One third of the followers of this blog are former members of the Ragged Bags...

(Actually, the blog just lost one of its six followers, so now 40% of the followers are former members of the Ragged Bags...)

Which is neither here nor there. Right now I am blogging in a vain attempt to hold onto what's left of my sanity. I would have liked to be at this gig:



Eli Keszler/Adam Bohman/Steve Beresford live at Cafe Oto, Dalston, London, 04/01/11

Or at any of the three performances of the musical that Talibam! wrote and performed with Sam Kulik: "Talibam! Goes To Bed with Sam Kulik and Discovers Atlantis" (click on the header and read more, if you care, or dare, to...)

Crinkle Cut is a good cut.

Life and career advice from a man who had played Frankenstein's monster to a man who would play Frankenstein's monster:



"More or less, you know..."



Steve Noble - drums
Fyfe Hutchins - piano
@ the Vortex, London, 12/19/10. Filmed by shuffleboil.

Luvverly. Reminds me of the Steve Beresford/Han Bennink LP, "Directly to Pyjamas."

Bass & Other

Gus Garside (double bass) and Dan Powell (other) at Mopomoso Free improvisation night at the Vortex Jazz Club in London. Filmed by Helen Petts, 06/20/10.

Two Bass Hit

Actually, it's two clips of one bass; Guillame Viltard, filmed by Helen Petts at Mopomoso, London, 06/20/10...





Play them simultaneously for optimal confusion.

I'm searching for the now. I'm looking for the real thing, yeah. Head through a blue haze. Waiting for the musical craze...

Pat Thomas shown here...



han bennink-drums
pat thomas-piano and electronics
john coxon electric guitar

surreal gig @ pizza express dean street, london, 05/26/10

And a rare chance to just experience Han at the kit, without him getting up to play chairs or kick cymbals around (even though he is good at it...).

One of Cleveland's Contributions to Out Music

along with, say, Albert and Donald Ayler and Screamin' Jay Hawkins, is Elliott Sharp, shown here in London with John Butcher, John Edwards, and Tony Marsh:



At Cafe Oto, 06/05/10
Shot by Shuffleboil

Unfortunately, this cuts off shortly after the beginning of a duo passage between the two Johns...here you can go directly to it, if you so wish:



And here is Sharp in a solo spot:

Stylophones & Sunglasses

Tania Chen and Steve Beresford in an improvised duet at the Usurp Gallery in London, 05/30/10, Beresford well-dressed and pressed as per usual, and Chen is sporting some hip shades:

Tania Chen and Steve Beresford duo at Usurp Gallery from Tania Chen on Vimeo.

Speaking of sunglasses, here is Tania Chen discussing her collection of vintage eyewear:

Perhaps somewhere in here there is possibly a solution

to the undersea hemorrhaging of oil taking place in the Gulf of Mexico. But probably not. At any rate, here is an odd little performance by Adam Bohman
on amplified objects and Steve Beresford on electronics performing at the Usurp Gallery, Harrow, filmed by Helen Petts. Worth seeing full-screen.

The Suzuki Method

is pretty similar to the Chuck Berry method; Damo Suzuki comes to a town, and the promoter has a band of local musicians set to back him up...except he's not doing Chuck Berry songs (or songs by Can, for that matter), he's doing all improvisations.
Here are clips of some recent performances:



DAMO SUZUKI feat. CHATEAU LAUT - LIVE @ AUSLAND, BERLIN, 04/30/10



REnDeR PLaNT & Damo Suzuki
Part of a three-day Experimental Music Festival at the Luminaire in Kilburn in May 2010



Damo Suzuki and The Vultures, The Luminaire, 05/03/10



Damo Suzuki and the Dominic Lash Quatertet, The Luminaire, 05/03/10
Ricardo Tejero (sax), Javier Carmona (drums), Dominic Lash (bass), and Rodrigo Montoya (Japanese shamisen), perform at the Luminaire in the vicinity of Kilburn.

And sometimes the Chuck Berry method works really well:

B & W trumpet and drums

Wadada Leo Smith, Louis Moholo, Steve Noble
Filmed by Helen Petts at Freedom of the City festival, 2010, London

Must bust in early May

Or possibly Free Games for May...films courtesy of Helen Petts:



John Butcher (saxophones), Okkyung Lee (cello) and - in the dark - Christian Marclay (turntables) and Steve Beresford (electronics). Cafe Oto, London, 05/07/10.



