Birthday...

Third birthday in New York. By now I've built up enough friends here from various different circles that I managed a gathering of 13 friends Friday night at Heathers bar in the East Village (well 14 if you count one friend's guest).  It was a fun time.  Really.  I only paid for one drink because there was no shortage of people willing to buy them for me (heck, even the bartender bought me a beer!), the bar never got too crowded and a close friend from out of town who stayed with me paid for the cab ride home.  This is the kind of birthday celebration I was after, lots of friends, free drinks and free cab fare home.  I find myself less and less wanting gifts and often would rather have experiences for my birthday.  Stories to tell, friends to laugh with and drinks being drunk. 

When I arrived home, though, there was a bag of gluten free cookies and a Lindt dark chocolate bar with chilies sitting on the kitchen table from my cousin.  So, I did get something tangible for my birthday...tangible and edible.  And I also got something intangible but rather unforgettable...a hangover.  But mostly stories, too.  Today was a whirlwind day, sort of, but was also relaxing and fun.  And there are a few anecdotes to tell...and even pictures!

The friend who stayed over was none other than Karishma, who was visiting from LA where she now lives with her husband.  This morning we went to brunch (which, as per my earlier FB status consisted of bacon and mimosas, among other things...we joked at one point that I should have asked them to bring my side of bacon out with a birthday candle in it).   My cousin came along and we met two friends of Karishma's there at Korzo just down the block from me.  The brunch there is always good.  Hell, everything there is good.  Even the things I can't eat, so I hear.

After brunch, Karishma and I, went off on our own to Staten Island to visit Snug Harbor, a really beautiful and secluded botanical garden that is relatively unfrequented and therefore a nice spot to laze away an afternoon and feel far removed from city life.  I had been once before two years ago but didn't really explore the garden all that much.  We kind of just stayed in one area of it, and while we saw some beautiful parts of it, we didn't get the full scope of the place.  And I'm not saying I did this time either but I did wander down a little and stumble on a castle-like structure that was connected to a fenced in hedge maze leading to a secret garden.   At this point, our time to get back to the city was dwindling because I had tickets to see Mike Doughty at City Winery at 8pm (doors were at 6:30pm) and needed to touch base back at home and grab my phone charger...checking Facebook to see who's posted birthday wishes on my timeline sure runs your battery down.

Mike Doughty is one of my favorite artists these days and, though, I recently saw him at Brooklyn Bowl with some friends who also know all the words and had a great time at the show, I caught wind of the City Winery residency and had to snag up tickets.  It's an intimate venue and how cool is it that it's a winery in the city and they make their own wine and serve it on tap?! I picked table seats right next to the stage and must have bought them four months ago.  At the time I didn't have any clear idea who I'd go with.  My brother had been planning on coming to the city this weekend but that plan fell through before I could even buy the tickets but I figured, it's my birthday, I wanna do something fun for me.  So I bought two and figured I would sort out my date for the night later.  So, I ultimately invited a friend I just met a month ago the weekend that I ran into all those old Greensboro folks.  It was a good night all around, the food and wine there is amazing (I had the 10oz Ribeye because again, it's my birthday and I can) and the music was great.  Even Doughty's opener was a crowd pleaser and sort of stole the show a little.  Bobby Bare Jr. is a Nashville, TN musician with a sinister and comical edge that lit up the room and cracked us all up, singing songs about killing your loved one like "One of us has got to go." Hilarious!  Apparently, he's worked with Shel Silverstein and written songs with him, one of which he performed early on in his set.  Brilliant.

Doughty came on strong and was funny the whole night as usual.  Played just about everything I wanted to hear and heckled and poked fun at the crowd when they'd start shouting out requests.  "No, I'm not gonna play that one tonight," "Yeah, maybe later," or "I'll play this one now 'cause someone called out in the back of the room," were common retorts.  He even stopped and explained the whole Soul Coughing back story when he got tired of saying no to requests for Soul Coughing songs.   I was happy to hear "Thank you Lord for sending me the F train," among others.

