Aeijtzsche pronounced "H"

Opera Synopsis

2010-06-22T12:44:00.001-07:00

Cicéron, an Opera in three acts.

Music and Libretto by Josh Hoisington

Note: This is very loosely based on the life of the real Cicero, don't take it as history of any kind.

Overture

Act I

The Senate, set any time in between 150 BC and 1915 AD: Cicero laments how the great republican tradition of the government has fallen to the demagoguery and cult of personality of Caesar. His comrades in the senate urge him to take a stand and speak out. Cicero is embarrassed when Caesar enters and warmly greets him as if they are on the same page politically, and yet is gratified by his fame, and reveals that he is too timid to speak out. But soon enough, Brutus and a small cabal of conspirators assassinate Caesar on the Senate floor. As the act ends, Brutus calls up to Cicero victoriously.

Act II

At Cicero's country villa: Cicero has retreated from the political scene, but again laments the direction the country is going, this time under Anthony. At the same time, Cicero's daughter Tullia has given birth to a grandson but is very ill. As she dies, she urges him to speak his mind and try to influence the country against going down the path suggested by Anthony.

Act III

At Cicero's townhouse: Cicero dines with a group of intimates. As they sit down to dine and drink, Cicero tells them that he has finally published his thoughts about Anthony in several prominent public "newspapers." The state of the country is such that many at the table have a price on their heads. The group sings of better days, and Cicero expounds the Greek philosophy that has consoled him after losing both daughter and country. As the night unfolds, the group begins to disband, fleeing to different places in order to seek asylum and avoid capture and certain death. Finally, Cicero is left alone with his trusted servant. Initially, Cicero says he will stay, but his servant urges him to flee and avoid the consequences when Anthony reads his article. Cicero heeds this advice--but he and the servant only get so far in their car when they are pulled over. With the police is Anthony himself, who greets Cicero warmly, much like Caesar. He tells Cicero that he read the article, and demands a retraction, after which, based on Cicero's heretofore sparkling reputation, all will be forgiven. Instead, Cicero sticks out his head and says "There is nothing proper about what you are doing, soldier, but do try to kill me properly." Anthony turns in disgust, makes the signal, and Cicero is beheaded.

. Music

2009-12-01T11:01:00.000-08:00

I’ve had a deep love of the music of Bach for some time. But I’m admittedly a neophyte to the ins and outs of the “period ensemble” world. I’ve just started to get into it, and it makes sense; I love history, want to live at Colonial Williamsburg, and have solid credentials as a music ensemble researcher (of quite a different kind, however, viz. LA studio musicians circa 1965…)

But man, I am frustrated. There are so many questions I can’t get an answer to, and indeed the answers may not exist. If they do, and you know them, or if I say something that betrays my short interest in this subject, speak up!

OK, so I really like period instrumentation. I could care less about the instruments actually being original to the time. I think I’ve talked about this regarding the Wrecking Crew of LA studios. Those guys didn’t use vintage instruments—they were new at the time—so I don’t especially care about vintage equipment, as long as new equipment is being made to the original specs now. For me, I think a large part of my interest in period ensembles comes from an almost visual aesthetic. And now we come to my issue: Period ensembles that I’ve seen just don’t seem “exotic” enough. I feel like even the best and most authentic ensembles take things for granted that they shouldn’t. For instance, new scholarship is postulating that when Bach (JS, of course) wrote for “Violoncello,” he was not refering to what we think of as a “baroque cello” but instead an instrument played “da spalla.”

Like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=081JUQ7f6Yo

That just feels right to me. And I’m uncomfortable with assumptions that when Bach or Handel called for violas that they always meant the “modern” viola. I feel like I’d like to see more baroque ensembles use treble viols. And when Handel calls for “bassi”, he probably did often mean cello, but how interesting would a performance of the Messiah be with no celli, but Violas Da Gamba? And a very interesting question that seems to be getting asked in these circles is that of the role of a contrabass string instrument.

How often did baroque composers really want a so-called 16’ instrument? In the Brandenburgs, Bach occaisionally calls for “Violone Grosso,” but does that mean he wants the bassline doubled at 16’ by a bass viol? Or at the written pitch? Likewise, when Handel writes “bassi” does that include a “double bass”?

Maybe there are people out there who know such things, but they aren’t publishing the answers.

There are some ensembles that seem to be closer to the exoticism I seek. These are mostly the opera ensembles of Montiverdi, Handel, et al. in these, you see theorbos and archlutes and Viols—and it feels distant, and foreign.

On another note, I think that there’s some really cool packaging done for Classical music CDs that really make a difference. Working in the music section of my store, as I often do, I come across a lot of unattractive album covers. I’m not going to give examples. But the right packaging and art goes a long way to making some of this very old music seem cutting edge.

The Gardiner Bach Cantata Pilgimage series is a good example, nice digipack-type packaging, with awesome cover art:

I also really enjoy these Vivaldi Opera covers as seen here:

http://www.amazon.com/Vivaldi-Farnace-Zanasi/dp/B001V76E10/ref=pd_bxgy_m_img_c

Check out the other ones in that series.

2009-02-23T09:40:00.000-08:00

Yes, it has been some time since I've last updated you. So long, in fact that I suspect much of my already tiny readership has abandoned ship. So for those of you who are reading this now, my deepest thanks for your loyal, undying support.

The main reason I have not updated much is that I no longer have a computer upon which I can gain access to the internet. They have both started the inexorable obsolescent slide, and the functionality is nearly nil.

So I am updating now on a computer that is not my own.

Nevertheless, there has been some good news as far as my own affairs are concerned. I have been accepted into Grand Valley State University as a transfer student and will begin there in the fall with something like Junior status. I plan to major in Classics.

Apart from that there is no new noon news with NuNu Nuñez.

I will likely not be updating this very often, which is a shame, but I value communications with the various people who have read this, and I welcome personal email correspondence if you are lead. My email is: josh.hoisington, and for anti-spam purposes, I will identify the email service as "google mail." If you have difficulty understanding that we can probably work something out. Also, I think the email is in my profile anyway for all the spambots to see.

ZQZQ

Josh

My Fellow Americans

2009-01-16T16:42:00.000-08:00

If I were Obama's speechwriter, (And just to cover any legal issues, I emphasize that I do not in any way actually represent Mr. Obama, though, if you're reading this, Mr. Obama, and you need a speechwriter, I'm available, be warned that I didn't vote for you, though) here's the inaugural speech the President-Elect would give in a few days, although I would probably proofread it and do some editing and stuff if it were a real speech (and yes, I realize it's not a viable speech in real life):

Thank you.

Today is a landmark in our country's history. For the first time, our nation has elected a African-American president. I will drive myself to live up to this great honor you've bestowed.

But my election is not the end of our struggle with race. We rest on this small step. Our country remains deeply divided, and racial inequality remains as divisive an issue as it's ever been. I hope that my presidency can inspire you to look at yourself, to push yourself to do everything you can help end racism.

Our cities, our jobs, and most tragically, our schools, continue to be segregated. To truly make "separate but unequal" a thing of the past, it is up to each and every one of us to be intolerant of racism. This does not mean we must resort to violence, it means we must lead by example, teaching our children what it means to love all mankind as we wish to be loved.

Today also marks a change from a republican administration to a democratic one. But this does not mean I will spend the next years pushing a democratic agenda. America is not a country of democrats and republicans. Like Jefferson said, we are all democrats, we are all republicans. We are all Americans. And together, as Americans, we must face the future together. It is an uncertain future. We face economic hardship, an uncertain world rife with terror, and many other day to day challenges. I believe that I have some good ideas that will help make the future brighter. And since you have put your trust in me, I will continue to work tirelessly to create hope for the future.

But our future is in your hands. I will do my part, but you must do yours. In difficult economic times, we all have to use our American ingenuity to get by. We can all come up with ways to get by on less. Many of us have parents who lived through a great depression. We can learn from them, take pride in our thrift...and we will make it through this and return to more prosperous times.

I have selected a team of people who I believe will begin to restore the reputation of the United States around the world. But the real responsibility, again, lies with you. When our enemies and allies abroad look at us, how we treat our neighbors and families, if they see contempt in our daily lives, that will influence how they treat us. If we can start at home, continuing the great American traditions of decency, friendship, loyalty, and fairness--it is only logical that our behavior will overflow into our foreign affairs.

It may seem as though I've spoken more about you than about me today. I think my campaign showed you what I stand for, and hopefully what you can expect of me. But I consider it part of my job to remind us--all of us, including myself--what we should expect of ourselves. This country did not rise to greatness because of the brilliancy of any particular president. We have had some very good presidents, and I hope to live up to the standards of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, and Kennedy. This country rose to greatness because of the individual character of it's citizenry. It is our people that make this country great. So today, in electing me, you have turned to me and asked much of me. I promise to do my best, and work every day at becoming the best president I can be. In return, I ask much of you. I ask that you take responsibility for this country. In every interaction you have, you represent the United States of America. Every time you speak with your children, you are training them to be the next generation of great Americans. It is up to you to do whatever it takes to teach your children to be the kind of men and women who will not tolerate racism. Who will not accept violence on our streets. Who will not ignore poverty. Who want to serve their country. Who want the rest of the world to respect their country. I think the vast majority of us want these qualities in our children, and we all want a better world for our children. Won't you join me in making that world?

2008, the year that was...

2009-01-01T17:51:00.000-08:00

A retrospective of a year is tough. Years are kind of long, and of course everything near the end of a year is most present in one's mind compared to the events at the distant beginning of the year. But I'm going to try a little recap.

It was not a bad year for me. Toward the start of the year, I was mired in depression, on anti-depressants and such. I don't really remember why--perhaps it had something to do with my renewed love of reading, but at some point after it became clear to me that the anti-depressants were not working at all, I decided to just kind of try to distract myself from the depression with activity.

And that worked OK. While depression is something I'll deal with every day, I've found that scholarly pursuit and medium-range goals make things a bit easier.

Speaking of scholarly pursuits, my return to college, at GR Community College, was great. I had my best academic semester ever, managing 3 As and a B in four classes. I look forward to another great semester and I'm really excited about transferring to GVSU to pursue my degree.

I haven't left behind autodidacticism, and still am doing a lot of outside reading. It was my discontent with a gap in my general knowledge when it came to the law that sparked the idea of me actually pursuing exploring attending Law School in a few years. I attended an open house at a local law school and feel pretty good about that course. And I'm continually inspired by the great lawyers in the US' past, Adams, Hamilton, Jefferson, Jay, Marshall, Lincoln, RFK, etc.

I'm thankful to be employed, after a pretty long period of unemployment after my LA experience. Schuler Books has been a great place to work thus far, a welcome haven after the unpredictable nature of being a freelance archivist for the Beach Boys.

Speaking of the Beach Boys, I miss them terribly. I miss being part of that world, both geographically--I hate this isolation from LA--and being in on behind the scenes stuff. It has been continually difficult dealing with the feelings related to that, being so close to a dream and letting it slip away. I listen to the Beach Boys somewhat more sparingly now, listening to the Beach Boys brings up a lot of sadness mixed in with the joy that that music has always brought me.

Los Angeles will always be my spiritual home, and I have yet to get over leaving it. I recognized this year that things went as the probably must have, but I admit there is a certain bitterness and resentment towards myself for leaving. I find myself getting angry when watching TV shows set in LA. I will return there someday, but the waiting for the right circumstance is agony.

I've continued to enjoy playing Tennis, and it's kept me reasonably in shape. I hope to continue to improve next year.

I think those are the highlights. If anything else pops up, I'll mention it. Next entry, I'll preview the year ahead.

Yes, hello

2008-12-22T19:05:00.000-08:00

I don't really have much to say, well, I do actually, but no time to get into anything right now. But I figured if I didn't post something my already tiny readership would go away forever. I will try to have some sort of Christmas-themed post at some point with lots of philosophical insights about the holiday season or something. For now, I'm just going to mention some books I'm working on, so we can, you know, discuss them or something.

Really enjoying "The Black Swan" by Taleb. Also a book entitled "The Ascent of Money" has been very informative in my quest to understand finance a little more so I can be prepared if I should ever be a candidate for Secretary of the Treasury. "Ich Und Du" by Martin Buber is fulfilling my Jewish-philosophy needs, and McCullough's "1776" is my Revolutionary Era book du jour. Also enjoying inhabiting the world of end-of-the-republic era Rome via a biography of Cicero by Anthony Everitt.

OK, more later, bye.

I Saw Three Ships

2008-12-01T16:28:00.000-08:00

I've noticed that recently I've become somewhat more lachrymose than usual. I've found a number of ordinary things to have a hard-hitting profundity that's taken me to the brink of tears and beyond. I have a feeling that when and if I make it to middle age, I'm just going to be weeping all the time.

I just breezed through an interesting little book called "The Anatomy of Peace" that I picked up at Schuler, it's not something I would buy but the title interested me. It's about resolving conflict, essentially.

Conflict is something I've taken an interest in for some time, being particularly bad at it, and not particularly liking it. The book notes that many times conflict is exacerbated because of what's going on inside of yourself, rather than the other person's actions. Which might be "duh" but it's so true... I made my first mistake at Schuler the other night, at least the first mistake that lead to customer discontent. While in the long run it was not too big of a deal, I let things like that eat at me. In fact, I remember every single mistake I made at Meijer over ten years that lead to confrontation with a customer. And I remember many confrontations that had nothing to do with me, also.

But they all still bother me, and occasionally, I'll lay awake thinking about some thing I might have handled differently eight years ago.

In wondering why that kind of thing eats at me for so long, I determined that it's because they are all examples of my infallibility or lack of knowledge (at the time, anyway). Yes, it bothered me on Saturday that a person had to drive back to the store from 45 minutes away to claim something that I should have made sure was with this person when they left. It bothered me like it would anybody else.

But what bothers me now is that I didn't do what I was supposed to, I was imperfect...made to look stupid, even.

At first you look for other people to blame, and I did, but quickly poked holes in that. You can only blame yourself, and that's a tough thing for a perfectionist to do.

Speaking of perfectionists, there should really be a study done to classify the kind of perfectionist that I and surprisingly many people are: those that have a highly specialized band of perfection demanded. As opposed to those that have to have everything just so. It's an interesting distinction.

Moving on from that somewhat egocentric meditation, not much else is happening out of the ordinary for me. Difficult week of school ahead, pretty much through to the end of the semester. With work now, I feel like I have very little time to prepare for classes and tests. Join the club, right?

Does anybody out there have a copy of Postlethwait's "Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce" they'd be willing to sell me?

Thanking Gives

2008-11-27T11:31:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all my US-based readers.

I've spent the day so far luxuriating in the company of written material, finishing off a couple of books and making progress in a few more. I also had the chance to really concentrate on and read the liner notes from Alone 2, Rivers Cuomo's recently released demo CD that has been discussed before.

First, I'd like to congratulate Rivers and the record company for participating in this unprecedented indulgence. It's really cool of them.

I'll let you judge the music for itself, the real treat for me was the extensive notes penned by Rivers himself. I was taken aback by his honesty and willingness to publish some personal correspondence. In some ways his writing style reminded me of some of the stuff I've experimented with on the blog here, that is, somewhat frank personal honesty. Many times, people color their personal stories with figurative language, or dance around the issue, or going the other way, over-dramatize the hardship.

Rivers doesn't do anything like that. He states what he was feeling as simple fact, be it feeling like he wanted to die, or feeling happy excitement. His writing style is simple and direct, which brought the content home for me. I can't wait to read this book he's supposedly working on about the first years of Weezer. I imagine that would be very informative. I already feel "encouraged" commiseratively, by relating to Rivers' creative struggles throughout what I consider to be his best songwriting years.

Speaking of songwriting, Rivers' own analysis of his songwriting progression was fascinating and illuminating. He is far more aware than I thought, and shares many philosophical bents with me. His brief, simple analysis of what makes the "Don't Worry Baby" melody great is spot on. His recognition that "A thousand "Keep Fishin's" does not equal one "Say it ain't so-ooo-ooo-oo" is also dead on. Though many years too late.

So after reading the notes, I am so much more baffled why, to my tastes, Weezer's last album was so horrific. I can only deduce that bringing in the band and using generic modern-rock production techniques ruins what might be solid Rivers songs.

I'm not in love with most post Green demos that have appeared on the Alone albums, but in the rawer form, they are so much better than what makes it onto the Weezer albums. I don't really get it. I wonder if the Blue Album or Pinkerton were produced today if I would have problems with them. The bland production of Make Believe and Red contribute to much of my distaste for the albums. Certainly having Brian and Scott sing doesn't help. I just don't like their voices.

Well, I'm sure I'll have more and better thoughts on this later, so stay tuned for that.

STOP!

2008-11-25T12:25:00.000-08:00

I had an interesting, to me, encounter/situation downtown this afternoon when walking back to my car from class.

While waiting at a corner to cross, two other pedestrians walked up and, without waiting for the green/walk signal, waited for a small gap in traffic, and crossed, while I, not in an especial hurry, waited for the signal. Now, I have no problems with not heeding pedestrian signals if it is safe to cross. And in this case, it probably was, after all the "jaywalkers" didn't die.

But the thing that's funny to me, and why I bring it up at all, is that, no, they weren't in any kind of hurry either, in fact, thier destination was right on the other side of the street at a bus stop where, they were still waiting when I walked by them seconds later.

So I'm curious why these people took a risk, albeit a tiny one, simply to get to wait at a bus stop for a few more seconds?

Crimean Solar Eclipse Photography

2008-11-18T13:23:00.000-08:00

I learned, to my surprise, that the corporate office at my new place of employment:

SCHULER BOOKS

is notified whenever the store/chain is mentioned online, and, since I've blogged about it, they've all become regular readers and fans of the blog. While that's fine, I certainly don't have anything to hide, it does mean that I'll up the effort to keep the blog clean, fluff-free, and intellectually industrious. With that in mind, and with an upcoming Criminal Justice test this evening, I'd like to mention an idea I've been toying around with. Or, an idea around with which I've been toying, if you prefer.

I think we're all aware of major problems with criminal corrections. Recidivism is high in prisons, etc. I was thinking the other day about how much I enjoy traveling, and how when traveling, I tend to focus much less on my personal problems, and more on the changing scene around me.

