Duets 2026
My vast array of websites is falling into disarray for various reasons. For one, becauseYouTube TERMINATED my onesownthoughts channel most of the thousands of YouTue links are now broken. I've corrected everything on my Movieography webpage, the main go-to place for such info, but there are still entirely too many other sites that remain uncorrected.
Furthermore, I'm using a 22 year old computer & 29 year old software to create these websites. There're good reasons for that, such as my resistance to preplanned obsolescence, but there are inconvenient aspects. Among these is that there's a limit to how big I can make each website. Hence, "Duets" is so maxed-out that I can't open it anymore in the app in wch is was created. There're others like that too. The result is that I've now broken "Duets" into 2 websites, this being the 2nd one. Whether I'll be able to recreate the 1st "Duets" & make the alterations to it that I wanr remains to be seen.
- April 29, 2026 note from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
2026.06.14 - with Ben Opie
"Telepathic Chronicles 174 (PGH)" - 1920X1440, 30
fps, Stereo - 1:00:00
https://archive.org/details/801.-telepathic-chronicles-174-pgh-1
"Telepathic Chronicles 174 (PGH)": In the middle of 2018, Ireland-based sound artist Slavek Kwi initiated a project in wch he specified dates & times during which he solicited the participation of an international group of players. These players played & recorded on the specified dates/times & then sent the recordings to Slavek to edit together & publish on Bancamp: Music | uni.Sol_ . The intention has been to foster a positive psychic unity, a telepathy as it were. I participated in the 2nd incarnation & then didn't again until September, 2025. Since that time, I've included local collaborators, mainly Ben Opie. This session, June 14, 2026, involved Ben playing electronics & my playing 4 guitars & electric violin & stylophone. I concentrated on table-style playing, using a vibrator as a major tool. Many or most of Ben;s & my sessions together have involved melodic playing. In this instance, that was almost totally absent w/ the concentration being more on 'soundscape'. I've made a movie of all of these Telepathic Chronicles & I've tried to keep the sessions fresh both in movie form & aurually through session-to-session changes in instrumentation. Ben & I both are multi-instrumentalists. As has become my recent practice, I shot footage for this movie in advance in order to make it more visually interesting. I shot footage on 3 days of my prepping the tabletop for my playing. This is deliberately intercut in such a way that it creates a confusing asynchronicity. - June 15, 2026 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
2026.05.31 - with Ben Opie
"Telepathic Chronicles 173 (PGH)" - 720p HD 30p, Stereo - 1:00:00
https://archive.org/details/800.-telepathic-chronicles-173-pgh
"Telepathic Chronicles 173 (PGH)": This is my 800th movie. It's not really that remarkable as such since it's basically a simple document of an audio-producing session. Still, I imagine myself rediscovering this movie 10 years from now (in the unlikely event that I'm still alive) & finding it entertaining. Yet-another installment in the series started by Slavek Kwi, sound artist, in Ireland. This time w/ Ben Opie playing Theremin(+) & myself, tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE, playing percussion (+). Recorded at Who Unit? Sunday, May 31, 2026E.V.. With each successive TC I've been proposing a new instrumentation &, lately, a new pitch restriction. This time, the pitch restriction for me was B, C, #C, #F. That enabled minor 2nds, major 2nds, perfect 4ths, tritones, perfect 5ths, minor 7ths, major 7ths, octaves, minor 9ths, & major 9ths - but NO 3rds or 6ths. A friend of mine recently told me that people don't like my (M)Usic because it's "meandering" - which he compared to "noodling". I disagreed with the comparison saying that noodling is usually playing in one key & one time signature (usually 4/4). I said that that it's like walking along a sidewalk & that what I do is more like mountain climbing. At any rate, it's fair enough to say that Ben's & my free improvised (with a smattering of structure) Telepathic Chronicles are meandering but in a fairly esoteric way. In this case, one might say that Telepathic Chronicles is akin to Ronald Reagan & Nancy Reagan slippers sleep-walking. - June 1, 2026E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
2026.05.01 - with Ben Opie
"Telepathic Chronicles 171 (PGH)" - 1920 X 1440, 30 fps, 1:00:00
https://archive.org/details/796.-telepathic-chronicles-171-pgh
"Telepathic Chronicles 171 (PGH)": Ahh, Telepathic Chronicles, those were the days. So, I imagine someone's nostalgia. The Telepathic Chronicles were conceived of by Ireland-based sound artist Slavek Kwi in 2018. The idea was for people to play at the same date & time in wherever their location might be. The goal? To foster a positive international psychic unity. The sessions are to be recorded & shared with Kwi who then mixes them together. I was mixing them together too in both movie & audio-only form. Slavek hasn't shared the files with me for awhile so perhaps that era has ended. Starting with 154 I decided to have the sessions be with Pittsburgh friends, mainly Ben Opie, but also with Kenny Haney & Roger Dannenberg. As the sessions progressed, I started proposing simple ideas to make each one different. For this one, #171 (May 1, 2026), I proposed that Ben play electric bass guitar & that I (tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE) play cello. I did this partially because I wanted to hear their tonalities mixed but also because neitehr of us are proficient on the instruments. Ben is very adept with reeds & electronics & I'm most adept with electronics with keyboards being part of that & percussion & guitar being in there somewhere too. I'd only played the cello a few times & even then for no more tha 10 to 20 minutes. When I suggested that Ben play bass I was expecting him to play melodically so I was imagining my bowing technique explorations mixed with that. Instead, he came prepared to play with preparations & played almost no melody at all. For me, sustaining cello playing past even 15 minutes was a challenge, it was both exhausting & difficult to keep things fresh. Noneheless, I welcomed the challenge & it was good exercise. As is most often the case, this Telepathic Chronicles session was different enough from the others for me to be satisfied - despite the shortcomings of our playing. - May 2, 2026 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
