Big Ears Part One

Just got back from Big Ears and have had a great trip! Now I've gotta see how possible it even is to recapture everything! But here it goes! Jacques picked me up Wednesday afternoon and we made the drive up. Tracked down a Culver's on the way outside Nashville and we had dinner there. Otherwise the drive up was pretty uneventful. We got in around midnight and crashed at our hotel outside the city. Then it was up in the morning and off to do stuff. First thing we did was stop at Wild Honey Records. Their soundtrack section is the biggest and strongest (at least for cds) and that's where everything I got was: Vangelis: Blade Runner soundtrack, Tangerine Dream: Near Dark soundtrack, Akira Yamaoka: Silent Hill Original Soundtracks, Goblin: Buio Omega, and Tristram Cary: Quartermass and the Pit soundtrack. Then there was that breakfast/lunch place next door that Mary Beth and I ate at the last time we were there so since I was hungry and it was right there we ate and it was really damn good. Had a pancake with sausage inside and egg on top and it was delicious! The Plaid Apron is the name of it. Oh and I had a little bit of craziness 'cuz while waiting for food, got a message that The Wire magazine was doing fact checking on the ad we submitted and a red flag was raised 'cuz there's no event or evidence of this festival this year so I had to quickly put together the event page on facebook. Also, just before that someone else had done the first official announcement and that was blowing up pretty huge on the facebooks so that was pretty exciting. Okay, next we went to meet Cain at his work which is McKay's. So we saw him briefly and did a bit more used cd shopping. I got: Goat: Commune, Royal Trux: s/t, The Velvet Underground: White Light/White Heat (45th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), Unrest: Perfect Teeth, Tortoise: It's All around You, The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are You Experienced?, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience: BBC Sessions (I'd better not be getting all damn classic rock now!). Fun times. Cain had mentioned another record store I didn't know about called Magnolia Records so we went there as well and I got a couple more things!: Crass: Ten Notes on a Summer's Day (my first of those The Crassical Collection series), Exploded View: s/t, and Matthew Shipp Trio: Piano Song. Okay, not a bad haul and fun record nerdery! What else? I guess we went down to downtown Knoxville for the festival! We parked on the bridge (Gay Street Viaduct as the plaque names it). First we checked out the merch area which is in a different place than last time, but we found it. I think the only thing I picked up that time was a Big Ears t-shirt. Then the first thing I wanted to check out was the Tim Story Presents the Roedelius Cells exhibit at the museum. So we walked over and that's the farthest thing. We had a lot of time to spare but Jacques isn't up for walking and we had to stop a lot so he could rest and he really wasn't up for doing any walking the rest of the trip. After we made it over we went and saw the exhibit. It was a circle of speakers playing back Roedelius's piano music arranged for this exhibit. It was pretty cool with the 360° sound. Wandering around, we happened to catch Oren Amarchi doing a sound check and that was really cool (we were coming back there later to watch his set). After that we started our lyfting around town and got a ride back over to this Japanese place Mary Beth ate at twice last time (though when we weren't together) called Kaizen and it was amazingly good. Spotted Oren Amarchi eating there as well which was pretty cool and, while slurping up a big fat udon noodle, it slapped me right in the eye. Fun! Then we made our way over to the Bijou to catch our first real set which was Rachel Grimes. She played with an orchestra and it was pretty good. Then we caught a lyft back to the museum to see Oren Ambarchi's set. It was really good. He plays guitar but through a bunch of pedals and he had a Leslie cabinet. Though it's guitar-based, his sound has a bit of a modular kind of sound, quite ambient, good stuff. Then we made our way over to The Mill and Mine to see YoshimiO, Susie Ibarra, and Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe. This was a great set. The two drummers were drumming (and Yoshimi was doing some vocals stuff) and Robert was doing modular synth. This was a pretty nice highlight performance, so much joy to watch both of those drummers. Last we made our way over to The Standard to watch Moor Mother. She was still sound checking so they made everyone wait in the room without the stage so there's this huge crowd waiting around so when they finally let everyone in, it's like cattle moving through those two tiny doors into the performance room. But she was pretty awesome. For about half her set she had a violinist playing with her. And her music was very bass-heavy and she delivered her intense poetry over it. I'm even more excited now to have her playing Memphis Concrète this year! Back to the hotel, and I began my habit of ending the nights with a tamarind Jarritos and beginning the mornings with a Mexicoke.

