EX-SANTANA DRUMMER MICHAEL SHRIEVE ON HIS NEW PROJECTS

Renowned Seattle-based musician Michael Shrieve—drummer for Latin-rock luminaries Santana during their best years and the youngest musician to play the 1969 Woodstock festival—had some uncomplimentary things to say about Whiplash, a new movie about a tumultuous relationship between a young jazz drummer and his instructor. You can read about that on Slog, The Stranger's blog. What also emerged in the interview is some new activity by Shrieve that deserves your attention. After playing with his jazz-rock band Spellbinder every Monday night for years at the Fremont club White Rabbit, Shrieve has taken a sabbatical. (Don't fret—they'll resume playing at some point.) He's been focusing on finishing an album for Spellbinder as well as nearing completion on a record called Drums of Compassion, which features contributions from some of the greatest drummers and percussionists of all time: Jack DeJohnette, Zakir Hussein, Airto Moreira, and the late Babatunde Olatunji. "I'm standing up playing a kit with 16 drums," Shrieve says. "Also, I did something with Amon Tobin that's on there, too." How did Shrieve get involved with the phenomenal and much younger Brazilian electronic-music producer? "I was into his first record [1997's Bricolage]," Shrieve says. "I listened to it for years, and I pursued him for a long time. I love the way he cuts, edits, and messes with drums. It's really respectful. He doesn't play an instrument, but what he does is so cool. So finally he was in Seattle [for 2011's Decibel Festival] and had a few days off, and we recorded a bunch of drum stuff—grooves, individual drums, and he took all that and just messed with it."

UW ACQUIRES HARRY PARTCH'S BIZARRE ASSEMBLAGE OF INSTRUMENTS

In late November, the University of Washington scored a tremendous coup, acquiring a collection of unique instruments created by avant-garde composer/inventor Harry Partch from 1930 to 1974 (the year of Partch's death). They will be stored near the percussion studios at Meany Hall, according to School of Music director Richard Karpen. Students, faculty, and members of the public will have access to these instruments, which look as bizarre as they sound. Partch felt compelled to build them in order to realize his otherworldly conceptions that favored microtonal scales in order to circumvent conventional Western music. His instruments included the Chromelodeon, Cloud-Chamber Bowls, the Quadrangularis Reversum, the Diamond Marimba, the Zymo-Xyl, and the 72-string Kithara. Partch conceived his concerts as a combination of music, dance, and theater in which the musicians' movements and costumes are as important and unusual as the sounds they're generating. Composer, and recent addition to UW's School of Music composition faculty, Charles Corey will oversee the instruction and usage of Partch's instruments. According to Partch's heir and owner of his instruments, Danlee Mitchell, they require 2,000 feet of storage space.