Update
Hey.
Being ADHD and all everyone knows that I keep myself busy. With that said this weekend is the culmination of a lot of work.
For starters I have a silent involvement in a sketch comedy troupe called the S.H.I.T show that runs Friday and Saturday the rest of the month (started the 1st). Working with actors has been one of the best working experiences I have ever had. Not too mention I was laughing the entire time. When I did come up for air I would tell them “guys, im just a vessel” and we’d move on. Shout out to Ray and Evan for becoming the movement and surviving our “meeting” at the Pirate Ship?
Another project that is going down this weekend is very special to me. I have had the privilege to get invited to set a piece for the Lorraine Hansbury foundation annual fundraising gala this year at the Ritz Carlton. For anyone who does not know Lorraine Hansbury is a very famous Afro-American playwright whom wrote A Raisin in The Sun, which my commission is based off of. The multi-talented Director of the Lorraine Hansbury Theatre Stanley Williams and I have had many discussions about my involvement with the theatre and how im supposed to help usher in a new audience because my work is “edgy” or “progressive”. Not too big on those description of my work because that puts me out of the status quo. However I am very relieved to see an organization willing to take a chance and shake things up and do something new. I was telling Stanley that for this piece I want to have the monologue from A Raisin in The Sun be read by an actor much like spoken word. Within the context of the monologue that I have been working off of with my dancer and getting back ground insight into the minds of the characters from Stanley I noticed that having just text alone would not be enough to suffice this project. Needed to do something more so I told Stanley that I envision base, percussions and cello sneaking in and out of the background. Comparable to Mingus or cars been stuck in traffic jam blarring their horns. Only after I had completed the choreographic end with my dancer Michael Montgomery did I get in contact with Mr. David Molina a freelance music producer whom just got back from a project at Yale. Molina, Stanley and I spoke about what I had in mind for the dance so that musically speaking I will be able to set up the right tone and atmosphere for the piece to exist. We planned to meet later the following week in his studio to knock out the recording process. Originally a female actress read the monologue but it did not match what I was going for. I had Stanley read the whole entire rehearsal process and settled my movement in his deep baritone voice. Made sense to use him for the recording too. At the studio I had Stanley read a few times with some voice inflections with certain words to give it a lil more punch. I even got to do some beat boxing (my strange breath heavy attempts) and screaming falsetto that will sneak in and out the music. I’m glad that I have the trust from the director for full artistic range because I had him doing some funny lil things:) Today I looked online and the Gala is completely sold out. I will have the honor of having the opportunity to show the old mayor of SF Willie Brown and the current mayor Gavin Newsome my work and that’s pretty dope. The same night I have the same solo being performed in a different venue with other dancers/choreographers from the SF bay area. The only difference is that im having female dance the part that was originally choreographed for a man. Everyone who could not make it to the gala will have the chance to see the same piece danced and I suggest that you all go because im very proud of the work.
The end of the month I will be dancing in my 1st 20minute joint titled “MicroMachines and Dinosaurs” more on that later along with some other surprises that will be traveling me and dancer Alex Jenkins to the east coast. All I will say about that is……. that it’s a bit “NUTTY”.
micheal rehearsing with the Director Stanley Williams in the background
me in the studio. Sometimes you have to just feel it.
keep on keepin on.
Wait…..I dont have a date for the gala yet!!!!!
B
heres a link to my blog that i update with all the show info on the sidebars. http://tagsf-noexpct.blogspot.com/
This week end……….Live sneak peak
hello everyone.
Live Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!
Remember when i posted the list of 27 words directly from my journal and had all of you vote on the top 3? I said that the top 3 words chosen by you will be part of the inspiration in my work process. Well the time is quickly coming upon us.
Im proud to announce that I will be giving you all a live feed of MPH the new project that we are currently working on. We will be presenting only one section of brand new material as a little summer fun for everyone.
The live feed will start at 6pm pacific time/8pm central/9pm eastern…………Tune into this channel to watch TAGsf new production of MPH. Doing a live webcast is a new venture/experiment for us so if the lights go out or your machine blows up or something well try and troubleshoot those problems later.
here is a link to the page where the showing will be posted and of course ill post it on The Winger too.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/TAGsf
hope to see ya there.
B
27 PACES:New sample audio of MPH featuring TxT
easter bunny in Dolores Park
Hello everyone.
(This is part of the 27 Paces project i was blogging about in earlier post.)
In our constant pursuit of Global domination (loved Pinky and the Brain) i decided that we venture into new yet familiar territories. MUSIC. With TAGsf producing our own music we would own the rights to all of our work. Much like Prince. I wanted us to go out and record audio from various people around San Francisco so that we can take the audio splice it up and add music over it. The results were way better than i had expected.
