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SHOWS & PERFORMANCES!
ALL SHOWS WITH NUCLEAR POWER PANTS

October 1st - Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle
October 2nd - Atlanta, GA @ Eyedrum
October 3rd - Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club
October 4th - Birmingham, AL @ The Bottletree
October 5th - Nashville, TN @ THE END (VENUE CHANGE)
October 6th - Memphis, TN @ Hi Tone Cafe
October 7th - New Orleans, LA @ Big Top
October 9th - Austin, TX @ Emo's Alternative Lounge Outside
October 10th - Marfa, TX @ The Shade Structure (100 S Highland)
October 14th - Irvine, CA @ The Pacific Ballroom
October 15th - Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
October 16th - Los Angeles, CA @ The Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock
October 17th - San Francisco, CA @ Treasure Island Music Festival
October 19th - Sacramento, CA @ The Fungarden
October 21st - Eugene, OR @ Agate Hall
October 22nd - Portland, OR @ Worksound
October 23rd - Portland, OR @ Holocene
October 24th - Seattle, WA @ The Vera Project
October 27th - Denver, CO @ Rhinoceropolis
October 29th - Northfield, MN @ Carleton College The Cave
October 30th - Chicago, IL @ Logan Square Auditorium..
November 1st - Gambier, OH @ Kenyon College Horn Gallery
November 3rd - Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dee's
November 4th - Toronto, ON @ Great Hall
November 5th - Montreal, QC @ Il Motore
November 6th - Montreal, QC @ Eastern Bloc
November 7th - Middlebury, VT @ Middlebury College
November 8th - Boston, MA @ Pozen Center
November 9th - Providence, RI @ Machines With Magnets
November 10th - Northampton, MA @ Pearl Street Nightclub
November 13th - Troy, NY @ Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute
November 14th - Worchester, MA @ The Grind at Clark University
November 15th - Ithaca, NY @ Emerson Suites at Ithaca College
November 17th - Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar

I’m preparing the scores for 15 of my compositions that are being printed in early March. I’m already insanely busy so I’m seeking 2 or 3 interns to help me with the process. It pays $15 an hour and should be around 20 hours total. I need people to help clean up the MIDI files and transcribe parts from the program Reason and bring them into the program Sibelius.

Here are the requirements:
1.    You can quickly and easily read and transcribe sheet music.
2.    You are fluent in the programs Reason and Sibelius
3.    You are familiar with nontraditional forms of musical notation
4.    You live in or near Baltimore or would be able to come here once a week

You can work on this at home or at my studio. I will pay you in cash and I
can also fill out a form or whatever if you are looking for school credit. Please email with either a resume or a just a letter telling me a little about yourself and your musical background. If this works out it will be an ongoing process and possibly a part time job.

I would like to start this project next week (or sooner) and have it completed by February 13th. Please contact me at dan@whamcity.com with the subject “INTERN.” I look forward to hearing from you.

Dan Deacon

thank you so much to rjyam kidwell and the citypaper for this review/prediction of the future. it really made me feel good and like i'm on my way to accomplishing something. below is a link to the article and below that is the article itself:

http://citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=15860

Arresting Development:
Dan Deacon, Myth, and Magic: Some Notes On Exploding Up From The Underground
by Rjyan Kidwell

I've seen Dan Deacon many times on his home turf, the warehouse show. After moving to Baltimore in 2004, he mastered that setting over the course of three years of ambitious touring and regular local performances in his living space at the Copy Cat, the old artists' dojo three blocks east of Penn Station. As his blade got sharp, the crowds grew and grew, eventually exceeding what the space could support, and it strained his relationship with the landlord. I was supposed to play a show with Deacon one night last August, a show on his 26th birthday intended to break a yearlong abstinence from performing in the building. After the first two acts, though, Deacon had to get on the microphone and tell everyone--at least 300 kids--to leave. Something to do with the police, I think--I was never totally clear on the details, but I know neither of us got to play that night. Now Deacon is a very positive guy, but I could tell it burned him, returning from a few immensely successful tours to be hassled trying to play in his old home. That was the first night that I started to see the outline of Deacon's heroic mission, and I began to truly understand how his destiny and our city had intertwined. I could also see that the last challenge rising up between him and that destiny was the very sort of beast he had to face Friday, May 30, in the big room at Sonar: an enormous mob of voyeurs.

You're probably curious as to how I knew that virtually all of the 900 people at the club that night were voyeurs, and I'm tempted simply to explain about the kind of sensitivities you develop over 14 years of working in establishments that combine strangers and alcohol and loud music. But in the interest of full disclosure I must confess: I'm actually part voyeur myself. Not a big part, but it does run in my family. Between nature and nurture, my voy-dar is pretty damn reliable.

