• Wednesday April 15: Brooklyn, New York @ Public Records — TICKETS

• Thursday April 16: Brooklyn, New York @ Public Records — WAIT LIST (SOLD OUT)

• Saturday April 25: Hudson, New York @ The Half Moon (SOLD OUT)

My last post is probably the best explanation for why the project (and my firefighting journey) may be easing up in the near future. Read it here.

Share

Back to Firefighting: Donning Drills

As I’d mentioned in my previous post, last fall I enrolled in an Interior Firefighting Operations (IFO) course. It met for three hours, two nights a week last autumn.

Much like in Basic Exterior Firefighting Operations (BEFO), we trained in full turnout gear—but this time with the addition of a face mask and a 25-pound Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA). Fun fact: normal conversation in the mask is hard. Understanding the muffled yelps of emergency directions from your teammate? Nearly impossible.

Along with 20 others, I trained in hands-on skills like tactical ventilation, fire attack, structural search and rescue, hose advancement, and vehicle fire suppression.

We also revisited fundamentals—Firefighter Safety, Health and Wellness (including Mental wellness, which for many reasons is SO important), Forcible Entry, and Incident Scene Operations (who does what/where/when)—while expanding into communication, teamwork, and more advanced fire suppression techniques.

There was a strong emphasis on teamwork, but also on individual grit. Every night we hauled in our turnout gear, SCBA, face mask, and a tool (I brought an axe most nights). It almost felt like being on tour again—just less efficient and, sadly, no afterparty.

A major component was the highly anticipated Donning Drills: suiting up in your turnout gear as fast as possible—bunkers, boots, hood, coat, mask, SCBA, helmet, gloves—with air flowing before raising your hands for time. Our class’s goal: under two minutes.

This video from Reddit is an example of a particularly well-timed Donning Drill.

I took some major tips from this video in how I set up my gear prior to the drill and was able to get it in just under a minute most days, possibly (totally) helped by my gear being several sizes too big. Unfortunately, my team…did not achieve this kind of speed and efficiency for the first four weeks (gah!). Something always snagged, stuck, or someone took waaaaaay too long. Not gonna name names tho, we all did our best.

There were many other kinds of drills, and all were intentionally stressful. One standout was Search and Rescue: mask on, air flowing, you’re told to get low and follow a hose line into a pitch-dark maze of walls, furniture, stairs, and rooms—essentially a disorienting model house. You grope your way through, hoping your training kicks in before your brain decides to panic.

All the while, a training instructor is yelling “DID YOU CHECK EVERYWHERE?!” and you’re like “I think I did??!” but then you double back and discover you missed a baby mannequin on the couch.

(SMH… gotta do better!)

Buke & Gase's Scholars Alliance

Pledge to support this newsletter

Enter the TOAC: Task-Oriented Air Consumption test

TOAC was the big one—a timed series of tasks performed while managing a limited air supply.1 Rumors circulated in class that it was THE hardest part of the course, and we were all quite nervous about it.

I unpacked the acronym in the headline up there but let me break down what it entails. Each station is a simulation of the tasks you would likely perform when you’ve arrived at a scene, from hose and tool preparation, to overhaul once all the obvious flames have been extinguished. They are completed in an order that coincides with prioritized tasks at a typical fire scene, and spread over enough ground that you have to walk quite a bit to get to each test station, with the benefit that you can use that walking time to catch your breath and prepare for the next exertion. The goal of the TOAC is to see how many tasks you can successfully complete (and repeat, if possible) before your air runs out. We’re each allowed 30 minutes of air. Your plain-clothes partner keeps track of your progress and helps monitor your air consumption.

The Stations:

#1 - Hose Carry: Carry a 70lb hose over your shoulder up and down three flights of stairs (bringing hose to an appropriate location on scene)

#2a & #2b - Hose Stretch & Pull: Drag a 70lb hose line along the ground from over your shoulder for 70ft; then, pull a looped hose line as though you’re paying it2 from the truck (setting up hose at the scene)

#3 - Tool Lift & Carry: remove two 30-pound saws from a chest-height cabinet (the firetruck) and carry 70ft (preparations for Forcible Entry), then replace in the cabinet

#4 - Ladder Raise: raise and lower a 24-foot ladder with smooth, controlled and correct hand positioning (preparations for roof/second floor access)

#5 - Forcible Entry: simulated by slamming an inflated truck tire laying on its side at waist height with a 10lb sledgehammer 10 times

#6 - Search: simulated by crawling through a dark maze and performing correct wall/floor search tactics (feeling for windows and patients)

#7 - Rescue: dragging a 165-pound mannequin 70 ft

#8 - Overhaul: Overhead push/pull with a pike pole (a 6-to-10ft-long tool with a hook and piercing point at the end.) This simulated what we do after we put out a fire, which is rip out drywall or ceilings to make sure there aren’t any hidden smoldering fires.

Rinse and Repeat.

My experience of this test was complicated by the fact that, just four days earlier, I’d learned I was pregnant. Suddenly, the usual stress of overheating in my bunkers—my personal sauna—was compounded by the worry of “cooking my baby.” I’d heard that one doesn’t want to do that… So I was on high alert for dangers.

With my new understanding of what was happening inside my body, I roughed it through all the tasks once (thereby passing the test) and made the decision to throw in the towel, having used a little less than half of my air within less than 17 minutes. It was exhausting, mentally and physically, but I think that, had I not known I was pregnant, I would’ve pushed myself to complete the stations one more time.

I am 45. Having a baby already felt like a miracle—although I’d rather not call it that, because it implies religious leanings which I don’t have. It’s more like a reboot! A second chance at life! I mean, I was in denial that it was even possible—to the point where, a year earlier, I’d started hosting a Menopause-Curious Meeting for those anticipating or currently experiencing it. I felt incredibly lucky, and didn’t want to fuck it up one iota.

Desperate for reassurance, I asked the only EMT in class I felt I could talk to (hi Jentl!) if he thought being pregnant was something I should worry about during this type of training. His eyes and smile grew, and I feared he’d blow my cover during class—but his advice was exactly what I needed: “If it’s something you’re worried about, listen to yourself. I’m sure it’s going to be all right.”

So, as you already know, I reluctantly made the decision to step away from the course at the behest of my caring friends and Sig-O3 and, yes, my own internal voice. (Good advice Jentl.)

I was genuinely sad to leave. I felt like I was letting down my teammates and my department who, I’ll point out, had just outfitted me with $5,000 worth of brand-new turnout gear. But everyone—from my Department Chief to fellow firefighters and instructors—has been incredibly supportive.

Even better, I’ve met some really great folks along the way—far from my preconceived notion of the “type of person” who does this work. Turns out they are generous, brave, funny humans.

The best way to support my life as a creative and community worker is by subscribing to Buke & Gase’s Scholars Alliance on Bandcamp, or pledging to support this newsletter.

Arone Dyer, Firefighter

Below are easy links to the earlier installments of my journey into firefighting.

Pt 1: from Freak to Firefighter: Training for the volunteer firefighting squad in a tiny upstate New York town

Pt 2: Paperwork! Gear! Hound Dog Heroes! Initiation (hazing?) in the volunteer fire fighter style

Pt 3: Fast Forward FireFighter! Learning to fight fires without losing my politics

Pt 4: Interior Complex: Eight weeks of interior fire fighting operations classes

Pt 5: (Hu)ManPower! ...and the search for community engagement: Finding new recruits.

