THE EAR-ACID SERIES
BY JOHN K. BLANCHARD
The compilations in this series (27 and counting) are continuous mixes created in a stream of consciousness style. The intent was a single listening experience from beginning to end. In other words, this was not meant to be background music. Most tracks contain material from several sources, original and extant, often “mashed” together in a pastiche. The range of material is reflects my musical tastes (symphony, chamber music, opera, pop divas, country, jazz, dance mixes) as well as comedy, and poetry. While I’ve been told that these mixes make great driving companions for long commutes, I prefer a well stocked bar, some lit candles, and an hour with nothing to do but listen…
My hope is that by presenting these masterpiece recordings and compositions in this way to friends, possibly for the first time, they will be inspired to purchase a recording of the entire work or attend a performance that they might not had done otherwise. In addition, this is an example of the associations I hear and consider when listening myself.
CONTENTS:
“Time”
June 2003
“Love (Part One)”
July 2003
“Re:Sol”
August 2003
“Love:Story”
September 2003
“Spectacular! One”
“Spectacular! Too”
October 2003
“Where in the World”
“Where2”
November 2003
“The Season”
“The (alt) Season”
December 2003
“Back & Forth: 80s”
“Back & Forth: 70s”
January 2004
“Happy, Happy”
February 2004
“Down Home”
March 2004
“Loopy”
April 2004
“All (Some) About Me”
May 2004
“Make Believe”
June 2004
Shirley Q Liquor: One, Two, Three
July – November 2004
“Return of the Season”
December 2004
“Butterfly”
January 2005
“Meditations”
February 2005
“Dream!”
June 2005
“Stories:South”
August 2006
“Noir”
October 2006
“Re:Licht”
August 2007
ABOUT THE SERIES:
My musical expression has taken a turn in the past few years after I started teaching myself about digital audio editing. My first goal was to make compilations of great performances in a variety of genres for my friends and I to listen to (a kind of mixed tape). When my skill level increased and creativity edged in for a place at the table, I was soon spending more and more time making the thing and less and less sharing of the final product. That’s when the German in me came up with a plan to make one a month and to have a different “theme” for each compilation (often the theme would be complete contrived, as I tried to find some common denominator after the fact). These are continuous mixes, a single listening experience from beginning to end, an average of 70 minutes of music each.
I doubt that anyone could ever understand or hear all the references, and the later ones have turned out to be more like new compositions (of course, in the pastiche style). Below you will find a little information about each mix to help you on your journey including a small sample of works and performers included in each.
Complete source material by track, including composers and performing artists, is available by request.
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“Time”
June 2003
COMMENTS:
This was the premiere of my newly acquired ability to edit music digitally using Cool Edit Pro software (later bought by Adobe and renamed Adobe Audition). My first priority was to make smooth transitions and even out the volume levels. Secondly, I was creating an opportunity for my fiends (note: this was a typo and should have been "friends" but I left it) and I to gather and listen to music that I enjoyed and wanted to share. The range is indicative of what was to come and reflects my tastes: symphony, opera, pop divas, country, jazz, dance remixes, trance. There is also a reworking of one of my own performances of Debussy’s solo flute work, Syrinx. The title is somewhat of an imposition and an afterthought, but still, in the broadest sense, it is appropriate on several levels. This is by far the simplest mix of the monthly series, but it started me on a journey that changed my life.
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
The Orb >>> Matrix Reloaded >>> Marilyn Manson >>> Little Fluffy Clouds >>> Holly Cole Trio >>> India >>> Richard Strauss >>> Debussy >>> Bach >>> Glenn Gould >>> Renata Scotto >>> Nora Jones >>> Takemitsu >>> Roberta Flack >>> Barry Manilow >>> Dolly Parton
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“Love (Part One)”
July 2003
COMMENTS:
This is a more complicated attempt than my first one (naturally), but my priorities were still to make smooth transitions, even out the volume levels, and share music that I enjoyed with my friends. There is more experimentation with the segues, but still a fair amount of complete songs. The range reflects my personal musical tastes: symphony, opera, pop divas, country, jazz, dance remixes, trance. This compilation also includes some spoken word in the form of poetry.
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
Enigma >>> Shakespeare >>> Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge soundtrack >>> Rod Stewart >>> Annie Lennox >>> Chopin >>> W.B. Yeats >>> Fred Hersch >>> Streisand >>> Simply Red >>> Fairground Attraction >>> Hello in There >>> Bette Midler >>> A Song For You >>> Moby >>> West Side Story >>> Pet Shop Boys >>> Steve Reich >>> Nickel Creek
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“Re:Sol”
August 2003
COMMENTS:
This mix represents the point that the transitions between the songs in my compilations became as important (and sometimes lasted as long) and the songs themselves. And quite often the songs hinted at in these transitions never materialize at all! Inspired by love of the sun, this is great listening for a day at the beach… although, listeners should be warned of a heavy dose of the Sound of Music (is there any more sunny music ever?). The inclusion of the duet from Der Rosenkavalier was inspired by an experience listening to this recording at Brighton Beach with my good friend Michael; as we watched seagulls hovering above us in the late afternoon breezes, we understood the music of Strauss on a completely transforming level. Most of the other inclusions need no explanation.
