The start of Memphis Concrète

Okay, so the festival's happened and it's even been a few days. I guess I've been putting off posting about it all. Let me see if I'm able to catch up. In the afternoon on Friday I ran that ladder up to Crosstown. I cleaned it first 'cuz it was dusty as fuck. At least gave it a little bit of a wipe-down. I tried to make some animated schedules (animated highlighting what's next...just some basic gifs like I did last time), but the way I was doing it the image files being layered were too big and it would take forever and when I tried one it crashed anyway. So kinda a waste I guess. Also tried with making some more videos for the projector. Anyway, the time I spent on all that (even if low effort)...well, you'll see why it's funny. But in the early evening I went up to the print shop for a rehearsal for the pre-show collaboration thing. I just grabbed a few of my more peripheral things from the live score the night before. Turns out though that that building is one of the ones that makes my Monorocket case shut down. So I used it some here and there but it shut down a lot so it didn't get used a whole lot like I was planning. Otherwise I had the Minibrute and the "drum synth" made from my other modular case. After a little run-through of the process where we do a round-robin as kind of "conductors" (pointing to different people who to play with), I went back home to pick up Mary Beth and come back. The show was fun. Ipek Eginli came into town a day early to it and she started off playing with us but then left the stage area pretty soon into it, found out later she'd had a migraine. I mentioned the round-robin thing but it almost immediately devolved into no one knowing who the "conductor" was (conducting and telling someone else to play with you vs conducting and passing it along to the next person to conduct was kind of confusing to distinguish...and then, the thread just got kind of lost anyway and people just dropped in and out when it felt right after a while). I should add that Schaeffer of Drop Ceiling organized this so it was like another Drop Ceiling big band collaboration. Anyway, it was pretty fun. I got a couple Liarsserum cds from Justin while there (he'd just put them out): Audience to the Void and Emma Lee's Most Delectable Pudding.

Okay so I got some sleep and almost kind of caught up but I had such a deficit that I was still a little out of it on Saturday for the festival. Yay. So Crosstown was also having this fucking Crafts and Drafts festival so the whole thing was crowded as fuck during the day (it went until 5 and the festival started in the 3-hour). Anyway, I got there to load in and start setting up, like around 11-something or noon or whatever. One funny thing, Lichi one of the volunteers (recognized him from the symphony, he plays cello with them sometimes) was filling the cooler with ice and I came into the green room and saw him walking from far away with this tiny little ice bucket that sprinkled a little ice into the cooler. So I suggested we get closer to the ice machine. Then he goes to the break room ice machine that's smaller than the industrial one on the other side. And it's pretty slow at getting ice too. He was saying he enjoyed the walk or whatever. But we moved the cooler to the big ice machine and filled it up fast and normal. This description did not sound funny, but it was a little amusing in person. Anyway, getting ready for the festival and blah blah. I was a little annoyed at Fino's because I'd set up some sandwich trays to pick up for backstage and I thought I could get a volunteer to come pick them up but they wouldn't let me pay on the phone (oh, that's another thing I did on Friday). Oh yeah, and also they were kind of weird on the phone. I placed the order and the guy said the manager would call me back. I wait the rest of the day and never hear back so I called again and they were just like, yeah we've got your order. But I didn't tell them WHICH sandwiches I wanted (maybe there's a default, but still, wasn't even asked) and what time I'd pick them up. Also I'd wanted to pay in advance in case I needed someone to pick them up for me and they said they had some issue with their system or something and couldn't. So I had to leave in the afternoon in the midst of Crosstown being crowded. I had meant to get drinks ahead of time but didn't get around to it so I thought I'd make a quick run to do that while picking up the Fino's. But then it took me fifteen minutes just to get out of the parking garage. I was able to ask Jacques and he was able to pick up and bring the drinks. Then of course getting back into the garage was a pain too. It didn't take quite as long, but I still was stuck waiting in a line for a time. Sound checks happened from noon til probably close to when the festival started. They seemed to go off alright that day. Liarsserum started things off and his set was really good (they were all good so I guess I'll refrain from just saying it every single time...it's implied!). Next up it was neon glittery. Then Art Edmaiston with Logan Hanna, some nice spacey jazz! Then it was Noir Walls. He took a while to set up. Actually he arrived pretty close to when he went on (and he'd originally said he was going to get there super early to set up) and I had texted him to make sure he was still coming, but then immediately went backstage and he'd just arrived with his cart. He was a trooper though and made finishing his setup part of the beginning of his set with a drum machine pulse going. Okay...now I have something to do and need to drop off and finish later!

