Dawn Xiana Moon: Randomness

Bad Album Titles

2009-06-29T18:34:00.003-05:00

Bad Album Titles

I've been brainstorming titles for the new album - and I have to say, it's much easier coming up with bad titles than good ones. Here are a few fun entries:

The Anatomy of Pipe Dreams
Moonies
Kool-Aid
Dawn is the New Dusk
Memorex CDRW
We Call This a Headache

And some great rejects, courtesy of Google Trends:

Dead Fox News
Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism
Razorfish Stone Weight
iPhone 3Gs Overheating

And there's my favorite bad-album-title-that-somehow-became-reality: Fiona Apple's When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He'll Win the Whole Thing 'Fore He Enters the Ring There's No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You'll Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won't Matter, Cuz You Know That You're Right.

The runner up? Cher's Not.Com.mercial.

Recording and Chinese Instruments

2009-06-23T22:13:00.001-05:00

Recording and Chinese Instruments

Today's session was incredibly productive, in spite of the fact that the music I sent to Chihsuan never made it to her inbox (good thing I brought music anyway, just in case). Chihsuan Yang plays violin and erhu, the latter of which made an appearance today on seven of the eleven songs that are going on the new album.

Few people on this side of the world are familiar with it, but the erhu is the Chinese equivalent of a violin - it's a two-stringed, fretless instrument that actually sounds fairly similar to a violin, though it looks like no instrument Westerners are familiar with. Where it differs acoustically is an encouragement of pitch bending (think bluegrass fiddle, if there's to be a comparison - this quality, which can sound amazing, also makes the instrument fiendishly difficult to keep in tune) and a more melancholy, haunting sound. My already pensive piano pieces seem more mournful.

On a whim, we also experimented with pizzicato erhu on a Philip Glass-inspired reworking of a traditional Chinese folk song, which worked surprisingly well as another textural layer.

I've been listening to the roughs for the last hour, and they sound fantastic - I'm excited for you all to hear the finished product!

Recording, Day 2

2009-06-04T18:38:00.001-05:00

Recording, Day 2

The band breezed through the session - we finished all of the upright bass, piano, and drum parts! Quote of the day: "Now play with yourself."

Uptown Recording, Day 1

2009-05-28T21:34:00.005-05:00

Uptown Recording, Day 1

"Talking about music is like dancing about architecture." To that end, here's a short video about what it's like to hang out with us in the studio. For reference, the non-introduced people are Joe (the drummer, who's bouncing around like a madman) and Rob (the engineer, who is hard at work - unlike the rest of us). I'm behind the camera. Apparently I'm constantly laughing. What can I say - I'm amused by the world.

We actually had an extremely productive session today - the fingers on my fretting hand hurt, but we finished recording the majority of parts for the guitar songs.

Recording!

2009-05-23T16:04:00.001-05:00

Recording!

After a rather lengthy absence from the blogosphere, I'll be posting regular updates for the first time in months. It's actually been a nice, if unintentional hiatus. But I want to keep you up to date with some exciting news - I'll be starting to record that long-promised album next week!

My trio, which consists of Joe Chellman (drums) and Cory Biggerstaff (upright bass), will be heading to Uptown Recording in a few days to work with engineer Rob Ruccia, who worked on a Grammy-nominated project combining Indian musicians with Miles Davis alumni. I'll be producing the album, which will feature some extra cast members (there may be some collaboration with musicians from other parts of the country), Uptown's new grand piano, and a slew of new material.

So count on regular posts on the recording process - I'm hoping to have the album finished in its entirety by the end of the summer.

Randomness Turns Seven

2009-02-28T15:55:00.000-06:00

Randomness Turns Seven

As of today, Randomness has been around for seven years! Back when I first started, few people knew what a blog was, much less why someone might want to read one. Flash forward to 2009 and print media is slowly transitioning onto the web, for better or worse, and political pundits give bloggers real credence. And with the advent of Twitter, news outlets love picking up stories about "micro-blogging." (Which, in my personal opinion, is a little ridiculous - the term strikes me as rather forced.)

