All About Numbers

As the video on their site will tell you, in the past 9 years Artistic Fraud has called for:

• 81 school desks
•  32 flourescent semaphore flags
• 790 maps
• 36 vibraphone keys
• 2400 square feet of polyester wedding dress lining
• Over 300 performers.

You can see a short film about the relatively small production Fear of Flight on YouTube now, and hear the ensemble as they blend and create their vocal stagescapes (score by Jonathan Monroe). It’s fascinating how the score backs up the dramatic collaboration of the characters on the stage…

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• That Song in my Head
• Jimmy Ray McGee
• Hide Your Matches

You can hear excerpts and learn more over at JulianneSings.com .

But Wait, There’s More!

Because I love you all so much, and because I visited my friends over at Fred Astaire Dance recently, I can share with you a coupon code that you can use for a free download at Julianne’s site. It will also enter you in a drawing to see her perform live. The one rule is: if you win, you have to take me with you.

Ok, maybe not. But it would be nice. The code is:

ACAAHC26

Have fun!

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Looks like Ben Elton, Glen Slater (of the Little Mermaid) and Sir Lloydd-Webber will be teaming up to pen a sequel – yes, that’s right, a sequel – to Phantom of the Opera.

While I have great faith in the talents of all three, this is much like Michael Bolton covering When a Man Loves a Woman – no matter how good it is, it isn’t needed. Why can’t they create something new? Why don’t they have the security in their talent to not have to capitalize on the success of past hits?

Perhaps that’s what happened. Maybe they had a musical they wanted to make, and there just wasn’t enough backing, so they decided to pitch it as a sequel to Phantom and suddenly it was a sure-fire money maker.

Nah. I think it’s just laziness. Why think of something new when you can just cash in on the old?

Speaking of the old cashing in on the new, I’m not sure yet when Neil Diamond will be on American Idol, Krini, but I’ll keep an eye out and post it here as soon as I find out. Thanks for the comment!

Image details: Brit Awards 2008 – Outside Arrivals served by picapp.com

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The following video, courtesy of Ellie (my girlfriend’s roommate) is my debut performance at the Caburlesque of “Socket, To Thee”, a spoof song I wrote many years ago. While it really has nothing inappropriate at all in it, I might caution against playing it too loud in your cubicle; one never knows where your co-workers minds might go…

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However, when your beat is “performing arts”, it’s not quite that easy. Sure, you could just say “Wouldn’t you like a valentine from Ethan Steifel?” but the realm is so large, the pool of people so vast and yet so specialized (for example, unless you are a balletomane you probably don’t know who Ethan is) that it makes it a little too vast.

So instead I’m going to make a recommendation, and then ask you a question, and hope that the combination makes this Valentine’s Day just a little more special for you and the ones you love.

The recommendation? Slow live jazz. Sure, you could go to a symphony, you could go see the Lion King (as I did last night in Milwaukee), you could watch Le Corsaire on DVD while sitting in front of a fireplace, but for my money, there is nothing in the world of performing arts as aesthetically intimate and powerful as sitting in a dimly lit club, watching the curly hair of a pianist bob up and down hidden behind the loose sheets of music as he wends his way through a jazz standard. Add in a smoky-voiced beautiful woman in a long black dress, holding a microphone and closing her eyes as the words pour out of her soul like the dark petals of a perfect rose…maybe a bassist so lost in the chord progressions that his grizzled face is contorted and almost comical save for the fact that he is so into the music that when his solo is done he looks surprised at the applause, as if he forgot the audience was even there.

There is something about that atmosphere that just sets the romantic mood like nothing else. When you’re sitting there at the tiny round table, a candle lit between you, and you are both feeling the music wash over you, there is just no way not to reach out, to take the hand and smile into the liquid eyes of your date, reflecting not just the candlelight but also feeling the words of the songs and taking them in.

Because the jazz standards are all about love. Joyful love, sorrowful love, lost love, hopeful love, but oh, they are about love. Here’s some examples, in case you’re lucky enough to suggest a tune or two to the band:

• • Autumn Leaves
• Unforgettable
• Don’t Get Around Much
• Dream a Little Dream
• As Time Goes By

and my own personal favorite:

All of me, why not take all of me
Can’t you see I’m no good without you…

You may wonder how I know this is the ultimate romantic event. Simple: a couple of nights ago, my girlfriend was invited to sing with a jazz combo at the Hilton here in town. So I sat there with a glass of Johnny Walker Black, neat, and listened to her sing it out…and it was the most amazingly romantic environment I could have imagined.

So take it from me, kid. Put away the chocolates, don’t spend the money on the tickets to see Wicked. You can do that any time. Find yourself a little club, a little up-and-coming jazz combo put together by some community members who just have to get some of that good stuff out of their souls, and take your sweetie there. I guarantee you a night you’ll both remember and treasure for years to come.

And for those who already know about this little romantic secret: what songs did I miss? What do you think is the most romantic thing to hear as you toast to the cupidity of love?

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” Teaching himself the guitar at the age of twelve, Mike began playing earnestly, but being self-taught, it took him a lifetime to learn what theoried guitar players learn in weeks and months of formal study. Realizing that, though eventually finding his own style, he concentrated on what he is best known for now: song writing. The result produced what could be argued as a sound that is perhaps best summed up as pre-legendary. He adds “I see my music as a vehicle for promoting healing and building community consensus.”

Or, as my client describes him, a “hippie guitar kinda guy.” Still, it should be a fun way to keep a cold Michigan evening at bay. You can hear his music and more at his website, MedicineCrow.net.

