Thursday, February 12, 2015
Monday, September 23, 2013
detuning/retuning the guitar
This next track might not be for those with perfect pitch.
Gary Prince: Guitar
Andrew Klein: Voice
Rehearsal 9.21.13
The guitar tuning on this track is (low-high)
6 = just sharp of Bb
5 = sharp of a D
4 = very sharp of E
3 = very sharp of D
2 = almost an Ab
1 = almost a Db
This piece comes towards the end of a session in which I returned the guitar before each piece - going off whatever intervals sounded cool, or crunchy, without using the tuner (hence not landing on exact notes). I wasn't really keeping track of which exact notes of any of the strings - just the intervals and the overall sound. I found out what tuning I was in by checking with the tuner afterwards.
Retuning the guitar this way makes for an interesting problem: not being able to rely on muscle or visual memory to know where the notes are, ie, not being able to use physical patterns, not being able to predict what note will sound when you hit a particular string.
But that said, the intervallic relationships on a single string are unchanged - after all, you're not moving the location of the frets. So by playing on one string you can kind of get around being retuned (that is, you can choose pitches deliberately). This gives you the option, to some degree, of being deliberately tonal. Then, having the relationships between the strings be wildly off (especially them not being sequential or standard, ie, string 4 is a higher note than string 3, string 6-5 is a maj 3; string 5-4 is a maj2) frees you up to play atonally while still playing familiar physical shapes. Familiar licks and shapes take on completely new and interesting sounds, allowing you to think more about melodic shape and form, free from the expectation of always knowing what notes will come out, almost taking pitches as they come. To me this is very freeing.
To me, this is almost a shortcut to getting something of the very out Eric Dolphy or Anthony Braxton sound. A less deliberate choice of notes, maybe, but that kind of atonal, angular shape playing that I associate with the sound of those players - something I have always found very difficult to do on guitar, especially at faster tempos, as it is so challenging to break the muscle memory of typical scales and arpeggios, and to play 'non guitaristically'.
Gary Prince: Guitar
Andrew Klein: Voice
Rehearsal 9.21.13
The guitar tuning on this track is (low-high)
6 = just sharp of Bb
5 = sharp of a D
4 = very sharp of E
3 = very sharp of D
2 = almost an Ab
1 = almost a Db
This piece comes towards the end of a session in which I returned the guitar before each piece - going off whatever intervals sounded cool, or crunchy, without using the tuner (hence not landing on exact notes). I wasn't really keeping track of which exact notes of any of the strings - just the intervals and the overall sound. I found out what tuning I was in by checking with the tuner afterwards.
Retuning the guitar this way makes for an interesting problem: not being able to rely on muscle or visual memory to know where the notes are, ie, not being able to use physical patterns, not being able to predict what note will sound when you hit a particular string.
But that said, the intervallic relationships on a single string are unchanged - after all, you're not moving the location of the frets. So by playing on one string you can kind of get around being retuned (that is, you can choose pitches deliberately). This gives you the option, to some degree, of being deliberately tonal. Then, having the relationships between the strings be wildly off (especially them not being sequential or standard, ie, string 4 is a higher note than string 3, string 6-5 is a maj 3; string 5-4 is a maj2) frees you up to play atonally while still playing familiar physical shapes. Familiar licks and shapes take on completely new and interesting sounds, allowing you to think more about melodic shape and form, free from the expectation of always knowing what notes will come out, almost taking pitches as they come. To me this is very freeing.
To me, this is almost a shortcut to getting something of the very out Eric Dolphy or Anthony Braxton sound. A less deliberate choice of notes, maybe, but that kind of atonal, angular shape playing that I associate with the sound of those players - something I have always found very difficult to do on guitar, especially at faster tempos, as it is so challenging to break the muscle memory of typical scales and arpeggios, and to play 'non guitaristically'.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Nuages - from Session Concert, June 8 2013
Gary Prince: Elec Guitar
Sarah Foard: Violin
Vasily Popov: Cello
Adrian Erlinger: Bass
By Django Reindhart
This is also from the Session Concert, June 8th 2013
Thursday, September 12, 2013
KleinPrince Featured in Espresso Ink V
I'm thrilled to say that one of my collaborations with Baltimore-based poet Andrew Sargus Klein will be featured in Espresso Ink V, "A collected CD of literary works complete with liner notes" from Ink Press Productions.
