This is a page from the old Von Cello website. Click here for the updated page:
http://www.voncello.com/interact_visitors.html
Here is where visitors' articles and reminiscences will be placed. With your help, we can make this site a place of continuing enjoyment and interest for all! Since I am a visitor to this site too, I will start things off with some memories. Please click on the following links or scroll down.
The Old Neighborhood by Aaron Von Cello If the names Ruby the Knish Man, Harvey Kayro, or Spook mean anything to you, then you must be from the old neighborhood. Canarsie was a one of a kind place. People from Canarsie often stay friends for life, and if not friends, they still have an intense interest in hearing about the people they knew. What was it about growing up there that left its mark so strongly on those who lived there?
We didn't know it at the time, but we were witnessing the end of an era. It was a time and place where the spirit of the old Brooklyn still survived. The Brooklyn of the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Brooklyn of WC Fields, Woody Allen, and so many other characters. It was an extremely friendly place. It took a long time to get home from school because you had to talk to everyone you knew. You might stop four or five times on the way home and stretch a five minute walk into a half hour or so. But you couldn’t imagine it any other way: how could you pass a friend and not talk?
When we were very young we were catching a final glimpse of the era of the peddlers. Even though it wasn’t all that long ago, some of the streets were still dirt roads and down the streets came the knife sharpener, the milk man, the seltzer man, the ride vendors (like King Kong), and, of course, the omnipresent Ruby the Knish Man. But that wasn't all...what about the guy who would take his glass eye out for a nickel? Or the mothers who brought beach chairs into the middle of Glenwood road and sat there every day until the city agreed to put in a traffic light? Remember the stick ball games and the stoop ball games? Remember Ringalevio and Monster? What about street hockey, tops, and snowball fights with a dozen guys? How about the rope? You know, how a bunch of us would make believe we were pulling a rope, like a tug of war, across a street, stopping cars! Though on the map of New York City, it was truly a world of its own.
In some ways it was like Mayberry RFD or a Norman Rockwell painting, except for one thing: the hitters. It was a place where on the way to school you would get confronted by a hitter who would say, "Hey, you got any money on you?" To which you would reply, "No". To which the hitter would say, "Anything I find I keep?", and you would either hand over your money, get searched, or run. It was a place where one day this hitter started punching in the stomach, everyone who was in the school hallway. Well actually, guys got it in the stomach, girls got it on the ass. Boys were doubled over throughout the hall. Girls were holding their behinds.The teachers looked the other way. (Of course, once anyone had their school books knocked down, everyone would start kicking their books yelling, "Hey kid, you dropped your books".) Many of the hitters in later life wound up getting killed. One killed a cop and was later killed in jail. One was found outside a supermarket, in a shopping cart - dead. I guess our neighborhood was like Andy Griffith meets the Sopranos! (I visited an old friend who had moved far away from New York. We were reminiscing and I asked him, " When you were growing up in Canarsie, did you ever get punched in the face?" He said, " Who grew up in Canarsie and didn't get punched in the face?")
I learned about the power of music in Canarsie. One day I was playing in a band in someones’ backyard. As would always happen in Canarsie, a large crowd gathered. Suddenly this kid who was " after me" appeared and recognized me. He came strutting over yelling, "Hey, there's the schmuck I'm after. I'm gonna kick your ass". Meanwhile, I'm standing there with a guitar around my neck wondering if I should ditch the guitar and make a run for it, or use it as a weapon. Once the kids in the crowd realized that he was talking to me, they surrounded him. One said, "Do you know who that guy is? He’s a great guitar player! You can't touch him". Others started saying similar things. Finally he walked away screaming. Everyone was laughing and dancing and I played my heart out for hours!
I could go on and on, but check it out: if you are from the old neighborhood and would like to share some memories, email, and we’ll try to post your article in the Visitors’ Corner. (If you have pictures of me playing in a band, I'd love to see them.) Otherwise leave your thoughts in the guestbook. The world needs to know that there once was a place like Canarsie. (Why, I don't know...but it's true!) And if you are from some other wacky neighborhood and have some good stories to share, why not share them too? Hey, the world is full of bizarre neighborhoods ...isn't it?
