Recently in The Arts Category

I haven't written much at all on my blog in the last month or so, and for those of you who come here to actually read it, I apologize. The reason is that I have had a lot on my mind of late, and one of the good things that I have had on my mind, was my preparations for the 2010 Stone Soup Reunion Music Festival, which took place in Barneveld NY, on the weekend of August 7th and 8th.

In January, I got a phone call from my good friend Jeremy, asking me if I wanted to be the Technical Director for this music festival that he and his mother Bronny were planning, for the first full weekend in August. Back in February, I posted a little bit about the event, promising more details in the future, but I guess I forgot to write that post. So now that the event is over, I will write more about it, now.

My duties as Technical Director were basically to be in charge of everything that requires moving electrons. So I had to make sure that we had stable power, and lots of it, a PA system so the musicians could be heard, and a minimal, but workable lighting setup, so that the musicians could be seen when the sun went down. In addition to that, I was also one of the Stage Managers.

Getting power for the event was fairly easy, it only required a trip, and several emails to the fine folks down at a local business called McQuade & Banningan, to rent a few Honda generators. I thought that a five-kilowatt unit, and an eleven-kilowatt unit should do the trick, with plenty of juice to spare. They ended up renting us one of each of those, and they threw in a spare 5K unit, just in case we had any problems. The 5K unit was reserved just for the PA, and the 11K unit was used to power anything and everything on the stage (guitar amplifiers, keyboards, etc...), our lighting setup, and house lighting in the tent.

In the above paragraph, I said that getting power was easy, and it was, but the kicker was that I had to build a custom distribution system to properly handle the power coming from the 220 volt, 50 amp twist-lock disconnect on the big generator. Once I got going building the Distro, it only really took a few days of on-and-off work to complete it.

Once the Distro was complete, I was confident that I had built a small, light-weight, plug-and-play system that would distribute all of the power that we could possibly use at an event of the size that we were planning, and fortunately, that turned out to be the case. On the Friday before the opening day, I began setting up the Distro, and had a small glitch with the main circuit-breaker on the big generator, but a quick call to Bob Bannigan helped me straighten that out, and we were off to the races. The PA guys set up a great system for our venue, and in no time we had a killer sound-check happening. We were ready to go home, and be back for the first performer, at noon the next day.

There is a full list of the performers with links on the Stone Soup web site, so I won't go into great detail about that, but suffice it to say, the music was amazing!

Each of our performers had an hour long set, which I recorded in full, and our crack sound guys were able to change the stage over for the next performers in a matter of minutes, to keep things rolling. We had about twelve or thirteen hours of music performed on the Saturday, and about six hours of music performed on the Sunday.

We did not serve any alcoholic beverages, because the price of event insurance went up considerably in that case. Despite that, anyone who wanted it, brought their own. There was certainly no lack of food on the weekend. People were cooking all day Saturday, including an actual kettle of Stone Soup, and on Sunday morning we had a jazz brunch, with bacon, scrambled eggs, hash-browned potatoes, and some good music.

By six PM Sunday, I was reminded why I chose to stop going on the road with bands, in the eighties. I hate the tear-downs. Yes, everything that we put up for the festival, then had to be taken down, and packed up. Oh man, I certainly don't miss having to do that every weekend, but despite that, it wasn't too bad, and I had all of my stuff taken down in an hour and a half.

As I sit here on my sofa, writing, and occasionally looking at my cat, I am still overwhelmed by what took place. We actually staged a genuine, rock-and-roll outdoor music festival, and everything went perfectly. No real glitches of any kind, no one got hurt, everyone had a fantastic time, and we're already talking about a possible 2011 version.

Believe it or not, it was so cool that I still need more time to process it, and when I have more thoughts, I will write about it again.

If you are reading this, and came to our humble little festival, I hope that you had an amazing time. If you did not attend, hopefully you will, in the likely event that we do one, again, next year.


 If you're on Facebook, you can check out our page there and see the photos.

Hollywood, like any other big business culture, is driven entirely by the profit motive. They often make unneeded movie sequels, when they think they will generate income for the studio. Typically these are films that I do not think need to be made. Additionally, they are rarely films that I would choose to see. Exceptions to this include The Godfather II, and Aliens, the sequel to Alien.

That said, however, there are film sequels that I would like to see made, and hopefully some decision-maker in Hollywood will read this, and consider my ideas.

I was a big fan of the film My Cousin Vinny, and think that if made properly, a sequel about Vinny's law career could be very funny.

I would love to see a short film from John Hughes about the conversation that Cameron had with his dad, upon his return home, after the Ferrari was demolished, in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Another potentially interesting film would be a film about Rose's mother from Titanic, after not being reunited with her daughter, and having to make her way through life.

So how about it, Hollywood? Let's start thinking a little outside the box, before you decide to green-light Rocky XIII or the next Home Alone sequel.

Sunday, was one of those days where I had a lot of psychic coincidences. You know, those cool but coincidental moments when you think about something, and it happens? Well it happened several times.

