To find out what Halsey is up to instead, please check out his website:

Halsey Burgund's website

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Summary:

Number of voices recorded: 102 (yes, this is no joke)
Reading sheets used: 24
Weather: bright sun on a shiny building
Level of success: extremely high (and exhausting)
Records broken: most participants ever recorded at a single event (triple digits!)
Photos: Check them out

Initially, I thought that it might not be as cool to have the booth stationed in the tent outside the new ICA as opposed to being inside the new building, but as the day progressed, it became clear to me that this was the place to be. Don't get me wrong, the museum itself is beautiful and a fantastic place to see art, but I was there to collect voices and to spread the word of BYOV and there is nothing better than a captive audience to facilitate this. You see, the ICA can only hold a certain number of people at a time, and since it seemed like everyone in Boston was at the opening, they couldn't let everyone in at the same time. They devised a system of rolling admissions based on ticket numbers which seemed to work pretty well. And while people waited their turn, they got to hang out in the cozy warm entrance tent, listen to live music, drink some complimentary hot beverages, and, you guessed it, record their voices for me.

I was setup and ready to record around 9AM, and it was non-stop action from that point on. Typically it takes a little bit for things to get going, but this one kicked right in and didn't stop. I had to turn people away at the end when I was too exhausted to keep on going. I took one half hour break to go check out the museum, but given the crowds and the brevity of the visit, I didn't get to experience it as I would have liked, but this will happen upon my return sometime soon, I hope. The Artist Prize exhibit looked great, and CHAIRS, my collaboration with Kelly Sherman was up and running and looking good.

Thank you to Kathleen and David at the ICA for their support and persistence with making this whole thing happen. I was honored to be a part of the opening of such an exciting new institution in Boston.

As usual, click below to access some representative audio clips:

- If this booth was a work of art, what would you call it?
- Do you consider yourself an artist?

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Summary:

Number of voices recorded: 41
Reading sheets used: 23
Weather: crisper than a fresh macoun
Level of success: high, despite another slow start
Records broken: shortest distance traveled AND most people in the booth who didn't know each other
Photos: Check them out

We had to make a big decision immediately upon arriving at the museum: shady and cold, hopefully moving towards sunny and warm; or sunny and crisp with the fear of afternoon shade. We went for the immediate gratification of the warm sun and given the fact that it clouded over later in the day anyway, we definitely made the right call.

One of the reasons that I really enjoy BYOV events is that I get to meet lots of different people. What I have also found - which I find incredibly cool - is that sometimes different people who are waiting to participate, or who have just participated begin to chat with each other and connect somehow over the shared experience of BYOV. And then I put their voices together in music so they can hang out more.
At DeCordova this notion was taken further than ever before when four kids, only two of whom knew each other, actually got in the booth together to record. It's pretty tight in there to be with people you don't know! I love how kids can be so uninhibited; I can't imagine this scenario would ever happen with adults...

Thank you to Corey and Lynn for being our gracious hosts and to the DeCordova Cafe who comped us a blackened tofu (I'm not kidding!) sandwich which otherwise would have been dramatically beyond our means...

As usual, click below to access some representative audio clips:

- When was the last time you bought a piece of art?
- How did you feel walking around the museum today?

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Summary:

Number of voices recorded: 21
Reading sheets used: 23
Weather: a beautiful day to be in the courtyard
Level of success: very successful AND entertaining
Records broken: most security guards surrounding the booth
Photos: Check them out

We were given a great location in the courtyard of P.S.1. People had to walk right past the booth to enter the museum, and all the individuals who wanted to eat their lunch outside or otherwise just enjoy the beautiful day, were occupying tables surrounding the booth. The day got off to a somewhat slow start, but picked up significantly by mid-afternoon.

The highlight of the afternoon had to have been the 'incident' involving a painter recently returned from Burning Man who decided to make it his mission to get arrested for trying to bring a tiny fluffy white dog into the museum (named Muffin, no less). Though I found this incredibly entertaining, the manager of security, whose job it is to be not amused with anything at all, earned more than his daily wages.

