the photos

As promised, some of the photos from the Brazen Brass DIY photoshoot.




My favorite group shot:



Some of me:








Our trombone player has a sweet camera + acquired a bunch of stage lights that she was able to set up for a makeshift studio. For the group shots, we used a self-timer. She shot the individuals of us. I shot the individuals of her. (A couple of which I think are ultra dope. So when I get copies I will post them).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Also, tonight's bike ride was AMAZING.

Come see my ultra-geeky-rockster friends tonight!

The Wet Darlings will be @ Rumba Cafe TONITE!

(No, I don't know why they can't come up with better band names.)

waiting...

I'm waiting on STB so we can head out to one of our favorite parks & enjoy an evening of grilling food and hanging out.

I thought I'd post a few updates...

On the biking thing.... I've put just under 80 miles on my bike in the span of about 1 month. My longest ride was probably about 5 or 6 miles - so that's lots & lots of little rides. It also means that I reduced the mileage on my car by ~80 miles. Yay!

Only very minor updates on the music stuff... Brazen Brass will be performing @ the Clintonville Farmer's Market on Saturday, June 21. Ain't Misbehavin' has a private party gig this Saturday.

On job stuff...ugh, I'm so ready for a new job. But am still being choosy over where I apply. I've added to my criteria that it must be within biking distance of my residence. So my options are even more limited. I have a list of jobs to look through, just need to find the time to do that & then apply.

music in the air

Musicians and the (lack-of-)pay issue:

I don't mind playing some stuff for free - charity, donations, etc. Because I do enjoy it and I don't mind giving back a little to groups that deserve it. (Heck, Brazen Brass played a free benefit last night). But organizations, even non-profits, have budgets. That (should) include entertainment. They pay for other services, food, space rental, etc.

Musicians are offering a (good) service. The more they choose to play for free, the more people expect it. And playing for free devalues music in general. (I've heard professional musicians argue that amateur groups playing for free also drive down their prices, making it harder for them to compete and make a living).

Musicians put work into creating our product, collectively and individually, to bring an experience to our audience. We should be compensated for our work, our time, our talent. This goes for any musician or artist.

random ramblings

Wow. 4 weeks since my last post. I find that I log in just long enough to skim over my blogroll, maybe comment once or twice, and then it's off to the next thing.

But I have managed to squeeze in some cool real life fun, at least:

1. I'm working on a couple submissions to the Great Crayon Experience. I'll have to drop my finished pieces in the mail by Monday. (Bonus: The exhibit is on my birthday). Yay Art!

2. I finally was able to rejoin my flickr meetup group for an event today. We toured the Southern Theatre. I have 95 photos to go through - I'll probably find about 5 worth posting.

3. My quintet has a couple weddings on the horizon for 2008 already, and we're talking about a demo by the end of March *fingers crossed*. My dixieland combo has a gig in a couple weeks which may include live recording. Yay Music!

4. Flogging Molly concert the day after my birthday - in a few short weeks

I'm off to see The Spikedrivers @ Rumba Cafe tonight - come out and join us!

music education

Rock N Roll High School - a Washington Post article on rock music in music education.

This was posted by a friend of mine on facebook. She asked for input. I didn't think I had much to say. Then I started typing.

I can think of two band directors I know who actually teach a "history of rock" type music class in their high schools. From what they've said, the kids love it and really get into it.

When I was in high school (early 1990s) we had a drummer who loved all kinds of hard rock and metal, and spent HOURS trying to convince our band director (an old jazz cat) that Metallica was exactly like classical music.

Kids are already listening to rock and are interested in it. Incorporating it into existing curricula seems like a logical step. It is part of our musical heritage & culture. Teaching it alongside other forms of music makes sense.

When a field of science has a new discovery, they begin teaching it with their existing theories, discoveries, etc. They don't ignore it because it's new or different. Why is music different? Because we treat certain composers and time periods as the holiest untouchable pinnacles of music? (And major symphony orchestras wonder why they're in financial trouble?)

Have you seen the documentary Rock School? Those types of music schools are popping up across the country - some of those kids might also be involved in their high school bands, jazz bands, etc., but for a lot of them rock (metal, punk, pop, etc.) is where it's at. And I think I'd rather have them receive some music education as opposed to none.

