Nathan Hubbard/journal 2005

Adrian Rollini Trio Spring Tour 2005

The Adrian Rollini Tour started with a quick drive up the coast, thru LA, on to Bakersfield for lunch (Indian food), over the Pacheco Pass, a brief stop for fruit, and on to KFJC in Los Altos Hills. It was pouring rain, we loaded in, soundchecked, played a bit, talked a bit and loaded out. Good playing, a great way to start the tour, and Mitch was completely up to date on happenings in SD, lots of great questions. We reached Oakland by 10pm, stopped for food and caffiene (Dan Cantrell kindly made us some sandwiches), then on thru the night to Portland. Made it to Ward Baxters house around 8am, had some breakfast and crashed. Here is Ward and myself heading out for breakfast in rainy Camas.

Woke up mid-afternoon and headed out to Seattle, with a stop for lunch. Made it to 1412 Gallery right at 6pm, quick setup and sound check, then the gig. A small crowd, but good playing and Jay Easton and Tom Swafford sat in for a second set of improvisations.

Yes, then a late dinner w/ Jay, Angie and Earl, then more driving up to Shoreline to crash at Jays house. We stay up late watching a film on the bass saxophone and Adrian Rollini. crash. Up early for breakfast w/ Jay, then off to Portland. Andy and Justin are driving me insane.

Spend the day hanging with Ward, then head out to the Tugboat Brewery. Get lost (of course). Find the place, set up, play. Three sets, Ward sits in for the last set. Long breakdown, Ward and Aurora take off, get pulled over, Ward narrowly escapes a DUI. Stop for mexican food (thanks to Tom for directions via cell phone from SD), up late, talking, making fun of Grinnells hair. Crash.

Spend the next day driving around, lunch with Ward, then off to Eugene.

Eugene - a very quiet gig but great playing. Thanks to Carol at DIVA for having us.

After the gig, my long haired rhythm section decides we are going to drive thru the night to Santa Rosa to crash at Justin sister Laurels house. i drive till sun-up then let Justin take over. After crashing all morning, we hang in Santa Rosa and head out to SF for our gig. and parking sucked, as usual.

but we played good, got to see Gino and George perform and got a chance to catch up with Rent, Damon and a few others. Load out, get some mexican food, head to Oakland. Spent the night at Phillip Greenliefs - thanks for the hospitatity Phillip, you're the king.

With our Davis gig cancelled, we decided to head home. Phillip gave us some directions and we headed down the coast, stopping to see my relatives in SLO and getting home late that night. Justin slept most of the way.

We recorded later that weekend - two sets and an "overdub experiment" with departing landscapes.We're still not sure what to do with it.

Over dinner later that weekend, we split our earnings - $33 each, not including gas, food, lodging and other expenses. Cheers!

From: Marcos Fernandes
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2005 12:27 PM
Subject: Re: sr05

i don't think any judgements were being made about jazz here. perhaps nate was projecting his insecurities about jazz?

on 1/19/05 1:30 PM, Jason Robinson wrote:

Sorry, must take a dissertation break and peek my head in...

Marcos said:
"i don't think any judgements were being made about jazz here. perhaps nate was projecting his insecurities about jazz?"

I'm not sure what you mean by "insecurities about jazz." Would you elaborate?

jason

From: Marcos Fernandes
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 17:26:47 -0800
Subject: Re: "insecurities about jazz"

i remember we (tfc) talked about the issue of marginalization a while back.. we decided that the first step in dealing with it was to stop thinking and acting like we practiced a marginalized art. it is self-defeating. if we want to change media or public perception then we need to change our own perceptions first. don't treat it like it's marginal. it eventually led to the change in our official language.

i've been into experimental music since high school. i was so excited whenever i discovered something new whether it was rock, jazz, classical, blues, folk, whatever. it meant something to me. some of my friends thought i listened to 'weird' music while others shared in my curious discoveries. i had no idea i was listening to 'marginalized' music! in a way, most rock and jazz and other music was "underground" at the time and underground was cool. when i heard new music and electronic music, i thought they were established music - hey, they came from univerrsities and such. how was i to know they were marginal. i thought mavericks were cool.

so to come back to jason's question. i think nate often feels marginalized. it often shows in his language and attitude. and consequently, nate may get a bit defensive at times. i think you (jason) used to get a bit defensive, too. just because i don't play jazz doesn't mean i don't think highly of jazz. i like lots of jazz. and i hate a lot of it, too. just like any other music.

jazz and rock have been around so long that there is a mainstream and its alternatives. the alternatives slowly become the mainstream. i don't know if the same holds for experimental or improvised music. i think it's there but it's more subtle. take for example the rise of 'lowercase' and other reductive forms of music today. it's hip to play less. or laptop/electronic music. everyone's doing it. while others are still working on their extended techniques on an alto.

what we do is definitely not mainstream. it probably wwill never be 'popular' music. in san diego, we're big fish in a small pond. it's the same in the bay area - more fish, slightly bigger pond. go to new york. maybe the music isn't marginal but there are thousands of people doing what you're doing. so you could be marginalised on a more personal level. small fish in a big pond. are you good enough?

if this is what you choose to do then you can't be bitter about it. yes, we can't be happy when five people show up for a concert. we should strive for 30, 50 or more. but again, this is not mainstream. or have we gotten comfortable because we don't get critisism? am i pushing myself with my music? are you? are we? would you go to one of your concerts and come home raving about what you've just experienced?

From: nhubbard@pacbell.net nhubbard@pacbell.net
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 02:39:28 -0500

Subject: Re: insecurities

hmmmmm...."insecurities about jazz". well, thats a lofty topic. but first- Marcos said:
> "i don't think any judgements were being made about jazz here." clearly, i mis-read roberts post. however, having no jazz artists on the list and robert saying "my take is that this is a move to try to include more Jazz" seems a bit strange, huh? as i said in my previous post, this is all water under the SD river.
now, insecurities....
unfortunately, my large pool of insecurities doesn't include "jazz" and, as i give myself an honest assessment, i don't feel "marginalized". if i present a concert of my work, or if i am collaborating with other artists, it is not marginalized music. and i have never defined or called my music "jazz".
what bums me out is when i join a collective dedicated to the support of its members, and i hear the same closeminded-ness as i hear from my father. i think it goes without saying that PK or francis (or almost all of the SR invites) are not doing music on the cutting edge. the same goes for every member of this collective. i don't think that is the point. the point is-do you like the music? do you try to like it? do you listen to it? do you go see these people? and as i write this, jason robinson posts- "I'm into supporting what everyone does and I don't expect people to champion my interests." i don't agree. when i joined TF, there were two distinctions-what you do for TF, and what TF does for you. and it was made clear that you support all the members in the collective.

i think what lisle (and marcelo) said at the meeting was honest - lets have a wide variety of artists covering different ground. -nate