I will be sitting in the Keswick Theater watching the 40th anniversary celebration of the Beast,
King Crimson.
I'm psyched! Early reviews of the 2 shows at the Belcourt in Nashville are already in. The sound clips of the rehearsal sessions are just whetting my voracious appetite for seeing the masters at work.
I attended another Barcamp event, Startup Camp. This one was held at the Texas Union Building at UT. Well attended and very interesting.
Steve Hazel of bit-torrent fame, gave a very interesting talk on codepad and his application engine. Also much discussion of Co-ops, as a business structure. Much to ponder.
On two separate occasions this week, I observed buzz surfacing about things that I had experienced for the first time about a quarter ago. I am beginning to wonder whether there is something significant to this 3 month time period.
I participated in this on a lark, while SxSWi was going on in force and really enjoyed the experience.
Birds of Feather (BOF) sessions have always been popular at Technical Conferences, and I've always felt that these were typically the most (and sometimes the only) valuable parts. Running an entire conference as a set of BOFs seemed to be a next logical step.
Then last year, I heard the Java Posse describe their Roundup, during their Podcast. It was the first time that I heard the words Open Space and Unconference. I was a little surprised then to see Seth Godin propose the idea a few days ago. He is usually one of the earliest adopters and has appeared as a TED speaker (which is at least in the right neighborhood). Needless to say, I think Open Space will begin to make inroads everywhere.
In an equally odd and coincidental fashion, I started seeing tweets and blurbs on Bob Lefsetz's site talking about Live from Daryl's House. This show was heavily marketed at SxSW Music this year, and I agree that it is amazing. I've been watching it regularly since first hearing about it. I am somewhat amused by the fact that I would have never considered my self a big Daryl Hall fan in the past.
The timing of this seems to indicate a pattern. BTW, check out the recent episode with Nick Lowe and Daryl!
I think the confluence of people and ideas here in Austin during SxSW, is a major catalyst. I don't believe that it's the breeding ground, but it is certainly a place where you can first observe the early adopters using new things in the wild. Of course, there's a jaded part of me that has tended to scoff at the value of SxSW, because some parts of it seem so commercialized (and political). The impact of the event seems obvious now.
This has led me to the conclusion that I should continue to keep my eye on certain new things in the Tech Industry. Right now, I am fascinated with the Ruby community and what is being done with cloud computing, github, and heroku. I'm sure they will be very prominent at Bar Camp Austin IV.
I received an email from Graham Reynolds early last week, about his Golden Arm Trio show at Emos, on thursday night. Since I happened to be attending the Live Music Task Force meeting at City Hall, I decided to stay downtown and catch some music. After grabbing some food at Best Wurst, I headed over to Emos, for the first show I've seen there in probably 7 or 8 years. I arrived at around 10:15 and the first band was already playing:
were already on stage. The Tom Waits influence was obvious. They were all good musicians, but this type of music just doesn't work for me for longer than about a set.
This is about 4th time I've seen Graham play this year, and this time he was using essentially the same lineup that he did at SxSW, and included an AMF friend, Wayne Myers on trombone. For this smaller show, Graham brought along his own console piano. He also opted not to play drums, and had a very exceptional drummer instead. Great job, Graham is quite demonic sometimes when he plays. The crowd was surprisingly into them, and expressed their enjoyment freely.
Firewater finished up the night. I had missed them at SxSW, and it was obvious that this show was a result of their trip here in March, and they had a minor buzz. Their base sound is an offshoot of Ska and Dub with an injection of some other world music. I enjoyed the show, as did everyone present. The band played superbly.
Two individuals stood out in the band in addition to leader Tod A, Reut Regev on Trombone and Flugelhorn, and Dhol percussionist, Johnny Kalsi.
I had originally planned on cutting out early during their set, but decided to stay until closing time after I had heard them play. I'll be keeping an eye for them in the future.
I attended a Master Class
given by famed Brazilian drummer and percussionist, Airto Moreira, last Sunday (6/8/2008) at the One World Theater. Airto is famous because he played with Miles Davis on Bitches Brew, and was involved in the seminal beginnings of both Weather Report and Return to Forever. It's too bad that Chick Corea couldn't have had him sit on some dates with that tour.
The Master Class was free and afforded all present an opportunity to peak inside the mind of the artist. It consisted mainly of him talking, with a little bit of singing and playing intermixed. It was a little bit different than the other Master Class I had attended there with Terry Bozzio and Pat Mastelotto, which consisted entirely of a performance and very little talking
I was unfortunately unable to attend the show later that night, but my friend Fito did. He enjoyed the show but mentioned that Flora Purim was not present (even though advertised) and they did not have guitarist.
Bo Diddley passed away today. What can you say? He's an icon and a member of the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame.
Just think about the number of songs that use the Bo Diddley beat
. Too many to count, it's part of Rock n' Roll's ancestral DNA.
Additional information here.
