Struggling against the almighty tides of eventuality

The pictures in this post are sometimes sideways. I think this has to do with the metadata attached to the image and certain browsers’ inability to process it. I’ll work on fixing it but for now just kinda tilt your head a bit.

Well, I stated in my last post that I wouldn’t have much time for sleep, and it wound up being pretty close to accurate. As it turns out, Saturday I was able to sleep in just a little bit. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Thursday was my last day of work before the four-day weekend started. It was a pretty decent day, and at the end of it I went to Baltimore Perl Mongers. I was debating not going due to the trip, but I’m glad I did. We had our largest turnout yet, in spite of having no planned talks. We mostly chatted about what everybody did at work and played back a few YAPC memories. Afterwards, my fiancé Larry drove downtown to join Dawn and myself and we hit up a nearby Sushi bar. It was pretty nice although I’d already filled up on pizza so there wasn’t much desire on my part to eat anything.

Afterwards, Eric’s cats needed some care before we left. I normally provide catsitting services when he goes back to St. Louis, but since I was following him for a few days, that needed doing as late before I left as I could manage. After finally getting home, I packed and crashed for a few hours before flying out. That’s when things finally got rolling.

After I landed in St. Louis (the flight was a flight, nothing special so not worth talking about much), I headed over to meet Terri Langerak to rent her harp. She was very nice and really laid back, and I’m sorry we didn’t get to spend more time talking to her, but unfortunately both Larry and I were very hungry and pretty close to just falling asleep from our short night before, and I still had many errands to run. I will say, though, Terri played a couple tunes, one of which she wrote, and it was awesome. I hear tell she some recorded tracks available for purchase and I shall have to find those (I’ll post it in a comment if/when I do). But we got the harp and headed to the hotel in downtown St. Louis.

Terri’s Harp – Thanks, Terri!

Welcome to St. Louis

After grabbing some food at the hotel (Crowne Plaza Riverfront, it’s pretty awesome), and my taking a few winks, I ran up to pick up my tuxedo at Memory Lane in East Alton, IL. On reflection, food at the hotel was probably not our best idea. It took forever for the food to come out, even though when it did it was very good. If we hadn’t been so hungry and not on a very tight schedule, I don’t think I would have minded the wait so much. Still, I was, on both counts, and so I minded. Whatever, water under the bridge.

My Lunch – Greek Salad and Spinach/Artichoke Dip

Larry’s Lunch – Some Kinda Burger? I Forget

Then, tragedy struck! The place was closed before I got there. After swearing a blue streak, I realized there may still be hope. I’d been afraid they were closed on Saturdays, but they weren’t! So, I ran to drop off a portion of the money necessary for pickup of the tux at Eric’s mother’s place. He and Kristin (his now wife) were still running around getting final details hammered out, so I just sat and talked with his mother for a while. In spite of this being the first time I’d met her in real life (and only once having talked to her before, on IRC), she was very pleasant and willing to talk. I even almost got to see some baby pictures out of the deal but unfortunately they were in a drawer somewhere she couldn’t quite remember.

As I was driving out of town, and swinging by a funny little store called Steve’s Antiques that Eric had long ago told me about, I was called and told to swing around and pick up Eric and another friend of ours, Andrew Herbig, as they were stuck without a ride since the best man was hung up on a job. So, I took a few pics and hightailed it back to the house. There, I finally met Andrew (we’d previously only talked online). As we drove back to St. Louis, Eric pointed out many landmarks I’d only ever heard about. Sadly, we bypassed the place where he’d proposed as it was apparently a significant drive out of the way and quite a walk. Still, it was good to see some of the other places I’d heard so much about.

My Antique Shop!

After we all three made our way back to the hotel, I grabbed a quick shower and we hit up Mike Shannon’s Steakhouse. The food was pretty much amazing, though I didn’t have much of, say, the gigantic appetizer that Justin ordered.

The “’64 Tower” Appetizer

I did, however, partake of the quite-amazing Johnnie Walker Blue that was ordered for the table at the end of the evening. Never thought I’d actually have any of the stuff, it’s usually too rich for my blood (and my wallet). But that right there is a bucket list item successfully checked.

The Best Scotch I’ll Ever Drink

On the way out of the bar, we passed by several horse and carriages, but we really wanted to snag this beast which was parked out front.

Kinda Want This Ride

We hit up more bars, and I’m pretty sure there’s no photographic evidence that can be used to incriminate anybody. Actually, it was pretty tame, just plenty of drinks all around. Thank god I limited myself, I don’t think I would have wanted to be hungover for the big day.

Speaking of, it was at a house by a beautiful lake owned (currently) by Eric’s grandparents’ siblings, but soon to be sold to his cousins. It was way far out into the country north of East Alton, and was very quiet and peaceful. Plus, there’s that lake!

