The Autumn House

TURF:IDADA Art Pavilion opening

Last Friday, I played the TURF:IDADA Art Pavilion opening. It was a last minute gig. Mainly, because nobody realized that their big gallery opening didn't have any music whatsoever and that it might be a bad thing. At least, not until the night before.

During my breaks, I wandered around and checked out all the installations. Most of them were way cool. Some of them I couldn't figure out. (Sorry, that's the breadth of my modern art critique: "way cool" or "can't figure it out"). It's free and open to the public all the way up to the Superbowl (Jan. 14-Feb. 5 Tues.-Sun.). I should have used my Iphone to actually videotape the art. Some of what I felt were the most affective installations were video driven(an installation by artist Jawshing Arthur Liou) or reacted to the way people reacted to it(an installation utilizing night lights) or both.

I really loved most of installations. Better yet, I thought my kids would really like some of them:

(The game in the middle actually works and is coin-free!)

But, then I thought, they might also get some ideas from some of them:

I showed the pictures and they both want to go. I'm just not sure I'm ready for the after effects.

Here's one installation I couldn't figure out when I was there:

Things I learned from a Deep Purple tribute band

 

I am playing in a one-off show with a Deep Purple tribute band called "Burn" in a couple of weeks. Here are a few things I learned about the band I was, before now, only slightly familiar with:

1. You can add/replace ALL the members of the band, and even the style of music you play, and still be successful. Fans have gotten so used to this with Deep Purple they term the first four variations MkI, MkII, MIII and MIV. (In actuality, there were more than four, these were just the most successful of the groups.) Now, I know many groups go through many variations especially in prog-rock and metal. But, Deep Purple has to have one of the most extensive rosters for a medium size band. Here is the chart someone made up for Wikipedia:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/1a9862f6946b1ce39392e0741b3dd4f4.png

2. In an age where most recording was not done easily by computers and through the internet, Deep Purple(Mk II) put out 7 albums in roughly 3.5 years. I thought I was lazy before, but now I REALLY think I'm lazy. Keep in mind, "Machine Head" and "Made in Japan" were among these. So, they were not terrible recordings for the most part. Also, the metal/prog-rock music they were playing at the time was not uncomplicated. I can say that, now that I've had to learn "Highway Star".

3. Jon Lord was a tall man. Early on he used to rock his B3 back and forth on stage while playing with a ring modulator on top. Its amazing to see in the first place(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ-lSTlUnfA ) . Then, you realize, that B3s are not small instruments and this giant has his leg up on it and is riding it like a stallion. I've tried to do this with my Motif on an X-stand. It doesn't have the same effect. I'm a midget riding a miniature pony. That said, I can produce most of my sounds on my light weight Motif(I'll probably use two of them though).

4. I thought some of the later Deep Purple was actually early Whitesnake. That's because David Coverdale(aka former Mr. Tawny Kataen) was the lead singer at the time. I believe they call this Deep Purple(Mk IV) or Whitesnake(Mk 0.5). In the tribute band, we're doing "Sail Away" and "Stormbringer".

5. Dear Mr. Ritchie Blackmore:

As you are one of the best/first heavy metal guitarists I have a question: Why do you like rainbows so much? I noticed a famous Deep Purple concert there is a rainbow hung across the stage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1sAkZF7SCQ) There are a couple of mentions of rainbows in Deep Purple lyrics. When you decided to leave Deep Purple(the funk version) to start your own heavier metal rock band, you named it "Rainbow". Were "Unicorn", "Fairy Wings" and "Strawberry Shortcake" all taken?

Tweetings and Bloggings

I've reacquainted myself with my twitter feeds and blog reading. I have the belief that, sometimes, its best to unplug for a couple of months and not know what's going on in the world minute to minute. In fact, a friend of mine became a single mom of triplets more than a decade ago. I asked her how she handled it. She said, "I didn't watch the news or anything the first 4 years. And you know what? It didn't really matter."

So, now that I've reattached myself to the information umbilical cord, I've found at least some interesting blog feeds/twitterers:

1. http://themarvelageofcomics.tumblr.com/

Cool pages(mainly from the Silver Age of comics). Some with annotations and some never-before-seen. My current favorite is a letter sent by inker Vince Colletta to Marvel after editor Jim Shooter had been fired in 1987. Boy, is it both funny and vicious.

2. http://www.abominable.cc/

The Abominable Charles Christopher. One of the cutest, yet interesting web comics out there.

3. www.foundshit.com

I like photo blogs because I'm such a poor reader. This is one of the better ones.

4. A bunch of comic artists/writers on twitter:

@brubaker(Ed Brubaker), @BRIANMBENDIS(Brian Bendis), @mrmarkmillar(Mark Millar), @mattfraction(Matt Fraction) just to name a few. Mark Millar's tweets are great because I think they are exactly what Stan Lee would be doing today, if he were a young Brit.

5. Local twitterers(tweeters..whatever)

@Indypodcaster(my friend Darrin at his new job for Cha Cha), @JennCristy(help her raise some money for her new CD)
@317lindquist(local/national concert/entertainment reporter)

6. Denis Leary's tweets:

He actually published a book of his tweets last year. They're good. Not THAT good. But, definitely worth a follow.

There's more, but I'm still exploring. I'm still not sure I like the frequent tweets of some accounts( sometimes they come every 15 minutes). But, we'll see how well I can cope being reacquainted with the information onslaught.

Love/Hate of John Williams

I just saw "The Adventures of Tin Tin" with my family and one thing struck me. I've either oversaturated myself with John Williams music or John Williams is just going through the motions of late. I think it's a little of both. His score for Spielberg's interpretation of the Georges Remi comic left me pretty cold. At one point in the movie, during a chase scene that devastates a middle-eastern town, I was taken out of the movie narrative and started wondering which Star Wars battle the music came from. His main themes for the characters sounded like something from "Catch Me if You Can" or "The Terminal".