But happy birthday to Randomness - who knows where the internet will be in another seven years?

Ronda, or Middle Earth

2008-12-30T11:25:00.002-06:00

Ronda, or Middle Earth

People tell me skydiving is scary. I've gone skydiving, and it didn't produce nearly as much fear in me as staring straight down the gorge in Ronda, Spain.

Ronda is an old town built on a plateau--two, actually--separated by a sharp, 330-foot drop. The fear reaction that looking down from Puente Nuevo (the "new bridge" that took 40 years and 50 lives to build) produces is a visceral one--people do sometimes fall to their deaths, but much of the space any normal person would wander through is walled off or enclosed with iron grates.

We weren't normal. Lauren, Jason, and I climbed down the slippery stairs that went down to the bottom of the gorge and wandered away from the more standard path to one winding directly underneath and through the bottom section of the bridge. (I don't think most tourist sites in the US would ever leave the path we took open for fear of lawsuits.) The path offered amazing views (the photo on the right was taken from it), but at any moment it would have been a little too easy to trip and fall--most of it was only two feet wide, with a long, sheer drop on one side and perhaps a shorter drop on the other. There were some railings, but they were flimsy (a single line of wire, rather than actual rail, just thick enough to grab, but of dubious help if you actually did fall, and a couple of sections had chain-link fencing), but many of the fence posts and attachments were loose or had fallen off. There were a good number of beer and pop bottles even further down than we went (read: where there was no path at all), so I suspect that the town's teenagers (who all apparently frequent one otherwise intriguing Arabic-styled cafe) must run up and down the rocks. Ronda's beautiful, but there wouldn't be a lot for a teenager to do there after a couple of weeks.

The town itself is amazing--it was Roman, Moorish, and Catholic all in turn, and pieces of each conqueror reflect themselves in its architecture. From one point, you can see the old Arabic bridge (which is still used), the Roman bridge (also still used), Arabic baths and mines, a castle, and a palace. Walking through it, especially near Puente Nuevo, feels like walking into Middle Earth.

Madrid and Winnie the Pooh

2008-12-28T22:03:00.000-06:00

Madrid and Winnie the Pooh

Winnie the Pooh is stalking me. One of my first sights in Madrid after getting out of the Metro at Sol was Winnie the Pooh handing balloon animals to small children. Cute, right? Well, a little later, I walked into Plaza Mayor and there he was again. However, this time he was joined by two of his friends: Chewbecca and Yoda!* I was much more excited to see them--Spain immediately won points for satisfying my geek tendencies. Chewie and I did a little dance, but I think he was actually trying to get me to hug him (believe me, it wasn't obvious--I only figured this out when a little boy ran up to Chewie and hugged him. He must be used to kids just running into his arms).

Hours after leaving Plaza Mayor, after I'd explored a cathedral, peeked into Museo del Jamon ("Ham Museum"--hilarious name, but really a small restaurant chain with a ridiculous number of dried Spanish hams hanging from the ceiling), and wandered through parks, Winnie the Pooh appeared again at a street market in a totally different section of town, still handing out his balloons. Three times was getting a little scary, but none of the other tourists found this disturbing at all. Then again, many of them were wearing neon wigs with foot-tall hair and deconstructed Santa hats that turned into spirals at the top, so I'm not sure they could really be trusted to notice anything strange.

Random fact: The EU ban on smoking is totally ignored in Spain. I'm not convinced that it's possible to find even a cafe that doesn't get smoky.

* Lucasfilm is rather overprotective of its copyrights. I wonder if the street performers paid licensing fees for their costumes?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T01:08:00.002-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'll be driving to Michigan tomorrow to celebrate with friends and family, and I'm exceedingly glad to have a much-needed break.

