Better Homes & Gardens will be performing Tuesday, February 3 at Valentines (artist Liz Haley’s intimate, avant-garde friendly den at 232 SW Ankeny Street in Portland) along with Oakland’s Painted Cakes and Portland’s own Bird Costumes. Music at 9 pm.
On the menu: Free Improvisation for a Brave New World. Shades and flavors recalling […]

I recently had the pleasure of moderating a conversation with Allegra Fuller Snyder & DW Jacobs in conjunction with the opening weekend of  Jacobs’ R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Mystery) OF THE UNIVERSE) at Portland Center Stage.
The event I AM A VERB: Living a Fuller Life, explored the life, legacy, and full-spectral impact of  […]

I recently sat down with artist, playwright, and urban planner Tad Savinar to talk about design and public conversation, the improvisational act of living in a city, and the civilizing process of learning to create, recycle, and renew social capital–twenty feet at a time.
Read the interview in Oregon Humanities

In a departure from my usual jazz and culture focus, I’ve recently been writing about public space, urban design and planning for Portland Spaces’ Burnside Blog—a nexus for all things related to architecture, planning and the wild world of development in the city of Portland.
Some recent postings have talked called out The American Planning […]

I’ve got an op-ed piece on the editorial page of The Oregonian, Portland’s daily paper, commenting on the recent demise of the Portland Jazz Festival. The piece is slightly truncated from my original, but cuts to the heart of the matter.
“Recently it was announced that the Portland Jazz Festival is ceasing operations after […]

Join Better Homes and Gardens (aka Reed Wallsmith, Bob Jones, and Tim DuRoche) for an evening of freely improvised music on Friday, August 15 at 9 pm at the Camellia Lounge (510 NW Eleventh Avenue in Portland’s cozy Pearl District).
This is jazz in the ragtime-to-no-time continuum–expect ‘bunctious camraderie, swing-mad energy and dark, melodic […]

Make sure not to miss the fantastic maverick improviser, pianist Thollem McDonas from the Bay Area—performing next week, Tuesday, August 12, 8 pm doors, at the Cave (Alan Jones’ womb-like jazz club in the basement of the Green Onion, 626 SW Jackson at Broadway, near PSU).
Thollem is out of sight—deeply musical, […]

 

 Thollem_Waypost [6:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The July 24 celebration for Carei Thomas’ 70th birthday at the Walker in Minneapolis was a resounding success—Heart of the Beast Puppet Theater, all the brightest spoken word the Twin Cities has to offer (Mankwe Ndosi, eg bailey, Roy McBride, J. Otis Powell!, John Minczeski, etc.), Douglas Ewart, Donald and Faye Washington, Pat O’Keefe, Wallace […]

 

 Feel Free at WAC [6:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Gift Shop: A Tribute to Carei F. Thomas
Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 7 pm
McGuire Theater, Walker Art Center (Minneapolis)
Free, but reservations are recommended by calling the box office 612.375.7600
I’ll be heading to Minneapolis to perform as part of a special 70th birthday for AACM pianist-composer Carei Thomas on July 24 at the Walker Art Center. […]

This is booklet accompanying my project WHYTE SPACES, created in September 2007 as part of a month-long guest artist residency. SO. WATERFRONT SOUND COMMISSION looked at the conceptual corridors of placemaking. The project centered around events and temporary installations that invited participation and a subtle reorientation of engagement with sound and cityscape, partially inspired by […]

 

 Whyte Spaces No. 4 [9:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download