Jump to content

7/4

Members
  • Posts

    19,539
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Donations

    0.00 USD 

Everything posted by 7/4

  1. As long as it takes for the plastic to dry out and stop creating those gasses.
  2. Beefy!
  3. we never do that here...
  4. No so easy in extreme weather! If only I had a private garage when my car was new, I could have left the windows open..
  5. Don't inhale that new car smell Ah, that new car smell, that eau de car-logne; it does an ego good while it does a wallet bad. And now it turns out, it can do bad things to your health, too. Air freshners can contain aldehydes, esters and ketones, industry spokesman says. All these years, while we were being offered safety first, last and front, side and rear ways, hardly anyone in the vehicle industry had given much thought to what actually was in that perfume de profit, the new car smell that car buyers sought and bought. As everyone knew, pollution related to vehicles originated from the exhaust pipe, not the shifter knob. It was spewed out the back of the rear, not the back of the rear view mirror. Well, what everyone thought they knew was wrong. It turns out -- take a deep breath -- that most of that new car smell is not some carefully-compounded, luxury, feel-good incense to the Mammon gods. But the new car smell comes from toxic gases. mo'
  6. and a partridge in a pear tree.
  7. Not too much. .
  8. You know what they say. .
  9. Woah! .
  10. Mark Knopfler?
  11. OK Bucky, you're off to an Organissimo Sensitivity Training Seminar...sounds like his pancreas and/or liver were fucked up, but I'm not going to dance on his grave. It looked like he died of throat cancer, but now maybe not.
  12. Mass MoCA: Bang on a Can Marathon Time flies when it's all fun By Richard Houdek, Special to The Eagle Article Last Updated: 07/29/2008 09:57:24 AM EDT Tuesday, July 29 NORTH ADAMS — Bang on a Can's trove of music was so rich that the annual festival's customary six-hour Marathon Saturday evening at Mass MoCA suddenly became a seven-hour event. And the throng on hand couldn't have been happier. By the time the last item on the program rolled around — two classics by Frank Zappa, after 10:30 — much of the crowd that earlier had nearly filled the museum's Hunter Center for the Performing Arts remained for the final standing ovation. Terry Riley was the special guest, and the celebrated composer, involved in three of the evening's significant numbers, doubtlessly was the major drawing card. Riley led the procession of instrumentalists in a clangorous percussion march to the stage before the players assumed their normal positions, and instruments, for the performance of his "Woelfli Portraits." This was a concert version of portions of a chamber opera based on the work of Adolf Woelfli, the artist and poet who learned to express himself while confined to a Swiss asylum for the insane for 35 years, until his death in 1930. Illustrated with projected quirky drawings by Woelfli of animals, fish and other objects in color, the music in four movements, ranged from solemn, including lovely figurations from Lauren Radnofsky's cello to a playful ragtime pastiche from the piano, courtesy Vicki Ray, and staccato chords in the finale from everyone. Riley's "Olsen III," originally a 53-minute undertaking for orchestra, chorus and his own soprano saxophone, was pared to 13 minutes of minimalist tension, with four singers offering insistent syllabic commentary in unison, occasionally in contrast, with the instrumental ensemble of nine. In attenuating solo turns, Evan Ziporyn alternated subterranean bass clarinet and shrieking clarinet timbres. As promised, Riley returned during the marathon's final segment for an abbreviated session of improvisation, whimsically called "piano bar," in which he became an unofficial member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars. With Riley at the keyboard displaying reasonably well-supported baritone sounds, he was joined by Gregg August, double bass; David Cossin, percussion; Todd Reynolds, violin, and Ziporyn, clarinets, all unflappable giants in their own realms, displaying considerable musical acumen in keeping up with Riley's sudden switches in styles and rhythm. # But aside from Riley and his music, and Zappa's as well, another highlight was a performance of "Shelter," a newish multi-media work with music by David Lang, Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon, the three founders of Bang on a Can. "Shelter," the marathon's longest piece — running 65 minutes — concerns nature, the roofs we put over ourselves and much more. Deborah Artman, the work's librettist has characterized the work as evoking "the power and threat of nature, the soaring frontier promise contained in the framing of a new house, the pure aesthetic beauty of blueprints, the sweet architecture of sound and the uneasy vulnerability that underlies even the safety of our sleep." Originally staged in Germany and New York in 2005 by New York's Ridge Theatre, the presentation here retained Laurie Olinder's visual graphics and Bill Morrison's film to deliver a powerful message about our strengths and vulnerabilities. With each composer responsible for at least two of the eight parts - Lange wrote three - Brad Lubman conducted what also was one of the largest of the evening's ensembles, including three mezzo-sopranos who intoned Artman's texts or vocal sound collages. The projections were either relevant to the titles of each section, or more abstract statements, as in Lang's opening episode, which has the singers