him and the things he does

My Mom: A Video Tribute

2011-01-06T13:25:00.000-08:00

A video tribute I did in memory of my mom:

2010-09-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

Here are the 10 established categories for determining "Opera Diva-ness" based on the Kangian theory established, in the year of our lord 2010, by Jay Caspian Kang on his blog The Awl (click here to see why Whitney Houston won the pop category) - explanations, if needed, follow:

Emotional Journey
Stimm
Kunst
Iconic Moment
Cult Status
Scandale
Hair and Headgear
Weight Fluctuations
Grandezza
Drag Imitability

Emotional Journey (200 points possible)

* Does the singer create the “grand opera buzz?” Briefly, do you leave the theater a different person? And if not, why the hell not?

Stimm (150 points possible)

I.e., “Singing” “The Voice” -- Can the bitch sing? Really sing.

Kunst (150 points possible)

* (No, not that Kunst!) Does the bitch do her homework? It's voice vs. art. “The Stimmdiva’s idea of preparing Gounod’s Marguerite involves learning her music and ordering her outfits. The Kunstdiva reads Goethe.”

Iconic Moment (100 points possible)

* A phrase, a gesture or a situation so closely associated with the diva as to become her trademark. The Iconic Moment could be Maria Callas snarling at the process server or Meg Ryan’s “I’ll have what she’s having” scene.

Cult Status (100 points possible)

* Artistic, financial and popular success is nothing without insanely obsessive fans to share it with.

Grandezza (100 points possible)

* The grace, confidence and repose only a great lady can wield, toots.

Scandale (100 points possible)

* Cancellations, feuds, insane demands and other sundry drama. (Note: wig anecdotes are scored both here and in the following category.)

Hair and Headgear (50 points possible)

* A diva without a turban is like…

Weight Fluctuations (50 points possible)

* No explanation needed.

Drag Imitability (50 points possible)

* The diva’s persona should be so boldly defined, on the very cusp of mannerism, that an imaginative impersonator need apply only a thin veneer of exaggeration. Or, to put it another way, if she can’t be “done,” then she’s not a diva.

Results?

CLASSIC DIVAS

RANK	DIVA	SCORE
1	Leontyne Price	830
(tie) 2	Montserrat Caballé	825
(tie) 2	Renata Scotto	825
4	Leonie Rysanek	820
5	Jessye Norman	800
6	Régine Crespin	770
7	Tatiana Troyanos	725
8	Joan Sutherland	710
9	Christa Ludwig	640
10	Marilyn Horne	580
11	Hildegard Behrens	520
12	Mirella Freni	495

CONTEMPORARY DIVAS

RANK	DIVA	SCORE
1	Edita Gruberova	725
2	Angela Gheorghiu	705
3	Anna Netrebko	690
4	Karita Mattila	680
5	Renée Fleming	675
6	Cecilia Bartoli	605
7	Waltraud Meier	590
8	Dolora Zajick	530
9	Joyce DiDonato	520
10	Natalie Dessay	480

Here is the link to the Parterre Box result details on Parterre Box: http://parterre.com/2010/09/24/the-quantification-of-the-diva-upon-reflection/

Here is a sample of why Gruberova won: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhoXSsdURaM

Here is but one/two reason, as if you needed any, why Leontyne won:

American Tribute - Shenandoah

2010-07-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

My salute to the beauty of America on this 4th of July 2010. Music is the folk song Shenandoah as arranged by Donald Erb and performed by the vocal groups Octarium and Chanticleer (in my own edit mix) set to my own edit of video by David Fortney.

This brings back memories of touring Europe in the summer of 1976 with Bob Fuller and the JHS Choir -- go Hurricanes!

Glee Vogue vs Madonna Vogue - a comparison

2010-07-08T18:14:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be interesting to see the 2010 redo of Glee's Vogue starring Sue Sylvester side-by-side with the original (tempo the same; some edits necessary)...

Fish

2010-04-07T13:38:00.001-07:00

Check out this cool Flash image:
-move your cursor around the image and my fish will follow
-click on the image to feed my fish

Music and Art : "Inevitability" (February 2010)

2010-02-26T22:35:00.001-08:00

Music and Art - "INEVITABILITY" Playlists (February 2010)

2010-02-26T22:09:00.000-08:00

My friends (Michael Schultz and Chad Hudson) and I started doing what we called "Music and Art" day where we pick a theme, listen to music (my mixes), have a few cocktails, and create something on our separate 12" x 12" white canvases...

This was our fourth session -- this time on the theme of "Inevitability" -- and here are our three pieces of art created on February 20, 2010:

Here is a playlist of the music that I put together, edited, and re-mashed for us to listened to, discuss, and be inspired by that day:

Inevitability One:
“The Past Propels Us Forward”

Inevitability Two:
“Fate Propels Us Forward”

Inevitability Three:
“Chances Are It’s All or Nothing And So It Goes”

Inevitability Four:
“Opposites Attract”

Inevitability Five:
“Spring Will Come Again”

Inevitability Six:
“The End Propels Us Forward”

_______________________________________________________

Inevitability One:
“The Past Propels Us Forward”

Where Does Uttered Music Go (Walton) — Choir of St. John’s College >>
Bolero — Nat Shilkret and His Victor Orchestra >>
“Fresh, yet inevitable” — Elliot Goldenthal >>
Introduction from Carmen Ballet (Bizet/arr Shchedrin) — Boston Pops, Fiedler >>
Romeo and Juliet Overture (Tchaikovsky) — Chicago, Solti >>
Meeting Scene from West Side Story (Bernstein) — Minnesota, Oue >>
Introduction from Carmen Ballet (Bizet/arr Shchedrin) — Boston Pops, Fiedler >>
A Time for Us from Love Story — John Bayless >>
Adagio for Strings (arr for toy piano) — Mutsuhiro Nishiwaki >>
O Fortune from Carmina Burana (Orff) — Cleveland, Tilson Thomas >>
Symphony No 8, Opening Part One “Veni, Creator Spiritus” (Mahler) — Chicago, Solti >>
Bolero (Ravel) — Cleveland, Dohnányi >>
Bolero — Tomita >>

[From Ear-Acid September 2003: “Love:Story”]
The Gate — Enigma >> Gravity of Love (Judgment Day Club Mix) — Enigma >>
Carmen — Malcolm McLaren >>

[From Ear-Acid May 2004: “All (or Some) About Me”]
Symphony No 5, Opening (Mahler) — Concertgebouw, Chailly >> People Get Together / Symphony No 3 (Mahler) — Miguel Kursman >> Der Rosenkavalier (Strauss) — Vienna, Karajan >> Fast Forward the Future — Orb, Zodiac Youth >> Jim Morrison Philosophy — Morrison >> Eldorado from Candide (Bernstein) — London, Bernstein >> Clouds of Forgetting (J.L. Adams) — Apollo, Faletta >> Home — Orb, Pop Will Eat Itself >> Bioplasm (Shapiro) — LA Flute Quartet >> Just You & I — dZihan & Kamien >> Animus IV (Druckman) — Ensemble 21 >> Syrinx (Debussy) — Blanchard >>
The Book of My Life — Sting, Shankar >> Syrinx (Debussy) — Blanchard >>
Church, It’s Sacred (Angelou) — Angelou >> There Is No Place For Me In Heaven (Blanchard) — Vaughn / Blanchard >> Libera me from Requiem (Verdi) — Scotto >> God Is a DJ — Rollo & Sister Bliss >>

Music’s No Good Without You — Cher >>
Music Again — Lambert >>

[From Ear-Acid September 2003: “Love:Story”]
Maria Callas on “Love” / Titto Gobi on “Maria Callas” >>
A Thousand Days (Laswell Mix) — Sting >>
Gravity of Love — Enigma >> O Fortuna from Carmina Burana (Orff) — Philharmonia, Muti >>

[From Ear-Acid May 2004: “All (or Some) About Me”]
You Gotta Have Friends — Midler >> My Beautiful Besmiled Man (Blanchard) — Vaughn >> Monologue — Streisand >> Adagietto (Mahler, arr Uri Caine) >>

[From Ear-Acid February 2005: “Meditations”]
Desire For Hermitage from Hermit Songs (Copland) — Price, Barber / Bonney, Previn >>
Church Bells At Night from Hermit Songs (Copland) — Bonney, Previn >> Soulitude — CCK >> Via Crucis (Liszt) — Howard >> Desire For Hermitage from Hermit Songs — Bonney, Previn / Sylvan, Breitman >> Shaking and Trembling from Shaker Loops (Adams) — Bournemouth, Alsop >>

Down to Earth from Wall-E — Gabriel, Soweto Gospel Choir >>
Where Does Uttered Music Go (Walton) — Choir of St. John’s College >>

[From Ear-Acid May 2004: “All (or Some) About Me”]
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (Mahler) — Hampson / Otter >> A Little Night Music Waltz (Sondheim) — Boston Pops, Williams >>
We Two Boys Together Clinging (Tilson Thomas/Whitman) — Hampson >>
Candide’s Lament from Candide (Bernstein) — London, Bernstein / Crone >> The Mystic Trumpeter (Whitman) — Thomas Hampson >> Battle Music from Candide (Bernstein) — London, Bernstein >> Make Our Garden Grow (Bernstein, arr Corigliano) — Bell >> Make Our Garden Grow Introduction — Price >> A Little Night Music Waltz (Sondheim) — Boston Pops, Williams >>

Overture from La forza del destino “The Force of Destiny” (Verdi) — London, Muti >>
Gravity of Love (Judgment Day Club Mix) — Enigma >>
O Fortuna from Carmina Burana (Orff) — Philharmonia, Muti >>
Symphony No 8, Opening Part One “Veni, Creator Spiritus” (Mahler) — Atlanta, Shaw / Chicago, Solti >> “Fresh, yet inevitable” — Goldenthal >>
Bolero — Nat Shilkret and His Victor Orchestra.

_______________________________________________________

Inevitability Two:
“Fate Propels Us Forward”

Anniversary Fanfare (Walton) — Philharmonia, Willcocks >>
Oedipus Rex Introduction (Stravinsky) — Shiraishi / Chéreau / Jacopucci >>
Oedipus Rex Introduction (Stravinsky) — Bernstein >>
Oedipus Rex (Stravinsky) — Swedish Radio, Salonen >>
Oedipus Tex (PDQ Bach) — Schickele >>
Immortality from Saturday Night Fever — Adam Garcia >>
Death, Be Not Proud (Shakespeare) — Ioan Gruffudd
When I Am Laid in Earth (Purcell) — East Village Opera Company >>
When I Am Laid in Earth from Dido and Aeneas (Purcell) — Leontyne Price >>
Climb Every Mountain — Christine Brewer >>
Climb Every Mountain — Vocal Majority >>
New York City Boy (Superchumbo Uptown Remix) — Pet Shop Boys >>
This Is New York — Ministry of New York >>
This Is New York, Bitch! — La’Mady feat. Kevin Aviance >>
Empire State of Mind — Alicia Keys >>
I’m Gay — Bowling for Soup >>
Girl, I ****** Yo’ Boyfriend — Jonny McGovern feat. Adam Joseph >>
Cool — Quartet San Francisco >>
Ring Them Bells — Liza Minnelli >>
New York, New York — Liza Minnelli, Luciano Pavarotti >>
There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon for New York from Porgy and Bess (Gershwin) —
John Bubbles, Leontyne Price.

_______________________________________________________

Inevitability Three:
“Chances Are It’s All or Nothing And So It Goes”

Chances Are — Straight No Chaser >>
All or Nothing At All — Shirley Bassey >>
All or Nothing At All (STUHR Remix) — Shirley Bassey vs Jimmy Scott >>
Que Sera — Doris Day vs Wax Tailor >>
Polonaise in Ab Major (Chopin) — Arthur Rubenstein >>
Til the End of Time — Doris Day / Perry Como >>
Til the End of Time — Mariah Carey >>
After All — Cher with Peter Cetera >>
Time in a Bottle / Piano Man Concerto — David Osborne >>
I’m Yours / Somewhere Over the Rainbow — Straight No Chaser >>
Rainbows — Jon Secada >>
You’ll Never Walk Alone — London Philharmonic >>
Chances Are — Jim Mullen Organ Trio >>
Paradise Is Here (Junior's Arena Anthem) — Cher >>
Air from Suite in G (Bach) — Todd Wilson >>
Everything’s Gonna Be Alright — Sweetbox >>
How Glory Goes — Nigel Richards >>
And So It Goes — Nathan Gunn.

