Street performance has become more and more of a priority
Up until last weekend, I had just played my drums on the street but last weekend, I got to bring a full elelctronic configuration
I got permission from July Alley to use their electricity
I was expecting to set up over at Kettle Art (run by the eternally cool Frank Campagna) which had a different set of parameters to consider so I didn’t plan on getting electricity to MY SPOT
I had to locate some tape at the last minute to tape down the electrical cord
Saturday I brought some rubber slip mats

This was the first time I have ever gotten to put my electronic ideas to the test and I think I did fairly well
The setup consisted of the SPDS looping pad, a Kaoss pad and the BR864 multi-track as well as the Brock Spock electric Harp guitar (...

I was advised to back away from PyroPlasticFlow for a bit in order to get a new perspective on things
Video has always been a close second in my life so I decided to start actively seeking Video/DJ gigs
After the last few months, I can honestly say that musicians and DJs are no different when it comes to the level of acceptance
And, just like there are a million jealous, competative hack bands out there, so are there DJs
Club owners are still all the same (for the most part)

My initial gig was doing “Modern Retro” for Desi Rae at the Fallout
I decided that the Halloween season would be best for me to spread myself around so I started scouting places to do my stuff
Jow Virus gave me a pretty solid yes but held me at arm’s length for a fair amount of time (that’s just the way dealing with th...

First of all, congratulations 
You have established a new environment for women to express themselves on their own terms instead of being some musician’s girlfriend
You now have cool names to rival the coolest name ever (Rockula, of course) and colorful personas to go with them
You are now on stage more than your boyfriend’s mediocre band and your burlesque/fetish/bondage/fashion show/roller derby event draws more people than his sucky band ever did
You get to post your pics on Facebook so that all of your girlfriends can tell you how beautiful you are as your stalker male friends try to compliment you in the least creepy way possible (although it never works)
Your collective self esteem has skyrocketed in the last 10 years as women have proven themselves to be on the same artistic and intell...

The last few weeks have been productive
A few weeks ago, I decided to get off my ass and pull my drums out on the street in Deep Ellum
Laziness was one of the factors that kept me from doing it but the biggest one was fear of all the negative variables that were swirling in my head
Would the cops hassle me?
Would someone try to rob me or start a fight? (this is Ellum)
After getting out there and doing it, I saw that none of those fears were correct
Not only that, but I never would have thought that I could play drums for 5 to 6 hours
My recent drumming-stamina issues have been a huge issue and I succeeded in adapting my playing for the long haul
I have an idea where I want to take this and will address it in a sec

Speaking of drumming stamina issues, I have isolated two of the main causes ...

This is not a rant against banks, it is more of a recognition of someone trying not too hard to disguise an upsale

I recognized the $5 a month charge a few months ago and figured I had no choice
Today, I went to the bank to deposit some cash
The teller pointed out the $5 charge and explained that I had an old account and didn’t qualify for the free checking anymore

I replied that I expected to get charged eventually and that I wasn’t complaining
I use a national chain because I can count on their ATM being pretty much around any corner no matter what city or state I am in

The teller asked me if I wanted to talk to the bank manager to see about removing the fee
I was a bit aprehensive because a bank was voluntarily offering to remove a monthly fee
For a second, I even allowed the idea to enter m...

Last night’s street drumming was as lucative as the last, plus I had my own show to watch across the street
The evening started off at 7:30 pm when I showed up at “MY” spot and found a parking space about 50 yards away
SCORE!
The meter even had 40 minutes on it
Unfortunately some kid with an acoustic guitar was in “MY” spot and he was not very good
Worst version of “Last Dance with Mary Jane” I ever heard
I sat in the van and glared at him for about 15 minutes when he got up and walked away
That’s when I pounced on “MY” spot
I managed to get up and running around 8pm

Last week’s street kit was designed to be as muffled and quiet as possible because of my anxieties over police hassles
Last week’s positive cop experience gave me lisence to bring a much better sounding drumkit with a full sna...

My negative experiences with busking in Minneapolis were pressing heavily on me as I lugged my gear to Deep Ellum to claim the spot I had scoped out
I was worried about the noise of the drumkit
I was worried about getting a ticket

I found a parking spot very close to my spot
It was around the corner but not so far that I would have to spend more than 15/20 seconds with my eyes off my equipment
The parking lot across the street wanted ten dollars
I asked one of the businesses next to the spot if they would allow me to plug in an extension cord for future electonic drum explorations but they were afraid of getting a ticket from the city (which is fair)
I REALLY need to figure a way to get portable power on the street

I set up and started playing at about 8pm and it didn’t take long until Tur...

This was, by far, the most ambitious Video/DJ gig I have ever done
I know the layout of the Fallout Lounge very well and had formulated 4 different video displays for the evening
Including the VIDEO CUBE which is a projector aimed into a square booth so that people could sit inside the video
I chose to use mainly the 50’s horror exploitation teasers because they were stark black and white and usually had a lot of text and pictures instead of action
This, combined with the hypnotic swirl video made for a lot of people taking cell phone video of themselves inside the cube which made me very happy

I had a few bumps in the music/DJing department because I was using a playlist instead of the DJ software
That was being used to toggle videos on the main projection screen
I started out with music...

I don’t think I have ever done this much prep for one single event in my life
Well the PyroPlasticFlow show kicked my ass but this is the most prepared Video/DJ gig.
And it’s the most ambitious
First of all, I have composed a special edit for the Voodoo Organist that he can use for background video for future performances
Next, i have pre-edited a ton of material because I am going to be using four, count ’em, FOUR screens
The main room has a flat screen over the bar where I will be showing the Voodoo Organist edit
The projection screen across from the bar will be music videos and various halloween oriented pop culture videos like commercials, TV specials etc…
The back room will feature a smaller video projector and will be a place where people can get away from the crush and noise of the ...