Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Bounce!



More Dockville photos. Yesterday was great day. We made some instruments, built some things, then last night we had a party for Felix's Birthday complete with Bouncy Castle and BBQ. Great day indeed.












Responsible Parties.





Monday, July 20, 2009

DOCKVILLE



First, my computer is very mysterious. It works one minute and the next it doesn't. I've realized it must be a short between the monitor and the video card that is the problem. Maybe this thing can be salvaged after all...

So today was the first day of work for everyone out there at Dockville, and I am wicked tired. My assumption is that it will get more intense on a daily basis. Last week was essentially getting ready for this.



This is Jonathan, he is the architect we worked with to design the horn/stage/living space we are building. He has been an amazing help. I hope he takes at least one soul before this is over.




These guys are both named Andy. The one in the dark shirt is Andy and the other one is Also Andy. When they introduced themselves to me, Andy said "I am Andy." then Also Andy said, "I am Also Andy." Also Andy works with sensors and things to make music/sound. He was telling me about a thing he is working on that loops the patterns created by his cello bow and Wii sensors.

Together they are working on a piece for Dockville. The piece is a sound/experiential piece that has a loud noise and punching bag. The harder you hit the punching bag, the softer the sound gets. When you get the sound/noise all the way down, you get a special prize. I wonder what that is...




This is Brandon and Robert. Robert is a carpenter from Austria. He will be building the horn with us. Today he built the tool that makes the curved "spine" we are using for the horn. Then he set about, in the rain or shine (cuz you know it rains here in Hamburg every fucking day), making each of the curved pieces. The guy is incredible.



Susi with helpers.




You don't like the Lighthouse? You suck!

Alright, ya'll, I need to sleep so I can get up do this again.

Loves to all!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

4th of July and more



Sup Ya'll?

So in the last few weeks a lot of shit has happened, not the least of which is my computer going bonkers... Suck.

Anyway, its working at the moment so I am taking advantage.

You can read about the 4th of July on the post before this one. I think Ana did a good job summing up the experience. It was live. We made a pool, had a flag making workshop, had some bands and weird live performances, some DJ action and dancing, then burnt all the flags. So fun.




Maura and Markus made this day one of the most special days in my life. Thanks so much to you both.



Jan made an "Anti-Warhol" flag and I caught him right as he was saying WARHOL. When I look at this picture its all I see him saying.






This is the Ice Machine and Swift (Graham and Nathan). They were touring around Germany together for a couple weeks then made it back up to Berlin to play this with us. It was jammin. Read Ana's review already...



Dan from Mahjongg showed up and helped us pop balloons and burn flags.



Brian played one of the most amazing sets I have seen in a long time. This guy straight rips it. I really love him for so many reasons, and I can't wait to see him again.




After that day, we got in a car and drove back up here to Hamburg, where I am currently. The night we got here, Ice Machine and Swift played at the Astrastube and I got the chance to meet one of the greatest people in the world. I meet a lot of people as I travel around this great place called Earth, but rarely do I meet someone who thoroughly blows me away on so many levels.

The next night Ice Machine and Swift played at Pudel for a Reliktion opening of Nathan, Esther Klaes and Melissa Hopson's art and Brandon and I DJed. As always it was a blast. A certain Giovanni Marks made a guest appearance in Hamburg on his way to NYC.




This is Melissa, she was blowing the bubbles Mr. Marks was sitting in.




It was a nice Hamburg day on Tuesday, but the wind was blowing pretty hard so we had to improvise and use Melissa's shawl for a blanket on our boat ride through the Harbor. Before we got on this boat, we got some fish and chips. With said fish and chips, we got the most useless tool in the world- a wooden fork with rounded tips. Why? You can't pick up anything with those things. Stupid.



This is Justin. He is from London. He lives with Sirdjan here in Hamburg and plays in a band with Sirdjan called the Gallantiers. We will play with them at POW Gallery on the 25th for a joint Birthday party for me and him. This dude is incredible. July 31st is his birthday and that also happens to be the day we are playing at Klangtherapie in the south of Germany. The coolest part is that we are playing with the Gallantiers that day as well. Fun times, ya'll.



Last Saturday, there was a party at the Fleet Street for Michael Jackson. It was a lot of fun. The dress code was MJ or Black Tie. Nathan is talking to Yuri. Yuri did a cool performance where he dangled a baby over the balcony and then dropped it, then got another and dropped that one and then repeated the process for a while. It was funny.



8am that morning on the way home.




We started work this past week out at the Dockville site. There are a lot of berry bushes out there that needed to be cleared so we can build the stage/installation piece we are building. The guy on the top picture is Felix. He runs the Luttville part of Dockville, which is the part where kids come out and work in the various art pieces and workshops. Nice dude.



Unfortunately, there was an accident and the weedeater cut off his legs... Now he's a nugget.

Alright ya'll, I gotta run. I know this isn't as much explaination as I would like to put, but time is money.



Saturday, July 18, 2009

Great review in IMPOSE





http://www.imposemagazine.com/independance-day-berlin-takes-an-american-original-hostage/21014/

Terrible Eagle
Anywhere Terrible Eagle plays in the world, El Topo is there. Or Holy Mountain. Or ghosts. These members of Indian Jewelry branched off to produce a killer shamanic beat driven cult-classic noise scape. No amount of beer, hash, or peyote can produce the sobering experience that is watching Brandon and Ken get into it side by side. Drone guitars, exasperated keyboard swells, and carefully constructed minimal beats were the mainstay during this set. Brandon’s melodies beside Ken’s keyboard architecture built up to the stratosphere. Dagger-like live electronics were clean and attentive, and amounted to the most spasmodic event of the night. They were a dead ringer for a good closing on this (semi) all-American event.