_______________________________________________________

Inevitability Four:
“Opposites Attract”

Carmen Potpourri (Bizet) — Homophone Orchestra >>
West Side Story Suite — Bell, Philharmonica, Zinman >>
West Side Story Abridged — Broadway Abridged Live >>
West Side Krupke — Berlin Horns >>
Carmen Overture — Bernstein >>
Introduction from Carmen Ballet (Bizet/arr Shchedrin) — Boston Pops, Fiedler >>
L'amour est un osieau rubella from Carmen — Callas, Prêtre >>
Aragonaise from Carmen Suite — LA Guitar Quartet >>
Chanson Bohème from Carmen — Callas, Prêtre >>
Carmen Entr’acte — Alessi >>
Somewhere from West Side Story — Berlin Horns >>
Finale from Carmen Ballet (Bizet/arr Shchedrin) — Boston Pops, Fiedler >>
Habanera from Carmen — Berganza >>
Habanera from Carmen Ballet (Bizet/arr Shchedrin) — Boston Pops, Fiedler >>
Habanera from Carmen — Horne, Bernstein >>
Carmen Jones — Horne >>
Habanera — Alessi >>
Habanera from Carmen Ballet (Bizet/arr Shchedrin) — Boston Pops, Fiedler >>
Melons! Coupons (Fortune Teller Scene) from Carmen — Callas, Prêtre >>
Intermezzo / Bolero from Carmen Ballet (Bizet/arr Shchedrin) — Boston Pops, Fiedler >>
Melons! Coupons (Fortune Teller Scene) from Carmen — Callas, Prêtre >>
Melons! Coupons (Fortune Teller Scene) from Carmen — Price, Karajan >>
Fortune Teller Scene from Carmen Ballet (Bizet/arr Shchedrin) — Boston Pops, Fiedler >>
C'est moi! — Callas, Gedda, Prêtre >>
Finale from Carmen Ballet (Bizet/arr Shchedrin) — Boston Pops, Fiedler >>
La fleur que tu m'avais jetee — Gedda, Callas, Prêtre >>
Finale from Carmen — Price, Corelli >>
Carmen Fantasy (Bizet/Borne/Wilson) Ransom Wilson, Tim Hester >>
Finale from Carmen Ballet (Bizet/arr Shchedrin) — Boston Pops, Fiedler.

_______________________________________________________

Inevitability Five:
“Spring Will Come Again”

[From Ear-Acid April 2004: “Loopy”]
Adoration of the Earth from Rite of Spring (Stravinsky) — Kirov, Gergiev >> 1000 Years — Arthur Baker, Astrid Williamson >> Twilight and Shadow from Lord of the Rings — Renée Fleming >> The Sage from Rite of Spring (Stravinsky) — Kirov, Gergiev >>

Act II Prelude from Peter Pan (Bernstein) — Orchestra, Frey >>
At the Bottom of Everything — Bright Eyes >>
When You Come Back Down — Nickel Creek >>
Winter from The Seasons (Vivaldi) — Kremer, Baltica >>
Spring Will Come Again from Peter Pan — Linda Eder, Daniel Narducci >>
Candide’s Lament from Candide (Bernstein) — Bernstein >>
Spring from The Seasons (Vivaldi) — Kremer, Baltica >>
Spring in Buenos Aries (Piazzolla) — Kremer, Baltica >>
The Rose — The O’Neill Brothers / Bette Midler >>
It Must Be So from Candide (Bernstein) — Jerry Hadley, Bernstein >>
A Time for Us / Adagio in G Minor — John Bayless >>
Adagio for Strings (Barber) — Robert Hohner Percussion Ensemble >>
Adagio for Strings (Barber) — Todd Wilson >>
After Winter / Nothing Gold Can Stay (Frost) — Lesley Frost >>
Nothing Gold Can Stay (Frost) — Robert Frost >>
Fields of Gold — Shine >>
When I Fall In Love — Vocal Majority >>
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes — Barbra Streisand >>
A Sleepin’ Bee — Barbra Streisand >>

[From Ear-Acid April 2004: “Loopy”]
1000 Years — Arthur Baker, Astrid Williamson >> Twilight and Shadow from Lord of the Rings — Renée Fleming >> The Sage from Rite of Spring (Stravinsky) — Kirov, Gergiev >> Distance — Karsh Kale >> The Wind Sings Welcome In Early Spring (Carl Sandburg) — Tim Wheater >> 1000 Years — Arthur Baker, Astrid Williamson >> Nu Jack — Cotton Club >> Y’mama — Zehava Ben >>

[From Ear-Acid September 2003: “Love:Story”]
Love Story 31 — O Fortuna — Apotheosis >> High Eb — Leontyne Price >>> Into the Fourth Dimension — Enigma >> >> Callas on Challenge >> Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninov) and Somewhere Out There from American Tail — John Bayless

[From Ear-Acid April 2004: “Loopy”]
The Sage from Rite of Spring >> Pavement Cracks — Annie Lennox >> Spring Rounds from Rite of Spring (Stravinsky) — Kirov, Gergiev >> Twilight and Shadow from Lord of the Rings — Renée Fleming >> Mystic Circles from Rite of Spring (Stravinsky) — Kirov, Gergiev >> Magic Fire Music from Ring Cycle (Wagner) — Seattle, Schwartz >> 1000 Years — Astrid Williamson >> Distance — Karsh Kale >>

_______________________________________________________

Inevitability Six:
The End Propels Us Forward

(Note: We actually did not get around to listening to this finale of finales that day. I hope we will find an appropriate occasion to do so in the near future...)

End Title from Star Wars (Williams) — London Symphony, Williams >>
Finale from Symphony No. 2 “Romantic” (Hanson) — St. Louis, Slatkin >>
Finale from Symphony No. 92 in G Major (Haydn) — Cleveland, Szell >>
Finale of Act I from L’Italiana in Algeri (Rossini) — Horne, Battle, Ramey, Metropolitan, Levine >>
William Tell Overture (Rossini) — London, Muti >>
Fugue in D Minor BWV 565 (Bach) — Ton Koopman >>
Finale from Symphony No. 8 in F Major (Beethoven) — Berlin, Abaddo >>
Finale from Symphony No. 1 in D “Classical” (Prokofiev) — Maazel >>
Finale from Piano Concert No. 2 (Rachmaninov) — Ashkenazy, Israel, Mehta >>
Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D (Elgar) — Concertgebouw, Marriner >>
Great Gate of Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition (Mussorgsky/Ravel) — BBC, Tortelier >>
Finale Scene from Adriana Lecouveur (Cilea) — Scotto, Domingo, Milnes, Philharmonia, Levine >>
Finale Scene from Madama Butterfly (Puccini) — Domingo, Philharmonia, Maazel >>
Finale Scene from La boheme (Puccini) — Domingo, Berlin, Karajan >>
Finale Scene from La traviata (Verdi) — Scotto, Carreras / Kraus >>
Finale from Appalachian Spring (Copland) — Cincinnati Pops, Kunzel >>
Finale from the Rite of Spring (Stravinsky) — Kirov, Gergiev >>
Do, Re, Mi from The Sound of Music (Rogers/Hammerstein) — Andrews, Plummer, et al >>
Finale from Symphony No. 5 in C Minor (Beethoven) — Berlin, Abaddo >>
Finale from Capriccio Espanol (Rimsky-Korsakov) — BBC, Tortelier >>
Finale from Symphony No. 3 in C Minor “Organ” (Saint-Saens) — Berlin, Levine >>
Finale from Symphony No. 4 in F Minor (Tchaikovsky) — Chicago, Solti >>
O Fortuna from Carmina Burana (Orff) — Cleveland, Tilson Thomas >>
Juliet’s Death from Juliet from Romeo and Juliet (Prokofiev) — Berlin, Salonen >>
Finale from The Firebird (Stravinsky) — Philharmonia, Craft >>
Finale from Concerto in D (Reinecke) — Galway, London >>
Crown Imperial March (Walton) — Philharmonia, Willcocks >>
Candide Overture (Bernstein) — Minnesota, Oue >>
One from A Chorus Line (Kleban / Hamlisch) — 2006 Cast Recording >>
Finale from Symphony No 96 in D (Haydn) — Cleveland, Szell >>
End Title from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Williams) — Boston Pops, Williams >>
Finale from Symphony No. 8 “Symphony of Thousand” (Mahler) — Berlin, Boulez / Chicago, Solti.

2010-02-16T13:23:00.001-08:00

Where Does the Uttered Music Go?

Where does the uttered Music go?
When well-attempered mind and hand
Have made the mortal clay to glow
And separate spirits understand?

Ah, whither goes the boon,
The joy, that sweeps the willful sense
Into the planetary tune
Of sun-directed influence?

What is this creature, Music, save the Art,
The Rhythm that the planets journey by?
The living Sun-Ray entering the heart,
Touching the Life with that which cannot die?

This Man with Music touched our minds
With rapture from the shining ranks,
The Loves and Laws of unknown kinds
Who utter everlasting thanks.

All that he uttered, may remain
As Light, as Order, cleaving Space,
Within the emptiness, a gain,
Within the solitude, a grace.

O Mortals, praise him, for his hand
Brought to his brothers many a ray
From Light perceived, though never scanned,
From Law unknown, which all obey.

— John Masefield (1878–1967)

Photos from the Past

2010-01-15T18:30:00.000-08:00

A photo I took of my little sister Barbara (c. 1969?) -- in the foreground is our dog at the time, Runt. This was taken from our "breezeway" between the house and the garage. Barb was in the garage. My father closed in this space a few years later, adding a fireplace and making it a den/dinning room/workshop.

This is in Black Oak, Arkansas, on the farm of our Aunt Lilly and Uncle Clyde in 1967 (actually, I do not know where this is...).

This is me (black coat -- my fav at the time) and some cousins in our front yard. Funny, I never noticed the basketball post... but I remember that hay trailer.

"Granny's house" (my father's mother) with Dad and me on the porch. The left side was either empty or being "rented out" to "a nice widow-woman" but no "niggras," she would say... It was my duty to help mow that lawn twice a month in the summer. Now that I think of it, it was the one thing that my father and I really shared: our hatred of having to mow that lawn for that old woman.

This was my family at Christmas dinner 1961 (Michael, Kathleen, Dad, Walter, and Pat, with Mom taking the picture) at our home in Livermore, California. I had just been born on Halloween. Notice the Blanchard Traditions: shrimp cocktail with crackers, whole turkey on platter (same platter used to this day), black olives, celery stuffed with peanut butter... It looks like the kids have a glass of wine and Mom and Dad are set to knock down a martini with olives -- ah, the 60s...

Jonesboro, Arkansas, c. 1966? Here I am with a neighborhood friend climbing on a propane tank (they where regularly re-painted silver) with our house in the background. Ah, the memories of swimsuits, watermelons, giggles, and silver bellies.

2009-07-10T07:05:00.000-07:00

Cornelius Claudio Kreusch (jazz pianist/record producer/online digital music mogul/all-around-entrepreneur) and I have spent some memorable times in his Bowery loft (pic below). Many fantastic ideas were shared and brain-stormed -- and by brain-stormed, I mean a typhoon.

It's funny, and a bit poetic, that the most recent time (June 2009) had us listening to some of my CD mixes on what was possibly the smallest sound system possible: Cornelius -- who lives in Germany and often sublets the loft -- had removed his sound system and had replaced it with a small, rather girlish, purple "boom" box.

