Action Research show #13

The poster by Matt Welch for the show at Transitions Art Gallery includes a cropped photo from the cover of the Usufruct tape release by Phinney/McGee from 1989. That is Chris Phinney on the left in the photo, a great buddy of mine, with whom I have recorded numerous albums over the years. The pic was taken during the time I lived in Apollo Beach, Florida, on Tampa Bay. the Tim & Terry's show poster was created by Andrew Chadwick.

Click here to view photos by Jen Sandwich of numerous shows of all different types at Transitions Art Gallery

January 11, 2008: I have created this special page on my web site especially for documentation of the 50th Birthday shows and the events surrounding them. I will add on materials bit by bit, before, during and after the event as a kind of live journal of this special group of events. There is not much on the page right now, just the show posters, but I will continue to add more stuff. Please bookmark this page.

Not only will I present mp3s of the performances from the two shows, but also your photos, audio recordings, and artifacts from the entire six-day period. The page is going to be about much more than just the performances at the shows themselves. It will be like a big collage of various sorts of things. So, please send stuff to me. Any and all of you can send materials. Examples of the kinds of things I am looking for include: selections and fragments from cassette and microcassette "field recordings" from before, during, after, and in-between the shows - conversations, street sounds, performance warmup sounds, travel sounds, airport sounds, etc; video clips and links; ticket stubs and store receipts and the like; written and audio diary entries and other communication pertaining to the events, such as selections from e-mails, reviews, adverts, blurbs, etc.; photos not only of the performances, but the parties, meals, hanging out, traveling, venues, odd "found" photo subjects, etc.; weird little objects that you find, ETC ETC ETC. Just whatever. Use your imagination and anything goes.

I will be documenting the six day period from Thursday, January 17, 2008 through Tuesday, January 22nd on Hi8 videotape, cassette, microcassette, disposable cameras, CDRs, emails, etc.

Spread the word that anyone who comes to the shows can contribute to this page, or indeed anyone else who has anything to say about the shows and events!

Click here to visit a page at the Tapegerm site where you can listen in streaming audio and download an audio piece created by Dave Fuglewicz to commemorate my 50th Birthday.

Also on Tapegerm, check out this new audio piece by Charles Rice Goff III called "Stimulooper Loopustimer". As Charlie says on the page: In preparation for my participation in the Hal McGee 50th Birthday Extravaganza, I have been working on sharpening up my presentation skills. The Tapegerm collective is a natural gymnasium for the building up of such musical muscles. Thus, this Stimulooper Loopustimer serves both as sonic sculpture and preview of performances to come. Goff plays Hello Kitty Stratocaster, volume/wah pedal, two distortion boxes, loop duplicator, and microcassette player loaded with recordings of odd old 33 RPM vinyls.

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If, Bwana is Al Margolis. Margolis operated the Sound Of Pig Music cassette label, which was one the biggest, best and most active homemade music labels of the 80s with well over 300 cassette releases. If, Bwana was one of my favorite artists from that time, and I recorded several albums with If, Bwana – one of the best of which is Peat. We did a tour together in October of 1987, which included shows in Boston, Toronto, Windsor, and Memphis. You can listen to recordings from the tour on these two mp3 album collections: Live in Toronto and Painting. We often recorded under the name Bwana Dog. Al Margolis was on the cover of the first issue of my Electronic Cottage magazine (1989). If, Bwana is recognized internationally for his achievements in the field of Electronic and Experimental Music. In the 1990s and 2000s Al has operated the Pogus Productions label which features high quality CD and digital releases of Electronic, Electro-Acoustic, and Experimental music. Go to the Pogus web site for lots more info including a list of all of the SOP tape releases still available. You can find listings for all of the Bwana Dog albums that are currently available online on this page

Trivia: The name If, Bwana is an acronym. Can anyone guess what it stands for?

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Here below is a YouTube video that Charlie Goff just posted today featuring instrumentation and sounds similar to what he will play at the Birthday shows!

 

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I have been in contact with Little Fyodor (David Lichtenverg) since 1984, when he was a member, along with Evan Cantor and Ed Fowler, of the Boulder, Colorado weirdo rock ensemble and collective Wall Of Genius. Walls Of Genius was one of my favorite bands from that era, and I still have original cassette copies of their releases Before ...and After, Ludovico Treatment, and The Mysterious Case Of Pussy Lust, as well as two compilations that they released on their label, Madness Lives, and Son Of Madness. In 1985 Little Fyodor released his first solo tape Slither Sloth featuring the monster hit "Ugly Girl". Be sure to visit Little Fyodor's web site as well as the Little Fyodor & Babushka site and his personal page on MySpace to listen to music he has done with the lovely Babushka and by himself, and there are some really cool performance videos to check out too. In fact, here is a video by Little Fyodor & Babushka - Florida, are you ready?:

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Here is a graphic that DaveX sent to me on January 11, 2008:

Layers and layers of MySpace announcements about your b-day party...

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Thursday, January 17

Here below is a new painting , "Halien", created by my friend Jimmy McCullough, especially for me on my birthday! Wow!