What an honor to be teaching artist-in-residence for Jack Straw Production’s Blind Youth Audio Project 2026!
Every summer, this program engages students to create a variety of audio projects, from radio plays to public service announcements to original songs.
Bill Horist and I guided our group of 9 spectacular musicians to craft and record a new song from scratch. Everyone contributed great ideas and lots of energy! The group named themselves The True Ten, and our rap/soul/metal hit “Blood Don’t Fold” came together beautifully.
Deep thanks to Jack Straw Studios, Washington State Department of Services for the Blind, Agostinho Rodrigues Trust, ArtsWA, Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, 4Culture, and individual contributors to make this program possible!
Raven Chronicles produced this podcast featuring a lively conversation between guitarist Bill Horist and myself on our creative perambulations, inspirations and thoughts on improvisation, prompted by writer Natalie Pascale Boisseau.
Looking forward to playing a beautiful collection of Pan-Latin and original music with the brilliant multi-instrumental geniuses in Correo Aereo at the Olympic Sculpture Park on Sunday, August 2 at 1:30pm!
Correo Aereo plays soulfully melodic, richly polyrhythmic pan-Latin and original music to decolonize your mind & celebrate life!
ABEL ROCHA: voice, harp, cuatro, jarana, guitar, etc. MADELEINE SOSIN: voice, violin, jarana, bombo, maracas. AMY DENIO: voice, clarinet, accordion.
Today’s a good day… I just came up with the sequel to my country waltz sing-along hit “Dubya & His Pa”. Originally for accordion, I’ve revised the lyrics, and it sounds great on electric guitar! The sequel is called “45 or 47 (There’s No Way You’ll Get To Heaven). “
The song depicts an imagined work-related presidential stress dream where the setting for a certain American president’s birthday party transforms into a raging sandstorm in the middle of the Arabian desert. The delicious cake is now coated with nasty grit, and everyone there is singing happy birthday out of tune…
You’ve come to the right place ~ and summer’s the perfect time to change the channel. Beginning or advanced, you’ll enjoy my fun, personalized lessons. No matter if you play by ear or with books, I can help your musicality grow.
Our lessons will focus on ear training, reading music, technique, understanding rhythm, music theory, memorization, composing and improvisation! I’ll coach you on breath control, posture and developing your own tone. We’ll sing tongue twisters in many languages and make up melodies together. All styles welcome. Bring me your favorite song, and I’ll teach you to play it!
Choose from any ~ or all ~ of these instruments: 🎤 Voice 🎷 Saxophone 🎹 Piano 🎸 Guitar 🪗 Accordion 🎼 Clarinet 🎸 Bass
Message me to book a trial lesson today. (Click on that link to start an email!)
I teach in person at the Seattle Drum School, or we can meet online, whenever you want. No need to fret about the cost of gas ~ or holding down a rigid schedule.
We did it! From 8 April – 3 May, 2026 Kultur Shock gallivanted through Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, North Makedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Poland and Hungary, playing live shows for our adoring fans ~ with our usual vim and vigor!
There were a more than a few mishaps along the way, but improvisation is the key to survival, right?
A few highlights:
The tour van’s rear window shattered when we (gently) closed the door in Skopje, but we’d packed some folded cardboard boxes “just in case”, and that very evening had grabbed some gaffer’s tape from the stage by mistake, so it all worked out fine
Val’s wife Lana ended up in a Bulgarian hospital a week into the tour ~ and needed Val’s care urgently. The tour teetered on complete cancellation until our pal Stevan “Šarki” Radoičić stepped up to the plate. In one day he managed to arrange his work schedule AND pass the audition, playing almost every song without a second thought. Happily, Lana recuperated quickly, so Val rejoined us in Frankfurt, so we had two guitars for the rest of the tour.
The backline (amps & drums) we rented for the second half of the tour filled the entire van, so we had to improvise another solution ~ and after three valiant attempts everything fit in just fine! We are now Tetrus experts!
I started teaching myself sax at age 21. Such a late start compared to so many others. By the time I released No Bones (1986) I was already a quarter of a century old, and felt like the janitor mopping up at the end of a Bullwinkle parade.
But this year Spoot Music celebrates 40 years of D.I.Y. existence ~ and is still going strong. More Nocturne Books (Abruzzo, Italy) will publish my book of travel adventures to celebrate it all. I’ve enjoyed creating maps and culling photos ~ and penning lots of crazy stories with the help of my editor Jane Mabry-Smith and many others. Danijel Žeželj is designing the cover.
We are in a position of considerable power right now. On 30 January, Congress votes on the continuation of the Big Beautiful Bill, which includes billions of dollars to continue funding federal military forces.
Tell your Senator and Congressional Representative — red or blue — if they vote to continue this funding, they will not get your vote in the midterms. Post a message on social media and tag them. This is the most effective way to let your voice count.
+ + + +
Coast Salish wisdom holds that death is not the end, nor something to fear. It is the Great Change that comes to us all.
Current events compel me to share this story:
To our dismay, our friend King Leah Gold’s cancer had metastasized and she had gone into a coma. Yet she stirred when I held her hand…
She passed on a few hours later, provoking a vision: I could see her soul unfolding to reach its full potential ~ now free from pain and the trappings of mortal existence. To this day my love for her stays strong, and her presence in my consciousness is undiminished.
This experience inspired me to compose UNTRAPT. Enjoy.
amydenio 