Sacha emailed me, texted me and called me many times during the creation of this mixtape to tell me how excited he was and how inspired. Unfortunately our conversations and emails were brief because I am not allowed to know any details of the mixes before the actual start of the show or the whole thing is shot and the mixer has to start over. Needless to say now that I've performed it, I can see why he was so excited.
I absolutely loved this show top to bottom. I am getting better each time I do this form and my work with Sacha and Houston in the booth broadened the range of the music within the work. Unfortunately the youtube videos you will see in this post do not do justice to the environment, energy or detailed facial expressions... so if you hear the audience bellow with laughter and you don't have any idea why, it was probably a "you had to be there" moment.
Here are Sacha's liner notes that I received once I was onstage (he made me read them to the audience before I began.)
JIM! READ THESE LINER NOTES!!!
**British Lecturer’s Professorial Voice**
Semiosis is any form of activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, including the production of meaning. Briefly – semiosis is sign process. Semiotics is the study of signs, including, but not limited to the following: “signs” from everyday life (road signs, billboards, etc.), “visual signs”, signs can also be drawings, paintings, and photographs, word, sounds, or “body language”. Umberto Eco states that “semiotics is concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign”. Semiotics involves the study not only of what we refer to as “signs” in everyday speech, but of anything which “stands for” something else. In a semiotic sense, signs take the form of words, images, sounds, gestures, and objects. Studying how meanings are made and how reality is represented not through signs that are isolated, but as part of semiotic “sign systems” (such as medium and genre).
Enough with intellectualisms…on with the show! Thanks to Daniel Chandler and Wikipedia
These liner notes will self-destruct in 2,103 seconds…
And here is the mix itself:
Harder Better Faster by Daft Punk
Momma Sed by Puscifer
Twentysomething by Jamie Cullum
The Devil by PJ Harvey
Destroy everything You Touch by Ladytron
Corpus Christi Carol (For Roy) by Jeff Buckley
I'm Afraid of Amercans by David Bowie
Utopia by Goldfrapp
All is Full of Love by Bjork
2 Hearts by Kylie Minogue
***CLICK THE READ MORE BUTTON FOR VIDEO AND COMMENTARY***
Every month or so I see an article where the media says "Hey! Look at improv! It can help your life!" I have a very love/hate relationship going with this process. I love the they are putting improv in the media but I hate reading the actual article and watching them butcher the concepts themselves or removing the finesse because they aren't in touch with the art itself. I guess all artists feel this way when reading an article about art written by a non-artist. Anyway... here is a link to this particular article with a pitstop at lifehacker.com
It is time yet again for Black Box Improv Festival in Atlanta GA! I get asked pretty frequently which shows I am going to see and which workshops I am going to take so I thought I would go ahead and post my schedule for BBIF so you can follow along!
I am checking out this site as a way to do MixTape shows submitted from people via the web... Check them out... It is crazy unique!
