theEastside Scene - April 2018

EASTSIDE SCENE

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FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 28, 2018 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2018

THEEASTSIDESCENE.COM www.mi-reporter.com

Kaki King performs her latest show “The Neck Is A Bridge To The Body,” which fuses a mesmerizing light show with King’s melodic guitar compositions. Photos courtesy of Simone Cecchetti

KAKI KING BRINGS COLORFUL PERFORMANCE TO KIRKLAND BY KAILAN MANANDIC kmanandic@soundpublishing.com

A lone figure sits on stage with a stark, white guitar and begins to play. The stage goes black before the guitar explodes with light and flashes images of ocean waves, buzzing wildlife and electricity. This is solo guitarist, Kaki King’s unique project that fuses guitar melodies and visual storytelling into an innovative performance that she’s bringing to the Kirkland Performance Center (KPC). The unique performance, “The Neck Is A Bridge To The Body,” utilizes projection mapping to

cast colorful textures, shapes and “visions of genesis and death” onto King’s guitar, which was customized specifically for the project. “No one else is doing projection mapped guitar work, playing and composing the way I do,” King said. “Expanding the visual aspect of the guitar was a natural way to keep pushing the boundaries of the instrument.” King has released eight albums, performed with numerous bands, including Foo Fighters, Timbaland, and The Mountain Goats and contributed to a variety of film and TV soundtracks including Golden

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“No one else is doing projection mapped guitar work, playing and composing the way I do.” Kaki King, Solo guitarist

Globe-nominated work on Sean Penn’s “Into The Wild”. Currently, King is on a world tour and will visit the KPC on April 5. Her first album,

“Everybody Loves you”, was released in 2003 and she hasn’t stopped developing her art since then. “I never had a grand scheme,” she said. “I just kept taking the next right step. Kept working and trying and experimenting. Same thing still works for me today.” “The Neck Is A Bridge To The Body,” is her latest project, which King created in 2014. The entire show revolves around King’s signature Ovation Adamas guitar. King created a visual experience that is projected onto her guitar, throughout the hour-long performance, as she plays. “I’m a guitarist and I try to

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push the boundaries of the instrument as far as I can,” King said. King added that she’s grown a lot over her 15-year-old career. Originally, she said she didn’t even want to perform for a living. “The idea terrified me,” she said. “I just ended up having to quit all my other jobs because eventually touring and performing was taking up all of my time.” The music hasn’t been King’s only change over her career. She started out as a self-described “lonely depressed gay teenager” and is now a married woman See KING, Page 12

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