That day/night was also unique as it marked the first time I played piano for him -- a very surreal experience for both of us as I am NOT a pianist, but was inspired and "in the moment" enough to try and play the baby grand Chung that graces his space. Thank you, Cornelius, for being such a good friend and inspiration. We'll both miss that loft when it's gone.

Music and Art - "Transformations" (May 2009)

2009-06-07T10:48:00.000-07:00

Music and Art - "Transformations" PART ONE (May 2009)

2009-06-07T10:19:00.001-07:00

Reflections on the Nature of Water — 1. Crystal (J. Druckman) — Daniel Druckman
Variations for Piano, op. 27 (A. Webern) — Halle
Variations for Orchestra (A. Webern) — Berlin, Boulez

(Note on the next section: Finally, the atonal series of notes in this section coalesce into an arrangement of a Bach Fugue made by the atonal of all atonal composers -- that’s all he did -- Alban Berg. Noted for its Klangfarbenmelodie style; i.e. melody lines are passed on from one instrument to another after every few notes, every note receiving the ‘tone color’ of the instrument it is played on).

(2)

“Sunday” from Sunday in the Park With George (Sondheim) — Daniel Evans
Variations for Orchestra (A. Webern) — Berlin, Boulez
Transformation — Nona Hendryx, Pam Grier, Betty
Fuga for Six Voices from Musical Offering (J.S. Bach, arr Webern) — Orchestre symphonique de Québec

(Note on the next section: We start fresh with the minimalist compositions of American Steve Reich, then introduce the American “minimalist” poet William Carlos Williams. I have two thoughts about his poem “The Red Wheel Barrow” -- neither very original: (1) The poet was a doctor and was attending to a dying young girl confined to her farm-house bedroom. As he gazed out her window, he realized the only “real” things (ie, not death-related) she saw day-in and day-out where the wheelbarrow and the chickens. To the little child, so much depended on those simple items… (2) he arranges each two-line stanza in the shape of a wheelbarrow.)

(3)

New York Counterpoint for clarinet, bass clarinet & tape (S. Reich) — Roland Diry
Transformation — Megadrums
Electric Counterpoint (Reich) — Michael Nicolella
Poet William Carlos Williams and the Red Wheel Barrow — Charles Osgoode

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens

(Note on the next section: This segues into a discussion of another popular Williams’ poem and several “variations” on it. My favorite being the last that turns on the author’s mother, just as she turned on their family. I take the 1980’s anthem Cold As Ice, and add a loop of the Reichs Vermont Counterpoint -- coming up in two tracks -- and lead into a remix of Cold As Ice by Starsplash; this leads into two remixes of a song called Transformation (!) pointing out a link between what minimalist classical composers were doing in the 1980s and what was happening in popular music through remixes that take small cells and samples and loop them over and over -- of course pop remixes hardly ever change from a 4/4 structure, all the same…)

(4)

This Is Just To Say (William Carlos Williams) — S. Cole, J. Goldstein, H. O'Neill (Chicago Public Radio)
Cold as Ice — Foreigner
Cold as Ice (Rubberboy Remix) — Starsplash
Transformation (Inkfish/Club Remix) — Novy and Isma Ae

(Note on the next section: Two versions of Vermont Counterpoint, the first a computer-generated arrangement for “marimba” that morphs into the famous recording by flutist Ransom Wilson, for whom the piece was written in 1982. Reich wrote the work for one live solo flutist who plays along with a recording of 11 tracks of prerecorded flutes, alto flutes, and piccolo. You can rent Wilson’s pre-recorded tracks from the publisher. I studied at Manhattan School of Music with Mr. Wilson. Ransom shared a home in Vermont with his lover Walter, until they bought land in a small, up-state New York town called Denver. I helped plant bulbs along their driveway one spring in exchange for extra lessons. Here is link to a really cool “visual score” created in 2007 that shows the composition graphically as it is played: http://www.mattgilbert.net/article/41/visual-score-for-vermont-counterpoint)

(5)

Tokyo “Vermont” Counterpoint (Reich) — Mika Yoshida
Vermont Counterpoint (Reich) — Ransom Wilson
Opening Glass — Nathaniel Bartlett

(Note on the next section: I’ve loved Dawn Upshaw’s recording of This Is Prophetic since it came out in 1998. This aria -- which is sung by Pat Nixon in the opera, if you can believe it! -- is so filled with vivid images that suddenly shift with the next line and take on whole new meanings when heard in context. My favs: “Let the expression on the face of the Statue of Liberty change just a little, let her see what lies inland” and “Let the farmer switch on the light over the porch, let passersby look in at the large family around the table, let them pass” and “Let days grow imperceptibly longer.” I was thrilled to find a new recording by a saxophonist who has arranged it for himself -- he must love it as much as I do. This acts as a prelude.)

(6)

This Is Prophetic — Simon Haram
This Is Prophetic from Nixon in China — Dawn Upshaw (as Pat Nixon)
Libretto by Alice Goodman:

This is prophetic! I foresee a time will come
when luxury dissolves into the atmosphere
Like a perfume, and everywhere the simple virtues
root and branch and leaf and flower.
On that bench there we'll relax and taste the fruit of all our actions.
Why regret life which is so much like a dream?
Let the eternal plan resume: In the bedroom communities
let us be taken by surprise;
Yes! Let the band play on and on;
let the stand-up comedian finish his act,
Let Gypsy Rose kick off her high-heeled party shoes;
Let interested businessmen speculate further,
let routine dull the edge of mortality.
Let days grow imperceptibly longer, let the sun set in cloud;
Let lonely drivers on the road pull over for a bite to eat,
Let the farmer switch on the light over the porch,
Let passersby look in at the large family around the table, let them pass.
Let the expression on the face of the Statue of Liberty
change just a little, let her see what lies inland:
Across the plain one man is marching —
the Unknown Soldier has risen from his tomb;
Let him be recognized at home.
The Prodigal. Give him his share: The eagle nailed to the barn door.
Let him be quick.
The sirens wail as bride and groom kiss through the veil.
Bless this union with all its might, let it remain inviolate.

(Note on the next section: Just a really cool piece.)

(7)

Short Ride in a Fast Machine (Adams) — Bournemouth, Alsop

(Note on the next section: Of course, I could not ignore Sunday in the Park with George -- which is all about creating art, changing relationships, and “moving on” -- now could I?! The performance by Bernadette Peters has been created by molding her studio recording, her live performance at Carnegie Hall “Sondheim, Etc.”, and her follow-up engagement of basically the same show in London, created for broadcast on PBS. I saw the original and was savvy enough to video-tape it in 1998 on, yes, a VCR! I was struck by the quality of her singing in this performance, possibly her best caught on tape: It was like she had found the perfect voice teacher, who was whispering in her ear during the performance, reminding her of how to sing with ease and beauty and light!)

(8)

“Color and Light” from Sunday in the Park with George (Sondheim) — Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin
“Finir le chapeau” from Sunday in the Park with George (Sondheim) — Robert Marien
“Color and Light” — Troy Nilsson, Genie
“Move On” from Sunday in the Park with George (Sondheim) — Bernadette Peters
Tod und Verklärung “Death and Transfiguration” (R. Strauss) — Philharmonia, Kashif
“Sunday” from Sunday in the Park With George (Sondheim) — Daniel Evans
“Color and Light” from Sunday in the Park with George (Sondheim) — Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin

Music and Art - "Transformations" PART TWO (May 2009)

2009-06-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

From Beyond — Klaus Nomi
The Voyager Record — (Various programs describing the 1977 recording on board the Voyager mission)
Nomi Chant — Klaus Nomi
Space Fantasy (Tomita) — Tomita
The Sea Named 'Solaris' (Tomita) — Tomita
Three-part Invention No 2 (J.S. Bach) — Carl Danzig
“Cum Santo Spiritu” from B Minor Mass (Bach) — Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque, Gardiner

(Note on the next section: The great American organist Vigil Fox was an evangelist for the music of Bach. To hear him “preach” in his live concert is truly inspiring. Here, I string together several Bach works together in various instrumentations, culminating in Fox’s performance live to blow the roof off! I also must point out the arrangement by Mr. Arnold “12-tone” Schoenberg in a spectacular show worthy of Disney.)

(2)

Spoken Introduction from 1973 Heavy Organ Concert at Carnegie Hall — Virgil Fox
Toccata (Bach) — Gould
Fugue (Bach) — John Canfield
Prelude (Bach) — Swingle Singers
Prelude and Fugue (Bach) — Wendy Carlos
Toccata (Bach) — Electric Skychurch
Fugue (Bach, arr Arnold Schoenberg) — LA Philharmonic, Salonen
Fugue (Bach) — Fox

(Note on the next section: My friend Michael had been blown away by Jenny Burton live a few years ago and I can hear why in this recording -- I must admit I did some surgical editing to make it more “spiritual” and less “Jesus” but inspiring all the same.)

(3)

Free — Jenny Burton Experience

(Note on the next section: Not much to say, except this is a powerful, deep performance. Notice how the beginning of each verse changes from “Where have you been” to “What did you see” all the way to “What’ll you do now.”))

(4)

A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall (Dylan) — Jason Mraz

(Note on the next section: The story of Beauty and the Beast is ultimately about transformation. Ravel wrote small piano pieces based on many of the “Mother Goose” fairytales and here they underscore the performances by Streep and Andrews. Oh, and the Beast opposite Ms. Poppins? PDQ Bach himself!)

(5)

Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant “Pavane for Sleeping Beauty” (M. Ravel) — Gena Raps
A Fairytale Introduction — (unknown)
The Fairy Garden — Meryl Streep / Sleeping Beauty — Meryl Streep
Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bête “Conversation of Beauty and the Beast” (M. Ravel) — Gena Raps
Beauty and the Beast — Julie Andrews, Peter Schickele
Beauty and the Beast — Diamond Rio

(Note on the next section: Yes, this section includes Bach and Rap. Flocabulary’s rap on Transformation is such a great breath of fresh air, being about learning and thinking, not hating and killing. The “other” Transformation has been pre-echoed on #1 and will be heard later in #4. It is from the L-Word soundtrack and seems tailor-made for these mixes.)

(6)

Prelude in C for Solo Cello: solo piano / flute / Bela Fleck / Yo-Yo Ma
chi 2 ny (Bach Remix) — N Visible Spotlite
Transformation — Flocabulary
Transformation — Nona Hendryx, Pam Grier, Betty

(Note on the next section: A great song by a great songwriter. The words speak for themselves.)

(7)

We Are Water (Patty Griffin) — Shayne

My friend, my friend, you are traveling
So many secrets are unraveling
Some other picture's coming into view
I seen the water washing over you
And the water’s speaking now, it speaks your name
I hear it talking to me
Sometimes when it rains
Telling me a story of joy or pain
But I’ve got no regrets baby, I’ve got no shame

’Cause we are water
We flow and flow
I feel you pouring through
Every inch of my soul and I really must tell you this
Baby, before you go
We are water
We flow and flow

I am a river baby,
I’ve got plenty of time
I don't know where I’m going
I’m just following the lines
There’s just no telling where this river will flow
I got no choice in the matter, baby,
I just go where it goes
I’m making my bed tonight
Right under this cloud
Sometimes the lightening’s so frightening
Sometimes the thunder’s so loud
Still, I know this tide is always kissing my heels
Sometimes I think I’m drowning in all these things that I feel

And we are water
We flow and flow
I feel you pouring through
Every inch of my soul and
I really must tell you this
Baby, before you go
We are water
We flow and flow

Out on the beach today, I did not find
One single footstep that we left behind
So I went swimming in the deep blue sea
And I could feel that water all around me

’Cause we are water
We flow and flow
I feel you pouring through
Every inch of my soul and I really must tell you this
Baby, before you go
We are water, we are water
We flow and flow

(Note on the next section: I found these Glenn Gould out-takes, during which he talks about Bach’s Quidlibet, which was a combination of two popular songs during Bach’s time. He then says that he came up with his own: The Star Spangled Banner and God Save the King, which he proceeds to play. I love his comment at the end: “…except for the parallel octaves, it works out perfectly. Need I mention that he starts out playing one of the Goldberg "Variations" -- talk about your set of transformations...)

