So we went down to New York this weekend to check out a couple things that had been catching our eye for some time. We mistakenly thought that the Dali exhibit was open at MOMA, but that's an entirely different story. One cool thing we DID get to see was David Byrne's installation at the Battery Maritime building, called "Playing the Building ". This was a pretty cool concept in theory, and when I actually got in and got to play, I was not dissapointed. While the actual tones left something to be desired, I felt that the experience was the real art here. I was able to get a decent melody going with some of the pipes on the walls, and some of the more percussive sounds (on columns, walls, and the ceiling) were really interesting. Read up on the installation and how the thing works at the link above. And check out the video of me doing my best to make some noise come out of this strange work of art.
I'd recommend anyone in the lower Manhattan area go and check this out. It's well worth it and its FREE.
So for a nice treat for New Year's Eve Eve this year we got to see Tony Levin perform for a very small crowd in a somewhat intimate setting at the Acton Jazz Cafe , about 30 mins outside Boston.
Anyone who's ever listened to music has probably heard Tony Levin at some point, on some album, unknowingly. For others, like us, he's simply a bass god who can do no wrong and has propped up the lower end of some of the greatest rock bands and artists. Naturally, it was a small miracle we found out about the show and got tickets before this highly-under-the-radar show occurred.
It was put on by an org who I'd never heard of called NewEars . Apparently they promote local prog acts and try to generate interest for up and coming bands. Seems like a cool group of people; maybe we will break down and ask for their help around our next album release.
Anyway, Tony played solo for the first part of the night, doing some of his new stuff from his album Stickman (with stick of course), as well as playing some of his older stuff and some really good tunes from Liquid Tension Experiment. In between songs he took a lot of questions from the audience, which was a really eye-opening experience, and one of the highlights of the night in my opinion.
The catch was that Tony was invited by NewEars to support another prog band called IZZ , who save for some ridiculous fantasy style lyrics and synth heaviness not to mention sub par drumming (even for a non-prog band), were pretty decent.
After IZZ played a set they invited Tony back out to play some classics, including King Crimson's Elephant Talk, and Don't Give Up & Red Rain by Peter Gabriel. I was so excited to actually see Levin playing these songs, but the backing by IZZ left something to be desired. Don't get me wrong, it was still great (especially Don't Give Up), but I wished they were a little tighter for this. Check out Elephant Talk below.
We were able to get audio and video recordings of the entire show. Since I'm lazy I haven't really chopped any of it up yet, but I'd like to get around to posting Tony's Q&A session and his solo tunes, which were very cool. I also got some decent still photos that can be found here.
