A lot of activity coming up!

Mostly on account of Mika Pontecorvo's Hardly Strictly Personal Post-Beefheart Music festival happening this weekend, plus a Surplus 1980 gig. Tons of activity starting Thursday evening.

Thu. 1/25/18
KFJC
Cartoon Justice live in the Pit
10 PM Pacific
http://www.kfjc.org/netcast/

Fri. 1/26/18-Sat. 1/27/18
Hardly Strictly Personal 2018 Post-Beefheart Festival/Benefit
TAC-Temescal Arts Center
511 48th St.
Oakland CA 94609
Dozens of bands/projects come and see/hear them all
Crow Crash Radio on Friday at 9PM
ebolabuddha on Saturday at 3 PM
Cartoon Justice on Saturday at 5 PM
Show  starts at 7 PM on Friday and 1 PM on Saturday
Sliding Scale but every cent is deeply appreciated and goes right to Homeless Action Center and/or Earth Justice

Sat. 1/27/18
The Starry Plough
3101 Shattuck Ave.
Berkeley CA 94705
Ron Anderson Improvising Trio
Surplus 1980
9 PM
$10

Lord knows I'll be tired, come Sunday!

Jack Hertz/Mark Pino Duo-Luggage Store; San Francisco CA, 1/18/18

Another rainy night in SF, another gig. Not that I'm complaining about this one, which pretty much fell into my lap a few weeks back. Rent Romus contacted me, asking if I could fill a booking vacancy. For some reason, I immediately thought "....electronics....with Jack Hertz..."; Jack quickly replied in the affirmative, and we commenced planning out our set.
I brought waterphone, electric m'bira, some flutes, and a few stand alone synth pedals. Jack brought banjolin, shnth, tetrax, and some looping devices. I fed my sounds into his loop machine, and then he processed the loops while adding his own sounds. While doing this, I followed a plan that I'd cooked up, an order to the sounds which I'd utilize. It helped me to stay grounded within each small movement. Indeed, I felt a kind of zen as the piece slowly evolved, really calm and patient as sounds emerged and where processed by Jack. A really nice place to be! It also seemed as though my flute and waterphone skills are increasing. The waterphone is a fascinating sound source for exploring. Its relative simplicity hides much possibility.
Things started spare and quiet, eventually developing into more sonic thickness before looping back into a hushed few notes to take us out. I must admit that at times Jack did a lot more of the work: his adeptness and skill with electronics and processing were what really made the set go. I was really happy and grateful for the opportunity to play in duo with him. Humbling, really.
After we finished, Hummel set up and slayed. Brian Pederson is quite the Ayler-ian figure, Sung Kim's self-made acoustic instruments are always a delight to hear (and it's good to see his hand injury healing!), Tim Orr and Robert Lopez on dual percussion, Shanna Sordahl on cello with a volume pedal. Just great.
All in all, it seemed like a really fun evening of sound exploration. Good to see a few friends there, too.

Below: My gear/Jack's gear

Above: Jack and me mug by an element of a larger sculpture within the Luggage Store performance space. Jack said that this mannequin reminded him of Kraftwerk.

I will play with Jack Hertz this Thursday!

Jack Hertz and I will be presenting a duo of synthesized electronic and acoustic sounds at the Luggage Store in SF this Thursday, 1/18/18.
Details:

Thu. 1/18/18
Luggage Store Gallery
1007 Market St.
SF CA 94103
8-10 Pm
Hertz/Pino Duo
Hummel
$8-15 sliding scale

Jack and I have been planning out our set, so one can expect a pretty controlled 45 minutes of Electro-Acoustic sound scapes. Hooray!

A couple of photos from Rent Romus Thin Air Orchestra, Gold Lion Arts, Sacramento CA 1/7/18

This was not a show that I thought I'd be playing. I remembered that I'd been asked to bring some percussion stuff on the day of the event. I was going to head up to Sacramento anyway in order to wish Rent Romus a happy 50th birthday, and it was a nice surprise to get to play a bit.

Above: in really esteemed company; playing music makes me happy
Below: silver on gold (all photos courtesy of Charles Smith, thanks!)

Surplus 1980 live footage up!

Thanks to Charles Smith and Outsound!

Instagon #745-The Make-Out Room, SF CA; 1/8/18

This gig was sandwiched between two harrowing trips across the Bay Bridge under some seriously intimidating rain, especially during the ride home, where I was exhausted and practically blinded by sheets of water splashing onto my windshield. That said, it was totally worth the white knuckles for the playing. Instagon #745 seemed to be a real cooker. The evening's iteration of Lob's continuously changing experiment in instrumental music/Chaos Theory fusion featured Karl Evangelista on guitar, Jaroba on woodwinds, Lob on bass, and me on drums. We kicked Instagon tunes like Eris and Jazz for Satan around pretty furiously. I can say that I'm starting to get a feel for Instagon's tunes; they're becoming more nuanced for me, which, I hope, is reflected in my playing of them. It being all improvised, there were a few gaffs and space-outs here and there, but I was able to brush them aside pretty quickly and keep things moving. Karl's playing was seriously thick and rich and killin'; it's my hope that Jaroba's matched his fury, but, as he was standing right in front of me (and between two amps), I barely heard him. It looked like he was rockin', though! Lob seemed to be enjoying himself. It's fun to lock in with his repeated bass pattern song kick offs, as it is to go down those surprising sonic alleys with him. A very enjoyable, high energy set!
Also fun was the hang, during which I got to talk briefly with Poet/Drummer Clark Coolidge about cymbal dynamics and Spencer Dryden's ignominious last days in Petaluma (SO.DAMN.SAD.), and hear David Mihaly's quiet insights into drumming. Some serious learning events for me.
Coolidge and Mihalys' groups, Ouroboros and Roots & Space respectively, were killer, to boot.
Hopefully Instagon #745 will appear somewhere on-line for listening.
Big ups to Lob, it's always a gas.

Below: Ludwigs; Lob checks his line

Above: Instagon #745 mugs in front of the Make-Out Room
Below: Ouroboros gliding

Audio from the set:

I will play with Instagon this Monday!

As usual, I have no idea who will play, except for Lob of course. I hope to have a good Instagon set at the Monday Make-Out!
Details:

Mon., 1/8/18
The Make-Out Room
Monday Make-Out
3225 22nd St.
SF CA 94110
Instagon
Ourobouros
Roots and Space
8PM-11PM
Free (donations taken)