In this photo, Gerald Cleaver, one of New York's most inventive musicians, is playing his drums and cymbals using two rolled-up sheets of paper...appropriately enough, music scores. And it worked! The whispery sound he created was just what was needed to set the tone for Andrew Bishop's experimental composition in four movements, "Metaboles."

Oh my god, I think I've died and gone to heaven. And I've only been to the first night of this four-day creative/experimental/new music festival called the Edgefest! After I catch a nap here in my motel room--five hours sleep isn't enough for this growing girl--I'll be off for another night of amazing music at Ann Arbor's Kerrytown Concert House. Speaking of which, this is one of the finest live music spaces I've ever encountered, and I have a lot of places to compare it with. Imagine a lovely wooden Victorian house on the outside, and inside you find an open L-shaped room with chairs in rows in both arms of the L, and a slightly elevated stage where the two arms meet. Intimate and acoustically superb are words often used to describe this space. And I love it because Deanna and Aubrey--and now Emma, a new addition to the staff--always park me and my scooter in the front row! Last night I was right in front of Gerald and his drums. That's how I got this photo with my 50mm fixed lens. No need for zoom lenses here!

I don't think I'll have any trouble putting up my daily photo blogs during the festival, so you can enjoy it too. Who knows? Maybe you'll put Edgefest 2008 on your calendar right now. I have the perfect motel for you to stay at for only $55 USD a night, and I can even pick you up at Detroit's Metro Airport! Wouldn't that be fun?

And for those of you whose preference leans towards black and white--as does mine--I tried it but the image lost the warmth that characterizes Gerald Cleaver's playing and his person. Let me close with a quote I found in a Detroit Metro Times 2002 article that shows what this fine musician is all about:

"I’m always in the process of trying to find out what the nature of things is, and what the nature of my soul is. That’s what music is all about: the ability to complete your soul. For a brief moment it’s like a communion with unseen realms. I think music is spiritual because it expresses things that we cannot put into words,” Cleaver says.