Autumn Action

It has been a busy fall in loopland – we apologize for the lack of blog time. We’ve been posting some mobile updates on the Twitter page; you can link to that through our homepage at www.loop243.com. We of course reserve the more juicy, detailed scoop for this blog.

We traveled up to Ithaca, NY early this fall for a concert at Ithaca College, where we were hosted by the one-and-only Gordon Stout. Gordon is a legendary marimbist and a wonderful and generous human being. We stayed at his home, surrounded by trees, fields, crickets and stars and were inspired by nature. One can start to feel a bit removed in the concrete jungle.

We had a fabulous concert in Ithaca’s massive orchestra hall. The audience was mostly Ithaca students and we invited people up on stage afterwards. The downside of the trip is that the Loop-wagon was pulled over and we were issued a speeding ticket on the way to the show. I am still dealing with that beauracratic mess! I really don’t think we were traveling 81 in a 55….

We made friends in Albany the next day at our show at Emack and Bolio’s and then headed back into the city.

We were soon off to Pittsburgh and Garfield Artworks, a grungy gallery near downtown. Pittsburg seems like a tough town for music..maybe we need to dedicate something to the Steelers...props to Mannie for all his support!

From Pittsburgh we hit the PSALM Salon in Phillie. This was a really nice set-up. A stage built into a fabulous old house, great audio gear, etc., and a very warm crowd.

We were back in Brooklyn for a couple of weeks and did a pair of shows near Park Slope before heading to New England – more on that to come!

Good Stuff - Make Music New York

Loop 2.4.3 was recently featured as part of the Make Music New York festival. Pictured above is Lorne playing a Waterphone in Straus Park on the Upper West side of Manhattan. Special thanks to our friend Doug Corella (the Verve Pipe) who was in town from Chicago, and his friend James who helped us pack up when the rain came!
Below are some links to coverage of the event:

Alex Ross' Blog

The New Yorker

The New York Times

Daily News

Hog Farm Bootleg

We had a fantastic time in Maine back in June.  We played at the interim location of Hog Farm, a Maine gem run by Gil and Coco Corral. The 'interim location' turned out to be their art/design/clothing boutique which made for an extraordinarily intimate event.  There is a lot of cool stuff at this place to check out - very original work, so if you are traveling through Maine you should stop in.  We had no idea someone was operating a flip cam and recording the show, otherwise we would not have gabbed so much in between pieces!  Anyway the audience was great, the hosts were magnificent and you can check out some bootleg footage HERE.

Zodiac Dust - Summer Tour

It has been a busy summer for Loop 2.4.3!  This starts a series of posts documenting and commenting on some of the performances from our tour.  If you have photos or video from any of the events - please send them along!  

The Zodiac Dust tour has so far included shows in Alma (MI), Chicago (IL), Montpelier (VT), Biddeford (ME), Salem (MA), Lowell (MA), Katonah (NY), New Haven (CT), and multiple performances in NYC.  More shows are coming up in Brooklyn (NY), Philadelphia, Pittsburgh (PA), and others....

Times Square Event

Here is an image of Loop 2.4.3 performing for the unveiling of Robert Indiana's Hope sculpture at Times Square on June 4. The group had a great time collaborating with Teresa Smith, the Vinca Quartet, and Ha-Yang Kim. Indiana's sculpture was a hit, as was the performance.

Loop 2.4.3 meets the Godfathers of Pop Art

Robert Indiana's Hope sculpture, which he donated to Obama's election campaign, is being installed temporarily, June 4-10, in the new Times Square park. (Broadway between 47 and 42 is now a pedestrian thorough-fare w/ no cars). Michael McKenzie and Teresa Smith have collaborated with Loop 2.4.3 to present a multi-media dance/music performance to coincide with the installation of the Hope sculpture. The first performance will take place directly in front of the sculpture on Broadway, just north of 44th St. at 12pm (noon) on Thursday, June 4. The live music performed by Loop 2.4.3 will feature works from their forthcoming CD, Zodiac Dust.

Thursday, June 4, 12 noon
Robert Indiana's Hope sculpture at Times Square
live performance featuring Teresa Smith and Loop 2.4.3
Broadway between 44th and 45th (just north of ABC studios and the US Army recruiting station)

stay tuned for follow up and other performances!

Underground

We just had rehearsal with Allan Baker, a fabulous pianist we know in NYC. Allan will be playing Underground with us for the CD release show this Weds. I played piano on the recording to add some dimension to the sound - Allan is taking the part to another level which is great. We also did a version of Underground in Alma, MI with David Zerbe playing drumset. That version was recorded and the video should be up on our Youtube channel later this summer. - Thom K.

Zodiac Dust

Some of the first feedback for Zodiac Dust has started to come in. There are links to Loop 2.4.3 interviews and album reviews at www.musicstartsfromsilence.com. We'd like to send a very special shout out and gracious thanks to our supporters and believers. This record is for you! We hope to make new friends this summer and fall while we're on tour with Zodiac Dust. Stay up to date by joining our email list ('contact' button at home page) or checking events at www.loop243.com.

DUMBO

We finished our mastering about a week ago with Joe Lambert Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.  What a strange day it was when the mastering began.  It was a beautiful sunny day, and I was completely wrecked.  Lorne and I had just played with Clogs the night before at the BAM Opera House, I moved a ton of gear, was going on several weeks of only 4-5 hours of sleep a night, and really did NOT want to get out of bed - but we've got to get this done!  I packed up the hard drive with all of our files, put it in my backpack, brewed some coffee, and then mounted the Raleigh ten-speed to ride down to DUMBO (it's about a mile from our studio in Bed-Stuy).  

I turned the corner onto Jay Street, I can just see the water now (East River), and there is a truck down near the river spewing huge clouds of smoke that envelope the entire block.  What the hell is going on??  I have to drive my bike through this Armageddon to get to my destination and manage to chain the bike next to a pile of trash on the river's edge.  

I find my way upstairs, through the long hallways of the industrial-building-turned-artist/business offices and finally come to the door of Joe Lambert Mastering.  "Come on in, Tom."  I immediately feel like I've known this guy for at least the past ten years, even though we've only spoken on the phone twice.  I tell him about the environmental disaster I just witnessed outside and we head to the nearest window....the smoke has cleared...what are you going to do...We go back and sit down at Joe's work station.  "Friday's a great day to make a record," says Joe.  So it is, so it is....

L243 studio updates

All of the tracks are down and we are now in the mixing phase.  We did some mixing this past weekend and probably have one more day of work before we are ready for the final phase of mastering.  We used ALOT of instruments on this record.  Not only did we bring in a slew of extra percussion sounds, but we had strings and piano as well.  An-Lin Bardin played cello on the title track (we're not giving that away yet) and Michelle Lee played violin on two pieces.  I got to make my studio debut on piano which we added on Underground.  Though the record won't be released for a few months yet, we will be performing a lot of the music next Saturday, Feb. 28, at a showcase recital at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.  

L243 in the studio

We just finished the first day of recording for the new record.  Very exciting - and totally exhausting!  We laid down tracks for two new pieces that feature the marimba and steel drum and we're very excited about the sounds and vibe of the recording so far.  We'll be back in on Saturday and Sunday for more recording... more studio updates to come - we hope to get some photos and video footage of the process.

let it snow

We're currently working on the new album and just had a fantastic weekend of rehearsals.  Lorne and I are very excited about the new record.  We won't actually start recording until the end of the month, but we're continuing to develop the new material which includes several pieces that have not yet been performed live.  We will probably do a bit of improvisation in the studio as well, since that played a major part of our first record.  Those in NYC will be able to get an exclusive view/listen of many of these pieces at our concert in Brooklyn on February 28.  Meanwhile, Lorne will be riding his bike through the snow to get to rehearsals in Bed-Stuy.  more updates soon... - Thom

Happy 2009!

We're kicking off the new year by inaugurating this blog site. We attempted to keep a blog on the myspace page for awhile, but it just wasn't happening. We hope to stay in touch with everyone and have more frequent posts through this site...

I know a lot of people are glad to see 2008 behind us....what a year. Still, through all of the difficulties, paths were forged for positive change. Unfortunately, sometimes things need to get very bad before a majority of people will stand up and say, "Hey, we need to do something about this." Living in NYC, I'm often reminded of that scene from the Sidney Lumet film, Network: "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" Sometimes when I find myself losing my patience, I make a conscious effort to step back and not let things effect me; other times, I think 'you know, I wish more people would get pissed off and stand up and say something. I'm not going to keep this all inside just so that I don't offend anyone or cause a ruckus.'

Looking back on 2008, what really sticks with me as a person is the same thing that propels me forward - the music that we made as Loop 2.4.3. There was a lot of wonderful feedback from our first record and we developed an album's worth of new material that we'll be recording in early February. I'm looking forward to getting what's in my head onto the tangible form of the compact disc.

As a fun aside - I spent New Year's Eve at a friend's apt. in Brooklyn near the Grand Army Plaza at Prospect Park. At one point we turned on the television to check out the scene at Times Square. What did we see? Hordes of people of course, and lots 'live music'. All of the big name entertainers were on the big stages miming their way through the music the way they always do for network TV. It was FREEZING, so it's understandable that they wouldn't actually play. (Ludacris needs to at least find some people who look like they might be able to play a musical instrument though.) After our quick fix of the Dick Clark classic, we headed out into the cold to check out the scene at Prospect Park. There was a decent crowd at the north end of the park, and I don't know who the band was, but they were actually PLAYING! The drummer didn't stop for a second (maybe because his hands would have fallen off), and the band had people dancing while the fireworks went off overhead. Thanks to the musicians at Prospect Park for keeping it real. Go Brooklyn!