I was not, however, happy to hear the douchie bridge and tunnel f@#$bags at the table behind me who were celebrating their friends' anniversary and wouldn't stop chattering through the set.  Doughty stopped before the second song and said "I'd just like reiterate my talking policy..." saying essentially that if the people around you want you out he'd have no problem bouncing you.  I wished he'd have made good on that one.  After the second time he commented on the chatter, jockie douche bag behind me was muttering something about breaking Mike Doughty's glasses, like he knows he's the one being called out.  I mean, I get it, no one likes being called out but Ooooo, it boils my blood when some ass bag starts disrespecting musicians, especially musicians I'm trying to appreciate on stage.  A guy two seats over from me with a bad Kenny G haircut even asked him to be quiet and got a nice healthy "go f@#$ yourself" out of this clown...at which point, I craned my neck around to get a good look at him.  As I suspected premium Grade A bridge and tunnel trash, only there to drink and eat expensively while being an asshole to everyone in the room.  I tried oh so hard to enjoy the rest of the show and shut out the images of the entire bar ganging up on him in the alley.

I'm sure if he'd have gotten much more belligerent, he would have gotten booted for sure.  But thankfully, he calmed down...I think he probably had a pretty disappointed or embarrassed significant other tethered to him that put a lid on the worst of it.

Anyhow, the rest of the set was gold and I really enjoyed it.  Doughty did his little routine where he says "this is the fake last song!" and then stands on stage with his back to the audience after he plays it pretending like he's not going to play another three songs...but of course, he does. 

After it was over for real, we left the bar and my date had to go to Williamsburg.  She was meeting a friend who was staying with her and didn't know his way around the city on his own.  So we parted ways and I opted to walk through Soho to Prince St.  I got maybe a block away from 6th Avenue before the rain started to pour down out of nowhere.  Rain which thankfully held off through the better part of my day outside but which soaked me to the bone at the very end of my night.  All I could do was laugh and try in vain to hail a cab but ultimately, I wound up with a soggy ride on the N train home to Park Slope where I now sit typing this.  Not too shabby a birthday all around, even with the drenching.  I'm content. 

Tomorrow I meet another set of friends for lunch and then, Tania and I are playing a concert in Times Square area to raise money for her album release at 4pm.  Wish me luck with that.  And let's hope I don't get rained on again.  Here are pics from the day today:

2012 Birthday best shots

Barbès, the film score and the upcoming premiere...

I can't seem to get enough of these guys.  Slavic Soul Party was playing at Barbès as they do every Tuesday night and I just got back.  Despite needing to finish a few cues for the film score and start another one, I decided to go to Barbès after yoga because a new friend I just met said she'd be there. I love how this kind of stuff happens in NYC.  After Monday's 4pm yoga class that I usually take, I stopped by my friend Paige's apartment in DUMBO to chat and help her with some stuff on her computer.  While there I met a subletter that is currently staying with her, a piano player from Israel via London.  We hit it off and got talking about music and it turned out she was heading to Barbès tonight to see Slavic Soul Party.  She had been turned on to them because a friend of hers from Finland was doing some acrobatics during their set.   The Finland friend herself had connected with the band via YouTube.  When they announced her they mentioned they had been anticipating her performing with them for over a year.  Another great story of musicians connected across vast distances.  And apparently, one of the friends she introduced me to at the bar tonight is also a composer. So, that was cool to connect and chat with a fellow composer.

