Songs about identity,
purpose,
internet addiction,
social media.
Instrumental versions.
 
Released May 5, 2023
 

Spooky sonic journeys.
Storytelling.
Eerie instrumentals.
Dark pop.
Off-kilter, cryptic beats.
Not just for Halloween.
 
Featuring Kevin Dunn on guitars!
 
Released October 14, 2022

As a surfer, composer, and historian of easy listening, I combined some of my interests and put them into musical practice in making this album.

Bolsa Chica Calm references ambient, environmental, new age, and experimental music, from vaporwave to Wendy Carlos' Sonic Seasonings. It was informed by my research in writing my second book, Easy Listening and Film Scoring 1948-78, with two extended, midcentury-inspired meditations with real strings, winds, piano, analog synthesizers, and field recordings.

I started working on Bolsa Chica Calm in 2017; it became a pandemic project. I worked on it at home, using remote recording sessions to record flute and strings. Composed, arranged, and produced by Jack Curtis Dubowsky. Surf recorded at Bolsa Chica State Beach. Rain recorded through a window air conditioner. Jack Curtis Dubowsky: piano, guitar, Jupiter 6, JX-3P, electronics, programming. Charles Sharp: bass clarinet and contrabass clarinet.

Taken from over 70 hours of original and archival footage, Steven Arnold: Heavenly Bodies explores the life, times, and vast artistic output of late American multimedia artist, photographer, and filmmaker Steven Arnold. From his unconventional childhood, through his apprenticeship with Salvador Dali and his untimely death, the film traces Arnold's contributions through his drawings, paintings, makeup design, poster art, films, set design, and exotic tableau photography, weaving an informative, inspiring tapestry of fearless self-expression, undying creativity, and endless inspiration.

Flaunt wrote, "The opening strings of 'Aftermath of the Sixties' seems like it would set the scene of a romantic, albeit, tragic ballet — think Romeo and Juliet or Swan Lake. However, not even 30 seconds in, the piece diverges, sounding almost as though it has been warped in a time machine expediting it to narrate the life of Steven Arnold." (Hannah R. Jackson, July 19, 2019)

ZORRO documents themes and highlights from the Ensemble's live score to The Mark of Zorro (1920) starring Douglas Fairbanks. The score nimbly navigates quick cutting action and drama while fleshing out political and social overtones underlying the swashbuckling adventure.

ZORRO is performed by composer Jack Curtis Dubowsky (conductor), Alicia Byer (clarinet), R. Scott Dibble (piano), Angelo Metz (guitars), Slam Nobles (percussion), Jeff L. Schwartz (double bass) and Charles Sharp (bass clarinet, flute, cornet, electronics).

ZORRO was recorded by legendary engineer Earle Mankey known for his work with The Beach Boys, Elton John, Concrete Blond, Sparks and many more. The album was recorded live and mixed in two days by Mankey.

Instrumental music from the documentary, I Always Said Yes: The Many Lives of Wakefield Poole, directed by Jim Tushinski.

In 1971, Wakefield Poole, a respected Broadway dancer and choreographer, had the audacity to put his real name above the title of his first film, a low-budget, gay erotic feature called Boys in the Sand. To make sure everyone knew about it, Poole advertised the film in the New York Times, creating a sensation. In an era when anyone making, promoting, or appearing in so-called "pornography" could be liable for prosecution and jail time, Poole was a remarkably open and honest gay filmmaker. He became internationally famous. His movies screened for years as examples of films that were artistic as well as explicit.

In February 2010, while teaching at a music college in Minnesota, bandleader Dubowsky had surgery for a detached retina. (Cover photograph shows an old warehouse building in Lowertown St. Paul.) This album reflects an eye theme, tracks including "Retina," "Depth Perception," "Lattice Degeneration," "Night Vision," "Pupil," and "Iris."

The Long Beach Post described Jack Curtis Dubowsky Ensemble III as "an experimental collection of tracks that are likely to take the listener to a rarely-visited psychedelic state of mind... the sometimes-structured, sometimes-abstract free-form instrumentals and electronic sounds transcend traditional musical boundaries and require an open mind and an appreciation for creative exploration."

The second JCDE album added Hall N. Goff on trombone and electronics. JCDE supported the album with an East Coast Tour across five states.

New music blogger Grego Applegate Edwards wrote, "This is not music that is easily classified. I suppose you should think of it as electroacoustic music that draws on rock and jazz elements and resituates them into a highly singular new music matrix. This is slowly developing music that over time is quietly rewarding and without a doubt worth hearing."

DVD. Out of print. (Watch on YouTube.)

Merging local politics with murder and mayhem, the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco, under the direction of Stephanie Lynne Smith, presents Jack Curtis Dubowsky's horror opera Halloween in the Castro, a biting, in-your-face social commentary about what has gone wrong with Castro Halloween.

