because they are dead

"unison, fourth and fifth. all other intervals are shit!"

Labels: art music, spectacle, video

"The steller success of Los Angeles as a real-estate, media and technology mecca is overwhelming its traditional upper classes, diminishing their autonomy and clout. This is not to suggest they are somehow becoming pauperized- indeed they are becoming wealthier-, but rather that they are surrendering power, which is different from mere money, to others strategicially established in the new circuits of lnad monopoly and global finance. LA 2000, despite offical hype about being 'THE city of the 21st century' will largely be an entrepot for megabanks and technology monopolies headquartered elsewhere. It will also continue to be the urban equivalent of the Spanish Main for the corporate buccaneers and nottori-ya from all over the world. Its old WASPish elites, especially, recumbent in their luxury, may linger primarily as consumers, comprafores, or just breeding stock. "

Labels: history, latimes, los angeles, musings, spectacle

Labels: homicide report, los angeles, spectacle, video

Labels: latimes los, los angeles, spectacle

we are living in a time where the majority of people (maybe even some of you) prefer to live in fake french provincial or tudor or fake phony second rate spanish and it's like damn its the 21st century.

did you realize that modern architecture started 100 years ago?

what's the point, its a symbol what are you symbolizing? that the 19th's century was interesting? or the 18th or the 17th or whatever the fuck you think it is?

there isn't a whole lot of interest in forward progress here. there is a huge notion that we are somehow comfortable in living in this fake old new world that somehow has something to do with some idea of status, what it has to do with is that your dead already. you literally died. if your brain isn't operating if you aren't living in today, if you haven't got problems then why wake up?

if you talk to across the board to architects then the discussion centers around why aren't more people interested in the present and exploring what it means to be alive in the 21st century and how that effects living and how your environment is an extension of your creative potential...

what's so interesting about living in some dead architecture that didn't die for no reason?

on top of it its a copy of a bad fake, its layers of stuff that's even hard to perceive.

Labels: musings, spectacle

But instead of the old gods, The Wire is a Greek tragedy in which the postmodern institutions are the Olympian forces. It’s the police department, or the drug economy, or the political structures, or the school administration, or the macroeconomic forces that are throwing the lightning bolts and hitting people in the ass for no decent reason. In much of television, and in a good deal of our stage drama, individuals are often portrayed as rising above institutions to achieve catharsis. In this drama, the institutions always prove larger, and those characters with hubris enough to challenge the postmodern construct of American empire are invariably mocked, marginalized, or crushed. Greek tragedy for the new millennium, so to speak. Because so much of television is about providing catharsis and redemption and the triumph of character, a drama in which postmodern institutions trump individuality and morality and justice seems different in some ways, I think.

Labels: spectacle

Labels: mp3, musings, retrace, spectacle

Labels: mp3, musings, retrace, spectacle

Labels: musings, retrace, spectacle

Labels: mp3, musings, retrace, spectacle

Labels: mp3, retrace, spectacle

Labels: mp3, retrace, spectacle

Labels: mp3, retrace, spectacle

Labels: mp3, retrace, spectacle

Labels: retrace, spectacle

Labels: retrace, spectacle

Labels: mp3, retrace, spectacle

Labels: mp3, musings, retrace, spectacle

Labels: mp3, musings, retrace, spectacle

Labels: mp3, musings, retrace, spectacle

1. I lost my faith in new music years ago. Also my respect for certain "important" composers.
2. I did not lose my interest in new music although I expected to.
3. Living with this faithless interest has become the central issue of my middle-age creative musicianship.
4. I believe music can and should be challenging and involving and beautiful and provocative without being ponderous or academic.
5. There is a certain existential tension between these ideas and the way I earn my living: as a copyist of new pieces by "important" composers.
6. I no longer enjoy attending concerts. Exceptions do occur.
7. I prefer listening to recordings. iPod is good.
8. My time is limited. Life is short.
9. I feel fully qualified to predict from the music I already know whether I will enjoy music I haven't heard yet. You can't listen to everything. You have to have favorites. If you don't like something, say so.
10. The "important" centers of new music are in New York and Europe. California is the boonies and our new music scene is vastly underdeveloped for our size and economic clout.
11. What hapens in the centers of new music has become of only minor passing interest to me.
12. The New Music Pie is fixed in size. Maybe it's even shrinking. That would make new music a negative sum game
13. New music programming is more often based on the "importance" rather than the talent of the composers.
14. Recent programming by the Monday Evening Concerts and the Green Umbrella has disappointed me as overly Eurocentric.
15. Although I may not enjoy or attend new music concerts I support them and hope for their success. I once found them useful and others still do.
16. I enjoy "making up" music. I never refer to myself as a "composer" without adding the adjective "failed".
17. The choice between spending my time making up my own music and attending a concert of music by composers from traditions for which I have little tolerance or enthusiasm is easy.
18. I want my music to derive as much as possible from my immediate surroundings and culture at the current moment. Starbucks is the perfect metaphor for this.
19. Every piece of music should have elements immediately appreciable by any listener, from novice through professional.
20. I enjoy giving my pieces misleading titles.
21. Music is a fundamentally an abstract art and should avoid the overuse of lyrics.
22. I want my music to be unpredictable.
23. I have no interest in being part of an established musical movement or tradition, even as I am probably falling into the traps associated with certain California Maverick composers.
24. I have no reason, desire or ability to express the eternal verities through my music. Indeed, I doubt eternal verities are eternal, veritable or even expressible through music.
25. I've learned as much from negative examples and bad teaching as from positive and good.
26. I want to personally enjoy the acts of writing my music and listening to it later.
27. Writing about my music is difficult for me. I would like people who hear my music to enjoy it without having to read about it.
28. I can no longer say I've never written a manifesto.

