| Harold Carr | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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home :: music Mon, 28 Feb 2005Flavia and I returned from San Francisco last night. I was there all last week at the Sun Engineering Conference. Flavia arrived on Friday. On Saturday night Flavia and I, along with Venus and Chiara, went to concluding Other Minds concert. It started with Charles Amirkhanian interviewing the composers. The first piece performed was John Luther Adams' Selections from Strange and Sacred Noise. It started with four percussionists each playing a small tom-tom. Two of the percussionists were on the stage, the other two in the balcony. Unfortunately for us, we were also in the balcony above them. So we heard all the sound below us. I imagine it would have been great to be on the main floor and hear some sound from the stage and some from above your head. The percussionists switched to gongs. That was my favorite part. It was a treat to hear such sustained whooshing sounds and overtones for an extended period. Next the percussionists all gathered together on stage to play four xylophones. This is were I feel asleep. But, for me, falling asleep is not necessarily a sign of a boring work. This time it was a sign of satisfaction of the preceding gong work. I took a break during the xylophones. Adams' piece ended with all percussionists playing very large bass drums. Once again, a joy to hear something not readily accessible. The next piece was Evan Ziporyn's Melody Competition. This was a pentatonic "festival" pitting two teams of percussionists against each other - moving between stages of togetherness and separation. The evening ended with Billy Bang's Selections from the Vietnam Trilogy. I haven't attended Other Minds for many years now so I was surprised to hear a more traditional mostly modal jazz band play. I wondered how the audience would react. My question was answered with loud applauses after solos. It was interesting to see, in the same evening, the contrast in performers stage presence - from the formal, somewhat self-effacing manner of the more "classical" performances of Adams and Ziporyn, to the loose, walk-around-the-stage, get-down style of Billy Bang. Ultimately I prefer the Bang approach, although I did think his body motion was a bit insensitive during the solo piano piece. This was the first Other Minds (or any "alternative" music concert) I've been to where I liked all the pieces. Our blue haiku partner, Phillip Bimstein, was in San Francisco too, explicitly to attend the entire Other Minds festival. Thanks to him we went to the after-the-concert party at film maker Henry Rosenthal's converted warehouse house. His house is 5 floors of fantasy. Kind of a bizarre museum/playhouse around Stevenson and 6th street (a dangerous neighborhood). We walked from the Yerba Buena center to the party, meeting and talking with Tom Steenland, of Starkland records and Stephanie Nugent, a dancer on the faculty of UC Santa Barbara who danced with Ririe-Woodbury in Salt Lake for several years in the early 90s. At the Rosenthal house we were met at the entrance by young punks - literally - some nice young people with great hairstyles and clothes. They escorted to the freight elevator and up to the 5th floor. On the way up you get a peek of each floor as you pass it - a wild menagerie of shells, tools, skulls, bugs, flying toasters and more. The main party took place on the top floor - great food, drink, desert with original Warhol and Lichtenstein on the walls. After eating and chatting amounst ourselves and others we wandered the building a bit - running into baseballs signed by Babe Ruth, James Brown's desk, two-headed stuffed animals and a 58 Pontiac next to the billiards table. A fascinating home. I spoke briefly with Charles Amirkhanian, the Other Minds director. We reminisced about the time Jimmy Miklavcic and I "performed" with I Wayan Sandra at Composer-to-Composer in Telluride, Colorado. Charles seems to be aging well. He seems distinguished and accessible. I watched him relax around the party. He did not seem to stick with the "important" people there. Instead, he made his way around the home and seemed to be open to all. Who knows, but he did seem relaxed. |
Syndication: Science and Technology: haroldcarr.net
Recent Pictures: 2007-12-07-08-Gwyneth 2007-12-11-Gwyneth 2007-12-17-Gwyneth 2007-12-19-Gwyneth 2007-12-20-22-Gwyneth 2007-12-24-25-Christmas-with-Gwyneth 2007-12-24-Gwyneth-and-Harold 2007-12-25-Julian-and-Gwyneth Xmas in Portland with Gwyneth
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2007-12-11-12-Antwerp-Belgium Antwerp, Belgium
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2007-08-31-Bountiful-Peak-with-Suni Bountiful Peak with Suni
2007-06-24-07-01-Zurich-Rapperswil Zurich and RapperswilI presented at jazoon in Zurich
2007-04-29-red-rock-rondo-zion-park-laura-bush/ Red Rock Rondo (and Jasmine) in Zion Park (with Laura Bush)
Red Rock Rondo performed at the rededication of the nature center at Zion National Park. (Note: after we agreed to play we learned that Laura Bush would speak. Although we disagree with her husband's policies, the fact that she is spending a week with friends hiking in Zion Park is a good thing.) 2007-03-15-21-argentina buenos aires
1996-spring-CowdaddiesAtBarrySchollsWedding Cowdaddies in Torrey, UtahWhile rummaging about old photos I came across these pictures of the Cowdaddies playing in Torrey, Utah in the Spring 1996 at Barry Scholl's wedding.
1976 Inside/Outside Inside/OutsideAnother blast from the past. Sherm Clow sent me this picture of Inside/Outside, a group I was in back around 1976, featuring Merrill Clark, leader, composition and guitar; Brenda (Gibb) Vincent, violin; Divya Prem (Dan Gaard), drums; and me on electric and acoustic bass. I think this picture was for our performance at the Hansen Planetarium.
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