Summer '08

It's been an amazing summer so far, and not done yet!!! I'm currently at Newark, waiting for my flight (delayed 5 hours) to Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival, where I'll play every night with Sxip Shirey, at the vaudeville cabaret, "And The Devil May Drag You Under..." Come through if you're in the area!!
The bulk of my summer has been an amazing project called In Transit, written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Sarah Wordsworth, James-Allen Ford, Russ Kaplan, Greg Christopher and Karla Momberg. It's an incredible piece--an a cappella musical-- which takes place in NYC's subway system, showing a series of characters going through their hectic days and situations, and I play a subway beatboxer who supplies the groove for the whole show, and mixes it up with all the different straphangers...We workshopped the piece at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Festival in CT, then, just finished a series of shows at the York Theater in Manhattan. They were all staged readings, but all along the way we were met with rave responses. The cast and director and musical director were INCREDIBLY talented, and amazing people to hang out with. We're all currently waiting to find out what the next incarnation will be...for pix from our opening night at the York, check outBroadwayworld.com. WHEN this show comes around again (fingers crossed), please come check it out....
Other highlights included a solo show at Joe's Pub, 7/14, with special guests Sxip Shirey, Bora Yoon and Eyal Maoz. Still going through the video from this show, it was a great house, and the sound there is so dope--it's definitely one of my favorite places to play in NYC...
Also, had a great time rocking with Kid Lucky and Beatboxer Entertainment, at Sidewalk Cafe, Aug. 3rd...We knocked out an hour-and-a-half fully improv, fully raw performance, conducted by Lucky, and we were all ready to keep going!! It was a really great time.
In June, played a show with jazz vocalist/trombonist, Elizabeth Dotson-Westphalen at an amazing music camp in Castleton, VT. got to conduct a workshop for the students, who taught me as much as I taught them!! Check out one of the outcomes of our musical trekking: Went on to perform at the Jamaica Greenfest, a festival of music, food, healing, and environmental awareness, raising money for Engineers Without Borders, creating well projects in Kenyan communities. Conducted workshops at Pascack Valley High School, and Brooklyn Friends School, and as always, was blown away by the talent and imagination of the kids I was working with. Finally, got to rock some great shows with Michael Leonhart and Paul Brill, at Rockwood and Joe's Pub, respectively.
Will be playing with Michael again Sept. 15th. Also, in September, I will be doing a residency with LEMUR--League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots. These fine folk build sculptures and armatures that play music, triggered by audience members and/or composers and modulated through software. I will be syncing and linking up my beats with the robots and creating a performance to be shown in October...
Peace and health,
adam