MarchFourth Trail Mix: A Life With Razzle Dazzle - Ep 5 "Earth Ship Livi...

March 15, 2011 -- A Life With Razzle Dazzle - Video diary with MarchFourth from the road. Ben shares his sweet digs after the Taos gig, then takes the band down by the river for a little R&R...

Groovy tunes by Lucky Brown
Cover photo by Gogo Bambino

More info on M4:
http://www.marchfourthmarchingband.com

Diggable Monkey Productions
http://www.diggablemonkey.com

people's republic of portland
http://www.thepeoplespdx.com

MarchFourth Trail Mix: A Life With Razzle Dazzle - Ep 4 "Panini Tetris" ...

March 14, 2011 -- A Life With Razzle Dazzle - Video diary with MarchFourth from the road. Sid chefs up gourmet breakfast while demonstrating tricky bus cooking techniques in Razzle's kitchen.

Groovy tunes by Lucky Brown
Cover photo by Gogo Bambino

More info on M4:
http://www.marchfourthmarchingband.com

Diggable Monkey Productions
http://www.diggablemonkey.com

people's republic of portland
http://www.thepeoplespdx.com

MarchFourth Trail Mix: A Life With Razzle Dazzle - Ep 3 "Uh Oh!" (2011)

March 12, 2011 -- A Life With Razzle Dazzle - Video diary with MarchFourth from the road. A traditional pit stop at the In and Out Burger in Casa Grande, AZ leads to a bus meltdown. Watch the kids spring into action to make it to the gig in Tempe, 45 miles away...

Groovy tunes by Lucky Brown
Cover photo by Gogo Bambino

More info on M4:
http://www.marchfourthmarchingband.com

Diggable Monkey Productions
http://www.diggablemonkey.com

the people's republic of portland
http://www.thepeoplespdx.com

MarchFourth Trail Mix: A Life With Razzle Dazzle - Ep 2 "Teamwork" (2011)

March 11, 2011 - A Life With Razzle Dazzle - Video diary with MarchFourth from the road. Heading down to Tucson, Aaron gives us the run down on the idea of teamwork and what it takes to keep us moving.

Hammond B3 Vibes by Eric Aspnes, Tucson, AZ
Cover Photo by Gogo Bambino

More info on M4:
http://www.marchfourthmarchingband.com

© Diggable Monkey
http://www.diggablemonkey.com

the people's republic of portland
http://www.thepeoplespdx.com

MarchFourth Trail Mix: A Life With Razzle Dazzle - Ep 1 - "The New Banne...

March 9, 2011 -- A Life With Razzle Dazzle - Video diary with MarchFourth from the road. Faith works on a replacement banner for the upcoming LA show.

Groovy tunes by Lucky Brown
Cover photo by Gogo Bambino

More info on M4:
http://www.marchfourthmarchingband.com

Diggable Monkey Productions
http://www.diggablemonkey.com

the people's republic of portland
http://www.thepeoplespdx.com

William de Richter Heintz

June 21, 2011 -- If you live in Portland and you've ever had a hand in event production, then you probably know the workings of William de Richter Heintz. We got to know him better working together over several months on last summer's PDX Bridge Festival where he functioned as an event coordinator. Sadly, Richter passed away this past week leaving us to grapple with a tremendous sense of loss. We are indebted to him for his relentless efforts to bring so many communities together here in our city.

For the record, Richter never called on me to film him - though he never shied away from the camera when approached either... Argon introduced me to him when he first moved to town. Over the next 3 years, I watched him blossom into the event work that he really passionately loved. As a biographer, it was his spirited tenacity that was most interesting to me. While working on the Bridge Fest, he seemed to really be coming into his own. I took every opportunity to film him running around like a mad dog during the festival. It was both inspiring and RIGHT.

Bless you, Richter! God speed...

Watch the video here:
http://vimeo.com/25424999

Southbound

We just finished up at the Wakarusa festival in the Ozark Mountains. Met a lot of really great musicians down there who were totally excited about MarchFourth, including the sensational Quixotic from Kansas City. Holy smokes! Their stage show was one of the most impressive things I've seen done at a festival.

