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Tilted Axes Musicians Fund is Over 50%!

https://fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/tilted-axes-music-for-mobile-electric-guitars/campaigns/2770

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Tilted Axes Concert of Colors Musicians Fund at 50%!

Thank you everybody who have so far supported our upcoming 27th Annual Concert of Colorsperformances at the Michigan Science Center and the Detroit Institute of Arts. We just crossed the 50% mark toward our goal of $4500. Your tax-deductible support goes toward our dozen and a half musicians for their time and talent, the cost of our rehersal space, cartage, ads, and other essentials that enables us to bring our performances free of cost to the public.

The festival itself and our partner museums provide excellent opportunities for the group to offer transformative experiences that are free of charge to the Detroit community. Still, Tilted Axes is entirely self-funded and relies on your generous support to pay for its musicians, rehearsal space, and other administrative costs. Please consider joining our team and contribute to Detroit’s musical history!

 This month will see the completion of a particular project that has long been a dream of mine: music for live ensemble in a planetarium. The idea is to engage the public in science through music and art. Thanks to the 27th Annual Concert of Colors, the Michigan Science Center, and the Detroit Institute of Arts, I’ve had the opportunity to develop new music for Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars that commemorates the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s lunar landing in a work titled, “MOONWALK.” My aim is to take this newly developed piece and similar work to other planetariums across the country in the months and years to come. 

 By becoming a co-producer of our event, you are eligible for all kinds of awards like CDs, T-Shirts, etc.

Go to: https://fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/tilted-axes-music-for-mobile-electric-guitars/campaigns/2770

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Meet the performers and producers of Tilted Axes Detroit: Concert of Colors HERE

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Tilted Axes is…

With the project is in its ninth year, its surprising to hear when some people find it unclear what Tilted Axes is or is not. Here’s a short list of 10 things that was created to point people in the right direction. Pardon the third person…

1. Tilted Axes is a musical project created by composer Patrick Grant.

2. Tilted Axes is a procession of electric guitarists who wear mini-amps.

3. Tilted Axes can perform anywhere there are people, excelling in untraditional venues.

4. Tilted Axes’ roster of musicians can change from performance to performance, city to city.

5. Tilted Axes’ musicians learn a common repertoire created by PG and rehearse it in workshops.

6. Tilted Axes performances are free to the public and are supported through institutional and/or private donations.

7. Tilted Axes takes on aspects of spectacle informed by municipal band tradition, avant-garde theater, and world music.

8. Tilted Axes takes music out into the world and seeks transformative projects meant to change community conversation.

9. Tilted Axes is an apolitical organization, but it does support science, arts programs, and renewable energy whenever possible.

10. Tilted Axes works best when it is part of something bigger than itself i.e. festivals, exhibitions, community initiatives, astronomical events.

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Every little will help create a new musical work that will resonate for a long time.

Thank you all for your time and consideration,
Patrick Grant & Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars

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A Very Moving Symphony with Strings and Bells

Originally printed in THE VILLAGER – December, 2018

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Angela Babin and other members of the “Tilted Axes” performance group jammed on electric guitars on “Cold Moon Consort” in Sasaki Garden at N.Y.U.’s Washington Square Village, between Bleecker and W. Third Sts. and Mercer St. and LaGuardia Place, before making their way to “The Cube” at Astor Place. Photos by Bob Krasner (L to R: Sean Satin, Angela Babin, Chad Ossman)

BY BOB KRASNER | If you feel the need to simplify composer Patrick Grant’s long-running “Tilted Axes” project, you could call it a marching band for electric guitars. But given the complexity of the compositions and the dedication of the musicians, that description falls way short.

The latest performance of Grant’s “Music for Mobile Electric Guitars” was realized by 24 musicians, including Grant, on the winter solstice, in the Sasaki Garden at Washington Square Village, “The Alamo” at Astor Place a.k.a. “The Cube” and the streets between.

