Freewheelin'

If you could ask Bob Dylan one question what would it be?

As of today, mine would be: 

Can a stone roll up hills, 

or it stuck on a downward spiral 

because of it's solid, un-moldable figure?

How much wind would it take?

Okay, that's two questions.

Callous

Georgia O'Keeffe recommended with Cat Power's "Maybe Not"

MOMIX Dance

Boing!

Reminds me of when Anton and I broke the futon whilst singing to Dana Fuchs.

PUMPED

Gallim Dance, a company I love, is promoting my blog.  Wow.  Thank you.

Dazed Conspiracies

Read my recent off off-Broadway review of Hollow Log.

Thanks.

creature fear

Bon Iver

"There's a romance about New York that's amazing", he says, "but I'd lose my mind a bit.  All these people who have the courage to be here all the time-good for them, you know?" 

-Bon Iver, my musical obsession for the last month.

What a contradiction that I adore his haunting track, "Woods".  Lets switch places for a bit, Mr. Vernon.

Animal Collective

No, really.

AMAZING!

Where are the Pretty Pretty Princess beads?

Noa Dar Dance

This is so out of my league and the visuals are something I could never imagine coming to life.  I would like to ask the architect a few questions.


read about it here

Conventional or Cool?

I have now joined the Twitter community, and I'm not gonna lie, I love it.  Now I can entertain pretty much myself and Lisa Schwartz by updating my life in miniscule proportions, also known as micro-blogging.  This can slowly undo my alter ego as the whore of the Facebook status.  

xoxo

Hugs (my North Carolina pre-rolled nickname)

Ready to Dance

Should I feel guilty that every time I see organized dance in a public space I think of Freddie Prinze Jr. and "Funk Soul Brother"? I think not.

Ashley & Alcohol

Post-college and something has been accomplished.  Flashing lights..lights...lights.

Subway Whore

Today I took the road much traveled by, walking numerous city blocks in Anne Klein heels...poor decis on my part. I would like to retrace my workday steps to you, reader, just because I feel like doing so. ">" will stand for "walked", and I will label all subway lines by their appropriate color...if I can manage to stay awake through this post. Here goes:

Begin:

- Port Authority 42nd St. & 8th> to 32nd at 6th (because I took a multivitamin this morning).  Arrived at destination 1) IKA
- From IKA took N, R to Rector. > to 80 Greenwich, arrived at destination 2) 3LD
-> from 3LD back to Rector. Took N, R one stop up to City Hall. > to 280 Bway & Chambers.   Arrived at destination 3) DNA
-> to Church and "I forgot" to take A, C, E to Spring (SoHo). Arrived at destination 4) Physique 57.
-> from Bway & Spring to Mercer & Prince. Arrived at destination 5) Joyce SoHo.
-> to N, R on Prince & W. Bway to 14th (Union Square).
- 4pm.
-> to 18th & 6th to destination 6) Bodi Balance only for it to be closed.
-> to 37 E. 18th to destination 7) Djoniba Dance & Drums only to find out they moved.
- Got a craving for Chipotle (haven't eaten there in over 6 months) and ignored it. I also ignored the impulse to pee.
-> to 890 BWay & 6th (E. 19th) to destination 8) Peridance.
-> across town to 219 W. 19th St. to destination 9) DTW.
-> uptown to W. 27th St. to destination 10) Lotus.
- Ate at a different Chipotle chain. Was good.
-> to 28th St. Station (28th St. & 7th). Took 1 to 42nd St.
- > to 305 W. 38th St. to destination 11/12 [if you count Chipotle])NDG.
- > to 322 W. 45th St. to destination 13) BDC.
- > back to Port Authority.
- Home.  Peed.

Long day but good day. I was going to write about people I saw on the subway, but maybe tomorrow because I'm not done! Have five more destinations to canvass and conquer.

Tuesday releases

New Music Tuesdays and one of my favorite bands, The Derek Trucks Band, has debuted their new album Already Free.