Pt 6: When the Prevailing Winds Change: A band winds down as a new life ramps up

Buke and Gase documentary & concert film

A few years back, the fine folks at Framework Productions made a documentary about my long-running (and now gently lulling) collaboration Buke & Gase. Even some friends of mine don’t seem to know it exists, so we’ve started sharing clips more actively on social media. The latest is a live clip of “Bottom of the Barolo” and here is some background about the lyrics.

It also features a cameo from Jad Abumrad who, let’s be honest, kind of changed our lives when he talked about us on his Radiolab podcast (multiple times!). Thanks Jad.

trailer for Buke & Gase film

watch the moooovie

• Wednesday April 15: Brooklyn, New York @ Public Records — TICKETS

• Thursday April 16: Brooklyn, New York @ Public Records — WAIT LIST (SOLD OUT)

• Saturday April 25: Hudson, New York @ The Half Moon (SOLD OUT)

Thank you for joining us as this long collaboration enters a “lull.” You can read my full statement about it here. This post may explain why some other activities might take priority for a little while…

Buke & Gase's Scholars Alliance

Pledge to support this newsletter

Last summer was…a lot. I was working with kids at the Hudson Youth Bike Coop, volunteering at Experience Camps (a grief camp for kids who’ve lost someone dear), serving on the Hudson Conservation Advisory Council, and doing my physically demanding day job as a landscaper. Oh—and falling in love. Casual!

So naturally, I decided to top it all off in the fall by enrolling in an Interior Firefighting Operations (IFO) course.

Good news: I passed! Well, I passed the hardest part of it, the TOAC (Task Oriented Air Consumption) test, a highly physically demanding endurance and strength assessment I’ll describe in more detail in an upcoming post.

But—Complicating (and exciting) news: four days before that test, I learned I was…

…pregnant!

Now, I can barely fit into my already oversized bunkers1 — let alone the air-force suits my Buke & Gase bandmate Aron and I used to wear on tour:

After some very reasonable concern from friends and my thoughtful Sig-O, I made the reluctant decision to step back from IFO the following week and remain an exterior firefighter. Still useful! Slightly less likely to set myself on fire while growing a human. Maybe I’ll take pump or driver training next.

SO: Things are about to change.

If you’re interested in following my adventure as a 45-year-old having my first child, stay tuned. I have a feeling my focus is about to shift dramatically—from firefighting to motherhood (though I’ll keep training and showing up however I can).

And who knows—maybe the kid will be into firefighting too.

A quick musical catch-up:

I recently presented Dronechoir in Chatham, NY with 14 wonderful vocalists as part of The Dark, a festival organized by PS21, a presenter for performance art here in the Hudson Valley.

We performed to a packed room of concerned faces (after I asked everyone to stand for the duration of the performance…you know, just as we must endure winter). As reported by an audience member this “calmed and opened up as interactions occurred more often, and by the end they were all beaming with joy and singing along!”

Yessss, tear down that weird, awkward fourth wall!

One of my side-goals with Dronechoir is to soften the hard edges we encase ourselves in, and this time it felt especially palpable.

(You can read more about Dronechoir here on this newsletter.)

The best way to support my life as a creative and community worker is by subscribing to Buke & Gase’s Scholars Alliance on Bandcamp, or pledging to support this newsletter.

Live Recordings

Here’s the most pristine sounding Buke & Gase live recordings to tide you over ahead of the shows — Bandcamp | Listen Elsewhere

We also shared a video from it a week ago. The song “Bottom of the Barolo” is available exclusively on a Bandcamp-only “lost” album called Dry Daniel.

For those who have the resources to pay cash money to support my art, here’s another pair of live recordings available exclusively to members of our Scholars Alliance on Bandcamp.

Live at Long Play Festival, Brooklyn, NY - May 3, 2025

Live in Manchester, UK - March 4, 2019

Arone Dyer, Firefighter

Below are easy links to the earlier installments of my journey into firefighting.

Pt 1: from Freak to Firefighter: Training for the volunteer firefighting squad in a tiny upstate New York town

Pt 2: Paperwork! Gear! Hound Dog Heroes! Initiation (hazing?) in the volunteer fire fighter style

Pt 3: Fast Forward FireFighter! Learning to fight fires without losing my politics

Pt 4: Interior Complex: Eight weeks of interior fire fighting operations classes

Pt 5: (Hu)ManPower! ...and the search for community engagement: Finding new recruits.

These performances are intended as our farewell to our home, New York State:

• Wednesday April 15: Brooklyn, New York @ Public Records — TICKETS

• Thursday April 16: Brooklyn, New York @ Public Records — TICKETS (SOLD OUT)

• Saturday April 25: Hudson, New York @ The Half Moon — TICKETS

You may have seen the news yesterday on Pitchfork, Stereogum, or Brooklyn Vegan — some of which used the words “break up” in their headlines. We prefer to call it a “lull,” and hope you’ll read my full statement.

Buke and Gase!
How I love thee,
Let me count the ways…
Oh wait, no. That time signature is way too convoluted.

My Buke & Gase collaborator Aron Sanchez and I have been in each other’s worlds for a while now, nearing twenty-six years! We’ve traveled a lot, much like a family, or perhaps more than a typical family. And we’ve become family because of it. And now it’s time to break up that family, and start our own…

Case in point: I’m pregnant! Which means big (welcome) changes.

I’m sitting here trying to write a blurb explaining why we, Buke and Gase, are throwing in the towel, and it’s annoying to admit, but the income-factor is a part of it. Everywhere we go, music is being played in the background, and somehow the money for that usage never reaches the people who create the art. Streaming has made the selling of albums nearly impossible! And now artists have to contend with AI? Really? Is this what the kids are into? (More like what a small number of money-making adults are forcing upon all of us.) Do you really want to listen to music made by…let’s be real, it’s not Intelligence, but Artificial IMITATION? Pah! Mere mimicry! (I feel like I need to note that no AI was utilized to write this.)

I digress.

And yet: we love our fans. We want to share our energy with you one last time. Or two or three last times. Brooklyn and Hudson are both places that are essential to our story—the former is where we met; the latter is where we both ended up living by the early 2010s.

So we’re calling this our New York farewell!

Let us give you a warm hug goodbye.

P.S. “Throwing in the towel” comes with a caveat: Should we be Royally Knighted, invited to play cities we’d like to visit, asked to collaborate with artists we adore, or tempted by other possibilities we’re not even going to dream about, perhaps we’ll reconsider our lull.

The best way to support my life as a creative and community worker is by subscribing to Buke & Gase’s Scholars Alliance on Bandcamp, or pledging to support this newsletter.

Buke & Gase's Scholars Alliance

Pledge Your Support

LIVE RECORDINGS

Here’s the most pristine sounding Buke & Gase live recordings to tide you over ahead of the shows — Bandcamp | Listen Elsewhere

Here’s another pair of live recordings available exclusively to members of our Scholars Alliance on Bandcamp.

ARONE DYER, FIREFIGHTER

Below are easy links to the earlier installments of my journey into firefighting.

Pt 1: from Freak to Firefighter: Training for the volunteer firefighting squad in a tiny upstate New York town

Pt 2: Paperwork! Gear! Hound Dog Heroes! Initiation (hazing?) in the volunteer fire fighter style

Pt 3: Fast Forward FireFighter! Learning to fight fires without losing my politics

Pt 4: Interior Complex: Eight weeks of interior fire fighting operations classes

Pt 5: (Hu)ManPower! ...and the search for community engagement: Finding new recruits.

