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The EMIT series had Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core on a recent concert at the Salvador Dali Museum on October 10. A couple months later, this happened: |
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schedule
The EMIT is finally coming together. We have guitarist Jack Rose on 9/10. Helios performs a free concert on 9/15. Pete Robbins and siLENT Z will be featured on the SPC Jazz Festival in February. We hope to schedule Amy Denio in February also.
Stay tuned.... summer
The summer is when we often connect with artists who may be touring through Florida during the next year. It is through this block booking that we can afford to present many of our outside artists. With our grant support drying up, this approach is even more practical.
good and bad
EMIT once again partnered with First Night St. Petersburg to provide music by Brazilian band O Som Do Jazz at the Courtyard Plaza. Past partnerships with First Night have also included the Moving Current Dance Collective and Gaudera Dansa.
Sadly, EMIT can no longer present concerts at the St. Petersburg College Music Center or the Palladium Theater (now owned by the college). Since I am both a faculty member at the college and director of the EMIT series, the college administration views this as a possible conflict of interest. That effectively removes the two best venues in St. Petersburg from our use. We will miss those Steinway pianos! That is also unfortunate for the students at SPC since EMIT provided most of the multicultural programming there during the past five years and generated $1200 in student scholarships. Here are the concerts given at SPC that the college never had to spend a penny on: USF Percussion Ensemble with Robert McCormick - 2/28/01 Holland Hopkins & Thomas Judson - 3/25/02 Jonathan Powell & Yayoi Ikama - 8/22/02 Gabriela Frank - 5/15/04 Tone Road Ramblers - 10/2/02 Jazz Brasil with Haroldo Mauro & O Som Do Jazz - 1/15/05 Jazz Brasil with Haroldo Mauro & O Som Do Jazz - 7/29/06 Matthew Shipp - 10/7/06 The Artistry of Stan Kenton with the Dan McMillion Jazz Orchestra - 11/04/06 Hadar Ensemble with the McCormick Percussion Group - 12/13/06 Robert Dick & Ursel Schlicht - 4/26/07 EMIT also provided workshops and clinics with Davey Williams, Philip Gelb, Abbey Rader, Haroldo Mauro, Kevin Wilder, Kym Purling, Joanna Rose, Butch Thomas and Austin Vickrey. John King
The New York Times carried a wonderful article on St. Petersburg musician John King, who passed away last week. John was a world-class musician who played his own tune throughout life. He loved Hawaii and the ukulele. He transferred his classical guitar technique to the ukulele and became a master of the instrument. He was a soft-spoken man who will be missed by many.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/arts/music/27king.html?_r=2&emc=eta1 
Subtropics I just returned from four days of concerts and activites at Subtropics - an experimental music festival in Miami. This was the 20th anniversary of Subtropics with director Gustavo Matamoros at the helm. Guest artists included David Dunn, Ikue Mori, Jim Staley, Phill Niblock, Katherine Liberovskaya, Raquel Castro, Russel Frehling, Brenda Hutchingson, Steve Peters and many others. It is no easy task to present new music in the dominant beach culture of the US, but Gustavo persists and reminds Floridians that there is more to music than oldies rock concerts, DJ's and country-western music. 
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