Jonathan Saxon

Vogel / Saxon Duo performing “Yambu.”

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 22:18:45 -0700

Vogel / Saxon Duo performing “Yambu.”

Vogel / Saxon Duo at the David Korty exhibition (early evening...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 22:16:05 -0700

Vogel / Saxon Duo at the David Korty exhibition (early evening set).

Live performance by the Vogel / Saxon...

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 02:10:00 -0700

Live performance by the Vogel / Saxon Duo.

https://soundcloud.com/vogel-saxon-duo

http://www.nightgallery.ca/

When I started playing drums at age ten I didn’t have an...

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 00:24:00 -0700

When I started playing drums at age ten I didn’t have an absolute favorite drummer right away. I just knew I wanted to play drums. Then, one day at age fourteen as I stood at the doorway to my brother’s bedroom he tells me to, “Check this song out.” As the needle hit the vinyl I was attacked by a drum and bass groove that simply floored me. In awe I exclaimed, “Who’s that?” My brother replied, “Iron Maiden. It’s called Wrathchild.” At that moment, Clive Burr became my favorite drummer. Power, groove, taste, and prowess. His playing provided my musical direction for years to come. Clive Burr passed away this month at age 56. Long live the playing of Clive Burr.

Photo

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 01:19:00 -0700

The Vogel / Saxon Duo will perform at the opening of “Made...

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:38:00 -0700

The Vogel / Saxon Duo will perform at the opening of “Made in Space” at Night Gallery on Saturday, March 16, 2013.

Downtown Agenda for Saturday, March 16, 2013 9:00 am - Teach...

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 23:57:00 -0800

L.A. Trade-Technical College

L.A. Central Library

Coffee with students.

Night Gallery

Night Gallery

Downtown Agenda for Saturday, March 16, 2013

9:00 am - Teach History course at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College at 23rd & Grand (Image #1).

10:15 am - Arrive with History students at Central Library Map Archives at 5th & Flower. Tour archives with Map Librarian, Glen Creason (Image #2).

11:30 am - Coffee with students somewhere downtown (Image #3).

4:00pm to 7:00pm - Perform with the Vogel / Saxon Duo at Night Gallery at 16th & Santa Fe for the opening of Made in Space (Image #4 & #5).

http://www.bootlegtheater.org/

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:44:00 -0800

http://www.bootlegtheater.org/

Live recording of Apophenia and The Michael Vlatkovich Quartet...

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 22:25:00 -0800

Wayne Peet's mobile rig.

Monitoring the recording levels.

A portion of the mesmerized audience at the packed house.

Live recording of Apophenia and The Michael Vlatkovich Quartet at The Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock.

Magical Night at the Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 22:19:00 -0800

Last night the trio Apophenia (Stuart Liebig - bass; Alex Cline - drums/perc; Wayne Peet - Keyboards) and The Michael Vlatkovich Quartet (Vlatkovitch - trombone; Garth Powell - drums/perc; Tom McNalley - guitar; Scott Walton - bass) performed at the Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock. The performances were part of Open Gate Theater’s monthly new music series that recently celebrated is fifteenth anniversary. Sunday night’s performances were a prime example of why more Angelinos would benefit from attending these concerts.

Aphonenia and The Michael Valtkovich Quartet were simply brilliant. Thanks to Wayne Peet (also one of L.A.’s finest audio engineers) and his mobile recording rig, we were able to capture a live recording of the evening’s performances. I had the great pleasure of assisting Wayne with the recording. While Wayne pulled double duty setting up his gear (which included a Fender Rhodes piano, various keyboards, and a theremin), I helped set up the mics and get the mobile rig set up. During Wayne’s set I monitored the recording levels.

Although there is no plan for an immediate release of these two phenomenal sets of improvised music, one thing is for sure - the evening was magical and I was glad to be a part of it.

Apophenia (Stuart Liebig - bass; Wayne Peet - Keys; Alex Cline -...

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:44:00 -0800

Stuart Liebig during Apophenia's incredible set.

Alex Cline played brilliantly (blurry snap-shots aside).

Apophenia's blistering set.

The Michael Vlatkovitch Quartet was on fire.

