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Here's where I'll share news, general thoughts, musical recommendations, or whatever. February 2006 We had a great gig at Trinity Church, as part of their "Concerts at One" series. You can view the video here: Trinity Concert Video: Featuring: Brian Prunka, oud Megan Weeder, violin Leanne Darlin, viola Bridget Robbins, nay Timothy Quigley, percussion January 2006 It was great to play at Tonic earlier this month. The acoustics were great, and the soundman was excellent. The management really treated us well. One of our best performances, I think. I've been rehearsing with a new group, Zikrayat, which performs traditional Arabic music. It's an exciting group and we're doing some great, unusual repertoire. The group will be performing at the Lafayette Grill on alternate Thursdays starting in February (I'll be on some of the gigs, check my "Events" section for details). An interesting night of music I'll be doing February 15th at Galapagos in Williamsburg. It'll be a middle-eastern Jazz night with my group and The Howling Makams. I'll be leading a more jazz-oriented group for this show, with Simon Lott on drums and Michael Bates on bass. December 2005 Two cool gigs coming up, one at Tonic Jan. 3, 10 p.m. The other is an afternoon concert at Trinity Church Feb. 2 at 1 p.m. They'll be totally different vibes, as you can imagine if you've ever been to Tonic or been in a Church. By the way, I neglected to thank everyone who came out to the fundraisers; thanks to you we helped music students in Palestine and musicians from New Orleans. We did another N.O. benefit last month at the Brooklyn Conservatory, with Bridget Robbins, Dimitris Mikelis, April Centrone, Zafer Tawil, and Sami Abu Shumays. November 2005 There hasn't been too much news lately, either that or I've been too lazy to post here. Katrina sure sucks for New Orleans, but I'm selfishly enjoying the temporary relocation of many of my good friends to New York. By the way, check the events page for info about a NO benefit I'm involved with this weekend. Mike Jenner and I had a good session the other day, resulting in this track. Simon Lott is up here too, and is playing all over the place. I saw Davy Mooney they other day too, and he just came in third in the Monk Institute competition. Check him out if you get a chance. Rob Wagner is around and about, too. Seems like the weekly Alex McMurray gigs (at Niagara, I think) are the NO hang to check out. June 2005 Hmm, I've been slacking at updating the site. Some improvements underway: Now, if you sign up for my mailing list, you get access to special unreleased tracks, including live shows, home recordings, and unreleased albums. Click Here to sign up. Please indicate what city you're from and how you heard about my music. If you're already on my mailing list, just include that in the message and you'll get access. I've also added a discography, with sample tracks from other albums. And all the samples from In Praise Of Shadows are now in MP3 format, instead of the dreaded RealAudio. Gig Notes: Played at the Glass House Gallery in Williamsburg with Loring (Julianna Barwick) and Alias Pail Had a really nice gig at Solar1, a solar powered learning center in Stuyvesant Cove Park. Also played guitar with Simon Shaheen & Qantara in Houston for the Festival Francophonie, which was great. November 2004 Performing at the Knitting Factory Thursday, Nov. 11th with Invert, a great group. Rather than two violins, they have two cellos, creating a unique sound and approach. They perform original music and arrangements. My group will feature Megan Weeder on violin, Leanne Darling on viola, Danny Zanker on bass, and Tomer Tzur on percussion. I'll be playing oud and providing the compositions, as usual. On Sunday the 21st I'll be performing at Club Europa in Greenpoint, Brooklyn with the dancer Ranya Renee. We'll be performing a variety of music from Mohammed Abdul Wahab and Farid El-Atrache, as well as some classical pieces (and maybe some original music, too). October 2004 Not much happened in October, except for a series of special mariachi performances in New Orleans for Halloween.  September 2004 Doing another performance at Satalla on September 21st. Thanks to everyone who came out for making the last one a success. This time, we'll be adding Bridget Robbins on nay (Arabic flute). Also, we'll be sharing the bill with Dromedary, a great instrumental duo from Athens, Georgia. One-half of the duo is Rob McMaken, a friend of mine from back in New Orleans and an inspiring musician. This should be a really special night, as there will be some sitting-in between the two bands, and Rob and I haven't played together in several years. We'll be doing some newer compositions this time around, as well. One cover gets you both bands. Satalla, the Temple of World Music 37 West 26th St. (b/w 6th and Broadway) 212.576.1155 Featuring: Brian Prunka, oud & compositions Tareq Abboushi, buzuq Leanne Darling, viola & compositions Bridget Robbins, nay & flute Danny Zanker, bass Rami El-Aasser, percussion 7:30 p.m. $12 July 2004 Come out to my gig July 20th: Satalla, the Temple of World Music 37 West 26th St. (b/w 6th and Broadway) 212.576.1155 Featuring: Brian Prunka, oud & compositions Tareq Abboushi, buzuq Leanne