In August 2018, exactly eight years ago, I was on tour in Colombia, I had a vision of a new kind of controller and began drawing it in my notebook. When I got home around August 24, 2018, I went to Home Depot, bought some industrial strength velcro and two C-clamps and Blinky was born. Blinky quickly got out there. My first significant show with the instrument was three months later at the Berklee Performance Center where it made its appearance at the launch concert of Berklee’s new EDI (Electronic Digital Instrument) program and I performed with a student ensemble. I spent the year preparing and original set with it and on June 14th, 2019, I recorded an original track ‘Prelude 4’ with drummer Alejandro Vega. I also showed up at parties in NYC and performed next to DJs standing on top of a speaker. We put together a live original set which we presented in November in Mexico City, December in San José, Costa Rica. My idea was to tour with Blinky throughout 2020. I booked a 5 city tour with DNA Music for January 2020 and had a great performance/presentation in Medellin, but on the plane ride back to Bogota where I was based, I badly twisted my back as I threw some gear into the overhead compartment. Forgetting that I was 45, not 25, I went bowling later that day and took Blinky to jam with a DJ at a club that night and was out until 3 -4 AM. The next morning, I awoke, and immediately knew that I was in bad shape and upon puling the rope to open the blinds, my back spasmed and I fell to the floor with some of the worst physical pain I had ever experienced. It was so bad that my kind host, David Najera of DNA Music, had to call me and EMT who gave me an epidural to numb the pain. I bought a back brace in Bogota, was only able to do one more show, and had to return to New York in a wheelchair. Little did I know that 2020 was about to get far crazier.
I was due to return to Costa Rica in mid February, 2020 to work at the electronic music program that Esteban Howell and I had recently created at DJLab, Costa Rica and since it was only a three week trip and my back was still recovering, I decided that it made sense to leave Blinky in my studio in Gowanus, Brooklyn so that I could travel light and heal my back. Little did I know that I wouldn’t return to New York for another 13 months and Costa Rica would be my home until August, 2021. When March 2020 rolled around, I did not board my return flight to NYC, thinking that Costa Rica would be a better place to spend the pandemic than Brooklyn, and Esteban and I could focus on transitioning our production classes at DJLab online. So I took a good chunk of time off of Blinky and only began to continue its development in March 2021 when I was able to return to Brooklyn and take it back with me to Costa Rica.
Since then, Blinky’s been with me to many shows, university presentations, demonstrations etc. I wanted to post here videos and pics from some of my favorites over the past eight years. The instrument’s brought me so much joy and has taken me to some places that I never would have seen otherwise. It has allowed me to play with some of my favorite musicians in NYC. I’m so grateful for all of the joy that this simple little prototype has brought to my life.
- Prelude 4: This is still one of my favorite performances videos. It was an attempt explain what was going on with Blinky. It was recorded at King Killer Studios in Gowanus, Brooklyn with the fantastic Alejandro Vega on drums