Experimental Garage Sale in Chicago Happening Now

Facebook Event Page here

"Synthesizers, Circuit Bent Toys, Electronic Kits, Unique Musical Instruments, Food, Live Music & Fun!
Please join us for the 7th Annual Experimental Garage Sale organized by GetLoFi.com and hosted by the Experimental Sound Studio of Chicago.
Vendors from all over Midwest ( Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, etc ) will meet for one day to showcase and pass on to a good home tons of gear, electronics, and projects. The sale portion of the day's events will be from Noon - 6:00 pm.

Once again there will be a raffle featuring items donated by the various vendors. Proceeds from the raffle help Experimental Sound Studio continue their programming and services to the regional community.

By Popular Demand- Random Duets Experimental Music Jam! As a celebration of our vendors- most of whom are well-known musicians and performers, we are presenting Random Duets where our artists will be paired up for unique collaborative improvised musical performances- always a lot of fun!! Random Duets will run from 7:30 - 10:30 pm.

Snacks and refreshments will be available (ID required for beer). Sponsored by Chicago's own Revolution Brewing!

This years vendors are:

CLICK FOR MORE »

Roth Mobot Circuit Bent Petting Zoo Coming to FIGMENT Chicago Festival Aug 11

This one in via Brian Comnes via the Roth Mobot email list:

"Roth Mobot has been invited to create a Circuit Bent Petting Zoo at this summer's FIGMENT Chicago Festival. Tommy and Patrick, and other circuit benders from the Chicago area, will set up a table full of experimental electronic art pieces that the public can play with to produce weird sounds and music.

Roth Mobot will be bringing their Phonograpahitephone, an interactive hacked record turntable that plays graphite drawings made by anyone!

FIGMENT demonstrates what the arts can be: participatory, bursting with creativity and completely free, born from the desire to share imagination and invention between artists and the public. FIGMENT is a grassroots effort, organized and run entirely by volunteers as a gift to our cities.

FIGMENT Chicago with the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance
Sunday, August 11, 2013, 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Garfield Park Conservatory
300 N Central Park Ave., Chicago, IL 60624 (map)
~FREE~"

2012 Circuit Benders Ball Nashville on Kickstarter

"The Circuit Benders’ Ball is a daylong symposium dedicated to the art of the bend, taking place on Saturday, September, 29th. It will feature two stages, over a dozen performers, an interactive art gallery, and workshops. Workshops 10am-7pm. Music 8pm-1am. Our inspirations are the multi-city Bent Festival, The Fuse Factory in Columbus, OH, the eSymposium in Chicago, Illinois, and, of course, Reed Ghazala, the father of circuit-bending!

We have invited circuit bent artists from Tennessee and beyond to perform and lead electronic workshops. The afternoon workshops are open to all ages and all levels of experience. In the evening, experimental musicians and sound artists will perform with circuit bent instruments, custom-made electronics, and/or battery-powered electronic devices. Genres will range from ambient soundscapes to aleatoric noise to EDM influenced grooves.

So: if you are into (or merely curious about) experimental music, making, electronics, art, DIY, hacking, and sonic mayhem, this event is for you!

The all-day event will take place on Saturday, September 29th, 2012 at Brick Factory Nashville, a hackerspace, community workshop, educational facility, art gallery, and performance space.

Performers

Roth Mobot - Chicago
Blight Side of Life - Nashville
Brain Lesion - Murfreesboro, TN
Elegant Bassterds (Ben Marcantel and Derek Schartung) - Nashville
Josh Gumiela, Kelli Shay Hix, Lucas McCallister - Nashville
Hadals - Nashville, TN / Montgomery, AL
Joey Molinaro - New York City
Nashville Robotic Philharmonic - DeKalb, IL
Pimpdaddysupreme - Nashville
Pineapple Explode - Nashville
Posttaste - Nashville
Teletron Orchestra - Nashville / Murfreesboro

Workshops

Chip to be Square: Build Your Own Synth w/ Josh Gumiela. 10am - 1pm
Intro to Circuit Bending w/ Roth Mobot. 2pm-5pm
Build a Buckawatt Bent Boost Kit w/ Zach Adams. 5:30pm-7pm

We Can't Do This Without You!

