photo from solodrums 6.17.08

Here’s a photo by Elliott Chapin, his Flickr page can be found here, and an additional photo of me playing can be found in the “Bitchin’ Series” folder. Thanks Ellliott!

This week began with the arrival of the very first “official” CCFREE installment. I recorded my solo gig at Somewhere There with a rented ZOOM H4 and after a bit of Garage Band compression, put it online.

Two pieces, each being prototypes for what I’m hoping will become the solodrums “show” as it were. By and large, it’s still an improvised affair, but I am keen to have some structures to work with.

The first piece “whales” is a duet with a recording of a whale pod in the ocean. Earlier this year on Maui I had the incredible experience of swimming in the ocean and listening to live whale-song underwater. Simply by submerging myself and not trying to make too much splashing or respiration noises (also known as “drowning”), I could hear very clear and altogether amazing voices somewhere in the same water as myself. Very simply, I’m trying to re-create that sensation with drumming.

The other piece is a Bob Dylan cover, “Ballad of Hollis Brown”, which has also been covered by Nina Simone and the Neville Brothers. Why that alone didn’t scare me off doing my own version is a mystery to me. Anyway, I’m using some muting techniques and trying to play strongly rhythmic, but often “out of time” phrases in the manner of a variety of American folk and blues music from the first half of the last century.

I hope you’ll take the time to check this stuff out, or if you’re in Toronto this coming week, I’m playing solo again on June 17 @ the Gladstone Hotel Art Bar, my set is at 8pm.

Also, when you visit CCFREE, you’ll notice I’ve included some Oxfam banner ads. The CCFREE project is a very soft-sell effort on my part to offer music in exchange for your support for some very important work by this incredible organization. I give my own money to Oxfam, and hope that I can make music that will inspire others to do so as well.

EAR-CAm review…

The Glenn Hall Ear/Cam ensemble from Toronto was next and seemed
to polarize the audience: folks either loved it or disliked it. This
disparity of opinion seemed to be a thread that ran through this
entire fest, as we often discussed each set and argued about what we
dug or didn’t enjoy. Glenn had a 7-piece electro-acoustic ensemble
with the instrumentation of (Hall on) tenor sax & bass clarinet,
trumpet or EWI (electronic wind instrument), a female vocalist,
turntables, guitar, bass and drums, plus added electronics &
amplified objects. The first piece turned out to be a version of
Stockhausen’s “Japan” and was filled with Erstwhile-like space and
suspense. The vocalist (Tena Palmer) used her voice in a variety of
weird ways and I dug what she added to the blend. The second piece
was called, “The Last Time I Saw Dutch (Schultz)”, the infamous
Jewish gangster from Newark, NJ. Both Glenn and Tena read passages
from Dutch Schultz’ s final words as he lay dying after being shot.
It was truly nightmarish and most affective, with layers of voices,
electronic sounds and some twisted music floating ominously around
the room. “Terminal Beach” was the final piece and dedicated to all
of the places where man has tested nuclear weapons. Again, the
strange sounds and ghost-like voices did a great job of reminding us
that the residue of this nuclear testing will not leave these areas
for thousands of years to come.

Bruce Lee Gallanter
Downtown Music Gallery