Hello, everyone. What an exhausting, intense year this has turned out to be. Here’s hoping for the safety and health of you and your loved ones.
If you’ve navigated yourself here, you may be wondering how I’ve spent these past months. Like many of you, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and simply coping. A lot of that coping has involved Animal Crossing.
On a more serious note, a lot of that thinking has been about systemic racism and police brutality. As a Detroit-based artist, I’d like to take this moment to encourage you to donate to the legal fund for our local protest organization, Detroit Will Breathe. DWB is filing a lawsuit against the City of Detroit, its mayor, and its police chief after the Detroit Police Department has continuously displayed excessive force against peaceful protesters - including beating a volunteer nurse with a baton so hard that the nurse suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung. You can read more about other violations that form the base on the lawsuit over on the Detroit MetroTimes.
Since this is a catch-all, I’ll move on to more selfish, personal matters. Of course, because of COVID-19, I was unable to travel to Japan this spring to study shamisen as planned. But I have begun private lessons with Reigen Fujii and - soon - Hidejiro Honjoh, and plan to travel to Japan whenever the situation allows. These lessons have become the highlight of my week, and I fell quickly and deeply in love with the shamisen. I’m definitely not good enough yet to share my progress, but I look forward to showing off once I have anything show off-worthy!
So these past few months have been one of incubation, and the project with the most in the fire is Throwaway. We’ve released a number of VidDitties, have an EP in the works for a winter release, and have begun production on a multimedia variety show-style YouTube series.
I have also started doing a few outdoor shows with the new music ensemble InterroBANG, which is lead by Andrew Alden - who, not-so-coincidentally, directed Throwaway’s “Bonathan Jyers” video. These shows entail playing live music to accompany silent films in the courtyard of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. We’re doing Nosferatu next month - so if you’d like to come, get your tickets early, bring a blanket, and wear a mask.
A few other random irons are in the fire, too! I was just commissioned to compose a one-minute piece for percussionist (and favorite human) Chris Sies of the new music group Latitude 49. I contributed a very understated long tone to a song on clipping.’s new album, There Existed an Addiction to Blood, which will be out on Sub Pop this October - which I mention more because clipping. is the best, and you should be excited that they have a new album. And I’ve begun production on a new podcast project… that I won’t talk much about yet. But fans of the beloved anime / manga One Piece and/or socio-political analysis should get excited.
The recordings for the Uroboros Sextet has been put on temporary hold, as I figure out the logistics of both funding and how to get six people + a producer safely in one room during these new, challenging times.
I think that’s about all I can divulge for now. Take care, stay safe, wear a mask and stay distanced, and, in the wise words of Dale Cooper, give yourself a present every day.
