Set List - session 523 - El Rincon, San Francisco, CA - Dec. 22, 2009

INSTAGON #523
December 22, 2009
El Rincon, San Francisco, CA

It was a cold winters night in San Francisco.. no rain, just cold with some wind.. but not as cold as we had thought it was gonna be .. so I guess that's a good thing, right?

We arrived early to the venue, Bob from Xome had traveled with us and was going to be involved with the Instagon set that was planned so it was cool to have come as a group. Instagon was planned to be another mixer set and basically the same set that was played last week at Luna's Cafe, but obviously with different players. This time around we had planned to included Free Fargo from SF, but he declined. We also invited Cory Thrall from Shrew Florist & E-Yard to join in the festive fun.. he was very excited to play, it would be his first Instagon session. We also asked the project that played before us called Bonus Beast if they would like to be involved and so we grew to a 5 piece group with the addition of Ryan King and Josh Thomas

Tonight we started with "Foundation" .. as this was more as a NOISE show and not leaning on the season for its inspiration.. (the show last week had an xmas themed title)..it was really heavy and full of steam really early on. This piece has truly evolved since its first appearance in 2007 and this evening rendition and players were all on their game. Bob Scott was really watching Lob as he manipulated the mixer and found what channel he was on and really watched for moments he was being mixed forward in the chaos. We finished "Foundation" and the crowd cheered and thought we were done.. Ryan started to pack up his gear..and had to be stopped.. we announced.. "no no..its not done yet.. we are just getting started" .. a quick change of the cd for direction.. and we started into "So This Is Chistmas".. it was loud and over the top.. and went only about half way thru the actual foundation track of the 1994 original mix. . so this was a shorter live version of this song than the one played last week in Sacramento.

At the end of the set it was discovered that the audio recording device was unplugged at some point during the ritual and so no audio recording was captured. Jared from Shrew Florist made a video recording and so this is the only known documentation from this session that exists besides photos. Free Fargo, who came to support the show even though he did not play, mentioned that it was timely and it was happy we had played "So This is Christmas.." its nice to have someone give feedback for a change.. feed back is always welcome.

Instagon #523

December 22, 2009
El Rincon, San Francisco, CA

Foundation
So This Is Christmas...

523 was:
LOB
BOB SCOTT
CORY THRALL
RYAN KING
JOSH THOMAS

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photos by Yvette Lucas
flyer art art possibly by Grux
photo art by Lob

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Set List - session 522 - Luna's Cafe, Sacramento, CA - Dec. 18, 2009

Instagon #522
December 18, 2009
Luna's Cafe, Sacramento, CA

'twas the NOISE before Xmas... at least that what it said on the flyer. and so it was.. it was a really fun show.. you should have been there! Those who were there got to see some really great sound art and noise improvisations. All of the sets that happened were really strong. The sound system hand some issued a few times, but we overcame them and moved forward with each set in a timely fashion, letting loose the audio brutality that we came to unleash.

By the time INSTAGON took the stage it was easily 11pm.. and that 'ole end of the show energy had taken the room by storm.. there were only a few die hards left.. you know who you are and you are wonderful for staying.. thank you! The set was to be a MIXER SET.. the 2nd one of this year. (the first one was session 512 earlier in the year, also at Luna's). The MIXER SET , involves each player giving a direct line feed to a Mixer.. no amps, no headsets.. and then Lob conducts the sound from the Mixer controls live... sonic sculpting the set as it moves forward. Involved in this set were CHAD E. WILLIAMS, WES STEED, ANDREW WAYNE (of CHOPSTICK), and STEFANO ZEROLI (Ink On Suit)...with special guest ART LUNA playing a blender!

(Art Luna of Luna's Cafe behind the counter)

Earlier in the week Instagon had released a download of a 15 year old track called "So This Is Christmas" . This track was an audio collage done in 1994 live, and then re-mixed in the studio. For this session (522) we used this collage as the foundation of the performance, with Lob then adding the performer's live noise and electronics on top of it, making for a really nice live re-mix of an old old friend. The last time this track saw any action was a radio broadcast at Xmas time in 1996.. previous to that the only other LIVE happening of "So This Is Chistmas" was the original performance from 1994.. Instagon session 64! But we did stop there.. we closed the set with a rendition of "Foundation" a piece that was written for the Mixer Set but had not been performed since session #473 (49 shows if your counting)...we figured hell, while we were dusting off old tracks.. why not play this one too! it was well worth it.. this version of "Foundation" was really hot with Lob adding bass lines as it progressed into the swirling chaos.

Instagon #522
December 18, 2009
Luna's Cafe, Sacramento CA

Ghost of Xmas Present Visitation / So This Is Christmas
Foundation

522 was:
LOB - mixer control, bass, metal objects
CHAD E. WILLIAMS - guitar
ANDREW WAYNE - electronics
STEFANO ZEROLI - electronics
WES STEED - electronics
ART LUNA - blender


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photos by Bobby Almon