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It was summer band camp, and I was taking, for the heck of it, a jazz piano class. Never had played jazz piano, and never really done jazz before, but my teacher taught me the circle of fifths, and then the blues, and then added in seventh chords and scales…all of which was ok, but not real exciting. It was all just on the paper – I couldn’t actually hear the phrases.

Until I heard Oscar’s piano, and the sheer virtuosity and lushness of his music cut right through the ignorance. I’d never even considered that a piano could sound like that; it was overwhelming. I played in the camp’s final concert (and that’s why my first piano performance was in a concert hall on a 12 foot grand…it’s been all downhill since) and I’ve never really gotten as good at jazz piano as I’d've liked…but still, I have to thank him.

A more thorough (and more informed) article about his work is available at the About Last Night blog.

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Yesterday was a first for me. I’m no stranger to Christmas music – been singing it since I was a wee lad – but last night I accompanied my girlfriend to her church. Now, full disclosure here: by nature I am a Zen Buddhist, and the only reason I can say that I’m not a bad one is because there really aren’t any bad Buddhists (it kind of defeats the whole non-expectation thing). So I don’t go to any Christian denominations; the closest I’ve come to organized Zen is a partial sesshin I sat in on.

But I digress. The fact is, yesterday I went to a little Protestant church in Barneveld, WI to accompany her on guitar while she sang “The Coventry Carol”. There were other performers too – a piano/organ duet, Kimberly singing “Breath of Heaven” and our friend Jack who sang  “Mary Did You Know” and “Oh Holy Night.”

It’s that last that I really want to talk about. Jack’s a good guy, and very much a guy; he’s a martial arts instructor, owns his own school, and is built like a Mac truck. He’s also got a great clear baritone voice and an enthusiastic love of music. “Oh Holy Night” is one of my favorites, one that I’ve sung myself back when I was attending my parents’ church. When he got up to sing it, I closed my eyes, bowed my head – not in reverence to a deity, but in reverence to the song, and the offering of his skill and passion for music that he was gifting me with. I did it twice, in fact, since there were two services, one at 5pm for normal people, and one at 11pm for those devout enough to want to ring in Christmas at midnight (or those dating the devout, such as me).

My own part in this wasn’t just to please or impress my girlfriend (though it was fun seeing the expression on her face when she heard me singing the harmonies on the hymns).  No, it was my own offering, not to the Christian God but to the people there, sharing a small skill I have – a memorized classical guitar arrangement of “The Coventry Carol” – and both times I found myself not nervous (I hardly know these people; who cares if I mess up?) but more focused, trying to just stay with the sound of the strings, the Dm chords and the slide up to the A on the fifth fret with my pinkie…it was, dare I say, almost Zenlike.

I think that’s the point I’m trying to make with this post. My Christmas has been filled with music, both from people I barely know and gathered round the piano with my parents and sisters. And while I may not share their faith, I was still able to share a sense of the communal wonder of that transient beauty in the music, and smiled with pleasure as Kimberly’s daughter pulled the rope that rang the bell at 12:05am this morning (Pastor Bob let the second service run a little long). It wasn’t the birthday of my Lord, but it was a celebration of the beauty of music that can come from such beliefs – and for a change, I found that that was enough.

The bells didn’t reassure me that “The wrong shall fail, the right prevail” but it reassured me that there is connection, there is harmony, and there is a point to gathering in the cold dark of winter and lighting candles together against the darkness, and lifting voices against the silence.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

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This, however, is not one of them. So unless you are ready to see a musical with the graphic portrayal of a serial killer literally splattering blood across the camera lens, wait for his next vehicle, when he’ll play George Jetson or somesuch.

(no, I don’t actually know who’s playing the lead in the Jetsons or even if they’re making a movie version. But really, how could they not?)

It’s hard to write a review of Sweeney Todd, though, because it’s a musical I’ve always wanted to like. There’s no disputing the genius of Sondheim,  but I gotta be honest: I don’t especially like his music. It’s a little too contemporary, hard for me to like for more than an instant before the phrases change and I’ve lost the melody somewhere else.

That being said…I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Not for the music, though – for the vision of London that Tim Burton brought to life. See, that’s the other problem with the music – Depp and Bonham-Carter and the rest of the cast (with the exception of Jamie Campbell Bower) are only mediocre singers, and so while I was amused by the songs (such as Mrs. Lovett’s introductory pie song, or the duet about women sung by Alan Rickman and Johnny Depp) I was more intrigued by the story. It is told well, and simply, and the actors are often able to express more with a simple raised eyebrow than most movies have in their entire cast (kind of like Denzel Washington’s powerful “mmmm…HMMM.” Oscar winning onomatopoeia).

My girlfriend, who saw it with me, was unprepared for the gore – hence the warning at the beginning of this review – and was also dissatisfied with the story arc itself, which really doesn’t offer much in the way of redemption – well, not of the Hollywood style, but that’s all I’ll say for risk of spoiling things. But while it may not be the cheerful holiday family movie, it’s well worth seeing, and if you can, do it on the big screen with the good sound – some of the melodic structures really do deserve your complete attention, as the story is told through the deft twining of word and note.

Two razors up!

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I find this really handy – among other things, I was able to send out Blake Shelton’s song as an online video card to my family in OK – but best of all, it’s a chance to listen again to those beautiful layered harmonies. With all the skepticism I had in the beginning about Team Lachey, between the “Flight of the Bumblebee” and this arrangement of “What a Wonderful World”, they really did deserve the prize.

Enjoy!

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