Announcement:
Remember those unfounded rumors of my playing on the 30th as well as last night's show on the 28th? Well, they're not unfounded anymore.

Yep, for those of you who missed last night's Toxic Spores set at MIT (and thanks to those of you who didn't!), the Week of Spores continues with yet another set Thursday evening the 30th, once again at MIT*. Robert "Unfinished Symphonies" Press can't make it, so I'm stepping in with a set of fresh Toxic Spores.

Showtime and full lineup will follow when I get that information from the promoter (song stylist Brendan Zepp), but mark tomorrow evening on your calendars. (Most calendars should already have the date marked, of course, but probably don't mention the show specifically.)

What I know so far about the show is that showtime is likely to be 7:30, and in addition to Toxic Spores, you can expect a vivid performance by Brendan, and an intriguing improv set by drummer Ryan Sigesmund. Marvel at the size and variety of Ryan's drum kit! Watch Brendan smoke cigarettes! Get an earful of Toxic Spores! All tomorrow night, Thursday August 30th, at Millvale Industrial Theater.
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* For the uninitiated, directions are at http://mit.telerama.com/dirs.html. Standard disclaimer: MIT is not a bar or restaurant. The sole tray of soft drinks at the front of the room is apparently for performers only. MIT's internal atmosphere is 77% nitrogen, 20% oxygen, and 3% "other." Hearing protection is recommended. Your MIT experience may be more enjoyable if you test your chair for sturdiness before sitting down.

The Report:
Thursday, August 30--a mere two days after the previous Spores set, I was back at MIT with another dose. And it was good.

Let me just say that the two disappointments of the evening were: 1) since the sound guy didn't know how to use the new board yet, I ended up getting only one channel into the MiniDisc--my recording of the set is in glorious right-channel mono; and 2) I'm really, really tired of the new Edith Frost disc, which kept getting played over and over between sets.

Apart from those two things, it was a damn good night. I played a good set, added more people to the email list, got a couple offers to join bands, and was asked several times if I had Toxic Spores shirts for sale. (Thanks, Dawn and Steve!) And I got to see a band that might be the next, I dunno, Nirvana or something. (They're from Seattle, and were coming through town.)

I caught up with drummer Ryan Sigesmund, who played keyboards tonight for his set. Very sparse and minimal (lots of rests while he was changing programs), but quietly engaging nonetheless. I would have liked to hear him drum again, but the keyboard improvs had a nice quality to them. Well done.

I had actually arrived somewhat late--around 7:30, which was the supposed original start time. I'm glad I did show up late, though, as I used the extra time to prepare my sample setups more carefully. Higher level, better pitch selection, better layout. This made all the difference. I started with a new piece that uses some older samples of mine, and some from various other sources. The noise went well.

I considered myself warmed up, and took another whack at the Naumann piece, which finally worked, and was engaging, even though it's still a lot of 60-cycle hum. Layering and brevity were the keys to this one, and the grounding-the-cable part is getting more dramatic (playing the cable end against my throat). The "Tone Beating" piece was the crowd pleaser it usually is, and I realized a longtime desire by walking off toward the end of it, letting the machines play on the empty stage.

While I was breaking down, I got an offer to join a local band--which says the guy liked the set, if nothing else. We'll see--my schedule this fall is unlikely to permit. A number of people wanted to talk about the set, which was rather cool. Ryan and his posse were chatting with me, and someone from Aepiphet was interested as well. Turns out we'd participated in Robert Press's first Sonic Roulette together.

Next up was a loud local punk band, followed by The Last Great Liar, an awful name for a tight, passionate band. Great sound, good songs, intense catharsis, and the one guitarist has been playing with a broken left hand. (Your standard self-destruction mirror-punching thing. Even the martyrdom thing is falling in place!) They're touring the country in an RV, for, like, months. It'll be interesting to see what happens to them, but they have the potential to be spokesmartyrs for their generation. The CD is unfortunately not as energetic as the live show--they were a trio when they recorded it, and the new guitarist seems to bring more focus and energy to the band, or perhaps they're just extremely tight live from having played a zillion shows. They should probably record the next one as live as possible. And they shouldn't print the lyrics in the CD booklet. But keep an eye out for them--they really have something.

Promoter Brendan Zepp's set may have suffered from the contrast of immediately following the previous band, and the mix didn't help, either--his vocals were lowered to a mumble, rendering the words unintelligable. Perhaps next time...

Aepiphet was next, a large local ensemble with unique instrumentation (drums, violin, keyboards, vocalist, and delay manipulator) and a great sonic manipulation thing going. At one point the vocalist was reading a poem of his, and had worked in parts of my soundcheck ("I must remember the spores/they're in hard shells...") It was nice to get a shout-out that way. I really dug 'em. Turns out that the vocalist/poet is also named Maurice, so there was a kind of slight sub-theme to the performances this evening.

Not a bad night, and even the mono MD recording sounds all right. At least some of this will show up on the upcoming disc.