This man reasoned that since they allowed Picasso's dog, Lump, into the museum for an exhibit, how was it fair to not allow Muffin in as well? He was most definitely in a mood for self-expression, so I took it upon myself to escort him from the circle of eight security guards into the booth for some good old fashioned bringing his voice (listen below!)

Other than that, New York provided a number of other interesting, though less disruptive, individuals, and the voice collections were great. Thank you to Yng at P.S.1 for letting us infiltrate for the day and to Rene, as always, who was only minorly pleased to learn that all I see when she speaks to me is wave files coming out of her mouth...

As usual, click below to access some representative audio clips:

- Should art museums help visitors understand the art that they display?
- Should art be felt or understood?

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Summary:

Number of voices recorded: 9
Reading sheets used: 23
Weather: much nicer than the night before when we drove down
Level of success: the optimist in me says "fine"
Records broken: most cavernous and sparsely populated location ever
Photos: Check them out

We setup the booth in the main gallery on the first floor of CAM in the midst of the Jean Miotte retrospective show. It was a beautiful space, and I enjoyed being surrounded by Miotte's large abstract paintings. The weather was beautiful, and people were mainly outside, it seemed. Plenty of people ventured into the gift shop, but when they tried to enter the museum gallery, they were informed that there was an entrance fee. This unfortunately discouraged 99% of the potential entrants, most likely because in Chelsea there are free galleries every 25 feet.

That said, we were nonetheless able to record some brave individuals and a few unsuspecting children. Thank you to the CAM for letting us spend the day in your beautiful space and to Jean Miotte for providing the visuals.

As usual, click below to access some representative audio clips:

WHAT: The Bring Your Own Voice Museum Tour continues in western Massachusetts in North Adams, a mecca of culture in the Berkshires. I will be collecting opinions on art and the role of museums in today's society.

- Why did you visit MASS MoCA today?
- What role does art play in your life?

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Summary:

Number of voices recorded: 40
Reading sheets used: 22
Weather: threatening enough to be inside
Level of success: very high - lots of people, lots of voices
Records broken: most fog driven through AND earliest out of bed AND longest event ever
Photos: Check them out

The booth fit in at MASS MoCA better than anywhere else. I love the visual style of this museum which was resurrected from a number of old mill buildings. The roughness of it is quite a change from some of the other more slick and minimalist contemporary art museums I have seen lately. Aesthetics aside, this was another successful event; lots of voices, lots of interest, lots of times I said "I am a musician and I write music using spoken voices that I am here to collect today using this large plywood box".

I've always liked this area of the Berkshires as it is a great combination of culture and nature. Unfortunately, I didn't get to bike up (and down) Greylock this time like I like to do, but that might be just as well because I have never once done this without getting lost in the woods on the way down.

Thanks very much to everyone at MASS MoCA (Laura and Susan in particular) and to René and Gina who, most importantly, kept me awake while driving, but who also provided additional vital assistance throughout the day.

As usual, click below to access some representative audio clips:

- Does art have to be beautiful?
- What is the purpose of an art museum?

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Summary:

Number of voices recorded: 15
Reading sheets used: 22
Weather: more torrential than a PT Anderson movie
Level of success: much higher than I ever would have imagined given how it began
Records broken: most rain ever rained on the booth
Photos: Check them out

I had not gotten rained on quite this hard in a long long time. The streets of Portland were transformed into rapids for about an hour, filling the time between when we got the booth setup and when the event started. In that sense, the timing couldn't have been better, so I guess we were lucky, but I can't help but feel that it would have been even luckier to skip the rain entirely. I learned my lesson in Harvard Square last year, so the booth was prepared for rain as well as a plywood box can be prepared. As I was stringing up the blue tarp to the overhanging tree, I felt like I was bringing the booth on its first camping trip, hoping that the thunder wouldn't scare it.
OK, enough personification. Despite the unhelpful weather, the event was definitely a success and I am very pleased that the Portland Museum of Art wanted to participate in the tour. We had a constant stream of people recording, and even though the event was a brief 2 hours long, we managed to get fifteen voices which wasn't too bad. The crowd was quite engaged and interested in what was going on in the plywood box and only two people thought it was a peep show.