That got me to thinking: what if there was some way to, essentially, take prisons and prisoners on the road? Now, obviously for a certain kind of criminal, travel is no novelty. Taking a crooked CEO to Lisbon or Michael Vick to Nepal will probably not be a terribly salubrious experience.

But for street-level criminals, those who are locked in the same cycle, stuck in the same 'hood, with the same people...I think that taking that kind of person on a trip would be more rehabilitative than prison time, locked up.

See, I think that it takes a sense of how small you are in the scheme of things to see how actually important you are. When you realize we're all ants, you can see how it takes a big ant to influence the universe. Now, I have no idea if this would work. Obviously, you'd have to do small scale experimentation for a long time. But imagine a dealer from South Central LA getting exposed to the third-world ghetto, and then to the majesty of Lake Como.

I wonder if that sort of thing could change a person. Just a thought, and probably one of the few thoughts I'll be contributing to prisoner rehabilitation theory.

On Second Thought...

2008-11-16T15:13:00.000-08:00

In honor of Alone II and Rivers Cuomo's cover of Don't Worry Baby, I picked another song from Shut Down II to cover in a Rivers Cuomo demoish way, not up to his standards, not a tight performance, and lacking that great analog 8-track sound:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/bcv2zk

I Just Wasn't Made for these Genres

2008-11-15T11:22:00.001-08:00

As you may recall, I often wonder why I get such little satisfaction out of one of my major hobbies, recording music.

I think I stumbled upon the answer this week. The truth is, at the end of the day, Pop/Rock is not really the avenue that I'm wired up for. When I look at my past, the first pop music I got into was the Beatles, and that was deep into high school, really. The first pop CDs I ever got were OK Computer and the Byrds Singles, I was 15.

Before that, I listened mostly to classical music, and the radio, of course. And then in high school, while I kept up with popular music, I was really a jazz head. Going into college, I never thought of really making conventional pop music. Even in the midst of my first music collaboration with my cousin, I was always pushing the envelope, wanting to add Indian drones and stuff to my cousin's songs that really didn't need an Indian drone.

I guess that getting majorly into Weezer and then the Beach Boys pushed me towards pop? But I really think that may be the wrong avenue. The most satisfying stuff I've recorded was the Aeijtzsche & H Hitt Facktoree material in college with the inimitable Stephen Hunter.

That music is pretty out there, and I could do better today, I'm sure, especially with production. But I'll take the three sound collages we did then to any recent song. I still have a certain Mahavishnu Orchestra thing going on too, I can't approach the guitar properly to play pure pop.

I think I was lured by the promise of popularity and a big audience, which of course is a dream anyway. If I were to pursue my real muse, even if I was successful in that, it'd be a small following because it would be more challenging music. More instrumental at times, certainly. But I feel kind of lead to go down that road a little bit.

For those of you that really like my 2:00 pop songs, well, I'm sure those will still turn up. I'm really interested in collaboration also, with people who play exotic instruments better than I do. Also, I think I owe it to myself to take guitar lessons again. Too much on my plate...

So, let's see what happens.

Wrecking Crew, part 593

2008-11-14T08:25:00.000-08:00

"The Wrecking Crew" documentary, about the LA studio musicians of the 60s and beyond, has still managed to avoid my general area. I'm hoping a DVD release is coming.

As I'm prone to do, I've spent the last 2-3 hours combing the internet for new Wrecking Crew related photos, finding only one that was enough to feel giddy about. That's about the rate now. One new photo for every 3 hours of dedicated searching.

I still think about putting together a Wrecking Crew book. If Denny Tedesco reads this, and is interested in a companion book to the film, I'm totally in. Please. Please.

I do wonder why I care about those guys (and a girl) so much. Maybe it's envy, maybe it's not. Did I just write about this?

OK.

The Mavs

2008-11-12T10:14:00.000-08:00

Another thing that always made me wonder about McCain was that he calls himself a "maverick." To me, a maverickship is one of those things that you're not really allowed to bestow upon yourself. It's sort of like calling yourself a weirdo (and that's certainly something I'm guilty of), where you may very well truly be a weirdo, but appointing yourself one almost certainly means you're trying to affect some posture.

So when McCain says "Well, I'm a maverick" I'd like to tell him, why don't you go do what you do and we'll decide if you're a maverick afterward.

Other things you should not be able to proclaim youself:

Genius
Eccentric
Celebrity
Snappy Dresser

Feel free to add to the list.

Moving on:

This History Channel has been trying a new technique across a scattering of shows this fall, where they pluck some sort of anti-tv personality from the real world and have them host a show. And I kind of like it. The two shows in particular I'm thinking of, "The Works" and "Hacking History" have hosts that are fairly uncharismatic in a traditional TV host kind of way, but they both have, like, practical experience. I just wanted to make a note that, in between shows with "Extreme" in the title, the History Channel still produces educational television.

For those of you asking about new music (and the requests, were they spoken, would be deafening) I'm not sure what to tell you. I've recently had yet another philosophical shift about recording, so it may be awhile as I sort it all out. Stay tuned.

And finally, I've had a fairly intense return to deep feelings of loss about Los Angeles. I have a recurring dream where I'm visiting LA and have only a few hours left, but I haven't seen the ocean yet. And I always wake up during a frantic attempt to view the Pacific before I go. LA has become a bit like a deceased family member. That same sense of loss is there, wishing you could have said more, said goodbye more effectively, etc. I think I went through the stages of grieving. I think I'm on bargaining, now, which is scary considering the next stage is depression...

I'm going to apply to transfer to UCLA, but even if a miracle strikes and I get in, I don't think I could attend for financial reasons at the moment. I think I'll also apply to Harvard, and perhaps a NYC school as well. I have some very moving personal essays in mind that could push my mediocre academic record over the edge.

Speaking of academics, I'm off to work on a math project.

Many Things

2008-11-09T10:44:00.000-08:00

Well, a lot has happened since I last updated. In the world as well as with me.

I'm still not sure what I think of this Obama fellow. Now that the campaigns are over, hopefully we'll see some sort of real person emerge. I ended up feeling kind of bad for McCain...I feel like if the guy could have been himself, the person he was before he was a presidential candidate, he probably would have coasted in, but heaven forbid someone go through a presidential campaign without being "handled" into oblivion.

On a personal note, I'm starting to settle into my new job at Schuler Books and Music. Not much to it, or to explain. Pretty typical retail experience, minus the inane corporate structure of Meijer. Management actually seems competent and interested in the junior employees.

Consequently, I received my first real paycheck in a few years the other day. It is nice to have money.

Speaking of money, my inner converstation the last few days has focused on my relationship with recording music. From time to time, I question some of my motivations, goals, etc... More and more, I'm coming to realize how much of my recording desires are tied up in the greater fantasy of what it would be like to have been present at some of the recording sessions that produced my favorite recordings.

So I'm trying to determine how much the actual music in those cases matters. To be sure, I like the music from the sessions in question, but let's say I get on a little Weezer kick.

When I'm in that phase and thinking how I could really use, say, a Marshall 1960a cabinet, how much of that desire is because I want that sound on one of my own records, and how much of it is just to feel closer to what it would have been like to be at Electric Lady recording the Blue Album in '93?

I came across a fantastic photo of Earl Palmer's drum set, miked overhead with a Sony C-37a and a Neumann U67 on the kick drum.

Would setting that up in my recording room just be a way to feel closer to the La 60s recording scene?

The problem is, I don't have the resources to know, really, what sounds like what. I've never heard an A/B comparison of a Sony C-37a vs. my Rode NT-1a. Or for that matter, the same mic through various preamps. So when it comes down to it, I'm just kind of ignorant. I've wanted to believe that equipment is just a small part of the sound. If the Wrecking Crew came to my house, I could just throw up a few mics, and it'd sound fine.

And it probably would, to some extent. But before I go forward, I'd like to figure out what I really NEED.

On the school front, I had a good result in my latest history test despite somehow transposing Morristown and the Battle of Trenton with Valley Forge in one of my answers. Whoops!

Meanwhile, my Math grade is slipping, as I messed up royally on my latest test and got a 95%, my lowest grade to date in the class.

I'm not used to being as busy as I have been, I'm sure people who work 80 hour weeks are laughing at me, but I'd become so accustomed to setting my own schedule everyday that now having some sort of commitment each day feels overwhelming. I'm sure I'll get used to that.

I think that's it for now, bye.

So many pieces

2008-10-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

First, here is an early exclusive look at the cover art for my album.

Some of my own painting, there.

The track listing is getting there, right now, I think it will be something like this:

1. I Can't Slide
2. No Dry Eyes in the House
3. Broken Time Machine
4. Doha Cutter
5. Epithets
6. TBA - not sure...
7. I Lyk Tuh Yooz
8. Vivisecting You
9. Feynman Song
10. Piim/It's Almost Time

Of the ten, a few are ostensibly "finished" as far as I can take them with my equipment. Some just need a better mix, some need things added, some need rerecords. But I will get to these things. Maybe in the Early Spring I can start thinking about what to do as far as a "release."

Moving on, with Teh Varz, Rivers Cuomo putting out his own album of roughish songs (again), I went back over his notes on Alone I and found this disturbing quote:

"I especially liked to compose at the piano, where the melodies could flow beyond my limited voice, and my left hand could explore the pleasures of melodic counterpoint in the bass line. I started taking lessons from Bruce Reich at UCLA."

Now, he mentions this in the notes about a song that has nothing in the way of counterpoint...it's completely homophonic. Perhaps that quote was an aside that had nothing to do with the actual song itself...but I do continue to find it strange that Rivers' compositions have got less and less interesting from a technical, compositional standpoint as he seems to have learned more about music. I wonder if there is a disconnect somewhere...somewhere else he likens Pinkerton to Puccini, which is fine - but there's no comparison musically. So I wonder where he gets some of this stuff.

Of course, this brings back the old question of taste, which I really should just write a book on. Whenever I think of Rivers, I can't help but feel sad that I don't like his new music. It's probably no fault of his...or mine, but I liked his other stuff so much that it is a let down that he hasn't supplied more music for me to enjoy.

And thinking about that leads me to analyze why. Which of course gets you into trouble if you try to discuss it with other people. Believe it or not, most people who listen to the music judge it by lyrical content, because that's something their comfortable with. But if you hypothetically propose to them that their favorite song had only the singer "ooh"-ing instead of singing the words, they may not be able to tell you what they like about the song, or why they like the music. And that's because they're not equipped to.

Which is OK. Like any specialized discipline, there are ins and outs. What's surprising to me is that a lot of people who seem to be really into music aren't into it enough to do much thinking about the nuts and bolts of it. Also, that's fine--if the music makes you feel good, then why push any harder than that.

But I can't leave it there. I want to figure out why this dood who wrote many of my favorite songs writes songs now that I wouldn't listen to again for a salary. Again, I should just write a book, but I'll try to break some of it down, which will be hard without adio examples, but we'll give it a try.

Fuller melodic phrases:

In the early days, Rivers wrote melodies that had extended shape to them. A sentence was fitted to a melody that didn't artificially break up the lyrical thought.

By doing that, a melody becomes more unique, obviously, because there are mathematically more variables involved. And it's more satisfying to the ear because such melodies feel more like colloquial speech, and also tend to utilize harmonically interesting devices to extend the melody.

Examples:

Good: Holiday - check it out, read the following lyric and think of the melody:

Let's go away for a while, you and I, to a strange a distant land--where they speak no word of truth, but we don't understand anyway.

If you speak that out loud, it generally follows the pattern of the melody.

Unlike, Bad: Dope Nose:

Debt.

On My Head.

Wasting time.

On My Own.

It's like a list, and it makes a very choppy melody, leaving what I call "melodic islands," not really melodies, just building blocks. It can work, but to me, it's not satisfying.

Melodic Range:

Just as with the melody being longer, it allows for more variety, so does a melody having a greater range. In my opinion, more variety equals more interest. The effect of that interest is subjective, of course, but I'm guessing if you were to strip all of Rivers' LP cuts down to a bass note and the vocal melody, you'd pick the longer, rangier ones over the shorter, range-limited ones.

Creating tension and release:

I'll end with this, though I could go on. Rivers still has a knack for this, but in my opinion it has dulled.

In his best melodies, a long phrase would set up certain checkpoints along the way at harmonically advantageous spots. By manipulating these spots, you can do things with the melody's shape. It's almost like chess, where you have to plan ahead and see where the open squares will be.

Let's take Holiday again.

If we break down the first mini-phrase:

Let's go away for a while

And compare it to the second mini-phrase:

You and I

We'll see that the first part of each mini-phrase is similar. But "while" ends a full tone lower than "I". So within this structure, Rivers has begun to build a little staircase. Because next comes "Strange" which is another whole step up from "I".

The staircase has been built and climbed, leaving us the option of subsequently going back down, as we do on "and distant land".

But then on "where they speak" we leap to the top again...only to find yet another step on "speak" which is the highest we've gone to that point, and also the first time the melody pitch is the tonic of the chord right on the chord change, which further serves to emphasize it, especially coming off the major seventh interval from the previous chord on the lyric "where". As we're sure that's the top this time, we start to go back down "no word of truth", and then brilliantly on "but" we go up again just to make sure we really got to the top. Upon confirmation, we go all the way down, as low as we've been in the whole melody. So it's a real workout, that's not a subjective thing.

I hope that wasn't too confusing.

Sorry

2008-10-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since the last entry.

I've been busy. School, and my new job have taken up much of my time and, increasingly, my energy.

I now work at Schuler Books and Music. For now, it's just seasonal, but hopefully it will continue and be a good home for me while I finish school.

Making some money will be a good thing for fans of this blog, I'll be able to buy more books, so my discourse will be more witty and informed. I will be able to upgrade critical musical equipment, so people will be able to hear some more music. If that's what you're into.

Also, I'm combating my life-long battle with insomnia by implementing uncomfortably early mornings with fairly late nights.

It seems to be working.

In other news, I'm reading heavily about the Kennedy administration.

Also, "Alone II" is coming out in late November, featuring more SFTBH songs by Rivers Cuomo. Plus a Cuomo version of "Don't Worry Baby." Yes! And thank you Rivers, as I understand you are a regular reader of this. Not so much.

Yeah. Not my most eloquent entry, but, y'know.

On to the next block

2008-10-19T15:38:00.000-07:00

And so...

3 years from now: Law School

5: Grad and/or Ph.D work at UCLA or William and Mary

10: Employed by the FBI in the BAU

20: Secretary of State, Treasury, or Defense; or NSA Chairman

25: Special Council to the President of the United States and Protector of their Liberties.

Epiphany

2008-10-17T18:05:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks like I have a job. More details when I'm actually employed. But it looks good.

It is interesting to me the slow, glacier-like push that has been shaping my life up to this point. In the last few weeks, for the first time, a hazy but distinct vision of the future has materialized. I can actually picture where I might be in 3 years, 5 years, 10, 25. It's neat.

Game

2008-10-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

I can't resist; I'm going to join the (apparent?) tidal wave of blogs participating in 3rd-person on my list of people I'd most like to write-and-publish-a-book Nico Muhly's recently invented game: You take a programmmme from your local orchestra, and "fix" the things in it that need fixing, viz. out-of-place or clunky combinations. Seriously, this game is so hot they're talking about it...wherever it is people talk about pop-culture phenomena. Full disclosure: In the previous sentence I accidentally used "their" in place of the correct "they're" before noticing and correcting the mistake. Yikes!

So here I go. It's kind of hard to even figure out what's going on at the Grand Rapids Symphony, since it seems somewhat overdevoted to pops...but whatever. Here's this:

Richard Danielpour: First Light
Mozart: Piano Concerto K. 488
Holst: The Planets

This is actually kind of interesting. I don't think I'd change it. All the other concerts were "theme concerts" or only had two works programed. So I guess the game wasn't that fun after all.

I guess that's what happens when you don't plan out a blog entry before you go at it. Actually, if I were going to change that program, I would totally do something like this:

50 minutes of free improvisation involving a small group of musicians punching holes in tom-tom drumheadswith pens and yelling into the holes. Joined, of course, by people playing Coltrane heads on a trumpet using oboe mouthpieces.

I'm pretty serious about this. There's truly very little funnier than avant-garde improvisatory music. And why shouldn't we permanently injure ourselves from laughing at a concert every now and again?

Of course, my own attempt at adding some humor to the canon ended with the termination of my career arc as a conservat'ry-trained composer. That was pretty awesome though. I have no doubt that I am the only person whose sophomore composition recital involved knocking on a piano with a dis-assembled recorder...

Oh what a night that was...

Paranoy you will destroia

2008-10-11T17:14:00.001-07:00

I just finished actually reading the David McCullough biography of John Adams. As opposed to the miniseries watching I did of it in the recent past.

There is nothing so delightful as taking your time reading a well-written biography. It's like making a friend.

Two things from the book stuck out enough to be written about.

One: how annoying can Thomas Jefferson be? Despite knowing well his many personal faults, it never is any less...sad...to read about his duplicitous, paranoid nature. He's such an inspiration in so many ways, but for such a great thinker, he abandoned reason more often than he should have. He had to go so far out of his way to suggest absurdities like Adams and Hamilton (quite separately, of course) wanting to establish a hereditary monarchy in the US...one hopes he was simply making that his mantra out of ambition, rather than because he believed it to be true.

Anyway, enough of that. I love Thomas, anyway.

The other thing that struck me was how moving it was when Abigail Adams and John die. You know it's coming, but there's something about reading the words "Abigail died" that made me have to choke back a wee sob. "To Die" is such a strange verb. In a sense, it's the ultimate antiverb, that is, death is not so much action or even inaction, but it is the force that prevents the subject from ever performing a verb again. It's largely retroactive. You can say "I die," but that's usually figurative unless it something like in Macbeth when *Spoiler Alert* the murderer kills that one guy at the end and he's like "Thou hast slain me, I am murdered."

"I'm going to die" is always a true statement, but the mercuriality of the fulfillment of that statement lessens it's impact.

