BrianWallace

brianwallace is a singer and multi-instrumentalist, composer, poet, entertainer, and media and graphic artist, performing original songs with voice and, in succession, guitar, sarode, viola, bansuri (bamboo flute), piano, saxaphlute, and drum, with intriguing lyrics and eclectic world rhythmic and melodic styles (loosely drawn from Hawaiian, Brazilian, Irish, Caribbean, Indian, African, Californian, etc. etc.).

Having graduated from Harvard University with a Summa Cum Laude thesis in English Literature, Brian has studied with Maestro Ali Akbar Khan at the Ali Akbar College of Music, and has co-founded, with Faustin Bray, Sound Photosynthesis and the Association for Cultural Evolution, & bands Nomadband and Intuit!. BW has created large scale graphic art, invented & developed a new poetic form, and traveled extensively while performing his songs in showplaces ranging from formal concert halls in South America and San Francisco to pubs in Greenwich Village and Ireland. From West Africa to Esalen to Maui to India to Berkeley, each new audience or gathering receives from this essentially joyful accumulated journey and transmits to the next.

recent history

SAN FRANCISCO, at Grace Cathedral, multiple sarode and bansuri performances in main nave, “Yoga on the Labyrinth” (w/ Darren Main & Christopher Love); concert, with Purnima Jha & Sakuwat Ali Khan, at Herbst Theatre; full California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) Annual Bina & Haridas Chaudhuri Gala events, every one for its eleven years, with Aushim Chaudhuri, and most recently Nilan Chaudhuri, on tabla; 2016 and ‘18 performances for the CIIS Commencement Ceremonies there; multiple weekly solo gigs at Kava Lounge, on Divisidero; three months weekly at The Metropolitan, Sutter & Grant; two concerts with Aushim at the Integral Yoga Institute; two solo concerts, and Wallace family art show, at the Presidio Alliance; singular events at Fairmont San Francisco; three years weekly at Gaylord India, Ghirardelli Square;  full solo concert in Series at Union Square Outdoor Stage; regular thematic appearances at Anon Salon; multiple evenings at Macarthur Park, Front Street; many years performing for the annual Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve banquets for all SF homeless at Martin's; a series of weekends at Little City in North Beach; evenings at Julie's Supper Club, Folsum, and Canto do Brazil; three nights a week for over a year at Roti Bistro in Burlingame; gigs at Icon Byte Bar, Brainwash, Minna Street Gallery, Focus Gallery, & the Verbum Be-In at the Transmission Theatre - Paradise Lounge; two 4/20 festivals at Maritime Hall; "La Belle Epoque" multimedia event at Vorpal Gallery; two years on-staff musician of The Potrero Hill Neighborhood House (including for the developmentally disabled program, Head Start program, concerts and teaching); main stage solo at huge 2003 pre-invasion of Iraq, Civic Center (and world-wide) anti-war rally (preceding Michael Franti), and many other such over decades; opening for Robert Bly, solo, at San Jose State University.

In MARIN, multiple gigs, solo and with bands, at Sausalito Seahorse, and two seasons, solo, every friday, at Magic Garden there; recently, every friday evening for many years at Pelican Inn, at Muir Beach; for seven years, every thursday & saturday evening at Taj of Marin, San Rafael; until then, four evenings each week for its full run of four years, at Gaylord India Restaurant and Classic Bar, in Sausalito, plus many associated weddings and private events; house musician for many years, multiple gigs a week, at The Mountain Home Inn, inside and out, on Mount Tamalpais above Mill Valley; Many social and ceremomial events, such as with Doctor Gerry, at Nomadhouse on Mount Tam; and on the Sausalito ferryboat The Vallejo, such as for The Crown Prince of Tonga; years of “First Monday”, playing sarode & bansuri for yoga at Red Dragon Mill Valley (with Stephanie Schreiber & others teaching; regular at Yoga St. Johns in Ross (with Christopher Love), and at Yogaworks (with Christy Brown) in Mill Valley; also multiple afternoons solo on Sausalito Seahorse deck; concert at Headlands Hostel; Mill Valley Film Festival Gala at Mill Valley Outdoor Art Club; Center for Attitudinal Healing Gala at Marin Civic Center;  many months weekly at Il Piccolo in Sausalito; three nights a week for many months at Aloha Junction in Mill Valley; three months at Cafe Soleil in Sausalito; solo concert at Open Secret in San Rafael; a month at Harbor Grill in Sausalito, and of saturday evenings at The Caprice in Tiburon; weekly for many months at Mama's Royal Cafe in Mill Valley; art currently at Sausalito Seahorse, and Ali Akbar College of Music; also exhibited at Seahorse Sausalito Art Fair, Headlands Hostel, Gaylord India, Il Piccolo, and Mountain Home Inn.

