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| Kaki King-Potters Clay visual on guitar |
The August Wilson Center which has a small theater was the perfect intimate setting to
experience Kaki King. She is a unique artist who fuses a visual experience with her distinctive inventive method of guitar
playing. Just like Pink Floyd’s The Wall, her
show is one that you have to see, hear and experience. It’s an escape with an explosion
of light and music (see video) .
Reflection
Her guitar develops a life of its own in this show entitled, “The Neck is the Bridge to the Body”. As King puts it, “the guitar changes her” and you can feel it evolving and maturing during the performance. King pushed the limits of creativity just like
the dance company Pilobilus. Pilobilus created a story with human shadows: King
told a story with digital technology and imagery projected onto her guitar (see Day 198 Pilobilus).
The guitar awakens, it
grows eyes and ears, it tries to speak, it develops notes, it feels, and it
travels. This is done with her phenomenal playing and the use of lights, shapes, and color visually mapping images on the guitar in conjunction with images on the screen behind her.
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| Guitar Awakens |
She produced her sound by playing the guitar's neck as a base, by picking, tapping a rhythm on the guitar's body, or by using her nails along the guitar's side. Her sound was unique and I heard a jazz influence. It was a total experience! (watch here)
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| Trying to speak |
Her guitars are uniquely made and customized for her purpose. I believe the surface of the guitar that she used in this show was carbon fiber. It made a distinct sound when she ran her nails along its body.
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| Growing eyes and ears |
I really enjoyed the
humorous part of the show where
she produced “talking like sounds” while
the visual behind her displayed the “day in the life of her misunderstood guitar” using subtitles. It reminded me of the
sounds from the Peanuts cartoon when the adults talk to the characters. Her guitar was talking to us!
There were parts of
the show when you just wanted to lean back in your seat, watch, listen
and enjoy without much thought. Enjoying the sound and visual was like a hallucinogenic experience in the absence of drugs.
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| Her Guitar was talking to us. "I was always nervous..." |
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| At times you just enjoy the visual and sound |
Kaki King was “stand alone” different as she masterfully worked her guitar. I think Kaki King and her guitar have both self-actualized –they have reached their personal best! (get tour dates)
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| Had so many questions to ask her |
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| August Wilson Multiple Choice Events |
Spiritual Sources
Behold I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you" (1 Kings 3:12)
Other sources
Multiple Choice Events Wilson Center https://trustarts.org/pct_home/events/series/multiple-choice-events/
The Neck is the Bridge to the Body https://www.kakiking.com/playbill
Surface changes visual guitar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziPD16xCBBg
World of visual https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7LX4FW7TEI