beautiful, funny, sad & true

Yesterday I scored big time at the record store. I originally went there because I somehow lost my copy of “Neon Golden” by The Notwist. Well, they had it, and for only six dollars. So I scrounged throught the DVD’s, and came across the second season of Da Ali G Show. I already have the first season, so I grabbed that too.

I also found the special edition of This is Spinal Tap, not for myself–I’ve seen it a zillion times–but for Stephanie and her long-time guy Tony, who have both been professional musicians forever, and who have both somehow gone their whole lives without ever seeing the movie. So I told Steph that was unacceptable, and that I was going to get them the DVD as a housewarming present.

But the ultimate score was the soundtrack CD to Goodbye Lenin, by Yann Tiersen. Surprisingly difficult to find, I’d been looking for it for ages, but somehow it turned up yesterday. Yay! I think I have all of Yann Tiersen’s recordings now.

Yeah, I’d say it was a successful trip.

After months of hard work, I have two new songs to share with you. Turn up your speakers, click on the links, and enjoy.

The first is one you’ve seen me mention here in my blog before. It’s by Crystin Byrd, and it’s called “Blue Angel,” from the upcoming independent film of the same name. She wrote the song, sang, and played acoustic guitar, her cellist Scott Allen played the cello parts (that I wrote), and I played drums, bass, electric guitar, and keyboards. The weird sound effects that show up occasionally were all done with electric guitar pedals. Believe it or not, we recorded it entirely in her basement.

The second is by the Young Immortals, and it’s called “The Fever.” It’s not the same version that’s on the Starbucks CD, which is me and Jake playing everything. This version is from the band’s album “When History Meets Fiction,” which just came out on Wednesday. On this song, I played piano, organ, keyboards, and the electric guitar solo.

I hope you enjoy these songs. I’m glad to finally be able to share them with you.

Last night was pretty awesome.

I got the chance to play chamber music, with an ensemble, on the cello for the first time. My friend FlutistSusan organized a ‘sight-reading party’, and since none of our apartments is large enough for such an event, she made a new plan. She called her friend who owns a big, beautiful house over in the Sullivan’s Gulch neighborhood, told her of the plan, and her friend said, “That sounds great! Why not invite people from the neighborhood and turn it into a Big Deal?”

So that’s what happened. Susan made some platters of amazing hors d’oeuvres, and it was just tremendous. The ensemble consisted of FlutistSusan, CellistSkip, ViolistAlicia who had to leave early and was replaced by ViolistTatyana, and BassistJustin. And, of course, CellistMe.

I was totally in over my head, but loved every minute of it. On the easier pieces, such as Mozart and Haydn, I played the cello parts and Skip played the second violin parts way up in the high register of the cello. On the more difficult pieces, Skip would play the cello part, and I’d come in and out as well as I could keep up.

The two pieces that were the most fun were the Bach Brandenburg Concerto #2 (an all-time favorite of mine), and “Libertango” by Astor Piazzolla, where we all let our metaphorical hair down. Since I was familiar with the song from playing it on the accordion, I didn’t use sheet music, but instead improvised lots of high melodies around the flute and viola parts, sometimes harmonizing with them and sometimes doubling them, as I felt they needed to be emphasized. It was a total blast. A night like that is the reason I started playing cello in the first place.

But it wasn’t over yet.

The Young Immortals just picked up the boxes of their new CD from the duplicators, so they decided to have an impromptu party at the cozy (tiny?) M Bar. All of the usual suspects were in attendance, and Jake gave a free CD to everyone who showed up. I opened my copy to find that I was given production credit on the CD, and that Jake had some very kind words for posterity in the ‘special thanks’ page. It was really a fun night. The guys are now headed out on tour. For the next two months, they’ll be painting this country. No, I don’t know what color they’ll be painting it; I guess you’ll just have to go see them and find out for yourself.

Today is Independence Day, so as I’m writing this I’m doing laundry (What else?), and in a little while I’m going to check in on Lady Jane (Alyssa’s cat) and get some coffee. This afternoon, I’m driving up to the little town of Woodland, Washington to spend the afternoon with Crystin Byrd and her family and parents, all of whom are some of my closest friends. Tonight I’m going over to my old apartment (Remember?) where they’re having a block party, and I’m going to watch the fireworks from the rooftop.