2026.04.17 - with Ben Opie
"Telepathic Chronicles 170 (PGH)" - 1920X1440, 30fps, Stereo - 1:04:41
https://archive.org/details/794.-telepathic-chronicles-170-pgh
"Telepathic Chronicles 170 (PGH)": Ireland-based sound artist Slavek Kwi proposed a series of simultaneities among people playing at the same time & date but in whichever place they happened to be in at the time. The goal was to foster a psychic unity. The documentations of this process are the "Telepathic Chronicles". I've participated in #2 & in most of them starting more recently with #154. My Pittsburgh-based collaborator Ben Opie has joined me for most of these latter. Starting with #166 we've been playing electronics duets. As of #170 there've been 5 of these. I plan to use all 5 end-to-end as the soundtrack to an upcoming movie of mine called "Not So Still Life 10". We deliberately played on past our usual 1 hour restriction so that I'd have an extra amount to play with for the NSSL10 soundtrack. For this session, I played Korg Kronos sampler, ASR-X Pro sampler, & controlled the Kronos by playing a 6-string electric guitar into a Pitch-to-MIDI device that then sent a MIDI signal to the Korg. The loose restriction that I proposed to Ben was that I play one whole tone scale (C,D,E,#F,#G,#A) & that Ben play the other (#C,#D,E,F,G,A). These 2 pitch sets heavily influenced what we played. Ben played electronics on his laptop. While I was waiting for Ben to show for the TC, I shot footage of the shadow of a Norway Maple tree on my sidewalk & of dsndelions growing next to me steps. As with shots of snow that I'd shot for other session movies these got incorporated in the movie to give an idea of the weather. One of the difficulties of making these session movies is that Ben & I aren't very exciting to look at as we sit very seriously concentrating on our task at hand. I include shots of me adjusting the cameras & add other effects & arrangements to try to keep things lively. IMO, our playing is always fantastic - I think, however, that the movies sometimes fall a bit short of a parallel fantasticness. - April 18, 2026E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
2026.04.01 - with Ben Opie
"Telepathic Chronicles 169 (PGH)" - 720p HD, 30p, Stereo - 1:00:00
https://archive.org/details/792.-telepathic-chronicles-169-pgh
"Telepathic Chronicles 169 (PGH)": In 2018 Slavek Kwi, an Ireland-based sound artist, proposed a series of simultaneities in which participants would play on the same date & time but in different locations. The idea was to engender a psychic connection between the players that would be in the spirit of a friendly telepathic unity. I participated in the 2nd one & stopped for 7 years until participating in the 154th. I've been joined in this by my collaborator Ben Opie on most of these Telepathic Chronicles & by Kenny Haney on 2 & Roger Dannenberg on one. This particular session was on April 1, 2026. Every time Ben & I get together to play we try to use different instrumentation in order to inspire different (m)usics. For this session, I (tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE) used a Korg Kronos sampler, a Micro-Korg synthesizer, & 2 Korg Volca synths. Ben played a Yamaha wind controller that he'd used very little in the past. To make things a little more different, I proposed to Ben that he used this pitch set: A, #A, B, C, #C, D while I used #D, E, F, #F, G, #G. That way we each had half of a chromatic scale. Each of our Telepathic Chronicles pleases me very much, each has a very clear identity to me. Given that Ben & I are both old men who've been playing for a long time, each session manifests a long-acquired skill & fluidity. - April 3, 2026 notes from tENTATIVELY. a cONVENIENCE
2026.03.20 - with Ben Opie
"Telepathic Chronicles 168 (PGH)" - 1920 X 1440, 30fps, Stereo
https://archive.org/details/790.-telepathic-chronicles-168-pgh
"Telepathic Chronicles 168 (PGH)": Another Pittsburgh-based participation in the Slavek Kwi originated Telepathic Chronicles: people internationally playing at a specified same date, same time, in order to work toward establishing a positive psychic unity, in this case on the spring equinox. Ben Opie played soprano sax processed thru computer effects he designed; tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE playing 3 samplers & one synthesizer (& making the movie of it). tENT's proposal was this:
I'm having so much fun listening to yesterday's TC167 that I hereby propose that for 168 you play in E natural minor & I play in A melodic minor. Of course, we'll deviate from that but it'll give me, at least, something to 'thematically' return to throughout. That way you'll have this pitch set:
E, #F, G, A, B, C, D, E
& I'll have:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A (descending) & A, B, C, D, E, #F, #G, A (ascending)
That way we'll have 7 notes in common (E, #F, G, A, B, C, D) & 2 not in common (F & #G). That creates a tiny tone cluster / chromatic area (E, F, #F, G, #G, A) that'll occur somewhat unpredictably.
