Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Pied Piper's LiveJournal:

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Friday, July 10th, 2009
12:12 pm	On And On Til The Break Of Dawn... Nope, no full update as of yet...Life is still too busy post-CVG... However, I've got a last minute gig update!! Performing with the "dangerous" Trevor Hartman @ Kip's TONITE 8pm - Midnight FREE Located at the Marriot in St. Louis Park Information: http://www.kipspub.com/contact.asp If you need to be entertained (I mean, REALLY need to be entertained), come on by! (Comment on this)
Friday, June 26th, 2009
11:16 pm	Hi There!! I haven't said much of anything on LJ for awhile, except for promotional stuff, but I do promise to correct that...There's much to talk about... Plus I gots me a new icon - ain't it nifty? Anyways, I promise an update soon... But FIRST...The Promotional Stuff! July 2 - 5 CONvergence (sci-fi convention) http://www.convergence-con.org/ I will be performing 2 shows during CONvergence, a volunteer-run sci-fi/fantasy conventions that occurs every 4th of July weekend... At-the-door is $70, though pre-reg rates are much cheaper... The CONvergence gigs are: Thursday July 2nd - Scott Keever w/ Orkestar Bez Ime 9pm - 10pm Harmonic Convergence Room http://www.rogaria.com/buy.html Friday July 3rd - Scott Keever: Solo Electronic/Guitar Looping w/ special guest Caly McMorrow 8:30pm - 9:30pm Connie's Space Lounge Friday July 3rd - "Bloodless" - a short film by Romeo Azar CONvergence Short Film Festival After 10pm - Atrium 6 **I composed the soundtrack for this short film and it will be premiered during this panel!** * I will not be participating in Killer B's this year, unfortunately...I hope to do so next year....* * It looks to be an exciting con this year! * Hope to see you!! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, June 1st, 2009
12:22 pm	Well, We The Cats Shall Hep Ya...So Reap This Righteous Riff - Bop Bop... I have a few gigs coming up in the next couple months... Friday June 5th - Performing w/ Trevor Hartman @ Kip's 8pm - midnight St. Louis Park - http://www.kipspub.com/ NO Cover I will be subbing for Trevor's usual duet partner, Andy Crowley... Trevor and I will be performing 3 hours of pop tunes and bar favorites... We've known each other through high school and RenFest, but this will be our first time performing together as a duo, so this should be a lot of fun... ------------------------------- Saturday June 6th - Orkestar Bez Ime @ June Camp 8pm - midnight Benoit, WI - http://junecampifd.googlepages.com/ (Must be pre-registered) Performing for an International Folk Dance Camp that occurs every year...Should be an enthusiastic crowd... ------------------------------- July 2 - 5 CONvergence (sci-fi convention) http://www.convergence-con.org/ I will be performing 3 shows during CONvergence, a volunteer-run sci-fi/fantasy conventions that occurs every 4th of July weekend... At-the-door is $70, though pre-reg rates are much cheaper... Thursday July 2nd - Scott Keever w/ Orkestar Bez Ime 9pm - 10pm Harmonic Convergence Room Friday July 3rd - Scott Keever: Solo Electronic/Guitar Looping w/ special guest 8pm - 9pm Connie's Space Lounge Saturday July 4th - Killer B's Movie Improv 11:30pm - 12:30am Atrium 6 Improv comedy w/ cheesy B-movie clips That's all for now...Hope you all have a great summer! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
8:28 pm	This Is Just A Taste From The Funkee Human Being... Upon returning home, I finally got all my grades back from the semester: Free Jazz: A Music & Religious Experience: A- Concert Choir: A Computer Music 2: B Ear Training IV: F Music Theory IV: W Overall GPA: 3.2 As most of you know, because I was failing both classes, I got to withdraw from Theory and allowed the F in Ear Training since its one-credit class...I think, considering how tough this semester was, overall I did pretty well... Tomorrow, I call my classmate Carolyn, a composition grad student, to start scheduling tutorial classes so I can take the Grad Theory exam on Sept. 1st...After over a week away from school, I'm ready to get back to studying... ----------------------------------- Along with Theory Tutoring, I've got a few other things on my plate this summer... I'll be earning money doing odd jobs over the summer for Sarah's parents and for my Mom and Stepdad in Delano...I feel a bit like I'm an artist getting subsidized, but I doubt that I'd have any luck finding a summer job this year...Along with that, I'll be traveling and working with saracura, to help out with various festivals and such... Also, I'm working with Orkestar Bez Ime...I'm starting to absorb the music, but there's SO MUCH to learn...Matt (the bass player) and I have also developed an interlock system, where he plays on the beat and I play opposite (either on guitar or mandolin) - sounds simple until you add the fast tempos and the 11/8 or 22/16 meters...Then it gets tricky...I will say, though, that this band is making me a stronger player - my rhythm attack has gotten much stronger...I can't wait for some of y'all to hear us... Also, I'm working on scoring a short film that romeoa and magicmarmot have been working on...It