Thug Duo and Holland Hopson on Louisa Street

May31Free and easy on Louisa Street. This feels like the perfect way to start the summer: playing a house concert with Thug Duo (Simon Lott and Justin Peake) in New Orleans on Saturday. It’s an early show, so come on out and there will still be time to catch some food or music or both afterwards.

Saturday May 31 5:30pm
721 Louisa Street (btw Royal and Dauphine)
New Orleans LA
Thug Duo: Simon Lott & Justin Peake
Holland Hopson

UAB Faculty Brass performs Purple Loosestrife (Satellite)

euphonium 01

An excerpt from the score

 

Wednesday January 15 7:30 pm
Birmingham Art Music Alliance presents
UAB Faculty Brass
Samford University
Brock Recital Hall
Birmingham AL

This will be the premiere performance of my brass quintet, Purple Loosestrife (Satellite). The piece functions as a distributed network of musical gestures. Each musician can influence the behavior of any of the other musicians, while simultaneously being influenced by them. No one person is more “in charge” than another. There’s also no predetermined beginning, middle or ending. I sat in on a rehearsal this weekend and loved how the ensemble was working together. I can’t wait to hear how it comes together for the performance.

Also on the program:

  • Mark A. Lackey – Three Simple Prayers
  • Bryan Page – now does our world descend
  • Monroe Golden – Some Day
  • Jan Vi?ar – Three Marches for Dr. Kaybl
  • Wesley Johnson – Bluebrass Kebyar
  • Ron Wray – Dance Like It Hurts
  • William Price – Sans Titre VII
  • Fernando Deddos – Rabecando
  • Nancy Jensen – Polaris Fanfare

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Brass Quintet consists of Dr. James Zingara and Dr. Steve Roberts, trumpets, Dr. Martin Cochran, euphonium, Jeff Koonce, trombone, and Scott Robertson, tuba.

2013 Favorite Music

Joining in the year-end spirit here’s a list (in arbitrary order) of some music-related items that were favorites of 2013. Some of this material was released this year; much of it was old-and-newly-discovered or old-and-thankfully-rediscovered.

Albums

  • Ana Maria Kiefer – Teatro Do Descobrimento
  • Tinariwen – Imidiwan
  • Various Artists – Goodbye, Babylon
  • Rebe and Rabe – Rebe and Rabe Gospel
  • Dawn of Midi – Dysnomia
  • Dwight Yoakam – 3 Pears
  • Kristin Norderval – Aural Histories
  • Laurel Halo – Quarantine
  • Meridian – Hoquet
  • Nathan Bowles – A Bottle, A Buckeye
  • Rob Stenson – Gold Mountain EP
  • Sibylle Baier – Colour Green
  • Ron Pate’s Debonairs featuring Rev. Fred Lane – Raudelunas ‘Pataphysical Revue
  • Suicide – Suicide
  • Talk Talk – Laughing Stock
  • Woody Guthrie – Woody at 100
  • Julia Holter – Ekstasis and Loud City Song
  • Butch Morris – When the Sun is Out You Don’t See the Stars
  • These New Puritans – Field of Reeds

Singles

  • Vampire Weekend – “Step”
  • Claude Debussy – “Jeux”
  • Igor Stravinsky – “Le Sacre du Printemps”
  • Big Star – “September Gurls”
  • The Blue Nile – “The Wires are Down”
  • Hasil Adkins – “Hot Dog Baby”
  • Howlin’ Wolf – “Bluebird”
  • Lightnin’ Hopkins – “Black and Evil”
  • Odds of Survival – “Neshoba”
  • Laetitia Sonami – “What Happened”
  • Little Milton – “Grits Ain’t Groceries”
  • Roxy Music – “Virginia Plain”

Fouse Bowles Piano Duo in Tuscaloosa

Duo Piano flier-adAdam Bowles and Kathryn Fouse close out their four city tour of new compositions for piano duo on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 1:15 pm at Shelton State University, Tuscaloosa AL. The tour is presented by the Birmingham Art Music Alliance. They’ll perform a program of new compositions for piano duo, including my piece Cypher, A Circle.

Piano Duo on Tour

Cypher a Circle front

Tomorrow Kathryn Fouse and Adam Bowles kick off a four city tour presented by the Birmingham Art Music Alliance. They’ll perform a program of new compositions for piano duo, including the premiere of my piece Cypher, A Circle.

Thursday, Oct. 3, 8:00 pm – Oakwood University, Huntsville AL
Tuesday, Oct. 8, 7:30 pm – University of Montevallo, Montevallo AL
Friday, Oct. 18, 7:30 pm – Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville AL
Tuesday, Nov. 5, 1:15 pm – Shelton State University, Tuscaloosa AL

Spain on My Mind – Adriana Perera
Limited Transit – Michael Coleman
Frequent Flyer – Cynthia Miller
Left of Center – William Price
Cypher, A Circle – Holland Hopson
Three Movements for Two Pianos – Edwin Robertson
So I Can See Willy – Monroe Golden

Cage Variations III

I’ll be performing John Cage’s Variations III tomorrow night as part of a small group appearing on Tim Feeney’s concert honoring Lou Cohen. Cage’s score calls for dropping 42 sheets of transparent paper, each with a circle drawn on it. The performer finds the largest clump of overlapping circles and then counts the intersections. Above is a small Processing sketch I wrote to drop the circles for me. Reload the page to generate a new random placement of the circles.

Tuesday September 10 7:30pm
Tim Feeney Faculty Recital
University of Alabama Moody Music Building, Concert Hall
Tuscaloosa AL

 

Goodbye, Babylon Marathon

Aside

Goodbye, Babylon: I’ve made it to disc 5 of 6. I definitely understand what all the fuss was about and can’t wait to hear some of the tracks over again. But I’m feeling a little overwhelmed and not sure I’ll make it all the way through the last stretch. When did box sets become such an athletic pursuit? Looking forward to the Dust-to-Digital 78 Days to Amazing Abs workout set.