Photo by Mary Woods

Photo by me

Thanks to all who came out to the “Chocolate & I” gallery show last Monday in NY!!  I had so much fun meeting everyone, tasting truffles, and sipping their chocolate margaritas. Mmm. Music, visuals & chocolate are some of my favorite indulgences.

This was the first show of mine where I was able to incorporate both of my projectors at once, split the VGA signals and mirror the images across the beautiful gallery wall. I usually don’t have the luxury of having so much space and freedom, but this felt absolutely wonderful to break free of the singular image and experiment with some new ideas.

To think, just over a year ago I didn’t even own any of the equipment to be able to perform like I can now. I had always wanted to, but it seemed overwhelming. It’s quite an investment:  laptops, mixers, projectors, cables, stands & adapters. Now after a year of experimentation, and slowly accumulating a studios worth of equipment, I can’t imagine my life without performing. I’m inspired in new directions from each and every show.

If anyone reading this photographed the night I would love to see your collection!!  Feel free to send me an email, or post them here.

Video soon to come!

Kodomo + Danger Monkey town - 1/2/10

Thanks to everyone who made it out on Saturday night! It was another sold out show at Monkey Town and I had so much fun hanging out with all of you. Special thanks to Cutlery for inviting us to play, and special thanks to my brother who made it out to see us for the first time.

Kodomo & I debuted some new material which got a lot of great feedback.  Here is an early video version of what I cut up and re-mixed at the show for the new track. The original animation was not created by me, it was black and white, and used for a Raveonettes video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

SATURDAY – JANUARY 2nd

8PM

RESERVE A SEAT ON THE MONKEYTOWN SITE

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Shot by Holly Daggers, aka, WetCircuit. Thanks Daggers!!!

And a different camera angle, same song, shot by me in the clip below. More to come!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here for our info on Monkeytown’s website. The calendar for August was just launched.

We’re getting excited for our upcoming show!! Mark your calendars and send an RSVP here. August 6th, Thursday at 8:30 PM. We are currently looking for a second act to play with us, open to suggestions!

Soon I will be posting the massive amount of photos & video that were taken this weekend in the Chrysalis Dome from the festival we performed at in upstate NY this past weekend. The rain gods did not hold off on any rain that they had planned for us despite my plea, but as a result the adventure became that much more spontaneous and unpredictable.

Unfortunately we were only able to get Chrysalis up for two nights before the rain turned everything into swamp lands. We then took our cables, projectors, tarps and equipment over to a smaller inflatable dome to keep the party going to finish out the weekend. Either way, the project continues to become more interesting with each launch.

Thanks to everyone who made it all the way up there and stuck it out through the rainy conditions. I had so much fun working with everyone and experimenting with this amazing project.

(left) Album by Kodomo called Still Life (center) Monkeytown venue in Bklyn

Kodomo & I will be performing at Monkeytown next month!  Thursday August 6th, 8:30 PM. This will be a very, very, special show, and I’m incredibly happy to make this happen, and honored to perform there again. New visuals & new tracks on the way!!  I can’t wait!  Please come, and mark your calendars now!  I want to get as many people out with us for this particular show as possible, and make it a truly, uniquely, memorable night of music & art.

J&R Kodomo Danger Show / 6/20/09

Yesterday morning, I packed up my car with my new portable screen, my laptop, mixer, cables, gaffer tape, wires & hard drive, and headed south to hit J&R’s Summer Expo.

At noon Kodomo and I set stage amongst thousands of CDs in the back of J&R for an afternoon set promoting his album, Still Life. While projecting under fluorescent lighting makes for a difficult performance on my behalf, it was a lot of fun and ultimately a successful rainy afternoon for both of us. I didn’t realize how much I missed being amongst all those records & CDs, and I always love performing. Especially for a good old fashion record store audience.

I really miss the experience of going to my favorite local record store on any given afternoon and spending hours wandering in the aisles. Record stores have always felt like design museums to me. Album covers spanning years of musical history and varieties of style, art and culture.  Since downloading has been so easy and accessible in the last few years, I’ve watched all of my favorite music stores close down one by one, and many more musicians releasing digital downloads instead of putting money into tangible albums.

These days if I want the experience of picking up an album I have to either drive an hour north to Culters in New Haven or an hour south to my NYC spots. My preference these days is Kim’s Video, or my latest favorite, Ear Wax in Brooklyn. J&R was a first for me, but they had quite a collection, and it was cool to be a part of it.  Happy Summer Solstice! 

Don’t forget, this week I’ll be at Monkeytown, Thursday (Jun 25th) projecting for the Cutlery. 8PM Showtime.  Just make sure that if you plan on attending that you shoot your info over to Monkeytown’s reservations. You can do that by clicking here. See you Thursday!

Photo by Holly Danger - Theatre Ste. Catherine

Firstly I want to thank Warper folks for such a fun event in Montreal a couple weeks ago. I’ve been a little out of the loop with documenting on here since I’ve gotten back and have been in the midst of planning for the next few shows. 

