Here are a few songs from the rehearsal on September 16th, for the trio-concert at Villa Montalvo in Saratoga. These are quick rough mixes that we used to memorize the changes in the set. The snare is a bit too loud and you might notice several mistakes, but I like the energy. In September Dave commented on the trio-version of Heart Still/Beating: a modern mellow version of Cream. Actually, that was some of our inspiration – the old rock trios of guitar, bass and drumkit.
During the first 24 hours, songs from Under the Rose were downloaded more than 9,000 times and as I am posting this, early Thursday Morning, the number has risen to 17,000. That’s a nice start. Roshi Joan will include a link and description of the album in the next Upaya newsletter.
The last rehearsal went well, and we came up with a set list. Morning Arrival in Goa is back in the set, Sao Paulo gains a new end-section with killer drumming, the new, and still unnamed tune will be performed, and we might do Serenity on Ultracloud… lots of new sections and changed grooves – killer groove for Heart Still/Beating:
Mercury is in retrograde. Backup yer computers. Get Canton’s retrograde widget here. This widget for Mac OS X helps you from being surprised when the planet Mercury “goes retrograde.”
File under oddity or sign of the times: I just bought the three CD set of A State of Wonder by Glenn Gould. Indeed wonderful recordings of Bach from 1955 and 1981, for $15.98. The mp3 album is $24.99. Nine dollars difference, and the mp3s cost MORE…
The Morning light is coming up and I have to get going. Must pack…
Rode the Mariachi Bullitt to an early breakfast with Jon. Discussed video games. I bought a Playstation ten years ago and played a few games, but it’s been gathering dust for years. Video games just don’t seem interesting to me. When talking about this subject to another friend over lunch last week, he said that maybe the technology just needs to be taken further. I said that there are two separate issues I have with video games.
The first issue is that one basically plays the same scene over and over. One gets better at that particular scene, of course, but so what, it’s too narrow of an experience. Let’s say there is a bike-messenger video game versus a bike-messenger racing through a real town. In the video game version the truck on 46th street will ignore the stop sign every time, so watch out for him… in real life you’ll never know what the truck-driver will do so you’d better be prepared. The video game rehearses one particular set of events, while life is full of surprises…
So, my friend said, well, they just need to create more variations, so that you play a different scene every time. True, I answered, but there will still only be x-possible variations, unless we get to the point where the computer can actually re-write the scene every time – like generative music. And, this is my second issue, I still won’t smell the tar they are cooking to fix the potholes on Eight Avenue, or the perfume of the woman who just crossed the street, and I won’t feel the breeze on my face or the steam from rising up from grates on the street.
So, why would I play a bike game, rather than riding my bike?
Video games seem to solve that problem by creating game-play that enables the player to do stuff that would otherwise be punished by society, e.g. stealing cars, killing loads of people etc… Hm, that also does not sound the least bit interesting to me. Want to study fighting, go to a karate club?
When I discussed this with Jon, I suddenly thought of a game I would want to play. I am currently reading about the adventures of the eunuch Yashim Togalu in Istanbul in 1836. It would be lovely to have be able to walk through a 3D rendering of Istanbul circa 1836… But, who else would want to see that!???? And it would be less of a game and more of a moving map. Hm, like Google Earth with more detail and a time button…
Then I started thinking about whether there is an advantage to rehearsing a specific scene, the undulations of a race course for example. I would love to know how big an advantage a race-car driver who did 10, 50, 100 laps around a course in a video game would have against a second driver who hasn’t played the video game, if they are both racing around the same course in real cars. What would happen if the second driver had a head start of 10 test-laps on the real course, while the first driver did 20, 50 100 virtual laps before racing? Again, real race craft is more than knowing the race course. It’s being able to judge how wide one’s car is, knowing how to deal with a new oil spot in the third turn, how to escape an out-of-control car coming too close etc.
Good rehearsal with the band. Recorded all of the new arrangement-bits. Then packing for the tour.
Rode the Mariachi Bullitt, loaded with my guitar and a bag, to Atlas for a workout and then to Jon’s studio for a rehearsal with the quintet. Band sounded great, a very nice step forward from the last tour. Now that everyone knows the music well, we can work on improving the arrangements and that’s what we did.
Rode home in the afternoon and did a phone interview with the Easthampton Press for our concert at the Westhampton PAC in May.
The dates for Autumn in Germany are firm now – all solo:
Oct 03 – München, Germany – Carl Orff Saal
Oct 04 – Leipzig, Germany – Spiegelpalast
Oct 06 – Berlin, Germany – Kleine Arena Tempodrom
Oct 07 – Hamburg, Germany – Stage Club
Oct 08 – Hanover, Germany – Markuskirche
Oct 09 – Köln, Germany – Kulturkirche
Go here to see links to the venues. There will be three to four shows in Italy and Austria before Jon and I roll into Munich.
Current reading: The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin. After reading about Inspector Shan in Tibet (here, here, here and here) and Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep in Bangkok (here), I am now reading about the eunuch Yashim Togalu investigating crime in Istanbul in 1836. Lovely, to be entertained while learning something about foreign places. At one point Yashim makes a paste out of walnuts and garlic that he puts on fish. I want to try that with tofu or grilled chicken.
If you have to push helmets for bicyclists… at least do it like this. :-)
Please remember to add friends@ottmarliebert.com to your email-address book as I will be sending out a new password for May this week. Wouldn’t want to lose the password in your spam filter.
Rehearsal 10:00-13:30 and then packing up and transporting gear. Band sounded good, but what’s really exciting is the potential of this group. These two drummers work very well together. It’s always a gamble, putting two drummers together – some make a great team, some don’t. (((not unlike setting up somebody for a blind date)))
Jon recorded every piece we have worked up for this tour, so we can each listen to the arrangements and memorize them on the two-day bus ride to California. Stevo and Jon kept commenting that much of it sounded like an album and I have to agree. Maybe we should record the band for our subscribers after the Summer tour – live in his studio.
In the meantime we should have a few pieces we can release as free Ottmar-Friends downloads… probably with a few warts (mistakes), but with a pretty nice feel.
Overall a great second day. The second day of rehearsals is often a let-down from the first, but not so this time. Now I have to pack…
Fantastic gift from a friend arrived today. Beautiful book. Unfortunately too big to bring along on this tour.
Oh, and it looks like we’ll be adding Rome and Vienna to my October Solo shows. Six shows in Germany, one (maybe two, but the routing might not work) in Austria and two in Italy. All in a row, one day off in Berlin.
