| DMG's 6th Newsletter, late as usual...
ho hum.
First and foremost, to those of you who celebrated it, we hope it was a Happy Chanukah. To the rest of you Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa and Happy(sober)New Year. Don't drink/smoke/shoot/snort/osmose and drive and please don't operate heavy machinery while under the influence. We need you(and your buying power)around in the new year. That was a warm holiday message from Bruce and vile sarcastic additives from Mike. Now, on to business... "MUSIC OF THE JEWS!" shouted John Zorn, with fist raised in the air, at the end of one the finest sets MASADA pulled off during their 11 day stay at ther Knit in April of this year. That rush of spiritual pride flowing through all our veins, bringing the screaming audience to their feet together... After a triumphant tour of Europe (chamber version) and the US (regular quart.), MASADA are back at the Knit for 6 nites of Chanukah. Although regular drummer Joey Baron is sick with the flu, Mike Sarin (Thomas Chapin Trio & Dave Douglas String Group) filled in relatively well for 3 nites, considering the current MASADA songbook is up to 202 tunes!! Still, the final 3 nites were the real gems with new wonder drummer Susie Ibarra (David S.Ware Qt. & Matt Shipp Trio) really pushing MASADA to new heights. There were also 4 sets by the MASADA String Trio (Mark Feldman, Erik Friedlander & Greg Cohen), all recorded for possible Tzadik release next year. The String Trio were/are totally amazing, considering their dozen gigs in Europe just last month, Feldman was on fire!!! The recently received MASADA 7 is another winner, so order yours today ($20), if you haven't gotten it yet. Zorn tells me MASADA 8 is the best yet & will be out in Japan in a month or so. No freebie offer yet, but save those coupons just in case... FINALLY!!, just recieved today, 4 new Avant titles by Jim Plotkin, Duck Baker, Dougie Bowne Trio with John Medeski and Greg Cohen's first release with Dave Douglas. All are $20 Jap. import cd's, so contact us if you are so inclined. The Knit & us are supposedly the only ones of the east coast to recieve these titles, along with the Derek Bailey jungle cd, so far. Speaking of Derek Bailey, the godfather of free jazz guitar is back in NYC for a handful of exciting gigs. On Dec. 13th & 14th, Derek will be at the Knit, with surprise guest Pat Metheny, and two drummers- Paul Wertico & Gregg Bendian!!! For those of you who think of Metheny only as a CD101 type of smooth jazz guitarist, you'll be in for a surprise. Every few years Pat shocks his fans with a noise/avant project that usually wows the adventurous, but pisses off his fans. That collaboration with Ornette Coleman, "Song X", as well as his solo noise guitar cd "Zero Tolerance for Silence" were just right for us here at DMG. On Sunday, Derek will pull off an unusual duo with jungle rhythmatist DJ Soul Slinger also at the Knit. And then the following Wed. the 18th, it is the return of Yankees- Derek with Zorn & George Lewis, first gig in 15 years. That set will be part of the all-star 3 nite, 6 set Roulette benefit also at the Knit & that looks to be one of the best fests of 1996!!! Please come on down & support Roulette, they certainly deserve it. GARY LUCAS is one of my favorite guitarists, a monster player on both electric & acoustic guitars, often with mucho devices. He was one of Capt. Beefheart's last guitarists, hence he can pull off almost anything. We've just recieved not one, but two new releases from my good bud-Gary. "Evangeline" is a superb solo acoustic guitar effort, 15 trax, 49 minutes of wacky acoustic bliss. From blues to Chinese soundtrack music to Wagner to a heartfelt Sun Ra cover, Gary mines many styles. He even sings nicely on a couple of tunes. A Windam Hell thing, this is not. The other release is an electric collaboration with Czech band-Urfaust entitled "The Ghosts of Prague". It is mostly layered electric guitars, often solo with members of Urfaust playing fretless bass, soprano sax, minimal cymbals and occ- asional vocals. A dark eerie journey, with a few effective spoken word sections. Stories of ancient legends, phantoms & ghosts of Prague. Gary gets to spin his flanged, mutated swarm of guitar sonics all over this fine cd. Both cd's are imports, but we have'em in stock for $14 each. Thanks to Thomas Chapin, I checked out an amazing duo set at the alterknit last Sunday. It was violinist extraordinaire Mark Feldman with excellent Swiss pianist named Sylvie Courvoisie. Each piece was different and powerful. Sylvie utilized pieces of wood placed inside the piano to get an array of odd sounds. Feldman continues to blow minds always. A duo cd will be forthcoming. This Sunday, 15th, Thomas Chapin will be duetting with Sylvie also at the Alterknit (downstairs at the Knit) at 9pm. Should be equally amazing, come