Okay, so we're to Friday, day two of the festival now. I looked up places to get food coming in to town and found this place called Lunch House. It was pretty good. Tiny diner kinda place. Had some catfish and a really good black eyed pea salad. Then into the city and back through the same routine. Hit the merch area to start and I got a few cds: Irreversible Entanglements: s/t, The Art Ensemble of Chicago: Early Combinations, Meredith Monk: Monk Mix ("remixes & interpretations of music by Meredith Monk"), Tim Story with Hans-Joachim Roedelius: The Roedelius Cells, and Story/Roedelius: Lazy Arc. Then we made our way down to the Bijou to see the first Alvin Lucier performance. It started with Joan La Barbara doing "Double Rainbow" and then there were lots of pieces performed by Oren Ambarchi, Stephen O'Malley, and others in the Ever Present Orchestra (a group dedicated to performing Alvin Lucier's pieces live). It was all incredible but it ended with Alvin himself doing "I Am Sitting in a Room." So that was really fucking special. It did feel like maybe something messed up at the end and it ended maybe prematurely, but it was still great. Maybe not, maybe that's how it was supposed to end, maybe it could have gone on a little longer, but I'm definitely happy I got to see that. The space was a little weird with people coming and going a lot, kinda distracting, but the music was spectacular and a definite highlight and he was the first artist that drew me in saying to myself "ooh, maybe I really do need to go to Big Ears this year!" After that we caught a ride to the Church Street Method Church to see Harold Budd with Nief Norf. There was a big line, well there was a big line at the Alvin Lucier too, lots of lines this year, it felt like. He started off with someone rolling the gong for like five minutes (just like when I saw him at Moogfest years ago, and...spoiler alert...just like when we saw him do another show on Saturday, I guess gong intro is his thing live). It was pretty good, lots of short pieces, some of which he was conducting and not playing. This was the one show I cut out early 'cuz there was something else to catch but we saw most of it. Then we made our way up to the Visit Knoxville center to catch the Alvin Lucier panel. It had Alvin, Joan La Barbara, Oren Ambarchi, Stephen O'Malley, and Bernhard Rietbrock (the director of the Ever Present Orchestra). It was a really nice panel. I learned one important thing this weekend...I'd been pronouncing his name completely wrong! (I'd been saying "lou-seer" but it's "lou-see-yea"). Joan had very interesting things to say about the focus and discipline of performing Alvin's music. Stephen was also pretty entertaining and interesting to listen. Of course it was great hearing Alvin himself as well. He is very old now and soft spoken so it was sometimes difficult to hear him, but I was able to make out what he was saying. Of course I'd known of his stutter as the impetus for "I Am Sitting in a Room" so that was there as well. Sometimes he got tired of talking and just abruptly stopped. He said some great stuff about his concerns (not different notes!) and physical phenomena and the beats created in near pitches and no personal expression but making sure the instructions are carried out exactly. Bernhard echoed lots of these ideas of lack of expression (though intuition being important) and discipline and exactitude. Anyway, I'm blurting it all out incoherently but it was a good talk. Now it's time to break this up and get into another post!

Big Ears Part Two

We're still on Friday and now we're at the one point where Jacques and I diverged in shows for a bit. He wanted to see Spiritualized and I wanted to see Meredith Monk instead. He also wanted to take a break so I went to The Pilot Light to see Tatsuya Nakatani. This place was packed, I mean it's a small space and we were really crammed in there. I got in there a little before it started so I was way in the back (and not too much later they stopped letting people in, at least I made it to all the shows I wanted to see, I didn't get shut out of something, though there was a constant flux of people so even if a show filled up at the beginning, I'm sure it wouldn't be too long before people left and you could get in...for the most part at least). He played drums and did a lot bowing gongs, getting a really deep and heavy drone. And then he attacked the drums with so much energy. It was a great performance (I'm also really excited to see he's playing in town at DKDC in a few weeks!). I got a couple of his cds: Yama Yaki, and Present Presence. Then I had a good bit of time to kill before the next show (this one got out early too) and went and tried a hot dog at Curious Dog. This was fucking phenomenal! Their fries were fresh cut there and very good. The hot dog I got had salami, nacho cheese, fries, and more! on top! It was damn good. That was a very nice eating. Then what? I had time to kill. Walked around. Went to that Phoenix pharmacy and fountain and had, I forget the name, but it had cola and grape and apple and other stuff I think and it was goddamn delicious. It was as nice relaxing time sitting there with my soda. Next I walked around to Market Square and then sat on a park bench for a bit reading. I finished A Friend of Kafka by Isaac Bashevis Singer and it was okay. Then I made my way to the Bijou to wait for Meredith Monk to start. I saw her last time at Big Ears but there was a conflict and I only made it for the last ten minutes or so of her set so it was good to finally see a full performance. She did a piece called Cellular Songs and had a group of some other singers. It was good. It was mostly just vocals but there were some bits with piano and I think one thing with violin. After that it was up to The Mill and Mine to see Jlin. I got to speed walk up the length of Gay Street (something I kinda missed for the most part of riding around in lyfts with Jacques). Jlin's set was really incredible. And she's endearingly very down-to-earth and normal and dorky.