We had the perfect audio literally fall into our laps. I was out with one of my friends one day after work walking through the mission, heading towards Dolores Park. We were talking about the new music idea that i had so that i could get feedback from other people to see if it was a good idea or not. Once we arrived at Dolores we decided to kick it on the sidewalk towards the top of the park cause the grass was all wet and thats not cute when you get up, you know? Right as we sat down a homeless man came over towards us and asked us if he could sit with us even though the whole entire park was empty. That very moment Pat told me to get ready. I whipped out my handy Ipod Touch and went to the application italk so that i could record his audio. We offered the man some money, food and a couple smokes in exchange for him to talk into the mic. He was given no instruction or prompt. I told him to talk about anything and boy did he! This mans words were so articulate and clear with an amazing grasp of vocab. He spoke in a deep audible monotone voice. Not once did he stop and say “uhm or doy”. He was clear and crisp but still clearly cracked cause nothing he was saying added up. After recording 3 takes of 9 min or so we sat and chatted with Micheal Paul Henderson (the name he introduced himself to us) for a while before we split the scene. The next day i took the audio into the studio where it was cut up, spliced and layered before it was sent out to another guy in Atlanta who added music over the audio with my very specific instruction on tonality and structure.
Currently i am working with the track for a May performance here in San Francisco as well as for a filming with good ol Dr.Bacon. Its cool to be working with this particular piece of music cause the words stretch my imagination and im able to see new movement/visual ideas every time i listen to the music.
The track that you are about to listen to is not in its entirety or even its right order. I thought it would be cool to splice it up and highlight key words and phrases with some typography. YAY!
more pics, video and list of other collaborators coming sooner than later. Stay tuned folks:P
click on the link below for the music.
you can also track me on twitter @ http://twitter.com/btroubles
b
Launch of William Forsythe’s web project Synchronous Objects
Today i got a message in my Facebook account about the Launch of William Forsythe’s new web project Synchronous Objects and i just had to share this.
Here is more info about the project from an article in the NY Times.
More exciting is the launch of the website that explores the connection between choreography and technology.
here is the link to the site. You will need to install Adobe flash to view the site
http://synchronousobjects.osu.edu
Take a look around. Im personally fascinated with the mergence of technology and movement. I can tell that a lot of my free time will be spent wisely:)
William Forsythe's Eidos
b
27 Paces top 3 and Bay area event
Here are the top 3 words chosen by all of You. Now we narrow it down to one word. Comment away on the word YOU would like to see translated. I start working on the new material next week and very curious about what direction all of you will have me going.
top 3:
1. ROYGBIV(would be fun!)
2. Up (hmm…?)
3. Tangled( all over the place)
here is a link of jeezy and I trying to fulfill our dreams of becoming rockstars. Not being able to sing might be a set back:P
http://www.tagsf-noexpct.blogspot.com/
b
27 PACES, be part of the movement
Hello everyone,
Hope all is well. There is a lot going on with me as i piece together things for a new project. Without spoiling all of the fun I must say that this will be the biggest, freshest, cleanest, next level joint that TAGsf has done thus far. Smooth, agile, cat-like, and buttery are a few words i would use to describe this upcoming project. The collaborators are a diverse group of some of my favorite artists.
With that being said i can’t move forward on new movement until i settle down on one theme. My problem is not a lack of ideas either. What do you call someone who has the exact opposite of writers block? Whatever it’s called that’s me. I have been walking/showering like a mad man(i always get my best ideas in the shower or walking). There is not one idea that i love. My little black NoteBook is my constant travel companion. Nothing has hit me and i don’t have time to wait for “divine inspiration” so i’ve decided to flip the flow.
Starting this Saturday through Monday i will be posting 9 words each day until we hit the magic number 27. All of the words are coming directly from my NoteBook so you will be working with concepts that i have been tossing around. The following week we will take the top 3 words and narrow it down to one. The magic word YOU decide on will be my source material to get started on new joints(movement).
TAGsf is opening up the doors so YOU the reader can be directly involved in the creative process. Dont forget, i can’t move forward without knowing where im going. You guys and gals get to chart the course. All you have to do is leave a comment about what word you like in the comment box while I get to put my feet up for second:)
Over the next few months until May i will be posting more details about the project and collaborators. I put a few surprises in the mix so stay tuned.
Chance Procedure?
I think so:P
B
Secretary of the Arts?
Hello Everyone.
As many of you who did not make the trip out to DC for the Inauguration yesterday i was glued to CNN all day. Such a good feeling to be part of history even if it is from my work. During one of the many interviews yesterday the best political team on television interviewed mega producer Quincy Jones about his feelings on Obama being elected prez and his thoughts on the world that has changed. Jones answered the questions and used part of his on air time to plug something that is tres important to the arts community. Jones talked about the US getting a newly appointed Secretary of the Arts. I know that a lot of you out there have been getting emails from various arts organizations/artists about an online petition to help us get a the job filled. Once i heard it being spoke about by someone highly regarded on national television i knew that this is for real and not a chain email. At this point Mr. Jones had my full attention as he was talking about how the arts are such a vital part in a childs development, he mentioned examples of kids not knowing famous american artists like Louie Armstrong and how it makes him sad that a lot of kids dont know some important figures in american history. Once asked about who he thinks would be a good canidate for the job i was eagerly awaiting his response……..and i was let down. Quincy Jones had no answer aside from a great review board to select the most qualified person. I was thinking to myself that if i were to be asked the same question i would have a response. Thinking about it for a while i said to myself “Damn, I dont” .