That's why "So-and-so died" is so devastating to me. I still hate to read "Dennis Wilson died" or "Bobby Kennedy died" or even "Bernie Mac died." I think the obviousness of the sadness and finality of death is not what I'm getting at, it's the linguistic expression of it. When euphemism is abandoned and death is starkly laid out upon the page.

John Adams left us and went home to be with his Almighty Father.

v.

John Adams died.

So I guess the lesson is, avoid euphemisms and read "John Adams" by David McCullough.

Expression

2008-10-07T13:39:00.000-07:00

I'm struck, walking the halls of the building in which I take my college courses, by the sort of obviousness that is undetectable by the younger student, the obvious costume drama in which the kids are all players. And I'm envious, a bit, of the fun they must be having. It also makes me feel like a bit of a square, in my generally neutral, conservative, late 20s style of dress. As is my wont, I tend to feel like all the fabulously attractive youths--with spiky, dyed hair and wearing something that would make MIA proud--are judging me.

I want there to be some sort of hidden signal I can give them, "no, really, I'm just as weird as you, if not weirder" but I haven't learned that one.

I'm experienced enough to know that the teenagers dress is their shibboleth, and not so much an expression of individuality as a decree of their tribal affiliations. But I can't help getting sucked back into the old game; in sixth grade, you literally had to have that certain pair of shoes to have social credibility. If you didn't have the Air Jordans du jour, you had nothing to bring to the table. Ah, but if you get the Air Jordans, that only gets you consideration. You have to get the Marithe Francois Gerbaud sweater to get to level two. And so on.

Of course, I could have dressed perfectly and would still've not gained acceptance from my peers. Which is how, I thought in the first place, I got over the "wanting what the cool kids have" thing.

Interestingly, the cool kids these days are of a different ilk.

This weekend, at a high school homecoming soccer game (at my cousin's school), I got the chance to peoplewatch a bunch of today's teenagers in their element, and to be honest I was surprised at the general fashion trends. All the dudes seem to have this pseudo-skater thing going on. Weird.

Anyway, I guess in a way, it's nice to know that things don't change. I'm still desperately uncool. I purposefully walk by the art department to give a chance to all the edgy art kids to like me.

Toodles.

Missed it by six, I guess

2008-09-29T19:02:00.000-07:00

I admit that upon starting this "blog", I had hoped, nay, expected to be "discovered" by some enterprising person and offered a book deal. It's not that I really think that highly of my writing, or even feel like it's especially original or unique or anything like that. For some reason, my whole life, I've just always expected great things to happen to me. Which is probably why I haven't put any effort into anything I've ever done... This strange feeling was even validated by a summer camp counselor I once had, I was in 7th grade at the time, and my "cabin" of fellow 7th graders persuaded this counselor to go around the cabin and tell each of us what she thought we would grow up to be.

She went around and analyzed and predicted, and came up with something for everybody...but when she got to me, she couldn't come up with anything. She thought for a few moments and finally said, "I don't know what you'll end up being but I feel that you'll be great, somebody very important."

So I'm certainly not on the way to fulfilling that prediction. But even without the prediction, I still seem to have this belief that I'm destined for greatness. I'm not sure if people are supposed to admit that. Or if other people want to hear it. Probably not. And don't get me wrong, I don't really feel like a great person, on the contrary, if you read this thing regularly, you'll know.

What's happened is that anything I get interested, I immediately follow that to the end of the line in terms of success. So when I get into a sport, I expect to become a top professional. Even now, at 27, I harbor ambitions of becoming a top athlete. Or whatever. Musically, of course, it's greatness or nothing.

What this is leading up to, is that I think I'd like to be the President of the United States. Seriously. I think that I would be good. It'd be a struggle, maybe by the time I'm eligible, third parties will gain some ground. I'd be only the second single president, sharing that distinction with Jefferson.

But my guess is I'd be the first president to really have a genuine connection with the real culture of the US. Let's just say my iPod would have a better top 10 list than any president to date. Despite that I share ABBA as a favorite with McCain...

The reason I'm excited to be President is actually not about me at all. It that I know that I would surround myself with good people. That's what's exciting. Not that I'd be president, but that with my presidency, the administration would be cool. My cabinet members would be the best people for the jobs, even if they hate me and disagree with me. Man, it'd be great.

I'm thinking of reconvening the Federalist party. The new Whig party seems pretty interesting also.

Well, that was something. Consider me when you vote in many, many years. Now, I have to go study for a test. Bye.

The Gold Standard

2008-09-23T20:12:00.000-07:00

I somehow managed to get 103% on my math test, surely my highest grade on any math test. I guess having 10 years to consider the algebraic arts helps.

Actually it was nice to see that the tried and true system works: pay attention in class, go over things that need work, and that pays off with a good grade. Maybe an illustrious future in academia is in the cards after all.

Now another turn towards the sappy. It's interesting, that, while driving in the car, I am generally limited to a certain rota of CDs. I've had the same ones in there since I moved to LA, and I've really never switched them out. Sometimes I'll have a specific CD in mind to listen to while driving, and will dig that out of my collection when the need arises, but that CD will inevitably and invariably be brought back into the house collection. The core of my car CDs is as follows:

Weezer's entire catalog, minus the latest offering.

The Police, CDs no. 2 and 3 from their box set.

Pet Sounds and the Today!/SDSN Beach Boys twofer.

OK Computer

Jan & Dean hitz.

Vampire Weekend.

As I drove about upon this day I was struck by how many times, whilst singing along with the various CDs that were played--in today's case the Vampire Weekend LP and OK Computer--I had to stop singing lest I be forced to choke back a little sob.

What's funny is that, not being a person terribly concerned about lyrics, my bursts of emotion are usually not related to lyrical content, but related to musical content.

So if some random observer were to...observe me, they would likely be perplexed by the crack of my voice and the--dare I use the word-- moisture from my eye subsequent to some lyric involving Ezra Koenig, I don't know, shopping for Boat Shoes at a Cape Cod boutique. If they were very observant, though, they'd realize the emotional display was due to the shifting tempo and meter under the lyric. That stuff gets me...every time.

That seems to be all for now, I felt like there was something else...

Where does the Vicar live?

2008-09-20T21:22:00.000-07:00

I'm sure we all do a fair bit of what might be called "acting" in our lives. It might be the kind of thing where you act a certain way to impress somebody, or whatever...this is something I think about often. Our various personae as it were.

What brings this topic up now is that the other day, descending the stairs from my fifth-floor math class, was the sudden thought that I was totally like Rivers Cuomo, attending college at 27...likely to graduate sometime in my early thirties.

But as I reached the second floor or so, my thought balloon was deflated with the realization that I wouldn't be fronting a successful rock band while doing it.

And that's always the problem with vicarious living.

I feel like I have to do a lot of acting, or even more accurately, a lot of pretending to even leave the house sometimes. I think in my natural state, I would just kind of stay in my room and talk to myself a lot.

So I pretend. I pretend I'm a person who likes to leave the house. Or whatever the situation calls for. You can draw on anything. When I need a boost of confidence, I pretend I'm Michael Westen from Burn Notice...a cool spy who's always in control.

That's just one example. But it only goes so far. I'm not great at pretending to be a talkative social butterfly. Which is fine, I guess.

I'm not sure if I'm going anywhere with this. I guess I'm just noticing the way I operate. Because often, I find that I get lost in all the "make-believe" (which is a term I cringe at using in a post involving Weezer.) So who is Josh Hoisington? I'm sure everybody grapples with that question. You peel away at the amalgamations of Michael Westen and Rivers Cuomo. And who's left? In my case, I really have no idea. What would be really awesome, though, would be if a rock-band-fronting, college attending person was left.

In other news, I'm increasingly desirous of money as I await a chance at employment at the establishment to which I applied. I really feel like buying...stuff...which is something I haven't been able to do for a couple of years.

Musical equipment, for instance, really needs to be had. I need a reverb box and a compressor so I can mix entirely outside my computer. A decent bass would be great too.

And I'll add, just because I'm going back to school and whatever doesn't mean I'm not still looking for a drummer. Myers...

So enough of that. I think the only reason I wrote this was that I'm bitter that I'm not, like Rivers, in a successful rock band.

Standardized Testing

2008-09-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

I just took the first academic test I've been required to take in seven years. I even think I did OK! It's fairly basic Al-gebra, so it's stuff I should know...

Yesterday, my paternal grandparents and a paternal aunt came up to stay the night with us, not before attending a Calvin College/Wheaton College Girl's soccer match. My cousin is the star forward for Wheaton.

Sadly, she was out with an injury, so we didn't get to see her play. Wheaton did win, 2-1, deep into overtime. Overtime, is of course an inane US college thing. In any other organized league, you just end in a tie after the 90 minutes. But, you know, whatever.

Wheaton looked a bit rough. Call me conditioned, but I'm used to the quick, passionate, one-touch football of the best European-sides.

This isn't a specific criticism of Wheaton Women's soccer, but in general when I've watched US college matches, even Division I, the obvious remnants of being brought up watching other sports seem to linger in the style of play. I wonder if that's what still contributes to the US lackluster play on the world stage.

It's still not easy to see european club matches here. FSC and GolTV are both generally in more-expensive cable tiers. And the champions league coverage is during prime school/after-school activities time.

So US soccer kids play a little too basketbally, or something. They don't quite understand the ball movement it takes to score goals.

Anyway, it was still fun, it had been a while since I'd seen a live soccer game.

Afterwards, we had a nice lakeside dinner at Rose's on Reeds Lake.

Going back in the week a bit, let's discuss the season premiere of "House."

Spoilers here, mind.

House would probably be the one show I would keep watching if I had to choose one.

This first episode of the new season really grabbed me. In terms of the writing, I find that the "medical mystery" portions of the show are getting more and more clunky. Fortunately, the personal drama stuff is so good, the "procedural" part of the show can be the frosting to the rest of the cake.

I'm really interested to see, as I've mentioned before on here, how Dr. House progresses personally. We know that he's human enough that Wilson's questioning if they were ever really friends must have really hurt him. But the interest is in how he'll process that. House is too compelling of a character to follow the usual road in a TV show, so I look forward to the writer's latest ideas.

Some recent thought has made me want to return to demoing songs for this "nepal musical" that you may remember. What do you think? Do you want to hear some more?

C'est tout.

The rubble that used to be a library

2008-09-17T10:14:00.000-07:00

I've spent much of my allotted internet time this week assembling, via Amazon.com's handy "wishlist" feature, an, at present, nearly 1000 volume personal library.

If you click on that, you can peruse the books I've selected. I hope to purchase all of these over the course of my life, and many more of course, but this is a good start. If you feel like buying me anything, feel free. Just know that I prefer hardcover editions whenever possible, in an octavo size, if offered.

And if you see any glaring omissions, be sure to let me know I'm missing an essential. I, of course, did not put down books that I already own, so I may already own something not listed, and also, let it be known that I have read a number of the books listed also, I just don't own them.

Enjoy!?

How Rued!

2008-09-14T16:51:00.000-07:00

I came across a generic blurby thingy on "MSN" about 5 things that cashiers do that bothers customers.

As somebody who has spent plenty of time in the retail world, and cashiering, I'm always interested in different perspectives on both how retailers operate and on how customers perceive the retail industry. Because, at least the part of the retail industry I was in, the industry is among the most depraved institutions still legal upon this earth.

The five things included in the article were things like, not making eye-contact, always being on the phone, talking to other clerks...and that stuff certainly happens. But you have to look at the big picture.

I can only speak from personal experience, so when I worked at Meijer, they were ever-obsessed with cutting back employees in the store at any given time. When I started as a 14-year old, my department, Garden/Floral, had something like 20 employees. And most of the time, there were two or three people in the department, plus a separate full time floral person and the manager. By the time I left the store, I no longer worked specifically as a Garden/Floral clerk, but it was often just one employee expected to cover the whole area. At times it was just the manager, who was often not on the floor at all.

My point is that retailers don't care about you. They want your money, and if they happen to strip you and the people that work for them of their dignity, so be it.

Still, even the few people left working at the store could be better. But when you make "retail clerk" such an undignified position, what do you expect? In many ways, I was almost the perfect realistic retail clerk. Reliable, fairly steady-working, knowledgeable as could be expected, and mostly helpful. But over the years, I was made to feel less and less valued and important. So even I slacked off a bit. I was renowned mainly for my extra-long breaks. But I felt somewhat entitled to them since I was otherwise very reliable.

Of course, when profit is the only motive, you'll get some real bad apples. The following are all true events that happened at the store, and I think you'll agree that the people involved are probably not of the sort of character that will care about whether they're rude to a customer or not.

Make-out session in the public bathroom.
The habit of going home for many short breaks throughout the shift.
Smoking all varieties of illicit substances on the clock, in a certain case out in the open.
Having a very, very low IQ.
Spiking their on-the-floor water bottle with vodka.
Sleeping at the greeter's stand.

I could think of many more, I'm sure. The point is, again, that the retailers have set the bar low. Thank goodness I was able to on occasion work with some genuinely interesting, smart, and entertaining people. How they passed the admission test, I don't know. I even had some intellectually stimulating conversations on the job. Between the mindless banter of course. I could write a whole entry on work banter. Let's just say most work banter involves the sarcastic having of fun. For instance, the de facto greeting from a manager: "Having fun yet?"

Upon someone's final punch-out of the day: "Have fun!"

As I finish this up here, I think I may have to investigate my Meijer days a little more. Prepare for a full scale serial memoir...

Concherty

2008-09-13T19:47:00.000-07:00

I always come back to Bach.

Today, I spent quite a bit of time plugging some score excerpts from the Brandenburg Concerti into my music-notation/MIDI program. See, what I like to do is go through after the plugging in on the harpsichord staff and try different ideas in realizing the continuo. Since I'm not a gifted enough keyboardist to harmonize that stuff at sight, I make do in my own way.

I also found this really cool thing on a website called sonic glossary.

If you click on that link there are some audio files featuring the violone line from Brandenburg No. 5 by itself, and also a violone + harpsichord only recording from the same work.

It's neat to hear, and I wish I knew what the source of those recordings is, it would be neat if somebody went through and recorded all the individual parts of the orchestra. It would be ideal for Bach, but anything, really, would be neat. I always like to hear it broken down to components, be it the discrete multitracks from a great recording, or the individual instruments in a classic orchestral work. I wonder why that is...

Which reminds me, if anybody knows if there really is the "Dancing Queen" ABBA multitrack circulating, please hook me up.

What would also be wonderful would be to have Bach's job. Just come up with awesome new church music every week for a small stable of core musicians. I would take that job in a heartbeat as long as the church doesn't allow hand-drums or steel-string acoustic guitars.

Vault Zero

2008-09-12T20:11:00.000-07:00

So, I'm down to about an hour per week on the internet now. Just check my email and vital stuff such as that, and that's about it, unless I have something specific to research.

Classes at GRCC continue. I feel like my story would be better if I were a little older, I'm still just young enough that my return to college isn't quite the great fish-out-of-water tale it might be if I were, say, forty. Hilarity involving generational incongruity would no doubt ensue.

Random thoughts from the week:

I think that both presidential campaigning as well as political parties should be officially outlawed.

Political parties are just state-sanctioned factionalism. I have no doubt that certain factions would form without official parties, it would be just enough to possibly free us from blind party affiliation, voting for the person in your party regardless of what they stand for. With no official parties allowed, perhaps people would be more led to vote for individuals based soley on what they stand for.

Relating to that, presidential campaigning should be outlawed. We need to bring back the disinterested leader. Presidential candidates would not be able to "throw their hat into the ring," they would have be be nominated to run. Since there would be no official political party, there wouldn't be the complicated system we have in place now. "Campaigning" would in effect simply be the nominee's record as a leader. I haven't completely thought the system through, and I'm aware of several problems, but I'm confident I could hammer out a workable solution as I might just do in my head this next week as I while away the hours.

SATVRDAY VPDATE

2008-09-06T12:29:00.000-07:00

This will be brief, dear, dear, dear, dear readers.

I'm trying to spend MUCH less time dawdling around online, so I'm trying to not even turn on a computer some days...nonetheless, I wanted to update you.

The first classes have gone well, with good teachers. I definitely feel like a different student now, but we'll see if the results bear that out.

Also trying to limit TV...for the first time in my life, as I may have mentioned, it is striking me as a major distraction. I don't like structuring my life around the TV schedule.

Solution: Get a DVR.

We'll see about that also.

Hopefully more later. And hopefully the next time I update, I'll be well on my way to employment. If that works out, it will be good to spend some of my own, freshly earned money again.

Bye.

Thoughts on my return to school

2008-09-01T15:42:00.000-07:00

Many years ago, I finished my dismal sophomore year at Wheaton College, and immediately dropped out.

Tomorrow, I take college classes for the first time since then, something like seven years ago.

I'm nervous; it's been a long time and I'm not sure how I'll do. For the first time, I understand how important it could be for me to be successful at school, considering the implications that has on the future.

But I'm also excited to feel like I'm working toward something. I feel like I can work hard and get somewhere. I have some goals in mind.

I haven't abandoned the notion of professional musicianship, or some other slightly unrealistic goals -- but I'm energized thinking about the future in a new way.

I've been seriously considering working towards going to law school. Preferably at UCLA, but that's beside the point right now.

It's an idea that came out of the blue for me. I was just kind of working on my normal polymathematic autodidactic routine, and realized I could stand to fill in some legal knowledge.

But when I thought about it a little more, I realized that going into law might be a good fit: I seem to have the kind of brain that is good at picking out potential problems, and I have a fairly good common-sense approach to logic. I like thinking about difficult problems. But also, I simply feel like a deep knowledge and intimacy with legal precepts could enrich my understanding of humanity in general. Common law, for instance, represents a unique time-honed codification of collective morality.

At any rate, it is something I will be considering. I have to make sure my motivation is not simply that most of the coolest founding fathers were lawyers.

So, as I reacquaint myself with Al-gebra, and slog through the academic examination of Anthropology, US History, and Criminal Justice, hopefully I can look beyond it to an exciting future.

Of course, if anybody knows of any job openings in the rock-star field, or as a Disney imagineer or something, I'll drop out again at the drop of a hat.

III - Domestic Truth

2008-08-27T16:49:00.000-07:00

Part three in the series. Awkwardly, the newest entries are first, so be sure to go down and look at the previous entries if you haven't already.

