We got a beautiful covering of snow here in the Canadian Rockies last night. Very strange for late May, even according to locals. However, more science will be necessary before we can blame this on Al Gore.

Oliver Lake gave an inspiring talk on solo performance the other day, playing and reciting poetry, talking about language and development. What was most exciting was to hear how his work continues to evolve, using new ideas about multi-media theater performance and incorporating improvised music in unexpected contexts. We did, and will again, play together, along with Steve Cardenas, Adam Benjamin, Scott Colley and Clarence Penn. One of the many joys of being here.

Speaking of Canada: Banff is where I met Darcy James Argue some years ago. Thanks, Darcy, for the nice comments. And Happy Birthday!

And furtherly in relation to the blogosphere, The Bad Plus is threatening to come up here for a week next year. They are currently on the road and you can track their progress here. Go see them if you can.

Blogging … we’ve had some requests to open our comments and create a blogroll. This seems like as good a place as any to respond with appreciation to those requests. Thanks. In re comments: we simply don’t have anyone on staff who can monitor and moderate. We’re hoping to remedy that soon — it is a time-consuming job and we mostly work on preparing new releases, managing distribution and the site, tending to… etc., you get the idea. I do get plenty of email in response to posts and do respond personally, and sometimes in this space, within a reasonable time, depending on tour conditions and schedules…

Aside from the above mentioned blogs, I heartily recommend following the links at:
be.jazz
Night After Night
Great writers who also happen to link just about everywhere.

For more general and mostly fascinating arts stories and blogs there’s also:
ArtsJournal

For example there’s a link to this story:

On the Boston Pops opening night May 9, a shoving match erupted in the second balcony between Michael Hallam, 44, and Matthew Ellinger, 27, that halted the performance. Boston police threw both men out of Symphony Hall but did not arrest them.

According to a police report obtained by the Globe, Ellinger told police that the incident started when he told Hallam to be quiet during the performance. Ellinger told police that he repeatedly asked Hallam to stop talking and tapped him with his program in the minutes before Hallam punched him.

Now that’s music worth fighting for. LISTEN to more, at Destination: Out, where we’ve linked before, and surely will again.

Back into the snow…