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
Cornelius Claudio Kreusch Ensemble >>> Debussy >>> Mahler >>> Enya >>> Oklahoma! >>> Julie Andrews >>> Der Rosenkavalier >>> Madonna >>> The Orb >>> Leontyne Price >>> Daphnis et Chloe >>> Sarah Vaughn >>> Steisand >>> Elton John >>> Oleta Adams >>> The Lion King >>> Sting >>> Robert Hohner Percussion Ensemble >>> Deep Forest >>> Beck >>> Smash Mouth >>> Beautiful Day >>> Dolly >>> Janet Jackson >>> Bernstein
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“Love:Story”
September 2003
COMMENTS:
This mix was inspired by a multi-hour radio program chronicling the life and artistry of Maria Callas. I had wanted to condense her story while also magnifying it and making it more universal. But the reliance on operatic themes could not be ignored. Commentary from the radio show is included, as are several excerpts from a CD of a live show by singer/comedienne B.J. Ward, given as a gift by my friend Michael.
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
The Orb >>> Turandot >>> Enigma >>> Sting >>> Bernstein >>> Roberta Alexander >>> Reneé Fleming >>> Carmina Burana >>> Demi Moore >>> Deepak Choprah >>> Neil Rosenstein >>> Victor Borge >>> Malcolm McLaren >>> Opera Standup with B.J. Ward >>> Die Tote Stadt >>> W.B. Yeates >>> Callas: The Voice, The Story >>> Jerry Hadley >>> Bernstein >>> Bette Midler >>> The Story >>> Tosca >>> Maria Callas >>> La traviata >>> Candide >>> Rachmaninov >>> Eric Clapton >>> Turandot >>> O Fortuna >>>
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“Spectacular! One”
October 2003
COMMENTS:
This is an unabashed tribute to Baz Luhrmann’s film Moulin Rouge with certain parts of the story recast and expanded. The idée fix is Satine’s repeated fainting spells which are given an absinthe-induced hallucinatory treatment. The fate theme from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and Puccini’s Turandot are also woven into the mix. This month also produced a companion mix “Spectacular! Too” which is mainly comprised of complete songs and can be used as pre-show back ground music or as a party album.
A new story-line soon arose from the work, similar yet different from the Luhrmann film. Subtitled, Spectacular In Red, this is the story: Once upon a time in the near future, there was a place called Red — an exciting place, where people gathered to have fun and enjoy good times absent from the worries and strife of the everyday world. Red was a complex place: a rehearsal studio by day, a lounge for straights in the afternoon, a stage for opera and theater in the evening, and a dance club after hours. There also happened to be a brothel up stairs. Red is located in the world’s most international and cosmopolitan city. A diverse city where all inhabitants speak a mix of several languages – English, Spanish, Italian, French (well, all the Romance languages at least. . .) And where the culture is a spicy brew of styles and influences from around the globe and throughout all historical periods. Retro is king. Popular songs mix Puccini with Madonna and trance. This is a story about the people who made Red an eternal place. This is also a story about love. This is a story about hate. About sex. About deception. About freedom. About ecstasy (with a small “e”). Ecstasy (with a big “E”). About costumes. Make-up. Drama. Music. Yes, mostly, this is about music.
Prologue: The Prologue introduces us to the city on a moonlit night. A loosely organized group of Troubadours roam the city, singing of revolution, free love, and mind-expanding pharmaceuticals. Before the first Act begins we meet one such Troubadour — the first character in our story, Lyric Tenor. He argues with his close friend Lyric Soprano, with whom he often appears on stage. They walk up the stairs of a secret back entrance to Red.
Act One: Act One opens as Red is in full swing late on a Saturday night. Patrons dance in the various rooms to a hot mix of music. Clothing is optional. A drag show features five popular transvestites, including a one famous for her impersonation of Patti LaBelle, who reminisce of their days in New Orleans. We are led to a hidden passage-way, known as the Red Room, through which one accesses the upstairs Bordello. A balcony overlooks the entire main dance floor, when Lyric Soprano performs a new routine which pays homage to Madonna, Shirley Bassey, and Carol Channing. Her performance is electric and catches the eye a weathly impressario, Counter Tenor, who is a guest of Bass Baritone, who is Red’s operations manager/stage director/pimp. Lyric Soprano’s featured song — a tribute to the current drug craze called “diamonds” — is followed by an intense Tango that leaves the patrons (including Lyric Tenor, Bass Baritone, and Counter Tenor) spellbound and motionless. Bass Baritone wishes that Lyric Soprano, whom he calls by the pet name Roxanne, would stop selling her body and be his exclusively. Lyric Tenor is falling in love. Suddenly, Lyric Soprano is overcome and cannot finish the dance (many in the crowd assume it is her rumored consumption acting up, but in reality it is anorexia nervosa taking its toll — “A girl has got to eat . . .”). One of the Troubadours distracts the crowd briefly with a song about flowers and death. The Act ends in a grande scena of varied complex emotions, worthy of Verdi.