- March 21, 2026E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
2026.03.19 - with Ben Opie
"Telepathic Chronicles 167 (PGH)" - 1920 X 1440, 30fps, Stereo - 1:00:00
https://archive.org/details/789.-telepathic-chronicles-167
"Telepathic Chronicles 167 (PGH)": This is a project of sound artist Slavek Kwi, based in Ireland. To quote from a recently received calendar from Slavek: "inter-perspectivity connection uni.sol_2026 freedom service: exploration of intuition, emotional resonances, sense of togetherness [..] potential of extrasensory communication aaand inter-connectivity. www.unisol.bandcamp.com . The basic idea is that participants play at the same time & day in different locations & then we pool our recordings together for Slavek to mix. The idea is to explore a possible psychic unity. This Pittsburgh session included Ben Opie playing electronics & alto sax & tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE playing electronics & handling the movie-making end of things. For this playing I, tENT, proposed a vaguely 'Baroque' approach involving starting off with a call & response in C Major. This, of course, rapidly mutated. This recording will be mixed with others as they reach Slavek. - March 20, 2026E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
2026.03.03 - with Ben Opie
"Telepathic Chronicles 166 (PGH)" - 1920 X 1440, 30fps, Stereo - 1:00:00
https://archive.org/details/787a.-telepathic-chronicles-166-pgh
"Telepathic Chronicles 166 (PGH)": The Telepathic Chronicles is a series of international simultaneities organized by Ireland-based sound artist Slavek Kwi to foster a spirit of psychic togetherness by having participants perform at the same date & time but otherwise disconnected. For 166 my collaborator Ben Opie & I (tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE) concentrated on electronics. Ben usually plays reed instruments so this was yet-another 'making it fresh' for us. I played my Korg Kronos prefab samples as well as my set of 88 Electronics samples that I created. Added to that were my [Elec]tro Ac[oustic] Fragm[ents] on my ASR-X Pro sampler & its prefab sounds & the sounds available on a Micro-Korg. Ben used a controller to activate simulated analog sound modules on his laptop. Between the 2 of us we could generate a very rich soundscape. This was recorded on March 3, 2026, at my "Who Unit?" Usic Rm. - March 4, 2026E.V. note from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
2026.01.03 - with Ben Opie
"Telepathic Chronicles 162 (PGH)" - 1920X1440, 30fps, Stereo - 1:00:00
https://archive.org/details/779a.-telepathic-chronicles-162-pgh
"Telepathic Chronicles 162 (PGH)": The Telepathic Chronicles are a series of improvisations performed at the same date & time by participants in mutliple countries. This series was initiated by Ireland-based sound artist Slavek Kwi as a way of encouraging a psychic unity that transcends physical boundaries & works toward a unity of benevolent common purpose. I've participated in #s 2, 154, 157, 158, 160, 161, &, now, 162 & I've documented all of them in movie form. After each session, the participants send Slavek audio recordings of what they played & Kwi mixes them together & publishes the result on Bandcamp. Starting with 154, he's also sent me the audio for me to make my own mix out of & publishes that result as well. For the sessions starting with 154, I've been joined in this process by Ben Opie - & on one occasion each, also by Kenny Haney & Roger Dannenberg. Using the Chronicles as a context for further exploration, I've been changing the instrumentation for every session so that I can take advantage of my large instrument collection & the joy I take in playing these instruments regardless of my capacity for doing so with isntruments I'm not practiced on. For 162, Ben played Baritone Sax & I (tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE) played Casio keyboard, Travel Guzheng, Spinet, & Glass Marimba. Ben & I always have a good time & I think the ever-changing instrumentation helps inspre us to stretch our playing abilities. Slavek & I publish these Pittsburgh (PGH) sessions on their own & them I make the version that incorporates the other participants as well. That's always interesting for me to hear since that's where the 'telepathy' is most evident. - January 4, 2026E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
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