The show on Thursday night was a great success…and well attended. The lead up to it was a bit stressful but the cathartic release of being on stage and performing my music made it all worth it. This is, after all, something that Tania and I (mostly Tania) have been working on for months. To see it all come together in a single night was a thing of beauty. I wish some of you out of towners could have seen it.
That said, there was a professional video made and several other cameras in the house. Some things are already on youtube. Not my music, yet though. If more of you had shown up I might have had a guarantee that I'd at least have some pictures of my piece being performed. As it stands all I can show you guys are post pictures and the video of the body painting. Which was a hit!
Anyway, Galapagos Art Space is a world class venue and I was so excited to be performing there. I arrived a full 2 hours and 15 minutes before the show out of paranoia that anything could go wrong with the massive amount of technical elements we programmed into this show. Luckily, the sound guy was so professional and efficient that I truly had nothing to worry about. Our set up took so little time that we were almost done before Tania had even gotten there. She arrived around 5:15 with the body painter and the model.
By then, I had a table set up with all my equipment on it, with everything plugged up to the sound system, plus the camera I borrowed from one Mohammad Maaty plugged up to the house projector, screen lowered, piano and microphone in place for Tania and tables ready for model and painter. All we had to do was test the sound equipment and set up the camera. All the video elements for the slideshow on the second half were with the tech guy already.
Hanging out backstage before the show was a lot of fun, too. Tania, Derrick, the model Steffi and I had the whole place to ourselves and brought drinks from the bar back there while we waited. I got to see the pre body painting body painting as well as watch most of the show from the wings of the stage too because I had to be there to operate the camera, which had to be panned from the model to Tania's back between pieces, and the projector, which had to have the video source switched from the stage.
The body painting to Erik Satie's music came directly after Tania's world premiere "Rhythmic Movement" and was followed by works by Ginastera, Kapustin and Vladigerov. The body painting had to be my favorite part of the evening as far as what I experienced as an audience member. It was really beautiful to watch Derrick being inspired to paint by Tania's performance of Satie's Gnossiennes. And also kind of fun to watch the model trying to remain perfectly still while he essentially tickled her with a paint brush.
The intermission was brief and we moved on to even more exciting stuff. Tania performed work by Frederico Mompou, a Spanish composer who writes in a beautiful post-impressionist style, accompanied by the work of photographer Jack Dzamba (the same who let us stay at his place in Boston). This was great to finally see all put together because I witnessed the photo shoot and had only briefly listened to Tania rehearsing the pieces. It's beautiful music and somewhere floating around is the artist's description of the significance of the images. The two pieces were called "La Barca"(boat) and "Cuna" (cradle).
After this, Tania had the idea to improvise inside the piano and have me do some of the same stuff with my laptop that I'd be doing for my piece. The potential of this exercise was endless and I found myself wishing for more time to develop the ideas. Sampling whatever noises she made and then looping them and turning them into material that I could freely play with and then interact with what she was doing was so much fun. Heck, it's such a fun medium to work in that I was messing around during sound check and accidentally recorded and looped a snipped of the sound of the audio guy moving the piano across the stage. So, I played around with it and made some fantastic rhythms and tones out of essentially a loud screeching noise.
After this came Tania's interpretation of John Cage's 4'33" which involved me asking her to dance, dancing for a few seconds and then remaining completely still for the remainder of the piece while the sound of a clock ticking came from my computer. Each of those elements lent personal significance to the piece for Tania and it all related to the show's theme of rhythmic movement. It was also fun to get to do something different on stage that could essentially be classified as performance art.
My piece went quite well and it was so much fun to hear it through big speakers while we were performing. We had two monitors on stage for us to hear my samples as I played them back. One part of the piece involved me actually recording and looping Tania's performance so she could perform another part on top of it, essentially adding another piano layer to the piece. This was the trickiest part and because if I didn't time it exactly right the loop would eventually slip out of rhythm with Tania. It went great despite how little rehearsal time we really had with full sound. As it was, we were rehearsing the piece with the tiny speakers on my laptop at Tania's place and Tania could barely hear the looped audio that I was playing back.