(8)

Quidlibet from Goldberg Variations (Bach) — Glenn Gould /
Out-takes from 1951 recording of Goldberg Variations (Bach) — Glenn Gould

(Note on the next section: I reduced this performance by Ms. Price to the first line of each verse to highlight the modulations and get to the over-the-top ending enhance by the end of her Battle Hymn recording. I’ll admit I added the very end of her live performance of “Pace, pace mio Dio” (which thank goodness is also in Bb!) to give it that final push that send the audience into a frenzy.)

(9)

America the Beautiful (Katharine Lee Bates/Samuel A. Ward) /
Battle Hymn of the Republic (Julia Ward Howe) — Leontyne Price

(10)

Three-part Invention No 2 (Bach) — Carl Danzig /
The Sea Named ‘Solaris’ (Tomita) — Tomita /
Fugue (Bach) — Fox

Music and Art - "Transformations" PART THREE (May 2009)

2009-06-07T10:06:00.000-07:00

‘Voluntary’ Rehearsal — Jane Fonda, Cast of 33 Variations (at the B’way Cares Easter Bonnet Competition)

(Note on the next section: So much has been written about this masterpiece. I just suggest you buy a copy of Moisés Kaufman’s “33 Variations” when it is finally published.)

33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli (Beethoven) Op.120 — Vladimir Ashkenazy

(Note on the next section: Most people know Pictures at an Exhibition as a huge orchestral work with the gongs and cymbals of the Great Gate of Kiev testing the power of your speakers. Yet that version was orchestrated by the French composer Maurice Ravel in 1922, almost 50 years after the Russian Modest Mussorgsky wrote it as a set of solo piano pieces (1874). Here, I show how the opening theme is transformed each time it occurs, played by the young Horowitz, a master of colorization.)

Promenades Nos. 3/5/8/13 from Pictures at an Exhibition (Mussorgsky) — Vladimir Horowitz

(Note on the next section: One of the most popular and most-performed of all works for piano and orchestra, Rachmaninoff‘s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is a set of 22 variations. At the time of its premiere -- given in Baltimore 1934 with the composer performing -- the great Russian pianist had already transformed into an American. In this work, he transforms the traditional variation form, grouping the variations into three distinct sections, that actual create an overall “fast-slow-fast” Concerto.)

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (Rachmaninov) — Lang Lang, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Gergiev

Music and Art - "Transformations" PART FOUR (May 2009)

2009-06-07T09:16:00.000-07:00

(Note on the first section: This opening section acts as a prelude to the first half of this mix, hinting at Charles Ives’ Unanswered Question, Richard Straruss’ Transfigured Night, and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. It was at the last minute that I discovered that the Ives and the Vaughn Williams both began with an open-spaced G Major chord… The voice-overs also establish the links between the works in this mix.)

(1)

Third Tune for Archbishop Parker's Psalter “Why fum'th in sight” — Theatre of Voices, P. Hillier
The Unanswered Question (Ives) — Tomita
Discussing Verklärte Nacht “Transfigured Night” — Christopher Cook (BBC Radio)
Discussing Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis — Charles Hazlewood (BBC Radio)
The Unanswered Question (Ives) — Orchestra of St Luke's, J. Adams
You'll Never Walk Alone from Carousel — Orchestra of St. Luke's, P. Summers / London, E. Kohn
Verklärte Nacht “Transfigured Night” (A. Schoenberg) — Bozen String Academy Orchestra, F. Bernius
The Unanswered Question (Ives) — Tomita
Discussing Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis — Charles Hazlewood (BBC Radio)

(Note on the next section: Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis is truly one of the great works of the 20th Century. Only through research on this mix did I learn how “modern” it was, all the while sounding so ancient.)

(2)

Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (Vaughan Williams) — St. Louis, Slatkin

(Note on the next section: I’ve revered Wagner’s 5-hour epic Parsifal ever since I was lucky to get free tickets to a Met production in the 1990s. Many scholars believe the story -- whose characters are members of the Knight of the Holy Grail and their adversaries -- is less about religion and more about the lesson of compassion. In this part of the Prelude, the motive linked to the act of communion, the “Pain” of Amfortas motif, and “the Grail” theme -- actually an old chorale also used by Mendelssohn in the Reformation Symphony and used in many hymnals today -- are transformed and melded together.)

(3)

Parsifal Prelude, Act I (R. Wagner) — The Hallé, M. Elder

(Note on the next section: Arnold Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night of 1899 was written for six strings in one movement and inspired by a poem by Richard Dehmel. The powerful poem is about a man and a woman walking through a dark forest on a moonlit night, wherein the woman shares a dark secret with her new lover; she bears the child of a stranger. After sections that depict the sadness of the woman's confession and the man reflecting upon the confession, the final section reflects the man's bright acceptance (and forgiveness) of the woman: see how brightly the universe gleams! There is a radiance on everything. Thus the night has been transformed, the unborn baby has been transformed, and the couple’s lives have been transformed. That Schoenberg, known as the “father of the twelve tone technique” could write such a powerful, Romantic work it to “transform” his imagine and reputation.)

(4)

Discussing Verklärte Nacht “Transfigured Night” — Christopher Cook (BBC Radio)
Verklärte Nacht “Transfigured Night” (A. Schoenberg) — Bozen String Academy Orchestra, F. Bernius

Two people walk through a bare, cold grove;
The moon races along with them, they look into it.
The moon races over tall oaks,
No cloud obscures the light from the sky,
Into which the black points of the boughs reach.

A woman’s voice speaks:
I'm carrying a child, and not yours,
I walk in sin beside you.
I have committed a great offense against myself.
I no longer believed I could be happy
And yet I had a strong yearning
For something to fill my life, for the joys of Motherhood
And for duty; so I committed an effrontery,
So, shuddering, I allowed my sex
To be embraced by a strange man,
And, on top of that, I blessed myself for it.
Now life has taken its revenge:
Now I have met you, oh, you.

She walks with a clumsy gait,
She looks up; the moon is racing along.
Her dark gaze is drowned in light.

A man’s voice speaks:
May the child you conceived
Be no burden to your soul;
Just see how brightly the universe is gleaming!
There's a glow around everything;
You are floating with me on a cold ocean,
But a special warmth flickers
From you into me, from me into you.
It will transfigure the strange man's child.
You will bear the child for me, as if it were mine;
You have brought the glow into me,
You have made me like a child myself.

Their breath kisses in the breeze.
Two people walk through the lofty, bright night.

(Note on the next section: Originally, Mix No. 4 was only instrumental music until Beverly Sills sings around the 30 minute mark, but this seemed a little too much without a break. After searching for just the right singer to insert at this point, I listened to Barbra Steisand’s Classical Album again and was surprised at how her version of Hugo Wolf’s Verschwiegene Liebe fit perfectly. I was also surprised to learn that this song was completed just a year before Schoeberg wrote Verklärte Nacht. Since both lived and worked in Vienna, Schoenberg no doubt knew of this song as well and might have even been inspired by it.)

(5)

Verschwiegene Liebe “Silent Love” (H. Wolf) — Barbra Streisand, Claus Ogermann
Set to the poetry of Josef Karl Benedikt von Eichendorff

Over treetops
and into the splendor —
who may guess them, (the secrets)
who may overtake them?
Thoughts go floating,
the night is silent;
thoughts run free.

If only he could guess,
who has thought of him
amid the rustling of the groves,
when no one else is awake
except the flying clouds —
my love is silent
and as beautiful as the night.

(Note on the next section: The original score of “Transfigured Night” called for two violins, two violas and two cellos. In 1917, Schoenberg produced an arrangement for string orchestra and further revised in 1943. There is also a version for piano trio by Eduard Steuermann. I have included recordings of all three arrangements in these sections. As mentioned earlier, the final section reflects the man’s acceptance -- and forgiveness -- of the woman.)

(6)

“Transfigured Night” (Schoenberg, trans. for piano trio by E. Steuermann) — Wallin, Thedeen, Pontinen
“Transfigured Night” (A. Schoenberg) — Bozen String Academy Orchestra, F. Bernius

(Note on the next section: The Ballad of Baby Doe is an opera by the American composer Douglas Moore to a libretto by John Latouche. The chief characters (who were real people) are drawn from Colorado lore during the end of the 1800s. The story is the “classic triangle” of Tabor, a wealthy gold mine owner, and two women. Tabor rises from rags to riches with his stoic wife Augusta and then meets the young and beautiful, but unhappily married, Baby Doe. Ultimately Tabor divorces Augusta to marry the “other woman“ and his social ostracism is followed by an economic denouement, with Tabor ending his life in rags again. (The real Baby Doe remained at his side and after his death maintained an irrational thirty year vigil at a worthless mine he had bequeathed to her.) In the finale, Tabor returns to the Tabor Grand Theater which he built, a broken man old and ill, and relives in a curious fantasy many of the happy and sad moments of his life. Baby Doe joins him as the one reality remaining. After she has sung “Always Through the Changing,” the opera closes as she moves to her vigil at the Matchless Mine. Moore’s stage directions direct that toward the end Baby Doe’s hood should fall back to show her hair completely white as she moves toward the mine to begin her vigil. The evening ends quietly as snow begins to fall.)

(7)

“Always Through the Changing” from The Ballad of Baby Doe (Douglas Moore) — Beverly Sills
Libretto by John Latouche:

Always through the changing
Of sun and shadow, time and space,
I will walk beside my love
In a green and quiet place.
Proof against the forms of fear
No distress shall alter me
I will walk beside my dear
Clad in love's bright heraldry.

Sound the battle’s loud alarms
Any foe I shall withstand
In the circle of his arms
I am safe in Beulah Land.
Passion fades when joy is spent;
Lust is lure for gold and crime.
Beauty’s kiss is transient -
Love alone is fixed in time.
Death cannot divide my love;
All we sealed with living vows.
Warm I'll sleep beside my love
In a cold and narrow house.

Never shall the mourning dove
Weep for us with accents wild;
I will walk beside my love
Who is husband, father, child.
As our earthly eyes grow dim
Still the youth song will be sung (orig. "Let the ancient song be sung"):
I will change along with him
So that both are ever young,
ever young.

(Note on the next section: I interrupt this quiet moment with Strauss’s tone poem Death and Transfiguration just as Strauss did in the original. Unusual for a composer of 25 years of age, the music depicts the death of an artist. As the man lays dying, thoughts of his life pass through his head: his childhood innocence, the struggles of his manhood, the attainment of his worldly goals; and at the end, he receives the longed-for transfiguration “from the infinite reaches of heaven.” I wanted to find a place to include Gunther Schuller’s “Twittering Machine” from 7 Studies on Themes of Paul Klee (1959) and this was a perfect place sonically and dramatically. I was happy to find an interview where Schuller discussed his life-long love of art and Klee’s lifelong love of music.)

(8)

Tod und Verklärung “Death and Transfiguration” (R. Strauss) — Philharmonia, Kashif
Discussion of Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee — Gunther Schuller
“Twittering Machine” from 7 Studies on Themes of Paul Klee (G. Schuller) — MSM Symphony, Schuller

(Note on the next section: The segue back from the Twittering Machine fit perfectly with a section of Strauss’s Don Juan, another tone poem. And the “Hero’s theme” fir perfectly in the narrative. It seems like you can slip from one Staruss work to another if you find the right transitional section.)

(9)

Don Juan (R. Strauss) — Philharmonia, Kashif
Tod und Verklärung “Death and Transfiguration” (R. Strauss) — Philharmonia, Kashif
Trumpet Excerpt from Don Juan (R. Strauss) — Philip Smith

(Note on the next section: I’ve always thought that the “love theme” of Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration was completely ripped off by John Williams for his Superman score. Here’s proof… It’s tied in here also by the way that Superman must transform himself each time he goes to fight crime.)