Over the last couple of years, my parents have become fans of cooking shows, and in that time period they've also perfected the holiday roast turkey. (The trick? Brining.) It's amazing. While my parents have gotten into the Food Network, I've become a bona fide foodie--Chicago is home to fantastic restaurants, and I always have a long mental list of places to try that have been getting good reviews. I learned long ago that the best way to indulge foodie tendencies without spending much cash is to cook, and my cooking has definitely gotten more gourmet-oriented in the last year or two. (Half the fun in cooking for me is the plating.) It's actually rather inexpensive when you make everything from scratch. In general, the only processed foods I buy are chocolate and ice cream. Everything else--sauces, brownies, even sometimes ladyfingers for tiramisu--I make from their basic ingredients. Making something from a box would be a bit of an offense to my pride at this point. But back to Thanksgiving: my traditional contribution to holiday dinners is dessert, which this year will take the form of individual chocolate souffles with creme anglaise. It'll be a bit of an experiment since I only recently bought ramekins, even though I've been meaning to buy them for ages.

Yahoo News has an interesting collection of Thanksgiving stories--it's a feel-good article, but the first piece is well worth reading (it's the Craigslist one).

I have a lot to be thankful for this year, and it's easy to forget that in the midst of work and running around to get things done. "Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others." - Cicero.

Yes We Can

2008-11-15T17:05:00.000-06:00

Yes We Can

After all the hype, after all the rhetoric, after all the emotion that raced through the country in the last couple of weeks, it seems almost inevitable that Obama will disappoint in some way--when your entire campaign is built on change and the hope of ushering in a new era, I wonder how much patience the country will have for the slow progress is more likely than an overnight 180 from our current troubles. Or for the fact that as much power as a president has, the government is still the government--special interests will still lobby and push through legislation that benefits their organizations, often at the expense of others, the federal government will continue to grow in reach, and both parties will continue to struggle for power.

Obama is one of the most inspiring speakers our country has seen, but you have to wonder how much of his talk will turn into action. And what changes will result. Yet I remain optimistic, if cautiously so.

His acceptance speech (which, by the way, was phenomenal) warned a jubilant crowd in my city that "The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America--I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.... I will listen to you, especially when we disagree."

Such words. But if an item in today's news is any indication, we may see their fruit. Obama is reaching out to Hillary Clinton and Republicans to create his cabinet. If he follows through on this, his administration will be the polar opposite of the current one, where Bush values loyalty--which seems to translate into agreement--above sound advice. Change? Yes we can.

Stumbling into Music

2008-11-03T01:15:00.000-06:00

Stumbling into Music

After weeks of non-stop work, Friday night seemed like a good time to sit in a cafe and catch up on reading for a few hours. As long as you're not looking for internet access, Julius Meinl is the perfect place to spend a laid-back weekend night--they have live music and are open later than any of the other coffee shops in my neighborhood. (To my knowledge, the only 24-hour coffee shop in Chicago is Starbucks. There's only one other place that comes close: Pick Me Up Cafe. In a city this large, that's kind of sad.)

A jazz duo was wrapping up their first set when I walked in, and I think I was the only person actually paying attention to them. When they took a break I returned to my book, perking up when they started playing again. In the middle of the first song, the pianist looked over and asked, "Hey, are you a musician? Pianist?" How did you know?

Delighted at being correct, Ken Shiokawa talked me into playing a couple of songs. I, of course, was wonderfully dressed for the occasion: He and Lou Marini, the bassist, were both in suits, whereas I was dressed more casually than I normally would be to walk around town, much less perform in any setting. But Lou and I played together, and it was a lot of fun. I ended up making two new friends. And as a testament to how small the Chicago music scene is, I know Ken's other bass player and the band that Lou regularly gigs with.

Mandarin Chinese for Geeks

2008-10-15T17:41:00.000-05:00

Mandarin Chinese for Geeks

The coolest piece of information I picked up this week: The Chinese word for "week" translates literally into "star date."

The King of Fruit

2008-07-30T00:38:00.001-05:00

The King of Fruit

It's the world's smelliest fruit. In Southeast Asia, it's actually banned from hotels and public transportation. And it produces strong reactions. To its detractors, it smells like rotting onions, dead cats, or skunk. To its faithful lovers (and there are many) it smells sweet, at least when it's fresh.

