Baseball

I have been on a baseball kick for the past 24 hours. Last night I went to a parking lot here in Atlanta where the Atlanta Crackers stadium used to be. The Crackers were Atlanta's team until the Braves arrived. My dad had told me that he and my grandfather used to go there to see the games. When I was there last night I called my dad and told him where I was. The excitement in his voice and all the memories he shared with me were reallly great to hear. I walked around a little bit. It was really cool to think that my dad and my grandfather had so many great times together in the same place over 50 years ago. Here's a picture of what it looked like then


and here's what it looked like last night.



Today I went to a Braves game at Turner field. The crowd was probably a little smaller than usual due to the on again, off again rain, but they still got the whole game in. It was my first visit to Turner Field. When I was young I went to the games at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. A parking lot now sits where that stadium used to be. The new stadium is incredible. It has a great open feeling and even the cheap seats feel close to the action. Here's the view that 8 bucks will buy you.


By the way...
Braves Win!

Oh...for those of you that can't live without another "self-portrait" (I'm talking to you, Liana) here's me at the game today.


Later,
Blake

It's me, it's me, it's Ernest T.

As a little kid I watched way to much TV (or so I'm told), including a lot of reruns on Channel 17 in Atlanta (now known to cable viewers at TBS). I watched Andy Griffith and Green Acres every night and still know many of the episodes by heart. With the Andy Griffith show, the episodes featuring a character named Ernest T. Bass have always stood out in my memory. The man who played the role died earlier this week. His name was Howard Morris. I still use two lines of his way too much in my everyday life..."I ain't no creach-ture!" and "No coffee, tea or punch, thank you." If you don't know those lines, they probably don't seem all that funny. Trust me, when Howard Morris said them it was genius. The New York times obit is here,
and you can go here to relive Ernest T's greatest moments.

More recently, Eddie Albert passed away. You probably know him as Oliver Douglas on Green Acres, but he did so much more. His New York Times obit is here.
I wanted to mention them and send out a thank you. Just thinking about thier performances still makes me laugh and I'm sure that I'm not alone.

Blake

Atlanta...still

I'm still in Atlanta and having a great time. I finally got some rest yesterday. I spent a lot of time watching cable television. I know now more than ever that it is a huge waste of money. If I could just pay to get Comedy Central and HBO it might be worth it. TechTV used to be good, but now that it's been taken over by G4 it has really gone downhill.

Anyway, after resting up Myron and I went to a big party at a club at Chastain Park. It was for a guy that used to work with Myron at Turner (home of more cable networks like TNT, Cartoon Network, etc...) but left to work for Halliburton in Iraq. I guess there's a lot of money to be made doing that. He's going back to Iraq for three more months. I wish him luck. There were a lot of people there and while I only knew one person I was lucky enough to stumble across the nerds' table pretty early on.

Then dinner and dessert. Atlanta is full of great restaurants. Last night was Thai and tonight I'm going to a great place called Soul Vegetarian.

After that, back to Myron's where I caught most of the new Britney Spears reality show. I had to see at least one episode. WOW! I can't beleeve how bad it was. The critics said it was bad and used words like "train wreck" and "career suicide by video" but even those strong words didn't prepare me for how bad it was.

So far this post isn't very interesting and if keep going it won't get any better, so intead, check out this article from NewMusicBox.org about how our ears work. It's interesting.

Blake

Still in Georgia

Liana and I went to visit my Dad yesterday. We had a good time and enjoyed our traditional lunch at Cracker Barrell. Then it was back to Liana's family for some homemade pizza. Now I'm back at Panera for some high speed internet and a delicious veggie sandwich.

Here is a photo from our visit to my grandparents house in Suwanee the other day. They live in one of the oldest houses in the city. Here is a pic of my grandfather, who will turn 84 this year. This is in the yard looking toward the neighbors house.




Later,
Blake

Georgia

Still in Georgia. Whenever I return to the ancestral homeland it is always hectic. So many family members and friends to see and a limited time to do it. I have been here five days and have been in Oakwood, Atlanta, Snellville, Stockbridge and Suwannee. Tomorrow its out to Social Circle to see my dad. I am looking forward to this weekend when I will set up base camp at Myron's for a few days. He live very close to Piedmont Park where the Atlanta Jazz Festival will be held. It's an easy walk to the park for his front door. The Tito Puente Jr. Orchestra will be there as well as Sonny Emory with his group, but I'm really looking forward to seeing Andy Bey.

