Announcement
It's time for another tribal fusion bellydance extravaganza with dancers Amethyst, Shanti and Astarte once again bringing their impressive work to the Rex...and this time with a narrative. I'll be playing guitar/uke/laptop, but with a significantly new flavor--one of my guitars is now in saz tuning, and it's become something of an obsession of late. Plus I'm working up some new arrangements and new pieces, so my segment will be largely new, and tied into the story. And we'll have other live musicians! In addition to me, it'll be psychedelic trance duo Life in Balance, bringing their holistic, vibratory explorations to the Rex...and I'll be joining them toward the end of their set.

Also on the bill, so Amethyst tells me:
Pre-recorded music by various artists of electronica, tribal and bellydance rock
Luminescent props and funky costume styles
Open Dance Floor with DJ Matt Monroe (Humanaut crew) (Tribal, Industrial, House music) and DJ Defiant & Godfather Sage (DC/Baltimore) (Drum and Bass)!

Come on by! You have nothing to lose but the lack-of-bellydance in your evening!

Friday, January 26, 2007, The Rex (South Side), 1602 East Carson Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203, 8 p.m. - midnight, $10 Cover, 21+.

Report
Over the years I've had varying experiences doing shows at the Rex, and this was one of the highs--lots of love in the room this evening! As happens, I was running late for load-in, but managed to wedge the Mini into a small space behind the Rex, so only had to walk around the front carrying pretty much the limit of gear I'm capable of doing in one trip. The extra is from my bringing the saz-tuned Heit Deluxe. Just as I was getting into the space, I got a call from Steve from Life In Balance--he and Ami were loaded in, waiting for me so I could keep an eye on their stuff while they checked out a gallery crawl (fine by me--I'd been planning on hanging out the whole night anyway).

Due to my not getting in the house until 7:25 or so, my available time was tight. While I was setting up, Anne stopped by with her vegan take on a popular chocolate-coated peppermint confection which was quite tasty and restorative. Awesome. Tuning went longer than I'm used to, now that I'm tuning three instruments, and the saz-tuned Heit doesn't really hold tuning that well, so I was getting a bit nervous about being out of tune immediately when my set started. I did manage to get a monitor soundcheck and be set up by 8...though soundman Denny and I didn't quite connect on a full soundcheck through the monitors. (It sounded good to me, and I'd thought we had gone through an FOS soundcheck. I had a lot on my mind, apparently.) Finally I was set up, though, with audience already in seats by 8. I hung out chatting with Godfather Sage and DJ Defiant, a couple of nice guys from DC and Baltimore with really good taste in drum 'n' bass. While I was waiting for things to begin, I saw my friend Dan walk in, and he mentioned that some other friends were joining him as well, so that was a plus. Good timing, too--in a few minutes the program would get started. Oh, and it was being taped for release on DVD. So there was a bit of pressure, but I couldn't let it distract me.

The cane dance was up first, and quite dramatic on the stage. I went around stageside so that I could make my entrance unobtrusively at the end of the piece. Nice bonus: Astarte scrupulously avoiding the laptop stand, even while swinging a cane around. That's control.

My set started with Shanti, and it started pretty much as planned--with more rigid beats at 180, gated to distortion. I put a typical guitar line over top, and started adding beats, putting the guitar line through stutterers and slicers as well. Some of the deep bass, apparently, was felt quite physically in the room, which was nice. While I kept recording loops and moving them into non-recording channels, I quickly found that advancing through the beats as I'd planned was also going to turn off some of the samples, so I had to do some patch editing during the set to prevent this.

Gradually I built up layers and changed the beats in a way that even now seems pretty good, though at the time I had some issues with swapping between the two guitars, having to unplug the one and plug in the other (no new AB switcher yet). When I brought the Heit in toward the end of the first section, it did sound good and in tune, though listening now I apparently got confused as to where the 1 was at times, and kind of drifted around the beat at first. Damn. The chaotic section I'd planned did work ok, although I really should have had the percussion gated at the time--it doesn't sound broken enough without the gating. (I really should have had most of the patterns gated into distortion for the first part.) And I have to say that the saz-tuned Heit sounded pretty good when beat-sliced.