My own musical education was pretty traditional from elementary school through what I studied @ university. Then I burnt out on music and barely touched my tuba for nearly a year. I all but quit listening to music. Towards the end of that period, I really got into some rock bands and jam bands that have jazz-roots, and that's when I picked up bass. I had to spend a lot of time (and should still be spending a lot of time!) learning an entirely different musical process. I started to learn to play by ear. Here I was, in my 20s, with at least 10 years of formal music education behind me, including a minor in music from a conservatory, and I was just learning to play an instrument by ear.

People who learn rock music on their own are typically learning by ear, learning song structure, learning to write parts, instrumentation, etc. I think there's actually a lot we can borrow from rock in teaching young and aspiring musicians of any genre - the basics of MUSIC. What makes a good song good? How do you orchestrate parts to make the whole sound good? How do you play together to sound like a cohesive unit?

The flip side, of course, is that rock (and it's derivatives) has a strong tradition of rebellion, do-it-yourself, anti-establishment, well, ROCKING. You might lose some of that fire in a formal setting. But, as someone else mentioned, that has happened in jazz, too. It doesn't mean you can't find great new jazz musicians.

Ultimately our goals as musicians and music educators should be developing great MUSICIANS. Regardless of genre or instrument, there are certain elements that make music good. It's about identifying those and applying them in new ways.

still here!

I have not fallen off the face of the earth, or even the interwebs.

I have been prepping for loads of Christmas gigs this season.

My holiday music season kicked off this morning with a short performance at a school party. I spent 3 hours this evening out in the freezing cold playing at the Gallery Hop. It was a lot of fun, and we got a lot of great feedback, but not much cash.

This week has a couple rehearsals and then 4 performances.

The following week has a couple more rehearsals, a mall gig, and two TubaChristmases.

Then I think one more mall gig, possibly a retirement home gig, and then it's Christmas and my well-deserved vacation.

pandora

One of my clients at work turned me on to this great music resource: Pandora. I think I'd heard of it before, but never played around with it.

Basically, you enter music you like (either an artist, a band, or a song) and it finds that music. Then it feeds you similar music. You tell the program if you like it or not, and it tailors the music to your tastes.

I also get a kick out of reading why it plays each song. Some reasons it's given me include "extended vamping", "acoustic guitars", "a great tenor sax solo", and "minor tonality".

Registration is required, but free. Enjoy!

slackin' & thinkin'

I've been really terrible about bothering to update. It's not that I don't have great ideas, it's that they inevitably occur when I'm nowhere near a computer or blogger. Naturally I immediately forget these great ponderings and am left with the mundane details of life.

If they are too boring for me to post, they are way too boring for you to have to read.

Or they are still jumbled up thoughts in my head, and not coherent enough for me to post, and then by the time they are, I've forgotten them. It's really a vicious circle.

The current internal ramblings of my head include thoughts on music scenes. How participants in these scenes get involved, immerse themselves, view "outsiders", etc. How those of us outside these scenes interact with them, directly and indirectly. Why it matters in the scheme of popular culture. (Probably it doesn't matter much, I admit).

This is probably fueled by my recent binging on books by Chuck Klosterman. I saw him read last fall (my first - and to date - only - book reading I've attended) and enjoyed it. Oddly, my mom worked with him indirectly for a period of time. She told me she thought she "raised me better than to read anything Chuck wrote". She said he was weird, but she liked him, and he was generally nice.

ANYWAYS (<--- that's stolen from Klosterman) I am also reading a book titled My So Called Punk. And I'm struck by how entrenched the author is into the punk culture, particularly by his apparent lack of recognizing much value outside of the "punk" genre or scene. (I've read less than 100 pages, so maybe it'll change. The reviews on Amazon are not giving me that much hope).

I've always jumped around in my musical leanings. My favorite types of music include the following: bebop jazz, modern classical, early to mid 90s alternative/grunge, old school punk, 60s surf rock*, reggae, jam bands, 70s funk, and Celtic/Irish punk.

People identify verify personally with music. Most people, particularly from the approximate ages of 12-25, choose their personal clothing and hairstyles to match their taste in music (or maybe for a select few it's vice versa). I'm not sure why this is. But I would look pretty silly wearing bright orange bell-bottoms and a flannel shirt with safety pins sticking in it.