I went down to Sonar and, as I suspected, the voyeurs were swarming. Most were dressed to blend in and dancing like horny zombies, all of them animated by expectations drawn from the images and video and sound they found with their computers: digital glimpses of Deacon's show made accessible by today's efficient compression algorithms. While waiting for his set to start, I got bored and tried to buttonhole a few random people; it's about as fun as poking pill bugs, but feels less cruel. Both of the hulking, frat-tastic gentlemen I tried to engage just gaped at me as if I had asked them to hold a severed penis until I walked away. I had better luck with a smaller guy named Ian, a recent transplant who works in the video-game industry. I asked him if he loved Dan Deacon, and he said yes without any hesitation. When I asked why, Ian squinted and looked up at the ceiling and thought about it. After a minute or two, standing there watching him think started to make me anxious, so I waved my question away and changed the subject to video games.

Meanwhile, the wisest parts of the mob were clumping in front of the stage. Deacon, as usual, set up his table of gear on the floor, and, normally, if you don't push up for a good spot you won't be able to see much other than a couple of flashing lights in the middle of a churning sea of hair. As Deacon began his performance, I thought about penetrating the mob for a closer look but quickly reconsidered when a better view appeared projected on either side of the stage. A layer of psychedelic video effects obscured some of the details, but settling for the screen made it less likely I'd have to enter a teenager's personal space.

Before playing any music Deacon addressed the crowd over the PA, leading them through a maniac warmup routine that involved stretching and pointing and kneeling down, and then a series of contradictory gestures and light stranger-interaction. This continued for almost the length of a song, and the crowd was enthusiastically participatory.

Then the music started, and it sounded immense. You could feel the kick drums in your throat and behind your ribs. Deacon does very upbeat material, and positive music is always much more convincing when it's loud as hell. The voyeurs were convinced immediately, and they pushed like crazy right up onto Deacon's table and at every side of him. His songs are four-fifths climax, so they don't have to stop pushing until the song is over, and they get especially riled when Deacon sings dramatically, his voice transposed up an octave or two by a Digitech Whammy IV.

The music itself sounds like Lightning Bolt covering John Philip Sousa on Nickelodeon--and I'm not just playing the "this sounds like that" game here, either: This is crucial genealogy. Deacon and his Wham City crew's warehouse shows have always drawn heavily from the mythology surrounding Lightning Bolt and its productive Providence, R.I., art space, Fort Thunder. The Fort Thunder building was demolished in 2002 to make room for a Shaw's supermarket parking lot, but in the six years prior, the artists who lived in Fort Thunder created many bands, comics, posters, costumes, and video work that would gradually be discovered and adored by younger aspiring artists. Their eccentric aesthetic mixed dystopian anxiety with youthful energy. Deacon's music definitely seizes way more on the latter of those two aspects, but when you hear his jams blasting out of a big-ass system, the gnarlier part of the Providence aesthetic peeks--and peaks--through, too.

At the end of the first song Deacon tried to convince everybody to spread out and use more of the space in the room, but most people appeared to assume he was talking to somebody else, and the mob pretty much stayed concentrated around him. As the set continued, he alternated songs with more surrealist calisthenics and two rather complex group activities: an unfortunately short-lived two-man dance circle and a much more successful dance "gauntlet." He shouted out the rules for the complicated games clearly and concisely, but with the kind of urgency often encountered with instructions about how to exit a flaming aircraft.

It built gradually in the tone of his entreaties, and then halfway through the set Deacon confirmed the scent of tension I detected when he announced that he felt "like a second-grade teacher." He was putting it all down, but those voyeurs, they weren't picking it all up. In that great big sweaty great time, there was a dramatic struggle happening just under the surface. Deacon alluded to this struggle in a recent interview with Pitchfork, explaining how his new compositions focused on "mass movement" instead of conventional "dancing at a party."

"As long as the crowds don't become too rowdy or violent, I'm excited for my audience to grow," he said. It sounds clear to me that Deacon has big ideas about what can happen when large groups of people get together in one room, but that he expects the audience to trust and commit completely to his leadership if something transcendent is to be achieved. The crowd that night was undeniably happy, everything was good and fine--the set certainly fulfilled the expectations aroused by the internet images many times over, and that's good as it needs to be for a voyeur. But the underlying tug of war was never completely resolved--it didn't seem good enough for Dan. I have the feeling it won't take many more shows in rooms like that one to teach Deacon that the voyeurs--even when they appear to resist--truly and deeply desire to be bossed around and made into instruments of action. They just sometimes need something more forceful than a friendly invitation to get there.

