mr. t's 092505

great show last night. we stretched out to play two sets and pulled it off. arlo gave us a great mix and it was satisfying to play such a wide variety of music.

the first set was mostly covers and the second we played a rare night of all seven mvts. of music from summerland. its always good to get the taste of an uneven show off of you asap. i always have the feeling that what happens if we do it again? i also feel the same way when i teach. after one bad class i'm pretty pissed, but know the students will cut you a little slack here and there. after two bad shows/classes you can start to lose them, and god forbid three bad classes/shows in a row, you can lose them for good. although we added some music at the last minute, i feel really confident of the musicianship and maturity in the group. it was nice to mix things up and raise the stakes last night. these days i'm trying not over-rehearse the ensemble, great musicians can do magical things when left to figure it out in performance. most of the audience seemed to prefer the newer first half (which was the newer music).

anyway it was nice to see some of my friends from the arroyo arts collective come out. its really special when an visual artist that you really like diggs your music.

right now i'm pretty proud of the recent adjustments with the pbe. the last few shows represent that we can succeed as two distinct ensembles tailored to fit concert and club venues. we are in good shape and have enough new music to keep the shows fresh until the spring. its now time to get back to writing again.

d.i.e.

i been sitting around mulling over sunday's setlist for the last couple of days. around wednesday i realized that we had enough music for two sets, only one of them worked well so i decided to let the 2nd set breath a little by adding some of erik satie's short pieces from his sports and divertisments. my first experience was playing satie (as well as machut, biber, terry riley, and vivaldi) was at csuf in the diverse instrument ensemble created by lloyd rodgers. it was first affectionally known as the scratch orchestra (based on cornelius cardew), but the university rejected the ensemble title for the course catalogue . eventually the students have settled on the shorthand version; d.i.e.

although i have many influences as a composer, performing in this group was probably my most important musical and intellectual experience.

the philosphy of the group revolves around these ideas

just because they are dead, it doesn't mean their music has to be also.

should great repertoire be only performed by the "approved" instrumentation?

is history really a one-way train in which only the future holds the best and most beautiful music?

are the "classics" only written for the orchestra?

unlike cardew's scratchers (whose anarchist politics were probably more important than the music they performed) the main reason for our group was to rescue and perform music from the "dustbin of history" with the musicians we had available. this could have easily become a joke (and i wince when some groups "goof" on the classics), but we always played what was on the page (making musical realizations not arrangements). of course not all music (classical and romantic) works well in this format, but many medieval, renaissance, baroque and postmodern compositions fit the ensesemble quite well.

i realized that unlike most commercial and orchestral playing that i was doing (playing trombone in an orchestra is like being joey in friends, you come in and say something stupid to move the story along). i had to come up with interesting ways to fit into the ensemble's texture. i used a variety of mutes, strange mouthpieces and i once played a sackbut to cover the alto(viola) line in the pergolesi stabat mater. the music was full of challenges again and the repertoire was endless.

to bring this all together, playing satie on sunday night will bring a small part of our past onto the stage. back then erik, scott, sean(now in the nyc), and i had no idea where this would be going, but for each of us the excitement we talked about the music and rehearsals we had really set the tone to the music we make and perform today. its good to know when i need subs d.i.e. is the first place i look. i know that they will be a flexible musician who is ready to try anything and doesn't need the approval of the status quo.

mr t's, 091505

overall a good show last night. i am still kicking myself because i didn't pay enough attention during sound check to our levels. it took a while to get the sound dialed in so parts of the evening were better than others. the audience was great(a weekend size crowd on a thursday). for most it was their first experience with the pbe.

for our 2nd club show i am still surprised how many "got-it". afterwards i had a lot of great conversations about the obvious philip glass/reich/riley/nyman connections. the funny thing was at yesterday at biola (and most other concert venues) the conversations/comparisons move towards movie composers like clint mansell and curtis armstrong. either way not bad people to be compared to, but i guess it kinda funny that reich/glass/riley/nyman names are only recognizable in clubs.

the night was a great mix of bands. sporto (fronted by accordian) has got an easy going feel that is a cross between irish pub/french salon/norteno mix. i really want to get a cd to give them more of a listen. the cat hair was great! my friends came out to really hear them and were not dissapointed (especially by rod's lyrics). i was packing up when warm climate came on and after the noise-band introduction they settled into a mix of music that reminded me of a mix of white stripes, radiohead and david bowie. i'm not sure if that sounds good to you, but parts of it worked really well. by the end of their set i would come hear them again.

putting this in perspective, it was great to play a show in a club with other "alternative" bands. i have more in common with the people and music on stage than the "new music ghetto" i am forced to associate with by default. from this mornings perspective (and 4 hours of sleep) its probably important to keep playing to both audiences. however we build an audience, i'll take it.

not a bad day

its the end of a show day and i'm just pulled all the equipment back into the house. i'm just sitting down to do the dance all over again for tomorrow. sync the ipod with a new playlist for the train, make lunch, go over lecture notes for tomorrow's classes, send out reminder emails for tomorrow's show and now its getting hazy.... what am i forgetting? hopefully i'll remember by the end of this post.

anyhow the show today at biola was top shelf. we are starting to get into a groove and playing is such a joy. things are moving along; dave has been workshopping his guitar sounds and is bringing an slightly adjusted pallette to every rehearsal. it great to listen him adjust the music to fit his own style. its also been interesting how the music changes over time. the last couple of rehearsals i have let some of the tempos rise and fall and it seems to bring out parts of the music i forgot i wrote. its just feels strange to play it the same way everytime, this is (living) music not a mcdonalds hamburger. since this was sam f.'s ((form) not the other sam f. (fish)) home show the strings were obviously on top of their game. it was nice to have greg adamson sitting in for vic. i have heard about greg and seen him play for at least 10 years. he is close friends with scott, but this week was the first time i met him. he is a hell of a musician and hope that he can come back soon. everybody else had to make the usual sacrifices for a lunchtime gig; missed classes, skipping out on the day job, sending subs to other rehearsals and all for a $33 dollar gig. these days, i wonder if that is higher scale than big band?

we had a large and enthusiastic crowd of students at biola today. i'm sure some of them were required to be there, but they were very happy to see sam play (he just joined their faculty). playing the concert reminded me of my first "recital hour" at wichita state u. sometime during the performance i couldn't help thinking about excited i was about music back then and i don't remember exactly where and when i lost that feeling, but damned glad it came back.

anyway... just remembered gotta play ball with the javi.

thanks

thanks for the emails and calls over the last few weeks. things are better now and school is going great (i'm enjoying my classes and the train). we have two shows this week; the first is a lunchtime concert at biola university with the larger 9-piece group. greg adamson will be playing cello with us, he is a original member of the illustrious theater orchestra and and damn fine player. its great that he was able to fit us in for this performance.

we (6-piece) are also playing thursday night at mr. t's bowl with the cat hair ensemble, sporto, and warm climate. cat hair is the only group i have seen in person. they are a salon band that is a little bit of django reinhardt, erik satie, and kurt weill... and then their are the lyrics. check out their myspace space. my favorite is formal friday.