A. Fletcher

Musical Debut — A New Horizon

2010-06-29T16:02:11Z

Playing music has been part of my life since I was ten years old, nearly 17 years ago. For the first eight years I received piano lessons, as so many people do around that age. My first teacher (Carol Fern of Fenton, NC) gave me a good strict foundation and instilled good basics of theory and hand position. My second teacher was awful, I was only with her a couple months. My third teacher was Pam McNeil, who gave me what I really needed — not just knowledge of how to play music, but the passion to use that knowledge and seek more. Pam knew she wasn’t working with the next Horowitz or Ashkenazy, so she didn’t treat me like one. She allowed my interests to come out and always had my tastes in mind when she chose a new piece for me to learn, or asked what I wanted to learn. I give her a lot of credit for showing me how to love music, not just mechanically crank it out. I certainly wasn’t always a great student, but finding passion in music is invaluable. Thanks again, Pam, for everything.

But Pam stopped teaching and I entered the world of work and school and having a social life and music became less important for a while. My grandparents bought me a piano so I always had something to play, but I’m sorry to say there was a couple of years where I didn’t regularly knock the dust off of it. Around this time, a new guy moved to town. Now, you have to realize something here. I was 19 years old, living in a small town (pop. 1,800) and I didn’t know any one else like me. I was the weird kid who wore a fedora and an old topcoat and played the piano at the coffeehouse for people double and triple my age. Sure, my skills really didn’t surpass the level of a few parlor tricks and mangled Beethoven sonatas interspersed with Star Wars themes, but that was my shtick, and it was my shtick. One day I hear about this guy who moved into town, a few years older than me. I hear he wears a fedora and plays the meanest piano anyone had seen in this town. I’m thinking, “Who is this guy? This is my town and this is my shtick! How dare he!” After a couple weeks of reputation preceding him, I finally met him and saw him bust out a couple of tunes and whoa, I was blown away. I’d never seen anybody play piano like that. I think he played the Tiger Rag. His left hand was a blur and his right hand always knew where the melody should go. I immediately decided that we were going to be friends. That’s how I met Reese Gray.

He opened up the world of early jazz to me, got me listening to greats like Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, J. P. Johnson, King Oliver, Wingy Manone, Spike Jones, the Hoosier Hot-shots, so much more. And man, I really dug that music. Some people call it Dixieland, Hot Jazz, Traditional Jazz, or just Trad Jazz. It wasn’t like the elevator, Barnes & Noble jazz, the Kroger jazz or John Tesh that you hear so often but can’t whistle a single bar of after hearing it your whole life. It had power and youth, spontaneity and vigor, melancholy and passion, played by humans using all their humanity. But mostly, it was just fun. That’s how I got into 1920s jazz.

Reese got me off the sheet music, but first he found some written copies of tunes that he thought I should learn. W. C. Handy’s Memphis Blues was the first one he showed me. After I’d gotten the hang of the first couple sections I played it for him and he picked up his banjo-uke and tried to play along. Now, I’d never played ensemble in any fashion and had no clue how. I played a few bars and he stopped me. My rhythm was so bad he couldn’t play along with me at all. So he made me tap my feet when I played. Taught me the importance of rhythm. Pretty simple, but it was the missing element I needed. After a few years, my sense of rhythm increased, while I’m still working at it, I’m steady enough to play with folks. Meanwhile, instead of improvising being a side act, improvisation became the main attraction. That’s how I started to become an ear musician.

With my new skills, music became more and more important to me. I used it to purge emotions that I couldn’t talk about, or didn’t have anyone to talk to about. I used it when I needed a way to be angry but not destructive. I used it to purge unrequited passion. I used it to stimulate my mind. I used it to feed my inner human.

Or did the music use me? Psh — semantics.

Back in January, the Firecracker Jazz Band was in need of a piano player because Reese was leaving town for a couple months. With trepidation, I accepted. With about two weeks notice to learn 30 songs, I stepped up to the plate and practiced hard. After two rehearsals with the band I had my first real, professional experience playing music with them on Valentine’s Day, 2010. Took me almost 17 years to get there, but man was it worth it. I was nervous all that day, but as soon as I stepped up to the piano I knew I was where I was supposed to be. Since Valentine’s Day, I’ve played around 25 gigs total, and every one I play is a hell of a lot of fun, but playing May 14 at The Orange Peel was the highlight so far. The Peel was nearly packed as we opened for the very talented Carolina Chocolate Drops. The sound booth recorded our show. You can listen to it below. (Turn up your speakers — the gain is low.)

Playing music has been the best, most fun, most fulfilling thing I’ve done with the energies of my life. Thanks to all who helped me along the way, who made me love the music, who vouched for an amateur, who believed that I had music in me that had to come out. And to those that didn’t believe in me, you too pushed me forward to prove you wrong.

Haiku #1

2010-06-10T15:42:31Z

Granite soul sarcophagus
my heart worries like
a Pekingese butterfly.

HUM 324 Lecture, 01.22.2010

2010-01-24T21:26:16Z

As promised, though a couple days late, I’m posting the latest UNC-Asheville Humanities 324 lecture from this week. The topic was The Enlightenment, and you can read the lecture outline [pdf]. Dr. Rizzo was the speaker. We watched some clips of a movie about this guy to the left, Olaudah Equiano.

For the complete podcast series, check this post: http://blog.afletcher.net/2010/01/humanities-324-lecture-podcast/

Humanities 324 Lecture Podcast

2010-01-18T18:56:52Z

As promised, the recordings of the the Humanities 324 lecture’s have been podcasted and were just accepted into the iTunes store. Here are all the links.