Apophenia (Stuart Liebig - bass; Wayne Peet - Keys; Alex Cline - drums/perc.) and The Michael Vlatkovich Quartet (Vlatkovich - trombone; Garth Powell - drums/perc.; Tom McNalley - guitar; Scott Walton - bass) performing at The Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock.

Sound check/set-up for a live recording with Apophenia and the...

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:34:28 -0800

Setting up.

Garth Powell

Wayne Peet

Setting up the Wayne Peet's mobile rig.

Stuart Liebig's pedal boards.

Sound check/set-up for a live recording with Apophenia and the Michael Vlatkovich Quartet.

Translations: Artists of the Metro Orange Line October 11, 2012 - December 13, 2012 Opening...

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 18:54:00 -0700

Translations: Artists of the Metro Orange Line

October 11, 2012 - December 13, 2012

Opening Reception at 6:00pm - 9:00 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Jonathan Saxon in Solo Percussion Performance at 6:00pm

Artist Panel Discussion at 7:00pm

Los Angeles Valley College Art Gallery
5800 Fulton Ave., Valley Glen, CA 91401

https://www.lavc.edu/arts/artgallery.html

Jan Erik Kongshaug Interview!

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 23:49:00 -0700

THE INTERVIEW I CONDUCTED IN OSLO, NORWAY AT RAINBOW STUDIO WITH...

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 23:34:00 -0700

THE INTERVIEW I CONDUCTED IN OSLO, NORWAY AT RAINBOW STUDIO WITH JAN ERIK KONGSHAUG IS NOW AVAILABLE IN THE NEWEST ISSUE (Sept./Oct. 2012) OF TAPE OP: THE CREATIVE MUSIC RECORDING MAGAZINE.

New Music by Jonathan Saxon

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 21:36:00 -0700

In August I recorded six new songs at Newzone Studio in Mar Vista, CA. All of the songs were engineered, mixed, and mastered by Wayne Peet.

Check them out at:

http://soundcloud.com/jonathan-saxon

Listen to “Playtime” by Jonathan Saxon. Played on...

Thu, 10 May 2012 12:10:00 -0700

Listen to “Playtime” by Jonathan Saxon. Played on mbira.

For more tracks visit http://soundcloud.com/jonathan-saxon.

Stories Lost and Found

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:31:30 -0700

I recently read an article by journalist Mya Guarnieri on the Slate website entitled, “My Mom Joined Twitter and it Brought Us Closer.” Guarnieri writes that she learned valuable things about her mother’s life through reading the tweets her mother posted on Twitter. It gave me a good feeling to read that Guarnieri was able to connect with her mother by reading her tweets. The argument against technology like Twitter and Facebook is that it makes life less personal and detaches us from each other. In Ms. Guarnieri’s case, the exact opposite happened.

In January of this year my family honored my father’s life with the ceremonial unveiling of his headstone. As is customary, the unveiling took place one year after his passing. One topic we reflected upon at the small service was the many things we learned about my father after he passed away. For example, he kept a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star from one of his cousins that we found while cleaning out his house. Reading the official letter from the military to the family about how his cousin died in action in Europe during WWII was quite chilling. Additionally, while going through his files we found paperwork that showed my mother’s real name was not Lila, but rather Lilliana. That was surreal to find out! I had gone my entire life without knowing any of these things.

Why didn’t he share these things (or my mother for that matter)? Would he have tweeted these truly fascinating tidbits of information if he had a Twitter account? You never know. In his late 70s he did have a Facebook account, but didn’t really use it. Thinking about this makes me wonder how much more there is to learn about my parents’ lives. Throughout the last years of my father’s life I spent much time with him and asked him many questions about his career and experiences. He always responded with enthusiasm when I asked, but would never really initiate a conversation on that level.

As a historian, these types of things are important to me. Connecting to the past helps makes sense of the present. I’m grateful I was able to connect with and learn about my father by spending time with him and asking him questions about his life. Maybe if we were both on Twitter I could have learned more…

For more on the work of journalist Mya Guarnieri visit her online portfolio at http://www.myaguarnieri.com/. Mya Guarnieri also blogs at +972 Magazine.

