(a bassist’s point of view)
The professor for my astronomy lab course had a big beef with astrology. In his mind, there was no greater insult than to mix the two up and citing some realm of astrology about the science of astronomy was a sure way to get on his bad side. I hence-forth, kept my mouth shut about it, but I disagreed then as I do now, that the two subjects have nothing to offer each other.
Read MoreOne of the most frustrating parts of music right now is not being able to sing together. It’s hard to join in when the other person doesn’t hear my voice for 3 seconds after theirs.
A friend of mine once said, “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus.” I think we are all a bit bored right now. But don’t worry. The versus are important. It’s hard to know how good it is to sing together without having a story to share once we get into the crowd.
Read MoreThis is a true story. I think coincidences happen. They do, or we wouldn’t have that word. However, this was so random and specific that I suspect my neighbors overheard the conversation. Whatever the cause, the fact remained, my wish had been granted. I pulled, from the refuse, a broken and battered 1984 Electra-Westone, rusted out hardware, with a fingerboard coming apart from the neck, and no volume knobs. This beaten bass guitar looked like I felt. It looked like it would never play again.
Read Morethe experience of dubstep and dance are almost inextricable. I feel like the physical representation of the music is so fitfully intertwined, that without it, it’s only half the performance. The dancing is this imitation of digital motion to digital music that is an imitation of human endeavor. The beauty of this partnership is amazing to me, and I’m forever grateful that it re-awakened my love for music.
Read MoreIt makes me feel like the hard rockers of the late 20th century had it easy. Assisted by powerful amplifiers and percussion technology that provided top-of-the-line innovations in acoustics, it’s a wonder that they didn’t receive more noise complaints. They actually seem kind of lazy, if you think about it. What a bunch of slackers!
Read MoreAs ironic as it may be, May 5th might just owe its success to Corona after all, but it doesn’t mean we have to listen to beer commercial music and forget all the amazing sound that makes Mexican music as much a joy to listen to as Blas Galindo did for me today.
Read MoreIn short, I will leave you with this: In the beginning, there was one ring tone, because there was only one phone, and we worshipped the one phone. As we began to build bigger and more amazing technology for the phone, we began to hear the voice of God, and ye, we worshipped the almighty Justin Timberlake of NSYNC so that we could spread the word of Nokia, and all its glory.
Now here is a song made entirely of Xerox printer noises. Go now, and Apple be with you.
Read MoreMuch like N.W.A. or Elvis, its easy to just listen to the song and head for the rocks. For me, I think I might not have given up my life as a sailor for Carmen, but after listening to her voice, I surely would have given her a dance. Apparently for the siren, there are some that we learn to run towards, some that we run away from, and some that are meant to be enjoyed while drinking your morning coffee.
Read MoreA flute, played by the first program, lead us down the road to the computer, and recorded sound. And hence, the Facebook Livestream. If ever there was a more fascinating story about the “Pied Piper”, I’ll never know,
With that, I give you John Corigliano's Pied Piper Fantasy from February 4, 1982, which I admittedly may have chosen because the composer’s name sounds like “Corgi”, despite the silent ‘g’.
Read MoreFun fact, in Mozart's day, we still hadn't made it common practice to have what we traditionally think of as 'conductors'. We didn't develop, (as one of my professors characterized), "The art of standing on front of musicians and waving sticks at them to get them to cooperate" until well into Beethoven's time, and even then it was marginally helpful at best.
Read MoreZig-a-zig-a-zig it's the Rhythm of Death!
Death at midnight playing a dance tune,
Zig-a-zig-a-zig on his violin.
The winter wind whistles and the night is dark.
The winter wind whistles and the lime trees moan.
Weird white skeletons streak across the shadows
Running and leaping wrapped in their shrouds.
Zig-a-zig-a-zig the dance grows even wilder
You can hear the eerie clatter of the dancers' bones
But wait! Suddenly they all stop dancing.
They scatter, they vanish for the cock has crowed.
