New Album, New Drawings

Dear all,

A new Mr. Jenkins album,"Cupboards", will be available for purchase via Paypal to PaperJenkins@gmail.com on Saturday, November 28th. Five love songs. Five bucks. I like them. I think you might like them too.

(photo by Melinda Scharstein)

A new collection of smaller (ink + watercolor) drawings will also be available this weekend.

More information about these featured items will be updated at www.paperjenkins.com. Cool? Cool.

Also, feel free to contact me about any special holiday items you might have in mind or might like me create for you.

cheers,
Nick

It is 3:24 am.

Tonight, I sat in with Himalayas at a bar in Williamsburg called Spike Hill on Bedford Avenue.

Kenny Wollesen composes for and directs this band. He's cool. So cool.

Tonight, there were at least 15 people on stage (and off) all together. I played floor tom and cymbal. There were 3 other drummers in attendance. It was a lot like being in a church where people only communicated with their instruments. There was a very communal vibe and I remember smiling and dancing for most of the 2 sets.

Tomorrow, Asphalt Orchestra will rock the new "Atrium" space at the Lincoln Center. High noon. Free to the public. Check out our new myspace.

Friday, back home. This has been a fulfilling week.

Chin, chin. Post. Skol. Cheers, y'all.

This was taken by my friend Marcus Amaker, poet, musician, gentleman and scholar. The band is called Short Shorts and we played a festival last weekend called Kulture Klash 5. It's the fifth one (apparently) and it was quite the pah-tee.

This song is a cover of an Iggy Pop tune called, "Search & Destroy".

Work it out.

Thursday night at the Tin Roof in W. Ashley will hold great things for us because Kaler, Punks & Snakes, and Mr. Jenkins are performing at 10 pm.

Friday night at Fresh Brewed Coffee in Myrtle Beach will hold great things for us because Run Dan Run is playing at 8 pm.

Saturday night at the Naval Base N. Charleston will hold great things us because Short Shorts will be at Kulture Klash 5. 9 pm. Get there early.

The rest of this month is going to be a wild one, as I'll be touring Charleston, New York and Europe. 

Take care. See you somewhere soon.

"This Is It"

Hey,

  Recently, I had the pleasure to perform with 4 of Charleston's finest improvisers alongside trumpeter, Jacob Wick, from New York. Jacob is on a solo tour of the US right now doing a project called Road Trip: Drawing A Parameter of the United States. Parts of his program include John Cage's 4'33" and a improvisational piece of his own called This Is It. 

  Here is some audio. Don't be frightened. Check it out. 

Jacob Wick - trumpet, voice

Bill Carson - banjo, voice

Ron Wiltrout - percussion, voice

Sam Sfirri - clavinet, voice

Lee Barbour - guitar, voice

Nick Jenkins - laptop, voice 

cheers,

Nick

----

Upcoming Shows:

October 23rd 

Midnight Rooster | Hartsville, SC | Run Dan Run | 8pm

October 25th 

The Pour House | Charleston, SC | Lindsay Holler's Western Polaroids | CD Release | 7pm

November 5th 

The Tin Roof, W. Ashley, SC | Kaler, Mr. Jenkins, Punks & Snakes | Kaler CD Release | 9pm

November 6th 

Fresh Brewed Coffee, Myrtle Beach, SC | Run Dan Run | 8pm

November 7th 

at Kulture Klash 5 | N. Charleston, SC | Short Shorts | 7pm - midnight 

I'm happy to know things like this have happened in my lifetime:



And If you can't from all the head-banging, that's Flea on bass. Yes, Flea is playing bass in Thom Yorke's new band.

Awesome.

Happy Fall.

I came across this video upon browsing this blog. It's run by a guy named Chaz who has a solo (dance music) project called Toro Y Moi. My new band, Short Shorts, just played a show in Charleston with him and EARPWR recently. It's some of the freshest sounding music that I've heard in a while. I find it mostly appropriate for (but not limited to) end of Summer grilling and Fall bike riding with headphones on. And this music is coming out of Columbia, believe it or not. That's encouraging to me. 

Oh yeah, I'm into a lot of electronic/dance music right now, as you can probably tell.

Harald Björk - Sunsets (Live session) from Harald Björk on Vimeo.

Dude, check out this sweet font.

Redux is beginning their next weekly lecture series. You should check it out if you have some time on this coming Monday night. They involve 2 lectures on 2 seemingly different topics and have an open discussion at the end of it, bridging the two areas of thought, art, business, food, music, etc. It's great and it starts 6pm. It was sort of a brainchild of this fabulous person.

