Author Archives: Holland Hopson
ASAC Presents Holland Hopson, D Rice, Blacklight Lighthouse
I’m excited to share an Albany Sonic Arts Collective bill tonight with Blacklight Lighthouse and D Rice.
Friday October 23
Upstate Artists Guild
247 Lark St
Albany, New York 12210
Here’s the Facebook event. Looking forward to visiting with friends upstate!
Hanging with Brian and Monroe at the Whitney
Image
Bridging Circuits and Cities
Tomorrow night I’m performing a new work on Circuit Bridges concert 37.
Thursday October 22, 8pm
Gallery MC
549 W 52nd St, Fl 8th
New York, New York 10019
This concert is part of the Vox Novus Festival celebrating 15 years of work. Vox Novus and Circuit Bridges have teamed up with BAMA in a composer exchange (kind of like hostages, only composers are somewhat more demanding—requiring better food, more liquor—and not as susceptible to audio torture). The exchange began a few weeks ago with the Birmingham Art Music Alliance welcoming a contingent of NY-based composers for the Birmingham New Music Festival. This weekend Monroe Golden, Mark Lackey, Brian Moon, William Price and I are being hosted by Circuit Bridges.
I’ll be performing Alap Catfish Impala, a new piece for banjo voice and live electronics. It’s a mashup (or maybe a medley?) of clawhammer blues and just-tuned modal improvisations.
Check out the wonderfully eclectic program.
Feeney/Richman Melt Glacier
Wendy Richman and Tim Feeney will play my work Glacial Erratics Friday on the second concert of the 2015 Birmingham New Music Festival.
Friday October 9 at 7:30pm
The Dance Foundation
1715 27th Court South
Homewood AL
Friday’s program includes music by Andrew Dewar, Marvin Johnson, Davey Williams; guest composer David Morneau; and fellow founding members of BAMA Rusty Banks and Charles Mason.
The 2015 festival includes 6 concerts throughout the city. All events are free. Check out the program for the whole festival. Read preview articles at ArtsBham and B-Metro.
Floating with Hank Lazer in a Drunken Boat
I had the privilege of working with poet Hank Lazer this summer on three sonic realizations on his poem “N27P51” that are now available in issue 22 of the literary journal Drunken Boat.
https://soundcloud.com/drunken-boat/hank-lazer-n27p51-sounding-1?in=drunken-boat/sets/drunken-boat-22
https://soundcloud.com/drunken-boat/hank-lazer-n27p51-sounding-2?in=drunken-boat/sets/drunken-boat-22
https://soundcloud.com/drunken-boat/hank-lazer-n27p51-sounding-3?in=drunken-boat/sets/drunken-boat-22
These works began last spring with recordings of Hank’s students reading phrases from his poem. This summer I edited the recordings, processed them beyond recognition, added more sounds, used the shape of each line from the poem to guide electronic improvisations, and otherwise had a great time designing sounds in the studio. Hank reigned it all in and helped me shape the material into three sections.
Check out the journal for a reproduction of Hank’s visual poetry, or listen to all the audio from the issue below (including a piece by Pauline Oliveros).
https://soundcloud.com/drunken-boat/sets/drunken-boat-22
In the Studio with Braxton, Dewar, Feeney
Left to Right: Anthony Braxton, Tim Feeney, Andrew Dewar
Last week I had the privilege of recording as part of a quartet with Anthony Braxton, Andrew Dewar and Tim Feeney. Braxton brought in four new pieces that explored novel ways for the four of us to work together, each piece proceeding a little further into the unknown. The sessions were intense—demanding focus and attention to the notation while also requiring us to be flexible and adventurous improvisers. An amazing experience.
Lonely Woman
Ornette Coleman had such an impact on my life as a saxophonist and composer. When he died last month I revisited his recordings, my memories of hearing him perform live and my experiences playing his music (mostly during ECFA’s ‘repertory’ phase–thanks Carl Smith!). That’s when I realized I’d never tried an Ornette tune on banjo.
This is a version of “Lonely Woman” from The Shape of Jazz to Come for clawhammer banjo. I chose this tune, in part, because Charlie Haden’s iconic pedal-point bass line suggested the drone string on a banjo. I bought this album as a freshman in college and remember listening to it again and again until the sheer mystery and befuddlement and out-of-tuneness of the songs gave way to familiarity, love and (hopefully) some understanding of how and why they work.
Radicans Bids Grocery Goodbye
I’ll be performing as radicans at The Grocery tonight as part of their farewell event, Grocery a Go Go. I’ve got the four front windows wired for sound. Should be a treat for anyone passing by on the sidewalk.
Thanks for everything, Grocery. I’m gonna miss you.
Possible Russula
In my continuing adventures as an amateur mycologist, I found this mushroom in my front yard. I suspect it’s a Purple-bloom Russula (Russula mariae). It has a gorgeous, velvety cap.