was on hiatus, but it's back on track and hopefully will be shown during CONvergence...once I get my ass in gear... I also have to get started on my Senior Project for next semester, which will be a 10-20 minute chamber music composition...I'll be helped by Dr. Alex Lubet, with whom I'll also be taking composition lessons...The main factor in developing the piece is knowing what instruments I can use - I know for sure that I've got some fine musicians to work with in the following: french horn, violin, bass, percussion, vocals...However, I'm still not sure what style to write, nor do I know what role I'll play, if any...There may be electronics, there may not...All I do know is that I'll want to get really started on it in July...I want to have it ready by October so I can have it performed in late November, early December... I've also got some gigs coming up this summer too, but I'll post those later... (1 Comment |Comment on this)
6:51 pm	Sometimes The Lights All Shinin' On Me... So this past weekend, I helped saracura out with her booth at the Bella Madre Festival in Harmony Park (near Austin, MN)...First two days were kinda drizzly and cool, but the last two were quite beautiful...We camped outside for all four days, with two awesome people to camp with us and had some pretty cool neighbors...Overall, I had a lot of fun, but it was also a lot of work...We were both pretty fried coming back, and today is recovery day... The main attraction to the Festival is Music and there were three performance stages in the area: a music tent and two alternate main stages...There were at least 60 performances throughout the weekend...I didn't see much of the tent shows, but we were close to the stages so we got to see/hear all the music there...None of it was horrible, though much of it did get to be repetitive with more of the same funky/hippy vibe and multiple Grateful Dead/Bob Marley covers... However, there were some highlights: * EOTA - Two guys, a drummer and keyboardist, both with parameter sliders and other instruments, doing dub, electro, house-type music...They were Fucking AMAZING...They were in their forties and had all these kids dancing their asses off...Pretty fun show - I want to see them again... * Del the Funky Homosapien - With all due respect to all the rappers that performed on Friday, Del was the ultimate...He's been around since 1992, and had more energy than guys half his age...Endless flow and there were old skool beats that didn't quit...I've been wanting to see him for a long time and he really didn't disappoint... * Chicago African Beat Project - Three percussionists, guitar, bass, keys, tenor and baritone sax playing West African, Fela Kuti-influenced instrumentals...Deep and heavy and butt shaking... * Stephanie Devine - Incredible R&B singer from the Twin Cities...She had a stellar lineup of musicians backing her, including brass players, two backup vocalists and Desdemona...Definitely the most interesting local band to show up at the Festival... * That One Guy - This is the guy who influenced both spacebug and I with the idea of one-person looping...He plays a home-made instrument called the Magic Pipe: a cello-bass hybrid made out of metal plumping pipe, with midi triggers , which he uses to create multiple layers of funk...He specializes in silly funk songs like "Buttmachine" but he's really quite amazing to watch...I haven't seen him in seven years and he's definitely upgraded his equipment, now mainly operated by laptop and more midi triggers, along with a projection background...Once again, he was inspirational... * Bill K. w/ Papa Mali - Bill Kreutzmann is one of the original drummers for the Grateful Dead...Now I've never been a GD fan, but I can admire their musicianship...The band that Bill had with him were three other guys doing Grateful Dead covers, though the guitarist did some interesting slide guitar work...Bill, however, was pretty amazing, especially considering that he is 65 years old...I want to be able to do a drum solo like that when I'm 65...Overall, the music was okay, but as always, the musicianship was pretty cool... And now we're back...back to life...back to reality...yeah, whatever... (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
11:24 am	As I Ride To The Crack In The Earth... Wow, it's been almost a month since my last post...Holy crap, that seems like a lifetime ago...especially at the rate my lifetime has been so far... Well, needless to say, school is FINALLY done as of last week...And I couldn't be happier...My crisis with Music Theory was resolved last month (at least for now) and dropping both Theory and Ear Training actually made things much easier for the last four weeks...But life still felt really busy, though, especially with all the concerts...Here's a brief overview: Beethoven's Ninth (May 1st) - It was my last concert with the U of MN Concert Choir and one of the largest concerts I've ever been a part of (with the U of MN orchestra and all four choir ensembles combined)...It was totally and utterly amazing; conductor Mark Russell Smith did an incredible job, pulling out a beautiful performance from everyone...Northrop Auditorium is unfortunately not the best