Washington DC:

The Capitol. If you don't know of it's magnificent and torid 230 year history, you should. Also in frame: me.

Here we are up on the Capitol steps looking back at the Washington Monument. What a perfect day for photos it was.

Supreme Court. It seems that everything is under construction or under maintenance, at least. If my law career works out, maybe I'll end up in there one day.

I happened across this statue of William Blackstone in front of some random DOJ annex building. I was super excited. Blackstone was a very important English jurist, who wrote very influential commentaries on British law. His works greatly influenced many of the revolutionary intellectuals when they wrote the Declaration and the Constitution.

The White House. With obligatory protesters camped out front.Lincoln Memorial from down the Reflecting Pool.

Here is my dad. His laughter merely reflects the natural jocularity present at any man's memorial. Interestingly, we also viewed Lincoln's deathroom earlier in the day, across from Ford's theatre.
I took what one might call a superfluous number of pictures of myself. The family debated if this meant I have a big ego, or what exactly drove me to take so many...we concluded that while I have a big ego at times, it was my weak self-esteem that requires constant updates on my appearance so I can judge if I look okay at any moment. I only included a small sample of the many self-portraits.This is Albert Gallatin, outside the Treasury. It galls me that there's not a huge statue honoring Hamilton, but Gallatin was also a very notable Treasury secretary. He was a swiss, served under Jefferson. The story is that when Jefferson got into office, he instructed Gallatin to audit Hamilton's work so he could have hard evidence to back up the calumny Jefferson had directed toward Hamilton for years. Hamilton had been suspected of insider-trading-type stuff by the Republicans.

Sadly for Thomas, Gallatin found Hamilton's work to be impeccable and completely above reproach.
After a long day, we took a little break before dinner at an Indian place in Georgetown. Their Dal and entire menu of breads were exquisite.

Here is Dad in his element, microplanning the evening's activities utilizing a host of gadgetry. Specific to this picture, I believe he's logging the GPS co-ordinates of the restaurant.

Here I am gazing out of our balcony into the city.
After dinner, the Jefferson memorial.
The whole family has taken an interest in Mr. Jefferson. A truly enigmatic character: a great thinker, unpardonable hypocrite, wordly, yet naive...a true American...
Mom to the left there.

The next day:

It's easy to start out a long car drive with a smile on one's face...

But eventually, one ends up sleeping the drudgery away. And no offense...but Ohio is a vast and boring state to drive through.

II - Man's a Phenomenon

2008-08-27T16:34:00.000-07:00

Continuing the recap of my trip, with pixx.

Nexxt day we left Williamsburg in the morning for Mt. Vernon - home of George Washington when he wasn't off doing his patriotic duty.

Here's the man himself. I greatly admire him. He was much more interesting and flawed than we learn in school. What's interesting is that while he wasn't really always a great military commander, he was a very good president. Utterly incorruptible, and he always seemed to do the right thing, even in great adversity under his administration. And the best thing is that he didn't really belong to a political party.

Mom and Dad, the view is out looking over the Potomac River. Nice spot.
This is looking back from where Mom and Dad were in the last picture. This is considered "The Veranda" and is really spectacular.
Looking at the front of the house from the road. This is what visitors would have seen when they came to visit. and visit they did. Southern Hospitality being what it was in those days, guests were never asked to leave, and they often stayed well beyond their welcome at the gracious accommodations of Mt. Vernon.
Closer view of the front. The exterior is actually yellow pine wood cut and sand blasted to look like brick. My dad likened the effect to Legos. It's "fake" looking. But cool.

Next, on to DC proper.

When we two parted in silence and tears

2008-08-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

Hello, blog-reading friends. You may or may not have wondered where I've been lately.

The answer: On a trip. Our family, fairly spontaneously, decided we'd take a wee vacation last week--to Virginia including Williamsburg and our Federal City, Washington.

I took pictures:

We left very early on Monday morning. I documented the absurd hour.

Here I am in my backseat area. Without my sister along, I had a much more comfortable experience, being able to stretch out. We missed her, though.

I tried to get a shot of the green, rolling Pennsylvania hills, but it was kind of hard to grasp the scope of them via the camera lens.
Our hotel room in the heart of Colonial Williamsburg. We were mysteriously upgraded to lavish accommodations, from accommodations less so...
Next day: Bruton Parish's wonderful original church. One of the few original buildings, it's also still an operational Episcopal church.

Mom gazes upon the vast and magnificent garden. We bought some flax seeds to plant next year.This is the Wren Building at William and Mary, also original--dating back to colonial times. William and Mary might be my safety law school...

The Governor's mansion. I believe this is a restoration. We attended a wonderful concert within the mansion this evening, featuring two flautists, a singer, and a gambist.
Sheep.
Mom in her element. This was the workhorse harpsichord...once mom proved that she was a keyboard virtuoso, the instrument makers let her in to play a spectacular spinet harpsichord. Apparently the action was to die for.
Oxen.
This is in an old Presbyterian meeting house. I delivered a bit of a fire-n-brimstone sermon.

A horse. As cityfolk, farm animals are a bit exotic to our eyes.

Look for Part II.

Qui locutus est

2008-08-14T13:54:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered how strange it must be to be John Williams? Particularly at Olympicstime, but pretty much all the time.

He must turn on his TV every night to take in his favorite prime-time lineup and hear at least 3 compositions by himself every night.

Especially if he watches NBC news. Must be weird, all I'm saying.

Speaking of TV, the family including me just watched the DVD version of HBO's epic-seven-part-miniseries "John Adams."

I've been super-obsessed with late 1800s America lately, and this miniseries was just one of many biographical devices I've been using to learn more about the period.

It was really pretty good. Fairly historically accurate, filmed with a visceral eye for human reality, and pretty well cast.

My lone objection to the casting is Rufus Sewell as Alexander Hamilton. Poor choice. For one, he is not a good physical match for Hamilton. Hamilton was notably small, at least four inches shorter than Sewell. It wouldn't be a big deal, but George Washington would have dwarfed him physically and David Morse's Washington in the films didn't.

Hamilton was also referred to many times contemporaneously as "feminine." There was an androgynous character to him--and indeed some Hamilton scholars suspect he may have drawn a sort of non-physical romantic love for him out of John Laurens, who in any case was a very close friend.

So that was disappointing, but otherwise, a fun watch.

In other news, I was barred admittance to GVSU. So I've collected myself and will attend the local community college and try to restore the academic credit I so foolishly squandered nigh upon nine years ago. The plan is work my way into GVSU, and upon graduation from there, attend grad school at UCLA: Gotta go to UCLA. I'm even considering Law School, but more on that later.

Manifesto of a Phone-Phobic

2008-08-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

So here I am window-shopping online for a new mobile phone. My dad just got an iPhone so the fam is switching over to AT&T, necessitating a new phone for me. I needed a new one anyway, my current one is old, is not really holding a charge anymore, and you have to jiggle the charger for hours just to get it to engage anyway.

But for those that know me well, you'll note the humor in me shopping for a phone. I suffer from a middling-to-acute phobia of speaking on telephones. It's something that I've struggled with my whole life. Even if I have to call a very close relative or friend, even a parent, a wave of nausea comes over me and I tense up.

So I've tended to aggressively avoid talking on the phone when possible.

Of course it can't be avoided entirely, so one learns to deal with the nausea and tension to the extent where you make calls to your family and hopefully to friends.

At the same time, beyond the irrational phobia, there are real logical reasons that I wouldn't much like speaking on the phone anyway. I will try to explain some of those reasons, inexorably entwined with the irrational of course, but hopefully sensical enough.

1. I generally disdain small talk:

I can't really do small talk. I would prefer silence to meaningless chatter. Face-to-face, most people find silence awkward. So they prefer to mention the weather. But this kind of stuff is so superficial I can't really bring myself to do it.

On the phone though, silence is pointless, so one simply has to fall back on vocal filler. I don't fell that this is an effective aid to communication, and since I'm more of a listener than a talker anyway, it has limited my phone conversations in their scope and usefulness.

2. I express myself better with the written word.

Hemingway, I believe, said that the true writer MUST write what he has to say, not speak it. And this is certainly true of me. I have no problem saying almost anything that is on my mind or weighing on my soul in writing. But face-to-face, I find that my verbal expression is a limited device. Part of this is because:

3. I have a gift for empathy.

Or if not, I mistakenly believe that I do. This means that I generally feel deeply for and with people. So when I'm face to face with them, I fell like I can really sense what they're feeling by taking in facial cues, body language, etc. I can't do that over the phone. So I feel like I can't quite connect over the phone...as if I'm not talking to the real person, entirely. In person, even though I may not say much or contribute to a conversation, I feel like my contributions will be very sound even if minimal.

4. I worry about interrupting the person on the other end's life.

This is slightly irrational, but part of me always feels like I'm imposing on a person when I call them. Like I'm putting them out, or imposing on them. And because I can't get a read off them in person, I'm never quite assuaged of that feeling, even if they seem to be convivial. This all ties into my worst fears (and most people's, I'd guess) of not being liked.

5. The written correspondence is more romantic.

You can be more flowery and verbose in a letter or email and get away with it. Lord Byron noted that letter writing was grand because it involved a solitude in concert with a shared experience...you can be alone with your thoughts--but also with somebody via the letter. It's a unique dynamic.

I'm sure there are more reasons, perhaps I'll continue to add to this.

Also, this should all be taken with humor--I'm the first to recognize the silliness of my plight and it is something I should get over.

Now...do I want the RAZR or the Sony...

Whence it came

2008-08-04T10:54:00.001-07:00

For whatever reason these things happen, I've been focusing my reading and educational efforts lately on the revolutionary times of early "America."

I've read books on Thomas Jefferson's wine-drinking, the painful process of building Washington, DC, and I continue to go through various founding father's biographies.

In any case, I've become quite taken with the times. Never before or since has there been such a unique opportunity for a group of men to forge their own, new country. Not many people get to create constitutions, decide on a new capital city, etc.

The most interesting thing to me--and indeed the most beneficial thing to get out of the reading for anybody--is how much of my nation's history, it's triumphs and it's nadirs, was set into almost predestination by a handful of men over a short course of time.

By 1800, for example, the government more or less locked in the national racial inequality that plagues us even today--and assured a civil war based on North/South inequality as well.

Then again, there are some things that we've left behind that we might do well to remember. Many of our early leaders were highly-educated and proud of it. There was no need to be folksy. And how could you be when you went around quoting Cicero or Aeschylus, or Plutarch...or John Locke for that matter? I'd love to see McCain gently barb Obama with a quip in Latin.

Also interesting is that Presidential candidates de facto campaigning technique was to remain aloof to the proceedings entirely, apparently relying on their past record and reputation to represent their character.

So I think one would do well to investigate this time on her own. Particularly if you're American, but even if not.

And so it goes...

2008-08-01T20:44:00.000-07:00

Eventful day today.

My sister leaves for Japan tomorrow, and she had some pre-trip orientation stuff with the JET programme today in Mo-town. Well, "Bloomfield Hills." So we took her over there, my mom and I.

While waiting for her to finish at the home of the Japanese Consul, we totally shopped at this huge mall, called the Somerset Mall, but which I secretly to myself called "Somerset Mall-gham." While in human bondage at said mall, I noticed that many of the architectural features looked eerily? similar to the South Coast Plaza Mall Complex in Costa Mesa, CA. Incidentally my favorite mall, if I had such a thing...

So I wondered who designs malls? It would be tricky, because you want to design something pleasant, but no so pleasant as to distract people from buying stuff.

So now, I've spent the last hour on monster.com job-hunting. Is it just me, or is job hunting inherently evil? I hate to sound like Fight Club, but You Are Not Your Resumai.

I'm pretty much looking at the job market in any part of the country other than the midwest. I'd like to live anywhere. I've been checking out LA, DC, NY, Portland, Seattle... And finding nothing. There's rarely anything interesting, and I'm also rarely qualified for anything.

So again, if anybody can hook me up with a deeply spiritually fulfilling/mentally challenging job, anywhere but the midwest, let me know.

So tomorrow, I think we're all going back over to Detroit to drop Amy off at the airport. At least I've got out of Bland Crapids for a couple of days. Can you tell I don't like it here?

Oops, gotta go watch Frasier!

voiceless dorso-palatal velar fricative

2008-07-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

So with Mamma Mia! the movie recently out, I'd been going through my extensive ABBA library. I'm finding that without fail, 95 per cent of ABBA's catalog brings me to a teeteringly lachrymose state. I'm not sure exactly why. I think there's a certain simple joy in the songs that is moving. The productions are also always moving. From a recording standpoint, ABBA is a producer's dream. The vocal layers are moving, also.

I wish there was a little more info on how the stuff was recorded, I've found little articles and interviews here and there, but considering their popularity, I'm not sure why there's not more recording geek kind of stuff. I guess because they're kind of uncool?

Anyway, it strikes me that a lot of my favorite music leans to the corny side. The Beach Boys, of course particularly today, can skew corny. I think I could learn a lot from that, though. Sometimes as "an artist" you can try so hard to do something important, cerebral, emotionally devastating, whatever. And that's just too hard. Most people who made art that was "important" probably didn't say, "Gee, I need to produce something important" though they may have had grandiose plans. There's nothing wrong with having fun, and since I don't have much fun recording, maybe I should try a little lighter fare.

I also should move to Sweden. It is my most undiluted "ethnicity" after all, and they seem to know what they're doing.

Also: If I were a resident of Sweden my emergency appendectomy wouldn't have ruined my live via the medical bills, what with their socialist health programs and whatnot.

A favor

2008-07-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

Hey, anybody out there know of a good, current source of the songs from "Dancer in the Dark"? Not the Selmasongs versions, but the actual film versions...with Peter Stormare singing instead of Yorkie, etc? I and another party would be interested in the complete set.

A Friday Update

2008-07-25T22:13:00.000-07:00

Hello friends.

With my Dad off to India this week and my sister off to Japan in a short time, the house has had a transient air about it this week.

But I'm still stuck here.

The college I applied to, GVSU, still needs some things from me...so I'm increasingly less confident of getting in this fall. I think I'll get in, but I may have to wait for the winter.

Finally got a Michigan driver's license this week, which was crushing because my California DL was a link to my life there, and now that it's no longer valid, the hope of living there again seems much dimmer.

But, with the MI DL, I was able to finally apply for my own library card, which will be nice to have. I had been relying on parent's cards.

Tennis continues to progress. My dad and I have been demoing racquets, and I finally think I found the right one for me: The Wilson K.blade Tour. It has a smaller head, which I like, and is nicely maneuverable. A little easier on the arm than the Federer-endorsed K six-1 tour 90.

I videotape myself playing a few points this week to analyze my form. It was OK, plenty of room for improvement, and as usual it's a shock to see yourself perform on video because of the disconnect between what you feel as you play and what you are actually doing with your body.

Tonight I did the first music recording I've done in some weeks. I've been feeling so not-bad lately that I was afraid to record because it generally makes me want to die. It went OK, I finished what I was trying to do, but I don't know if it's any good. It wasn't much fun, to tell you the truth.

Too bad, because I have the hand-painted cover art for my album all set to go.

I think that's about it!

Aha!

2008-07-21T18:29:00.000-07:00

After giving it a lot of thought, I finally figured out why I tend to like most movies I see a lot and why the opposite is true with music, that is to say I tend to be more critical with music.

It's because a movie tends to be much more collaborative. Stay after a movie in the theater and you'll see: lots of people's time and skill went into producing the movie. Compared to an album of music, there's much more of a chance that at least somebody who worked on the movie didn't phone it in.

With music, if you don't like the singer's voice, or the arrangements...you're sunk, that's about all there is.

But in a movie, if you don't like the plot, there's always the acting, or the art direction, or the cinematography, or the costuming, or the sets, or the catering.

Each Night before I go to Bed, my Baby

2008-07-20T16:02:00.001-07:00

Despite my advanced age and increasingly tenuous connection to the comic-book geek demo, I attended a local 12:01am showing of "The Dark Knight" which is the latest Batman movie. The following is what one might call a "review."

The Dark Knight

The nature of the eternal conflict between the criminal element in society and the law is of course perplexing and fundamentally compelling. See the nearly inexorable stockpile of procedural crime TV dating back to the origins of TV programming.

So many shows focus a little bit on the psychology of criminals that any regular TV watcher can tell you about how if criminal didn't get enough love as a child, or if criminal was bullied in school, it's more likely they'll be an abuser or criminal as an adult.

It's almost a cliché, armchair pop criminal psychology for the screen.

So it's not as if the Joker, as what we might call a "pure pyschopath" is new to audiences. It's unusual, to some extent, that Director Christopher Nolan decided to leave the Joker backstory-less. It makes the Joker simple. He IS crime. The ultimate adversary for the Batman, who is pure justice.

This film certainly continues their iconic battle. But somehow, against that backdrop, the film manages to be less about Batman vs. Joker than person vs. person.

Other reviews that have noted the darkness of the film are correct; it is a dark trip. But amid the comic-book fun, it's a valuable trip. I think it's rare for what could easily pass for popcorn fare to turn out to actually be a subtle probe of our humanity.

If you go in prepared to look at the characters in this film as men and women rather than comic book characters, I think you might be surprised at how relevant the film could be to our lives.

The most interesting concept in the film, and I won't give away the actual plot, involves a fascinating scene with an examination of game theory. For those not familiar with game theory, it's a mathematical concept having to do with predicting outcomes of "games." Examine actions taken by "players" trying to "win" at something.

Often game theory looks at mutually beneficial actions .vs selfish actions and how selfish action is often the most probable way to avoid the worst outcome even when mutually beneficial actions may result in the best overall result for all the participants.

If you'd like to know more, read John Nash's works on it. Nash is, of course, the subject of the book and film "A Beautiful Mind."

Pyschological thriller is an overused title to apply to a movie, so I won't apply it to this one. But it is a film that you might learn something about your own psychology by watching. And you can also learn something about the taste of buttered popcorn and Jujubees if that's your bag.

Sorry for this: "A Novel Idea"

2008-07-20T15:59:00.001-07:00

I'm thinking of trying my hand at a novella. It could be an interesting exercise.

