A few weeks ago I was contacted by the Malden Mayor's office, who requested that I do some evening busking outside of the Malden Center MBTA station. They had recently taken over supervising the area because they didn't feel the T was giving it adequate attention. I played there 6-7:30pm on May 31st, was rained out this past Friday, and will try again on June 21 and 28.
Happy Spring (hoping for not much more snow)! I've been busy doing studio work and an on-line course recently, but do have a few things to show for it, as well as a Ginger Ibex gig this weekend.
As you may recall I usually spend the month of February participating in the RPM Challenge, which involves composing and recording an album of 10 original musical ideas in 28 days. This year my Ginger Ibex partner Sharon Crumrine asked to do it with me - the result is an album we call "The Rusty Goat Sessions". We did a lot of experimentation with new sounds and techniques in my office studio - you can hear the results on line at our Soundcloud account:
And though I did record and mix the RPM Challenge album myself I have much more to learn about music production, so I'm taking a free online course from Berklee on that topic. Since the weekly homework assignments are to teach something we studied that week to other class members you can see some of my assignments as videos on my YouTube channel.
And finally: Ginger Ibex is performing this Saturday March 30th at The Lily Pad in Inman Sq Cambridge MA, starting at 10pm sharp. Tickets at the door are $10, but if you order them in advance from our presale site you not only save about 75 cents ($8 plus a fee) but you will also get a free MP3 download of the RPM Challenge album!
It's too rainy today for my last downtown Malden busking date of the season, but I've got a lot of varied and interesting shows coming up, including one from a person who heard me busking and three at least partly from an article on my What Betty Knows blog about a contentious topic!
The Davis Square Theatre, 255 Elm St. Somerville MA
7pm welcome party, 8pm-10pm show - all ages, $10/$7 sliding scale
"invited artists from a variety of performance disciplines present all-new, original works on sub-topics of a single theme." This episode's topic is The Moon, and I will be performing a new looping piece inspired by the sub-topic "Tides."
Friday October 26
Corinthian Hall, Melrose MA
Backgound music for a fundraising event.
EARLY NOTICE! - Thursday-Saturday Novenber 15, 16,17
Yes! I've been invited to be part of the string section for these shows . They are likely to sell out before the dates (11/17 may already be unavailable) so buy tickets now if you haven't already.
(and in an amusing twist, later in November GI will be playing a "Ladies Cover Night" show covering... Amanda Palmer! So I get to pracice for my cover gig with the person I'm covering...)
Fall is definitely in the air, and incoming students are moving into the Boston area and trying to find their way around on our streets, so watch out for confused drivers and cyclists!
I started out the month yesterday by busking in the South Station subway station with guitarist Matthew Lister, doing some of his "Geek themes" arrangements (e.g., Star Wars, Star Trek, TV themes) He's pretty busy, too, but we hope to continue this collaboration - if you want a "Cantina band" (c.f. 1st Star Wars movie) for your party, or pre-show background music talk to me :-)
About two weeks ago 12 members of the Boston music/arts community lost their homes and most of their possessions when a fire swept through their Cambridge apartment building. There will be several benefit shows happening, including one at which my band Ginger Ibex is playing, but if you are not in the area and want to contribute you may do so at this ChipIn site.
Now on to the show listings!
Friday Sept 7, 2012 Pleasant St, Malden MA 6:30pm-9:00pm
Sunday Sept 9, 2012 Help! Our Bands Are On Fire I Precinct Bar Union Sq, Somerville MA 7:00PM $10 gives you entry to 3 venues (also Sally O'Brien's and PA's Lounge), 21+
My band Ginger Ibex is performing a short set as part of this benefit, along with many other local bands at the 3 venues from 3pm-11pm.
Friday Sept 14, 2012 Pleasant St, Malden MA 6:30pm-9:00pm
I hope you are having a great summer! The weather has been a bit weird around here, but has also been quite lovely at times. I hope that latter part continues for the next three Fridays, as I've been selected by the city of Malden MA (where I live) to be part of their Street Performer Pilot Program to bring more activity to the downtown area. So I'll be doing my Reverse Polish Notation solo electric violin looping on Pleasant Street (near the New England Comics store 7/27 and 8/3, near Main St 8/10) 6:30-9:30PM, weather permitting. In addition to my own pieces I'll also be adding some cover tunes, including Gotye, Coldplay, Foster The People, and even Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys!
Fridays July 27, August 3, August 10 Downtown Malden Street Performers 51 Pleasant St (except 5 Pleasant St on 8/10) Reverse Polish Notation violin looping
Also, remember you can sign up for weekly updates from my blog What Betty Knows - this week's newsletter includes posts on avoiding car lockouts, links for Kickstarter projects I find interesting, how to support local independent bookstores when buying ebooks, and more.
Hope to see you in downtown Malden on an upcoming Friday - there are lots of great restaurants to check out!
