Spring Update 2016

WEIRD FOLK FEST VI:

On Saturday, April 16th, I'll be playing at the Weird Folk Fest at the Magnolia Loft in Jamaica Plain.  It'll be my first public full set since the beginning of February - and may be my last until the Summer.  I'll explain the reason for this below - but first want to talk about the line up for this event:

Back in the Holiday Mountain days I remember playing a bill with Tom Dowd's group, Strange Changes, and getting my mind melted with their proggy funky awesomeness - excited to see what he does solo.  And Nosy Mangabe are a whimsical pop-oriented art-folk group with two ukuleles, glockenspiel, melodica, and other stuff and are pretty darn wonderful.  I haven't heard Kaeliearle yet - but looking forward to doing so. 

MOAR UPCOMING SHOWS:
I will be playing stripped down sets later this Spring (without visuals and as many electronics) which I'll list on this upcoming shows page.  So far the ones I have scheduled are both PorchFests - the Somerville PorchFest on May 21st (also with Nosy Mangabe) and the Jamaica Plain PorchFest on July 9th.  I am planning on doing my full set up for some Summer festivals (such as Eldwood in Maine and Firefly in Vermont) and will be playing full sets in the Boston area again after that.

RECORDING:
SO - the reason that the Weird Folk Fest on the 16th may be the last full set until then is I've been working on recording and I've realized I'm not able to play shows and record simultaneously because I put all my energy into my live set and keep putting recording on the back burner.

SPLIT WITH SOUND SHAMAN:
The first thing that will be released is a split with Sound Shaman.  I mentioned his record from last year, "Black Feathers", in my list of top albums of 2015.  I'll be doing more experimental ambient/drone oriented music than what I usually do for this and I'm really excited with how it's coming so far.

VISUAL ALBUM: 
I've also been working on the visual album that I previously mentioned on here - The first part of four will be released this year.  It's been a really interesting process in having to come up with a definitive version of how these pieces will go every time someone presses play on the recording (versus in a live setting where it can change every time it's performed and can be what feels like the right way to tell the story in the moment).

Here's some stills from it so far:

And here's my green screened face (:

...aaaaaaaaaand
And I'll be releasing a live video of the piece "Ouroboros" in the near future, which I played at the Telethon and the Halloween eve show Grim Din.

Lastly - I've decided going to start calling this project something other than Mike Simonelli...That name change will hopefully happen soon...

As always - thank you so much for listening

Much love,
<3

Stills and Video from Acoustic Set @ the Goddess Tower 4/2/2016

Last weekend I was asked to play an acoustic set at a Rat Pack themed party at the Goddess Tower. 

Here's some stills and video from that

STILLS:

VIDEO:

so I learned a few Frank Sinatra covers the night before the party...none of them turned out very well...but here's one I decided to play: 

My Top 27 Films

Here's a list of the 27 films that have had the biggest impact on me and the art/music/stuff that I make (listed in chronological order)

1929-Un Chien Adalu  (Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí)

1961 - Dog Star Man (Stan Brakhage)

1963 - 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini) 

1966-Persona (Ingmar Bergman)

1968-2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick) 

1970-El Topo (Alejandro Jodorowsky) 

1973-Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky) 

1975-The Mirror (Andrei Tarkovsky)

If someone had a gun to my head and asked me to name what the greatest film that was ever made was - this would be my answer.   If you're new to Tarkovsky - this isn't a good starting point - check out "Solaris" or "Stalker" first - but yeah...this is as good as it gets.  

1977-1983 Star Wars (original trilogy - George Lucas)
...I want to say this is on the list for nostalgic reasons as I am aware that this is nowhere near on the same level as the other films on this list - but nonetheless they were my religion growing up and changed my life and I still geek out over this shit. 

1979-Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky)

1979Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola)

1980 - The Shining (Stanley Kubrick)

 

1982-Koyaanisqatsi (Godfrey Reggio)

full film on vimeo

(not the greatest quality)

1985-Come and See (Elem Klimov) 

1988 - Alice (Jan Švankmajer)

(amazing stop animation version of "Alice in Wonderland)"

1996-Crash (David Cronenberg)

(not to be confused with the super shitty 2004 film about race and such - this film explores a sexual fetish of car crashes)  

1998-Big Lebowski (The Cohen Brothers) 

1998 - Thin  Red Line (Terrence Malick)

(I don't know if this is the best Malick film...but it's definitely my favorite and the one I connected to the most)

1999-Being John Malkovich 

2001-Mulholland Drive (David Lynch) 

For the longest time this was my favorite film.  This movie changed my life and shaped who I wanted to be as an artist.  I didn't realize what film could be until I saw this film...and then I watched it again...and again...and again...

2002-Cremaster 3 (Matthew Barney) 
full film streaming on youtube: 

Part I:

Part II:

2002 - Russian Ark (Alexander Sokurov)

This whole film is one single 96-minute Steadicam sequence shot - Easily one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen.  

2006 - The Fountain (Daron Aronofsky) 

I can't tell if this film isn't as good as I thought it was when I first saw it or if I've just seen it too many times where I've seen all there is to see in it...probably both.  But either way - this film had a huge impact on the way I looked at film as well as life / death.  It's visually mind blowing (only 1 CGI shot in the entire film - a lot of the space stuff was done with micro-organisms and looks amazing) and definitely my favorite Aronofsky film.

2006-Inland Empire (David Lynch) 

 

2008-Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman) 

2010 - Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) 

2012-Holy Motors (Leos Carax)

I promise this isn't a spoiler - and it's not a good representation of what this film is like by any means...but if you want to watch an awesome accordion scene from this: 

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
1928-The Passion of Joan of Ark
1943 - Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren)

1953-Tokyo Story

1968-The Color of Polmogranets

1976 - Taxi Driver
1989-The Decalogue 

Spring Shows 2016

3/19: (spring solstice eve)
Spring Equinox Show @ Out of the Blue Art Gallery

SUN RAD, Vehement Caress, My Brother Daniel @ MOBIUS

(tape release show):

Weird Folk Fest V @ Magnolia Loft

3/20:
99 Sublime (NY) :: The 7th House :: Yahkel :: June Lyfe :: Other Layers @ Out of the Blue Art Gallery

3/22:
The Space Speakeasy

3/23:
MOLT CORPS, Jenova 7, Sound Shaman, Anda Volley @ Midway

SCANNERS "Benefit Scan" w/ W00DY, Grutch, Main Fader, Dan Fernandez & DJ Won't @ Great Scott

3/25:
SOLO SPACE 3 (Great American Misanthrope, Main Fader, Kar`Nam, SNOOZE) @ Trendy Shit Town

SUBSTRUCTURE W/ Akiko Hatakeyama/ Amber Vistein/ Stephanie Germaine/ Lychee/ DJ Augur

SCANNERS "Central Scan" w/ Elisabeth Dalton, pink0, Acid G, & DJ Won't.

BEDROOM COMMUNITY (Nico Muhly, Ben Frost, Sam Amidon & Valgeir Sigurðsson) @ Columbus Theatre (RI)

The TARDISCO: Laser Raptor Hunting Party

3/26:
Untamed: A Lion's Den Fundraiser (Sound Shaman, Kar'Nam, DJ Eroteme aka Alex Bean, Kibbles 'n Beats, & more)

3/27:
Soul sessions xxxiv all neon like

4/1 - 4/3
Out of the Blue Fools Fest //2 days & 30+ Bands\\

(Ian, W00dy, Rosie & the Rosies, Horsehands, Midriffs, The 7th House, Audrey Harrer...)

4/2:
Mike Simonelli - short acoustic set @ the Goddess Tower
(contact me for more details)

4/4:
Acid Mothers Temple w/ MOUNDS and Magic Shoppe at Great Scott

4/8:
Son Of Salami, Tredici Bacci, Listening Woman @ Deep Thoughts JP

4/11:
IGGY POP - POST POP DEPRESSION @ the Orpheum

4/12:
VAULT with BYOOSIK and LYCHEE

4/14:
Prince Rama w/ W00dy at Great Scott

4/16:
Weird Folk Fest VI - Mike Simonelli & More TBA

Melvins, Napalm Death, Melt Banana 

4/24: 
Behemoth @ the Royale 

I mentioned their record "The Satanist" in my top albums of 2014, and it's grown on my more since.  So stoked for this. 