In BERKELEY & OAKLAND, full evening concert at University of California’s International House series, and numerous Spring Festival performances; multiple gigs at Jupiter (afternoons and evenings, inside and out), Shattuck in Berkeley; opening uplift performance each day of two week Forrest Yoga teaching intensive with Anna Forrest and Jose Calarco in Oakland; full afternoon concert at UC's University Art Museum; four nights a week for three years at Kamal Palace; multiple sundays at the South American style restaurant, La Paz; weekly for many months at Cafe 1428 at African dance oriented Alice Arts Center in Oakland; friday night at Jack's Bistro, Jack London Square; multiple saturday nights at Anna's Jazz club in Berkeley; weekly for two years at Pasand Restaurant, with Aushim; three months weekly at the Durant Hotel's Henry's Publick House; weekly at Palestinian style Fertile Grounds; over twenty-five evenings solo at Bison Brewing on Telegraph; two performances at Cal's International House Cafe; live guest twice on KPFA, as “Flashpoints Musician” (&, also, during “Camp KPFA” strike, performed & hosted a full KPFA internet broadcast); outdoor concert at Berkeley Arts Museum; multiple venues with Purnima Jha’s kathak dance troupe; solo performance presented, with Robert Anton Wilson, by Mondo 2000, at Julia Morgan Theatre; ongoing art show at Tibet Cafe on University; also art shows at Au Coquelet & Kamal Palace and Fertile Grounds, and a block long, 3 story high, commissioned mural near Harbour by I-580 in Richmond.

In the BIG SUR/CARMEL/MONTEREY area, Saturday evenings and muiltiple others, currently & past two years at Aabha, Carmel-by-the-Sea: Saturday nights at the Monterey Plaza Hotel's Schooners; multiple concerts, solo and with full band, at Esalen Institute; as well as multiple longstanding week long workshops co-leader there (see HISTORY below); for over two years, solo, every saturday night, with sundays & other afternoons, at The Big Sur Lodge; while playing friday nights at The River Inn; multiple friday evenings at Monterey Doubletree Hotel's Peter B's; two gigs, with art exhibitions, including of Grant Wallace’s work, at The Henry Miller Library in Big Sur; headline at Morgan's, Monterey; multiple months at Samsara and, also, weekly host/organizer of "World Jam!" there; three months at Ghirardelli, and also Captain Ted's, both on Cannery Row; three seasons of weekly performances, with art and poetry as well, for Elder Hostel of America at Big Sur Lodge; gigs at Fernwood, Delmonico's, The Fishhopper; and played for the Grand Opening of the Hawthorne Gallery of Big Sur.

In MAUI in HAWAII, singing many months daily on board Navatek II (Royal Hawaiian Cruise Lines); solo evenings at Fairmont Kai Lani Resort, Wailea; multiple gigs at Pioneer Inn, Lahaina; gigs at Maui Arts & Cultural Center Film Festival; also at Ohana Gallery, Makawao, and Jameson's Pool Bar, Kehei; regular gigs at Sunrise Cafe, Lahaina; multiple gigs at Maui Coast Hotel's Oasis Pool Bar, Kehei, Wunderbar, Paia, Stopwatch, Makawao, Mexico Caliente, Kehei; gigs at Marguerita's, Stella Blues, Kaahumanu Center Stage, Marco's, and, under sail, The Windjammer Dinner Cruises; & ten years of annual Dr. John C. Lilly extravaganzas in Paia, Macawao, and Kula.

In NEW YORK, many NYC venues (see HISTORY below) including house musician for years at Café Wha! on Bleeker St; & opening there often for Richie Havens; gigs at Rebecca Hoffman Gallery, and The Outsider Art Exhibition at Pseudo Gallery; in BLACK ROCK CITY, at Burning Man, over decades, with many scheduled performances on center stage, and multiple mobile musical exstallations; with Selinda Martinez & Ali lahijanian’s “camp playa by ear” these past three years; in 2005, commissioned as "The Temple Musician" there, (by Temple artist Mark Grieve) with full jam production on David Best’s Temple Bus, touring camps, and otherwise sarode and bansuri in The Temple much of each day, and for the Temple Camp gala dinner with Larry Harvey and all; in INDIA and NEPAL, stage, rave, and casual, including multiple encounters with The Dalai Lama in DHARAMSALA; art commission graphically documenting, and participating in, The Global Peoples Assembly 2000, in SAMOA.