I learned a lot about the process of doing something like this, what works and what doesn't and thankfully this will not be the last time we perform this piece. It can only get better!
Tania closed the concert with two pieces by Pancho and Alexander Vladigerov (two Bulgarian composers, father and son, respectively). These are both pieces that I have seen Tania perform before several times and they are always crowd-pleasers and great choices to finish a show on.
After the show, we went out into the audience and greeted everyone, took photos and eventually, a smaller contingent of the group met at Superfine for some food and drinks. Perfect, since I hadn't eaten anything substantial since my breakfast at 2pm! Superfine is a really great restaurant that centers their menu around locally sourced ingredients from sustainable farms. With an ever changing menu based on what ingredients are available, I happened to luck out that they had a steak au poivre on the menu (with gluten free fries…bonus!). A pretty solid meal to celebrate our accomplishment, I think.
All day yesterday, I took it easy since a friend from Philly who had seen the concert was still in town and we spent the day jamming with my looping software and then hanging out with friends. Then somehow I ended up at the world's douchiest bar, Turtle Bay for a happy hour with some friends. (Notice, I did not link to it…seriously don't go here). Today, I work until 5pm and then I'm going to a co worker's wedding in Mill Basin, Brooklyn. So, that should be fun. Pretty soon, I'll have pics and video from the concert posted up.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Monday, May 7, 2012
Boston and the Lily Pad...
The show went great last night. And getting there from the bus station was no problem either…although there always has to be some element of uncertainty, preferably introduced at the last minute.
Tania and I were riding separate buses and texting each other back and forth the whole way up, trying to guess who would make it to Boston first. I won. When we met at the bus station it was only slightly after 4pm and Tania had to eat and run some errands in Boston before the show. I was going to accompany her but time, as it usually does, was dwindling. So, Tania was reconsidering her errands which included heading to Staples to make some copies, but decided last second to jump off the train (okay, not off but out of and not jump but run) a stop or two before me and do what she had to do.
Then I was off on my own and though I had hopstopped the directions (multiple times) to the venue, I couldn't quite remember which bus I was supposed to take from Central Square to Inman Square. The first hop stop directions told me exactly what I wanted to hear but I didn't save or write down the information and every subsequent time I did the same search it kept telling me to go three stops further on the Red Line and travel back in the opposite direction on the bus. Or it would tell me to walk up Prospect Street instead of taking one of three buses that I knew went down that street. Instead of fumbling with my phone, hands already full of three heavy bags, though, I decided to do things the old fashioned way and just ask the bus driver "hey does this bus go all the way up to Cambridge Street?" I received a precursory nod and a "yep" so I figured that was good enough. Following on the map app on my phone I punched the stop request button just at the right stop and as soon as I turned the corner, there was the Lily Pad. Not bad, eh?
Okay, so it really wasn't that hard to get there. When I arrived there was only one guy there and not the audio guy that I had emailed with but someone else who works there. A nice guy who was sitting around while he had the place to himself practicing the piano. We had a nice chat about music while I was setting up. He didn't seem to really know his way around the mixer fully but thankfully, I do. For the most part. I had everything hooked up but I was getting very faint sound though I had the faders up and the gain "potted up" as they say and had troubleshooted everything else I could think of. Then I remembered what the Pad buttons do on the top of the channel strips. They give you a boost in audio gain. Exactly what I needed…but incidentally, not what you want all of a sudden when you have everything else already turned up and audio going through the speakers. Good thing the other guy had his ear plugs in…I, however, did not and was pretty startled by the sudden feedback. Luckily, no one else was there except another of Tania's friends who had shown up while we were waiting.
Tania was stuck in traffic at this point and calling me with instructions of what to tell the audience members who were waiting for the show. She really only arrived about ten minutes late or so, I guess. I wasn't really paying attention since I had my setup all finished, usually the most intensive part for me. The venue was slowly filling up with people and I was comfortably imbibing a Harpoon Cider (when in Rome) and chatting with the bartender, another musician who plays in a psychedelic rock band called Quilts.