Just a heads up, but I wanted to leave a quick note to say that there are two shows on their way in the next week. One is with the Cutlery at my favorite venue Monkeytown on June 25th at 7PM, and another with Kodomo for a daytime promotional event & Summer Tech Expo sponsored by J&R Electronics, June 20th at noon. New footage is in the works for both, but I won’t give much away. Working on footage for 10 songs with the Cutlery this time, and excited to once again project on the 4 encompassing Monkeytown screens! Hope to see you!

Warper Party May 26th Theatre Ste. Catherine Montreal, QC

It’s official! I head out in less than a week to make a trek to the lovely & charming Montreal. I’ve taken off a few days of work following Memorial day, and am ever so tempted to use a few more days and stay out there to make another visit to Toronto while I’ve gotten that far. Especially since there is another Ghostly International tour happening the day after our show that I would looove to be at. It would involve some last minute maneuvering, but I’m tempted!

As it stands, Kodomo & I will set stage at 6pm at the Theatre Ste. Catherine in Montreal on May 26th to be part of the Warper / PreMutek Party. I’m a little nervous about the early time slot, but we’ll make the best of it. Very much looking forward to another journey, and see what may happen along the way..

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here is the live video from last week’s show as promised!  

This was our first collaborative gig at the Warper Party on May 6th at the Delancey. Minus the unmistakeable red hue that lit the screen throughout the night, the scraggly tape that held the sheet to the wall, and the discoball that sprinkled little lights on top of my visuals, I’d say it all came out great!  I’m so glad that I decided to document. After watching this I completely see what I need to work on to make an even better set as we move forward. This show really solidified that we can put on a great performance together, and we’ll be looking to seek out more gigs very soon. If any of you have a heads up on places to play, please leave comments here or send me an email. 

Music written & performed by Kodomo. Live Visuals by me, mixed, made and collected from various places. Some are my own, some are sampled, some manipulated. RT: 36 min.

Dvein, Prologue, Psyop, Black Heart Gang, 1st Ave Machine, Imaginary Forces, Rachel Maddow, Moment Factory, Jonah Lehrer.

Since having worked in the corporate world of video production for the last few years, I haven’t had much opportunity to immerse myself in the art world (or even the commercial world) of motion graphics the way I wish I could. Thankfully, conferences like F5, after effects meetups and the VJ world have brought this back into my life in many ways. Most nights after I come home from day to day editing, I begin to collage my own new work and find myself experimenting into the early hours, to create a bigger, more original and more ecclectic library for future live video performances. 

The F5 conference reminded me just how powerful motion graphics are, and how much I love that world & the people who make that sort of magic happen. Not only did the conference showcase some of the best work I’ve seen in years, but there was a really interesting discussion about the state of creativity, and how it works from a scientific angle. We talked about how to better access innovations from the left side of the brain, and how we should be open to all new endeavors that allow us to create connections, and draw inspiration from experience. Insights seemingly flourish best when not forcing creativity. Some highlights for me were seeing & hearing all of the bizarre places that people reach to for inspiration.  Found everywhere from rubberbands that were made into stop-motion spaghetti  to one person dipping their hands & feet in cement just to see what it would feel like to wear on their limbs for a week!  Ideas are formed in some of the most oddly beautiful ways and it has always been a passion of mine to explore how other people’s brain’s work. 

Later this week I’d like to transcribe my notebook that I had with me for the two days and capture the raw thoughts I had while listening to these fabulous heros of mine.  As a result of the festival I’ve already taken some of the advice and put it towards a new identity scope for my danger visuals.

A few frame grabs from new Danger intro visuals

Lastly  I want to mention how VERY excited I am to say that a new collaboration is underway with electronic musician Kodomo. It looks like May 6th will be our first performance at the Delancey for the next Warper Party. Details soon to come!!

There have been two things I’ve had my eyes on since I began VJing. One was a new mac book pro, and one was Livid’s wooden OHM controller. Both wildly expensive, and beautifully crafted.

I told myself this year that if VJing came as naturally to me as I hoped it would, that I would allow myself to invest more deeply into pursuing this path. Not only has it become a natural progression and flow from my video & design work, but it has become the most exciting exhilaration that I’ve had towards art & work that I’ve felt in years.

I’m a little overwhelmed with the amount of requests that I’m receiving to nurture this newfound talent and perform with bands at shows, but I’m loving every sleepless second of it.

I’m currently working feverishly at my studio to prepare new material for electronic musician Kodomo and start playing live with him. It’s a project that I believe is incredibly strong, and I hope to open up doors to playing for venues such as the Natural History Museum for One Step Beyond, Monkeytown, and any venue that knows how to house a quality multimedia show. Personally I love museums and would love, love, love to find myself in gallery shows in the future.

I’m also starting a new venture to work with cute & chic girl band, The Cutlery. Their sound is hauntingly beautiful and echoes from the soul. Harmonies are accompanied by banjos, violins, oboe, electronics, jingly janglys. I see lots of silent era sepia toned opera films, starry nights, and longing sunsets for their visual scene. We have our first gig together this Saturday night at the House of Love, and April 3rd at Monkeytown. It’s a short set, 7:30-8PM, so get there early enough to grab a seat. Monkeytown has great beer and food, plus it is such a cool, cozy, brooklyn spot. Definitely one of my favorite venues.

Looking forward to it all, wide eyed and excited!