I think the idea of being a "true fan" of a band, a "poser", all of that is actually pretty interesting. It's a driving force in our social circles and, again, in others' interactions with us.


*I'm just getting into the surf rock stuff, but so far I'm in love.

quote for the weekend

Believe it or not we are pretty responsible with our alcohol decisions - we just make the decision to drink a whole lot of Guinness.

-Flogging Molly

(from an old interview on pUnk rOcks)

Some quotes just really speak to me. This is definately one of them.

Cheers!

my life as i know it

I've had a busy couple of weeks in real life.

STB was in a wedding, and then was the reception DJ. I've got some wedding photos posted. Most I think are pretty average, although there are a handful of shots I really like.

I also had another photo included on schmap.com
Aside: When I went to visit Boston Tony, I insisted that one of the very important destinations I needed to see was an authentic Boston Irish Pub. He had to go looking for them, as he didn't frequent any himself. In BOSTON. Of course, he discovered 3 or 4 within walking distance from his apartment.

I finally got around to getting some very basic maintenance done on my tuba, something I had been putting off for over a year because I never had the time to give my horn up for a week +. My tuba sounds great again, and I am very happy to have found a good repair guy.

I was also asked if I teach lessons, and a manager asked me to bring my resume by. I have zero time to devote to teaching right now. But I also really think I would enjoy it, and have really been trying to immerse myself more and more back into music.

So I'm working on my music resume right now, along with trying to figure out how many students I can reasonably handle.

This comes at a time when I am rethinking a lot of my career-life-self. I don't hate my job. There are parts of my job that I really enjoy very much, and could imagine doing for many years to come. There are parts of my job that I really do not enjoy, and those are the parts of the job that are expanding, and the things that increase as my position increases (paperwork, more bosses, more meaningless meetings, all of those management things I don't like).

I also happened to pick up a book from the library, Conquering Your Quarter Life Crises. I first read about this phenomenon in Douglas Coupland's Generation X - yes that book. The one that coined the phrase "Gen X", and led all of the baby boomers to label my generation as whiny slackers. Coupland referred to a "mid-twenties breakdown" long before John Mayer crooned the words "quarter-life crises".

Even though I'm 30 now (I can't believe it, and certainly don't feel 30), I still find the magic years of your 20s intriguing. And I've always enjoyed cultural studies, including (and recently, especially) generational differences.

So branching out and maybe teaching, and continuing to play, and network with other local musicians, that may just be what I need. Maybe in the future as my career, or maybe just as that one thing I'm passionate about no matter what.

Oh, and I attended my step sister's wedding yesterday (yep, one of those 7-7-07 weddings). I'll post photos some time this week, although I didn't get very many good ones.

aaaargh!

I just put up a lengthy editorial on music sharing over @ Little Music Renegades. We all know everyone does it.

fantastic grilled cheese

Last night, after an extensive rehearsal, one of my band mates and myself went down to Victorian's Midnight Cafe to check out the open mike.

We hit the tail end, and being a Wednesday night, there wasn't much of an audience. But there was some talent; a young pianist who may or may not be named Dave, a couple guitar players who's names I didn't catch. And we scoped the area for the potential of our band (the brass quintet) playing there. It's a little odd to think of a traditionally classical chamber group hitting up open mics. But this is why I love music - it spans people and places and genres.

But this post is actually about the food at Vic's. Specifically, the most wonderful grilled concoction ever made. Not just a grilled cheese sandwich, but one with a name like "Connie's Grilled Cheese" (or maybe it was Carol or Annie or some other girl with great vision and taste).

The 9 grain bread was grilled perfectly. In between the two slices I found three cheeses; American, Swiss, and cream. Added to this were onions and sliced jalepenos*. Delectable doesn't begin to cover it.

My bottle of blueberry apple juice was a nice complement to the sandwich.

I did not expect to find such heaven in one little sandwich.

*It also comes with tomato, which I don't like.

that didn't take long

Read Previous Post.

Now Click Here.

