Growing up, Richard Pryor was my favorite comedian. Sneaking a listen to his records was always a treat. He was brutally honest. There was nothing he wouldn't talk about:sex, race, drug use, and a whole myriad of social issues. He was the link between Redd Foxx and Eddie Murphy in the lineage of hard black comedians that continue today with Chris Rock and Dave Chapelle(check out Harlem Nights with Foxx, Pryor and Murphy). It's hard to understate his influence. He literally invented the mock "white man voice" that most black comedians have adopted. His early records are fairly shocking even now. He was also a huge donator and supporter of organizations for abandoned and abused animals. If you go to his site you will see all kinds of links about this.

In 1998, he was awarded the first Kennedy Center Mark Twain Humor Prize. This was his acceptance speech:

"Two things people throughout history have had in common are hatred and humor. I am proud, that like Mark Twain, I've been able to use humor to lessen people's hatred. I feel great about accepting this prize. It is nice to be regarded on par with a great white man. Now that's funny."

Anyway, R.I.P.

25 years ago...

Cheers Mr. Lennon.

Laura's birthday bowling party was a success despite hideous weather conditions. Thanks to all who made the trek. Here's a really funny picture that I couldn't have set up if I had tried. Angles and perspective are everything:


















What makes this even funnier is the look/expression on Fred's face(guy in the background with striped shirt). Brilliant!

Tis' the Season

So, we put up a Christmas tree for the first time in three years...our cat(Stella) was just too much of a beast. Now that she's a little over two years old, we figured we would give it a shot (of course not until I screwed the base down to a wooden platform and tied the top of the tree to our drapery rod with 10lb fishing line...we'll see).

Here's the Beast within:













Anyway, as we were doing this, I went through most of my Holiday music collection. In addition to the traditional choral stuff and the classic favourites (Nat King Cole, Bing etc...) a few selections always stand out.
A couple of thoughts:

-Elvis really was a badass...I grew up listening to his Xmas record and as many times as I've heard it, I still find it tremendously unique and entertaining. His Elvis'ims are astounding: "A, h'al huh, ha-ve' a-a blue, Cha' ristmas a' wi'--thout you.....awesome! I'll take his version of White Christmas over Bing's any day...really nice backing vocal arrangement. "I'll Be Home for Christmas" really makes me nostalgic of all of the trips to Altoona, Pa. for Christmas when I was a kid...very nice piano playing on this track. My favourite by far though is "Santa Claus is Back in Town", a rousing blues shuffle. Elvis always had a killer backup band and this tune really sounds great. What I really like about this tune though, are the lyrics. Sung in first-person, it tells of the triumphant return of "Santa" to his long-awaited lover. Check out these lyrics:

"Got no sleigh or with reindeer,
No sack on my back,
You'll see me comin'....in a big, black cadillac"

Awesome.

I'll admit, when I was a kid I sort of misunderstood the meaning of this verse:

"Hang up your pretty stockins',
Turn out your lights,
Santa Claus is comin', down your chimney tonight..."

I wonder what kind of toys he had in that bag....

----------------------------------------
The Grinch.
I still can't believe someone allowed Jim Carey to come anywhere near the made-for-Hollywood movie of this beautiful tale.
The song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" is still one of the funniest, most creative Xmas tunes I know of. I usually judge how good things are by whether or not I wish that I wrote them...well, I wish I had written that tune...In addition to the brilliant orchestration and catchy tune...the words....my God:

"Your heart's a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots, Mr. Grinch.

"Your soul is an appalling dump heap, overflowing with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginable...mangled up in....tangled up knots.

On that sentiment, enjoy the Holiday season...whatever Holiday you celebrate.

Doesn't this look like entrails?....

Sorry about the long gap between posts. Just got back from another road trip this past weekend. I visited my cousins Jamie and her brother Keith in Philidelphia Thursday night, then drove up through New Jersey to NYC. I had never been to Philly before this trip, and while it was a short visit, I got to see a bit of the town. In the older parts of town, lots of very cool colonial townhouses which line the narrow streets. Perfect for walking around. All kinds of pubs, restaurants, and other places to hang out and spend $$$. I can't wait to go back and check it out during the day and do some touristy things.

