Monday October 13

Recovering from weekend with my sis!  Had a great time with her and her so-cute Schnauzer, Elwood.

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Went to 2nd Ave Pizza this evening to see TravisH and SaundrahH play in Tableland.   What I heard sounded nice.  1st song was in 7, and being that 7 feels as 'normal' and natural as 3, 4, 5, or 6 to me, I was grooving along.  Nice films/video to accompany their set as well.  Also, great to see my old friend Sasha Parks and her bf-riend after a long-ish break too.   Looking forward to hearing their new music project if and when it finally goes public.

Later: Letting go. 

Reminded of an old saying my first calculus teacher said that stuck with me and is part of how I approach problem solving.  "If a problem is too easy, you won't do it because it is too easy.  If a problem is too hard, you won't do it because it is too hard."

If something is too easy or hard, it is probably the wrong problem. 

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Tuesday October 14

Lunch with old MSN friend and photographer, Ted Grudowski, at Redwest today.  Ted has landed a great job at MSN, and he deserves it.  Many years ago we worked on an MSN project called RIFFF together.  Now, seven years later, we both seem to have landed in good places.   

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Wednesday October 15

SGC rehearsal at Phinney. 

One theme that has characterized my group work from the beginning: I would rather play with 'beginners' who know how to have fun any day than play with 'accomplished' musicians who can allegedly play, but who have no idea how to really 'play' with people. 

These people know how to play. An encouraging evening. 

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Thursday October 16

A long, hard, stressful day that began on top of a fairly sleepless evening; one of those nights where problems are still being solved in my brain while your body is working to rebuild itself. Attempted to engage in a social evening, but I just did not have the energy or gumption this evening.  Sometimes it is just best to rest and regroup. 

Plus: big day tomorrow at work as my team reviews our work of the past year or so with some big-wigs.

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Friday October 17

This is not bragging or self-hype.  Just the facts 'mam: I am good at my job.

My old boss and now Windows UX Product Unit Manager, HillelC, thinks I owe him dinner at el Gaucho based upon a bet we made a few months ago.  Now that was a crafty move on my part, eh? 

My little pieces of Longhorn UX remain on track.  And we passed a major milestone for our little audio/video User Experience team.  With flying colors.  Nice to get external validation (esp from some v. smart people, like Hillel, Piero, and Mike) that what you have spent the last two years doing has value.  

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SGC rehearsal this evening at Phinney.  GregM, SandraP, JoelP, LeeS, AndrewB, Warm up then a close look at the details of our repertoire for our show on Sunday evening.  Have I mentioned how optimistic I feel about next year based upon my work with this 'new' team? 

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Saturday October 18

Calisthenics with AB and JP followed by electric SGC rehearsal at Phinney.

I mentioned this last week, but after this eclectic rehearsal, I'll say it again: One (perhaps) obvious suggestion for live shows (really for any situation where you, the guitarist, are being heard, observed, or otherwise playing in public.)  Here is a simple recommendation:

When you play, make sure what you are playing SOUNDS GOOD. 

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Mail today from Michael Peters in Germany commenting on my sad and stagnant pick history pages and ongoing lack of GC picks.  

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Dinner with work pal, John Canning and Leslian Carbary.  Great people, good food followed by a trip to see "Kill Bill" - a mildly-violent new Tarantino classic.  

John recently bent over backwards to try to get ''Electric Gauchos" in the spotlight at the recent Windows Media Center Edition 2003 launch. 

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Sunday October 19

SGC show at Town Hall as part of a special baby-naming celebration hosted by Greg Meredith.   Overall, a nice evening with some great music provided by GregM and Stephen Golovnin's electric project ("Froth"), the SGC, StephenG's incredible marimba ensemble "Tingara" and Yeke Yeke.

The SGC set included one of the best live Group Loop performances I've heard to date.  Each player came up with excellent complementary parts on the spot and we managed to circulate duos, modulate up and down, and deliver dynamics circulations all as part of one rockin' Group Loop.

The rest of the performance was spirited and honorably played.  This is turning out to be a good group of players. 

For me, hope returns for the SGC.

* * *

Oh oh,... minor rant on the way:

When Guitar Craft (or the SGC, or any group) devolves into a formulaic series of rules, spewing lore based on historical precedents, blind rote flurries of  dissonant and harshly attacked 16th notes played on plastic guitars, and riddled with  bad-vibe-inducing restrictions that stifle the muse, I am out the door and ready to go work with absolute beginners again.

I'd rather work with an inspired beginner who can barely play a note and who know nothing about GC than a room full of hyper-critical, depressed and depressing, fripp-worshiping, fripp-fearing, neurotic, aphorism-droning, Crafty clones for whom nothing is ever good enough.       