I had been thinking about Frank a lot; don't know why. When I went to look at my email, I noticed that in one music list to which I subscribe, people were talking about Frank, and his autobiography, The Real Frank Zappa Book, which I had read twenty years ago, when it was first published. I jumped into the conversation, mentioning that I had been meaning to dig up my copy, because Frank had a great quote in there, about people who think they like music. By music, I mean the day to day, pop drivel, that is force-fed to them on the corporate air waves, and music channels. Well, as you can imagine, Frank had something interesting to say about that, and then, someone on the list was kind enough to locate that in the book, and transcribe it into an email for me. Then, later in the day, I turned on the TV and began watching a show called Hot Rocks, on the Science Channel, and the host was in Peru, talking about Inca Roads, and I almost fell off of my easy chair, because Inca Roads is the name of the first song on Frank's One Size Fits All, record. I was being psychically assaulted by Frank, and I don't know why!

This led to one fellow Zappa fan, contacting me off-list, and we continue to have an on-going conversation about Frank, which has led to even more thoughts about Frank, from myself.

Moments like these remind me about just exactly how vibrant Frank was, and how involved he was, in so many areas. He liked to call himself a composer who happened to play guitar, but he was so much more. In addition to his musical talents, he was an astute observer of pop culture, a writer, humorist, social commentator, business man, film maker, and political activist. I'm certain I am forgetting something.

Another thing about Frank, was that he was widely and wildly misunderstood, misquoted, and mischaracterized. Frank would often make racial references in his works, not because he was a racist, but to point out the absurdity and pointlessness of racism, itself, by using racism as a device. People who did not know Frank, also felt free to judge him based on the unusual names that he chose for his children. What that has to do with the price of tea, in China, I will never know.

Thinking about Frank's life, and Frank's death, reminds me that we simply don't encounter people like him very often. People capable of defining, and inspiring a generation. He was one of several musicians and composers who opened my eyes to complex and interesting music. I have many friends, who would say the same thing.

In addition to writing interesting music, Frank always toured with a band full of world class musicians and performed the music, as well. His shows were a kind of variety act featuring music, and all sorts of fun, and absurd nonsense. I had the pleasure of seeing Frank several times in the '80s, and they are experiences that I will never forget.

I am not sure what the point of this post, is, but it sure was nice to go down the Frank Zappa memory lane these last few days.


P.S.

If you're interested in knowing what that quote was, for which I had been looking, here it is:
 

So, if music is the best, what is music? Anything can be music, but it doesn't become music until someone wills it to be music, and the audience listening to it decides to perceive it as music.

Most people can't deal with that abstraction -- or don't want to. They say: "Gimme the tune. Do I like this tune? Does it sound like another tune that I like? The more familiar it is, the better I like it. Hear those three notes there? Those are the three notes I can sing along with. I like those notes very, very much. Give me a beat. Not a fancy one. Give me a GOOD BEAT -- something I can dance to. It has to go boom-bap, boom-boom-BAP. If it doesn't, I will hate it very, very much. Also, I want it right away -- and then, write me some more songs like that -- over and over and over again, because I'm really into music."

Hi folks.

A few years back I went to a holiday party, where in order to go, you had to give in some way. Write something, read something, sing, dance, whatever. But you had to perform, in some way.

I wrote a Haiku. I love Haiku. It's the ultimate form of expression, or poetry, for Geeks, because it has specifications!

Here it is:

Today was our last pottery class for this semester. The last class usually consists of a pot luck party, with a demonstration by the head of the program. Bryan, the current head of the program was not able to do the demonstration for us today, so a few weeks ago it was suggested that local master-potter, Vincent Clemente might do it. I got very excited when I heard that because Victor has been making pottery for about sixty years, and he founded the Ceramics program at the Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute, where I take my classes, in 1954.

Last week I found out that Vincent would not be doing our demo, because a relative of his was receiving a significant military promotion, and that he would be attending the ceremony in our nation's capital. Mother Nature, however, did not want Vincent at the promotion ceremony and dropped about thirty six inches of snow on Washington DC, closing airports for days. So, as I said in the title, Washington DC's loss was our gain, and he was able to do his demonstration for us, after all.

This guy's got chops. What takes me ten minutes to do, takes him about ten seconds, and that is no exaggeration. Over the course of about an hour and a half, he made about six bowls, and a plate, and took the time to slow everything down, and repeat it if necessary, so that we could actually learn. He also gave us a basic decorating and glazing demonstration, and also managed to find an unsigned leather-hard bowl in the back, on a shelf, to do a trimming demonstration, as well.

I feel so lucky to have been at the demo. I was so disappointed when I learned that Vincent would not going to be able to do the demo, and was very surprised to see Vincent in the studio when I got there, today. It is a shame that Vincent was not able to attend his relative's promotion, but hopefully that went well in his absence.

One of the guys in my class is a Director of Photography, and video-taped Vincent's demo, and last semester's demo, which was done by Bryan. Hopefully he will make that footage available to us, because I think being able to view it again and again would be very beneficial.

