nouvelles & work

@ the wulf.: this Sunday – 8:00 pm: music of harris wulfson – lost intuition, durations, livescore

08.29.10 8:00 pm
in memoriam harris wulfson
harris wulfson – lost intuition, durations, LiveScore
performed by casey anderson, eric km clark, april guthrie, orin
hildestad, kathy pisaro, gary schultz, mark so, laura steenberge,
christine tavolacci, and mike winter
(followed by grillout with dr. hildestad as chef)

@ the wulf. 1026 s santa fe ave #203 (code 2-0-3 to enter) la ca 90021
info@thewulf.org
http://www.thewulf.org

the wulf. is located at 1026 south santa fe avenue #203, los angeles,
ca 90021 (southeast downtown close to where the 10 meets the 5).

the wulf. is officially a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization. tax
deductible contributions to the extent permitted by law may be made
payable to the wulf. if you are interested in contributing, please
visit our donate page linked on our website. nonetheless, as we are
just getting started with performances at the wulf., we are lacking
performance space necessities (most importantly, seating); so bring a
cushion, pillow, or chair if you want to relax comfortably on the
concrete floor (though we now have a carpet down).

tunebook a

ab duo

I looked at Harris’s entry on Wikipedia yesterday and discovered that someone had updated it with the following information:

In December 2008, Scrapple Records issued a recording of Jeremy Woodruff’s Tunebook A as realized by the AB Duo (Seth Meicht and Jeremy Woodruff on saxophones and flute), a work dedicated to Wulfson.

“Too Much for a Pogie” by AB Duo. “Tunebook” by Jeremy Woodruff (realized by AB Duo). “Tunebook” includes recordings of Seth Meicht and Jeremy Woodruff on saxophones and flute. Created in New York City and Berlin, Germany from July-September 2007 (Pogie) and July-November 2008 (Tunebook). “Tunebook A” is dedicated to Harris Wulfson (1974-2008).

Scrapple Records AB-Duo – AB Duo’s Pogie Tunebook (2009) is available for purchase online at bandcamp.

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https://aaronmeicht.com/
http://brendandougherty.com/

the wulf. presents @ the stone, nyc.

11.19.2009 8:00 p.m.
the wulf. presents @ the stone, nyc.
music by eric km clark, joe kudirka, larry polansky, mark so, laura steenberge, mike winter and harris wulfson.

tentative schedule:

8:00 – 8:45: Harris Wulfson; LiveScore.
8:50 – 8:55: Eric km Clark; new piece.
9:00 – 9:45: Mike Winter; for gregory chaitin.
9:45 – 10:00: Pause.
10:00 – 10:05 – Larry Polansky; 34 Chords.
10:10 – 10:25 – Laura Steenberge; Lucifer in the Shadowlands.
10:30 – 10:45 – Mark So; amid mounting evidence [readings 26], JOHN ASHBERY (2 short litanies), readings 32 – Landscapeople.
10:50 – 10:55 – Laura Steenberge; Elevator Music.
11:00 – 11:15 – Joe Kudirka; Love Letters.

http://www.thestonenyc.com/

spring hill

I’m glad you’ll get to hear a snippet of our singalong at Spring Hill — those days seem impossibly happy now. Do you know Harris and Mark Yokoyama played my wedding song? Later that night the electricity went out and we had no music; Harris stepped in and kept the party going with his fiddling.
–Michelle Tsai

Javier Garcia recorded this on his video camera. Michelle posted a shorter, cleaner version on flickr.

Who else was at Spring Hill? And what year was this?

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yuditka, 1992

Yuditka – a new “jazz standard.” This is a rough and abridged demo version with Harris playing all the instruments. I haven’t been able to reclaim the drum track. I’m going to keep trying to find a more complete version of this piece. Meantime here’s what I have so you’ll get the idea. Harris also left an arrangement for this piece which may or may not match this recording.