My favorite carrot again performed brilliantly, and quite remarkably retained a positive attitude throughout the evening. Thanks also to everyone at the museum who supported this project and to the curiously omnipresent security guards.

As usual, click below to access some representative audio clips:

WHAT: This event will kick off the Bring Your Own Voice Museum Tour. With dates at other museums in the northeast throughout the summer and fall, I will be collecting opinions on art and the role of museums in today's society. As always, the intent of these collections is not only to learn more about what people think about topics that interest me, but to act as raw material for a musical work.

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Summary:

Number of voices recorded: 39
Reading sheets used: 22
Weather: way too hot to be outside doing much of anything
Level of success: very high - a great way to kick-off the tour
Records broken: first time Perrier was provided to us!
Photos: Check them out

I hope that the entire BYOV Museum Tour goes as well as this event. The venue was great, both logistically and in terms of the people who work there. The voice collecting went at a steady and more relaxed pace throughout which was a nice change from the usual fits and starts. René and I both remarked at how we weren't totally wiped afterwards like we were after the Museum of Science event. We had yummy Indian food to celebrate and then I got to watch a recap of the day's activities on Le Tour (this was quite a treat since I have no cable at home!)

HUGE thanks to René, the woman who can cheerily convince just about anyone to enter a small dark box to record their voice (even accompanied by a photographer!). Also to the incredibly kind people at the Aldrich. You are all inspirational.

As usual, click below to access some representative audio clips:

WHAT: I participated in this event last year and though it rained for most of it, I did get some good voices and learned a few things like to use waterproof markers on the booth and to not delay epoxying it's edges any more. MayFair is a fun event to check out; they close down the streets of Harvard Square to cars and there are tons of vendors and performances on the street all over the place.

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Summary:

Number of voices recorded: 33
Reading sheets used: 15, 19
Weather: perfectly sunny but cool for May; just what you want when you have to hang out outside all day
Level of success: started off VERY slow, but then picked up to the normal frenzy
Records broken: this isn't really a broken record, but this event was the first that I was forced to erase older recordings on my hard disk recorder because it filled up. This means that I have over 20 gigabytes of recordings. Clearly there is something wrong with me...
Photos: Check them out

I always forget that these events take some warming up. For the first hour or so, there wasn't much interest, but as soon as things got going, it was non-stop. I was set-up right downwind from Cafe of India which made me hungry all day and taught me a bit about how to bake naan.

Thanks, as always, to my loyal helpers and supporters. This is not an individual undertaking.

As usual, click below to access some representative audio clips:

Right now, I'm thinking of these for starters:

Museum of Fine Arts - Boston
New Museum - New York
Peabody Essex Museum - Salem, MA
ICA - Boston
Portland Museum of Art - Portland, ME
Mass MoCA - North Adams, MA

Anyone have any other ideas? How about connections at these or other places?!

I'll keep you posted.

Thank you everyone who has participated in any form. Your support is invaluable.

# of events - 10
# of voices recorded - 233
# of songs written - 8 (completed)
# of albums released - 1
degree of fame attained - still working on that...

the booth started out looking like this:

and now looks more like this:

I think it's no worse for the wear...

WHAT: The Museum of Science in Boston has asked me to participate in their Current Science and Technology ongoing series of presentations. I will be set up in the central foyer area of the Main Exhibition Hall (Blue Wing) for the afternoon, collecting voices and explaining my process to those interested. I will be interviewed for one of their podcasts as well which will be released during the following week.

A producer for Weekend America - a public radio program that airs nationally every weekend - will also be there documenting the event for a piece to be broadcast later in January. The piece will include audio from this event and others as well as music that I write using the voices I collected at the events.