4/29:
JAGGERY [*album release*] with DENT + AUDREY HARRER

5/6:
Del The Funky Homosapien feat. DJ Shiftee

5/15:
Together Boston 2016 (#tgthr7)

6/16: 
The Cure @ Agganis Arena 

6/17:
Unifier Festival 2016

6/18: 
AT THE DRIVE IN!!! 

Next Step Block Party Benefit 2016

During the summers I work at a few conferences/camps for an organization called Next Step - a non-profit organization that provides free year-round education and support programs for teens and young adults living with cancer, HIV and rare genetic disorders.  These camps create a safe community where young people living with these life threatening illnesses can learn essential life skills and to advocate for themselves, be empowered, and have fun with a group of peers who truly understand the unique challenges they are facing.  Recently one of my teachers, mentors, and good friends, Kimberly Khare has become their full time music therapist and it has been amazing to see the music therapy program at Next Step grow the past couple of years.  They have built a recording studio in their space in Central Square and the talented youth that are a part of these programs are writing amazing original music that tell their stories and express their truths.  

They charge the youth absolutely nothing to attend these camps/programs or to record in their recording studio - And one of the ways they are able to do this is with an annual fundraiser every year.  

This year their block party/fundraiser/celebration is on Friday, March 18 from 6:30-10:30 inside the Walker Memorial Building on the MIT Campus in Cambridge, MA

I am once again pumped to be a part of the house band for this event.  We play a mix of old classic pop tunes (such as Stevie Wonder & Michael Jackson) to current pop/top 40 tunes:

Lorrie Kubicek - Vocalist & Dancer

Kim Zunner - Vocalist & Dancer

Adam Sankowski - Drummer 

Samantha Hale - LBass

Caryl Beth Thomas - Vocalist & Keyboard

Mike Simonelli - Lead Guitar

Kimberly Khare - Vocalista, Guitar & Keys

(I'm pretty sure this was during "Don't Stop Believing" last year)

There'll also be food trucks and local craft beer, mini-basketball, raffles, and other stuff as well.

TICKETS

much love,

Mike

Stills from the 24 Hour Telethon

Stills:

(Photograph by Jerry Phlip)

(Photograph by Tofoul Marzouki)

(Photograph by Jerry Phlip)

(Photograph by Jerry Phlip)

(Photograph by Jerry Phlip)

(Photograph by Jerry Phlip)

24 Hour Performance Marathon & Telethon (3/4-3/5)

I'll be playing in Boston Hassle​ 24 Hour Telethon along with a crazy wide variety of different performers.  The Telethon starts 10:00 AM Friday and goes until 10:00 AM Saturday.  You can watch it live on TV (SCATV), stream it on the internet or ROKU, or you can stop on down to Somerville Community Access Television​ where there will be space for a small studio audience.

I'll be performing a 15ish minute piece called Ouroboros around 7:00 PM on Friday

Here's a trailer for this piece that I made back before I first performed it at Grim Dim last October:


And here's a short audio recording I made of it for the Agewood compilation that was released last year:


But when I play it on Friday it won't really sound like either of the clips above (:

L I N E U P :
They'll be other multi-media artists such as:
SUN RAD


LSDV


As well as other live music, poetry, presentations, demonstrations, music videos, drag, and other stuff:
Herbcraft
Marianne Toilet
Sam Gas Can
Jef Czekaj's Triumphant Storytime for Cats 
Alaina Stamatis
Patrick Bryant (w/ the Somerville Speakout)
Ben Hersey
Lana Swartz
Id M Theft Able
Luxardo
Casey Crawford
Ben W
The Trofessor
Coorain Devin
Molly Dower
Dan Cashman/ Anthro Rex
Caitlin Dunnebier
Neil Horsky & Jen DeAngelis
Lankville Daily News
Kevin Driscoll 
Comb Man
Canary Boys
Rose Parry
Birthing Hips
Blk Box
William Clark
Leonard Redriver
Serengeti
Ricky Diamond
Mini Dresses
Tom Ashton
Curious Sound Objects
Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein
Will Clark
Representing American Family Happily Institute: Betsy Be +  science talk, 

 More info on the FB event page