Just one gig this month, but it will be fun: Ginger Ibex Acoustic (myself, pianist Sharon Crumrine and violinist/guitarist Mel Fitzhugh) have set up a "Ladies Rock" show at Outpost 186 with some other great musicians we met recently at Ladies Rock Camp:
Friday June 26, 2012
Outpost 186 186 Rear Hampshire St (Inman Sq) Cambridge MA Door at 8pm, All ages, $10 With Ginger Ibex, Evelyn Pope, Naughty Shirley/QUINCUNX, Everything To Everybody
And in other "Betty" news: if you've hung out with me for any length of time you've realized that I know a lot of different bits of information, and am always picking up more. I've now created a blog, What Betty Knows, in which I post articles about things I know that seem useful to my friends and fans, such as:
Please sign up for a weekly newsletter containing new posts at this link. Note: I am NOT auto-subscribing addresses from this music fan email - you will need to opt in here if you want to receive the blog newsletter. You can also keep up with the blog by visiting WhatBettyKnows.com and/or "liking" the associated Facebook Page.
Spring has already sprung here in New England, though it's been a bit colder again this week. But it seems fairly unlikely that any of my gigs this month will be snowed out (hopefully not famous last words!)
In addition to two Ginger Ibex shows, I have been given the privilege of appearing as an auxiliary member of Boston "Steamcrunk" band Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys for three shows during the upcoming run of their original apocalyptic, sci-fi, steampunk musical play 28 Seeds - I will be substituting for their awesome violist Rachel Jayson for the Sunday matinee performances! See a trailer for the musical here.
6:30-9:30pm, admission $10 if RSVP to Facebook event by April 15th, or $15 at the door (cash or check to "Dana-Farber Cancer Institute")
Join us for an evening of art, live music, and wine.Featuring - new artwork by Melanie Maz; live music by Fusion String Ensemble, Ginger Ibex, Patrick Wheyland, Lauren Bateman, and Yani Batteau and The Styles; silent auction; wine reception, with desserts provided by Lyndell's Bakery (Cambridge), and food/beverages provided by Trader Joe's (Cambridge).
All ages, $35 - tickets in advance here or call 617-933-8600
I will be playing viola for these three shows ONLY - there are also evening performances Thurs-Sat April 19 through May 12.
And for those of you not able to attend any of these performances, here's a new recording I just made featuring my latest musical acquisition, a steel tongued "tank" drum :-)
If you liked any of my RPM Challenge tracks from last month enough to load on your playback device, they are now available for free/pay what you will download here:
Because I wanted to do one track more than the minimum requirement (which is 10 tracks or 35 min of music) I used Leafcutter John's Forester sampling/looping app plus selected annual sampling and fx to create a "track of tracks" containing all of the 19 instruments I used:
Loog Guitars are perfect for kids and adults who want to learn guitar and have a good eye for cool design. But what we at the Loog Team personally love about it is that, at the end of the day, the Loog is still a guitar: an instrument you can play with and play on, letting you finally find your own sound.
And that’s exactly what Betty Widerski saw in the Loog. Betty is one of our amazing Kickstarter backers but she’s also a great violinist and the soul behindReverse Polish Notation (RPN), her own musical outlet. Her sound is definitely unique and powerful, with loops, songs and improvisations that manage to capture emotions in just four to five minutes of instrumental bliss.
And she also uses the Loog in her work.
For instance, take a listen to Memento, a soulful and nostalgic tune she created, using a Loog, a kalimba and a soprano recorder. The Loog just got serious!
So thanks Betty for your awesome work and for showing just how versatile the Loog is!
And if you’re in the Boston area, you’re in for a treat: Betty will be performing in Cantab Lounge & Club Bohemia on Friday, February 24 in Cambridge at 8:00 PM. Tell us if you’ll be there in the comments (we seriously want pictures).
Guitar and pennywhistle. Recorded on a multi-track iphone app via the iphone's mic, because I wasn't feeling like going to my studio or setting up gear in my BR. I may re-record the guitar track later because I used the Loog but then this morning remembered that I have another small guitar I've yet to use for this month.
Piano, bass, drums. I am a player of none of these, so there are some tempo and alignment bumps - if I get a chance before 2/29 I may try to use Logic to quantize them.
FFR here's the Soundcloud set to which I'm adding RPM Challenge tracks as they are created. New one today (so four so far), plus bonus draft album cover!
And for bonus geekery: since free DW accounts only allow one cross-posting account, I'm testing cascading: my rpnband DW account x-posting to my bettyw DW account, which is x-posting to my bettyw LJ account >;-0
This was interesting to do - I now own a full electronic drum set so that Ginger Ibex can practice in my Malden office/studio, but I have never done kit drumming. So of course I don't start out with a basic 3 or 4 beat, but with a pattern of 7/8-7/8-7/8-5/8! It didn't take too long to get into the stick groove, but after a test track of kick drum I decided not to try to add pedal work for now.
And my harp skills consist of 6 group lessons at CCAE 15+ yrs ago, plus 4 yrs attending Deborah Henson-Conant's Celebration Barn workshops (not playing harp myself).
It's RPM Challenge time again - write and record a 10-song album entirely during February. This year my theme is "use ALL the instruments!", i.e., the wide variety of sound-making gear I don't normally use on stage. I'm off to a decent start with two already in the can:
I will also be an officially published writer! Some of my lyrics (for "Amiga Pesadilla") are included in the soon-to-be released anthology "Census 3" by Irish publisher Seven Towers Agency. Too bad I won't make the launch party Feb 22 in Dublin >;-0 But I'll probably have a free download opportunity once I learn which were included.
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