At the Subway in Wyoming, yesterday at lunch.

On the Road

We're on he way to Idaho. Today we are i Denver and just got back from the Colorado Rockies' game. ROCKIES WIN! The final score was 9-4. We sat in the "Rockpile" which are the cheap $4 seats out in centerfield. It was HOT!!! The post below was done from my seat. My first attempt at the mobile blog. It still needs a little work.

Anyway, here are some pics of our trip so far.

Here's a funny shot of Liana at the Cracker Barrell last night. Still 6 hours to go before we reached our hotel. Funny pic. Long Day!


Here's Liana hugging a bear somewhere between Burlington, CO and Denver this morning. This was at a combination gas station, gift store, restaurant along the way.


Here's a shot of the restaurant we had lunch at today. It's called the Mercury Cafe. It is spectacular. Great atmosphere. Live jazz AND a poetry slam tonight. We're going back! The picture is a little blurry due to the low light, but you can still make out the dessert table on the left. YUM!


Here's me at the Colorado Rockies game today. Sorry for the extremely goofy look. I was having to stare into the sun in order to get a pic with the Blake St. sign. This ones for you, mom.


Later,
Blake

In Denver at Rockies game 2-2 top of 5th pics 2night?

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Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

I have just set up a cool new feature on the blog that lets me post from my cellphone. This is my first one. I need to work on my tm techn

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Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

Malls of America

If you are a fan of the vintage shopping mall, you have to check out this blog by a fellow blogspotter. Great pictures abound.
Malls of America

World Premiere

The week at band camp has flown by. I finished the percussion ensemble that I wrote for the students to perform and rehearsals have been going well. Tomorrow is Friday and that means that it's time for the small ensembles concert. If you are in Conway tomorrow, stop by Ida Waldren Auditorium for the world premiere performance.

The ensemble is huge! 12 snare drummers, 5 tom-tommers, 2 bass drummers, 2 xylophonists, 2 marimbists, 1 vibraphonist, 1 glockenspielist, 1 chimer and gonger,1 cymbalist and 1 timpanist. I had a contest for all the students to come up with a title for the piece. The winner will be announced tomorrow just before the performance (concert starts at 11 AM).

In other news, I won the bidding for a very exciting item on Ebay. I hope that it is as amazing as I think it will be. I will post photos when it arrives. I also was lucky enough to find a Casio PT-10 keyboard at the Goodwill Store here in town. You just can't get sounds like that anymore. The official name for the sounds are piano, fantasy, violin and flute, but the really bear little resemblance to their namesakes. It also has an onboard drum machine with 10 different rhythms (made up of a combination of high pitched beeps and "percussive static"). Liana was skeptical at first, but I think she is beginning to see the true beauty of the Casio PT-10.

We also saw It's All Gone Pete Tong last night at the Market Street Cinema in Little Rock. It was great! It's about a DJ who loses his hearing. As someone who really values his hearing, as as someone who works in a high risk environment (percussion is often very loud!!!) I found the portrayal of hearing loss in the movie frightening and a little nauseating. While I have been pretty obsessive about protecting my ears for many years, I still worry about my students. Some of them are careful, but a lot of them don't really seem to believe that it could happen to them. If you are one of those people, this movie might change your mind. Plus, it's a great movie.

Resistance is (not) Futile

If you're from the 24th century, I know one place that you're not welcome. Okay, so this is only one side of the story, but come on! Suspended?
Clink here, and read the second post.

Thanks to www.boingboing.net for the link to the story.

Composing, Batman, One More Thing

Good Morning!
I was going to post last night, but was a litte brain dead after composing for most of the day. It's not the composing part as much as the "putting on the computer" part that really gets to me. I am writing a percussion ensemble piece for next week's band camp here at UCA. It is challenging because I always have to keep in mind that about 16 high school students will have less than four hours of rehearsal time before the performance. So, I always have to think about that when I'm writing. It is tricky to find the balance that pushes hard enough to be challenging but not so hard as to be discouraging. I also want to write a piece that the students will like, of course. My working title for the piece is Refuge X. Any thoughts on that?

It's finished at this point, I just need to get it in Sibelius and print out the parts. That's my project for today. I had hopes of going to see It's All Gone Pete Tong this evening, but, alas, that will have to wait.

I did see Batman Begins a couple of days ago. Excellent, but not perfect. The story is well conceived and helps to explain how Batman got all of his equipment without anyone knowing about it (I've always wondered). A couple of things keep it from being a movie that I really have to see again. First, there is comic relief inserted at the most inopportune moments. If the mood is dark and serious, why spoil it? Director's choice? Maybe. Studio execs worried that preview audiences found it "too Dark"? Probably. Usually the jokes aren't even that good. The second problem is the casting of Katie Holmes. She is out of her league, and it shows. Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Christian Bale and a lot of lesser known but still incredible actors populate the cast (Cillian Murphy of 28 Days Later has perfected "Crazy"). It is bothersome because while the other actors pull you in and make you believe, Holmes is a constant reminder that it's just a movie. We can't blame Katie, though. Who could turn down a part in a movie like this. Instead, blame the person who offered the part to her in the first place.