Beresford & Marclay



Lee & Beresford, 05/08/10



Lee & Marclay, 05/07/10



Marclay & Butcher, 05/07/10

Vandermark has grown his hair out...

justifying his position as the Madonna of the jazz world (click on the title)...



Ken Vandermark, Paal Nilssen-Love, John Edwards @ Cafe Oto, London, 04/23/10
Shot by Shuffleboil, as was this:



Eddie Prevost, Guillaume Viltard, Philip Somervel @ Cafe Oto, 01/22/10

McPhee, Corsano, Dunmall, Edwards

Joe McPhee, Chris Corsano, John Edwards, and Paul Dunmall @ Cafe Oto, London, 03/09/10, courtesy of Shuffleboil

What did that bass ever do to Edwards? Beautiful.

(Click on the header for some bonus beats...the Bald Soprano and the Short-Back-and-Sides-Soprano.)

OTO (CAFE)

Chino Shuichi, Alex Ward, John Russell, Roger Turner, Phil Wachsmann @ Cafe Oto, 02/17/10.

Video by Shuffleboil.

ONO (YOKO)

On the radio today, via WFMU.org:

Tuesday, February 16th, 3pm - 6pm: Yoko Ono
At 77, Yoko Ono has just released one of her best records, "Between My Head and the Sky," a cosmic and kinetic set of songs featuring Daniel Carter, Yuka Honda, son Sean and others in what looks like a full resurrection of the Plastic Ono Band moniker. In fact, an epic big-band version will be performing a (now sold-out) set at BAM on February 16th with a lineup that will include the boggling collision of Cornelius, Paul Simon, Thurston Moore, Jim Keltner, Haruomi Hosono, Eric Clapton, Kim Gordon and Bette Midler. Tune in that afternoon when Brian gets the exciting opportunity to sit down with Yoko at her studio and delve into the life and mind of one of the great avant-garde figures in conceptual, performance, visual and sound art.

http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/34756

(Paul Simon, the bowtied Senator? He's been dead for seven years--how Fluxus.)

One for a Snowy Day

David Toop - Making Sounds from Barry Lewis & Emil Charlaff on Vimeo.

David Toop, "Making Sounds"
Directed by Barry Lewis & Emil Charlaff

David Toop in conversation with Cathy Lane from CRiSAP on Vimeo.

David Toop in conversation with Cathy Lane at the launch of 'Sound Traces', an online exhibition of materials from the London Musicians Collective archive, curated by David Toop, which took place on the 14th May 2009 at the London College of Communication. ("Meet Cathy, who's lived most everywhere From Zanzibar to Berkeley Square.")

Hat (and Beard)

Shuffleboil the video documentarian has posted a version of Thelonious Monk's "Shuffle Boil" as performed by the combo Hard Evidence (Steve Noble on drums, John Edwards on bass, Adrian Northover on soprano sax, and Pat Thomas in a suitably Monastic hat) at the New Year New Sounds festival, Battersea Arts Centre, London, 01/23/10.



Bonus:

Noble and Edwards flipping out with Peter Brötzmann at the Cafe Oto, London, last night (01/30/10)...

"I've been so Goddamn sweet to everyone on my street...Tweet Tweet."

For his installation in The Curve, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot creates a walk-though aviary for a flock of zebra finches, furnished with electric guitars and other musical instruments. As the birds go about their routine activities, perching on or feeding from the various pieces of equipment, they create a captivating, live soundscape.

Christmastime is here...

And it may sound a bit strange in London...



Hannah Marshall ( cello ) / Roger Turner ( percussion ) / Tim Hodgkinson ( clarinet ) @ Mopomoso Christmas Special, the Vortex, 12/20/09. Filmed by Shuffleboil.



Tania Chen ( piano ) / Lol Coxhill ( sax ) / Dominic Lash ( bass )



Eugene Martynec ( electronics ) / Adrian Northover ( sax ) / Adam Bohman ( electronics )



Marillsa Gouvea ( voice ) / Macio Mattos ( bass ) / Rodrigo Montoya ( shamisen ) Terry Day ( balloons and recorders )

Touch of Tongue to Mouth Top

Will Gaines, Steve Beresford, Alex Ward @ the Incus Phoenix Festival, 09/19/09, Cafe Oto, London.




Duck Baker, Steve Noble, Simon H Fell, Alex Ward @ the Incus Phoenix Festival, 09/19/09, Cafe Oto, London.