Update, July 23, 2008 - Six Heads this Friday!
Six Heads will be appearing this Friday at the Renaissance Café. Here's the deets:
Friday, July 25/08
Renaissance Café, 1938 Danforth (just west of Woodbine), Toronto
8:00: James Bailey - playing radios and theremin
9:00: James Bailey and Tim Cuff - playing small keyboards
10:00: Six Heads (with James Bailey, of course!) - playing the entire contents
of a demolished department store
11:00: possible jam with whoever wants to hang around...and James Bailey!
admission is PWYC, I think
I expect to see you all there (or at least James Bailey)!
- William A. Davison
Update, June 29, 2008 - tomorrow night!
Here's the info about the gig tomorrow night (straight from "Last Minute Crump" as I like to call him!).
Wintage Records & Tapes presents
Live @ the Renisannce Cafe (1938 Danforth..just west of Woodbine)
Monday June 30 10:00pm
Insects With Tits (Ohio) is Kenneth Yates [HarmStryker/Caustic
Castle/804noise/HzCollective] and Roger H. Smith [Chefkirk/804noise].
This collaborative project brings together two very different but
complimentary approaches to improvised no-input style mixing and
processing that results in a colorful spectrum of frequencies and
harsh tones and low rumbling bass. We will have a few copies of older
releases available along with a special Tour CDR, as well as IWT
t-shirts for sale.
Names/Skagen(Norway) Skagen is 1/2 of the norwegian
noise duo Ryfylke and Nernes is a member of the noiserock band Årabrot.
Infinite Godzillas No bio provided...
W.A. Davison ...just fucking crazy!
...and a T.B.A. not yet announced
Please pay $6 dollars at the door...
- William A. Davison
Update, June 25, 2008 - three gigs
I'm a busy boy this weekend! Here are the details on three upcoming performances:
~~~~~
Saturday, June 28, 8pm, $6
Contrapture:
Michelangelo Iaffaldano, Jim Bailey, Matthew Poulakakis, William Davison
(Contrapture is an improvised music project using only hand-built and found
instruments)
Somewhere There
Live Creative Music in Toronto
340 Dufferin Street
one block south of Queen Street
** entrance from Melbourne Ave. **
www.somewherethere.org
~~~~~
Sunday, June 29, 3:30-8:30pm
This Ain't the Rosedale Library Re-Opening Party
This Ain't the Rosedale Library in its new location, 86 Nassau in Kensington market.
Free event!
Readings by Stuart Ross, Steve Venright, Pamela Stewart, Claudia Dey
Musical performances by Bob Snider, Richard Underhill, Six Heads, Nifty, and Rosazia
More info: 416-929-9912
~~~~~
Monday, June 30
Kevin Crump is organizing something at the Renaissance Cafe and asked me to do something. Something else is something something something...okay, so I have no details at all on this yet. I'll let you all know as soon as I find out more.
- William A. Davison
Update, June 11, 2008 - new irr.app.(ext.) disc!
This was actually released a short time ago but, with the trip and all that, I'm just getting around to announcing it now. Matt Waldron's label Errata In Excelsis has just released the first in a series of (very nicely made and packaged!) CD-Rs which collect the best of irr.app.(ext.)'s live performance documents. The disc is entitled "Aspiring To An Empty Gesture Vol. 1" and is a full 58 minutes of highly entertaining recordings (in spite of Mr. Waldron's insistence that the performances were "executed by bewildered, sleep-deprived individuals who were tragically underrehearsed for their attempts at material that didn't make any sense anyway". Or, perhaps I should say because of Mr. Waldron's insistance...yada, yada, and so on). The disc features such dubious, amusing, and often oddly attired individuals as M.S.Waldron, R.K.Faulhaber, W.A.Davison and S.Higgins (Egads! Recordists, even!), J.Horwood, G.Scharpen, A.Liles, C.Potter and S.Stapleton (Egads! Nurse With Wound, even!), L.Chambers, J.Scharpen, J.B.Haynes, and countless unwitting insect collaborators.
You may purchase one of these delightful artifacts of the inane and insane from the Errata In Excelsis Ebay store.
There is also a very nice review of this album on the Brainwashed website along with several audio samples (from tracks which happen to include Sherri and myself!). Click here.
- William A. Davison
Update, June 7, 2008 - We're back!
Actually, we've been back since Monday and this is the first chance I've had to do an update. Anyhoo, New York was amazing! No surprises there, New York is always amazing! We had an action-packed three days in NYC, met lots of cool people, saw lots of weird and interesting stuff, and did two performances too (both of which went well, in spite of the usual technical difficulties). Totally worth the tremendous effort it took to get ourselves there and back!
Speaking of tremendous efforts, we'd like to thank all the fine folks who put their energy and resources in our service to help us make this thing happen!
First of all, many, many thanks to all of our Toronto friends who helped out with our fundraising - Dahye and Andrea for the clothing sale, Kevin Crump and Andrew Zukerman for help in putting together the benefit concert, everyone at 61 Major for letting us take over their home for an evening (and what an evening it was! Amazing!), all our friends, new and old, who performed at the benefit concert (Roman Pilates, Tenting In 19th C. Burgundy, Six Heads, Pon De Replay), and everyone who came out to both the sale and the concert to show their support and make a donation! You guys are all totally awesome!