And of course, I shamelessly plugged the show coming up in a few weeks at Galapagos Art Space, about which I am exceedingly excited.  It's going to be freaking amazing and tons of fun.  I have been spending every spare second I'm not working on the film score working on making sure the logistics of recording and looping Tania do not destroy me.  I'm using this program called Mobius and am currently deciding whether or not to use it as a standalone or through Mainstage, a program designed for live performance of various instruments (both live and MIDI).   I currently use Mainstage to perform Moon, Tides, Cycles and blog about that here.  For the new piece, I am planning on looping Tania's performance during one part of the piece and having her play against herself but, in addition, I'm looking for a way to sample her performance (or her rehearsal depending on my ambition) so I can use those sounds to create a palette of sound to use during the second half of the piece.  I think I'm zeroing in on the most efficient way to do so.  But if you want to see the end result you have to come to the show.  And really please do.  The link to buy tickets is here.  I know $20 advanced seems like a lot but think of the fact that we have to essentially rent the venue to be able to perform and get oursleves heard.  It's hard being a musician sometimes.  :-/  Plus add in the fact that this is a world premiere of a new piece, the performance of which is going to be an outstanding achievement if it goes over well.  Piano and electronics is harder than it sounds. 


Anyway, at the moment I'm working off of a nice mixture of my current favorite elixirs, a glass of Côte du Rhone, a glass of Pernod, and a Dry Blackthorn Cider.  Good thing it's my Saturday night.  Tomorrow, I have to get a cavity filled and then I'm going back to Learning Ally for the first time in three weeks to volunteer.  Afterward, it's all film score all day long if I can help it.   

Meanwhile, I have my birthday coming up this weekend...which is why it's ever so important I get something done on the film score.  I'm going to want to spend the entire day Saturday just celebrating that I've survived not just another year, my 31st, but that I survived another year in NYC.  For now, Good night!

Not a failure...

Well, I didn't get it.  That documentary job.  I kind of prepared myself for this though.  And I'm actually quite relieved.  I have so much on my plate right now I wouldn't have been able to do well on any of it. 

Ultimately, after my third try at it, the producer told me that she and the editor really liked my music but, since they have a short time to work and get the right tone for the film they felt they should go with someone who had more experience with documentaries. I get it.  I wasn't a fit for the project.  I might have been able to do it and do it well but it would have been a lot of trial and error.  It's really my first time trying to work with a feature length documentary and, inevitably, I wasn't going to get it right the first time.  And they don't need someone who's going to not get it right the first time.  And since they're paying the person they have a right to feel that way.

It's a hard thing to come to terms with.  I'm trying not to see it like I botched a great opportunity.  Of course, there'll be others and all that stuff, whatever.  But, really a lot of the lessons I learned from this I could have intuited from my previous experience and what I know instinctively about the way music works in documentaries vs. narratives, as per my last blog.  This information was up there in my head but I didn't think to access it.  I got so excited I was getting this opportunity and I was so obsessed with proving I had a quick turnaround time that I don't think I really did give it my best shot possible.  And that's what's hard.  I'm a little bit disappointed in myself.  But I'll get over it.  It's just another lesson learned.  Not a failure.  Maybe it just didn't come at the right time and I should just feel good to have been considered at all.  I'll go with that.

Meanwhile, I'm about to dive back into work on the score for the sci-fi short.  That's coming along nicely and the director likes what he's hearing.  There's been a lot of back and forth and active discussion about what works and what doesn't, which, as I said before, I enjoy.  The process.  Working on that'll get my mind off things for a while and maybe I can destress a little after. 

It's my birthday next Saturday.  31.  I'm planning some birthday drinks after work on Friday and the day of my birthday, I requested off.  That night I have two tickets to see Mike Doughty at City Winery in Tribeca, about which I'm very excited but I have no confirmed date yet.  I've honestly been a tiny bit lazy about coming up with someone, just asking whoever's closest to me, and no one seems to even remember Soul Coughing!  I don't know yet what I'll do if it comes to the day of and I have no one to go with but I hope it doesn't come to that. 

I'll think about it I guess but for now I'd better get to work. 

The process...

I love what I do.  For a multitude of reasons but mostly because film scoring is a collaborative art.  You can't do it without a filmmaker or group of filmmakers with whom to collaborate.  I find the challenge of collaborating to be so much fun, and generally rewarding.  Granted, it can be frustrating and harrowing at the same time but that alone has never been a deterrent for me.