acoustic setting, but from what I heard, the audience was impressed... Festival of Nations (May 2nd, 3rd) - This was my first official gig with Orkestar Bez Ime...It was trail by fire...I had only a month to get familiar with two - three hours worth of material...Gah!...And playing in Roy Wilkins Auditorium is a bit like playing in a cavern...Even still, had a great time with my new bandmates and they gave me kudos for surviving the weekend... Computer Music Final Project Presentations (May 7th) - Me and 10 of my classmates performed our final MaxMSP projects....The majority of the projects were REALLY quite cool; Had I known they were going to be so good, I would've invited more people...My project went extremely well, to the point where I'm not sure if I can perform electronic music without a laptop...More on that later... Orkestar Bez Ime: Tapestry Center (May 8th) - By the time this gig rolled around, I had had busy weekend of gigs, and finished both my MaxMSP final project and a 10 page paper on jazz pianist Bill Evans (for Free Jazz class) the previous day...I wasn't at all mentally prepared for a THREE SET gig...But I did it anyway...At this point, I'm starting to remember names of tunes and keep track of the songs that I completely messed up...So tired... --------------------------------------------------- After the final project and the Free Jazz paper and concerts, I finished the semester last Wednesday (May 13th) with a 16 page paper on how Global Rave Culture expresses Spirituality through Electronic Music for my Music And the Religious Experience class...I actually had a great time writing the paper - it really made me want to go to Burning Man again and participate with a different perspective... Anyways, so I finish my paper at 4:30am and then head for bed...saracura wakes me up at 9:30am, saying that A PACKAGE HAS JUST COME IN...She hands me a box and tells me to open it...I open it and my mouth drops...She and her parents bought me a belated birthday/way early graduation present: a MacBook Pro laptop...You see, kids, I've had to borrow laptops to use for school and whatnot and I've desperately needed one for quite awhile, especially since my workhorse Mac G4 is almost six years old...And then here it was...I cried like a girl - it was the nicest ending to one of the most difficult, challenging semesters I've had since I came back...Special thanks to s4 for the hookup! Since last Wednesday, I've been working madly around the house, catching up on chores that I've neglected over the last couple months, and going out occasionally, like to a wedding on Saturday...Overall, trying to get back in touch with "reality"...such as it is... This Thursday (tomorrow), I leave for Harmony Park to help saracura with her booth at the Bella Madre Festival - lots of musical act there, but I'm most looking forward to seeing that one guy, who is a major influence on both me and spacebug... There are many more summer plans ahead, but I think that's enough of an update for now, don't you? (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 30th, 2009
3:04 pm	Freude Schoner Gotterfunken... So the drama of last week, pertaining to my situation with Music Theory has been mostly resolved, so I can concentrate now on the things I have to do for the rest of the semester... In the meantime, I've also got some concerts coming up over the next couple weeks... Friday May 1st (TOMORROW) - BEETHOVEN'S NINTH SYMPHONY (Choirs with U of MN Symphonic Orchestra) Northrop Auditorium - Minneapolis MN Concert starts at 8pm SOLD OUT! The rehearsals with the orchestra have been amazing, so far... ---------------------------------------------- Orkestar Bez Ime Saturday May 2nd, Sunday May 3rd (All Day) - Festival of Nations St. Paul RiverCentre 175 West Kellogg Blvd. Downtown St. Paul, MN For more information: http://www.festivalofnations.com/ We'll be performing in between dance sets at the Dance Stage! ---------------------------------------------- Computer Music Final Project Performance Thursday, May 7th 7:30pm - 9pm Ferguson Hall Room 225 2106 Fourth Street South University of MN, Minneapolis FREE! * I will be one of 10 participants performing our final MaxMSP projects for an audience. * I will be performing an integrated guitar/sequence piece. * This concert should be very adventurous! ---------------------------------------------- Orkestar Bez Ime Friday, May 8th 8:30pm - 11:30pm Tapestry Folkdance Center 3748 Minnehaha Ave S., Minneapolis, MN FEE: $9 For more information: http://www.tapestryfolkdance.org/webcal.htm (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, April 24th, 2009
