What week is it?
As the world ravages, I spend more time alone. I must admit, I enjoy the lack of extrinsic timekeeping. It has allowed me to lean into my polychronic side some more. My rather rudimentary pedalboard continues to surprise me; I’ve been excited about using dotted/quintuplet delay as a counterpoint-device. So many resultant half-ideas sitting in the voice memo app.
Now that my work desk is only three feet from a constantly plugged-in guitar, I have gotten into this funny habit of trying to play literally anything that’s stuck in my head - sometimes it’s a King Gizzard song, and sometimes a tiktok meme. This has turned out to be a very satisfactory way of looking at earworms in the eye.
I’m quite surprised by the reaction to Nation Wants To Know, but it also validates this strange feeling I have about what happens on the internet when it comes to music. Thank you. If you haven’t listened to it yet, it’s here.
Two weeks ago, I did my first livestream in collaboration with Char Stiles. It was hosted by SpacyCloud, an independent venue in DC. It was wonderful.
I’ve done another live stream since, as part of the Namastay At Home Festival 2020. It was fun learning to set up for both the shows, although I’m still learning to recover from the adrenaline rush of performing in public, while also being alone in the room. Something very uncanny about it. Or maybe I’m just old.
Regardless, video has been an interesting medium to play with. The Outlet series, which I started on a whim (and which I hope to continue) has turned out to be an unexpected, but timely warm up. I finally understand lighting.
Live streamed performances are so commonplace at this point that it’s easy to forget how, like any show, messy and laborious the setup process is. Here are pictures of how they are are put together during the quarantine. Videos from both the shows will be available…soon.
P.S. Turns out you can reply to these emails. That is so cool!