Update from Durham

As any SUV drivin Dad with a two year old knows, hard candy lollypops melt into a sticky gooey mess. When stuck to the carpet under the seat for several weeks before being discovered, not very welcoming. I'm not that Dad. I didn't think my candy installation would melt away as much as it did. And it looks amazing. The sticky flavored and colored sugar is slowly adding a whole new dimension to Lick My LEDs!
Philly Markowitz, at the Durham Art Gallery is kindly taking care of my installation during the exhibition. Her reports and photos have been a pleasure to receive as I fretted about it all from 2400 kms away. This week I made and shipped off a whole new batch of lollies to replace the melted ones. Two more weeks to go.

Circus of Objects

I don't think I have ever been on stage by myself doing a solo act quite like this. I talked Grant into letting me do it. It was the unveiling of a brand new project. I stumbled over some words, I switched up what I was going to say only minutes before I went on, I made a couple mistakes, I drew blood, the audience laughed, I laughed, the tunes sounded good to my ears. I have a lot more work to do.

more info here----> Jaw Harp Project

My set list.

Shortnin Bread pure Americana
Birthday Song for Art my own tune
Uncontrollable Urge, by Devo

Leif Norman took some pictures. Here's some more. ----> The Circus of Objects .

Jaw Harp project

Tonight I go out on a limb with a brand new project. I'll be performing some music/sound pieces on the jaw harp at The Circus of Objects. A production of an experimental theatre and performance art group Adhere and Deny.

I've been working on this for about three years. I was introduced to the idea of exploring this ancient musical instrument while working on some music and sound for a short film by Danishka Esterhazy. The Red Hood had a Ukrainian theme weaved into the story line. We shot some scenes at Lower Fort Garry which has a cabin much like many Ukrainian immigrants lived in back in the early 20th Century. One of the artifacts on display was an old jaw harp, a drymba in the Ukrainan language. They wouldn't let me touch it but I jumped into research and found some workable instruments from Austria at the local music stores. A year later I started purchasing instruments over the webbernet and started to look for them where ever I go. I have a doromb from Hungary, several vargan from Krygzstan, several morchanga's from Nepal, and a dan moi from Vietnam.

You can find an example of my playing here------> Birthday Song for Art .

melting.....

Lick My LEDs!

Announcing Candy Computing version .01

Lectric Lollies

flavors; raspberry, lemon, peppermint, licorice(anise)

packaging design by Robert Pasternak

electronics, Basic Stamp 1, Light Emitting Diodes, LED driver

pulse circuit by Norman White

progress in Durham

Debugged my circuits and got everything going towards the final step, casting some new lollies and installing them. Lickin good!



The local folks have been very generous to us. Durham is a small town almost rural but just enough city to make us feel at home.

Return to the Funny Farm

We did a day trip out to the Funny Farm to visit Laura , Laura's mom and Gordon . What a great day! They are responsible for Electric Eclectics , a festival of experimental music and sound art.

Candy Computing version .01 - Raspberry

The Lectric Lollies are coming together! The packaging arrived today from the Nakfactorium .

Scrapyard guitars workshop on YouTube

The now sounds. The past and the future. New noise out of old stuff.

Common Pulse Residency progress