Brian Carpenter profile picture

Brian Carpenter

World-Class Juggler and Acclaimed Astronaut

About Me

I am a multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter/composer/performer/w hat-have-you based in Boston. These days I lead and write songs for BEAT CIRCUS . I sometimes play accordion, trumpet, glockenspiel, harmonium, slide trumpet, and a few other rarities in the band HUMANWINE . I also lead and arrange music for two small orchestras, the GHOST TRAIN ORCHESTRA, and the VAUDEVILLE ORCHESTRA which performs dance music from jazz of the late 1920s and cartoon music. From 2001-2005 I hosted the free-form radio program FREE ASSOCIATION on WZBC-FM Boston College. Since 2001 I have been filming (on and off) a documentary on the life and legacy of ALBERT AYLER.

My Interests

i have been driven slightly insane by a steady stream of cartoon music. thank you for reading this.

Music:

trains...screaming...honks clangs boom whistles sirens...tiger lillies, tuxedomoon, alan splet, kurt weill, hanns eisler, heiner goebbels, carla bley, henry threadgill, john zorn, eyvind kang, marc ribot, cat power, robert wyatt, david bowie, leonard cohen, johnny cash, tom waits, brian wilson, elvis costello...early jazz of the 20s...taraf de haidouks, goran bregovic, fanfare ciocarlia, carl stalling, ennio morricone, nino rota...

Movies:

david lynch, guy maddin, tod browning, harold lloyd, john cassavetes, jim jarmusch, michael snow, stan brakhage, federico fellini...

Books:

philip k dick, samuel beckett, faulkner, flannery o'connor...

Heroes:

Good Old Dad

My Blog

The Time Machine Experiment

This summer I'm going to be working more with my band The Vaudeville Orchestra.  The process of arranging for this band is very different from Beat Circus.  Arranging for the Vaudeville Orch...
Posted by Brian Carpenter on Thu, 19 Apr 2007 01:24:00 PST

The Story Behind Dreamland

Now that we have completed mixdown on the new Beat Circus album Dreamland, it feels like a good time to discuss its evolution.Dreamland is the culmination of a two-year effort marking a radical depart...
Posted by Brian Carpenter on Mon, 26 Feb 2007 01:53:00 PST