Recorded two short sessions in NYC, one with Jeremy Bleich(oud) and Brook Martinez(tabla) and another with Jeremy and Joe Tomino on electronics. These sessions will be part of Jeremy's upcoming solo cd, of which I will do the recording and probably some creative editing/production.

New York is still great. I have had a long-time crush on the city for many years. Every time I go there, I expect to find myself over it; no longer impressed by the bustle, the never-ending options, the music, the art, the great food, the energy, the architecture, the hipsters, the cynical, sarcastic, ironic attitude of many of it's inhabitants...the subways. But every time I go, I experience things at a more local, everyday level...which just makes me love it even more. One thing for sure: Driving a car in NYC is a pain in the ass. That city more than any other I have been to is built for walking...it just so happened to be the New York Marathon this past weekend which meant that lots of people wanted into the city. It took me 45 minutes just to get into the city via the Holland tunnel and about an hour to get from Brooklyn to New Jersey on my way home. Not good.

This past time, I stayed with (former Clevelanders) Joe Tomino and his wife Trish in Williamsburg. While Williamsburg isn't where I would choose to live (not my style aestheticly speaking), it is a very cool, hip place to hang. Lots of everything close by and very close to the subway stops. Joe and Trish were very cool letting me crash there, especially since neither of them had a lot to do over the weekend and they probably wanted some "down time".

A very funny thing happened. On my way to Philly, my friend (and percussionist) Mel Csicsila called me just to catch up and casually mentioned he would be in NYC the same weekend...so! Instead of driving 9hrs across I-80 at night by myself I had some good company which really made the drive cool. Thanks Mel!

Facial Hair

Every couple of months I get the urge to experiment with facial hair. Occaisionally, this turns out to be a disaster. Well, I'm currently fascinated with the late 19th century...truly the golden era of men's facial hair styles, and so I had the grand idea of trying this design:





Unfortunately, it didn't come out so well. I made a mess of it, and as I tried to fix things..I made them worse. At this point, there wasn't much left to do but admit failure and start from scratch. Now most people who know me, are aware that I almost NEVER have a clean-shaven face (I've got strong opinions on men with no facial hair....you know who you are!!!!). Anyway, for me it's kind of like taking your clothes off...The last time I did this (about 7yrs ago), my friend Dave Drotos told me that I resembled the retro toy "Inchworm". Of course I didn't really like this but secretly admitted he might be onto something. Anyway, since this may not happen again for several years, I decided to have a little fun.

You decide for yourselves:

Last day. I'm ready to go home. As much as I love traveling, I miss my pack...dog, cat and of course, wife. Also, I feel as if I've been "skipping stones" with my money....just throwing it around to see what happens...Anyway, since my flight is not until later, Jeremy, Isaac, Ben and I will take a little drive to check out some scenery and then I'll drive to ABQ and start my way home...

I felt a little sentimental saying goodbye to Jeremy. While he technically moved away from Cleveland two weeks ago, I've spent nearly all of that time with him...so he really hadn't left. Today, as I was saying goodbye, it seemed strange to think that I wouldn't see my tall, serious, good-natured, vegetarian friend around anymore. I greatly admire him as he is a deeply committed musician who is always pushing to experience new things. I'll be seeing him in November in NYC where I'll be recording/collaborating with some other projects. It seems that while we'll be living in different parts of the country, we'll continue developing our work together and make these small tours more often.

Had fun with the kids. Here's our rock star pose...

The performance last night at the High Mayhem Festival(Santa Fe, New Mexico) was pretty good. Because we had more time than at the NWEAMO Festival, we were able to do a couple of other pieces. These were a little ragged (due to lack of rehearsal) but never-the-less, seemed to go over well. We closed with eftah, the piece we've been playing a lot and it was by far the best performance yet. Jeremy and I are starting to get to that next layer of performance chemistry that only comes from repetition. Things are going to be different with him living in Arizona...we'll have to work long distance.