Wow, harsh.   < apologies - please don't take any of this personally if you feel like I'm speaking to you. >

But for me, repeating the past is not an option.  And developing (or playing with) a stable full of neurotic, floor-staring guitar drones is not on my agenda.   <Anymore.>

Robert could get away with this in 1985-1991.  It was new.  It was his own.  And most of all, it was innocent and pure.  

Everyone, raise your right hand and repeat after me: "Guitar Craft is not a cult.  Guitar Craft is not a cult.  Guitar Craft is not a cult." 

We do engage in some esoteric and somewhat elevated practices from time to time -- but in the end, it is very simple, practical stuff:

1. cultivation of presence
2. cultivation of musical and technical prowess
3. cultivation of integrity 

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home

Monday October 20

Mail from TravisM today - he's heading back to the West Coast to visit a friend who has just received some bad news.

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Tuesday October 21

Oh I soooo did the right thing this evening.  A very long day at work was followed by an evening at Town Hall for the 2nd Sound Current's Composer's concert featuring two old friends: Scott Selfon and Nate Grigg.  This entire evening was one of the most inspiring events I've been too in a long, long time.  Great music written by local composers with international talent, performed superbly by local musicians. 

The highlights for me, the piano/vocal piece by Ben Hogue, the two string quartet and flute pieces by Scott Selfon, and the delightfully rocking Earth Wind and Fire played by Steve Reich piece by Nathan Grigg.

The music was wonderful.

Afterwards, I had a chance to spend some time with some more old friends including Tim Root, Beth Grigg, Andrea Witgens at the post-show Secret Waffle Party at Ben's place.  Some delightful and dangerous conversations with Tim, Andrea, and Beth about the power of online diaries, porn-esque band names, and post 11pm nutrition. 

Apparently, Beth is still keeping her online diary up to date too.

The conversation was so earth-shattering that Beth's waffle found it's way to Ben's carpet.  Hmmmm, speaking of porn-sounding poetic implications....

Great to catch up with Andrea and empathize with her "I can't not do this" genetically-programmed musicianship.  Also nice to hear about her upcoming tour with another old pal, Carrie Clark along with Vince and part of the Sugartown band.    

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Wednesday October 22

Email from BillB who is coming to Seattle for one day in a couple of weeks. 

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Also, an old familiar voice speaks up again on an old familiar theme. Thanks to TravisH for forwarding:

"Commentary: Todd Rundgren
The music industry veteran argues that the labels have mishandled downloadable music.
 
Musician Todd Rundgren is known for such 1970s pop hits as "Hello It's Me," but his wizardry as a producer, music video pioneer and explorer of computer technologies is legendary in the industry. Since 1998, his recordings have been underwritten by PatroNet, a subscription service that gives his loyal fan base online access to works in progress.
 
Music is a sacrament. This has been true for thousands of years of human history, save the last 100 or so. I'm sure it was not Edison's purpose to debase such an important aspect of our collective liturgy, but what would one expect when something that was once ephemeral and could only be experienced at the behest of other humans is reduced to a commodity on a shelf.
 
The mechanisms of music, how and why it affects us the way it does, are still mystical even to a cynical older record producer like myself. Anyone who denies the depth and power of this medium has simply forgotten, in the face of the relentless Philistine argument, that all things can be commoditized regardless of their sacred origins -- that all music is worth exactly what the RIAA says it is.
 
Most musicians who have enjoyed any success under this model are in an ethical bind: On one hand, you may believe that your survival depends on effective marketing of a commodity; on the other, you realize that your truest expressions are being trivialized to fit properly into a prealloted space. How many times have I heard the argument, "Love the record, but we don't hear a third single -- back to the studio"?
 
I must remind my fellow players that for the vast majority of history we have only been appreciated for the quality of human expression we could produce at the moment. Great performances were only memories in the minds of those who witnessed, each unique except perhaps for the calliope at the local merry-go-round which was, of course, a machine.
 
The plain reality is that, except for a few notable aberrations, musicians will always be more appreciated, certainly in a financial sense, by live audiences than by labels and the listeners they purport to represent. The seemingly quaint idea that recordings were promotion for great performers is no less true today. Ask Phish.
 
Ask also whether, as a musician, you ever believed the RIAA was actively protecting your interests until they got into a fight with their own customers and started using your name, your so-called well-being, as justification. And when the customers became skeptical they became the enemy. And to follow the RIAA's logic, customers are therefore the enemies of musicians. Let us ignore the fact that if you ever got compensated for your contribution, it would have been because your manager and lawyer (and many before) forced the labels to recognize your labor in financial terms.
 
