Showing posts with label toshio hirano. Show all posts
Showing posts with label toshio hirano. Show all posts

Friday, March 18, 2011

Michael Musika's Album & Book of Spells, Release Show, TONIGHT @ Rickshaw Stop. SUNDAY Benefit for Japan w/ AudiaFauna, Au Dunes/Graves, & Ariel Eisen @ Make-Out Room EARLY

hello, seaweedswayers!

contents: 
show highlights. special plea to go to rickshaw stop tonight and make-out room sunday (early) night 
list of super-recommended shows and events. to go to thru may, calendar marking time
extra bonus things. housing list info, seaweed buying, some new videos from friends, yoga classes, etc.

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show highlights.

As many of you know, TONIGHT, Friday March 18th, is a big night at the Rickshaw Stop. Brass Menazeri, Michael Musika, and Toshio Hirano are playing songs, but there's a lot more to it. This show is incredibly special. Michael Musika's album and novella Spells are finally in the physical world, and they are true masterpieces - genius, magical, and mysterious. This seance will be a gathering of spirits near and far to celebrate the release of this important inspiring work into the world.
A night of legends and serious sorcery. dj Zelijko will be closing the show to continue the dance party. Oh yeah, and the Full Worm Moon is the next day, apparently the biggest full moon for a long time (awesome), so we're releasing a new episode of Chasing the Moon from Sonny and the Sunsets! Advance purchased tickets earn you extra appreciation, guaranteed entry, and probably less time waiting in line: http://bit.ly/musikaspells 8pm. Early arrival strongly encouraged. Re-posting and RSVP'ing helps. http://bit.ly/musikashow Curiously timed, we'll have Maine hand-harvested seaweed for sale~ $7 for a 2 oz. bag of kelp, dulse, kombu, wakame, or nori - $10 for a special soup mix. (more seaweed info is at the bottom of this message.) Here are a few more details on the artists...

 Brass Menazeri  
"...San Francisco's Powerhouse Balkan Brass Band..."  
http://brass.menazeri.com/category/press/

Michael Musika  
"...crazy like a fox, convicted like a criminal, determined like the sun..."   
Musika's band for the evening will include some of the same luminaries that initially saw a spark in him many years ago.  Ara Anderson will play trumpet and Dave Mihaly will play piano.  Also performing in the band will be Eric Kuhn (Silian Rail), Matt Adams (Blank Tapes), Indianna Hale, Sleepy Todd, Kacey Johansing, Emily Ritz (Honeycomb), Patrick Byers (Albino), Jeff Giaquinto (BLO), Mike Perlmutter (Zoyres), and Jesse Olsen. (Ramon and Jessica). Appropriately, this event is being billed as a seance.  The content to be celebrated is a meditation on the true place where magic exists within this world, as revealed by an emmissary from another. (Read the full intriguing story below.)
http://www.onenightmusic.com/music/session/michael-musika/
http://chasingthemoon.pdcst.com/2009/06/michaelmusika/
http://kck.st/musikasnextrecord

Toshio Hirano  
"...Jimmie Rodgers' train gets lost and finds a magical conductor..." 
http://www.toshiohirano.com/

DJ Zeljko 
"...Serbian, Macedonian, Greek, Balkan Romani, Charms, Dance..."
http://people.tribe.net/kafanabalkan