Back to Top
Visitor #1 Allright! Someone has been brave enough to break the ice! Tracy Doyle has a site that promotes ragtime music. You can check it out at www.rag-time.com. She sent me a poem that she wrote about the cello. Anyone interested in publishing the poem in a cello or music related magazine or newspaper can reach her at tracy@rag-time.com. Here follows the poem and it's introduction:
(July 31, 1995) I was listening to a little sonata by Albinoni (the one in G) and there's a little part in there where the cellos just start droning out this ascending bassline and I began to think about why I'm so fond of the cello ...
The Cello
By Tracy Doyle
Lo, the poor cello - your song is neglected;
In most ensembles, you're overprotected.
You pick at the bassline the orchestra plays
As the violin flutters and wheels and sways.
You build the foundation in dolorous dronings
As the brasses hoot haughty their euphonic tonings,
And oboes and clarinets joyously toot
The melody line, along with the flutes.
Oh, sing to me, cello, in long oval tones;
In sonorous yawning, in wails and moans.
Your round, wooden voice may be pitched from your strings
As they shirk off the rubbing the rosined bow brings.
But your protest finds voice in your hollow inside -
Your emptiness rings every shrug you provide.
So, sing it out, cello, your solo is brief.
Your song may be gay, but you sing it with grief.
Throw back your head and stretch open your jaw,
And sing it out loud with a yowl and yaw.
And remember, your song would not be near as mellow
If played on a filled-up and satisfied cello.
©1995 by Tracy Doyle
Back to Top
Visitor #2
Jeffrey Solow has become our second visitor. He is a world renound classical cello soloist, and the editor of the newsletter of the Violoncello Society, an organization made up of many of the world's greatest cellists. Jeffrey recently added my "Ten American Cello Etudes" to his list of standard cello repertoire. This is an important step in solidifying its position in the core of this incredible body of work. When I was composing this book, I dreamed that by the time I was an old man my music might join the standard repertoire like the etudes of David Popper, of the 1800's. Amazingly, in only twelve years from its publication, this book is getting there! (Standard cello repertoire is known to almost every cellist in the world and continues to be played for generations.)
And now Jeffrey Solow:
A Guide to the Standard Cello Repertoire
by Jeffrey Solow
I have given each category four subdivisions according to relative degree of technical difficulty (listed from easiest to most difficult)...Within each subdivision the works are listed somewhat arbitrarily in order of study suggested by technical and musical difficulty and, in some instances, importance in the repertoire. The compositions in brackets are more peripheral; some are infrequently performed today but still hold a certain place in the repertoire, while others are gaining in acceptance.
Etudes and Studies
Klengel: Technical Studies Vol. I (scales)
Dotzauer: 113 Studies, Vol. I
A. Schroeder: 170 Foundation Studies, Vol. I (various composers)
[Lee: 40 Melodic Studies, Op. 3]
[Sevcek: 40 Variations, Op. 3 (originally for violin)]
...............................................
Cossmann: Excercises for developing agility, strength of fingers and purity
of intonation
Feuillard: Left Hand Studies (Daily Exercises)
[Kummer: 10 Melodic Studies, Op. 57 (with 2nd cello)]
Dotzauer: 113 Studies, Vol. II
Schroeder: 170 Foundation Studies, Vol. II (various composers)
[Franchome: 12 Caprices, Op. 7]
[Minsky: 10 American Cello Etudes]
[Starker: An Organized Method of String Playing]
...............................................
Dotzauer: 113 Studies, Vol. III
Schroeder: 170 Foundation Studies, Vol. III (various composers)
Duport: 21 Etudes (with 2nd cello)
Popper: "12 Studies Preparatory to the High School of Cello Playing," Op. 76,
No.1
..............................................
Popper: "High School of Cello Playing," Op. 73
Piatti: 12 Caprices, Op. 25
[Servais: 6 Caprices, Op. 11 (with 2nd cello)]
[Grützmacher: "Technology of Cello Playing," Op. 38, Vol. II (with 2nd cello)]
Back to Top
Visitor #3
Hi...it's me...Von Cello, hanging out in the Visitors' Corner again. I stopped by just to tell you that several old Canarsie friends have posted to the Guestbook: Perry Seigle from my high school band "We're Only In It For The Money", Todd Cushner from my junior high school band "Hang Nail", and Neal Goldstein, Barry Lederman, Frank Meo (Bubs), Bernard Ciechanowsky, and others. We've gotten into some great back and forth, reminiscing about growing up in Canarsie, and talking about the musical roots that lead to Von Cello and this website. (There are also posts from successful cellists, Kris Cowperthwaite of Rasputina, and my college buddy Dave Runnion who has been principle cellist in various orchestras in Europe. Not to mention many other interesting posts.) Oh, and Gregg Wieder signed in, the owner of the amazing Canarsie Memories website (http://hometown.aol.com/editorgaw/page1.html) which has my picture on the homepage! So check out the Guestbook link at the bottom of this page and get ready for some laughs and some outrageous memories. Sign in and join the fun!
