Getting Reacquainted

It has been mighty quiet here since the flurry of January’s “River of Stones”, but all is not silent. I have been intermittently delighting in getting to know some old friends again, and you can hear some of the resulting sounds here. It’s all work in progress, but you’ll be able to hear some of these pieces evolve over the coming months.

Debut Album for Wasp Summer

Ladies and gentlemen, it delights me to announce that my dear friend and multi-talented superhero, Wasp Summer, is about to release her debut solo album, and you can help make it happen. The music is already recorded and her excitement about it is positively radiant. She has launched an IndieGoGo campaign to raise the money for the final stages: mixing, mastering and manufacturing. As well as snaring you a copy of the album, there is a cracking selection of bonuses for contributors, so please pop by and have a look. Splendid music and superb value!

Her music is alt.country/folk and her voice is like both a warm hug and roller-coaster for your heart. Have a listen on ReverbNation, SoundCloud or BandCamp. Also dear to my heart, she was also a member of Melbourne band, The Mime Set, who did such mind-blowing work with poet, Sean M. Whelan.

Close as a Slow Dance will be the first A Headful of Bees release for 2012. Please help make it real!

Finding our bearings

I am very excited to be aboard the maiden voyage of the good ship, Berlin Compass. Over four evenings, Berlinators will be presented with a dazzling array of words, music, movement and imagery, as we set sail for each of the four points of the compass. My Headful of Bees colleague, Wasp Summer, and I will be taking you northward on Friday evening.

Important: the times given are not “Berlin time”; there’ll be no more boarding after we set sail at 20:45!

Berlin COMPASS

West, North, East, South: which directional points are yours?

Launch into an ongoing international exploration in music, word, laughter, performance, image and dance: four evenings of intuitive, fated and chosen bearings.

Hosted by singing poet Sandra Sarala (who’s taking on four different musical-poetic-performance personas across the series), and thematically curated around the cardinal points, each multi-disciplinary evening will formally commence with the communal breaking of a circular loaf of homemade bread, uniting all present. Every show has been designed to showcase individual performers, to offer complementary contrasts and interconnections, and will close with collaborative improvisation.

Choose your resonant points and bring your good self /selves along.

Thursday 24th WEST

‘West, Seeking Balance, and the Balancing East’

Wordy offerings from balancing story-telling time-traveller Skiz-um Hequ, and the poetic Eastern tongues of MC Jabber and Moon (Stephen Mooney), while Sandra Sarala explores the maze and dark mystery of Western life, alongside wildcard Wests, singer of sweetness Cera Impala, musician/video artist Peter Newman, and concert pianist Kim Hye Jin, taking us to her West with Rachmaninov.

Friday 25th NORTH

‘North and a Balancing South’

Touch your philosophy with spoken word from mr oCean and Anja Zeilinger, some storytelling and a touch of song from Kerri Mullen, music and candlelight from Wasp Summer, bridge Lieder and the avant-garde with Alexis Baker, and be danced towards love, joy and melancholy by (India-born) Southerner Manish Pathak. Sandra Sarala takes up alter-ego Loki as host.

Saturday 26th EAST

‘East with a Rogue West’

Well-considered words from several stalwarts of Berlin’s literati – spoken word mega-presence Gaby Bila-Gunter aka Lady Gaby, and poets Alistair Noon, and Frank Alkämper, the latter in confluence upon ‘Ausgerechnet Armenien’ (‘Ironically, Armenia) with musicians Michael Gross and Leonid Soybelman (rogue West in the East!). Sandra Sarala heads for the archaic folksong hills, someone lets Volcanick, the hairiest oriental belly-dancer in town, into the house, and special rules come into play this evening for special guest, intuitive singer AlinK.Sarit, bussing over from Poland… which may have a little something to do with film from Marta Jurkowska.

Sunday 27th SOUTH

‘South with a Deliberately Contrary North’

Verbal dexterity in the shining poetry-stories of Claudia Emmingham, dexterous lunacy from singer, songwriter and comedian David Cassel, and electro-art-pop duo Trike (Xania Keane and Stephen Paul Taylor), some measure of Northern contrariness from performance artist Daniela Gast, and a sprinkling on the ivories from composer and pianist Phil Cooksey, also in collaboration upon the southern seas with lyric poetry from Sandra Sarala.