The featured song is our version of Andrew's poem, "You Wake Up and Walk", a poem about the streets in Ann Arbor, MI, where we both lived as students, from December 2nd, 2012. The music is improvised, and it is part of the collection of pieces we released on bandcamp under the name "Tragicosmic"
Gary Prince: Guitar/FX
Andrew Klein: Voice
You can pre-order Espresso Ink V, which features 16 additional artists, by clicking this link.
There will be a listening party at the EMP Collective in Baltimore on September 20th. Andrew and I are right now working on new recordings, hopefully to be finished this winter.
The featured song is our version of Andrew's poem, "You Wake Up and Walk", a poem about the streets in Ann Arbor, MI, where we both lived as students, from December 2nd, 2012. The music is improvised, and it is part of the collection of pieces we released on bandcamp under the name "Tragicosmic"
Gary Prince: Guitar/FX
Andrew Klein: Voice
You can pre-order Espresso Ink V, which features 16 additional artists, by clicking this link.
There will be a listening party at the EMP Collective in Baltimore on September 20th. Andrew and I are right now working on new recordings, hopefully to be finished this winter.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Tango Choc
Here are two versions of Tango Choc, a composition by Astor Piazzolla, arranged for guitar and violin by Ian Murphy.
This first version is with violinist Sarah Foard, and comes from last April.
Sarah Foard: Violin
Gary Prince: Guitar
This second version is from the "Session" Concert, June 8th, and features our own arrangement for quartet, adapted from the guitar/violin arrangement: Sarah Foard: Violin
Vasily Popov: Cello
Adrian Erlinger: Bass
Gary Prince: Guitar
Sarah and I have been playing quite a few of these Piazzolla tangos, performing under the name Black Oranges. Hopefully you will hear more of these this fall as we record more - these recordings are relatively rough, but I wanted to share them in any case. You can hear a little more of us at www.blackorangesdc.com
Sarah Foard: Violin
Gary Prince: Guitar
This second version is from the "Session" Concert, June 8th, and features our own arrangement for quartet, adapted from the guitar/violin arrangement: Sarah Foard: Violin
Vasily Popov: Cello
Adrian Erlinger: Bass
Gary Prince: Guitar
Sarah and I have been playing quite a few of these Piazzolla tangos, performing under the name Black Oranges. Hopefully you will hear more of these this fall as we record more - these recordings are relatively rough, but I wanted to share them in any case. You can hear a little more of us at www.blackorangesdc.com
Monday, August 12, 2013
New Recordings with Matt Endahl - Time and Place
I'm very happy that my friend Matt Endhal has put together a new set of duo recordings culled from January & August of 2012, released as "Time and Place" on his label, Sound Mansion Recordings.
They can be downloaded for free at the following link:
To download for free just click download (or select "Buy Now" on the bandcamp page) and enter $0.
As Matt mentions in his linear notes, the first two were recorded in the living room of my then-house, on Randolph St, and put together from a mixture of digital and analog recording devices (including one microphone that we stuck in my fish tank). The third track is from a performance we gave at Canterbury House.
The two recordings from January 2012 are effects pedal-free. It was in March 2012 that I bought a loop pedal and began to collect guitar effects pedals - which are heard in full force in track 3, the recording from August, which was also the first time Matt and I played together using full effects.
They can be downloaded for free at the following link:
To download for free just click download (or select "Buy Now" on the bandcamp page) and enter $0.
