Weekend Adventures

Flashback Folk Music

On Friday, Frank and I traveled out to the Snow Goose Restaurant/Brewery/Theatre downtown to watch Willy Porter. The UK reader contingent might recognize the name -- he opened for Tori Amos on campus (I can't remember when that was and who was there, sorry!). I remember him being good and even have one of his earlier albums.

Just as I remembered, he was really good. Excellent guitar playing, great singing and -- finally -- an artist who has upbeat songs! He did do quite a few songs that he made up on the spot and also told some excellent stories about how his songs came about. My favorite is the story of him and a fellow violinist in junior high blowing up the first chair's mailbox in order to get closer to the cello girls ("who were hot").

Anyways, I believe he's traveling next down the east coast -- if you get the chance, he's definitely worth checking out.

UAA Volleyball

UAA had their final volleyball game of the season against UAF on Saturday. It was suprisingly well-attended, considering the dismal season that UAA has had so far this year (4-11). Although as usual sometimes there were problems especially with spike coverage (both on offense and defense), the Seawolves won against the Nanooks in straight matches.

Adventures in Experimental Classical Music, aka It all goes back to Gamelan

On Sunday, Frank and I attended "Bang on a Can All-Stars featuring Philip Glass". Bang on a Can is a group out of NYC that plays experimental classical music. Bang on a Can was up first, starting off with a forgettable piece by one of the founders of the group. The second piece was composed by the clarinetist, inspired by Balinese puppetry (Here ). The first, third, and fourth pieces were really great, so much to the dismay of Frank (who said "maybe with some hard work, the clarinetist could be come a good composer"). The last piece, by Julia Wolfe, was interesting because it was "big, beautiful, scary and wonderful". The best part about the first act was that it was only 40 minutes long (I don't like really long concerts).

After intermission, Philip Glass came on. Now, I proudly own "Kronos Quartet plays Philip Glass" and a few other Philip Glass CD, so I was eager to hear him play live. The first song, Mad Rush, is immediately recognizable as a piece used in commercials, although I'm not sure which ones. Apparently it was first played at the cathedral in NYC for the Dali Lama. It was very pretty, but it was way, way too long. It kept getting slower and softer so that you would think it was stopping, but then Philip would trick us by starting up again.

This started me thinking -- are people clapping because the piece was good, or out of relief that it actually stopped?

Then it got worse. The second piece and third piece sounded very similar, with these mathematical time changes that are supposed to be interesting. I could not help but think, what if the musicians have gotten lost, and can't find their way out of the piece? After like 30 minutes they stopped playing. Again, big (relief?) applause. Frank and I grab our coats as Philip Glass and the Bang on a Can people came out for their encore. I don't think either Frank or I could have made it through another piece.

So, why the Gamelan reference above? I like gamelan music, and experimental music is very similar. It's simple, light, and irreverent. It has a beat, and I can work to it, if you want to think of it that way. I like how it changes throughout piece but doesn't a whole bunch of things going on to distract your mind in too many directions. Does this make me simple-minded? I'm not sure -- perhaps in music I am.

Frank, on the other hand, finds both gamelan and experimental music the musical equivalent to water torture. I have to agree that the second half was perhaps as close to water torture as I have been since the sad and off-tune "Porgy and Bess" rendition at Miami two years ago. If you ever get a chance to see Philip Glass, I suggest you don't take it.

Exploring Alaska
This is a really good show, if you get it in your area on your local ABC affiliate. This week it revolved around Soldotna and the pioneers (who are still living) that founded this little town on the Kenai Peninsula. It was fascinating, and gives such a great perspective on how recent and living Alaska history is.

Congratulations to Calla!
I heard that Calla had a super report card this week! Great work!