Victorian naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace once wrote, "To eat durian is a new sensation worth a voyage to the East to experience." And I agree. But then again, I grew up eating this stuff.

Durian is grown in Southeast Asia, and due to its short shelf life and potent smell, it's rarely exported to the West in whole form. Exported durian usually consists of the edible part of the fruit removed from its husk, boxed, and frozen--the texture is rather off-putting. But every trip I've taken to Singapore since I moved as a kid has involved at least a couple of expeditions to roadside stalls where most of my family (my brother and one uncle despise the fruit) would take in piles of durian and open them with help from the seller, who was always known by some family member as "his" durian seller. It's my favorite fruit--you might call me an addict--because when else can you eat something with the texture of custard and consider it healthy? (I've also decided that while the taste will probably never grow on someone who hates it at first bite, it becomes progressively more addictive to those who do enjoy it. It's not called the King of Fruit for nothing.)

So imagine my surprise when I saw fresh durian in the Asian grocery store. Incredible! After making my purchase (a rather steep $37--but then again it's cheaper than a ticket to Singapore) I called my parents to tell them the news (and ask for advice on how to open the thorny husk, a feat I'd always left to the durian seller or some other, more experienced family member). After some tricky maneuvering involving a knife, towels, and a bottle opener (as a lever) outside so that my apartment wouldn't smell, I was treated to the best example of durian I've experienced outside of Asia. It was good enough that I'm craving more.

The verdict from Americans? Bryan found it surprisingly palatable given the smell and his misadventure with durian ice cream in Singapore (durian-flavored items tend to taste rather terrible, in my opinion--you have to eat the fresh fruit, preferably slightly chilled), but my roommate thought it tasted like old onions. Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods is happy eating roasted bats, raw frog hearts, and lizard blood cocktails--but the one food that defeated him utterly? You guessed it. Yum!

The A-List TV

2008-07-14T01:21:00.000-05:00

The A-List TV

Wow, this has been my longest break from blogging in six years. But it's over now, and I have a treat for you: video of my last Chicago concert, combined with an interview with the lovely Janelle Mascarenas from A-List TV. The A-List is a Chicago-based web TV show highlighting Asian-Americans, fashion, music, nightlife, and film. Check it out!

Promoter's Ordinance Tabled!

2008-05-14T01:34:00.001-05:00

Promoter's Ordinance Tabled!

Great news! The Promoter's Ordinance is being pulled and will not be voted on tomorrow--it's going back to committee, but apparently they're going to ask for more input from the entertainment community this time around. Thanks to anyone to contacted their alderman and the 6000 people who signed the petition at Save Chicago Culture, and the various venue owners who met with City Council members.

So for now, the ordinance is something we don't have to worry about, though it'll be worth keeping tabs on.

What a relief.

Save Chicago Music

2008-05-12T11:25:00.000-05:00

Save Chicago Music

In short, the City of Chicago is planning to rush through an ordinance on Wednesday that will severely damage the live music scene (and theatre and DJs, among other things) if passed.

In summary:

The �Event Promoters� ordinance requires any event promoter to have a license from the city of Chicago and liability insurance of $300,000, but that�s just the start:

The definition of �event promoter� is so loosely defined it could apply to a band that books its own shows or a theater company that�s in town for a one-week run.

�Event Promoter� must be licensed and will pay $500 - $2000 depending on expected audience size.

To get the license, applicant must be over 21, get fingerprinted, submit to a background check, and jump over several other hurdles.

This ordinance seems targeted towards smaller venues, since those with 500+ permanent seats are exempt.

Police must be notified at least 7 days in advance of event.

Very, very few performers would be able to afford a $500 license fee (much less one for every venue they play at!), and few small venues could afford it either. If you live in Chicago, please contact your alderman before Wednesday, when the City Council will be voting. Click here to find your alderman.