Last night I went out to see my fried Curt. We've known each other since 1987 when we both marched in the Spirit of Atlanta together. Myron, who I've also known since 1987, and Liana, who I've known since 1988, went out as well. We saw Star Wars (again!). It's better the second time. The greatest part of the evening was just sitting around talking with Curt. He is one of the great storytellers of all time. It's not the subject matter that's important with Curt, it's how he tells it. For those of you in the marimba business, you could learn a thing or two about the ideas behind See Ya Thursday from him.

Curt had the Steve Gadd American Drummer Acheivement Award DVD. I was at the event in Boston and it was incredible, but I've been putting off buying the DVD due to its $50 price tag. After seeing it I can tell you that I will be buying it as soon as possible and it will be the best $50 I've ever spent. The concert itself is good enough (although it is disappointing that the 50 Ways duet between Gadd and Paul Simon is nowhere to be found on the disc), but the bonus disc is also incredible. Plenty of interviews with Clapton, Corea, etc. and rare footage of Gadd back in the day. I can't wait to watch it over and over.

I spent a large part of today trying to find free Wi-Fi access. I went to Borders books, but they want you to pay $6 an hour or $30 to $40 bucks a month for the T-mobile wi-fi. Ditto at Starbucks. McDonalds wants your money, too. It's even more expensive. But it turns out that, surprisingly enough, all Krystal's have free wi-fi. Not the best hang out for a vegetarian, so I did a little more research and found a Panera Bread close by that has free wi-fi. So, here I am. The furniture is comfortable, the atmosphere is nice (although the "smooth jazz" is getting on my nerves) and the bagels are quite tasty. It's summer in Atlanta but the air conditioning here is cranked and I am keeping myself warm by the double-sided fireplace. Only in America.

More later,
Blake

12:01 AM March 19 - Revenge of the Sith

Liana and I made the trip from Arkansas to Atlanta to meet up with our friends to see the 12:01 show of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. We arrived about 7:30 PM to get in line. There were already about a couple of hundred people in front of us, but with 2700 hunderd seats available at the theatre (all sold out) we were in pretty good shape. The line grew quickly after we arrived. Scotty was coming in from Charlotte and got stuck in some rough traffic, but made it by 9:00. Doors opened at 10:00 so we had some time to smuggle Scotty into the line with us. Wayne and Susan were there as well along with plenty of Myron's friends from Turner (Special SHOUT OUT to Angie and Susan). We had a plan, moved quickly, and easily secured the perfect seats. Then, another two hours to wait.

Overall, I was very happy with the movie. The romantic scenes were as unbearable as ever, but the battle scenes were incredible and the pacing was much better than in Episodes I or II. Much of the movie was exhausting and emotionally draining (in a good way). Once I recover I'm sure I'll see it again and again.

Pics coming soon!

Liana, Myron and me with the official 12:01 AM tickets

Scotty has arrived

Part of the line just before the doors opened

Much like Tom Cruise, Darth Vader is shorter in person than he appears on the big screen.

Two premieres in one night

I'm leaving for Atlanta first thing in the morning and I may be unable to post for a couple of days. I'll be travelling with the laptop, though, so I'll check in soon enough.
I just found out that in addition to attending the Star Wars premiere, I'll be seeing this earlier in the evening. Computer Animation AND timpani. What could be better.

Special thanks to Myron for hooking us up with tickets.

Font Nerds

There is a very funny and interesting article about "font nerds" (I use that term with respect), and the identity of fonts over at the New York Times today. Yes, you have to register to read it, but you really have no excuse to not be registered at nytimes.com. It's free! And, even if you don't like the news, it's a great way to keep up with what's happening in the arts.

The story mentions Spell with Flickr which uses images on Flickr to spell what ever you type in. It's a lot of fun to spell your name. Here is it's version of my website address.

After being mentioned in the New York Times, the site may be overwhelmed. If it is, just bookmark it and go back in a couple of days.

Here's a good intro to the Fibonacci sequence from The Guardian.

I had dinner last night at Los Amigos with Allison, Jill and Erin. That was my excitement for the day.

Now it's time to get ready to head to Atlanta where I will be attending the Episode III premiere with my good friends Scotty and Myron.

Speaking of Myron and Scotty, and so as to not leave you pictureless today, here is a screen capture for you. This is me and Myron trying to talk with Scotty over iChat back in December. As you can see, things weren't working all that well.

frustration, confusion, hopelessness

 

They're the only ears you've got!

Tickets went on sale for the Ben Folds/Rufus Wainwright show in Tulsa yesterday at 10:00 AM. I was online at startickets.com refreshing the page over and over again until finally at 10:02 it said "BUY NOW". Excited that I was going to get some great seats I quickly signed in only to be broken hearted that it is all general admission. Still, it's fun to buy those tickets the same minute that they go onsale. I'll be there early in the hopes of actually being able to see the stage.