Okay, now we're on Saturday! Halfway through the festival. We're back downtown and we stop by the merch store and I pick up The Art Ensemble of Chicago: And Associated Ensembles box set (this damn thing's massive) as well as an Art Ensemble of Chicago t-shirt. Then we ate at this Japanese place across the street that Jacques saw and wanted to try on impulse. He wanted sushi. It was pretty good, standard American Japanese stuff, I had some noodles. It wasn't as magical as Kaizen but it did that regular ol' thing pretty well. I can't remember the name and I think it's new so I don't see it on the maps (they had a "this location has applied for a beer license" sign on their door so that makes me pretty sure it's new). Then we make our way to the Methodist church to see Kara-Lis Coverdale playing pipe organ. It was fantastic. She made real good use of the organ and the stops and really got the atmosphere. A lot of it was droney, but she did passages that were more active. We talked to someone who was at her regular show the night before and he said both sets were polar opposites. I'm glad I got to see her and I thank Mary Beth for letting me know about her in the first place! The next show was KTL at The Mill and Mine and they're scheduled back-to-back so I thought we'd be a little late, but the show ended a little early and with the lyft we were able to make it even before the other show started! This was a last minute "I have too many gaps today so I need to fill something!" but it was a great choice! It's Stephen O’Malley playing guitar and Peter Rehberg playing modular synth. It was some great heavy fucking drone shit! I mean, and this is getting me even more excited about seeing Sunn O))) next month and I was already up there, he played through four fucking Twin Reverbs and an Ampeg on top of two giant five-to-six-foot speaker cabinets. That guitar was fucking massive. And the modular shit was great too. This was a really good show! Then it was back over to the art gallery to see Carl Stone. He played up in the gallery that had the Roedelius exhibit. He used the same circle of speakers. They had carpets laid out around where he played so we sat on the floor inside the speakers and it was a really cool experience. Also, I was practically right by his butt. I captioned the pictures I took with "Carl Stone's butt." It was a pretty great and unique experience. Oh, and though maybe you could say sitting behind him had its disadvantages, but I could see a little of his laptop screen so that's kinda cool. Then it was back up to The Mill and Mine to wait for This Is Not This Heat!!! It was a little early but we wanted to camp out and be there well in time. And then we get there and they're doing a sound check! So that's another little extra. While they were checking "24 Track Loop" it ended with some casual jamming around which was pretty cool to see. Charlie Z. was there and we talked to him a bit. He said he was going to interview them for Rolling Stone (and I saw today that his Big Ears article is out on Rolling Stone, haven't gotten to read it yet). Oh, I should also say we ran into Linda Heck a whole bunch. We ran into Chris a few times, usually briefly, once was here, we were up front and we see him in front of us with a camera in the press photography strip. When they finally lowered the ropes to let people come up, Jacques had been freaking out about people speeding their way up and getting in front of him so he started sprinting to the stage. He got where he wanted right in front of Charles's drums and I was next to him. A group that was split up around us asked him if they could switch spots and he pissed them off 'cuz he was like "no." It was a really really great set. They had a full hour and a half for it so they played a lot more than they did at Pitchfork. Also, it wasn't outside and it was in a club with good sound and the sound was generally better. It had a nice full and heavy sound. Though actually a few things I remember sounding better at Pitchfork, there was something about the low bass rumble on the organ during "Music Like Escaping Gas" that was even better then (it was still great this time too, of course). Their energy seemed a bit more concentrated this time too, maybe marginally, maybe it was my own projection. It felt a generally a little more "transcendent" this time around. Both were amazing shows and it was great to get to see the differences in them both. I didn't get my beloved "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8" mic check from Charles Hayward this time around so that was something! After that we got a ride down to St. John's Episcopal Cathedral to see Harold Budd with ACME. Since we didn't catch the full set from before, I was happy to get to see him again. They started with the gong (of course?, I guess, of course!). He played a little with them and then left the stage for a good long while. It was a string quartet playing his compositions and it was really good though I think some people were frustrated by the lack of actual Harold Budd on stage. I still thought it was great. After a while he came back and played with them and there was a lot of really good stuff. We finished by getting up to The Pilot Light to see White Gregg. They played here in town some months ago and I was happy to be reminded of how good they are! So yeah, another goddamn awesome day! The day was more packed than anticipated and a few breaks I'd had didn't pan out like expected so I didn't end up eating the whole time (from when the music started). So I was very hungry by the time we got out (and slightly cranky...not at first but the more the following events transpired the moreso!). So we get out of The Pilot Light and our first instinct is to get a lyft back to the car. It wasn't far away, only like two blocks but I think Jacques was too tired at this point to even think of walking that. So we get back to the car and we then start to think about food. So I pull up my phone and find a pizza place that's still open and it turns out it's just around the corner from where we just were. Ooh, looks like I'll continue this exciting food and/or pizza saga in another post! Stay tuned!

