Monday, January 31, 2011

BLACK CRACKER Book Trailer

Black Cracker gets a book trailer.



Video by Wyatt Doyle
Music: "Shoe Shine Boy" by Josh Alan, from the album Famous & Poor; buy the CD here.

© 1991, 2010 Josh Alan Friedman

Wanna buy Black Cracker? Order your copy HERE.

Friday, January 28, 2011

"There's a Bright Crown" by Rev. Raymond Branch

To view on YouTube, click the above image. To watch via Vimeo, see below.


Visit Reverend Branch's website here.

copyright © 2011 Rev. Raymond Branch, Wyatt Doyle

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Welcome to The Pleasure Dome


copyright © 2009, 2011 Wyatt Doyle

Backwards, Forwards Backwards

Hands up, who else uses Linux?

Zero.

Well, if any of you did, you'd probably already know about SoX.

I'm determined to get my computer music schizzle happening, and I'm determined to make it happen using Linux.

Essentially, SoX is like Audacity, without any graphic user interface--just a bunch of code.  Code like:

play rsclarinets.wav echo 0.9 0.88 160.0 0.4

It's kind of like making your own butter, or sewing ones own clothes...it really puts a new perspective on something normally taken for granted.

Here is the clarinet trio from WKCR--the one we know and love:

Lavalle Mateen Zappa Clarinets at WKCR track 4 

Here it is backwards

Rclarinets
Here it is backwards and forwards.

Backwards Forwards Clarinets 

Yup, it's come to that.

Stay tuned for more remixes of old tunes you probably weren't that interested in to begin with.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Josh Alan Friedman on MLK Day

"From the momentous moral conflicts of race, to the creation of jazz, blues, the pinnacles of sports achievement, the literature of Uncle Tom's Cabin and Huckleberry Finn to Iceberg Slim, from pancakes to peanut butter—America is a Negro nation."

"Up, You Mighty Race!": MLK Day reflections by Black Cracker's Josh Alan Friedman.

Click here to read the full essay at Black Cracker Online.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

"At the Cross" by Rev. Raymond Branch

To view on YouTube, click the above image. To watch via Vimeo, see below.



Recorded at the Heavenly Rainbow Baptist Church, December 2010.

For more by Reverend Branch, visit his website, RevBranch.com

© 2010, 2011 Rev. Raymond Branch, Wyatt Doyle

Monday, January 10, 2011

Get your freak on in L.A. with Drew Friedman and Wyatt Doyle!


Drew Friedman premieres his new collection, SIDESHOW FREAKS (Blast Books), at Book Soup (8818 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood)! Join us Sunday, February 20 @ 4 pm for a signing and talk moderated by NT's Wyatt Doyle.

Can't make the event? Contact Book Soup and ask about purchasing signed copies by mail!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The Tenth of Many Instalments of Me

The tenth, and for now, final instalment of the many instalments of me.  Wow, what a wild ride.  This web 2.0 thing really does add richly to the fabric and quality of our lives.  2011, great to see ya!

This little number was the version 0.9 of the Citizens' Orchestra kernel.  It is a performance by Eric Zinman, Laurence Cook, Jane Wang, Nick Skrowaczewski, on the final piece of the evening Glynis Lowmon, and me.

Citizens Orchestra I - First Piece, Cambridge MA 2007 

This is the first piece of the evening.  The other three have been put together into a "thing" which I am given to understand is currently enjoying the neglect, apathy and disinterest of select music capitalists all over the world!  And that's fine too because it was a gaye olde time that performance.  Yes indeed, all the notes at least twice.  Laurence Cook = national treasure.  I didn't know Jane Wang's music before the performance, and as it turns out I should have as she played great.  (You can also hear her on Sabir Mateen's recording Other Places Other Spaces.)  Eric Zinman is a pan tonal champion and Nick Skrowaczewski, what can you say?  As adept on the vibes as he is on the drums.  Mr. Percussion!

And there you have it.  Ten instalments of me, by me, ultimately for me and the 6 or seven of you who make a point of stopping by on a semi regular basis.

The next instalments of me could potentially be of even less interest, as they are pre-digital relics.  The next instalments might also not appear for a long time as they are cassettes, and I'm not sure yet how to turn them into zeros and ones.

While the lions share of it makes even me cringe, there are some fun unheard cassettes from rehearsals no one heard for gigs that were never played.


Till then!