Act Two: Act Two is two weeks later in Red, and opens as a rehearsal pianist picks out a tune from Act One’s “Tango.” The Bass Baritone tries to entice the impresario Counter Tenor to fund a new show featuring Lyric Soprano. When Counter Tenor appears hot for the star and lukewarm for the show, Bass Baritone offers a first-time tryst with Lyric Soprano as incentive and the deal is cooked. In scene two, Lyric Tenor tries to convince Lyric Soprano to leave the theater, join his compadre’s revolution, and become a hero in the war on the war on drugs. Bass Baritone overhears their scheme and pleads with the entire cast of the new show that the Counter Tenor’s money is the only way to keep Red in the black.
Act Three: Act Three takes place some time later on the much-heralded opening-night of “Spectacular Spectacular” at Red. Bass Baritone whips the crowd – who have all dressed in Indian garb for the special night — into a frenzy before announcing the evening’s main event. Back stage, Lyric Soprano anxiously awaits her entrance, as well-wishers drop by to wish her good luck. Counter Tenor, in hopes of wearing down his prizes resistance later in the evening, slips a hit of Ecstasy into a Champagne cocktail which he then offers her. Bass Baritone, hoping to distract Lyric Tenor, long enough to take advantage of Lyric Soprano himself, also slips a hit of Ecstasy into a Cosmo and offers it to him. Meanwhile, Lyric Soprano sips her Demeral-laced bottle of Avian and Lyric Tenor sips straight Bourbon from a hidden flask. As the lights are lowered, incense and poppers are filtered through the air ducts, and a huge procession enters the hall from all sides. Exotic animals and dancers in Eastern costumes parade through the crowd on their way to the main stage. Lyric Soprano enters riding atop a giant elephant. She is completely nude and her pubes are died bright red. She reaches the stage as the music climaxes and performs her now-famous tribute to diamonds. In the middle of the opening number, her drugs kick in big time and everything in the room becomes distorted. Lyric Tenor rushes the stage to help her just as his drugs take effect also. A rush of warmth, calm, and love engulf them. The walls of the theater fall away in slow motion and a bright white light fills the space, reflecting every surface. As they sing of their true love for each other, the lights recede, the walls return, and we realize we have returned to the night of Act One.
Epilogue: In the Epilogue, Lyric Soprano gratefully acknowledges the ovation that follows Act Three and is showered with roses from the crowd onstage as she sings “Revenge of the Flowers.” She and Lyric Tenor (or their counterparts) do a graceful ballet to “Your Song” and every one joins in for one final version of the love theme from Turandot.
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
David Bowie >>> Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge >>> Orff’s Carmina Burana >>> Malcolm McLaren >>> Louis Armstrong >>> Ewan McGregor >>> Nicole Kidman >>> Patti LaBelle >>> Madonna >>> Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd >>> Puccini’s La bohéme >>> Jim Broadbent >>> Placido Domingo >>> Luciano Pavarotti >>> Ottmar Liebert >>> Enigma >>> Puccini’s Turandot
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“Spectacular! Too”
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
Malcolm McLaren >>> Enigma >>> Patsy & Edena >>> Madonna >>> Shirley Bassey >>> Annabella Lwin >>> Loleatta Holloway >>> Lady Marmalade >>> Aretha Franklin >>> Mariah Carey >>> Love Theme from Romeo+Juliet >>> Ewan McGregor >>> Nicole Kidman
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“Where in the World”
November 2003
COMMENTS:
The title of this CD hints at a sci-fi, space theme, but can also be interpreted as “where in the world did you find this…” It includes a lot of really trippy pieces that I had been collecting which just didn’t seem to work in any other collection. I used Edward Lear’s whacky poem The Jumblies as a unifier for structure and interspersed each of the stanzas throughout the compilation. This is a good example of why my friend’s have christened this the “stoner series.” This mix also spawned a companion CD (“Where2”) which, although not what I would call a party album, could be played in the background of a cocktail party, especially if you want your guests to ask “where in the world…”
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
2001: A Space Odyssey >>> György Ligeti >>> Orb >>> Klaus Nomi >>> Edward Lear’s The Jumblies >>> Cher >>> Johann Strauss II >>> Leonard Nemoy >>> Dead Can Dance >>> Philip Glass >>> Paul Simon >>> JS Bach >>> Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis >>> Vivian Vance >>> Judy Garland >>> John Adams’ Nixon in China >>> Aretha Franklin >>> Blue Man Group >>> Madonna >>> Sting >>> Holst’s The Planets >>>
“Where2”
COMMENTS:
This mix is “part two” and is a companion CD to “Where in the World” which, although not what I would call a party album, could be played in the background of a cocktail party, especially if you want your guests to ask “where in the world…”
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
Star Trek V Theme >> Sting >> B-52s >> Kathleen Battle >> Dawn Upshaw >> Serge Gainsbourg >> Barbie Girl >> Let's Go All the Way >> Madonna >> On the Beautiful Blue Danube (J. Strauss II) >> Chad Hudson
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“The Season”
December 2003
WARNING: MEANT TO OFFEND
COMMENTS:
Not one to take tradition and organized religion too seriously, this mix will definitely offend someone if not taken for what it is, a send-up of all we experience during the holiday season. As soon as you realize that Julie Andrews has slipped into a slinky, black cocktail dress in the middle of telling The Nutcracker tale, you’ll understand what I mean. I spend more time compiling and making transitions than I do actual remixing over beats, so some of the fantastic editing by Corporal Blossom, DJ Olive, and No-L must be acknowledged. This mix does, however, contain my original marathon edit of O Holy Night that includes over a dozen versions… Yet again, this month included a (real) party mix companion CD, “The (alt) Season.”
