Friday after work I made my way rather quickly up to Oakland to participate in the inn.aff.(orchext.) big band show at 21 Grand, for a which a dozen or so musicians/sound artists/whathaveyou from all over the bay area converged (and in some cases, met each other for the first time) and improvised a mass of textured sound. Most of the usual suspects were involved, including all founding members of the O.A.C. and all members of the first live incarnation of irr.app.(ext.) (actually, come to think of it, all members of the most recent live incarnation too), as well as the good folks behind Maleficia, NF Orchest, French Radio, Petit Mal, and many others.
Before the proceedings got underway, I learned the hard way that it's not a good idea to park my car on a dimly-lit sidestreet in Oakland on Friday the 13th. Before it even got fully dark, some crackhead decided to vaporize my front passenger side window and rummage through the meager offerings within my car. The offerings proved to be so meager that nothing was actually stolen. Stuff sure was strewn about though. I'm glad he (it's almost always a "he", isn't it?) didn't take any of my cds. This is one of the many times I've been glad that I don't have musical taste similar to that of crackheads.
Anyway, after some thought, I decided to use the broken glass during the performance. Contact mics are wonderful things because they make broken glass sound so interesting. Before that, though, there were four opening acts. I'll have to admit that I spent a good amount of time outside the club chatting with people and keeping an eye on my car so that nobody would take advantage of the missing window to do some furtive shopping, but I did see some of Tarantism, who were delightfully bizarre, and Rubber O Cement, who played with us (irr.app.(ext.) in Seattle a couple of years ago. After the Rubber O set, an older gentleman was heard to comment (and I paraphrase here), "I don't know much about music or art, but I do know a rampage through the audience when I see it." It is indeed a wonder nobody got knocked out by the bizarrely costumed character wielding an instrument that resembles an electronic two-by-four stumbled amongst the seated audience.
When we finally go on, things start out with a projected video of Nora, the piano playing cat. With this many people playing at once, and from my monitor-less vantage point from behind the P.A., I can't really comment on how it all sounded. People clapped at the end though. Special thanks go out to Jim Haynes and the guitarist whose name I've temporarily forgotten for giving me their share of the proceeds to help me buy a new car window.
On Saturday, I went and got a window. $140. Cheaper than I remembered. This marks the 4th time my car has been broken into over the last 20 years. That's about 1 every five years. Not too bad, I guess.
Took the girls to the Children's museum too, which is always free for me. The girls liked the new Clifford the Big Red Dog exhibit.
Today we got things done around the house. I finished applying for financial aid for the teaching credential program I'm planning on doing. Finished applying for the program too. I feel a sense of accomplishment because It's sometimes hard for me to take the first step.
Tomorrow marks the start of the fifth week of summer camp. Hard to believe it's halfway through July already.
No comments:
Post a Comment