Back to Top
Visitor #4
Shortly after getting this site on line, I was contacted by Todd Cushner, the drummer of my junior high school band, Hang Nail. I hadn't heard from him since 9th grade! We had some great talks during which he expressed to me how traumatic it was for him when I started playing the cello! Todd put his memories into the article below. The title is a play on the name Eddie Van Halen, the famous rock guitarist, and seems to suggest how surprising it was for Todd to see his favorite rock guitarist suddenly become Von Cello! Many other Canarsie people have told me similar things, but Todd was in my band, so I think it hit him harder. Yet he did manage to get over it and he kept playing. Today he owns a finance company and is finishing up a law degree. And now, my old friend Todd...
Eddie "Von Cello" ??? A Reminiscence
by Todd Cushner
Seventh grade is a rough time for a boy in a tough neighborhood. Picture a
junior high school where a "Goldberg-esque" ruffian is the assistant principal and stands guard over the lunchroom ruckus. Head locks and body slams are standard operating procedure while standing on line to consume yet another plate of ravioli so incomprehensible that the venerable Chef Boy Ar Dee would be at a loss to describe it's contents. For those lucky enough to get through lunchtime, the trip home from school was often met by other urban foibles including local tough guys eager to help you earn your statutory share of ass kickings, and school yard druggies who would steal your "Spalding" only to sell it back to you for a nickel. A truly disturbing loss, considering how much a nickel could get you in that school yard. Take for example the old guy in the filthy raincoat who would gladly pull out his glass eye for that nickel. A treat even Coney Island in it's heyday couldn't reproduce. Where does a kid turn to escape the pathetic lack of enthusiasm permeating this middle class arena...How about Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky", the Rolling Stones "Sympathy for the Devil", Credence Clearwater 's "Heard it through the Grapevine" or perhaps a sound unfamiliar but amazingly exciting like Santana's "Black Magic Woman"? Well that music caught my attention, consumed my imagination, and answered for any free time I had, including those hours pretending to be doing homework.
Apparently, Von Cello, a year older, was caught up in the same fascination and be
it by fate or the machinations of the gods above, we were to meet. In actuality, it was Eric Davidson's mother who brought us together in an effort to push her son into the limelight of the Bildersee Junior High talent show. In fact, Von Cello at the time was merely Aaron Minsky, a typical eighth grader, but armed with some amazing talents and charms. Not the least of which was his 70' s rock star, Yanni meets Jack Daniels, come on girls touch me, rock and roll good looks. His weapon of choice: a sunburst Hagstrom, Viking IV ES 335 lookalike, guitar. The venue, my well equipped Canarsie basement. Me on my vintage blue sparkle Sam Ash special drums and Eric with his brand spankin' new, hot out of the box, Gibson Electric, were ready for rock stardom or at least the talent show. First rehearsal was a blast and it was clear to me and Eric that fame, fortune and maybe even sex were soon to be ours. Aaron was our deliverer, our Mick Jagger, our Hendrix , a smokin' guitarist , a great vocalist for an eighth grader, and the chicks loved that long wavy hair. We were in like flint. Stardom was a home room session away!
Well, the talent show went okay, in spite of a broken guitar string, and so came a minor
flurry of performance opportunities, such as a local block party, a Canarsie Day event
and an awards show at Brooklyn College. Not too shabby for three kids who didn't even finish spending their Bar Mitzvah money yet. Eric and I were planning strategy and coming up with new song suggestions while Eric's mom was frantically trying to book us anywhere. ("Mrs. Mandelbaum, give me one good reason why you cant have a band at a circumcision?") Little did we know it was all coming to an end. Where was Aaron? Why wasn't he showing up anymore? Didn't he love the Stones as much as we did? Didn't he see the girls in the front row looking at him as if he were David Cassidy (and "getting happy")? Something had to be done, so we hopped on our Schwinn banana bikes and rode to his house. Eric went in and I waited outside. Five minutes later Eric returned with the bad news . Aaron was inside playing his cello. "His what?", I shouted with horror and dismay! Yes it was true, Aaron really didn't dig the guitar, nor was he into the "scene" and I guess he hadn't noticed the girls either. He was a kid with a real passion and a passion for a music that at the time I didn't yet understand. A passion for an instrument not nearly as cool as a guitar, at a time in a kids life when being cool is a major force to be reckoned with. A Cello??? I couldn't even imagine the "shlep" factor in dragging that thing around from gig to gig, did Aaron? Apparently he did, as he was willing to forgo everything a typical kid dreams of, for completely unorthodox and uncharted territory.
