They Might Be Giants in St. Louis
In 6 minutes the two-week promotional madness for my office should be over.
Like my friends
Statica and
Rascal Stallion over at
Nerd City, I too went to see the polar puke-fest They Might Be Giants show in St. Louis a couple weeks ago. Not to re-tread already discussed ground by them, but I must say that I don’t really consider seeing, no,
surviving that show to be a real TMBG experience.
In my head, seeing They Might Be Giants play live should be like going home to heaven and being welcomed by throngs of socially-awkward, overly-analytical, geeky people with a sense of humor, all singing the same songs. (It’s easy to say this now, but when I first heard the show would be free and outdoors, I was a little uneasy. Never did I envision the Mardi Gras atmosphere and disrespect, of course, but I did think “there’s a chance they might not be playing
for their people- a thought that still scares me as a guy in a band.)
Anyway, I would still like to see a TMBG show in their natural habitat.
Busy
Sorry no updates as of late, my babies. I'm sure you're tired of reading about Adrian Belew's blog.
But work has been soul-crushingly busy.
I'm at the phase of creepily calm, repressed rage with every caller now.
I think everybody in my office has thought about quitting this week.
There's gotta be something better than this.
A New Blog I've Been Reading
You know how there are events in your life that are monumental to you, but when you pull the focus back, you realize that the rest of the world moves on, as if it didn't happen?
Well, that's the kind of news I bring you today. One of my absolute musical HEROES has just recently begun blogging. Adrian Belew, (guitarist for King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Talking Heads, but also damn fine solo artist/songwriter/grand poobah of all things musical), has taken to this newfangled bloggy technology.
Here's the link I check about 7500 times a day to see if there's anything new from his head:
http://elephant-blog.blogspot.com/I would also suggest buying music from his website. If you want help or suggestions I feel more than qualified to steer you in the right direction...
Whatcha' Readin'?
I finished John “I’m a PC” Hodgman’s book
The Areas of My Expertise a couple days ago. His is a very unique literary voice. Never have completely fantastical falsehoods been delivered with such a convincing high style that seems more appropriate for the late 1800s than our 21st century.
And that’s Hodgman’s schtick. He is a master of the verbal deadpan. This is far removed from a book of jokes. I found it to be more
amusing than laugh-out-loud funny. The basic premise is a modern almanac, filled with all kinds of totally useless, (and false) information, like a list of 700 hobo names, profiles of all of the states and some bizarre stories from history. I don’t want to ruin any of it by giving away some of his stuff.
This book I do recommend as one of the smartest, sardonically enjoyable reads in a while.
Juxtaposition
This week I got the Wendy Carlos CD
Switched On Bach 2000 from the library. She has been making electronic music since the 60s and was one of the original users of the Moog synthesizer and made a name for herself by “performing” famous works by Bach on the Moog. In those days, it was a time-consuming process, having to program the synth for each sound and then record each line separately onto a multi-track. This album was recorded about 30 years after her original experiments, utilizing newer MIDI technology, (Musical Instrument Device Interface), making the process a lot quicker.
At first I was a little disappointed that this wasn’t the original album with all those crazy Moog noises. It sounds more “new-agey” than the quirky stuff that was in my head. But two pieces redeemed this disc for me—the ubiquitous
Toccata and Fugue in D minor and the last movement of the
Brandenburg Concerto #3. I had an “a-ha” moment while listening to her treatment of the
Brandenburg. The original orchestration was all strings and I think that choosing from a new palette of sounds is what really makes this process fun for Carlos. Anyway, one of the hallmarks of baroque music is a dearth of cadences—in other words the music written in the era of Bach avoids “resting,” it sounds like it’s just going to go on and on forever, unraveling like a huge paper scroll from a typewriter. And this movement from the Brandenburg is no exception.
At first, I thought that Carlos’ approach is a little unorthodox and anachronistic—taking this music from the 1700s that is close to sacred, (and in some instances
is sacred, or at least it was used for the church), and souping it up with weird electronic textures. But then I realized that in the case of this particular continuously unfolding piece a mechanistic, 20th century treatment is a valid realization. Those unflagging 16th notes kind of sound like robots working to me.
So, even though J.S. Bach would have probably choked on his pudding had he ever seen a robot, I think Carlos’ version of his music is interesting and in a strange way, makes me reflect on Bach’s compositional aims.
Old message, new delivery.