Randomness Turns Six

2008-03-23T17:04:00.001-05:00

Randomness Turns Six

Back in 2002, hardly anyone knew what blogging was--when I mentioned starting a blog, one of my friends asked, "But why would anyone want to read about what you're doing?" Flash forward six years, and it's rare for anyone not to have--or tried to have--a blog, probably allowing it to die within a few posts (in 2004, the best stats I could find indicated that 26% of blogs were abandoned upon creation, and 40% abandoned within 126 days).

So it's a belated bloggy birthday. In fact, I nearly missed it myself. As of February 28, Randomness is officially six years old--not a bad amount of time to be writing.

Encores

2008-02-28T01:23:00.002-06:00

Encores

Performing in cafes you don't ever expect your audience to demand an encore, but last week at the Heartland Cafe I played for a fantastic crowd that wouldn't allow me to leave the stage. The first encore was quite a surprise, and after asking for a vote I played another song on the guitar in honor of my roommate--she's always asking me to play the "French song." Though now there are two. The second encore was on piano, at the request of the the lovely Annah Zaman, who played before me: "You have to play another one on the piano, because I wasn't in the room just now." After two additional songs, I thought the encores were getting a little ridiculous--not so much that people wanted me to play, but rather that I didn't want to overstay my welcome, so to speak--and I had to pay my food bill, since my server was leaving. Annah, however, volunteered to pay the bill if I played another song on piano. Realizing that she was serious, I played number three. Then I ran, because it would have been strange to become another Evgeny Kissin (if I had half his piano chops I'd be thrilled, but I was once at a concert where as an audience we kept clapping just to see if we could make him keep playing--he played six encores that night).

Thanks so much to everyone who came to the concert--you were a fabulous audience, and I hope to see you again soon!

Tidbits

2008-02-17T01:52:00.000-06:00

Tidbits

It may be due to the fact that I'm an English geek, but the SPOGG (Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar) blog is rather amusing. March 4th this year is National Grammar Day--the first one, I believe, of its kind. Anyone want to celebrate with me?

I've been listening to the soundtrack from Once for the last seven hours.

Last week I was fortunate enough to get comp tickets to the CSO's performance of Ainadamar, a work that hovers somewhere between opera and modern musical theatre--in Diana's words, "I'm on stage for about 90 minutes (of awesomeness) with 14 other Symphony Chorus ladies, members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a flamenco singer and flamenco guitarists and percussionists, a laptop musician, and an opera cast lead by Dawn Upshaw." While the performance reminded me of why actors are always joking about how opera singers can't act, the music was simply stunning. At a couple of points, a gypsy singer appeared on the balcony--and just a few notes were enough to steal the show. I would love to sing like that.

Happy Chinese New Year!

2008-02-07T07:29:00.000-06:00

Happy Chinese New Year!

Thanks to U! for the fabulous drawing, which he sent me as a greeting card (if you're wondering, it's the Year of the Rat). Have a fantastic year, filled with lots of friends, music, and real Chinese food!

"The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls."

2008-01-26T19:17:00.000-06:00

"The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls."

The last two weeks of The Daily Show provided some interesting commentary on not just American politics, but the media.

Take, for example, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's "escalating war of words"--since January 19, 2007, the media has been proclaiming that the "gloves are off" in the race between the two Democratic candidates. We could read this as hype, hype, and more hype. As Jon Stewart put it, "You know, if they're going to keep doing that, why do these candidates keep taking their gloves on and off? It seems inefficient."

Or better yet, how about this? CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC constantly proclaim that race is an issue in the Democratic primary, and they've said that Hillary Clinton first played the race card. In actuality, Clinton said that it takes a president to actually make the policy that civil rights activists march for. Seems reasonable--civil rights activists hope to change public opinion and move policy-makers to act. They in themselves cannot change policy or create laws. Our media, however, turned her statement into an incitement of racial tensions. Contrasting Clinton's actual words to the commentary from the major news channels is both frightening and fascinating--her words are miles apart from the commentators' sensationalist accusations.

