I’ll be playing live on-air at KEXP 90.3 tomorrow at noon (PST) along with my brother Jherek on Cheryl Waters’ show to promote Saturday’s show at the Moore Theater. Tune in from anywhere in the world at www.kexp.org.
Category Archives: Jherek Bischoff
Big Show December 1
I wanted to let you know about a show coming up this Saturday, December 1 at the Moore Theatre. I’ll be in the percussion section (along with my dad and my son) in a concert featuring the music of my brother, Jherek, played by a 50 person orchestra along with very talented guest singers. Yyou might be interested because Jherek has been there for many of you in the past, backing your kid up at Conundrum. This would be an awesome opportunity to see Jherek in his element and expose your kids to an orchestra without having to listen to all that “boring classical music.”
This will be a recreation of the show we did back in February at Lincoln Center in NYC with David Byrne on vocals (http://korumdrum.com/2012/02/28/musical-bucket-list-complete/). Unfortunately, David is out on tour and can’t do this show, but these singers are just as good… promise! You’ll get to see Mirah, Zac Pennington (Parenthetical Girls), Soko, Jason Webley, Tomo Nakayama and Zola Jesus among others! My dad, Calder and I will be in the percussion section once again too!
Here’s a link to show info: http://stgpresents.org/moore/calendar/eventdetail/216/-/jherek-bischoff
I really, truly hope to see you there!
Conundrum 2012 Wrap-up
Holy cow! What a NIGHT!
The Island Art Center rumbled on April 14th! 20 amazing performances. 20 amazing students.
Thank you to everyone who took part in Conundrum 2012. Parents, musicians and especially the kids, each of whom took many risks and shared a part of them with us!
Here’s a gallery of photos by the talented Landon Acohido of the event. Check out his site at http://acohido.com/
Conundrum 2012 – New Location
Conundrum 2012 is almost here! Songs are chosen, the band members are wood-shedding their parts, and the posters just came back from the printer. The only thing left to do is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.
The biggest news about this year’s event is that we have a NEW LOCATION! This year we’ll be tearing the roof off of the Island Art Center which is located across from Sakai Intermediate School on the same driveway as the Coppertop buildings. The building says “Mill’s Flooring” on it. Many of you will know it as Chris Mills’ Aikido/Art facility.
9463 NE Business Park Lane
Bainbridge Island, WA. 98110
phone: 206.842.8511
Also new: There will also be a suggested donation of $5. Students and their parents/siblings do not need to pay. Grandparents, neighbors and friends should if they can.
See you on 4/14!
Musical Bucket List Complete!
L-R: My dad, David Byrne, Jherek, Calder, me
2012 is off to an AMAZING start! My 8 year-old son (Calder) and I just returned from a week-long trip to New York City for a musical adventure made possible by my ultra-talented brother Jherek.
Jherek, a multi-instrumentalist (whose main instrument is bass), composer, arranger and producer has just put the finishing touches on his upcoming album Composed which features a diverse lineup of guest vocalists including old friends like Zac Pennington of Parenthetical Girls to legendary musical impresarios like Caetano Veloso and David Byrne. As a way to celebrate the accomplishment and get some attention for Jherek’s amazing work, David Byrne hooked my brother up with the producers of the Ecstatic Music Festival at the Kaufman Center in NYC for a live performance of the album, start to finish.
Rehearsal at Merkin Hall, Kaufman Center, NYC
A photo of Jherek taken by Calder.
Calder hitching an elevator ride to rehearsal with his idols (other than the Beatles).
The concert featured most of the same vocalists as the album (it was too expensive to get Mr. Veloso here from Brazil) along with the Wordless Music Orchestra (NYC) and a gaggle of cohorts from Seattle. The percussion section included Greg Saunier (Deerhoof), Seattle’s Paul Kikuchi, my very own dad, me, and… Calder! That’s right, Calder played NYC with Jherek and David Byrne at 8 years old! Sure, it was for only one gong hit, but boy was it worth the cost of bringing him across the country!
