Nathan Hubbard/journal 2006

Spring Reverb 2006

GE Stinson, DJ Tenshun, Nathan Hubbard - Honey Bee Hive - SR06 Thursday May 4th

Vinny Golia soloing w/ the TF High School Honor Band

James Burton, Al Scholl, Justin Grinnell

Jason Robinson, Paquito Villa, Tracy McMullen, Hubbard

Trummerflora High School Honor Band

Day 1 - Per usual, Spring Reverb was a whirlwind experience this year. With Curtis Glatter's exodus to Michigan, i was left alone to curated Thursday night @ the Honey Bee Hive. Marcos Fernandes and myself hauled an extra PA to the venue and then i headed off to pick up Anna at the train station. We had a nice night, Borborygmus opened with a bang, nice set, lots of interesting moments and good listening by eveyone in the ensemble. The set got me excited to do a Borborygmus recording. The second set was Steuart Liebig and Anna Homler in the coffeshop next door. I have to admit that after the running around to get everything set up and then playing an intense opening set, i spent most of the set outside trying to calm down, since i knew i still had another set to play. The evening ended with GE Stinson, DJ Tenshun and myself working thru a myriad of textures and grooves for a 45 minute set. Found time afterwards to hang with Al Scholl and get some Chinese food with most of the collective. Thanks to Nate Atwood for running door and my very pregnant wife for running merch.

Day 2 - Was at the Museum for Making Music in Carlsbad. I performed with David Borgo in a quartet with Gunnar Biggs and Rick Helzer. We had done a gig a few weeks before, so things went well, even with Ricks impossible charts. The other main acts were Dana Reason (with Phillip Gelb, Tracy McMullen and Scott Walton) and Gunthers Grass (with Scott Walton). Dana's group performed a long improvisation, then a solo piano piece and then another inprovisation. Nice set, very quiet with good listening. For my money, Gunthers Grass could have played longer, i feel that drone music takes a while to set in, almost like a bath where the longer you stay in the better it gets. But the night was getting late and most of the audience had left, so they only played for 20 minutes. During breaks members of the TF Collective performed solo and duo ad hoc sets in various parts of the museum. Thanks to Tracy McMullen for curating.

Day 3 - Limbo Gallery Downtown. I have to admit, i played the Ventura New Music Festival earlier this day with The Unmentionables, and after the 3 hour drive both ways, i was burnt and stayed home for the night. Micro-Ritmia, Charming Hostess and Tom Dimuszio performed, Marcos Fernandes curated. I had a great time in Ventura, a nice set of music with Kris Tiner debuting his electronics rig with this group, and then a nice lunch with Jeremy Drake, Kris and Noah Phillips.

Day 4 - Here's where it gets scary. All day at Cal State San Marcos. Up early, i've got to haul, deliver and unload two completely different rigs plus extra percussion for the Honor Band. So, after unloading, i get a quick rehearsal with the Trummerflora High School Homor Band. Originally, this was supposed to be a large group of students from one high school, but after every band director in north county flaked on me and/or couldn't return my calls, we settled upon a smaller group of students from Grossmont High School and well as a few additions. Most of these additions flaked. After rehearsal, i got down to my busy day. Set 1 - Something Strange Is Afoot in the black box - nice set, nobody there, but we play well. Set 2 - Wormhole in the main hall. Robert M's computer crashed and Toni Pope got lost, so we started 30 minutes late. I played drunkit and vibes, like the old days with RTO. Set 3 - Trummerflora High School Honor Band in the main hall. The line up of the group was flute, tuba, piano, vibes, electric bass and drumkit. We performed a continuous set of my pieces with one Ellen Weller piece - a few melodic pieces, a few modular pieces, some structured improvisation and some open blowing. I saw Vinny Golia earlier in the day, and mentioned to him that if he wanted to jump up and join us at any point, please do. I nearly jumped out of my skin when he did, about 2/3rds of the way thru the set. Everybody played great for this set. After this i had a brief second to relax, saw Scott Rosenberg and heard a few different sets. After my break, i moved my kit outside for a quartet set with Paquito Villa on drums and Jason Robinson and Tracy McMullen on tenor sax. I guess that was Set 4. Then i quickly moved my kit back to the black box for Set 5 - Vinny Golia Septet. A nice set of Vinnys tunes, everybody played great. My only complaint was that i missed Scott Rosenbergs set due to a last minute schedule change. Next time, Scott. From there, we packed up, which took about a hour, and headed off to La Especial Norte for some mexican food. One more Spring Reverb down..........