Together Again

[digg=http://digg.com/music/String_Cheese_Incident_Kyle_of_SCI_blogs_recap_and_video] Ohhh... Now I get it.

So I did a special “sound check” show with SCI last night. It was a trip to look across the stage and see the whole band back together again. It felt pretty natural, almost like we had never taken a break. The show was a blast and it was a good warm up for Rothbury.

It is amazing how we can practice for weeks at a time in a small cramped space and still not fully understand it until we are in playing in front of a crowd. It is all about the community and the scene and I am so thankful to have such a great gathering of folks. It has became clear to me how much this means to people. Musically it is fun and rocking, but in a way it is all about the friend next to you who is dancing their ass off.

I do believe that "this must be the place."

Also, it was awesome to see so many people wearing the stickers for my new disc. You Rock! I am looking forward to getting the disc out this fall so you all can hear it.

See you soon, kyle

p.s. I made a short video of my day at the Ogden. It has some footage of pre-show stuff as well as live performance shots.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU5mpjNwWXA&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0]

Reunited

[digg=http://digg.com/music/Kyle_Hollingsworth_String_Cheese_Incident_Rehearsal] I just finished a week of rehearsals with String Cheese. It was pretty wild to be in that room with all five of them again. At first we chatted about what we had all be doing for the last two years and eventually we decided to play some music. The first few jams were a bit awkward, but the groove smoothed out and it felt really natural. I am thinking this could be a lot of fun!

I posted a video I made from my laptop on my new YouTube channel. This was the first time we had played this tune ("Outside and Inside") in a while. I nearly got all the chords right! Check it out!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2MtAmp-FxY&hl=en&fs=1&]

Later, Kyle

Caught in the Web and Readying for Rothbury

What the hell; I recently joined some random cult called Facebook. That is some crazy stuff. The second I joined, I was reintroduced to all the people I went to high school with. While this was interesting and slightly amusing it was a bit strange that I was having contact with people that I knew when I was going through puberty. That was a weird time in my life. I remember playing in my first few bands and covering 80s hits like "Melt With You," "Sunday Bloody Sunday," and "Wang Chung." Thank god those days are over. So just 6 short weeks away until Rothbury. I'm looking forward to being on site and getting a chance to check out the scene. I was in and out so fast last summer that I missed most of the cool stuff.

Unfortunately it has been decided that my solo band will not be playing Rothbury this year. What a bummer! I was so looking forward to doing some new music and test-driving the new band, but String Cheese starts rehearsals next week and I'm psyched to be hanging with the SCI family again.

What will we say to each other after 2 years? Will we still groove and sync together as a band? And how does “Black Clouds” go again? And what key is “Lands End” in? But it always works out. I will try to post some videos of rehearsals and such.

Later, Kyle

Beer and New Music

3 am Staring at the ceiling. Trying to process all the day's events. Why does this always happen in the middle on the night? It is not like I am going to solve any of the problems sensibly at this early hour, but once my mind gets going it is hard to stop it. So this could be a great time to start another blog!

So it has been an interesting few weeks. I just finished a sold out show at the Boulder Theater. It was a benefit show that hosted microbreweries from around the state. Lots of killer beer. Lots of people enjoying themselves. I personally dug the chance to taste all the flavors the brewers had to offer. It is good to know that Colorado is making some great beers.

I do some home brewing myself and it always comes out very marginally ok. In fact I brought some of my beer down to a gig the other day and passed it out. I found that most people were unpleasantly surprised by its non-bold taste and its lack of rich flavors and aroma. They said "stick to playing keyboards," but I say, "hey it tastes better than Busch, it’s cheaper, plus I make it at home." But needless to say, I do admire the craftsmanship and art that goes into the process.

The music at the show was a lot of fun. I put together a big band with horns, backing singers and percussion. It was a great forum to try out all my new material from my upcoming new cd release Then There’s Now. The tunes on the this disc are more vocal oriented, a bit different than my last solo disc which was purely instrumental, but it's super funky and has lots deep sonic layers. I will be posting some tunes shortly on my website and myspace. The release is slated for early September.

The Road Again...

[digg=http://digg.com/music/Kyle_Hollingsworth_of_String_Cheese_Incident_blogs_on_SCI] Ok now, my second blog entry. I will attempt to write this on Ambien. So if this gets a little slurred by the end forgive me.

Well I hit the Midwest hard with my new funk project, D.N.A. Land. It was a blast and it seemed that the fans had fun as well. Traveling via my rented PT Cruiser, we slammed through Madison, Urbana, and Chicago. It was wild to be on tour again. I had forgotten about Bob Evans and cheap hotels, playing late and eating chips from the vending machines. I kind of miss it. Of course there is always the morning when the maids come knocking.

I also got to play with Travis and Jason (the dudes from String Cheese). It was so inspiring. I had forgotten how much of a connection we have from all those years together. It made me psyched to be gathering again as the String Cheese Incident at Rothbury. It is amazing how stepping outside of the bubble can give you new perspective. In the last 2 years I have had a beautiful child, played music, and created a new CD. All these things are possible because of my years of service in the SCI collective. I was excited to be free for a few years, but now I realize that we are more than just six musicians; we were, in certain moments, able to be a complete unit that played music that was inspired by a force bigger than us as individuals. At times I felt we were not playing music, but were being played by the music. That is what brought me here in the first place.

Enough now of the new age rhetoric. So, bottom line: it was nice to get out and see the world. It was nice to play with EOTO. And so much fun to be in the moment.

And in the end, “what would Janis do?”

Thanks Kyle

Hello, world!

Ok, so here we go; my first blog. What to say?...Wow this is definitely very bizarre. I guess I will talk about my most recent shows with PBS. I had such a blast performing with George Porter and the boys again. The tunes were fun and the music amazing, but even more so was the communication on stage. To me that is the defining characteristic of improvisational music. Any four people can play songs together, but it is in the listening and interaction that makes the songs come alive. It was fun for me to step into the PBS world for a moment and have a musical conversation with such accomplished musicians. I really hope I can make it happen again.

Also, I am excited to get out for a “mini tour” of the Midwest. The new trio is called D.N.A Land, which includes a drummer I have been working with for a while named Damien Hines (aka DJcheck1) and a new talent on guitar named Daniel Schwindt (aka Dan). D.N.A Land is a combination of live improvisation and dj loops. For me, it is a new experience and a fun way to translate some of my older tunes into a new light (plus it is super funky). This will be our first tour and we hope people will come out and hear what we got going on .it will be a mixture of something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.

Well I guess that’s all I have say about that. Thanks for checking my new blog. Talk to you soon!

-Kyle

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