The Aisle and the Music

After the Wedding, the Sun Gave a Show

The ceremony went very well – it got started behind schedule but I don’t think it’d be a proper wedding if it got started on time. They did the mixing of the sand, and I gotta say, that particular demonstration is growing on me. Eric and Kristin also read the vows they wrote out, which I gotta give them credit for, I think it’s the first time I’ve heard someone getting married actually say their vows such that people could hear them. Usually peoples’ nerves are far too frayed to do much more than mumble them. They were also very heartfelt and fit in nicely with the ceremony.

I had another entire day in St. Louis, but I’m about to pack up and travel for my trip back home, so I’ll have to fill in the rest of the details of my trip later.

Tomorrow I’m going to be playing on a concert in Towson. I really should be practicing, but instead I’ve decided to write a blog. My priorities: not very well in order. However, I think it’ll probably be fine. One of my pieces is not memorized (which is particularly weird because I wrote it), but it’ll be fine cause it’s just one page. Also, I might be able to finish sticking it back in my head; again, it’s only one page.

The bigger thing for me is that I’m finally gonna get back out there and play some music. My tendency to shy away from any performing has been more successful than I’d hoped. The last time I played a serious performance outside of a brief annual harp ensemble recital or even a gig, well, I can’t even remember.

This year I’ve asked to play more pieces than I have in the past. I feel a little bit like I’ll be taking over the program for a little while, and that doesn’t sit particularly well with me, but nobody has seemed to mind. I’m used to playing things a bit more cautiously, and trying really hard not to offend people with excessive hubris. It’s a trait I tend to find annoying, but many people around me have hubris in almost sickening volume and I seem to be the only one who cares, so I’m dipping my toe into the water. And it’s panning out thus far.

I don’t feel I’ve prepared as fully as I would really have liked for this performance, in all honesty. I think that the pieces, while good, could be far better. Of course, there’s always room for improvement in every performance, but I played one of them for another performer today after rehearsal, and she said it sounded good. So, I’m going to try not being so very nervous, and hope for the best. I’ve tried a bit more than normal to get people to come to this performance, and hopefully it’ll turn out and I’ll be a big hit. I’m still a bit nervous though.

T minus 15 hours.

I went to a concert tonight. Yes, that’s pretty much my evening in a nutshell.

It was a pretty good concert, though, all things considered. I work with the drummer, and its via him that I know of the group. He’s a nice guy and pretty laid back about everything, and is none too shabby of a drummer, so I was looking forward to the performance. This wasn’t my first encounter with this group (HotBox) nor the 8×10 in Federal Hill, so I figured it would be a pretty decent show based on my past encounter, but became concerned when I had to make my way down via the MTA.

The venue’s all right, they get some really good music, but the drinks are pricey (though, honestly, try to name me a bar/club where they aren’t). I’ve attended three shows there, one for a guy I played a run of The Fantasicks with back in the day (his group is Ayurveda and is awesome) and two shows for HotBox. Weirdly, the first show included a band with another drummer I know and went to high school with, called Pasadena, but due to circumstances out of my control, I have yet to see them perform. Aaron (the co-worker drummer) said they were pretty good, and I can believe it as Cory (the co-student drummer) was pretty good and I can’t see him easily associating with not-good-at-music types.

Now that I’ve gotten the name-dropping out of the way, I’ll say this: the 8×10 gets some quality guys in there to play (I may have mentioned this before). The first band tonight, whose name escapes me now as they did not receive billing on the website so I only saw them on the flyer in the basement once, was musically not bad. Of course, the lyrics were ridiculous, as they seemed to be covering a lot of Kanye West, and playing it like they were Dave Matthews. Comically, it worked, but I’m not entirely sure they meant for it to be funny. Also, I know Autotune is “a thing” these days, but is it really in any way considered appropriate to use it during live performances? Considering that’s where at least 90% of the melodic voice parts got their lines from, I’d say it was a bit much.

The Grilled Lincolns were up next, and though I distinctly remember thinking that they were quality music, I’m having a hard time recalling any specific songs. It may have to do more with the fact that by this point I’d hammered down a beer pretty quickly and was working on a 7&7, when normally I have a sip of Kool-aid and get a little bit tipsy, than it has to do with anything the band did wrong. Realizing I’d probably have to walk a few blocks to a bus stop, though, I stopped pretty quickly after that and stuck to water. Oh, wait, I lied: they played Super Mario Bros. music. I would have gotten up and whooped and hollered but I think it was the wrong crowd for that sort of thing. Still, I guess while they were playing the star music I should have done it anyway, it wasn’t like anyone could hurt me while I was invincible.

