It has been way too long.

These are the fallow months friends. We managed a mini goat and I was once again stunned by the talent around me. We were treated to an evening of acoustic karaoke with Paul Burback and Anne Mathews heading up the stage: Unstumpable. After making it through some America and Phil Collins, we were treated to some Sabbath to boot. I am always amazed at how some of that drek is transformed by the chance to sing it yourself. The lyrics seem so wonderfully bizarre.... she's an eassssssy lovvver.? Really? I am pretty sure that Anne and Paul could make a ton of money just heading up an acoustic karaoke bar of their own.

Despite the winter turnout with some noticeable absences I felt Super lucky to share my community with Awesome Cousin Ed ( who will henceforth be referred to as ACE) and Keith O of Phillytown. Folks loved their company and we certainly hope they make it back again soon. Place to some small extent is culture. I was certainly shaped by the very air of Philly and I certainly have felt a shift since moving here 20 + years ago. The goat loves a little influx at each gathering to broaden its experience and stretch the notion of what is possible. I simply love the fact that every time feels different. Communities are living things and I love this one.Above is my attempt to catch a hummingbird eking out a living on the only flower blooming, god how we were rooting for her. x, t

August 20th...

is gonna rock... Charles Larson will debut his new album, Lydia Ramsey will share her lovely voice with us and Tom of the country lips is headed back to London for school. This may be their last show for a while. Don't miss it and bring a few bucks for musician hat. Sure as hell don't tell anyone... we are gonna cut this off around 50 folks.

Charles Larson wil be playing tonight.

hope folks can make it.
Please bring  a few bucks for musicians.
Tunes around 9..... please rsvp.

The Goat may be sparse in coming weeks.

In the mean time consider this. 

Sometimes I am struck by the fact that the largest threat to my own personal sense of safety is the predatory nature of my own mind. I really don't need things like this to confront me at my local gym.  I was trying to determine why it seemed so odd when I realized that this man is striking an exact pose of someone urinating and simultaneously confronting his neighbor. Let's keep everyone safe but rest assured that if you come to the goat we will not insist on you sitting on anything.

Mob Roll!

Mob roll was fantastic last week. While I am quite sure I'll get the details wrong. Hip Hop Artist Creative destruction, special guests and the folks from Bombas bikes toured over 500 miles around Seattle in the past few weeks and managed to perform shows throughout Western Washington: Concrete to Olympia, PT to Indianola... culminating in a great show at the Goat. The Goat was happy to have them. When searching Bombas bike images, this came up.

Well, since I can't seem to find any info on bombas bikes please enjoy this picture of a Mustached figure crafted from red pepper flakes on a paper plate. Muy caliente y buen sabor!

 

I guess I did find the slightly more relevant info on FB. 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/MOBRoll-2011-MusicBike-Tour/216427845040926

New season rumblings.

Why is it that narrative is so pleasurable when it has such a small resemblance to life experience? In life there is character development, setting, and agents of conflict established relatively early: love affairs and broken hearts, road trips and flat tires, Christmas dinners and racist uncles. There is rarely a clear sense of dramatic tension, climax or resolution. In fact the basic tumultuous elements tend to be serially relived throughout a lifetime. Children with abusive parents become abusive or seek out the abusers. In this way life seems more like a mystery where the murder is poorly remembered, yet the attempt to solve the crime limps along via re-enactment. So… I wonder what it is that we want from our art and why. Do folks need documentation and resonance in art to make their relentless passion plays seem more romantic or are we interested strictly in diversion to make our repetition less noticeable?

Here at the goat we were treated to a wonderful night of song and sound thanks to the toy boats, Paundy Featuring a few tunes with none other than Pete the sweet Hasson, Lonely Coast late night, and sound artist Steve Barsotti.

Steve’s work was a welcome break in the standard notion of song as a journey with requisite characters and destinations. His improvised set of sounds were performed on a series of built up instruments composed of cigar boxes, dowels and springs with contact pickups directing the sound through a laptop. The results were diverse: from breaching whales to thumper on an electrified log the work thwarted a viewer’s anticipation. Both, percussive and arrhythmic - tonal and non-melodic, I found myself compelled to consider my own breath and shuffling about, as implied in the work onstage. So much art is immersive. One of the great divides I notice in the arts is the dichotomy between work that is escapist and work that promotes self-awareness. Once I relaxed into the work I found myself wanting to make sound myself while feeling like the potential saboteur. Some folks pulled back and tried to whisper-he-said-she-said-tales amongst and against the thumps and twangs. Not sure when work like this will come up again but I sure hope it isn’t too long.

Toyboats was really stellar and their collective sound was really great. Tiflin brought a “Pocket piano” which consists of C3P0’s spleen and pancreas. It was a new bit of whizz.

Some great new faces there too. It was cool to have Greg and Elyse out for the first time: Joyful folks that fit right in.

Richie and Maire will be here soon from Dublin so be on your toes for impromptu goatings. x, t

air raid!

Hey, I had a nice interview with all-around nice guy Aaron from Air-raid about the goat.
Be sure to check it out. it is under the white rabbit at Air-raid.net.