The CBB is a nonprofit festival. The staff volunteer their time and energy with no monetary compensation. In order to attract the best and brightest in the Circuit Bending community from all over the United States, we need your financial support. All donations will go toward artist compensation, advertising, set decoration, and workshop materials. The more donations we generate, the bigger and better the festival! Show your support by donating!"

via Dylan Simon on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

Roth Mobot Experimental Electronic News & Events

1. Special eSymposium
Saturday, May 12, Noon - 3PM
Lizard's Liquid Lounge
3058 W Irving Park Rd., Chicago
~FREE~

In addition to our usual weekly social soldering session and experimental electronics open lab, this week's eSymposium will be in high gear when this Saturday we welcome Tim Kaiser on the final leg of his recent tour before returning to Duluth MN.. Tim will be setting up some of his equipment for people to examine and play with. Also, Roth Mobot's Tommy Stephenson will be making a rare eSymposium appearance. Tommy will be showing off some of his latest "Blamps," and their ability to be driven by musical instruments. This is a rare "under-the-hood" look at these two artists' work. And of course, feel free to bring a project to work on, or perform in the world's only regularly scheduled weekly Circuit Bent Open Mic!

2. 14 Below
Mondays through Thursdays
July 23rd - August 16th, 12:45 - 4:00 PM
Old Town School of Folk Music
4545 N Lincoln Ave., Chicago
Register at www.OldTownSchool.org

Roth Mobot's Patrick McCarthy will be teaching 16 sessions of Experimental Music in conjunction with the Old Town School's NEW 14 Below program, an extended afternoon camp experience for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in the OTSFM's. This session will also cover Gamelan, Hip Hop, and Turntablism. Students will learn tons of new stuff, make new friends, and hang with some great Old Town School teachers. Throughout the afternoon, there will be opportunities for gathering to work on group activities, including a video journaling project. Each four-week session ends with a final presentation in Szold Concert Hall, where we share what we've done with friends and family.

3. Summer Workshops at ESS
June through August
Experimental Sound Studio
5925 North Ravenswood Ave., Chicago
Register at www.ExperimentalSoundStudio.org

Roth Mobot's Patrick McCarthy will be teaching two series of Experimental Music workshops as well as hosting a monthly Open Experimental Sound Lab at Chicago's Experimental Sound Studio. One set of workshops will be geared specifically to children ages 11-16. Focus will be on DIY musical instrument design, DIY Music Theory, Circuit Bending, Electroacoustics, and more! There will be three monthly free open labs where participants can bring in a project of their choice for trouble-shooting, development, show & tell, Q & A, etc. The summer series will culminate in a Recital/Expo of the students' work.

marsynth/adamon at meecas 2011

marssynth/adamon will be participating in the 2011 MEECAS event put on by the Roth Mobot guys in Chicago IL this Saturday. Info on the event can be found here.

follow-up to this post.

MEECAS 2011 Midwestern Experimental Electronics Conference and Showcase

"MEECAS 2011
What have you been tinkering with?

Saturday, October 22
12 Noon - 12 Midnight
Lizard's Liquid Lounge
3058 W Irving Park Rd. (map)

The annual Midwestern Experimental Electronics Conference and Showcase (www.MEECAS.com) is a free, day-long, inventors' networking symposium highlighting the past year's innovations in the areas of Musical Instrument Design, Performance, Circuit Bending, Data Hacking, and Video Art.

There are lectures, demonstrations, interactive installations, a daytime circuit bent open mic, and an evening's showcase of the Midwest's most innovative artists and inventors. Children welcome from Noon - 4:00 PM if accompanied by a parent.