Orlando, Orlando, he dead, he dead, Orlando, he dead.

Josquin, Johann, Amadeus, Ludwig, they dead, they dead, all them guys they dead.

Buddy H., Brian J., Mama C. Karen C., they dead, they dead, all them guys, the dead.

La, la, la …

And when your dead your dead forever,

forever, forever, forever

You don’t go live no more,

no more, no more, no more.

You be dead more long than live

‘Cuz when your dead your dead forever,

Forever, forever, forever.

Some day me be dead,

Some day you be dead,

Some day me be dead,

Some day you be dead,

All us guys

We dead

La, la, la ….

Labels: art music, musings, spectacle

Labels: mp3, musings, retrace, spectacle

Labels: mp3, musings, retrace, spectacle

Labels: mp3, musings, retrace, spectacle

Labels: musings, retrace, spectacle

guy debord

Labels: mp3, musings, retrace, spectacle

Labels: mp3, musings, retrace, spectacle

Labels: mp3, musings, retrace, spectacle

Labels: mp3, musings, retrace, spectacle

Labels: mp3, musings, retrace, spectacle

Labels: spectacle

PALLETT: I’m going to come clean. When I think of new classical music, I feel like I need a cup of coffee and an Advil. I write it, listen to it and enjoy it, but honestly, I don’t think that any classical-music form — except the opera — has relevance to a large audience anymore. It’s retrogressive, but also totally intoxicating. Really, who needs an audience when we have our private little concerts to bask in our own technical virtuosity? Show off some idiomatic oboe writing? Why not?

But seriously, I love new classical music, but the world prefers Amy Winehouse, and so do I. New classical composers are fighting an uphill battle for any sort of relevance: trying to make any headway against the huge volume of amazing pop music out there, and also, trying to reinvent forms and ensemble choices that have existed for centuries.

This whole exchange we’ve had seems ?to have been geared toward “opening pop ears up to new classical music,” but this is a very old-guard conceit. I think that the quicker young classical musicians stop writing chamber music and symphonies, and instead start making albums, the better. Sorry we’re butting heads! I hate being so cantankerous to strangers, but that’s all for now.

Labels: musings, spectacle

Labels: composing, musings, pbe, performance, spectacle

"other than zamfir or yanni, i can't think of another thing more irritating than that fucking trumpet... its a trumpet isn't it?"

Labels: spectacle

Labels: pbe, spectacle, teaching

what is classical music? (from the naxos website)

Any attempt to define what is meant literally by the term 'classical' music is fraught with difficulty. How does one encapsulate in just a few words a musical tradition which encompasses such infinite varieties of style and expression, from the monastic intonings of Gregorian chant to the laid-back jazz inflections of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, from the elegant poise of Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik to the despairing, heightened emotionalism of Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" Symphony? One is treading on very dangerous ground indeed if one pre-supposes that it is simply 'superior' to other musical types such as popular, jazz, rock and the like, let alone the music of other cultures.

In general 'popular' music may be as clear in expression as the longer examples of 'classical' music. One important difference, however, lies in the logical connection that exists in 'classical ' music between the beginning and end, with the latter a logical extension and development of the former. 'Popular' music, on the other hand, tends to present its material without development, the music ending when interest is exhausted.

Sadly, whilst 'classical' music is socially undivisive in itself, it has unfortunately become associated in most people's minds with the intellectual elite. Even now, and with certain honourable exceptions, the attending of a 'live' concert can be an intimidating (not to say costly) experience for the uninitiated, especially in that most jealously guarded of establishments, the opera house. The wonderful thing about the technological age in which we live, and particularly the advent of the compact disc, is that we can bypass all irrelevant social and intellectual pretence, and enjoy in the comfort of our own home (often at far less cost) some of the finest music ever composed.

in popular music, art or "serious" music as opposed to popular music.

Labels: art music, musings, spectacle

n.
this is life as you live it
now and have lived it
you will have to live again and again
times without number
and there will be nothing new in it

f.
to those people who have made a difference in your life
you can do anything you want, because god wills it
you can do anything you want, whether god likes it or not
you can tell GOD what to do

n.
but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh
and all the unspeakable small and great in your life
must return to you and everything in the same series and sequence

f.
life’s too short
and you’re shorter than life
life’s too short to remember how to be who you are
i haven’t heard from you
have you heard from you?

Labels: composing, musings, spectacle

daniel wolf cannily points the limitations and travails about having a blog and dialogue it spawns.

Personally, I think that Newmusicland is a microeconomy (or a series of microeconomies within a microeconomy) without much real at stake. Sure, there are prizes to win and teaching gigs to hand out, but in the end, it's a bloody struggle over bloody nothing, or a mad rush for crumbs (thanks to Joyce and Feldman), and even with the "best" resume and connections the distribution of laurels and better day jobs ultimately involves a large factor of the arbitrary. Establishing a public musical identity as a composer means taking a strong position, having strong opinions, and saying through our music in a very public way that I like this and (implicitly) not that. But are our strong opinions only to be placed in public in the form of our music, and not our words? When we switch to words, do we suddenly have a license to duck and cover?

i think its good to point out the drawbacks of blogging: everything we say online probably won't get us a better job and will most likely be used against us someday, and yes sometimes our online discussions probably amount to a hill of beans, but for those of us who remember the time before the internet, any information about newmusic was limted at best.

growing up in kansas i had little connection to newmusic or artmusic at all until college, but these days i first hear about somebody online much earlier than hear about it on "the street" . hopefully our ramblings give an accurate (although sometimes myopic) portrayal of the 'zeitgeist' in which we live. as i pointed out recently i am lucky to be a part of the southern california "cartesian school", but i also appreciate that our online newmusicland community that has connected me to people like daniel wolf, corey dargel, jeff harrington, and david toub (and a cast of others on my blogroll...now this is where the internet is like a big reacharound) just this weekend got into a emusic frenzy because of david toub's extensive mp3 link dump (david, i especially thank you for introducing me to real quiet, marc mellits, and steve layton)

like any community, it is only as vital as those who participate and there will always be more "lurkers" than than commentators. so far our little club seems to be pretty open to a wide variety of art and ideas, and we have mostly stayed away from throwing rocks at each other. (except a recent minor stoning of christopher rouse).

good ideas do crop up online, the recent discussion of open study scores has prompted me to start editing posting my own music. this semester at CSUF, the diverse instrument ensemble (d.i.e) has enjoyed rehearsing and is planning to perform of david toub’s online scores (when a 65 yr old faculty member brings a piece to rehearsal from the internet you know its having some effect). like fantasy baseball there is always going to be arguments about who the hero’s and villains are, but by telling these stories and sharing our experiences through our newmusicland microcommunity gives meaning to our strange and pitiful existence.

overall i am always interested in reading about people who are doing. reading about those who are actively involved in their community whether it be musiciology, kazoo training, writing ya fiction or grip work is much more interesting than passively consuming some of the latest feel good claptrap. everyday its easy to feel like we are faced with the 'faculty cafeteria' problem, surrounded by disgruntled who are forever complaining about how the young are fracking up our lives. by turning off the noise and joining a club (ferret blogs anyone?) our online microcommunities can serve as to channel the best of our collective ideas, creations and experiences.

*one of the my main internet conundrums is that there are ferret (we are new ferret parents) and lego train blogs, but i cannot figure out for the life of me why the music education community is so empty. maybe it is all because edwin gordon's sound before symbol theories have become reality?

Labels: composing, mp3, musings, spectacle

Although I have decided to at least temporarily continue to make my music available, I am entirely finished with the music establishment. No mainstream American music institution will be permitted to perform my work (Not that there's much chance of it anyway). Why? Because it's a rigged game and because it's run by the elite; the same people who profit from dead Iraqi women and children. Some of the same people who stage terror attacks. Am I saying that, for instance, Esa-Pekka Solonen is a terrorist? No, but I am saying he works for terrorists, among others. I don't want that job.Publish

a short history of southern california new music ensemble-based composer collectives

Cartesian Reunion Memorial Orchestra (1979-1992)
this groundbreaking group featured compositions by Michael Bayer, Chuck Estes, Douglas Hein, William Houston, Steve Moshier, Frank Riddick, and Lloyd Rodgers. at various times, the orchestra featured musicians Jannine Livingston, harpsichord; John Glenn, bass; Lloyd Rodgers, clarinet and keyboard; Douglas Hein, acoustic guitar; Diana Halpern, violin; Joeseph Goodman, violin; and Michael Baer, violincello

Domes (1987-1990)

performance orchestra featuring the works of Jeff Fairbanks, Mary Thompson, Michael Coleman, Alysse Sanner, Chris Tardif, Martin Tardif, and Stuart Miller. featuring performers William Houston, vocals; Martin Tardif, electric bass; Dave Black, string bass; Steve LaCoste, flute; Jeff Fairbanks and Steve LaCoste, percussion; Joe Bouchard, guitars; Brian Beshore, violin; Eric Berkqvist, bass trombone; Diane Barkauskas, accordion/keyboard; and William Houston, keyboard.

