Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts

8/4/10

On the Proper Invocation of Infinity

I love Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. I know the screenplay by heart. On command, I can recite the dialogue of the entire film from beginning to end.

The movie came out in 1985. I was 8 years old. The following scene practically documented a rhetorical technique popular among me and my peers - the "I know you are but what am I/Infinity" technique:



"I know you are, but what am I?" has devastating potential far above that of the more retrograde "I am rubber and you are glue" in that it invites the person against whom it is invoked to further mockery. Couched in terms of an existential crisis of identity - but what am I? - it is actually a blunt instrument of schoolyard verbal jujitsu.

Francis: You [Pee-Wee] are crazy.
Pee-Wee: I know you [Francis] are [crazy], but what am I [Pee-Wee]?
Francis: You [Pee-Wee] are a nerd.
Pee-Wee: I know you [Francis] are [a nerd], but what am I [Pee-Wee]?
Francis: You [Pee-Wee] are an idiot.
Pee-Wee: I know you [Francis] are [an idiot], but what am I [Pee-Wee]?

Francis, deemed through this interchange to be not only crazy but also a nerd and an idiot, changes tactics by employing "I know you are but what am I?" against Pee-Wee. After five repetitions of tandem volley of the phrase, the coup de grâce:

Pee-Wee: Infinity.

Now and forever, Pee-Wee knows that Francis is an idiot. Devastating.

"I know you are, but what am I" is, as previously stated, a blunt instrument. The invocation of "Infinity" is more of an art. How many tandem repetitions of "I know you are, but what am I?" should there be before the invocation of "Infinity"? There are no hard-and-fast rules, but surely after one or two repetitions "Infinity" would not be appropriate. Perhaps after three, under certain circumstances. The danger of waiting too long is that your opponent may validly invoke "infinity" before you do. Fortunately for Pee-Wee, his adversary seemed unaware of the "infinity" aspect of the "I know you are, but what am I?/Infinity" technique.

When I was eight years old, I rarely was that fortunate.

6/19/10

Nostalgia Times Two

If I remember correctly, it was early Fall of 1999. My friend Tom and I had been feeding each other a steady supply of new and interesting music. This was back when you still often had to special order CDs and records through the hip record store, or order out of catalogs. There seemed to be a real sense of discovery to every new album ... you had to kind of work for it. Tom was getting me into some really great music. I hope that I did the same for him.

That early Fall we drove from St. Louis to Columbia, MO to see Olivia Tremor Control at the Blue Note. At the time he was dating a girl who went to the University of Missouri and was involved with the college radio station there. We rolled into town and tuned in the college station. They were playing Elephant 6 stuff all day long in anticipation. The show that night was one of the best I ever saw. For the next several years it was practically all Elephant 6 all the time for me. That whole Elephant 6 "Magical Mystery Tour" ethos remains a big part of me. There was something sort of Millenial about it ... like a big pot of 20th century popular music and images all juxtaposed and mixed around. I always go back to it when I feel bored or dissatisfied with whatever I am listening to at the moment. It's nostalgia times two, I suppose.

And so why haven't I seen this yet?

6/18/10

Bescrabbled

I ratcheted-back my Facebook activity a couple of weeks ago. My reasons are not unlike the reasons of the author of this essay.

Instead of filling that Facebook void with contemplation or productivity over the last two weeks, too much of my energy has been spent here. My experience with internet Scrabble was turning into Lisa Simpson's experience with crossword puzzles. So, today I deleted the ISC interface from my computer. It was like flushing cigarettes down a toilet.

3/29/10

Cherokee Soundtrack

This April (and as usual these days), several streams come into confluence on Cherokee Street. How gratifying it will be to serve a small part in the confluence.

