Yoshi and a Grapefruit Seltzer

For Electronics | 24’30” | 2022

Program Notes: Composed during a two-and-a-half-hour live ambient performance while collaborating with Jon Brown from Cartridge Music playing the 90's SNES game Yoshi's Island at 734 Brewing in Ypsilanti, MI. I enjoyed one of their craft Grapefruit Hard Seltzers, and developed this piece through the layering of sounds and textures. I wanted to explore the juxtaposition between the heroism of baby Mario and Yoshi against the backdrop of cartoon violence, as is reflected in a podcast, I listened to a few hours beforehand about the heroism of teachers and children against the lack of freedoms we are giving our children. Adults do not give children an option to attend a school where they are now more likely to die from gun violence than from a car. Yoshi's Island puts a young child in harm's way, and yet the main difference is that when Yoshi gets hurt, Baby Mario is put into a bubble as if nothing wrong can happen. Our children are not in a bubble but are instead in harm's way in real life.