When Tania arrived, since I was already set up, the concert started fairly promptly. I turned pages for the Kapustin piece she played and then we proceeded to do some improvisation, her inside the piano and me with electronics. I won't say much more about this because we will be doing something similar on Thursday and I want all of you to be uber curious and come to the show to see what we'll be doing. After that we played Moon, Tides, Cycles and I feel like it went fairly well. One of our best performances yet. Of course, some in the audience said they thought the electronics were too quiet…might have had something to do with my fear of feeding back again.
After the concert, the photographer, Jack Dzamba, whom I had met before the show and with whom we were staying, drove us to where he and Tania were doing a photo shoot. Also something about which I will not speak as the details shall be revealed at the show on Thursday night! Luckily, though I was hungry, I had new friends to chat with as Jack's assistant had brought along some of her friends. We passed the time looking at my Google Skymap app on my phone and trying to find the super moon.
Thoroughly chilled, we dropped the girls off at Boston U and went on to have dinner at Trident Cafe and Bookshop on Newbury Street. These guys were really great about my gluten intolerance as they take allergies and the like very seriously. The manager personally dealt with it and asked the cook about everything I ordered just to be safe. It was great.
Jack put us up at his girlfriend's house in Newton and we each had our own room in this beautifully kept cottage style house. Coming in late at night, I really didn't get to see the outside that well and had no idea how big it was until we started to wind our way around the house and to our rooms. His girlfriend's kids no longer live at home so the house was empty except for her and Jack and four amazing cats, the names of which I cannot remember now. So, where I almost didn't go to Boston for this concert and originally thought by agreeing to come that I was condemning myself to a night on someone's couch or floor, I found myself in an unlikely but extremely comfortable situation instead. It was nice to meet new friends and receive their hospitality.
This morning we were dropped off at South Station with about a half an hour left to catch our bus, bought food in the depot and boarded the bus just in time to head back to NYC. Now, back, shoulders and arms sore from all the walking and lifting, I sit here blogging and preparing for the show this week. About to send out some press releases and personal messages to some friends and hopefully stay awake long enough to make some progress on the film score.
I had a rock star nap this afternoon after indulging in some Bare Burger at the Park Slope location on 1st and 7th Avenue. All my cousin has to do is say the word burger to me once after a long weekend of travel and I'm sold. Anyway, back to it. For kicks, and before I go, check this out, we're in Time Out NY!
Tania and I were riding separate buses and texting each other back and forth the whole way up, trying to guess who would make it to Boston first. I won. When we met at the bus station it was only slightly after 4pm and Tania had to eat and run some errands in Boston before the show. I was going to accompany her but time, as it usually does, was dwindling. So, Tania was reconsidering her errands which included heading to Staples to make some copies, but decided last second to jump off the train (okay, not off but out of and not jump but run) a stop or two before me and do what she had to do.
Then I was off on my own and though I had hopstopped the directions (multiple times) to the venue, I couldn't quite remember which bus I was supposed to take from Central Square to Inman Square. The first hop stop directions told me exactly what I wanted to hear but I didn't save or write down the information and every subsequent time I did the same search it kept telling me to go three stops further on the Red Line and travel back in the opposite direction on the bus. Or it would tell me to walk up Prospect Street instead of taking one of three buses that I knew went down that street. Instead of fumbling with my phone, hands already full of three heavy bags, though, I decided to do things the old fashioned way and just ask the bus driver "hey does this bus go all the way up to Cambridge Street?" I received a precursory nod and a "yep" so I figured that was good enough. Following on the map app on my phone I punched the stop request button just at the right stop and as soon as I turned the corner, there was the Lily Pad. Not bad, eh?
Okay, so it really wasn't that hard to get there. When I arrived there was only one guy there and not the audio guy that I had emailed with but someone else who works there. A nice guy who was sitting around while he had the place to himself practicing the piano. We had a nice chat about music while I was setting up. He didn't seem to really know his way around the mixer fully but thankfully, I do. For the most part. I had everything hooked up but I was getting very faint sound though I had the faders up and the gain "potted up" as they say and had troubleshooted everything else I could think of. Then I remembered what the Pad buttons do on the top of the channel strips. They give you a boost in audio gain. Exactly what I needed…but incidentally, not what you want all of a sudden when you have everything else already turned up and audio going through the speakers. Good thing the other guy had his ear plugs in…I, however, did not and was pretty startled by the sudden feedback. Luckily, no one else was there except another of Tania's friends who had shown up while we were waiting.