I was fortunate to have seen these guys at Bonnaroo 2008, and seeing as how they rarely tour extensively, I felt extremely lucky to jam out and sway easily on Sunday (the last day of the festival) while the sun set behind vast Tennessee plains.

Some of my favorite tracks from older albums:

"Sarod", The Derek Trucks Band
"Sahib Teri Bandi/Maki Madni", Songlines
"Revolution", Songlines
"Mahjoun", Songlines
"This Sky", Songlines
"Joyful Noise", Joyful Noise

So excited!!  Already predicting new favs "Down In the Flood", "Sweet Inspiration", "Already Free", "Down Don't Bother Me", and "Our Love".  Trucks, a Florida native, performed with The Allman Brothers Band for over a decade, and has collaborated with his wife, Susan Tedeschi, on multiple occasions.  Trucks is notorious for making the guitar "sing".  That is the only way I know how to describe his music.  You can sing/hum/scat/sway/stamp/belt/skip to his eloquent rhythms, and it's more beautiful than a Phoenix's song.  Dig it.

NYC Dance Happenings- Gallim Dance

Gallim Dance
By: Ashley L. Mathus

Andrea Miller’s company, Gallim Dance, is nothing short of extraordinary. Dance Magazine named Andrea Miller one of the “25 to Watch” in its January 2009 issue; not only did we watch, we were transfixed. Founded in 2006, Gallim Dance is a NYC based company known for its “kinetic and intimate expressions of the self and its inner mosaic of weaknesses, desires, and struggles.” Miller’s evening length work, Blush creates, regurgitates and weaves fiery choreography within a world we only can wish to be a part of. Seven dancers, three females and four males, dance like they mean it for a non-stop sixty minutes. Can’t it be forever?

Blush opens with a solo by Moo Kim. Agile and fierce, Kim has no limits- his arms leave behind trails of momentum while his body pops with aggressive vigor. Gallim’s refreshing choreography and intricate body language stimulates and entices, while multiple sexual innuendos and alien-like postures integrate human instincts and classic techniques. Each dancer jumps like it’s their last chance, twisting and jiving without emoting attitudes of immortality.

Francesca Romo, Rehearsal Director and co-founder of Gallim Dance, appears to be a creature from another planet. Her obtuse body angles and alluring face toys with our emotions as we are brought into her enigmatic world. Swinging like a child and balancing like a circus performer, this London native jolts her body with a Tasmanian force. Romo squirms through partnering duets and trios, pops her torso like an Olympic athlete, jiggles with a smile, and exuberates a sense of aliveness unseen in a dance company in years.

Lighting designer, Vincent Vigilante, creates a tense and foggy atmosphere, illustrating a stage of dim anticipation. An eclectic array of musical genres, including M.I.A.’s “Hussel” (Featuring Afrikan Boy), Wolf Parade’s “I’ll Believe In Anything”, and Radiohead remixes, are nothing short of genius. Miller’s unexpected decisions leave mouths agape, taking on the element of surprise and successfully transitioning her sectionized choreography. Though these songs (compositionally) have very little in common, Miller’s vision enables the music to adapt to contorted backs and outstanding explosive movement- fashioning a delicious bag of goodies. Observing the shifting attitudes with each musical choice, one witness’s pure enjoyment embodied by the performers, no matter how difficult, fast, or random the choreography may appear.

Gallim Dance is performing Blush and I Can See Myself In Your Pupil at the Joyce SoHo until January 18th. Please visit joyce.org for ticket prices or gallimdance.com for more information about the company. We promise you, you won’t be disappointed.

Above is excerpts from I Can See Myself In Your Pupil and not the reviewed, Blush.

Those To Come

9 of those:

^re: we love you, darling, come work for us.

^a Wyoming morning.

^backyard phenoms.

^a [come back!] tween titantic.

^a given, sustained.

^a reunion with my best friend.

^goals on the horizon

^growth in color

^to happen.

[Can I borrow your wishing well?]

Motion Occupies Music: Raphael Rudd

I owe you one.