The reason why the RIAA comes off as a gang of ignorant thugs is because, well, how do I put this -- they are. I came into this business in an age of entrepreneurial integrity. The legends of the golden age of recorded music were still at the helm of most labels -- the Ertegun's, the Ostins, the Alperts and Mosses by the dozens. Now we have four monolithic (in every sense of the word) entities and a front organization that crows about the fact that they have solved their problems by leaning on a 12-year-old. Thank God that mystical fascination with the world of music has been stubbed out -- hopefully everyone will get the message and get over the idea that the musician actually meant for you to hear this.
 
The RIAA protects musicians like the musicians union protects musicians: They reward hacks and penalize those outside the system. The labels are not making this stink out of principle. They are not interested in the rights of musicians who don't sell any records for them. That myth was exploded when Warners dropped Van Morrison for "lackluster sales."
 
This stink is about a bunch of dumb-asses blaming the public for doing what the labels could have -- and should have -- done 10 years ago. I know because I told them so, each and every one individually and relentlessly: Put the music on a server so you can deliver on-demand services to people's homes. Seems so stupidly simple now.
 
After nearly 40 years in this business I know who my friends are. I know it isn't the labels who lost interest in my "fringe audience" decades ago. It is that fringe audience who still await any recording or performance I may come up with despite the RIAA trying to drive some symbolic wedge between me and my listeners just because their ass is in a sling. Don't do me any favors.
 
Audiences and musicians are on the same side. Musicians come from the audience (unlike record execs who come from the ranks of failed musicians). We experience together the mystical sacrament that a musical performance can represent. Additionally, we will be comfortably if not handsomely compensated by that audience if we can deliver a suitably affecting performance with some regularity.
 
It's time to let the monolith of commoditized music collapse like the Berlin Wall. Musicians can make records if they feel like it, or not. Wide open pipes are ready to transport us, mainstream and fringe alike, into the ears of an eager audience who appreciates us and is more than willing to financially support us. Get out of the way if you can't lend a hand because ... you know the rest by heart."
 
Published Oct. 22, 2003   

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And this just in:

----- Original Message -----
From: "TravisH"
To: "SteveB"
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2003 8:27 PM
Subject: Sanford P on TV

He was on a King5 show this evening, hawking his cardboard pods and playing a little dobro.

TH

Cool!

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Thursday October 23

In a class again all day. I'm surprised how great this class has been so far. V. practical. 

Call from John Lapham late in the day looking for Charlie Hewitt's cell phone number, which, of course, I have at my fingertips.  John mentions Getty stock closed abover $42.00 today.  Nice to see him doing so well.

Email today from Pablo Mandel who is (finally) coming back to Seattle for a weekend in a couple of weeks.   Many visitors coming in the next few weeks.  Ferny coming too in about a week.  

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Wow - a wonderful night out on the town. First, extremely stimulating conversation on Capitol Hill followed by a visit to an intimate performance venue/art gallery that may be a great host for future SGC/SBRS shows.  Opportunity to play for an opening there in early November too. 

Then, a trip to St. Clouds to see Sugartown and intense schmoozing with old friends Sue and Carrie, and the band.  Received excellent coaching from Tobin's 'friend' Kim about body language, signaling, and lust-channeling. 

I was reminded how easily I fall in love with raw talent this evening. 

Swimming in satisfaction, hope, and smiles.

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Friday October 24

Another day in class -- some good insights that I wish that I had had a few years ago; might have saved me some painful learning.  Another confirmation that, despite the apparent freedom-stifling formality of classroom education, there is real value to be gained in a classroom environment. 

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Evening plans pleasantly interrupted by a phone call from Sacramento with news that Nick Gavalas would be showing up at the Seattle train station with no place to stay at 10pm.  A minor adjustment to plans, and I'm off to pay back generous hospitality from 17 years ago.   Nice to hear Debbie's voice on the machine and Erkie's voice on the phone. 

Plan is to fill Nick with a morsel of food and put him to bed so he can be up and to the airport for his 7am flight.  Then I'll be off to Calisthenics, sitting, Beginner's Circle and an SGC afternoon show.  

Should be ready to pass out by late afternoon.

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Saturday October 25

A full day of SGC activities.  Calisthenics and sitting chez Sandra.  Then Beginner's Circle at Phinney where a new piece (FiveSpot) delivered itself to the four of us there.  Then, quick lunch followed by SGC rehearsal for a roving show at 3pm.

Debut of new piece FiveSpot, on the day of it's birth

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Sunday October 26

Another alleged day "off."  Ha!

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