Tania was stuck in traffic at this point and calling me with instructions of what to tell the audience members who were waiting for the show. She really only arrived about ten minutes late or so, I guess. I wasn't really paying attention since I had my setup all finished, usually the most intensive part for me. The venue was slowly filling up with people and I was comfortably imbibing a Harpoon Cider (when in Rome) and chatting with the bartender, another musician who plays in a psychedelic rock band called Quilts.
When Tania arrived, since I was already set up, the concert started fairly promptly. I turned pages for the Kapustin piece she played and then we proceeded to do some improvisation, her inside the piano and me with electronics. I won't say much more about this because we will be doing something similar on Thursday and I want all of you to be uber curious and come to the show to see what we'll be doing. After that we played Moon, Tides, Cycles and I feel like it went fairly well. One of our best performances yet. Of course, some in the audience said they thought the electronics were too quiet…might have had something to do with my fear of feeding back again.
After the concert, the photographer, Jack Dzamba, whom I had met before the show and with whom we were staying, drove us to where he and Tania were doing a photo shoot. Also something about which I will not speak as the details shall be revealed at the show on Thursday night! Luckily, though I was hungry, I had new friends to chat with as Jack's assistant had brought along some of her friends. We passed the time looking at my Google Skymap app on my phone and trying to find the super moon.
Thoroughly chilled, we dropped the girls off at Boston U and went on to have dinner at Trident Cafe and Bookshop on Newbury Street. These guys were really great about my gluten intolerance as they take allergies and the like very seriously. The manager personally dealt with it and asked the cook about everything I ordered just to be safe. It was great.
Jack put us up at his girlfriend's house in Newton and we each had our own room in this beautifully kept cottage style house. Coming in late at night, I really didn't get to see the outside that well and had no idea how big it was until we started to wind our way around the house and to our rooms. His girlfriend's kids no longer live at home so the house was empty except for her and Jack and four amazing cats, the names of which I cannot remember now. So, where I almost didn't go to Boston for this concert and originally thought by agreeing to come that I was condemning myself to a night on someone's couch or floor, I found myself in an unlikely but extremely comfortable situation instead. It was nice to meet new friends and receive their hospitality.
This morning we were dropped off at South Station with about a half an hour left to catch our bus, bought food in the depot and boarded the bus just in time to head back to NYC. Now, back, shoulders and arms sore from all the walking and lifting, I sit here blogging and preparing for the show this week. About to send out some press releases and personal messages to some friends and hopefully stay awake long enough to make some progress on the film score.
I had a rock star nap this afternoon after indulging in some Bare Burger at the Park Slope location on 1st and 7th Avenue. All my cousin has to do is say the word burger to me once after a long weekend of travel and I'm sold. Anyway, back to it. For kicks, and before I go, check this out, we're in Time Out NY!
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Buses, again...
Weekend #1 of bus rides to far off destinations. I'm heading to Boston now for the show at the Lily Pad in Cambridge. At this moment Tania is on a Fung Wah bus heading to South Station as well where we will likely rendez-vous. Next weekend I have to take the BM1 express bus to Mill Basin for my co-worker Madeline's wedding. The following weekend I'm visiting my sister in Virginia so I have to take another Bolt bus to DC.
I'm going to hate buses by the time this is over. Even free wifi is not so much a benefit as it is just a temptation to take advantage of it and thereby give myself mild motion sickness from trying to focus on my screen while the bus bounces around on the Cross Bronx Expressway. In other words, this bus ride can't end fast enough. Boston here I come.
Anyway, I guess I'm just glad I'm on the bus and pointed in the right direction and actually moving at a pretty good clip. The MTA decided it would be a good weekend to make the R train skip my stop so I had to take it in the other direction to the next express stop and double back. I still got to midtown a half hour early and got accosted by a bum who was asking for donations for some "get people off the street" charity. He was offering copies of the Onion as incentives to donate. I said what the hell and gave him a buck. Now I have a copy of the Onion that I may try to read until that as well gives me motion sickness. I thought about telling that guy he should get into voice over. He had a great speaking voice and spoke incredibly fast and articulately. Kind of makes me think of the youtube sensation voice over bum that was so famous last year for his gift.
