Transforming the Concert Experience with Video Creatrix B.A. Miale

If you have witnessed the awe-inspiring video projections at local concerts like Deerhoff at Opus 40, Turntables on the Hudson at The Local in Saugerties, or The Goddess Party at Kingston’s Old Dutch Church, then you are acquainted with the unique artistry of B.A. Miale.

Like the legendary Joshua Light Show at the Fillmore East, Miale provides trippy visual accompaniment, most often for live musical events, that greatly enhances their sonic impact.  Like many creatives, she headed to the Hudson Valley when high-octane gentrification hit Brooklyn in the past decade.  Her goal was to escape the concrete jungle to indulge her artistic pursuits with a more affordable lifestyle that included a heavy dose of nature.

If she had followed her parents’ advice, this School of Visual Arts grad might still be toiling away as “Mad Woman” in an ad agency.  Instead, she detoured into first crafting music videos for more than 50 artists, including Jon Spencer and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, before discovering her love of mixing video to music in a live context.  And B.A. often does this in a novel way – by joining the musicians on stage and triggering the astounding psychedelic visuals on a midi-keyboard, a keytar, strapped over her shoulder.

Local concert promoter Mike Amari of Chosen Family Presents says of her: “B.A. is so flexible, and she has tailored her artistry to so many different spaces – from churches, nightclubs and barns to big outdoor tents and the monumental stone edifice of Opus 40.  Whenever she’s called upon, she always kills and makes the experience even more enjoyable for the musicians she works with and their audiences.”

Read on to hear more about B.A.’s one-of-a-kind artistic journey and what she most loves about the Hudson Valley.

INSIDE+OUT: When and why did you move to the Hudson Valley?

B.A. Miale: I moved here in 2017. I lived in New York City for 22 years and grew up three miles outside of the city, in the part of Long Island that looks like Queens. So, I spent most of my life surrounded by concrete.  I toured with bands over the years and slowly realized I was happiest outside the city – surrounded by big skies, mountains, deserts, and nature.

I was also dodging the light-speed gentrification in North Brooklyn, and it was getting exhausting. I moved at least 20 different times and dealt with so many shady landlords. I had an apartment fire in 2010 that uprooted me for years. In 2017, I was losing my affordable housing in Ridgewood and realized if I moved any more East, I’d be in my parent’s basement, so the only way that made sense was up!

This was also when Trump was elected for the first time, and I panicked and felt all the concrete walls closing in. I felt such a strong urge to get out. It was like he was going to mess up something big, and I did not want to be in a big, crowded city when it happened. So, by September 2017, I was out of New York City.

When did you first get interested in art, what was your formal training, and how did your career in advertising lead to your current work?

I don’t think my advertising jobs lead to my visual work. They ran parallel, and advertising was always simply a means to pay bills until I could figure out how to get paid from visuals. But they’re both about constantly coming up with ideas, so I was able to jump back and forth easily.

I’ve had a severely overactive imagination since I was a kid. This manifested in different ways with tons of crafts, piano lessons, dancing school, dressing my brothers in drag, etc. My parents encouraged me to get into advertising because that’s what they considered a secure creative industry.  LOL!

So, I majored in advertising at the School of Visual Arts. Although I appreciated the creative boot camp they put us through, I hated the cut-throat advertising culture before I even graduated. But I’m grateful for the amazing weirdo professors who let my freak flag fly. In my senior year, I talked them into letting me take an internship on Late Night with Conan O’Brien instead of a traditional agency. It was the best job ever I didn’t get paid for! But it made me realize I’d rather run around in production than sit at a desk. My favorite mentor at SVA, a Catskills artist named Frank Young, told me: “You should not have a desk job unless you’re jumping up and down on top of it.”

After I graduated, I moved to Williamsburg in 1999 and found myself surrounded by musicians and artists, and everybody was making life up for themselves. In my experience, when creative people find each other, it’s easy to get swept away, and lucky me, I was in the right place at the right time. I just started making stuff because all the coolest people I knew were doing that. It’s more effective than any “formal training,” really. I didn’t know how to edit. I used two VCRs or a VCR and mini DV camcorder to make weird video art. It didn’t matter because I was doing it and had a platform to show it. And people started asking me to do more of it.

While building my editing/video mixing chops, I had day jobs as a copywriter for in-house music-related agencies like BMG/Columbia House and MTV Networks.  All my bosses were big music fans, so it was easy to take off when a fantastic opportunity came up. I remember getting asked to open for Devo, DJing in a gorilla suit. And when I told my boss at BMG, he said: “Uh, leave whenever you want today and come in whenever you want tomorrow. Or don’t.”

Your career is currently divided into two channels: creating music videos and these fantastic video projections that complement live performances.  How and when did you get into the former, and what were some of your most memorable music videos?

I’ve always loved music and was naturally inclined to act it out. Starting with passionate lip-syncs in front of my childhood bedroom mirror to elaborate musical numbers with my cousins and neighborhood kids. It never occurred to me it could be my job. But like I said before, when you surround yourself with people just going for it, almost anything is possible.