Sonny and the Sunsets' Chasing the Moon episode premier in honor of the full worm moon the next day. Chasing the Moon is a monthly local music video podcast that is celebrated with a live show and screening of the new episode near the full moon each month. 
http://www.sonnysmith.com
http://chasingthemoon.pdcst.comhttp://facebook.com/chasingthemoon
SF Weekly writeup (thanks Hiya): http://www.sfweekly.com/events/michael-musika-2405269/
Sunday Night, please come out again for the SeaweedSway Showcase at the Make-Out Room! Some of the proceeds will go to benefit for Japan - so extra contributions are welcome and appreciated. Also suggestions of what the best organization to give to would be helpful. Show is early, 7:30-11pm. Audiafauna from Santa Cruz, Au Dunes /Graves from Portland, and Ariel Eisen from SF/Oakland are bringing and singing us through the night; you're in for a treat. Vernal Equinox and belated Full Moon celebration. Jeremy Dalmas and the Absurdists are going to entertain us throughout the night, between sets. 
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list of super-recommended shows and events. 
you can find the fuller list here: http://bit.ly/seaweedswaycalendar (click "agenda" for a list version) 
or go here http://facebook.com/theseaweedsway for regular updates on cool events! 
March 18th - Friday
Michael Musika Novella + Album Release seance w/ Brass Menazerie and Toshio Hirano + Sonny & the Sunsets' Chasing the Moon premier at the Rickshaw Stop, SeaweedSway Presents! 
Seaweed for Sale! ($7 for a 2 oz. bag, $10 for soup mix)  see above for super description :)

March 19th - Saturday
Jeffrey Manson and the Range of Light Wilderness at Eleanor Harwood Gallery (1295 alabama st. in SF)
also in SF...
little wings, tara jane oneil, and pale hoarse @ adobe books. $5 suggested donation
also that night, in the East Bay...
Joyce Todd McBride sings Bach at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church 
8pm. 1005 Hearst Avenue at 9th St, Berkeley. Players and Singers: Jennifer Torresen, soprano; Joyce Todd-McBride, contralto; Richard Stumpf, bass; Glen Shannon, flauto traverso; Alan Paul, oboe, oboe d'amore, oboe da cacci; Paula White, violin; Robin Easterbrook, violin; Michèle Voillequé, viola; Julie Morrisett, viola da gamba; & Dawn Kooyumjian, harpsichord, organ. $10 suggested donation; nobody turned away for lack of funds. Baroque Etcetera is an affiliate of the San Francisco Early Music Society. info@baroquetc.org
March 20th - Sunday
Benefit for Japan w/ Audiafauna (Santa Cruz), Au Dunes / Graves (Portland), and Ariel Eisen (SF) + Jeremy Dalmas and The Absurdists @ the MakeOut Room, SeaweedSway Showcase! Early 7:30-11pm. $7. We'll also have some seaweed for sale at this show! ($7 for a 2 oz. bag, $10 for soup mix)

March 23rd - Wednesday
Community Music Forum - Dialogue on Fair Trade Music SF - Envisioning Another Way at Red Poppy Art House. 7-9pm

March 25th - Saturday
An Evening of Experimental Americana w/ O'death, Arann Harris & the Farm Band, and Helado Negro @ the Independent, Shelby Ash Presents
628 Divisadero, SF. 415-771-1421. 8:30 doors, 9pm show, $12, 21+. Show info: http://www.shelbyashpresents.net/independent/independent.html

also that night...
Snob Theatre w/ Picture Atlantic and Debbie Neigher @ the Dark Room
March 30th - Wednesday
Amber Lee, Evil Diane, Jeremy Rourke, and Vanessa VerLee @ Milk Bar.

April 2 - Saturday
Megan Keely, Port St. Willow, and Mojave Bird @ Viracocha
April 3rd - Sunday
Karina Denike, Dina Maccabee, and FpodBpod @ the Make-Out Room
April 5 - Tuesday
annie & her OSHEN, Erin Brazill and Love Axe @ Bottom of the Hill
April 8th - Friday
Buxter Hoot'n CD Release Show w/ Nick Jaina and Devotionals at Cafe du Nord
(Devotionals new video for Misericordia: http://vimeo.com/19547825)

also that night...
Woven Screening (Elia Vargas's film release), Honeycomb and Ever Isles @ ATA
April 10th - Sunday
Mark Growden @ Amnesia

April 13th - Wednesday
Girls in Trouble, Jascha Hoffman, and poets in the Mission @ Viracocha
The Blank Tapes Album Release, Little Wings, Rad Cloud, and Kacey Johansing @ the Great American Music Hall, Loving Cup Presents
April 17th - Sunday
SeaweedSway Showcase w/ EFFT and Sabrina (pdx) @ the Make-Out Room!
May 7-8th - Saturday & Sunday
Fundraiser for Zambaleta - New Music Venue & School in the Mission - Presented by Joe Lewis - Lineup TBA soon!