The concert was a huge hit, completely sold out and, extremely well-received. The promoters had done a fantastic job ahead of time and there was extensive preview coverage in Time Out New York, New York Magazine, and on WQXR including interviews and live streaming of the concert.
That's me on the far left, Jherek poking out to the right of David, and Steven Reker in the track jacket amongst players from the Wordless Orchestra.
Take a listen to the entire archived recording of the show here:
But, back to that bucket list mentioned in the title of this post… you see, Jherek and I were basically raised on David Byrne’s music. Sure, there was some Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna and Beatles thrown in, as well as a bunch of bizarre music my dad was into. About 8 years ago, Mr. Byrne was playing a show that the company I worked for was producing and I took Jherek. The next day he and I left on a two week-long tour with The Dead Science and brought David’s latest CD along in the car. I remember driving in a hot, un-air conditioned car through the California valley to Merced for a show out on a rice paddy (really!). I said to Jherek, “you know, if I could just play back-up for David Byrne on one song, one time in my life, I could continue my musical career a success.” Jherek replied with a drawn-out “totally.” Well, consider my goal met, and as a bonus, I got to play TWO songs with him. I may have been one of 4 drummers onstage alongside 50 other musicians, but consider me fulfilled!
Calder being interviewed for a documentary about Jherek.
Calder getting an excused absence note for school from David Byrne.
Excused!
Conundrum 2011 is almost here!
It’s just a little over a week until Conundrum 2011. Every year we top ourselves and this year will be no different. If you’ve never been, this event is the culmination of a year’s worth of work for each of my students. It gives each drummer a chance to show their feats in front of a supportive audience filled with friends and families while up on a real stage, with real lights, being backed by real professional musicians. My students have pushed the envelope again this year with song selections from bands as diverse as The Beach Boys, My Chemical Romance, Nirvana, Dizzy Gillespie, Green Day, and Maroon 5. Some of these drummers have been playing for years, and others only for a couple of months.
I have a few treats for the audience this year too! There is going to be a ROCK STAR COSTUME CONTEST with prizes for best student costume and best audience costume (child AND adult categories). All that plus getting treated to the sounds of Jherek Bischoff and Johnny Bregar backing these kids up.
I’ve set up a page specifically for Conundrum. I’ll start to keep an archive of videos and photos as people post them to YouTube.
Ambient Orchestral Goodness
Tomorrow night is the big show of my brother’s orchestral music with a 35-person group performing the pieces. Our rehearsal on Tuesday was filled with inspired new ambient classical works and Saturday’s show should be even more exciting as the new special reverb unit (that mimics the unique sonic abilities of Fort Worden’s cistern) he has commissioned will be in place to take the music to a completely new level. I definitely recommend checking the show out if you can.
Get the details here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=177595938942350
Orchestral Show!
In a couple of weeks I’ll be rejoining my brother, dad, and about 25 other musicians onstage to perform a collection of orchestral pieces composed by my brother. The last time we did something like this was with a 55-person orchestra playing Jherek’s compositions at Seattle’s Town Hall in honor of Jherek’s 30th birthday.
The show at the Chapel Performance Space in Wallingford will most likely sell out, so get there well before the 8:00 start time on February 19! Find the space on the fourth floor of the Good Shepherd Center (4649 Sunnyside Ave. N).
I hope to see you there!
Here are details from the Facebook event page:
| NIGHT ONLY! On February 19th, Jherek will be premiering a collection of ten ambient pieces composed during a recent residency at Port Townsend’s Fort Warden State Park. These pieces were specifically written for and recorded in the Park’s Cistern — an empty, two million gallon, underground water tank, boasting unique acoustic properties which produce an incredible, 45-second reverb decay. For this one-time musical event, Jherek will be joined by a live orchestra, as well as sound engineers, to help recreate the incredible reverb and ambience of the Cistern in surround sound. |
A Very Musical Christmas
Music was the theme this year for gifts for the boys. Here are some photos of them rocking out with uncle Jherek on Christmas Day in my dad’s studio.
