
Listen to a sampling
of the new Poi Dog Pondering record "7"
Poi Dog Pondering have just delivered a rock and soul record.
14 cuts deep, and layered in horns, strings, immediate guitars; sometimes shimmery and liquid, & sometimes "crunch
and gristle". A painters pallet of; keyboards, "on the sleeve" lyrics, gripping bass & drums, and beautiful
harmonies. Known for following their heart, this record finds PDP; playful, intimate, honest, cocky, boisterous and definitely
ready to take it "live".
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The new PDP album "7"
is now avaiable
for download: To download it and or other
PDP releases
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NU VIDEO:
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Click the photo to sign the Poi Dog Pondering GRAFFITI WALL

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Available at all upcoming tour dates only
Poi dog pondering, "The
little big band with the strong back and supple / stubborn heart", has been following it's intuition for 20 years
now. From bohemian street buskers to impossible to market major label sacrificial lambs... Poi dog pondering have ripened
into staunchly independent musical voyagers. They have let every sound that excited them flow through their music and flood
it with ever changing colors; Rock and soul. Orchestral, acoustic and electronic textures. Americana, rock band disco and
international musics. All threaded along the way with lyrics that embrace the beauty and pain that life can bring.
Poi dog pondering formed in Hawaii in 1986. The first live performance was at the Honolulu Arts Academy. Filled with
youthful imitative exuberance and inspiration from reading about Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground's 'Exploding
Plastic inevitable' projected film and music happenings, PDP projected films of lava eruptions, ocean and other natural
environments over the band as they performed. The tradition of projected imagery along with PDP live performances developed
and matured over the years and continues to this day thanks to long time film and video artist/collaborators Luke Savisky
and Marco Ferrari. In
1987 PDP's wanderlust drew them to the mainland where they embarked on a year long bohemian travel tour across the United
States and Canada, playing acoustically on street corners for gas and food money, while sleeping outdoors all along the way.
This experience forged Poi dog pondering's self identity & confidence as a "D.I.Y." entity. PDP was signed to the noble boutique label Texas Hotel who released
their first record in '88. Sony / Columbia released the next 2 records "Wishing like a mountain..."
& "VoloVolo". PDP
relocated to Chicago in '92 and formed their own label Platetectonic Music and released the critically acclaimed
"Pomegranate" in '95. For the next ten years PDP delved heavily into developing their orchestration
skills, culminating in major collaborations with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Sinfonietta (with PDP's
Susan Voelz, Paul Mertens, Max Crawford & Frank Orrall doing the arrangements). Band leader Frank Orrall's interest
in electronic music garnered him respect from the Chicago House/Electronic music community for his solo project 8fatfat8,
and lead him to become a member of Thievery Corporation as percussionist and vocalist. All this influenced PDP's
next 2 records "Natural Thing" and "In Seed Comes Fruit" which saw the band experimenting with electronic
textures, beautiful lush arrangements and un-hurried, sometimes instrumental song structures, letting musicality determine
the song structure, rather than traditional "verse / chorus / bridge" style song writing. In 2005 PDP combined all of it's experience together and
set out to write and record "a straight up Rock and Soul record", complete with strings and horns. The
result is "7". The band chose this title because it's their 7th record and because "it feels like a
benchmark". 20 plus years down the line there is a bolstered sense of history within the band
now. A swagger that comes from having steadfastly carved their own path. It is quite apparent that PDP has
always been, and ever will be in it for the love of it; creating and performing. Line up changes are par for the course. PDP is an organic entity, it changes like life
does. But there is a core with strong roots, open to new ears and ready to experiment. That's what keeps it vibrant.
Recently
PDP have been working hard on some unique projects that combine sound and vision: 2005: PDP joined forces with the Chicago Sinfonietta and composed and performed a "remix"
version of Dvorak's "New World Symphony" at the Chicago Symphony Center and used projected-still and moving
imagery with the intent to form a subconscious relationship between the notion of the hopes of what people associated with
starting a new life in the new world and life's passage from birth to death.  (above
photo by Matt Carmichael)
2006: PDP began writing music
and lyrics for what would become the band's 7th full length release due out this Spring. Marco Ferrari was busy filming
the writing and recording process for an upcoming DVD. 2007: PDP composed and arranged a re-invention
of the music and themes from the opera "Carmen" and performed it live with the Chicago Sinfonietta. PDP founder
Frank Orrall & film maker Marco Ferrari collaborated to make a stream of consciousness silent film to accompany the performance.