I also grew up in that sweet spot when MTV was young and absolutely mind-blowing. Imagine being eight and David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes” comes on your TV? It’s your first time seeing anything like that, yet it seems familiar. I spent so many hours gazing at these videos that my brain just started naturally visualizing music whenever I heard it.

Fast forward to 2002, when I got an iMac with iMovie, I taught myself Final Cut Pro, and within a year, I had my first paid music video commissions for 2 Skinnee J’s. I was working out of my friend’s recording studio, and the J’s rehearsed next door. They came into the studio, saw what I was doing, and hired me on the spot. I still love the video I made for them in 2003, “One Summer.” It was more like a comedy sketch because, at the time, I wanted to be a comedy writer after interning on Late Night, but I wasn’t into the specific ladder you had to climb to get there. So, I figured I’d just make funny music videos until they hired me!

I won the Les Savy Fav music video contest for “The Equestrian” in 2006. It was my first “viral” video and is still fun to revisit. The band brought me onstage and presented me with a giant check and a trophy that said: “You’re the best person in the world,” which I gave to the video’s star. She was five. I also love the music video I did for Jon Spencer, “Death Ray,” in 2022. We both love DEVO music videos and the movie Phantom of the Paradise, and we took elements from those and ran with them. We shot it in my home studio and my favorite farm nearby.

As for your projection work, it’s a bit of a performance, with you triggering the effects with a keytar – a piano-like midi device through which you control your laptop.  When and why did you develop this novel concept, and how has it grown?

Around 2006, I was hanging with my friend Vic Thrill, a recording studio owner and singer of The Bogmen. He had always told me: “You have this innate gift without even trying; imagine if you actually tried?” He then told me The Bogmen had a show at Webster Hall and wanted to hire me, but I couldn’t just press play on a camcorder or VCR; I needed to learn a video mixing program. So, I did, and my first live-mixed show was in 2006 at Webster Hall.  In 2007, I started playing shows with Vic solo and was onstage for the first time. I would get carried away and almost break my laptop every show. That was when I realized I should look into midi triggers.

One night, I was out to dinner with my friends in 2 Skinnee Js, and I was telling Eddie all this. Then I made a joke: “OMG, how funny would it be if I triggered a video from a keytar? That’s a midi trigger, right?” Eddie looked at me and said: “I have a keytar. It’s yours if you want it. You obviously need it way more than me.” An hour later, Eddie handed me the keytar, and a week later, I was on stage at the Lucky Cat in Williamsburg, controlling the visuals with it. For the next ten years, I toured with a few bands with the video keytar, confusing sound guys across the country!

I haven’t picked it up in a while because most of the gigs I do are improvised, and I work from dozens of patches, which makes it difficult to remember what visuals are on what keys. But I have a new project, Moon Lagoon, where I’ll reunite with my video keytar on a stage.

Your career here picked up in the past few years, with performances at venues including Opus 40, the Old Dutch Church, and The Local in Saugerties. Tell us about your favorite memories of these performances and the challenges you may have faced.

The Hudson Valley music scene has picked up in the last few years, and I’m grateful it’s taking me along for the ride!

It was such an honor to light up Opus 40. I love that place; it’s such a mind-blowing handmade sculpture. It’s the closest thing the Catskills have to the pyramids. Chosen Family Presents booked so many amazing shows there that I lit up – Y La Bamba, Meridian Brothers, and so many more. My craziest memory was the Deerhoof show, where a tornado rolled in halfway through their set. And Satomi from Deerhoof jumped on my gear to save it!  Weather is always a challenge at outdoor shows, but they’re my favorite to do when it cooperates. Utilizing landscapes, sculptures, and buildings for large-scale projections has changed the course of my career, and I love it.

Speaking of outdoors, I love the Griffin House in Palenville and was stoked to do some insane shows there over the summer, including Fourtet, Valerie June, and Say She She, presented by Radio Woodstock. The Local has been such a fantastic addition to the Valley. All their programming is outstanding, and I love working with the gorgeous details in the architecture. The owners and curators are total pros, so kind and accommodating.

Kingston’s Old Dutch Church has been so good to me. The O+ Fest connected us, and I’ve done some unforgettable shows through them, including Mercury Rev, Kate Pierson, Rhett Miller, The Goddess Party, Holly Miranda, and Gail Ann Dorsey. They gave me a residency where I did a light show every month in 2024. I even taught Pastor Rob Sweeney the basics of live video mixing. We are so lucky to have such a positive force dedicated to art and social justice in our community.

You recently worked with one of your idols, John Waters, on his Christmas show.  What was that like?

Haha, that was a dream. It’s like any no-name band opening for a big headliner when you work hard on your set and then play to a mostly empty room with everyone talking! But the fact that he gave me specific permission to sample his movies boggles my mind and made the gig AMAZING before it even happened. That doesn’t generally occur with VJs or video artists. When I met him after the show, he said: “I didn’t see your light show, I was running lines, but I heard it was good!” But you know what? I’d be just as psyched if he told me it was trash because it’s John Waters!

