More on the first snippet from the new opera, The Boats. Overture. Fretless bass as passing fad. Bodhràn. Getting reacquainted with an instrument is not like riding a bicycle. Instruments as characters. Dog training. Ants. The Invisible Fence as compositional aid.

Roger CortonWe got comments that we never actually talked about the music last week.

JCHSo let’s do it. Again.

Overture To The Boats (Snippet)

RCIs this the overall tone of the piece? It sounds very ‘pop’ to me. Not ‘operatic’.

JCHWell, it’s a whole separate talk about what is an ‘operatic’ sound these days. But as far as the tones? For The Boats I dusted off two instruments I haven’t touched in ages: the fretless bass and the bodhràn.

RCThe hand drum. Last heard from on Home.

For Angela (Snippet)

JCHRight. It dawned on me last year that I haven’t really touched the fretless in […]

First snippet from the new opera, Boats. Nostalgia. Peter Gabriel & San Jacinto. Deadliest Catch. Willy Loman. Death Of A Salesman. Masculinity. Is golf as boring as opera?

Roger CortonGreat news. Another snippet?

JCHAnd the bad news is. It’s about the other opera.

RCI’ve given up trying to tell you to stay focused on one album at a time. So, is there a story in there someplace?

JCHWell that’s the other bad news. It’s a lot like Detroit The Opera. Except that it’s about fishermen. It’s Detroit. With fish. And manly men.

RCManly men?

JCHYeah. Not to digress, but I was listening to Peter Gabriel the other day. And I hadn’t noticed before; he covers this one theme over and over; There’s this ancient way of doing things that gives life–especially men’s lives–real meaning. And then it blows up. For example, “San Jacinto” is a great vignette. I think it’s his best lyric by a mile

[…]

Or, “can it be wrong if everyone does it?” An NPR article on copyright that totally misses the point. Someone is making money on invented language? Peter Hollens and Middle Earth videogame sounds vs. Steve Roach and Ambient Electronica. Cosplay. Piracy. Point Counterpoint. Jane You Ignorant Slut. Fresh vs. Freeze-dried food. Some dark ideas on the future.

JCHOK, so there was this story on NPR:

http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/08/08/487291905/why-taylor-swift-is-asking-congress-to-update-copyright-laws

JCHAnd I wrote a comment, which got deleted for some reason. So, sneak that I am, I re-posted it two days later (and below).

RCHoly Invented Language Batman! That guy is just like what you were ranting on Invent Your Own Language last month!

JCHExcept that he found a way to monetize the thing.

RCHe makes a six figure income! Making D&D sounds?

JCHI mean, who knew there was so much interest in ‘Cosplay’.

RCCosplay?

JCHGoogle it, homes. Apparently, playing dress up is a big deal nowadays. […]

First snippet from the new album, Progress. Chaplin Modern Times. Boiling the frog. Astoria, OR gig is a go.

Roger CortonMan. I go away for a few weeks and the whole place goes to hell!

JCHThings have been busy.

RCOK we’ll knock off a few items in a minute. But without further ado, you have a snippet preview of the new record.

JCHYep.

I Know What You Want

RCThis is not what I expected.

JCHWhat were you expecting?

RCWell, not dance music. It almost sounds like EDM. Is the whole record like this?

JCHI’m glad you mentioned that. No, the whole record is not like that. If you know anything about what I do by now, it’s that picking one ‘representative’ cut is a fool’s errand. But to yer point: we live in the age of EDM. In a sense, […]