One Mouth Band at The Sleeping Lady Tuesday night November 30, 2008
Posted by onemouthband in : Music, One Mouth Band , add a commentPlease come to my last Marin performance of 2008. It’ll be my the last one here for at least 3-months too, as I’ll be heading Down Under for January and February. This will be a mostly live-looping show for me, with plenty of brand-new material and spontaneous musical creations.
I will be one of the four musicians performing that night as part of my friend Jack Irving’s Singer-Songwriter Showcase at the new Sleeping Lady. As you may know, The Sleeping Lady is located at 25 Broadway in Fairfax at the sight formerly occupied by Cafe Amsterdam. It opened its doors for the first time about 2 weeks ago, and with it’s unique mixture of good food and great music it has already become the favorite destination for dining and entertainment in Fairfax.
Joining me will be Teja Gerken, a virtuoso acoustic guitarist who has toured throughout Europe and the United States; new-comer Sam Rogers, whose stunning a cappella vocal performances have garnered him gigs at Yoshi’s and comparisons to Jazz great Bobby McFerrin; and Jon Keigwin, whose unique voice and incomparable skills as a songwriter combined to make him a crowd favorite at my show last week.
The show starts at 9:00, but please come early to have dinner and then stick around for what is sure to be a wonderful evening.
TEJA GERKEN -
SAM ROGERS
JON KEIGWIN
JACK IRVING
Busy Friday November 9, 2008
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This Friday I’ll be co-leading TaKeTiNa with Zorina Wolf at Stanford University, an Organic Human Music solo set at the San Francisco Green Festival, and a bit of beatboxing with The Vowel Movement at Ashkenaz in Berkeley. If you’re interested, check out my calendar for more details.
Burning Schedule July 25, 2008
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T-minus one month, and counting…
I am supremely jazzed to be returning to Burning Man again this year. I’ll be singing up a (dust) storm again as the One Mouth Band with my wearable looping sound system, going gospelicious with the Playa Kwaya, leading rhythm circles, and of course singing with my favoritest group in the world: Acapplaya.
For those of you headed that way too, here’s my schedule as much as I know. There will likely be a lot more performing going on, but probably not any less. I arrive Monday the 25th and leave a week later on Labor Day. I’m camping with Acapplaya again as well, as near to 8 and Corvair as we can get.
One Mouth Band at Jam Camp West July 21, 2008
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Next week I’ll be teaching daily beatboxing and body percussion classes for 10-14 year-olds at a great new music camp called Jam Camp West. There will also be instrumental ensembles, dancing, singing, and other fun classes designed to turn kids on to music. It’s the junior version of Jazz Camp West and I’m happy to be faculty for this initial launch year!
One Mouth Backup Band, at your service July 10, 2008
Posted by onemouthband in : Inspiries, Music, One Mouth Band , add a comment
I’ve been frequenting open mics a lot lately. Portland, Charleston, and all over the SF Bay Area. One thing I’m starting to do more and more (and absolutely LOVE!) is being the rhythm section for other acoustic acts. Lucky for me, the other performers — and more importantly, the audiences — seem to love it too!
I’ve had the chance to do everything from folk to funk to jazz to pop to reggae to rock to blues to hip-hop to latin to indian to the indescribably genre-bending journeys between and beyond all those. I’ve channeled my favorite drummers (like John Bonham and Zigaboo Modaliste) on their own legendary tunes, juggled some killer vocal bass or keyboard parts in the drums, taken outrageous vocal guitar or trumpet solos, generally put a bunch of instruments where there otherwise wouldn’t be any. Every so often I throw in some actual, lyriced harmonies, too.
The best part for me is that I never know what’s going to happen next. I rarely if ever get any direction beyond “go”, and 80% of the time I don’t even know the song I’m joining in on. The best part for those I’m jamming with is that they get the energy infusion of a whole band for no hassle (and so far, no pay, but that can change anytime).
I am wide open to do more of this kind of work. If you have a favorite singer-songwriter that you think would spark well with me, please let me know. Thanks!
One Mouth Band at Peri’s next Sunday May 18, 2008
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Krickie’s Songwriter’s Night Showcase takes place the last Sunday of every month, and this particular Sunday I’ll be a featured guest! Come down and hear some of the ORIGINAL material I’ve been working on lately, and don’t worry about it staying out late because Monday is a holiday. There are also be some other fantastic, local songwriters on the bill: francisco avilles, jon keigwin, gabriel ortiz, brian weeber, michael welch, kari weeber, kelly peterson, sean, jad & jolie, and matt hansen.