Amethyst had relieved Shanti during this section, and by the time Astarte came on, I was able to make the transition to 130. In retrospect, I spend way too long at 180 bpm--certainly more than I planned. The 130 section was looser and more organic, with more consonant volume swells from the Kalamazoo, and ultimately the uke, doing the kind of exotic minor key thing I tend to do in these pieces.

After Astarte went off, I'd expected Shanti to come back on, but what they'd had in mind was that after their solos for the DVD, this was my solo. At the time I wasn't sure if they were coming back, or if I was running too long (I kind of was--long by three minutes) and should end things, or step out for a solo (with the uke, a bit, but not with the guitars). I did loop the uke and reverse it, and underneath that added the Heit on a drone, which maintains the exotic mood in a way. So at the time the end of my set felt kind of like a half measure...though listening back to it, it works.

So while there were some uncertain moments, my performance was not at all bad, and of course the dancers were awesome...though I'm often a bit too busy to watch the dance much. I must have done reasonably well, though, as I ended up making a number of CD sales of the earlier belly dance stuff! So, another bonus.

Coming offstage, I saw that Min of My Boyfriend the Pilot was in the house, too, and caught the last bit of the set--she said she dug it, which was nice. Particularly at that point, I had no idea how it'd gone over. Other friends concurred, and I spent some time touching base. The DJs were digging it as well. One common thread seemed to be the surprise of the uke sounding the way I tend to use it, as opposed to the plinka-plinka that people are expecting. So, cool.

The dancers then did more pieces to prerecorded accompaniment, all of which was quite engaging, and even striking in movement and the use of costumes. This is a really good group of dancers. Each has her individual style, but they also work very well together, and you should check out their next performance.

By the first intermission, we had Steve and Ami back, so while they didn't see my set, they got to see some of the dancing. At the second intermission, I pitched in to help them set up. We put Ami in the middle, with the bowls elevated in front of her on a table, which just happened to be at the right height and angle to pick up the colored lights from above, so they seemed to glow in several colors--neat. Steve's new Radius keyboard was really nice, particularly in its ergonomics--the laptop fits right on a little shelf next to the main module.

Theirs was a really enjoyable set--they accompanied Shanti in a kind of mermaid dance, and Steve's new synth patches had a very Gong-esque underwater feel, and Ami was really stoking things along with the percussion (it was a bit tough to pick out the bowls from where I was standing). Great stuff. As we'd agreed, at the end of their first piece I ran up and joined them for a 10-or-so-minute jam, during which Steve did synth, flute, and pennywhistle, and I alternated between beats, both guitars, and uke. We really hit the pocket after a few minutes, it seemed--for my part, it was when I started adding consonant drones from the Heit, getting into the rhythm of it and showing my Branca connection, though the uke (and backwards uke) and the sitar-like string of the Kalamazoo also made appearances. I wasn't quite sure how to end, and in fact probably missed a good ending cue, but Steve covered for us by launching a Shepard tone for that endlessly-rising effect. And we were done. One more dance to pre-recorded music, and it was on to the open dance floor.

I touched base with the friends who'd come to the event, and eventually we broke our gear down. Rather than load out right away, we had a beer, chatted a bit, and loaded out. On my way out, I got some more appreciation from audience members who invited me to go drinking (I declined--it was midnight; time to get home), but settled for a CD. And Amethyst and a friend of hers helped me load out, saving my back and knees a bit. And soon I was home, listening to the set, and deciding that it indeed had its moments. I'm looking forward to the DVD, as well.

Extra bonus: now that many Pittsburgh bars, performance venues, and restaurants are non-smoking, I actually managed to leave the Rex not smelling like I rolled around on the back of Satan's tongue. The only smoke in the air was the vanilla-scented fog machine. I'm impressed. Now I can reconsider playing bars.