(no subject)
So it's time for another update...I feel like writing a long one today.
Sunday, Aug 9 - I took Jen to see Mike Keneally and Bryan Beller at a tiny event hall in Braintree, MA. It's been over 5 years since Mike played a solo show in New England, so I was extremely pumped for this.
Mike is absolutely one of my all-time musical heroes. His music is magnificent, whimsical, powerful, absurd, and all played with the kind of incredible musicianship that's apparent in all Zappa alumni. Guitar World once compared his playing technique to watching a Simpsons episode - "you wonder how so many ideas can be compressed into such brief, beguiling choruses". It's really something to behold.
Him and his bass player Bryan played two sets, which covered stuff from his 1991 debut "Hat" through to his 2004 record "Dog", a Beatles cover, and an incredible read-through of the FZ staple "Inca Roads". The crowd was small, maybe two dozen people, evenly split between die-hard fans and those who seemed to wander in off the street. This made for some frustrating moments as the non-fans gabbed through the more intimate tunes, but they either got the hint or left by the second set.
During intermission, I went to the merch table to say "hi" to Bryan and Mike. I was thrilled when Bryan remembered me from a gig five or six years back! We talked about Berklee and his new solo record, and he invited me to a show of his in Manhattan next month. I also got to speak to Mike a bit about his upcoming record with Andy Partridge of XTC. I was giddy all night from being able to speak with them.
I came home to find he posted a video on youtube for the song "Hallmark", off his upcoming record Scambot 1. It sounds gorgeous to me, and seems to reach back to the charm of Dancing or Wooden Smoke, my two favorite records of his. Check it out! I can't wait until this record is out.
Thursday, Aug 13 - Jen and I flew to Orlando for a few days, so that I could meet her family and see where she grew up. Stepping off the plane, I was immediately pimp-smacked in the face with the burning heat of a thousand suns.
We first met up with her friend Amanda, who I'd met last month during her stay in Boston. Her boyfriend Igor was with her, who is a composer at USF, and a really interesting guy. We geeked out about modular synthesizers and recording software over dinner at Downtown Disney. Outside of the restaurant was a hot air balloon ride! We stood in line for 30 minutes or so and were then lifted 400 ft in the air above Orlando. The balloon was tethered to the ground, and the ride was short, but it was still exciting, and a nice quick way to see Epcot without having to "see" Epcot. We topped this off with some ice cream, and then headed back to the airport.
On the way, I got a text message about Les Paul's passing. He lived an extremely long life, but it's still sad that such a legend has passed on. The early multi-track singles of his with Mary Ford are still some of the most incredible recordings I've ever heard. Listening to "Lover" or "How High The Moon" today is a unique experience - they're simultaneously relics of a simpler sweeter time, but still sound space-aged, futuristic, leagues beyond what's capable. You can hear the excitement in Les' playing as he slows down the base track while overdubbing, and then feel the sense of discovery when bringing it back up to speed to reveal impossibly fast guitar lines. The man was to recording and guitar playing what Bill Gates or Steve Jobs is to modern computing - a complete revolutionary and totally deserving of any accolades he's received.
Last February, Jen and I got to see Les Paul play in Manhattan at the Iridium Jazz club. He was still doing weekly gigs at 94 years old. His fingers had slowed tremendously, but his charming demeanor was there, and he obviously loved to still be up there playing. I'm glad I got a chance to see him before his passing.
Anyways - once at the airport, I met up with Jen's family and waited for her sister Catharine and her husband Evan to arrive from New Mexico. Everyone was friendly and welcoming, and obviously very happy to see one another. We all went out for a big family dinner at Denny's, where I experienced the daily thunderstorm that I guess is common to Southern Florida in August. After that, I saw the house she grew up in, she played "show and tell" with all of her favorite relics from her childhood, I chatted up with her family, and crashed from a long sun-filled day.
