We all can make a difference.
How does City of Asylum/Pittsburgh produce Jazz Poetry Concert without having any technical staff of its own? Where does the stage come from? The giant projection screen? The microphones and speakers? Who does all the cabling? And how on earth does a baby grand piano magically show up on Sampsonia Way?
It’s all very simple. You just have Dave Bjornson as a volunteer. Dave has designed and created the ever-more-complex technical infrastructure for Jazz Poetry Concert every year since 2005. And in addition, he has reached deep into his own equipment chest to loan us everything from a Hammond B-3 Organ and a DJ kit to music stands and digital gizmos whose names still remain a mystery (let alone their functions). And thanks to Dave’s imagination and can-do spirit, we are live web-casting tonight’s performance.
Dave also manages the tech crew and stage set-up for Jazz Poetry and operates the soundboard during the Concert. After the Concert, he breaks down the stage, packs the equipment, and hauls it all back to the New Hazlett, so he gets home around 3 in the morning. Then he gets up the next day and starts mixing the sound for our audio and video post-production.
Dave literally enables endangered voices to be heard. And with our “Live from Sampsonia Way” video streaming this year, he enables these voices--and all the great music tonight-- to be heard around the world.
For his extraordinary help in furthering creative expression in Pittsburgh, City of Asylum/Pittsburgh presents Dave Bjornson with its 2009 “Preserving Endangered Voices” Award. Thank you, Dave!