Sunday in Manhattan

02010-05-03 | Photos | 11 comments

The evening before I left Santa Fe I noticed that the first few blossoms had appeared on the cherry tree outside of my kitchen. By the time we get home, my Sakura – cherry blossom season – will be over. Well, since Santa Fe had more snow this past week and a night-time temp of -4ºC (24-25ºF) was predicted for last Thursday, there might not have been much to see…
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Two shows are behind us, we have five to go. We would have liked to play a few more shows in row, before having a few days off, in order to internalize the music better, but routing can’t always be perfect. I will enjoy our three days in Manhattan.

We enjoyed dinner at a Thai restaurant two doors down from the Boulton Center in Long Island on Saturday evening. Very good food – should you find yourself in that area.

A couple of photos from Saturday. The mic-preamp for the guitar microphone:

View down from the entrance:

The set list felt quite good. I was a bit nervous for the first show… a lot of parts and arrangement details (((esp. where the live arrangements differed from the recording))) had to be remembered, but am quite pleased with the performances. We perform 17 songs and 65%, 11 of them, are from the new album. In fact we basically play the new album, plus a selection of earlier pieces.

The Subkick microphone on Michael’s kick drum is working well, and I think the pre-amp on the guitar-mic is making a difference.
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We received the 24/88.2 double-data-CD HD FLAC packages of Petals On the Path a couple of days before we left Santa Fe. At first we planned to bring them on this East Coast run to sell, but then I hesitated. If just one buyer decides to upload the entire album to any of the file-sharing networks, the album would be available in better-than-CD quality seven weeks before the official release. And even IF a person has the best of intentions, when an album they want to hear is ONLY available from P2P networks it’s perhaps too much to hope that they will either resist the temptation, or buy the CD later, when they do become available.
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Drum history! Check out this old drum kit. Michael told me those are worth a lot of money now. The hi-hat was called a loe-boy then.
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Well-worded article from the Guardian, reblogged by Robert Fripp here, on the state of music-sharing and leeches like Chris Anderson from Wired Magazine. I’ll quote the same section Robert Fripp highlighted:

It may be true that if you’re Radiohead, you can make money by using free downloads as publicity for live tours; or if you’re Chris Anderson, author of Free: The Future of a Radical Price, you can give your book away and make your money giving lectures about it to businessmen. But not all of those who make their living from intellectual property are in such a position. And there’s an ambient thuggishness in the way the market for creative work is being distorted by theft. Good Cop benefits enormously from Bad Cop’s existence.

The traditional narrative of Bad Cop, as far as teenagers are concerned, is this: record companies are big, complacent, greedy, corporate and hidebound; filesharers are spunky, innovative, buccaneering, libertarian. Therefore the record companies deserve to be ripped off. The fault lies with them for failing to realize that their “business model is broken”. This is generally said with a palpable tone of satisfaction.

But what of the artists and song-writers? Do they deserve to be ripped off, too? Even those on major labels will be on a meagre enough royalty. Apparently, it serves them right for signing with a record company, rather than self-publishing. Don’t they know that that business model is broken?

Well, it’s broken because people are breaking it. The fact that you consider something too expensive is not a justification for stealing it. It’s a justification for not buying it. But in none of the arguments have I come across anyone who has properly explained why illegal filesharing is OK. And if it’s not OK, why should its effect on the market be welcomed with a wink?

Thanks for the link, SM, who added:

Now this essentially echos what you have already written in your journal, but I thought you’d like to see it.

Indeed. Jon’s favorite sentences:

The fact that you consider something too expensive is not a justification for stealing it. It’s a justification for not buying it.

So true, so true. It’s not medicine that is too expensive and you can’t live without, it’s music! Me, I dig the first paragraph.
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Jon told me about an interesting article regarding the music biz in the Atlantic Monthly, and we will look for it online.
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Arrived in Manhattan at 11:00. Since the rooms were promised to be ready at noon we walked across the street and had breakfast/lunch. Then another hour-long wait in the lobby, for which we all received a free day of wireless internet access. View from my room:


Amazing places one cannot see from street level – a house built on top of an older building:


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In the late afternoon I walked from 77th Street to Soho, had dinner (((Thai Muslim Curry and a Mojito))) at Kelley & Ping and decided to walk back. In total I walked 160+ city blocks, about 9 miles. Legs and body were fine, the soles of my feet a little tender…

11 Comments

  1. Eric

    This public radio station should be promoting your show. Perhaps give them a high quality CD to play a song or two, build interest, sell more CD’s from your site. Many artists will stop in during their tour and play live in their studio.
    Sure there is an affiliate in NY…
    http://xpn.org/

    Reply
  2. steve

    “If just one buyer decides to upload the entire album to any of the file-sharing networks, the album would be available in better-than-CD quality seven weeks before the official release.”

    It’s really too bad that this has to be a concern, but you are absolutely right. A darn shame though.

    Reply
  3. Panj

    Thanks for the info and pics…that house on top of the building was amazing…walking 9 miles after dinner more amazing…:-))
    God Speed to you All…

    Reply
  4. Brenda

    Few years ago, my church hosted a youth group from New York City, and the youth were amazed to see a home with a front yard, backyard,sidewalks of green grass, trees, and I still remember how they ran and played on the lawn barefoot at our state capital. When we live in abundance of a resource, we learn to be thankful when our eyes are opened to ingenuity of the resourceful attitude of “where there is a will there is a way” as the house on the top of the building. Were you “barefootin” in Manhatten Ottmar? ;-)

    Reply
  5. yumi

    Poetically speaking, wouldn’t it be great to imagine if the Sakura awaited for your return with late cherry blossoms still in bloom, delaying the lunar early summer arrival?

    Such brevity.

    Reply
  6. LindaW

    Yumi, you might be right I have not seen any Cherry trees losing their blossoms yet.

    The thought of a loved tree waiting for the return of it’s Gardner is poetry indeed!

    Reply
  7. Brenda

    Sad News printed in daily Charleston paper of May 5th 1923 that LUNA PARK http://www.mywvhome.com/luna.htm which is on the West Side of Charleston, yes same street as Old Fashion Ice Cream Social. Just a little history. :) I just made the connection. We are currently researching with Historical Preservation as a new West Side District to yes, name, Luna Park District.

    Reply
  8. Adam Solomon

    77th St – you weren’t at Cafe Frida by chance were you? :)

    Reply
  9. Boris

    Hey Adam, is Cafe Frida where we had lunch back in 2005?

    Reply
  10. Ottmar

    Adam, yes I was. I went for lunch on Monday and it was very good.

    Reply
  11. Adam Solomon

    Boris – yes it is!! Ottmar, I think I heard about it from you actually, a while back, and I agree, the food is great. It’s right by the Museum of Natural History where I was working back then so it was very convenient….

    Reply

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