It's funny because I'm not really a fiction writer, or a writer at all for that matter...nor do I read much fiction any-more.

But I'd like to see what I can come up with. I'm thinking about 100 pages.

Who wants a .PDF copy when I'm done?

Weezer and Death

2008-07-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about how to communicate a feeling, I've put off writing about it because I'm not sure I can adequately put forward the thoughts properly. But here goes, finally.

Weezer, as you may know, recently put out a record, their sixth full-length LP. After previewing the songs, I elected to abstain from purchasing the CD. I also do not intend to listen to any of the tracks again. I just didn't really like any of the songs enough to listen to them more than a handful of times.

The thing is, at one point, Weezer were hands down my favorite band, and Rivers Cuomo writer of many of my favorite songs. So the question is--as always, I guess--where did it all go wrong?

It's hard to feel yourself drift away from an personal institution. When it comes to music groups, it can happen because you "outgrow" a teenybopping thing, or your tastes just happen to change. Fine.

But as each Weezer album has come out, I've liked each successive one less than the previous. Yet it's been an exponential decline. Their second album was tantalizingly close to being as good, in my mind, as the first. The third record slipped perceptively, and the fourth and fifth slid farther down the chute as if lubed with Crisco.

It's troubling...comparing my deep love and affection for the first album, released almost 15 years ago, to my utter indifference to the current, sixth record, have the band changed that much? Have my tastes? Was the music so average and unmemorable this whole time, or have the band got "worse"?

It's hard to be objective when so much sentiment and nostalgia is involved. Because of course our favorite music takes in so much context outside of the content of the music. It can mediate your teenage years, even be a friend in hard times. But, honestly, I'm willing to put forth that Weezer's "Red Album" is objectively worse than their previous work.

Which is sad. I don't understand it.

Rivers Cuomo does have a gift for melody and even songwriting. And while "The Blue Album" is not high art or anything, the melodies really are very good. I think you could play that record for anyone and, like it or not, they could at least admit that the melodies are smart. And Rivers was smart enough to know that with the songs he was writing, arrangement was never going to be an issue. Power Chord guitar is the perfect medium for Rivers' melodies; third-less, the chugging guitars leave the harmonic identity entirely up to the vocal, which makes the melodies so much more important.

But by and large Rivers' melodies have dropped in what I consider to be quality. Where he used to sweep through large swaths of his range, take daring changes of direction, and effortlessly pick just the right harmonic suspension to carry a phrase, over the years he seems to have abandoned the ambitious melody for the safe one.

Oddly, it was only after taking classical music composition courses that his melodies because decidedly less classically inspired.

The nadir of melody was undoubtedly Maladroit. So he's come around since then, but the problem is now the melodies are just mediocre, and the arrangements have become such an afterthought that it's almost a shock that the new album has *gasp* acoustic guitar.

The only thing that distinguishes Weezer now from any other aging modern rock band is Rivers' voice, and even that is heard less because he's handed off the lead vocals on several songs to the rest of the band members.

And I think that's what makes me saddest. Earlier Weezer distinguished itself from other bands--not by being radical, but by beating everybody at their own game. A unique voice and memorable, singable, joyous melodies were enough. But without the melodies, it doesn't stick out.

I won't touch on lyrics, because I don't care about them. Lyrics are one area where I let my "language instinct (c)" go.

I can't adequately express the sadness that it causes me to have lost a love of this band's current work. Fortunately I can always put in the old CDs. But it's always good to have more coming.

I've talked about the unreleased, incomplete, partially-realized Weezer album "Songs from the Black Hole" on this blog before. That will always evoke the saddest comparison: SFTBH, of all Rivers' work, has the most soaring melodies, the most unexpected turns-of-phrase...and comes the dangerously closest to cheese...and the latest record is so safe.

Anyway, here's to a world with more space-rock operas starring robots, and less disappointment.

Newsy Items

2008-07-13T20:11:00.001-07:00

Let's see,

I sort of applied to college this last week. I e-applied to "Grand Valley State University" which is a semi-local state school.

Despite being skeptical at the effectiveness of the current educational system, I think I finally ready to use that adversarial relationship to my advantage.

They still have to let me in, but if I get in, the idea is to continue looking for some lucrative way out of the Midwest...but if I can't find one, at least in the meantime I might be getting a degree to help out in that department.

I'm not sure what to major in. My music credits will not transfer over, so I'll barely even have sophomore status, probably. Hoping to get my degree by thirty if I don't get lucky and move away before then. I'm thinking Journalism, some kind of "Sociology" or Anthropology. I have too many interest and unfortunately there's no such thing as a major in "Becoming a Polymath."

I also have this life goal of really getting into math that I've mentioned on here before.

In other news, I demo-ed the same model of tennis racquet that Roger Federer "uses" the last few days, and I've really liked it. (Roger's real racquet is customized for him, so you can't play one with his exact specs.) I'm not sure if it's helped me play better, but it's inspiring to play with.

I'm consolidating some "articles" I wrote for this Blog about walking around LA, trying to get it down to one article, which I intend to submit to the LA times magazine for publication. Hopefully they'll at least like the idea enough to get beyond the proposal stage.

I wore white socks today, for the first time in probably a decade.

If anybody is interested in buying an Ibanez Ergodyne 5-string bass in good condition, let me know. I'm asking about 300 bucks. It has a nice playable action and is a good "first 5-string" with typical Ibanez tone.

Read a great book over the vacation: The Last Campaign of Bobby Kennedy. Very interesting look into one of the last politicians who wasn't over-handled and told sympathetic crowds things they didn't want to hear.

Can anybody recommend a good, inexpensive Madeira?

Toodleoo.

Hitting the Town: a TKO

2008-07-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

I spent the last 4 days in the Chicago area, visiting family. My sister, Amy, is going off to Japan for a year in a few weeks so we felt it would be a good time to visit our family in Chicago while Amy is still in-country.

On Wednesday, Amy and I spent the day with our cousins Grady and Gisela. They are also bro-sis. I promised Grady I'd write about the experience, and so here I will:

Grady picked us up at about 10:30am. We had got wind that he'd purchased a new car, so I was anxious to see what his new set o' wheels looked like. I was not disappointed when he drove up in a sparkling new Porsche SUV. He was smoking a cigar and was wearing a top hat.

Amy and I got in. Gisela would be joining us later...she was at the gym training for the Olympic trials in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.

We killed time by going to a smoky downtown-Wheaton bar. I thought it was a little early to start drinking, but Amy gave me no choice as she ordered us a round corn whiskey. Grady offered me a cigar.

No thanks.

As the bartender brought us our drinks, I could help but notice he was packing heat.

"Tough neighborhood, eh?" I asked Grady.

"Well, compared to what?"

I took that to mean we were in for a tough day. Gisela was finally ready. After a short trip to the hospital to visit a sparring partner she'd "had a hand in admitting", we picked her up and were off.

Grady is a recent graduate of Northwestern University, so it was a natural choice to explore Evanston, the leafy northside-Chicago academic haven that ensconces the Northwestern campus. We decided to have lunch at a Nepalese restaurant. It was sensationally good.

After lunch, we made a point of visiting Prada so my sister could shop. She picked up a few handbags, and then got a trench over at the local Burberry. Meanwhile, the rest of us perused the selection at the Borders Books across the street.

We decided that it would be nice to go the the lakefront. It was a beautiful day, so you gotta take in the natural beauty. We did.

At one point, Grady fell into the water. I leaped in to rescue him. It earned me a favor I would redeem later...

Fortunately Grady owns a penthouse in the Evanston area, so we popped up there so we could shower and change out of the wet clothes. Nice place. There was an awkward moment when we first entered; one of his mistresses was staying there, she was watching Oprah...and, well, let's just say we startled her.

We were off in a flash to a Wrigleyville coffeehaus called "Julius Meinl". We briefly considered going to a Sudanese culture expo at the Art Institute, but in the end we decided not to go because Amy hates the concept of expos.

At the Coffee place, the waiter was almost too knowledgeable, if you know what I mean. He ordered for us based on our complexion. The selections were good, but Grady--for some reason--felt like we shouldn't have to pay for our orders.

So, he convinced us to run off without paying. We got out the front door, when I heard that most horrible of sounds: gunshots. Grady, running before me, fell like a ton of bricks. The girls froze.

I spun around, my hands up in the air. The waiter had a H&K USP .45 pointed at my head. My piece was in my ankle holster.

Suddenly I heard the infernal sound again...but it was the waiter who dropped. I turned around. Grady had only been grazed on the calf, and had taken an almost impossible shot under my arm, wounding the waiter. Amy was able to sew the wound shut with some twine we found on the street. Needless to say, we left quickly.

It was time to leave Chicao proper and return to the burbs. We dropped Gisela off at her home, as she was still shaken from the shootings. Amy was also visibly "off", but she needed some food so we swung by the local Spago's for a quick 7 course meal.

Dropped Amy off after that.

Grady and I wanted to finish the night with a one-on-one bull-session, so we went over to the local truck stop. A couple o' black coffees and we were at it, catching up, debating anything and everything, coming to blows, impromptu hugs, and some high-stakes poker. How high were the stakes?

Well, let's just say that I drove a Porsche SUV home the next morning...

Double Standard

2008-07-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

So here's something interesting: We went, as a family, to see Pixar's "Wall-e" today, and as I walk up to the ticket taker, she tells me I have to take my "purse" to the concierge desk.

Having traveled by air in the last few years, I assumed they were doing random checks? But they weren't. They wanted me to check my bag, leave it with them. Meanwhile my sister waltzes right on in with her own bag... I asked the concierge why they allowed my sister to take in her bag and I had to check mine. She told me that "purses were different". Yet what my sister was carrying could hardly be described as a true "purse," it was just a (rather chic) all-purpose bag from a hip clothier.

So, speechless at this bizarre double standard, I had to walk away before I could give them my name. I felt myself getting angry and I don't like that feeling, so, yeah, I ditched before I started getting too snippy.

But I guess somehow a dude with a bag is more suspicious than a lei-dee with one?

Should have cross-dressed today, I guess.

The Athlete in Glory

2008-06-29T20:55:00.000-07:00

Anagram

2008-06-29T20:36:00.000-07:00

I guess I'll do an updatey thing for you. All...[checks Google Analytics]...13 of you.

Exercise is good for you. I've been playing tennis or jogging, often up to 2 hours a day pretty much every day for the last few weeks, and I've felt really good. I'm talking mentally.

I've also been visiting the library a lot. Once and I while it starts to bug me how much there is out there that I don't know and I kind of go on a spree. The following books I've either just finished or am still in the middle of:

Tesla Biography
Proust and the Squid
The Roger Federer Story
Jefferson on Wine
Ten Most Beautiful Experiments
Writing to Sell
The Way We Eat

So that's fun.

I'm starting to compile some writings into a proper portfolio.

Oh, by the way, I had an article published in Endless Summer Quarterly's current issue. It's about 60s recording equipment and how it was utilized by the Beach Boys. If you want a copy, I think esquarterly.com takes orders, and some larger indie record stores carry them. Tower records always had them before they went under. But it was exciting to get another article published. I've also joined the editorial board for the magazine, which primarily focuses on the LA Pop scene in the 60s.

I just wish I had more opportunities to write about the Beach Boys 'n' stuff. Or any subject matter.

Viewed all kinds of motion pictures this week. Charlie Wilson's War, Ravenous, and tonight: August Rush. The whole family was choking back sobs at the end...it's very emotionally manipulative. But at the same time, it was quite beautiful to see this character channeling so much joy from this music that just flows out of him. I found myself envious, as somebody who struggles to find joy from my own compositions.

Ravenous was also a great watch. It's an interesting, thought provoking movie, actually. Despite being about cannibalism, it really got me thinking about a lot of the food issues I like to meditate upon, for instance, how what a person chooses to eat defines a certain part of who they are. Even if it's not the flesh of another.

It's Yer Brfday

2008-06-23T12:54:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, 22 June, was my 27th birthday.

I remarked to a few people that it's one of the most unremarkable birthdays you can have. There is no milestone, nothing that I can suddenly do based on my new age (other than, be more mature, I guess) and not even really any approaching milestone to which I may look forward.

Nonetheless, it was a nice day, rife with celebration. And as always, it offers an opportunity to pause and reflect on one's life up to this point, and where it might go from here.

I've had an interesting life, I suppose. No more or less than anybody else without distinction, I guess. I've lived in three states, but moved about ten times and gone to seven different schools. I've dropped out of a school, and dropped out of my dream city. I've seen Dennis Farina, Bob Downey, Roger Daltrey, and Tiger Woods in person. I've been to England, Canada, and Trinidad+Tobago--but I am the worst-traveled person in my immediate family. I yearn to travel more. I've met some original Beach Boys. I've heard a Dennis Wilson recording that only a few people may ever hear. I've had my appendix out, but not my wisdom teeth.

I've never been on a real date. I'm not sure that I've met anybody (in person) that I'd really want to go on a date with. But I've been infatuated with all kinds of people from afar. I can count the number of truly close friends I've had on one hand. It's been an honor to be those persons' friend. I've been employed at the same job for ten years, at the age of 24, yet I've been unemployed for two years now. I've been an expert on dinosaurs, birds, soccer, rugby, golf, tennis, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and plants. I'm no longer an expert on most of those things. I've experimented with vinegar and baking soda, a vegan diet, and the golf swing. I've battled Sub-Zero and Liu Kang--and I've battled depression.

I've been to the movies a few times, bought a few CDs, written some songs, and sewn my own clothing from scratch. I can cook. I can read. I've had high expectations, and low ambition. I've come up with some great ideas, and at other times I couldn't idea my way out of a paper bag. I have some sort of mild OCD, but my room is messy. I love music but sometimes have to go for a month without really listening to any.

In an early first-season episode of "Criminal Minds", the elder characters marvel from afar at the knowledge base of 24-year-old Agent Spencer Reid. The show depicts his birthday party at the FBI. Somebody remarks "It's amazing how much he knows" at age 24. And then another says "Imagine how much he'll know in another 24 years."

Now, I lack Spencer's eidetic memory (alas!) and on a good day am at least 30 points shy of his 187 IQ...but it's a nice thought that at least--along with all the bad "aging stuff"--you do get to keep building on your knowledge as you grow older. Every new year is an opportunity to learn all kinds of new things. So that's cool. In another 27 years, I'll of course be 54, if I make it that far...but if I do, I'm looking forward to being that much wiser.

The Spice Trade

2008-06-10T19:03:00.000-07:00

Blurby article in the Times of NY today, about American kids raised in China who will eat anything Andrew Zimmern will. Cool kids, start 'em appreciating food when they're young.

I checked out this incredible book from the library yester-day entitled rather fittingly: "Herbs and Spices."

It's by Jill Norman, and it is comprehensive. Everything I ever wanted to know about Cardamom, Agastache, Nasturtium Cress, Achiote, Grains of Paradise, and--of course--Capers are within the pages of this book.

It's great, luscious photos of all the raw and processed herbs and spices, all the great colors: the reds and the yellows, the greens and purples...ah!

If there's a lesson to be learned it's: there is no excuse for bland food.

Speaking of food, it's been six months since I decided to try and assess a non-militant vegan diet. And it's been a very interesting and informative time. I've never felt better, from a day-to-day standpoint. And I've learned that like anything, it takes practice. I have had dairy and meat items over the last six months, but generally only when refusing these things would have put somebody out. I also went a little overboard celebrating my sister's graduation and decided to just go for it and down as much meat as possible--to the point of illness.

I also learned that almost everything has milk in it. Geez. I don't miss meat or dairy products, but I haven't lost my taste for them. I'm not like one of those people who claim they get sick when they smell the stench of meat on a carnivore.

So I think I'm going to keep going with this non-militant veganism. I may sneak a bite of something here and there when it's appropriate.

The important thing is that I feel better. It's very interesting as an exercise in personal discipline, as well. I've enjoyed that, pushing myself to live a lifestyle that is not always easy to carry out in this culture. That's been somewhat rewarding.

At the same time, I've really been keyed into some of the things you might miss by avoiding certain foods. Not the foods themselves, but the cultural things...so much of US culture is wrapped up in gathering to eat meat. So it's led to a potentially interesting insight there.

Anybody know of a place to buy classy but inexpensive seersucker trousers?

Frasier

2008-06-09T22:11:00.001-07:00

"Frasier" is a TV show that I have such affection for I've often imagined myself as part of the TV family depicted on the show. I could probably write a book about the show, but to stuff it all into a nutshell, the greatness of Frasier comes down to (as usual?) the relationships. I think the key to my heart when it comes to TV is to create characters with unique relationships that stick out in a sea of "relationships" that are either cursorily explored or are just a vehicle for sex.

Frasier's extended family--Frasier Crane, his brother Niles, their father Martin, plus the live-in health-care worker Daphne and Frasier's radio-show producer Roz--are almost perfectly rendered for TV. Episode after episode, the writers explore that unique dynamic of most families where there is always love but not always like.

Frasier and his father are always at odds, and their relationship is one of the truest I've seen on TV. Martin is an ex-cop, one of the boys, street smart, and down-to-earth. But his son Frasier is an effete psychiatrist, lover of opera, sherry, art, and making himself seem smart.

Handled differently, it could have ended up like an odd-couple kind of farce, but instead of just being a story of incompatible people living together, the relationship is handled tenderly, and the actors--even in the most tragicomic scenes--manage to always bring an undercurrent to their roles, an undercurrent of this frustrating desire to relate to each other. And over the series, they gradually grow to do that...but it's totally natural, as it takes them ten years.

The other characters are treated with equal care. Niles burning, unspoken love for Daphne, Roz' struggle to leave her reckless youth behind and become a woman and mother...even the minor characters like "Bulldog" have these gloriously pathos-filled story-lines.

Aside from the characterization, I think the show works very well as a reminder to those of us who tend to maybe think a little too highly of themselves. Frasier's pretension and "pompous jackassery" are knocked down to size in almost every episode. They're good reminders to keep it real.

Keep it real.