When voyeurs start to realize they're affecting the thing that they desire, the protective barrier that defines voyeurism begins to crumble. Walls coming down, outside coming in--always a scary thing, and most people's instinct is to pull back. But if you wanna go skinny dipping, you have to jump in the pool: Trying to wade in a little at a time is for suckers; it just doesn't work. It's happening on both sides, too. I sense that Deacon might still be a little scared of the power that comes with conducting enormous crowds--it can taste a little bit fascist. He'll get used to it, though. I mean, Superman is a little bit fascist, too, right? And look at the symbolism underlying the title of Deacon's most recent (and most popular) album, Spiderman of the Rings: Peter Parker, the ordinary boy who gets superhuman powers and decides, despite the challenges presented by his ordinariness, to dedicate himself to the well-being of his fellow man; and Tolkien's epic tale about the little man-child whose bravery saves his whole world from apocalypse. These aren't just cheeky references to popular culture. I think Deacon, Frodo-style, is creeping his way up the mountain to face the very evil that decimated the home of his artistic forebears and has interfered with his own attempts to set up a stable location for Wham City: the forces of greed and gentrification that are cannibalizing American cities and culture.

Back in Providence, in 1999, after persistent rumors of the Fort Thunder building's sale eventually proved to be true, members of the Fort and others sympathetic to the cause spent more than a year trying to influence the process, meeting with preservationists, community activists, and politicians. Despite an outcry of support from far and wide--I personally heard about the threat to Fort Thunder when a Japanese record label mass-mailed a call to arms to every band that had ever performed there--the out-of-state developer Feldco demolished the old mill building and built its strip mall. Later there would be rumors that Feldco slyly bought its way out of promises to set aside a certain number of affordable studio spaces in the new property, the main concession that was made to those protesting the development plan.

The story of Fort Thunder and its frustrating ending looms heavily over the artists and performers in Baltimore today--in every major city, really. We've watched the condos follow us around long enough now to know that we are the unwitting pawns of opportunistic entrepreneurs. We go to "undesirable" places, places the bourgeoisie fear and avoid, because that is where rent is affordable on an artist's wages. If we do not thrive there, we are ignored, but if we do, developers and speculators quickly buy up the neighborhood, erect prohibitively expensive luxury housing, and whine to the police and politicians about the crowds at our shows and the noise made by our bands. Deacon is easily one of the most famous one-man bands in the country right now, but so far he's been powerless to settle the score with the inhumane elements that mercilessly reshape our city around their materialistic ambitions--and so Deacon knows that conventional success is not enough. He knows he's still approaching the climax of his own story, that his destiny lies at a higher altitude. I honestly believe that this man, whom some might call "wacky," aspires to the kind of heroism that far exceeds what it requires to get over with Pitchfork.

When Deacon is comfortable and in control of a crowd, he makes it appear quite easy to turn a familiar situation into a unique and empowering experience. He makes it fun to believe in him. The stretching and pointing, though--that's just a warmup to the real "mass movement" I expect from him. It might only take the symbolic step of raising his table up off the floor, for all to see, and commanding the crowd from an elevated position, or perhaps it might come with the transition from prerecorded electronics into a live band, a plan he described excitedly near the end of his set. But when he does master these 1,000 capacity clubs the way he mastered the warehouse setting, I think Dan Deacon and his army of acolytes are destined to face off with the real estate-obsessed parasites who have been exploiting the artistic community for years. And wouldn't that be wacky?

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone at that came out to the festival. it was so much fun. i was really stressed out about the show and worried if it would work on such a large scale. but it was awesome. no one was rough or violent, i had a really great time and i hope you did as well.

i normally don't like huge festivals and its tricky doing my set for such a large audience but i felt like it was just a real big small show, does that make any sense? ok, so thanks again to everyone who came and watched the set when there was lot of other stuff going on. it means a lot of me. it got me pumped for the future. it gave me some great ideas for my new setup and how the performance is going to evolve for shows like that. i don't ever want to disenfranchise people and now that the number of people coming to shows are much larger than before i think it would be foolish to not work on something new.

also, special thanks to the crew of the gobi tent for letting do something insane. chris and everyone else, you are rad dads for ever.

dan

you can find my old releases there for free. pass the info on to anyone you think might enjoy them. ok, bye!

hey blog readers,

this blog is about another blog: THE ULTIMATE REALITY TOUR BLOG on youtube. every day jimmy will me making and uploading snips of our shows and davily events on youtube at this address:

http://www.youtube.com/UltimateRealityTour

ok, everyone who checks it out will get 2 new crush reports! can you believe it?

dan

hello.

i did an interview for the pri (npr) program Sounds of Young America. I think it went pretty well.