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
Malcolm Daglish >> Winter from The Seasons (Vivaldi) >> JS Bach >> Nightmare Before Christmas (Danny Elfman) >> The Nutcracker (Tchaikovsky) >> NYC Gay Men’s Chorus >> Things to Come Suite (Sir Arthur Bliss) >> Barbra Streisand >> Whitney Houston >> O Holy Night >> Boys Choir of Harlem >> Joan Sutherland >> Sounds of Blackness >> Joy to the World >> Patrick Stewart >>
“The (alt) Season”
COMMENTS: This compilation was created as a party mix companion to “The Season.”
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
Bond >> Freddie Mercury >> Jingle Bell Rock >> Holiday >> The Chipmunks >> I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas >> Brenda Lee >> Isaac Hayes >> Joan Sutherland >> Dionne Warwick >> Seasons of Love >> Jung >> and much, much more . . .
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“Back & Forth: 80s”
January 2004
COMMENTS:
The holidays that year were uncommonly filled with thoughts of growing up a “band pansy” in the South. But the universal themes of love, cars, and dancing still ring out in this 80s/70s two-parter. Enjoy a trip down memory lane…
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
New Years Day >> Cars >> Mr. Mister's Richard Paige >> Kim Carnes >>
Do You Really Want To Hurt Me >> You Spin Me Round >> Frankie Goes to Hollywood
>> I Feel Love >> Eurythmics >> Blondie >> and more . . .
“Back & Forth: 70s”
COMMENTS: Part two, a companion to “Back & Froth: 80s” (see above).
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
Janis Ian >> Jim Croce >> A Chorus Line >> Please Come To Boston >>
John Denver >> Stairway to Heaven >> B52s >> Gloria Ganor >> Minnie Ripperton >> Donna Summer >> Star Wars >> and more . . .
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Happy, Happy”
February 2004
COMMENTS FOR “HAPPY, HAPPY”:
This title certainly speaks for itself. I wanted to do a compilation of wall-to-wall happiness and joy (one caveat: Annie Lennox’s The Saddest Song I've Got… but then, what is one thing without the other?) I draw from pop, dance, jazz, country, and classical genres. Included are selections by Yma Sumac whose zany seriousness has always made me smile, as has the British comedy series Absolutely Fabulous, here in various mixes by the Pet Shop Boys.
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
Bernstein’s Candide >> Freddie Mercury >> Pet Shop Boys >> Boston Pops >> Joan Sutherland >> Jon Secada >> Flower Duet from Delibes’ Lakmé
>> Yma Sumac >> Cole Porter’s I Get a Kick Out of You >> Nickel Creek >>
PDQ Bach >> Flying Theme from ET >> Annie Lenox >> Absolutely Fabulous >> and more . . .
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“Down Home”
March 2004
COMMENTS:
In a compliment to the “Happy, Happy” CD from February (a month that needs uplifting) this mix could be called “Sadder, Sadder” (in a month that usually has better weather). Although not exactly depressing, this mix is on the laid-back side and includes more country than usual. There are also several plays on the word and concept of “home.”
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
Joan Osborne >> Copland’s Appalachian Spring >> YoYo Ma, Mark O'Connor, Edgar Meyer >> Tin Hat Rodeo >> Dolly Parton >> Simply Red >> Carpenters >> Two Doors Down >> Barbra Streisand >> Norah Jones >> Love Don't Live Here Anymore >> Marilyn Horne >> Kathleen Battle >> Nickel Creek >> Down Home Blues >> Dave Matthews Band >> Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 "New World" >> and more . . .
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“Loopy”
April 2004
WARNING: CONTAINS PROFANITY
COMMENTS:
Similar to “Where in the World”, this compilation includes a lot of selections and sections that are just plain weird. So this particular CD is a chance for me to get a way from the restrictions of recognizable “theme.” The title also refers to rings or circles as well as the repeating sound bytes used in mixes and known as “loops.”
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring >> Lord of the Rings >> Renée Fleming >> Glenn Gould >> Madonna >> Wig in a Box >> Dar Williams >> Sarah Vaughan >> Charlie Parker >> You Make Me Feel Brand New >> Like a Virgin >> Orb >> Yes >> Shakalaka Baby >> Annie Lennox >> Wagner’s Ring Cycle >> and more . . .