After my second try composing music for this scene, the documentary filmmaker I'm hoping to work with is giving me yet another go at it.  But it occurred to me that it would be madness to dive back in without getting some kind of bigger insight into the mind of the filmmaker here.  So, I suggested a phone conference this evening and we were able to chat and hash some things out.  It was my aim to figure out what, specifically, about the music was intrusive and disruptive to the interviews.  To some extent, though, my instinct helped me to determine this on my own but I hoped to gain a window into her thoughts on the music I had written as well.

Whether or not I get this job I hope I can learn something about the process of writing for a documentary. It's an area in which I have regrettably not had much experience yet.  As I had mentioned, my instincts have been helpful and certain things have occurred to me without having to do much research and the research I have done (articles and actually watching a few documentaries and paying particular attention to the music) has basically confirmed what I've been thinking.

First of all, it's been obvious to me from the start that this is a different animal than scoring for a feature length narrative.  When scoring a narrative, the first thing that occurs to me that there is a suspense of disbelief by the audience.  The implications of this are that the audience (and of course the filmmaker) will be a lot more forgiving of the overt presence of music in the film.  With a documentary, not so much.  These are generally real people and none of it was scripted so there's an element of realism and music just can't behave the same way.  It has to assume a different role, one of quiet support.  It's not there as another character in the film, like one might consider it in a narrative film, but rather as another dimension of the overall mood of the film.  It does provide emotional support but not by telling you how to feel.  Of course,  a lot of filmmakers will tell you they don't want the music telling you how to feel in a narrative either.  I guess the simplest way to put it is that with a documentary, there's less you can get away with as far as indulging yourself and writing the music however you want.  When I first attempted to write something for this, I was too focused on writing good music and writing it the same way I would for the concert hall, I forgot to consider a myriad of things that come into play when you're scoring.

Specifically, I pinpointed several things that were going wrong with my music, beyond the fact that the cues were "disruptive" and "fighting with the interviews," two direct quotes from the director.  I composed a reverent, majestic, overture-sounding piece for the opening where the nuns talk about entering Hong Kong harbor for the first time.  A string trio plays a feather light, pianissimo chordal figure that goes through a progression of 7 different chord changes but at a pretty slow tempo (Grave, one quarter = 56 bpm).  What the hell?  Your take away from that, if you're not musically inclined is that the instruments change 7 times.  That's distracting.  I had hoped that the stupid composer trick of writing slow sustained notes would not cover the interviews too much but apparently I made a few mistakes.  The way the director described it was the the music, while beautiful, sounds like it's leading us somewhere…meanwhile, we're staying in one place with the interviews.  They're talking about coming into Hong Kong harbor and seeing it for the first time.  I was trying for something that would convey the same emotion of experiencing beauty and majesty for the first time.  There are beautiful old stock footage shots of Hong Kong harbor and the surrounding mountains spread throughout this sequence as well, so there's plenty of imagery as well.  The mood of my music was right for all this but with the music seeming like it was a thing unto itself it took attention away from the all important thing, the interviews.

I guess you could say my music should be playing the same role as the b-roll footage.  They're talking about Hong Kong, so the director shows Hong Kong.  Their mood is reverence for the beauty and majesty of it all.  My music should sound majestic.   And that's all.  It doesn't need to necessarily lead anywhere.

The secret to doing this?  There are a number of stupid composer tricks for achieving these ends.  My plan is to scale back the chord progression to only a few changes and also, something else I didn't mention, the music has rests (pauses) between each chord change.  This kind of halting feeling also draws attention to itself because it's an unnatural rhythm that doesn't exist in the pacing of the cuts or the rhythm of the interviews, so it is incongruous to the scene.  So, I plan on removing those somehow.  Additionally, higher pitches or pitches that are in a similar register as the speaking voices of the interviewees can also stand out or interfere with the audio of the interviews.  This is something I may try as well.