The High Mayhem Festival is really impressive. A three day event with about 30 musical/poetry acts, the organizers really do a great job of moving things along. This is not affiliated with any universities...just some really dedicated people who work really hard all year to put this thing on. All of the music I heard was interesting and varied, from very "out" to "sort of out" to groove based. The sound technicians were all patient and helpful and there seemed to be no shortage of people around to help with moving and carrying things.

I met all kinds of cool people, some of them other artists and some just local folks just there to hang out and listen. Jeremy took the kids back to the hotel room (starting to fall asleep) about midnight but I stayed to the bitter end (3:30am).

There has been some really cool hangs. Jeremy's sister Andi and her husband Kevin were in town vacationing, so we had a few meals with them. They also came to the show so it was nice to have a little support...It was cool to have Isaac and Ben there as well, I'll miss seeing them. There was also a continued Cleveland-San Francisco hang as Last Chance for the Loneliest Kitten (Josh, Kurt and Ava) were also performing.

Today it's rainy and cold, so I'm just sitting in a coffee shop, checking my email and blogging. I sort of wanted to go hiking somewhere but the weather and very little sleep are keeping me firmly planted on my ass. Later, I'll go and wander about downtown Sante Fe's shops and galleries and look at all of the stuff I can't afford to buy.

Played San Diego Friday night. Overall, the show was really strong. Our performance was pretty good. I had some weird computer issues that prevented me from doing a few things, but I think the piece came across well. The performance space was really nice. The stage was really wide (this is where the University orchestra performs) and the guys running the board were on the ball. In fact, all of the sound technicians that we have dealt with were very good. Here's a pic of jeremy warming up:


















All of the pieces on the program were new to me. The Electric Hammer performed 3 works and as usual were slammin'! I had a really fun night out afterwards with everyone. So many cool folks. Jeremy stayed back at the room to sleep before his drive down to Bisbee, AZ and then on to Santa Fe. I rented a car so that he could take care of his affairs and pick up Isaac and Ben (his boys) and I could take my time driving across Arizona to Santa Fe where we will hook back up and play at the High Mayhem Festival.

The drive out of San Diego on I-8 is really stunning. The transition from tropical to desert is very subtle. Palm trees give way to rock and small cacti. Passing through the mountains(Cleveland National Forest...funny) about an hour east of the city, takes you up to some higher elevations that affords really nice views of all the surrounding areas including Mexico to the south. Here's a pic:

















Arizona is just beautiful. Started getting into some beautiful desert valleys east of Yuma, Az. I was making really good time. Because of the spatial relationships of country this open, speed is deceiving. It was easy driving at 80-90 mph...it wasn't until I topped 100 mph that I felt like I was speeding...what fun. But making time wasn't really the point, so I kept stopping to take pictures and just generally experience the place. Temperature in the low 100s, maybe high 90s...not really too bad. I had the overwhelming urge to take all of my clothes off and dance around naked in the dry desert air...I didn't do this but I'm kind of regretting it now:) The colors around here are just spectacular, the sun slipping in and out of the clouds, constantly changing the perception of distance and texture. You almost need to just pick a spot, sit on the ground and hang out for hours. I took I-8 to I-10 just south of Phoenix where I picked up Rt. 79 (beautiful) to Rt. 60 East which would take me all the way to Soccoro, New Mexico. A long drive, but interesting and scenic.

