Foshan show last night was great.. such a trip. lots of support and really unique show. here’s a pic i took during dickson dee’s set. we projected images on huge blocks of ice. during our collab set an artist named kenbo lit massive sheets of rice paper on fire, placed on the ice.. yow. wish i had a pic of that but i was playing at the time.. so maybe someone else who was there can share.
+ trees in the middle of hong kong, from last week. trees trees trees trees trees.
this evening, right after visa was finally issued we took a bus from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. huge thanks to dickson dee for working this out so well. we’re having a blast. for the shows we’ll be performing solo sets and one improvised set together. really looking forward to it..
live at metro in kyoto.. the first 5 images are by commmons main man and awesome friend nakashiro-san. if you don’t know, commmons is the label that our good friend ryuichi sakamoto founded. these were also posted on the commmons blog.
radio interview after metro show..
this was an amazing night.. i got to see Goro and Naomi at Honen-in temple the night after my show. they are amazing. def check them out if you are into bossanova.
yes, we dorked out and signed each others cds..
i visited commmons office the day before i left japan. amazing staff. they all are really so sweet. from there we went to the ABC in-store show that commmons organized. very happy to be working with them !
from super deluxe in Tokyo, June 14th.. sent to me from some nice person.
from osaka.. taken by rick. cool story here.. i was walking down the street in shinsibashi osaka the night before the show, and rick, who i’ve never met before, recognized me (!?), came out to the show, and we hung out. amazing huh ? very cool guy.
more images later.. will eventually set up my flickr page with tons of pics from tours and other stuff.
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CHINA TOUR DATES - CHRISTOPHER WILLITS AND DICKSON DEE
Confirmed dates for China, right after last shows in Japan.. very excited for this.
:: Christopher Willits / Dickson Dee - South China Tour ::
JULY 2nd - SHENZHEN CITY
Mooka Space
address: F3 Block,Mooka Space,Enping Road,Oversea Chinese Town, Shenzhen, China http://www.myspace.com/mookaspace
time:20:00
ticket:50 RMB
organized by: Noise Asia
co-organized by: Mooka Space
just added after the kanazawa show.. on june 23rd. amazing book/music store in roppongi.
Christopher Willits at ABC Roppongi in-store live
2008/6/23 (Monday) from 20:00
Place: Inside Aoyama Book Center Roppongi
Price: Free - those who buy Willits+Sakamoto’s “Ocean Fire” on that day at ABC will receive a signed postcard.
this was my 5th time playing at super deluxe (sdlx).. and i need to say that, although i love this venue, sdlx need to find a new way to share at least *some* risk with show organizers. the unbalanced, no-risk monopoly of tokyo club operation, is killing off new independent and experimental live music in the city.
case in point, the organizer (and also an artist in the show) was forced to pay tons of money for the rental of the space, the use of a video projector and lights that are already installed in the space (?), sound guy, etc. these are a lot of expenses that clubs in other parts of the world include in a rental fee, if there is one to begin with (most often a club will take a percentage of the door, and keep bar sales). at sdlx there is *zero* risk for the club. the club is always paid huge amounts of money from the gross ticket sales first + they collect cash from the bar and food they serve. in the end, even if an organizer/promoter gets a couple hundred people in the door (all paying the $20 ticket price, yes that is common in tokyo) everyone but the club/space makes just a few yen (!). and if the rental fee was not recouped, the organizer is screwed and will need to pay this out of pocket. under these circumstances would you try to organize/promote a show in a space here ? probably not, it’s too much risk on the organizer’s back. luckily i had a guarantee arranged prior to offset travel costs (a rare expense from gross income), so i made out kinda unscathed, but super deluxe and other clubs in tokyo really need to change these practices or there will be nothing but bad jpop and half-baked rock music in this amazing city.
i’m trying to encourage my friends out here to have more parties in alternative spaces, and try to bypass this tokyo club greed racket. the difficulty there lies in that there are very few spaces, at all, for a big gathering.. clubs charge a lot because they can, since there is high demand for the space.
so how about rooftop graden parties ? let’s party with solar panels and plants.
we are beginning to plan a large overlap.org show in sept, in san francisco at the gray area gallery.
please contact me if you have, or know of amazing sound installation work, audio/visual installation, interactive stuff, and amazing music for the related events.
we will be filling up the schedule soon, so get to me fast if this post resonates with YOU. !!
since i’ve been back from the stars of the lid tour, i’ve been finishing lots of music.. including a new piece recorded up at SnowGhost in montana. it was an amazing experience, and i highly urge all of you to check out what they have going up there.
here’s description of the project from the SnowGhost site :
“As we speak (or write), acclaimed guitarist and electronic musician Christopher Willits is recording in the studio. Right now, he’s layering tons of polyrhythmic guitars on top of each other, to decidedly mesmerizing effect. And breaking with his traditional loop-based recording stye, Chris is tracking everything live, to gorgeous-sounding DSD”
gorgeous is def accurate. we’re working on a rough mix now, and will let you know soon where this will be released. we also made a new XLR8R TV episode while up there about SnowGhost and their amazing montana studio. more of those episodes to come as well.
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THAILAND - BANGKOK SHOW
excited for this show after japan and china.. a surprise to play with zbigniew in bangkok. sweet.
THAILAND - BANGKOK
July 5 - Christopher Willits, Zbigniew Karkowski, Talkless, Koichi Shimizu
venue: “Cafe” (located in Chinatown) doors at 7:30pm.
very excited to return to japan.. this will be my 5th tour there.
will be great to connect with old friends and meet new people who have been into Ocean Fire .
