6/6/05 - I love Tribe. I hate Tribe.
I've been on Tribe.net nearly a year now. I love it and I hate it. It's the ultimate time-sink. It's the best and most counterculture of the Friendster-type thangs. It can be frivolous and useless. It can be substantive and helpful. Why don't you log on, and see what you think after a year?In other news Celeste is back in town for the summer! She has returned in triumph from Wesleyan as a Master of Arts. She has a gig coming up at the Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco on June 29th. She is going to Paris in the fall to do the CCMIX program there. She and her girlfriend Cola are both going. Wouldn't you love to spend a year in Paris with your beloved? Envy all around.
And best of all she is going to sit in on bass in rehearsals of me and the Company. Jim Carr is moving away to Kentucky, which I'm very sad about, as he is a heck of a bass player and I really enjoyed working with him this past year and a half. Celeste is going to join me and Dan later on this month to work on "The Great Highway."
5/29/05 - Books on the sidewalk
Lately Divine Wisdom has been sending books to me by leaving them on the sidewalk in areas where I go for my walks. Back in March, it was Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. I read that book in my junior year in high school, I think, and it prepared me for all the mystical journeying I would take in adult life. Today City of Quartz by Mike Davis was there for me to find, right in my path as I walked home. I haven't read it yet. But I'm given to understand it's a very important book which most people haven't read. I guess I'm supposed to read it now.Be sure and check the events page for my upcoming gigs. I just got word that I'll be part of the Ambient Sounds/Ambient Spaces concert series. Organizer Mike Perlmutter has found a tunnel that he wants me to play flute and bass flute in, making use of all the echoes in it. I haven't been to check out the tunnel yet but the whole thing sounds really exciting. The concert will be on Sunday, July 31st in the afternoon. If you're on my mailing list, you will get a reminder about it.
5/20/05 - Magic Chicken
Theresa Wong and Philip Greenlief have made an album together called Magic Chicken. It features their woodwind and cello artistry, plus spoken words, which always gets my attention. Gender balance in a new music endeavor also always gets my attention. You can find out more about it at www.evandermusic.com.The recording is stripped down and very much like a live performance, but I was struck while listening to it by how much I wished it actually were a live performance. All their usual expressiveness and dynamic range were there but there's so much to improvised music (and high-complexity new music that isn't improvised) that isn't audible. I wished I could be there to see them making eye contact and see their gestures and their feeling.
And that brings me to the fact that we've got many live performances every week here in the Bay Area, presenting our music, and more often than not only a handful of people will show up. Bottom line, performers need audiences. I'm not the first to say that and I won't be the last. I'm also not just talking about me and my concerts. If there's music you like, and it's not on the radio, griping about it not being on the radio is a waste of time. Guaranteed, somebody is out there, probably in your own home town, making the music you like, and it's hypocritical of you not to support it by being there.
Speaking of improvised/not improvised, I stand corrected by Ferrara, who says the piece I liked so much in his Forms Of Things Unknown show wasn't improvised after all. He says it was all laid out and the bass clarinet solo was written down. :)
5/6/05 - Aviation music
I've been awarded a commission by the Hiller Aviation Museum, to write a flute quartet (2 C flutes, alto flute, and bass flute) to be premiered at their upcoming fundraising gala on October 8. The three other flutists (I'll be playing one of the parts) have been signed up and I'm working on the piece, which will be called Remove Before Flight. There will be a slow movement called "The Breeze" and a fast movement called "Takeoff". The American Composers Forum has awarded me a Community Partners grant for this piece.
In other news I heard a set at the Luggage Store Gallery last night by Forms of Things Unknown, the chief architect of which is my friend Ferrara Brain Pan. I like his ambient improvs. The first one was my favorite, with its drones, feedback, bells, percussion, and brooding bass clarinet melodies. It was fun how the traffic sounds and even a siren on Market Street blended beautifully with the music.
Tonight I'm going to the International Festival of Digital Arts in Berkeley where Ronnie Cramer has two short films on the program. Ronnie was in the Droneshift with me back in March. I like his live album, Juno. It's very meditative, asteroidy and atmospheric. I like how it says what it has to say, and then moves on; that doesn't always happen in ambient music.
04/11/05
-- Rock Lotto
Last Friday night was the second annual Rock Lotto organized by Moe! Staiano.
It was a benefit for Dax Pierson. I was assigned to Michael Mellender and
Matthias Bossi from Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Vicky Grossi from Bitches
Brew to form a one-time-only rock band. The name of the band was Hammer
Girth. I think. It was a last-minute name.K came down from Portland to hear the Rock Lotto. He recruited his buddies Danielle and Angie (DnA) who came down from Davis. (Again, K exhibits exemplary fan behavior -- not only coming to the show but bringing friends!)
Had there been an award given out for Most Obnoxious, Hammer Girth would definitely have won it. We did an extended dissonant rhythmic vamp with no resolution. By the time it had gone on for ten minutes or so, the crowd was howling in protest and ready to start throwing chairs at us. It was great. :) We had the most visceral crowd reaction of any band there. Danielle told K she thought she'd just been part of an evil social experiment.
All the bands were creative. It's amazing the array of musics that result when you tell people from the creative music scene to play Rock. I was really impressed with the band led by Jessie Quattro. She is a very compelling front-being and Dan Rathbun, Moe!, and the guitar player (whose name escapes me and I apologize) gave her tight backup.
I got to re-connect with Rebecca Seeman, who was a grad school classmate of mine. She is now the choral director at USF. It was really great to catch up and hear what she's been up to.
04/03/05 -- Saturday Night at the Attic
I
took a trip to Santa Cruz last night to hear the fabulous Vermouth.
I am a big fan of this band, formerly of Santa Cruz. They moved to LA a
while back and they included two Santa Cruz gigs on their current tour.
It was a fun night out. The Attic is a gallery and tea house on Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz. They have a superb selection of teas of very high quality. They have plenty of vegetarian options on the menu. Paul and I were very impressed with their lavender lemonade. Justine and Steve from Vermouth asked if we'd watch over their mini-disc recorder while it recorded their sets.
The evening could have been a disaster, according to Justine, but it turned out perfectly. The venue had double-booked itself, putting the music performance on the same night with an art show fundraiser for a local non-profit. They merged the two events and ended up with a much bigger audience for the musicians and music for the fundraiser!
Vermouth shared the bill with singer/songwriter Eli Salzman. He showed himself to be very talented not just with his original material but particularly with his confident cover of "Paranoid Android" by Radiohead. He's a good guitar player and vocalist.
Paul took pictures of Justine, Steve, Matthew and Curtis from Vermouth and Eli Salzman too. He'll be providing CDs of the photos to them.
I ran into Rick Walker and Chris Wedertz. Rick brought me up to date on all his recent exploits which include some Japanese gothic pop music. He's very happy because he loves pop music. The label in Japan is apparently paying for his travel expenses to go over there and perform. Yay Rick!
Rick also says that Santa Cruz is undergoing a live music renaissance. I really hope he's right. Ten years ago, the place was overflowing with creative, original musicians, so many of whom have been priced out of the community. Rick says there are several new venues booking original music. Wouldn't that be wonderful...