The M4th stage performance at the Revival Tent on Saturday was a scorcher, but we managed to play a pretty decent show. There's nothing like having room to move around and not step on one another. Richard's tom rig can be a challenging to play at times.

Aside from the fact that we had our camp posted up at the recycling dump, we managed to stay alive by staying under shade where possible. On to Tennessee to play Nashville, after which this monkey gets off the bus and heads south to Atlanta for some quality time with the folks. More behind the scenes clips with the band are coming. I need a new Firewire cable to get the media off the tapes!

2011 SUMMER TOURS WITH MARCHFOURTH

Next Wednesday (May 25th), we head out on the road again with MarchFourth for the 5th time in eight months. In 2011, the band begins a series of summer dates that are heavy laden with festivals, including the Strawberry Music festival (Yosemite), Desert Rocks (Moab), and Wakarusa (Ozarks). Later in July and August, the High Sierra (Quincy), Vancouver Isle (Cumberland), Telluride Jazz Fest (CO), Wanderlust (Squaw Valley) and Musikfest in Bethlehem, PA. What an opportunity to see some of the great national parks and the beautiful countryside that we so quickly forget about living in the city! Performing in the festival environment far and away exceeds the grind of the club circuit. It's just more.... civil.

We plan to be active with our video blogging, which seemed to be positively received by both the band and the fans who can't seem to get enough of them.

Joy Now Summer Performance Arts Scholarship Fund

Our Story

Started 8 years ago, March Fourth Marching Band is a world famous mobile big band spectacular. From gypsy brass, samba, funk, afro-beat, big-band, jazz, rock, circus, to vaudeville, we play it all. We have marched in the streets and played to sold-out crowds around the globe, cultivating a sense of spontaneous joy and contagious excitement wherever we go. After partnering with inter-generational community marching bands in Germany last year, many of us came home inspired to develop a band program in our own community.

The JOY NOW Summer Performance Arts Workshop is a week-long day camp for youth age 13-18. Our mission is to empower, excite and engage youth through music and performance arts-centered programs that value diversity, positive collaboration, self-awareness, and social change. At the end of our week together, we’ll take the songs and dances we've learned to the streets, classic M4 style. We’ll parade, and perform and help kick off the 2nd Annual PDX Bridge Festival at their opening gala on July 29th.

We are running this camp entirely on volunteer power and are relying on student fees to help with the basic costs of camp. However, we know that the students who can benefit the most from this kind of experience are often those without the financial means to afford it. Help us offer our program to more students! Reaching our goal of $4,000 will allow 16 more students to join us in this amazing opportunity!

The Impact

All over the country, schools are navigating drastically diminishing budgets. Unfortunately, arts education is one of the first subject areas to be cut. Members of March Fourth know the crucial role that music and art play in intellectual and personal development. After all, it was these school programs that started many of us on our own paths to creativity. That’s why we’re so excited to offer an alternative to students who can’t afford private lessons and who do not have band programs or other performance arts opportunities in their schools. Even for students whose parents can afford private lessons, nothing can replace the valuable and often more rewarding experience of being part of a larger band.

Joy Now Summer Performance Arts Workshop will give youth the chance to participate fully and actively in a community centered around art and positive collaboration. As well as a music & performance art program, it is also a life-skills, and global awareness program. Youth will have the chance to do new things, explore multiple creative practices, learn and share different points of view, build self-confidence, and learn how to use art for positive and effective social change.

You can help us make it happen!

We are building this camp from the ground up and it is SOLELY funded from donations from people like you. Your donations help us ensure equal access to performance arts education for all youth! We are working towards getting our 501(c)3 tax-exempt status, but until we do, any donation you make will be greatly appreciated, but will not be tax deductible.

Helping us reach our goal of $4,000 will allow us to:

· Offer 16 scholarships to youth, who would have been otherwise unable to attend
· Purchase instruments, drums, hula hoops, stilts and other camp supplies

Not only will you be karmically rewarded for contributing to such a worthwhile cause, we're also throwing in some extra rewards! Check out our list of awesome incentives to the right.

