In which David hears Ten Baritone Saxophones

Earlier I wrote about hearing a snippet of a Japanese ten baritone sax group. Charles Ulrich read my comment. Being smarter than I am he was able to Google the name: Tokyo-chutei-iki. He sent me this link from Far Side Music in London. Here's another link. Thanks, Charles.

"Far Side" in this case refers to the Far East not to Gary Larson cartoons. For £9.99 they sell a "4 track mini-album" by Tokyo-chutei-iki and I ordered it. Plus shipping etc I paid $21.31 for 12 minutes of music. I'm not disappointed.

It's excellent avant, jazzy, minimalist stuff. The album proudly announces "They use only human voice and baritone saxophones." There's a picture of the ten in a flying-V formation each holding a bari and not worrying too much about what clothing they put on that morning. Judging by the recorded sound, ten live baritone saxophones could probably blow me out of my chair - and then I'd laugh.

The first track "Strength Hardness Length Angle" has a lead vocal - a cross between very fast rap and a patter song with a melodic chorus. My favorite is "Cat Fight" a lot of high harmonics alternating with unison pedal tones and repeated rhythms. The fourth track, recorded live, asks rhetorically "Can 10 bari saxes play in tune?"

Because of the speed of delivery from Far Side Music I might order another album that seems unavailable in the U.S. It's a new one by a group called Cicala Mvta (sort of a Japanese Klezmer-Bulgarian-Punk-Jazz band led by a clarinetist). I listen to their album Deko-Boko often.


Music Reviews

In Which David Collects Random Thoughts

1. One of life's little pleasures - persimmons. I just had my first of the season. But if you don't know when it's ripe, it's no fun.
2. According to the L.A. Times being a member of a street gang is good training for a career in the Papparazzi.
3. Back in the 80's I tried not to shop at any grocery store which had installed price scanners. That didn't last long. Now I'm wishing I could not patronize any business with a voice mail system. (Press 1 if you agree.)
4. I laughed hysterically at the ending of the Marx Brothers' movie (A Day) At the Circus. An orchestra, on a floating dock, drifts across a lake into the fog whicle playing Wagner. If I have to listen to Wagner please let it be from a great distance.
5. I could have hit a Mormon Missionary with my car - clean cut young guy in black pants and white shirt on a bike. He ran a red light trying to keep up with another similarly attired guy who had made it through the intersection legally. If I had not been paying attention I would have hit him . . . bam! "Not my fault, officer." But sometimes I think I'm a traffic accident waiting to happen.

Stories

Movies

Media

30 Second Spots times three - My Dad Was Crying for a Bird and Fell Asleep in a Chair

I wrote My Dad Was Crying for a Bird very quickly on November 5. So I copied the "Cantus Firmus" part and created a second spot called My Dad Fell Asleep in a Chair. They're each 34 seconds long and the long notes are the same in both. The similarity ends there.

The first title was said by a teen-ager at Starbucks. Her voice could have carried from Pasadena to Santa Monica. The second is a reference to my own Father, whose habit of falling asleep in a chair after work I've recently fallen into.

It occured to me to combine the two simultaneously. Uncreatively I called the combo My Dad Was Crying for a Bird and Fell Asleep in a Chair. Is this the Ugly Music for which life is too short?

Listen to three, two, one or none of them and in any order. They're all linked from the same page.

Explanation of 30 second spots
30 Second Spots

In which David Has Some Fun Now

S commented about Moment of Coincidence: "... it would seem that the whole idea of the 30" pieces is, on some level, for the excercise in general to be FUN as opposed to being WORK ...."

So you're saying the opposite of FUN is WORK? Makes sense. I often say "no matter how much fun you have doing something, if you do it long enough, eventually it becomes work."

Don't confuse having fun writing music (that's the essence of 30" Spots) with the music itself being fun.

Composers are often given great respect for composing happy music in spite of their lives being total disasters. Couldn't a composer who's having fun, fun, fun all the time write sad music? I think maybe so.

(Now on my CD player: Richard Galliano Septet - Piazzolla Forever - a wonderful album, but not fun. Piazzolla's music is never "fun" but he must have enjoyed composing.)

Music Reviews

30 Second Spots - Moment of Coincidence

Moment of Coincidence - an oldie: written August 3, 2005, over three months ago. I have absolutely no memory of what the title referred to. 38 seconds.

My friend Art Jarvinen (whose photo makes it clear he knows the meaning of the word) wrote to say that he thought my pieces were "fun". So I, always the contrarian, picked this piece out of the directory because to me it seems completely the opposite of fun - whatever that is.

Coming soon: more un-fun spots.

Explanation of 30 second spots
30 Second Spots

David's Voter Guide

There's an election in California on Tuesday. If you are:

• not from California, click here
• from California but not registered, click here
• convinced I'm full of shit, click here
• anxious to tell others how you are going to vote, click here

Impartial information on any of the initiatives is here

Prop. 73 - Abortion Notification - NO - if this passes can coat hangers be far behind?

Props. 74, 75, 76 - Teacher Tenure, Union Politics & Spending Limits - NO, NO & NO - Ask yourself does your daily life benefit more from teachers, nurses, firefighters or police than from land developers, investment companies or big corporations? If you answer yes, vote NO. Read about Arnold's agenda here.

Prop. 77 - Redistricting by Judges - NO, BUT the polls say this one is losing big so I feel safe in voting YES. This would try to send my message that the system does need reform (albeit not this reform particularly).

Props. 78 & 79 - Prescription Drugs - NO & NO - competing propositions with big misleading media campaigns are not a good way to decide issues. If you think you must vote yes on one of these, remember "78 was written by big business, 79 was written by consumer groups" - so Yes on 79. (I would eagerly vote for an initiative to restrict paid signature collection which is allowing big money to manipulate our government.)

Prop. 80 - Electricity REregulation - YES (I guess) - California got screwed by DEregulation a few years ago. Prop 80 claims it will prevent another Enron episode. I hope it works.

Politics

California

30 Second Spots - Music For A Three Minute Film About Cephalopods

"Music For A Three Minute Film About Cephalopods" - written on November 2, 2005. My friend Mike Boom (tall person, former oboist, tech writer, mycologist, scuba diver & underwater videographer) asked if I'd write music for a 3-minute film about cephalopods that I presume he's making. "Cephalopods?" I hear you ask.

I told him "No" but I would write 30 seconds of music with that as a misleading title and gave him permission to use it as he wants. Here it is, Mike. Turned out to be 36 seconds.

Does it sound like music for an octopus? (Yeah, I guess, but that wasn't intentional I feebly protest.) (Leave your own opinion on this vital question as a comment.)

Does it sound like music for the excellent Chinese Fried Cuttlefish with Peppered Salt from Fu-Shing that Leslie and I had for dinner. No, that would be going too far.

Explanation of 30 second spots

30 Second Spots

In which Mixed Meters Gets Linked

Thanks to the
American Music Center
NewMusicBox
for linking to here.
Check them out.

In which David Finishes Reading a Book

I don't have much time to read, especially since this blog. Last August I needed a book to help me fall asleep. I snatched Baudolino by Umberto Eco off a pile of Leslie's books by our bed. "The perfect soporific" I thought. I just finished it this week.

Years ago I tried to read Eco's "Name of the Rose". Couldn't do it. It wasn't until I watched the movie that I had any clue of what was going on. I decided then that my time was not worth reading more Eco.

But Baudolino's first chapter hooked me and now I'm happy to have read it.

Baudolino lives in the 12th century: Medieval Crusades, Holy Roman Empire, Holy Grail. If you know reams about that period you will not read the same book I did; apparently there are many historical and academic levels in Eco's writing to which my brain has no access.

I'd call it an epic novel, the story of Baudolino's life. He's good at telling lies and telling them makes them come true. He's also a man of great faith - especially that a kingdom of Christians exists in the far east. His lifelong goal: find it. He says "The kingdom of the Priest is real because I and my companions have devoted two-thirds of our life to seeking it."

In all this I find parallels to our time. Religous belief in "what is written" makes people do strange things now, too. Eco reminds us that history is what the historians say. Is telling history the same as telling the truth? These days people who disagree with our accepted story are regarded with suspicion.

On my flight back from San Francisco the woman next to me saw "Baudolino" and said "It's his best book". Great. But I still doubt I'll ever want to read another - unless I'm having trouble sleeping.

P.S. You could read this review but all his complaints are about things I liked.

P.P.S. The chapter headings in "Baudolino" were my inspiration for the "In which" headings of these blog posts.

Media
Religion

30 Second Spots - Tilting

"Tilting" - written on October 29, 2005. This one has what I consider a surprise ending, especially considering the opening material. The title is a clue to the source of the purloined first two bars.

Explanation of 30 second spots

30 Second Spots

In which David Survives his Most Depressing Sunset

A few friends don't believe this but I keep a very regular daily schedule. Bedtime is usually about 6 a.m. and I wake up mid-afternoon. I'll admit that I've made career choices based on what time I needed to be awake.

Since I sleep through so much of the day, in Autumn or Winter the amount of afternoon sunlight I get is very important to me. Bright sunlight is a great awakener.

By late October the days are noticably shorter. One evil night Daylight Savings Time ends and the clock falls back. That next afternoon is always the Most Depressing. It suddenly gets pitch dark way too early and I have to face two more months of even shorter days.

I have tricks for maximizing my few hours of daylight everyday. What were they? In the far north this must happen to people who sleep on normal schedules. But in Southern California it's my own fault.

Stories
California