I've been remiss in getting this up in a timely manner. Luminiferous Ether already has a good post up, so this may be redundant to you, my loyal reader, but, if you can manage it, get your butt on down to the Memorial Union for Folk Ball 2008, (Friday, 1/25 - Sunday 1/27.) I'll be playing with two different groups this year. Friday night (9:00 p.m.) with Veseliyka, a village-style, all acoustic balkan band, and Saturday night (sometime after 11:00 p.m.) with the Reptile Palace Orchestra, a high octane, eclectic electric ethnic group. Dance and singing workshops throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday, and dance parties Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. Of course, there is also the opportunity to buy stuff, from music to "ethnic" clothing.
The whole family has been rather under the weather for the past few days, but Molly the Super Dog (that's why she wears the red cape), still needs to get outside. Yesterday, since I was probably suffering the most, Ms. Geranium, the Emergency Backup Bark Park Guy, was kind enough to take Molly out to the bark park for her daily exercise. Today I was a bit better, while Ms. Geranium seemed worse, so I resumed my duties as Bark Park Guy (we suspect that that is how Molly thinks of us.)
Temperatures had risen to above zero, so it felt downright balmy. As a result, the bark park was more crowded than it had been for the last few days.
The bark park to which we usually go (there are several in the area) because it's the easiest one to get to from our house, is part of a park that borders one of Madison's wealthiest neighborhoods. Therefore, in addition to deadbeats like me, it also attracts people "of means" - you know, the kind of people who own dogs as fashion accessories ("what do you think, will my yorkiepoodalemeranian or my bitchnfreeze go best with the new Hummer that I bought to accent my new highlights? Or should I wear a wig and take the Bentley and the toy schnotzu?") Today I chatted for a few moments with one gentleman who was complaining about the cold and bemoaning the fact that, for business reasons, he was only able to spend one month at his house on the Pacific coast of Mexico. Although he seemed like a nice enough guy (for a rich bastard), I just couldn't bring myself to feel sorry for him. But, thanks to those rich folks, it was Free Burritos For All™ day at the bark park! Just kidding, the car pictured above must have belonged to the other deadbeat dog owner.
It was snowing again, so even though I was still feeling a bit pekid, it felt good to be up and about in The Elements. For some reason, you can't see it in these photos (maybe it's the camera - I also found the photos of fog I posted a while back didn't look anywhere near as foggy as it looked in real life - on second thought, maybe it's my eyes), but the snow was falling pretty heavily when I took these.
Did this sign keep me from walking out on the ice? Only my hairdresser knows for sure.
I just liked the way the snow was sticking to the bark in this one.
Snow covered fungus.
Photo by Elizabeth Roherty
I spent the last two days (many thanks to my wife, children and dog for tolerating my absence) recording with The Motor Primitives (see post here for some photos.) Rather than going to an actual recording studio, we hired Ken Busch (of Aniv de la Rev fame) to bring his gear to our drummer, Robin's house, where we rehearse on a weekly basis. Most recording studios aren't very pleasant physical spaces in which to spend large chunks of time. Having actual sunlight in the room was a new experience for me while recording, as was seeing a large dog or two walk past me while trying to lay down a track. The end result is still an unknown, but I must say that I feel better, physically, than I have ever felt after two days of recording. The familiar environment made the whole endeavor much more relaxed and I think it allowed us to be more efficient. Things that from past experience would have normally taken multiple takes were frequently finished in only one or two. Laying down vocal tracks also seemed much easier without the stress of feeling like we were in a "Recording Studio." Credit must be given to engineer Ken Busch for being very relaxed and easy going, offering his opinion when he thought it was necessary or when asked, but also giving us credit for being seasoned musicians who know when things are right and when they aren't right. (It's always good to have an unbiased set of ears around, but it's also important for the engineer to let you do your thing without trying to impose his or her personal tastes on the project.) My band mates were also less uptight than is often the case while recording - supportive of different levels of perfectionism and ways of doing things. Recording can often involve large amounts of time spent being ready to go while waiting for someone else to finish their bit, particularly when working with a small budget (and we are talking seriously small budget on this project - it's not unusual to spend tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars on recording alone. It's possible to record each individual note by each individual player separately and multiple times, and some people actually do it that way. I think our budget is around $500, so we're not going to achieve perfection. We're hoping for something that sounds pretty good and is fun to listen to.) That can lead to internal tension, something that didn't seem to be a problem at all this time around. At one point, Pam made a rude gesture in my direction (involving a single extended finger) which made me laugh. Later, she commented that it was refreshing to be able to do that and not have it result in hard feelings. That little exchange made me think about how this group works so well together with very little of the interpersonal clashing I've experienced in most groups. Sure, we disagree about things, but so far we've been able to deal with artistic disagreements without anyone taking it too personally - an anomaly in artistic endeavors with which I've been involved.