9:38 pm	She's A Yo-Yo... It's certainly been a emotional rollercoaster this week at school... As I mentioned earlier in the week, I did not pass Music Theory/Ear Training IV and I would need to withdraw from the class in order to avoid an F (I actually can only withdraw from Theory - I will get an F in Ear Training, but it's only 1 credit, so it shouldn't be *too* significant)... In any case, what this all means is that, according to the usual Music Dept. rules, I would not only have retake Theory/Ear Training IV in Spring of next year, but I would ALSO not be allowed to attend 20th Century Music Theory in the Fall of THIS year...And 20th Century Theory wouldn't be available again until Fall 2010...and I NEED both Theory IV and 20th Century Theory to graduate. On top of that, because of the large amount of credits I already have, I would be ineligible for any more financial aid AFTER Spring 2010... Needless to say, I needed to figure out a way to petition and get into 20th Century Theory for next semester...I found a classmate, a composition graduate student who aced her entrance tests, who said she'd be totally willing to tutor me over the summer...And I figured out a proposal wherein I could get tutored over the summer and then I could take an entrance test (like the grad students) to show that I was qualified to enter... On Wednesday, I found out from Prof. Matt (who is teaching 20th Century next semester) that I would need to write a letter to the Music Theory Dept., state my case, and somehow convince them to make me an exception and let me into 20th Century THIS Fall... So I wrote the letter last night...In the letter, I accepted the responsibility for the poor grade, but also gave them my situation with financial aid...I also gave them my proposal, adding that I didn't just think of Music Theory as a class requirement to graduate; I need it as part of my craft...I finally stated that, while I understood that they didn't want to make an exception, the fact is that, as a professional musician in my 30s finishing my first Undergraduate degree, I am ALREADY an exception... I sent the letter last night... I got a response back this afternoon...With what Prof. Matt noted as "uncharacteristic swiftness", the Theory Dept. decided to accept my proposal and allow me into 20th Century Theory next semester, as long as I show evidence of tutoring and pass the entrance exam...And if I pass the exam, I ALSO will NOT HAVE TO RETAKE THEORY/EAR TRAINING IV... Which means that I CAN STILL GRADUATE IN THE FALL... To say I'm overjoyed is an understatement...I'm thrilled... Now, in the next couple weeks, I just have to write a 10 page Free Jazz paper, perform Beethoven's 9th, finish my MaxMSP project for Computer Music...and then write an 18-page paper on Trance Music and the Neo-Shamanism/Urban Tribe movement... And I'm done...At least until tutoring starts in late May... *whew* (18 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 20th, 2009
12:31 pm	Poor Old Pitiful Me... I wanted to report about the gigs I didn't get to play this past weekend...I wanted to mention the Bach concert I performed with the choir yesterday...I wanted to mention my practice sessions with Orkestar Bez Ime so far... Instead I have to report this: As of now, I have failed Music Theory/Ear Training IV...Even after getting help from TAs and working extra hard on my studies for the last three weeks, I'm riding a D/-D in both courses...and there is no way that, in the next three weeks, I'm going to be able to raise my grade to passing...There is no extra credit, no added assignments, no recourse... So, I'm going to try to petition getting a "withdrawl" from the class... And see what my options are...There is a possibility that I will have to stay in school for a semester longer than I wanted to, but not sure as of yet...To say I'm disappointed is a complete understatement... On the other hand, as I've said before, I'm not just at school for the grade...I'm here to really learn and internalize the learning...And if I'm not passing Theory IV, it means I haven't internalized it...It means that it takes me longer to grasp the logic based in theory and that I need extra help going into it...I should've realized that going into the semester...I didn't...But I realize it now...I guess I have to learn the hard way sometimes... (17 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 16th, 2009
6:54 pm	It Ain't Easy...It Ain't Easy... So I just found out that the Crash Street Kids had major vehicle trouble in NM and are therefore not able to come up to the Cities... Therefore my gigs on Friday and Saturday night have been canceled... HOWEVER, the events themselves for Rock the Cause are going on as planned... Glitter Ball at St. Olaf is still going to rock the campus... And "Do You Still Believe in Rock n' Roll" has changed venues: they will now be at the Masonic Temple in St. Paul...Apparently the Lone Tree Bar couldn't handle that much Glam in one space and canceled at the last minute... For more info on these shows: http://www.irockthecause.org/calDetail.cfm?ID=33 ------------------------------------------------- The Bach Vespers Choir Concert with the University Concert Choir (of which I'm a member) will proceed as scheduled... By the way, I have no idea how I did on my Music Theory exam on Wednesday...Which I think is a good sign... (Comment on this)
Friday, April 10th, 2009