(10)

Love Theme (“Can You Read My Mind”) from Superman (J. Williams) — Boston Pops, Williams
Superman March from Superman (J. Williams) — Boston Pops, Williams
Tod und Verklärung “Death and Transfiguration” (R. Strauss) — Philharmonia, Kashif

(Note on the next section: This Epilogue, brings in our final “guest star” Renée Fleming singing an inspirational You'll Never Walk Alone in a great arrangement. Interesting that her character in the musical has been left alone and pregnant -- and like other characters in these mixes, is then transformed. But will compassion transfigure the Hero?)

(11)

Change Everything — Flojob
You'll Never Walk Alone from Carousel — Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Renée Fleming, P. Summers
The Unanswered Question — Orchestra of St. Luke’s, John Adams
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (Vaughan Williams) — St. Louis Symphony, Slatkin

(END)

2009-05-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY
CLYTEMNESTRA REMASH PROJECT

Well, I won. First Prize.

The video competition was held by the Martha Graham Dance Company this spring. They provided contestants with 5 video excerpts from their recent production of Clytemnestra. The challenge was to create a four-minute video that relates these characters (from the ancient Greek tragedy) to the present day. Contestants could choose from Helen of Troy, Electra, Clytemnestra, Cassandra, or the Messenger of Death. I choose all: Clytemnestra became Queen Vivianne Pitt-Jolie-Windsor, who is married to King William V; Electra became their adopted daughter the Princess of Wales; Helen became Zahara Pitt-Jolie; Cassandra became Chelsea Rodham-Clinton, U.N. Secretary-General, who is having an affair with King Williams; and the Messenger of Death became M.O.D., the host of the news show. Because we could not use copy-righted material, I chose to set my news show 20 years in the future at a time when footage and photos of celebrities are outlawed and the networks have turned to artists to represent and recreate the news for the public.

Here is an example of the "raw" video they provided us with:

Here is my winning video "Altered States Network"

↑ Watch in HQ ↑

"Altered States Network"

© John K. Blanchard, March/April 2009

Here is a link to the Competition site (you can still vote for my video for the "popular vote": MARTHA GRAHAM WEBSITE

AUDIO CREDITS

Voices:
Chad Hudson
Michael J. Schultz
John K. Blanchard (as M.O.D.)

“News at 11”
Written/Performed by Johnne Tuzza
(used by permission, Podsafe Audio)

“Tragic Dance Variations”
Written/Performed John K. Blanchard

“Fantasy Variations”
Written by Rhendle Millen
(used by permission)
Performed by John K. Blanchard

“Daphnis et Chloé” excerpt
Written by Maurice Ravel
(public domain)
Performed by John K. Blanchard

VIDEO CREDITS:

Clytemnestra
Provided by The Martha Graham Dance Company

Pill Commercial
Shot by John K. Blanchard

New York
Shot by John K. Blanchard

London
Shot by John K. Blanchard

SOFTWARE USED FOR EDITING:
Pinnacle Studio Plus 12.1
Adobe Audition 3.1
Band in a Box 2007

THANK YOU:
Chad Hudson
Michael J. Schultz
Russell B. Williams

2009-04-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

CLYTEMNESTRA REMASH PROJECT

"Altered States Network"

© John K. Blanchard, March/April 2009

↑ Watch in HQ ↑

This video was submitted for a competition held by the Martha Graham Dance Company. They provided contestants with 5 video excerpts from their recent production of Clytemnestra. The challenge was to create a four-minute video that relates these characters (from the ancient Greek tragedy) to the present day. Contestants could choose from Helen of Troy, Electra, Clytemnestra, Cassandra, or the Messenger of Death. I choose all: Clytemnestra became Queen Vivianne Pitt-Jolie-Windsor, who is married to King William V; Electra became their adopted daughter the Princess of Wales; Helen became Zahara Pitt-Jolie; Cassandra became Chelsea Rodham-Clinton, U.N. Secretary-General, who is having an affair with King Williams; and the Messenger of Death became M.O.D., the host of the news show.

Visit the Martha Graham site and vote for my video: http://clytemnestraproject.com/category/entries/

AUDIO CREDITS

Voices:
Chad Hudson
Michael J. Schultz
John K. Blanchard (as M.O.D.)

“News at 11”
Written/Performed by Johnne Tuzza
(used by permission, Podsafe Audio)

“Tragic Dance Variations”
Written/Performed John K. Blanchard

“Fantasy Variations”
Written by Rhendle Millen
(used by permission)
Performed by John K. Blanchard

“Daphnis et Chloé” excerpt
Written by Maurice Ravel
(public domain)
Performed by John K. Blanchard

VIDEO CREDITS:

Clytemnestra
Provided by The Martha Graham Dance Company

Pill Commercial
Shot by John K. Blanchard

New York
Shot by John K. Blanchard

London
Shot by John K. Blanchard

SOFTWARE USED FOR EDITING:
Pinnacle Studio Plus 12.1
Adobe Audition 3.1
Band in a Box 2007

THANK YOU:
Chad Hudson
Michael J. Schultz
Russell B. Williams

All Things Drunk and Bitter

2009-03-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Hours with Royce and Marilyn
(a.k.a Drunk and Bitter)
*see script below

For all those of you who want to add this to your audition scenes:

Drunk and Bitter (transcribed by John Blanchard 2009)

[Scene in a room in a modest assisted living facility. Two women sit on a hospital bed – both in their late 60s. One wears a large fur hat, a shiny blouse, lots of gaudy jewelry. The other is in a house coat, no shoes, hair down. They are being interviewed on camera as if for a documentary.]

Women with Hat: [Drunk.] Liszt, Rachmaninov, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Greig… I know all it. I know how to play it internationally [she gestures with her hand] play piano internationally compose symphonies… God! The (shit) garbage, GARBAGE that I don’t want. Why would I have to be a victim of all this garbage, the crap that you like. [She finally looks to her right at the woman on the bed.] You know nothing about Classical music, opera, nothing! Nothing! You can’t sing an opera. You know nothing. [She starts to take a drink from a glass of white wine, holding the stem in her fist.]

Woman on Bed: I know I don’t sing opera.

Women with Hat: You know nothing. Nothing. [Another swig.]

Woman on Bed: That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it.

Women with Hat: You know nothing. [Sets glass down on table.] I sing everything perfectly, note by note. You know nothing… Oh, God, unreal!

Woman on Bed: [To camera.] In Las Vagas…

Women with Hat: Oh, shut up.

Woman on Bed: …I saw Milton Berle’s Show

[together]

Woman on Bed: …and I enjoyed it very much
Women with Hat: Oh, honey, Milton Berle! [Stands.]

Woman on Bed: And I must say…

Women with Hat: Repulsive… [continues to mumble “repulsive”, “vulgar”, “oh”, “most ....vulgar...vulgar man to ever walk the earth.”]

Woman on Bed: …I even enjoyed Martha Raye. She appeared on the same program with Lena Horne. And I saw that. And of course, uh, in the nightclub, Martha has a dirty show.

Women with Hat: Oh, Jesus Christ!

Woman on Bed: But for comedy, you know…

Women with Hat: Honey, I want to live in the world that I’m used to: coming home, and putting on my opera, my concerto… live in this shit-hole. [Throws a wad of napkin across the room.] This SHIT-HOLE downtown. Where I’ve… all my money is gone. Gone! This garbage hole…God!

Woman on Bed: [Sighs.]

Women with Hat: Oh, God. [Halfheartedly tosses an ashtray lying on the bed.] This garbage hole.

Woman on Bed: [To Woman in Hat.] Well everybody either…

Women with Hat: Oh, shut up!

Woman on Bed: …has to inherit money, or… or… marry it, or make it yourself. There is only three ways.

Women with Hat: Well did you ever have it?

Woman on Bed: [Pause.] I had a little bit, yes…

Women with Hat: [Quieter now.] Please. Please… Please... Please.

Woman on Bed: But I’m not basically unhappy.

Women with Hat: [Laughs.] Basically sit in this shit-hole…

Woman on Bed: Well, all right. I can’t do it just…

Women with Hat: Oh, shut up. Shut up!

______________________________________________

And then there are these jewels:

___________________________________________________________

And this story published in a 1999 issue of L.A. Weekly:

Happy Hours with Royce and Marilyn

By Steven Mikulan

Published on June 10, 1999 (http://www.laweekly.com/1999-06-10/news/forever-fabulous/1)

DUSK, LOS ANGELES. A THOUSAND CARS ARE JOINING THE rush-hour conga lines of traffic fleeing downtown's office center. Soon the streets will be deserted of men with briefcases, and the sky emptied of corporate helicopters -- to be replaced by the occasional urban hawk searching, in the darkening curfew, for a careless pigeon. Inside a neighborhood bar that is neither dive nor tourist lounge, a few old-timers fortified with drinks and paper plates of happy-hour food watch a movie wind down on television. Except for the TV and a popcorn maker it's pretty quiet here, and pretty blue-collar, too, which is why the two women dressed like grandmotherly Holly Golightlys, their wide-brimmed hats smartly raked and enormous rings cincturing manicured fingers, stick out like a pair of Christmas trees planted on a 50-yard line.

Royce Reed and Marilyn Hoggatt, you see, are emissaries from a more refined time, women who do not end their sentences with prepositions, nor with the declarative question mark that is the California style. They are ladies who appreciate the snug fit of custom-made gloves, who know the difference between a cocktail ring and a solitaire -- and wince whenever their club sandwiches arrive with crusts untrimmed.

Their anachronistic mannerisms and codes of dress are part of an unfaltering faith in style, a faith that has been rewarded with a kind of unified field theory of life. Yet even a consoling world-view cannot shield an elderly woman from the rough realities of living downtown on a fixed income. For that, Royce and Marilyn must rely on one another, and a friendship that is a constant adjustment of needs and wants that are seldom completely in sync.

"I'm used to elegance, elegance," Royce says of downtown. "This is not my home, this is hell on earth! The noise of the helicopters and sirens day and night -- oh, my gawd, you'd lose your mind!" There's more than a trace of Norma Desmond in the voice and the eyeliner, and listening to her makes an interviewer feel more than a little like Joe Gillis. "I'm a clothes person, a fashion person," Royce will tell you as she sips a sauvignon blanc. "I was raised by rich, rich, elegant people who bought only the finest, everything made to order. You cannot handle anything else, as a woman -- it is your life."

"I've always liked clothes," Marilyn concurs. "My mother made mine -- as an infant, child and teenager. Even when I went to college, she made complete sets for me."

When Marilyn graduated from high school in 1941, a teenage girl's look was composed of "bobby sox, blouse with collar turned out, a sweater, string of pearls and always a pleated skirt." Today, Marilyn is swathed in a faux-leopard-skin shawl that is echoed by leopard-skin accents on her hat. Royce's own black fur chapeau matches the rest of her raven-hue ensemble. The two women live in an adjoining hotel that is a clean, well-lighted place by downtown standards, though a planet or two removed from, say, the Biltmore up on Olive Street. Wilshire, which Marilyn reverently refers to as "the big boulevard" and which has figured so many times in both their lives, dead-ends a few blocks away.

Marilyn is 5 feet 9 inches tall, large-boned and easygoing, while her Maroc-scented, wire-waisted friend stands 5 feet 4 and bristles with the steely self-confidence one acquires from working nearly half a century in fashion merchandising. "I know everyone in the rag business," Royce pronounces in the elongated, gravely accented vowels associated with breeding. "I went to work as a gift counselor and then bridal consultant in 1949 at J.W. Robinson's, which was on Seventh Street and owned by Mrs. Harry Robinson and the Schneiders, Carlos and Walter." When she speaks, her hands often flutter through the air in dramatic gestures. "Mrs. Robinson was exquisite -- a Beverly Hills socialite who would come in with her chauffeur, mink coats and her poodle, Happy."