Other Ways You Can Help

Want to take your investment further? We have many other ways for you to get involved:

Share this campaign with your friends, families and coworkers via email and Facebook.

Ask your favorite bar to host a happy hour benefit
Petition your local thrift store for costume donations
Approach your neighborhood grocery store for food and drink donations

While you're spring cleaning, separate out those old art supplies & give them a new home (with us!)

Throw a car wash
Have a bake sale
No idea is too small or insignificant!

Visit our website for more ideas of how to help! http://marchfourthmarchingband.com

Interviews from Was Ist Das? MarchFourth in Germany

The Was Ist Das? MarchFourth in Germany documentary film highlights the inner workings of M4 and their recent excursion to Europe in 2010. In large part, what makes the film compelling is the fact that very little media has been produced to highlight the diverse and wonderful personalities of this increasingly popular musical entity. There are copious amounts of fan-provided live clips on YouTube and other online video streaming sites. However, despite their attempt to court media opportunities not much in the way of thought provoking or intelligent discussion with band members exists to date. The Diggable Monkey is here to fill the void...

The interview outtakes from the Was ist Das? film further explore the perspectives of (6) long time band members: John Averill, Amy Hatfield, Dan Stauffer, Nayana Jennings, Sid Simpatico and Scalett Torrance. Each presents a unique view of their role and their experience with what is commonly referred to among band members as simply, "the Project". Out of costume and into a comfy seat, these kids weave a dynamic tale to satisfy among the most die hard of their fans...

As with the 29-minute documentary film, these pieces were developed for online consumption. Their sub 2-minute play duration were designed and fully intended to be consumed in a single sitting. As the editor, selecting comments from the Was Ist Das? interviews was something of a challenge. Much of what was discussed in the retrospective process was potentially useful to enhance the arc of the movie's narrative. We are pleased to release these comments in a more random and revised "short" format, so that viewers can enjoy their presentation in a more anecdotal or personal way. In a sense, we strike more at highlighting the individual rather than the band as a whole.

The eight year journey this tribe has traveled is extremely fertile storytelling soil. From our perspective, this conversational exploration has been a missed opportunity for both the band members and their fans. Our hope is that the series will in some small way help alleviate the expanding bottleneck of interest in "the Project" and recognize the stories of this incredibly unique little slice of humanity.

To see thee 1st installment of the series, "John Talks Family" with John Averill, view the MarchFourth Channel on Vimeo here: http://vimeo.com/diggablemonkey/videos

More info on MarchFourth here:
http://marchfourthmarchingband.com

Hey, Carl. Turn That Suck Knob Down! - Solovox 10-Year Anniversary

"You ever heard of Woo Woo Feild?", my therapist asked. "Nope, I didn't know that there were any other Portland Burners", I replied. "Look this guy up and he'll tell you all about it", he said grinning. "Uh, Ok...".

Way back in 2002, my now ex-wife and I were feeling like seasoned vets heading into our third Burning Man event. A San Francisco crew had adopted us as one of their own, so we didn't really socialize that much with the locals. Basically, there weren't many of us in Portland at the time. Little did we know that the festival's popularity was on the verge of exploding around these parts.

We'd been told that there was a guy named Carl who camped with a large Portland organization out there and that we should look him up. Always keen to explore new Playa connections, we tracked him at the festival that year. The encounter was brief, as he was strapped into a monster parachute making some futile attempt to get his camp set up in a brewing sand storm. We made quick introductions and suggested a rally at some point down the line. In true Burner fleeting fashion, the hang with Carl never came to pass.

It was roughly a full year before I saw him again. In 2003, I ended up across the street from Woonami Village, a Woo Woo Field-style camp on steroids with close to 500 campers. My own freshly minted camp, Monkey Puzzle, got our request honored by the Org for close Woo theme camp placement . As it turned out, my long time friends Dan Cohen and Marcea Wiggins and a few others were Woo refugees looking to exercise what I like to refer as "polycamperous tendencies", so I went along with their site plan to go for an autonomous experience that was deliberately guarded from the Woonami wave.

