Interviews with Interesting People: Matt Turner discusses his latest album of solo cello improvisations, Virion Impasto

Listen to Matt Turner 

(master improvisational cellist and pianist,

professor of jazz and improv at Lawrence University's Conservatory of Music)

discuss the methods, titles, and techniques of his newest release

Virion Impasto

acoustic solo cello as never heard before

(featuring:

experimental anti-music avant-garde outsider fringe improvisations)

Support Matt and all he does 

for music students worldwide 

by ordering Virion Impasto here.

the knotty pine
photo: Daria Van De Loo

Report from an Honor Flight and Secrets to a Long Happy Life

I had the privilege recently of sitting down with my Great Uncle Bennett at his 90th birthday celebration to hear about the Honor Flight he took to Washington D.C.  We hadn't seen each other for many years and though my parents reported how well he is doing, I was amazed by his infectious vitality.  As my 14 year old son said, "He's livelier than most of my friends."

Listen to Bennett Fishbain 

tell the story of his Honor Flight

and his secrets to living a long, happy, healthy life:

featuring Bennett's great great nephew Isadore Dane playing taps and Duke Ellington's "Satin Doll"

My Great Uncle Bennett at his 90th Birthday Celebration

Imagine City Park Report*: Anna Ryndova Imagines Animation

11 days until Imagine City Park!

Listen to hear what Czech film editor Anna Ryndova

is imagining for a day long stop motion animation project:

Come find Anna on May 30th to participate in a small stop motion film.

And be sure to be there at 6:30pm to be part of the large group animation.

*a dispatch from Appleton, Wisconsin

City Park Broadcasting Presents: Imagine City Park Report - Elyse Appears

When the girls asked me if they could make their very tiny house out of bread, I couldn't quite imagine how that would work, but I thought Elyse would know a way, so I suggested we call her.  Just as I was about to go get the phone, Elyse drove up.

Listen to what Elyse has to say about mod podge, Henry Darger, very tiny houses, and her contributions to Imagine City Park: 

Left-Handed Journal: Mom's Hippie Storm

listen to a daughter's critique of her mother's banjo playing:

Is Zheng3 Going To Imagine City Park?

Listen for the answer here:

Listen to Zheng3's favorite song here:

A Walk through City Park with Ronald Wahl

Listen to the latest Imagine City Park podcast here:

Ronald Wahl at the historic Temple Zion, former home of both Houdini and Edna Ferber,
current home of Wahl Organbuilders

Temple Zion at the corner of Harris and Durkee in Appleton

Footprint of the Monarch Oak, City Park

Pieces of bark that flew as far as eighty feet
when the Monarch Oak was struck by lightening

Imagine City Park Vision - Gypsy

From:

"Interviews with Interesting People"

Comes:

"Imagine City Park: A Neighborhood Study in Creative Collaboration"

Listen:

After the Imagine City Park meeting on Sunday, I was feeling frazzled 

because I had thought everything was going to come under control,

not grow more chaotic.

I was sitting in the sun with OSangjin and Christoph asking 

what should we do about the very tiny house competition*, 

when Gypsy walked by and said how great he thought the meeting had went.  

So I invited him in to record what he'd said 

so I could go back and listen to it again.

*Turn it into an invitational.  Thank you Christoph!

Are you Ready for the Improv 2020's? Guideline #10: Listen to IsabelleDuthoit and Franz Hautzinger

When I played this video for the students in the Improvisational Duets class at Renaissance High School for the Arts they were annoyed.



I, though, was fascinated and had the good fortune to see this duo perform the next week at the Paradigm Coffee and Music in Sheboygan.  After the show, I interviewed Isabelle and Franz, hoping they could shed some light on their music for the students.  Indeed, they did.

Listen here:



Thank you Isabelle and Franz and best of luck on the the rest of your tour!
Thank you Heimo and Jon and for your lovely accompaniment.
Thank you Tad and Ellen for the ride and your help with the recording.

Isabelle Duthoit and Franz Hautzinger at Paradigm

with special guests Heimo Wallner (above with a ceramic homemade horn) 

and Jon Mueller

(photo by Cameron Wittig)

A 602 Club Pick of the Week: Gamelan at Stansbury Hall

Saturday, March 7

5pm

Stansbury Hall

Lawrence University

Appleton, Wisconsin  

Free!

Listen to an interview with director I Dewa Ketut Alit Adnyana

and members of the community gamelan ensemble:

Soon after we moved to Appleton, I met a tall gaunt man buying sausage at Jacob’s Market who turned out to be the dean of the Lawrence University music conservatory.  Later, we recognized each other on the street outside Harmony Café.  He advised I buy tickets for that evening’s show at the Performing Arts Center: Kaleidoscope, a showcase of ensembles from the conservatory, playing in succession from different parts of the theatre, with no applause until the very end. 

The grand curtain opened and there rose the most magical sounds.  From where could this ringing music have come, the instruments red and gold, the musicians topped with ornamental head wraps, this mesmerizing complexity of wondrous sound?  I decided right then I had to find a way to join the group. 

I searched the university’s web site and was eventually put in touch with Sonja Downing, an ethnomusicologist, married to I Dewa Ketut Alit Adnyana, the Balinese director of the group.  She said that they were hoping to form a community gamelan ensemble and I said put me on the list.  The next summer, my friend Jenn sent me a link to a four day world music seminar the university was hosting and that she would watch my kids if I wanted to go.  It was so generous I couldn’t turn her down.  There I met Tad and Janet and Barbara.  We spent an afternoon learning about gamelan from Sonja and Dewa.  And then we all signed up for the community ensemble.

You never know where a chance meeting might lead.

Alvina, Dewa, Audrey, and Sonja at the kajar

A 602 Club Pick of the Week

Frank Rippl accompanies Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush on the pipe organ

at 

The History Museum, Drew and College, Appleton

Monday, February 23, 6:30pm

$7

Listen to Frank talk about The Gold Rush, the Wurlitzer factory 

and why Vince Lombardi stopped going to Appleton's finest restaurant, Alex's Crown.