The New York show at Music Hall of Williamsburg was amazing.  It is so wonderful to play to your home crowd, and walking around Brooklyn these past 2 days seeing all our friends and how psyched they were to be at this show has been truly uplifting.

Elyas had the camera on stage and snapped off this shot of Amanda Palmer auctioning off some art works in between songs.  I think it shows the energy of the night… what an incredible audience to give us all so much energy!

Looking forward to seeing all the guys tomorrow morning and heading off to Philly to do a radio segment with Amanda and then of course the show at Theater of the Living Arts.

See you there!

(via tiresome)

This is a universal truth, and something we want to work on. We ALL matter, and we all need to KNOW we matter.  YOU ARE NOT INCONSEQUENTIAL!  The Dignity of a Fallen Mosquito

Here is a photo of me opening my mail and finding my new Ted Milton / Burt Cut It / Hat 7”

Now, this looks like a normal 7” - but it’s actually more than that. It’s a microcosm of what symbolizes for me the very best of what music can do in this world, and what music means in my life.

In this 7” I have received 2 gifts in one. First of course, it’s given me a really lovely piece of music to listen to. And Second, it’s given me a reflection on what is important and why the I do this work anyway.

I was very inspired the first time I saw the limited edition books that Ted Milton puts out - which you can see here on his website: TedMilton.com.

He’s been added to this wonderful group of people I have been so fortunate to be exposed to in the music business, and a lot of it is coming together in this great series of coincidences, that are coming around again in September in Holland.

It’s interesting to me to see how it all hangs loosely together… kind of like that 6 degrees of separation game:

Ted is an alumni of the Beukorkest project Elyas will be playing with this September. Elyas was recommended to the Beukorkest project by De Kift, who Nervous Cabaret have played several shows with over the years. De Kift are a very passionate band that are, for the most part, related to each other, and they also make extremely cool limited edition merch.

Nervous Cabaret listened to Ethiopiques A LOT when getting ready to record the last album Drop Drop… The Ex (from Holland) have been recording an touring with Ethiopiques… Therrie Ex (guitar player) is also a Beukorkest alumni…

You are getting the idea by now… and my brain feels slightly less tangled as well. I am not sure Ted Milton could have had any idea that this would all resonate so personally with me when he sent me the 7”, but it does.

Art makes my life worth living… and passionate artists give me a hope for humanity.

PS: Ted Milton will be playing in Berlin on November 18th 2009 at the DOT Club Put it on your calendar and come with me - but don’t worry - I’ll remind you later!

Got a note from NYC beatboxing pal Adam Matta last week. The Beatbox Battle World Championships were being held in Berlin this year, he was about to hit the city and suggested I come down. I checked out the various promo videos out on youtube and was happily surprised to see that old friend and lower east side alumni Kid Lucky who was hosting this year.

Kid Lucky and Adam Matta Backstage



Great news, I hadn’t seen him in a number of years and he certainly was not expecting me to show up. Suffice is to say that major manly squealing and fits of laughter accompanied by spasms of festive hugging ensued as we caught sight of each other. We recalled the old days when we met in Tompkin Square park, smoking, drinking, prepping for for the Sidewalk Cafe open mics or taking our instruments and following the legendary likes of Sabir Mateen and Daniel Carter around the city and into Queens to tour and jam at an assortment of rent parties, gallery openings, weed spots, subway platforms, bars and happenings. Sabir and Daniel would take their saxophones and play up to five different events a night back in the day, sometimes for not a dime. These guys had played with Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Sonic Youth and never lost faith in music and played as mentors to a countless numbers of young enthusiastic musicians who flooded the city every year. I was thrilled to learn that both were doing very well and touring all over. The worst and toughest part of their long careers being well behind them.

Elyas and Kid Lucky



Kid Lucky clipped a three day pass on my lapel and we were off.

Adam was getting his breathing together and demonstrated some wonderful Egyptian Orchestral beatboxing he’d been working on. I was floored. This was going to be fun. The competition was split into three categories: Men, Women and Group. There were fifty people in the mens alone which would eventually be cut down to 16 and then the finalist over a period of three days. Here are some pics of the first day. My camera was at the studio so I had to borrow another. No video I’m sad to say. Look up the youtube page etc… for updates and results. Adam was up first and he smoked ‘em.

I’ll be catching up with Lucky in Prague. Peace!
Met this BeatBoxer named DAQ - real nice guy.