Wild Cat Blues - Sidney Bechet with Clarence Williams' Blue Five

Bechet's first recordings.  Clarence Williams' Blue Five - 1923 

Sidney Bechet - Kansas City Man Blues

Bechet's first recordings

Sistas

Today starts me subbing for my first Off-Broadway show.  Today,  tomorrow and next Sunday I'll be playing percussion at Sistas.  Hopefully I'll be doing more of these shows in the coming months.

WUSB

Very cool radio station with very cool people.  Thanks to WUSB and the cool bands that performed.

Elevator Rose 12/8/12

Come check out Elevator Rose at JACK  in Brooklyn, this Saturday night at 9pm along with lots of other amazing musicians.

First Butterscotch Show In Six Months!

And First post in this thing in quite some time as well.  Come to Stony Brook University this coming weekend for what will most likely be a cool event.  http://www.wusb.fm/node/16536 or http://www.facebook.com/events/236912479768792/ for more info.  Hope to see you there.  Hopefully ore shows to come.

Smile

very funny recording of last week's show.

not the greatest but will have to do.  my concept of music feels like it's completely changed.  need to get back to ny and play rock music.

33 1/3

Been doing a lot of reading on the ship.  A friend of mine got me the 33 1/3 of In Utero and OK Computer

A few quick thoughts.
The academic world has taken on Radiohead by storm in recent years.  Young music theory professors who teach intro to counterpoint classes think they can relate to students by name dropping Radiohead because they "use this cadence" and "use this chord" etc.  Jazz musicians for some reason find in the harmony of Radiohead something interesting to improvise over.  It's as if there were no other pop group in the last 60 years to do things "out of the box."  Like the academic world (classical and jazz) lives in a bubble where there's a gap from Beethoven to Johnny Greenwood or Bill Evans to Thom York.
This seems to be the problem with the 33 1/3 of OK Computer.  20 pages devoted to the useless distinction between "album" and "cd."  Unnecessary diagrams representing song lengths and key areas.  Random quotes from poets which may or may not actually relate to the music.  A thematic discourse based on lyrics and then about 20 pages on the "future" of music, not related to Radiohead.
There's barely any indication that they released two rock and roll albums before OK Computer (ask a jazz guy or classical guy to name one song off either album and see what they say.)  And no information about why the songs were written, any stories or quotes from the band members themselves.  Essentially, unless your the kind of person that listens to a classical symphony for the changes in tonal centers, there's no reason to read this book; not surprisingly written by a professor of music at Oxford.

The opposite is the In Utero.  Chock full of inside info from the mouths of Steve Albini and Krist Noveselic.  Interesting back stories to why and how songs were created and the importance of the album to the rest of the bands musical output.  At the same time, you won't find any information on the music itself.  That is, how Nirvana uses rhythm/song form/melody/orchestration etc.

I'll I'm asking is for a balance.  Why can't the music itself and the musicians, co-exist?  I think it's because the audience doesn't co-exist.  People who play an instrument hear music very differently than non-musicians.  What they listen to and what they care about is a completely different criteria.  I would gladly listen to Lurgee    and not Karma Police.  I will gladly take Scentless Apprentice over Teen Spirit.  But nobody cares.  In the end, I'm glad we're all still listening.  But c'mon writers of "pop" music.  Either write for a broad audience, or let the music speak for itself!

 -    

cruise life

life on ships

weird

no internet

no concept of what's happening in the world

8 day work weeks

and lots of bullshit

Getting Our Bering Strait

http://butterscotchstanley.bandcamp.com/

New Butterscotch album is now available.  For a physical CD, email me at aforman86@gmail.com.

more fun

Moma, Kissena Park, Dekalb Market

cool diego rivera exhibit, not too much at that market but got to walk around surrounding neighborhoods, and old men doing tai chi in the park .. woot

Gil

http://www.npr.org/2012/05/13/152577588/gil-evans-essential-jazz-arranger-at-100?ps=mh_frimg3


glad his centennial did not go entirely unnoticed.  

More Fun

If you get a chance, check out the new museum at the Brooklyn Navel Yard.  It's free, will take you about an hour, and really cool.  The museum basically chronicles the history of the yard from the Revolutionary War up until today.  It has videos, artifacts from the war ships they built there, interviews with people and real cool pictures/exhibits.

other recommendations: if you need old film converted to DVD, check out Dijifi in Greenpoint.  Also, if you're in that neighborhood, check out Permanent Records and coffee shops etc.  Franklin St is a nice walk

Unemployment, Things to Do

So I've quit all my jobs and I have a lot of free time.  I'm attempting to do something "fun" that I haven't done in NY and so far it's been pretty successful.

First stop: Queens Botanical Gardens.  Basically in my backyard and I think 2 bucks to get in with student ID, this place is a nice relaxing garden that can be walked in a half hour-hour depending on how much you want to see.  It's also connected to Flushing Park so if you're feeling adventurous, you can walk all day and see lots.