Inventors, Artists, and Musicians are encouraged to bring their latest experiments, instruments, videos, etc. to demonstrate during the circuit bent open mic or to place on the "work table" as part of the interactive installations section of the event. Audio-based installations should include headphones.

EVENING SHOWCASE: 6:00 PM - Midnight
This year's Evening Showcase features the work of:
- TOYDEATH, Toy Town, Sydney, Australia (their first ever webcast!)
- Tim Kaiser, Duluth, MN (last performance of his Fall tour!)
- Talking Computron, Minneapolis, MN (the force behind Get Lo Fi)
- Spunky Toofers, Columbia, MO (part man, part circuit, all jazz)
- Space Gun Bunny, Fort Wayne, IN (design, explore, repeat)
- ROTH MOBOT, Chicago, IL (circuit bent toys, granular synthesis, & electroacoustics)
- The Ring Toss Twins, Minneapolis, MN (witchy use of technology)
- Mother Daughter Crime Team, Chicago, IL (sychronized MIDI/CV circus)
- Dustin E., St. Louis, MO (noise artist extraordinaire)
- CMKT4, DeKalb, IL (pioneers of future fusion)
- Alex Inglizian, Chicago, IL (musician engineer)
- adamon, Topeka, KS (synth drone lord)

VIDEO PROJECTS: Noon - Midnight
Various Artists (Experimental electronic video projects welcomed!)

INTERACTIVE INSTALLATIONS: Noon - Midnight
Various Artists. (Experimental electronic projects welcomed!)

WORKSHOPS, PRESENTATIONS, DEMOS: Noon - 6:00 PM
Noon - 1:00 PM, Vactrol Fever with Patrick McCarthy
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM, Build a Bending Buddy and/or Build a Contact Mic with CMKT4
3:00 PM - 6:00 PM, What is Circuit Bending? with Various Artists
5:30 PM - 6:00 PM, Brains from the Thunderbirds, The Audio of the Aurora Borealis with Sam Piro

MEECAS STORE: Noon - Midnight
Exhibiting and performing artists will be selling recorded works, experimental musical instruments, electronics kits, apparel, etc. to offset their costs.

LIVE WEBCAST: 5:30 PM - Midnight, CST
www.ustream.tv/channel/meecas-2011

CALL FOR DEAD BATTERIES: Noon - Midnight
Bring your dead batteries to the MEECAS and we will send them to a proper eWaste recycling center. Last year the MEECAS audience brought enough batteries to fill a bucket!

actOnePartThreeCroppedCompressed.avi

YouTube Uploaded by RothMobot on May 12, 2011

"Roth Mobot was asked to perform a few of their strategically improvised recursive jazz pieces at TRANSISTOR in Chicago as the opening act for Tim Kaiser's "Numbers Station Test Pressing Tour." A huge "thank you" to audience member, Bob, for recording the performance with his iPhone. The piece is broken up into three main sections."

Teaching 6th Graders How to Solder at Eco Arts Festival

YouTube Uploaded by RothMobot on Apr 26, 2011

"Roth Mobot was invited to conduct one of their circuit bending workshops at the annual Eco Arts Festival in Cedar Rapids, Iowa."

Roth Mobot Workshop on Channel 9 News

YouTube Uploaded by RothMobot on Apr 22, 2011

"Roth Mobot was invited to host a circuit bending workshop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the New Bohemia's Eco Arts Festival."

Roth Mobot Experimental Electronics Events

via the Roth Mobot Newsletter:

1.Crowdsourced 1.0 @ The Empty Bottle

Sunday, April 10, 2011, 7:00 - 10:00 PM

The Empty Bottle, 1035 N Western Ave., Chicago, $3

Photo by Scott Rettberg

To the unfamiliar, "crowdsourced" means that the content that is the most popular "rises to the top" via votes--as in, the crowd chooses what's the most relevant. Threadless is a good example: only the designs that are voted hottest actually make it to production.