Darling, viola & compositions Danny Zanker, bass Rami El-Aasser, percussion 8:00—9:15 $12 + minimum June 2004 Tempus Fugit . . . Gig coming up next month at Satalla, the "Temple of World Music". Come on out and show your support — it'll be myself (oud), Danny Zanker (bass), Leanne Darling (viola), Rami El-Aasser (perc.), and Tareq Abboushi (buzuq) performing original music. I've been studying with Bassam Saba of late, and he's been helping me a lot on the oud. My friend Gord Grdina was in town last month. He's a great musician from Vancouver; you should check out one of his bands: Loose Acoustic. While I'm recommending people: if you haven't heard Dromedary yet, what are you waiting for? March 2004 The Near East River trio is expanding to a quartet, with the addition of the very talented Danny Zanker on acoustic bass. Our gig on Thursday the 4th with feature Rami El-Asser on percussion, subsitituting for Mark DiFLorio. See the Events Calender for info about time and location. Mark should be back with us for the gig on the 25th. February 2004 A couple of good gigs happened this month at the Greenpoint Coffee House (corner of Green & Franklin, Brooklyn) One with the Near East River trio, featuring Leanne Darling (viola) and Mark DiFlorio (percussion), and the other with The 3 Trio, featuring Mark Anderson (bass) and Mark DiFlorio (drum set). Both of the gigs were primarily original music; the NER trio gig premiered a couple of new compositions of mine. I've also been doing a handful of gigs at the Caravan of Dream, a vegan restaurant in the East village. I also took a lesson with Bassam Saba on oud. He was really helpful, and I'm looking forward to studying with him some more. January 2004 I'm playing this Thursday, the 15th, at the Greenpoint Coffee House on the corner of Green & Franklin in Brooklyn. This will be the debut performance of the Near East River Trio, featuring Leanne Darling on Viola, Mark DiFlorio on hand percussion, and myself on oud. It's a nice place to hear/play music; Mark DiFlorio and I did a jazz trio gig there last month with Mark Anderson and it was great. Helen Gillet was just in town visiting and we had a couple of good sessions. It was nice to hear someone play on my cello who actually sounds good. December 2003 Played a trio gig with Mark DiFlorio and Mark Anderson at the Greenpoint Coffee house. It was a lot of fun; it was nice to play guitar and do some of the music I hadn't done in a while. We also did some music of Anderson's, he's writing some good tunes. I've also been playing at the Caravan of Dreams on a fairly regular basis. DiFlorio's been shedding the Arabic percussion and has played some gigs with me. My oud cracked with all the cold weather, but Najib Shaheen fixed it up for me. He also made some tea and gave me some informal lessons while I was over at his place, which was fantastic. November 2003 I had a great lesson with Simon Shaheen. Hopefully we'll get together again soon. Other than that, I played some gigs at Caravan of Dreams with Geoff Green, doing guitar duo. Had a couple of fun sessions. Ate turkey. That's about it. October 2003 Moved into my new place in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Geoff Green, also recently relocating from New Orleans, is my new roommate. A little trouble getting our beds up the stairs, but that's to be expected. The neighborhood is great, although waiting half an hour for the G train at one in the morning can be a drag. My Dad's family comes from the street I'm living on, and I used to come here with my grandparents when I was a kid, so I feel like I'm getting back to my roots. Plus we've got two bakeries and three meat markets within a block of the apartment. August-September 2003 I had a great time at the Arabic Music Retreat. Getting ready to move to me new place. Leanne Darling had a party/jam session with Arabic music late into the night. July 2003 Thanks to Yoel ben-Simhon for inviting me to sit in with his group featuring Rami El-Aasser and Raquy. It's the first I've played with other people since I moved, and I enjoyed it. I've got some gigs coming up, at a restaurant called Caravan of Dreams (thanks to Mark and Anya for hooking me up). It's in the East Village on E 6th between 1st ave. and A. June 2003 After playing a farewell gig at Snug Harbor (thanks to everone who came by), I got a few hours of sleep and hit the road for New York. Settling in, catching up with friends and checking out some inspiring music. In an improbable coincidence, I ran into old pal Arle Bordas on the L train. May 2003 I'm moving to New York on June 2. April 2003 I recently returned from New York, where I had some inspiring lessons with Simon Shaheen. I also heard a lot of great music, and got to see some friends—a great trip. I'm performing in a run of Oscar Wilde's tragedy Salome, directed by Tristan Codrescu. With Helen Gillet on cello, Andrew McLean on tabla and voice, Patrick Farrell on accordion, and Misha Penton on flute and voice. The music is composed and arranged by the musicians specifically for this performance. Mike Jenner has returned to the Big Easy for the time being, so look for a revival of the Prunka-Jenner continuum. So far, we have one gig at the Stationhouse in February featuring Simon Lott on drum set and an as-yet-unidentified bassist. |