Berlin COMPASS: Thursday 24 – Sunday 27 November, 2011, Club der polnischen Versager, Ackerstraße 168 (next to Schokoladen), 10115 Berlin, (U8 Rosenthaler Platz)

Doors open and music from 20:15, Doors close and bread-breaking 20:45

Entry: 8 €, and an extra special collection on Saturday night

http://berlincompass.blogspot.com/

Another string to an already formidable bow

If you’ve ever heard Joe Czarnecki play guitar, you could be forgiven for thinking that was all he could do, and could easily conclude that this was more than enough. But blimey… this! With To Build a Spine, he also becomes one of my favourite poets. I hear echoes of Shane .L. Koyczan and Coleman Barks in this, but it is very clearly Joe’s own voice, his own heart. Listen to it. Name your price for a download: it’s worth having.

To hear the oCean…

Yes, updates have been terribly infrequent, haven’t they? I am getting on with writing a novel at last (easily the most wonderful job I’ve ever had!), so poetry and telling people about it have been in the back seat of late. But all is not silent! I have set up a couple of pages to replace the excruciatingly slow, ad-saturated dog’s breakfast that is MySpace.

On the ReverbNation page, you can hear spoken word and musical pieces in pretty much a finished state.

I’m using the SoundCloud page more for works in progress and experiments. And while you’re over that way, perhaps you’d like to pop by lina paul’s fabulously heartbreaking recording of part 2 of The Twilight Shore, which we wrote together for our Stories from the Corner of your Eye show, back in March.

You can still get yourself a copy of my zombie love-song at BandCamp, for as little as $1, with proceeds going to Brisbane flood recovery. (I’m planning to record a definitive version of this track later in the year. All people who’ve bought the current download will get a code to download a free copy of the new version.)

There’s more to come, but for now, you at least know where to find it when it does

Gold for the Goldmine

Nina Hynes makes wonderful music. To me it has a fairy tale’s balance: beauty and wonder with those delicious shadows and hints of danger. Chiaroscuro music, perhaps. Her music covers a pretty broad range of style and feel, but I find it hard to get past Sewing Machine for its gorgeous old timber and dusty attic beauty. You can hear it and bag yourself a bargain download at her BandCamp page. From there, you can also hear her latest album, Really Really Do, which was my introduction to her music.

The Berlin-based Irish singer-songwriter-filmmaker-… is gearing up to make her 4th studio recording, and has her band and even a choir lined up for making the album at a pace that would have a passing whirlwind give an approving nod. The new album is rumoured to be heading for a more acoustic flavour, but judging by some previews posted online and her recent live performances, we can still expect the richness of her previous work.

To make the new album possible as an independent artist, she’s having a swing at crowd-funding, in this case using the relatively new Irish site, :fund:it. Read about her project here. The page includes a video introduction that shows as much her quirky humour and enthusiasm as much as it does her music. There is just a week to go for her to reach her funding goal; if it falls short of this, no money is given out, so if you like what you’ve heard so far, please take a look at the splendid array of bonuses on offer for funders, ranging from a download of the new album upon release to a life-time’s supply of tickets to her shows and even a launch concert in your home!

http://www.fundit.ie/project/goldmine

Stories from the corner of your eye

I’m delighted to announce the first performance for a new collaboration between lina paul and me. We met at The Sofa Salon last year, and seemed to both get a sense that we could cook something up; here’s what we have on the stove:

Stories from the corner of your eye

Gelegenheiten, Weserstrasse 50, 12045 Berlin Neukölln. (U-Bhf Rathaus Neukölln)

Friday, 18 March at 20:00.

the dreams of the insomniac, the echoes of voices in abandoned places, personal faultlines in reality… lina paul and mr oCean seek out the stories that flit unnoticed at the edge of our vision or dance in shadows, and with music, song, spoken word and odd noises, bring them out into the light to feed your curiosity.

lina paul’s minimalistic music and soundscapes are like spider-webs – delicate, yet disproportionately strong – and the songs and tales they catch are never ordinary. mr oCean’s words sketch views from old windows and distorted mirrors and his music is drawn to cold shorelines and broken buildings.