I didn't dispense any such advice however. It's a hard road trying to get into voice over. And I'm sure it's hard enough getting off the street.
But I digress. I'm excited about tonight's concert. I have a new keyboard gig bag that fits all of my stuff so the only thing I have to sling over my shoulder that's so heavy is my laptop. So getting there is going to be less of a hassle. The venue, I know almost nothing about. I looked at a few pics on Yelp last night. And I also just found out yesterday that Tania wants me to turn pages for one of her pieces. So, I guess I'm going to be on stage a little longer than I originally thought. I'm probably going to blog again on the bus ride tomorrow to let you all know how it went. But for now, I can hardly bear to keep typing on this while the bus is in motion.
I'm going to hate buses by the time this is over. Even free wifi is not so much a benefit as it is just a temptation to take advantage of it and thereby give myself mild motion sickness from trying to focus on my screen while the bus bounces around on the Cross Bronx Expressway. In other words, this bus ride can't end fast enough. Boston here I come.
Anyway, I guess I'm just glad I'm on the bus and pointed in the right direction and actually moving at a pretty good clip. The MTA decided it would be a good weekend to make the R train skip my stop so I had to take it in the other direction to the next express stop and double back. I still got to midtown a half hour early and got accosted by a bum who was asking for donations for some "get people off the street" charity. He was offering copies of the Onion as incentives to donate. I said what the hell and gave him a buck. Now I have a copy of the Onion that I may try to read until that as well gives me motion sickness. I thought about telling that guy he should get into voice over. He had a great speaking voice and spoke incredibly fast and articulately. Kind of makes me think of the youtube sensation voice over bum that was so famous last year for his gift.
I didn't dispense any such advice however. It's a hard road trying to get into voice over. And I'm sure it's hard enough getting off the street.
But I digress. I'm excited about tonight's concert. I have a new keyboard gig bag that fits all of my stuff so the only thing I have to sling over my shoulder that's so heavy is my laptop. So getting there is going to be less of a hassle. The venue, I know almost nothing about. I looked at a few pics on Yelp last night. And I also just found out yesterday that Tania wants me to turn pages for one of her pieces. So, I guess I'm going to be on stage a little longer than I originally thought. I'm probably going to blog again on the bus ride tomorrow to let you all know how it went. But for now, I can hardly bear to keep typing on this while the bus is in motion.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Of lights, tunnels...
There's something odd but marvelous to me about how I can get only 3 and 1/2 hours of sleep due to being woken up by two phone calls, be sluggish all afternoon and evening (even after several cups of green tea and a bottle of yerba mate) and then somehow catch a second wind around this hour of the night. I'm covering vacations for George this week and next, so I'm on the overnight shift Sunday through Thursday two weeks in a row. A great time for this crap considering all the exciting things I have going on that are taking up all my time and energy. But the light at the end of the tunnel is becoming clearer. I have now glimpsed my work schedule for the month of June and I can see my last overnight shift, June 4th clear as day and can tell you with confidence that my days off (two whole glorious days in a row) are going to be Wednesday and Thursday and that my shift on Sunday does not interfere with choir rehearsals and I will need no nap before work every friggin' Sunday of my life. I almost cried when it started to dawn on me.
Giddiness is coming from all directions nowadays, despite the still harrowing nature of surviving in this city. I got another voice over gig, this one voicing videos for a vacation rental property business in Santa Barbara, CA. Sent in my first takes on Friday evening and now I wait to hear if I need to revise or not.