Electronic music fans and supporters were asked to vote on a number of submissions from Chicago artists to determine the lineup for a night of entertainment at the Empty Bottle. Approximately 600 online-votes later, the results were in, and the top four acts were picked, and will perform in order of the number of votes received.

Crowdsourced 1.0 Lineup:
dreamlogicc 9:15pm
Protman 8:30pm
Roth Mobot 7:45pm
Polyfuse 7:00pm

2.Tim Kaiser & Roth Mobot, Live @ TRANSISTOR

Photo by Tom Young

Friday, April 22, 8 PM
TRANSISTOR, 5045 N. Clark St., Chicago
$5 suggested donation ~BYOB~

TRANSISTOR presents experimental circuit bent performers Tim Kaiser and Roth Mobot. According to Art Tape, "Tim Kaiser not only creates compelling musical soundscapes, but he does it all with instruments he has built -- truly hand-made music for the atmospheric aficionado." Says Kaiser, “My music is atmospheric; I’m not as concerned with melody or rhythm as I am with texture and feeling… …perhaps I’m creating a kind of folk music from the future.” (Source: Theatre Intangible interview with Tim Kaiser). More of Tim's work at www.TimKaiser.org.

Roth Mobot's Patrick McCarthy and Tommy Stephenson have been transforming music composition from an activity of composition and "correct duplication" to exploration and "sonic discovery" with their strategically improvised "recursive jazz" performed on home made experimental and circuit bent devices since 2005. More at www.RothMobot.com.

3.The Boys & Girls Club of America

Photo by Michael T. Kennedy, Ph.D.

Recently Roth Mobot was invited by Northwestern University to give one of their lecture/demonstrations of experimental musical instrument construction to a the local Science Club chapter of the Boys and Girls Club of America.

Patrick explained the principles of constructive failure, acoustic exploration, and rudimentary experimental electronics hacking to a group of approximately twenty students and their teachers.


4.Roth Mobot Written Up in the DuPage Courier

The College of DuPage's student newspaper, the Courier, recently published an interview with Tommy and Patrick in their Arts section. It's a nice write up, focusing on our approach to music, our re-purposing of discarded technology, and our academic focus on community building.

MEECAS Montage 1 of 2

MEECAS Montage 1 of 2 from Creme DeMentia on Vimeo.

"Patrick McCarthy opens the event, interactive exhibits Pignose Amplifier by Patrick McCarthy, Photovores by Sam Piro, Jeff Cox plays the slinky through his circuit-bent parrot using a Creme DeMentia bottle-cap contact microphone, Video Installation by Steve Buck, Mike Kana providing the soundtrack via Chaos pads/etc., Stolen installation by ______,
LIFE Synth Installation by Mike Una (visual only), ______ circuit bent Casio synth, Contact Microphones from Creme DeMentia display, circuit bent parrot by Jeff Cox, circuit bent lantern by Patrick McCarthy, LED Flower sculpture by Steve Buck, Roth Mobot announcement, Sam Piro's lecture on Raymond Scott/Circle Machine Junior demos, Hugo Paquette video segment, Circle Machine Junior close-up (Sam Piro talks with Zach Adams), fellow listening to Circle Machine Junior, Photovores by Sam Piro, impromptu performance by Jeff Cox using glitchy circuits and a rotary phone dial gate (aka Kaiserphone), Pelzwik / Sprite Lite Theater performance video, Roth Mobot announcement and performance. Live Mixed video projections by ___________. "

Roth Mobot Experimental Electronics News

"1. Upcoming Workshops
Introduction to Circuit Bending
Sunday, November 28th, 1:00 PM - 4:50 PM
The Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N Lincoln Ave
Register at 773-728-6000

Take apart your old toys and make a brand new musical instrument! Circuit bending is the art of modifying existing battery-powered electronics (like children's toys, guitar effects units, inexpensive battery-powered instruments, etc.) to create unique musical instruments by adding wires, knobs, and switches to control new connections within the device's pre-existing circuitry. Enjoy bizarre sounds, electronic loops, sampling, distortion, and other easy to create effects. At the end of this workshop you'll be able to identify and explore the basic components of a typical circuit board, install an output jack, switches, body contacts (and more!), and control a world of new sounds. No previous electronics experience is required! Tools and components will be provided. Students are required to bring one or two battery powered devices to the class.

