The sun is shining in Portland, Oregon and that is a rare and exciting thing!. It wasn’t shining for several weeks though, so i spent a whole bunch of time playing in a basement with guitar pedals. It’s led to an interesting new setup for my solo gigs. Extra amps ans weird sounds and things…
I plan to play quite a few solo gigs this summer on the west coast, maybe some as soon as next week so keep a lookout on the schedule.
Hope to see ya soon!
p.s. if you didn’t get a chance to sign up for the CSM, I’m offering the second half of the year $5-10 (sign up in May and i’ll through in June too!) Just click on the CSM link above.
It’s Tuesday. I’m sitting in an old Portland house with the drizzle drizzling outside and the cars making that wet road sound they always make here. All day, i hear the sound of coming and going and it seems like a long time since i was the one staying. In a few days i will turn 34 years old and last night i found myself questioning my trajectory under the weight of the question “am i too old for this?” I suppose by ‘this’ i mean this lifestyle that I’ve chosen (or perhaps it has chosen me?) and by ‘too old for’ i mean “at an age where some greater sense of stability is desired”. For the past several years i’ve believed myself to be relatively untethered. I have no real home. No rent to pay. No financial debt. A lovely partner who sticks by me from stillness to storm and back again without tying a single string. And a nationwide community of people who help support us in our tumbles, our springings forth, and our hidings in the rocks, from the great dust bowl of our lives.
But as age spills out of hiding like a shadow, i see a fetter. I feel roots lashing out against my feet, but i am chained to the wandering goat, married to the tornado’s tumult. In the calm void i long for the call of a crowd, the expulsion of my demons, the temporal nature of being, tied to the table of a city or a desert oasis and split open end to end by it’s festering wanderlust. I reminisce in half truths, pining for the adoration of a few, the understanding of a a fewer, and the ambivolence of the masses. I follow fortune like an albatross, and yet, as fortune’s captain, wear the weight of my own misgivings around my filthy neck, forever destined to be blinded by freedom’s sun. And though freedom and fortune forever dwell at odds, we sail until the splinters slice our hands and the sea soaks through the marrow into that dark blood that suckles still at the teat of eternal uncertainty. Is there falseness in my feet? Is it fair to flush the wanting with the flowing jug? Sometimes when the whirlwind wanes, i see a soft light glowing. It welcomes without needing and nurtures without knowing. I want to become it but it will not have me. So i sit with it a while, trying to burn it’s grave beauty into my being. And when time begs me to fear death, i say, “not now”. Now it’s Friday and in a few hours i will be 34. I’m not sure where this (or anything else) came from, but i can’t shake the feeling that there is something that ties us all together. I don’t know how to reconcile the weight of aging other than to shrug it off as an irrelevant detail and attempt to tap into that stream of being that underlies us all. I see glimpses of that stream which cannot be conveyed neatly within the constructs of our social limitations but i guess i’ll just keep trying to build veils out of words and sounds and hope they are transparent enough to share some sense of the human experience. Here’s to another year of living and sharing in the art of life. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to look into this little window and to those who allow me to look into theirs. may flowers grow in our footsteps, -d
Hey Friends,
The Kickstarter ends tonight for my CSM but you can still sign up via paypal for a basic or bonus membership. I’m going back to sliding scale… Basic membership is a $10-$20 donation. Bonus is a $20-$40 donation.
If you still haven’t seen the Kickstarter video check it out here:
If you want to sign up and it’s over (or you prefer paypal) you can join by simply donating here:
Just make sure to put CSM 2012 in the notes along with the email you want songs sent to.
The CSM is off to a wonderful start and it’s all thanks to you!
I know not everyone celebrates Christmas, but hopefully we can all enjoy a little xmas tune regardless. My mom’s favorite movie is Christmas Vacation and this song gets stuck in my head every time i see it. It’s about time i let it out! Thanks to Justin Durrie for playing bass and James Bell for lending his space and playing saw and wurlitzer. It’s now stuck in their heads too… perhaps it will soon be in yours? Although it was popularized by Bing Crosby, it was written by his friend and golfing partner Rober Alex Anderson in 1949. Hope you enjoy! LISTEN TO THE SONG HERE:Mele Kalikimaka
And of course, if the fam needs a little visual entertainment, or wants to know where you got that goofy version of Mele Kalikimaka, feel free to show them this:
One of the things the CSM money is going toward is Studio Monitors so if it sounds rough, know that once i surpass my CSM goal, i’ll have the funds to to make these songs sound better. If you haven’t signed up yet, there’s still time but i know these things are easily put off and forgotten so why not do it now?
Happy Day!
-dustin
I had the good fortune of performing Madonna’s Material Girl at Occupy Wall Street on Sunday with Sean Lennon, Rufus Wainright, Josh Fox, Charlotte Kemp Muhl and Eden Rice (as well as about 100 occupiers!)
I’m going to play some shows this week in New York. In addition to the two shows posted to the right, i’ll be performing a couple of times this week at the Wall Street Occupation in Zuccotti Park. Hope to see you if you’re around!
I’m on the East Coast for the month of October. I’ll be traveling with Kyle whom you may know from previous posts, is my lady friend who is touring with a print studio in the back of her truck. I’m playing a couple dates this week but hoping to fill in some more last minute. See booked shows to the right.
Here is a list of places we will be. I would like to find opportunities to play in these areas so if you have any ideas, or know something going on in one of these places or someone who has a house or art space that may be willing to host a show please contact me at dustin@runonsentencemusic.com
Oct. 5 Sharon, NH
Oct. 6 Portsmouth, NH
Oct. 7 & 8 Boston, MA
Oct. 9 Hadley, MA
Oct. 12 North Adams, MA
Oct. 13 New Haven, CT
Oct. 14 Providence, RI
Oct. 15 & 16 Newport, RI
Oct. 17 Providence, RI
Oct. 21-24 Brooklyn, Manhattan, NYC
Oct. 25 Atlantic Highlands, NJ
Oct. 26 Princeton, NJ
Oct. 27 Lancaster, PA
Oct. 29-Nov. 1 Philadelphia, PA
For the past few weeks i’ve been an artist in residence at my friend Josh Fox’s (http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/) property on the PA/NY border. I’m doing a fundraiser to cover expenses of my residency and my upcoming continuation wherein i will fly to San Diego to ride with Kyle Durrie (http://type-truck.com/) in her letterpress truck for 10 days.
I am offering 3 unique recordings and 3 Letterpressed poetry postcards.
Songs will be one new ROS tune, one fresh version of an old one, and one cover song, sent via email… at least one, if not all, will include Josh
Postcards will be short poetry pieces of mine hand set in type, printed in a truck in the southwest by Kyle and I, and mailed to you via the usps.
To sign up for my 3×3 project, please make a donation below in the range of $20-$50 via paypal and BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR ADDRESS so i can send you the postcards!
We have two shows coming up in Portland before i head east for the summer. I won’t be touring, but i might try to do a solo gig in missouri and maybe new york as well.
anyway, the first is this sunday at EM Space (407 SE Ivon) it’s a kickoff party for my lady friends mobile print studio called Moveable Type. This is a fairly relaxed event… bbq, beers, prints for sale… we play around 7:30 but the event is from 5-9.
We’ll also be playing on June 14th at the Alberta Rose Theatre with Samantha Crain and The Fed. These are some of my favorite people and it will be our last show until August so we hope to see you there!