Marilyn is a former schoolteacher and "executive housekeeper" whose good-time Ohio twang occasionally horns into her conversation -- which she says is a bit embarrassing, as her father was chairman of Wittenberg University's public-speaking department. Their stay at the hotel began some 11 years ago and has lasted far longer than either expected -- or wanted. Marilyn looks on the bright side, pointing out the proximity of Macy's and the exercise she gets from walking to nearby stores and her manicurist. Royce isn't so sanguine. "I'm 16th-generation back East," she is fond of saying. "I only exist here, it's not my territory."

The pair's exile is not just a matter of geography, though, it is one of time -- a time whose fashions and manners have been pulled out from beneath them by a nightmarish undertow called progress. "A man did not get into a restaurant without a suit and a tie," Royce laments of this vanished era, "nor a woman without a cocktail dress."

"Celebrities just don't dress up anymore," concedes the more accepting Marilyn.

MARILYN HOGGATT CAME TO LOS ANGELES IN 1958 AS AN elementary school teacher, having been lured from Colorado by the high salaries California was offering during the post-Sputnik education splurge. She taught fifth grade down in sleepy San Pedro but felt an urban excitement she had never experienced back in Ohio or Colorado. "California held such glamour for me," she says. "I was a professor's daughter who majored in speech and theater arts, but I had also been crazy about movies and was just besotted by the magnificent films of my youth. I wanted to see these places and some of the celebrities I'd read about all my life -- particularly the women, like Lana Turner and Ann Miller."

Life in Los Angeles offered her a close-up of those places and celebrities, along with memberships in the club culture of Palos Verdes, whose art association and swim and country clubs Marilyn gladly joined. It was a time, after all, when a divorcée could, as she did, raise two boys in an ocean-view apartment on a teacher's salary. Even the L.A. Teachers Association breakfasts, held at the Biltmore Bowl, seemed exciting: "I liked it -- I felt like I was a big-city girl!"

Her father's death brought Marilyn back to Ohio in 1962, but when her mother also passed away, seven years later, she returned to teaching in L.A., moving into the Wilshire Towers. "I was one block from the Brown Derby and the Ambassador Hotel -- all you could think of was how they were so famous." The center of her life became the Round Table West literary club's monthly gatherings at the Ambassador's Cocoanut Grove, whose former glory, like an incandescence traveling from some distant, dying star, still dazzled Marilyn. One afternoon she sat at a table while Sammy Davis Jr. rehearsed a show, and got his autograph on a soggy napkin. "This is gonna be a wet one!" Sammy quipped.

In 1971, after two years of teaching on several city campuses, Marilyn called it quits when she saw that L.A.'s schools were becoming more dangerous places. She then made what seems like an off-the-chart career change for an educated woman, though it put her in a position to glimpse show-biz glamour from the inside. She remembers her first interview as a housekeeper for the wealthy.

"Raquel Welch lived in a house in back of the Beverly Hills Hotel," Marilyn says, "and just had on a little pair of jeans, a T-shirt, with her hair pulled back with a rubber band -- and no makeup. She said she felt uncomfortable with hiring someone older than herself, and so I didn't get the job."

Before long, though, Marilyn was putting her belongings in storage and moving out to cowboy actor Dale Robertson's Chatsworth ranch, where she landed a job working for the Oklahoman and his wife, Lou. "They were both Southern and very lovely," Marilyn recalls. "They had quite a few dinner parties with rich horse people. He became friends with a family who gave him a brand-new, custom-made Cadillac Eldorado. They were a foreign family -- by that, I mean they had foreign blood. So he had this gorgeous new Cadillac that he drove as a personal car, and then of course Mrs. Robertson had a Lincoln."

Life seemed idyllic, on and off the spread. Marilyn remembers the Beverly Hills Halloween party at the Jimmy Durantes' to which she escorted Dale's daughter Rebel, and how Mrs. Durante had to yell because Jimmy was hard of hearing. But the Robertsons' rustic acreage was Marilyn's true world, a home whose nearby neighbors included actor Chad Everett and the Gelsons, who owned the tony markets. "There was the regular ranch house, and then there was another house down by the stables, where they had James, their houseman. Now, when I say 'man,' I mean he was the colored man who had worked for Mr. Robertson for 25 years. He had his own house, took care of the cars and supervised the horses. He was lovely to me -- I was always 'Miss Marilyn.'"

But the Robertsons' marriage eventually hit the rocks, and Marilyn was out of a job. Next came work with singer Helen O'Connell in Brentwood, and afterward a stint with comedian Norm Crosby. Marilyn spent a particularly grand time at the West Hollywood home of R&B composer-arranger Gene Page, who worked with such superstars as Aretha Franklin and Barry White. "They were a black family," Marilyn recalls, "but there was no tension with the Pages, because they had friends of all races over at the house and took me along with them to the Shubert to see Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra." She also remembers Page as a very private man who kept four pianos in the house. "He was touted as a performer, but he didn't like performing, because he didn't want girls clawing at his clothes, tearing them off. Not at all."

IT WAS WHILE AT THE PAGES' THAT MARILYN WROTE A 536-page murder mystery titled The Copper Triangle, set in a private men's club in the mountains of Colorado. As she describes the book: "It's the story of the beautiful hostess Claire Breese. Her club's members are sophisticated singles, couples and out-of-towners who drive in, helicopter in or come by limousine. They have all these wonderful parties, and of course there's a lot of sex, and camaraderie."

Those 536 immaculately typed pages celebrate comfort, luxury and, yes, sex. The setting's Copperwood Estate, whose corporate color scheme is cream and lavender, is a swinging world of cinnamon suede suits, white llama-wool upholstery and royal-blue satin sheets; with each turn of the page one meets characters who are more beautiful, handsome, talented and rich than those already introduced, and everyone gobbles down enormous breakfasts of steak, eggs, potatoes, toast and marmalade. Brand-name perfumes exist side by side with push-button technology and rocket packs. The reader enters a fantasy whose characters, as beautiful, sensuous and wealthy as they are, voyeuristically gaze upon yet another fantasy world -- that of the softcore porn films they view. One of these royal-blue movies' stars may well be a role Marilyn envied: "She was the darling of musical comedy and feted on all continents. She owned one of the magnificent houses in Paris. She had a weekly salon where choice men were invited for dinner at 9, and dallying later. She surrounded herself with other pretty actresses. Her guest list was full of beautiful people." So far, the manuscript, penned over a mere nine-month period, remains unpublished.

Housekeeping, even at celebrity homes, is a tiring line of work, and especially for a woman approaching 60. And so in 1983, after moving to and from 10 employers, and to the motels she stayed at in between, Marilyn quit the business altogether. She set up house on the 19th floor of the Mark Wilshire apartment building, which sported a pool on its roof. "I loved it," she says, "because I'm a swimmer and because that was my idea of glamour! Wilshire Boulevard was just lovely then. My favorite thing to do was go shopping, what else? And going to the elegant places where the celebrities went -- the Beverly Hilton, Beverly Wilshire and Beverly Hills Hotel. Oh, I loved the ritzy places, and belonged to the Century City Health Club. The ritzier the better for me."

(One day, however, she got a glimpse of that starry world's mortality. On a Beverly Hills street, a man caught her attention, not just because the man happened to be black, but because he looked so ill. It was Sammy Davis, who had autographed her napkin years before.)

In the summer of that year, Marilyn met Royce, an encounter she remembers as if it had happened half an hour ago. "I was having lunch at the Tea Room in Bullocks Wilshire when I saw this woman who stood out from everyone else -- I just couldn't take my eyes off her! She looked like Scarlett O'Hara with this magnificent big picture hat on. Then when I went to the ladies' lounge, I found her there, singing an opera aria. So I introduced myself."

"I DIDN'T LIKE IT HERE THAT MUCH -- I'M USED TO GOING out every night of my life," says Royce Reed, the fluttery hands in full motion, as though conducting an invisible orchestra. "I'm used to New York, I'm used to elegant places, elegant food. We had the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, the Luau Room owned by Steve Crane, Scandia. LaRue? We lived in those places day and night. Now we have nothing."

When she speaks of her present living arrangements, her voice tends to roll abruptly from a purr to a rebuking growl. Royce is far less forgiving than Marilyn of the urban decay she sees all around her, as well as the changes in the fashion world she once moved in. She is strictly old-school, for example, on the subject of fur. "They don't torture these animals, they put them to sleep quietly," she insists. "I love animals and I would love to keep them as live pets, but I can't! You don't discuss fur with people who don't understand fur -- you dismiss them or have them taken away."

As a matter of fact, when she met Marilyn in Bullocks Wilshire, Royce had just bought a mink coat for herself and was living at the Chancellor Hotel, near the epicenter of a formerly vibrant Wilshire Boulevard chic. "Dahling," she says, recalling nearby restaurants, "I was one of those who spent fortunes at the Windsor, and at the Cove across the street -- elegant, elegant. If you had to be in Los Angeles, the Windsor and the Cove were the best places, and Perino's -- the original Perino's -- was the only elegant restaurant in Hancock Park. For years I had an apartment next door, in the 3000 block of Wilshire at Norton."

If there is a Los Angeles to Royce's liking, it is the one she arrived in as a 20-year-old from Manhattan with her family in the late 1940s -- a culturally arid landscape that was nevertheless alleviated by oases like Rodeo Drive and the Sunset Strip, civilized greenbelts offering radiant cocktail lounges, nonstop conversation and decent French food.

"She likes beautiful," Marilyn explains.

"I don't understand anything else -- it's living death," Royce says.

"I offered to take Royce's life story down, 'As Told to . . .,'" Marilyn says.

But Royce hasn't taken her friend up on the offer, and for an outsider, interviewing her soon becomes a frustrating search past dropped names and anecdotal windows that briefly open, only to slam shut when she is asked to elaborate about her past. "Why would I want to review it?" she asks rhetorically. "We've had books written about my family -- The Annals of Lancaster County." Royce has considered writing a book herself about her career in the clothing business, but figures no one would buy it, because "you have to write about sex and disgusting things."

"My life history is very elegant," she will allow, "16 generations from Philadelphia and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I have a pedigree, a coat of arms, ye-e-s-s. We go back to Frankfurt, Germany, 400 A.D. My mother was from New Orleans going back to France."

But surrounding these tantalizing specifics are a haze of context and an eagerness to change the subject -- and some frankly bewildering claims. "My father helped build the atom bomb," she'll mention offhandedly, the next moment explaining that he was the chief accountant on the Manhattan Project. Further probing elicits the response that his family "was from Tarrytown on the Hudson, and Manhattan, for about 11 generations. They had an electrical business in New York they owned for 200 years, they had stores, they were billionaires." Eventually there is only this flat admission: "I'm well-established. I've never been in jail, never been arrested. I'm quite reputable. I wasn't born poor."

Royce Reed, ultimately, proves to be an enigma wrapped in a Chanel inside a mink. How is one to evaluate her nonstop recitation of designers, labels and restaurants -- many of which, as she would say, are long gone? Cursory fact checking reveals that her family name, Rosenstein, does appear in Lancaster genealogical histories, but unless one is committed to a research project on a par with the Warren Commission's, an interviewer must take most of her claims at face value. And why not? Even if Royce's "elegant" yet sketchy biography is exaggerated or completely dreamed up, it is breathed to life by a person who passionately believes in it.

"I've been in merchandising 45 years, retailing and wholesale," she says. "I started out training to be an opera star but got sidetracked." That is probably as straightforward a summary of her life as she will grant.

That life, according to Royce, was a gold-spoon existence: Sutton Place, a teenage job at Bonwit Teller, Fifth Avenue and interviews "by all the studios" -- which, she says, did not interest her. When her family moved to Los Angeles, Royce said goodbye to Old World gentility and entered a womanhood of husbands and homes in Beverly Hills and Hancock Park, and a career conducted along an archipelago of Miracle Mile stores: J.J. Haggerty, Bullocks, Brock and Co., Mullen and Bluett, where she was a buyer for women's accessories -- cosmetics, perfume, hosiery, gifts. She recalls an early encounter with her new city, during an interview with the founder of a fashion industry publication: "He was a horrible man who tried to take my clothes off in his office. I was wearing this gorgeous Christian Dior and learned at the age of 19 never to make a 4:45 appointment." Eventually, with the second of her three husbands, Leo Marks, Royce owned an apparel line bearing his name that they sold on the road locally and throughout the South.