10:41 am	In A World Full Of People, Only Some Want To Fly...Isn't That Crazy? Here's a list of my gigs for this month: The Crash Street Kids, a fantastic Glam Rock band from AZ, are coming to town to perform a couple benefit shows for Rock the Cause...and they've asked me to play Keyboards onstage with them again, since we had so much fun last time they were here in January...So here's the info on that: Crash Street Kids Friday Apr. 17th - St. Olaf College Lion’s Pause Mane Stage- Buntrock Commons, 1500 St. Olaf Ave., Northfield, MN Doors @ 7:30 PM Tickets: $8 in Advance/$10 Day of Show. On sale now: http://www.irockthecause.org AND Saturday, April 18 -The Lone Tree Bar and Dance Annex 528 Hennepin Minneapolis, MN with So It Goes, The Notties and Stellar Vector. Doors @ 7:30 PM Admission is $5 or whatever inspires you! ---------------------------------------------- U Of MN Concert Choir Sunday, April 19th - Bach Festival Vespers Service First Lutheran Church of Columbia Heights Concert begins at 4pm Free admission Friday May 1st - BEETHOVEN'S NINTH SYMPHONY (with U of MN Symphonic Orchestra) Northrop Auditorium - Minneapolis MN Concert starts at 8pm Free admission with ticket Call 612-624-2345 for reservations. ---------------------------------------------- Orkestar Bez Ime Saturday May 2nd and Sunday May 3rd - Festival of Nations St. Paul RiverCentre 175 West Kellogg Blvd. Downtown St. Paul, MN Performing throughout the Day. For more information: http://www.festivalofnations.com/ The CSK gigs will be a blast...I'm WAY looking forward to Beethoven's Ninth...and the Festival of Nations gig will be challenging, but it'll be a good first gig as a new member of OBI...It seems the only social time I get these days is at a gig, so come by and say HI! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
10:14 am	It’s The Music I Give My Blood, Sweat, and Tears... So, I just joined a new band... The core group of musicians who performed with me at the Ethnic Dance Theatre show a few weeks ago, have had their own group since 2004... They perform around the region, for festivals, dances and other special events... They're called Orkestar Bez Ime, and there are some good examples of their music on their website... They lost their "plinky-plucky" guy a few months ago, which is how I got hired for the Fitzgerald show, and the members liked me enough to offer me a position in the band... I said, "Sure..." I've been wanting to be in a WORKING band for awhile, and I also like the challenge that the music presents: Bulgarian, Romanian and other slavic musics have VERY odd meters, so even just playing rhythm guitar can be challenging... Plus they're really nice folks as well as being class-A musicians... I had my first rehearsal with them last night and it was three hours of playing in 9, 11, 13 and maybe a few in 4...overall, I'm surprised how much music we went through, but after already playing with these guys in EDT, I feel like I'm getting a better sense of the music and how to play it... We'vw got two big gigs the first weekend in May, at the Festival of Nations...They'll be All Day events, Saturday and Sunday, which will be exhausting...Plus I'll have performed Beethoven's 9th with the concert choir the Friday before... Did I mention that my life is really really busy this month? -------------------------------------------------- There's a little aside to all this Slavic music I've been doing lately... It's felt VERY comfortable to me and I finally realized why... I remember, back in the day, when David Stensoel used to play ALOT of Serbian, Hungarian and other slavic tunes in Boiled in Lead back in the early 90's...and I think much of that influenced my listening as much as the Irish stuff did... What I found out just recently is that Stensoel was actually a member of Ethnic Dance Theatre BEFORE joining Boiled in Lead, and that he brought in all those songs from his years at EDT... Given the fact that *I* started out in the Irish scene almost a decade ago, having performed with EDT and now playing with Orkestar Bez Ime feels very much like I've come full circle... (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 9th, 2009
5:42 pm	Running With the Devil... I'm so busy right now, it's not even funny... I've got six major gigs scheduled this month (which I'll post about tomorrow), a paper and a MaxMSP project due in four weeks, and I have to make sure I pass Music Theory... I'll post more info on all this later... But in the meantime, I thought I'd inflict this upon y'all: http://www.thetyser.com/ IT'S THE DAVID LEE ROTH GENERATOR! Probably not Work Safe, if only because your boss might wonder why someone's going "Heeeeeeeyyyyahhhhhhaaa" in your cubicle... You're welcome... (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, March 28th, 2009