Oh...the soundtrack, in my opinion, is a little weak. Still, the good far outweighs the bad. Go see it. Who knows, I may see it again, too...at the $1.00 Theater.

My last two posts have been about copyright law. I know it's getting old. But, one last thing. Wired has found a legislator who is doing the unexpected and fighting for the public's rights. Click on the link below to go to the interview.
Wired News: Lawmaker Revs Up Fair-Use Crusade

Later,
Blake

If you don't like the laws, just change them.

Here's a link to an editorial in The Times. Europe is fighting it's own war against copyright insanity. The people controlling the copyrights couldn't care less about a sense of balance and fairness. They are using the popular "we can't compete with the United States" argument to try and change the laws. Hopefully the lawmakers in Europe will do what ours didn't...represent the interests of the public instead of the entertainment industry executives.

Mixtape Crackdown Sends a Mixed Message - New York Times

The RIAA is at it again. When they're not suing 12 year old girls they're raiding the shops that cater to hardcore fans and give their artists the "street-cred" the need to succeed. But rest easy, friends. With the money they save by shutting down these places, they'll be able to fund even more new albums by the Backstreet Boys and Il Divo (I won't provide a link to either of their sites. Visit them at your own risk).

I await the knock on my door. I have to confess that when I was twelve, I recorded American Top 40 off of the radio everyweek. I went through a lot of cheap BASF tapes because I probably did it for at least two years. 40 songs a week for at least 102 weeks! I would share them with my friends and even made copies of a few of them. You see, like many music fans today (especially those in middle school), I didn't have much of a budget for going out and buying the latest album. Now I do, and the part of me that wants recapture my fading youth will pay dearly for CD's by those artists at Barnes and Noble. If they arrest me now, who will buy Air Supply's Greatest Hits? Who???

Oh, and since the RIAA doesn't have its own stormtrooper unit(yet), our tax dollars pay for these raids. Wasn't there something more important the FBI was supposed to be looking into?

June 17th Update: I'm not saying that those who violate copyright on a massive scale should not be shut down. If you print up 90,000 copies of Spiderman 2 and sell it to 7-11's around the country, that's a problem. But, misleading statistics are often cited to show damge where little or none has occured. My problem with the specific incident discussed in the NYTimes story is that the music industry and it's artists tacitly (and not so tacitly) supported the mixtape culture before they had an apparent change of heart. There are better ways to deal with things. The RIAA seems deperate.

Local Woman Harnesses Power of the Force, Creates Origami Yoda

Who's that next to the Darth Vader speakerphone. That's right, it's Origami Yoda.


Yesterday I found a link to instructions on how to make an Origami Yoda at www.boingboing.net. Liana decided that even though she had never done any origami before, and even though it was five pages of complex diagrams, she was going to make this little guy. So, off to Hobby Lobby for the origami paper. She started yesterday at 3:30 with the first fold. By 4:40 it was looking hopeless. She was having problems deciphering the instructions and the paper was suffering from being folded and unfolded so many times. She didn't give up though. With just small breaks for sustinance, she continued her work and maintained her focus. Finally, at about 12:45 AM, I was awakened by a little paper Yoda dancing in front of my face. She's knows it's not perfect, but it's not bad for her first origami ever. Now that she's got it down she plans to perfect the Origami Yoda. May the Force be with her.

Blake

Update. Here's a view of Origami Yoda, Jr. This only took her about 2 1/2 hours. But, more problems have been solved and we are estimating that the third attempt will probably come in at about 1 hour and 45 minutes. (I altered the pic a little to hide the fact that this one is made from orange paper)

Smells Like Paul Anka

Right now I’m listening to the new Paul Anka album Rock Swings. It’s one of those projects you usually stumble across and immediately run as fast as you can in the opposite direction…50’s teen idol turned Vegas regular releases a CD full of big band versions of songs by the most iconic pop/rock stars of the past 20 years. But…hold on. It is actually incredibly well done. It’s not the disaster of yore that occurred when Pat Boone released an album of heavy metal. First of all, Anka’s great musicianship shines through. Second, it shows,for the most part, that these are great songs that can survive the transition of style and personality. Third, the band sounds great and the arrangements are stunningly good.

I wasn’t aware of this album until I saw Paul Anka singing Smells Like Teen Spirit on Letterman last week. I know that there are some people who will become physically ill even thinking about that, but not me. I am one year to old to be officially included in Generation X. I wasn’t much of an “angst-ridden” teen. Van Halen and Bon Jovi were as angst-ridden as it got for me and most of my friends (although I generally preferred Thomas Dolby, Howard Jones, etc…).I will admit that it is maybe the most “gimmicky” track on the album. Though, like the original, it's incredibly catchy and I enjoy listening to it. One big problem, I think, is that the lyrics of Smells Like Teen Spirit don’t really lend themselves to the big band style. If you wore the flannel, bought two extra copies of any magazine with Kurt Cobain’s picture on the cover, and still have your tickets from when you saw Nirvana in concert, you might want to skip that track. Other tracks like Jump, True, Eye of the Tiger and It’s My Life might be easier for you to take.

I’m listening to Rock Swings right now on the new Yahoo! Music Unlimited. I highly recommend it. I was on Napster to go for a while, but Yahoo! Gives you the same basic deal and charges A LOT less. It lets me listen to things I would probably never buy, expanding my horizons while saving me lots of money. Yahoo!

Later,
Blake

Everybody go to Mike's Place

Today Liana and I went to a new restaurant here in Conway. I know that the name "Mike's Place" may make it sound more like a bar than a fine restaurant, but don't be fooled. The atmosphere is great and the food and service were outstanding. The menu is probably the best (and most varied) in Conway. In fact, from what I saw today, Mike's Place could hold its own in any city in the country. The restaurant is designed to emulate a New Orleans eatery. It comes close except in New Orleans the tables would be much closer to each other and the food would cost twice as much. The interior is beautifully decorated and there is an enclosed patio (with fountain) that will seat about 40 prople.

The most exciting thing for many people is that you can purchase wine and beer and actually drink it in public. This is a relatively new development in Conway. For those of you that don;t know, Faulkner county in DRY. Things are beginning to loosen up a littlw...finally. It has been slow going due to some old laws that people are afraid to change (politics). I think it is a great development for the city. As someone who has never had a drink in his life (well, I did take a swig of Nyquil about 5 years ago) I am maybe not as excited as some people about it, but I think that it will help attract better restaurants to the town and make things seem a little more "cosmopolitan" to our guests. Still no bars or liquor stores (and that's fine with me) but I'm glad to say that you can now enjoy a glass of fine wine wih your meal here in Conway.

So, if you live around here, please go and support this great new restaurant.

The website is here. They have been more involved in getting the place open than with updating the website, but hopefully there will be more info soon.

Later,
Blake

Tribute to Bjork from "The Onion"

If the chart is missing (or even if it isn't) go here.

Wayback Machine

The internet is a place where information can vanish in an instant if servers go down, companies are sold, or people hit delete. But, someone has been working on this problem. Click the link below to use the "Wayback Machine". You can even configure your browser's toolbar to automatically take you back whenever you want. It is fascinating (and a little addictive). Give it a try.

Internet Archive: Wayback Machine

The Revenge of the Intuitive

Here's an article by Brian Eno that I first read many years ago. It reentered my life again today (thanks to the magic of the internet) so I thought I would share it. He makes a good point.

Wired 7.01: The Revenge of the Intuitive

I reached into my box of Fruit Loops and pulled out a blue lightsaber spoon. Darth Kyma, the Duel of the Fates has begun and I have the high ground.

Bad News for Those of Us Who Drop Food

The trip back to Arkansas was a fairly uneventful 11 hours or so. We listened to State of Fear by Michael Crichton to pass the time. Let me warn you now...Don't Waste Your Time OR Money On This Book. If I want a lecture about how evil enviromental preservation groups are, I'll ask for it. But in any case, don't make me pay for it. Luckily we rented it from Cracker Barrel, so I'm only out about four bucks.

Settling in now. Back to the office tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a fascinating scientific study I stumbled across.

Scientists Weigh in on the Five Second Rule
Click on the link and scroll down to find out why you should put that Oreo in the trash, not in your mouth.

Exciting finds

An exciting trip to Wax N Facts in Atlanta, the place to get your music both analog and digital. Not only did I get "Stuff: Live in New York" featuring Mr. Steve Gadd on the drums (on vinyl) but I also finally scored the Temirkanov/NewYork Phil. recording of Scheherazade (on CD) with Chris Lamb powering up the snare. I can't wait to listen to both of them.

Liana comes back in from Boston today (Hooray!). I'll be picking her up at the airport this afternoon after a late lunck with Myron. Then tonight, it's off to the Mellow Mushroom for pizza and trivia. Our trivia team, The Skyrockets, took first place when we were here six months ago. The pressure is on for a repeat performance tonight.

George Rochberg died yesterday. If you don't know his music, try to check some out soon.

I'll be heading back to Arkansas friday morning after a final visitation blitz around the metro Atlanta area.

Maybe no posts until I return.

Blake

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