And after that, you should come check out Leah Suarez's SOUL COFFIN (featuring Lee Barbour) live at Mercato (6pm - 10pm) every Monday night throughout the Fall. We may be there longer, depending on how many people come out and get crazy on "Meatball Monday". That's the gig. Good tunes. Good wine. Good balls. Meatballs.

Oh yeah! Speaking of Mondays, my friend Dan (Run Dan Run) is doing this video blog series called "Cover Me Mondays" which can be viewed here: www.covermemondays.com. He'll be doing a cover every week for a whole year. He said that he'd buy you a cookie cake for everyone who tunes in if he doesn't complete the project. That's honorable, right?

Dan and I have been working on some new Run Dan Run material, as well. We have a couple of shows coming up pretty soon. The 19th at the Awendaw Green with Golden Pyramids and Weigh Station, among others. Then there's the 24th at thePour House with Co. and Firework Show. That's what this silliness is about:

Ok. I think that's it for the "update". Thanks for the check up. I'm listening to Pavement, what about you? I'm thinking about making a new calendar. Are you interested? Do you think you can find at least 5 other people to be interested so that I can think about how many a brother should/can make? I'd love to put another out. I'd just like know that I can get rid of them, too. That sounds worse than I mean it to. You know what I'm saying. 

Just remember: Monday, Monday, Monday. It's not that bad after all. 

see you soon,

Nick

ps. I just downloaded an awesome font. It's called Digitek. :) I know, i'm a geek.

"Bring me rocks

Bring me stones

So I can study them."

-(the Legendary) Marvin Pontiac 

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

A is for Awesome... and Asphalt.

Thanks to all who came out to the Asphalt Orchestra shows at the Lincoln Center last week. We just finished up our week of debut performances in the Out of Doors Festival and I'm happy to say that I am a part this fantastic group of musicians. I'm grateful for the opportunity to play music, in general, but this has been a gold star in my personal book of strange and beautiful accomplishments/experiences. It's funny little book. Ask me about it some time.

It was also pretty freakin' exciting to be back stage when Dave Brubeck was playing, as well as M'shell Ndegeocello, (Rhys Chatam's) 200 Electric Guitars and lots of other really rad stuff. I mean, really. Wow.

It turns out that we were a pretty big hit and received a lot of press from multiple magazines and blogs. I mean, Kenny Wollesen likes us, and he's f-ing super. He's also one of my favorite drummers of all time. He also bought me a beer. He's cool.

Check it out:

The NY Times
NY Magazine
Night After Night
The Decider
Time Out NY
WNYC.org

Philly.com

And here's a video of "Champagne!" (Goran Bregovic) taken by my dear friend, the great Isabelle Selby-Linaburg:

______________

So, we're definitely going to be back soon with some random Lincoln Center Outreach shows throughout the year, and as far as we know, another appearance in next year's Out of Doors Festival. Maybe a tour? Maybe an album? Maybe action figures? Who knows? Things are only going to get more... awesome. Stay in touch. Keep an ear open.

This city is having its way with me... in a very good way. I'll be back in Charleston this weekend. I'm ready to sweat. Ready. So ready...

cheers,

Nick

Time Out (NY) did a nice little feature on the marching band a few weeks ago. Our debut performances are next month at the Lincoln Center's Out of Doors Festival.

The Post & Courier (Charleston, SC) also did a nice little feature on me and my bands this week. I appreciate them calling me a "renaissance man". O-la-la. For those of you who don't know, it means I'm a jack of all trades but master of none. Thanks to Lisa Ryan for story.

This summer has been a crazy one and I will be 26 years old next month. Let me know if you're in town on the 26th of August. Something big is going to happen.

Video camera and editing courtesy of Dan McCurry. Actual filming by Sam Sfirri.

Morimoto is back, at least for a little bit. We're playing at Eye Level Art next Friday. The event goes from 6 pm to about 11 pm. The first set will be an acoustic set on the grass in the back of the space. The second set will most likely make you remember the first time you saw Transformers or McGyver, as we'll be playing a tank full of new material.

If you're in Charleston, or around Charleston, you might like to make this show. It's going to be spectacular and very uplifting. Even if I weren't in this band, I think I'd pay to see this show. For more information and to purchase tickets online, visit www.eyelevelart.com and check out the 'events' page. You may also go to etix.com as well as finding this guy: Mike@EyeLevelArt.com

Eye Level Art, for those who don't know, is an up-and-coming art gallery/collective group that tries to keep fresh music and art alive. Any support you give now or in the future is most appreciated and for the advancement of a healthy and thriving Art Culture in Charleston, South Carolina. I'm happy to be involved with this group.

Anyway... We would really love to see you there! We want to play beautiful music for you. You. You. You...

Cheers!