This is what happens when a geeky musicgeek like myself finds 20 minutes to spare. And coerces her friends into taking over the interwebs via a rad new music blog site.

music ramblings

I was just reading an article on Iggy Pop in my Rolling Stone magazine (which I don't subscribe to and definately wouldn't pay for but for some reason receive every month) and thinking that a few of my friends and I should start a music blog/ezine thingy with good music news, and reviews of little-heard bands, and cover all of the vast styles of music we all love, and base it all on the goodness of the music, not the goodness of the marketing.

Between STB, Charlotte, and myself alone we would pretty much cover every possible genre except true country and death metal (and we'd probably still delve into those a little anyway). Utilizing friends in different parts of the country we would get a lot of local and regional coverage. I even know some people from different parts of the world who could share info on world music. You could be a guest writer. We could post conflicting opinions, promote the good stuff, turn people onto new music....

This crazy idea is also inspired by my new love - a 30gig ipod. I have a 1st generation shuffle, which has brought me much joy considering it is an inanimate object. I'm just beginning to tap into the full power of my shiny new ipod. (If you hate ipods, and prefer your digital audio player of choice - that's totally cool with me. The point is that little mp3 players = awesomeness.)

I just might coax some friends into this little project...

you know - stuff

So my new office opens Monday. Five (5!!!!!)days from today. My shortest work day this week was 10 hours. But we're all excited.

The brass quintet probably has it's first gig - we just need to confirm we can all make it. It's a big fundraiser, so we're looking at playing to potentially over 2,000 people . Kind of an intimidating first gig. Can you say "exposure".

I actually took some photos - mostly on St. Patrick's Day. Now I just need to post them.

Have been doing lots of music stuff lately and am absolutely soaking it up.

My current state of being in three words: happy, busy, tired

one of those nights

I don't usually do general recaps of my day. But Saturday night is just begging for it - there was too much weirdness.

I met some friends for a little session of working out some Irish tunes - me on bodhrán, Julia on whistle, Doug on guitar. Holly was supposed to join us on fiddle, but she couldn't make it. We had lots of fun. Of course. We were playing music.

After playing around for awhile, we headed off to Byrne's. Our intention was to check out the Glengarry Bhoys. There was no band. We heard they had to cancel because their vehicle with all of their equipment was stolen. As a musician, that's an absolutely horrifying thought. Sure, you can have insurance to cover the money lost, but sometimes you form weird bonds with certain instruments, and that's hard to replace.

Since there was no live entertainment, we decided to maybe go up to Flannagan's because Doug had a friend who was playing in a band there. On the way to that bar, we all got the early munchies. So we went to the Taco Bell drive-thru before the bar.

This is where we discovered that Julia can't order Taco Bell, because she doesn't understand the menu. Doug & I were quickly able to identify 2-3 items for ourselves, and after about 5 minutes Julia elected 1 chicken soft taco.

This led us to tease Julia about not knowing how to eat Taco Bell. She then pulled in to Wendy's to look over their menu, and decided against anything on it. Next in line was McDonald's. She decided on a grilled chicken wrap.

So with chicken soft taco and grilled chicken wrap in her hand, we pulled into Flannagan's parking lot. Julia then conducted quite the detailed analysis between the two chicken products. Surprisingly, no one had even a pint to drink before all of this.

Then we discovered that Doug's friend's set was already over. So instead we headed to this bar and pool place called Fats, to play Screw Your Neighbor/Survivor/3 Person Pool (all the same game). It was our luck that Fridnay night was karaoke night. They actually bill their karaoke night as "The Worst Karaoke in Town". At least the pool tables were on the opposite side of the building from the "singing".

After 3 games (we each won a game), we decided to go get bubble tea or something like that. The bubble tea place was closed, but in the parking lot was McDonald's, and who can resist a delicious ice cream cone around 12:30am? Not us!

So, um, The End.

why do middle class kids get such esoteric degrees?

Helen posted a great comment on one of my recent posts about life.

I decided to just make a new post in response, because there's some good stuff in there.

So, "Why do middle class kids get such esoteric degrees?"

I think that was obvious - because that's what we were supposed to do. Especially my particular age bracket (I'm 30). Those of us from lower-middle-class families (there used to be such a thing) saw the future. And the future was with your degree. Our parents were stuck in jobs that paid the mortgage, but they couldn't move up in life because they lacked that magic degree. It didn't matter what the degree was in, it mattered that they (didn't) have one.