FREE SHOW!
bar phone: 415.459.9910
bar web site: http://home.earthlink.net/~mikebtl/
hosted by krickie
This is a free show, but Peri’s is a bar so you gotta order a drink or two (21+, sorry kids!).
29 Broadway in downtown Fairfax, CA
8pm-2am on Sunday, May 25th, 2008
for more info, visit Peri’s website
One Mouth Band at Silverton Wine & Jazz Festival May 7, 2008
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I’ll be doing three 1-hour jazz sets at this year’s Wine & Jazz festival in Silverton, Oregon this Saturday, May 10th. I’m not quite sure where I’m going to be and when, but you can find more info at SilvertonWineAndJazz.com. It should be a really nice small-town festival, with lots of great music and food and Willamette Valley wines!
As an extra treat, my brother will be coming down from Portland and will likely join me on a few tunes as well.
Whole Foods presents 100% Organic Human Music April 9, 2008
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I’ve been wanting to get on the Whole Food circuit for a while. It seems like the perfect fit for my brand of organic music, right? Now they’re just starting to open up their stages for 2008, and I’m on in Petaluma from 4-6PM this Saturday! I used to live just a half a mile away from this store, so it’s extra special for me. I’ll be doing solo and live looping stuff, come on down if you can and show some love!
Whole Foods Market
621 E. Washington St
Petaluma, CA 94952
707.762.9352
Carnegie / McFerrin Update March 21, 2008
Posted by onemouthband in : One Mouth Band, Travels , add a comment
Well, now due to administrative error it seems I will not be auditing the Instant Opera workshop either. Bummer #2.
On the plus side, I found out one very good reason why I didn’t make the cut: Adam Matta. If I’m losing out to him, it’s cool because the better man definitely won. I had the chance to meet him a few years ago when I was at the East Coast A Cappella Summit. He and Matisyahu were up after me at the Saturday night concert and they were hot! Adam does a whole jazz thing in addition to his formidable beatbox chops. I really hope we get the chance to work together again someday.
Also on the bill is Akim Funk Buddha, another amazing performer and beatboxer. In case you’re curious like me about who else is to be part of the Instant Opera, here are their names and links for all of them I could find. Looks like an astounding mound of talent!
- Clarice Assad
- Max Baillie
- Tim Buchholz
- Stacey Carter
- OluShola Cole
- Camille Dalmais
- Nihan Devecioglu
- Ayelet Rose Gottlieb
- Anne-Marie Hildebrandt
- Christiane Karam
- Sofia Koutsovitis
- Jo Lawry
- Jennifer Jade Ledesna
- Stephanie Nilles
- Antonio Parker
- Randall Scotting
- Gino Sitson
- Charles Turner, III
One step closer to a lifelong goal February 4, 2008
Posted by onemouthband in : Music, One Mouth Band , add a commentToday I sent an application/audition to Carnegie Hall to sing with Bobby McFerrin in one of his new projects called the Instant Opera. It’s a weeklong workshop with a concert performance on the last day, 20-singers of varying world vocal disciplines. I don’t really know that much about it, I just know that I want in. It’s a chance to live one of my dreams: to sing with Bobby McFerrin at Carnegie Hall.
Much to my surprise, I actually put together what I believe is a pretty strong package. Adding it all up, I’ve done a decent amount of theater, especially of the improv variety, and a helluva lot of a cappella singing, especially of the improv variety. Hopefully I’m in the realm of what they’re looking for. I think I find out sometime in March.
As usual, I was racing the deadline to make it all happen though. I got my letters of recommendation at the last possible moment. Plus, I ended up throwing most of the audition together from recordings I already had and improvising the last one (listen to it below) into my iPod in a CompUSA parking lot, then going inside to buy the CDR that I burned off my laptop in the car on my way to FedEx-Kinko’s to copy my headshot and just make the cutoff for pickup. Why do I do this to myself? I found out about the opportunity late in the game, but it didn’t have to be that dramatic.
Keep your fingers crossed for me! If all goes well, I’ll have all my major singing goals checked off but one by May! As for that last one, it’s a doozy. More on that later.
