Playing this Saturday in Tucson!

 

I will play with The Benson Highway Band this Saturday at the Bashful Bandit Barbecue!

The Bashful Bandit

3696 E. Speedway Tucson 85716

6:30-10 PM 

Free! 

This set will be an acoustic set. 

Infinite Plastic Internal-Live at the Palms Restaurant

Reminiscences and photos from early April 2025 shows.

 

 

Phucsonic Quartet-ArtSpace West ASU, Phoenix AZ 4/3/25

Steev Hise named the quartet of himself, Gabby Isaac, Erin Allen, and myself Phucsonic on account of two of us being Tucson people and two, Phoenix people. There's a naughty word in the moniker too, but we try not pronounce it as such. The drive to the west ASU campus was telling in that it reminded just how massive Phoenix is, and how traffic can get truly knotty there. I saw the beginnings of a minor bit of road rage in my rear view window. When you're stuck in traffic, you really just have to roll with it. Steev and I made it to the venue with minutes to spare, as did Gabby and Erin. We set up and played pretty much right away, amid artist Tra Bouscaren's great sculptural work. A satisfying set of Electro-Acoustic improvisation followed. All players got chances to take the lead, I think as a result of all of us utilizing our listening skills. The set felt great to me. Erin's saxophone playing is just right, and Gabby had some sick passages from her simple electronics rig, very percussive and cutting. Steev with his guitar set up a sonic ballast upon which we rode into the abstract regions of sound. Hella fun experience all around. 

Below: Phucsonic Quartet at ArtSpace West.

Above: getting down on my improvising kit.

Infinite Plastic Internal-The Palms Restaurant, Twentynine Palms CA 4/5/25

After a lovely drive during which I observed the changes between the Sonoran and Mojave deserts and the snow capped San Gabriel Mountains on final approach into Twentynine Palms, The Palms Restaurant was reached. Such a groovy venue, it feels like the Roadhouse At the End of the World. Wonderful staff, too. My performance for the Wonder Valley Experimental Music Festival was called Wonder Valley Piece; it consisted of two bass drums, a floor tom, ring modulators, and voice. The latter was used in recitation of a cut up poem, sourced from an article in the New Yorker Magazine, about noise in music. This poem was composed last Summer. The stage was a bit wonky (as it was made up of three pieces which sat rather awkwardly on the sand of the Palm's back yard area), which made balancing of the bass drums a challenge. This, and the fact that I'd never played a proper double bass drum set, made me a bit nervous. Still, I performed the piece in its entirety even after having my set time cut a bit short by staff. Some positive feedback was had from those in attendance which was gratifying. Recording to be uploaded at Archive.org at some point in the near future. The rest of the day was spent having a great time listening to numerous other acts, some conversations in between sets and just generally freaking out under the initially warm sun and then the cool, clear night air of the California desert. It's all about layers. 

Below: Infinite Plastic Internal rig for Wonder Valley Experimental Music Festival 2025

Amanda Chaudhary graciously agreed to take some photos of me, with my wife's Canon camera. I had the exposure setting set to too long, and, paired with the fact that she was shooting pretty much directly into the afternoon sunlight, the photos below have a bleached out thing going on. Apropos, because they kind of match how I was feeling during this performance. 

It was a fun weekend of music and driving. More shows coming soon.

A couple of shows coming up!

 

 Two sets of Electro-Acoustic sounds in early April!

Thursday 4/3/2025

6:30 PM

ArtSpace West Gallery

Arizona State University West Campus

University Way N., Phoenix 85051

Steev Hise/Gabby Isaac/Erin Allen/Mark Pino

Saturday 4/5/2025

5 PM

The Palms Restaurant

83131 Amboy Rd.

Twentynine Palms CA 92277

Infinite Plastic Internal

This set will be in participation with Wonder Valley Experimental Music Festival 2025. 

Looking forward to making some sounds!

More Infinite Plastic Internal music up at Archive.org!

 

https://archive.org/details/02-murky-aquarian-moon

These 2014 Infinite Plastic Internal sounds were recorded to be posted at a music site run by a Vlad Afrikan. His label was called Beard of Snails Records. It was nice of him to offer his platform for the presentation of my music. IPI will be doing a gig announcement very soon.

Some shots of The Benson Highway Band in Bisbee AZ, 3/15/25!

 

Photos by and courtesy of Deetroit Drew.

The Benson Highway Band-City Park, Bisbee AZ 3/15/25

 

A grand old time was had by me and hopefully the other The Benson Highway Band dudes at City Park in Bisbee this afternoon! I know for sure that the spots during the songs' arrangements that needed extra care were hit, this giving much satisfaction because I'd been worrying about that. One stick drop moment was quickly overcome. Not sure how much of a niche market The Benson Highway Band will find with the Southwestern biker scene, but the gig had tremendous value to me for stated reason. It can be good for a band to face indifference: what does it mean to you? Can you throw down and jam out even in the face of that? It seemed like a few people dug the sounds and we played well. And got paid. Many thanks to The Prowl!

Below: Benson Highway Band guys tuning up on some such.

Above: gear post set. So much of music is just moving objects from place to place. 

Also: beautiful drives to and from Bisbee. What a lovely day.