Cartoon Justice/Elliot Levin/Mogauwane Mahloele-Musicians Union Hall Local #6-San Francisco CA; 6/24/18

It seemed clear right off of the bat that the logistics for this Sunday evening show in San Francisco were going to be touchy. The annual Pride parade, a Giants home game.....can you say traffic? Indeed, many of the evening's musicians arrived very late, after having been tied up in it for far too long. Thankfully, everyone eventually found their way to the Musicians Union Hall Local #6 for a fun evening of improvisation. Lords of Outland brought their usual tight focus and incredible musicianship. Anything Rent Romus plays is going to be solid, and with a rhythm section of Philip Everett and Ray Schaeffer, one knows it's going to be grand. And, it was of course! Really fine sounds.
Cartoon Justice had been collectively blown away by poet/woodwinds Master Elliot Levin on our recent visit to Philadelphia, and we were all very much looking forward to playing a gig with him. Additionally, percussionist and educator Mogauwane Mahloele sat in, expanding our group to a sextet. Levin and Mahloele are very familiar with each other as both are long time denizens of the Philly creative music scene. I had never met the latter before, as was the case for most of Cartoon Justice as well. Our set started out a bit tentative, with Elliot reciting some of his wonderful poetry while the rest of us seemed to be probing for ways in which to interact. The sound heated up eventually. I had great fun playing to Levin's flute sounds and powerful tenor sax wailing. Man, that guy can play, and it's thrilling to try to keep up with him. I tried to leave plenty of room for everyone, especially Mogauwane; I definitely didn't want to step on his toes. There were moments of what I felt was good musical interaction, along with moments that seemed somewhat unfocused and maybe even a bit uninspired.  At one point, the bass drum pedal simply fell apart, which was rather disconcerting. I dealt with it by focusing on trying to get bass drum-like tones from the floor tom tom. Not sure if that really worked!
Talking with Mika a few days later, he mentioned that the he was not able to hear much of anything from any of the other instruments. I'm inclined to agree: we should have gotten a soundcheck, but there was just no time for that amenity, mostly due to said traffic jamming. Ah well.
All told, we played a set of satisfying length, enjoyable to me as a player for its "getting lost" nature. Perhaps some of the assembled enjoyed that action as well. Many thanks to Elliot Levin and Mogauwane Mahloele for joining up with us for this one.

Below: drummers-always check the back line kit for signs of default!; Mika and Kersti setting up