TOKYO
June 14 - Christopher Willits, FilFla, Akane Hosaka, Misato Kinoshita
EVENT: Tron
DATE: 2008.6.14 (Sat) 19:00 open / 19:30 start
VENUE: SuperDeluxe (T: 03.5412.0515)
FEE: rev. 3,000yen / door 3,500 yen (with 1drink)
COOPERATION: commmons, SuperDeluxe, p*dis, Headz, Sonore
ORGANIZING: cubic music
INQUIRY: cubic music (T: 03-5771-5708 / info@cubicmusic.com)
OSAKA
June 18 - Christopher Willits, library tapes, tickles, appetite for destruction
EVENT: Metal Heart
DATE: 2008.06.18 (Wed) open17:00 start18:00
VENUE: Unagidani Sunsui
FEE: adv. 2,300 yen / door 2,800 yen (+1drink 500 yen)
KYOTO
June 19 - Christopher Willits, Sonir (samurai jazz), Marihiko Hara + Shunsuke Kato, Attic Plan (Ken’ichi Itoi (PsysEx))
EVENT: Pod at Metro
DATE: 2008.06.19 (Thurs) 18:30-21:30
VENUE: Club Metro
FEE: adv. 1,980 yen / door 2,500 yen (+1 drink 500 yen)
KANAZAWA
June 21 - Christopher Willits, Sigiriya, 3000 NDL
EVENT: Connecting Vol.7
DATE: 2008.6.21 (Sat) open19:30 start 20:00
VENUE: Kanazawa mero-mero pocchi
FEE: adv. 2000 yen / door 2500 yen
back in SF. wow. the U.S. tour went awesome. a bunch of sold out shows, i met so many amazing people, and we drove something like 10,000 miles without any hitch. simply amazing. so many stories to tell and highlights.. montreal and san francisco were maybe my favorite shows; the energy and the ease of performing was sublime. the church in philly, all the cool people in asheville, the MFA in boston, the planetarium.. so many great memories. really excited that the turnout at the shows was so great. there is hope for new forms of music in america. many conscious people out there. thank you so much for listening and just being.
if you have any pics from the shows or videos, or blog posts, please share and i’ll point people to it. love seeing raw documentation..
Next up is finishing new music and videos, a recording session at SnowGhost Studio in Montana, then Japan, China, and Thailand, then a couple dates in Europe this summer.
Here is a video someone sent me.. posted by cmoncomeon on youtube. this is a quick clip from the show in Philly.
MONTREAL, BOSTON, PHILLY, DC, ASHEVILLE - TOUR UPDATE
last tour update here.. thought i would have a few more of these but time is tight and wifi not everywhere. on the way to austin now for my last show of the tour. the shows have been truly amazing. + smooth tour van sailing the whole way.
Montreal was one of my favorites. I can’t wait to get back there again. we played at a masonic lodge. super intense. met a ton of cool people in Ashville a couple nights ago. met luke and his crew that drove up from jacksonville for the show (!).
the church we played in Philly was beautiful and held the sound so well. great show there. Boston was also great.,. they have all been great really..,
it’s all about bringing people together. more soon..
MIDWEST, PITTSBURGH, CHICAGO, LONDON, ON. - TOUR UPDATE
We’re now more than half way through the tour.. going so great. The tour time blur has begun, and time/space is dissolving. We’ve been driving about 9 hours a day and getting to the shows just in time for soundcheck (wait, where are we?). Adam (stars of the lid) is a driving champion. I have no clue how he can drive this much. Minneapolis was sold out and felt amazing. Really great diverse crowd there. Recently played a few cities that i have not even been in; Champaign, Grinnell, Louisville, and it was really great to connect with everyone at these shows. The planetarium in Champaign was definitely a trip. Pittsburgh at the Warhol Museum rocked, thanks for all the support there everyone. The Warhol is sweet. Chicago was another sold out show, and felt solid. Great people. London Ontario last night was awesome. I met so many cool people here ! Headed to Toronto in a few mins.
I’m improvising different stuff each night, so it’s really cool to feel how each city / the energy of the crowd influences my decisions to play different notes, mix things differently, play a different pattern etc. It’s not a conscious process, all in the moment of playing, and i’m always surprised. I love this.
portland was sweet as always. love that city and the venue holocene. + some of my best friends live there, and my cousin blentz even made it out to the show! big props to scott at holocene for creating this space for everyone.
seattle was a awesome. we played the triple door which is this beautiful sit down dinner theatre. got some awesome feedback from the ppl there. thanks to everyone who has been reaching out after my set.. because of you, i feel like i’m always rediscovering the importance of bringing people together through music. there is so much communication, shared experience, celebration.. really loving this.
here are some pics from jessica (paperbirds) who generously sent these to me after the seattle show.
GHOSTLY REISSUES BREATHE (IN SEVEN SECTIONS) - - FREE DOWNLOAD
Ghostly International just reissued my 2004 piece “Breathe (in seven sections)” from SMM vol2. as a limited time free download. Previously this music was only available on vinyl.
This is s unique EP that bridged “Seven Machines for Summer” on EADGBE (12k) and “Surf Boundaries” (Ghostly). It’s fun to look back on this work and see how it has shaped what i’m up to today. There are some very timeless things i feel in this music.. shapes and sounds that i’ll be working on and with for the rest of my life. There is a lot more new music on the way that i’m super excited to share in the near future. !!