On top of that, I'm working hard as ever on the film score while simultaneously preparing for my New England premiere this Saturday in Cambridge at the Lily Pad. Bolt Bus again and I'm not sure where I'm staying yet but it should be a fun whirlwind weekend. In addition, I'm highly anticipating the show at Galapagos Art Space next Thursday the 10th. The prospect of performing this piece for piano and laptop is extremely exciting to me. Up until a few weeks ago, I didn't know how I was going to achieve the outcomes I was hoping for with this piece. In graduate school, I was inspired by the works my classmates were doing using Max/MSP to sample live performances of acoustic instruments and twist the sound using complex scripts and audio programs that they wrote themselves. A lot of it was random and dynamic but the ultimate outcome being determined by what they had programmed their patches to do. I wanted to have more control over the outcome but was hard-pressed to find a program that would allow me to sample and process the resulting sound on the fly that I wasn't going to have to spend weeks programming to my needs. Until I started to think about what I was trying to do a little bit differently. I was trying to build a veritable arsenal of audio samples that I could trigger with the push of a key or button or some kind of MIDI message. My first idea was pretty intensive and it was dizzying to think of trying to attempt it during a performance on stage. I found a better way though. Basically, I found a program modeled after old school hardware loopers called Mobius and after fooling around with it for a bit, I realized that I could use the program's multi track, multi loop capabilities to essentially store audio samples/loops that I could play back at will by switching between them to create the soundscapes I was attempting. It is also capable of performing simple operations on audio as it's playing back (like reversing it, speeding it up and slowing it down, repitching it and randomly shuffling it) so there was my solution for affecting the audio once it was recorded and looped.
So I spent the last few weeks building a workflow and programming my keyboard and Mainstage (a live performance tool packaged with Apple's Logic audio software) to do what I needed. Here's a blog I wrote on the main site about it.
I'm really hoping some of you New Yorkers can come out to this concert. It's going to be awesome. Plus, this venue is incredible. They have a freakin' lake in the middle of the seating area for cryin' out loud! Check out the photo tour if you've never been.
Anyway, I'd better get back to work on the film score presently.
Giddiness is coming from all directions nowadays, despite the still harrowing nature of surviving in this city. I got another voice over gig, this one voicing videos for a vacation rental property business in Santa Barbara, CA. Sent in my first takes on Friday evening and now I wait to hear if I need to revise or not.
On top of that, I'm working hard as ever on the film score while simultaneously preparing for my New England premiere this Saturday in Cambridge at the Lily Pad. Bolt Bus again and I'm not sure where I'm staying yet but it should be a fun whirlwind weekend. In addition, I'm highly anticipating the show at Galapagos Art Space next Thursday the 10th. The prospect of performing this piece for piano and laptop is extremely exciting to me. Up until a few weeks ago, I didn't know how I was going to achieve the outcomes I was hoping for with this piece. In graduate school, I was inspired by the works my classmates were doing using Max/MSP to sample live performances of acoustic instruments and twist the sound using complex scripts and audio programs that they wrote themselves. A lot of it was random and dynamic but the ultimate outcome being determined by what they had programmed their patches to do. I wanted to have more control over the outcome but was hard-pressed to find a program that would allow me to sample and process the resulting sound on the fly that I wasn't going to have to spend weeks programming to my needs. Until I started to think about what I was trying to do a little bit differently. I was trying to build a veritable arsenal of audio samples that I could trigger with the push of a key or button or some kind of MIDI message. My first idea was pretty intensive and it was dizzying to think of trying to attempt it during a performance on stage. I found a better way though. Basically, I found a program modeled after old school hardware loopers called Mobius and after fooling around with it for a bit, I realized that I could use the program's multi track, multi loop capabilities to essentially store audio samples/loops that I could play back at will by switching between them to create the soundscapes I was attempting. It is also capable of performing simple operations on audio as it's playing back (like reversing it, speeding it up and slowing it down, repitching it and randomly shuffling it) so there was my solution for affecting the audio once it was recorded and looped.
So I spent the last few weeks building a workflow and programming my keyboard and Mainstage (a live performance tool packaged with Apple's Logic audio software) to do what I needed. Here's a blog I wrote on the main site about it.
I'm really hoping some of you New Yorkers can come out to this concert. It's going to be awesome. Plus, this venue is incredible. They have a freakin' lake in the middle of the seating area for cryin' out loud! Check out the photo tour if you've never been.
Anyway, I'd better get back to work on the film score presently.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
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:
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:
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| 2012 Birthday best shots |
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
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!
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!
Friday, April 13, 2012
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.
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.
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