Like You've Got Something Better To Do

EtherAir Live at The Void

EtherAir returns to The Void in Eureka on Saturday Jan 3! EtherAir will reappear at The Void in Eureka this Saturday Jan 3, in conjunction with Eureka’s First Saturday Arts Alive event, playing from 5-7pm. This is a FREE, ALL AGES show!

This video is from my last appearance at the Void on December 5. I call this piece “Subterfuge” because of the found audio included in it. I found the audio on an unlabeled cassette I purchased at a thrift store for ten cents, about 20 years ago. The cassette is full of phone conversations that reveal a great deal of stress and dysfunction, both at home and at work, in the lives of the unfortunate family who, for whatever reason, decided to record all of their phone calls.

Here’s another excerpt from my show at the Void on Dec 5: “Heart Sounds” features found audio taken from a cassette recording of the audio companion to the medical textbook “Understanding Heart Sounds and Murmers” by Tilkian and Conover. I found the recording on an unlabeled cassette at a garage sale about 20 yeas ago.

An excerpt from the debut of EtherAir at The Void in Eureka, CA. EtherAir will begin 2026 with another performance at The Void from 6-9pm on Sat Jan 3.

Spontaneous Composition for Theremin, Didgeridoo and Field Recording by EtherAir. From the album, EtherAir by John Hardin

On Friday, Dec 5 from 3:30 to 6:30, EtherAir, from SoHum will debut new music for Theremin and Didgeridoo, with found sounds and field recordings, at the Void Thrift Store at 228 F St in Oldtown Eureka. This is a free, all ages, afternoon show where you can do your holiday shopping while you listen.

The Theremin is an early 20^th Century electronic musical instrument invented by Russian immigrant Leon Theremin, played by moving ones hands in the vicinity of radio antennae. “Didgeridoo” is an outsiders onomatopoeic word for an instrument played by some First Nation People of Northern Australia, essentially a hollow log, played not unlike a modern tuba or trombone. In EtherAir, these analog musical instruments interface a network of digital processors that transform both sounds electronically. To these altered, culturally disparate sounds, EtherAir adds found sounds, like snatches of vintage media, vlog posts, public meetings, etc, and field recordings, audio recordings of different environments, to create a sound unlike anything you’ve ever heard before, yet feels as ancient and natural as time itself. EtherAir’s new eponymous album is available as a free download at Bandcamp.

I am revamping my live set, adding Theremin, found audio, and field recordings to my Electric Didgeridoo music, and creating new video collages to accompany my set. “Bacteria” is my first experiment with the newly expanded palette. The piece includes audio (and video) from an old Encyclopedia Britannica educational movie, now in the public domain, and I recorded the audio, live, in one take.

On my most recent PNW tour, I visited Tom Asselin, AKA Shifting Harbor, at his studio in Portland. I really enjoyed the visit! I learned a lot, and enjoyed talking with him about music, technology, and society. Tom is a tone-obsessed guitar player who pours his soul into every chord. We jammed a bit, and he let me play my bass through his Shifting Harbor guitar rig. The first note I played through his pedalboard and amplifiers felt like it would never end. In that moment, I felt like I heard the world through Tom’s ears. The feeling stuck with me, and flavored the whole trip. When I got back home to my own studio, I tried to recreate that feeling on my own gear. I wasn’t trying to sound like Shifting Harbor, I just wanted to recreate the feeling I had playing through his rig. This piece is the result.

When I’m in Portland, I usually spend time at Peninsula Park. It’s a beautiful place, full of well-tended rose gardens, a fountain, a walking path, and a Gazebo, all shaded by Linden trees. It also has public restrooms, and in the summer you can swim and get a shower at the Community Pool. I shot this video there on the night of the Full Moon (Mon, Oct 6, 2025)