More MC

Okay, now back to Memphis Concrète and what's the next set? Janet Xmas! So the ladder I went through all that trouble to get came into use! She uses a chair with contact mics and the ladder with contact mics and some tape machines and the mics run through effects like delays and loopers and such. She starts wearing a burlap sack and a bag on her head. She walks towards the stage from the back of the room playing a singing bowl. Then she sits on the chair and writhes around and eventually makes it to the ladder and writhes around that. At a point she tears off the burlap sack and she's wearing business clothes underneath (with a black skirt and white blouse). More writhing around and hitting the ladder and chair and back and forth and some climbing the inside of the ladder. The she goes to the back again and takes off the clothes with nothing but a flesh-toned bra and g-string and proceeds to go back to the chair and ladder and move around it all with the noise from the mics and the tapes and stuff. It was pretty intense! And the sounds from that ladder were pretty acoustically nice too. Next it was Fosterfalls. Now, there are quite a few considerations when sequencing the set order for a festival and one among many is just the musical flow, but sometimes more practical considerations come into play. Long story short, Fosterfalls wasn't originally scheduled to follow Janet Xmas but after the first draft some people needed their days/times moved around so that's how it ended up. And at first it felt like it'd be an odd order to things, but I figured sometimes when things happen by chance you just gotta let them play out. Well, it ended up somehow fitting perfect to me in the moment. I don't know why. I mean, they're both awesome artists but maybe it was the nice calming power Fosterfalls had after the intensity of Janet Xmas's set. And they both have a (VERY different) confident presence on stage. I wouldn't have sought that out, but to me it ended up being perfect in a way. Next it was post doom romance and they did their regular set...and then they did their collaborative set with Dinosauria right after! They called Mac to the stage and they both played together for a half-set, fifteen minutes, and then they left the stage and Mac finished the other fifteen minutes on his own. That set REALLY brought the house down. Dinosauria got a standing ovation. The crowd was really into it and it was a really intense set even for him! Awesome! Then it was suroor closing out the night with the band (drums and bass). One thing I noticed especially with suroor's and Fosterfalls' sets (the ones with vocals) is the quality of the sound in the Green Room really almost changes their sound. I mean, I love seeing bands in divey places with crappy sound...but still there's something about those crystal-clear sounds. I think the sound quality of the Green Room helped Mac's amp sound as well. It was just present and clear and forceful. So yeah, there you have a good night!