Got into Santa Fe around 1am....tired. Drove about 850 miles today. Worth every moment. My only regret is that it got dark as I got into New Mexico. Almost all of the rooms were booked up due to "Balloon Festival". Finally found a Red Roof Inn. Jeremy and the kids stayed about an hour south. We'll hook up tomorrow.Here's a few pics:

Drove from San Francisco down to San Diego last night. Really hated to leave. That city is just awesome. MUST RETURN SOON! This trip would have been more amazing except for the fact that we didn't get out of SF until about 2pm...we were just lingering a bit...by the time we got to Santa Cruz, the rush hour traffic was totally gridlocked. To compound this, Jeremy went on a fruitless 1hr excursion to find a T-Mobile store so he could fix his phone. I just waited in a coffee house...apparently, the address he was looking for did not exist. A Grand waste of daylight...By the time we got to Big Sur...darkness. When I was younger, I would have spent this moment being mad and pouty because something didn't work out, but we just pulled the car over near a treacherous cliff, turned the lights out and sat outside looking out over the ocean at a beautiful yellow fingernail moon and a sky full of bright, clear stars. I've seen a lot of great starry nights, but I've never seen them looking over an ocean cliff. Really special. Here's a few pics:

"A Man Called Jeremy"



















Jeremy was really sleepy, so I drove the rest of the night down 101 south through Los Angeles to San Diego. Los Angeles is just an urban disaster...just never-ending sprawl. But it's still kind of interesting reading all of the signs with well-known places and streets, We got into SD around 4AM. I just drank a bunch of coffee and listened to news/talk radio...viva la "Coast to Coast".

Right now I'm sitting on stage at San Diego State University getting ready to sound check. Looks to be a good show tonight. Several of the groups are not familiar to me.

Today was tourist day. Took the streetcar to where Jeremy's friend Michael works (architect), walked back to his place, then we went out and had some delicious Ethiopian food and beers in the lower Haight. This part of the city has some really beautiful old houses. The food is really good here. A lot of affordable choices.

Tomorrow we get back into the Volvo and head towards San Diego. We are going to try and stop in L.A. and say hello to a couple of friends...but the traffic will be gawdy so who knows if that will work.

Got to San Francisco today. The weather was really clear so coming into the city via the Golden Gate bridge was really spectacular. This city is so beautiful. The mountains, the architecture, the ocean...the way that the houses just sort of fold into the hills, seems very mediterranean. We are staying with Scott Barkan(Barky) in the Sunset neighborhood about 3 blocks from the ocean.

We performed tonight at a nice coffee house, opening for singer/songwriter Kevin McCarthy. It was a really fun gig. Afterwards, we had tleveland hang consisting of: Myself, Jeremy Bleich, Scott Barkan, Kevin McCarthy and Kurt Kotheimer. Very cool...kind of surreal. Not sure which deserves more attention, the fact that so many Cleveland musicians are living here or that so many of them have left Cleveland...

Stayed in a little coastal town in Oregon last night. Jeremy and I tried very hard to find a bar/pub to find some food and drink but sunday night was just not happening. So, we grabbed some tortilla chips, green salsa, cottage cheese and an avacado, went back to the hotel room and watched I Robot....not a good movie.

Continued back down the coast. Got into California around noon. Went through some amazing stands of Redwoods. Rounding a bend, we ran into this:





















I love the genital detail on Babe...it really makes a bad sculpture interesting...

We're staying in a little California town tonight (Garberville?)...nothing whatsoever happening here. We'll just go to bed and get going early.

Left Portland today. The drive down the Oregon coast is spectacular. There are tons of drive thru espresso bars...most likely to help folks through the rainy, dreary weather. Jeremy and I got pulled over by police 4 times. Let me repeat that: 4 times. Why? Because Jeremy's Volvo is missing a tailight and license plate light. Amazing. The police were very cool though...they got one look at our packed car and figured we had enough to deal with (by the way, for those who don't know, Jeremy is also moving on this trip to Bisbee, Arizona,,,hence all of the personal possesions)...

Check out this scene:


















Anyway, here's a couple of beautiful pics of the Oregon coast. This place definitely deserves another visit.

