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I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, etc., etc., etc.

Koven — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:49:08 +0000

Allow me to take a moment away from my thrilling and dynamic series of posts on “Museums and the Digital Domain” to post a photo of my costume from from this past weekend’s Halloween shenanigans, courtesy of Ms. Morgan Holzer:

Oh yeah, that’s me, your humble narrator, dressed like freaking Number Six! Although I ended up having to explain all night long who I was supposed to be, and the balloon I was using as Rover flew away during the day, it was still totally worth lining my good jacket with gaff tape and wearing white pants. You can clearly see from the expression in my face that my life is my own, and that you won’t hold me.

So if next year, I finally get David Byrne’s Big White Suit together for Halloween, the circle will be complete.

A few random things…

Koven — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:40:11 +0000

…because I’m on vacation and it’s time for me to get off of the computer and on the beach. The first thing is that I have a guest post up on Nina Simon’s Museum Two (2.0?) blog called “Language Matters.” It’s a collection of vaguely useful tips and tricks on how to sell technology projects to those who are not predisposed to doing them. It’s delivered in my standard rant format, so hopefully it’s entertaining.

Another thing that I’ve been loving lately is the “Museum Pipes” blog, written by my colleague at the Met, Piotr Adamczyk. Piotr is pushing the boundaries of what might be done with museum data when it’s exposed via APIs and pushed through Yahoo Pipes. As making collections data available this way moves from being exceptional to ordinary over the next year, it’s good that people like Piotr are already figuring out how to do more. Check his site out; it’s the jam. You’ll need an API key from the Brooklyn Museum to test many of the pipes.

Also, if you haven’t checked out the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s ArtBabble yet, go there right now. So awesome. It’s currently still by invitation only, but I have a few beta invites left; contact me if you’d like one.

Also, last thing: in a few short weeks, I’ll be heading to London for the second of two design sessions around the ConservationSpace project. If you’re in the neighborhood, and would like to hang out a bit, lemme know.

That is all.

BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Koven — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:31:23 +0000

While trying (mostly successfully) to avoid work over a delicious Thanksgiving weekend, I discovered this excellent BBC documentary from 2003 about the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The Radiophonic Workshop, with its stable of composers including Delia Derbyshire, Brian Hodgson, and the amazing John Baker, was a lab for the production of electronic music, mostly for BBC radio and television programs (the most famous example being the Workshop’s “realization” of Ron Grainer’s theme music for Dr. Who). Growing up in the U.S. of A., I grew up mostly ignorant of the pioneering electronic work created by these folks, but boy howdy, these composers were doing work that was easily the equal of their more heralded counterparts at IRCAM or in the Groupe de Recherches Musicales. That all of this unbelievable work was done with such limited resources makes it even that much more astounding. If you have an hour or so at your disposal, I highly recommend checking this documentary out. Amazing.

That felt good.

Koven — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:05:16 +0000

So there you go. After eight years, I waited in line for 90 minutes and pulled the damn lever. I have to say, the spirit in line at my voting precinct here in Prospect Heights was amazing–everyone was in great spirits, moms from PS9 were offering baked goodies to folks waiting, and people were driving around the neighborhood with Obama speeches blaring out of their windows. I wish that there were something truly momentous I could actually say, but I just don’t think I’m that good of a writer. I’ll leave my friend Kraig Smith over at Boy Hates Girl to write the things I wish I had the pithy prose to write. Suffice to say, I’ve never, in all my 15 years of voting, felt happier about a vote. Let’s do this thing, people.

Where do I vote? 8 Resources to help you get your vote out!