Finally, HotBox got on stage and did their thing, and I wound up running into one of the percussionists’ brother (they have two percussionists, the guy I work with and a guy wailing on the Djembe). He had looked familiar, and we struck up a camaraderie over two ditzy chicks who dragged bar stools across the venue and plopped them dead in front of the speakers. Sure, go deaf, it isn’t like you’re using the other organs in your head, apparently. Anyway, the band: in spite of HotBox’s hyper-sexualized lyrics, they’re a pretty good band. Like I said, the 8×10 pulls in some good bands and tonight was this band’s second round in under a few months. A staple of the show seems to be a djembe solo, which actually feels a bit out of place, like the guy’s just showing off, but he’s good at it so it’s hard to complain too much about it. One of my favorite songs I sadly don’t know the name, as it’s not on their page and they don’t announce, but it’s a radical departure from their normal live fare, and drops the djembe in favor of a keyboard riff, which is pretty awesome.

The main thing that stuck with me was the balancing issues. I’m not sure what about balancing a voice against a band is so difficult, having not spent any time behind a mixing board myself; but it’s apparently very difficult for HotBox for whatever reason. I singled them out because it seemed like the other bands balanced out fairly well tonight. On previous nights other bands have met with the same balancing issues, but tonight only one band did, and that stuck out. It’s my only major complaint on a night that went, interestingly enough, pretty well.

It was a pretty good night, and I am pretty glad I went, in spite of various issues (paying the tab after I ran out of cash with only one drink on it and a $15 minimum on credit resulted in a shot of Jaeger which pushed me into I-will-have-a-hangover territory being one of them). Funny enough, I meant this to be a retelling of all the hilarious things that happened tonight, but I guess I realized partway through the first paragraph that none of it would be very funny to read on a blog.

I don’t often post about my musical tastes, as it leaves me ripe for criticism (“oh my god, you like this electro-trash?”). However, I haven’t posted recently and, in want of a more thought-out post, I’ll just list what has been occupying my ear canals for the last week or two. I mean, I added a whole category for it in my blog, might as well, right?

First off, I’ll admit readily that I’m a total mash-up whore. The idea that you can take two songs, sometimes even terrible songs on their own, and play them at the same time and come up with something awesome is just pretty neat to me. While it may seem  I’ve found a few I really like in the past, such as these two Ratatat/Michael Jackson ones (I can never figure out which I like more), this Eurythmics/Lady Gaga one (in spite of the quality issues), and this Gnarls Barkley/Avalanches mashup is just crazy awesome. I miss the original video I saw of that last one, which mashed up both songs’ videos and scenes from The Shining.

But no one has quite captured my fancy as much as Robin Skouteris, who regularly tosses six or so songs into the mix and makes it work. I suggest, if you enjoy a good mash-up, go check out his videos, cause almost all of them are good in some way. However, the one I really like is an ambient mix of HIM, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, and what seems like 50 other people:

So, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s continue to a single artist. Massive Attack has been a long-standing favorite of mine. I have most of the CDs they’ve produced or been featured on. Yeah, CDs, right? I know. Anyway, somehow I missed that they released an album in February. I want to buy it, but at this point I’m still on the fence about this whole “digital media” thing. I want to avoid having more CDs to clog up my physical space, but I’m concerned that by downloading the music from iTunes or Amazon, I’ll be getting a file of inferior quality, due either to DRM or just low-rate encoding. I can’t tell much difference about the encoding cause it seems my high-range hearing is terrible, but other people complain when I put that crap on.

In the meantime, I’ve been entertaining myself by watching this incredibly trippy video for “Paradise Circus”:

Now I have to also get “The Fall,” which looks incredibly gorgeous based on this short video. Damn it YouTube, stop making me want to spend money.

So, I’m trying to get back to this whole harp thing, you know, playing music.  I periodically get an itch to go back to my former glory days when I was actually a pretty talented motherfucker.  Well, I probably won’t ever be quite where I was, but I’d like to think that maybe I can get back at least a little of what I’ve lost.  I actually managed to stuff Handel’s B flat Concerto in my head and in my fingers for all of a week or so this summer.  Of course, it was quite far from performance-ready, and has since largely gone away again, but it gave me hope.

I’ll probably stow away the Handel for a while; for now, I’m setting my sights on another piece.  This one I already learned in college, but I enjoyed it and I think re-learning something is almost as good as learning something completely new when you’re at the terrible level I’m at now.  The piece is Benjamin Britten’s Suite for Harp, and here’s a (link to a, wordpress is sucking) video of Catrin Finch playing the first movement: Music!

It certainly won’t be anywhere near that level for a while, but I hope to keep plugging away at it and get pretty decent.  The other movements are also pretty tricky though, so it’ll take a while.  The patience to learn a piece is the main thing I’ve got to get back, the skills will come with time.

At least, that’s what I’m hoping.