Last night was the best...oh, yeah. That was the subject line.

Anyway, I feel pretty good about have a strong sense of where Rick 2: Birth and Rick 3: Prison are headed. That was our 4th practice in as many weeks, definitely feeling the momentum building each time.

Our set up last night was something like this:
Joshua Grace (strat, vox)
Derek Schauer (tele, effects, vox)
John Mallinen (acc/elec guitar, drums/perc, vox)
Brittney Lewis (lead vox, drums/percussion)
jonny sez (bass, djembe, vox)

Jay Beck has been in there (djembe, perc) and a couple other musicians are waiting in the wings. Dan Gautier is ready to do some live video mixing. Michael Heneghan is going to provide some animations. Walter George Kealey III is going to do some essential editing of video, stills, and voice tracks. Ben Volta is gearing up for some collaborative installations. Nicole Bach is going to consult on costume design from Canada. Jon Olshefski, after providing the basis of the project (his photo narratives and the stories) is also going to do some live video art and cool stuff with interactive video installations perhaps. Pretty sick.

So I'm pumped.

If you want to help us out, you could figure out a way to demo these new songs for us. Single mic in the room might do it, even if it sounds lo-fi it would be bitchin to get it out there for people to listen to and for us to hear how it sounds when we are not singing/playing.

for the past 3 weeks joshua, derek, john mallinen, and jay beck.have been laying some ground work for songs.  it's been really fun and interesting, i think we're making a lot of progress. 

we continue to immerse ourselves in the three stories by Rick and get a sense for where it might be headed musically.  there are certain rhythmic or melodic themes that are having a conversation with one another around the story.  it's not so much a presentation of a linear piece as much as it is an exploration of intervals, themes, harmonies, and countermelodies. 

a few people haven't been able to make the practices because of scheduling conflicts.  that's okay.  we're working with what we have right now, hoping to get ready to have a show in the fall with the fuller group, hopefully as well as with other jon O projects like Everquest, etc.

a rough version of the soundtrack to the first part of Rick's story is up!  it only took like 18mo for me to figure out how to convert .wav to .mp3 and to be at peace with such a low quality version out there. 

each piece would eventually have 2 versions, one for a dvd or cdrom or something and jonO's website, etc.  the other version would have a more heavily edited down voice-over for live performances. 

this is totally inadequate, as i can't figure out how to mix the photos/voice-over with the audio yet and put it on youtube or something.  maybe when there is a better recording.  you could play the photo slideshow with Rick's voiceover if you go to whispersinthestorm.com.  Playing the voice over and slideshow and the song on the myspace profile will give you a sense of what i'm talking about.

it's something to get us started.  we'll see what happens next. 

I was fortunate enough to pick up some new hot gear, although i still haven't been able to try it all out yet.  Wednesday nights, after the AA meeting a couple of us are going to get together to see where this thing goes.  The West African Drumming class has 2 more sessions.

There is a building energy that I think may turn into something soon.  We'll see.  Prepare your hearts.

in the mean time, check out these related sites to get an idea of what's been going on.

circleof hope
myfaeriestory.com"
punk rock mommy

as for the next couple weeks, thursday nights are gonna be recording nights to track out the rest of the RICK story.  he's out of prison, by the way.  i'm not sure if he's got these other charges coming up or not.  that makes doing this project (esp his story: recovery, birth of his son, incarceration) even more intense. 
there was hopes to be ready to have a kilimanjaro show on nov 4 with psalters, but ben won't be ready to do it and he's my main man. 

probably the first real show will be in FEB.  by that time, it will be off the hook. 

i'm trying to get 3 tracks rolling for the show on the 22nd.

man, rick 1 is coming slow.  i haven't had any time to get in and finish it.  i'm worried that it will only be half-done (as it is now) for the 22nd.

rick2-who knows?

rick3-i'm going to do the traditional mi'kmaq honour song.  it rules

get ready for berry and sans les mots and the k'jaro preview on july 22nd above circle thrift.

i'm really reaching, here, but i am gonna have 1 or 2 demo tracks to play along with rick 1 and 2 (big maybe on 3) to cap off the berry and sans les mots show on july 22 above circle thrift.  (joshua grace from kilimanjaro will also be accompanying sans les mots on drums that evening). 

so that show is just a preview-kind of cheesy, i know.  i want to see how people feel about the sound and the vision and whatnot.  then we'll see how it moves forward.  i got sick of talk.  we'll see who's down.  i doubt we'll have any merch by that show, but we'll see. 

with no recording device available, i roughed out some basic ideas for "rick", part of jon o's whispers in the storm photo narrative project. 

i feel it coming.  i had a couple of formative conversations (seperately) with blayer and doty today.  i'm still not sure how to jump genres like i feel drawn to.  i think the photo narrative, along with other visual stimuli (including the installation) can weave a common thread through an evening to set up some sort of larger theme for each performance. 

like a musical or something.  so when you have a epic soundtrack intro that dives into a denison song, followed by a blonde redhead-core 5pc, into a vocal solo that winds up a chorus and epic outro back down to a native chant to then wash into a sparce (mostly story) track...you get the picture? 

it's safe to say that the idea is still doughy, but it is in the oven.

i can't stop listening to blonde redhead.  how does that work for a huge ensemble? 

me and ben were talking, and it might work better to have variations on the theme...like large ensembles for certain parts, but scaled down songs to make the show more dynamic. 

we were thinking maybe even a show in the fall...about a 5hr potluck, the kind that you don't have to sit and watch the people playing music the whole time.  the kind that you have movements of olshefski, accompanied by super sparce soundtrack music...more epic stuff to go with a quieter olshefski piece, then a break with denison or something playing one of his songs, then a mid size group, then a acappella song, then a huge group wildin' out. 

vague, i know.  i gotta get working on songs consistently.  that's something that hasn't happened. 

listening to: mewithoutYou

me and ben had a sweet brainstorm sit down the other day.  i think we are going to plan a show for the fall.  it's gonna be real cool. 

potluck
5hrs long
opening style
rockin style
no other groups needed
get our sh** together