10:57 pm	I'm Not There... The last two weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind... Last week was supposed to be Spring Break, but it wasn't for me...Instead I spent all week rehearsing for and then performing in the Ethnic Dance Theatre concert at the Fitzgerald Theatre...It was actually pretty tough getting it together: three straight evenings of rehearsals and even then, we really didn't actually have enough time with the dancers...and I personally could've used a few more rehearsals with the band itself...Plus I don't think I felt comfortable with the kontra (drone violin) until the second show... Really, the challenge was that I was playing SEVEN DIFFERENT INSTRUMENTS over the whole show and I had to remember all the transitions...and we played pretty much non-stop for two hours (with intermission), with barely any time for me to transition between instruments: a physically challenging process if nothing else...Yoga saved me that week... But overall, the show went VERY WELL...The dancers were fabulous, the costumes were great, the Fitzgerald crew and space were awesome, and I really had a great time with my orchestra mates...It was certainly trial by fire, but I felt like our last show last Sunday was incredibly tight... And here's some video of what you may have missed: An interview with the EDT director, featuring Footage from the Kaiser's Jubilee (I'm in the last 15 seconds of the video)... ------------------------------------- I then had to recover from the show and get back on the horse that is school...My focus has been primarily Music Theory...I've been bugging the TAs and checking and double-checking my work...Everything else is pretty much on the back burner, until I feel like I've made sufficient progress on it...I may have had a breakthrough a couple days ago, but I'm not slacking off... ------------------------------------- And then I remembered that I have a Choir Concert tomorrow (Sunday)...Gah! Didn't I JUST have a huge concert LAST WEEK? Well, at least the location is worth the trouble - St. Paul's Cathedral...Whether or not you're of the faith, you can't deny that the space itself is incredible...The ceiling is so high, there's a five second reverb in the place...Makes you understand how they thought they could hear angels back in the day... The music isn't going to be great, but the sounds will be fantastic... ------------------------------------- There's other stuff going on, too, but I'm really busy these days, so it'll have to wait...Stay safe, y'all... (Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
11:22 am	The Creative Process - Where Does It Come From? My friend sarendipatree asked a series of questions on his LJ on how the creative process works for his friends...I thought they were fantastic questions and since I intend to talk about my musical influences later on, I thought it might be a good idea to explore my creative process first... ( So here's the Creative Process Q & A - Warning: This Gets Long! ) So that's the Q & A...Wow, that was long, but I think that's a good starting point...From here on out, I talk about influences... (Comment on this)
Friday, March 13th, 2009
10:15 am	There Are A Hundred Ways To Cover Your Redneck Past... I just finished taking my Theory exam...I'm optimistic, but that optimism is fairly muted, given that I just found out I'm barely passing Ear Training with a C-...After Spring Break, I really need to figure out a system to study by...cuz I NEED to pass these classes... But that's not what I came to talk about today...I came to talk about my past...And the fact that my past has been rearing it's odd little head lately... My Past #1 Just a few weeks ago, I explained to my Theory prof, Dr. Damschroder, that this isn't the first class I've had with him...In my very first semester at the U of MN back in 1988, I took one of the few freshman level Theory courses he ever taught...What it taught me at that time was that I wasn't ready to be a Music Major: I got a D...mainly cuz I rarely studied and I rarely showed up...But now I'm back...Doing better but still struggling a bit... My Past #2 About a month ago, there was a visiting professor from Canada who came through to do a seminar about the state of Sound Studies today...I went to it and the professor was a large guy, about my age, who pretty much held court the whole time, talking almost non-stop about his opinions...He seemed familiar...When he asked the room if there still was no performance major in bass guitar at the U, I figured out who he was... Back in 1992, at one of my first gigs with Cafe Fnord at the Expresso 22 in Dinkytown, one of the other groups that played with us had a really odd sound - combination of XTC and early Talking Heads...I got to be friends with them, but they lost their bass player to grad school... Now, almost twenty years later, that bass player, Jonathon Stern is the head director of Communications and Sound Studies at McGill University in Montreal...I came up to him after the talk and he was VERY surprised that I knew him, saying "Holy Shit, you're Old Skool!" He even remembered Cafe Fnord quite distinctly...That was cool and, in a weird way, crossing paths with him seemed like another cosmic validation as to why I'm here in school... My Past #3 What only a few choice folks know about me is that, back in the mid-90s, I used to be in a grunge metal band...It was called Sauce Rocket and we played around enough during 1994-96 that we even got an interview with an early version of Pitchfork (I think I still have a hard copy of that somewhere)... It was basically Alice in Chains/Soundgarden-type stuff, though influenced by the lead guitarist's ability to play Jimi Hendrix note-for-note and some of my own funk-metal leanings...We weren't bad, but I certainly wasn't cut out for it - I was basically the "Jason Newsted-whipping boy" for some of the group and I never really contributed anything that worked for the band...but I