It was hotter than expected but it got breezy and loud on the patio at The Torrance Art Museum for our afternoon of Sonic Exploration.
Special thanks are in order to The Torrance Art Museum for hosting, Insufficient Despair for organizing the event, and Phog Masheen for providing the live PA.
There were great sets from a sonically diverse group of artists. From the poetry-laden, mic’d objects and trumpet of Phog Masheen to the wild no-input PA noise of Insufficient Despair. The afternoon really ran the noise gamut. We had SÝKORA with Califone turntable antics, and the legendary Joe Potts with a set that sounded like we landed on some foreign moon. The abstract electronic free jazz from Design Life with Micah Silver was expressive and exciting as he had us leave the venue to find the edge of the sound.
Then there was me; my first live public gig post-pandemic and I had some tech issues. I ended up bringing too much stuff, had 3 of 5 power adapters too noisy to use, and a mixer that wasn’t working. I needed to strip down my rig to bare bones. Moving forward mixerless, essentially 4 things plugged in instead of the usual 8-12. I was well restrained, but would not admit defeat!
Luckily TinnitusPaparazzi was on hand to capture the sights and sounds of the day. I have included his video of my performance here but you should really check out his YouTube Channel for the rest of the performers, as well as his video documentation of other great noise events.