Share Arone Dyer's Cornucopia

Buke & Gase's Scholars Alliance

Pledge Your Support

My Dronechoir is happening in upstate New York on Monday, February 16th promptly at 3pm at the The Masonic, 8 Park Row, Chatham, NY 12037 (map). It’s a 40ish-minute performance. Thanks to PS21 for inviting me to present this project I’ve been shepherding since 2015! I hope to see you there :)

FEB 16th SHOW INFO — MAP — A DRONECHOIR EXPLAINER

If you’re local to upstate New York, you can scroll to the end of this newsletter for an update on Becraft Fire Station that I wrote about in the last installment of Arone Dyer’s Cornucopia.

When the most dangerous thing isn’t the potential fire, but that the fire department doesn’t show up

It’s snowing today! Yay. I love snow. However, it means a lot of activity for First Responders.1 Sometimes all the activity outpaces the ability of our volunteers to respond.

I joined the Fire Department in 2024 amidst a swirling rumor that membership has been dwindling, but I wasn’t attuned to what the membership used to be.2 In my ride-alongs, it seemed fine and typical that three to five of us would be on a truck for a call, even if it could fit ten. But on days like this—a snowy weekday morning, the flu running wild through everyone’s face-holes—you get a scary situation: I just answered a call and was one of TWO people that showed up to the station. The other member who showed up has years of experience, and happens to be retired, which is pretty typical for those who are available at this time in the morning. We waited for others to show up, but with only the two of us, we weren’t allowed to pull the truck out.

Not enough Manpower!

The call was for an Alarm Activation at the hospital. Thankfully, it proved to be a false alarm, but what would have happened if it was a real, fire-based emergency?

On top of these seasonal woes, the Greenport Fire Department has been experiencing a lack of camaraderie, with distrust between stations, and some members on edge around each other. Active members are growing older, and new recruits are hard to find.

Here’s Tracy who’s been volunteering for thirty-five years:

Are there just not enough Tracys around these days?

Other departments in Columbia County are definitely feeling the same pressure as mine. Last week, I was listening to the Dispatch & Response channel3 on my pager, and overheard that the department in Craryville, New York couldn’t respond to a Lift Assist4 call due to lack of manpower. Apparently only one FireFighter showed up. And every time I pass through the town of Clermont, I see their department’s lit-up sign saying MEMBERS NEEDED. That’s not members wanted, folks, it’s needed. They average ninety calls per year.5 That’s not a lot, but it’s enough that it puts a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of just a few.

Share

Rural life means showing up for your community & yeah I’m looking at you

With the influx of city people retiring to the tranquil hills and treescapes of Columbia County, I think it’s important to focus on this very different aspect of rural life: which is that if you are not contributing to your community in a tangible way, the century-old organizations which offer us a kind of safety net could fail at the worst time.

My department has sixty-seven “active” members.6 About thirty will actually answer calls on a semi-regular basis. That is low. On any given call, members of that core group will be busy with school, or away on vacation, or simply working at a hard job on which they’re unable to leave at the drop of a hat. (Myself included! In the warmer months, I work as a landscaper, and am often just too far away to be able to respond during the day.)

Ok so here’s my pitch.

I’ve joined my department’s new Recruitment Committee which was recently started up by Antonio Gambino, a younger member of Station 3. (👋 Antonio!)

Our goal is to get the word out that we need to recruit more longterm active members. Like Jessica, who is my personal shero:

In the first meeting of the Recruitment Committee we came to the conclusion that isolation is a big problem for finding new members of the fire department. The majority of volunteers joined through family members being in the organization in one way or another.

To be clear there are rare birds… Like Jessica, above, and like another member of Greenport Fire Department, Morgan, who joined because his house caught fire and the GFD was there to save the day. Or myself, also a rare bird, who is driven by civic-minded curiosity and adventurousness. (Not gonna lie: part of my reason for joining the fire department is because I chose to stop riding my motorcycle due to a crash7 and wanted something else dangerous to keep me on my toes.)

From our 2nd Assistant Chief, Chris Pierro, who joined in 1996:

Membership started dwindling as society morphed. People driving out of area to work, working multiple jobs, both members in [the] household now work so childcare draws more attention, the sheer amount of regulations and “requirements” deter new members…. You have to really want to help strangers with no expectation in return other than perhaps the personal feeling of doing a good deed…. and you know firsthand the physical effort and continuing training that goes along with serving as an emergency responder. The trick is selling that workload to a prospective applicant… We do so much more than fight fires.

From my experience, it’s been incredibly fun, engaging, educational, and deeply rewarding. Yes it’s a lot of time spent on reading, skill development, and doing drills, and there’s so much to learn. But it’s challenging in a way where I can see an attainable end goal. And it’s exciting! I mean, come on—we rush towards alarm activations prepared to encounter fire, or to automobile accidents, prepared to extricate injured passengers. My evenings spent in class were rewarding in and of themselves, simply because I learned these tangible skills and built trust and respect for a community I’ve been cautioned (as a progressive) to question. It took about a year for me to become familiar with the calls and responsibilities, and get comfortable with my new Fire Family. I’m still learning all the information necessary when answering a call, but as with everything, it gets easier with practice. And, it’s true, the family aspect is strong.

Here’s another of our younger members, Dêjuan:

The members above joined for different reasons, but they all point back to the same basic idea: In times like these, when it feels like the world is shaped by the whims of billionaires and broligarchs, the collective still matters. I’m originally from Minnesota, and as disturbing as it’s been to watch the ICE crisis unfold there, it’s been equally encouraging to see the community push back, and start to win? (Fingers crossed.)

Volunteering with a local organization, like the Fire Department, is a way to weave that kind of community engagement into the very fabric of your daily life. That’s the main point I’d like to leave you with: serving your fellow citizens on the regular creates a huge sense of community and individual pride.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me about community engagement. Whether you’re a local that lives near me and wants to explore joining my department,8 or you live in some far off place, and want a cheerleader to get you more engaged with a different kind of local organization, I’m here for you!

Greenport Fire Dept on Facebook

Email greenportfirerecruitment@gmail.com

To return to where I started this post…hyping my upcoming Dronechoir performance! Where many individuals show up, big collective feelings and big collective power follows. If you can make it to upstate New York, I hope to see you on February 16th.

Share Arone Dyer's Cornucopia

Here are easy links to the earlier installments of my journey into firefighting.

Pt 1: from Freak to Firefighter — Training for the volunteer firefighting squad in a tiny upstate New York town.

Pt 2: Paperwork! Gear! Hound Dog Heroes! — Initiation (hazing?) in the volunteer fire fighter style

Pt 3: Fast Forward FireFighter! — Learning to fight fires without losing my politics

Pt 4: Interior Complex — Eight weeks of interior fire fighting operations classes

Update: Good News Bear for Becraft!

In my last installment, I alluded to the rather contentious vote that would either make or break the Town of Greenport’s Becraft Station, and potentially the entire department.

For the past two years, I’ve served as a Polling Inspector for the two public votes our Fire Department hosts each year. On December 9th, what started as a tense-seeming voting day on social media—with one or two especially vocal naysayers shouting into the empty, echoing cavern that is Facebook—ended with an onslaught of voters pouring into (and out of) the station.

For context: at both votes last year, at most 65 people showed up. This time we had 253 voters.

I was the only person checking names and addresses at the entrance. Even though I’m (self-proclaimed) quite quick at finding a name, the line grew and grew until it stretched out the door and into the cold December night. We truly had no idea so many people would show up, and we’d set up too close to the front of our large meeting room—which, in hindsight, was ridiculous. We could have made room for everyone to get out of the cold. Still, despite the tight quarters, people waited patiently and voted.

Most of the evening was cordial and calm, and I saw many faces I hadn’t expected. A big reason for the turnout was one focused Becraft member who took the day off to phone-bank, speaking directly with 150 neighbors. (Good work, Jeff!)

The worry for the department was that if the Becraft building isn’t updated, it will be condemned and taken out of service. The station’s members wouldn’t simply be reassigned elsewhere within Greenport. More likely they’d move on to other municipalities outside our regular service range, like Livingston or Germantown. The lower portion of Greenport covers a much larger geographic area than the Eastern or Northern districts, so many Becraft members live farther south in Columbia County. When we’re starting with only about ten active members per station—meaning those who regularly respond to calls—losing that group could have reduced our active department membership by as much as one-third, placing a major burden on whoever remained.

There’s also the insurance issue. Homeowners’ insurance rates could rise, or policies could become harder to obtain, if insurers dropped coverage within Becraft’s response area. While Stations 1 and 3 can cover the southern district, response times would almost certainly suffer due to the increased distance.

Back at the polls, a large group of firefighters stayed to hear the vote tally. It seemed like most people were hoping for a yes vote, though it’s sometimes hard to read the room. When 130 yes votes were reached—the minimum needed to pass—most of the men in the room (these gatherings are still 90–95% men) clapped and cheered. I was focused on inspecting the tally, so I hadn’t noted if anyone had a negative reaction.

As chairs were being stacked and tables cleared, one firefighter made a comment along the lines of, “Don’t help those guys [in Station 1] clean up—they never do anything for us.” That understandably upset some Station 1 members, including people who had voted YES in Becraft’s favor. It led to a loud, uncomfortable argument that was encouraged to move outside. When stations don’t integrate socially, distrust grows. I’m not the only member who wishes we would change that.

All of this is to say: what’s good for one station is good for the whole department. I’m grateful the vote passed and that Becraft can move forward with the next stages of this much-needed work.

8

My Department putting out the call:

HI! it’s been forever. I have no shows coming up just yet, but something is shaping up for my upstate New York people in February & a Dronechoir may occur in the Netherlands this March. So stay tuned!

Meanwhile, if you didn’t catch it, here is documentation of the Dronechoir I led at Roulette in Brooklyn this past June. I also posted a Substack explaining the history & philosphy behind the piece. The video is documentation, not a polished recording—and I feel strongly that Dronechoir is best experienced in person. A slightly more properly mixed recording of a 24-minute Dronechoir, EROICA, is available here. Ok, enough caveats—enjoy the video.

Support my work on Bandcamp

You can pledge to support this newsletter with cash money right here (if I ever turn that feature on). For now the single best way to support my creative work is attending my shows, buying music on a platform like Bandcamp, or subscribing to Buke & Gase’s Scholars Alliance which has been running since 2018.

Interior FireFighting Operations, one breath at a time

WINTER IS HERE and I’m overjoyed because summer is such a frenetic timesuck. Everyone’s BusyAF1 including yours truly which makes for less social consistency but more awkward moments as you bump into your friends at random places in town saying “OMG how ARE you oh you’re busy TOO wow yeah we should totally hang out gotta go” and then you both zombie strut away like you shared a magical moment only to feel it wear off as you struggle to remember how you know that person in your BusyAF fueled amnesia.

Alora! I need to catch you up on my autumn activities: I started attending Interior FireFighting Operations classes on September 2nd. It was every Tuesday and Thursday, from 6:30-9:30pm (or later) for a total of 18 classes. I’d go to the gym in the mornings, then work my intense landscaping job, so Tues/Thurs were long, active days. There were 19 people in my class, all men but myself and Astrid. Everyone’s a joker, and each night there’s laughter peppered in the right places. Everyone is respectful and kind, in an arm’s-length-bro kind of way. Even me! For example: my assigned team’s Lieutenant was a trickster with at least two aggravatingly funny dad jokes each night. I secretly enjoyed them, even as I teased him to his face that he was wasting my valuable brain space and limited attention span. As the saying goes, “If they don’t bust your balls, they don’t like you,” and I learned that giving it out—as much as taking it—was a valuable social skill.

In one class, we learned how to rescue both conscious and unconscious patients from a building using a ladder. Each student took turns playing both roles: the uncomfortable “patient” and the nervous rescuer. The drill was awkward by design because the rescuer’s knee has to be firmly planted in the patient’s crotch for the entire descent. (You super duper do not make eye contact during this drill.) But everyone treated one another as gently and respectfully as possible.

Picture it: the black night sky as a backdrop to a floodlight-lit ladder leaning halfway up a two-story building. The practice patient faces away from the ladder, balanced precariously on the rescuer’s knee. The rescuer faces them, gripping the ladder and slowly descending, rung by rung. Other students surround them to steady the ladder; the other students are not crowding, but still pretty close, offering encouragement, and advising when a small adjustment is needed to help the rescuer make their way down.

The instructors are there too, sometimes barking a quick order to “hustle up,” other times giving step-by-step directions, but always watching closely. They don’t want anyone to get hurt, but they need all of us to get through the task so we can get home at a reasonable hour.

This sometimes leads to some rushed, preemptive enthusiasm—or, for lack of a better term, bullying. “You can do it!” or “You’ve got this!” are common phrases of encouragement from my fellow trainees, but they can sometimes be delivered in a way that feel anything but encouraging.

When someone says, “I don’t have this!” or “I don’t think I can do it!” our instinct in many situations is to respond with, “Nah! Look at where you are! You’re so close! You GOT this!” Often, the person doing the encouraging is right on. But there are also times when that confidence is just projection. Those moments are a good opportunity to pause and suspend your expectations, at least briefly.

Unfortunately, while Astrid was practicing as the rescuer with her partner, she was injured in what was likely a frustrating chain of miscommunication—or misplaced encouragement. She was clearly heard saying, “I can’t move my foot,” and “I don’t think I can do it.” But instead of an instructor or nearby supporter hearing this suspending their projected expectations by asking if she could use some assistance, she was advised to continue with those harmless-seeming phrases of encouragement.

She did as she was told. She tried to push on. Almost immediately, she and her partner collapsed to the ground, and Astrid suffered a painfully rolled ankle. After the collapse, several of us sat with her while we iced her injury. She was angry and felt she hadn’t been heard.

From the instructor’s perspective, they didn’t think they’d treated her any differently than they would have treated any other student—which I would say is understandable. However, that approach means the next student who voices fear or uncertainty might be injured in the same way, in a similar situation.

Astrid ultimately did not return to class.

I think any of us would have been just as frustrated by that scenario as she was. As we practice these tasks for the first time, we all want to do them right. At the same time, we’re learning as we go—discovering, sometimes painfully, if we actually can complete those tasks successfully and safely. Speaking as a woman who’s always pushed against traditional gender stereotypes in the workplace, I work overtime to prove that I’m strong enough, worthy of the task at hand, and smart enough to do it with more strength-efficiency than others with more body mass. I exercise so I’m familiar with my physical limits, and I study how to adapt tasks to my strength level through practice. I assume Astrid is just as familiar with her strengths and capabilities as I am with mine, which is why I think she needed to be heard and believed more immediately. But at the end of the day, we all want to pass the test—perhaps to impress our comrades in the process…or simply ourselves.

Astrid was not the only person who didn’t make it through IFO due to physical duress, but I sincerely hope they all retake the class next year.

Just another thought: there was no laughter during class on the anniversary of 9/11 as our instructor read a very heartfelt, impactful essay he’d written about his experience in the fire department on that day, touching on both the importance of the job and its inherent dangers. As as a reminder, this isn’t even a job, because no one gets paid to do it unless you live in a larger city like Kingston, Troy, Schenectady, or NYC. That’s why it’s really nice when Bagel Tyme offers us free bagels after watching us put out a dumpster fire by TJ Maxx, or when Stewart’s Gas Station brings coffee and donuts to a structure fire we’ve been working at since 4:50 a.m.