Today was amazing. Jeremy went to visit one of his long-time friends, so I decided to spend the day walking around Portland, riding the awesome streetcars, and just having a chill day to myself. As I was walking down the street, I saw a guy(Justin) I met on the plane ride out there. We had chatted quite a bit about travel etc.. Anyways, he was out walking with his friend Randi with whom he was staying with, and they invited me to hang out with them. I ended up spending the entire day with them! Randi just moved out there herself about 2 months prior but she seemed to know the city well, so first we walked to a nice little street fair where I bought a nice little bamboo flute ($15), then we took a train across the river to the South East side. It was a really cool strip with all kinds of shops, restaurants and cafes. After that, we went and hung out for awhile at her apartment. From there I took the streetcar(free) down to Portland State University to hear the Saturday night NWEAMO concert. I am so glad I ran into those guys today. I enjoy walking around towns by myself but having some fun people to hang out with was really great. Here's a pic:

9/30

The show tonight in Portland was OK. Attendance was nowhere near that of Mexico City. On the positive side, I think we were a little more aggressive in our performance, which seemed to get a good reaction from those in attendance. Jeremy's friend Ben Dewey(recently relocated from Cleveland) came out and so we had a great hang afterwards at a place called Doug Fir. Very happening place. Again, Portland is very nice.

Soundchecking:

Just got into Portland, Oregon today. Jeremy Bleich and I perform tomorrow with the NWEAMO festival. I took an early flight (6:30 am) to Houston and then on to Portland. All told, about 8hrs travel time. I figured if I could get here earlier, I would have some time to check out the town a bit. Portland keeps coming up in conversation and reading as a really live-able city with great public transportation. Since this is precisely what Cleveland is lacking, I've always been very interested in spending a little time here. Anyways, I am always ambitious in my travel plans, idealizing my time management and basically underestimating the effects of air travel. I always feel like shite when I do this, today was no exception. A nightmarish headache greeted me near landing and stayed with me until I checked into my hotel and slept for three hours. So much for my afternoon! Is it a sign of stupidity when one doesn't learn from their own mistakes? I think I know the answer already...

My hotel is pretty cool (The Mark Spencer Hotel). I have a studio efficiency ($82) with a stove, sink and refridgerator. Granted, everything is decorated circa 1962...but I kind of like it.

I've walked around the town a bit, had a couple meals, coffee etc... My first impressions are very good. This seems like a really nice city. The streets are narrow, which sort of puts the emphasis on the pedestrian instead of the auto. The streets with the light rail train (MAX) don't have any autos at all, so the only thing between the train and the buildings is the sidewalk. The people seem friendly, except for the fruitbat bothering me in the coffee shop right now, and even he seems benevolent.

Jeremy just got into town...tired and bedraggled from a long, hurried drive from Cleveland...he left Tuesday morning from Cleveland and got here just now (11:15pm Pacific time). He's coming right now to the coffee shop where I'm at. Then I'll harass him for his bad planning. What can I say? Better him than me.

Tomorrow we have setup and sound check and then we perform in the evening. I'll check in tomorrow maybe with some pics.

Mexico City

Just got back from performing at the Festival Internacional de Musica y Nuevas Tecnologias: Visiones Sonoras in Mexico City. Jeremy Bleich (oud) and I were there as part of the NWEAMO festival, which will also take place this week in Portland, Oregon and next week in San Diego. From the start, things were very organized, with someone at the airport to meet us and drive us to our hotel. Mexico City is a gigantic labrynth of densely packed streets, so driving on our own would have been down right foolish. My wife Laura came along for the fun of it as well as taking pictures and generally helping us out.

Tuesday 9/20/05
Once we got settled into our room, Jeremy and I took a short walk around the general vicinity of the hotel. The air in Mexico City is bad at best....and you could feel it. As the 6th most populated city in the world (with everybody driving cars it seems), it's no wonder the air quality is poor. And with the exception of a few streets here and there, the city is engineered to accomodate the car, not pedestrians. That being said, the city is very exciting. Like any large city, it has its good and bad; squalor and filth, rich and beautiful, old and new. Most of the taxi were, oddly enough, green and white vintage Volkswagen Beetles...kind of surreal. I suppose if you want to own a vintage Beetle...that would be the place to get one. We went out to dinner that night in the San Angel area. A nice little cobblestone neighborhood with restaurants and shops. Unfortunately, we got there sort of late (especially for a weekday) and so many of them were closed. But we found a cool little place where the food was really good and affordable and the service was some of the best I've ever had...despite our one-year-old level Spanish.