hold absolutely no hard feelings on that time at all and I still have a big fondness for most things Metal (which, I know, may surprise some folks)... In any case, a couple months ago, I got a Facebook surprise when the former lead guitarist Jimmy Schlenker, friended me...Since then, he's been posting all these old videos and recordings from Back In The Day...It's a little startling, and looking at it, I don't really relate much to that 24 year old bass player in the videos... But I thought I'd share some of my Misbegotten Past with y'all...just because I care... Here's the four of us in a practice space, rocking out to one of our songs And here's the audio for an original called "Blood Sausage" Yeah, the past is a strange place to be... (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
9:48 pm	Why Do You Do What You Do... Next week is Spring Break...and while I'm looking forward to having no classes, it isn't much of a break for me, since most of the week will be taken up by tech rehearsals in the evenings at the Fitzgerald Theatre for the Kaiser's Jubilee...I mean, that's the reason I took the gig - cuz I knew it'd be during Spring Break...it just shoots any chance of truly relaxing... But I love this crazy life of adventure, so you know, I really shouldn't complain... At least, I get to hang out and watch videos during the day... -------------------------------------------- By the way, I'm considering making lists of my musical influences and posting them on Livejournal, along with YouTube examples...These would be separated by Guitar, Keyboard and Soundtracks...I'm thinking of these posts NOT as a way to show how great a musician I am blah blah blah...Far from it...I just think it's interesting to list them out and acknowledge their influence on my life and my craft...and also maybe expose some folks to music they wouldn't already have heard... Not to be coy or anything, though, I'll only do this if there's an interest...so if you are interested in a series of posts of my influences, go ahead and comment...Thanks! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
8:54 pm	I Can See A Little Light... I've been working hard this week, studying Music Theory, so as not to end up failing Friday's Exam...I've got secondary dominants coming out of my ears, but I think it's all finally starting to sink in...I'm even finding areas which I thought I understood from last semester, but actually didn't...and believe it or not, I think it's starting to affect the way I play and compose music...in a good way...more on that later... In the meantime, I've got a couple of school observations... This semester, I'm finding ALOT of interplay between my classes... In my Free Jazz class, we end up using the same language as my Music & The Religious Experience: They both talk about the space that music creates, the intention of the music played and (when talking about trancing) "deep listening" (there's actually quite a few philosophical similarities between trancing and free jazz...) It's really weird and fascinating, actually... I've already mentioned my inter-related issues with both Theory and the MaxMSP programming in Computer Music...However, I really am finding a nice remedy for both in Free Jazz: After a long night of studying theoretical notation and programming structure, there's nothing better the following morning than listening to recordings of Ornette Coleman blast the rules to smithereens... ------------------------------------------------- In other news: Next semester will officially be my LAST semester...Then I graduate...within two years of starting...give or take twenty years previous... Also, next semester, I will be taking composition lessons from Alex Lubet...I was going to sign up with Doug Geers, but he will be on sabbatical next year, so Alex was kind enough to meet with me and take me on...He will also be helping me with my Senior Project, which (I believe) will be to compose a small chamber ensemble piece...No idea how that will work yet, since I've never really truly composed one before, but I'm excited...It'll also be my first 8xxx level class; the U actually doesn't offer an undergraduate composition program, so I end up with a foot in the graduate door... To be honest, I'm starting to feel more and more like a grad student every day, partially because of my age and experience, partially because of my classes...I just need to get through Theory and that can become a reality... ------------------------------------------------- I got a bit of a revelation through a meeting this week with Dr. Damschroder, the Theory prof...We were talking about the fact that I'm a composer, and he off-handily mentioned the fact that, "Oh, well, then theory is just studying the past for you..." I hadn't thought of it like that before... I've guess I've had this unreasonable feeling as a composer that if I didn't know the rules, I wasn't REALLY a composer - I was just posing... Now, I'm finding that composing isn't necessarily about knowing the rules...It's about going beyond them...Sure, theory has REALLY helping me understand jazz improv and has greatly improved my understanding of vocal arrangment and harmonic tension and has made the actual act of transcribing my ideas less intimidating...Theory, however, is a means to an end for me; always has been - I'm just becoming much more comfortable with that fact... And with that comfort comes a sense of freedom...to do anything... (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, March 8th, 2009