Late in the week, we'd been up late and were sitting next to our dome across the street from the Woo. Carl suddenly came rolling up on the infamous Woonami bus, playing on top with a live band that had been raging full tilt with hard rock all week. It was deathly quiet at 5 o'clock in the morning and just as the bus was docking, he played some beautiful aria alone on a synth. GORGEOUS! In that moment, I realized the POWER of peaceful classical music played live in the electronica-crazed Black Rock City. I also realized that this was the Solovox personality I'd been hearing about...

Fast forward, Solovox has since played all the major music events that I've produced or co-produced (roughly 10), including most of the little gatherings of what has become a wonderful creative non-entity of post-Burning Man tribes affiliated with MarchFourth Marching Band, the Mobile Groove Bomb project, Water in the Desert and the PDX Bridge Festival to name a few. The Solovox 10-year anniversary Diggable Monkey video will feature Carl as an embedded character in this historical evolution of vibrant Portland counter culture. Since I've been tracking Solovox with a video camera at my shows, kaosmosis events, Howl and others, we've developed quite an impressive 8-year archive of footage.

As we've now assembled the media in preparation for a short retrospective piece, I believe he is the perfect protagonist to illustrate how far we've all come - and how gently our batch of grapes have aged. Don't worry, Carl. We're here to further indulge you on your 10-year anniversary. I'll be sure to keep that Suck Knob turned way down... Looking forward to the show next Friday - and you telling us all about it!

More info on the anniversary show here:
http://www.solovox.com/

Oregon News Article here:
http://oregonmusicnews.com/blog/2011/05/06/qa-pdx-electro-pioneer-turns-10-celebrate-with-solovox/

Water in the Desert - Local Culture Project

Great meeting with Mizu Desierto yesterday regarding a film project documenting The Local Culture Project. I've had the pleasure of working with Mizu a number of years ago on Monkey Puzzle, a multi-year Burning Man theme camp project (2003-2007). Always the instigator, I love collaborating with her. She brings so much energy and inspiration to her Water in the Desert team that it's impossible to not be motivated. Keep your ears to the ground on this one, Folks. We're digging DEEP!!

LOCAL CULTURE PROJECT is a year-long inquiry into the relationships between local communities, foods and the arts working under the hypothesis that all are essential pieces of the sustainable discourse. Currently WITD is developing a documentary film and a series of interactive farm events for a newly acquired 1/2 acre lot in St. Johns, Prior Day Farm. The project has received a 2011 RACC project grant and will partner with PSU in a summer course on the farm site entitled Butoh Dance, Permaculture Design and Sustainability. In July, Portland Center Stage will present a site-specific performance of the project during its JAW Festival. Other proposed activities include urban farm gatherings and performances, workshops and a weeklong camp for kids celebrating the relationships between nature, the garden and creativity. One of the projects leading motivations is to build a bridge between the the local food movements and the fields of somatic inquiry, permaculture design and artistic expression.

We're Big In Belgium...

Well, not quite... As someone that has spent the last twelve years of his working career analyzing and mapping data, I've found my viewer statistics to be particularly interesting to monitor. Perhaps the most interesting aspect for me is the geographic component. Where are people located when viewing my content? When you're sitting behind an editing bench in Portland, you start to wonder how far of a reach your material really gets. I'm happy to say that Diggable Monkey does indeed have a world wide audience! Though I can't see detail below the Country level, I can at least see dispersion at the global level.

Here are the Top Ten numbers from DM's Vimeo profile since the account was opened in early 2009:

1. United States
2. Germany
3. Canada
4. France
5. Great Britain
6. Italy
7. Brazil
8. India
9. Indonesia
10. Netherlands

Diggable Monkey on Daily Motion!