The result was a sort impressionistic mini opera. (video stills by Marco Ferrari) Also in nov 2007: PDP composed and performed an
original score for the film "Limite" (1930), the preeminent work of the Brazilian
silent era, Directed by Mario Peixoto. This was in conjunction with the Chicago Cinema
Forum & Sonotheque. 2008: PDP will release their new record; 7 April 1st and mount a national tour in april
and may.

SOME NOTES ON THE RECORDING AND PRODUCTION OF THE NEW RECORD:
 - March 29th at the Vic Theater in Chicago - record
release show - SOLD OUT
- April 10th Three Oaks, MI., at the Acorn Theater
- April
11th Three Oaks,
MI., at the Acorn Theater
- April 12th: Detroit,
MI @ Alvin's
- April 16th Milwaukee,
WI., Shank Hall
- April 17th Phoenix,
AZ @ The Rhythm Room
- April 19th Tucson,
AZ @ Club Crawl
- April 20th Denver, CO
@ Walnut Room
- April 21st Boulder, CO @ Trilogy
Lounge
- April 25: New York, NY...at the
Bowery Ballroom www.boweryballroom.com/
- April 26: Philadelphia, PA...at the Theatre
of Living Arts
- April 27: Baltimore, MD @ Fletcher's
www.fletchersbar.com
- April 28: Boston, MA...at The Paradise www.thedise.com/
- May 7: Seattle, WA...at Neumo's
www.neumos.com/
- May 8: Portland, OR...at the Doug Fir www.dougfirlounge.com
- May
9: Mendecino, the casper inn www.casparinn.com/
- May 10: San Francisco,
CA...at the Great American Music Hall www.musichallsf.com/
- May 12: Los Angeles,
CA...at the Troubadour www.troubadour.com/
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- JUNE PDP TOUR DATES:
Wed. 6/4 Blueberry Hill St. Louis
Fri.
6/6 Antone's, Austin, TX
Sat. 6/7 Houston, Continental club
Sun. 6/8 HOB Parish,
New Orleans
Tues. 6/10 3rd & Linsy, Nashville
Wed. 6/11 Southgate House, Newport KY
(across river from Cincinnati)
Frid. 6/13 Lawrence KS free show downtown
- June 29th: Chicago Il., PDP returns to RAVINIA!
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POI DOG PONDERING HISTORY ROUND UP
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Past history round up: 1987: The original Hawai'i line up of PDP (including Abra Moore) came to the mainland
and traveled across north America for a year playing on street corners for gas and food money, and camped all along the way.
(Click here to see silent 8mm footage of PDP at CBGB's in 1988) 1988 - 1991:
PDP re-located to Austin and released 3 records: "Poi dog pondering", "Wishing like a mountain..."
& "Volo Volo". Toured heavily in the States, Canada, Europe and Japan. 1992:
PDP relocated to Chicago and developed it's big band Rock and Soul sound. 1995: PDP release "Pomegranate". 1996: PDP
performs the album "Pomegranate"
from start to finish with the Grant Park Symphony
in Chicago's Grant
Park. (Susan Voelz, Paul Mertens and Max
Crawford score and arrange for the first time on this large scale). 1996: "Electrique Plummagram" (re-mix
e.p.) 1997: PDP release "Liquid White Light" - a live retrospective. 1998: PDP release
"That's the Way Love
Is" (re-mix e.p.) 1999: PDP release "Natural thing" 2000: PDP release the live
album " Soul Sonic Orchestra"
which captures the band re-inventing itself once again. 2001: Band Front-man,
Frank Orrall's interest in electronic music led him to become a member of Thievery Corporation's
live band as a percussion player and singer, along with PDP
percussionist El John, (which
they continue to this day, when not playing with PDP). 2001: PDP release "
Sweeping Up the Cutting Room Floor" a collection of
previously unreleased studio out-takes from 1987 to 1994 2003: PDP released
their 6th record "In
Seed Comes Fruit". 2004: PDP release the Marco Ferrari filmed and produced DVD "Audio Visivo" detailing
the present history and recording of "In Seed Comes Fruit". 2005: PDP / Chicago Sinfonietta collaboration of Dvorak's
"New World Symphony". 2007: PDP / Chicago Sinfonietta collaboration mini opera "Carmen" and the composition and
performance of an original score for the Brazilian silent film "Limite"
by Mario Peixoto. 2008: PDP finish and prepare the new
record ("7") for release.
