We received preliminary cover art for our new CD collaboration project on the Lotuspike label “Beyond the Portal“. I think it looks pretty fabulous. Very exciting! I can’t wait to have the production CD in hand. I have to share this artwork with you.
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This is the follow up release to the earlier Path of Least Resistance by Craig Padilla and Zero Ohms. Here are 3 short snips from that project:
Craig and Zero were kind enough to invite me to participate on this next project, whose artwork you see here, due out soon. Stay tuned!
More and more old Redding Photos
Mary A. saw the old photos I posted yesterday, and sent me a link to even more old Redding photos online at UC Davis. Check out this one of Swimming in the River Imagine swimming in the Sacramento River now. Brrr! Part of the Eastman Collection. 38 lineal feet of photographs. There are lot of other search terms that turn up interesting bits of bygone Redding. Anyway, you can search any keyword in the collection HERE.
Arboretum Fire 2008 Photo by Mary A. and used with permission (I hope)
I was going to post the swimming image itself here, which was donated to UC Davis in 1994, but they wanted $50 for a courtesy fee. Which is probably appropriate, but I don’t really have the budget for it right now. But even better, you can look all you want online for free. I called the Shasta Historical society about the photos I used from their site and they said it was probably OK as non-commercial use, but you should at least be a member, which is only $20. So now I’m a member. You might consider it too if you like looking at history, and think it should be preserved.
From their website: “Jervie Henry Eastman was born, July 20, 1880, in White Cloud, Michigan. His family moved to northern California in 1886. Continue reading “More and more old Redding Photos”
New music widget
I found a new music widget, and thought I’d try it out. This is an unfinished pieced titled Cloud Study, I’ve been working on, and now posted on SoundCloud. Worth a listen perhaps while looking at old photos of Shasta County at the Shasta Historical Society’s website. They have hundreds of interesting old photos online, and you can lose a few hours just looking around there. It’s so great they keep these available. Anyway I hope you enjoy the music. This ambient piece veers into trancey electronica.
Old photos of our town remind us we have seen economic cycles come and go.
Photos used courtesy of Shasta Historical Society. Please consider joining us.
Photograph
Birthday number 53 is near for me. My maternel -Ma tante (aunt) Doris sent me a 30 year old photograph as a gift. On the right are my maternal grandparents, Henry and Cecile. Karry and I are on the left, circa 1978. My middle name is for Henry, who was an automobile mechanic.
Continue reading “Photograph”
Fire in the neighborhood again
Pfft. The power went out only for a second. Enough to reboot. Later the sirens came.
We’re told it was woodpecker this time. Last time it was a flaming squirrel.
With a light breeze at my back, I feel better about this. It’s not moving fast and it’s going the other way.
A nervous neighbor gets the woodpecker story. Photos by Skip.
Makeover
My blog gets a much needed makeover today. I’ve posted a Craig Padilla synth pop classic from 1996, The Gift, for your listening pleasure while you look over the new format. I hope you like it.
Geese waterski on the Sacramento River in Redding, Fall of 2008, photo by Skip
5000 views and counting
Since I’ve been posting my music, I thought I’d check on Craig’s YouTube channel to see how our music video was doing. We’ve had more than 5000 views as of today. There are several positive comments, which is rather like getting worldwide applause in slow motion. This was a live-in-the-studio performance of Stellar Nursery, and the music we recorded here ended up on our most recent CD, Analog Destination, released on the Groove Unlimited (Netherlands) label in May 2008. We split the video onto 4 parts to fit YouTube’s format better, and here is the first part:
If you click on the video directly, you can get to the other 3 parts of this song, and see some other Craig Padilla videos.
Clemency
This musical fragment is tentatively titled Clemency. I grant you clemency herewith, and hope that you offer me the same, because I may need it someday. As may we all. Let’s keep this word handy in our lexicon. Mercy can sometimes be in short supply.
This musical sketch by Craig and me goes on for a little more than 13 minutes, in longwinded contrast to yesterday’s synth-pop piece. It’s not exactly ambient, but not melodic either. It floats somewhere in-between, and remains thus unfinished. Some of it “works” (in musical terms) for me, and some less so. It requires a bit more listening to see what we can learn and perhaps adjust. Or perhaps put it back in it’s box, out of sight and out of mind. If this sketch doesn’t “work” for you, I beseech your clemency. And offer mine. It is what it is. We were just looking for a spark of some sort.
You and I have been on a bit of a musical journey this week. I like the little Ovi music player widget very much. As I wrote on my music page, all work and no play makes us dull. So the old saying goes. Work and life are inextricably tied together when you do real estate for a living, and you can’t really separate your work from the rest of your life most of the time. That’s OK. But late at night, when at the controls of a musical instrument, I sometimes feel as though I’m not at work. As mentioned when I started posting music sketches earlier this week, your mileage may vary.
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Cosmos sulphureus (Yellow Cosmos) appropriately near Sulphur Creek -photo by Skip
Red Bluff synth-pop by Craig Padilla
Click on the play button to listen while you read. If you don’t see the Player, you may need to refresh the browser page. This piece was recorded live at the State Theater in Red Bluff a few years back, and is titled Trance Formation. The event was a fund raiser for the State Theater, which is hoping to undergo a renovation similar to the Cascade in Redding. It’s a fine old building, deeper, and I think larger than the Cascade. I helped with the stage setup, and my friend Craig Padilla performed solo. The performance was augmented by lighting services donated by Morpheus Lights of Redding. Those folks do many of the big-name stage shows, so the lights were simply amazing. The show was well attended, and the Red Bluffian crowd enthusiastic, as you can just hear toward the end of the recording. I think you’ll find the music to be very catchy. Enjoy! 
Backyard double petunia by Skip. Not the flower, the photo.
Ambient music piece
Ambient music, as defined by me, is music that sets a mood of some sort, and is interesting, but not so interesting as to be distracting or serve as a central focus of concentration. It’s good background music for mental activities or other such abstract endeavors. I like to think of it as music that you’re very likely to hear whilst you’re shopping in your favourite retail store. It’s not too heavy or distracting, it just provides a calming and relaxing experience and that’s definitely what you need when you’re shopping. In my opinion anyway. I think you can also refer to it as muzak – a type of soothing music that can be played in many places or buildings. This type of music is beneficial when you have a task to be getting on with and you don’t want to get too distracted.
Does any of that make sense? Well, like most art music, you know it if you hear it, and writing about it won’t help you get it. This 8 minute piece “Lunaria” mostly works for me on that level, but stands unfinished. Maybe I’ll finish it now. Maybe not.
If you are interested in hearing more music of similar nature, you can check out my fellow musician and friend Darrell (aka. Palancar) Burgan’s online “radio station” Stillstream. Some of what you hear on Stillstream falls outside the true ambient definition, but that keeps it interesting. Stillstream is a zero-revenue enterprise. Artists contribute their music, and there are no ads. Worth a listen. You might find you like it, and if so you should tell a friend. You probably won’t hear much of this genre anywhere else.
Firecrew at the Sundial Bridge, photo by Mary A. Thanks!