Ya know, life is funny. I went to see Steve Morse, my favorite musician in the world, a few months ago in Buffalo, and the guy I went with told Steve how much of an inspiration he was when my friend was learning to play. I didn't have the heart to tell Steve this, but he is one of the reasons why I don't play guitar as much as I once did.  He's just too good. Yet when I see world-class potters like Vincent and Bryan work, it totally inspires me and makes me want to practice and learn more.

I don't know what it all means, but what I do know is that I should not ignore it.

It's amazing how easy it is to stray from the fundamentals of any sport or activity, and it's amazing how important they actually are. I have definitely found this to be the case in billiards, but it's amazing how important 'fundies' are to pottery making, as well.

In my most recent class I was having trouble centering and opening the clay. This is a skill that I thought I had sufficiently mastered in my first semester, yet now in my third, I was struggling. I asked my instructor for help and she noticed that I wasn't sitting close enough to the wheel, and that my left elbow wasn't properly anchored against my body. I don't know exactly when my form started to slip so badly, but it probably happened over time.

When working clay, you need to be close to the wheel so that your head is centered over the clay as you are working it. It all makes perfect sense. My left elbow also needed to be locked in against my hip bone so that I could properly apply controlled pressure when centering the clay.

It's good to have an instructor around to keep reinforcing these most basic of fundamentals, because apparently it's very easy to get lazy, and start ignoring them. Hopefully next week my form will be a bit better so that I can get back to actually making things.

Yes, I hate those 'week-in-review' type posts, but I feel like I have to write something both just to write something, and perhaps to shake out the cobwebs.

I've been to three pottery classes now and I've started to learn those techniques that I mentioned in a previous post about pottery, that will allow me to start making more complex shapes like Vases and Amphorae. My first experiment in making a closed shape was very successful, but I chose not to keep it. Next week I hope to make several.

The health-care debate rages on, but now we're at the point where legislators are beginning to introduce Bills. The Senate Finance Committee has rejected the only two Bills proposed that included a Public Option, but fear not, the fight isn't over. There are still ways in which a Public Option can happen, but we need to get on the phones and remind the 'honorable people' that inhabit our Congressional Halls, that two thirds of the people in this United States Of America, support the Public Option.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, since I'm not much of a TV junkie, but in the last two weeks I've really become a huge fan of the Rachel Maddow Show. She's smart, and witty, and she calls out all of the hypocrites who tell lies, or attempt to obfuscate the truth. That's so rare in the media today, that I find it refreshing, and addictive.

Today, Alan Grayson (D, Fla) made me smile with his outburst on the House Floor when he called out all Republicans (and their Blue-Dog Democrat friends) on their opposition to any form of health care reform. I regret his use of the word 'holocaust' in his sarcastic 'apology' that he later made on the floor after the Republicans had called for one, but I agree with everything else that he said. Why aren't more Democrats speaking out like this? Unfortunately his regrettable choice of words has allowed his critics to completely ignore the truth in most of what he said, but instead, to deflect and talk about everything but.

I have mixed feeling about the Fall Season. I love it because it cools off, and the foliage is amazing, but I hate the fact that Winter is coming. Hopefully this winter will be tolerable for me, and some cool things (no pun) will happen. Here's to already hoping for an early Spring.

My best to you all.

Today, I started my third semester learning Pottery at the Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute.  It felt really good to get my hands into the clay again.  I was afraid that after four or five months of not being in front of a pottery wheel, that I would have lost my chops.  Well, the good news is that it's as if I had never left.  I was able to do what I wanted with the clay, immediately.

Lest semester I did nothing but makes bowls.  Bowl, after bowl, after bowl.  Of course repetition is a great way to learn, and if you know me well, you probably have one of those bowls.  This semester I intend to make more bowls, and to learn a few techniques that allow you to close the form to a smaller diameter, so that I can eventually move toward classic forms like Vases, and really classic forms like Amphorae.

I have always loved pottery, and had wanted to learn to do it since I was in the sixth grade.  It took thirty years, but I finally got around to it.  Despite the fact that I enjoy modern technology, one of the things that I love about pottery, is that it is a technology that in thousands of years, has changed very little.  All you need is clay, and heat.  How beautiful and elegant is that?

Last year I was on the phone with a friend late one night.  He had called after midnight because he couldn't sleep, and apparently I was supposed to baby-sit him until he got tired.  I happened to be awake so it was really no big deal.  To entertain him we both got online and I gave him a tour of the MWPAI.  For years I had been telling him about the Independent Film Series that I attend there on Friday nights, and more recently, the Pottery Studio.  He was under the impression that because Utica in a small city, that I went to some backwater podunk theater to see films, and some tiny cellar studio to make pots.  He was quite surprised to see the photos of the facility, and I feel lucky to go there every week to learn, and to work.

Hopefully some day I'll get really good at this.


 (Pictured is the back of the Pottery Studio from the Courtyard looking into the Glazing Room, and below that, some of my pots.)