William Houston Ensemble (1988)
Alan Lechusza, saxes; Diane Barkauskas, accordion; and William Houston, keyboard.

Illustrious Theatre Orchestra (1992-1999)
Shane Cadman, Paul Greenhaw, John Hoover (composers); Shane Cadman, tenor saxophone, keyboard; Christine Dietrich, vocals; Paul Greenhaw, keyboard; John Hoover, baritone sax; Scott Mcintosh, clarinet; Douglas Fairbanks, keyboard; and others.

Liquid Skin Ensemble/Steve Moshier (1998-present)
Steve Moshier, vibes; John Glenn, bass; Jannine Livingston, keyboard; and others

Lloyd Rodgers Group (1993-present)

Lloyd Rodgers, keyboard; John Glenn, bass guitar; Bruno Cilloniz, vibes and percussion; Gary Hung, violin; Mellisa Rodgers, trumpet; and Luigi Cilloniz, marimba and percussion. other members have included Sean Ferguson, electric guitar; and Paul Greenhaw, vibes

Music Action Corps (2001-2003)
composer collective featuring the music of Sean Ferguson, electric guitar; Matt Menaged, bass guitar; Bruno Cilloniz, vibes and percussion; Jeremy Reinbolt, vibes and percussion; and Eric Hendrickson, keyboard

paulbaileyensemble (2002-present)
featuring works by Paul Bailey and other composers, living and dead, performed by Scott Mcintosh, clarinet; Carl Stronach, bass guitar/vibes; Bruce Gallegos, electric guitar; Ryan Nunes, vibes; Eric Hendrickson, keyboard. other members include Sean Ferguson, electric guitar; Matt Menaged, bass guitar; Nelson Ojeda, keyboard; Bruno Cilloniz, vibes; Sam Formicola, violin; Sam Fisher, violin; Shalini Vijayan, violin; Feranado Vela, viola; and Christopher Searight, bari sax. vocalists include Nicole Baker, Nike St. Clair, Susan Taylor Mills, Karen Hogle, Sean Mcdermott, and Paul Cummings.

Counterpoint Culture/Jon Brenner (2005-present)
Yemila Alvarez, flute; Xico Castaño, clarinet; Mike Lasserre, saxophone; Dave Kurutz, guitar; Carl Stronach, percussion; and Jon Brenner, electric bass.

Paul Greenhaw Duo (2006-present, nyc)
Paul Greenhaw and Sean Ferguson, keyboards

Diverse Instrument Ensemble (D.I.E, 1992-present)

A California State University Fullerton chamber ensemble (the barbarians are at the gates) founded by Lloyd Rodgers to serve as an alternative outlet for all of the university's musicians to receive chamber ensemble training through exposure to a wide variety of great music by (mostly) dead composers. over the years the d.i.e has become a de facto training ground for many of these composers and ensembles. d.i.e alumni include:

Yemila Alvarez, Paul Bailey, Jon Brenner, Bruno Cilloniz, Luigi Cilloniz, Sean Ferguson, Paul Greenhaw, Eric Hendrickson, Gary Hung, Mike Lasserre, Scott McInstosh, Ryan Nunes, Veronica Paez, Melissa Rodgers, Carl Stronach, and Nicole Baker (faculty guest soloist) and Jennifer Cheek, Flute/Piccolo 1992 - 2005

my apologies to any who have been omitted. please feel free to send your corrections and comments along

Labels: composing, history, musings, pbe history, performance, spectacle

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Labels: mp3, spectacle

Labels: composing, spectacle

this is life as you live it
now and have lived it
you will have to live again and again
times without number
and there will be nothing new in it.

Labels: spectacle

"G#, Ab what's the difference?"
"play softer, yeah right"
"are you going to eat that?"
"so what are you doing after the gig? (directed to any female from 12-35)"
"no, it's not multi level marketing... you'll make a lot of money!"
"my damn ex-wife is bleeding me dry"
"my father hit me and look how i turned out"
"pretty soon my carpet cleaning business is going to make it possible so i don't have to do these crappy gigs anymore"

Labels: spectacle

Labels: spectacle