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“All (Some) About Me”
May 2004
WARNING: CONTAINS PROFANITY
COMMENTS:
This compilation is perhaps the most personal of the entire series, although all of them reflect my musical taste, and by extension, me. I actually set out to be more autobiographical in this one and in many ways this represents the culmination of the journey I started 12 months before. My favorite composers and performers all make an appearance. As well, my own performances and poetry I have written are included. I am proud that this CD contains some of my best editing work and was truly a labor of love.
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
Mahler >> Orb >> PDQ Bach >> Margaret Cho >> Bette Midler >> Syrinx >>
Sting >> Maya Angelou >> Renata Scotto >> Cher >> Madonna >> You Gotta Be >> John F. Kennedy >> Tom Lehrer >> Jim Morrison >> Bach >> Basic Japanese for Tourists >> Barbra Streisand >> Walt Whitman >> Candide >> and more . . .
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“Make Believe”
June 2004
WARNING: CONTAINS PROFANITY
COMMENTS:
After a year of working on under my own influences, I suggested that my friends offer up themes and songs to include. My friend Michael came up with Helen Ready’s Angie Baby. Unfortunately it was only one song and did not come with a theme. So I sat out to examine every line and idea in the song ended up deconstructing it completely. I ended up with the following questions: Why was Angie crazy? What was her childhood like? Why did she hate men? Did she hate men? What happened to the boy in her room? Was she really the victim? What would her mature years be like?
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
Angie Baby >> Björk >> Julie Andrews >> The Spider and the Fly >> Sweeney Todd >> Bartók >> Barbara Bonney >> Betty Carter >> Sting >> Rite of Spring (Stravinsky) >> Erotica >> Edita Gruberova >> Nellie McKay >> Helen Ready >> Bette Midler >> and more . . .
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Shirley Q. Liquor: “One for the Road”
July 2004
Shirley Q. Liquor: “Two for the Money, Honey”
August 2004
Shirley Q. Liquor: “Three Times a Lady”
September 2004
WARNING: CONTAINS PROFANITY
WARNING: MEANT TO OFFEND
COMMENTS:
If you’ve never heard or heard about the drag personality known as Shirley Q Liquor, hold on to your wig… and be prepared NOT to be offended. It’s easy to understand why she/he has been labeled a racist by some of the unenlightened, but I truly do not believe that a person can ravish that much talent, time, and toenail polish on one subject and not be a lover instead of a hater. This is one of three compilations in honor of Miss Liquor that I have woven together in the form of a radio show. Many of the musical selections that come in and out of the sketches are inspire by the songs that Shirley herself has used in her show. Get ready for a belly ache.
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“Return of the Season”
December 2004
WARNING: MEANT TO OFFEND
COMMENTS:
As a follow-up to last year’s holiday mix, I revisited many of the warped ideas that my friends found entertaining. I again used the Nutcracker story, this time infusing it with a little known, strangely demonic Russian tale. This combination of Christmas and Halloween is continued in a section combining traditional carols with Berlioz’s Symphony Fantastique, Verdi’s Requiem, and the music from the film Nightmare Before Christmas. This leads into Christmastime in Hell from MTV’s South Park. (Offended, yet?) I even take a stab at my icon, La Streisand, by stringing together all of the orchestral intros to her most recent holiday album (I challenge anyone except Marvin Hamlish to identify the edits.)
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
The Nutcracker >> Nightmare Before Christmas >>
Symphonie Fantastique (Berlioz) >> Renata Scotto >> O Tannenbaum
>> Tom Lehrer >> Shirley Q Liquor >> Duke Ellington Orchestra >>
I Wonder As I Wander >> Messiah >> Enya >> Eric Cartman >>
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas >> and more . . .
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“Butterfly”
January 2005
COMMENTS:
For this compilation, I basically took the tragic story of Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly and turned it on its head. So, fair warning, that this contains a lot of opera, although it is generously sprinkled with pop and jazz. The order of the events of the play is completely non-sequential, with the Act One love duet coming in the middle and the wedding happening near the end. I tried to illustrate and highlight the brutish quality of the “hero’s” character, while showing the heroine to be as multidimensional and strong as possible. In my version, Butterfly does not kill herself, but rather, turns the knife on Pinkerton for being such a horrible person!
The text to the Charles Crumb pieces that frame the mix, are translated from the from Federico Garcia Lorca poems as
The moon is dead, dead; but it is reborn in the springtime...
When the moon rises, the sea covers the earth,
and the heart feels like an island in infinity...
Another obscure Adam dreams neuter seedless stone moon
where the child of light will be kindling...
Through the sky goes the moon holding a child by the hand.
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
Puccini >> Pavarotti >> Un bel di >> The Real Tuesday Wells >> Sarah Vaughan >> Renata Scotto >> The Mikado >> Etude in G-Flat, op 25 no 9 “Butterfly” (Chopin) >> Dave Liebman >> Pauline Olivero >> Annie Lennox >> Rawhide >> Mirella Freni >> Malcolm McLaren >> Battle Hymn of the Republic >> and much, much more . . .
