Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

2. David WatsonFingering An Idea

David just gave me this album – I met him in 1999 when I was moving art around New York City. I had just left the Knitting Factory and all the experimental music that was happening at the time. My memory is that Watson had taken a break from music completely. We’ve talked about it recently and he thinks that might have been accurate… he was sick of the scene and needed a break. I knew that he improvised with bagpipe and guitar but I had never seen him play – probably because when we were moving art he wasn’t performing.

Then I started hanging out with guitarist and composer David First and realized that he was friends with Watson. Watson came to NYC in the late 80s and when he arrived he went to see a show at Phill Niblock’s loft Experimental Intermedia and there were three other people there – John Cage, Phill and one of the founders of Roulette – an experimental space in Brooklyn.

David gave me this CD the other day and I absolutely love the bagpipe CD. It’s essential alien dronescapes… please pick this up and check it out. He also plays with Lee Renaldo and Tony Buck in a project called Glacial.

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