As Matt mentions in his linear notes, the first two were recorded in the living room of my then-house, on Randolph St, and put together from a mixture of digital and analog recording devices (including one microphone that we stuck in my fish tank). The third track is from a performance we gave at Canterbury House.
The two recordings from January 2012 are effects pedal-free. It was in March 2012 that I bought a loop pedal and began to collect guitar effects pedals - which are heard in full force in track 3, the recording from August, which was also the first time Matt and I played together using full effects.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Black Oranges free improvisation 7.27.13
Gary Prince: Guitar
Sarah Foard: Violin
This is a free improvisation from a longer concert of tango, irish, and jazz music with Sarah Foard on violin. We will be playing much more this fall under the name Black Oranges - we have some more music online at www.blackorangesdc.com.
Sarah Foard: Violin
This is a free improvisation from a longer concert of tango, irish, and jazz music with Sarah Foard on violin. We will be playing much more this fall under the name Black Oranges - we have some more music online at www.blackorangesdc.com.
Monday, May 20, 2013
The Radio - Feb 24 2013
Free improvisation for voice/fx and guitar
Gary Prince
Andrew Klein
Hear some more of us here
June 1st in Baltimore, States and Drives, featuring the Syrinx Effect!
Hear some more of us here
June 1st in Baltimore, States and Drives, featuring the Syrinx Effect!
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
How to Get There (and back)
Every so often I post on this website a version of Andrew Klein and I doing "How to Get There", a poem by Frank O'Hara, from 1960. We've been playing this piece for more than a year now.
What I've done here is assemble five different versions of this song and put them together in one bandcamp page. From April 1st, 2012, which represents both our first time playing this piece and my first time ever hearing this poem, to a recording made just a few weeks ago, on April 21st, 2013.
In that time I would hope you can hear our development, and hear how we improvise - going from familiar building blocks (the words, and certain themes and structures that I return to regularly), but in a slightly different direction each time. Over the course of the year we both added more effects and devices to our sound, which are on display here as well.
This is how we play. This is what I do. None of these versions are definitive, none of them are done - this piece will be a work in progress as long as we play it, and will grow as we do. There is a language being developed here, which can both stretch into new directions, and be familiar. And probably more important than all that noise, I am proud of these recordings. And yes, that picture of Andrew is from Midnight Special days long gone.
I don't necessarily expect anyone to listen to all these together except me and Andrew, but here they are just in case, and I'm curious to hear anyone's thoughts from anywhere in the world. We'll be recording an album in June, and are in the process of preparing for an event in Baltimore June 1st with the Syrinx Effect - more details to come.
Here again is the text to "How to Get There"
How to Get There" - Frank O'Hara, 1960, New York City
White the October air, no snow, easy to breathe
beneath the sky, lies, lies everywhere writhing and
gasping
clutching and tangling, it is not easy to breathe
lies building their tendrils into dim figures
who disappear down corridors in west-side apartments
into childhood’s proof of being wanted, not
abandoned, kidnapped
betrayal staving off loneliness, I see the fog lunge in
and hide it
where are you?
here I am on the sidewalk
under the moonlike lamplight thinking how
precious moss is
so unique and greenly crushable if you can find it
on the north side of the tree where the fog binds you
and then, tearing apart into soft white lies,
spreads its disease
through the primal night of an everlasting winter
which nevertheless has heat in tubes, west-side and
east-side
and its intricate individual pathways of white
accompanied
by the ringing of telephone bells beside which
someone sits in
silence denying their own number, never given out!
nameless
like the sound of troika bells rushing past suffering
in the first storm, it is snowing now,
it is already too late
the snow will go away, but nobody will be there
police cordons for lying political dignitaries ringing too
the world becomes a jangle
from the index finger
to the vast empty houses filled with people,
their echoes
of lies and the tendrils of fog trailing softly around
their throats
now the phone can be answered, nobody calling,
only an echo
all can confess to be home and waiting, all is the same
and we drift into the clear sky enthralled
by our disappointment
never to be alone again
never to be loved
sailing through space: didn’t I have you once for my
self?