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“Meditations”
February 2005
COMMENTS ON “MEDITATIONS”:
One of the first inspirations for this work (it is more of a composition, than a compilation) was a CD of music for meditation by my colleague Cornelius Claudio Kreusch. A family project that includes his guitarist/brother and singer/mother, the exquisitely calming recording worked its Eastern-tinged magic. During this initial period of “research,” I also became aware of a work by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt based on the Passion according to St. John.
I was looking for a structure and a theme for this project, but was not interested in going “religious.” However, I remembered from my youth, growing up in a Catholic family, the ritual of saying the rosary at the stations of the cross and it was looking like there might be 14 sections. I couldn’t remember exactly what the stations were or how many, except that they were based on the crucifixion, and there were many of them. I found out that the stations had been based more on tradition that actual scriptures, until Pope John Paul II made a revision during Vatican II, bringing them more in line with the bible. I also discovered that there are no set prayers for the stations and several sets written by religious personae over the years are used. Further research led me to an intriguing set of solo pieces by Franz Liszt, who actually spend most of his life pursuing a religious calling, (when not pursuing other men’s wives...) based on the stations of the cross “for meditation.” These are very strange works, some hymn-like and non-descript, others strikingly chromatic; very few included much tone-painting that I expected. Instructions were even included for the Liszt works: “these works are for the meditative use of the performer,” not necessarily intended for the public.
An overall structure began to form, fourteen sections (based on the number of stations) with an introduction and en epilogue, divided by a returning motif. I wanted this motif to include a sound from my childhood that I consider the most magical part of the mass, the ringing of a bell tree during the communion rite as the priest raises the host aloft. I created a cluster of various sounds, bells, wind chimes, sirens, alarms, with varying echo effects and filters. To this I combined the various section announcements of the Part Passion, and a motif from a solo piano work by Thomas Ades (Darknesse Visible). Each of these elements appears slightly altered in timing, order, and length; they announce each of the sections.
The various sections contain a wide variety of material, almost all classical compositions and opera (no popular music makes an obvious appearance in this work). Some of my favorite works are represented, including Samuel Barber’s Hermit Songs, Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, and several works by the American minimalist John Adams. These are all deconstructed, lengthened, edited, and “man-handled” repeatedly, but none beyond recognition. Most of these appear with three different recordings woven together; for instance, a hermit song may start with a phrase sung by Barbara Bonney, be echoed in the background by Sanford Sylvan (in another key), and ended by Leontyne Price. I am most proud of the pacing achieved in the Rosenkavalier section by using three different performances, producing a trio that will sadly most likely never be heard in real life.
Adams’ work for baritone and orchestra, The Wound-Dresser, is based on poetry by Walt Whitman, my favorite poet. Other works are chosen for this connection to Whitman and I’ve even included an Edison recording of Walt himself at the turn of the 19th century. Other John Adams works include The Shakers (note: most people do not know that the Shakers sect was so called because they shook violently when they achieved the ecstasy of the holy spirit) and Short Ride in a Fast Machine which makes an interesting and unintended climax with his Transmorgrification of Souls, written in remembrance of 9/11, with the chorus singing “sky” and “light”.
Among all that are sprinkled real meditations: from Bernstein’s Mass (written in honor of my namesake John F. Kennedy) come his “Three Meditations” transcribed for cello and orchestra; the famous “Meditation” from Thais by Jules Massenet; and the Liszt piano “meditations” I mentioned before. These last two do an interesting chromatic dance during Track 15 that amazingly required no time or pitch alterations on my part.
On top of all that, or rather, underlying all that, are three works (yes, with symbolic reference to the holy trinity) that play almost continuously at extremely low levels throughout the work. Occasionally, a brief motif will be brought to the forefront, but for the most part, they act as a kind of musical river that keeps things moving forward on a subliminal plane, while unifying it at the same time. These three works are complete CDs: one entitled “Cold Blue,” a psychedelic collection of pieces first released as an album in the 1970s; a new age meditation CD; and the pieces called Mandala that I mentioned at the beginning, written and performed by Cornelius Claudio Kreusch and his family.
I did not set out to create a work on a religious theme, nor do I think the final product is necessarily Christian, having added many touches from other cultures and long segments that have nothing to do with “God” per se. (However, the inevitable coincidences did occur: in the Rosenkavalier trio, Sophie sings that she feels as if she were in a church…) Although it was in the theaters at the time, I had not seen the controversial film by Mel Gibson of the crucifixion story. I knew that focusing on intense physical pain was not to my liking. Although pain and suffering is not ignored, I hope my work gives the listener a sense of fulfillment that comes with intense concentration (the definition of “meditation”?).
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“Dream!”
June 2005
COMMENTS:
This compilation is much more than a simple gathering of songs around a title topic as are some of my other mixes. The transitions and layered sections lend themselves to a “dreamy” sound and developed easily. I included several references to the Disney movies from my childhood, partly for their fantasy-based stories, but also because my memories of them are shrouded in a dream-like haze. Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Nights Dream and the incidental music composed by Mendelssohn and Korngold are major influences. I struggled with the structural form; I moved the major sections around several times before settling on a flow that kept things moving forward and fresh while staying true to the theme. Overall, this could be some of my finest work.
