Cartoon Justice/Cosmists-Stork Club, Oakland CA; 12/20/14

Really strange gig, this one! To start, after members of Cartoon Justice and Cosmists assembled mid-afternoon at the Stork Club, we waited.....and waited.....and waited............
The show was supposed to start at 4PM, but neither booker nor sound engineer showed up. Eventually, at at 5:40PM, Greg of Cartoon Justice suggested that we just set up on the floor and play acoustic; this lead to some nice, short jamming by most members of CJ. During this impromptu configuration, the sound engineer finally showed up, at about 6:15PM. Hastily, we set up Cosmists, during which time it was decided that Mika and Kersti of Cartoon Justice would join in. We proceeded to play one improvisation, using more of Mika's stylistic themes, and then the three graphic charts that I composed for Cosmist's set. Things felt OK, particularly during the last chart, "Transforming Boulders Into Shards", which was led by Eli.
The gig ended with the booking agent telling me that that Stork Club ownership "never wants those guys (Cosmists) booked here again", so I guess that's some sort of karmic victory for someone!
An odd way to end the busy 2014 for me, but there were other events that happened which augured some interesting developments for 2015.
Anyway, Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, etc.!
See you next year!


Above: brief snippet of Cartoon Justice and Cosmists in action!
Below: more sound!

Cosmists and Cartoon Justice will play the Stork Club this Saturday!

In what will be our only gig of 2014, Cosmists will play at the Stork Club this Saturday, 12/20! Joining Andrew Joron and myself will be bass player Eli Pontecorvo. We're excited for this one, as Eli's bass adds a rich new element to our sound.
Since the above flyer was assembled, my good friend (and Eli's father) Mika Pontecorvo got his band Cartoon Justice on the bill. I will be playing drums with them as well.
The Stork Club is located at:
2330 Telegraph Ave.
Oakland 94612

This show will start at 4 PM, with five bands playing until 8:30 or so. Later on, my friend Dylan Haas's band Midnight Snackers will play! So many great reasons to head to the Stork Club!

Infinite Plastic Internal and Alphastare collaborations!

Jeff Alphastare and myself will be doing a show together in January of 2015. We got together last weekend and started preparing. Here are some results!

Infinite Plastic Internal (feat.Jim Ryan) Stork Club Oakland Ca. Oct 18,...

Earspray-Winters Tavern, Pacifica, CA; 11/16/14

Driving over the hill to Pacifica from SF, I was reflecting on the oddness of a Noise band playing at an established roadhouse; the fact that Earspray was to play in the early afternoon on a Sunday made the proposition even stranger, but Jack booked us for the day's Fog Music Concert, and we took the gig, so, what the hell, right?
I felt like our set definitely got to some sort of strange foggy energy going. Not too many were in attendance, but another reflection that I had was that we're doing it because we like it; at least, that's the case with me!
Thanks to Jack for booking us at Winters! Sorry that our draw was, like, two people. Hopefully they bought a few beers!

Below: Carlos and Ann set up their Earspray rigs

Below: Winters Tavern groovy old sign!

Above: my minimal amount of gear, I got some fog sounds!

Earspray will play in Pacifica tomorrow!

I'm looking forward to playing the Fog Music Concert at Winters Tavern with Earspray tomorrow, 11/16! You can probably tell what the theme for the show is!
We will be playing early, probably at 1 or 2 PM.
Winters Tavern is located at 1522 Francisco Blvd. in Pacifica!

The Ruminations-Luggage Store Gallery, SF CA; 11/13/14

Due to aggravating traffic conditions both on the approach to SF and within the City, I showed up for this gig pretty spazzed out and rattled. I told new Ruminations members, guitarist Jakob Pek and violinist Gabby Fluke-Mogul that I'd play mellow, but that concept flew out the window and onto Market St. faster than you can say "new IPO". Don't get me wrong, there were times when I chilled it and let everyone else lead, but I definitely felt a kind of "take control" energy come over myself at times. Thankfully, Rent pretty much encourages that attitude, and I'm grateful to him and Christina Stanley for putting up with it. It was tough to her Jakob's guitar at times, sadly.
I also added a new twist to my improvisational techniques, in that I brought some graphic scores that I've been working on, for use if and when the ideas started to dry up. They ended up being ignored, as I found plenty of fuel from Rent, Christina, Gabby, and Jakob.
Needless to say, I had a blast with the Ruminations, new lineup and all! Eat the Sun were phenomenal. Jason Hoopes is clearly a rising star in the bass world.

Below: the horns of Rent Romus, and Christina Stanley in silver and gold light

Above: Cloud Kit, Ruminations-style
Below: Graphic scores for "just in case" reference