Subscribe in RSS reader
View and stream on the web
Subscribe in iTunes
New episodes should post Friday afternoons.
I’m using an iPod Touch 2nd gen. with headphones and included mic. The recording quality will get better as I experiment with where to sit and where to set the mic (I’m trying to be unobtrusive).
Also, somebody told me that UNC-A did or perhaps still does offer a podcast of these lectures. I couldn’t find it on their website, can anyone confirm or deny?

I really think that these lectures are valuable and informative and should be available to the public. Many of the top tier colleges like MIT, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, et cetera offer podcasts of their classes to the public. After all, schools are in the business of selling degrees, not information. Let’s emancipate the information from the lecture hall. Enjoy!

HUM 324 Lecture, 01.15.2010

2010-01-24T20:03:33Z

Well the semester has just started and I’ve been trying to think up new ways to stay engaged and motivated in school, so I’m going to synthesize school with the geeky things that I love to do like blogging. With that in mind, I’m going to (attempt) to record and post every HUM 324 lecture this semester here on. You’ll find them all under this category, and if you want to subscribe in your RSS reader, here’s the feed. And Coming Soon: This will be a podcast, which you will be able to subscribe to in iTunes. The lecture outlines are posted as well.

Oh, and while you’re at it, if you use this, add me on the bookFace.

Yes, I’m bootlegging academia and podcasting it. ZOMG! Technology FTW!

Remembering: Ice Storm, 2005

2010-06-21T13:50:57Z

This recent snow storm reminded me of the last severe winter weather that we had, four years ago this month. I was living way out in B.F.E., an hour from Asheville and 15 minutes from the closest store of any kind. I purposely stayed put and enjoyed the quiet of being thrust off the grid for a few days. Sure it was cold, sure the plumbing didn’t work and the power was out, but remembering that when it comes down to it you’ve got to rely on yourself is an invaluable lesson that is too rarely taught in our modern times. I shot these pictures on the first day, when the entire world seemed to be made of diamonds. Everything sparkled and leaned, the sum of the weight of ice and the light that it spread thickly in the air. Chiaroscuro faded from the blinding new world, and the places I knew so well became palatial and regal, a Fortress of Solitude that made me feel like Superman. The photos don’t do it justice at all, but I had to try. I’ve never seen anything like it. Have you?

In the cold and the dark, alone.

Poster: Screaming Js

2009-12-16T20:05:09Z

Good friends Screaming Js, the house band at MoDaddy’s, needed a poster to help with some promotion. So they asked me to put something together, and this is what I did. I tweaked the type (I used Blackmoor) and stole the piano from the 1902 Sears, Roebuck Catalogue. They liked it, I liked it and I think it represents their music pretty well.

You can catch them, and often me, tonight at MoDaddy’s and every Wednesday. They put on a kickin good show, and you owe it to yourself to catch these guys. And it’s free. See you there!

AVL Street Style

2009-12-15T01:24:07Z

After months of hoping to find myself on MountainX’s StreetStyle, I finally caught up with Ally outside the Flat Iron building a few weeks ago. She even said I was her new favorite model. Any time! It was fun. Here are the results.

Boots are some battered old US Army combat boots that I’ve worm almost everyday for 5 years. Pants are straight leg slim fit Express Rocco, shirt is Express 1MX Modern Fit (last year’s). Generic reversible black/brown belt. Tie is a black on black paisley that I found at my house after a party. Shades are Ray-Ban knock offs that I bought at a stand on Main Street in Hickory during their Oktoberfest. Jacket is a non-labeled find from Madame Butterfly on Lexington Ave (they have a small but excellent men’s section). Watch is a Citizen Eco-Drive 200 Meter BM6400-00E that my grandparent’s gave me as a graduation present.

P.S. I am a heterosexual male.

After-Party Invites

2009-12-12T03:00:52Z

Michael Sanacore, Chris Riddle and I made these one-of-a-kind invitations to an after-party earlier this year. Something about the flexibility and the limitations of the typewriter was really inspiring. It made me think of the typewriter in a whole new way. It’s really a miniature printing press, that can only use one font, one style, one size, one color and one weight. But other than that — you can use almost any size paper, any orientation. It’s really marvelous, and lots of fun. They turned out very well I think. My favorite one:

“Don’t listen to her. Come to the after-party.”

Fourth of July, 2009

2009-12-04T04:35:09Z

4th of July from John Carl on Vimeo. Music: The Guest Room “When Might Makes Right”

Back in early July, @bentmatches and I were standing at the Skybar a little after a beautiful sunset when our friend @AVLSkylie introduced us to three people looking for an adventure to film. Being expert adventurers, we shared a knowing glance and smile and set to work. Here is what they said about that night:

We went on a road trip for 30 days to 30 cities filming one story each day of people around America. This day we were in downtown Asheville, NC for the 4th of July celebration. We didn’t know a soul but by the end of the night we found ourselves in a parking lot with new-found friends setting off fireworks illegally. And we got there in a convertible driven by a friend who looked like he fronted a 50’s rockabilly band. All in all, an amazing night and one of the more meaningful videos we made.

This night was one of the best of my life. To be young, in love, and feel like the king of town in a hot red convertible surrounded by the talented and beautiful — I know of little better. It doesn’t matter how old I get, I’ll always want to go back to that day. I’d like to go back right now.

The folks we met were an artist collective (The Duck Duck Collective) and were filming a series of short spots all over the Eastern US for a really hip Levi-Strauss ad campaign. They had awesome equipment and great personalities and threw themselves into the fun of the evening. We went to the Admiral first and danced, then went to that abandoned parking lot off Merrimon where we lit all the fireworks. You can see me driving the convertible and vaulting through the fireworks at the end. I’m so glad there is footage of this day of my life.