you can download the interview here if you'd like:

http://media.libsyn.com/media/tsoya/tsoya07102307_dandeacon.mp3

here is the link to the site:

http://www.maximumfun.org/blog/2007/10/podcast-dan-deacon.html

ok, all saints day. lets hear it for the saints.

dan

hello,

well the show friday night at the copycat got busted during OCDJs set. we are going to finish the show SUNDAY NIGHT at the METRO GALLERY. the next day is labor day so there is no excuse. this show will be free. here is all the needed info:

DAN DEACON // CEX // MARK BROWN

METRO GALLERY
1700 North Charles Street (right near the charles theater)
Sunday September 2nd, 2007
doors: 10pm
show: 10:30pm

the metro gallery can hold 240 maximum. there were over 450 people at friday nights show so this show is going to be a 1st come basis. IF YOU WANT TO PUT YOUR NAME ON THE LIST YOU CAN EMAIL HERE: ticketreserve@ whamcity.com and put your FULL NAME + SUNDAY in the SUBJECT

sorry/thanks to everyone who came friday night. the show was going so awesomely. hopefully we can kill it sunday just as hard as adventure, ocdj, and mark did friday.

PLEASE REPOST THIS!

dan

Hello!

I leave for Europe tomorrow! I can't wait! Any some rad things that happened to me are these:

Resonance Magazine made me their cover story for this months issue! Thanks Resonance Magazine. Also in this best issue are articles on Miranda July (<3) and Electrelane. YES!

Readymade Magazine put an article I wrote (and then they sort of re-wrote it) about turning an amp into a controllable feed-back oscillator. There is a picture of me in it with my eyes closed.

The Frank Ramos Project: a few nights ago I found a picture of Frank Ramos online and started this project of trying to get people to change their profile image to Frank. Thanks so much to everyone who did it. There are like 500 on board so far!

Dan

hello everyone!!!

pending my cousin who has friends in th state department can help me get my passport by sunday ill be heading to EUROPE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! im super excited!!!! its mainly the UK. right after that i get open and i'll be doing a tour opening up for my good friend GIRLTALK. these next two months sould rule!!!! A lot my shows have been selling out recently so i would buy tickets in advance were it is possible.

here are the tour dates:
August 5th - Baltimore, MD @ Virgin Festival (noon)

EUROPE:
August 6th - London, UK @ The End
August 7th - Brighton, UK @ Greenhouse Effect
August 8th - London, UK @ Cargo
August 9th - Liverpool, UK TBC
August 10th - Manchester, UK @ Barge party
August 11th - Bristol, UK @ Thekla
August 13th - Norwich, UK @ Norwich Arts Centre
August 14th - Paris, FR @ Fleche D'or
August 16th - London, UK @ Barden's Boudoir
August 17th - Dublin, IE @ Crawdaddy
August 18th - Cork, IE @ Liquid Lounge
August 19th - Galway, IE @ Roisin Dubh
August 22nd - Tampere, FI @ Klubi
August 23rd - Helsinki, FI @ Redrum
August 24th - London, UK @ MacBeth
August 25th - Nottingham, UK @ Stealth
August 27th - Edinburgh, UK @ T on the Fringe
August 28th - Glasgow, UK TBC (my birthday!)

USA:
September 6th - Seattle, WA @ The Vera Project
September 7th - Portland, OR @ Holocene
September 8th - Chicago, IL @ The Hideout Block Party (5 pm)
September 8th - Chicago, IL @ AV-Aerie (2000 W. Fulton) (8pm)
September 12th - Toronto, ON @ The Phoenix*
September 15th - New York, NY @ Webster Hall*
September 17th - Philadelphia, PA @ Starlite Ballroom*
September 20th - Charlottesville, VA @ Satellite Ballroom*
September 21st - Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel*
September 22nd - Atlanta, GA @ MJQ Concourse*
September 23rd - Hattiesburg, MS @ Thirsty Hippo
September 24th - Houston, TX @ Walters on Washington
September 25th - Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
September 27th - San Diego, CA @ Epicentre*
September 28th - Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex*
September 29th - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore*
October 4th - Oberlin, OH @ Dionysus Disco
October 5th - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue*
October 6th - Iowa City, IA @ The Picador*
October 11th - St. Louis, MO @ The Billiken Club
October 12th - Grinnell, IA @ Grinnell University Gardner Lounge
October 19th - Bennington, VT @ Bennington University
October 20th - Alfred, NY @ Alfred University
*=opening for Girl Talk, buy tickets now!

also, in future news:
the score to ultimate reality has just finished being recorded. the dvd should be released sometime in october. it was recorded by the legendary CHESTER GWAZDA!

when not touring in october and november i'll be finishing up my next full lenght record and some vinyl project and maybe an EP or two. i'm very excited for the future.

dan