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extra bonus things.
Seaweed for Sale! 
seaweed for sale tomorrow night @ the Rickshaw Stop and Sunday @ the Make-Out Room. if you know you want a bunch, email Kacie Loparto @ she.sells.seaweed@gmail.com to place an order. 2oz bags ($7) of Kelp, Kombu, nori, dulse, wakame & a special soup mix blend ($10). she has 80+ bags to sell before moving back to Maine to harvest more seaweed - she's at Laguna and Hayes so pickups can be arranged there, but please get in touch w/ her soon!
YOGA CLASSES Saturday & Sunday: I teach yoga classes weekly on Saturdays and Sundays at the Yoga Loft. Saturday is a Gentle Hatha class from 12:45-2pm and Sunday is a Restorative Class from 6:30-8pm. (Third Sundays of the month, so this week, there's a sub for restorative so I can be at the SeaweedSway Showcase :) Each class is only $10! Check out http://theloftsf.com and http://seaweedswayyoga.blogspot.com for more details. I'd love to see you there! 321 divisadero st. @ page.
EzraLipp.com is a reality! Officially Reality- check it out!! he made it himself!
il gato has a new video for the song "On Feathers and Arrows (on Burnt Pine)". The BandW video is composed of archived video footage around San Francisco from he 1920s and 1930s. Here is the link, please take it in and pass it around if you wish: http://www.vimeo.com/18936235

Devotionals have a new video out!! For the song "Misericordia". The song and video are beautiful and profound - filmed on and around the decay and expanse of the shores of the Salton Sea. the song features Tyson Vogel, Anton Patzner, and Lewis Patzner instrumentally - and the video also features Emily Ritz of Honeycomb. here is the link, please take it in and pass it around if you wish: http://vimeo.com/19547825  Catch them playing on Friday April 8th at Buxter Hoot'n's album release show (Nick Jaina plays too)!! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=205318579483343

Popdose.com contributer Michael Fortes, has a monthly music video-interview series, Parlour to Parlour. Each month, Fortes is peeking into artists' homes and creative processes to discover a bit of what's behind the songs and what makes them tick, this year focusing on a snippet of the Bay Area music scene, with lots of Seaweed Sway favorites. The past episode focuses on FpodBpod - rock and roll with a psychedelic soul. You can see Fortes' full FpodBpod musical report here: http://popdose.com/parlour-to-parlour-episode-27-fpodbpod/ and see a performance (w/ Joe Lewis on bass) of unreleased song "Annie": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TF6u5a7ONg Also check out last month's episode of the Blank Tapes, and stay tuned for future episodes! Next one is w/ the Beehavers! Thanks to Garrett Eaton for the awesome video footage. Catch FpodBpod's next show April 3rd at the Make-Out Room w/ Karine Denike and Dina Maccabee. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=198641480157546

TINY ANTENNA HAVE LARGE RECEPTORS Radio Show: check out past and future episodes of Elia Vargas's show on Pirate Cat Radio - every Monday 6-8pm. He's been having lots of SeaweedSway bands - The Beehavers and Helene Renaut were on a few weeks ago, and Michael Musika this past Monday. You can stream it live from anywhere and hear past shows at http://pcrcollective.org (new link). HOUSING LIST - post or sign up: if you're looking for housing in the sf bay, sign up to receive emails or browse recent posts at http://groups.google.com/group/looking-for-housing / it's a google group i started to help pass along rooms for rent. please post any good room openings to looking-for-housing@googlegroups.com! JOB LIST - post or sign up: http://groups.google.com/group/looking-for-jobs-in-sf-bay-area send me job announcements please!! this list is a little slow right now...

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connect with Seaweed Sway in other realms.
Thank you for reading & participating in community events!! This is a weekly or so list of bay area music shows, with a few yoga and nature events mixed in. Please submit events in the format above a couple of weeks in advance to seaweedsway@gmail.com. Thank you!
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Sunday, March 6, 2011

3/18: Michael Musika Album/Novella release of Spells w/ Brass Menazeri, Toshio Hirano, Sonny & the Sunsets' Chasing the Moon, & DJ Zeljko @ Rickshaw Stop


Friday March 18th
SeaweedSway & Chasing the Moon Present:
A seance celebrating the release of 
the RECORD and NOVELLA  
entitled "SPELLS"
by Michael Musika...

w/ performances by:
Brass Menazeri
Michael Musika
Toshio Hirano
Sonny & the Sunsets Chasing the Moon episode premier
& special guest DJ Zeljko
at The Rickshaw Stop
 Image by Pua Logan.
Address: 155 Fell St, SF, CA 94102
Tickets: $12, available via http://ticketf.ly/musikaspells
RSVP on facebook: http://on.fb.me/musikashow
Time: 8:30pm
Press Inquiries, please contact: Jessie Woletz, seaweedsway@gmail.com

This show is incredibly special. Michael Musika's album Spells has been waiting to be released for two years, and the novella was finished just in time for the show. (He's been a hermit while putting the finishing touches on everything.) Spells, the album and novella, are masterpieces - genius, magical, and mysterious. This seance will be a gathering of spirits near and far to celebrate the release of this important inspiring work into the world.

Brass Menazeri  
"...San Francisco's Powerhouse Balkan Brass Band..."  
http://brass.menazeri.com/category/press/

Michael Musika  
"...crazy like a fox, convicted like a criminal, determined like the sun..."   
Musika's band for the evening will include some of the same luminaries that initially saw a spark in him many years ago.  Ara Anderson will play trumpet and Dave Mihaly will play piano.  Also performing in the band will be Eric Kuhn (Silian Rail), Matt Adams (Blank Tapes), Indianna Hale, Sleepy Todd, Kacey Johansing, Emily Ritz (Honeycomb), Patrick Byers (Albino), Jeff Giaquinto (BLO), Mike Perlmutter (Zoyres), and Jesse Olsen. (Ramon and Jessica). Appropriately, this event is being billed as a seance.  The content to be celebrated is a meditation on the true place where magic exists within this world, as revealed by an emmissary from another. (Read the full intriguing story below.)

Toshio Hirano  
"...Jimmie Rodgers' train gets lost and finds a magical conductor..." 

DJ Zeljko 
"...Serbian, Macedonian, Greek, Balkan Romani, Charms, Dance..."

Sonny & the Sunsets' Chasing the Moon episode premier
We are premiering Sonny & the Sunsets' episode of Chasing the Moon in honor of the full worm moon the next day. Chasing the Moon is a monthly local music video podcast that is celebrated with a live show and screening of the new episode near the full moon each month. See past episodes of Quinn DeVeaux, Thao & Mirah, Birds & Batteries, John Vanderslice, Sonya Cotton, Indianna Hale, Michael Musika, Silian Rail, Slow Motion Cowboys, Oona, Judgement Day, Lavay Smith, Foxtails Brigade, Steve Taylor, Kacey Johansing, TaughtMe, the Devotionals, Magic Leaves, Sea of Bees, & Ever Isles.