Keep an informed eye open for those who serve your community! Here are easy links to the past installments of my journey into firefighting.

Pt 1: from Freak to Firefighter — Training for the volunteer firefighting squad in a tiny upstate New York town.

Pt 2: Paperwork! Gear! Hound Dog Heroes! — Initiation (hazing?) in the volunteer fire fighter style

Pt 3: Fast Forward FireFighter! — Learning to fight fires without losing my politics

Save Becraft!

Ok now for the Dramarama I mentioned at the top of this newsletter. If you’re a Hudson resident, here’s what I want you to do:

Please vote YES from 6pm to 9pm on Tuesday, December 9th at:

Becraft Fire Station #1
216 Green Street
Hudson, NY, 12534

If you or a family member aren’t directly involved with the Greenport Fire Department, you likely have no idea what goes on there—including the upcoming PUBLIC VOTE that will determine whether the Town of Greenport’s Pumper #2, also known as Becraft2 (Facebook) receives a new ADA-accessible, three-truck-bay addition. (Or, if the vote is “No,” potentially doom the department to extinction, including the loss of insurance coverage for local residents currently served in their coverage area.)

If you are in the department, you’ve probably already heard the pros and cons—often delivered with heavy, martyred bias—so it stands to reason that some additional clarification could be helpful. Below, I’ve quoted materials prepared by the department down below…

Exciting News for Our Fire Department and Community!
Our firehouse has been the heart of this community for decades — a place where dedication, teamwork, and courage live every single day. Over the years, our firefighters have continued to answer every call, no matter how big or small, always putting others first.

Now, it’s our turn to give something back.

We’re proud to share plans for an important addition to our current firehouse — a project that will give our firefighters the space, tools, and resources they need to serve even better.

This addition will mean:

• More room for modern equipment and vehicles

• Improved training and safety areas

• Updated living and work spaces for our firefighters

• A more efficient layout for faster response times

This isn’t about building something new — it’s about building on what already makes our department great. It’s about honoring our past while preparing for the future.

Our current apparatus bays are antiquated and failing. Repairing them is not feasible, therefore we must replace. Every improvement we make helps keep our community safer, stronger, and better prepared.

So let’s come together to make this happen on December 9th. Let’s support the men and women who never hesitate to answer the call.

Share Arone Dyer's Cornucopia

Welcome to my newsletter if this is your first time receiving it. So far I have mostly written about my recent experiences training to become a volunteer firefighter in upstate New York. This is not a regularly scheduled newsletter but my rhythm so far has been to send new installments once every 4-8 weeks.

If you want to catch up from the beginning here is the story so far:

pt 1: from Freak to Firefighter

pt 2: Paperwork! Gear! Hound Dog Heros

pt 3: Fast Forward FireFighter!

For now this newsletter is free. You can pledge to support this newsletter with cash money right here (if I ever turn that feature on). For now the single best way to support my creative work is attending my shows, buying music on a platform like Bandcamp, or subscribing to Buke & Gase’s Scholars Alliance which has been running since 2018.

What is a Dronechoir?

I’m not going to explain what constitutes the drone musical genre and instead let this nice man explain1 what a drone is. You can intimate from this video where drone music originated from but I’m not qualified to give a history lesson about it.

Regardless, art is a form of conversation and interpretation, right? In 2015, when I was invited to “do something” at Basilica’s 24hr Dronefest, I was not a dronethusiast. (i.e. I had never listened to drone music on purpose.) So I interpreted the opportunity as a way to solve a pair of problems the invitation introduced:

• How do I not do it alone and not incorporate electronics, as many other performers seemed to be doing?

• Noting that the lineup felt somewhat off-balance in the gender department I wondered: could I load the stage with women?

Hence, Dronechoir was awkwardly birthed. You can watch this lovely film below for highlights from that first edition.

For my performance I gave each of the vocalists individualized notes as I went from person to person around the circle, changing their notes each time I came back to them. It was essentially a live looping human-machine, and I learned that the improvisational process felt messy and unkempt. Since then, I’ve been developing a long, evolving composition, adding a new section every two performances or so, and it’s become a sort of collection of moments.

Each section has a title, like “Sirens” - “Lighthouse” - “Maidens in the Garden” - “Walking together in grief” and so on. Each section has a particular flavor that I lengthen or shorten, or omit entirely, depending on the timeframe requirements of the performance. That’s why every performance has been different, even though it incorporates similar parts. I often change the chords or frequency of patterns. It’s also grown to include five parts, so the number of participants has been able to expand, and I’ve honed the parts to be within particular vocal ranges. Sometimes it even feels like there is a soloist component to the composition, but everyone is being told what to sing.

I like for the participants to be uninformed of who else is singing their part until they’re in the thick of it, because I like how the uneasiness of ignorance creates a petri dish for bonding. That’s the same reason I typically ask the vocalists to NOT listen to the piece. I think that being able to see the singers search for their note is a part of the performance, and also negs the idea of perfection. I like that we all have to start our tracks as a group. This gives space for the human touch of timing, and immediately strikes down the feeling of “failure” as we navigate technology, which is inevitably quite difficult to work with.

Share this newsletter with a friend

Join the Scholars Alliance on Bandcamp

What’s different about this weekend’s Dronechoir?

The new version we’ll be performing at ROULETTE this Saturday, includes a new section I’m calling “dust particles” which references my sense of collective helplessness against what I view as authoritarian, oligarchical rule.

​So it’s given me the title for the next performance…

Dronechoir MOTE, 20

MOTE, as in

a tiny particle of dust

and

So Mote it Be

Dust builds up, and we wipe it away. Somehow it seems like that's what those with power are trying to do to those without. Brush dandruff off the shoulders of a suit-jacket. And we dance and swirl ‘til we settle. But even the tiniest particles can lead to a global halt; take communicable diseases, for example. It's a matter of organization and communication. For better or worse, word of mouth might be the most effective way to get things done, and without giving too much away, that’s sort of the subtext within this next performance.

It takes me a while to come up with a title for these. The first 8 were titled “TRACE”, as I navigated what physically tracing a path in this type of performance could look like.

Then came “BUDDHA” which included a chant with optional solos. “MIRACLE” was the first time working with another creative: spoken word poet Mahogany L Brown. “SYLLABA” focused more on the words and intent, with a different spoken word poet, Shannekia MacIntosh. “DIMINU” was done with super small group. Et. cetera.

You can find the titles of each performance here,2 as well as see the performers and gain a little contextual perspective.

Do you have any questions about Dronechoir or my process of creating each piece? I realize this has been a chaotic explanation. I’m rushing to get it out before preparing for the show this weekend!

Last but not least thank you to everyone who has participated in a Dronechoir over the years. The ensemble at Roulette this weekend will include: Amanda Wallace — Aqxyl Storms — Arone Dyer — Beth Meyers — Bethany Dinsick — Chessa Rich — Coco Villa — Emma Wiseman — Ginger Dolden — Grace Woodard — Josh Davidoff — Lambkin — Lily Goldberg — Lola Johnson — Mary Hood — Melanie — Molly Schwall — Skylar Gudasz — Susan Mason — Tamara McLeod — Tom Weiser

Share

p.s. — If you live far away and can’t make it to Roulette you’ll be able to watch a live stream of the performance on YouTube. Really though you should come if you can! I hope to create a “finished” audio/video document of Dronechoir using the documentation for this show—but this is an embodied performance meant to be experienced in real life.

