's book, Improvisation: It's Nature and Practice in Music and Ben Watson's recent (if not controversial) biography, Derek Bailey and the Story of Free Improvisation not to mention any of his hundreds (literally) of recordings.

Cheers mate and say "hi" to Albert Ayler for me.

When We Did

2005-12-16T08:40:00.000-05:00

This morning my brother Matt sent me an MP3 of a guitar improvisation that I just had to put up on my MP3 page. I think anyone who's interested in my music should enjoy this too. Many thanks bro!

Al Oud

2005-12-14T10:20:00.000-05:00

In an unrelated search, I excitedly stumbled upon this website featuring MP3s of rare performances by several master oud players of the last century. Absolutely amazing stuff and worth the download times. The gentleman who runs the site seems keen on preserving this music and appears to be a serious oud player & enthusiast. The oud is possibly the ultimate plectrum (played with a pick) stringed instrument and in the hands of players like these guys (or someone like Hamza El Din), the oud is a peerless tool for the deepest human expression.

The first oud I ever heard was Hamza El Din's on this classic Vanguard recording:

The Hazards of Recording, a Continuing Story...

2005-12-09T14:10:00.000-05:00

Last night we got what was left of a snowstorm that hit the central midwestern states pretty hard. By the time it got to Ohio it was tame & picturesque in a Christmas card kind of way - just the thing to fire up some inspiration to record a few acoustic guitar solos (MP3s soon). Of course when it's cold outside the furnace comes on, usually right at that critical quiet spot in an otherwise inspired and unrepeatable take. As a "safety" measure I always click the furnace off during short winter home recording sessions. The problem is that last night I forgot to click the furnace back on after shutting the studio light off and hopping into bed. Needless to say, the "winter wonderland" I awoke to this morning was not a cheerful vista through the living room window!

Give Peace a Chance

2005-12-08T08:19:00.000-05:00

It was 25 years ago today...

Ears to the Ground

2005-12-05T13:56:00.000-05:00

I'm particularly interested in the current resurgance of acoustic music going under the cover of "FreakFolk", "Acid Hillbilly" or "New Weird America". Gotta love a new generation of kids getting hip to Robbie Basho and John Fahey and mixing it up with Syd Barrett-esque acoustic psychedelicism!

I'm especially pleased to know that this kind of stuff can thrive in a world where talent-starved personality cultists, MTV darlings and American Idols are shoved down our throats like syrup of ipecac.

Projects in the Works

2005-12-05T12:39:00.000-05:00

Had a good talk on the phone yesterday with Bret Hart about a few projects in the works. One is the second between Bret, Jeff Sampson and me. This one is going to be pretty heavy duty free-improvisation on "porch instruments" (Bret's definition of anything you can play without electricity on the front porch). Another is a revisitation of a trio consisting of Bret, Bob Jordan and me. A few years ago we put out The Un-Real Book (a low-fi dark jazz manifesto) under the name Three Channel Switch. This time we may explore working to (re)assemble pre-existing recordings (of ourselves) with current free-improvisations. Anything can happen with these guys - a year ago Bob sent me a 45-minute cd recording of himself dismantling his gas furnace (complete with commentary) mixed with percussion and Wurlitzer piano tracks!

Bret also encouraged me to send copies of Grendel and Vermis to Phil Kellogg in Berkeley. Phil's a superb guitarist and has done much to keep the legacy of John Fahey's "American Primitive" school of guitar alive, including organizing and performing at the recent John Fahey tribute concerts in Portland, OR. Phil's also connected to uber-improviser Henry Kaiser so who knows what could come of this.

Thanks Bret!

Podcast

2005-12-02T09:34:00.000-05:00

Got a note from Andrew McIntosh (the "Taped Crusader" from Down Under) that he's podcasting and has uploaded a show featuring none other than Rotcad Zzaj!! Rotcod (that's him in the picture) and I have made a bunch of great music together and he's one of my all-time faves (as a person and a player) in the indie music and improv scene.

You can download the show here (you click the little yellow arrow at the bottom to hear it), and the first tune comes from a fun collab Zzaj & I did a couple of years ago.

Hmm. Now this podcasting thing has me thinking...

Sorry for the temorary outage

2005-12-01T15:10:00.000-05:00

Oops - working on getting the old posts back up - sorry for the temporary outage!