on down if you can. We finalized things for our 5 1/2 year anniversary gig/party at Context studio on Friday Jan. 3rd. Everyone mentioned in our previous newsletter will be there... Zorn & Susie Ibarra, Thurston Moore, Alan Licht and Loren Mazzacane, John Richey's new thing, Kurt Ralske & Jane Scarpantoni, Robert Musso & Steve Buchanan, Escapade, Oatmeal Banana w/ Kato and even my project-Suburban Bohemia. Should be a long & wild nite!!! Our special guest that nite will be an old palomine- Steve Buchanan, currently living in Switzerland. Steve is an extraordinary guitar & sax player, originally from Philly, who used to be in Philly avant units like Taka-Iki, Illtar, Olduvai. He moved to NYC in the 80's & collaborated with Fred Frith, Kurt Ralske, Bill Milkowski (in Read My Lips), the Sirens and Ellen Christie. His first solo effort/cd was just released called, "Those Who Say", it is a masterpiece of weirdness, bizarre layers of warped saxes & guitars, both electric & acoustic. We just recieved copies here at DMG for $14 per. I had the good fortune to see Steve's old unit Taka-Iki perform a few times-they were the best sax ensemble I've ever heard. The personnel included George Bishop (NY Gong, now resides in Ger- many, Elliott Levin (New Ghost, Talking Free Bebop), and Rick Iannicone (Jamaaladeen & Linda Sharrock units). Steve B. & Elliott will be doing a sax trio with Thomas Chapin at our fest. Should be astounding!!! HOLGER CZUKAY, formerly of CAN will be doing his first gig in the US ever on Sat. Jan. 4th at the Knitting Factory. It is so rare to see/hear any of those CAN dudes over here. Holger's last cd "Moving Pictures" is finally being released by Caroline in January. An important event... That's all, Bruce G. You are vectored to enter Mikesspace, please make your airspeed 300 knots and your altitude Angels 7 on a heading of 190 that's one niner zero. Your being handed off to Mike now... This edition is dedicated to Jason at Projekt records who set this store up with stylin' promos & killer prices and Elvis, who lives. Hi, and welcome to Mike's Space (domain, realm, universe, etc.) For this edition and probably as usual we will begin with the HOT BABES LIST. First up is Christine Taylor (aka Marcia, Marcia, Marcia from the Brady Bunch Movies). Grrrrr... Her potential babeness managed to shine thru even the petty cutesiness of the Marcia Brady character which made her famous (?) but she has truly gone into the outer reaches of HOT as Cher on ABC's cheesy sitcom version of Clueless (the movie which thrust Alicia Silver- stone into our hearts). If it's even still on, check it out. Second at bat is JADA PINKETT!!!!! Megababe Deluxe with large fries and a shake. Her body of work includes A Low Down Dirty Shame (cute waste of time), Set It Off (currently in theatres, she smolders) and Jason's Lyric (she can act, too). Next we'll discuss Karen Duffy. Former MTV VJ (Duff) and to my knowledge one time actress (Blank Check, I think, was the title of the one film I know she's been in) and current Revlon model(Charlie Perfume)is one of those women you just seem to forget until you see her again and then you say- "Mike was right to include her in the HBL". Truly, a Karen Valentine/ Melanie Chartoff for this sad generation. Finally, Jennifer Lopez- the only thing that made the movie Money Train worth watching (ok, it wasn't that bad, but she sure helped make it worth watching... again. I'd say keep an eye out for her but her follow up roles have not lit the world on fire... sad, very sad. ) My Current Listening Faves now include- #1/overt-plug/go-out-and-buy-this-disc-now
honors goes to Perfume Tree. This thing is so good that 17 syllables won't
do it justice. (sorry, Ken) Curve meets Clannad, Bjork and Sinead at an
Ozric Tentacles gig with Mad Professor at the board. Amazing!, 'nuff said.
5-7-5, keepin it alive, prepare to dive,
and shuck the jive as we revive- HAIKU REVIEW
(RIYL: that feeling after your anti-depressants wear off) lovely and haunting
The Future Sound Of London- Dead Cities- Astralwerks
change is good say them
(RIYL: Material's last disc, Laswell's Tetragrammaton) trance-hop-jungle jazz
Mortiis- Crypt of the Wizard- Dark Dungeon
more of the same here
Valefor- Death Magick- Death Factory
black ambient chills
(RIYL: Enigma 45's on 33 1/3, unnecessary vocals killing otherwise fine music) sadly, it's over
Final- 2- Sentrax/Rawkus
isolationist
(RIYL: FSOL's ISDN, T.H.D., MDMA) pt.1
pt.2
(RIYL: racing heartbeats, playing Killer Instinct with the sound off and Front Line Assembly's "Gun" playing on infinite repeat with the window open to let in the winter air, epilepsy.) Future Sound meet Fluke
Klank- Still Suffering- Tooth and Nail
disillusionment
(RIYL: moping) this is bleak gray stuff
TTFN- Emperor Mike 2000- Get used to it. |
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