Upcoming excitement

Koven — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:53:19 +0000

Apologies, y’all: it’s been a hell of a long time since I’ve rapped at ya here on kovenjsmith.com. So much happening. A couple of things coming up:

For those of you in the New York metro area with time on your hands this evening, I will be playing with the M. David Hornbuckle Dixieland Space Orchestra at the Alphabet Lounge (104 Ave. C, Manhattan). If you can’t make it to the show, at least click over to their Web page and enjoy the laid back sounds kicking out of your speakers.
I will be premiering a new piece with Cornfield Dance on Sunday, September 16th at 2pm at the Construction Company, which is located at 10 E. 18th St in Manhattan. The as-yet-untitled piece will feature members of The Monster Zero Orchestra, so you know it’ll be bad-ass. More details will be forthcoming in the next week.

Rock and roll, everybody. Rock and roll.

—————-
Listening to: Harry Betts – Ambush – Escape & Roundup

I am the ukulele player’s drummer of choice

Koven — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 02:45:02 +0000

So I am playing in not one, but TWO ukulele-themed events this weekend!Â Get ready for unreasonable amounts of excellence.

Event The First:Â I will be playing with the dudes from Sonic Uke at their “Ukelele Rejects” show this Friday, April 27th, at Julius (159 W. 10th Street @ Waverly, West Village).Â I’ve always wanted to play with these guys, and now it’s happening.Â Come on out, and wear your tightest pants.Â More information here.

Event The Second: Â I will be closing the New York Uke Fest with the M. David Hornbuckle Dixieland Space Orchestra on Sunday, April 29th.Â You know it’s going to change your life.Â You just KNOW it!Â The Fest is at the Theatre For the New City at 155 First Avenue (and East 10th Street) in Manhattan.Â Further information and tickets can be found here.

If you love me, then I look forward to seeing you at both of these events.Â If you don’t love me, well, then, God help you.

Six-foot-twenty, fucking killing for fun

Koven — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 02:13:33 +0000

So I was in something of a nostalgic mood today, based on the fact that my old bass-playing friend Matt Chandler has informed me that he will be shortly moving to New York. We once played in an amazing band called Saraswati. I was planning on posting some mp3s of that, but I seem to be having some uploadin’ difficulties. So no Saraswati mp3s tonight. In fact, I don’t even really feel like doing a post anymore. So here, instead, is an amazing video by Brad Neely, the genius (and I do not use that word lightly) behind “Wizard People, Dear Reader.” This is a short animated film about George Washington (the first president of the United States). The film is called, appropriately enough, “#038;search=washington%20neely%20cox">Washington.” He’s twelve stories tall, and made of radiation. He’ll kick you apart. Oooh!

I’m back!

Koven — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 03:26:29 +0000

OK, so clearly I’m about as efficient and up-to-date with writing this blog as I am with everything else, which is to say, not very. But look, here’s a new post! By me! Koven J. Smith! Oh, yeah. The performances at the Cunningham Studio went quite well, and I only stepped on one person’s eyeglasses during the rehearsals. So overall, I would say it was a success. The new piece for Ellen took several mysterious turns in it’s relatively short gestation period, and this is how it ended up. Harry Partch instruments+hot beats+scratchy recordings=me smiling. That is the equation.

The piece ended up being called “Get This To My Mother.” My dad laughed when I told him the title, because I think he assumed that it was another typical Koven J. Smith non-sequiter. Howeva, the title actually comes from the recording that you hear throughout the piece, which is a WWII radio broadcast of transmissions from the American troops stationed at Corregidor right before the island fell to the Japanese. I’m not entirely sure how this broadcast came to be, but it sounds as if it is a broadcaster reading decoded Morse messages as they come over the wire. The sound of that, of passionate messages being read in an entirely dispassionate way, really struck me. That in the midst of unimaginable chaos, this man just wants his mother to know that he was thinking of her. It’s not really that important that you know all of this context to enjoy the piece, but knowing this certainly makes it all a little richer for me. At any rate, I hope you like the piece, and happy 5th of July!

Bam!

Koven — Tue, 16 May 2006 04:24:19 +0000

Hey, everybody, thanks fer stopping by!Â Still getting the site together and stuff–lemme know what you think.Â I’ve posted a few mp3s in the “Works” section, and I’ll be putting a few more up there throughout the week.