During a recent interview I was was asked to come up with a list of ten guitarists who formed my initial inspiration as a budding guitarist. Here's the list, but be aware that this list doesn't necessarily reflect my favorite guitarists or later inspirations, only those who were fundamental to my formative years (some of these may suprise you):

My Personal Top Ten List of Influential Guitarists
(Specific to my formative years)

In alphabetical order:

Jeff Beck. Jeff Beck was someone I heard early on and I was (and still am) stunned to find out how many different sounds a person could make with an electric guitar, an amplifier, ten fingers and a deep imagination. Beck’s work continues to inspire me (from the feral, Link Wray-meets-Les Paul early Yardbirds to his current “postmodern jazz club from Saturn” work), and his has always been a lesson in putting substance behind the flash.

Ace Frehley. During a recent interview I remembered that when I was a kid the (very small) local library had about 20 cassette tapes* and about 50 records. One of the cassettes was Kiss Destroyer and it was dark and it scared me in a good way (thanks in part to Bob Erzin’s production). Frehley’s melodicism (coupled with an approach that drew equally from British blues, San Francisco acid rock and New York glam rock) still moves me. Thus also begins my love affair with Les Paul guitars.

George Harrison. RIP. George Harrison was always about guitar in the service of the song – probably one of the most important lessons lots of people never learn. George always came up with the best riffs and was able to funnel his influences into a unique and personal voice. "Tasteful elegance" doesn't begin to convey the beauty of Harrison's genius and his slide work is perhaps his greatest signature contribution to the instrument. Harrison's study and incorporation of the music of India establishes him as one of the earliest practitioners and advocates of “world music”.

Michael Hedges. RIP. Michael Hedges was the first guitarist I encountered where the composition was more important than the instrument. Hedges developed signature “extended” techniques (on acoustic guitar) to fully reveal the intensely beautiful and enigmatic pieces of music he sculpted from his restless imagination. Michael's use of alternate tunings and his percussive tapping on the body of the guitar has influenced my solo guitar playing immensely.

Jimi Hendrix. RIP. Another one of the cassette tapes* in my childhood local library was Jimi’s Smash Hits. I think that was the actual start of my awareness of the guitar as a tool for great personal and artistic expression on a deep level. Of course it was Hendrix’ unique & personal incendiary genius that ranks him among the greatest artists of the 20th century, and in that regard I consider Hendrix to be on the same level as Albert Ayler, Jackson Pollock or Igor Stravinsky.

Steve Howe. Steve Howe was the first guitarist I heard who loved, studied and incorporated many different guitar styles into his own. Howe was adept at various blues, rock, jazz, country, classical and flamenco styles (with a vast guitar collection to accommodate these various sounds) and always tastefully drew from this large pallet in service of the hurtling, cinematic music of Yes.

Leo Kottke. Leo Kottke showed me that a single acoustic guitar was capable of standing alone as a solo instrument capable of telling complete stories filled with melancholy, bitterness, love and humor. It was also through Kottke (specifically his 6 and 12 String Guitar album) that I first encountered alternate tunings and slide techniques.

John McLaughlin. John McLaughlin was the first “jazz” guitarist I ever heard (his Extrapolation was one of the records at the library* when I was a kid), and his intense technical virtuosity coupled with his visionary compositions and improvisational fearlessness was special. Like George Harrison, McLaughlin developed an understanding and love for Indian classical music that continues to inform his artistry. McLaughlin is one of the few guitarists who developed a signature tone on both acoustic and electric guitars, mastering the subtleties and nuances of each.

Matt Wallack. My brother Matt and I discovered those tapes (see *above) at the library together and we spent many hours listening to cassettes and FM radio while drawing pictures of guitars and goofing around, making “radio broadcasts” with our little tape recorders. Later on we managed to get ahold of a ramshackle drum set, a guitar and set up in the garage (where else?) and did little more than have good, noisy fun. I owe all of my love of playing the guitar to Matt. Peace & love brother.

Frank Zappa. RIP. Zappa’s music and guitar playing was something that immediately sounded “right” to me when I first heard it. His guitar playing in particular (influenced by blues guys like Johnny “Guitar” Watson and – oddly enough – human speech patterns) was enigmatic and visceral, and his guitar solos always told richly detailed (sometimes humorous, other times scathing) stories. Again, the lesson with Zappa was “be yourself.” Word.