So, to some extent the solution is logistical and not necessarily creative.  But there is a certain amount of creative work to be done.   One of the other cues, later on in the sequence I was given, was a bit too "sad" for the subject matter.  While "sad" is a very generalized observation, I get what she means.  That was my gaff.  I think the original version was probably okay but I took some notes out because the melody was too busy, I thought, and was sure that was what was going to fix that particular cue.  On a second listen, I realized that, indeed, by removing certain melodic notes and stripping it away to only a few elements of the initial chord progression, I had changed the mood slightly.  So, for this I'm going to be writing a whole 'nother cue.

This process is what I'm all about though.  It's probably the funnest and most interesting part of the job, up until you actually start rehearsing the performers and recording to picture.  With any luck I'll be blogging about that process in a few weeks.  Meanwhile, it's back to work tomorrow afternoon.  I won't get much done tonight, because it's back to the score for the sci-fi short.

Experimental Music, Professional sports and bad cab rides...

So, it looks like I'm going to be going to Boston at the beginning of May.  Tania and I are now planning on doing a concert on May 5th at The Lily Pad in Cambridge, as a prequel to the concert on May 10th at Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO.  So, I need somewhere to stay or else I need to buy a ticket on a late train back to NYC that night.  We'll see how that goes though.

Soon, Tania and I will start rehearsing the new piece, about which I am excited, because I have some new ideas.  More on that later.

Meanwhile, I push forward on the score for the sci-fi short and await approval or rejection for the 90 minute doc.   I got some input from the director of the short tonight and made some edits before Logic decided to be a pain in the ass and crash.   Something to with running too many plugins or specifically with the Akoustik Piano plugin.  I'll figure it out in the morning, because it's right about the witching hour right now and my attention span and stamina are seriously fading.

After meeting with the director for the 90 minute doc last week, I was asked to score a short 10 minute clip to give her a feel for what I might do.  My first take wasn't quite on the mark but I resubmitted something Saturday morning.  And now I wait.  I should know something tomorrow afternoon, hopefully.  There are a few other composers they are looking at, so fingers crossed.  

This morning, I hiked up to Queens to have brunch with a friend and then go to a Mets game.  That was actually fun.  First time going to a professional New York sporting event too.  I had heard that Citifield had some gluten free food so I sought that out while I was there.  Kozy Shack there sells gluten free pudding, hot dogs and sausages as well as Redbridge beer.  The game itself was a good one, from what I understand about baseball.  The home team won; there was a decent amount of suspense, not too much downtime and it was all over in slightly less than three hours.  And it was sufficiently sunny, albeit slightly chilly to begin with.  A fun time all around.

After the game, the better part of which was spent in direct sun, I retreated back to Brooklyn, sun stroke and drowsy, ate dinner and tried to nap because I was headed next to an experimental music salon concert in someone's apartment in Prospect Heights.  That was also cool and relatively impromptu.  My cinematographer friend Steve, the same for whom I'm writing some music for his promo and narrative reel, invited me along.  I've always heard about things like this.  Lacy and Tania both have told me about the same one in Philly that always takes place at this woman's mansion.  The one I attended last night roves around from location to location.  Unfortunately, since I had to leave and go to work, I didn't get enough info about when the next one is or how to go about performing at it.

I only saw two out of the three acts that night, the first of which I did a little networking with after his piece.  He was a violin player and mentioned something earlier on when we spoke about being in a string quartet…I may need a string quartet for the documentary score if I get the job, so we exchanged information.  His piece was compelling.  He did some ambient improvisation on his violin over a sine wave drone that played back on a CD player.  The piece was long but surprisingly not repetitive for how simplistic it was.  Half of the intrigue came from watching the crowd react in such a small space.

The next piece was two performers and finally explained the pile of weird percussion instruments and toys laid out on a table in the corner.  One guy made noises with that array and the other performer had a mixer, patch cables, some kind of box and a guitar amp (later a guitar came out), all to make a ton of noise using waveforms.  I somehow missed him explaining all of his equipment and had to guess at how he had it set up.  The interplay between the two performers was probably most interesting to watch.