Michael Musika... the story
"Spells" is the title shared by the record and novella slated for a March 18th release by Michael Musika.  The text and related music combine to form a highly crafted and intricately layered document.  The text proclaims itself to be the transcription of a story told by a shape shifting, fugitive, animal spirit who passes through the boundaries that separate the land of the living from the land of the dead.  The motivation behind the spirit's travels we learn is to provide willing souls with the way to defeat a fascist oligarchy.  Meanwhile, the music is a thematic interwoven suite, both distinctly present, and instantly antique.  Densely acrobatic rhyme schemes are invoked melodically over orchestral arrangements with a childlike disregard for the unnecessary constraints of convention, without losing an acute ear for all that is vibrant and essential in the traditions of folk and pop. 

Michael Musika will tell you that he did not enter the path that led to the creation of this masterpiece by way of a fortunate last name, nor by a childhood spent in practicing music (he dreamed of being a baseball player).  Rather he insists that the decision to become a musician was based on a parable relayed to him by a coyote while stranded, existentially and literally, on the verge of adulthood on a desolate roadside in central Colorado.  That fateful meeting occured in July of 1998.
 
Shortly after hearing the coyote's words, Musika made his way to San Franciso and taught himself to sing and to play guitar.  It was not an easy process.  He spent years tagging along and observing up and comers Jolie Holland, Sean Hayes, Dave Mihaly, and Ara Anderson who were generous enough to occasionally share the stage with this determined, young apprentice.  The early work was awkard and tempermental.  Audiences perceived Musika to be a provocative curiosity at best.  Eventually, the vision and faith bestowed upon him by more experienced musicians were rewarded.  Through unparalleled devotion to craft, and a boundless imagination, the unrefined novice took long strides toward becoming a master.

Fast forward to September 2008, when Musika went into Studio C of Hyde Street Studios to record his first album.  In addition to providing each of the talented musicians recruited for the task with lyric sheets and charts of the music, Musika also included a swiftly rendered version of the parable told to him by the coyote many years ago.  He thought perhaps the story could lend unity to the collection of songs slated for recording.  It turned out to be a momentous decision.  The musicians took the idea seriously and the story profoundly influenced the aural imagary rendered in their recorded performances.  Whenever a decision needed to be settled regarding the direction of a part, drummer Jesse Olsen would read aloud from the story's text and divine what musical solution the plot portended.  Furthermore, at the conclusion of the session Olsen insisted that the recorded music must not be released without the story.  Musika did not believe the story was captured well enough in its present form.  Olsen shrugged his shoulders and said: "Then finish it."

Two and half years later, after countless hours of difficult work, both the record, and the Novella that contains the story that inspired its creation are complete and scheduled for release at a March 18th engagement at the Rickshaw Stop.  Musika's band for the evening will include some of the same luminaries that initially saw a spark in him many years ago.  Ara Anderson will play trumpet and Dave Mihaly will play piano.  Also performing in the band will be Eric Kuhn (Silian Rail), Matt Adams (Blank Tapes), Indianna Hale, Sleepy Todd, Kacey Johansing, Emily Ritz (Honeycomb), Patrick Byers (Albino), Jeff Giaquinto (BLO), Mike Perlmutter (Zoyres), and Jesse Olsen. (Ramon and Jessica)

Appropriately, this event is being billed as a seance.  The content to be celebrated is a meditation on the true place where magic exists within this world, as revealed by an emmissary from another.    

group shot, bolinas feb 26, 2011.jpg
photo by: Sean Vallely, http://www.bluefortyseven.com

pictured from left to right:  
Giulia, Childlike Divine, Beehavers Denison, Scott McDowell (top row)
Eric Kuhn, Obo Martin, Indianna Hale, Michael Musika, Sleepy Todd (bottom row)

Presented by Seaweed Sway
http://facebook.com/theseaweedsway
http://bit.ly/seaweedswaycalendar (google calendar of events)
http://groups.google.com/group/seaweed-sway (weekly email list of events)
http://bit.ly/seaweedswaystory (project background)

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To receive notices of shows & special events, join the SeaweedSway Press List Google Group here: http://groups.google.com/group/seaweedsway-press Thanks for supporting local wonderful music!!
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