Then there's Mitt Romney's supposed eruption and Bill Clinton's angry lashing of reporters. Romney played semantic games--this lobbyist isn't running my campaign, he's just an advisor--but his reaction to the reporter's statements wasn't even on the scale of "angry outburst," much less "incensed" (Hardball). And Clinton? He seemed awfully calm for someone who was "throwing a fit" (Fox News). Yes, he did say, "Shame on you." But I couldn't even rightfully put an exclamation point on his statement against the media looking to create racial issues out of thin air. Yet according to CNN, "He lashed out."

All of this brings to mind Indiana University professor Julia A. Fox's study, "No Joke: A Comparison of Substance in The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Broadcast Network Television Coverage of the 2004 Presidential Election Campaign." She found that The Daily Show contained as much substance as network news. "A [second-by-second analysis] analysis of network coverage found considerably more hype than substance in broadcast newscasts. Examples of such hype included references to polls, political endorsements and photo opportunities.... Interestingly, the average amounts of video and audio substance in the broadcast network news stories were not significantly different than the average amounts of visual and audio substance in The Daily Show with Jon Stewart stories about the presidential election."

The Daily Show is comedy. Very good comedy. But it's not supposed to be a news show. So it's a little sad when the actual news programs do such a poor job of providing substantive information that a comedy show stands with them on equal footing. Or as Stewart says, "You're hurting America."

The Daily Show Back on the Air

2008-01-10T18:49:00.000-06:00

The Daily Show Back on the Air

I'll admit it: I've missed having The Daily Show on the air. Yes, Jon Stewart is back in the middle of the writers' strike, but he and Colbert held out longer than Leno, Letterman, or O'Brien. I admire the fact that both of them continued to make sure that their staff members were paid throughout the strike, even when the show wasn't in production--some other late night shows, meanwhile, were forced to lay off their staff members. Back in December, NBC laid off the non-writing staff members of both Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien. O'Brien paid his staff for another week, I believe out of his own pocket. Late night shows are responsible for employing a host of people--those people aren't writers and don't stand to benefit from any negotiations the WGA makes, however they feel--and the researchers, crew, and others already have a tendency to live paycheck to paycheck.

The first couple of return episodes make it clear that Jon isn't happy about having to return without his writing staff (the show is currently running as "A Daily Show" rather than "The Daily Show" in tribute to the writers); he's also a little "off." But even if The Daily Show isn't in top form, I'm still glad it's back to point out the humor in our absurd political system. Without Jon Stewart and company, American politics is just depressing.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T17:10:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas!

Best wishes for a wonderful holiday!

The Demise of Sigmund

2007-12-20T17:18:00.000-06:00

The Demise of Sigmund

Poor Sigmund, he met an untimely end. He stood near the campus of Northwestern University, and his middle ball was pulled from his body--probably by an undergraduate. And his carrot nose was stolen.

The final insult? Someone's dog left a yellow patch on his bottom ball.

Another Reason to Hate Windows Vista

2007-12-13T07:20:00.000-06:00

Another Reason to Hate Windows Vista

In an acronym: WGA. My laptop came directly from Dell with the OS pre-installed, and it's validated itself as "Genuine Windows Vista" before. But one day--probably after updating, or failing to update itself--it decided that it couldn't validate itself anymore. So depending on how annoying the OS decides to be, it gives me pop ups every few minutes to every few hours telling me that I "might be a victim of software counterfeiting" and to please click on the link provided to validate my copy of Vista. Sure enough, I click on the link, download and run their validator, and it tells me that I do have a real, genuine, 100% loved-by-Microsoft copy of their product. But does my machine seem to agree? Nope. The bottom right of my screen has a little note that won't go away, the the software counterfeiting notice keeps popping up. Sigh. At least I haven't hit the reduced functionality that other users have complained about.

At least it's comforting to know that I'm not the only one that's had this problem. I heard a rumor that Dell was allowing customers to go back to XP--I don't know if it's true, but if it is, I'm switching. Apparently Vista's now "more than two times slower than the most current builds of its
older sibling."