There are many people who would be great for the job but what should the qualifications be? Who do you think are some good canidates for the job? (if filled)
I would like to ask you the readers for your thoughts on the subject because we all know that the arts always gets the short end of the stick while we are such a huge part of the american culture and fabric. Don’t be shy either about saying what you think because I am sure there are plenty of people like me out there who would vote for “Pdiddy” in a heartbeat:)
B
setting lights for a show
Maybe we all dream to be
Maybe we all dream to be………? from T.A.G.San Francisco on Vimeo.
Hello everyone,
Maybe we all dream to be……. is the long awaited Drew Jacoby and Rubi Pronk project that i have been sitting on for months. The reason for the hold up is that i could not think of a proper title for the piece. Considering my recent mood and me thinking that my work sucks, a name hit me like a ton of bricks. Maybe we all dream to be..(fill in blank)………... I have my answer to the question and still decided to leave it blank. What i find important is that everyone else has they’re own personal answers. This project marks the last time that i use a Radiohead song. This also marks the last time and a very long while that i do any new projects.
Disclaimer: The rest of the entry is a snoozer.
Right now i am trying to figure out if this is important to me? What exactly am i doing or should i take the ” Blue Pill? I set out to create TAGsf because i was bored with what is already out there. I wanted to present new options. Make work that me and my friends would be interested in seeing. I have been very blessed from the start to be able to work with artists that i admire and look up to and have the opportunity to get the work out there quickly. Maybe its happened too fast for me? Im ahead of myself by 3 years in my head. I never wanted to use film. Truth be told it fell into my lap. TAGsf is not just for dancers. My goal is for all people of all backgrounds be able to enjoy watching movement. Its not about the money, or respect, or fame for me. Its about getting my ideas out. Nothing is better in the world for me then seeing my ideas physically manifested. If im not working on a project i am thinking about another one. This entire year i have been working on the back end with branding, editing, educating myself by going back to school for Final Cut, Adobe, Aesthetics and working a full time job in Advertising. At one point a couple months ago i had 7 day weeks for a month and a half. Working 9-5, rehearsing or shooting a project, going to school on the week-ends from 10-6pm while still going out in the evenings. I cant even think back to the last time i have left San Francisco. Whenever i do get a vacation i use it to go off and work on a project. I am never not doing something involving moving ahead. I have never minded doing it all because i knew that this is what it takes to make it. I dont have a budget. Im not making money off this. It is the opposite. I put all the work out there for free with the exception of shows. Why else am i making it if i don’t want people to watch? My money is being used for support all of this instead of buying stuff for myself. I do acknowledge that i have a kick ass team that works alongside me of editors, dancers, artists, film makers and interactive who are able to put it all together. The truth is nowadays i find myself bored. The emails that i get about working with different companies don’t interests me. I dont see a reason to have to try and submit my work so that i can be considered to work with a company that i dont care about in the 1st place. I dont care about the names so that i can “fatten” my resume. Thinking like that is when i knew that something is wrong.
My friends have been telling me that what i have is a lack of inspiration. Not the case. My creativity and imagination is a defining trait for me. I am always thinking. Thinking is easy for me. If you were to say one word right off the bat i have a song lyric for it. I develop micro universes out of everything i observe. Try and play me in Cranium:) Everything that i have posted on this site took no longer than 4 days for me to choreograph , rehearse, edit/clean, complete. Everything with the exception of the Drew and Rubi project which has 2 other sections that did not get to shoot because of “Brian Gibbs production delays.” I need to step away because i need a break. Working choreographing, creative directing, conceptualizing, editing, contacting and thinking has finally caught up with me. I want to be able to go spend time with my family back in North Carolina. I want to visit my friends in NY who asks me on a daily basis “When are you coming?” I want to travel abroad and visit friends. In the past 3 years i have had not one real vacation.
Watching me feeling overwhelmed last Friday my all wise and powerful “interactive guy” had stepped up to the plate and offered to be my “Project Manager”. He will be over seeing what i do and make sure that everything is going in the right direction. Making me able to breath a little easier. We have already started working for next year with the pre-existing material and there is a lot of it. Never knew what to do with it. TAGsf will be going through a lot of changes in the next few months that will allow us to be on a clear concrete path. Trimming the fat if you will. Lean and clean.
website Tagsf.tv (still being sorted out)
Hope all is well and that everyone has a great Holiday.
Brian
Studio G_Street Rocking
A couple days ago i was out on my balcony shooting some B-Roll of the street. While filming i happened upon some funny stuff.
peep below.
B
Studio G
Hello.
Studio G is a new thing that i will be doing based upon whatever strikes my fancy. Everything that is filmed will be shot in my home studio that i am currently building…….The economy is Down.
What i enjoy most about doing this is that i can build sets in my space and make a simple phrase that is still being developed into an entity of its own. Its all about the context. Something else that is cool is that i can build off the movement that i am working on and develop it into a full piece with set adjustments.
Here is a little “something /something” that i am playing with as of the moment.
Studio G we also be hosted here http://tagsf-noexpct.blogspot.com/
more on that to come:P
B