How To Build A Simple Contact Microphone
Sunday December 5th, 1:00 PM - 2:50 PM
The Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N Lincoln Ave
Register at 773-728-6000

Contact mics are inexpensive, easy to build, and can be a source for fun and experimental ways of creating new sounds for recording, art installations or various live performances. In just two hours we will show you how to make a simple, effective contact microphone from surplus and discarded materials. Students are encouraged to bring random objects to amplify - sheet metal, cardboard boxes, acoustic instruments, slinkies, coat hangers, textured plastic objects, etc.
No previous electronics experience is required!

2. MEECAS 2010 Audio Tracks Ready for Listening & Downloading
Thanks to everyone who made it out to the MEECAS and helped make it such an awesome, constructive day/evening. The videos and pics are starting to roll in. If you have any please feel free to dump them into one of the many "groups" on the www.MEECAS.com site. Thanks to (steven) Buck, we have high quality recordings of the evening's performances that you can listen to online, or download the MP3s. Also, if you have a chance, check out Tom Young's excellent portraits from the evening.

Thank you for your time,

Patrick McCarthy
www.RothMobot.com
www.MEECAS.com"

MEECAS 2010

"The 3rd annual Midwestern Experimental Electronics Conference And Showcase (MEECAS) is a free, day-long symposium highlighting the past year's accomplishments in the areas of Musical Instrument Design, Performance, Circuit Bending, Data Hacking, and Video Art.

CONFERENCE
Saturday, November 13, Noon - 3:00 PM
Lizard's Liquid Lounge, 3058 W Irving Park Rd. (map)

A three-hour circuit bent open mic, and an open “horizontal lecture series” structured around a free hardware hacking workshop wherein all participants are both teacher and student. The conversation will focus on networking, hacking techniques, projects demonstrations, and setting goals for the next year.

SHOWCASE
Saturday, November 13, 8:00 PM - Midnight
Lizard's Liquid Lounge, 3058 W Irving Park Rd. (map)

Interactive installations, video presentations, and performances.
Featured performers include:

* Tim Kaiser, Duluth, MN
* Roth Mobot, Chicago, IL
* Welcome Tomerica, Chicago, IL
* The Spright Light Puppet Theater, Minneapolis, MN
* Alex Inglizian, Chicago, IL
* Will Soderberg, Chicago, IL
* CMKT4, DeKalb, IL

VIDEO
In addition to videos from some of the Midwest's leading Glitch artists, we will be featuring the live video work of The Machinist.

MEECAS STORE
Exhibiting and performing artists will be selling recorded works, experimental musical instruments, electronics kits, and apparel to offset the cost of the show."

More details: http://www.rubbermonkey.org/meecas/index.htm

2010 Third Coast Festival Award

YouTube via RothMobot | October 20, 2010

"Roth Mobot was asked to collaborate with Trek Studios in Chicago to create nine interactive awards. Each device plays an excerpt from the recipient's documentary, has a "bent" setting, and a bend frequency control. They will be housed in handmade retro radio replicas."

Roth Mobot Circuit Bending Workshop and Call for MEECAS

"1. Upcoming Electronics Workshops
Introduction to Circuit Bending
Saturday, September 18th, 1:00 - 4:50 PM, The Old Town School of Folk Music
We bring the tools and components, you bring the battery powered toys. This crash course in circuit bending and toy hacking covers the basics of electronics, the tools of circuit exploration, and the techniques of finishing a project. No previous electronics experienced required! More information can be found on our 'Workshops' page.