1:07 pm	Mori shej, Sabina... This show will be in a couple weeks...It promises to be one colorful production! Ethnic Dance Theatre: The Kaiser's Jubilee Inspired by the 1913 celebrations of Kaiser Franz Josephs’ 65th anniversary as monarch, The Kaiser's Jubilee recalls village life in Austria, Bohemia, Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine through beautiful staging, dazzling costumes, and spectacular music. I will be featured on guitar, kontra (drone viola), mandolin and percussion. March 20-22, 2009 F-Sat at 7:30 PM; Sun at 2 PM Fitzgerald Theater 10 E Exchange Street St. Paul, MN 55101 651 290-1200 Tickets will soon be available online through http://www.ticketmaster.com $25 adults; $20 seniors; $15 students; $10 children under 12 For more information: http://www.ethnicdancetheatre.com/shows-upcoming.html (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, March 6th, 2009
11:40 am	No Comprende...It's A Riddle... I haven't had time to do a proper update for the last tfew weeks...Life has just been so goddamn busy...So, dear readers, here's the synopsis so far (bear with me, folks)... Three weeks ago: - Performed at SPARK Festival local showcase: did okay in my short segment, but felt out of place with all the other performers there who were playing much more complicated, academic material...Next time I play SPARK, I have to have a laptop... - Saw spacebug's SPARK show, which was teh awesome: she's focusing more on beats and I think that's way cool...Also saw Doug Geers conducing one of his pieces at the Cedar: very inspirational - some beautiful melodic atonal lines for the violin accompanied by percussion and six laptops manipulating sound generators in MSPMax with Wii controllers...The future is now... - Performed with Concert Choir at St. Olaf church...it felt like a long concert...Glad to be done with it... Two weeks ago: - I got very very sick...Missed a bunch of classes...Felt like crap for the most part... - Attended a Free Jazz Workshop on Sunday, on which we'll be doing a presentation after Spring Break...Small ensemble performed 1/2 hour sets: Very. Awesome...My Free Jazz prof Guerino Mazzola is a monster pianist, as well as being incredibly brilliant...Was good to see Adam Linz on bass too... This week: - I've been playing major catchup this week and had ALOT of major things due...Had to do a presentation in Music and the Religious Experience about a book we just read about Trancing that analyzes religious trancing by way of both cultural behavior and bioneurological responce (like, Whoa!)...Also had to write a paper based on an interview I did with spacebug for Computer Music class...Plus theory homework... It's been rough...I thought this was going to be an easier semester...But I'm running into problems... Music Theory/Ear Training IV - I've always had an issue with this course, but now those issues are coming to a head and I'm REALLY having to buckle down and do some basic stuff, like write out note names on the music and alot of extra prep work to get an understanding of the material...I have to work hard, cuz if I don't pass the class, I have to retake the course NEXT YEAR...However, this week I finally started automatically hearing intervals in pop songs, which feels like a minor epiphany...This weekend will mainly be devoted to Theory homework... Computer Music - It's basically become a computer programming course on how to work MaxMSP, an object-oriented programming software that allows sound generation/manipulation engines to be created from scratch...I did actually buy the program for my own use (Yay for student discounts!) and I love using it, but Holy Shit, I am so not a programmer, so I'm having to work extra hard to understand it...I still don't understand it... * In many ways, my problem with Theory is the same as my problem with learning MaxMSP: confronting my own weaknesses in linear thought and logic...I know all this work is helping me develop the other half of my brain and that it'll be good for me in the long run, but I'm finding the process right now to be rather painful... -------------------------------------------------- Over and above school, I've also been having to learn material for the Kaiser's Jubilee that I'm performing with the Ethnic Dance Theatre...The Shows are THREE WEEKS from now and I'm still learning two hours worth of material...It basically feels like another class: learning new music, learning the idiom and learning how to play new instruments: Kontra (drone viola with flat bridge), Prim (Croatian Mandolin-type instrument)...The ensemble is filled with some really awesomely nice people and I'm glad to be working with them and I really like the music...But I'm still in the middle of my learning curve so I don't feel comfortable with everything quite yet...Thank ghods I got a couple more weeks... Wheeeeeeeeeeee!!! (2 Comments |Comment on this)