PDF Sheet Music Notation:
 

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the garden – for julie orser, 2005

the garden
Harris composed the soundtrack for Julie Orser’s video installation project titled, The Garden in 2005.

More information on Julie and the project at: http://www.julieorser.com/new/the_garden.html

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THE GARDEN
three channel video & sound installation
5 min. loop
single channel edit 8 min. 43 sec.
2005

The Garden consists of a three-channel video installation investigating the structure of a three-act narrative by literally dividing it into three separate spatial and temporal components within one installation. The project takes the visual form of the silent comedy of Buster Keaton, however displacing the hero into a highly manufactured and stylized black & white set similar to the films of George Méliès (A French director and magician from the early 1900’s who pioneered special effects and helped to push the new form of film into an artistic context). The hero of this video has a series of mishaps as he tries to plant a garden. His misfortunes are with an antagonistic “cinema” that causes sections of the set to malfunction or move unexpectedly. The camera then goes out of focus, follows him, and eventually his world is turned upside-down.

*The Garden can be screened or installed.

credits:
Cast: Andrew Love (as Buster Keaton)
Set Designer: Zoe Frasure
Art Department: Jennifer Bruce, Zoe Frasure, Victoria Fu, Diego J Garza, Ryan Gould, Heidi Gress, Trulee Grace Hall, Rebecca Hobbs, Jon Irving, Fiona Jack, Max Maslansky, Shizu Saldamando, Eric Golo Stone, Josh Stone
Crew: Jason Decker, Rebecca Hobbs, Katie Lewis, Jon Irving, George Wichelns
Dolly Operator: George Wichelns
Music: Harris Wulfson
Still Photography: Rebecca Hobbs, Jon Irving
Hair & Make-Up Artist: Etienne de Damoiseaux
Special Thanks: Chris Bassett, Christine Brandt, Frank Chang, Mary Janacek, John Kim, Noah Peffer, Kimberly Schoen

the wulf. — news and upcoming events

Dear all,

for the past couple of months, we have been taking time to apply for grants and start wrapping our heads around fundraising. wish us luck and do let us know of any opportunities that we may be unaware of. this effort is to keep the wulf. going strong. to be sure though, it is the amazing community of composers, performers, and listeners that have helped make the wulf. possible. our main goals are to provide better for the performers (fees, equipment and being able to invite out of town guests) and to offset the costs of the organization.

the time has come to start things up again in full force. see below a detailed list of upcoming events starting with a concert of the music of harris wulfson. nonetheless, keep an eye out at our website and for our emailings about other events that may happen spontaneously.

@ the wulf. 1026 s santa fe ave #203

upcoming events:

10.04.09 8:00 pm **Note change of date from 10.02.09
in memoriam harris wulfson.

friends of harris present his music: LiveScore, Durations, lookatmeiamafish, Hell. performed by eric km clark, april guthrie, orin hildestad, danny holt, mark so, cassia streb, christine tavolacci, brian walsh, and michael winter. (followed by a grill out with doctor hildestad as chef.)

-the wulf

See this article from Signal To Noise magazine about Harris and LiveScore. Or click the image below for the larger version.

king wilkie

From the King Wilkie news archive 2002:

7/21/02 – aqua fish out of aqua
Back in the greatest city on earth!
We are fortunate to have Abe Spear playing banjo with us at Grey Fox. Only 20 years old and hailing from Lexington, North Carolina, Abe is a great banjo player with his own style. We stopped in NYC for some rehersals with violinist/mandolinist Harris Wulfson who will also play with us at Grey Fox.
Since Abe had never been to the big city before we took the North Carolina boy on an grand tour. Because of all the excitement the film team from 42nd Question Productions was on hand in Manhattan, but curiously……not a camera was in sight.