Big Ears Part Three

Where were we? Oh yes, on our way to get some pizza in the late night hours of Old City Knoxville. So we find the pizza place but there's no street parking because it's Saturday night and in the middle of a festival and busy and all that. We look at one lot nearby but it has a $10 daily rate and nothing hourly so it's like fuck that. Now again, this is just around the corner from where we just were and really only like two blocks from where the car was just parked, and there's parking a little walk away but Jacques isn't going to walk any of it. So I'm getting a little frustrated, so close but so far away from food and I haven't eaten in twelve hours and I'm damn hungry and tired. We end up having to just drive away. Look for more places that are still open and think we find something but get there and it's not open. Then end up having just no luck. We also try to get back on the interstate and right there there's a cop car blocking the ramp so it's like, how the hell do we get back. Ended up finding some road that goes along to the next entrance and I think maybe we'll drive by somewhere with food or whatever, but it's mostly residential. It was actually this weird road running along the top of a hill or mountain or ridge or whatever. In gaps between the houses you could see the lights spread out in the valley below. We end up just getting back to where our hotel is. There are a few fast food places around and we kinda just wanna get done and to bed fast so yeah. Well, they're all closed. McDonald's...Taco Bell...Krystal's...all closed... What the fucks is up with that!? Three of the most open at all hours places you could ask for. There, at least, was a Waffle House so we were able to eat and it was surprisingly quite good, maybe it was the hunger. I guess there can be a goodness to Waffle House (if you catch 'em right, sometimes it can be off but sometimes it can bet quite good). It's also almost as fast as fast food anyway. We tried to check out though and there was a couple in front of us taking forever, they were getting takeout and going through the boxes and putting ketchup and hot sauce on all their food but not paying and the cashier was sitting there waiting to be paid and they're drunk as hell and distracted as hell. It was kinda funny, especially when the finally finished and we could check out and leave! Oh, one random observation. Two of the days I wore two of my least visibly recognizable t-shirts: Éliane Radigue (with no text, just her artwork that's on the reissue for Adnos I-III) and 4ms. Both days my shirts were complimented and I talked briefly to the people commenting on them. I guess if there's anywhere, it'd be Big Ears! Yeah, I maen just a lot of people into the same nerdy shit you're into and for the most part very nice and friendly and just happy to bask with you in all the amazing music. The only real asshole we encountered was one lyft driver, who admonished me for slamming his door when we got in the car. I mean, I think I shut it a little on the hard side (different doors have different weights and I may have been expecting to be a little heavier or whatever) and anyway, the way he asked was kinda dickish and then the ride was awkward. But whatever. Oh, and there was one kinda fratty, broish, creepy driver. It was all well and good, he was asking about the festival, and then he asked if there were a lot of good looking girls. Jacques was like yeah there's lots of cute girls around then he asked if they were just there to look hot and Jacques was like no they're here to enjoy the music too and then I was in not-engaging-with-this-guy-anymore mode though he backed away from all that after that, still was kinda gross. In the grand scheme of things that's pretty mild on what you could get from a lyft experience, I guess. And the rest of the drivers were pleasant or pleasant enough.