Next, we must thank everyone who helped out in New York. Thanks to Neighborhood Public Radio creative director (sorry if I got that credit wrong) Lee Montgomery who welcomed us to the project with open arms and who went the extra distance by writing a really nice letter for us to help us get over the border! Thanks as well to all the other fine folks at NPR who made our performance there such an enjoyable experience. Thanks to Suki O'Kane and the organizers of Illuminated Corridor who, against all odds...and the weather, made that event a smashing success and a blast to be a part of!
Extra special thanks to Kerry Zentner for coming along with us on this adventure and for being our chief performance documenter!
And last but certainly not least, extra, extra special thanks to Gregory Scharpen for initiating this whole thing by inviting us to perform with him in New York!! What can we say, we love ya guy! Looking forward to our next meeting and collaboration!
And to Aaron Moore of Volcano The Bear, thanks for just being such a damn nice guy and it was great to finally meet you in person!
OK, that's all for now. Time to start planning the next one!
- William A. Davison
Update, May 20, 2008 - Recordists hit NYC!
The Recordists (aka me and Ms. Higgins) will be traveling to New York next week to participate in a couple of very interesting art events! The first of these will be a collaboration with our friend Greg Scharpen in the form of a radio broadcast. I don't mean Greg Scharpen will be in the form of a radio broadcast, the collaboration itself will be a radio broadcast under the auspices of a group called Neighborhood Public Radio as part of the Whitney Biennial. This broadcast will take place in a converted storefront at 941 Madison Ave. on Fri. May 30 from 3 to 4pm. If you're in New York you can come down and watch the proceedings or you can tune in to the broadcast at http://www.neighborhoodpublicradio.org.
The second event we will be participating in is called Illuminated Corridor, a very cool project involving projections, sound, and low-wattage FM transmitters in a very creative use of public space. Again, this will be in collaboration with Mr. Scharpen and the three of us will be part of the audio aspect of the "Corridor". As Mr. Scharpen said in a recent missive, this performance "will include an incredible roster of folks, both musically and cinematically; if you're on the East Coast, this is an exceptionally rare opportunity to see a Corridor in action". The Illuminated Corridor will take place on Sat. May 31 at 8:53pm at a location yet to be decided. See http://www.illuminatedcorridor.com/20080531.html for full details.
As is often the case, these two performances, wonderful and exciting as they may be, are non-paying and we're spending a considerable amount of our own money to make the trek to New York. It will, no doubt, be a lot of fun and well worth it but, since we don't really have the money to spend (as usual), we will be doing a little fundraising before we head off! So, following is a little info on two fundraising initiatives set to take place this coming weekend:
So a quick recap:
Also, Sherri and I will be looking for interesting stuff to do while we're in New York (May 28th to June 2nd) so if you know of something or if you're in the area and would like to meet up or whatever, shoot me an email (info at recordism dot com), we'd be glad to hear from you!
- William A. Davison
Update, April 9, 2008 - new Youtube clip!
Just uploaded a new clip to Youtube. View it here (I know there's a way to embed the video in a webpage but I can't find the code that does it! Next time. Anyway, just click the link or go to my Youtube channel).
I've been playing around with something I call the "Chopstick Turntable" for awhile now and have performed live with the device quite a number of times. Normally the Chopstick Turntable consists of a chopstick pushed through the hole of a 12" LP and a record player cartridge and stylus attached to the end of a guitar cable (plugged into an audio mixer/PA or a guitar amp). In this version of the Chopstick Turntable however, I was responding to a challenge put to me by my friend Michelangelo Iaffaldano who suggested I build a gramophone to be used in our "no electricity allowed" performance during Earth Hour on Mar. 29/08. The video clip shows the results of my no power adaptation of the Chopstick Turntable with the cartridge/stylus being replaced by a plastic container and a map pin. This device was premiered live at the aforementioned performance with Arnd Jurgensen, Alan Bloor, Michelangelo Iaffaldano and myself sans electricity, Earth Hour, Mar. 29/08 at Somewhere There, downtown Toronto. The Youtube clip is a demo of the "(No Power) Chopstick Turntable" shot at home on April 7/08 (since there was no visual documentation of the Earth Hour performance).
WARNING: don't try this at home, kids! (at least, not on records you care about. It's a vinyl killer!)
- William A. Davison
Update, Mar. 27, 2008 - Sen/Son and COFO
Two gigs coming up very soon. Here's the info:
~~~~~
Saturday, 29 March, 8pm, $6
set 1, 8pm - 9pm: Arnd Jurgenson (guitar, etc) and friends
in celebration of Earth Hour, no electricity will be used in this performance
set 2, 9pm - 10pm: Sen/Son (Arnd Jurgenson - guitar,
William Davison - guitar)
Earth Hour's over, lots of electricity will be used in this performance! ;-)
Somewhere There
Live Creative Music in Toronto
340 Dufferin Street, Toronto
one block south of Queen Street
** entrance from Melbourne Ave. **
www.somewherethere.org
and
Tuesday, April 1/08
Wolf Eyes at Lee's Palace
details are sketchy on this one but it's basically Wolf
Eyes with openers Conspiracy Of Familiar Objects (me, Shapiro, Zukerman)
and Fossils (from Hamilton).
