Post LA/Empty Cage Ouartet/ To blog on a blog

Here is one of the things I miss about LA. This is funny since only the bass player Ivan lives there. They started there though and is where I would see them. I was always was impressed how they could come together after months and in a few days be this tight. This small cut of this group hides what a performance of theirs would do. I remember one time feeling as if I had witnessed the entire history of the jazz quartet reemerge in front of me. Working with Kris Tiner was always a treat too. I remember one time over at my house and him tuning his trumpet to my vibraphone. Which he could do. At one point we were playing on just a pentatonic and his playing brought me to tears. I had to leave the room. Few players have ever been able to do that to me. Jason I played with only once armed with the flute you see here with myself on organ. It was phenomenal and I regret our paths did not cross more. Same with the other two I had not the pleasure. This tip of an iceberg captured one evening as rough as it is. Kris says more is coming so keep looking on his blog. Regardless I hope people will grab themselves a good chunk of their music for themselves, regardless of where they are coming from. Yes I miss this.

Experimental music communities in Los Angeles

http://csharpsdissertation.blogspot.com/
This dissertation is an excellent history of the many experimental musical movements that were spawned in Los Angeles in the latter last century. Especially those outside academic attitudes and support. Something it should be proud of. It speaks for itself and was pleased that on a personal level it captured much of my thinking/approach, lying midway between the composed and the improvisational circles. It is probably where i still find myself internally. I still can not stomach one without the other. It is the only documentation of my work as a curator page 322 or 334 of the pdf. 324 saying what i have to say on that point.

This Dock is your easiest way of reaching the outpost. Next follows the main thoroughfare which leads past the garden. Be sure to watch out for our own Komodo like dragons. We are easy to spot as surrounded by a natural moat and a center for the birds own outpost

Nonogonal Music

While others have noticed that Pelog fourths form a good cycle at 9 tones, it was Wilson’s work along these lines that seem to represent it the best. There were three forms that he found had been used historically as the basis of pentatonics, made by rotating around the cycle 5 at a time. Since 2 tones are not tuned they skip to the next tone which gives us 3 different forms. These can be seen in the three rings in this diagram. If one uses all 9 tones one can characterize these as 5 fourths in a row, 4 in a row and skipping two, or the last can be seen as 3 in a row skipping two and then two more or these last 2 first. While 12 ET is a bad way to represent pelog, one can form a 9 tone cycle by using tritones in 3 places, in stead of perfect fourths for those who refuse to concede to mesotones. One will have to figure these out for oneself, and the same idea can be transferred to any other scale, of equal steps or not. I have even applied in use to the meta Slendro I use. A larger form of this diagram can be downloaded here. While not as precise geometrically as one could do, I still find it visually interesting.

The Passing of James Gleeson 1915-2008

An Obituary. Here is Australian foremost Surrealist whose work since our arrival has been of great interest and enjoyment. Picture- "The Arrival of Implacable Gifts". Note the self-portrait of the artist on the left of the picture. Last month I saw a performance incorporating some poetry that I was quite taken with. After the performance upon asking I discovered that it was his. We were in the process of hoping to arrange a meeting in the near future. Here are three excerpts that appeared in a 2003 review The Australian of his Selected Poems.

He divides his arm and breast
among the friends of his wound,
bringing to each, a measurement of corrosion.
Under his armpit the spiders twitch
in the fires of a naked bulb
(p. 73)

In the stream of the seismic night-time
when the rage of the soul
screams its trajectory across the naked canyons
where I must make a killing from the centre,
sometimes I say, — that murder,
that murder was actual but in my head.
Who heard, you say, the red voice added to the rain?
None; that formal guard of black hats on my eye
at worst is some thick sickness of my skull
(p. 72)

Having flown so many miles
Through April’s ghost-laden light
Out of the drought’s edge,

Escaping that salty barrier
Between good and bad lands,
Murky water low in farm dams.

Here, shiningly sure-footed,
The effect is turbulence,
Blueness, snowy prescience,

As they land, scavaging visitants,
pin-pointing the mallee red-gum’s
Solitary crimson nebulas

Near the shed.
(p. 32)

Stamping tube music /Are' Are' from the Solomon Islands

Thanks to Adam Reese for forwarding this... from a forward from Matt Marble

Anaphorian Anchovies finally recognized (uncovered by Terumi Narushima)

Photo from http://janandjay.info/janandjay/Anchovies!!7.jpg

Explains much of the sonic properties in our surrounding waters.
(also see previous post regarding 500 Kilos of Anchovies)

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America -- December 2001 -- Volume 110, Issue 6, pp. 2917-2923

Interpretation of the spectra of energy scattered by dispersed anchovies

Orest Diachok
Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375

(Received 6 December 2000; revised 31 July 2001; accepted 27 August 2001)

The spectra of backscattered energy by dispersed anchovies, which were reported by Holliday (1972), reveal several peaks at frequencies that correspond to theoretically calculated resonance frequencies of year classes of anchovies. Theoretical calculations are based on concurrent measurements of distributions of swim bladder dimensions and a modified form of Minnaert's (1933) equation. Differences between calculated and measured values of the mean lengths of the second-, third-, and fourth-year classes are within experimental uncertainties (±8%). The calculated mean lengths of juvenile anchovies are in good agreement with historical measurements of the bounds on this parameter (Butler, 1989). Matching of theoretical calculations and measurements of backscattered energy level versus frequency yields estimates of the total Q of the spectral line, QT, and the relative number density per year class. The resultant estimate of QT of adult anchovies is approximately 4.4. This value of QT is consistent with laboratory measurements of the Q of individual anchovies, Q0 (~7 at 15 m) and measurements of length distributions of year classes and depth distributions. Resultant estimates of relative number densities of year classes were consistent with historical measurements of the relative number densities of year classes of anchovies in the Southern California Bight. ©2001 Acoustical Society
http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=JASMAN000110000006002917000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes