Street Muse documentary, featuring Gull

My good friends Nate Rappole (Gull) & Len Albright are in the home stretch for Kickstarting their Street Muse documentary project in East Africa. Fingers crossed...They've got four days left to raise just under $5,000 to make it happen. Check the rundown:

"The Street Muse Project is a documentary project exploring the culture of street and public music around the World. This component of the project will document street performances in Africa. In addition, Gull will perform on the street throughout the project as an offering and thank you to those who are sharing their talents and energy with us. The documentary will be the first in a series.

Why Street Music?

Have you ever stopped and listened to a street musician, maybe given them a dollar, and wondered about their story? What are their musical influences? What can their life and art open to you about the World? That's the goal of the Street Muse Project...to capture and share these stories and use them as a springboard for education. Many countries in East and West Africa are facing incredible humanitarian and political challenges. We see public music as a way to help inspire education and foster a sense of mutual humanity.

Over the last 5 years Gull (Nate Rappole) has been performing as a street musician across much of the United States and Mexico. He is known for his percussion project that involves the simultaneous playing of the drums and guitar. Through his travels, Nate has come to see the importance of street music as a public display of emotion and how it can be used to break down social barriers and constraints. The street can serve as a public venue for artistic experimentation and social/political creativity. In the Spring of 2011, Nate was joined on a tour of the American South by Len Albright, who had recently completed a PhD in urban sociology. They discussed the possibility of interviewing musicians on the streets in other parts of the world and how the sharing of this could open pathways for creative politics and experiences across the globe. The Street Muse Project was born." (More here)

Gull- 8888 CS A-side (Self-released, 2010)

Nathaniel Rappole, aka Gull, has been steady mystifying RVA and beyond with his masked one-man guitar/drum rhythm spectacle. His live act is truly something to behold, and Nate's been known to take it to the streets with a gusto and relentlessness foiled only by the occasional local police. Gull's first proper release was the Thin King 7" released by Molsook Records in 2010 (*downloadable here), but Nate's put out plenty as a member of Snack Truck and Ultra Dolphins as well. He's also one of the nicest dudes. Check it....

Gull on PBS:


And scope this local news spot. Gull's playing the sidewalk in front of Plan 9 Music (former employer of mine) in Carytown...




So, Nate has lavished me with an unreleased and ethereal home-recorded Gull cassette that is an honor to share. It appears to represent Gull's more contemplative side; subliminal and spooky. Great stuff & quite different from the links above. Says he:

"this recording was made over the course of a couple of days in january 10'. i used only what i had in my room at the time, with the exception of 1 porch item. everything was recorded with a dictaphone (ie small tape recorder) and then transferred as was/is into the digital realm by a good friend." -N.R.

Enjoy.



Download Link: Gull- 8888 Cassette A-side (Self-released, 2010) *320kbps

1 year anniversary

we are the writ.
we are the weird water wasteland of the americas, the water shed.
long spears of waste and bile, baleen and tropical dust.
1 day after the (­____) of the gulf's explosion into fossil fuelic infamy,
i will name my horse g r e y g o l d.
her tomb will read "food water animal. carried the children of millions of children during the drought. a good friend."

for the taking

my life is topical. by way of touch i have managed to feel my way into my 30's. how is this possible? hardly any thought had to go into the act of surviving this long. still, here i am, now old enough to think back on my childhood and adolescence with that trick of the brain that holds the past in such high regard that the present pales by comparison. the bite is in me. it is in you. it is in the yesterborn and aftermorrow marrow.
mohave green nostalgia transmutation. my life is (____).
*something true: i went to the desert. alone.
*something false: i am a woman.

i have known women

in my native land (_____).
my blood is that of many places. hers too.
so is hers.
beat the grackle with a fist shaped wing and give her back the conundrum.
give it and beat it into blood.

your language is d e a d

dear hopi,
your children will never taste with their own tongues,
for they have been stripped from their mouths by strange white stains.
(_____) and no one cares.

1 year anniversary

we are the writ.
we are the weird water wasteland of the americas, the water shed.
long spears of waste and bile, baleen and tropical dust.
1 day after the (­____) of the gulf's explosion into fossil fuelic infamy,
i will name my horse g r e y g o l d.
her tomb will read "food water animal. carried the children of millions of children during the drought. a good friend."

for the taking

my life is topical. by way of touch i have managed to feel my way into my 30's. how is this possible? hardly any thought had to go into the act of surviving this long. still, here i am, now old enough to think back on my childhood and adolescence with that trick of the brain that holds the past in such high regard that the present pales by comparison. the bite is in me. it is in you. it is in the yesterborn and aftermorrow marrow.
mohave green nostalgia transmutation. my life is (____).
*something true: i went to the desert. alone.
*something false: i am a woman.

i have known women

in my native land (_____).
my blood is that of many places. hers too.
so is hers.
beat the grackle with a fist shaped wing and give her back the conundrum.
give it and beat it into blood.

your language is d e a d

dear hopi,
your children will never taste with their own tongues,
for they have been stripped from their mouths by strange white stains.
(_____) and no one cares.

Gull- Shackleton

Gull is a mystery-mask from Richmond, VA. A bizarro Snacktruck / Ultra Dolphins spazz-rock solo project compliments of Mr. Nate Rappole. "It's heavy, I'm happy."
"Shackleton"