Jeff Kaiser

Monday, July 19, 2010

Amsterdam: July 17-19, 2010

Ahhhh...So good to be back in Amsterdam! I'll be here for the next three weeks. The first two are a "vacation" as a bit of a self-reward for making it through my PhD qualifying exams and achieving three letters that make me very happy, ABD. I put the quotes around "vacation" as I'll still be doing some work preparing lectures for the Fall, BUT I'll be doing the work in AMSTERDAM...! The third week will be as an artist in residency at STEIM with my good friend Gregory Taylor. We will be working on our collaboration, "The Desert Fathers" that will become our second full album.

Today (Monday) was my first full day here....and it was very nice. Met Gregory for a hang (he is living in Utrecht with his wife Jolanda Vanderwal Taylor, who is a visiting professor in Dutch Studies), and went to the great Lungoccino for an espresso. You might remember the name, Michael Moore introduced it to me my last trip...simply a fantastic espresso. Afterwords, we went and visited with Michael Moore and Jodi Gilbert, and had a chance to meet and talk with their houseguest, the critic/scholar/author Kevin Whitehead (I highly recommend his book, New Dutch Swing!) then on to lunch in Jordaanplein at De Bolhoed. Afterwards a long walk to Cafe Americain to drink yet another espresso to fend off lag....

Nice to look up from your espresso and see this beautiful city...
(Click on any image to enlarge)

View from my hotel...the canal is Oudeschans (Old Fort), which you can see in the background of the next pic:

...

....

Gregory Taylor and Jeff Kaiser at Lungoccino...phenomenal....!

At Cafe Americain

Sunday, July 04, 2010

Dad's 1966 Porsche 912

My father, Chuck Kaiser, has a habit (along with my mother) of taking old beat-up things and making them into something amazing. Ten years ago he purchased a trailer of rusty steel for a pittance....he saw something in that pile of Porsche. This is not the first time he's done this. Ever since I was a kid I remember helping Dad work on cars, one of my earliest memories with him is with a wrench in my hands. Restoring rare automobiles is a pastime that he takes more seriously and does better work than many professionals. Cars restored in my lifetime by him include a Cord Hupmobile (1929, I believe), Corvettes, Volkswagens and our beloved 1941 Ford Pickup restored from a rusty pile of steel by my father, with my brother and myself doing the engine work in auto shop at high school.

I wish I had some pictures of this Porsche before, I'll try to dig some up....but this thing looked NOTHING like it does now. Dad did all the body work, engine by Shasta Engineers and upholstery by a buddy here in Eugene.

Ten years, and never been on the road...the last problems were with the wiring, something I've had experience with. We spent about six hours and fixed it together, and while still not perfect (switches gone bad with age) we had it functioning and I was thrilled to be able to share the first drive with my father.

Jeff and Chuck
(Click on any pic to enlarge)

Jeff and Chuck

The shop

The shop is behind the barn, so we had to drive it around the property to get to the road

Whoops.....clutch wasn't adjusted properly...

Hook it up....

....towed it back to the shop for a quick adjustment....

five minutes later back on the road

A few more shots...

Returning home

Monday, May 17, 2010

Melford, Dessen, Dresser and Dresser, Nakatani, Turetzky

Some nice shows in the last week. A SMOKING telematic show with Myra Melford, Michael Dessen and Mark Dresser at UCSD last week. Look closely, you can see Michael in the center there...he performed from UC Irvine, and was projected via high speed internet.

(Click any image to enlarge)

Melford, Dessen, Dresser

Tetsuya Nakatani was in town and did a trio tonight with Dresser and Bert Turetzky. I couldn't make it, but caught the sound check....great stuff. And great to see Tetsuya!

Dresser, Nakatani, Turetzky

Bert tries the big bass...Is it me, or does that bass make everything look small....?

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Two flutes, two hands...

Kris Hartung and I in a moment of...uh....I don't know what to call this...Thanks to Tarey for the photo! At B-CIMF.com a few weeks ago. I really like the "Quiet Please" sign The Venue had on the stage. A hint? Click to enlarge, if you dare.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Gig with Phil Skaller and Ignaz Schick...

Had a great gig with Phil Skaller and the wonderful German turntablist/improviser Ignaz Schick! Special thanks to Josh Weinstein and Joachim Goßmann for sound support.

Phil Skaller, Jeff Kaiser, Ignaz Schick at La Jolla cove pre-gig.
(Click any image to enlarge)

Ignaz and Joachim Goßmann. Thanks Joachim!

Phil, Ignaz, Joachim

Jeff, Ignaz, Phil

Afterwards, a free for all...involved ping pong balls...

...MANY ping pong balls, Matt, Jonathan, Josh, Arianne...

Phil, Matt, Jonathan, Josh, Arianned, Ignaz, Jared...

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Boise Creative and Improvised Music Festival 2010 Day 2.....

Just had coffee with the wonderful vocalist Laurie Amat...now at the Boise Airport waiting for my flight...what a great festival, again. Thanks Krispen Hartung! Maybe I'll say more later....but here are some pics of the final day for now...and I've got to go catch my flight.....