Readin'

2008-06-07T21:40:00.000-07:00

I'm reading a book called "Proust and the Squid" (what is it with this trend of having Proust in the titles of neuroscience-related books?) that is about reading. I'm not very far into it, but it's already provoked some thought. The book considers the invention of reading, which is pretty important to human history...and you know, it's pretty nuts that we're able to read, or even speak, you know?

The processing power needed to look at a big block of letters and spaces and little symbols, analyze it, take it to mind, and then react accordingly is amazing.

Just now, I look over at some of the pop cans on my desk:

Fresca. I don't see F then r then e then s then c and then a, consider those letters and then compose the conglomerate.

No, I just see the whole word. And then that word takes on meaning. I've used it to represent the relatively not-bad-tasting diet sodee that I drink from time to time.

It's nuts. If I wanted to tell you that I drink Fresca, I would vibrate the air in our area with my vocal equipment in patterns that you've learned to recognize as sounds. And again, you don't have to distinguish the phonemes and then put them together, you just head "I Drink Fresca" and you know what's going on.

People are pretty smart.

Numb3rs

2008-06-05T13:35:00.000-07:00

This is the first in what will be a continuing series which I will call something like: "Looking for humanity on TV."

Numb3rs (henceforth to be rendered as "Numbers") is a show that I ignored for a couple of seasons. Being on Friday night, I ended up missing it. But when I was fortunate enough to accidentally tune in, I was immediately interested, for the simple reason that it's set in LA. That was enough to make it a winner for me.

But then I was genuinely drawn in by the characters. And it is the characters that make the show. Even with it's novel concept of using mathematics to solve crime, the show's procedural element is not outstanding, it's pretty par-for-the-course solve-a-crime-per-episode kind of stuff.

The crime fighting-FBI stuff is essential though, because it's the interaction between the street-wise FBI agents and the professorial math-nerds that makes the show a unique one.

The main characters are Don and Charles Eppes. Don is the leader of some LA FBI branch team. Charles is a very young college professor, who graduated college at age 13 or something; he's a real math genius.

At some point, Don enlists Charlie's knowledge to help solve crimes, by applying statistical analysis, game theory, etc to open cases.

But that's all a great MacGuffin. At the heart of the story is this human enthusiasm, and how the enthusiasts interact.

Charlie's enthusiasm for math is portrayed wonderfully; whenever I watch the show I wish I had a professor like him when I was in college. If I had had one or two in my major, I might not have quit. Charlie's eyes light up, he talks faster, his heart-rate probably rises too, when he talks about math.

In my worst college class, History, I felt like the profs wanted to be somewhere else. If I had asked a question in the middle of a lecture (other than "is this going to be on the test?") I doubt they would have been prepared to answer. It was dismal, and I was not going to learn much that way.

But Charlie has enthusiasm, and would love to be interrupted by a good question.

Another really interesting attraction in the show is Charlie's interaction with his fellow teachers. Both of my parents are college professors, so I know what that academic life is like, and the show nails it. I actually wish they would explore that more, but when they do it can be really good.

Ultimately, the most important interaction is between the brothers Charles and Don plus their father.

Very accurate rendering of a family dynamic. Don feeling slighted by Charlie's acknowledged genius, Charlie feeling like his special treatment forced his family to make too many sacrifices...there are so many very real psychological insights bubbling below the surface.

Watch the show and you'll see.

You're welcome CBS.

Next time: Frasier

TV

2008-06-01T22:55:00.000-07:00

I think I may have mentioned, I really like TV.

Most TV, at least. I've never been in agreement with those who say TV rots your brain, or those who wear those "Kill Your TV" T-shirts.

Much like 460cc drivers, ProTools, and plastic surgery, TV can be used for good or evil, but there's no need to throw away the rest of the apple with the core.

As of late, I admit feeling some frustration with TV. I can deal with reality shows on Fox or NBC, but lately the Discovery Channel and the History Channel--or excuse me HISTORY--have resorted to some rather superfluous reality programming.

A lot of the shows would make good one-off hour-long specials. The lives of Bering Sea fishermen, Ice Road truckers, AxMen, and people that live in Alaska are interesting. But not enough to make a multi-season series--at the expense of the truly educational programming that those channels can provide.

Every now and again, Discovery and History channels come up with a devastatingly fascinating show. But those are less and less frequent now.

So that's too bad. But there's still some really great shows on TV and I'm going to write a series of pieces on some of my favorites.

Naturally

2008-05-31T14:58:00.001-07:00

Still learning how to fake a smile and not look like the old Menard's guy.

Another one of these

2008-05-31T00:08:00.001-07:00

I guess I'll do another inane "Friday Update", I guess to remind myself of what I did in the event I ever forget.

In a envy-inducing turn of events, my Dad has been in the east this week, namely Thailand and Cambodia. And my Mom has been in the Low Countries and France.

Meanwhile, I've been here in the 2nd-least-friendly-to-creative-people-city-in-the-US, Grand Rapids.

My sister has been back from her college abode, biding time at the family residence until she also jets off to the East (Japan.)

So there wasn't a lot of action this week.

I've been enjoying acquainting myself with late Middle English, which is so gloriously eccentric to the modern eye. Yne somme wayes it isse a shayme thate Englysshe yvolvede yntoo a morre "economycally spelled" laynguigge...because the French influence on spelling circa 1300-1500 is really fun to read.

I continue with the inner struggle to figure out what to do with myself. Well, you know.

I've compiled about 8 songs that are "finished enough" and I suspect I can add two more and have pretty much a complete "polished demo" album that is about as good as it's going to get for me without help. I guess I'll start sending out unsolicited demo submissions then, hoping some dumb record company is inexplicably interested in my little substanceless pop ditties.

On the autodidactic front, I'm planning to teach myself into math geniushood this summer, and hopefully get a solid handle on Frensche. We'll see, as about 3% of all the plans I've ever made for myself end up happening.

That's about it. Bye.

Dew the right thing

2008-05-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

Mountain Dew has been very important to me. I can always count on the sweet, stinging taste of the original MD to make me feel better.

Mountain Dew has experimented with releasing variations on the original formula over the years. I've enjoyed this very much. I always like to see new Mountain Dews out there.

So I was glad to see that there are three new releases, two of which will be eliminated, apparently, by popular vote. I wish they'd just keep all three, but whatever.

So, to my knowledge, here are all the Mountain Dews (not counting diet Dews, as these are not real Mountain Dew flavors):

Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew: Code Red
Mountain Dew: Live-Wire
Mountain Dew: Baja Blast
Mountain Dew: Pitch Black
Mountain Dew: Pitch Black II
Mountain Dew: Game Fuel
Mountain Dew: SuperNova
Mountain Dew: Revolution
Mountain Dew: Voltage
Mountain Dew Red
Mountain Dew: Blue Shock

There were some other odd attempts at Sports Drinks and there are some Dew Slurpee flavors as well.

Now, as I said, I would love to see all of these flavors available in all formats. (Fountain, Can, 20 oz., 1 liter, 2 liter...)

In fact, I'm somewhat confused as to how the current MD pantheon has settled in. Code Red was a great addition. It has all the attributes you look for in a good Dew, with a distinct flavor. Great.

LiveWire was supposed to be limited edition but ended up going full time. The taste is very generic, so I could do without it if it was taking the place of some other possible full-time, active Dew. I appreciate the Orange color of it, though.

But in my opinion, the best Dew offshoots have been discontinued. Pitch Black ver. 1 was superb. Game Fuel was also an excellent, tasty treat.

And perhaps my ultimate dream would be for Baja Blast to be liberated from it's Taco-Bell-exclusivity and made available in bottles and cans.

I'm not knocked out by any of the new flavors. They are all somewhat generic and two of them are slightly melted-popsicley.

What would be ideal would be to have a true rainbow of Mountain Dew flavors. We have Red, Orange, Yellow, and there are Blue, Indigo, and Violet Dews in existence. We need a true green dew (not yellow like the original, disguised in a green bottle). There could even be in between colors.

Here is my ideal, permanent Dew line-up:

Code Red
Game Fuel
LiveWire
Original
New, Dark Green Dew (see Green River for an idea of the color)
Baja Blast
Voltage--------|
Revolution----| These three need flavor tweaking...
SuperNova----|
Pitch Black I

Mmmmm.

The Plan

2008-05-22T15:52:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I've spent the good part of a year-and-a-half thinking about what to do with my life while not doing anything with it in the meantime.

In the last few weeks I've developed a basic plan that I hope will work for me. Since the thought of having to make myself fit into some pre-existing position doesn't compute in my brain, and in fact makes me suicidal, I've concluded that freelance work is probably the way to go. Which is unfortunate because I really lack the tenacity it takes to be a good freelancer. Still, I think that's about my last hope for an income.

The thing is, doing one thing as a freelancer probably isn't good enough to make a living right off the bat. So what I'd like to do it have a whole lot of projects going on, and have the money trickle in.

So, for instance, take the subtitle of the blog here where I state:

Josh Hoisington is: a musician, a songwriter, a composer, a recording engineer, a record producer, a writer, a visual artist, a seamstress, a world-class chef, a fashion designer

The idea is to start chipping away at all of those things.

I could continue songwriting and try to sell songs or license recordings, try to sell my musical to high-schools...

Do remote location recording for local bands...

Do sessions as a musician...

Sell articles to publications...

Sell paintings (ha!)...

And then later on, if I had more funds starting to come in, I'd like to design clothes and sell them, possibly own and design "concept restaurant", maybe be a landlord...

Obviously some of these things are easier to break into than others, and it will be a challenge. I really need an agent, somebody who can be a bulldog for me to counteract my normal avoidant behavior. Anybody?

So that's the plan. If anybody can help, please let me know. It might save my life.

And of course I'd prefer to be doing this out of LA. From a beautiful house with many housemates...

I'm not very good at this

2008-05-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

Here's the Friday Update™ for last week, on Tuesday.

Did some more importing and mixing from the Alesis 24-track. I have about 4-5 tracks pretty much mixed and in the can. They sound OK.

My sister graduated from college on Saturday. The event was fun, with many family members attending. I even recruited some to play a very makeshift Cricket match in my side yard.

Unfortunately, my sister's return spells the end of having somewhere to put my drum-set, so I may be done with recording drums for a while. I may have to resort to programming the remaining songs for the album. I guess that could be interesting.

In what was one of the great moments in my life, two of my cousins--over the weekend--burst into an impromptu performance of selections from my music set in Nepal. That was awesome and inspired me to do some more work on it.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is truly a bizarre and horrible substance. I usually drink diet soda pop to spare my teeth from the sugar (save for my approximately one celebratory Mountain Dew/Week)...but I decided to take a break from that the last couple weeks, and I almost instantly put on about 5 pounds. Crazy. If you're looking to lose some weight, cutting pop is the way to start.

Still looking for housemates, bandmates, and employment opportunities.

Equipped for success.

2008-05-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder if it were somehow possible to block people from knowing what celebrities use, if anybody would actually buy anything at all.

Let me explain...if you go to any message board centered around a rock band, you'll find lots of people who want to know exactly what guitars and amps the guitarists in the band use, so they can go buy the same thing.

Nike makes a slaying on the clubs Tiger uses, even though most people would play better with a different club. People on Tennis websites want to know what kind of string Roger Federer strings his racquet with so they can install the same.

I have been pondering this phenomenon ever since I watched this little feature where Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins give a little tour of the Foo Fighter's studio. They took the camera back into the band's storage/warehouse area...and there was like, this sea of guitar cases, amps, maybe 30 bass drums stacked in piles, etc, etc...

I guess I'm kind of a gear-head, even though I don't own much gear.

The problem is, as a cross-platform enthusiast, I've been unable to focus my efforts. I have a drum set, some basses, some guitars, some microphones, some recording devices, etc, etc...

And while it would be fun to be rich enough to own enough equipment to equip a full-service studio, it's just not practical. So once and if I finish recording this "album" I think I'm going to simplify. Offload some stuff. Focus on one thing and develop a respectable arsenal.

Because, right now, if for some reason somebody contacted me out of the blue and said "we're a cool band and we need a singer/guitar-player for a show tonight, can you do it?" I don't even really have the equipment to do that respectably. I don't even own a bass amp if somebody needed a bass player.

So I need to make a choice, decide what I'm going to be, and get rid of the extraneous distractions. Time to become a master of something after being a jack-of-all trades, I think.

Larry Levine

2008-05-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

Recording engineer Larry Levine died this week.

He was Spector's engineer at Gold Star, but most important to me, he was the engineer on two of the great productions: "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "I Just Wasn't Made for these Times."

So I was sad to learn of his death.

Apparently he was slightly bewildered at the acclaim he got. After all, in those days all he had to do was pull up no more than 12 faders and mix it all to mono.

But as "easy" as his job might have been recording great musicians playing classic songs, it was still by his hands that the iconic guitar intro to "Wouldn't It Be Nice" got on tape. It was still his hands that dialed in the drum sound on "Be My Baby" you know?

And his work was so good that 45 years later I envy the conditions under which he recorded. Simplicity and musicianship were what contributed to a record. He got to be there, and he got to make sure it was captured for me to listen to much later.

So the next time you listen to a Phil Spector-produced song, think of Larry. Another great source of knowledge is gone. There will truly never be engineers like Larry again.

Walter Elias Disney

2008-05-13T19:52:00.000-07:00

For some reason, last night I got this burst of brainpower and went to work on trying to finish an album cut.

Spent from about 6:30-8:15 rerecording some bits on "Doha Cutter", watched my Monday TV...then spent about an hour recording the tracks from the Alesis 24-track onto my computer.

This meant running a stereo cable out the back of the Alesis into the computer for two tracks, for a total of 12 run-throughs.

This ended up being good though, it freed me up to add some vocal ideas I had, as well as do a new lead vocal.

While the sound is degraded by going analog-digital via my soundcard, I at least have command of effects in the computer.

So I did some mixes for about 7 hours last night and for about the same on and off today.

Anyway, I think I actually may have FINISHED a song.

There are times I've played back some mixes and got a little choked up.

So that's cool.

That said, I still hated doing this all myself. I don't like the homogeneous nature of the recording. I am starting to really admire good drummers...which I've always done, but it's more a matter of ruing my limitations. I can play OK, but I don't add something on drums that really speaks to me musically.

I like the arrangement but the thought of a band playing it live, together, is almost too much to take. That Radiohead special from the other night, the VH1 deal, really made me reconsider a lot of things...I'm thinking a 5 piece band would be pretty sweet.

Anyway, I'm not going to share the finished mix yet, but I might at some point. It is really not bad at all.

Friday Update, 9 May '08

2008-05-09T20:41:00.000-07:00

First off:

Josh Hoisington Lifewatch 2008:

Total Job offers this week: 0
Total incredible musicians volunteering to form a band with me: 0
Total people signed up to go in on a modest LA area use with me: 0

...So that's been going well.

Otherwise, very uneventful week.

Golf on Monday...I really can't think of a less enjoyable activity...I really stank it up.

Tennis later in the week was a more enjoyable experience. I'm serving with more accuracy than ever.

Album project still dead in the water pending inspiration.

New Weezer album leaked, well, most of it did. No, don't ask for it, I don't have it for you! While I was relieved that they finally stepped out from their safe formula, ultimately the lack of melodic interest means I won't be listening to it much. It's a shame that a guy with such a gift for melody has turned to rapped lyrics for much of this album...it would be one thing if the production was innovative, but it's not.

So that was a disappointment, but nonetheless there are some things on there that I enjoyed.

Really into the Radiohead song "Myxomatosis" since seeing it on their VH1 thing last week. I love the slow tripletey riff over the tricky, busy, offbeat drumming. I like how the guitar is utilized in a song like that. No chords, just an independent line.

Watched a great, moving film tonight called "War Dance" about children from Northern Uganda that come out of their war-zone to compete and succeed in a national music festival. Inspiring stuff, it is. That festival is something I would really like to cover as a journalist, if anybody out there wants a great story. That will definitely be on my list of pet projects.

Well, that's about all. Still waiting on the job, band, and housemate offers.

Marvin

2008-05-07T23:07:00.000-07:00

Watched an hour-long PBS special about the life of Marvin Gaye tonight, and I was struck by Marvin's insecurities. Apparently he had no idea how good he was.

I've also been studying the life of Virginia Woolf a bit, and it seems that every time she tried to write, the process would bring her to nervous breakdown and uncompromising depression.

Why can't it be rewarding and easy?

That's Where I Want to Be...

2008-05-06T23:18:00.000-07:00

Beverly Hills has a mixed reputation, I think. Some people might see it as everything wrong with the USA, but I love it. In particular, I'm completely enamored with the little downtown area.

For those not familiar with the area, the rich people live in the actual "hills" part of Beverly Hills. But if you come down from those, to the south, you come to downtown. It's probably close to what most people picture, full of expensive clothing stores, classy restaurants, etc.

But what I like about it is not entirely due to the wealth flowing in the streets, it's that despite that wealth, Beverly Hills still "plays" like a small town to me. The streets are very quiet after about 6pm, for instance. There's a cute little Beverly Hills newspaper with the most hilarious police blotter section. There's a little diner complete with a 50's jukebox.

It's hard to explain. I just really like the place, and had many wonderful afternoons there without spending any money. I miss the place, as well. I miss Sharky's, the Cheesecake Factory, and Sandbags. Not to mention Sprinkles...

So if for some reason you've been putting off that visit to Beverly Hills because you thought it might be a little too hoity-toity for you, it's not.

Sweet Coin

2008-05-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

Something I've been thinking about a little bit lately is etymology. Of particular interest are those words that are created, like all the words "Shakespeare" invented.

But that's just a smaller part of a larger issue, and that's the evolution of English. Which is really quite interesting.

But the question becomes "how should language change?" Is it OK to make up words? Who should be making up those words?

I think that as one's mastery of the language grows, playing around with it should be encouraged. Writing is such a useful tool (I wouldn't be able to communicate without it) and it's interesting to "misuse" it on purpose. On-purpose spelling mistakes, for instance. Sentence fragments.

The only word I've coined that I think could be of use to the public is "multilemma." Since, strictly speaking, a dilemma is a choice between two difficult options, a multilemma expands the concept to multiple choices.

So I encourage most people to invent words, as long as they're understandable almost immediately. And of course, there are some people out there who have no business making up words, they have trouble with the ones we have.