West Side?
for a couple of hours, but I am not that person
[copyright Frank O’Hara, 1960]
What I've done here is assemble five different versions of this song and put them together in one bandcamp page. From April 1st, 2012, which represents both our first time playing this piece and my first time ever hearing this poem, to a recording made just a few weeks ago, on April 21st, 2013.
In that time I would hope you can hear our development, and hear how we improvise - going from familiar building blocks (the words, and certain themes and structures that I return to regularly), but in a slightly different direction each time. Over the course of the year we both added more effects and devices to our sound, which are on display here as well.
This is how we play. This is what I do. None of these versions are definitive, none of them are done - this piece will be a work in progress as long as we play it, and will grow as we do. There is a language being developed here, which can both stretch into new directions, and be familiar. And probably more important than all that noise, I am proud of these recordings. And yes, that picture of Andrew is from Midnight Special days long gone.
I don't necessarily expect anyone to listen to all these together except me and Andrew, but here they are just in case, and I'm curious to hear anyone's thoughts from anywhere in the world. We'll be recording an album in June, and are in the process of preparing for an event in Baltimore June 1st with the Syrinx Effect - more details to come.
Here again is the text to "How to Get There"
How to Get There" - Frank O'Hara, 1960, New York City
White the October air, no snow, easy to breathe
beneath the sky, lies, lies everywhere writhing and
gasping
clutching and tangling, it is not easy to breathe
lies building their tendrils into dim figures
who disappear down corridors in west-side apartments
into childhood’s proof of being wanted, not
abandoned, kidnapped
betrayal staving off loneliness, I see the fog lunge in
and hide it
where are you?
here I am on the sidewalk
under the moonlike lamplight thinking how
precious moss is
so unique and greenly crushable if you can find it
on the north side of the tree where the fog binds you
and then, tearing apart into soft white lies,
spreads its disease
through the primal night of an everlasting winter
which nevertheless has heat in tubes, west-side and
east-side
and its intricate individual pathways of white
accompanied
by the ringing of telephone bells beside which
someone sits in
silence denying their own number, never given out!
nameless
like the sound of troika bells rushing past suffering
in the first storm, it is snowing now,
it is already too late
the snow will go away, but nobody will be there
police cordons for lying political dignitaries ringing too
the world becomes a jangle
from the index finger
to the vast empty houses filled with people,
their echoes
of lies and the tendrils of fog trailing softly around
their throats
now the phone can be answered, nobody calling,
only an echo
all can confess to be home and waiting, all is the same
and we drift into the clear sky enthralled
by our disappointment
never to be alone again
never to be loved
sailing through space: didn’t I have you once for my
self?
West Side?
for a couple of hours, but I am not that person
[copyright Frank O’Hara, 1960]
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Tragicosmic - New Music
Andrew and I have finally put up some new music for download, on our bandcamp page. I'll highlight some of the particular tracks in the future, but for now, please stream and download it here:
More to come soon!
More to come soon!
Monday, December 10, 2012
Nov 7th 2012 with Kate Olson
Another free improv Sax + Guitar + Effects track from November:
Gary Prince - Guitar/effects
Kate Olson - Soprano Sax/effects
same session as my previous post.
Gary Prince - Guitar/effects
Kate Olson - Soprano Sax/effects
same session as my previous post.
Friday, December 7, 2012
My Romance
This is my arrangement of the jazz standard "My Romance", which I wrote last June, and have finally gotten around to recording and posting.
"My Romance" (Rogers & Hart)
Arranged by Gary Prince
Gary Prince: Electric Guitar
It's not the cleanest recording in the world. This was done in my bedroom using my practice amp, a Fender Super Champ. I kind of like that it came out sounding kind of tinny and quaint, like sound out of an old radio played quietly. This arrangement was inspired by the fantastic book Guitar Solos: Thirteen Standards by Barry Galbraith which I've been using with my students for the past year. For anyone interested at all in jazz guitar, it is a really wonderful book. All Galbraith's arrangements find the perfect balance between being readily performable, very musical, and just challenging enough for most intermediate students.
