Last night, Dave King joined me for a special 5-Year Anniversary edition of the Making Music series, MAKING MUSIC 2.0. at the McGuire Theater at the Walker. Dave was my very first guest on the Making Music series, back in Feb 2005, and 5 years later he came back to preview his exciting weekend of sold-out shows at the Walker, “King For Two Days”.
Making Music 2.0 is a chance for guest artists who’ve already been on the show to come back and discuss a specific current collaborative project – in this case, we focused on the two new groups premiering this weekend: Golden Valley Is Now and The Dave King Trucking Company. On our show 5 years ago, David talked about a dream project that he’d been trying to put together for years – a musical Trucking Company of Enlightenment – and now that vision is finally coming to fruition.
It was great to have Dave back on the show, and generous of him to give his time, as he’s in the middle of a frantic week of preparation for these shows. I told him at some point backstage, how I remembered how he’d told me years ago that he was done performing with 2 bands in the same night – it was probably after he’d done 12 RODS w/ Happy Apple, or F*K*G with Love-cars – some double bill and he was exhausted by it. It was too much. And now look at him. I reminded him of that conversation and he just shook his head, looking at the ground, a subtle grin. He said it had only hit him the day before, of just exactly what he’d gotten himself into. But despite being tired and frantic, Dave was incredibly articulate and thoughtful in our conversation, describing the various projects, and giving insights as to how they’re each unique, each giving him a new avenue of expression and artistic challenges.
One theme that came up repeatedly was how important the ensemble is in these groups – musicians who have committed to each other and to a project – in shaping that project’s personality and vitality. He was very eloquent in talking about the challenges of playing improvised music, but also the immense pleasure in creating at such an intense level with true masters.
Of course he was funny, too, as always. Check out the Walker TV high def video of the show and post your comments!
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