20 plus years down the line there is a bolstered sense of history in the band now.
A swagger with 2 fingers up in the air (backwards) to the "industry". It is quite apparent that PDP has always been,
and ever will be in it for the love of it; creating and performing. Line
up changes are par for the course. PDP is an organic entity, it changes like life does. But there is a core with strong roots,
open to new ears and ready to experiment. That's what keeps it vibrant. A
WHOLE LOTTA FOUNDATIONAL HISTORY: Prologue: 1984 PDP Started
from a cassette of 5 songs I recorded on my brothers 4 track. Two more cassette albums followed in 1985,
and then in 1986 the 1st version of PDP formed and played it's first gig at the Honolulu Arts Academy:  Photo: Jean Francios Berneron
But
the real adventure started when we left the stage. and played on the streets.
It all really began in a banyan tree in Honolulu. After an evening of playing music for spare change on the street,
we climbed up onto the tree limbs with cans of Foster's lager and conjured an imaginary travel trip across the mainland
where we would have adventures and make our gas and food money by street playing. We liked the sound of it so much we decided
then and there to make it real.  Photo: Jean Francios Berneron
We sold our
belongings for airline tickets, flew to California and bought an old
GMC Suburban truck; loaded the accordion, marimba, tin whistle, guitars, mandolin and sleeping
bags in the back,and
drove up to canada, Photo: Jean Francios Berneron
down to mexican
border towns and across the states playing on street corners and in front of collegecoffee houses - sleeping on hay stacks,
grass fields and carpet floors, and a year later we washed up on the beach of New York city with no transmission left in the gmc. Exhausted. That was the end of the Hawai'i version
of PDP. This experience, however, forged Poi Dog Pondering. The beginning of
the AUSTIN YEARS Texas Hotel Records offered us a contract in 1988 - and
we relocated to Austin to record because we had met some of
the best musicians there while traveling, and we wanted them in the band. Also,
it was easy to live on nothing in Austin. Local studio engineer Mike Stewart knew
how to get a good warm sound from all the wooden instruments... really cared for
the sound. We tracked it in a fist-full of days, and when the e.p. came out, we played on the
street and sold it out of a card board box. We were a self sufficient organism, knew
how to sing for our supper, ready for anything, and free to cross a whole country
for a single gig. We got one in NYC - opening for Hetch Hetchy. A lot of label
people where there. We brought our scrap on stage and started a buzz. Soon there
where six major labels after us. We let them all take us out to dinner. When
you are used to subsisting on coffee and bread you take all the free dinners you can. We listened to
their pitch and ordered the most expensive bottles of wine on the menu. Max
used to joke: "Who ever takes us to the best restaurant - that's who we sign with."
I didn't want to leave Texas Hotel Records, but it was just meant to be. Managers and lawyers
have a way of making sense. We had enough label interest to demand a fair contract, full of creative
control. We signed with Columbia/Sony and a whirlwind began. Now we had a manager, booking
agent, and a tour van named "Isabella" (after Isabella Rosallini). We took out the van's passenger seats,
put mattresses down, and laid down like sardines. There were gambling card games, typewriter clacking hammering-out
new songs, people trying to read or sleep - all at once at 80 miles per hour down some interstate towards the next town, or
towards someone's houseboat or farm who had invited us to spend the night after a show. Plugging our espresso machine
into gas station outlets along the way, we criss-crossed the country too many times to count. Even
made it to Europe a few times. Japan too. Visual artist Luke Savisky was with us now, bringing his beautiful
slide and film loop projected imageries to the live shows, transforming them - making them multi-dimensional. 1989. We had blood in our hearts that flowed with the road and a desire for
adventure. Dog-eared copies of "On The Road" & Woody Guthrie's "Born To Win" (along with
cassettes of Dylan, the Velvet Underground, the Jazz Butcher, Al Green, Nick Drake, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, and the Pogues),
were rolling around in the van with us. Camper Van Beethoven took us out on our first
real tour as an opener. We called it "camper van boot camp." They had a guitar tech who changed
their guitar strings, good beer back stage, played nice rooms - big rooms, they had a trailer w/ their gear in it hooked to
the back of the bus... we wanted that. We also opened for Robyn Hitchcock, that was great, we'd knock
on his hotel room door after the show, armed with a bottle of red wine for him - just to hear his stories, he even came
and played on the street with us. Brilliant. Wonderful man. The heart has always been more important to me than the mind. I wanted to talk to people's hearts -
by-pass the ego. I wanted to write as honestly as I could. I wanted to make soul buoyant music.
