Failing...

Thanks to Jason Heath's Double Bass Blog for this performance by Gary Karr of Failing by Tom Johnson.

HNIC - Hockey Night in Colorado

We recently changed our service from analog cable to satellite. One of the extra perks is that we get the NHL Network as a part of our package. I was already pretty psyched about this because there is almost zero hockey coverage on any of the major sports networks...instead they're covering something called the "World Series", whatever that is. Then I tuned in on a Saturday night and there were Canadiens on TV...and they knew stuff about hockey...and there was a double header of hockey on...and it was Hockey Night in Canada!

After a little research, it turns out that the NHL Network started including the full HNIC program in it's broadcast this year. I promptly added HNIC to our TiVo record list and declared to Nora that Saturday nights are officially Hockey Nights in Colorado. She kind of gave me a strange look, patted me on the head, and walked away.

By the way, I'm loving the NHL Network commercials featuring the confused head coach talking about hockey; they are hilarious. Here's a good example about Defense and Offense:


If you want to see more, this guy collected a whole bunch of them in one place.

Out of the Dark Ages of Music

I recently purchased a Korg Chromatic tuner. Up until now, I have always used a tuning fork to tune my bass. Much to my surprise, it appears that I consistently tune and play my bass a quarter tone flat. At first I thought it must have been that I hadn't played the bass in a couple of days and it went flat in that time. So I tuned against the tuning fork and checked against the tuner again. Nope, I was flat. Then I checked the tuning fork to see if it was flat, nope, it was dead on.

Then I started playing. Every time I hit an open string things sounded just a little off. Checked the strings again and they were still in tune. It was me, I involuntarily kept adjusting to the tuning that I've been listening to myself play for years. I'm going to have to do some serious work on my intonation!

Amazing how much a little bit of technology can help your playing. Maybe I should also invest in a metronome...I've skirted along this long without one, but I think that can only really work when you are playing with an ensemble and can hear what the others are playing. I've found it quite difficult to get the pieces to sound right when I don't have a conductor to follow.

Incidentally, I'm now playing Marcello's Cello Sonata 2. It's a nice little piece of music which doesn't involve too much thumb position. Something nice to get me back into the playing habit again. I'm taking baby steps here, play something fun and easy to get my intonation back up to snuff. Maybe then I can try some more technically challenging pieces.

I just realized that I haven't ever posted a picture of my bass. I imagine that only Ryan (of my vast readership of 3 people) would be interested in seeing the pic since he owns a Samuel Shen as well. Accompanying the bass is Señor Frog the Humidifier. Colorado is so dry I basically have to keep him running all year long.

I Miss the Fall

Today, Julia wrote about how the damp, gray weather puts her into not quite so friendly of a mood. I have to confess that I love just that type of weather. Now that I live in Colorado, we usually go straight from Summer to Winter with about 2 weeks of Fall. I love the nice long Fall seasons that you get out East, especially in upstate New York. It's something that I didn't realize until we moved out here.

I think it all started in 4th grade when I was stuck inside on one of those typical overcast, drizzly Rochester days. I had just gotten Bunnicula in our Scholastic order that week and figured that it would be a good day to read the book. I plopped down in my bean bag chair, wrapped myself in a blanket, and read for the whole day by the muffled light that was coming in from outside. It's one of my favorite childhood memories.

Later on, in junior high and high school, I really fell in love with the season while I was running cross country. There was something magical about running through the parks in Irondequoit during that time of year. Some of my best memories are of running through Seneca Park, Helmer Nature Center, and Durand Eastman Park with a light drizzle and the smell of woodsmoke in the air. Some other great parks in the area were Webster Park and Mendon Ponds Park. God, I forget how beautiful that area is.

I don't seem to understand...

Watched the debate last night. Something that I don't think anybody who was watching last night was that McCain thinks that Obama doesn't seem to understand much of anything. After the first 20 or 30 minutes, he practically started every sentence with "Senator Obama doesn't seem to understand...".

What I don't understand is why Obama didn't specifically call McCain on it. Sure, he refuted a lot of false statements that McCain, but I think that it would have been a lot stronger if he used McCain's words against him. It would have been perfect when he went down the checklist of things McCain got wrong about Iraq...not knowing where the WMDS were located, being greeted as liberators, no history of violence between Shia and Sunni. Why not add something like "I don't think I'm the one who doesn't seem to understand..."?

Van Halen to Schmitt's Gay

While I was flipping through the radio channels today, I happened on the opening of Van Halen's "Right Now". The first thing that popped in my head was Crystal Gravy, SNL's spoof of the Crystal Pepsi commercial. That then got me thinking about all the funny "commercials" that SNL did around the same time...my personal favorite being the Schmitt's Gay commercial. I'm not sure how long these SNL commercial links will be valid, but have a look at them while you can.

First, original Crystal Pepsi commercial:


Next, Crystal Gravy. Unfortunately, you'll have to follow the link since YouTube doesn't have it.

Finally, Schmitt's Gay:

Playing the Bass Again

Nora has classes on Mondays and Wednesdays until about 8 PM. That translates to 3 hours alone with the kids until Nora gets home. We have a nice little schedule where we eat dinner together, play outside together, and then horror of all horrors, I get to practice the bass while the kids plunk away on the piano and/or bang on the mini-drums. This is actually the first time since we moved from Philly 3 years ago that I'm actually able to get some real playing in. It's probably not the most productive practice sessions...what with all the other "music" going on, frequent interruptions from fighting over instruments/toys, and handing my bow over so that the kids can bow while I finger out "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". But it's better than the absolute zero playing I've done over the past 3 years.

As an aside, Julia posted about her own practice sessions today. She mentioned that being a former Suzuki method student, she always tries to pick up a recording of the piece she is playing before practicing. I'm sad to say that this little tidbit was something that I didn't pick up on until about 2000 or 2001 when I was playing with the Main Line Symphony Orchestra. I started playing the bass in 4th grade, played throughout grade school, highschool, and college (I got about halfway through a performance 2nd major), and finally the MLSO after college.

This probably would have helped a lot while I was learning to play more difficult pieces, especially with the Bach Cello Suites which I thought were impossible to play on the bass. Edgar Meyer proved that wrong with this superb performance.

I don't know why it didn't click earlier; it seems so obvious of a thing to do now.

Answers: Lyrics by Fours

1 - Breaking the Girl by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
I am a man
Cut from the know
Rarely do friends
Come and then go

2 - Hey Lover by LL Cool J
I've been watching you from afar
for as long as I can remember
You're all a real man can need
and ever ask for

3 - Final Hour by Lauryn Hill
I treat this like my thesis
Well written topic
Broken down into pieces
I introduce then produce

4 - Soma by Smashing Pumpkins
Nothing left to say
And all I've left to do
Is run away from you
And she led me up, down

5 - Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1) by Pink Floyd
Daddy's flown across the ocean
Leaving just a memory
Snapshot in the family album
Daddy what else did you leave for me?

6 - Te Conozco Bien by Marc Anthony
Siento pena,
pena porque te quise de veras
rabia porque te di
lo que nunca

7 - The Son Never Shines (On Closed Doors) by Flogging Molly
I saw her there from afar
Her hair grey charcoal
Takes a drag from her tar
I kissed her a smile

8 - Heaven Help by Lenny Kravitz
There comes a time to be free of the heart
I wanna be ready, ready to start
On a love journey, got places to go
Made up my mind and I've got to let you know

9 - Super Bon Bon by Sould Coughing
Move aside and let the man go through
Move aside and let the man go through
Move aside and let the man go through
Move aside and let the man go through

10 - Smile by Weezer
Open the door and let your love come down
Over the wall, you're spinning 'round and 'round
'Cause you wanted some love
I'll make it happen

11 - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough by Michael Jackson
Lovely is the feelin' now
Fever, temperatures risin' now
Power is the force, the vow
That makes it happen, it asks no questions why

12 - One Tin Soldier by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Listen, children, to a story
That was written long ago,
'Bout a kingdom on a mountain
And the valley far below

13 - Unforgiven by Metallica
New blood joins this earth
And quickly he's subdued
Through constant pained disgrace
The young boy learns their rules

14 - The Drinking Song by Moxy Fruvous
And the band played on
As the helicopters whirred
Drunk on the lawn in a nuclear dawn
My senses finally blurred

15 - Add It Up by Violent Femmes
Day after day
I will walk and I will play
But the day after today
I will stop and I will start

16 - The Nest by Sons And Daughters
Everything that happened here
Cannot happen when you're dead, she safely said
Worry when you wake tonight
Is it all in you head?

17 - Sin by Nine Inch Nails
You give me the reason
You give me control
I gave you my purity
My purity you stole

18 - Peace Train by 10,000 Maniacs
Now I've been happy lately,
thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be,
something good has begun

19 - Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison
Hey where did we go,
Days when the rains came
Down in the hollow,
Playin' a new game

20 - Bron-Y-Aur Stomp by Led Zeppelin
Ah caught you smiling at me,
That's the way it should be,
Like a leaf is to a tree, so fine.
Ah all the good times we had

Lyrics by Fours

Meme from Julia:

1. Put your mp3 player or music player on your computer on random.
2. Post the first four lines from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song (skip repeat artists).
3. Post and let everyone you know guess (in the comments!) what song and artist the lines come from.
4. Please play fair. Don’t be a dirty rotten cheater and Google the lyrics!

1.
I am a man
Cut from the know
Rarely do friends
Come and then go

2.
I've been watching you from afar
for as long as I can remember
You're all a real man can need
and ever ask for

3.
I treat this like my thesis
Well written topic
Broken down into pieces
I introduce then produce

4.
Nothing left to say
And all I've left to do
Is run away from you
And she led me up, down

5.
Daddy's flown across the ocean
Leaving just a memory
Snapshot in the family album
Daddy what else did you leave for me?

6.
Siento pena,
pena porque te quise de veras
rabia porque te di
lo que nunca

7.
I saw her there from afar
Her hair grey charcoal
Takes a drag from her tar
I kissed her a smile

8.
There comes a time to be free of the heart
I wanna be ready, ready to start
On a love journey, got places to go
Made up my mind and I've got to let you know

9.
Move aside and let the man go through
Move aside and let the man go through
Move aside and let the man go through
Move aside and let the man go through

10.
Open the door and let your love come down
Over the wall, you're spinning 'round and 'round
'Cause you wanted some love
I'll make it happen

11.
Lovely is the feelin' now
Fever, temperatures risin' now
Power is the force, the vow
That makes it happen, it asks no questions why

12.
Listen, children, to a story
That was written long ago,
'Bout a kingdom on a mountain
And the valley far below

13.
New blood joins this earth
And quickly he's subdued
Through constant pained disgrace
The young boy learns their rules

14.
And the band played on
As the helicopters whirred
Drunk on the lawn in a nuclear dawn
My senses finally blurred

15.
Day after day
I will walk and I will play
But the day after today
I will stop and I will start

16.
Everything that happened here
Cannot happen when you're dead, she safely said
Worry when you wake tonight
Is it all in you head?

17.
You give me the reason
You give me control
I gave you my purity
My purity you stole

18.
Now I've been happy lately,
thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be,
something good has begun

19.
Hey where did we go,
Days when the rains came
Down in the hollow,
Playin' a new game

20.
Ah caught you smiling at me,
That's the way it should be,
Like a leaf is to a tree, so fine.
Ah all the good times we had

Answers some time next week...

First Day Of School

Today was Zoe's first day of kindergarten. Is it sad that I was really excited that she already has homework and that we started doing it as soon as she got home?