I find that my body increasingly wants to honor the changes of the seasons, and once December rolls around, I am in hibernation mode. Everything in my workaday life comes to a sort of half-cadence, and I try to shut things down enough so I can truly close the year out, steel myself for the long drive to visit family, and once I hit the couch nine hours away from home, relax.
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And once I am relaxed and have a few days off, my mind starts to spin creative ideas for anything that gives my art life purpose. There are ideas for album covers, podcasts, potential collaborations, electric guitar wiring schemes, all sorts of things. But once January hits, these embryonic plans often take a back seat to getting back into the swing of life. But they are still in there, simmering.
One thing that we enjoy these days is seeing the variety of small birds on our front porch, taking turns at a bird bath turned seed platform. The smallest birds will come in as a group, and as many as eight birds will all be in the bath, contentedly poking at the seeds. Sometimes an argument will strike up, and birds will hop off into the adjacent bushes, a water dish, or a nearby Adirondack chair.
My favorite moments are when I spy a single bird sitting in the bath or on the chair, doing nothing at all. Enjoying a moment of reprieve as life flies around them.
The first piece of the podcast is with Deisha Oliver, improvising cellist, composer, collaborator, and Atlanta performance art impresario! Along with aerialist Sadie Hawkins she is cofounder of Flight of Swallows (I sense a bird theme here!) a collaborative effort that is joined by a revolving cast of musicians and movement artists who excel at improvisation. They incorporated pop up installations, sculptural elements, site specific movement, and audience participation throughout their body of work.
Our piece today is titled “A Waltz for the End of time” and is the music for a dance piece by Douglas Scott and his Full Radius Dance company. Full Radius Dance is a professional modern dance company in the field of physically integrated dance based in Atlanta. The company features dancers with and without physical disabilities.
We first performed for this piece sometime in the 2010s with my cousin, artist and musician Christopher Salmon. The piece was performed a second time in 2024. This is the version you are about to hear, and I present it to you now in advance of Full Radius’s upcoming show titled Collective Memory: The 35th Anniversary Celebration and Performance
It happens March 20 – 22, 2026 at 7 Stages Theatre.
The second piece is a 70s style sci-fi synthesizer improv with Blake Helton. We’re gearing up for a set hosted by the Atlanta Synth Club on March 1st at the Brazilian coffee house and bar Buteco in Grant Park. We dubbed this session “Computer Planet” – a page out of my childhood picture book “Galactic Aliens” by Alan Frank.
The third piece returns to the Full Radius recording session, with Deisha’s cello running through my effects. Listen for the footswitches getting picked up by the cello mic.
The third performance is a duo with my old buddy Michael Terebecki. We’ve enjoyed listening to and making immersive sounds together for a long time now, and we’ve joked “let’s get together and write some stuff” since high school. This track is from late last year, featuring his synth and my electric guitar.
The fourth performance is a duo with my old buddy Mike Terebecki. We’ve enjoyed listening to and making immersive sounds together for a long time now, and we’ve joked “let’s get together and write some stuff” since high school. This track is from late last year, featuring his synth and my electric guitar.
I’ve realized that simply listening to music while doing nothing now almost feels like an extravagance. But when I do this, I always feel refreshed afterwards. Multi-tasking is a false bill of goods. Take your time back!
Colin Bragg 