Horrors past and present haunt San Francisco's iconic street. As Halloween approaches, neighborhood residents, suburbanite tourists, city politicians and local business owners have conflicting ideas of how the evening should unfold. But will they all survive to see the dawn?

Halloween in the Castro is contemporary social commentary in the form of a traditional opera. Featuring an ensemble cast and an original score, the show educates, satirizes, and most of all, entertains.

Redwoods (2009) is a TLA / Funny Boy Films motion picture directed by David Lewis (Rock Haven), starring Matthew Montgomery (Socket, Long Term Relationship) and Brendan Bradley.

Original motion picture score by Jack Curtis Dubowsky.

The film won the 2009 Iris Prize for Best Feature at the Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival in Cardiff, Wales.

The debut JCDE album. After a long series of bands and musical projects, Dubowsky decided it was time to perform and release music under his own name, especially as the music increasingly intersected contemporary classical, electroacoustic, and new music spheres.

San Francisco Classical Voice wrote, "The ensemble's music can be described as free-form and transcendental; it's recorded live, without overdubs or sequencing. While comparisons of this sort are often odious, I might think of it as "the Philip Glass Ensemble meets John Zorn," with a healthy dose of Ornette Coleman thrown in for good measure." (Brian Gleeson, August 21, 2009)

Brady, an 18-year-old devout Christian, is tested when he and his mother move to a scenic Northern California coastal town where he falls in love with his new neighbor Clifford. There to spread the good word, Brady instead becomes hopelessly attracted to this handsome young man who is the complete opposite of him: vivacious and athletic. LGBTQ, Drama, TLA Releasing.

Original motion picture score by Jack Curtis Dubowsky.

"A Griffles hoedown is a little bit Hidden Cameras, a little bit Skynyrd and a dab of bluegrass."
Next Magazine, NYC

"The gay politik is equally present in the swish Americana of the Winsome Griffles"
London Observer Music Monthly, London UK

This intimate film reveals the legendary man with the white saran wrapped pants, undersized leather vests, and Dutch-boy haircut who is the iconic Peter Berlin. Directed by Jim Tushinski, featuring Armistead Maupin and John Waters.

Photographed by Robert Mapplethorpe and Andy Warhol, drawn by Tom of Finland, and lusted after by countless fans, Berlin was more than just a piece of eye candy. A talented artist, photographer, and filmmaker, he starred in two underground gay erotic classics from the early 1970s, "Nights in Black Leather" and "That Boy," which he also directed. But he was his own biggest creation, a carefully constructed, unattainable icon awash in eroticism.

Original motion picture score by Jack Curtis Dubowsky.

CD. Out of print.

Includes "Twilight in Technicolor," "Double Nut," and "Sing We and Chant It" by Jack Curtis Dubowsky

Momus Karaoke Parody Contest "Mr Jones" RARE unreleased version

Dubowsky produced, recorded, and mixed three bonus tracks exclusive to the Japanese release (shown here), as well as engineered three other tracks on the album, released in the US on Emperor Norton Records. Dubowsky played bass with VWC for live shows in San Francisco and in New York at CMJ.

Producer Jack Curtis Dubowsky was a huge fan of Glen's, and even go-go danced with the band at a performance at Woody's Hyperion in Silverlake. ("That's when we met," says Glen.) Dubowsky would produce Glen's next album, working to improve the musicianship and performances.

Says Dubowsky, "Boned was really raw and shrill and didn't really do justice to the band. I wanted to help Glen make an album that was in tune, in time, and really tight and punchy, and to take Glen to the next level."

Hot Horny & Born Again, was recorded and mixed in San Francisco in 1993. Dubowsky brought bales of hay into Hyde Street Studio A for the recording, much to the consternation of the studio owner.

Dubowsky played guitar on this underground, experimental, electronic odyssey by performance artist Robbie D.

Helot Revolt grabbed national attention in 1991 with a combination of music, sexuality, performance art, activism, and spectacular live shows. Music press praised Helot Revolt's 1992 CD, In Your Face / Up Your Butt, with write-ups in RIP, BAM, Details, Billboard, as well as in queer zines. Helot Revolt coincided with the homocore and queercore movements, but had its own unique, polished, metal sound.

For live shows, Jack assembled a performance art troupe that played benefit shows for ACT UP, Queer Nation, City of Angels Hospice, and AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Helot Revolt shows were spectacular extravaganzas with slide projectors, tape machines, costumes, dancers, and sing-alongs.

Alex Meconi directed a rockumentary about the band: Helot Revolt the World's Greatest Faggot Heavy Metal Band or They Were Out of Bette Davis so I Got This. (1993, 27 minutes, Dir. Alex Meconi.) The film screened in San Francisco and at festivals from Honolulu to Melbourne, Australia.

Dubowsky produced and co-wrote the Duchampians 12" single "In the Guise of Love," co-written with architect Eric Kahn.

Cash Box Magazine described Diazepam Nights:

Jim Fouratt wrote in Bay Area Reporter: