DEREK REINHARDT: Rare gems of solo guitar LIVE in NYC Upcoming

Two years ago NEW FIRMAMENT had the absolute fortune of releasing what is hands down one of my favorite recordings by a solo artist in the past decade: Derek Reinhardt's "Filthy Flamingo."  Some back story.  Derek and I grew up in the same rural Maryland town and, for about 15 years, arbitrarily crossed paths via a handful of mutual acquaintances.  I didn't know much about him and we seemed to be pretty well anchored in our existence at the periphery of one another's lives.  At some point this path-crossing became a more regular occurrence and I discovered one of the most truly open listeners I've ever encountered.  Not operating merely in breadth of catalog (vast as it may be) I remain absolutely stunned by his ability to listen so thoroughly and remain seemingly free and untainted by the imposition of social politics.  It's an easy task to speak about this sort of listening and infinitely more difficult to place into practice.  This effortless fluidity is something that I truly admire.   At some point living back in rural Maryland for a period, we started running into each other more frequently.  It came up that Derek was a musician also (something I sort of knew but in hindsight clearly had NO clue the magnitude of) and had been playing with some people on and off trying to find others who were the right fit for some songs he had written.  He explained he had some demos on an 8 track but it was complicated to get them bounced off the thing but that he'd play them for me some time.  There's such a calm humility in his delivery that I smile, agree and don't think much more of it.  These demos come up occasionally in conversation but that's all it seems to amount to.  About two years later the night before I leave town for a month-long trip Derek and I hang out at this bar in town.  As I'm leaving he tells me he has something for me and explains that he finally got the demos off of the 8 track.  He runs to his car, comes back  and hands me a disk labeled "FUCKIN DUMB BUZZIN SHIT."  Thanks Derek.  It takes me about four days before I think to put the CD in.  Immediately floored and feeling strongly connected to my favorite elements of Captain Beefheart's guitar instrumentals, Bill Orcutt, Sun City Girls, Polvo, etc. the disc remains in my cd player and is listened to at least once daily for about six months.  After returning from the trip I ask Derek if NEW FIRMAMENT can release them as a cassette of solo guitar music and, with that same almost reluctant humility, he agrees.  After about 3 years Derek Reinhardt's "Filthy Flamingo" is released in December of 2012.  Since it's release I have had the fortune of having seen Derek play live solo exactly three times.  Put simply I am ecstatic and grateful to be a part of a these upcoming live performances in celebration of this stellar human's incredible music past, present, and future. 




New Firmament Presents:
DEREK REINHARDT



11/20 @ MANHATTAN INN
*duo improv set w/ Andrew Smiley (Little Women)
also:  Mick Barr/Brandon Seabrook/Chris Pitsiokos (Trio) and Nick Podgurski (solo drums)


11/21 @ TITLE:POINT STUDIOS part of SalON!: Aggressive Mimicry (inside Silent Barn)


11/23 @ THE ACHERON
w/ Couch Slut (album release), Ora Iso, and 1mitator