I have divided the tracks into five large groups: Nodding Off, A Child’s Fantasy, Adult Nightmares, Fairytale Ceremonies, and A Good Night. Although this may aid the listener and guide him through long stretches of concentration, these sections were a mere afterthought and are not rigid.
EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS COMPILATION:
Incidental Music from A Midsummer Nights Dream (Mendelssohn) >> Out Of My Dreams (Rogers) >> Dream from The Encantadas (Picker/Melville) >> Träumerei 'Dreaming' (Schumann) >> Jabberwocky (Carroll) >> Yma Sumac >> Sun Ra And His Arkestra >> Vladimir Horowitz >> Joan Crawford >> Someday My Prince Will Come >> Over The Rainbow >> Patty Griffin >> Duran Duran >> He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven (Yeats) >>
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“Stories:South”
August 2006
COMMENTS:
“I like books on tape” declares Space Ghost on his show during an interview with Charlton Heston. And so do I. Discovering the Audible Books web site a few months ago, I have enjoyed their offerings of books, plays, and poetry very much. They also provide a sampler each month giving pre-selected gems: some well-known, some unexpected. The Audible selections often lead me to do research for available works in audio format. (By the way there is a mention of “audible” in this compilation — listen for it.) That is how I found a 1964 recording of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie in a reading by Montgomery Clift, Jessica Tandy, and Julie Harris. But the best part of that purchase was the inclusion of a bonus CD which featured Tennessee himself reading parts of his play as well as a selection of poems. Thus came my inspiration for this compilation: Williams’ short story The Yellow Bird which acts as the finale of my “piece” Stories:South.
It’s certainly not difficult to find stories about the south or works written by southern writers. The hard part is winnowing them down to something that can be digested in one sitting (this has always been the problem in this series).
This is the first real installment in the series since the summer of 2005, but I have continued to stockpile material on my computer that appeals to me. For the last year I have struggled with a mix loosely based on the theme of New Orleans. As this city holds such a deep place in my heart, all attempts at capturing my feelings in sound were disappointing to me. Once I had some of the spoken material selected from my Audible Books downloads, it occurred to me to combine it with the New Orleans materials. I then freed up the theme to the South in general.
I have included two selections from works by fellow southerner David Sedaris, as he never fails to make me laugh: Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. The other literary inclusions — besides the Tennessee Williams mentioned before — include: Truman Capote reading from his final novel In Cold Blood; Jack Karouac reading his 1960s anthem On the Road; and Arte Johnson (yes, Arte from Laugh In fame) reading a brief, late add-on from John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces. (Autobiographical notes here regarding Toole and the inclusion of his famous piece: When I was born in 1961, my mother had planned to name me John Tolley after her father, but at the last minute my father insisted on naming me John Kennedy; Tolley is a British version of the Irish surname “Toole”…)
While still in high school, I discovered Tennessee Williams’s Life Story, transcribing it by hand into my journal, impressed by the skillful writing and surprise ending. I was delighted to find that the contemporary composer Thomas Ades had set the text. Two versions are included here; like the Ravel piece, one is for piano and the other is orchestrated for two clarinets, bass clarinet, and double bass.
Parts of the soundtrack from the classic film of A Streetcar Named Desire lead very nicely into Reneé Fleming’s aria from the 2004 opera of the same name by André Previn. Previn is also playing the piano in several of the Gershwin selections and, to bring it all back around, Previn accompanies Leontyne Price in the Sleepin’ Bee quote from House of Flowers, book and lyrics by Truman Capote.
The interviews with Ruby Walker about her various escapades with the infamous blues singer Bessie Smith are hysterical and often filthy. It’s hard to believe Walker wasn’t reading from a script . . . truly a natural-born story teller. Another ad-libbed section is a private phone conversation LBJ had with Pierre Salinger in the months after Kennedy’s assassination where he proposes a job for Jackie.
I have included one of my favorite pieces, Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, a setting of text from James Agee’s A Death in the Family. Here, I string together and overlap three wonderful recordings by Leontyne Price, Kathleen Battle, and Dawn Upshaw.
One technique used for continuity is fragmenting Ravel’s tone poem of decadence, La Valse, presented here in the two versions, for two pianos and orchestrated. I have built in an intermission between Acts.
To quote Tennessee Williams, “I think the rest of the play will explain itself.”
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“Noir”
OCTOBER 2006
This mix signals another change in the series: together with my two good friends Michael and Chad – who, in many ways, have been the inspiration behind these works – an idea was hatched to do an “art project” while we listen to a mix. I bought three one-foot square canvases and we each created an interpretation of the music with paint, fabric, magazine clippings, printed text, and even glitter. I had pre-painted them all black with the word “noir” in the center of each. I think we ended up listening to the mix at least four times that night. We were so happy with the results, that we have continued the project and plan to do a whole series.
