10/21 | Adult Swim Returns: HALLOWEIRD @ Madison Children’s Museum + 100th anniversary NOSFERATU screening w/ live score!

Adult Swim Returns!
HALLOWEIRD @ Madison Children’s Museum
Friday, October 21st 2022
5:30 pm – 9:00 pm
TICKETS

6:30pm on 2nd floor
NOSFERATU (1922) 100th anniversary screening!
with Live Score and Sound FX by DB Pedersen, Brennan Connors & BC Grimm


Monsters and robots and clowns, oh my! Adult Swim returns after three long years!
Adult Swim at Madison Children’s Museum honors the public pool tradition of kicking the kids out so adults can have the space to themselves (without the water or need for a swimsuit). This 21-and-up event series offers adults the opportunity to play like a grown-up for the evening—crawling, sliding, crafting, and dancing their way through the museum. Don’t miss the Wonderground, our newest 10,000 square foot outdoor playground and exhibit space.

Join us to celebrate Halloween in style – wear your favorite costume or make costume accessories after you arrive. Additional activities:

  • Get sketchy or model your costume for a fast-draw competition
  • Compete in a horror film scavenger hunt
  • Experiment with dry ice bubbles
  • Make spooky or silly ghost print
  • Relive a childhood nightmare as you share your worst trick-or-treat “treat”
  • Enjoy a vintage horror flick with live sci fi accompaniment
  • Enter our costume fashion show and contest to win fabulous prizes
  • Halloween crafts galore!

Tickets

  • $20 advance (advance sales end at noon on day of event).
  • $25 at the door

Ages 21 & up

Ticket cancellation/exchange policy.

Please note, this event is not affiliated with ADULT SWIM, the television and entertainment network—also, we don’t have a swimming pool.


Behold the Monstrosity of DB Squidersen!!

I’m very excited to perform once again with DB Pedersen! He’s been one of the most frequent collaborators to pop up on the GrimmusiK website, and of course, one of my favorite human beings that I’ve met in Madison! It’s been a little while since we’ve performed together; partly due to DB having a few year stint as a chef out in Spring Green at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin and partly due to the obvious lack of performances during this Covid era… I can’t think of a better way to reconnect than scoring a spooky silent film during its centennial this Halloween! DB and I have performed a lot of free improvisation in Madison over the years, most notably in our trio with my brother AJ, called “Sister’s Three”. A big highlight was when Sisters Three composed & performed a live theater score for A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Bartell Theatre (Madison, WI) with Strollers Theatre Company. DB is well known for his throat singing expertise, impromptu theatrics and a knack for making any sound effect you could ever imagine with his mouth! If you haven’t seen him perform before, you are in for a major treat; it’s always unpredictable, surprising, funny, and even spiritual when DB gets on stage.

db pedersen in a Spring Green silo!

Brennan Connors performing with Stray Passage @ Cafe CODA | (c) 2018 Paul S Howell Photography

Most of you will know Brennan Connors from our decade long collaboration in his jazz trio Brennan Connors & Stray Passage. Saxophonist and improvisor extraordinaire, Brennan has recently developed a new style which dips into the sonic territory of 20th century composition. Brennan has been working on heady, layered dissonances and new concepts to break him away from expected norms in today’s Jazz or even New Music scenes. It’s been a long time since I’ve improvised with Brennan in such a different mode, outside of the Jazz Trio idiom. I can’t wait to see what he brings to the table!


Not only have DB and I performed a lot of free-improv together, but Brennan and DB have also shared the stage countless times in their free-improv group Amoebageddon. With soundscapes built from flutes and implements through loop stations, saxophones, and electric cello accompanied by live visual art on a projector – this was one of my favorite Madison area acts to see in the free-improv and experimental scene! We’ll be drawing on years of various collaborative configurations in order to bring you a Live Improvised Score to the silent horror film classic Nosferatu!

“did somebody say my name…?”

Film Screening: starting at 6:30pm on the 2nd floor, we’ll be celebrating the 100th anniversary of Nosferatu (1922), an unauthorized film adaptation of the novel Dracula (1887) by Bram Stoker. As the fates would have it… this is actually the second time that I’ll be performing a live improvised score to this film, also at a museum! Back around 2008-2010 I was in a guerilla new music ensemble of graduate composers at Butler University called Ensemble 48. One of our most memorable performances was a live, outdoor, improvised score to Nosferatu, with the film MASSIVELY projected onto the entire side wall of a museum in Indianapolis! It was so much fun! Miss these goofballs >>

vintage Ensemble 48, in costume after our Nosferatu screening in 2008! pictured Left to Right (standing): Joshua Morris, Nick Liebman, Adam Cohen-Leadholm, Zane Merritt, Megan Pokorney, Brian Grimm; (kneeling) Scott Comanzo, Matt Smart.

see you there…..