7/22/02
We had such a great time at Grey Fox! Harris and Abe made everything sound twice as good and we can’t thank them enough. Grey Fox is truly the cadillac of bluegrass festivals—we haven’t been to a better one period, north, south, or west. It was hot, hot during both of our sets but the people in the audience were great and they put up with the terrible heat. We were absolutely soaked with sweat up on stage.
A vicious thunderstorm nearly derailed the show during Del McCoury’s set on Friday. The rain came pouring down, forcing rapid deployment of the tarp system always on hand at these outdoor events, to save the mixing consoles and other gear from certain doom. Staff and performers were huddled inside the backstage tent and everyone seemed both fascinated and concerned. Fortunately, the storm didn’t last very long asd the show got back on track. The weather was well-behaved for the rest of the weekend and the festival turned out to be a smashing success. Nickel Creek and Ricky Skaggs put on powerful performances that we will remember for a long time I’m sure. Thanks to Mary Doub for making it all happen! We were sad to leave but hopefully we’ll be back up next year.

The mp3 track “King Wilkie Grey Fox with Harris Train 45” below was taken from the video below which was given to me by filmmaker, Rory Coleman Mitchell.

All of the members of the original band have turned over save for Reid: http://www.kingwilkie.com/
 

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"Train 45" King Wilkie at the Grey Fox Festival with Harris Wulfson, July 2002 from mishka jaeger on Vimeo.

Harris Wulfson w/ King Wilkie @ Grey Fox, July 2002, 4am from mishka jaeger on Vimeo.

Colonel Catastrophe — The Bluegrass Documentary from mishka jaeger on Vimeo.

eastern europe, 1995, with claude cahn

In the Summer of 1995, Harris studied in Poland and then traveled though Eastern Europe with friends.  I remember he called me from a payphone in Istanbul with a view of Hajia Sofia. I was living in Los Angeles at the time and at 5am and he prefaced the conversation with “Hey Michelle! Do you know that Tom Waites song “Phone call from Istanbul?”

Claude Cahn was one of the friends Harris met and traveled with that summer and he sent me the following music on audio cassette. The majority is not of Harris playing, but I wanted to put the entire recording here anyway. I also have some of the DATs he recorded that summer and his notebook from the trip that I will get on line as I come to them.

Here is the note from Claude:
We were together at the Kuprivshtica festival, which is where I met him — Christina Crowder had appropriated him from somewhere. She had taken the bus from Hungary, while I had flown, because through some weird fluke Balkan Air had a special to Sofia which was cheaper than the bus (why do I remember all this?). We then went as a big Americo-Bulgar train to Veliko Trnovo, where we did some drinking and some busking (more of the former) and some listening to the earliest Bulgarian hip-hop. One of the guys we were with, who I remember only as “Vladi-Badi” (his first name was Vladimir, was a producer of Bulgarian rap). The other guy we were with was a great guitar songster type called Harry Zachariev, who had been in Syria and elsewhere working as a musician. He is the person singing on the recordings with Harris. Harry I heard died a few years ago, I think as a result of recurring hard drugs issues. Harry’s girlfriend was with us too, but I don’t remember her name. Then I was with Harris in Istanbul and we went hunting (and found) disused synagogues in an old Jewish neighborhood.
Anyway, I’ll send you the stuff. It is not much, but there is at least one gem on it (Track 1. Harris playing along to a really bawdy Bulgarian song being sung by Harry Zacharaiev).

And now for some R-rated tracks:
 

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Eastern Europe with Claude Cahn 1995

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And Harris, himself, kept a notebook. Here is an excerpt:

Tuesday, August 8th
…Met Harry and Juli! Americans left. I hung with Harry, Juli, Nikki (who lives next door to my place) and Irene (Harry’s girlfriend) until 6am.

Wednesday, August 9th
Wet to record store with Harry, bought tape, CD. Had lunch with his friend, “S—-” (illegible). Went to his recording studio, “Studio-x.” Met Vladi. Saw his software. Heard rap music produced at Studio-x. Evening: Called parents at Sheraton. Pizza (good) for dinner. Met Harry and Juli at Palace of Culture (this time with my violin). Jammed until 3am.