Boy, there's certainly no shortage of methods to host media on the web these days. The trick is finding the time to administer all of these sites. I've discovered that Daily Motion is one of the best ones, in terms of quality and ease of use. I'm not a fan of the advertisements that they put on the front end of my stuff. I suppose I wouldn't mind if they'd kick me down a few pennies for every click... Which begs the question, when are these hosting sites going to figure out how to support their contributors and financially honor their producers? My cat videos are far superior than the average Joe's cat videos... ;-)

DiggableMonkey's videos on Dailymotion

The Trail Mix Series

Diggable Monkey had another opportunity to travel with MarchFourth this past month. In an attempt to bring the band a little closer to the fans, DM developed a little video series - a video blog, if you will. Trail Mix: A Life With Razzle Dazzle is a one-of-a-kind view of a large, ensemble band and their travels across the United States. While one can find many online live videos of the band of their stage performance, there are scant few that show the band interacting off stage. The M4 bus, Razzle Dazzle, is a veritable submarine that moves these musicians from place to place in extremely close proximity for weeks at a time. What better place to catch the off stage action than in their home on wheels?

While M4 can't realistically share everything that happens, they can give interested fans a glimpse of road life and what it takes to keep 22 people crammed on a bus functional. You can find these videos at a number of locations. Click on the Diggable Monkey links below to find the series:


http://vimeo.com/diggablemonkey/videos
http://current.com/tags/90007584_diggable-monkey
http://www.youtube.com/user/DiggableMonkey?feature=mhum

THRESHOLD and the Portland Artist Clinic Blessing

A thoughtful reply to a long thread of responses to Threshold ticket giveaway on the PDX Pipeline.

P,

Your reply resonates with me. Unfortunately, someone at the Pipeline makes the call! It is true that much of our inspiration and collaborators are of the Nevada desert cloth. Our craft has been tuned over many years and now we are deliberately directing the fund cannons to aim back here in the “default world” – where help is needed.

Thank you everyone for interest in Threshold. We are so humbled by the amazing responses we’ve gotten back from people in different circles all over town. We never forget how lucky we are to be in Portland and around such a supportive community. If we don’t see you tonight, we hope we can connect with you all through your ongoing engagement with the Portland Artist Clinic. After the weekend, we all scatter back to our own busy worlds, but PAC remains there for the people!

新年快乐(xīn nián kuài lè) Happy New Year!

Kind Regards,

Kevin Balmer
Diggable Monkey
Threshold Co-Producer

THRESHOLD: CHINESE NEW YEAR (2011)

Diggable Monkey, SijaPdx and Anonymous-i Present
THRESHOLD: CHINESE NEW YEAR
A Benefit for The Portland Artist Clinic

A TWO DAY JOURNEY INTO THE YEAR OF THE RABBIT (2011)
...Join us for the 5th annual Threshold event celebrating the Chinese New Year! The event brings awareness and support to the Portland Artist Clinic, a volunteer organization providing community-based, integrative primary care and urgent health care services to Portland artists and musicians who are unable to attain health insurance or who lack access to primary care through their existing insurance.

Come pull a few soft and furry tricks from the hat...

SAT. Feb. 19th & SUN. Feb. 20th
@ Refuge - 116 SE Yamhill
Portland, OR 97215
http://maps.google.com/

SATURDAY NIGHT, Feb. 19th - 9PM - 4AM

RANDOM RAB
http://www.randomrab.net/

Solovox
http://www.solovox.com/

Manoj
http://www.myspace.com/123533889

Barisone
http://soundcloud.com/barisone

Plumblyne
http://soundcloud.com/plumblyne


SUNDAY NIGHT, Feb. 20th 9PM - 3AM

PLASTICIAN
http://www.myspace.com/plastician

Dj Laura
http://www.myspace.com/djlaura

Anjali
http://www.myspace.com/djanjali

Global Ruckus
http://www.myspace.com/djglobalruckus

Behni Bubu
http://soundcloud.com/behnibubu

+++++++++++++++++++

EYE CANDY PROVIDED BY

KAZUM
http://kazum.org/

THE GOOD TIME GIRLS
http://vimeo.com/8785621

BRIDGETOWN REVUE
http://www.bridgetownrevue.net/

+++++++++++++++++++

STYLIE INTERIORS BY NARAYANI
Starbird Couture
http://www.starbirdcouture.com/

SOUND & LIGHTING DESIGN
Audio Freq & Smart Tech

PROJECTIONS & VIDEO PRODUCTION
Gabe Shaunnessy & Dan Cohen
http://gabesimagination.com/ & http://dc-creativelabs.com/

