Sam Amidon

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Sam Amidon “Home Alone Inside My Head”
7 PM Wed July 7, at Tony Shafrazi Gallery, 544 W. 26th St., NYC.  FREE

I will do fiddle tunes, liturgical dance, banjo, and story videos at the Tony Shafrazi gallery, amidst the past and recent works of Bill Beckley.  Bill is a legendary conceptual artist from the 1970s who made ‘story-art’ and also does photographic work.  He once saw me playing my banjo on the subway and then he became my banjo student.  Here is one of his pieces.  See You There!

Bill Beckley, “Good and Bad Government”:

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Hello friends,

1.  Well, it’s funny because Nietzche did say, “even the bravest of us only rarely have the bravery for what we actually know…”  and I totally agree with that, I think that’s some very new, very introspective shit.  I definitely don’t have the bravery for what I know.  For example, I know what Jude Law is doing right now, and that’s not something you want to know.  Trust me, just generally speaking, you don’t want to know the kinds of deeply introspective shit that Jude Law gets up to, which then get clairvoyantly transmitted to me. 
  All of which is by way of introducing the following, a brief excerpt of an interview I conducted recently with somebody I admire named Ryan Seek Rest.  This is from an interview we did for a Canadian music magazine, it’s a part of the interview that I guess they decided not to include in the final issue, so you’re seeing it here for the first time.

Sam Amidon:  So one thing I wanted to say was that I find it really inspiring how you are able to live your whole life within this one conceptual framework, one structuring principle; which is that your actions all seem geared towards a common goal, namely, the search for the FLUFFIEST PILLOW EVER.  Could you tell us a little bit about that?

Ryan Seek Rest:  You’re absolutely right that I’m on to some very new, very deeply introspective shit. I mean all the pillows I’ve found so far, they are just not even remotely fluffy enough, so I’ve gots to keep moving in search of the fluffiest pillow, I’ve gots to keep on moving, feathers falling down like hail.

2.  Upcoming concerts!

June 21 Monday, 7 PM: Iron Horse Music Hall,  20 Center St, Northampton MA
Tickets: $10 adv / $13 Doors
more info here http://www.iheg.com/iron_horse_main.asp

June 22 Tuesday, I play at 11 PM woo hoo!: TT The Bears Place, 10 Brookline St, Cambridge, MA

June 23 Wednesday:  Mercury Lounge, NYC - early show! doors at 6:30 and we’ll be done by 9
with my favorite band PARTYFACE

3. that’s all for now -
Goodbye,
S

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as you know, don cherry is able to play his trumpet in such a way
that you understand that every moment is in fact a new moment. It’s
possible that he conveys that better than any other musician.  Listen
to the album “evidence” with steve lacy.  It includes some monk tunes.
When don cherry solos over the monk tunes, he is playing notes that are
in the (preexisting) chord changes. However, it appears to be complete
accident/coincident that this is the case.  I’m not sure exactly how
he makes it sound that way; but I believe that it comes from a very
deep conviction inside him that whatever has already happened is
totally irrelevant.

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