This past November, I went to check out this place on Cherokee Street called Stirrup Pants. It's a poetry chapbook shop (open for business on Saturdays), and a space for readings. My friend Maggie runs the place. There was a hint of stinging winter chill in the breeze that afternoon, but when I walked into Stirrup Pants I felt nothing but gentle and exuding warmth. I hung out with some great folks, most of whom are affiliated with or related to the Washington University creative writing MFA program. The conversation was relaxed, but not idle. Like a lot of the hanging out lately on Cherokee Street, this was hanging out with a purpose.

I started to attend the readings put on at Stirrup, and met some really great folk. One of the great folk I met is Heather. She runs a reading series called "Exploding Swan." I love that name. For the December edition of the series, Heather recruited my friend Jaffa and I to play some music. I composed a little 10-minute piece - minimalist type music for me on trombone and Jaffa on this reed keyboard and on xaphoon. We performed it at Heather's house for the reading. It seemed to have gone well.

Still another great folk I met through hanging out at Stirrup Pants is Eileen. She teaches at Wash U and works at their Kemper Art Museum. In December, the Kemper had this exhibit of chance art. Eileen put on a free chance aesthetics poetry workshop at the Kemper, complete with free lunch. I went primarily for the free lunch. (Wash U's loaded, so I knew that it would be a good lunch.) The lunch was, in fact, good. The workshop was, in fact, even better. I took away from the workshop two ideas that I have been contemplating ever since. The first idea comes from chance aesthetics' sublimation of the ego. Chance aesthetics often stand for the proposition that art can (and often should) be made not from within the artist's "soul" or even consciousness, but from the artist receiving the material outside herself or himself. The second idea comes from chance aesthetics' necessity for structure. There are always rules or protocols to follow in chance aesthetics. Often the method is the substance, and there must be a method else there will be no pleasing result or construction. Neither of these ideas are new or novel, but both of them are currently embedded in my brain as an approach to musical composition and performance. These ideas also coincidentally related well to the musical group in which I spend the large balance of my time.

I am in a musical group called the Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra. One of the big things that we do is compose scores and then perform them live to silent films such as F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu or Buster Keaton's Go West. Ideally, we want the audience not to realize that there is a live band playing to the film, or even for the audience to consciously register the music that we're playing. We're secondary to the film, and we compose our scores with that in mind. The idea is not necessarily to respond to the action on the screen, but to complement and support the visual narrative's present mood. Not only to be unseen, but also in a certain sense to be unheard. (Talk about sublimating a performing musician's ego!) There are also real rules and protocols to the music. It is entirely composed. There are very few improvisational moments. Each sound during a 90-minute film is planned. We think that this compositional approach brings about the most pleasing result for the audience.

The Archive is a new & used bookstore that just opened up on Cherokee Street. I attended their grand opening this winter, and found at least a dozen little gems that I hope are still there when I have some money. Like Stirrup Pants, The Archive is a really warm and inviting place full of warm and inviting folk. Authors are coming there from around the country to read and discuss their books. A lot of the authors have written books about localism. Like many businesses on Cherokee, the store also serves as a space for visual art and musical performance. (There's a really nice piano in there.) One of the people who owns and operates The Archive is Mike. Mike's also a film maker. Mike, too, is fascinated with and a big advocate of localism - in what and how we eat, in what and how we are entertained and express ourselves, etc., etc.. Mike's especially fascinated with the co-existence of and interaction between the urban environment and the natural environment. He believes that exploring this relationship between the urban and the natural is a key to creating vibrant and sustainable local urban community. He's kind of on a mission.

Mike made a short film called "Chicken and Waffles." The film documents the raising of three chickens, their slaughter, their preparation, their frying, and their consumption (with waffles) by people. The chickens were raised in the city, slaughtered by people in the city, prepared by people in the city, cooked by people in the city, and consumed (with waffles) by people in the city. It's kind of a how-to manual on localism. Mike filmed the big chicken and waffle cookout at Artica. Artica is this art and music gathering every year on the Mississippi River waterfront - one of those areas where the co-existence of and relationship between the urban and the natural are readily apparent.

This past Winter, Mike asked the R&P MPO to write and to record the musical score and soundtrack for "Chicken and Waffles." This is another big thing that we do, and we happily obliged. We usually record and perform music with very classical and folk influences. Mike asked us to do something with a more heavy rock influence. Again, we happily obliged. We're all former rock musicians, and Mike afforded us the opportunity to scratch a latent itch. The premiere of the finished product is at The Archive on April 6.

Also this past Winter, Heather asked me whether I would compose an R&P MPO piece for the Spring "Exploding Swan" reading series. A really great poet by the name of Zachary Schomburg is coming to town to read at Stirrup Pants. Zach has read to musical accompaniment several times before, and he really enjoys it. There's a group of musicians and poets here in St. Louis called Poetry Scores that records musical accompaniment to spoken word. It's an idea that really fascinates me and that I secretly always wanted to try ... spoken word as melody. Another happy obligation. Another latent itch scratched.

When Zach comes to town on April 14, he'll read selections from a 72-page epic poem he wrote called "Viking." It's about a young man who leaves Earth for Mars, then spends his middle age on Mars, then returns to Earth. When the man returns to Earth, he finds Earth now made of glass. The form remains the same, but the substance now is different ... translucent. I am composing the piece in a way that I hope complements and supports "Viking's" narrative arc. The piece uses just 5 tones: C,D,E,Ab,Bb (e.g. the "form" ... the "rules"). Whether the hero is on earth Earth, Mars, or glass Earth dictates the composed chordal colors derived from the 5 tones (e.g. the "substance" ... the "ego sublimation"). The musical accompaniments to earth Earth and glass Earth will have the same form, but a very different substance. The musical accompaniment for Mars will be similar to Earth's form and substance but just enough different, too.

So ... on Cherokee Street this April, a confluence of ideas, aesthetics, fascinations, missions, form and substance.

Here's hoping that the soundtrack will complement and support.

Movie Night featuring "Chicken and Waffles"

Tuesday, April 6
8 PM
The Archive
3213 Cherokee Street

R&P MPO Accompany Zachary Schomburg

w/ David Weinberg and Jaffa Aharonov
Part of the "Exploding Swan" Reading Series
Wednesday, April 14
8 PM
Stirrup Pants
2122 Cherokee Street

Stirrup Pants http://stirruppants.blogspot.com/

R&P MPO http://www.theratsandpeople.com/mpo.html

The Archive http://www.archivescribe.com/

Zachary Schomburg http://lovelyarc.blogspot.com/

Poetry Scores http://poetryscores.blogspot.com/

12/7/09

"Autumn Leaves" is one of those songs that you play so much when playing jazz that you forget how good of a melody it has. The original French lyrics (translated into English in this clip) make it even better.

12/2/09

What if on a random day you would open up a random door on a random building and walk into this?

After our totally fun and awesome show Saturday night we were talking about Matthew Lesko. He's that free government money guy on TV who wears the question mark-covered suit and gallivants about the National Mall. He has a kind of Schweig Engel ethic and aesthetic. I was thinking that there is a certain kind of advertising where the message boils down to:
I care so very much and so intensely about you purchasing this product because you need it immediately and it is so important for you to purchase it that I will don a ridiculous outfit and behave as if I am mentally disturbed if that is what it takes to get you to purchase it.
There are people who approach courtship this way as well.

11/28/09

Tonight at Off Broadway, the Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra accompany F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu with a new and original score. Also performing ... Catholic Guilt and the May Day Orchestra.

Read more about the R&P MPO in the RFT.

11/24/09

This, in my head today.

11/18/09

The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past.

11/6/09

Quite nice.

For some odd reason, inspired me to read this.

11/4/09

Though this video montage of Fox News' breathless coverage of NY-23 is meant to be a kind of sad trombone directed at the losers, it's illustrative of the fact that the Tea Partiers are not some kind of sua sponte grassroots movement of the disgruntled but rather a well-coordinated, well-funded and top-down organization. Dick Armey and his crew run the political side while NewsCorp and its crew handle the communications side. They lost NY-23, but they're likely to get better.

11/3/09

It is election day today in some places. New Jersey and Virginia elect governors. NY-23 elects a new member of Congress. Nate Silver writes about the state of the GOP brand in all of these places.

The NY-23 race must have given pollsters fits. Tea Party-backed conservative insurgent Doug Hoffmann appeared to have a slight plurality lead over both moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava and conservative Democrat Bill Owens. This weekend on my way to Nashville I heard on the radio that Scozzafava dropped out. I figured that she got the push in order for the vote not to be split, which would raise a real possibility of a Democrat occupying a seat that has been Republican since like 1850. I thought wrong. GOP former-candidate Scozzafava endorsed Democrat Bill Owens. Now nobody has any clue what's going to happen today. How many Scozzafava supporters will now support Owens? What will turnout look like in general? Every pollster mapping and following this race is in the dark.

Adding to the NY-23 circus is a kind of proxy war between national elements of the hard-right and the soft-right of the GOP. There are even bestiality jokes a-flyin'.

Most polls of the New Jersey Governor's race show a dead-heat between incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine and GOP challenger Chris Christie. Independent Chris Daggett pulls in about 8% of the vote. It seems that every cycle New Jersey looks poised to elect a GOP governor but then it does not pan out. I'll believe it when I see it. Corzine has a huge war chest and a genuine get-out-the-vote operation crucial in close elections. President Obama is making direct appeals to the Democratic base on radio and television on behalf of Corzine. I think that Corzine will have just enough to squeak by to victory. Still, the amount of corruption scandals in New Jersey and consequent anti-incumbency feelings among the NJ electorate should not be underestimated. If I were a betting man and this was a horse-race, I'd take Republican Christie because the pay-out would be better on the odds.

Virginia reprises what for me is its role as the national battleground (see here, and here). Perhaps 2008's biggest coup for the national Democrats was winning Virginia in the presidential race. A Democratic Virginia breaks the back of any GOP victory coalition. While Virginia has elected Democratic governors of late, it appears as if Republican Bob McDonnell is poised for victory. Republicans are smart to push McDonnell as a 2012 presidential candidate. Virginia is crucial to any Republican presidential victory, and having a native son at the top of the ticket could pull the Commonwealth back into the Republican column three years from now.

And if that's not enough election stuff for you, this is on tonight:

10/30/09

Tomorrow, we go to Nashville and debut our new score to Nosferatu in the evening. Happy Halloween.

Each score written and rehearsed means watching each film one thousand times. I start to love or loathe certain characters for their quirks. I feel like I become familiar with the actors and actresses in a very odd, intimate way.

Then I remember that these are very old movies. Probably all of the actors and actresses in them are long since gone. Even the child actors would be at least in their late nineties. But here they all are on film, alive and beautiful. It is bittersweet.

10/29/09

Why are American soldiers in Afghanistan? To what end are they dying? When will their mission be accomplished? Honestly, I have no idea. The whole situation looks to me more and more like this.

10/9/09

Josh Marshall:
This is an odd award. You'd expect it to come later in Obama's presidency and tied to some particular event or accomplishment. But the unmistakable message of the award is one of the consequences of a period in which the most powerful country in the world, the 'hyper-power' as the French have it, became the focus of destabilization and in real if limited ways lawlessness. A harsh judgment, yes. But a dark period. And Obama has begun, if fitfully and very imperfectly to many of his supporters, to steer the ship of state in a different direction. If that seems like a meager accomplishment to many of the usual Washington types it's a profound reflection of their own enablement of the Bush era and how compromised they are by it, how much they perpetuated the belief that it was 'normal history' rather than dark aberration.