I've done a few more arrangements like this, and will post them as I get around to it.
Arranged by Gary Prince
Gary Prince: Electric Guitar
It's not the cleanest recording in the world. This was done in my bedroom using my practice amp, a Fender Super Champ. I kind of like that it came out sounding kind of tinny and quaint, like sound out of an old radio played quietly. This arrangement was inspired by the fantastic book Guitar Solos: Thirteen Standards by Barry Galbraith which I've been using with my students for the past year. For anyone interested at all in jazz guitar, it is a really wonderful book. All Galbraith's arrangements find the perfect balance between being readily performable, very musical, and just challenging enough for most intermediate students.
I've done a few more arrangements like this, and will post them as I get around to it.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Solo Improv (July 2012)
Free improvisation from July 7, 2012:
Gary Prince - Electric Guitar, Effects I'm using my Stratocaster here. That guitar is currently sitting in my room with no strings on it while I try to decide whether to change out the pickups/do something to decrease its out of control humming and buzzing whenever on one of the single coil settings.
Gary Prince - Electric Guitar, Effects I'm using my Stratocaster here. That guitar is currently sitting in my room with no strings on it while I try to decide whether to change out the pickups/do something to decrease its out of control humming and buzzing whenever on one of the single coil settings.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Free Improv 11.7.12
Free Improvisation for Guitar, Saxophone, and effects:
Gary Prince: Electric Guitar, Effects Kate Olson: Soprano Saxophone, Effects
This is from our first time playing together, both using effects. Very different from years of playing 'dry' - compare to this track, from 2010, and to our album, recorded in 2009. For both of us, I think using these effects means finally finding something of the sound we've been looking for all along, even as there is a learning curve to working together with them. I'm really happy with how this piece turned out - not bad for the second piece of our first time playing together in half a year, and our first session using pedals and computers!
Gary Prince: Electric Guitar, Effects Kate Olson: Soprano Saxophone, Effects
This is from our first time playing together, both using effects. Very different from years of playing 'dry' - compare to this track, from 2010, and to our album, recorded in 2009. For both of us, I think using these effects means finally finding something of the sound we've been looking for all along, even as there is a learning curve to working together with them. I'm really happy with how this piece turned out - not bad for the second piece of our first time playing together in half a year, and our first session using pedals and computers!
Friday, November 23, 2012
All Those Little Crickets
The first of what is sure to be many tracks from the free jazz epic that was two weeks ago....recorded on 11.10.12 at the Bohemian Cafe in Baltimore
Gary Prince - Guitar, effects
Andrew Klein - Voice, words
Random Barista - "Mocha Latte!"
(free improvisation for guitar, voice, and coffee makers)
I'm playing slide on this one, something I've been doing for the past couple months, after years of avoiding it. The delay sound at the beginning is caused by running two delay pedals simultaneously (an idea I stole from Dustin Wong - check out this great video of him - even though I wind up using mine very differently from him. I can't figure out how the hell he gets his to sound like that). With this sound I am definitely thinking of Steve Reich, and the way he may repeat a figure over and over between multiple instruments, moving just slightly in and out of phase. Not that I really wind up sounding like that either, but that is at least what is going on in my mind.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Gary Prince - Guitar, effects
Andrew Klein - Voice, words
Random Barista - "Mocha Latte!"