If you are in downtown Los Angeles stop off at the Getty Gallery...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:38:00 -0800

If you are in downtown Los Angeles stop off at the Getty Gallery at the L.A. Central Library and check out the exhibition A Nation Emerges: The Mexican Revolution Revealed. I was the Getty Research Institute’s researcher for this exhibition.

La imagen de Zapata. The Image of Zapata.

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 01:39:00 -0800

Emiliano Zapata en su cuarte de Cuernavaca, retrato. Cuernavaca, Mexico, 1911. Instituto Nacional de Antropología de Historia. Num. Inv. 186458.

There are a few iconic revolutionary images that are famous the world over. The most famous, of course, is the image of Che Guevara wearing his black beret. That particular image was taken by Alberto Korda on March 5, 1960 in Havana, Cuba. Another well known image of a revolutionary leader is the one you see above - Emiliano Zapata at the Moctezuma Hotel in Cuernavaca (Morelos, Mexico). What is not well known is who took the photograph of one of the Mexican Revolution’s most revered leaders. Initially, it was thought that the celebrated Mexican photographer Agustín Victor Casasola was responsible for taking the photograph. Then, in 1995 researchers in Mexico attributed the photograph to another photographer of the Mexican Revolution - Hugo Brehme.

From October 2010 - May 2011, while working as a researcher for an exhibition on the Mexican Revolution at the Getty Research Institute, I was asked to gather information on the events that occurred in Cuernavaca at the time the Zapata image was taken. Upon giving me this assignment, the curator of the exhibition still believed Hugo Brehme was the author of the image. As I was compiling data on Zapata’s activities in Cuernavaca during 1911, I found a revealing article about the famous image in the Spanish language photography journal, Alquimia, written by Mayra Mendoza Aviles, Deputy Director of Mexico’s National Photographic Library at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia). Unexpectedly, I found Mendoza Aviles pointing to strong evidence that precludes Hugo Brehme from being the author of the image.

First, Mendoza Aviles states the signature of the photographer, commonly seen on images from the era, is not that of Brehme’s. Second, the notes on the negative are written in English and are in cursive. This is problematic because Brehme did not practice the English language nor was it common for him to write in cursive. Furthermore, when he did write notes on the negatives they were either in his native German or in Spanish. Third, the portrait of Zapata, signed (as is usually the case) or unsigned, does not exist in any of the collections of Brehme’s work.

Well, then who is responsible for taking this iconic image of Emiliano Zapata? To find out, Mendoza Aviles and her colleagues utilized state-of-the-art computer technology that wiped away the image and revealed the bit of text that is faintly showing near the tip of the sword. When observed in this manner the text spells out the name “F. Moray” or “F. McKay.”

Who is this mysterious “Moray” or “McKay?” Well, there is no known photographer with that name. Mendoza Aviles suggests it is quite possible that an American photographer crossed the border from the U.S. to take photos of the Mexican Revolution. After all, journalists and photographers covered the Revolution in great numbers (the Mexican Revolution was the first armed conflict to be documented by photojournalists).

One can find Zapata standing gallantly with rifle and sword in hand on posters and clothing across the globe. It is incredible to think that no one really knows who is responsible for such a world famous image. Although the origins of Zapata’s image remain a mystery, one thing is for certain - the curator of the exhibition needed to replace Hugo Brehme’s name with “Unknown.”

The exhibition A Nation Emerges: The Mexican Revolution Revealed is on view at the Getty Gallery at the Los Angeles Central Library through June 3, 2012.

Information for this blog was found in the following sources:

Mendoza Aviles, Mayra. “El Zapata de Brehme: análisis de un caso.” Alquimia: Sistema Nacional de Fototecas 36 (2009): 83-85.

Mraz, John. Fotografiar la Revolución Mexicana. (Mexico, D.F.: INAH, 2010), 219-221.

Ken Elllingwood, “Zapata Photo Shrouded in Mystery,” Los Angeles Times, December 6, 2009, Accessed February 3, 2011. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/dec/06/world/la-fg-mexico-zapata6-2009dec06.