I’m taking tomorrow and Friday off from work, because CellistSkip and I are driving to Sisters, Oregon to play a gig with Stephanie Schneiderman. We’ll all be staying overnight and coming back sometime Friday.

It promises to be an amazing week.

I got the cello back from the repair shop yesterday. Now I get to re-learn how to play, or maybe I should say UN-learn all the habits I’ve developed. I’ll keep you posted.

Also, to make practicing said cello even more delightful–and much easier–I got a nice music stand and stand light today. It took a couple of trips to the store to get a better bulb for it, but now it’s very nice.

And here’s the rest of the stuff I did today:

–washed my car

–fed and hung out with Lady Jane, Alyssa’s cat

–went to the store to buy some food

–bought a CD player and speakers for my car. Nothing fancy,
but at least now I can listen to whatever I want, and it
doesn’t sound BoomyDistortedAndFuzzy.

–took a load of CD’s, books, computer software, clothes, and
a few other things to Goodwill. I’m taking my old Pentium
computer there tomorrow.

–went to Barnes & Noble while my car was at the audio place,
and got a copy of Haruki Murakami’s new book, called “After
Dark”, which I didn’t even know existed. Yippee!

–went to Bed, Bath & Beyond and got a new pad cover for my
futon. This was not the most exciting thing I did today.

–looked around a bit at Old Navy, but didn’t find anything
I liked or needed.

–ate dinner at a really crappy Chinese ‘restaurant’ in the
food court at Jantzen Beach mall. My stomach hasn’t felt
right since then. Put it this way; Panda Express is frickin’
gourmet compared to that. Yeesh.

–took my old computer next door to Susan’s, so I could format
the hard drive before I take it to Goodwill. Why did I have
to take it to Susan’s? Because the monitor I use with my Mac
doesn’t have the same kind of connection as my old computer does.
Again. . .this was not the most exciting thing I did today.

What a day. I got a ton of stuff done that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. The only down side is that now I’m too tired and queasy (from that crappy Chinese place) to go to the Portland Cello Project show at the Doug Fir tonight. I wish I could’ve gone, but I’m feeling way too ragged. Well, at least I’ve seen them two or three times before. If you get a chance, you should definitely check them out. And who knows; with any luck, I may be playing with them before too long.

So. That was my day. And now it’s time to crash.

So the live show of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me was really cool. I’m listening to the broadcast of the show as I’m writing this. It’s very cool to be able to imagine the action that’s taking place on a radio show; it’s very different from the way we USUALLY imagine the action that’s taking place on a radio show.

The show was scripted, for the most part, but most of the jokes were improvised. The cast went through the entire show live, and then the producers, who were taking notes throughout, talked to the cast via their headphones and told them which parts needed to be touched up. So they went through and re-read those particular lines, and the audience attempted to sound spontaneous. There were lots of particularly hilarious guesses and improvised moments that I’m sure have been cut from the actual broadcast. We had a total blast.

The Breanna Paletta–Sarah Castro–Scott Gallegos show last night was great, and between the musicians who were playing and the ones who were friends watching from the audience, the Portland music scene was very well-represented. Good times. It was particularly fun to hang out with Sarah again. She moved to L.A. a year ago, and just moved back to Portland a month or two ago. We closed the place down last night, and I didn’t get to sleep until 3:30 last night.

My dad and stepmom were in town this weekend, so at 9:00 we met for breakfast at Violet’s Cafe out on Sandy. It was. . .okay. At one point, they spent half an hour talking to one of the owners of the restaurant, while I sat there looking around and thinking, “Hello? Haven’t seen you guys in a year. . .?”

The Young Immortals’ much-anticipated new CD will be coming out of duplication on Wednesday (the same day the guys head out on a two-month tour), so tonight they’re having a CD listening party for friends and fans at an apartment in NW. Jake told me last night that he credited me as the producer on the album, which was a very nice thing for him to do.

I called the repair shop yesterday, and was told that my cello will be ready today. I can’t even tell you how excited I am to play it again, especially after all the work that’s been done to get it up to ‘classical’ specifications.

Crystin Byrd’s song–the one we recorded for the movie soundtrack–is finished. Both she and FilmmakerAndrew loved the newest mix, so I’m going to take the CD of it over to Crystin today. We’re very excited about this opportunity. I’ll write more about the movie and let you know where and when it’s showing, so hopefully you’ll be able to see it.

So that’s the latest news; it’s been a good week.