Give it a try, if you're up to it.

Antiphony

2008-05-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

Antiphony is underutilized in modern performance practice.

Insane bows

2008-05-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

So I just watched this "Radiohead live from the basement" special on Vh1, and was both inspired and infuriated.

Inspired by the musicianship, and infuriated that I'm not in a band somewhat like Radiohead. I haven't been bowled over by the direction they've taken, but they're undeniably creative. I would love to have four bandmates with even 75% of the creativity they have.

You know, being a "solo artist" just isn't fun for me, as I'm fairly sure I've mentioned many times. Gah. F.

So please, if you're creative, be in a band with me.

Also, if you're an interesting employer, hire me...or if you're interested in going in on a house with me somewhere in LA, do that. I could take out an entire classified ads section in a newspaper with all the things I'm looking for.

I'll fly YOUR Dutchman!

2008-04-30T20:41:00.000-07:00

Went to see Der fliegende Holländer tonight at Grand Rapids' local performance area. Was pretty well done. None of the voices were spectacular, but they were all solid.

I always forget how cool an orchestra sounds from a pit. Something about the boxed-in acoustics really gets me going. It sounds sort of half-canned, half live. In particular, it adds a weight to the strings, particularly in the mid-high register. Also the basses sound so wonderfully boxy and discrete when played pizz.

I couldn't help but notice, geek that I am at an intermission, that the orchestra was mic-ed up, either for reinforcement or for recording...lots of Shure SM-81s on the violins and violas. Sennheiser 441 on the basses, Shure SM7 on Celli...that was about all I could make out.

It's funny because the Shure 81 is was up on my list...I wanted to yoink one.

I was also inspired to continue work on my musical. I think I'd like to turn it into a sort of Pop-opera and flesh out the arrangements for orchestra.

In other news, the move back to LA is looking more feasible as the days go on...I'm hopeful. I could use a few breaks, a free car would be good.

Also, I still dream of going in on an actual house with a medium group of friends. Anybody interested? I just like that idea much more than an apartment. Like 6 or 7 people going in on a house, maybe with a pool. That would be fun.

I feel like I feel better when I'm around people. Despite my introversion and general fear of people, I'm much healthier in the midst of a group of active people. I feel like living in a studio apartment could be dangerously lonely.

So we'll see what happens. If anybody's interested in going in on a house in LA with me, let me know. Don't forget to let me know if you're a brilliant musician looking to be in a band with me either. Or a potential employer, let me know if you have a job for me.

Microphones

2008-04-29T22:57:00.001-07:00

For a few years now, I've had a great affinity for microphones of various manufacture. Almost every night before bed, I look at a music equipment catalog, pick out my favorites, and think about what it would be like to own them as I lay awake.

It's strange, because microphones all do more or less the same thing, translate audio from the real world into an electrical signal, but all the different kinds offer such appeal.

I think that my only desires for material goods are manifested so I have something to think about, because I really have all the microphones I need, but it's almost like a brain teaser to think about the different combinations of mics I could have.

For instance, if I'm really into the Beach Boys at any given time, my mic desires tend to drift toward recreating a Beach Boys session.

But if I'm really into Weezer, I think about getting the same mics that were used to record Pat's Drums on the Green Album.

In case anybody wants to know, that would be:

Kick: D112 in, Neumann FET 47 out
Snare: 57 top, Sony C-55p bottom
Toms: AKG C-12a tops, Sennheiser 421 bottom
Hats: Shure Sm-81
Overheads: AKG C-12
Ride: AKG 451
Room: various LDCs

So, there's a little bit of what I think about on a daily basis.

For the love of all that is pure...

2008-04-29T22:42:00.000-07:00

So I'm still hitting the LA job listings pretty hard and it's still very depressing. I don't know how anybody gets up in the morning, or else these job descriptions are just really sound worse than they are. Even jobs with titles like "Creative Director" really involve no creativity at all. "Creative Assistant" usually means getting coffee. Nuts.

I'm still looking for that perfect listing:

Creative Person: No really!

Well, guess I'll keep looking.

Résumé

2008-04-27T00:23:00.001-07:00

What do you think of this? It's my experimental résumé. Potential employers, take note! I am accepting inquiries.

Curriculum Vitae:

Josh Hoisington
Grand Rapids, MI

EDUCATION

Not important. Rest assured that I've had enough schooling to know what's going on. But where I went to school is beside the point. I'm very intelligent, well-read, and I can pick up any new skill quickly. I'm relentlessly creative, something no Ivy League college could instill in a person. I'll always have a fresh idea for you. I can think in and out-of the box, your choice. If you have any doubts as to my suitability, I can convince you over dinner, on me.

WORK EXPERIENCE

I've been a golf Caddie, a retail clerk, an inventory control analyst for a major supermarket, a nightwatchman, a tape and film archivist for the Beach Boys, and a personal assistant. References available upon request.

I've written articles that have been published by small publications, including Ear Candy Magazine and more.

I'm an editorial consultant and language facilitator for the Master's Design Group.

I have approximately eight years of practical experience as an amateur audio recording engineer, comfortable with ProTools and other software DAW situations.

I'm also a freelance musician, specializing in electric bass guitar, but fluent in any rhythm-section instrument.

PERSONAL STATEMENT

I don't have sparkling credentials, or a college degree. But I have vast life experiences to call upon and an analytical, creative intelligence that could greatly add to any company. Please consider me as you make your choice.

Argh

2008-04-25T22:40:00.001-07:00

Here's a little venting/frustration entry.

Just watched this band on Conan. They were terrible. I'm not that great of a singer, songwriter, or musician...but I'm better than any member of this band at all three of those things. But they're playing Conan.

My frustration is not with them, they're just doing what they do.

It just shouldn't be that hard for me to be in that position. I guess it's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. I guess I've been in the wrong places at the right times. Or the right places at the wrong times.

I don't even care about playing on Conan. I'd be happy playing at Bobo's pub in front of 2 people.

But I make Syd Barrett and JD Salinger look like out-on-the-town people persons, so god forbid I'd even even know enough people to be in a band with.

I Will

2008-04-25T22:13:00.001-07:00

I will.

A song will be in my head when we cross. I won't be able to hear it
without thinking of you.

Or the taste of dirt--the wind. The smell of shampoo.

I won't know it, the last time I see you. It will just be another day just like any but what significance it will take on.

I'll leave unfinished business in the boxes we throw away. We'll watch the boxes be crushed, and then part ways.

"Experimental" CV

2008-04-24T22:27:00.000-07:00

So I've been trying to get a bit more proactive about my situation, because if you don't keep busy, you cry...I've been hitting monster.com, craigslist, all the usual job sites, looking for stuff in LA, but I'm continually flummoxed by the utter hopelessness embedded in the endless sea of terrible-sounding jobs. Oh My! I mean, horses for courses and all that, but I can't imagine anybody would be happy to find most of these job listings, even if it fit their qualifications to a T. No wonder the world is such a ridiculous place. Most people must feel mercilessly beaten down by the blandness of their jobs. No offense to anybody, but it's such a depressing process.

Needless to say, I haven't found much. I can afford to be picky, because if I don't find anything soon, I'll move to the streets of LA and hopefully expire shortly thereafter.

At the same time, I really think I'm a pretty darn desirable person to have work for you. I think that a lot of employers, to be be frank, would be lucky to have me.

But the thing is, I don't really believe in résumés. It's silly and insulting that a couple of pages of your "qualifications" can be so important. So I've been trying to devise an alternative résumé that I would use instead of the traditional one. Not that I'd know who to give a résumé to anyway.

I dunno. I suffer from plenty of self-esteem issues, but part of me cannot process why I shouldn't be able to find a job I love. I've got too much going on. I have a unique perspective, an unusual way of looking at the world, I think...somebody interesting, just hire me. I need money so fricking bad. But more important, I need something to do with my mind other than worry about music.

I feel like I have a lot of processing power in my brain. Which has nothing to do with intelligence. I could be processing millions of terrabytes of Looney Tunes. But if I don't have plenty to mull over, well, boredom is my worst enemy. That's becoming my personal motto.

So the point is, somebody give me something to mull over!

Will you read my manuscript?

2008-04-24T11:29:00.001-07:00

Having the writer's conference here last week got me thinking about my own "path" as a "writer".

Writing is something I very much enjoy and it's also an almost necessary release since I'm able to say so much more and reveal so much more about myself than I'm able to in a spoken exchange.

It's also one thing that I do that sort of feel good about, like I actually do it well. I will always have a bad relationship with music...I'll always feel like a hack at golf. But writing is something I can take a step back from and feel like I did a good job.

The question is, what to do about it? Write a book? Perhaps. The subject of this book? I don't know. I'm not an expert on anything aside from the Beach Boys.

I think my best writing is sort of event-based personal observation, like the descriptions of my meetings with various Beach Boys (those essays can be found in the first few entires of this blog.) I think I'd really like to do event-based travel writing...like, I'd go to Australia to cover some specific event. Or the Gambia, or wherever. That would be the ultimate.

Why?

2008-04-22T22:49:00.000-07:00

Weezer. This last week or so, Weezer has slowly crept back into my consciousness. The main reason has been the dispersion of some Weezer multitrack recordings featuring soloed discrete tracks. No, I'm not going to post them here.

I've spoken in depth about how I really like hearing the building blocks of music more than finished songs. In fact, I think I actually like the theory and general ethos of music better than I actually like music in general. I'm not sure why this is the case. Perhaps it's the closer layer of immediacy. You can hear Rivers scratch vocals leak into the drum mics. There's no artifice--it's just the straight-up recording.

Anyway, another reason I've thought about Weezer more this week is because they're about to release another album, entitled "Weezer". Of all things.

It will be interesting to see how it turns out!

I'll have more to say about this topic later.

Blew Cheese

2008-04-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

Well, after an unprecedentedly long time away, I'm back with a belated Friday Roundup, I guess.

Much of the reason I haven't updated much is because most of my readership was visiting the family home in Grand Rapids last week. My cousin Dan and my cousin-in-law Emily (Dan's wife, if you need that spelled out for you) came up with their friend and boarder Steve. Steve successfully attended Wheaton college during my run there.

These people were here to attend the Calvin College Festival of Faith and Writing, where literary types come to do stuff. Dan runs a small publishing, um, firm? and has come several times to promote his catalog, which has grown every year.

It was a pleasure to have them, and it's encouraging that you can still be a small business in this country and put out quality "product". It almost makes me think I could start a record label, but I can't and most of the time wouldn't even want to.

Also of note, this Saturday in the early morning, our fish, Treizey "Vichyssoise" Hoisington went home to be with the aquatic Fish Lord. He was seven years old. As strange as it seems, Vichy was my friend...he may have had a small, primitive mind, but he showed remarkable personality. He would always acknowledge you if you came by his bowl. And when you fed him, he would wiggle in seemingly happy thanks. It's easy to project emotions onto animals...but I feel like deep in there somewhere, Vichy understood my affection for him. It was very sad to say goodbye and I will miss hearing him splash around looking for food.

On a much, much lighter note, today marked the first father-son golf outing of the year. Considering the infernal nature of the "game" it went OK. I only had three really off mis-hits...didn't keep score but I would imagine I played pretty even bogey golf.

I've really been digging into the drums lately in an effort to get better. They're fun to bash.

I need to do some more substantive writing...I feel like this Blog's lapse into generic juvenilia (and I mean that in the worst possible sense) has been cumbersome to the readers and me also. So look for slightly more artistic writing soon.

Peace.

Forests, Trees, the color of grass on various sides...

2008-04-11T22:07:00.000-07:00

Not to mention the beloved Friday activity roundup...

I ask you, is the grass always greener on the other side?

As I listlessly "wait", unable to sleep due to pressing creative concerns, I wonder--given an unlimited arsenal of musical equipment, would I really be able to catch the marlin of creativity swimming in the ocean of my mind?

It seems there's always another step. And for some reason, I find it difficult to go a step at a time. Rather than record a basic album with what I have...I fret about "needing" a 12-string, or needing some reverb boxes to do some mixes, needing a couple of band mates and a co-producer...but if I had all that stuff, would that really be the answer?

Probably not, considering that I have this complex about needing to create the most original album of all time.

I hate it though, because I come up with these great ideas, get all excited, then remember I don't have any money, because that's what a lot of the ideas take.

And even the best of ideas always have these niggling problems. Like, I'd really like to record in LA, obviously, and live there...but if I move back, I wouldn't have access to a lot of the musical equipment I have here. Guitars galore, piano, drumset, etc. But I would probably have studio time, people to help me, etc.

I dunno. I wonder why I form such specific goals. I wonder if this is a trait common with most people or if it something unique to me.

When I see the future, I really form a pretty complete picture of the hypothetical situation. So when I picture the perfect recording environment, I can almost literally see the people I'd like to be around, the equipment...I can hear the music. It's all very real. So when I weight that against the reality, it's often disappointing. So I wonder how specific most people are in their minds when forming ideas about the future. Because to me, it's almost like looking through a window at it and not being able to get out.

It's the same thing with "the album". I hear it in my mind and it's incredible...but I can't get to it.

Anyway, FRIDAY ROUNDUP:

Saturday marked the end of the UCLA Bruins season with a very disappointing loss to Memphis. Still, it was a fun and exciting season to watch, very entertaining, and that's all you can ask for.

Saturday was also the day that my entire family went over to bastion-of-culture-in-an-otherwise-culture-deprived-state Ann Arbor to attend a concert by the Choir of King's College Cambridge. If you don't know, this choir is made up of King's College students and boys who attend a special choral school at the college. The choir exists to perform liturgically at the Cathedral at King's, but the standard of musicianship is very high and they've become world renowned and in-demand as concert artists as well.

My father LOVES English choral music, and I'm quite a fan as well as the whole family.

It was a nice program, some Early-ish English composers, Weelkes, Byrd...on to a striking Poulenc piece, ending with Britten and Vaughan Williams.

As to be expected the musicianship was very good, and it's quite amazing how musical these boys are, all under the age of...12 or so. What a valuable education for any young person!

The concert was enjoyed by all. I actually almost choked up simply when they took the stage for the first time, taken aback by the Englishness of it all.

Monday was my Dad's birthday and involved a mercifully brief (but punishing) trip to the golf range, where I was reminded how much I despise that ridiculous game. Also, I made a nice Moussaka dish for dinner at my Dad's request. Too bad there's no such thing as vegan feta cheese...

Tuesday I raked some leaves for a family friend in exchange for some bread. It is the first money I have earned in several months.

Wednesday and Thursday were non-activity days. Yuck. I moped about.

Today, I went over to the health club for a game of tennis and a basketball shoot-around. It was good to get the blood flowing. For a large chunk of our tennis session, I used an old wooden racquet. It was fun. As a Luddite, I truly enjoyed myself.

This whole week, my dad and I have been watching BBC TV series "Torchwood" on DVD. It's a fun, kind of campy Sci-Fi spin-off of Doctor Who. Perfect, really.

I guess that's about it. This week, I look forward to a visit from some family.

Wanted

2008-04-08T22:45:00.000-07:00

I think I'm going to do this twice a week:

A call for a permanent musical collaborator...until people start signing up.

Are you: a person?
Do you: Play an instrument or two and sing?
Are you: Relentlessly creative?
Are you: Ambitious and good at implementing ideas?
Will you: Relocate to LA?
Can you: Be in a band with a person whose primary musical influences are: The Beach Boys, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Bjork and a few others?
Will you: Stop at nothing to make a career out of being a musician?

If so, contact me.

I will post this twice a week.

Ocean's 3.1415926

2008-04-08T14:26:00.000-07:00

After inadvertently watching Ocean's 12 last night on the USA Network, I popped in Ocean's 13 and watched that too.

Do you want to know why?

Because, as I was reminded last night, the perfect occupation for me would actually be a thief. Not a petty one, but one with a team that pulls big jobs. Moral questions aside, thievery involves a lot of things that I:

A. Like to do
B. Am good at
C. Need in a job to be satisfied with it according to a career skills inventory battery I took

I identify with Clooney's character in the movies quite a bit. He's the idea man. If there's one thing I can do, it's come up with ideas. Then of course, you get people who are good at implementing things to do that.

I love the planning, the problem solving, the dramatic skills used in setting up a long con.

If I could find a lawful alternative, I'd be there.

This may get me on some government list, but fine: I actually planned a heist while I was working at Meijer. I had it all worked out, and it was good, I mean, it would have worked. But, other than the moral issues, I couldn't guarantee that there would be enough money available to make it worth it. Plus it required a few inside people.

So if you can think of a lawful occupation that features a similar skill set, let me know. Or if you're interested in pulling elaborate heists, let me know about that too.

I beseech thee! Please God, I beg you!

2008-04-04T22:01:00.000-07:00

Check out this new discovery:

If you have any more pictures from this set, I will gladly give you my firstborn. Well, that's not fair because I'm not having kids. But I'll do almost anything for you. This is the Beach Boys at their Bellagio home studio in Brian's house. I have been looking for a shot like this forever, and now I crave more. More!

So please, help me out!

Friday Review:

I found an awesome Beach Boys photo.

Starting to feel like recording again.

Weather is nicer.

Seeing King's College, Cambridge choir tomorrow, psyched about that.

UCLA in tough Final Four battle tomorrow night.

Numb3rs was new tonight, which I wasn't expecting.

Insomnia persists, was up until about 8 this morning, slept until 3:30 or so.

Uneventful week, really.

Still hoping to have the Fender Bassist identified for sure from below.

It was a very good year

2008-04-03T12:08:00.000-07:00

I have to write about this now or it's going to burn me up more than it already is.

In a few days, it will be one year since I left Los Angeles to return to my parents home in Grand Rapids. It has, categorically, been worst year of my life. In a sense, the whole years has been mired in a constant attempt to understand the life leading up to to events of April 2007.

How did it happen that I could go from seemingly living my life dream to a defeated, homesick shell of a person in a year?

Any way you look at it, moving away from LA was a mistake. I knew that well before I moved. But what else was I to do? I was hurt so badly by seeing this "dream" of working for the Beach Boys disintegrate in front of me that I stopped thinking about much else, let alone the future. I've detailed before how I had about 5 months to find another job in LA after I knew the one I had wasn't going to be continuing. But I didn't, and still don't want another job. I want to work for the Beach Boys.