Don't know the start time. Tickets are $12 in advance from Rotate This (maybe
elsewhere too).
Lee's Palace is at 529 Bloor St. W., Toronto
check www.leespalace.com for
more info
~~~~~
- William A. Davison
Update, Mar. 18, 2008 - S.O.T.N.E. in performance
Songs of the New Erotics will be making an appearance at a small event set to take place this coming Friday at Somewhere There. Details follow:
Songs of the New Erotics
Almost Blue Sunshine
Domestic Intelligence Act
Ted Moreau
Friday, Mar. 21 at Somewhere There, 340 Dufferin St.
(enter from Melbourne Ave.), Toronto
Doors open at 7pm, admission is PWYC
(note this is an early show!! everything will be over before 10pm!)
- William A. Davison
Update, Mar. 3, 2008 - Mina R.I.P.
Mina, c.1993 - 2008
It is with great sadness that I must announce the passing on of our beloved cat Mina. Her death came early in the evening of Mar. 2, 2008 after a mercifully short illness and she remained in good spirits until the very end. A more perfect feline companion could not be found. She was truly a great friend and words cannot express how much we will miss her.
- William A. Davison
Update, Feb. 15, 2008 - Six Heads and Sen/Son
Two shows coming up in the immediate future:
~~~~~
Six Heads will be appearing on Jim Bailey's radio show "Electric Storm/A Missing Sense" on CKLN radio this Sunday evening (Feb. 17) at 11:30 pm EST. Tune in to 88.1 fm if you're in the Toronto area or listen on the web at www.ckln.fm.
~~~~~
On Tue., Feb. 19, Sen/Son, the duo of Arnd Jurgensen and William Davison, will be appearing at the monthly Bitchin' Sessions at the Gladstone Hotel. Details below:
The Gladstone Hotel Art Bar
1214 Queen Street West, Toronto ON
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
A PWYC event, under the auspices of AIMT.
The music is non-idiomatic free improvisation from three very different directions, created in the moment, at the moment of creation, by the performers.
8:00
TBA
9:00
Sen/Son (William Davison - guitar, Arnd Jurgensen - guitar)
10:00
the bitchin' group
Dougal Bichan - violin, bamboo flute
Alan Bloor - bass
Elliott Chapin - flute and other winds
Bryan Dennis - percussion
Rod Campbell is still on hiatus.
For more information, CDs, press kits, interviews,etc. email Dougal Bichan - dougal@dougal.ca.
- William A. Davison
Update, Jan. 21, 2008 - Dead Of Winter
Six Heads will be appearing at "The Dead Of Winter Will Not Be Silent" this Friday evening. Details follow:
THE DEAD OF WINTER WILL NOT BE SILENT
Friday, January 25th
Knurl
Roman Pilates
Ptarmigan
Six Heads
more TBA!
Saturday, January 26th
Women in Tragedy
Almost Blue Sunshine
The Dead Are Those Who Have Died
Bonsai Forestry
Parkade
Chris Worden
Renaissance Café 1938 Danforth Ave. (1 Block West of
Woodbine), Toronto
Tickets $8 per day $12 for both days available from Rotate This! & Soundscapes
info(at)thedeadofwinter(dot)ca
Festival website is at http://thedeadofwinter.ca.
Hope to see you there!
- William A. Davison
Update, Jan. 5, 2008 - S.O.T.N.E. on Myspace
A great start for 2008, Songs of the New Erotics is on Myspace!
http://www.myspace.com/songsofthenewerotics
- William A. Davison
* a note on the title: "The Organ Grinder's Gazette" was the original name of the official printed bulletin of the (now defunct) International Bureau of Recordist Investigation which was published by Emunctory Of Dreams Press and ran for three issues from Jan. 1999 to Feb. 2000. Each issue had a different title - "The Organ Grinder's Gazette", "The G. Grosz Garden Nitrate", and "Tarred Eggs Entering Azoth" - and each variation was an anagram of the original. Since we've decided to resurrect our little bulletin here in the form of this webpage, we also will carry on with our changing name game (using anagrams and other strategies), albeit on an occasional basis, beginning with "The Grazed Noggins Retreat" (anagram, June 2004). "Zero Gang's Three-Tit Danger" was an alternate title (anagram of "The Organ Grinder's Gazette") used in I.B.R.I. Bulletin #2 (April 1999).
Online versions of the original printed bulletins are available on the EOD Press Table of Contents.
The Organ Grinder's Gazette (2007 Message Archive)
The Organ Grinder's Gazette (2006 Message Archive)
The Organ Grinder's Gazette (2005 Message Archive)