Chris Forsyth and his Solar Motel Band will perform every Thursday in June at Ortlieb's Lounge, 847 N. 3rd St., in Philadelphia. This is old school: three sets each night, starting at 9 p.m. Six bones gets you in. Please, buy Chris a beer for us.
Apache Dropout is back on the road, this time with Thee Tsunamis and Blank Realm. Check 'em:
May 24 Chicago @ the Burlington w/ Uh Bones
May 25 Cincinnati @ Chameleons
May 26 Columbus @ the Summit
May 27 Washington DC @ Black Cat w/ Foul Swoops
May 28 Brooklyn @ Death by Audio / Pop Zeus
May 29 Philly @ Ortliebs w/ Spacin'
May 30 ??
May 31 Cleveland @ Happy Dog w/ Wooly Bullies
June 1 Detroit @ Lo and Behold Books
Mr. Loren Connors: "Well… NY Times critic Ben Ratliff says I play notes so slowly it makes you wonder if I’m losing my way. I think this comment was said as a joke, or with a light heart. But I like to think about slowness. The same kind of thing was said about Billie Holliday, Lester Young, Miles Davis, Chet Baker, and on and on. The truth here lies in the fact that a person ages internally. The fast-paced, technically strong youthfulness gives way to a deeper concern. Look at Beethoven’s last quartets, op. 131 and others. Look at Chopin’s last nocturnes. And other great composers. They all offer us their slower, deeper sound in their final days. Like Ebenezer’s spirits, the spirit of Music past and Music present and even Music future is gonna haunt you. It sure will. And when you do get older, if it’s truth you’re after, you play like the man or woman that you’ve grown to become and you leave all the youthful techniques behind. At 63, I play like the man I’ve become, not the boy I once was."
Also, after some delay, we're proud to release a remastered, LP version of Loren's classic The Departing of a Dream. This is a gorgeous reissue of the 2002 CD, now with corrected cover photography and enhanced audio. There are only 700 copies, so it won't be around for long.
Collaborative movement/video piece by our pal Jed Speare and Marjorie Morgan, at MIT Museum in Cambridge, Mass., part of the CyberArts Loops event, April 2009. Photo by Bob Raymond.