Dave Adams is not a musician. But he’s a devoted believer in music’s power to inspire creativity, community and emotion. So one day, Dave bought a used guitar, gave it away to someone who could use it to make music — and started The Acoustic Guitar project. Dave’s conditions: 1. The musician has one week to record an original song using only a used acoustic guitar and a handheld recorder provided by The Acoustic Guitar Project. No editing or post-production is allowed. 2. When the musician is finished, they sign the guitar, take a picture of themselves with it, and choose the next musician to participate. The guitar travels to a new musician every week, becoming a viral memento. Today, the first traveling acoustic guitar is with its eighteenth owner in New York City. Every week a newborn song appears at http://theacousticguitarproject.com as a free download, along with lyrics, photos, and candid interviews with the songwriter.  A second guitar has been making the rounds in Helsinki, starting with the Finland winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, one of Europe’s most popular TV shows. Singer-songwriters of all stripes have crafted heartfelt ballads and bluesy riffs. No two songs are the same… read more →

How would you describe a project that is part immersive theater, part designer kidnapping, and totally top secret? Awesome. That’s how. Wanderlust rendezvous: Oct. 6th, 7 pm sharp. Our agent will find you on the north end of the High Line, 30th St. & 10th Ave. Sturdy shoes/warm clothes/flashlight. That brief and cryptic text message was all we received before everything went down. My partner-in-crime and I gather with 5 other couples on the top of the High Line on a brisk early October evening. At 7, our agent arrives dressed in dapper 70s vintage gear and holding an orange Igloo beverage jug. He introduces himself as Fox and asks us if we are there for the couples retreat. We say yes. A couple of confused tourists say “no” and scamper off. Fox leads us down the stairs of the High Line to street level, where we board a big hippie RV named Harvey Love Muscle. Destination? Unknown. “We can’t tell you, but it’s about 2 hours from the City.” Ok. Sure. Just go with the flow. That’s part of the fun of it all. After a brief stop for gas, there’s nothing left to do but sit back, relax,… read more →

October’s Awesome Ottawa award goes to Christopher Smeenk to support his making music with lasers. Christopher, a physics PhD student at the University of Ottawa and the Attosecond Science Lab at the National Research Council, explains that his scientific work “focuses on applications of ultrashort laser pulses to control and image matter on the atomic scale.” But he’s also interested in, as he puts it, “delivering tangible outcomes that non-specialists can enjoy.” So he has developed a new method to make music that he calls the laser musicbox. “New developments in laser technology,” Christopher explains, “make it possible to use light to create and control sound – merging the sensations of sight and hearing into a single experience. By focusing an ultrashort laser pulse into air it is possible to simultaneously generate an audible sound and colours spanning the entire visible spectrum. By focusing a laser pulse into air we create a plasma, i.e., a gas of electrons and ions. When the hot plasma expands into the surrounding cooler air it creates a shock wave that you can hear. By controlling the frequency of the laser pulses we can manipulate the pitch of the note and play a melody.” So… read more →

It’s time!  Awesome Kingston is relaunching following our summer break, and you’re not going to want to miss this one.  That’s because we’re shaking things up – instead of being on the third Thursday of the month, it’ll be on the fourth Thursday of October, the 25th, at the Kingston Brewing Company.   No, that’s not the shake-up, this is: instead of having five pitches from the community, the trustees are going to be pitching their awesome ideas to you!  That means that there will be five seats up for grabs, one of which could be yours to help make the final decision on who will walk away with the $1,000 awesome grant for this month. Seating is limited at the Brew Pub, so please RSVP on our Facebook Event as soon as you can.  Make sure you Like our Facebook Page and follow us on Twitter, because one of those seats might be given away online in the weeks leading up to the pitch party, hint hint! Check out our website for past winners, and when you have that little flash of genius pop up, submit in an application and you could be selected to pitch at our next party.  Submissions are now… read more →

The winner of Awesome Foundation – Calgary’s SUPER SPECIAL September 2012 $1,000 no-strings attached micro-grant goes to Natalie Meisner with “PODPLAYS: Downloadable Art for Your Ears.”