We knew what the world could do to a soul - we wanted to give people a reason
to keep on keeping on. We came off the street, we knew where the life was. It was those people we were talking to. It was their hearts we sang to. We played for them.
The circus of journalists mostly missed the point, thought we were neo-folk hippies 'cause we could sleep anywhere,
had acoustic instruments and dared to be exuberant - dared to play by our own rules. We weren't hippies - we were
romantic to the bohemian, wine-haggard, caffeine-pupiled - and lusty for life. Our hero's followed their hearts.
That was how we saw it - how one was supposed to live it. Love it. Embrace it...
say "Yes" to the moment. We found saints in every city: Vic Chestnut & Love Tractor in Athens,
Howe Gelb and John Convertino in Tucson, Arnie Saiki in NYC, Oneziem in Baton Rouge, Scotti Bolin, Patrice... Endless
souls who looked after us, fed us beautiful stories, enriching the song writing. Stole liquor from an R.E.M. house party. Twice. Did shows without band members who
went missing from some adventure the night before. It was always about adventure, putting ourselves out there on the road, ready to take whatever detour life brought
us. It was the people we met out on the road that made it all beautiful. It was pulling over to swim in a stream 'cause
you felt like it. We watched bands try so hard to win commercial radio and MTV; it looked goofy
to us, so we just played ourselves. We got trapped into a few embarrassing videos,
learned our lesson, decided to roll on the side of exuberance for life, and make a meal of experience. Besides,
there was college radio then - it was a force.
When you are following what you love
- life comes to you, the world breathes with you, that's how we walked it.
1990.
We rolled on under the instinct of impulse... Showing up on the David Letterman show in
torn jeans, threadbare shirts, and a borrowed guitar. John, Bruce and Dave Max waking up hungover under the Eiffel tower
after emptying the mini bar; in a single night - they were broke for the rest of the tour. Playing the Montreaux
Jazz fest and seeing Miles Davis' last performance there, Gil Evan's big band & Quincy Jones
(conducting) were on that gig too. Playing all the work horse touring clubs: The Blue Note, Lounge
Ax, the Metro, the 40 Watt, Liberty Lunch, Mississippi Nights, the I Beam, Slim's, Cotton Club, Irving
Plaza, and the tiny (old) mighty 9:30 Club. Finding clothes you could sweat in, that would
dry fast so you could wear 'um the next night and pack light. I had a pair of vinyl pants made, so I could wash them in
a back stage sink and wear the next night.
1991. The wave of Manchester dance rock was surging and we liked
it. It influenced us. Ecstasy - I liked it... (not a lot - just enough). Things were on
the move musically in the world, There was fresh inspiration now, we started
broadening our sound. We had our own discoteque on the bus ("the star kiss lounge")
on the Volo Volo tour. Something else was emerging.
1992. Chicago was
becoming home base. This was the beginning of the end of the Austin years. Everyone
was a bit worn from constant touring, and things were stirring at Sony - we were not
the "next big thing" everyone had hoped up at Black Rock. They released
us from contract in '93. We decided rather than sign with another label, to go fully independent and
start our own. Thus beginning the Chicago years, but that, my friend, is
a whole 'nuther story, and would require another bottle of wine. We'll pick that story
up on the 20 year mark of this ever morphing organism called Poi. 'Til the
next time, with love in our hearts for all those who have listened, and gratitude for
those who let us sleep on their floors, Aloha nui loa, Frank Orrall & Poi Dog Pondering =============
PART 2: THE CHICAGO EFLUORESCENCE (coming soon...)
Photo: Matt Carmicael Archives:
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Some Favorite Poi dog Pondering links...
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