Closing Weekend for “The Wanderers” at The Overture Center!

Presented by Forward Theater Company
Thursday, September 8th through Sunday, September 25th (TICKETS)
@ The Overture Center for the Arts Playhouse Theater (Madison, WI)

a play by Anna Ziegler
Directed by Mikael Burke (Chicago)
Wisconsin Premiere!

Esther and Schmuli are young Orthodox Jews whose future is written in scripture. Abe and Sophie believe they can write their own destiny. On the surface, these two couples couldn’t seem more different. But when a Hollywood actress upends Abe’s world, the hidden connections between all of them start to appear. This funny and mysterious drama explores the question of whether happiness lies in what we have, or on the road not taken.


“As perfect a piece of theater as I’ve seen in many years. The script by Anna Ziegler is a revelation, touching on family truths, marriage, and personal histories…Go see this show. It’s magnificent.”
– DC Theatre Scene

Buy Tickets here

With Cassandra Bissell, Elyse Edelman, Alanna Lovely, Paris Hunter Paul, Greg Pragel

Featuring Special Local Guest Musicians YID VICIOUS Klezmer Ensemble!

Scenic Designer: Sarah Ross
Lighting Designer: Brad Toberman
Costume Designer: Karen Brown-Larimore
Sound Designer/Composer: Brian Grimm
Props Master: Pam Miles
Technical Director: Kevin Zimmer
Stage Manager: Kira Neighbors
Asst. Stage Manager: Abbi Hess


I had such a blast recording music with Madison’s own Yid Vicious Klezmer Ensemble for the score of “The Wanderers” by Anna Ziegler! I’m so honored to have collaborated with such fine musicians & friends and can’t wait for you to hear their beautiful playing in this production!

Pictured members of Yid Vicious:
Matt Appleby – guitar
Kia Karlen – accordion & horn
Geoff Brady – vibraphone
Greg Smith – flutes & clarinets

Also pictured:
Brian Grimm – composer, cello at the playhouse theater
Zelda Brethauer – sleeping studio assistant


6/11 | Isthmus Jazz Festival: Five Points Jazz Collective CD Release + Live Art!

Tues, 6/11, 9p-12a no cover @ The Mason Lounge
416 S Park St, Madison, WI 53715, USA
Isthmus Jazz Festival presents the
Five Points Jazz Collective CD Release show with Live Art!

“Don’t Worry About It” CDs $10

Entering Madison’s Mason Lounge for the first time, one immediately notices the quirks. The stuffed chicken in a henhouse in the wall, complete with straw. The action figures dangling from string, rigged up to move when someone opens the door to the restroom. The collection of neckties and paint can lids on the walls. Every element is so out of place, it somehow fits.

Like the décor, the Five Points Jazz Collective is quirky and disparate. Serving as the house band since the Mason opened in 2010, the Collective is an extended family of local musicians from varied backgrounds. Playing a mixture of jazz old and new, the group has evolved over the years from an open jam into a stable sextet with an increasingly large repertoire.

In its current incarnation, the group consists of Rin Ribble (violin), Eric Shackelford (drums), band leader Charlie Painter (guitar), Trey Grimm (keyboard), Kyle Rightley (trombone and euphonium), and Brian Grimm (bass and contracello). As Tuesday night regulars will attest, no two shows are ever alike. Listeners can expect to hear many subgenres of Jazz including swing standards, modal jazz, latin jazz, pop arrangements, blues, and funk.

Five Points at the Mason’s frozen back patio on set break – photo by Matthew Norman

About the CD Release

In collaboration with the Isthmus Jazz Festival, the Five Points Jazz Collective will be celebrating its first official album release! For 5 years the sextet version of this collective has played nearly 50 shows a year and decided it was time to lay down favorite selections of our vast catalogue. When listening to this debut album, you’ll feel the energy and spontaneity of the Five Points live sound with the buzzing atmosphere created by our regular fans. CDs and download cards will be available for sale at the show. Come grab your very own copy of this special recording captured live at the Mason Lounge!

Our CD Release will be made extra special with live visual artist contributions. Watch along as one of our most regular supporters John Ribble, plus special guest Jim McKiernan, create portraits of band members in real time to our music!

Live Drawing of me on bass at the Mason by John Ribble!

1/24 | I, Resolve 2019: DAIS Fundraiser

On Thursday, 1/24 from 5:30-7:30pm in Boardman & Clark Law Offices at the US Bank Building; the annual fundraiser to fight domestic abuse against women “I, RESOLVE” will be held.  Suggested donation is $20 and the event includes silent auction, live music (provided by yours truly), hor d’oeuvres, and drinks.  Hosted by Legal Association for Women to benefit Domestic Abuse Intervention Services (DIAS) Legal Program.  Please RSVP to Jennifer Luther at jluther@axley.com.

Hope to see you there,
Brian