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Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars – Cold Moon Consort (Patrick Grant center with, L to R, Chad Ossman, Michael Fisher, Sam Weisberg, Sean Satin, Dan Cooper, Howie Kenty).

The event was commissioned by Faculty Housing Happenings at New York University — where Grant is a professor — as part of “Make Music New York.” The confab featured music evenly divided between older pieces, structured improvisations and premieres written specifically for Friday night.

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Getting ready to move out from Sasaki Garden. (L to R: John Halo, Howie Kenty, Dylan Sparrow)

One of the new pieces, “Tiltinnabulation,” was written to include another Make Music group, “Bell By Bell.” According to Tom Peyton, the leader of that multigenerational group of bell ringers, they were notified that their path might cross with “Tilted Axes” and they were given the choice of avoiding each other or playing together.

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“Tilted Axes” performers playing their “axes” (blues lingo for guitars) while crossing Broadway on their way to “The Alamo” at Astor Place. (L to R: Gene Ardor, John Lovaas, Aileen Bunch, Jason Napier, Angela Babin)

Happily, they chose to do two numbers together at “The Cube” and the result was a perfect combo of chiming guitars and bells. Guitarist Angela Babin, a “Tilted Axes” veteran, called the collaboration “fabulous!”

“It was like a ‘West Side Story’ gang meet-up, with music and camaraderie and solstice celebration love,” she said.

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Composer Patrick Grant at “The Alamo” with his “Tilted Axes” performance group.

Carrying an electric guitar and an amp through the streets while playing somewhat complex music is a daunting task, but the participants found it more than worthwhile.

“The universal joy of the people we encountered on our parade route caused me to transcend the discomfort I felt at not being fully in command of the music, the weight on my back and shoulders,” David Demnitz said.

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Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars – Cold Moon Consort (front row seated L to R: Howie Kenty, Sarah Metivier Schadt, Jocelyn Gonzales, Jason Napier, Chad Ossman, Harry Scott, Sean Satin; middle row seated L to R: Sky Matthews, John Lovaas, Leslie Stevens, Patrick Grant, Robert Morton, Gene Ardor, Kevin Pfeiffer; back row standing L to R: Caitlin Cawley, Dan Cooper, Aileen Bunch, Sam Weisberg, Dylan Sparrow, Michael Fisher, John Halo, Angela Babin, David Demnitz, Reinaldo Perez, Jeremy Nesse, Jon Clancy)

Sam Weisberg voiced a similar sentiment, noting, “It’s a rush like no other. It was so worth the chronic right-shoulder pain!”

Grant made it through the balmy evening with a case of laryngitis that forced him to hoarsely whisper directions to bassist Sarah Metivier Schadt, who amply conveyed his instructions to the crew.

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“Tilted Axes cuts musical pathways through the urban landscape, turning neighborhoods into their own sonic narratives. Since its inception, Grant has produced a number of Tilted Axes processions in various cities upon three continents.”

“There are many unforeseen elements that we could never have predicted,” Grant reflected. “We’re thinking on our feet, we’re performing live, we’re adjusting to the public in real time. Being there, mobile, right up against the public, brings out musical choices that we’d never come up with in rehearsal. There’s nothing like it.”

Onlookers concurred.

“The public went nuts, in a good way!” Grant enthused. “We couldn’t be happier.”

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Angela Babin: Strings and Things

 

On this episode of Strings and Things, Angela Babin drops by to work on a Melody Maker that hasn’t been out and about in years, while our host Patrick Grant restrings his studio-weary Les Paul. They’ll swap stories about the weirdest gigs they’ve played in New York City, and talk about how numbers and math inspire Angela’s current compositions. Then they’ll amp up for a special Strings and Things duet.