I attended the kick-off show of the Return to Forever Returns tour, at the Paramount Theater. I was quite surprised that it happened in fact, given some of DiMeola's and White's previous comments that the obstacle to a reunion was Chick's religion.
The evening started at the New Amsterdam bar with friends who are mostly musicians and heavy Prog/Fusion fans. We had also gotten together at a Memorial Day BBQ and watched DVDs of RTF (and other fusion bands), as a pregame. After speculating on what the show would entail, we trekked over to the Paramount which was almost sold out.
You could feel a general sense of excitement within the crowd, as they anticipated the show to come. As I took my seat, I noticed that the soundman was playing Tony Williams' album, Believe It (nice choice). I was probably right at the mean age of the crowd, so there were lots of gray ponytails in the audience ;)
I was sitting 6 rows back and 3 seats in from the aisle, on the left with DiMeola and Lenny White directly in front of me. The show began fairly promptly at about 8:10PM with an unusual touch, the band received a standing ovation before they had even started playing. I think this helped them immeasurably, and they appeared to all be in good spirits, as a result. At times, they even seemed quite emotional about it.
All in all, the show consisted of 2 sets lasting 65-75 mins, with an intermission and a 2 song encore. I think the whole thing came in about 2 hours and 40 minutes. Understandably, the first 3 or 4 songs were a little rough around the edges, before they settled into a good groove. I estimate that the house sound wasn't properly tweaked until later in the first set.
I should mention at this time, that I had seen every member of this band except Lenny White, as solo acts. The last time I had seen DiMeola, I didn't really enjoy it that much. I knew Lenny White was a bad-ass though, you don't replace Tony Williams in Miles Davis' band if you aren't. I am not familiar with the RTF catalog with this lineup, since all of my RTF albums have Bill Connors, not Al DiMeola. This didn't detract from my enjoyment of the show, in this context everyone shined.
The songs were all arranged, but there was a good deal of improvisation, even with DiMeola and Clarke using charts. There was enough nervousness on the part of the band, to make the solos interesting and feel honest. I am convinced that if I had in fact returned to see the Friday show, it would not feel like a replay of the night before.
For the second set, they went all acoustic with DiMeola on a nylon string, Clarke on upright bass, and Chick on a Yamaha grand. This was really special. DiMeola's and Chick's playing is almost frightening at times.
Surprisingly, a full account of the show was posted on the website before noon Friday. It includes a Set List and photos. I took a few additional photos with my iPhone.
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| Return to Forever |
If possible, I was thinking I would like to catch this group after they had been touring for a few months, just to see what they sound like. Other than that, I enjoyed this night of music immensely. I have also reconsidered some of the things I said previously about DiMeola.
Last night, I had the misfortune of watching the Spurs lose and drop into a 3-1 hole, in the Western Conference Finals. It would have been more palatable if it weren't for the ending of the game. Brent Barry was obviously fouled, and should have went to the foul line.
On a positive note, 24 hours from now I will be sitting in the Paramount Theater watching Return to Forever. I can't wait!
As some of you may know, I'm half Lithuanian, originally from Baltimore, and a big Frank Zappa fan. As a result, it isn't too hard to imagine why that this article caught my eye, in google reader.
Two questions arise:
I wonder if my Zappa predilection is genetic? It seems that I will have to plan a celebration on August 9th!
I trekked down to the Long Center to catch Graham Reynolds and Brannen Temple perform as a duet. Unfortunately, I arrived about 15 minutes late to see them already at work. I estimate there were about 70 people in the audience.
The stage had an interesting layout with a Steinway Grand, 2 drum sets, a vibraphone, and assorted make shift percussion strewn in front of Brannen's kit. Both musicians moved very fluidly between the various "stations" during the show, which lasted approximately 75 minutes.
Some of the highlights ...
I really enjoyed this show, as well as my first venture inside of the Long Center. The music was great and the acoustics were fantastic.
My only criticism: the show was too short!
I was invited to a Thank You party as a result of participating in Art City Austin a few weeks ago. It was held on the grounds of the Art Museum of Austin (AMOA) at Laguna Gloria.
The main reason I'm posting though is to get one up on Mikael Behrens! I see his Pelicans, and raise him some Peacocks!
Well my Orioles are presently sitting in 2nd place, but for how long? This is the first year in a long time, that I have not purchased MLBTV. I'm treading around this softly, like there's an open container of Nitro nearby. Shhhh ... don't jinx it!
In other news, the Spurs are up 1-0 over the Suns in the first round of the NBA Western Conference playoffs. Damn the 2:00PM start time to hell, it sounds like I missed one of the best playoff games ever. (At least for Spurs fans).
Brian Davison, drummer for Keith Emerson's first band, the Nice, passed away on 4/15/2008. He also played with the band Refugee, with another keyboard wiz, Patrick Moraz.
Like many prog
fans my age, it didn't take too long to discover the Nice, after learning about ELP. If you have never heard the Nice before, then let me suggest the albums Five Bridges and Elegy (the two of which has been re-released in a single package, as Keith Emerson with the Nice).
As a result of volunteering to help the Austin Music Foundation man their booth, I obtained an all access pass to the Art City Austin and Art After Dark events, downtown on South 1st Street around City Hall. It's events like this that make living in Austin great.
Arriving late Saturday afternoon, I crossed the First Street bridge which had been closed to traffic. Over the last 50 yards or so, the bridge was sparsely populated with shrub/sculptures that looked like humans. (Way cool!) The weather was outstanding!
I arrived at the booth around 5PM and discovered that I had missed the Octopus Project again (Doh!). I was however, able to watch Del Castillo do their sound check. They played a very solid set that I estimate ran about 90 minutes. I agreed with several friends that this art oriented crowd seemed more concerned with the party inside City Hall and the after hours viewings. This was too bad, these people missed a very good show.
On Sunday, I arrived early to catch part of Guy Forsyth, walk some of the exhibit tents and booths to view the sculptures and paintings, and then move further down to the other stage to catch Opposite Day and my friend Ric Furley's band, Mundi. Both bands were great, Opposite Day was a great Power Trio, who were probably a little too loud for the mixed age crowd.
I would hazard a guess that almost everyone enjoyed Mundi, a 5 piece with Ric on Drums and Percussion, bass, cello, violin, and acoustic guitar. I will have to it point to see Ric's other project, Sabbath Crow.
The day wound down with a Conjunto type of band from Denton, Brave Combo. Good musicians, but not really my cup of tea. On the way out, I was surprised to see that someone had erected a temporary hedge sculpture on the 1st Street Bridge.
This is the third time I've seen Tim Fite and side-kick, Dr. Leisure, perform. Since he evokes memories of Andy Kaufman, I really enjoy his act. It took about 15 minutes for him to win the crowd over with his zaniness. (A little longer than the other times that I've seen him).
If you've never seen him and get the chance, do it!
I was tentative about going to this show, because in the past I have found some of Claypool's music to be repetitive and annoying. His band looked interesting enough with 4 players on sax, marimba/vibraphone/percussion, drums, and bass. Unfortunately, my worst fears were realized, and were combined with bad lighting, bad sound (the sax player may as well have not been there), and inaudible vocals.
I estimate that he played about 2 hours, but I found myself wanting to leave halfway through the show. A large part of my irritation was Claypool's sound selection. I don't think I will be going to another Claypool show for a good long time.
Over the past few months, I have tried to talk several friends into going to see the U2 3D movie at the TX History Museum IMax Theater. With this being the final week of showing, I said screw it and went by myself. All of the reviews I have read said this was not to be missed.
I enjoyed it immensely but it wasn't quite what I expected. They still use stereoscopic technology, so the glasses were required. Unfortunately, a calibration problem at this facility resulted in some images appearing with pink shadows or halos rather than a sharp 3D image. Perhaps it was better in other parts of the theater, although I'm not 100% convinced of that.
In general, U2 is a great live band. They are always tight, have an excellent song selection, and look like they truly enjoy being on stage. This was captured on the movie which from the credits appeared to have been derived from two shows, one in Argentina, and one in Australia.
The biggest disappointment for me was the camera angles. In some cases, like the shots of drummer Adam Clayton, they did a fantastic job. In other cases, however the 3D effect didn't work that well. U2 is very fond of using large light displays behind their stage. In many cases, this seemed to distract from the 3D effect.
Bottom line: If you haven't already seen it, I would still recommend that you go. This is obviously the future of entertainment. There is more to follow ...
Well, I saw an albino squirrel today, and took these 2 pictures as proof. I tried to get closer, but the little critter was pretty cagey, and suspicious.
The final day, and the weather is still holding up. In fact, I'm wearing shorts
I would have liked to have stayed for the Alan Parsons panel at 3PM, but was on the hook to go watch my friends in Proteus and Coalition play at the Hi-Lo.
Here are 2 pictures of Proteus in action:
Jazz Timewhile setting up.
A third straight day of fantastic weather, what could be better.
I attended 2 panels.
I was very annoyed at the typical rhetoric against the Free Market, from some of the pundits on this panel. If I hear another lawyer arguing about how government saves us, I'm going to puke.
Tim Fite Hostsshow at Antones. Bear In Heaven was the first act, after a humorous intro monologue by Tim. Finding no honey with these bears, I left.
I finished the night catching 3 fantastic shows at St. David's Church. This is officially my favorite venue.
toys. A former guitarist who came up with career ending tendinitis, he turned to making music in non-traditional ways. I would fail miserably to describe what he does in words. (He does for Music, what Tim Burton does for film). He was joined by an equally amazing Human beatbox performer for several songs. This show totally blew away some of my previous conceptions about live musical performance and instruments. A must see, if you ever get the chance. He lives in Brooklyn.
D Madnessfor a while. Now I know why.
Not putting the deSoL show on the right day in my calendar.