Last night Liana and I went to see Jimmy Chamberlin (see previous post for more on that). It was my first time at Sticky Fingerz, and I was impressed. It's a nice club with a good atmosphere. It had the same problem as most small clubs, and that is an inability to recognize the acoustic limitations of the space. In other words...turn it down a little bit. I knew that it would be loud and had put in my earplugs before the show started. As an experiment I took the plugs out toward the end of the show. HOLY COW! It was blindingly loud without the plugs. I lasted about 5 seconds before I had to cram them back in my ears. You can feel the music in your body very well at that level, but your ears' ability to decipher it is limited (unless you have already suffered extensive hearing loss).

Enough about that, but if you are laughing at my "Turn that music down you crazy kids" attitude right now, then at least do me a favor of visiting H.E.A.R.

Also, check out Can You Turn That Down, Please? from my favorite magizine, Wired.

Click here to download a PDF file of a poster from H.E.A.R to help you remember to wear your earplugs. (Warning for the easily offended. This poster contains the "D" word. Click at your own risk)

OK, enough for now.
Blake

This one has a view of the tiny crowd. 

Jimmy Chamberlain at Sticky Fingerz

We went to see the Jimmy Chamberlain Complex at Sticky Fingerz in Little Rock last night. Jimmy played beautifully, as did his bandmates. I couldn't beleive that there weren't more people there. There were probably less than 100 people and many of them seemed to be there by accident rather than to see The Complex. Sorry about the turnout, Jimmy. I am embarrassed for Little Rock. Anyway, here are a couple of pics from the show 

To the left of the library is an old railroad bridge which will be restored and opened to pedestrians. 

The Day in Little Rock

I spent most of the day down the road in Little Rock. Liana and I had a chance to walk around the grounds of the Clinton Presidential Center. It is really an incredible building and photos don't do it justice. One of the most amazing parts of the design is the use of translucent white panels of glass that cover most of the library. They are especially beautiful at night when they are lit up. From the inside of the building they are clear.  

Here's a "self-portrait" of me and Liana heading from the library to the walkway by the Arkansas River. 


We also spent a little time at The Flying Saucer. Great pretzels, and Liana tells me the beer is good, too. While we were walking along the river, I found a flyer advertising that the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex is going to be a Sticky Fingerz on Friday night. I just bought tickets and we'll see you there.

Also, I found out last night the Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright will be doing a concert together in Tulsa in August. Tickets are on sale for that in a couple of days. I'll be there for that one, too.

That's all for now.
Blake

My cats Charlie and Thelonious enjoying the sunshine 

From The Onion (this one's for you J5)

The Onion | America's Finest News Source™: "Report: U.S. Leads World In Lost Sunglasses
WASHINGTON, DC—According to a report by the Bureau of Accessory Statistics, each year the U.S. loses more pairs of sunglasses per person than any other nation. 'Over 1.6 billion pairs of sunglasses are lost by Americans concerned with shielding their eyes from excess light and harmful UVA radiation,' the report read. 'This works out to six pairs of sunglasses per American per year, or 50 pairs of sunglasses lost every second.' In second place, Italy has a lost-sunglasses rate of one pair per citizen per year, followed by Japan, Iceland, and Portugal with loss rates of .23, .19, and .16 respectively"

Exciting News

I will be in Nashville on July 31st to see and hear James Taylor live and in concert. Mr. Steve Gadd will be playing one tasty groove after the next for a couple of hours and I can't wait. James Taylor is on tour with Gadd all over the country this summer. Get your tickets now!

I other exciting news, photos have been leaked of the new Xbox 360 (for sure) and the Nintendo Revolution (maybe). I can't link directly to the stories and pics, but you can find all the info here at engadget.com.

Over at the Onion A.V. Club they have an interesting summary of all of Elvis Costello's liner notes from the Rhino Records reissues. If you just can't decide which of the reissued albums to buy, maybe this will help you out.

If you like Ben Folds (and who doesn't) check out the Ben Folds interview while you're there.

More later,
Blake

A few suggestions

Check out this interview with DJ Spooky. It's about his new CD and book and offers some interesting ideas about copyright laws.

More information about Creative Commons, an organization that is trying to make copyright laws more reasonable and user friendly, can be found here.

A good Q&A feature in the Guardian that asks "Do the Arts Matter?" A few highlights are below. Read the entire article here.

Civilisations are judged and remembered not by their most successful businessmen but by the art they leave behind.

The distinction between high and low art is itself rather coarse and unhelpful (as Allen Ginsberg said, Dylan proved 'great art can be done on a jukebox'). I prefer to distinguish between all the good things - food, friends, books - that enhance your life and the overwhelming quantity of crap from which you need to avert your eyes if you're to avoid sinking into despair.