So ended my first Rock and Roll band "Hang Nail". It was short but the excitement of it
is burned indelibly in the back of my brain. It was a promising time and a spring board
to many other musical experiences. What I didn't realize at the time was how cool Aaron Minsky really was. He was a man who followed his passion and walked his own musical path. He never looked back, uninterested in doing what everyone else was doing, he had a mission or perhaps a vision. That my friends is the root of greatness. That dedication to the sounds swimming around in your head is the thing that produces musicians who move the envelope forward, guys like Miles Davis, Django Reinhardt, Copeland and Lennon. It was my good fortune to share some musical moments in time with Von Cello!
Back to Top
Visitor #5
The Breaking The Sound Barriers CD Contest Results
The winners of the "Breaking The Sound Barriers CD Contest" have been chosen! They will be announced below! Von Cello will also respond to some of the comments culled from the entries not chosen. We are very pleased by the turnout. Over a thousand people hit the contest page and many people entered!
The contest was created in response to the fact that Von Cello's CD was entered in the Grammys in the Classical Crossover category and was moved by the classical committee into the Vocal Pop category. The contest worked as follows: contestants were supposed to listen to the CD and then write a comment as to whether or not they felt the CD should be classified as Classical Crossover or Vocal Pop. In other words, it was a chance for people to weigh in on the appropriateness of the classical committee's decision. To review how the comments were to be judged, here is a quote from the original announcement: "Comments will be judged on wit, insight, humor and creativity".
The Grand Prize is a free subscription to the Indiebiz website, a $100 value, and an autographed copy of Von Cello's CD "Breaking The Sound Barriers". The other prizes are an autographed copy of Von Cello's CD. There are five winners.
We also tallied up all the opinions expressed in the entries. The vote went as follows: 77% felt the CD was classical crossover, 23% felt it was vocal pop. And now...the winners!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Grand Prize goes to David White. He was very clever in the way he tied his comments to a current event. His insight was apparent in his recognition that what was really at stake here was a person's dream. He also peppered his comments with humor.
Grand Prize : David White
Subject: No Choice
I'm fifty one years old now , no longer a beach boy type. I started
playing the piano at the age of five, notice I said "playing" and not
the "study" word. The truth of the matter is this - my piano teacher
of long ago taught me to do one thing, love music! I've listened at
one time or another to just about every type of music. I think I know
what would be "Classical Crossover" verses "Britney Spearmint Gummy
Bear Blues". Someone missed the boat here. I think I know the type.
"We have to meet a dateline and I think I'll put this here." That is
about as logical as a submarine captain in the United States Navy
sinking a ship full of high school students, without a torpedo, in
the worlds largest ocean! We live in wonderful times. DNA, NASA, NRA,
and BS. "Voncello" was robbed of the chance to compete! Someone
goofed here and probably elsewhere too. I don't pretend to be an
expert, but this one is not stupid. This one can recognize stupid.
Stupid is what happens when someone abandons thought. Stupid
sometimes takes lives, sometimes an arm or leg or even an eye.
Sometimes stupid is called an "accident". When stupid takes away
someone's dreams, it is no accident- it is just plain STUPIDITY!
Winner: Maggie Council DiPietra
Subject: *Classic* classical crossover
There is no music outside Von Cello's sphere of influence; he
effectively deconstructs musical genres with his work, reconstructing
in unique, but still recognizably classical ways.
Someday the NARAS people might have to deal with expanding their
categorization concepts to be more inclusive. It's not like the guy
took a sample of the LSO (London Symphony Orchestra) and laid
a rap on it! There is no question in my mind that the CD is
Classical Crossover; although Von Cello could go for a Pop Vocal
award if he wanted to, his album is much more than that, and should
stay where the *artist* entered it. I hope it makes him smile, too,
the thought of the classical committee acting all afraid of his music...