Well, now we've gotten to Sunday, the last day! We parked on that side street that The Standard is on and went and ate at Sweet P's Barbecue. It was pretty good, it was fast which is what we needed. Had chopped pork and the pork was a little on the dry side. Apparently their ribs are their best thing, someone said, but that wasn't a time for ribs. The sauce was good. And the sides were quite good, I had some really delicious lima beans. Also maybe Knoxville just isn't the place for barbecue? Maybe something's good. Anyway, overall not bad but I'm from Memphis and am surrounded by delicious pork barbecue. Coming out, while waiting for the next lyft, we ran into Cain's friend (we'd been running into the two of them throughout a bunch) and I feel bad 'cuz he stayed at my house and I can't remember his name. Really nice guy. I'm sure I can dig it up somewhere but anyway. He asked us if we saw This Is Not This Heat just play and...what!? So they played the 12 Drone that went all night (midnight to noon), but I think they were last or something, like they'd just finished and this was just a little after noon. It wasn't announced or listed anywhere or anything so it's a major bummer I missed that but I guess I couldn't've known. He said almost no one was there, nobody knew about it. He said it was pretty incredible, there were tons of technical issues with the sound but it's almost like they played all the harder to make up for it. I'd love it if a recording exists somewhere. I'll have to look for that. Ah well. Can't win them all. Very lucky to have seen them twice, especially now that they're about to return to the U.K. for their final-ever shows. Anyway, we make it over to the museum to see Alvin Lucier again. A different set of ensemble pieces with some of the same performers. It started with one on the glockenspiel, being played very fast so that the notes are clashing against each other and holding and droning out these magical weird tones. It was really cool. It ended with another piece by Lucier himself. There was a loop of either bird sounds or bird-like electronic sounds and he was holding some piece of equipment and there was a high pitched whiney drone that I assume it was controlling somehow. He started at the back of the audience and gradually walked his way up to the front. It was really awesome and awesome to see him perform twice! Also, the space in the downstairs of the museum was much better for the music. All the open space gave so much room for the sounds to bounce around and interact and it was a really great experience. Both shows were simply amazing and it blows my mind to even think about them! I think next we hit the merch area one last time and I picked up Nate Wooley: The Complete Syllables Music. Then we walked over to The Pilot Light (see, this is the same distance we didn't walk the night before!). We saw Irreversible Entanglements. We were there a little early and they weren't letting people in yet so we went to a bar across the street and mostly just sat there waiting. Then the line was starting to form and we went to wait in it. Chris met us in line and we talked for him a good while about the festival and everything going on. Anyway, Irreversible Entanglements were incredible. Those guys can fucking play. And Camae Ayewa (Moor Mother) had her intense poetry to go along with it! I had "heard" (but not seen) them play at Pitchfork, across the field when no one else was playing so the sound could carry to where we were camped out waiting and holding our good spots (probably for This Is Not This Heat, but I forget exactly). They were fucking incredible...yesterday! This was just yesterday! Really intense, and that bass player is fucking incredible (upright bass doesn't often bring attention to itself like that). After that we had a little time, Jacques at first wanted to skip food and make it to the next show but I was against a repeat of the day before so I said he could go on and I'd eat and catch up with him but he decided to go with me. Curious Dog was close so we ate there. This time I got one with roast beef and barbecue sauce and nacho cheese and other stuff and it was really great though the first one was the best. Had to eat it more hurriedly too 'cuz they'd been busier and it took longer than the first time (also the first time was when I had a huge amount of time to kill). If it was as quick as the first time, we wouldn't've been late for the next show, but we were barely late. We got in only like three minutes late. It was St. John's Choir performing Arvo Pärt's Passio. It was nice. Next we finished up by going to the Tennessee Theatre to see The Art Ensemble of Chicago! We waited a while in line and while there we made friends with this couple from Louisville who we talked to a good while about a bunch of stuff. Then inside and the band was great. I mean, they're huge. And I was surprised 'cuz Camae Ayewa performed with them as well (I mean, makes sense, the same kind of poetry over experimental jazz!). Their sound went to so many places all over the map. Freeform freakout, more composed pieces. I did recognize that they ended with "Odwalla." This was a great end to a great festival. I just saw so many things that blew me the fuck away! While waiting for our last ride, we saw Chris again and talked to him again for a bit. Then today was the drive back. Before leaving Knoxville, I tried to find food and had our sights on another lunch kitchen but we got to where it should be and had trouble finding it. Jacques suggested we try a barbecue place we'd passed nearby. On our way there I saw a place that didn't really have a sign and figured that might be it, but I'd picked lots of where we ate already so we went with that. It was kinda mediocre. Actually, the meat itself was better than at the other place, it was nice and moist and greasy, but it had too much sauce and the sauce was bad (cloyingly sweet). The sides were okay, I had green beans that weren't bad. Okay, enough food talk, on the way home! Yeah, we drive, there was some rain for part of it, but otherwise it was uneventful. Now I'm home again and with Mary Beth and Trudy! I've probably left out so much shit but it's getting later and I've got work in the morning so I'll update ya'll if I think of anything else! To Big Ears, hear hear! So much fun!