repeating "Before I Enter," the title, before images of figures traversing a long pier with ominously rising ocean tides. Gordon's increasingly fast tempo orchestration, replete with vocal train whistles over a counterpoint of double basses and bassoons for "In the Wind," were complemented with images of an accelerating train ride across the great desert; structural frames were assembled and then disappeared as gradually. Wolfe's "The Boy Sleeps" introduced what appeared to be a kind of lullaby as night fell in a neighborhood of neatly spaced homes over four seasons, before the image cut to a child in slumber and the score's lullaby turned into more disturbing, finally stridently nightmarish full orchestra territory. Thunder over North Adams and raindrops on the hall roof offered an ironic prelude to "What We Build," the work's finale, illustrating, with Gordon's resonant score and images of an area of homes heavily flooded, that nature can reclaim its province. # The summer's contingent of Bang on a Can fellows joined with several faculty members in the evening's stage filling final ensemble. They gave effective readings to Zappa's "Dog Breath Variations," the composer's jaunty, Prokofievian romp, and "G-Spot Tornado" with its frolicsome samba beat. The award for most unusual composition goes to Sean Francis Conway's "something makes something something," in which the composer breathes and moans into an aboriginal instrument called the didgeridoo while two assistants, cited as percussionists, inflate balloons to the bursting point, repeatedly. For the record, 11 balloons fell; the percussionists survived. In more serious enterprises, Lois V Vierk's "Timberline" conjured the grandeur of the High Sierras, Christopher Adler's "Ecstatic Volutions in Neon Haze" offered some definition in a minimalist framework with a shimmering coda; the baritone Jeffrey Gavett delivered a persuasive accounting of Morton Feldman's song "Wind," based on Frank O'Hara's bleak poem, and Ken Thomson epitomized feelings about our world in his turbulent "Seasonal Disorder," a work the composer reportedly began with daily readings of The New York Times. # The music of Iannis Xenakis made its first marathon appearance with the otherworldly sounds of his 1975-vintage "N'Shima," and "Donald Crockett's "Whistling in the Dark," a piece in which anxiety and vitality collide, makes a good case for the rhythm of life. Other works on the program were Judd Greenstein's "GetUp/ Get Down" and two examples of Balinese gamelan music, "Sekar Ginotan," arranged by Wayan Loceng, and "Cu (Ba Li) Bre" by Christine Southworth and Ziporyn. Were it possible to pipe music into the nearby gallery housing the current Jenny Holzer exhibition, it would have been fun to sprawl across one of those oversized beanbags and just listen to some of these pieces. # This year's Marathon, the culmination of Bang on a Can's seventh Mass MoCA summer residency, disclosed an unusually gifted group of fellows, all professional musicians on the upward spiral of success, and all clearly smitten with the music of today. To some, seven hours of this kind of musical fare may seem a bit much, but it passes all too quickly, as they say, when one is having a good time.
  13. Mass MoCA: Bang on a Can Marathon Time flies when it's all fun By Richard Houdek, Special to The Eagle Article Last Updated: 07/29/2008 09:57:24 AM EDT Tuesday, July 29 NORTH ADAMS — Bang on a Can's trove of music was so rich that the annual festival's customary six-hour Marathon Saturday evening at Mass MoCA suddenly became a seven-hour event. And the throng on hand couldn't have been happier. By the time the last item on the program rolled around — two classics by Frank Zappa, after 10:30 — much of the crowd that earlier had nearly filled the museum's Hunter Center for the Performing Arts remained for the final standing ovation. Terry Riley was the special guest, and the celebrated composer, involved in three of the evening's significant numbers, doubtlessly was the major drawing card. Riley led the procession of instrumentalists in a clangorous percussion march to the stage before the players assumed their normal positions, and instruments, for the performance of his "Woelfli Portraits." This was a concert version of portions of a chamber opera based on the work of Adolf Woelfli, the artist and poet who learned to express himself while confined to a Swiss asylum for the insane for 35 years, until his death in 1930. Illustrated with projected quirky drawings by Woelfli of animals, fish and other objects in color, the music in four movements, ranged from solemn, including lovely figurations from Lauren Radnofsky's cello to a playful ragtime pastiche from the piano, courtesy Vicki Ray, and staccato chords in the finale from everyone. Riley's "Olsen III," originally a 53-minute undertaking for orchestra, chorus and his own soprano saxophone, was pared to 13 minutes of minimalist tension, with four singers offering insistent syllabic commentary in unison, occasionally in contrast, with the instrumental ensemble of nine. In attenuating solo turns, Evan Ziporyn alternated subterranean bass clarinet and shrieking clarinet timbres. As promised, Riley returned during the marathon's final segment for an abbreviated session of improvisation, whimsically called "piano bar," in which he became an unofficial member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars. With Riley at the keyboard displaying reasonably well-supported baritone sounds, he was joined by Gregg August, double bass; David Cossin, percussion; Todd Reynolds, violin, and Ziporyn, clarinets, all unflappable giants in their own realms, displaying considerable musical acumen in keeping up with Riley's sudden switches in styles and rhythm. more