Now, oversaturation is a distinct possibility. My ITunes playlist for Williams includes the usual(Star Wars, Indiana Jones) and the not so usual(Catch Me If You Can, Empire of the Sun). I know I can hardly expect a composer to sound completely different from himself, especially when he already has such a diverse repertoire. But, it used to be that, at least thematically, you could completely identify the characters and movie from which the music came. I think that's happening less and less with Williams. I haven't seen "Warhorse", so I can't compare it to his other score of the holiday movie season. I also still believe Williams stands head and shoulders way above most other film composers. I hope the next movie I see with a Williams score knocks it out of the ballpark. When I think of someone actually replacing Williams scoring a film(such as, oh, the lead singer of Oingo Boingo), I think of this Family Guy sequence from Blue Harvest.

Remember to make your back-ups

Today, through a button pushing mishap, I lost a few sequences to some new original songs. Of course, they were not backed-up yet. I actually accidentally factory reset my Yamaha motif XF. This is my reminder to anybody who had not backed-up financial data, photos or sequences to back them up now. Luckily, only the most recent songs and new patches were lost. I guess I'll just have to see how good my own hard drive(the one in my head) is. It is usually glitchy at best. I know the new songs were called "Last One Out The Door" and "Crack the Mountains". So, that's a start. Now, let's see if I can remember all the drum and bass parts.

“Muises” aka Chocoladehagel

I got a package from my mom (who's in England for Christmas). One thing it contained was this:

I used to eat these all the time with bread and butter when I was a kid: Chocoladehagel or "chocolate hail". My dad use to call the "muises" which he said was dutch slang for "mouse poop". Mmm, yummy, mouse poop and butter sandwiches.

Sometimes, I would just pour them straight out of the box into my mouth. There was a multicolor sugar "fruit" version of these (Vruchtenhagel). Mmm, yummy, sugar and butter sandwiches. Well, at least the bread was fortified. Nowadays, though, I actually have a mouse or two in residence…kinda makes it less appetizing.

Xmas Songs for an Xmas CD

Yeah, I know everyone is Christmased out, or probably should be. But, l've had this idea to make an Xmas album for awhile, now. Yes, I have some original holiday songs to put on it. However, most people buy an Xmas CD for at least some traditional Xmas tunes. These often cost what is referred to as "money". Lots of money, sometimes. But, I suppose it is well spent if your in love with the song. Here are the selected cover songs so far: 1. Vinter Vonderland.
2. Hark, Harold the Angel Sings.
3. Santa Clause is Coming to Town.
4. Silver Bells

There will be more. Then, just like small mammals, we'll just have to see who survives in the litter.

The Day after Christmas: Lego Assembly Day

I hereby declare the day after Christmas to be Lego assembly day. This year the kid's received a record number of kits to be assembled(with a LARGE degree of help from their parents).

This year's kits were:

1. Sith Infiltrator(2 of them): 310 parts X 2

   

   Probably the most difficult one to assemble. That's why, my wife did it twice.

2. Hogwarts: 466 parts

   

   This one is kind of cool. Little details like a snake, crystal ball, globe, beds, mirror and potions classroom.

   It's the smaller of two Hogwarts sets. We didn't get the more expensive one.

3. Land Speeder: 163 parts

   

   I like how details I don't even notice(one of the engines has no covering) are accurate to the movie.

4. General Grevious Starfighter: 454 pieces

   

   Cockpit slides open. Lots of parts move. Some kind of opening assembly in both pods.

   Pretty cool.

5. Sith Nightspeeder: 214 pieces

   

   Actually has a small projectile launching capability. Falls apart easily, though.

6. Geonosian Starfighter: 155 parts

   

   The Geonosian stuff has cool spheres in the design.

   In total: 2072 + extra pieces(always some of those) will be vacuumed up or stepped on in the next few months.

   This is what it looked like a day after assembly day. Tomorrow, they all will probably be "modified".

   

Indy In-Tune Interview, Jenn Christy and Joaquin Phoenix

A couple of weeks ago I did an interview for the Indy In-Tune podcast with my good friend Darrin Snider and haven't mentioned it until now. To be honest, Darrin sat me down with a couple of bottles of whiskey and the rest of the interview was sort of a blur. But, given the circumstances, he managed to edit my ramblings in the interview into an understandable format. It's kind of like Letterman with Joaquin Phoenix. Except, Joaquin won't shut up.

You can download or stream the interview from the podcast homepage, ITunes or your preferred aggregator. This helps his stats and gives us all hope that someone is listening and interested in the Indianapolis music scene. Jenn Cristy, who I'm opening up for this Saturday, Mar. 28 2009 at Locals Only, is interviewed in episodes #12 and #31. In fact, you'll find several other fine Indianapolis bands that are interviewed in previous editions of the podcast. That is why you should select "subscribe to this podcast" when given the opportunity.

On the main page for the podcast he has several links related to me that I had forgotten about, including this blog and a bunch of awards. I guess I've been ignoring the intertubosphere too long.

Just as brief reminder, besides playing Locals Only on Saturday, I'm playing Fionn McCool's in Fishers on Friday featuring an interesting mix of covers and originals. The show at Fionn's also features guitarist John Byrne.

Wonder if he takes it black with no sugar……

My five-year-old: "I talked to God last night."

My Wife: "….um, What did God say?…."

My five-year-old: "He said, "No, thanks. I don't want any coffee." "

END OF CONVERSATION

So, three things from this:

1. My kid was host enough to think of offering God something to drink.
2. My kid probably thought: Since he really only gets one day off, I bet he drinks coffee.
3. My kid talks to God. Don't most five-year-olds?