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Since picking up the electric guitar at 14 years old, over the years Angela’s performed in a wide range of venues, from Folk City and CBGBs, to BAM and the Berlin Jazz Festival. She entered the downtown New York music scene with the band Off Beach, and played guitar in the nine-piece experimental rock group The Ordinaires. The Ordinaires were compared to Philip Glass, Captain Beefheart, Henry Mancini, Husker Du and Stravinsky – all at the same time! You may remember their cover of “Kashmir” was all over MTV at the time:

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Angela performed with Homer Erotic, founded by poets Maggie Dubris and Barbara Barg, as well as the groups Alpha Cat, Inviolate, The Raging Hormones, and The Blacklite Orchestra. She’s currently playing guitar with the blues-based Gotham Roots Orchestra, formed by composer/producer Cristian Amigo.


– photo by Marc Latrique

There’s a great blog post on the Prepared Guitar website where you can find out much more about Angela Babin and her work. Check it out!

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Randolph Hudson: Strings and Things Podcast

This week on the Strings and Things podcast, Brooklyn native Randolph Hudson III is here to work on a limited edition Veilette-Citron guitar, while our host Patrick Grant restrings a favorite Danelectro.

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Randy’s going to tell us about the history of the EBow and where you’ve heard it before, and we’ll hear about trying to be an environmentally conscious guitarist when you also have a jones for tube electronics.

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In the late 70’s through the late 80’s, Randy was an active member of the Downtown NYC scene with John Zorn, Kramer, Ann Magnuson, Ralph Carney, Daved Hild, Coby Batty of the Fugs, and many others. He’s co-written, recorded, performed with members of Gong, The Waitresses, The Fugs, Psychedelic Furs, and Captain Howdy. Randy joined Magnuson and Kramer in Bongwater as a recording and touring member of the band. He formed a duo called Bowing with composer and electro-acoustic violist Martha Mooke, and he also co-founded EBQ: The Electronic Bow Quartet. He currently performs with Klyph Black, Joe Delia, and The Complete Unknowns, a group celebrating the music of Bob Dylan. In 2010, Randy founded the 2D/3D Blu-Ray department of DuArt Film and Video. You can visit him at http://www.rah3.com

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Happy Anniversary, Tilted Axes!

Tilted Axes Roster 2011-15

Four years ago today, Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars made its debut at Make Music New York‘s 1st annual Make Music Winter on Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 in New York City. Now, 1,461 days past, the project has been produced in a number of cities on three continents. More to come in the New Year. Thank you to all the musicians, presenters, and sponsors who have make everything possible. Guitarists, bassists, and percussionists – you are the most awesome. Here’s to the future tilts that await! ~ http://www.tiltedaxes.net/ ~ https://www.facebook.com/tiltedaxes/

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TILTED AXES TO PERFORM IN NYC’s VILLAGE HALLOWEEN PARADE OCT. 31st

“Monster Riffs & Tritonic Tintinnabulations”

New York’s Village Halloween Parade is an annual holiday parade and street pageant presented on the night of every Halloween in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Stretching more than a mile, this cultural event draws two million in-person spectators, more than sixty thousand costumed participants, dancers, artists and circus performers, dozens of floats bearing live bands and other musical and performing acts, and a world-wide television audience of one hundred million. The Village Halloween Parade, initiated in 1974 by Greenwich Village puppeteer and mask maker Ralph Lee, is the world’s largest Halloween parade and the only major nighttime parade in the United States.

Among the parade’s signature features are its pageant sized puppets — giant rod puppets “articulated” by teams of puppeteers — and its open participation to anyone in a costume who wishes to march. It has been called “New York’s Carnival.” Although the parade is currently not as informal and wild as it was in its earliest years, it is in effect still an alternative festival.

The parade has been featured in many national magazines and travel guides, and has been a subject of study by leading cultural anthropologists. According to The New York Times, “the Halloween Parade is the best entertainment the people of this City ever give the people of this City.” “Absolutely anything goes,” says USA Today. “Be prepared to drop your jaw.”

More iNFO to come at: https://www.halloween-nyc.com/

Tilted Axes web page: http://www.tiltedaxes.com/tiltedaxes.html