Smashed Up Soiree
http://www.smashedupsoiree.com/

Daflew
http://www.daflew.com/

Diggable Monkey
http://www.vimeo.com/diggablemonkey

HOT PROMOTIONAL VIDEO HERE:
http://www.vimeo.com/18391997

++++++++++++++++++++

NEWS FLASH!
On Feb. 19th, THRESHOLD will be streamed live from the venue onto the Internet by BMIR - 94.5FM on the Playa! BMIR is powered in part by generous donations from WideOrbit Radio Automation and StreamGuys.

Check them out at the link below:
http://www.bmir.org/

++++++++++++++++++++

Order Tickets Online:
http://threshold2011.eventbrite.com/
Early Bird - $30 or $20/Show (available until Jan. 11)
Pre~sale $35 ALL WEEKEND
Door - $40 night or 20 per night

Asian-inspired dress highly encouraged!

Also walk-in tickets available at the following retail outlets:
FROCK – 1439 NE Alberta St
METRO – 3525 SE Hawthorne Ave

Check the TriMET link below for the best routes by public transit:
http://trimet.org/go/cgi-bin/plantrip.cgi

For more information about Threshold: Chinese New Year, visit our website @ http://www.mythreshold.net/
NOTE: No one under 21 years old will be admitted. Please bring your ID

Brick City vs. Rose City

In my 12 years in Portland, I've come to appreciate the qualities of what sets it apart from other cities in the United States. I had an opportunity to study cities in depth while attending the urban planning graduate program at Portland State U from 2001-2006. Using Portland as our lab, we sliced an diced our way through topics and issues related to place-making, resource management, neighborhoods dynamics, transportation modeling and systems, public involvement and negotiation, statistics and GIS software, site analysis and design, community development, and the various functions of non-profit networks. After 5 1/2 years of study, I graduated from the "2-year" - 80 credit hour program. I know now when I watch the documentary on Newark, NJ, "Brick City", that Portland is but a child's playground compared to the torrential waves that rock the community there. The term "eye-opening" is a great understatement.

Sure, it's difficult to draw the comparisons between these places on a technically descriptive level. After all, Portland and the Newark are on polar opposite sides of the continent; we have unique geographies, demographics, economies all weaving together unique cultural perspectives that define the character of a place. However, one could also argue that at the basic human level, we are similar in many other ways. For example, we are urbanites that wish to feel secure in our homes, feel secure about the local economy and our place within, an ability to exercise personal rights and freedoms related to religion and race, as well as other basic freedoms. What really seems to distinguish the Brick City from the Rose City are the dire challenges faced by citizens driven to action by the out of their sense of sheer frustration. For a generation or more, the overwhelmed communities of Newark are faced a serious choice: pull together to reduce crime and poverty or allow the lawless to continue eating it alive.

A new award-winning documentary, "Brick City" chronicles the activities of Newark's enigmatic mayor, Cory Booker and the municipal apparatus' attempt to control the city's crime. Rarely have I seen a film so effective in it's approach. Indeed, it delivers a front row seat to the drama underway in Newark. I suspect part of my personal interest lies in the director's choice to weave sweeping, gratuitous shots of the city into the narrative. The metaphor of the city's physical condition in connection to the tenuous sense of happiness and hope amongst the people is poignant and stark. If there was ever a brilliant technique using cameras to define the qualities of a place, Marc Levin and Mark Benjamin have hit the jackpot. "Brick City" makes you sit up and take stock in what is possible when people teeter on the brink. Watch and learn, Portland!

Check out Executive Producer Forest Whittaker's, Brick City! For those with Netflix, you're there. For those looking for more basic info, try this link on:

http://www.sundancechannel.com/brick-city/

Explore, Diggable Monkey. Oo Oo!