Here's What You Missed

Me, Chris, Fred

Okho - Xenakis

Iktus

First, if people need some excitement about the new Butterscotch release, please check out http://www.youtube.com/user/ButterscotchStanley?feature=watch and learn more.

Second, I don't know why i didn't post the Iktus percussion gig last night.  It was a real nice program.  Thanks to Chris Graham for putting it together.

Butterscotch Stanley in the Studio

As usual, wasting no time at all.

More to come.  Album is sounding good.

Levon

Others will sum it all up much better than me.  The soul in his voice matched the soul in his drums.  He could have been a great drummer and he could have been a great front man, and he did both better than most can do one.  A real American when America stood for something.  How about it for Levon Helm.  

Tell me one band that can sing a song about the end of the Civil War and make it sound like the most profound personal experience to anyone that hears it, even if you don't know or care what the song is about.  The fucking BAND.

Here's what you missed

Anyways, been meaning to write but been real busy.  More to come on that.  I want to give my two cents on Bjork's latest masterpiece and some other things.  Stay tuned for that.  Butterscotch Stanley is looking for shows in April and May if there are any suggestions.  Also playing a cool concert with Iktus Percussion at the end of the month.  I'll keep everyone posted on that.  Listened to Scrambles for the first time since last summer.  Made me feel all good and real bad inside.  

Butterscotch Stanley March Show

Keeping with the one-a-month show idea, Butterscotch will be playing Mr. Beery's this Saturday night March 31st.

Hope to see you there.

Mr. Beery's.
4019 Hempstead Turnpike
Bethpage, NY, 11714
w/
Eli Whitney & The Sound Machine
Holy Soviets
Joyce Nancy
Western Electric

Recording

Butterscotch is gonna record a new album soon.  And we just don't know what to do. But it seems like we're gonna do a 10-12 song album at about 22 minutes total with the guy who recorded A Passing Feeling and release it for free.  More to come on that.
Here's what you missed last weekend:

Butterscotch Show

I keep forgetting to use this thing to promote shows.

Come check out Butterscotch with lots of other great punk bands at 330 Melrose st. in Brooklyn tonight at 8.  gonna be a lot of fun.

http://www.facebook.com/events/223413201079715/

Traditions in Rock

New favorite song and I'll tell ya why.  But the real explanation, is that it needs no explanation.

Drum fill
Intro riff twice (not four times.)  This riff has a hit on the fourth beat of the measure.
Verse
Chorus
end of chorus also has hit on fourth beat but it becomes the new "one" making it a measure of three and then two bars of rest

Repeat this form but with variation in verse (scream on FACE)

Bridge

Third verse now with screams and more aggressive drums
Chorus has hit on beat 4 again, this time only 3 beat rest
repeat again and back to the full two bar rest

Outro Three times (not twice)

There it is.  The words are also incredible, the energy sounds like it's a live recording, and it's all in 2 minutes at 15 seconds.

This is one clever punk rock band.
Listen to Blonder on Blonder

Kim Shattuck is my Valentine.

Carnegie

I'm pretty excited that I got a chance to play at Carnegie Hall Monday night.  

 Me and Joe post-concert.

 Mozart Requiem from Balcony.

A bit closer.

I have a few more pictures on my phone taken from the stage looking out into the empty hall but I don't know how to put them on my computer.  Crazy

Great Moments in Jazz, Farewell Etta

The trombone makes me weep like a girl and Louis is just incredible in his two-bar solos.  If you want to have fun, or just have plenty of free time, follow each individual line.  Then if you want to get nuts, listen to

.

Louis's solo here has a direct quote of himself from "Tears."

Not gonna say much about Etta James other than her first recording, done for Chess records, is just a masterpiece.  Her voice is young and beautiful.  Her style seamlessly mixes southern blues of the 50's and early 60's with the great female jazz vocalists.  Not to mention the string arrangements are unbelievably good.  So much energy.  The band sings with her and she grooves with the band.  Soulful and heartbreaking.    

One of my favorites from this record.  Just wait until she lists the days of the week and tell me you don't want to sing with her.  

ATDI Reunion? Good Things are Happening

http://www.nme.com/news/at-the-drive-in/61330

Gigs this weekend

Come check out Books and Radio (formally Brail) at Margaret and Christine's in Smithtown.
I believe 10pm start with one other band and comedy?  It's some kind of benefit.  7 bucks to get in.  This Friday night.

1044 West Jericho Turnpike
Smithtown, NY. 11787

http://booksandradio.bandcamp.com/

Also check out Butterscotch Stanley at Mr. Beery's this Saturday night.  Show's probably at 8 or so with lots of other great bands.  Family Lumber, Liars Etc, Great American Thunder Bison

5 bucks to get in.  

4019 Hempstead Tpke  Bethpage, NY 11714-5602

http://butterscotchstanley.bandcamp.com/