High Note

D E B U T

The first day at the Portland Rescue Mission began a completely new week for us. We were working with a very different, and much larger, group than before. We had learned a lot from the past two weeks, so we felt prepared, but nothing could have prepared us for the warm welcome and amazing conversation on the topic of “What is art” that we had with the men and women.  We were thrilled with the enthusiasm and creativity.

Here are a few recordings from the first music workshop, led by Eddie Hazera. Him and Shire collected all sorts of vents, screws, light fixtures, shutters, and garbage bins at the Rebuilding Center, for the groups to make music with. Enjoy this premium cover of “Under the Boardwalk” and the other slices of sonic play.

This one group came up with a far out cover of “Under the Boardwalk”.

A couple of the men decided to go for it with “traditional” instrumentation along with our various percussion items.

A gritty and soulful number written in less than 30 minutes! This number takes some surprising turns, so be sure to listen to the whole thing.

And here are recordings from the women’s facility known as Shepherd’s Door.

The second these women got these instruments in their hands, they were already getting up to get down. Listen to these two warmup exercises explode into a rhythmic industrial meltdown, coalesce into a heap of groove and then blast off into a beatific galaxy.

Fun fun fun.

Back to nature, back to the thunder: here is a dramatic variation on a familiar theme.

Here’s a truly avant-garde attraction. The creativity and play with the boombox and “found sounds” make this track an especially appealing number.

Wow! What a stunning melody. That’s all there is to say. Well, besides the ultra-cool percussion breakdown in the middle.

This is by far the loudest and most fun of the whole group percussion exercises. What sounds like howling monkeys in the background is actually a chair being slid backwards on the tile floor. Cool school.

So there you have it. America sure does have talent. This day left us all revved up for the next four days, but also tired and need of a break, so we headed to Powell’s bookstore, a place that would become a big presence in all of our lives for the rest of the week.

Hip to the Groove,

the Art Bus