Notes:
“Noir” is part madhouse, part 1950’s horror flick, part warped circus.
I had already completed the form of the mix and the major components were in place when I attended a performance in a spiegel-tent in late summer. It was an incredible night of entertainment ― cabaret songs, contortionists, strong-men ― all right in lower Manhattan. To top it all off, there was a major storm blowing in the Atlantic just yards from the tent. I wanted to capture the excitement and magic of that night in this mix.
Major contributions come from new releases by Christina Aguilera, DJ Wax Tailor, Scissor Sisters, and Basement Jaxx. The fun-house aspect of several cuts off Christina’s Back to Basics made for a perfect fit. I had found a mixed-tape-style CD by the DJ Wax Tailor that is sprinkled throughout, providing continuity. The Scissor Sisters’s Intermission is an extremely dark story of suicide (at least I think it is, one never knows with the Sisters) cast as a fun little ditty. The Basement Jaxx’s newest CD includes an instrumental cut that paraphrases the Verdi Requiem; that gave me an opportunity to include my favorite opera singer Renata Scotto. She has a brief (and extremely altered) section from the Verdi Requiem, singing “Tremens factus sum ego et timeo” or “I am seized with trembling and I fear the time…”
James Dickey reading his own poem, Sheep Child, was actually cut, due to time, from my last compilation “Stories:South.” It’s a deliciously haunting piece. James Dickey is best known for his novel-cum-movie Deliverance and this exposé about farms boys and their desire for sex with sheep is just as creepy. Other literary-inspired references include Jill Tracy’s Evil Night Together which was inspired by Luc Sante’s book Low Life. It was the winning composition in the Songs Inspired by Literature (SIBL) project. There is also a brief excerpt from Anne Rice’s book The Feast of All Saints read by Courtney B. Vance of Star Trek Voyager fame.
Sufjan Stevens has embarked on a huge undertaking: to write a CD’s worth of music for each of the 50 United States. He’s up to number two. Illinois includes songs that reference famous people from the state; mass-murderer John Wayne Gacy, Jr. is one of them. This is one of my favorite songs for its ability ― with very modest means and quite unexpectedly ― to create sympathy for such an unsympathetic monster.
Michael Daugherty (a Manhattan School of Music graduate) wrote Sing Sing for the Kronos quartet. The score includes archival recordings of speeches by FBI-head and commie-hater J. Edgar Hoover. I’ve slashed the 20+ minute score merciously and added my own political stab at George W. Bush (truly one scary individual).
I’ve always thought that the men’s chorus sections of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder was some of the most frightening music ever written ― Night on Bald Mountain be damned! I was thrilled when I found a post-Fantasia recording from a radio broadcast of Leopold Stokowski explaining the piece. The men (“three choruses … twelve independent parts”) sing:
Arise, King Waldemar’s noble men /
Wake your horses’ mouldering corpses /
Today the dead ride abroad.
At that point I morph the piece into a section of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast where the chorus praises that party-king with “live forever, live forever.” Then an appearance of Sweeney Todd, king of the killer-haircut!
Imagine sitting around a campfire on Halloween and having Uncle Jack share all these tales with you “in a key of high tragedy” … and that’s “Noir.”
Note: I had finished the mix, mostly in its current state, when a friend invited me to see the Twyla Tharp Broadway show featuring the songs of Bob Dylan. I was amused that her concepts mirrored almost exactly the theme of “Noir” ― however, I think my mix would be a better score for her than the Dylan songs, if I do say so myself…
I found this quote by Albert Einstein quite by accident as I was completing these notes for “Noir” ― it’s a perfect explanation for why I continue to do these compilations: “The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed.”
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Re:Licht
AUGUST 2007
This mix is the second of the series that my friends Michael, Chad, and I have used as inspiration for artwork. We got together with three empty white canvases and a bunch of paint and stuff and let the muse guide us.
Notes:
Licht (German for light) pretty much says it all. I chose some works that overtly mention some sort of light (the sun, a match) and others that are simply airy and bubbly in feeling. I’m glad I could finally work in an extended excerpt by Joanna Newsom (she frankly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea). This series was always about the predicament of who to present a disparate array of genres in a way that each selection creates an aesthetic and meaningful experience for the listener, no matter their musical tastes. I was very happy with the way Newsom’s Emily excerpt is set up and edited: “That the meteorite is a source of the light/And the meteor's just what we see…” What is light without darkness? So we have the section beginning with Holly Cole’s We Kiss in the Shadow that is all about the play of light in the night. The finale includes the joyous John Willaims’ Olympic Spirit (how could the summer Olympics not conjure images of light?) and the boisterous rondo from the Flute Concerto by Aram Khatchaturian. Leontyne Price’s performance from a 1977 live German-radio broadcast makes for a nice encore: “This little light of mine/I’m gonna let it shine…”
Note: this mix has a twin-sister in “Re:Sol” that I did in August of 2003, one of the first of this series.
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Is that all there is?
I recently completed a mini-series of Ear-Acid mixes for my good friend
I plan to post notes about IN A YEAR throughout the coming year.
