Monday, July 31, 2006

Celeste is on her way back!

She's en route, in the air somewhere between Paris and the Bay Area. I'm really excited. She has been gone for a year studying at the CCMIX in Paris. I keep up with her blog, which is superb (see link at right), but it's not the same as having her here in person.

She has gigs coming up in the Bay Area, too! On August 3rd, she'll perform her new laptop music at the Luggage Store Gallery. On August 6th, she'll be part of the revolving cast of characters at the Skronkathon, this time improvising on the tuba. I've never actually heard her tuba playing...

She'll be here just for a month, then it's off to Den Haag for the Sonology course. So I guess there's no hope of enticing her back into her bass guitar-playing Company slot. Alas.

Maybe she can go with me to Phil Gelb's next vegan cooking glass, though. That would rock. Phil's first class was a kick. It featured the following:

  • Fresh-squeezed lime-ade
  • Roasted corn salad
  • Sauteed collard greens with kalamata olives, capers, a shallot, garlic, etc.
  • Skillet corn bread
  • Pistachio-crusted tempeh with an amazing Japanese gravy
  • Vegan chocolate mousse

All of it tasted awesome and made me feel like I'd done my body a favor. So maybe Celeste will be able to share the next one with me.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

I love Mercury retrograde!

NOT. ;)

At least I can look forward to it being over on July 29th.

I've been nailed by Mercury today. I just heard from Carol Negro, who directs the West Marin Music Festival, in whose Composers' Showcase "Remove Before Flight" is being performed almost exactly a month from now.

Apparently she was under the impression that I would be playing the first flute part. I was under the impression that I was *not* playing the first flute part (and that somebody else would be hired to play it).

So as of now, I guess I am playing it. With eyes darting furtively around, I sneak off to practice really hard.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Moe!Kestra! show this evening

The Moe!Kestra! show is tonight. We've had two rehearsals. I can say with confidence that when you're done hearing Piece No. 7, you will be ready for battle, with Warbirds filling the sky overhead and taking out alien gun emplacements, and ground troops charging out of heavy transports, ready to massacre the worthy but unlucky enemy. Piece No. 7 sounds like a Klingon opera overture to me...if you're at 12 Galaxies in San Francisco tonight, it will be GLORIOUS!

Friday, July 14, 2006

Anonymous

Please don't believe what you've heard about the division
between soul and substance
between Spirit and the flesh.

The world does not stand in opposition to the spirit.
The world is not a thing; the world is a place.

Souls have a life wish.
They come here not to be imprisoned by the flesh
but to spawn, to molt, to grow.

Life is a mating dance, a courtship of souls;
soul to soul and soul to god.

The world is a womb in which we bive birth to ourselves
However difficult that birth might be, that is why we come here.

To be born fully, is our life's task.

We were called into the flesh to bring Divinity to earth;
to love, understand and create.
Spirit leads us into these things.

In this quest we can find not only friends
and mentors but life partners.

The union of the flesh is but a delightful part
of an even deeper spiritual union
that awaits you if you seek it out -
and the delights when you achieve that are deeper still.

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Separated at birth?

I had forgotten how much Brian Kenney Fresno resembles Richard Dean Anderson.
I'm sure they both get that a lot. It's really weird.
I will go watch Stargate DVDs now.

Friday, July 07, 2006

Notnoise! Notmusic! Notmichael!

Jeff Davis called me up on July 4th to touch base about finishing up Not Made of Stone, and while we were talking he revealed that Michael Haumesser is back in the Santa Cruz area after some years out on the East Coast. (He engineered and mixed my first album, Taste the Wall.) This is very cool news. Find out all about him at http://www.notnoise.com.

Speaking of dear friends from way back, I got to hear Rick Walker do his looping thang at the Luggage Store Gallery last night. He looped the sounds of many orange objects, so I guess he has moved on from the Translucent Day-Glo Lime Green Plastic theme (except for a green clarinet). It was really cool to see and hear him. He also improvised on a toy piano which was a gift from Chris.

LX Rudis opened with a solo set on his Matrix-12 analog synth. LX's set attracted a black cat, who prowled back and forth on the ledge outside the gallery windows looking for a way in. When the synth music stopped, the cat took off. So he must have liked the vintage synth sounds.

The evening was very laid back, like we were all hanging out with friends who happened to be making music. After the show John Hanes and Lucio Menegon told me stories about how they knew Rick from way, way back (in John's case even before Tao Chemical). Rick showed John how to drone on his frame drum.

I was telling Lucio about my flute quartet (Remove Before Flight) and he misunderstood me and thought I said "flip quartet". Now I'm wondering if I should write one. First I need to figure out what the "flip" designation actually means; whether it's (a) four people turning flips, (b) four people flipping objects over that will thereby make sounds, or (c) four people flipping each other off. Or the audience. Perhaps it's all three, but that would be a very hard piece.

John and Lucio and I escorted one another to BART after it was all over.

Before the Luggage Store Gallery event I got to hear a concert at the Asian Art Museum. It was the Theater of Yugen featuring many improvising musicians and Noh dancers. It was a very beautiful, powerful, and well-attended event. It started very early in the evening which was so convenient for getting to the LSG afterwards. The walk to the LSG can be a tiny bit daunting sometimes so I was grateful that it was still light out when I made the trip. Even better, I got to see the Theater of Yugen for only $5.00. That cannot be beaten with a stick.