In thinking about things, one of my favorite musical experiences was working with Raphael.
He sat down at a piano and just played the sh....out of it and played the harp with such ferocity that I wondered how the strings did not snap.
He has always been in the background of my mind. I brought grandma out to see him play at the cultural center in Nutley, and how she loved it!
You were about 2 1/2 years old while I was working nights on his album. As a matter of fact I would come home at 8am dress you and bring you to the sitter so I could get a couple of hours of sleep, then pick you up in the afternoon to spend some time together before heading back to Clinton recording studio to work. There was one morning when I was so tired that I locked myself out of the house and stood in the pouring rain crying.....Oh well...I finally got someone to come to the house with the keys.

Anyway I digress, Raphael's music is/was amazing, and I have just found out that he passed away in 2002. I am sad. It is one of those things where you always hope to see or hear from someone. Where you often wonder what they are up to and where you find out the news that I have just received. I just got done looking him up on the web. It really is so unfortunate that the world has lost such a gentle, incredibly creative soul.

I came to meet Raphael via my work I had done with Suzanne Ciani. As a fan of hers he came to the studio on 23rd St in NYC and we met. I started working on his album in NY on the heels of Suzanne's Grammy nominated "Neverland". It was Raphael and his producer that paid my airfare for me, dad and you to go to LA for the Grammy's. THEY were the one's who made sure I was there for such an achievement. Through my work with Raphael I came to be introduced to Annie Haslam of Renaissance, a woman with one of the most beautiful voices. She sang on one of the album cuts and we also went on to record another piece. I thank him for that experience as well.

I would love for you to look him up on the web, listen to his CD and admire his talent. I was blessed to have known him as a person and worked with him as a professional. I will miss him.

Motion Occupies Music: 1975-2009

So this is how it all started. I used to go to every possible concert in the NYC area. The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, and the list goes on…..

I loved my music, often falling asleep wearing headphones listening to Quadrophenia and the like. What always amazed me were the layers of guitars on Led Zeppelin’s recordings. How did they do that? It was always so beautiful.

I was enrolled to become a freshman at Montclair State. My schedule was set, and I even had an off campus attic apartment rented. I was headed to become an entertainment lawyer. I always wanted to be involved in the entertainment, specifically music business, and since I sucked as a musician I thought I would come at it from a different angle. I began to search out some pre-college summer courses at the New School in NYC so that maybe I could get a jump start over the summer leading into college. That was 1975. I came across a recording studio course, but it was already booked up at the New School, Then I heard about the Recording Institute of Technology. I somehow talked my parents into letting me take this 8 week course. It was held at the old Bell Sound Studios on 54th st. between 8th and Broadway.

The minute I walked into the studio a saw the huge recording console with all those buttons I was smitten. I asked my parents if I found a job, could I put off college to try this out. They shook their heads and somewhat said ok. I proceeded to go to NY with my friend Chancey, and in the Port Authority I ripped out the yellow pages of the phone book that contained the phone numbers and addresses of recording facilities in the city.
I remember going to several, including A&R, asking to become an apprentice, willing to do what I had to to learn. Finally I heard back from Bernard Fox the then owner and manager of Good Vibrations recording studios, 1440 Broadway, the old RKO studios on the 25th floor. They “hired” me and paid me $20/wk, when they remembered to be an apprentice.

This is where it started, this is where I became hooked. I worked with Jon Fausty who was the main engineer for Fania Records. I got to work with Johnny Pacheco, Willie Colon, Mongo Santamaria, Ray Baretto, Larry Harlow, etc. The premier Latin musicians of the day, the Fania All Stars. I received my first movie credit at the age of 18 for the movie “The Fania All-Stars” It was unusually challenging, but most of the musicians and technicians were encouraging and giving in offering me, a high school graduate from Union City, the opportunity to learn and work with them. I will always remember learning how to place the huge RCA44 Ribbon microphones on the brass section, and how to situate a huge studio using gobos to get the best isolation. Good Vibrations even had live echo chambers that I used to go into to arrange the mics and amps inside. It was classic.