How to Build a Simple Contact Microphone
Saturday, September 25th, 1:00 - 2:50 PM, The Old Town School of Folk Music
In less than two hours students make a simple, effective contact microphone from surplus and discarded materials and create musical soundscapes by amplifying common objects., No previous electronics experience is required!. More information can be found on our 'Workshops' page.

2. CALL FOR ENTRIES
MEECAS 2010 - The Midwest Experimental Electronics Conference and Showcase
Saturday, November 22nd, 2010, 12 Noon - 12 Midnight
Lizard's Liquid Lounge, 3058 W Irving Park Rd. Chicago, (773) 463-7599 (map)
We are looking for inventors, performers, and electronics artists for installations at our third annual showcase. Please email us with a brief description of your work."

Roth Mobot at OFFF Paris 2010

YouTube via RothMobot | July 19, 2010

"Dr. Bleep, of Bleep Labs, recorded a section of our performance at the 2010 OFFF Design Conference in the Loopita Theater in La Grande Halle de La Villette in Paris.

The video has a weird, speeded up quality to it that we will to fix."

Experimental Garage Sale 2010

full gallery on Facebook here

A Roth Mobot event

via brian comnes

Update via Alex_Inglizian in the comments: "there are some more photos from the event on my Flickr page"

Roth Mobot Experimental Electronics News and Events

click here for the newsletter

Events include:

Electronics Workshops
"Sunday, March 14, 1:00 - 4:50 PM, Old Town School of Folk Music

This crash course covers the basics of electronics, the tools of circuit exploration, and the techniques of finishing a project. No previous electronics experienced required!"

OFFF Festival in Paris
June 24, 25, 26, 2010 Roth Mobot is being flown to Paris to perform on the frontline of digital arts events at La Grande Halle de La Villette for the OFFF Festival. OFFF has become a synonym for modernity, both aesthetic and technological. OFFF is spreading the work of a generation of creators that are breaking all kinds of limits - focusing on those separating the commercial arena from the worlds of art and design. Wish us luck on getting our suitcases full of hacked electronics onto the plane. Any advice would be appreciated.

The Weekly eSymposium
EVERY Saturday, 12:00 noon - 3:00 PM
Lizard's Liquid Lounge, 3058 W Irving Park Rd, (773) 463-7599
To nurture the Midwest experimental electronics community, we host a free weekly "eSymposium," an interactive lecture series where participants are both teachers and students. There's soldering, tinkering, Q&A, show-&-tell, bending circuits, hacking toys, recycling discarded electronics and batteries, and Chicago's only weekly Circuit Bent Open Mic.

Be sure to see the link above for more and full details.

Hamburger Drive Thru Demo

YouTube via RothMobot
"One of the principle devices in Roth Mobot's song, 'Hamburger Drive Thru.'"

Newton

"Circuit bent Fisher Price toy. When clocked down the horizontal LED arrays become apparent, and when more LEDs ar needed in a row they drain a multiple quanta of energy from the circuit and cause the toy to jump almost musically from pitch to pitch during the slow execution of a single moment of a single sample. Very cool."

bleep pad

"Awesome wet glitchy hack. This device is the vocal backbone to Roth Mobot's 'The Presidents of the United States.'"

Introduction to Circuit Bending Workshop and Other DIY Events

via ROTH MOBOT (click for more events)
"Sunday, November22, 1:00 PM - 4:50 PM
The Old Town School of Folk Music
7004 N Lincoln Ave., 773-728-6000

We bring the tools and components, you bring the battery powered toys. This crash course in Circuit Bending, and Toy Hacking covers the basics of electronics, the tools of circuit exploration, and the techniques of finishing a project.
No previous electronics experienced required!
More information, pics from past classes, and circuit bending tips can be found on our 'Workshops' page."