We look at pictures differently because of Picasso and we use words differently because of Joyce and Beckett.

Oh, and don't forget to go to the This American Life website and listen to the show entitled "Not What I Meant". The story about the art project that became a terrorist threat is really amazing. You can listen to streaming audio of the show for free by clicking on the Real Audio link. Moral of the story...always make sure that at least one other person knows your secret identity and has your back. Every Batman needs his Alfred.

Year in Review

Today is graduation and another year comes to a close(academic year, that is). I thought that I would use today's post to look back over the past year and catch everyone up on the highlights.

Last summer I travelled down to Tallahassee to record Vertical River with my good friend John Parks. John had commissioned the piece from me as a part of his CD project. The recording session was a blast and the CD turned out great. I have gotten an incredible response to the work from people all over the world. It's hard to believe how many people have contacted me about the piece. Some have heard it on John's CD Dusk, others have downloaded it from my website, and still others have heard it because the Music City Mystique used it in their WGI show this year. I have to once again give a great big THANK YOU to John for the commission and for the beautiful marimba playing on the recording.

I also posted a recording of an earlier work for oboe and vibraphone on my website. I am happy to report that I have received many emails and calls about it as well.

In October Liana and I premiered Black Borders, a new work for flute, percussion and electronic sounds. It was written for us by Nathaniel Bartlett. It's a great piece and we hope to record it soon. There is a live recording of our premiere performance that appartently runs quite often on Channel 6. We run into people at the store all the time that say, "Hey, I just saw you on TV". No cable here at the Tyson residence, so we just have to take their word for it.

In other premiere news, Liana and I travelled to Ohio in March to perform Halim El-Dabh's Intimacy for flute and marimba. Technically, we premiered it last March, but Halim revised the piece quite a bit before the second performance. I guess you could call it Intimacy 2.0.

And, I premiered Variations on a Theme of Paganini for marimba and orchestra by Paul Dickinson. It is a great piece and also quite difficult. As with most new works, we didn't have as much rehearsal time as we would have liked. I want to thank all of the members of the Conway Symphony Orchestra for their hard work and great playing. I was happy with it for a first performance, but I do hope to have a few more performances in the near future.

Two days before the Variations performance I did the Gillingham Concertino for 4 percussion and wind ensemble with some of my students. Christy, Josh and Brandon all did an incredible job on that one.

In addition to all that, I perfromed at a few percussion festivals/days of percussion including Let's Get Togehter and Hit Stuff in El Paso. That was a lot of fun. I got to work with Jim Casella for the first time. He was great and played a pretty mean drumset solo on Bonham. I did Anubis with the ensemble and got to hang out with some of my former students like Jeff Ausdemore, Eric Rangel, and the host of the event Jesse Parker.

I hosted the UCA Percussion Festival a few weeks ago with Gregg Bissonette, Thom Hasenpflug, and Ben Finley. We had a great crowd and a great time.

Okay, this post is getting a little long, so I'll sum it up. The usual recitals and concerts went on as usual. Things were good and next year things are looking even better. I will be doing more performances with a new group that I'm in called The Payton MacDonald Ensemble, I'll be playing some of Halim El-Dabh's music for solo derabucca at PASIC, and I got a grant to bring in So Percussion to do a complete performance of Reich's Drumming at UCA.

More later,
Blake

The Day After

Last night was the UCA Percussion Party here at the residence. A good crowd and a good time had by all. We enjoyed little Bernard Purdie drumset video. One of my all-time favorites. Purdie loves to play. Lionel Hampton and the Golden Men of Jazz was also showing in the screening room.

Then on to the main business of the evening...Dance Dance Revolution. As usual, Liana and Jason were untouchable but I put in some pretty good work on The End of The Century. After everyone exhausted themselves we switched to a UCA Percussion Party tradition, Super Monkey Ball, and more specifically, MONKEY FIGHT! I am proud to say that Christy and I reigned supreme.

In addition to all of that excitement, let's not forget the sparkling conversation and witty banter going on in the kitchen. A special thanks to Matt Taylor for bringing the kickin' guacamole dip and to Dr. Carl Anthony for making a special guest appearance.

Now it's time to get a few things done. I need to get a little music written in the next week. Wish me luck.

Also, if you want to comment on blogger.com, you have to register. Sorry about that. You don't have to keep a blog, though. Just fill in the info and, if you're worried about privacy, etc... get a new email address from Yahoo (or email me for an invite to gmail, I have a few). Please note that I have received no email/spam so far as a result of joining Blogger. Then you are good to go.

More Later,
BT