2

Everyone likes pictures so I’m adding a video and some group portraits from previous instances of Dronechoir in this footnote. There is more information over on my website.

INFORMATION — TICKETS

This event is supported, in part, by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts and represents a real milestone in my creative career. You can watch it live at home using the YouTube link below, but it’s best experienced in person, so please come out if you’re able.

Since my last newsletter, I’ve been a bit busy. I performed at Long Play Festival with Buke and Gase. Aron was interviewed by his sweetie, Daonne Huff, about that experience, but for my part, I remember peering into the darkened audience as we walked onstage noting that it looked quite sparse, and I thought “Yeah, that tracks… it’s a festival and we’re too weird, obscure, not jazz/classical/whatever, not young, not not not.”

That thought process tore a hole in my chest, but then I closed my eyes, put my head down and dove into our well-rehearsed dark mechanical memory of the first song. As its final notes rang out I looked up again and was shocked to see what seemed like a VERY full audience… where did all these people come from? Oh my gosh they need more chairs. It was packed! Wow, and it seemed like they…could it be (?!?) the whole audience KNEW OUR MUSIC?! Ohhhhh kaaaaaaayyyyy thennnn! My gosh that just felt really freaking good.

The sorry-for-myself hole zipped itself right up. They clapped along to “Revel in Contempt” with me, and happened to be baller clappers. Ha! I don’t see Aron often because we both have jobbbbs, but I’m going to see him tonight and ask him if he wants to play more. I do! I always do. (Post-script: we sort of talked about it. it’s a big YES. Join our Scholars Alliance to be the first to know when and where!)

🎟️ Sat June 28 @ Roulette, Brooklyn ℹ️

support Buke & Gase's Scholars Alliance

So far this Substack has mostly been about my journey to become a volunteer firefighter. If you’re just tuning in catch up with these links.

pt 1: from Freak to Firefighter

pt 2: Paperwork! Gear! Hound Dog Heros

If the latest installment of my firefighting journey has a soundtrack maybe it’s “Arson’s Request” which John Niekrasz, my Buke & Gase bandmade Aron Sanchez, and I created some years back. I say “fire” in it a bunch. Not sure what else I’m saying, but it seems appropriate? Listen here…

Anyway, for the last eight weeks, I’ve been immersed in the blended Basic Exterior Firefighting Operations class, both ITB (which works for either “In the Book” or “In the Box” as there was plenty of both) and IRL (skills trainings, test takings, certificate receivings).

The book I was tasked with gulping down was something like 1,400 pages and jam-packed with details about anything and (almost) everything one may encounter as a Fire Fighter, from fire dynamics (how come it hot?) to hose lays (we do like a flat lay in the bed), fire extinguishers (there’s a variety! check if yours is up-to-date and full!), ropes/knots, ground ladders, and my personal favorite: forcible entry. I can break a door open. Huff n Puff!

At the beginning of class we were split into groups and I think I seriously lucked out with mine - Team ALPHA! Together we cover Canaan, Ghent, Hudson, Greenport and Old Chatham and have commonalities in animal husbandry, motorcycles, contracting, tree work and climbing. And firefighting. We run the gamut from queer to tech bro, and despite being quite new at firefighting each of us seemed to already hold a tight grasp on what we’re getting ourselves into. On top of my stellar team, I was surprised to learn that many people in the blended class were not conservative-leaning, and in fact dramatically so. Several folks in the class work from home, were recent Covid transplants from the city, or just wanting to get more involved in their communities.

Team ALPHA was no stranger to progressive swagger, and I became comfortable openly discussing the politics of our different departments.

I missed our Ladders Skill day due to the aforementioned Buke and Gase performance and was sent up to Rensselaer County’s Training Center to complete it, where I quickly learned that Columbia County’s Fire Department (my county) is waaaay more liberal than most counties. It was immediately made clear to me that libs are ‘tards during our introductions, where you introduce yourself by saying what fire district you hail from. Hence “I’m Greenport” and they sez ah where’s that? and I sez “We’re the horseshoe that hugs Hudson” and they scoff back Ha! better than bein IN Hudson! Yeeeechh!

Listen, it’s possible I was overthinking it, but hear me when I say their tone was less than pleasant. Hudson is well known as a progressive, liberal city, and my take-away from that encounter is that they think Hudson is a stinky, icky place that they wouldn’t be caught dead in.

Anyway! I got through those two nights of skills training unscathed and stronger in my conviction to stick to it, if only to be an artist in a working-class environment to prove that artists don’t all be dumb. I finished the training literature in its entirety, then came back to my progressive-leaning Columbia County classmates to make it through our final written and hands-on skills testing. (Omg I nearly lost my footing during my hose test but I maintained control and passed! Woot!) After receiving our certificates, one of our training instructors made a short speech to all of us which included a comment that stuck out to me, perhaps because he drove it home with repetition: “Don’t let politics run you out. Remember why you’re here, why you’re doing this. Don’t let the politics of your departments run you out.”

Hm.

I get the feeling that those politics might get run out by us.

Now, I’m sure not all of the folks in this class are Progressive or Liberal, so let’s not make asses of ourselves assuming such, but let’s be real. Each one of these people put in over 38 hours of hard work, plus countless hours of reading and quiz-taking, to learn the incredibly important life-saving skills and information needed to not be a dipshit when fighting fires. Our instructors were thorough, direct, and challenged us to retain the information we were taught. Despite whatever political leaning, each person pictured above is taking actionable steps to care for their community, and many —most! — will be putting their life at risk to do so. We all got along! We laughed and supported each other! It honestly doesn’t matter to me how they vote. What matters to me is that when shit gets hot, they have my back, and I have theirs.

Last thing: June 14th was Flag Day—which, if you live in Hudson, is a big deal. There’s a huge parade, fantastic (and very close) fireworks at the waterfront, a carnival, and neighborhood grill parties.

I really wanted to march with my Fire Department in the parade—it’s such a visible and proud moment. But I also felt conflicted. In my opinion, the government is abusing its power by deploying the National Guard and Marines against CITIZENS who are peacefully exercising their Constitutional right to protest the mistreatment of our immigrant community—regardless of their legal status.

That made it hard for me to take part in a community celebration. My department carries a massive, street-wide American flag. I love my country and I support its people, but I don’t support its current leadership.

I was deeply torn with how to show my support for my country. I wanted to protest its actions, but it seemed like simply not showing up to the parade wouldn’t be much of a protest, on its own.

I DID end up marching. I carried a portion of the flag, and though I disliked the optics and felt awkward and outnumbered, it was a much more positive experience than I’d expected, seeing all the different community members who were both in the parade and on the sides, cheering.

I then went immediately to a fantastic drag show at a nearby dairy farm. It felt right (and fun!) to support the diversity in my community.

How do YOU show up for your country in a way that doesn’t compromise your belief system? When my FD station recites the Pledge of Allegiance, I stand, but I do not say the words, because I don’t believe that “God” should be one of them. And I believe I’m showing up when I volunteer my health and time to fight fires and help members of my community. These are small hints at a larger picture, and it matters. Will my sustained efforts to stand strong behind my beliefs make a difference in how humans are treated throughout our county, country, world?

Stay tuned for more…

Share Arone Dyer's Cornucopia

4 songs from the Buke & Gase reunion

For the deep heads you can hear four songs from the Buke and Gase reunion (?!?) gig on Bandcamp if you join our Scholars Alliance subscription thingie.

Most of you know me from music stuff so I’m going to continue to open these posts with…new musical activities. I hope that’s ok. The big news is the Buke & Gase concert film & documentary which came out in 2023 is finally getting a soundtrack!

As of last week ago, half the tracks are streaming and on Bandcamp. The full record is out May 2, 2025, the film’s second anniversary. The 14-track LP includes songs from every one of our records. Since we don’t like repeating ourselves this is probably the closest we’ll ever come to making a Greatest Hits collection. There are a few ways to listen:

Bandcamp pre-order

Spotify pre-save

other services

You can also get it as part of our Scholars Alliance on Bandcamp. I’m a big fan of Bandcamp because that’s how we actually make a bit of money from our recordings, but you do you. If you’re a streaming person a Spotify pre-save will apparently “tickle the algorithm” and be helpful. (Yes that’s a quote from our label guy.)

Meanwhile, Aron and I have initiated a rehearsal regimen1 in preparation for our first performance in over five years (?!) at Long Play Festival in Brooklyn on May 3rd at the BRIC Ballroom. Every Tuesday & Thursday 7-9ish,2 leading up to the performance, we’re livestreaming our rehearsals via Blast Radio. Go HERE if you’d like to listen in as we struggle to wrap our brains around the material, and be the first to know which songs are the hardest for us to pull off.

How A Freak Becomes A Firefighter? pt 2

Here is part 1 if you missed it & need to catch up.

In the last episode, I had hastily decided that I WILL BE FIRE FIGHTER AND SAVE LIVES AND POSSIBLY GET INJURED. None of these concepts are guaranteed, but they are certainly within the realm of possibility, and possibilities are useful elements in a life-compass.

I handed in my application at the beginning of Summer 2024 and then…heard nothing back. The summer came and went, I was super busy landscaping, teaching kids how to ride or fix bikes and making music on Naama Tsabar’s artwork in Berlin, so no big dingdongdeal I barely thought about it.

But, like, really? At the August Town Board Meeting I checked in with the Chief to see if I should be expecting to hear anything or if there was more I needed to do, and he recommended I hand in another application to him, directly. In a hushed aside, he informed me that my original application had been “lost,” and the guy who I handed my original to is no longer in charge of handling incoming applications, apparently.

This was my first insight into what I’ve learned is the incredibly passive social culture of the department: a place where many members have very strong opinions that they choose not to directly address but, rather, express them at length to ANYONE ELSE within earshot. They are a plosively talkative bunch!

So, Chief fast-tracked my second application (Thanks, Chief!) and I made a doctor’s appointment for a physical where I blew into a tube foreverrrr, got delicately zapped with an EKG, stood on one foot with my eyes closed. I thought, this is it? To join, you need to be able to stand up without getting dizzy? Uhm…I passed. Yay!

In September I was invited to the Commissioner’s meeting where it was officially announced that I was joining the department. I was SO PROUD and I’d done absolutely NOTHING yet. I signed what looked to be a scrappy address book with names as far back as the 1970s (I’d hoped it would be older, but was charmed by it nonetheless), and they proceeded to pile upon me a shiny metal badge (awesome), a Probationary ID (did you say there might be local discounts?!) and a pager. Then I was taken into the back storage room to deal-with-it-GoldieLocks-style a well-fitted jacket, super not well-fitted oversized pants, clunky boots a size or two too big, teensy tiny gloves, heavy helmet, thermal hood, safety high-visibility vest, and a big, red carrying bag for all the goodies, which for a while I kept referring to as my “kit” and Chief laughed at me.

“What the heck do you mean, kit? You mean Turnout Gear?!”

Ok. Learning the lingo.

Proud novice!

When I signed up, I was advised that you can be an Active Member and/or a Social Member of the Town of Greenport Fire Department, and you don’t necessarily need to be a social member at the same station where you’re active.

There are three stations in Greenport, which is a town shaped like a horseshoe that acts as a politically conservative jockstrap that manages to keep Hudson’s elite nutsack cozily cupped in place. Ones is the station closest to me on Green St/23b, the Eastern section; Becraft is located in the South section of the Town of Greenport which is mostly rural; and Threes is located North in the more sprawling, suburban-styled neighborhoods off of Fairview, the road along which all the big box businesses and shopping malls are haphazardly clustered. You know, where your hopes and dreams of having a good day go to die, but the sunsets are spectacular!

I was informed on the sly, likely with a tinge of bias, that the social aspect of Ones would be, perhaps, not my cup of culture tea, and that Threes had a pleasantly active social membership (not to confuse you, there) that I might fit into more appropriately. So I joined Ones as an Active Member, since they were just around the corner from me, and Threes as a Social Member.

Now, HAD I KNOWN this would lead to TWICE the number of monthly obligations, including station-specific meetings, fundraising activities, parties and yearly fees (you PAY to be a volunteer member of a dangerous job), I mayhaps would not have opted for such an overly ambitious decision.

Alas! It’s official. I’m an Active Ones and Social Threes.

My initiation to Three’s social member obligations was at Hound Dog Hero, a food stand located on the County Fairgrounds in Chatham, where I learned how to make the most insane meal I’ve ever encountered: the Meatball Sub. A notorious Threes original recipe, this head-sized, half loaf of Italian bread is first fisted and spread up to your forearm, then stuffed beyond capacity with hot red sauce, meatballs, and/or pepperoni. (Typically and.) I belatedly apologize for any unwanted alternative visuals that description may have triggered. Would I recommend trying one? Absolutely. Share it! Get a bunch of forks and go to town with your crew. We were stuffing close to 1,000 of these puppies each day!

Fighting Fires one sub at a time!

I did my best to show up as often as possible over the six-day County Fair and managed to meet a good lot of other members of the Greenport Fire Department. They were all quite welcoming, and certainly glad I was there to help with operations. A few were already poking fun, which I’ve been told “means they like ya” as though we were back in elementary school recess, so I guess that felt subjectively good.

It was like being introduced to in-laws, or dogs all trying to size me up and see if they can get me to drop a Sub. As this was pre-2024 election, you could immediately smell the deep anger musk of political poop, which was especially reeking from two older members who seemed eager to get a rise out of me by loudly, repeatedly, yet-not-directly declaring their allegiance to Trump. I gently ignored them but when they talked about needing to buy their County Fair Trump flags…and hats…and t-shirts, I chimed in with “Don’t forget your Trump undies! Gotta keep him close to your heart, right?”

Right.

They tend to steer clear of me at meetings now.

Aside from the internal grumbling (was it my stomach? or was it questioning the liberal optics of working with grumpy Trumpys?), and in between demolition derby explosions, I was heartened to hear all the nice comments from fairgoers thanking us all for our service. I began to deeply appreciate the pride that the other members took in this somewhat gag-inducing process of feeding the community in exchange for donations to support the Fire Department. It was fun, fast-paced, tiring and tomato-spattering work, but I was so happy to be there, happy to greet hungry strangers and accept their gratitude.

My future at Threes as a Social member hasn’t fully congealed. (Prior to finishing this article I’d asked to be a social member of Ones instead, which hosts FOOT LONG HOT DOG days, Soup Socials and Pumpkin Sales - woohoo! The plot thickens…) Regardless, I’ll still go back to work with the Threes for this year’s County Fair, because it felt like the kind of family reunion activity I’d wish to be happily received at.

Upcoming Live Performances

I am still a musician so let me tell you about a pair of shows coming up

Saturday, May 3: Buke & Gase @ Long Play Festival

Where: BRIC, 647 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11217 • tickets & details • What is it? A multi-day, multi-venue festival put on by the awesome Bang on a Can organization. Our date and venue have been confirmed! Festival passes include the chance to see us and a 90th birthday tribute to Terry Riley with Pete Townshend (yes, The Who guy) and folks like Max Richter and Kim Gordon (from Sonic Youth & Body / Head) and lots of other great musicians.

Saturday, June 28: Dronechoir @ Roulette

Where: 509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217 • tickets & details • What is it? An awesome, long-standing experimental music venue commissioned a new and improved version of my Dronechoir, made possible with funds provided by the New York State Council on the Arts. Roulette is only awarded a maximum of one of these grants each year, and it feels cool to be the Chosen One.

Big hearts and thank you to Tony Marino and Yousef Ali for setting us up with the Blast Radio equipment and idea!

Share Arone Dyer's Cornucopia

Scholars Alliance on Bandcamp

I’ve been meaning to start a mailing list for a minute now, and I hear people kind of actually like this newsletter situation so I figured I’d try it. But rather than a boring old here’s what I’m doing & why you should click a link to listen to me on some app you dislike, I thought it might be great to start with a new journey I’m on.

I’m currently in the process of becoming a Volunteer Firefighter in the Town of Greenport, NY!

WTF am I learning? Why on earth would I do that? AKA can this Liberal Artist get along with Not-So-Liberal Volunteer Firefighters? No, I’m not pitching this as a reality show. Yet.

Anyway scroll down to to start my transformative journey.

From from this wacko…to this other wacko.

Upcoming Live Performances

Before I get into that, I am still a musician so let me tell you about a pair of shows coming up

May 2-4: Buke & Gase @ Long Play Festival

Where: Brooklyn, New York at venue tbd • tickets & details • What is it? A multi-day, multi-venue festival put on by the awesome Bang on a Can organization. Our date and venue has not been confirmed yet but festival passes include the chance to see us and a 90th birthday tribute to Terry Riley with Pete Townshend (yes, The Who guy) and folks like Max Richter and Kim Gordon (from Sonic Youth & Body / Head) and lots of other great musicians.

June 28: Dronechoir @ Roulette

Where: 509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217 • tickets & details • What is it? An awesome, long-standing experimental music venue commissioned a new and improved version of my Dronechoir, made possible with funds provided by the New York State Council on the Arts. Roulette is only awarded a maximum of one of these grants each year, and it feels cool to be the Chosen One.

Support my music on Bandcamp

How A Freak Becomes A Firefighter?

What am I DOING?! I suppose, to be fair, I don’t take my hobbies lightly, and this will be no exception. I’ve been regularly attending my public Town Board meetings for a little over three years, trying to learn the ins and outs of how the town is run, who makes what decisions and why, and imagining what my role could be.

I have a strong desire to be involved in my community, to know and champion my neighbors, and to contribute to the collective good, so this seemed like a good starting place. I’m not-at-all interested in being a member of the Board or a Supervisor of anything, so it’s been a long process of trying to figure out where I can fit. Especially as an artist, tripping backwards into a mid-life-crisis with outstretched middle fingers aimed at my youth. Ha ha! You knew nothing, Arone Snow! I will totally find purpose now that I’m older and didn’t have kids, I swear.

So I find myself seated on a squishy-yet-uncomfortable vinyl chair in the section of the room reserved for the public, becoming familiar and friendly with the other characters who show up to these meetings on the regular.

I rarely see anyone there who looks like they’re in my generation, or class (#LivingThatArtistLife).

Mostly they’re older, scruffier, angrier. Like one guy who often raises tough, assertive questions like “Why don’t we ever hear from the Police Department during these public meetings like every other department?!” Or the older couple who regularly attend who told me, frankly, that this was an entertaining and informative way to spend the first Wednesday of every month. “It’s fun to hear the gossip, too!”

One time, and I’m SO GLAD I didn’t miss it, there was an older woman who raised a complaint about her neighbor who was “…growing weed in pots! That’s like setting a six-pack on your curb!” The whole room had a laugh about this. I couldn’t help but feel that the more silly moments like these were exactly what builds community across class and generation.

Unfortunately, it’s mostly an older generation, fraught with many who are stuck in particular mindsets. Lastly, notoriously (at least to everyone at the meetings), there’s the guy with the neighbor whose bushes block his driveway view of oncoming cars which is understandably “very dangerous” and he desperately wants someone to take responsibility for them to be cut down or trimmed. He is incredibly organized, and even more incredibly frustrated with the process of getting those gosh-darned bushes trimmed. Apparently he’s been working on it since 2021!

(Update: As of January 8th, the Board has unanimously decided that it was no longer something they could help him with and he needs to give it the fuck up. My words.)

I learn something new, every time, about how the town manages to not completely shut down, and I deeply wish I could convince my artist community to join me there.

The following could sound boring to you, but as with any romance novel, the more familiar you become with the characters, the more invested you become in their stories…

Stay with me.

Within the public audience I’ve cozied up to, representatives of the various town-run departments plant themselves, like sneaky information geysers. (Why wouldn’t they be sitting in the front row, or their own section? This feels subversive…)

The tall, sturdy older man who supervises the Highway Department has a deliciously monotonous, deeply New York accented and slow-paced delivery of mundane monthly occurrences, anything from which trucks needed what repairs and how many arms and legs it cost the town, to what disaster struck and needed emergency attention. Like a very dry martini, but with a twist of “seen it all” and an immediate hangover of disillusionment that there’s no way the town could possibly pay for everything in dire need of updating.

Likewise, it seems the Supervisor of the Department of Water and Sewer has a tragedy to report each month involving one or another failed pump or graffitied water tower, AND he’s the Supervisor of the Department of Public Works, which includes town property management and…the hot dog stand at the public park? What?! This guy does it all!

And then there are…the firefighters.

The Fire Department always feels more official because the Chief proudly stands at the doorway and addresses the whole room, as opposed to what the others do, remaining seated within the constituents, facing the Board. I noted that the number of 911 calls the department responds to each month averages somewhere around 25, and since I sometimes find myself seated next to him, I ask questions.

I learn that the department is entirely made up of volunteers, including the Chief. This BLEW MY MIND: 🤯

He doesn’t get paid?! The people who come to help you on the worst day of your life aren’t getting paid?! They do it out of the goodness of their hearts? What kind of people do that?!

So, after not thinking about it at all, I decided this would be my new contribution to the town.

Ready Shoot AIM! (Sh*t that’s in the wrong order. Already maybe I’m not doing this right.)

If you want to keep hearing anecdotes from my experience, or any other random things I throw in here in the process (which might be any cocktail of music/art/landscaping/life-related things), then please follow and interact with me!

Learn a little more about where I live: Town of Greenport

Here’s an audio preview of what’s to come, I’ll explain it in a future post:

Fuck Old School Social Media. The lie that those platforms would make me more creative sits like a rock in my stomach.

Disclaimer: All names have been changed other than those who reluctantly agree that I can use their legal name. All of the officials are easy enough to research, if you’re antsy. At any rate, I’m not planning on making super rude or inappropriate comments here, just hashing out my perspective. I think highly of everyone I’ve interacted with thus far and I aim to follow the Golden Rule!

Scholars Alliance on Bandcamp

Share Arone Dyer's Cornocopia

Subscribe now

Until I actually use this thing, please check out both pieces of media I released last year. Here is the solo album made in collaboration with the European chamber orchestra s t a r g a z e. Hear it at other services here.

Here is the film portrait / concert documentary about my long-running duo Buke & Gase. It’s available on on Tubi, Amazon Prime Video, and can be purchased other places.

Thank you for entering my world.