Wednesday, July 29, 2009

recent shows, upcoming

Hey Everyone, long time no speak, been trying to keep up with gigs...some highlights of the past two months:

BAMCafe--Muslim Voices presents Adam Matta and Friends: the show was off the chain, thank you so much to everyone who came out and filled the venue to capacity. I have DVD's available of the entire performance for anyone interested in viewing what transpired. We are working on a shorter edit of the footage, to show to presenters in other venues

The Stone--got to play with an amazing presence, Ned Rothenberg. Many thanks to him for putting the show together and offering the chance to create some grooves with him

Museum of Contemporary Art-Detroit--many thanks to LEMUR (League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots) for inviting me to come and jam with the mech ensemble. Here's a clip of some of what went down at the packed event (Detroit rocks....)



Had an excellent time rocking a great variety night in LA, The Status Show. Thank you so much Abby and Maria for having me!!

3 dates on tour with The Wiyos, opening for Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson--it was extra dope playing the huge stage with this great group of old-time/Americana musicians, good friends from Bklyn...check the site for info on the new record, which features my beatboxing on numerous tracks, and which has debuted on the CMJ and country music charts nationwide...The WIyos

Prospect Park Bandshell--with the awesome Luminescent Orchestrii, opening for Kronos Quartet. It was a rush to play the large stage, with the pinnacle of sound systems, and the pinnacle of gypsy/punk/klezmer/tango bands, you know, all those gypsy/punk/klezmer/tango bands....:)

Sycamore--*incredibly* psyched to have connected with Roy Nathanson and Sotto Voce. Beatboxer Napoleon Maddox has been the in house VP man for a minute in this spoken word/jazz/groove project led by Roy, but I'm gonna be on deck to fill in for him when he's touring with his own crew, IsWhat?!

World Financial Center--rocked with Karsh Kale and Timeline at this beautiful venue. Please check out Karsh's music: Karsh Kale. I'm ecstatic to be on his roster as well....

Jazzit, Salzburg, Austria--had the honor and pleasure of collabing with Nihan Devecioglu, whom I met at the Carnegie Hall workshop with Bobby McFerrin in '08. Nihan put together a project with the unreal Turkish fretless guitar player, Cenk Erdogan, and myself: we played extended sets opening for the Salzburg Opera Festival, and at the bomb venue, Jazzit; we also created a beatbox/vocal improvisation workshop for the public, with the heavy-hitting Austrian beatbox crew, Massive Beats Collective, and gave a brief interview/performance on local radio. Thank you so much to Nihan, and to Eva, for organizing this project. We are trying to continue it in the fall, with the newly-presented opportunity to record in Salzburg and perform some more dates....thank you Nihan and Cenk!

I'm currently en route to Portland, where I will play some more dates with the Wiyos at the Pickathon Festival, then I'll be back in NYC for a hit at South Street Seaport with Yo Yo Nation, orchestrated by Pat Cuartero, whom I met when we were invited to play a gig by Heavy.com in '07...then I'm excited to announce I'll be part of a brief tour of SE Asia, with beatboxers Kid Lucky, Reeps1, and Dharni, sponsored by Adidas...then, a week performing shows at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Green Show--two solo performances and one collab with Portland Cello Ensemble, as well as some workshopping of vocal percussion and Shakespeare...ongoing is an evening-length modern dance composition with beatbox score, in collaboration with choreographer, Tami Stronach, to be presented in March 2010: we will be presenting excerpts of the piece-in-progress Oct. 22-24 at Joe's Pub....

Followers