Friday, August 14 - The morning after, Jen's family took me to the Kennedy Space Center. Out of all the tourist traps in Orlando, this is the only one I was truly excited to see. Jen's father, Jim, is an engineer at NASA, so I had a private tour guide of sorts to explain the inner workings of the facility. I saw the rocket garden, where previously used rockets live, a historical exhibit which housed an original Sputnik satellite and Alan Shepherd's space suit, as well as a complete original command center with archaic computers and displays. We then got to see one of the crawlers, a giant tank which slowly drives the constructed space shuttle to the launchpad at 1mph, a process which takes 8 hours. We saw the Discovery on the launch pad, getting ready for next weeks launch. The next stop was the Apollo/Saturn V center. This was the highlight of the trip. They had the original Apollo 15 in a giant football stadium-sized warehouse. It's totally humbling to stand behind something of that size and realize it had safely made it to the moon. There was a room with the original Apollo 15 command center, a presentation of the difficulties of Apollo 11 landing, and a vault with various artifacts of Apollo trips. Amazing stuff.
We capped off the trip with a swing into the Kennedy Space Center's "Robotics Lab". Jen knew I wanted to see anything robotics related and really pushed for us to see it before heading out. What we saw was essentially a cartoon robot talking to us for a half hour. What a let down! I wanted to see a fully functional Rover, or maybe some of the robotics used in manufacturing or maintaining the shuttles. Oh well. We got some astronaut ice cream and left.
That night, the Bewerse's had a party at their home, since their daughters were both in town. Her family all seems very sweet, and all seemed to like me. We made conversation for a few hours before I desperately needed to go to sleep.
Saturday, August 15 - Jen and I woke up late and decided she would show me around her old neighborhoods. It was nice to have a generally low-key day after all the hectic running around of the last two. At around 5 or so, we met up with her friend Beth and her boyfriend Josh at the local Zoo. It was free after 5:00, which meant terrible over-crowding. I got to see an alligator, and some spider monkeys. After a while, we started to notice something - there were Vultures everywhere, staring at us from the trees. We're not just talking one or two either. At one point we watched a hilarious parrot mimic a crying baby, and noticed well over 20 directly above us. In one caged area, they perched right above the entrance intimidating every passerby. And as we went to leave, a turkey jumped to perch about a foot from Jen to the left, which caused us both to jump and yell - my immediate thought was that a Vulture was attacking. Jen tells me I was chivalrous and pulled her out of the way, but I honestly don't remember doing anything other than trying to get the hell out of there.
We had a great sushi dinner and then had plans to go for a night swim, but the nightly thunderstorm swept in and ruined that plan. We went home, cuddled on her couch, and then said goodbye at ass-early in the morning so I could fly back home.
Sunday, Aug 9 - I took Jen to see Mike Keneally and Bryan Beller at a tiny event hall in Braintree, MA. It's been over 5 years since Mike played a solo show in New England, so I was extremely pumped for this.
Mike is absolutely one of my all-time musical heroes. His music is magnificent, whimsical, powerful, absurd, and all played with the kind of incredible musicianship that's apparent in all Zappa alumni. Guitar World once compared his playing technique to watching a Simpsons episode - "you wonder how so many ideas can be compressed into such brief, beguiling choruses". It's really something to behold.
Him and his bass player Bryan played two sets, which covered stuff from his 1991 debut "Hat" through to his 2004 record "Dog", a Beatles cover, and an incredible read-through of the FZ staple "Inca Roads". The crowd was small, maybe two dozen people, evenly split between die-hard fans and those who seemed to wander in off the street. This made for some frustrating moments as the non-fans gabbed through the more intimate tunes, but they either got the hint or left by the second set.
During intermission, I went to the merch table to say "hi" to Bryan and Mike. I was thrilled when Bryan remembered me from a gig five or six years back! We talked about Berklee and his new solo record, and he invited me to a show of his in Manhattan next month. I also got to speak to Mike a bit about his upcoming record with Andy Partridge of XTC. I was giddy all night from being able to speak with them.
I came home to find he posted a video on youtube for the song "Hallmark", off his upcoming record Scambot 1. It sounds gorgeous to me, and seems to reach back to the charm of Dancing or Wooden Smoke, my two favorite records of his. Check it out! I can't wait until this record is out.
Thursday, Aug 13 - Jen and I flew to Orlando for a few days, so that I could meet her family and see where she grew up. Stepping off the plane, I was immediately pimp-smacked in the face with the burning heat of a thousand suns.
We first met up with her friend Amanda, who I'd met last month during her stay in Boston. Her boyfriend Igor was with her, who is a composer at USF, and a really interesting guy. We geeked out about modular synthesizers and recording software over dinner at Downtown Disney. Outside of the restaurant was a hot air balloon ride! We stood in line for 30 minutes or so and were then lifted 400 ft in the air above Orlando. The balloon was tethered to the ground, and the ride was short, but it was still exciting, and a nice quick way to see Epcot without having to "see" Epcot. We topped this off with some ice cream, and then headed back to the airport.