We didn't see the market flooding with other kids with degrees with little practical application. We didn't see the recession. We didn't see that we might actually have to pay our own mortgage someday.

Beyond that, I think there's something ingrained in Americans that makes us all dreamers some level. The most logical, realistic people I know still have dreams of doing exactly what they want in life, even when those things are "be a rock star" or "save the world", and they are 40 years old.

I also think this is why so many people have "mid-life-crisis". They have a hard time accepting that their life is as middle-class and mundane as their parents.

I read a line in a Douglas Coupland novel that talked about how middle-class people are doomed to be forgotten by history. If you're rich and/or famous you get to write history. If you're poor you will at least be discussed in history, and you have the opportunity to do something outrageous to change your situation.

When I talk about a day job (or night job, as the case often is), I'm not necessarily looking at it as "I'd rather make money playing music". I have played music as long as I can remember, and I will always play music. I'm looking at the day job sucking time away that I would rather be doing music. 40-50 hours a week at work I can't be practicing or performing. Plus all of those hours outside of work that still get spent thinking about work, instead of thinking about music. It's unintentional, but sometimes you just think "oh, crap, I forgot I have to do this tomorrow". You can replace "music" with whatever your real passion is in life. For my friend Helen, it's art (and she's damn good). For you it might be photography or cooking or skateboarding. I have the growing desire to spend much more of my time doing music than I am currently able to spend.

Ultimately, I believe that people are essentially the same people all of their lives. They say people don't change - and this is mostly true. Sure, you might have a life changing event, a religious experience, an epiphany, something that makes you look at life differently, or be nicer to people, or change some behaviors. But who you were at 5 years old - that's the real you.

At 5 I was fiddling around on the piano, just starting to get into music, I loved playing with friends, I was adventerous, and I didn't have much use for practical matters. At 30, I'm fiddling around with bodhrán, I'm playing music in a couple groups, I seek out opportunities for adventure, and I still hate dealing with most of the practical aspects of life.

We're all just trying to balance the reality of needing the day job with the drive to do what we love. Lately I've just been having more drive and less acceptance of reality.

living life

I met up with friends on St. Patrick's Day - and one them was actually just some guy that went to college with me, and was a few years behind me, and we never really knew each other except to say "oh, yeah, you were a (instrument) player".

(Although now we have spent several hours together, and will probably get together for music stuff in the near future thanks to our mutual friend).

I didn't just go to college - I went to a conservatory of music. I started playing tuba at age 12, and around age 14 started getting a little serious about music, and by age 15 I knew exactly what I wanted to do with life, and I fully expected that by this time (age 30) I would be a performing, sometimes-teaching, tuba-playing fool.

As the Smithwick's and our conversation flowed on St. Paddy's day, we talked about how our particular conservatoy of music (and probably lots of others) kill something in your musical creativity and development. So many students drop out completely, or transfer away, or at least change their major. (We call ourselves "ex-cons". I changed my major for these very reasons).

It can take several years to find yourself happy with playing music again, in situations you enjoy and find at least a little lucratively satisfying as well.

As you wind down this life path, you find yourself with some weird day job that you may or may not care much about - the steady paycheck and health benefits keep you there; that day job allows you to play music.

I realized that we all tell ourselves this- we are all on some level accepting of the reality that it's just easier and in several ways smarter to have a day job and benefits. But we are all also kidding ourselves when we think that we're okay with it - that we will be happy doing it for 40 years while we just do some music on the side.

I wonder at what point I'll finally break, and have to just take a giant plunge, and dedicate myself 100% to music. I know that when I do that, I'll be happier than ever, and probably poorer than ever, and I'll wonder why the hell I waited so long. Maybe I'll hold out until retirement, and have enough in my 401(k) to have made the waiting worthwhile.

happy day

Apparently moving the time change back to March has confused the weather gods, and they think it's time for spring. Sweet. It's warm and sunny, and supposed to be 68 degrees tomorrow.

Today is STB's birthday. We started celebrating yesterday. (Saw good music from Megan Palmer).

I just ordered a bodhran. I've been saying I want to learn to play for months. What better time than the present, right? So I found a cheap one online and $50 later I should have one (and a case) in 2-3 days.

I have to go play outside now - the sunshine is calling my name.