Winner: Paula Bright
I have long been a fan of Von Cello's classical work, as well as his
newer "crossover" material. Are these Grammy "classical committee"
members aware that he has numerous serious music books published by
Oxford press? Are they aware that he spent years studying with some
of the finest classical cello teachers in the world? Are they aware
that he has performed with some of the top orchestras in several
continents?
For a cellist of his caliber who has "created" these new sounds,
songs, and style -- to be denied the label "classical crossover" is
not just an injustice--it is an outright joke and insult!
If this is the way in which artists achieving the so-very-coveted
place in the Grammies are treated, then I'm not so sure it is
something that we in the music world should aim and work for with the
dedication we do.
What are these people THINKING? Surely they are joking? I'm stunned,
and to tell you the truth, outraged. Well, I'm beginning to grind my
teeth in frustration, so I'll end this missive before I start asking
for names and addresses!
Winner: Tamika English
My name is Tamika English, and I've been recording for 11 years
now, Choir was nominated for a Grammy this year. And I know my
music!!!!!! and I thank it should be a classical crossover !!!!! And
whoever said it shouldn't needs to get out of the industry...
"WHY?" Because they don't know good
classical music at all !!!!!! And I'll be glad to tell them !!!!!
I love music and know good music......let me win this please!!!!!!
Because I would love to meet that person to tell them to CLEAN THEIR
EARS !!!!!!!
Winner: J.J. Hagger
Subject: To be or not to be. that is the competition!
We sit in judgment all the time about what something should or
should not be, is it modern rock or classic rock, can a new Robert
Plant song be modern rock by a classic rock artist?
We get tangled up in genres & the inability to recognize a musical
piece for just that, we now have moved into so many sub-genres because
we still have to have that little box to put something into when we
live in an age where the public doesn't do that anymore. Rockers like
Rap & Rappers like Rock, on the streets it's 4-Real, yet all those
nice marketing personnel will tell you it ain't so.
When you think of classical music I'm sure that we all have thought
about a bunch of old farts playing to a crowd that just shakes it's
jewelry instead of clapping, John Lennon was right. But when you look
at the bigger picture you could call Nigel Kennedy or Charlotte
Church pop music, yet they are classical artists that cross over into
all sorts of areas & influence.
Look at Steve Vai. Is he a metal artist, not if you talk to Korn
fans. Is he a classical guitarist, well the "Beethoven Brigade"
certainly would view what he does with distaste. Yet if we could
really get "Bill & Ted" to go back in time with a synth & a guitar
then we can all imagine what Ludwig would come out with.
There is the problem, old stuck in their ways people with nice cars &
nice houses & a history of what is right or wrong. I feel after
listening to the Von Cello music that all sides have a valuable point,
yet they should make the decision based on the music on the shiny
disc & not what they feel they should do. Ten reviewers from ten
genres would give the album ten very different reviews, This does not
mean they are all right or all wrong, it's just an opinion & like
a***holes, we all have them but some are more full of s**t than
others.
You can set your watch by what will win certain genres of music
because of the blinkers on the higher level at most companies. Free
your mind & the rest will follow. If only the music industry took that
on board.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thus ends the entries of the winners. Now Von Cello will respond to sections of some of the entries not chosen. Some are positive and others negative. The reason they weren't chosen was that the entries above were judged to have fit the criteria more closely.
Lev "Ljova" Zhurbin wrote: The CD is really neither.
Von Cello responds: I can see your point. I wanted this CD to walk that fine line between the genres of classical and rock. In fact, I wanted to create a new type of music. I'm glad that you picked up on that.
Victoria Boland wrote: Love the flavor you've given the classics! It's today!
Von Cello responds: I'm happy that you said it's "today". I do feel that I have entered new territory. Perhaps it is too new for certain people to understand.
Marc Wagnon wrote: After listening to a few tracks I am convinced that this is not a
cross over album, but a provocative publicity stunt. Von Cello should
be congratulated for the latter.
Von Cello responds: I don't know if I should say thank you. The fact that you only listened to a few tracks makes me wonder what you might have thought had you listened to the whole thing. This CD is like those wonderful "concept albums" from the classic rock era. It tells the story of a cellist "crossing over" from classical to rock. Every song is either an arrangement of a classical piece, has lyrics about a crossover cellist, or has references to classical music. Yes I do want publicity, but this is not a stunt. Bringing the cello into popular music is my life's work!
Nicola Cosmo Salerno wrote:
I think that "Breaking The Sound Barriers" is simply a very bad trial
to make innovative music. My opinion is that if a classical musician
is trying to do something else....well...usually he's not able to do
anything interesting simply because rock/pop is not his background.
The result is really pathetic. I've been listening to some pieces and
I found them simply ...old and anachronistic! For example, does the
composer know that the kind of use of violoncello with distortion is
something already done, for example, in avant-garde improvised music
during the 70s? Bad taste dominates the whole work, lack of ideas is
the must of this album. The sublime kitsch on the "Air on the 4th
String" by Bach is unreachable!!!!
Von Cello responds: Wow! If only you had a sense of humor you might have won an autographed CD! (I'm sure you're upset.) I noticed that you think I am a classical musician trying to sound like a rock musician! That's excellent! You provide living proof as to just how successful I have been at becoming accepted as a classical cellist. This is quite an achievement considering that I grew up as a rock guitarist!
You asked if I know that cellists were using distortion in the 70's. Of course I do, I was one of them! But even if I were the young upstart that you imagined me to be, what's wrong with using distortion? What you're saying is something like, "Does the cellist know that vibrato was first used in the 1670's? How anachronistic to still use vibrato today". Just because someone used a certain sound at a certain time, does not preclude it from ever being valid in the future. After all, guitarists are still using distortion. Do you have a problem with that too?
You commented that this CD has a lack of ideas. A cellist playing everything from Bach to rap to folk to rock to Americana to new age...you don't find any ideas? How about basing a folk rock tune on a Schubert lieder, or using whole tone melodies mixed with industrial percussive sounds to describe feelings of alienation caused by the internet, or writing a pop tune in the style of a Bach cantata, or making the cello sound like a train, or like Hendrix and then combining that sound with hip hop drum loops in a rap about an angry cellist forced to rap for a living due to the fact that our culture gives more support to rap than to classical music? This is the only album that I know where a musician actually describes his journey from classical music to popular music: it's a classical crossover CD about CROSSING OVER! No ideas? If there's one thing this CD has, it's ideas!
I'm glad that you found my "Bach To The Future" sublime. I find it beautiful and moving myself. Your kitsch comment reminds me of a comment I heard from a writer who said that fall foliage was nature's kitsch. Funny...I always thought it was nature's artistry. One man's art is another's kitsch. In any case, the best art always provokes a reaction. By the way, you never did answer the question. You were supposed to have written about whether my CD is classical crossover or vocal pop. Oh well...I guess you were too busy reacting!
John Pomplin wrote:
Yep that's it, classical crossover. You are right, you got screwed by
NARAS on that one. Consider this my vote (and entry).
Von Cello responds:
If the prize were based on getting quickly to the point you would have won! Your handful of words speaks volumes!
I'm thankful to all of the contestants for their entries. Whether your comments were pro or con, I am grateful for the time you spent listening to, and thinking about, my music!
Sincerely,
Aaron Von Cello
Back to Top
Visitor #6
Here follows a very honest yet humorous review of Von Cello's CD by Perry Seigle. Perry was the rhythm guitarist in "We're Only In It For The Money", my High School band. We played many hilarious gigs together. Recently, Perry joined Slipknot, the top Grateful Dead tribute band of New England, with a 25 year history! I got a chance to play live with them. It was great! In his "spare" time, Perry is a middle manager at a major internet software company.
Von Cello CD Doesn't Brake for Sound Barriers
I urge everyone at all interested in what Von Cello is doing, to order his
"Breaking The Sound Barriers" CD and give it a listen. Wait. No. Give it
about ten listens. Then ten more. Then give it one more. I have to admit,
that after hearing nothing but the sound clips, though impressed with the
sounds and production, I thought, "I could never actually listen to this
stuff if it wasn't my friend's". Don't let the little sound snips on his web
site represent to you what this CD is. You will be cheating yourself.