It’s been exciting to not only hear our words and music coming together in new ways, but also to have this extra push to get pieces finished, which had been lurking at the edge of my mind for too many years. And this is your chance to hear shining new pieces we’ve put together specifically for the show. We’re massively looking forward to the gig, and also to further developments!

This is how we look on radio…

Eric Eckhart on KenFM (“Jungle Ken”) on Fritz radio (Berlin/Potsdam), 30 January 2011, with Ken Burke and mr oCean.

Sadness with water; fun with zombies

My erstwhile home city of Brisbane has just suffered its worst flood since 1974, and 75% of the state of Queensland has been severely struck, with some towns vanishing entirely beneath the water. To contribute a bit to the recovery, I’ve put my new song (about heartbreak and zombies, so it’s stuff everyone can relate to ) up on BandCamp, where all money earned from downloads will go to the government’s relief fund.

Please click here to check it out!

It’s only $1 (Aus), which is less than a Euro.  You can pay more if you like, but I would rather see larger amounts go straight to the flood appeal than be reduced by the cuts taken by BandCamp and PayPal.  Besides, there are a whole lot of natural disasters about at present!

If you like what you hear, please spread the word.

Please also check out these other fine artists contributing to the flood relief effort:

Our favourite lost shark, Graham Nunn is donating more than 100% of all sales from his latest book (which is magnificent, by the way), “Ocean Hearted”.

Ghostboy and the Golden Virtues are likewise donating all proceeds from their latest album, “Enter”.  $18 for the goods. Just email them at ghostboywithgoldenvirtues at gmail_dot_com (trying to dodge spam-bots there) with the title “GBGV… Flood CD purchase” with how many copies and postal address, and they will set up direct payment from there.

And the following as listed on Another Lost Shark:

Page Seventeen are donating all proceeds from sales to flood relief.

David Reiter is offering copies of his children’s book Global Cooling for $10 with all proceeds going to the ABC’s flood crisis fund.

Fablecroft have published the limited edition e-book After the Rain, After the Floods and are donating all proceeds to flood relief.

Schneeliebe (a rousing reprise)

December has made a very impressive start in Germany.

First Snow

It is the soft new world, formed in a whisper,
tiny wonders breathing through the trees,
both chaos and perfect geometry.
It lays a hush across the city
and all would do well to listen.
It takes all that we hold to be real, unchanging
and solid, and grants us one more chance
to make every detail over again.
It is the childlike play of wind spirits,
laughing silently as they follow and scatter.
It dresses us in sky, puts stars beneath our feet.

mr oCean, Dec. 2010

And with this splendid white fanfare of Winter across the city, I am delighted to invite you all to Eric Eckhart’s final concert of 2010, accompanied by Sam Wareing and me.  It’s at St. Gaudy Cafe, Gaudystr. 1, Berlin Prenzlauer Berg.  It is also the cafe’s 1st birthday, so will be a kicking affair.  Get there early for drinks and maybe even a spot of nosh, and then we’ll belt out some tunes from about 20:30.

To sample the musical delights awaiting you, and to read the latest tour blog entry (the snowy delights and warm hospitality of Munich and Stuttgart), pop by Eric’s electric website.

And while I’m wielding the announcement shoehorn…  I’ll be premiering my new song at Joe’s Bar’s open mic on Tuesday evening (7 Dec.) – Schönhauser Allee 157, Berlin Prenzl-Berg, starting 21:00.  And come along to Meaganfest on the 11th: friends have organised this to raise money for an expat shoehorn-wielder who’s currently in hospital.  It will be 12 hours of music, poetry and comedy, and probably a goodly measure of madness and booze.  I’ll be spouting words sometime in the afternoon (details will follow when available).  The Community Space @ Schlesische Str 38, Berlin Kreuzberg, 2pm-2am.