At about twenty minutes into their set, I started to realize that my time to make it back home and grab my stuff and lunch for work was dwindling…and I was also sort of trapped in a corner in the kitchen and would have had to walk right down the middle of the room where the performance was happening to get my jacket and get out the door.  I decided that I would not risk it and just kept thinking through contingency plans in case the music kept going on and on.  By the time the music did end, at approximately 9:20, I figured I had time to say a few quick goodbyes and run down to Grand Army Plaza to grab a cab home and then I'd have just enough time to get to work at 11pm.

I kind of wish I could have stayed a little longer and maybe seen the first act, too.  As it was, I didn't really get a good chance to get any further impressions or process what I was seeing.  Nor did I get much info on when and where the next one will be but I'm sure I can ask Steve.

After I left, I went down to Flatbush Avenue and managed to grab a cab no problem.  But I managed to get a cab driver who doesn't ask if you mean Manhattan or Brooklyn before he assumes you mean 19th Street in Manhattan and starts rocketing towards the Manhattan bridge.  I didn't realize that that was what he was doing until about the time he had passed 6th and 5th avenues and was heading toward 4th avenue at a pretty good clip.  "I meant 19th Street in Brooklyn, by the way!", I said, hoping it wasn't too late but knowing deep down he wouldn't be able to make a left turn until about Nevins Street.   He, of course, complained about my not telling him and we went back and forth about it for a bit, me telling him that I assumed he was taking 4th avenue, which is why I didn't stop him earlier.  He just kept saying he thought I meant head into the city.  Eventually, he got me back on track, but not before worrying me that he was going to try and get on the BQE.  Unfortunately, his plan to take Court St. to Hamilton Avenue backfired because the drawbridge over the Gowanus Canal was just opening when we got up to it…a drawbridge which I have never seen open. So, that took 10 minutes.  Eventually, I did get home and I managed to get here to Chelsea early.

And now I'm here at work, with 3 hours or so to go and I'm so tired.  Remember that nap I mentioned? Didn't happen.  Before I go, though, there's some VO news.  That audition I asked to resubmit?  I think they're going to hire me to do it.  Also, I got offered another gig on the site as well.  So things are finally starting to happen there.  So we'll see what tomorrow holds.  For now, it's lunch time.  Yes, lunch at 4 in the morning, 'cause that's how I roll.

Massive update...

I've neglected to post a few fun things that I've done in the past few days along with a few general updates so I thought I'd write something.  The weekend was a busy one, between work, working on the score for the sci-fi short I'm doing, and a tiny bit of socializing, but also, Sunday was jam packed with musical stuff. 

While I did not sing for the Brooklyn Unitarian's Palm Sunday service, I did attend and it was well worth waking up early.  They sang selections from Handel's messiah with a full string orchestra, trumpets, tympani and harpsichord (played by my multi-talented choir director Bill Peek).  The piece, while known for being performed in religious settings was actually conceived as an oratorio.  Written in under a month the piece consists of three movements and, interestingly, was composed for a small ensemble at first and only later adapted for the large orchestras we're so accustomed to hearing perform the piece.  So Sunday's performance seemed fitting as it was a small choir and a small instrumental ensemble.  But the piece still moved me and felt powerful enough.  Sidebar, I'm not really religious in the traditional sense, so I can't say it was the subject matter of the piece.  The Hallelujah Chorus from the end of the second movement, though it's probably one of the most recognized choral works in the traditional repertoire, is still profound.  I think hearing it with such a small ensemble in such an intimate setting makes a difference too. 

On top of all of this, I'm proud of the Unitarian Church's choir, because they sounded amazing.  It's times like this that I wish I had all the time in the world to do everything.  I wanted to be up there singing with them.  To me, music is definitely a serious career but indeed, it is also a hobby.  And I wish I could always have opportunities to treat it as such.  Getting paid to write music is an amazing feeling and I've worked hard to achieve it.  But, rehearsing with an ensemble and performing beautiful music for the sake of it is something that I always will need and want in my life. 