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Summary:

Number of voices recorded: 53
Reading sheets used: 16
Weather: cold, but bright and sunny. was nice to be inside, but in a big, open space nonetheless.
Level of success: probably the highest yet.
Records broken: number of people recorded - apparently the MoS averages about 5-6000 visitors a day on the weekends. It felt like I talked to every single one of them.
Photos: Check them out

This event seemed to be on a new level. Perhaps I have crossed some threshold. I say this not necessarily because of the results, as I have not yet been able to dive into those fully yet, but because of the experience of the event itself. It was very crowded and the level of interest in what I was doing was higher than anything I had experienced before.

I wanted to have an event at the MoS because of the fact that people go there expecting to have new experiences and more importantly, expecting to interact and participate with other people and with exhibits. This puts everyone in the perfect mindset for participating in Bring Your Own Voice. I had a line of sorts for most of the day and felt bad that some people didn't have enough time to wait until their turn. It felt very nice to not have to sell the idea quite as much as usual; there was buying going on all over the place. I really didn't have to do much more than explain what I was doing to get people eager to enter the booth.

It was also really fun being interviewed for the Current Science and Technology podcast as well as having the opportunity to speak briefly to the crowd as part of the CS&T presentations that afternoon. The Weekend America producer documented the event with her own recording equipment, and I have lots of confidence that she will put together something compelling and will do whatever she can to make me seem interesting and cool!

The Museum of Science is one of the most revered institutions in Boston, I think, and is a hugely popular destination for locals as well as visitors from around the globe. I think that it is a great thing for such an institution to go out of its way to support and involve me, a local musician, in their activities. It shows a commitment to the local arts community and a willingness to experiment with new and relatively unknown projects - two rare qualities in such venerable institutions. I have had experiences with other large institutions (which will remain nameless) - ones that were actually much more obviously suited to a BYOV event - but they were, nonetheless, dramatically less helpful and interested. We are lucky to have the MoS.

HUGE thanks to René for a very long day of tireless (and food-less!) help - how did a nice girl like you get involved with something like this, anyway? Also, Carole and Adam and everyone else at the Museum of Science for agreeing to host such an unusual event and for being so helpful and accommodating throughout the process. Thanks!

As usual, click below to access some representative audio clips:

WHAT: I am really excited to be setting up the booth at World Cafe Live. Not only is this simply a great venue for cutting edge live music, but it is the sister operation of the venerable World Cafe radio program produced out of WXPN in Philly. David Dye is the host of this show and spends lots of time seeking out new and interesting music that deserves to be spread to the eager ears of us listeners and the mission of the live venue is much the same. I wish that I could get involved with the radio program as well, but being there in the first place is a good start.

I will be setting up in the lobby with great visual presence starting at 6PM when the doors open for the show. I'll remain setup until the show is over, though I imagine once the music has started, there won't be too much participation. The performance for that evening is What is Jazz? presented by Ropeadope & Blue Note Records so it should be a very interesting evening all around. Hopefully I'll have a chance to meet some of the performers and people from Blue Note and Ropeadope. I'm coming to understand that promotion is all about simply putting yourself out there enough to generate random connections. You never know who will be where at what time. The only thing you can control is the extent to which you allow - even encourage - these random things to happen.

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Summary:

Number of voices recorded: 15
Reading sheets used: 14, 13, 15
Weather: OK for the event (not that it really mattered), but terrible on the drive home
Level of success: high - not tons of voices, but great exposure and interesting people around
Records broken: most rain on the drive back
Photos: Check them out

Well, it is a long drive to Philly from Boston, especially when you have the New Jersey turnpike to contend with. I hate that road with a passion, but it's sort of hard to avoid on this trip. Thankfully the event itself, and my time in Philly with friends made this transitional experience well worth it.

I did know that World Cafe Live was the coolest live venue in Philadelphia, as this is what all my sources have said, but now I know why. The place is beautifully built with a great design aesthetic and, more importantly, excellent sound. They have quality acts coming through nightly and the whole place is very professionally run. Hell, even the nachos are really good (no skimping on the guacamole!)

