March 24, 2008
DJ Supergood
I have recently realized the incredible power of my laptop to provide the magic of a dance party. Using Ableton Live software on my MacBook Pro I can mix between tracks and control the flow of music. I have played at two events thus far; a party for kids at The Hootenanny Art House and Blake's Birthday party for slightly older kids. It is an awesome responsibility to choose music for an event but it is well-rewarded with happy dancers. I have enjoyed my opportunities blast the tunes and hope there will be more beat banging in the future.
March 13, 2008
Next To Normal
A friend of mine, Tom Kitt, composed the music for this show about a family dealing with a mother's depression and it is powerful. It is beautifully staged on a three level cross-section of a house and explodes with tension as the six actors and six musicians play with emotional intensity. It feels like a great use of music, which can provide soaring highs and wicked lows, to tell a story. Depression is a frightening illness and is also incredibly difficult to understand but art has a way of explaining what words cannot. They are just wrapping up a run at 2nd Stage Theatre, but the response there has been very positive - some groupies have seen the show 20 times - and it will certainly have life after closing.
I have been very fortunate in my life to have never had a serious bout with depression. Many close to me have experienced very dark times in their lives and I hope to never sink there. I have been taken care of in my life to a large extent; my family provided all essential goods and services to keep me healthy and thus I was able to grow up into a well-adapted human adult (with an amazing wife!) Beyond basic necessities, I think making art has kept me sane more than anything else. I make art because it makes me happy and because music exists.
March 10, 2008
Eliot Spitzer
Asshole. Today he apologized for his solicitation of prostitution. The best that can be said is that he accepted responsibility and apologized; the worst is that he is a lying, cheating scumbag. I trusted him to make good decisions and do what was best in his role as governor. Having seen him attack Wall Street cheaters (and even prostitution rings), I thought he had the morals to pursue justice. Turns out he is even worse than those guys I don't vote for because I know they don't stand for good-- Spitzer is the ultimate Decepticon. It is especially distressing to me because I feel cheated and robbed of hope that one day politicians like him would change our country for the better. He has alienated us even more from our own government.
People make mistakes; we should forgive Eliot the human for his sad double life. Eliot the politician, however, is done.
March 5, 2008
Stumble Upon
The web is limitless resource for ideas and entertainment, yet my experience surfing it has barely gotten my toes wet in the ocean of content. Sometimes, I will follow a link someone has sent me to a new discovery, but it remains rare to see something truly new and exciting. And then I stumbled upon stumbleupon.com. This site offers a constantly expanding archive of amazing web sites in every imaginable category and comes as a convenient toolbar add-on to your browser that randomly sends you to sites based on your chosen preferences (music, art, politics, technology...). I have been especially loving the vast assortment of achitechtural brilliance out there. It doubles as a social network so you can check to see what sites your friend has enjoyed. Spend 10 minutes stumbling through the links and you will be amazed at the intelligent and creative uses of the internet.
Here is a jam from this past weekend, playing bass with Jeremy Kaplan on drums and Ben Pell on guitar. Basement Jam.mp3
March 2, 2008
Trip
Alaina and I bought tickets for a nice little summer trip, travelling to Guatemala for two weeks of Intensive Spanish classes, then flying to Lima and spending a month in Peru and Bolivia. It is time to travel again. Experiencing new culture makes me wise; it stirs me and moves me deeply, enriching my "home" life forever. Studying abroad in Italy was my first real taste of travel and my life was changed. I knew there that my next trip would be to West Africa where I met people and heard music that epitomize true beauty. Alaina and I took my truck around the US and posted videos we made along the way in a blog before I knew what a blog was. Two years later we took trains around Europe and when we got married, our honeymoon was spent in Asia. All of these experiences have contributed greatly to my character but there is still SO MUCH MORE TO EXPLORE! I know, sadly, that I will never see the whole world, but I will do everything to make the most of my limited opportunities, and so we embark on our next voyage of discovery.