(free improvisation for guitar, voice, and coffee makers)
I'm playing slide on this one, something I've been doing for the past couple months, after years of avoiding it. The delay sound at the beginning is caused by running two delay pedals simultaneously (an idea I stole from Dustin Wong - check out this great video of him - even though I wind up using mine very differently from him. I can't figure out how the hell he gets his to sound like that). With this sound I am definitely thinking of Steve Reich, and the way he may repeat a figure over and over between multiple instruments, moving just slightly in and out of phase. Not that I really wind up sounding like that either, but that is at least what is going on in my mind.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Friday, November 9, 2012
This weekend in Baltimore - 11/10 at Bohemian Cafe
Tomorrow night I'll be playing in Baltimore at the Bohemian Cafe. The event starts at 9 pm and goes until 11 - no cover. Click here for more information!
I wanted to share this version of "How to Get There", from October 28th
Gary Prince - Guitar, loops
Andrew Klein - Voice
Words by Frank O'Hara
Compare it to when we first did this song (see my post from May 29th) - that version was literally the first time we ever played it, and the first time I was hearing the poem. We've been doing it for a while now, and this is where it is at here. We have a lot of music for free download here!
Hope to see some folks on Saturday, and very very excited to be playing again with Kate Olson and Tim Cohen. Some KGT tracks will be up soon too!
I wanted to share this version of "How to Get There", from October 28th
Gary Prince - Guitar, loops
Andrew Klein - Voice
Words by Frank O'Hara
Compare it to when we first did this song (see my post from May 29th) - that version was literally the first time we ever played it, and the first time I was hearing the poem. We've been doing it for a while now, and this is where it is at here. We have a lot of music for free download here!
Hope to see some folks on Saturday, and very very excited to be playing again with Kate Olson and Tim Cohen. Some KGT tracks will be up soon too!
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Solo from 10.7.12
Some post hurricane music:
Improvisation 10.7.12
Gary Prince: Guitar, Loops, Effects
Lynne Price: Dance
This is actually from a duo piece between myself and Lynne Price, who is featured in my previous post. Normally I don't like removing things from their original context like this, but I really wanted to share this piece. I hope to include the video of the dance portion in the future - for now, here is one half.
Andrew Klein and I will be performing, along with the KGT Trio, at the Bohemian Cafe in Baltimore on Saturday, Nov 10th, 9-11 pm. There is no cover. Come one, come all!
Improvisation 10.7.12
Gary Prince: Guitar, Loops, Effects
Lynne Price: Dance
This is actually from a duo piece between myself and Lynne Price, who is featured in my previous post. Normally I don't like removing things from their original context like this, but I really wanted to share this piece. I hope to include the video of the dance portion in the future - for now, here is one half.
Andrew Klein and I will be performing, along with the KGT Trio, at the Bohemian Cafe in Baltimore on Saturday, Nov 10th, 9-11 pm. There is no cover. Come one, come all!
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Poem
Gary Prince - electric guitar, loops, effects
Andrew Klein - Voice
Lynne Price - Dance
Baltimore MD 10.21.12
"Poem (the house breathed)" by R.M. O'Brien and Lesser Gonzalez-Alvarez
The house breathed
And I freaked out ok
and then all this snow
and the music stopped
I felt like I was magic
Then the sun starts strobing
and birds blur together
Sunday, September 30, 2012
New Improvisations
I have two tracks to offer today, two new improvisations with poet Andrew Klein from September 16th, 2012. These were originally performed back to back with no break.
"Austerity" (free improv 9.16.12 pt 1)
"Let the Rain Come Down" (free improv 9.16.12 pt 2)
Gary Prince - electric guitar/loops/effects
Andrew Klein - voice, words, iphone noise generator
Andrew is using an app on his iphone played through computer speakers as a noise generator capable of producing sounds at a particular pitch, in particular rhythms, and randomization. He has also been using the amp he uses for his vocals to create feedback for a while now, though this is not really well represented on recording yet. All my loops were created live, and all Andrew's words were improvised live as well. These recordings are a little rough but I hope they are enjoyed!
And by the way, about a month ago we assembled some of our best recordings from March to now on a bandcamp, for free download: http://kleinprince.bandcamp.com The sounds can be very different from the tracks above, and show a lot of our development from March to now...hopefully I will be sharing more music here soon!
