Denton, 1.21.2026

As North Texas prepares for what's predicted to be the worst winter storm since 2021's "Snowpocalypse" (when people froze to death in their homes after power failed), I toddled up to li'l d to play improv with randomly selected collaborators at Joan of Bark Presents' Improv Lotto at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios. All to benefit the worthy healthcare charity Denton Music and Arts Collaborative. Because musicians and artists need healthcare, too.

I honestly haven't been feeling the music much of late, what with the non-stop torrent of traumatic news since the first of the year. The Trump regime's wars on Venezuela, Minnesota (including the ICE assassination of Renee Good), and next, perhaps, Greenland (although the demented dodderer in the White House appears to have backed off, for now, he still insists that the US needs to buy it from Denmark -- while the rest of the world shakes its collective head, and our erstwhile allies rapidly recalibrate for a global reality without the US as a reliable partner) have got my head focused on things other than music. But I determined to somehow make a go of it, since receiving event curator Sarah Ruth Alexander's invitation to participate, and figured something would suggest itself, as it almost always does.

Improv Lotto master of ceremonies Aaron Gonzalez drew names from a hat for a quintet, a quartet, a trio, and a duo, and I found myself teamed with the great terpsichorean Sarah Gamblin (with whom I last performed as a member of HIO at the Houston Fringe Festival in 2011), multimedia artist Kristina Smith (Spiderweb Salon), and steel guitarist Joe Snow (who'd just played a songwriters contest with 19 performers). 

We had brief conversations before the first set. Joe would take stage left, I'd take stage right, and Kristina would be positioned in the middle, leaving as much stage as possible for Sarah. Kristina and I both had ICE on our minds; I'd recently replaced the "Hands Off!" button on my guitar strap with a "No ICE" one, and had my purple whistle I'd gotten from my Bridge Brigade comrade Deb Guerrero on Tuesday in my pocket. Kristina had brought some ICE-related text. Perhaps more premeditated than is usual for improv, but I figured we'd be creating in the moment, even given that intention.

The first set was by a quintet comprising guitarists Will Kapinos (Dim Locator) and Julio A. Sanchez (Heavy Baby Sea Slugs), bassoonist Victoria Donaldson, violinist Holly Manning (Chris Welch), and Sarah Ruth on voice and small instruments. They wove a web of intertwining melodies, each player coming to the fore at different times. I particularly enjoyed the sonorities of bassoon and violin, and the contrasting approaches of Sanchez (moving big slabs of sound) and Kapinos (filling in the details).

Photo by Kavin Allenson.

When it came time for our set, I plugged in my shit, set my amp volume at what I deemed a reasonable level (gain on 1, master just above 1), checked my pedals (same three I've used since I was a teenager: fuzz, wah, and phase), and waited to see what developed. Kristina used her tabletop bass and software to create an enveloping wave of sound while reading ICE stories into a heavily treated mic, while Joe ran his steel through a couple of tables' worth of F/X. I discovered early in the set that in the environment where I was, with the amp mic'ed and other ambient sounds, activating fuzz and wah together immediately produced feedback, which I attempted to use the wah to control. At intervals, I blew blasts from the whistle into the vocal mic, and made a vocal interjection during a break in Kristina's reading.

Later, Sarah told me that the unremitting barrage of sound made it difficult for her to find a way into the piece. The brief snippet of video I've seen so far belies that; as always, she was adept at finding the flow of the music, even when it caused her distress. She did most of her moving on the floor, where I couldn't see her, but late in the piece, when she ascended to the stage to interact with the sheets of paper Kristina had discarded after reading them -- lining them up and stepping from one to the next like a child playing sidewalk games, reclining on the floor and covering herself with them as if seeking protection from the unremitting drone -- she provided a striking visual analog to ICE's assault on innocents. 

At a certain point, Sarah left the performance area, and after a moment, Joe started packing his gear. I turned my guitar volume off and stood silent and immobile for another moment, then started tearing down. Still, the drone persisted -- like the creeping sense of dread we've all been living under. Finally, Kristina shut it down, and we were done.

Third set was by a trio of Suzanne Terry on wooden xylophone and two double bassists (Double! Double! Bass! Bass!) -- the seemingly ubiquitous Ryan Williams and free jazz-improv stalwart Aaron Gonzalez. The bass tandem (with Williams running his instrument through a battery of effects, including a sampler) was unmatched in its heaviosity, and the contrast between their monolithic sound and the light, agile sound of Terry's tuned percussion was highly engaging.

The task of batting cleanup was left to the duo of vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Melanie Little Smith (Wenepa) and hand drummer Aswad Bryant. Smith began the set by announcing "I'm ready to rock," and the performance that ensued proved that it was no idle boast. Bryant attacked his drum pads like an aggressive rock drummer with a big kit, bringing arena rock dynamics to an "experimental" stage. Over the top, Smith vocalized and provided accents and counterpoint on a variety of percussion instruments and tabletop guitar. Bryant occasionally switched to a staticky, electronic sound, which only made the "natural" drum timbres more impactful when they returned. The two made eye contact as they reached agreement it was time to end, and we all heaved a collective sigh of satiety and release.

February will bring not one, but two Joan of Bark shows at Gloves. On February 2, the North Carolina-based duo Okapi will headline a card that also includes a trio of Michael Meadows, Kourtney Newton, and Luke Robinson, and solo sets by Aaron Gonzalez and Sarah Ruth. On February 11, your humble chronicler o' events will be returning with a trio featuring Darrin Kobetch and Kavin Allenson, which I have unimaginatively dubbed SDK. The rest of the bill remains TBD, but y'all save the date anyway.