  14. Hiram Bullock: Charismatic jazz-rock guitarist Monday, 28 July 2008 Hiram Bullock was a talented and charismatic guitarist, a rock'n'roller with a jazz head who bridged the world of sophisticated pop and the avant-garde New York jazz scene. A super-session player, Bullock was mentored by the producer Phil Ramone, and his work can be heard on Steely Dan's Gaucho (1980), Paul Simon's One Trick Pony (1980), Sting's Nothing Like the Sun (1987), Billy Joel's The Stranger (1977) and Barbra Streisand's A Star Is Born (1976). He also played with the Brecker Brothers, Jaco Pastorius, Chaka Khan, James Taylor, James Brown and Al Green, among many others. He was a member of one of Miles Davis's last touring groups, and his guitar graced countless jazz albums. Hiram Bullock also put out over a dozen records under his own name. Bullock was a consummate showman: his live performances were enhanced by his habit of wandering deep into the crowd whilst soloing. "Rock'n'roll guitarists might do that," said the promoter John Cummings, "but it wasn't common at jazz shows. You'd find a sedate jazz audience in Switzerland where the uptight burghers would be surprised by Hiram sitting on their daughters' laps whilst continuing to play. He invented himself as a jazz-rock guitarist and entertainer." Did such live ostentation from the guitarist reflect the origins of his choice of instrument? "I played bass in my high school rock band (like a million other teenage boys)," Bullock said. "One day our guitarist, who was slightly older and looked like Eric Clapton, passed out while in the middle of the solo on 'Mississippi Queen' (he said later that he was 'tired'). Immediately, 10 girls jumped up onto the stage, stroking, consoling and otherwise 'reviving him'. At that precise moment I decided to switch to guitar." Hiram Bullock was born in 1955 in Osaka, Japan to parents serving in the US military. When he was two the family returned to the United States, where they settled in Baltimore, Maryland. Hiram studied piano at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in the city, playing his first recital at the age of six. He also became a fluid saxophone player, and finally made the switch from bass to guitar at 16. At the celebrated University of Miami music college, Bullock studied alongside Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius and Will Lee, discovering musical soul-mates. He paid his way at university by playing nightclub gigs in Florida, and hooked up with the singer Phyllis Hyman. When she landed a recording deal and moved to New York, Bullock went with her. In Manhattan he made an immediate impact. 'He was a phenomenon,' remembered Jamilla Samuels, a sound engineer at the Mix Studio. "All the players were talking about this new cat in town with this great guitar style. If you had a buzz like that amongst the musicians, it meant you were good. But I noticed that straightaway he fell in with the fast crowd." Soon Bullock was playing with the master saxophonist David Sanborn and the Brecker Brothers band. He then formed the 24th Street Band with the drummer Steve Jordan, the keyboardist Clifford Carter and bassist Mark Egan, later replaced by Will Lee. Very popular in Japan, the 24th Street Band released two records there, with the keyboard player Paul Schaffer producing the second. Schaffer recruited Bullock, Jordan and Lee for his group the World's Most Dangerous Band, which played on the talk show Late Night With David Letterman from the programme's début in 1982, bringing to national attention the guitarist's habit of performing barefoot. Other habits also revealed themselves. Bullock was known to suffer from an occasional "attendance problem" on the Letterman show, a consequence of the drug binges associated with the crowd he was hanging out with. He was no stranger to heroin and cocaine, but found his drug of choice when the crack epidemic swept the United States in the mid-1980s. Most of the time, however, he kept it together. Tour managing him with Carla Bley's group and then with the Gil Evans Orchestra, John Cummings recalled his energetic extroversion: "He used to really tear it up playing with Carla, and even managed to persuade Van Morrison to perform Hiram's own arrangement of Moondance at Gil Evans' 75th birthday concert. He was a great player and a fantastic guy, and he was completely clean." Yet the effects of Bullock's recreational pursuits soon became evident in his physical shape. From having once seemed the thinnest man on the planet, his body ballooned unflatteringly. His work did not suffer, and he continued to make great records, notably Late Night Talk (1996), an organ session featuring Lonnie Smith on the Hammond B-3, and Try Livin' It (2003), a funk-rock record that highlighted his songwriting skills. In the autumn of 2007 Bullock was diagnosed with cancer. But his cast-iron constitution pulled him through, and he made a full recovery, setting off immediately on a lengthy tour with the Miles Evans Orchestra. There were no signs of post-operation fatigue; Bullock was playing at his peak. But the old problems remained. The attempt to maintain the post-performance high after the tour's end resulted in another crack binge, one that his depleted body was simply no longer able to endure. Chris Salewicz Hiram Law Bullock, guitarist and songwriter: born Osaka, Japan 11 September 1955; married (two stepsons); died New York 25 July 2008.
  15. Dis it? Miles Davis: The Chameleon of Cool; A Jazz Genius In the Guise Of a Hustler
  16. July 30, 2008 Joe Beck, Jazz Guitarist, Dies at 62 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DANBURY, Conn. (AP) — Joe Beck, a jazz guitarist who collaborated with artists like Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis and James Brown, died here on July 22. He was 62. His death was confirmed by the Munson-Lovetere funeral home. He died at a hospice after battling lung cancer. Mr. Beck was a prolific studio and session performer, arranger and producer, with an identifiable harmonic and rhythmic sound. Mr. Beck was born in Philadelphia and grew up in New Jersey and the San Francisco area. He got his start as a musician as a teenager in the 1960s, playing in a jazz trio in New York. By 1968, he was recording with Davis and other top jazz stars. After taking a three-year break from music to run a dairy farm, Mr. Beck returned to music in the 1970s. He worked with artists like Gloria Gaynor and Esther Phillips, including playing on Ms. Phillips’s hit single “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes.” In 1975, his collaboration with the saxophonist David Sanborn, “Beck & Sanborn,” became a popular fusion hit. He also composed and arranged for film and television, and played with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. Mr. Beck returned to farming in 1988, but was recording and touring again by 1992. He last toured in December, playing in Europe with the jazz guitarist John Abercrombie. Mr. Beck also taught guitar at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury, Conn. He is survived by his wife, Marsi, and five children.
  17. yo bean wacker, waz up? feelin' any better? .
  18. Crap. I never had that kinda fun when I visited. Anyways...it seems like folks are OK for now. .
  19. Interesting for me, because I have a bunch of NA titles: Anthony Braxton - 19 [solo] Compositions Austral Voices: New Music from Australia Terry Riley - The Book of Abbeyozzud Ellen Fullman - Change of Direction Terry Riley - Chanting the Light of Foresight Anthony Braxton - Composition No. 165 [for 18 instruments] Alvin Curran - Crystal Psalms John Cage - Daughters of the Lonesome Isle David Tanenbaum Oliveros, Dempster, Panaiotis - Deep Listening Alvin Curran - Electric Rags II Gyan Riley - Food for the Bearded Michael Harrison - From Ancient Worlds Terry Riley - In C: 25th Anniversary Concert Stuart Dempster - In The Great Abbey of Clement VI Lou Harrison - La Koro Sutro Terry Riley - Lisbon Concert Karlheinz Stockhausen - Mantra Earle Brown - Music For Piano(s), 1951-1995 BATAK - Music of North Sumatra Morton Feldman - Only (Works for Voice and Instruments) Lou Harrison - The Perilous Chapel John Cage - The Perilous Night; Four Walls Reza Vali - Persian Folklore Deep Listening Band - The Ready Made Boomerang Lou Harrison - Rhymes with Silver Morton Feldman - Rothko Chapel; Why Patterns? Harold Budd - She Is a Phantom Stefano Scodanibbio - Six Duos Morton Feldman - Three Voices [for Joan La Barbara] David Hykes - True to the Times (How to Be?) Stuart Dempster - Underground Overlays from the Cistern Chapel Marsh, Abercrombie, Graves - Upon a Time Stephen Scott - Vikings of the Sunrise Olivier Messiaen - Visions de l'Amen Stefano Scodanibbio - Voyage That Never Ends David Hykes - Windhorse Riders
  20. Everybody OK out there? .
×
×
  • Create New...