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March 5, 2005

Two Weeks of Building for Free Culture

The last two and half weeks have been a whirlwind of excitement and hard work as I updated and performed my Free Culture show with collaborative participation and feedback in the spirit of the movement. After the initial rehearsal three weeks ago, the feedback I got was that there was a lot of interesting material, but it was unclear what exactly my message was. I decided to try it out without the intense 5 minute Idioteque video, and added a major contribution from DJ and friend Boon, who pulled together 11 popular music samples that get the audience involved early and brings a fun element to the show.

After two more dress rehearsals that helped tighten up the show, I drove out to Bryn Mawr on Saturday, February 19th for my first college show. I was happily surprised by energy of the local Free Culture group. Special thanks to Rebekah Baglini and Nicholas Bergson-Shilcock (from Franklin & Marshal) for helping to set up the space, including a wireless network that shared Creative Commons licensed music, photos, and videos. It was also great to meet Luke Smith, one of the original pair that sued Diebold, who said that he liked that my show demonstrated a positive vision for free culture. Overall, it was a good first college show.

After taking out a lot of the fat from the performance, the show felt a little short, especially on performance. Along with feedback from the Bryn Mawr folks, I had another session with friend and seasoned performer Kymbali Craig, who made a huge difference in taking the performance to the next level. We added a cover song in the beginning, moved Language of My Reality to the middle of the show, and most importantly, tightened up the transitions to maintain a solid flow throughout. Kymbali also joined me for the improv session (pictured below).

All this to say that the big NY show at the Bowery Poetry Club this past Saturday was one of the highlights of my life so far. It was packed, and the show went so well that the place was buzzing for 45 minutes after the show, with everyone I talked to inspired to participate in helping to build Free Culture in their own ways. You can watch the 45 minute unedited video of the show on the Internet Archive. I'd like to have an edited version to send to press, etc., but not sure if I'll have time before I leave next Thursday.

Thanks to all of you, including the folks here at freeculture.org, who helped set me up for the tour in a powerful way. I'm looking forward to heading out to Austin, TX for next Sunday's show at SXSW Interactive. I'll be posting frequently at the Free Culture Tour Blog through the next 5 weeks, so stay in touch and spread the word!

Posted by Colin at March 5, 2005 2:58 PM

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