The next day I'm back at it and almost kinda get enough sleep but the backlog loomed over me so I was feeling a bit exhausted but I made it through. This time I was able to get someone to pick up the sandwiches for me (though it wasn't as big a deal). Sound checks seemed to go not as well this day. Ipek was excited to get to play Crosstown's baby grand piano and had been practicing on it and setting up her electronics for quadraphonic sound, but she seemed to be very frustrated during her soundcheck. And I didn't see her for a good while after that, much closer to her set time, so I figured she was probably in a bad mood and unhappy. Well, anyway back to the show. It finally gets underway. marianne was first, this is Emily's (formerly whit3corset) new project and this was the first public performance. I didn't really know too much about what it'd sound like other than some descriptions. Just guitar and vocals and pretty shoegazey. Next it was Strooly and he did his really nice and deep ambient thing. Next it was Infinity Stairs. They had a big complicated video and synth rig with a crt tv on the stage with a camera for video feedback and lots of other video synthesis gear. Graham and Corbin had this two table v-formation. So they're running the sound and doing their own projections. Really awesome video stuff too and the music was perfect with it. They had a continual set thing planned with Hater Group Chat since Corbin is in both and it was nonstop and then Zach and Kole came onstage and then it morphed into that set. Things got a little behind here because the setup was so involved and took a while (even though it was pre-set-up on the side...it was just so much stuff). Oh I forgot to add that the first day...no projections! Crosstown was trying to use their Mac Air thing for the projector but I can't connect to that on my computer (it's a garbage setup anyway) and they tried to do a thing of logging in with their computer and I could send the files to them, but then they couldn't get it working with that computer anyway. So the videos I'd made didn't get used and the schedule I was going to project wasn't used either so I had to mc and that's always lame! Anyway, I knew how critical the video was for Graham's stuff so I let him know the situation and he came by to scope out the setup and figure out what to do. So the solution was he has a long hdmi cable and he just ran it straight from the projector. And there was already an hdmi cable up there (not as long and couldn't reach the stage)...in fact the very one I'd used previously but it was coiled up on the ceiling and since there are two hdmi ports we had both and could switch between them. So video the next day was better and I was able to show some of my videos that I'd made at least during three sets. Okay, video blather! Next it was The Corrupting Sea (I love their stuff, but as I was involved in the next act, it was the one I wasn't able to put as much attention to as the others!). Then The Memphis Concrète Electroacoustic Chamber Ensemble played! And I conducted. I think it went really well. In fact, once again the performance on stage was the best run-through (not that there were many before at all!). So yeah, again it was Catie on flute, Laura on violin, Alex on alto saxophone, Austin on oboe, and Karl on electronics. Man they sounded good! I'm still just blown away listening to them play and keeping up and adapting with the different tempos. The only thing I messed up was I hit the music stand with my baton towards the end as I too much got into the "triumphantly" of the last section. But yeah, again the premise is they're all playing parts of different scores of classical (and some other public domain) music at the same time. Got lots of compliments about it afterwards. Schaeffer said it almost made him cry. Ipek asked if I composed it, but I had to let her know it was composed by the public domain. That's the one I most can't wait to go back and listen to. Next it was Ipek Eginli. We wheeled out the piano in front of the stage for her. Then we moved the four speakers in the corners of the room a little closer to the center per her request for the impact of the quadraphonic sound. Everyone was asked to get in the center section. Wow! An intense fucking performance. She played the piano (with a bit of playing the wires inside, especially in the beginning) with the electronics going around the quadraphonic setup. Lots of quiet intensity and the audience was just rapt and you could feel the tension and pull towards her. She's really an incredible performer. And between notes you could hear a pin drop. I loved everybody, but this was a pretty huge moment for me (it kind of brought back the feeling of last festival's electroacoustic performance more than the thing I made up for it!...I mean, awesome in different ways...and in some ways her set was even "on paper" closer to it as well). And then Drop Ceiling closed the night out with an awesome set with Bennett on board on vocals. And then it's over! I got a little bit of merch from a few people I got some cds from Jason (The Corrupting Sea...including some of his other projects): AES: Planet Gazing, AES: Latchkey Dancefloor, The Corrupting Sea: Political Shit, The Corrupting Sea: The Healing House of Light, and Circumrotation: Cosmonaut. I also got an Infinity Stairs t-shirt. (Oh yeah, and the day before Jason gave me a The Corrupting Sea shirt too.) Talked to a few people. Got to tell Ipek that her mom had followed the page on ig and now I know how piano talent runs in the family. More stuff? Probably, feeling all a blur now. There was a lot of compliments about it this year and a lot of warm feelings afterwards. I meet Crosstown to go over it all on Friday so then I'll see how it did financially... Anyway, packed up and went home.

On Monday I picked the ladder back up from Crosstown. Not too much else since then. Been on some walks the past few days. Taken a peek at some of the audio recordings. A bit bummed about The Terminator recording. Recorded the metal and the synths on two separate recorders to have more control and maybe do a little mixing with them later. The metal came out alright, though it does sound different...smaller than it did all clanging and loud in the room. The synths got recorded way too hot and the whole thing peaks pretty badly. I may get the audio from some video recordings and mix them together and that might get an overall alright sound. We'll see. I can probably do some stuff with it but don't have the time yet. Haven't really dipped into the festival recordings but got them off the sd card and saw they're there. I think they probably came out okay...except Ipek's. I guess the rerouting of things for the quadaraphonics made it completely bypass the send to the recorder and I just found silence for that whole stretch. I mean, I'm sure it wouldn't have done it justice in the slightest and there's a good chance it would have missed the rear channels anyway. But still, getting nothing was a bummer. I'm sure the video got it so I can always go back to that and I know she recorded her set herself on her phone. Oh yeah. And while at the festival just before I went on for the Electroacoustic thing, I noticed that my lip had started to break out into a cold sore from the stress and lack of sleep. I mean, the festival itself really isn't stressful, but the live score had been and I never caught up from it (especially the lack of sleep itself being a stressor). So I'm kinda gross to look at and right now it's in the scabby-looking phase. Tangela who did the sound was really into the festival and wants to play it next time. Someone messaged me after from New Orleans saying their family came up (it kinda sounded like he said FOR it but maybe for something else and just was happy to have it as part of the trip) and really enjoyed it. I'm sure I have something else to say but I can't remember. At least this is mostly kind of caught up.