Speaking of bad Spanish, I am determined to learn another language(Spanish probably makes the most sense). There's nothing worse than not being able to order food properly, express youself, be courteous, read signs etc...Most of the people we hung out with spoke decent English (many of them learn it in school when they are children), so except for the times we were out on our own, we had translators(special thanks to the sound guys Emiliano,Marten and Andres for driving us around and for taking us out for some delicious tacos)...

Wednesday 9/21/05
The day of the concert was long. We got there at 9am and didn't get back until about 10:30. Everything was really organized however, with all of us setting up and sound checking several hours before the performance. Jeremy got to give a little demonstration on the oud to some students. Although he resisted my suggestion, I got him to remove his thug-looking hoody sweatjacket before hand...The performance went very well. The room sounded so good that I didn't even use headphones. This is usually necessary for electro-acoustic performances(to separate the noise in the room from the noise in the music...)but the sound was mixed well, it wasn't too loud and the audience was quietly listening...amazing! What a difference performing in a recital hall as opposed to a rock club. All of the performances were different and interesting. Here's a pic:



Afterwards, a bunch of us hung out at the hotel bar drinking beer and tequila. Viva la Modela Negra!

Thursday 9/22/05
Thursday was tourist day. The three of us were feeling sluggish so we didn't get going until about noon...after we stuffed ourselves with the delicious breakfast buffet at the hotel...We wanted to ride the subway (something I always like to do in other cities)to save a little money on cab fare, but we had to get a ride to the last stop. La Metro looks like it was built in the 1970s, with lime-green seats in the cars and the proper urban patina. Subways are always filled with such an assortment of people. We saw everything from corporate types to farmers...and of course there was no shortage of people trying to sell stuff.

Our stop was Zocalo, a massive stone square with the metropolitan Cathedral at one end. The Cathedral, which replaced the Templo Mayor in 1572 " had the privilege of introducing new architectural styles that subsequently flourished throughout New Spain. Classic evolves into neoclassic and envelops the baroque play of style without detracting from it in any way." The reason it looks crooked in the photo is because it's been steadily sinking...I believe something like 12 feet in 25 yrs.



Next we went to the the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts). The building houses performance of dance, music and theater as well as some the nation's great muralists(Diego Rivera,David Alfaro Siquieros,Jose Clemente Orozco and others. It also has some nice galleries dedicated to other Mexican artists. The opera hall was locked, which is a bummer because I heard it was spectacular. It was on this day I started to get a cold...nose running, sinus pain, sneezing...general misery, but what the hell, we were in Mexico City...onward! The reason this building looks crooked is beacause I took a bad picture of it...



We took a nice walk through a city park(Alameda Central),stopped at an amazing building with a giant inner courtyard. Whatever the place was, it is currently a cafe. We heard music from the street so we went in and behold! there was a band playing Beatles songs in Spanish...we had to stay.

After another subway ride, an interesting walk through a dense outdoor market, we caught a taxi to take us back to the hotel. Laura bailed on us and stayed back at the hotel while we went to check out the next nights performances. The group, The Electric Hammer performed several pieces by different composers. They consist of two guys on laptops and one percussionist. They were really amazing. We'll see them again in San Diego.

Friday 9/23
Homeward bound. Eventually. Our flight got delayed so we sat around the (smokey) airport sitting in front of our laptops (getting sicker),while the airline kept changing the time of our flight. We finally got out about 9pm. We arrived in Chicago about 1am. Of course our connecting flight to Cleveland was about 4hrs into history so they set us up in a nice hotel where we got about 3 hrs of sleep until we had to get up for our 6:45 flight...just lovely. Totally sick now. But thats what antibiotics are for right?

Overall, an amazing experience. Can't wait to go back. Met a lot of really nice, interesting folks. Next comes Portland, Oregon...