History:

• Director of the Harvard Krokodiloes, an a capella group with tours of EUROPE & the VIRGIN ISLANDS;

• Lead role in "Jacques Brel is Alive & Well & Living in Paris", with original New York Off-Broadway cast, in BOSTON, first run;

• Solo performances on twenty seven Pan American Airlines 747 flights from NEW YORK to AMSTERDAM as "The Flying Troubadour" (NY Times write-up);

• Solo in clubs in BOSTON, CAMBRIDGE, AMSTERDAM, GREEK ISLANDS of IOS & SERIPHOS, & WEST AFRICA's TOGO & GHANA;

• House musician at Cafe Wha!, GREENWICH VILLAGE, often opening for its owner, Richie Havens, & many others (reviews)

• Other regular NEW YORK CITY club gigs at The Bitter End, and often at Kenney’s Castaways; also Boomers, Max's Kansas City (reviews); performed with Pete Seeger on his sailing ship, "Clearwater", at ports along the HUDSON RIVER;

• Mentoring and travel in MEMPHIS and NASHVILLE with Jerry Lee Lewis; gigs in SANTA CRUZ area such as Elysium in BOULDER CREEK (reviews);

• Multiple gigs in LOS ANGELES clubs, Troubadour, Comeback Inn, and The Ice House, (represented by Mace Neufeld/ BNB Productions).

• non-stop improvisation in "The Egyptian Sun", an otherwise African-American spiritually oriented free jazz immersion ensemble;

• Two years of solo concerts of original material sponsored by the American Embassies of EQUADOR, BOLIVIA, PERU, & PARAGUAY in the large concert halls of their major cities; throughout PARAGUAY, featured on the multi-whistlestop-concerting "Train Musicale", with Paraquayan stars; night club gigs in BRAZIL (TRES RIOS, and BAHIA Carnival!), & in CARACAS, VENEZUELA; All the while traveling & teaching with Faustin throughout South America.

• In CALIFORNIA, Director of, & composer/arranger for bands, "Nomadband" & "Intuit!", with Faustin Bray, & joined by Geoffree Lipner, Phil Porter, Bilbo Bowen, Alan Biggs, Phil Bryan, Trinidadian steeldrummer Kenneth Charles, etc, events in SF bay area including Holy City Zoo, Calypso, KPIX-TV Evening Magazine, Esalen, & Fairfax’s The Sleeping Lady;

• 27 year study with sarode Maestro Ali Akbar Khan at ALI AKBAR COLLEGE OF MUSIC, and travel with him throughout NORTHERN INDIA;

• leading workshops as music instructor at ESALEN Institute, with yogi/organizer Faustin Bray, offering at least yearly week-longs such as "The Quantum Mechanical View of the Universe" (with Nobel physicist Richard Feynman - & other topics other years with him), "Art in Theory & Practice" (with Tom Van Zandt), &, filmmaking, "Dream & the Creative Process" (with Frank Barron);

• Decades of travel, study, & swimming with dolphins with Dr. John C. Lilly in MALIBU, KEY LARGO, and MAUI;

• Full Nomadband tour playing Bamboo Bar in AMSTERDAM & all major hotel showplaces and pubs throughout SOUTHERN IRELAND, including The Spaniard in KINSALE, LIMERICK's East Avenue Hotel, &, with Jimi Hendrix' bassist Noel Redding, De Barra Pub in CLONAKILTY;

• Co-founded, with Faustin Bray, the ongoing audio/video production company, Sound Photosynthesis & non-profit, Association for Cultural Evolution (SPACE), personally recording, editing, soundtracking, & making available great thinkers, philosophers, artists, musicians, spiritual teachers, scientists, & explorers such as Ali Akbar Khan, Terence McKenna, the Dalai Lama, Ram Dass, Richard Feynman, Robert Anton Wilson, George Carlin, Ann & Sasha Shulgen, & Gyoto Monks: www.sound.photosynthesis.com ; 

• continuous private & ceremonial events, art and songwriting!

thank you katie stone (gogreenb.org), and tristan naramore, and pim, and mimi, and dan weinberg and shoshana liebner, for being the IT gulls & buoys. all art & photos by brianwallace unless noted. noting, katie formalized claire’s we rainbow pic & bw messed with it; home dragon drawn loosely from ancient chinese goddess of the well woodblock. thank you oz fritz for special sound, ie: mastering.