On the way, I got a text message about Les Paul's passing. He lived an extremely long life, but it's still sad that such a legend has passed on. The early multi-track singles of his with Mary Ford are still some of the most incredible recordings I've ever heard. Listening to "Lover" or "How High The Moon" today is a unique experience - they're simultaneously relics of a simpler sweeter time, but still sound space-aged, futuristic, leagues beyond what's capable. You can hear the excitement in Les' playing as he slows down the base track while overdubbing, and then feel the sense of discovery when bringing it back up to speed to reveal impossibly fast guitar lines. The man was to recording and guitar playing what Bill Gates or Steve Jobs is to modern computing - a complete revolutionary and totally deserving of any accolades he's received.
Last February, Jen and I got to see Les Paul play in Manhattan at the Iridium Jazz club. He was still doing weekly gigs at 94 years old. His fingers had slowed tremendously, but his charming demeanor was there, and he obviously loved to still be up there playing. I'm glad I got a chance to see him before his passing.
Anyways - once at the airport, I met up with Jen's family and waited for her sister Catharine and her husband Evan to arrive from New Mexico. Everyone was friendly and welcoming, and obviously very happy to see one another. We all went out for a big family dinner at Denny's, where I experienced the daily thunderstorm that I guess is common to Southern Florida in August. After that, I saw the house she grew up in, she played "show and tell" with all of her favorite relics from her childhood, I chatted up with her family, and crashed from a long sun-filled day.
Friday, August 14 - The morning after, Jen's family took me to the Kennedy Space Center. Out of all the tourist traps in Orlando, this is the only one I was truly excited to see. Jen's father, Jim, is an engineer at NASA, so I had a private tour guide of sorts to explain the inner workings of the facility. I saw the rocket garden, where previously used rockets live, a historical exhibit which housed an original Sputnik satellite and Alan Shepherd's space suit, as well as a complete original command center with archaic computers and displays. We then got to see one of the crawlers, a giant tank which slowly drives the constructed space shuttle to the launchpad at 1mph, a process which takes 8 hours. We saw the Discovery on the launch pad, getting ready for next weeks launch. The next stop was the Apollo/Saturn V center. This was the highlight of the trip. They had the original Apollo 15 in a giant football stadium-sized warehouse. It's totally humbling to stand behind something of that size and realize it had safely made it to the moon. There was a room with the original Apollo 15 command center, a presentation of the difficulties of Apollo 11 landing, and a vault with various artifacts of Apollo trips. Amazing stuff.
We capped off the trip with a swing into the Kennedy Space Center's "Robotics Lab". Jen knew I wanted to see anything robotics related and really pushed for us to see it before heading out. What we saw was essentially a cartoon robot talking to us for a half hour. What a let down! I wanted to see a fully functional Rover, or maybe some of the robotics used in manufacturing or maintaining the shuttles. Oh well. We got some astronaut ice cream and left.
That night, the Bewerse's had a party at their home, since their daughters were both in town. Her family all seems very sweet, and all seemed to like me. We made conversation for a few hours before I desperately needed to go to sleep.
Saturday, August 15 - Jen and I woke up late and decided she would show me around her old neighborhoods. It was nice to have a generally low-key day after all the hectic running around of the last two. At around 5 or so, we met up with her friend Beth and her boyfriend Josh at the local Zoo. It was free after 5:00, which meant terrible over-crowding. I got to see an alligator, and some spider monkeys. After a while, we started to notice something - there were Vultures everywhere, staring at us from the trees. We're not just talking one or two either. At one point we watched a hilarious parrot mimic a crying baby, and noticed well over 20 directly above us. In one caged area, they perched right above the entrance intimidating every passerby. And as we went to leave, a turkey jumped to perch about a foot from Jen to the left, which caused us both to jump and yell - my immediate thought was that a Vulture was attacking. Jen tells me I was chivalrous and pulled her out of the way, but I honestly don't remember doing anything other than trying to get the hell out of there.
We had a great sushi dinner and then had plans to go for a night swim, but the nightly thunderstorm swept in and ruined that plan. We went home, cuddled on her couch, and then said goodbye at ass-early in the morning so I could fly back home.