New ebolabuddha digital release!

Live at KFJC!

Below: strange shot of ebolabuddha playing in San Jose!

PureFinder-Studio Grand, Oakland CA; 10/24/16

It seems always more incongruous that an artsy space could survive within the ever-tonier Grand Lake District of Oakland, and yet Studio Grand continues to stand its ground therein, hosting weekly Experimental shows in the later part of the evenings on Mondays.
PureFinder had the honor of playing with mighty tenor saxophonist Joshua Allen last night within that great space. Josh is a tough act to follow, but we did our best: four or five drums/cymbals mic'd with small contacts and fed into Andrew's electronic rig. Our plan consisted of playing three zones: rhythmic, glitch-ey, and droned. The set started off space-ey, and I got to play some big, block chords on the studio's piano (!) as an opening sound.
We paced our piece well, and seemed to find each of those respective areas. I had fun using long screws on the sides of drums and the cowbell, the sounds of which Andrew treated very creatively. I guess one might define PureFinder's sound as Electronic Grime or maybe Free Industrial; I really enjoy producing it! After a quick thirty minutes or so,  with shakers being hit upon gongs, high harmonica notes, and all kinds of electronic spraying, we stopped; I figured, why keep those in attendance out on a rainy Monday night for too long? Still, we felt satisfied and had a real good time.
Many thanks to Oakland Freedom Jazz Society for allowing PureFinder to play!

Below: Andrew contemplates his mixer, drums mic'd

PureFinder this Monday!

We will be playing with Joshua Allen, who will do a solo tenor sax set.
Details:

Oakland Freedom Jazz Society Presents
PureFinder/Josh Allen
Studio Grand
3234 Grand Ave.
Oakland 94610
9:30-11:30 PM
$

Looking forward to this show! 

New Failure Cock digital release!

Live in Sacramento at Norcal Noisefest XX!

Inter-dimensional Incursion/Ear Spray-Luggage Store Gallery, SF CA; 10/13/16

These, days, whenever I go to the Luggage Store, I marvel at the changes on Market and 6th St. It seems as though there are new fancy eateries, clubs, and whatnot going up every week! At one point last night, I stood at that corner and tried to imagine what it will look like in 100 years' time. Skyscrapers towered in my mind. Wish that I could be there to see it!
Not being able to time travel, I just had to stay in the present and enjoy the small joys of the Inter-dimensional Incursion/Ear Spray gig.
For one, it's incredible, and the SF Bay Area Improvising Music scene is really lucky, that Outsound has managed to keep a toehold right on this rapidly gentrifying area!
Another source of mirth was the small group of people, all known and adored by me, that gathered for the show.
Inter-dimensional Incursion, essentially Cartoon Justice with guests Amanda Chaudhary on synthesizers and James Robert Barnes on woodwinds, played a scripted improvisation, conducted by Mika. I played the Hand-soniq drum pad and waterphone. The later was scraped with long screws and hit with a mallet. I really enjoyed the amount of space that all players allowed to happen. Really good sextet interaction, in my opinion. There were times when I just stopped and enjoyed listening to what everyone else was doing, especially James's really wonderful baritone sax passage, one that had everyone inspired and going for it.
Hopefully there will be gigs from this ensemble in the future!

Below: Inter-dimensial Incursion rig, and the group shot (mostly) live

Ear Spray's set also seemed good to me. Although, mostly on account of me being really busy with some personal stuff, I was not able to get to a rehearsal for it, I felt as though we were able to connect within the sound. At times, we can get pretty noisy, but it seemed as though we played the somewhat small space of the Luggage Store pretty well. Our set was divided into three movements, following Ann's video projections of: Nebula, Sun, and Water. I played mostly small percussion, along with a bit more waterphone (again, scraped and not bowed), and my nasty little circuit bent Casio keyboard. The latter is fun, just for its unpredictability and crazy noises! Me like. As usual, Ear Spray managed to pull together and find our voice. Now, if only we could get that projected CD finished!

Below: Carlos and Ann prepare (with Joe Lasqo in foreground!), Ear Spray gear

All told, a fun night of Electro-Acoustic exploration in downtown San Francisco! Seems fine to me, even if I can't afford dinner over there anymore!

Below: live Ear Spray footage!

I will play at the Luggage Store this Thursday!

I will play two sets at the Luggage Store on Market St.!
First up: Inter-dimensional Incursion, which is basically Cartoon Justice with special guests, and then Ear Spray. The latter hasn't played since May.

Details:
Thu., 10/13
Luggage Store Gallery
1007 Market St.
SF 94103
8 PM sharp
$5-15 sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds

We'll see how far out/in we can go.

ebolabuddah-NoiseHaus 10, San Jose CA; 10/8/16

As I drove down to San Jose last night, I realized that, in all of the years that I've been playing drums in public, I've never had a chance to play there. Odd.
Great night to make my San Jose debut, too! First St. was hoppin'. First Friday events fully in effect. Live bands all over the place, taco trucks, weird people in cool costumes. Just great.
ebolabuddha finished off our "Bay Area Mini Tour Week" by playing at the offices of Metro City Paper for the NoiseHaus 10 event. Our sound was frantic and somewhat crazed, I'd say. I'd also venture to say that, on account of it being the same sextet configuration as the previous evening in Oakland, it was thick. That's my hope, anyway. We again attempted to play Saturations With Jumps, and I used the same verbal conducting method.
Did I say crazed? Yes, it sure felt like a crazed set to me. The group reading sections seemed a bit truncated: this may be my fault, as I really wanted to pound away on the nice Pearl drum set that organizer Keith had provided. This type of action led to an actual circle pit happening. That's the first time in a long time I've seen that as I've played.
What a fun, exciting night. Many thanks to NoiseHaus for letting ebolabuddha play their cool event on a well-picked night.

Below: set up and crowd

Above: Pearl kit, about to be punished