So this is what greeted me upon arriving and stayed with me throughout. I set the booth up in the vaulted and muraled lobby between the downstairs venue and the WXPN radio studios and I think it fit in pretty well. I was able to meet, record and explain what I was doing to a number of people at WCL and WXPN (including David Dye himself) as well as a bunch of concert-goers. This is what Bring Your Own Voice is all about.

Special thanks to Julie, first and foremost, for hanging in there all evening giving me tons of moral and physical support, and to the crew at WCL - Karl and Laura in particular - for letting me do this in the first place and for being so helpful throughout. Thanks!

As usual, click below to access some representative audio clips:

WHAT: Oktoberfest is essentially the same thing as Mayfair, but, you guessed it, in a different month. Despite the rain at Mayfair, it was a great opportunity to expose the BYOV booth to lots of new people and to get some interesting recordings as well. I hope that the same will prove to be true for Oktoberfest, and I hope even more that we don't get rained on. Since that incident, I have made a few modifications to the booth involving marine epoxy and permanent markers, so even if we do get a bit of rain, I will be better prepared.
I do not yet know where the booth will be positioned, but most likely it will again be next to Out of Town News. There should be a bunch of interesting vendors, artists and music going on, so there will be plenty of entertainment to go around.

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Summary:

Number of voices recorded: 26
Reading sheets used: 9, 14, 13
Weather: sunny and hotter than one would have expected
Level of success: high - lots of voices and general interest
Records broken: number of times I explained what a big plywood box was doing on the street in Harvard Square
Photos: Check them out

This time around in Harvard Square, things were much more under control. Not only have I gained important BYOV event experience, but the weather was dramatically better than last time. The biggest problem with the booth was that it got a bit hot when sitting in the direct sun, but thankfully I had a fan to cool things off so it wasn't too bad.

There were tons of people walking by, asking questions, reading the text on my scrolling message sign or just simply seeing the booth, so this was a great marketing event. Having been in New York the day before for a four hour event, I was a bit nervous that another six hours of explaining and recording might be a bit much, but it went much faster than I expected. I was glad to not be off to a different city that night though.

Thanks a lot to Kris B. for the MAJOR assistance setting up and breaking down as well as to Crystal B. (hmm...Kris B. and Crystal B....I'm not making this up!) for being a remarkably pleasant draftee.

As usual, click below to access some representative audio clips:

WHAT: I am venturing south to the BIG city for the first time with the Bring Your Own Voice booth. I think this venue will be great as it is a very impressive art gallery with cool architecture including a courtyard which is where, weather depending, I will set up the booth. JKFA is particularly appropriate for a BYOV event as this is the gallery where Tanja Alexia Hollander shows her work in New York. JKFA also represents a large number of other famous and talented artists.

So please join me and Tanja and everyone at the gallery for an afternoon of voice recording and viewing of cutting edge contemporary art. I need to hear the voices of New York.

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Summary:

Number of voices recorded: 26
Reading sheets used: 12, 9, 14
Weather: beautiful, though slightly warm for New England fall
Level of success: high - excellent first trip to NYC
Records broken: number of voices recorded
Photos: Check them out

New York is a different beast than Boston. This statement is true in so many ways, but for me and BYOV events, it was mainly different because it required significantly more travel than anything in the past, and New York is so much bigger and more unfamiliar to me than Boston. That said, this event went very smoothly. I was remarkably lucky with the parking, the weather behaved perfectly and truth be told, there were really no technical glitches or other unforseen difficulties.

I set up in the courtyard of JKFA which was a beautiful location, and served my purposes as well since everyone who entered the gallery had to pass through that space. The booth generated lots of interest and I ended up being pretty busy all afternoon explaining what on earth it was that I was doing to curious gallery patrons. My parents and cousin (with wife!) joined the fun as did friends from college (one of whom carries the dubious distinction of having been the lead singer in the cover band I played in freshman year - yes, it's sad, but at least I made some money!) so I was never without friendly support.

Big thanks to Jim and Jen at JKFA for their assistance and to Tanja for helping set the whole thing up.

As usual, click below to access some representative audio clips: