Going Away From The Center Of The Earth

Relativity says both answers can be considered right.

I spent Friday night in Tarryall. Thanks to Kirk, I now know my blood oxygen saturation at 9000' is 98%. This came as a shock to me since it means that I am in some way fit, and its blown one of my excuses (which barely dents the surface). In similar news I tried to run from campus up to the top of columbine trail and back down Gold Camp/Chutes/Chamberlain back to campus. That proved to be a 3:15 hour run and a nice 45 minute walk. Which conveniently gave me an excuse to miss Llamapalooza. I would reveal my training numbers, but all of you would then have the great advantage of knowing excactly what not to do to get ready for a 100 mile bike race (practicing double bass concerti isn't one of em).

Anyway, for my final project for the class I'm in now, I'm taking my own advice to heart (rare!!!!) and working out how reverse what I piano player does and play a pretty good bass line, and comp chords in a cliched staid sounding way. I've been devising a series of etudes, which i'll post if I find a way to scan them. If I inspired you to figure out how to do it on your own without my help, just remember how annoying it is when piano player do bass lines: make sure no one else is also playing chordally.

JOKE TIME

(except this actually happened)

Someone told me that I looked '10,000 times cuter with out my mustache'

I said, 'there are a lot of other ways to illustrate the fact that anything times zero equals zero.'

HAHAHA

Alpacas are the internation symbol of both snuggly warmth and humor

Rock-apella!

You also think pie is delicious... Let's go on a date!

Everybody (ie some people) knows the joke 'A Capella is Latin for out of tune.' Well I decided to put that to the test by actually attending a collegiate A Capella concert. I had actually seen the nascent stages of this concert, by which I mean I saw them taking photos for the flyers...

This is sideways because I was actually ROFL-ing.

While this may seem like a stereotypical movie scene, but luckily people were only being shot at with cameras. I later stumbled upon the result of this glam sesh...

Just because we aren't in kindergarten doesn't mean we can't all be unique slightly differently

So now that I saw their smug shot, the only thing left to do was actually sit through a performance (and BE THERE sounded threatening and I don't want a roving gang of people in evening casual to be haunting me). Their flyer did leave some accuracy to be desired, here's the start of a series of photos I was about to take.

Too many times has the am/pm vagueness gotten me in trouble

I was about to take a bunch of photos of the stats from my bike ride today, but unfortunately for all of you reading this for my training secrets... you've been foiled since the lights went down not a second before 7:41:32.

psst, I have a secret, but the audience can't know

This is a photo from song 1. The Jackson 5's 'I Want You Back.' I happen to feel it was a good way to turn Acapella into Flopapella. Choosing a song that relies mostly on a bass line that people can't since no one wants to hear people sing in that octave (which is why I don't sing), is like giving the double bass part to the 'cellos or the flute part to the bassoons... Why? On a related note, you might be wondering who spewed as they walked on stage, but I can assure that those are a haphazardly arranged Christmas lights that kinda say Room 46. But they didn't just stand there and sing... nope, they also to copious amounts of water breaks.

Water Break... AKA Gossip time!

They decided to drink out of red wine glasses with a nice pitcher in the middle, and I decided to sit in corner and take low quality photos of their performance... to each his own.

They the revealed to their other talent, passing off to the next soloist by making it clear that they didn't actually know too much about each other except that it was a safe bet to inform the audience that the next soloist had a nice voice, and is a good all-around person. This was good for me, because I was able to just listen to my iPod since I already had found out what I needed to know about the performance (that it was good).

For the second song they decided to go for a different formation...

Shun the non-believer

Clear the run formation didn't work for the first song so they decided to spread it out and go for a pass. And what did they throw at us? A ballad. I should point out because it isn't clear from my photographs, but there is a book of A Capella rules somewhere, and its first chapter is about how one must always dance as if they were this couple, only they must keep both feet on the floor at all times. Anyways, that song did indeed end, so....

WATER BREAK!

What do the lights say again?

So began another awkward pass off, which also ended. This process continued several times, alternating between running and passing formations. The grand fandango came when the format changed a little for the beat box solo.

The Third Formation

This selection differed in that everyone stood as far away from their (as a found out from his introduction) beloved beat boxer. Further, he used a microphone (colloquially refered to as a mic). Sufficiently enthralled by this space age technology. I watched in awe as our 'singer' (by the way, I think singers make jokes about beat boxers the same way that real musicians make jokes about singers) did away with the tedium of idea development and general cohesion that is generally associated with 'traditional' drum solos. But perhaps more importantly, he danced with his feet significantly off the ground, and attempted a dance maneuver attempting to replicate someone walking on the moon, and I'm sure I wasn't the only audience member used to more conservative ac-ap (as its known to its devoted followers) groups who was taken aback by this controversial statement of personal flair. I go to a concert like this expecting the traditional dress code of "lets show how easy going and quirky we are by how we dress and end up all wearing jeans and partially unbuttoned collared shirt with a white undershirt," and I found this went too far.

I was so disgusted that I walked out (at intermission as I was planning). I did manage to catch a glimpse of the mixing set up that wasn't used in this production.

Something is draining the endowment?

Oh sure, it looks nice, but I know you're wondering, "Hey does this thing make credit card transactions?" The answer is of course, yeah I guess.

Please enter your PIN to make a generous donation to the apreCCiate fund

To be fair everyone in the group could sing pretty well, and they seemed well rehearsed. And I'm all in favor of art forms that allow people to express their true feelings. I'm just glad to be listening to Maceo Parker's down home grooves right now.

Jimmy Smith

On the left with Wes Montgomery

I’ve decided to write a short shout out to a man I listened to for a while today.

It’s not very often that I listen to a piano player’s bass line, other than ostinato (Italian for ostentatious or stubborn), let alone two an organist’s feet. Most pianist’s left hand will play one of three or four clichés to move between the generic change at hand (vi-II-V-I, I-IV-I, etc) but After downloading the 3 volumes of Jimmy Smith’s “At the Organ” I found myself leaning into try to hear what was going on. Now, I realize once it gets cookin’ he doesn’t do much beyond reinforcing the roots of chords, but its still improvising on three different melodic and rhythmic layers all simultaneously. The other CD I got today was “Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter.” Another great example of breaking away from the cliché (Jaco)! So whether you read this blog for my sparse jazz references or not, remember to break away from the field. Whether you’re a keyboardist that understands bass lines, a bassists that can comp a ballad like a piano, or a cyclist that takes the different yet faster line (but not in a group setting), or the climber that mantels something to your shins twice a route (that’s me), rock it.

And here’s a joke because this entry was not funny.

What’s a tuna fish plus a tuna fish?

A fournafish! HAHAHA

Ps listen to "Duel" on "At the Organ Vol 2"

Experimental Music Proj

Here's the script to our music project, it's a thrilling tale!!!

Story:

Backround

The Colorado College cycling team earned an improbable entry into the prestigious Tour du Guinea. As a last second entry to the race, the Tigers raced a Cinderella story, keeping a rider in the top 10 throughout the first six stages. After attacking of the final climb of the second to last day of racing, the racer managed to move into second place overall, just 12 seconds behind the lead heading into the final time trial in the outskirts of Dakar.

Program:

We begin with our rider waking up in to the quiet sounds of sunrise. The sound of silence injecting his morning routine with nerves, as he prepares for the most important 40 kilometers of his life. Having finished breakfast, he begins warming up to try to stretch his legs after yesterday’s challenging stage. The start times run in reverse order, so he is the second to last to ride up the start ramp. Excitement now mixes with anxiousness. The start official counts down “Quatre, Trois, Deux, Un… Allez!!!” The race has begun, every second counts. He receives encouragement from his coach via helmet radio, “keep your cadence up, head up… attack this hill” After reaching the course’s high point, he begins the descent back to the city. He knows from the radio that he is 5 seconds ahead of his adversary.

Then, rounding a corner of the descent at nearly 40 miles per hour, he sees an elephant that has strayed onto the road, only too late. He is unable to avoid the giant mammal, and they collide. The collision knocks the rider into a state of semi consciousness; he drifts between reality and dreams as his coaches try to rouse him. Slowly he gets up and tries to mount his bicycle, only to discover that it is broken. His manager quickly retrieves his spare and our rider resumes his descent slowly and tentatively, victory out of the question. Despite some road rash he gains confidence and increases his pace steadily towards the finish line. Crossing the finish line the rider knows he has fallen of the podium, but the crowd applaud his heroic effort. One that will be remembered long after the victor of the race is forgotten.

Thrilling

(Positive Amounts of) Money in the Bank

(not that type of solvent)

It's been a long time coming (2 weeks) but I'm finally solvent again. Not many people can own a cheap bass for a year, ding it, crack it, have a slight delamination issue and sell it for a profit. Thanks to Craigslist, you can too.

I used the opportunity of having money to go down and get a mothers day card. But what I saw out side of Poor Richards was disturbing. Then after I stopped looking at myself in the mirror, I saw this....

It is a Virata (carbon rear triangle), complete with lots of gain with the stem, Ksyrium wheelset (scratching against the bike rack), and miniature lock. And if you're gonna have all that lateral stiffness, obviously you will need a stiff pedal/shoe combo to transfer your 204 Watts to the road during LT sessions...

Efficiency!

So I strode into the bookstore, beaming after successfully judging someone I don't know. First thing I saw was a book in the children's section it was on the bottom shelf, and at first I thought it was called "Bee Bop," but it was still good

I didn't finish it because it was a pretty formidable read (here's a side view), but I flipped through it and found some sterling (though non jazz related) text

I don't know if I'm interpreting the illustration right, but I commend Denise for finally publishing a book that teaches kids the inevitability of death. Starting them slowly with beetles, maybe someday down the line, a kid will accept a dog dying because its old, and not force his/her parents to shell out a couple grand in order to preserve its (the dog, not parents) miserable life slightly.

The publishers also managed to teach children a valuable economics lesson.

"No matter how weird the economic landscape of the horrible future that we are about to embrace becomes, the Canadian dollar will always be weaker than the American... What's that you say about 2007? LALALALALA....."

The Beginning of the End

This was the second to last weekend of school, and, appropriately, it featured some fantastic events. Luckily, I found myself with both the monetary and other-things-to-do excuses. So I was able to avoid seeing this weekend’s main meh-vent Blues and Shoes. Despite its feel-good attitude, bluegrass does little to nothing compared to sitting where I am now (A ancient Grecian couch with servants feeding me grapes in my prone position) listening to the JB horns.

What did I do then? I went to Lake George and shot some big guns. It was my first time using gun powder, and I could see that everyone had a chuckle at my nerves. My right shoulder proves to be a little sore this morning… I did get a Jagermeister had out of it (from a pastor no less!). I went to a birthday party with one of the more interesting speeches. Then I biked through snow rain and a broken brake lever.

Joke of the week:

What do you get when you cross a pitbull with a chicken?

Answer: Just the Pitbull