"Austerity" (free improv 9.16.12 pt 1)
"Let the Rain Come Down" (free improv 9.16.12 pt 2)
Gary Prince - electric guitar/loops/effects
Andrew Klein - voice, words, iphone noise generator
Andrew is using an app on his iphone played through computer speakers as a noise generator capable of producing sounds at a particular pitch, in particular rhythms, and randomization. He has also been using the amp he uses for his vocals to create feedback for a while now, though this is not really well represented on recording yet. All my loops were created live, and all Andrew's words were improvised live as well. These recordings are a little rough but I hope they are enjoyed!
And by the way, about a month ago we assembled some of our best recordings from March to now on a bandcamp, for free download: http://kleinprince.bandcamp.com The sounds can be very different from the tracks above, and show a lot of our development from March to now...hopefully I will be sharing more music here soon!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
How to Get There
The following is from a session with my good friend, poet and sometimes rhythm guitarist Andrew Klein, on 4/1/12. Andrew is reading the poem "How to Get There" by Frank O'Hara while I play. My playing is a free improvisation, and it is my first time hearing this poem. Towards the end of the poem Andrew begins to improvise by repeating phrases, and then revisiting parts of the poem after its end. I am playing with my loop pedal. I've put the text of the poem below, with O'Hara's original layout.
This is the first of a few tracks from this project I will be posting in the coming weeks. This is from only our third session together.
Gary Prince - Guitar
Andrew Klein - Voice
"How to Get There" - Frank O'Hara, 1960, New York City
White the October air, no snow, easy to breathe
beneath the sky, lies, lies everywhere writhing and
lies building their tendrils into dim figures
who disappear down corridors in west-side apartments
into childhood’s proof of being wanted, not
and hide it
on the north side of the tree where the fog binds you
and then, tearing apart into soft white lies,
which nevertheless has heat in tubes, west-side and
in the first storm, it is snowing now,
police cordons for lying political dignitaries ringing too
the world becomes a jangle
of lies and the tendrils of fog trailing softly around
and we drift into the clear sky enthralled
self?
West Side?
for a couple of hours, but I am not that person
[copyright Frank O’Hara, 1960]
This is the first of a few tracks from this project I will be posting in the coming weeks. This is from only our third session together.
Gary Prince - Guitar
Andrew Klein - Voice
"How to Get There" - Frank O'Hara, 1960, New York City
White the October air, no snow, easy to breathe
beneath the sky, lies, lies everywhere writhing and
gasping
clutching and tangling, it is not easy to breathelies building their tendrils into dim figures
who disappear down corridors in west-side apartments
into childhood’s proof of being wanted, not
abandoned, kidnapped
betrayal staving off loneliness, I see the fog lunge inand hide it
where are you?
here I am on the sidewalk
under the moonlike lamplight thinking how
precious moss is
so unique and greenly crushable if you can find iton the north side of the tree where the fog binds you
and then, tearing apart into soft white lies,
spreads its disease
through the primal night of an everlasting winterwhich nevertheless has heat in tubes, west-side and
east-side
and its intricate individual pathways of white
accompanied
by the ringing of telephone bells beside which
someone sits in
silence denying their own number, never given out!
nameless
like the sound of troika bells rushing past sufferingin the first storm, it is snowing now,
it is already too late
the snow will go away, but nobody will be therepolice cordons for lying political dignitaries ringing too
the world becomes a jangle
from the index finger
to the vast empty houses filled with people,
their echoes
of lies and the tendrils of fog trailing softly around
their throats
now the phone can be answered, nobody calling,
only an echo
all can confess to be home and waiting, all is the sameand we drift into the clear sky enthralled
by our disappointment
never to be alone again
never to be loved
sailing through space: didn’t I have you once for myself?
West Side?
for a couple of hours, but I am not that person
[copyright Frank O’Hara, 1960]
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