I didn't know how much leaving LA would hurt, though. I knew I would regret it, but I didn't realize how much it would haunt me. For some reason, Los Angeles is the only real antidote I've found that works for my depression. Whenever I was feeling bad, it would only take a walk outside to help me feel better. It wasn't a cure, but the relief it provided was huge, and I didn't realize that until I left.

Sometimes at night I'll be thinking about and remembering some of my favorite places in LA and how I can't be there and I literally have to go to the bathroom and throw up...it's that deep of a reaction. Very visceral, very "gut".

I think that if I ever were to have a biographer, he would call what I had a "breakdown" though it didn't seem that dramatic at the time. At some point I just became unable or unwilling to go on living as a normal person. At once, I lost ground on a lot of the issues I was working to overcome, my various phobias...they've all come back full force.

I know that this probably all comes across like a teenager writing about how where they live sucks...and maybe it is. I don't feel older than 14, emotionally.

So as I enter this next year "after", we have to see how it goes. Being in Los Angeles is so important to me that, as I've discussed, I intend to go there in the fall and live on the streets if I have to. I'm dead serious about that. I prefer some other situation, but I don't really think I'm capable of doing anything about that.

So I'll see you in LA, fall '08. I'll be the dirty guy mumbling to himself.

The End of the Road

2008-04-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

Another thing I've been "meditating on" is the frustration I feel when research avenues come to an end. Let me explain what I mean...

When I get into some topic, I tend to REALLY get into it. I usually go on a research binge. I fairly quickly become a de facto expert in whatever takes my fancy.

But at some point, when I get as far as I can go...it's a very frustrating moment. Of course, I want to go farther than most people.

As an example, since I've mentioned it a few times recently, let use my interest in 60s recording technology.

When I first became interested in the subject, knowledge acquisition was easy and fun. There are plenty of article and even books that give good surface overviews of recording in the 60s. But as I went on my interest narrowed. I became particularly interested in the LA recording studios. Unfortunately, while there's a whole book devoted to the recording technology of the Beatles, there's nothing about Hollywood's scene.

So I had to search long and hard for any scrap on the 'net. While exhilarating when I actually found something, spending 10 hours googling Wrecking Crew member's names for a paragraph of new info is tedious.

I've been researching this topic pretty in depth for possibly 4 years. I'm to the point now where I know more than most people. And the bigger problem, I care more about specifics than most people. I routinely post general questions on engineering messageboards, and most people give me generic answers. Or chide me for wanting to record a certain way based on what was done in the past. To which I tell them that I'm really mainly interested in the topic simply to know about it, not to put it into practice, though I'd be all too happy to do that.

Interviews with engineers from 60s LA are around, but nobody ever asks the right questions, in terms of info I'm looking for. Memories fail when it comes to remembering what they were doing 40 years ago. Eras are confused.

So what am I to do? I often lay in bed and lament how I just want to KNOW more, but there's NOTHING I can do. No amount of money, no amount of work, nothing can help, short of a time machine. Because that's ultimately what I'm searching for. For me to really get off, I need to actually experience something. This is the single most driving force in my life, actually. I have a need to experience, not just sort of intellectually conceptualize... This is why I spend several hours a day looking online for pictures of recording sessions from United/Western or Gold Star or Sunset Sound from the 60s. It helps to at least see it. But so many of those shots are narrowly focused. I want big wide angle shots of the whole room so I can put it together in my mind.

I think it's actually this that holds my own music making back. I'm so obsessed with experiencing a 60s recording session that that will always be the ideal in my mind. So making a record with...whatever I have will always seem like a disappointment.

But it's not limited to that. Another interesting thing is my golf experience.

I became enamored with famed grand-slam winner Bobby Jones a few years ago. His story led me to doing a lot of reading about golf in the 20s, and the other players...and I became very interested in that time and culture.

And now, playing golf the "modern" seems dull. My research into Jones' era can't be complete until I experience golf the way people did in the 20s.

So I must play with hickory-shafted clubs, in an oxford shirt...I even try to generally emulate Jones' graceful swing to some extent. But even then, I'd still have to play with people playing the modern way, and the experience wouldn't be complete.

I also get really keyed into these ultra-specific things. In golf's case, I really want to know the exact specs and makers of Jones' golf clubs over the years. I know some very specific things about them, but it's not specific enough. Like, I know that roughly 8 of Jones' roughly 22 club arsenal are by Tom Stewart of St. Andrews. But which clubs? And what of the others? And I'd like to eliminate the "roughly" part.

And I must know what exact kind of guitar Barney Kessel was playing on the intro of Wouldn't It Be Nice.

Until I know these things, and can experience these things, a part of me will always be painfully restless. I want to know.

The Sum of No Things

2008-04-02T00:37:00.001-07:00

Today I explored what I've now determined is my pathological Luddism. I realized that that is actually a big source of my general malaise. Unfortunately I don't know what to do about. I guess the options are to either get over it, or to--as I've been planning but for different reasons--leave society.

Speaking of leaving society, if anybody would like to wander around the country indefinitely with me starting in the fall, I would welcome company.

Or, if anybody can lure me away from leaving society by coming up with a job for a person who has no applicable skills but is relentlessly and self-detrimentally creative, ie me, let me know. Otherwise, I'll keep preparing to live on the streets as I slip further into mental illness. I'm actually doing a lot of research about it. I think it's doable, but I wish I were better with people. Somebody with a lot of charisma would do much better than I would.

In other news, anybody want to buy the Radiohead remix stems for me? I have no desire to do a "remix" as it were, I just want to hear the stuff isolated, but I can't afford it. I suppose they'll leak. And by mentioning that, I should apologize to the Googlers who came here looking for Radiohead bootlegs. Sorry!

And on a final note, tonight's second episode of Frasier made me laugh harder than I have in a very long time. It felt good. I think I would be long dead without great TV to keep a smile on my face.

Who is it that never lets you down?

2008-04-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

Anybody know who this is? Is it Chuck Berghofer?

610 101

2008-04-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to get interested in learning electronics. Wiring, and ohms and volts and stuff.

The reason is a strange one though. I have this dumb idea to build a replica mixing console of a generic console from United/Western, or Gold Star. I guess "replica" in the strictest sense of the word isn't quite right if I'm not specifically replicating a, uh, specific thing. But the idea is to build a working console that looks and acts like it came out of 1965.

Of course, I won't have anybody to record...so I picture myself an old man, all alone, pretending to run a session at this thing I've built, murmuring instructions to "musicians" that aren't there.

It just ain't Cricket

2008-03-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

Upon my father's recent return from India, he surprised me by presenting me with a Cricket bat he brought back with him.

Now, as I've stated before, I hesitate to reveal my involvement in sports because I still have this strange paranoia about "coming out" as a sports fan to the artistic community, who of course, all shun sports and throw like, well, people who've never thrown a ball.

However, I have taken an especial interest in foreign, non US-popular sports. For one thing, they just seem to be better, but also it's fascinating how culturally the sports from other countries evolved into something new. For instance, somehow Soccer evolved into both American Gridiron football and also Australian Football, which are very different games.

Anyway, Cricket is a fascinating sport. Obviously it morphed into stickball and baseball. It has all kinds of rules and positions, and takes a long time to learn even the basics. But it's worth it. There is a variety of strategy that no other sport has. Of course, very few other sports can take 5 days to play a match...

I hope to set up a family game of Cricket this summer, if I can get the equipment and get people to agree to play. The extended family seemed to take to Australian football when I taught it to them.

Also interesting is India's love for Cricket. I like looking at photos of kids playing Cricket in the street. It's inspiring that, often in the midst of abject poverty, they can still be moved to smile with the swing of a bat, and that their passion can be ignited with the taking of a makeshift "wicket" of a couple of sticks and somebody's sandal.

Hot

2008-03-31T16:02:00.000-07:00

At risk of becoming a "wrecking crew" blog, which would not be such a bad thing:

Lyle Ritz, far left on Fender Bass, Jerry Yester and Henry Diltz on Guitar and Electric Banjo (guys from the Modern Folk Quartet), The greats Barney Kessel and Tommy Tedesco. Not too sure who's on string bass and drums. If anybody knows, tell me. This is a Righteous Brothers session at United Recorder, which I'm guessing is Ebb Tide based on some anecdotal evidence.

Jack Nitzsche at work.

To have been there...

Cool

2008-03-30T17:20:00.001-07:00

Hanging out with Sonny Bono at a recording session.

Simple Plan

2008-03-29T22:11:00.000-07:00

What do you think of this, readers?

Instead of trying to complete a full album, and killing myself in the process, perhaps it would be a better idea to do a tite-as-a-drum EP of 4-5 songs?

Is that enough to get noticed by the biz? I really don't have it in me to do a full LP without significant, full-time help.

By the way, there's this show after SNL in this market called "Fearless Music" that features 5 or 6 incredibly obscure bands that play a song live...and make it very obvious why they're obscure, for the most part. My.

Anyway, I think I could really focus on an EP and get it really hot and then if the biz likes it I can make an LP on their dime? Hire my session musicians and such.

I don't know, what do you think?

If I had to make the decision to-day, I'd do something like this:

1. I Can't Slide (Into Place)
2. Epithets
3. Doha Cutter
4. No Dry Eyes in the House
5. Maybe an instrumental to show that side of my compositions.

Not a spectacular bunch of songs from a pure songwriting point of view, but they never will be coming from me. But my word they can't be worse than the songs that have been played on this show, here.

I'm trying to think...if I had to choose one...would I rather be able to hear the isolated multitrack tracks from the Beach Boys Sunflower and Surf's Up albums, or would I rather have a select group of session musicians play for an album of mine. Those are the top two on the list.

OK.

A roundup

2008-03-29T00:05:00.000-07:00

If I can remember to do this, I think every Friday I will do a roundup of the week's events. Which is silly because my weeks tend to be uneventful, plus nobody reads this.

A few days this week were warm enough outside (low 40s-F) for me to strike a practice golf ball about the back garden. What a silly pastime, why do I play golf?

No recordings were made, still burned out from the first round.

Got into a heavy Pet Sounds thing, with lots of thinking about that album.

Am currently in a strange, grandiose frame of mind where I almost become incredulous at my situation. I find myself thinking things like "I'm an F-ing supergenius, why am I not successful?" It's kind of like wondering when Susan Lucci would win that Daytime Emmy. That same vibe. I mean, isn't it about time?

My sister and I noted the trend in fashion advertising towards bright, group-oriented, party-atmosphered mag adverts. I like this trend.

I decided to investigate the Rolling Stones mid 60s catalog to see why Brian Wilson likes them so much. They were indeed a pretty good band at the time. Who knew?

Finally figured out more or less what Don Randi is playing on the chorus to I Just Wasn't Made for these Times. Pretty stoked about that.

Nearly destroyed all of my musical equipment in a fit of rage.

Resolved to never record a note of music again. (We'll see how that goes.)

Slept until 3:45 today.

Other stuff.

Party!

2008-03-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

Just for fun. Dig the 545s.

I guess I just wasn't made for these things

2008-03-25T17:14:00.001-07:00

Here's a return to what I do best: Wax on about the Beach Boys.

When I first got my hands on the Pet Sounds Box Set, my life changed forever. In some ways, it ruined my musical career because from then on I had the weight of this thing on my back. And then I searched and searched and finally was able to obtain the Sea of Tunes Unsurpassed Masters Pet Sounds sessions.

These bootleg CDs extensively present much of the session tape from all the Pet Sounds tracks. Unfortunately, for some reason the bootleggers were not able to get their hands on the complete session tapes for That's Not Me and Let's Go Away for Awhile, and while there is no session tape for Don't Talk, it appears there may not have been many takes of that; take one has surfaced elsewhere.

Anyway, to this day, I immerse myself in these sessions, trying to imagine I'm actually there, which is actually where I would most like to be. That's my idea of heaven. Waking up every day and going to a Pet Sounds session.

There's one track in particular that has always knocked me out from an arrangement, production, and songwriting standpoint: I Just Wasn't Made for these Times.

While the lyrics are very good, I will not discuss those here and now.

There's something very heavy about the track. To me, it's way heavier than any metal band. There's a weight to it.

The texture of the arrangement probably has something to do with it. Brian and Co. created a very heavy descending bassline with String Bass, Bass Harmonica, and Timpani--and the keyboards play along with that too. The String Bass and Bass Harmonica are what really give the bassline it's heft I think. It's a very dull sound, it moves air, but the harmonica gives it that reedy texture.

Ray Pohlman's Fender Bass line is one of Brian's best. It's utilized as the lead instrument, even getting it's own track. On a three-track recording, that's pretty special. Instead of supporting the bass, Ray plays a circular riff that hints at the chords. Played at the 12th fret, the Fender's built-in foam mute chokes off the sound significantly, making it sounds like a taut guitar.

Later, Ray drops down and drives the song from the bass...but in those verses he and Brian were truly exploring the unique potential of the Fender bass.

Now let's talk about the chords, which are really filled in by the piano and harpsichord, which are in tandem most of the song.

Quite possibly Brian's most sophisticated and close-voiced progression, the chords when played on a piano suggest an impenetrably complex jazz chart.

It's something like:

g min 7 in third inversion, g min 6 in second inversion, E flat 6 with A flat in the bass, d min 7 with G in the bass resolving to d min 7 in first inversion,

That repeats until the last bar where the d min 7 with the 4th in the bass instead resolves to a fully diminished d min 7.

Or something like that. Fantastic stuff. And the melody on top of it is well matched in it's sophistication.

One more thing that really sticks out to me: This is perhaps the greatest example of why Brian needed the best musicians in LA to create Pet Sounds. They make it sound easy. Don Randi's casually rollicking piano part in the "chorus" is a great example. It's got the laid back confidence that only somebody well schooled in jazz rhythms could provide.

What a track. And this picture may very well be from that session at Gold Star:

Thank you for being a friend

2008-03-24T22:56:00.001-07:00

I feel like this blog is devolving into something less than what it was supposed to be.

Anyway, more thoughts today.

One: The Golden Girls is a great show.

Two: Still not certain how to go forward with "The Album." I wrote yesterday that I needed to "have fun with it" but frankly I can think on nothing more fun than having an album sound like it came out of Gold Star circa 1966.

I think that the real problem is that I have to wear all the hats. It's exhausting doing it all myself. In fact, it's so exhausting I don't really think I can do it.

My equipment is limited enough that just hooking everything up so I can both monitor what's been recorded already and I can safely record anew unto a track takes a very long time. And then I have to re-route everything to listen to what I recorded. Basically, the technical stuff saps me of energy before I get the chance to perform the music. And then the performances are sapping too. Recording 24 tracks of different instruments and singing takes a lot of effort to get everything right.

I just don't have the energy or the patience to psych myself up for this. I'm not talented enough to set aside the technical aspects and just play the instrument, or vice versa, or whatever.

So I think I'm pretty much on hold until I can get some help from somebody. With help, I can stop obsessing about stylistic concerns and stuff. Because all that is really just filler for me to think about while I'm not recording. By overthinking how a track should sound, I put the real issues out of mind. Either way, I don't get much done.

So again, I need your help. If you are an accomplished musician, recording engineer, or songwriter, and you feel like vacationing in Grand Rapids...or feel like putting me up near you...I need your help. If you know of anybody matching this description, let them know. I just need a few people to help share the responsibilities of recording.

Until then, I will be making my transition to living on the streets as a freegan, hopefully starving to death before too long.

Cottoneaster

2008-03-23T22:34:00.000-07:00

Well, constituency, me and Mom and Sis' went down to Wheaton, Illinois to have some "Easter time" with various extended family. It was pretty good. Nice family time and a wonderful Easter supper.

Meeting with family is always awkward for me, and whatever family actually reads this can chime in here, because I always am on edge hoping that nobody will ask me "what I 'm up to". First of all, why is that so important to people? And second, because when presented with that question I'm left with a dilemma: Do I make something up that makes me sound like a contributing member of society? Do I sort of be vague? Or do I be brutally honest? Being brutally honest might be fun if I were into really awkward encounters. By the way, I'm referring to very extended family that I don't see often. I think my parents immediate families know well enough not to ask, at this point.

Anyway, if I were into creating awkward situations, it would be kind of fun to be really honest.

Example:

Well-meaning person who just wants to learn more about me: Well, Josh, what do you do?

Me: Uh, well, I'm currently battling crippling depression with a couple of jug-fulls of antidepressants, and every day I have to make the conscious decision to continue living because life is sometimes very unappealing to me...and all that leaves me with little desire to do anything. And even if I were just a chipper go-getter, I don't really like the idea of going through the motions of living the typical life, so I would probably be willfully unemployed anyway.

So yeah, that would be fun...

Also: I got a haircut, and new glasses which I like but seem to be too weak in the perscription, I hope to correct that soon:

On a musical note: Going away for the weekend gave me time to contemplate how to move forward with the album...I didn't come up with a solution, but I'm pretty sure a change of approach is needed. I don't need to throw out everything, but I need to stop trying to artificially make everything sound like it was recorded in 1965. I need to stop limiting myself to things that were possible only before a certain year. I need to be having more fun with this.

So we'll see how it goes. I haven't really felt much of a desire to record for about a week or more. Because I've been so unhappy about my approach.

I again beseech any readers to join me in creating this album, either by moving temporarily to Grand Rapids, or putting me up near them. I desperately, desperately desire collaboration. I can't even tell you. I doesn't have to be a full band or anything, but I really need someone to help me, here in person.

I will however take this opportunity to thank the few of you who have been wonderful in listening to rough mixes and weighing in. I really trust your ears and appreciate your input. To those who haven't been involved in the process yet, I will try to put up some clips or samples or something to keep you involved.

I guess that's all for now. Please join me, potential collaborator. Please, I beg you. I need you. It will be nearly impossible to get a record deal without a live act, for which I will definitely need collaborators. Please. Help me! Please.

...

2008-03-20T20:21:00.001-07:00

I mean, production on the album has come to a standstill because I don't have a good enough sounding bass to record. This was a stupid idea.