Who are some of your favorite performers to work with?  And are there any you might still like to collaborate with that you haven’t?

Anything Shana Falana does, I’m into it. We’ve worked on numerous projects together, and it’s always fun and sometimes incredible. We all need the type of friend you can call and say, let’s make something happen, and something will happen. I’m biased because she’s my biggest cheerleader and checks in on me more than anyone.

There are so many artists I’d love to collaborate with that I don’t even know where to start. Le Tigre would be so much fun. I also love Karina Rykman. I’ve known her since she was a teenager. We were on the same tour when I ran with 2 Skinnee J’s in 2012. She had an internship playing with the opening band, Sound of Urchin. She’s always been so sweet and enthusiastic, and positive, so I am thrilled to see her kicking so much ass and getting the praise she deserves.

Like many Hudson Valley artists, you moved here from Brooklyn. How is the art and music scene different and the same in the two places?

They’re the same in that you can’t escape your favorite venues shutting down. Let’s face it – billionaires are ruining everything! Living in Brooklyn during the DIY apocalypse taught me that real estate is a pile of bricks, but good vibes are portable. In NYC, those vibes traveled east, mostly into other parts of the city. In the Hudson Valley, those vibes traveled up the mountains into caves, forests, and quarries.

You have a busy schedule in 2025.  Tell us about some upcoming events where people can experience your work.

On January 31st, I’ll be with DJ Harlan and Grand Format at The Unicorn Bar in Kingston – my friend Francesca Hoffman’s fabulous new spot. I haven’t worked in that room yet, but I love it! I am looking forward to playing with laser beams and disco balls! On February 1st, Turntables on the Hudson returns to The Local in Saugerties featuring Nickodemus and DJ Rekha. These are always super fun, eclectic dance parties. This crew is sunshine personified, with good vibes all around.  On Valentine’s Day, I’ll be doing a Dance Party with DJ Bailey at Lady Odd Fellows in Saugerties, a gorgeous pink ballroom that is both a new venue and community space.

On March 20th, I’ll be with Moon Lagoon at The Old Dutch Church in Kingston. This is my project with Ellena Phillips, a stunt harpist I used to tour with from the band Ice Balloons, and Erica Mancini from Gogol Bordello, La Banda Chuska, and other great bands. They create psychedelic sea and space soundscapes, and I immerse it all with live visuals on my video keytar to create a true underwater planetarium.  On March 20 and 21, The Goddess Party returns for two nights at Lady Odd Fellows. These performances are always unique and always sell out.

What about the Hudson Valley makes it unique to live + work here?

The big sky. There has been so much great sky drama this year: the hot pink auroras, the comets, and meteors. I looked outside the other day, and there was glitter (frozen rain in sunlight) falling from the sky. These are all things I’ve been putting in my visuals for years, but here I see the real deal, mostly from my backyard. I don’t think people realize how much of my job is staring at the sky for an hour every day. I live in the sticks but can drive 30 minutes or less in any direction and be in various incredible little cities with unique art and music scenes. I love it.

What impact do you, as an artist, have on your community?

I want to lift and inspire. If I can make someone smile, it’s a good gig. If I can make someone forget about the insane and awful state of the world for a few minutes, I feel like I’ve done my job. I’ve had gigs where I was asked to project disturbing/violent imagery, and I hated it. Reality can be disturbing and violent. I specialize in escapism and bringing people along for the ride.

What local businesses do you rely on to be successful in your career and just in enjoying life?

Firstly, every venue I’ve mentioned thus far. Chosen Family Presents for curating amazing events in the Valley –Chosen’s Mike Amari and The O+ Festival have had a huge hand in my success here. Tubby’s is always a great hang. I loooooove Mighty Donuts in Red Hook. I have bands stay with me sometimes, and I always take them there, and everyone is floored with their breakfast sandwich. Greig Farm for the trails my dog is obsessed with. Any dog-friendly establishment. And Del’s Roadside for pup cups!

What is missing in the area that you wish we had?

We need a good music venue in my area on the Tivoli/Elizaville/Livingston border with high ceilings! I live by Bard and I’m baffled that there isn’t some cool DIY spot or barn, but I’m probably out of touch. I’ve also dreamt of having our version of Meow Wolf for years. It’s an amazing interactive psychedelic gallery/venue operating in several cities. And Thai food. Lots of Thai food.

What would be your dream assignment/gig?

Bowie resurrected at The Sphere in Vegas. Or at The Old Dutch Sphere in Kingston. LOL!

Who or what inspires you personally?

Nature. It’s incredible how much better I instantly feel if I’m hiking or just outside.

Tell us something about yourself that people might be surprised to know.

I’ve never dropped acid; I’m just like this naturally.

What is your favorite non-musical activity?

Floating.

Photos + Videos by B.A. Miale.

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Contributing writer Sal Cataldi is a musician, writer and former publicist living in Hudson Valley NY.

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