Jeet Thayil's book, English, is now available, with a companion cd featuring music by Paul Rubenstein and Bombay Down. It is published by Penguin Books in conjunction with Rattapallax.
Paul's theme music was used for "Blyton in Bombay", a radio documentary by Shebana Coelho. It was broadcast on BBC 4 on Oct. 30, 2004.
"The Show" will be screened 11/11/04 at Asbury Shorts of NY at the Tishman Theater, 66 West 12th Street, The New School.
- Genesis P. Orridge, following Paul's performance 12/15/02 at Tonic, opening for P. Orridge's Thee Majesty.
Rubenstein has scored a number of films, including:
"The Show" by Cruz Angeles
"The Show" has been screened at dozens of film festivals and won numerous awards. It has aired on Showtime, Showtime Too, and PBS.
"Settling in Seattle" by Lisa Russell
"Home" by Raeshma Razvi
"Montessori Sword Fight", "Sunday Afternoon" and "Moose Mountain" by
Mary Beth Reed
"Myth of an Orgasm" by Malik Isasis
"Breach of Etiquette" by Jill Remensyder
Paul has performed with many dancers (including Mew Chang-Tsing, Yoko Murao, Hassan Christopher and Melody Liu), and poets (including Jeet Thayil, Clarice Keegan, Steve Potter, Ace Moore, etc.). He was the musician for improv. theater group Playback Theater Northwest for a year.
Rubenstein's collaboration with percussionist and up-and-coming movie star Viren Kamdar in Seattle in the '90s was called Bakshish. Bakshish released two CDs, "Yao's Question" and "four fifths of the world". Bakshish was active in the Seattle club scene-- even jamming with Ben Shepherd of Soundgarden once, but they were equally at home playing at museums and other centers of "high" culture. Prior to Bakshish, Rubenstein played electric guitar and composed all the songs for the rock band Neem. Neem released an album on cassette and a vinyl single on the Vagrant Records label.
Paul produces and records his music and occasionally does session work for other artists. He recently produced and played all the music for a cover of David Bowie's "Scary Monsters" with vocals by Daniel Johnston and Jack Medicine (Electric Ghosts).
Rubenstein sometimes performs as part of a group called Bombay Down. Bombay Down is Paul, award-winning poet Jeet Thayil and vocalist Senti Toy.
Paul has a Master of Fine Arts degree in music from Bard College and a BA in psychology and philosophy from SUNY Binghamton. He studied composition with Jarrad Powell at Cornish College of the Arts. He has taken formal lessons in sitar, oud and Javanese gamelan.
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