Thursday, August 10th
Tried to be a tourist. Saw Nevsky Church, Mosque, Museum of History. Sitting on strut (?) reading guidebook, met Christina. She came with me to Studio. Met Go-Yo. Eventually we all went out. Up until 5am. She crashed at my place (she was quite drunk).

Friday, August 11th
I am now on a train to Koprivshtitsa . I am alone because the others had to stay to collect their things. I will meet Christina, Harry, Irene and Vladi there.

On train to Istanbul
Much of what I did in Koprivshtitsa is recorded in the small notebook and documented on two DAT tapes (which I have yet to unearth – m). Here are some details:

Friday, August 11th
Arrived in Koprivshtitsa. Crowded! Walked around town. Went up to hotel to try to drop my packs. They wouldn’t let me and couldn’t help me find a room. Outside, I met Cecelia and friend. Discovered she knows Christina and that she was meeting Claude in town at 7:30. I went to town and met Claude (called out “Claude” to a geeky-looking American guy). Met up with Cecelia, went to her room in a village house. Dropped my stuff there. Went to a park in town with Claude, Cecelia and ( ) [sic – m]. There was a group of musicians sitting around a table and they suddenly began to play. I recorded some of this. People were dancing too. We went back to the stage in town and found Christina, Harry and Vladi. Christina was drunk. She told me that I sucked and that my playing was too “classical” and that I had to come to E. Europe to live and learn the music. We jammed (Harry, Claude, me) but Christina was really unable to play. [she doesn’t remember anything from that night but she got a lot of scratched and bruises from falling over]. Cecelia played some rockin’ Hungarian and Irish music on fiddle. Eventually went to a different pub with Cecelia. The same band was playing (minus gadulka). Recorded and photographed. Cecelia danced.

Saturday, August 12th
I climbed up the hill to the festival proper and… oh my god! It was packed. I almost couldn’t move. There were thousands of people and everywhere there was music. Along the path there were stands with people selling food, drinks, hats, trinkets, and of course, musical instruments. Old people were walking around in their regional costumes. Children were dancing and playing. It is pretty well-documented on tape and in the small notebook. We found Irene and Nikki from Sofia. Christina, Vladi and I got a much better room in a lovely village house. Heard Irish music on the way down hill with Christina. That night we had a long jam session with Christina, Harry, Claude, Cecelia. People even listened to us. Met Svetlio (now I know all the Studio-x-ers). Zurna players were playing in the street at 3am. I taped them.

Sunday, August 13th
More festival. Left my tape recorder on for a while and walked around. Met Harry and Irene. Harry helped me look for a gadulka. We didn’t find anything inexpensive. Finally went down the hill with Christina after buying slippers and rosewater for relatives. Sad because the festival was over.
I bought a zurna. Svethio asked a zurna player to show me his moves. He was a yuppie from near Macadonia. I got to play a nice one. The guy wanted $100 so I left and then Harry bought one at the “Bulgarian price” ($30) and sold it to me. The trick was good except that I didn’t get exactly the one I wanted. No matter. Harry looks out.
Harry, Irene, Christina, Claude and I got on a train to Veliko Tarnovo. Vladi and the Hungarians (whom he called fondly “Majarbi” [??? -m]) were to follow the next day. They wanted to see Koprivshtitsa.
On the train we jammed some more. Christina taught me some Irish tunes. I wrote out lyrics to “Sittin’ on top of the world” for Harry and he wrote lyrics to

(Makedonsko Devojcke) for me.

In Veliko Tarnovo, Harry found his friend, Nikki and Nikki put up in his house. Nikki’s house is a squat right neat the river in Veliko Tarnovo. It has a great view and enough floor space for us. Nikki is a big guy. The kind of guy that you’re glad is on your side. He’s a real sweetie with a psychotic little dog. Unfortunately he doesn’t speak English.
There we played some more…

Monday, August 14th
We went to a terrace cafe in Veliko Tarnovo with a great view. I took a picture of Harry and Irene there. We chilled for a long time. It seems to be the Bulgarian way.
We were going to busk but when we went back to Nikki’s place (without him), we couldn’t find where he hid the key (he had given instructions to Harry). So instead we went to the castle and climbed around the walls. It’s another great view from there. On the top is a very strange church with socialist realist religious art! I bought a photo on the way out. In the evening, we chilled some more in a different cafe. Then we played music at Nikki’s. I recorded some, I think (check the small notebook). I tried Christina’s gaïda and regretted not getting one in Kop.
Vladi had missed all his meetings with us but at midnight, Christina decided to go again to the meeting place (near the post office). She found him there with the Hungarians and she brought them to Nikki’s. We played music. It must have been strange for Nikki to suddenly have three more people show up at his doorstep but he put them up without a word. We slept like sardines: five side-by-side on the floor.

Tuesday, August 15th
Chilled in the same terrace cafe. We played on the street for a while while Vladi went with the Hungarians to see the town. Then we chilled some more. Then we changed cafes and chilled. Vladi met us there. I debated whether to go with Harry, Irene, and Vladi to the Black Sea coast. Vladi really wanted me to go but I think Irene was sick of us. I decided to go with Christina and Claude back to Sofia so I could get to Istanbul in time to see it for a few days. So we all said goodbye in the train station.

[I have not yet located this small notebook he mentions. I will keep looking -m]

Comment from CLAUDE on May 17, 2009
This is such a trip – the journal fragments have jogged my memory about many things from that time. Hope Christina doesn’t sue for libel, but the details are pretty accurate for this period — steady amounts of alcohol with great longevity and endurance, followed by creative experiments with the forces of gravity. If I recall correctly, around this time, she and the visiting Sharla Benedict yanked each other down two flights of metro stairs in Budapest.

I had completely forgotten that Juhasz Cecilia was along for this journey. She was also in the company of a tall, thin friend of hers whose name escapes me entirely. Cecilia was an incredible fiddle player who once accused me of playing guitar “like a German”, probably the most withering criticism anyone has ever made of my guitar-playing. She was an incredibly gifted fiddle player, who had been thrown out of the Budapest conservatory because she had stage fright. Her nose was slightly pinnocchioid, and she had a really confident ability to hammer with her pinkie, which she did like a viper striking, and it always seems like the tip of her nose quivered along to the pinkie striking when she played up the neck. Cecilia turned me on among other things to the US fiddler Liz Carroll. She had a battered bootlegged cassette copy of Liz Carroll’s first record – probably her best – of which Cecilia had learned most if not all of the tunes, many of which are very lovely. This is how I learned to play slip jigs. I later heard she went to Italy to join a circus, if you can believe that (the fates, the destinies…).

The notebook page is I think Harris under the influence of Christina. Christina had in repertoire a number of yay-dee-diddly Irish ballads, some of which she evidently inflicted on Harris. This looks like his effort at writing under the influence of that.

I wish I could remember more. I recall watching at Kuprivshtica with Harris a group of Hungarians who played Bulgarian music on one of the field stages. They were I think the only non-Bulgarian band playing. There was an old man who was very moved by the sound of non-Bulgarians playing Bulgarian music. We asked him if they were any good and he said, “No, they are terrible, but they are playing our music! Nobody can play our music well!”

I also remember sitting with Harris in a cajzhilnica fairly far from the centre of Istanbul, on the European side of the Bosphorus, in a neighborhood his guidebook said had once been Jewish, and that we found an old gate with Hebrew lettering which we concluded must have been a synagogue. We did not have a language in common with the old man in the tea shop, but he seemed to affirm that we had found what we were looking for, and he declined to take any money for the tea. It was one of those beautiful afternoons.