Bill Sallak

A list!

1) Passed the foreign language exam.

2) DMA written comps on January 11 and 12; comp defense happens sometime in mid-late March 2010.

3) There's a new video up on the video page.  It's a trailer for the video project with Agua Dulce Dance Theatre that was filmed in June 2009.  Just finished the score on Monday, and Alison Dobbins is putting the final video and audio together as I type.  (Right now the video is a lower-quality version; when Alison sends me the final version, I'll upload that to Vimeo in the place of this one.)

4) Akros has a performance of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Musik im Bauch at the Akron Art Museum on November 1 at 1pm.  I'll be there with bell plates on; y'all should come and check it out!

5) Rent opens at KSU's Stump Theatre this coming Friday and runs through November 8.  It'll be a great show; y'all should come and see that too.

6) And then it's off to PASIC in Indianapolis, where I'll be chairing the technology panel discussion.  Many thanks to JB Smith (Arizona State), Norm Weinberg (U. of Arizona), Ted Rounds (Kent State), and Amy Knoles (CalArts/California EAR Unit) for agreeing to participate.

7) Sleep has been a precious commodity lately.

Jonestown Triptych just got sent off to University of Akron percussionist Scott Farkas; I'm really interested to see what he makes of it.  The premiere should come sometime in the spring of 2010.  Seems like a long way off, but I'm already anxious to hear what happens to the piece in someone else's hands.  The piece deals with the degeneration of Jim Jones' voice and oratory during his time running the People's Temple; I like to think that it deals with the human voice in the same way that Stuart Smith, Robert Ashley, and Laurie Anderson confront the voice in some of their work.  (The comparison involves some wishful thinking on my part; I'm not remotely in their league.)

Fielding McGehee from the Jonestown Institute at San Diego State University contacted me about writing a brief article for their annual report about projects relating to their work; that article should be available online by November.

If only now ASU could send me the results from the foreign language exam...(grinding teeth)...

All,

My KSU colleague Katherine Burke shared this video with all of us.  It's short, concise, and powerful.  Enjoy!

Two CDs in a week-- not many weeks are like this!

Stuart Smith's complete Links Series of Vibraphone Essays has just been released by New World Records.  The Links series forms the cornerstone of concert literature for solo vibraphone; there are 11 Links, and last January I was honored to record Links No. 3 for Stuart and Sylvia Smith in Baltimore.  Stuart's coaching on the piece was amazing, and getting to spend time with Stuart and Sylvia (talking about a great variety of things) was a very enjoyable way to wrap up last year's semester break.

It's also an honor to be on the same album as so many percussionists I admire, especially Steven Schick.  I can't wait to get my hands on a copy and hear it!  New World Records' page for the album is here.

This has been in the works for some time, but Josh and Josh and I are very excited to announce the official release of Easy Worship Operator's first album, what looks like air.  Recorded last May in Arizona, wlla contains six tracks of improvised electroacoustic soundscapes, mayhem, shouts, and whispers.

You can stream the whole album (for free!) and download individual tracks or the whole shebang at easyworshipoperator.bandcamp.com.  If physical CDs are your thing, follow the "Buy Disc" link from our BandCamp page, or just click here.

Watch this space for information about a possible album release show coming up in Arizona as well as more EWO-related news-- remixes, individual projects, and more.

1) I'm officially registered to take the ASU Graduate Foreign Language Exam on September 9.  Hopefully, there'll soon be one less hoop between me and finishing the DMA.

2) The KSU School of Theatre and Dance will have a blog up and running early in the Fall 2009 semester.  Once we announce that it's live, you can check there for event updates, faculty and student profiles, and behind-the-scenes peeks at all the goings-on.  (We're still finalizing posting/commenting policies-- once those are set, I'll post the URL.)

3) This is pretty awesome.

Hey everyone!  Josh and Josh and I just got done assembling a rough-mix sampler track as a preview of what's coming out on the new album.  You can find it on EWO's MySpace profile or www.billsallak.com/audio.

All three of us are really excited about this project!  Please take a listen and let us know what you think-- you can always leave blog comment here or drop a line to billsallak at gmail dot com.  Hopefully we can arrange a Tempe/Phoenix performance in early September; I'll be in town for a doctoral exam, and with luck, the album will be ready for a release-party-type of situation.  Further bulletins as events warrant, as they say.

Enjoying some relaxing time with family and old friends in Buffalo-- and the snare drum part for the middle section of Jonestown Triptych is finished.  Now I just need to assemble some soundfiles and write the Max patch.  Also been having excellent coffee at The Comfort Zone and SPoT Coffee.  Next week, it's back to Ohio and rehearsals for Annie Get Your Gun with the Porthouse folks.