CSU Fresno Clinic/Master Class

Thanks to Dr. Matt Darling for inviting me to give a clinic/master class at CSU Fresno last week. His students performed John Cage's "Third Construction" for me and rocked it! It was a great performance - congratulations to Mike, Mike, Sarah, and Gary - and to Matt - great performance guys!

I enjoyed sharing my music with you all and thanks to Matt and everyone for welcoming me.

Thanks to CSU, Fresno, Remo, Vic Firth, and Yamaha for sponsoring the clinic!

And thanks to Matias for layin' down some tangos and bulerias with me!

We Got the Beat Clinic

Yesterday I gave a clinic for the "We Got the Beat" percussion band in Fresno, CA. Run by wonderful percussionist and teacher, Brenda Myers, this club serves students from elementary, middle, and highs schools throughout the San Joaquin Valley. The first group I worked with were elementary school percussionists and there were 25 of them all jammin' on an Afro-Cuban arrangement of "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear". These 3 pics show most of the students.




























Here is a pic of the "Beyond the Beat" group, the older students, with Brenda Myers. Congratulations to Brenda for her work with these groups - it's so great to see such a large group of young students exposed to good music and percussion playing! Thanks to Brenda and all of the students for a wonderful time - keep up the beat! Thanks to We Got the Beat, Beyond the Beat, Remo Drumheads, Vic Firth Sticks & Mallets, and Yamaha Percussion for sponsoring the clinic!

SOU Percussion Ensemble 2008-09

We took photos for the ensemble last week - here are a couple of them. Ian gets the points for the highest jump in this one! I think Evin wins for best face...




Here's one we'll use for publicity early on. Unfortunately, Val was sick for the shoot so she's not with us in the pictures - but definitely in spirit!

Our first concert will be Tuesday, December 2, at 8 PM at SOU. It will feature flutist Tessa Brinckman as soloist with us on Andres Jolivet's "Suite en Concert for flute and percussion." Hope you can join us!

Thanks to Rhett and Andrew for the pictures!

The Clay Cart Trio at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Green Show

I performed on October 11 and 12 at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Green Show with The Clay Cart Trio, aka "Nocturnal Sallie and the Gold-Gilded Monkeys".

Tessa Brinckman (flutes), Ed Dunsavage (guitar, oud, sarod), and I (tabla, cajón, udu, percussion) are the musicians in the play "The Clay Cart" this year at OSF and we sponsored a "name the band" contest amongst the actors and crew. We combined our 2 favorites to come up with that name. They both come from different lines in the play.

Thanks to all who came out and heard us play music by Shakti, John McLaughlin, Ralph Towner, and Oregon. We had a great time!

First Friday Flamenco!

On Friday, August 1st, Grant Ruiz and I inaugurated our "First Friday @ T's" tradition. We will be performing flamenco music every first Friday, after the traditional First Friday Art Walk at T's Restaurant and Bar in Ashland. We will play from 8-10 or so - come on in and enjoy some wonderful food, a great drink menu, and some fiery music! There is a nice dance floor for any of you bailaors out there!

Flamenco in Ashland!

Sunday, July 27 Alba Flamenca performed for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Green Show. We closed the Festival Latino to a very enthusiastic crowd of about 750 people. It was a spectacular evening - olé! Thanks to all who came out and made us feel the love.

From the left that's me, cajón; Grant Ruiz, guitarra y cante; Tennille Carnes y Dawn Sturgeon, baile y palmas.

We play again this Friday, August 1st, to inaugurate our "Frist Friday Flamenco at T's" series at T's Restaurant and Bar in Ashland, and then again on Sunday the 3rd at Roxy Ann Winery in Medford. Check my performances page for times.

Return from sabbatical!

Before Dawn - Federico Garcia Lorca
But like love
the archers
are blind.

Above the green night
arrows
leave traces of ardent
lily.

The keel of the moon
rips purple clouds
and the quivers
fill with dew.

Oh, but like love
the archers
are blind!

I read this poem on Monday morning, March 31, as I awoke at 4:00 AM with my mind spinning about returning to work after 6 months away. I feel a little like the blind archer, but I am excited about getting back to teaching, working with students and colleagues, and being on campus again.

The sabbatical is over. It has been an extremely rewarding and busy 6 months. Read on in the blog for a detailed blog about our month in Spain studying flamenco and absorbing the culture.

I was on sabbatical from September 15, 2007 - March 30, 2008. It sure went by fast! Highlights of my time away from Southern Oregon University include:

September-October:
Finished up the world premiere musical Tracy's Tiger at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Here is a pic of part of my crazy setup - I think I counted 35 instruments!



Here is the whole band. We had a "name the band" competition with the actors. The winning name - The Alunatics! (Inspired by a line in the play.)














In November I prepared for a set of concerts with my multi-media quintet, Sonoluminescence. We did three concerts at the Black Swan Theatre in Ashland. Great fun, as always. Visit the Sonoluminescence website for some images, sounds, and video.


December - early January was spent in Spain. Scroll down the blog entries for detailed descriptions and pictures of that adventure!

When I returned to Ashland in January, I immediately started rehearsals for The Clay Cart, a new adaptation of a 2000 year old Sanskrit Drama debuting at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival this year. It runs until November 2! Here is a picture of the Clay Cart Trio - Ed Dunsavage (guitar, sarod, oud), Tessa Brinckman (flute, alto flute, piccolo, and wooden head joint flute), and myself (tabla, udu, cajón, gongs, percussion). The show is really fun with great music by Andre Pluess. Dig the turban! Come see it if you can!

Tessa and I also comprise the flute/percussion duo Caballito Negro. We make our debut April 20 in Portland, perform again there on the 22nd, and then here in Ashland on May 5. Our program is great fun - music by Howard Hersh, Gareth Farr, David P. Jones, Máximo Diego Pujol, Isang Yun, and Terry Longshore (who is he?). For those of you in the Portland or Ashland areas, we hope you will join us for one or more of these concerts. Check my website for time/location details.

I've also been jamming with my good friend and person who introduced me to flamenco, guitarist Grant Ruiz. It's been fun putting my new cajón and knowledge to work! We have some things planned for the near future as well.

Well...there it is. I started back to work last week at SOU and it has been great to be with the students again. The percussion ensemble is working on an exciting program for our June 2 concert featuring music by John Cage, Lou Harrison, Johanna Beyer, James Tenney, Beethoven/Paul Bissel, Emmanuel Séjourné, and Peter Garland.

Thanks for reading!