After leaving church, I was headed to the Village to catch the extremely talented Tania Stavreva in a production of The Tempest put on by the Onomatopoeia Theater Company and my friend Thomas Gordon.  A friend from church was headed that way as well and agreed to have lunch with me.  She even suggested a place that happened to be right next to the Player's Theater where the performance was taking place.  It was called the Olive Tree Cafe. A great place with really great art on the walls, silent films being projected (Charlie Chaplin while I was eating there), and tables that could be drawn on with chalk.  Mostly Mediterranean food but it was good and it was good catching up with my friend before the play.  Since it was right next door, too, I was able to take my time with lunch.   

The performance incorporated modern elements (most notably casual nods to the setting, an office instead of a desert island, complete with references to the king of Mahattan and the Duchess of Brooklyn instead of Naples and Milan respectively) and music, performed by Tania Stavreva (some of it composed by her as well).  It was a lot of fun and the cast was great. 

Incidentally, as I was settling into my seat and the play was starting, someone popped into the door of the tiny theater room that I did not expect to see at all.  An old friend from graduate school, Rachel, who lives in Washington Heights now and whom I hardly ever get to see.  She knew someone in the play apparently.  So, that was really great getting to catch up with her after the show.

Part of the reason I came to the show was to finally give Tania the score to my new piece that we will be performing on May 10th at Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO at this show.  I'm incredibly psyched about that but also somewhat nervous.  It's going to be a logistical nightmare but if we can pull it off it should be rewarding.  As I may or may not have mentioned, there's going to be some pretty complex electronics for the piece.  Complex only logistically speaking.  I'm going to be looping Tania and she's going to play over top of herself.  In addition, I'm going to be performing triggering samples of her earlier performance, which I decided to capture at a rehearsal and not during the actual performance.  This will give me time to edit the samples and morph them however I see fit and then map them to my MIDI keyboard.  There's a program called Max/MSP that I used in graduate school that I could probably use to achieve these ends while performing live but I'd either have to program a patch myself or borrow someone else's patch.  For a later performance of the piece I may go this route.  God knows it'd be fun to delve back into Max/MSP, considering I haven't used it since the graduate school days.  Even then, I could barely program using it and was borrowing patches here and there.  I have a program by Native Instruments called Reaktor that is sort of similar, at least in some of its functionality and interfacing but in fact, very different, that I could also use but, to be honest, I've been so slammed lately that I've barely had time to learn how to use the latest piece of MIDI equipment I've bought, the FCB1010 MIDI footswitch.  I'm even writing a blog for the main webpage about the damn thing and I still haven't even finished that!

So, it's becoming clear to me that I need about 6 more hours in every day to fit in all the things I want to do with my life and my career.  Meanwhile, I've been plugging away at the score for the sci-fi short, having just finished the first set of ideas to pitch to the director to see if he likes where I'm going.  That means I get a little respite this evening because there's no point in working anymore until he's responded and let me know I'm either on the right track or way off.  I'm also meeting with the documentary filmmaker who's asked me to score her 90 minute documentary on trailblazing nuns.  That's tomorrow at 6pm. 

And on one final note, related to voice over, I finally got some more attention from voice123.com.  Someone asked me today to resubmit one of the auditions that I sent in yesterday.  They were looking for two more takes because the first, while they thought it was a good read, was a little flat to them.  Now I wait for their response to my resubmission.  Wish me luck with that.

When this is all over at the end of May and I have a little extra money in my pocket, I'm seriously buying a new desk chair because the one I'm currently sitting in as I type this causes me to slouch something awful and I have to deliberately tell myself to sit up every five minutes.  I'll leave you with this, though, the most recent fruits of my labor, the official Youtube release of the opening scene of the pilot episode of "The Life," complete with music by yours truly.  Good night for now!