And there was that freebooting, cartwheeling nightlife. "I used to have all these fa-a-a-bulous drinking companions," she says. "We drank Bombay gin with cognac chasers -- our driving laws weren't that strict. We went to the Cocoanut Grove when it was elegant -- when Freddy Martin was there and we wore our $10,000 dresses. We had the Chez Voltaire and the Beverly Rodeo, on Rodeo Drive, two blocks north of the Beverly Regent. It was wild but elegant, and known as Hooker's Row. All the men from New York went there, women came and went -- who cared? I was appalled, but Marilyn says I could have made a fortune there!"

ROYCE'S WORLD IMPLODED WHEN HER MOTHER DIED IN Santa Ana in 1983; by then she had parted from her third husband and retired from the rag trade. "I've had elegant friends and husbands, but when she died I was devastated," she says. "I'm an only, fairy-princess child, and we were so close. I would never face the fact that one day she would pass away."

It was shortly after her mother's death that she sang the aria in Bullocks' ladies' lounge that would bring Marilyn to her. This was a fortuitous occasion, for money got tight while Royce was living at the Chancellor, and Marilyn stepped in with an offer to Royce to move in with her at the Mark Wilshire. From then on the two began "palling around," as Marilyn says, spending time at fashion shows, the racetrack and, of course, nightspots.

"We'd only go to the places I was used to," Royce says. "Bel Air, the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel, which is now filled with screaming, yelling people."

Marilyn: "We were going to a lot of happy hours . . ."

Royce: "Honey, I'm used to elegance, I'm not used to downtown -- oh my dear."

Marilyn: "We like to go dinner dancing, but you need a male companion for that."

Royce: "There's been no dinner dancing in Beverly Hills or Bel Air -- it's 30 years gone."

Marilyn: "We used to go to L'Escoffier in the Beverly Hilton."

Royce: "Oh, I went there four nights a week for 30 years, it was the only elegant room we had in Beverly Hills! I got a gorgeous South American man a job there as orchestra leader when he was about to commit suicide because he couldn't get work. It's gone now."

Marilyn: "They have put in the Coconut Club on Friday and Saturday nights, where you have to pay $20."

Royce: "Oh, it's a garbage hole, please."

The two women made a flashy, lively pair as they roamed from watering hole to watering hole, often hitting the town on double dates.

"I dated as much as I could," Marilyn says. "I wish I could say I dated someone in particular, but I didn't. I dated some lawyers, a lot of businessmen -- nice men, but no celebrities, no one of note. You'd meet them in, you know, cocktail lounges. But one of the most difficult things about dating, when you're out with a gentleman for the evening, is the fact that he drinks too much."

Royce: "Oh, you're not used to rich, rich men . . ."

Marilyn: "You either don't let them drink or make them take a taxi to the restaurant."

Royce: "People here are too cheap to hire chauffeurs . . ."

Marilyn: "Or, if he insists, you put your life in his hands. I've had a few wild rides. Men don't want to be separated from their cars -- not at all!"

Royce: "Years ago, the police in Beverly Hills would let you go if they knew you. They'd protect you and drive you home."

But life could be scary even on the Sunset Strip, as Marilyn was to learn one night. She and Royce had gone to catch Harold Robbins' wife, Grace, singing at Verita's, a restaurant owned by Humphrey Bogart's former mistress Verita Thompson. (Thompson decorated the bar with the actor's photographs and would one day cause a stir by auctioning off his toupee.) But they got there too early and realized it would be some time before Mrs. Robbins sang. They weren't eating, and Marilyn, feeling dozy, headed for her car, leaving Royce at the bar. Verita's parking lot had been packed, and so Marilyn's Cadillac was on the street. She locked the doors, cracked a window and stretched out on the back seat for a snooze. Soon, however, she awoke to find a stranger looking at her from behind the Caddy's wheel.

"He was black and seemed very nice," Marilyn recalls. "He said, 'Here, why don't you give me the keys and we'll go for a little ride.' I said, 'I don't think so,' but gave him the keys because I was afraid he'd get mad. So he drove me over to the parking garage down under City National Bank, just before Beverly Hills. We sat there for a while. He was smoking something -- probably hashish. He really didn't want me for sex, but to talk and pleasure himself. After that was over, he drove me back and got out. Then I went to Verita's, but Royce was gone, so I went to a common meeting place that we usually arranged before we went out at night, and eventually she came along in a taxi. We were very fortunate. We had some very wild things happen, things that should not have happened, that were not our fault."

IN 1987, MARILYN SOLD HER FURNITURE ("I HAD A BEAUTIFUL U-shaped couch in red velveteen"), and the women put their belongings in storage and decamped from the Mark Wilshire. They had decided to hit the road in Marilyn's 1977 Sedan de Ville -- "We were just doing what we wanted to do," she says of the trip. The idea was to tour the â state, although they never got north of Santa Barbara. The affluent mission town would be the scene of one unintentionally comical visit with friends of Marilyn who lived in ultra-upscale Montecito. The two remember their stay chiefly for their hosts' laser-beam security system, which kept them prisoners in their room at night, and for the absence of a home bar.

Marilyn: "They had a security system that was turned on at night, with those rays . . ."

Royce: "They turned them on at 10 or 11, and then you stayed in your room until 8 in the morning. They were not gracious, they were not charming. You can imagine! I was like a chained tiger. And they wouldn't serve a drink . . ."

Marilyn: "They didn't drink . . ."

Royce: "I've never liked Santa Barbara. I'm used to late-night elegance, sophistication, New York. Elegance."

After that, their road trip was essentially a ricochet drive of the 216 miles between Santa Barbara and San Diego, with stays at the Century Plaza or Bonaventure whenever they were in town. The unceremonious end came when the Caddy's transmission went out in Brentwood. Marilyn spent a lot of money getting it fixed at Lou Ehler's on Wilshire, only to have her cherished sedan broadsided -- twice. When it happened the second time, the guilty party, a Beverly Hills psychiatrist, offered Marilyn cash reparations on the spot. She took the money but ditched the car. It was time to settle down.

"AUGUST 2, 1988." MARILYN CAN TELL YOU THE EXACT day she and Royce moved into their present hotel. The two have been there ever since, first sharing a single room, now each with her own, though they are not neighbors. What vexes them most is the fact that downtown holds no social center for them. "There's no place," Marilyn says, "for us -- sophisticated, middle-aged women who need a regular place -- to go." Their prolonged stay has been hardest on Royce, whose tiny room abuts a noisy elevator.

"Los Angeles is the garbage hole of the wo-r-rld," she says, her hands grandly sweeping the air. "I'm used to huge space, I'm used to elegance. I'm used to the Plaza, I don't understand anything else! There's nothing downtown that I'm used to -- it's not my territory -- I'm like the leopard in The Snows of Kilimanjaro."

The hotel had been recommended to them by friends, and at the time the carless women were forced to halt their road trip, downtown had seemed like a reasonable compromise between the unaffordable Wilshire corridor and the colorless suburbs. It has 230 rooms, some of which are advertised at $39 per night, and the adjoining bar boasts a generous happy hour that lasts from 5 to 10 p.m. The lobby's faint cologne of disinfectant never lets one forget that this is downtown, with all its civic homeliness -- and dangers. When the 1992 riots exploded, "I'd go out in front of the building and could see them shooting out the windows of the Lady Footlocker," Marilyn remembers. "I didn't leave the hotel for weeks. My cousin called from Seattle and asked, 'What's going on down there?'"

Marilyn's own small room looks out upon a storage building, although a little neck craning rewards her with a partial view of a parking lot as well. Much of the room's precious space is taken up by a pile of large hats, some stuffed animals and a tottering butte of shoeboxes containing Royce's footwear. A framed poster of Marilyn Monroe in a white mink coat hangs on one wall, and a Princess Diana commemorative plate and framed photographs of Elizabeth Taylor and a Siamese cat are placed on tables.

An avid collector, Marilyn meticulously maintains a scrapbook that includes thank-you letters from novelist Barbara Cartland, the office of painter LeRoy Neiman and from Liz Taylor, to whom she once sent a get-well letter. Other pages are an eclectic archive of neatly clipped items from the newspapers or tabloids about fashion, the O.J. Simpson case and buildings she admires, along with a sketch of Howard Hughes. "This is my life," she says of her scrapbook, the 75th volume she has gathered.

Although the ladies spend much of their time together, their routines often diverge. "I have a tendency to read late and get up late," Marilyn confesses. "I also go to the library often."

Royce: "I have the original library card!"

Marilyn: "I frequently get the L.A. Times."

Royce: "Oh, God, I don't read the L.A. Times -- I read The New York Times, the London Times, Paris Match."

Marilyn: "I subscribe to Town & Country and Architectural Digest -- that's my favorite. And I take two tabloids, the Enquirer and the Star. It's all gossip and I love it! I've taken Playboy for the last 25 years. I admire beautiful people and beautiful bodies. She gets disgusted with me because I take these publications!"

Marilyn still maintains a membership in her beloved Round Table West literary club, and is also an ardent follower of the TV soaps and belongs to The Young and the Restless' official fan club, which holds gatherings at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

In contrast to Marilyn, Royce, who abhors television and prefers listening to classical music, is an early riser who frequently leaves the hotel to visit the Calmart building and other old haunts in the garment district. Despite the dodginess of downtown, Royce fears no one.

"I'm very careful," she says. "I'm very alert, I move very quickly. I would murder someone, I'm very strong."

"She wears her rings loaded!" Marilyn laughs. "Royce doesn't take them off, even when she goes out -- she says, 'I am who I am, and I'm going to be myself in every situation.'"

ON ONE COOL, WINDY AFTERNOON, MARILYN AND Royce leave their hotel to have lunch at Windows, a restaurant with panoramic views from the 32nd floor of the Transamerica Building. Gawkers in the tower's atrium and elevators stop and stare at the elegantly attired women in their enormous hats. Lunch begins on an ill omen as Royce's club sandwich arrives avec crusts. But before she can raise the matter with her waiter, she notices that her silverware has been placed on a paper serviette. "Oh, my God!" she says. "These paper napkins are unacceptable." Not only that, but all the restaurant's tables have been covered with paper instead of linen cloths for lunch time. "Paper here, oh! It's totally gross."

As the waiter searches for a cloth napkin, Marilyn and Royce reminisce about their occasional visits to the Santa Anita racetrack, where they are wont to spend an afternoon in the private Turf Club. "The first day I went to Santa Anita, I won the derby!" Marilyn confides.

Money for women on Social Security is understandably tight, and income from any source is welcome. Royce and Marilyn once worked as audience shills for an auctioneering firm, but haven't been on call since a new floor manager brought in her own crew of out-of-work actors. The only new money on the horizon is a possible settlement from the city and a private contractor for a fall Marilyn took near a construction site outside their hotel. As compensation for an injured ankle and arm, she hopes to receive a sum large enough to move away from downtown.

"I'd probably look at places in Beverly Hills that are quiet," she says. "Since Royce has no family, she'll be with me."

Royce: "I don't think so. I'm used to living in my own place."

Marilyn: "Well, maybe not."

Possibly thinking of a new source of revenue, Marilyn is considering trying to market her novel, The Copper Triangle, a work she looks upon as her lasting legacy. Again, one cannot help but discern a bit of the author in the central character, Claire Breese, the sensual, mothering guardian of the story's luxurious mountain club -- a woman who, by the way, shares Marilyn's middle and maiden names. "Oh, Claire," one character tells her, "you lead such a beautiful, exciting life surrounded by handsome men who adore you. Aren't you one of the lucky ones though." Perhaps the novelist has, in her own way, found the story's "wonderful parties and camaraderie" in the company of her glamorous friend, Royce, in whose shadow she has kept warm for 16 years and whom she regards as a celebrity in her own right.

