I’ve been writing about my take on music and our musical culture here for about six years, and some themes and ideas have emerged that I think offer something new to the national conversation. At the same time, I’ve found myself itching to try something new and return to performing, but not as a traditional singer/songwriter. The world has quite enough of those. So instead, I’m developing a one-man show, whose 1.0 version will be called String Theory (Surround Sound Edition), and it will run four weeks (initially) at the storied performance space Bongo Java After Hours Theater. Opening night will be October 23, a week from Tuesday. It’ll run four consecutive Tuesdays, with the exception of election night on Nov. 6. VOTE! *
The plan is for two acts. Part one is called Lessons In Listening, and it’s built on my Spring talk at TEDx Nashville, only with more jokes and more time for digressions. Part two, The Four Chords That Changed My Life, is a personal account of the challenges and rewards of studying music and playing through one’s life. I expect each act to last around 35-40 minutes. I’ll try not to go on and on, and we’ll have an audience vote about whether to have a coffee break in the middle. I'll be singing and picking some too! I’m looking forward to it. I used to play out all the time, and I’ve missed it. So if the usual night out in Nashville is a musical performance with a bit of talking, this is a talking with some musical interludes. There will also be guitar tones, beats, video, readings, strange sounds and vinyl. Before long, I hope there will be guests.
The String Theory show is by nature experimental and partly improvised. It is after all, largely about jazz. As with jazz, I hope it edu-tains. That’s the only goal. And the subject is music. Come see what you think.
* for Barack Obama
Comments