lo-fi is the right fi: dj talksonthephone calls up all your favorite musicians for live over-the-phone performances and awkward conversation.

A while back I had the pleasure of playing the KDVS radio show called “Phoning It In”.  Literally over the phone, I played a set from the Marriage Studio here in Portland. It has finally been posted on their site for stream and download. Digital decay has never sounded so good!

There are plenty of other great shows on the archive to check out as well including friends Cole Moldy Milner, LAKE, Cryptacize, Ben and Bruno, The Watery Graves of Portland, World, Little Wings, Thanksgiving, and recently, Davis Lee Hooker playing songs from his new record that I composed strings for, “Dark Town Dark City”.

DASH!
“TAKES SWIFT STRIDES” EP
MDIG002, Marriage Records
Available here for a mere $4.

TRACKS
01. New Stars’ Art
02. Hypnotiq World (listen)
03. No Way?!
04. The Dash Way!
05. Ew Tartar
06. How Do You Feel?

I’m very excited to release this short record, my first on Marriage Records, as a “digital download only release”. It utilizes our new web-based software called Coupe designed by tech mastermind Greg Borenstein. Similar to the download code that you get when you buy a vinyl record these days, Marriage is breaking ground by eliminating the physical copy and selling pieces of paper (or in my situation a color postcard), bric-a-brac, or other non-related pieces of merch with the uniquely coded sticker pasted to it. A new venture. So rad to have this at our disposal!

Check out the record, I’m really proud of it and recorded it in mid-February through the end of March at the BCS Studio B and at the Marriage Records Studio. The final track, “How Do You Feel?” is a culmination of a feeling and idea that I have been working on for 5 years… I think I’ve settled in on something that I am finally ready to show to the world. Enjoy!

03/21/2009 08:00 PM — Reed College
Playing a composed improv trio set with Bob Jones and Jonathan Seilaff as well as a piece by Matt Marble. Adam Reese will perform as well. Blogged here and here.

03/24/2009 08:00 PM — Valentines
232 SW Ankeny
Portland, Oregon 97204
Cost: Free
I will contributing some viola for a Ghosting set with local audiophile, Zach Reno.

03/28/2009 08:00 PM — Worksound Gallery
820 SE Alder
Portland, Oregon 97202
Cost: Donations, please
Description: Playing with Mary, Bob, and Jonathan. Also playing: Gust Burns and Jason Kahn.

04/04/2009 07:00 PM — The Wail
NE 42nd and Sumner
Portland, Oregon 97218
Description: Space’s Day installation show at the Wail! Gonna be wicked. There will be a large zome dome with multiple celestial animated/non-animated projections. Curated by our friend Kaylee. Do check out her Flickr.

FISTMAS 2008 from Jordan Dykstra on Vimeo.

On December 26, 2008 The Righteous and Harmonious Fists curated an event at the Pony Club in Portland, OR.

The event was called Fistmas.

This video is documentation from that the first annual Fistmas.

Please enjoy!

Anyway, Honey engineered and produced the viola effects for me at this show and Ashby did her thing on vox. Check it out:

Also worth mentioning is that tomorrow at the Worksound Gallery in Portland I am participating in a collaborative large ensemble improvised show with some 20+ musicians. I’m very excited for this one and it should not be missed.

The Dash
copyright 1996 Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak
at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
from the beginning…to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth
and spoke of the following date with tears,
but he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
that she spent alive on earth…
and now only those who loved her
know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own;
the cars.…the house…the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard…
are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
that can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
to consider what’s true and real,
and always try to understand
the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,
and show appreciation more
and love the people in our lives
like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
and more often wear a smile…
remembering that this special dash
might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read
with your life’s actions to rehash…
would you be proud of the things they
say about how you spend your dash?

http://lindaellis.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/11/the-dash.html

The Dash touches close to home, here in Oregon:

DASH! — So Sioux Me *NEW VERSION* (4.9MB)

Special thanks to Jonathan Sieloff who played bass clarinet.

Stars of the Lid . teaser 1 from ZF-Films on Vimeo.

Crystal Seth recently made a few recordings in Portland. More to come… Download the zip file containing New Fun Now with above artwork here.