"Royce is one of the most fascinating people in the world," Marilyn says. "I've met a lot of wonderful people through her, and she's at the top of that list. She's been very loyal, entertaining and generous -- she's given me a lot of clothes and jewelry." As evidence, she wears a luxurious blond fox-fur wrap and matching hat given to her by Royce, who calls Marilyn "a marvelous woman and wonderful friend."

As the two women finish their lunch, a hawk suddenly wheels 20 feet beyond a window of the restaurant, a sinister yet beautiful creature whose dusky feathers reflect none of the California sun. There is something hypnotic about the bird of prey, something about its unrepentant darkness that reaches back into primal memory, to a time before elegance and glamour were dreamt into existence.

"That's gorgeous," Royce says. "I want him, I'll feed him. Birds take to me, I love him, I want to adopt -- oh, this terrible paper tablecloth!"

Outside my window...

2009-01-19T17:00:00.000-08:00

Inwood Hill Park, NYC, January 2009

Memories

2009-01-07T08:35:00.000-08:00

I've recently re-connected with old friends through Facebook and Robin Holt remembered my family's truck that I used to cruise Jonesboro in... ah, the stories it could tell.

David Gambill asked if I remembered Lisa Kissinger. Here she is taking rolll as Ernie Simpson has his morning cup before rehearsal ("jerky little kids..."). Bobbie Kern can been seen at this desk way in the background.

Remember this guy?

2008-12-06T09:52:00.001-08:00

Photography

2008-11-03T18:38:00.001-08:00

c. 2007, New York
Inwood Hill Park overlooking the Hudson River in the fall

c. 2002, New York City
Inwood Hill Park overlooking the Hudson River in the summer

c. 2002, New York City
Inwood Hill Park; one of the first photos I took with a new digital camera

c. 2007, New York
Inwood Hill Park

c. 2007, Bovina, New York
Wood pile

c. 2002, New York City
Bookend; one of the first photos I took with a new digital camera

c. 2001, New Orleans
Sculpture on the Mississippi

c. 2001, New Orleans
"The Ghost of Parties Past" -- I bought a disposable Polaroid and before I took my first photo this photo was in the camera... I swear.

c. 2005 Cancun
Memories of Ed

c. 2005, Cancun
Ralph, me, and Russell

c. 2005, New York City
John and Michael in Central Park viewing Christo and Jeanne-Claude's Gates

c. 2005, New York City
Christo and Jeanne-Claude's Gates in Central Park

c. 2007, Croton-on-Hudson, New York
Exit off Highway 9

c. 2007, Bovina, New York
Still life

c. 2007, Bovina, New York
The mud room in a 19th-century farmhouse

c. 2007, Bovina, New York
An old farm truck in a field; there are five reflections in this photo

c. 2001, New York
This is a display window from a jewelry store across the street from the World Trade Center

c. 1999, New York
Those are my mothers hands; we were on a double-decker tourist bus driving past the Word Trade Center

Art Works I've Done

2008-11-03T18:15:00.000-08:00

(click on image to enlarge)

"Transformation: Tasting" 2009

12" x 12" Acrylic, thread, mix-medium

Part of an "Art Day" with Michael and Chad. Hidden, are dozens of pins on the back of the canvas that hold the single piece of string. (see next photo)

"R&M: For Randy and Martin" 2010

24" x 36" Acrylic, Silver Leaf, Cardboard, Sand, Glass Gems (edging) on Canvas

A wedding gift for two good friends in Washington D.C. The initials of their first names are hinted at in the bottom left and top right corners.

"M&C: For Michael and Chad" 2002?

24" x 30" Acrylic, Gold Leaf, Tiles, Plaster on Canvas

A gift to two of my best friends, it now hangs in their New Jersey home. The initials of their first names are hinted at in the bottom left and top right corners.

Inspired by "Krug par" by Pierre Bonnefille.

"Gates of Hell/Heaven" 1991
30" x 48" Oil on canvas
I did this "oil" painting in 1991 -- I didn't realize until I saw the Turner exhibit at the Met in 2008, how I had been inspired by him -- bats and all! I say "oil" because out of naïvité I bought acrylic black instead of oil -- when I applied it to the oil and it started reacting, I thought "actually that's kinda cool"... Those didn't start out to be bats...

"Valhalla" 2004
48" x 60" Acrylic on Canvas

"After Monet" 1992
24" x 24" Oil on Canvas
Inspired by Monet's Seine at Giverny series

"Licht" 2007
12"x12" Acrylic and found objects (dried flowers and string) on canvas

"Floating Box" 1992
24" x 30" Acrylic on Canvas
This painting was inspired after seeing a production of Bluebeard's Castle at the Metropolitan Opera; when Bluebeard shows Judith all his riches (the fifth door) the entire back of the Met stage unhinged, floated away in slow motion, and revealed that they were actually floating in space. I purposely kept the perspective off to create tension.

"Arkansas Death" 1997
30" x 20" Acrylic on canvas

"Gold Triptych" 2004
Three 20" x 20" Acrylic, Gold Leaf, Glitter on Canvas

"For Jim and Boris" 2000

24" x 30" Acrylic on canvas

This now lives in their Chicago home.

"Woman in Blue" 1998

20" x 26" Acrylic on Canvas

This is a study based on a 1960s B&W publicity headshot. I was learning Photoshop at the time and put the photo though various effects including taking away the features of her face. I was inspired to re-create it on canvas with paint.

"Inevitability: Joker's Wild" 2010

12" x 12" Acrylic, mix-media on canvas

Dom in August

2008-08-10T07:56:00.000-07:00

dom at window

2008-02-19T19:57:00.001-08:00

treat

2008-01-31T21:11:00.000-08:00

I recently received a belated holiday gift from my good, good friend and co-conspirator from the Memphis days, Jackie. It's one of the best gifts I've ever received because if I saw it in a shop, I'd have to buy it. I hung it in front of a painting my friend, Frank, that was inspired by our trip to New Orleans. True synergy.

boring, boring photos of a pretty, pretty (post-op) kitty

2008-01-16T21:19:00.000-08:00

Glitter and Be Gay: NYE 2007-08

2008-01-01T13:25:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos from my recent New Year's Eve party. They are very impressionistic and dreamy; they capture the feeling of the night.

If you weren't there, you might ask what are those shiny things that look like ornaments? They're shiny ornaments (that I hung from the ceiling over the buffet table as a center piece).

more kitty photos

2007-11-30T11:54:00.001-08:00

Here are some additional photos of Dom just to prove that he does other things than sleep (actually it's an excuse to show what a pretty kitty he is).

thankful

2007-11-22T13:02:00.000-08:00

Today, I am thankful for my sweet, beautiful, new kitten Dom (aka Dominick Jeffrey Dahmer Ford Blanchard) and to the good home he came from.

my trip to phoenix

2007-11-15T19:29:00.001-08:00

From November 6 - 11, 2007, I was in Phoenix for a conference and took these photos right outside the Arizona Grande Resort:

our trip to bovina

2007-10-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

Pronounced like vagina, our weekend excursion in early October to this quaint little spot in the Catskills was restful and colorful.

Here are some photos I took:

A magazine-cover view out the back window of the 19th century farm house we stayed in.

A view of the creek and the side of the house.

The field out back.

Firewood and hills.

A former mill, refurbished by an architect.

A still life.

Pumkins.

An old painted door.

Cousin Frank and Cousin Russell sittin' out back.

Horsies.

Rooftops and powerlines.

The boys relaxin'.

This "Obey the Party" sign certainly made us stop and think.

Another still life in 3s.

Another view of the the creek.

_______________________________________________

AND NOW... one of the most interesting photos I've ever taken... notice all the reflections, in the various mirrors, on the glass; I also love the interesting grouping of objects on the seat...
_______________________________________________

fall 2007 samplers - parts ONE and TWO

2007-09-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

Here's what I'm listening to for:

Fall 07 Sampler: Part One

01     Downtown ― Bob James Trio

02     Downtown ― Niki Harris

03     My Society ― De Phazz

04     Between My Legs ― Rufus Wainwright

05     Take Five (Muzikboy Remix) ― Clark Terry

06     Hell Alright ― De Phazz

07     Valerie ― Amy Winehouse

08     Tell Me 'Bout It (A Yam Who Club Rework) ― Joss Stone

09     All In Love Is Fair ― Marc Anthony

10     Sun of a Beach (London Mix) ― Jazzanova

11     Unbound ― Suzanne Vega

12     Oh Yeah ― The Cliks

13     Strung Out (Quinten's Rehab Reproductions) ― Etta James

14     Soar ― Eliot Popkin

15     Rocket Man (KDME Remix) ― Elton John

16     Rock'n'Roll Dude ― De Phazz

17     Bubbly ― Colby Caillat

18     Chick A Boom (Chris Joss Remix) ― Joe Bataan

19     Our Day Will Come ― Jamie Cullum

Fall 07 Sampler: Part Two

01     Little Wonders ― Rob Thomas

02     Help Me ― kd lang

03     Getting Ready ― Patty Griffin

04     Flashback (Breathe Easy Mix) ― Jazzanova

05     American Pie (Richard 'Humpty' Vission Mix) ― Madonna

06     Candyman (Ultimix Mixshow) ― Christina Aguilera

07     Thank You Falletin' Me Be Mice Elf ― Euge Groove

08     How Long ― Donna Osmond

09     Boop (Skeewiff Remix) ― Ursula 1000

10     Boogie Philosophy ― De Phazz

11     How High the Moon (JB Remix) ― P. Austin/L. Paul/M. Ford

12     King of the Road ― Rufus Wainwright, Teddy Thompson

13     Thnks Fr Th Mmrs ― Fall Out Boy

14     Sun of a Beach (London Mix) ― Jazzanova

15     Signed, Sealed, Delivered (DJ Smash Mix) ― Stevie Wonder

16     One Is the Loneliest Number ― The Tao of Groove

17     Stop Me ― Mark Ronson

18     What's The Use Of... ― De Phazz

19     Strange ― Michelle Branch

20     Nothin' Better To Do ― LeAnn Rimes

21     How High The Hat ― De Phazz

22     Why Can't He Be You ― Norah Jones

23     Wonderful World ― James Morrison

24     Slums of Monte Carlo ― De Phazz

Today is the first day...

2007-09-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

Hey all -

Well, this is my first post and I am wondering if I will really do this on a regular basis...

2007-02-12T13:34:00.000-08:00

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.

__________________________________________

“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 . . .

__________________________________________

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 . . .

__________________________________________

“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 . . .

__________________________________________

“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?

(2007 and 2008)

I recently completed a mini-series of Ear-Acid mixes for my good friend Michael Schultz. Originally, I started to make a group of mixes for his birthday in November of 2007, each reflecting some aspect of the personal/spiritual journey he’s been on this past year. But, as is often the case with art, completion just wouldn’t come and the deadline came and went. I then decided to make it an xmas gift and allow it to divide into shorter mixes, each well under an hour in length. The resulting work, MJS: IN A YEAR, has 12 parts: In Repose, In Another World, In Joy, In Memoriam, In Jest, In Church, In Motion, In Darkness, Inspiration, In Love, In Meditation, and finally, 2007: In Good Company. The other part of the gift idea, was to make a sort of scrapbook that would feature a 2-page spread for each mix. Those two pages would contain a track list of contents, the burned CD, and various pictures, quotes, text, and general program notes about each mix. This, too, proved too much to complete by the holidays. It was during a last-minute rush to complete the book that I had, dare I say it?, an epiphany… I was not meant to complete the book. It was meant to be a collaborative process, to be added to each time we got together to listen to a section. The title, IN A YEAR, even took on another meaning at that point: not about the past year, but rather the year to come.

I plan to post notes about IN A YEAR throughout the coming year.