I have now been in receipt of my very own "Breaking the Sound Barriers" CD
for a few days and let me say, I cant stop listening to it. To be honest, at
first it was a novelty. It's my friend's CD. I hear all the hard work he put
into it, but still struck me like a "CD only a mother could love". Well,
here I am, writing about it after listen number 20 or so. What at first
seemed like an exercise in overindulgence and just another "artist" with a
computer and multi tracking software musically masturbating, all of a sudden
became a CD that has not left my CD player. It plays, and the more it plays,
the more I like it. And the more I listen closely, the more I like it. The
less I listen and just let it play, the more I like it. Damn it, I am loving
this CD!
Though the CD starts with a cut ("I Used To Be an Orchestra Player") very
reminiscent of the Mothers Of Invention, its really the music of early Pink
Floyd and Moody Blues that keep popping into my head each time the entire CD
plays. This is definitely a concept style album, not just dictated by the
lyrical content of the songs, but also flows conceptually at the musical
level. Many cuts are playful and tongue in cheek, (i.e. Anthem/Cello Players
Rap) but what really works is that the music supports the lyrical content at
all times. Though much of the CD's cuts are steeped in a retro sound, the
cut "Lost in Cyberspace" has a more alternative edge to it and melodic style
similar to Stone Temple Pilots. And let me say that "Holes In the Sky" is
one of the most beautifully sounding pieces coming out of my CD players
speakers recently. (And for the Grammy argument, this must be a crossover
album, as I refer to a song as a "piece", and do it without getting
slapped!).
The production on the CD is excellent and I would bet that the track "Cello
Man" pays some intended homage to early rock's production pioneer, Brian
Wilson in his Pet Sounds days. Von Cello's layers of sounds and effects,
some subtle, some over the top, reward the listener after repeated
listening. As I let the CD play and do other stuff, whenever I stop to
randomly "pay attention to detail" I'm always rewarded with something in the
production that makes me smile, be it a musical phrase lifted from a well
known classic or a sound effect that I can only imagine I know what its
reference really is. That's the fun of it.
It is music that makes you think, but only if you want to. It's also music
that plays by itself, waters and feeds itself, and you only have to let it
out once in a while. As Ron Popiel of Ronco says, you can "set it and forget
it". But, I have to keep going back to it and give it some attention. And I am
glad I do.
Visitor #7
On September 11th, 2001, America was attacked from the sky by terrorists. They hijacked and crashed passenger airlines into both buildings of the World Trade Center in New York, as well as the Pentagon. They tried to attack the White House but were thwarted by brave passengers causing the plane to crash in a field. The death toll of all of this will be in the many thousands.
Unfortunately, America now knows the pain of terrorism on it's soil. This pain has been felt in many other countries, nowhere more than in Israel. It is time for the whole world to stand up and say that terror will no longer be tolerated as a means of furthering any belief whatsoever. This is not a fight between America and Islam, it is a fight between the good people of the world against an unacceptable evil. Many songs have been written about the tragedy that changed the world. The lyrics below were among the first.
Waking the Giant
words & music by Gary Lopez
They prod and they poke the giant does not wake
The fear of it's presence has filled them all with hate
But the giant is sleeping not fully in view
Could it be they don't know what it is that they do?
Waking the giant, they’re waking the giant
They're waking a giant though he can't be seen
He's the collective conscience of the human being
He is made up of people from every race
That will not tolerate terrorist hate
They're waking the giant and when he stands
They'll be cast into the shadows with his mighty hands
Waking the giant, they’re waking the giant
Visitor #8
My Street
Hillcrest Drive, the barely-two-lane road that runs through snob hill, has remained nearly untouched since I was a child. This is a good thing; small-town America at its best. Off of the town's main road and just inside "city limits", my neighborhood was dubbed snob hill years ago, as the affluent part of town. I laughed when I was told this by my mother. I didn't see it. But Washburn isn't known for its industry or shopping, and
definitely not as a tourist attraction. The town's best features are the large park and the ability to walk to the store or post office without tiring your legs. I always assumed the welcome sign boasting a population of 1,200 must include the dogs and cats freely roaming the streets.
I suppose Hillcrest could be termed a sub-division, comparatively. The drive runs from the interstate at one end, down a curving hill, and connects with an adjacent road that also runs off of the interstate. One smaller road cuts through, giving access to those on the top of the hill. It ends in a paved circle, allowing those who take the wrong turn to go back without pulling into a driveway. Or to allow bicyclists to prove their skills at racing high-speed around the circle.
I lived at the bottom of the hill, in the island of two rows of houses standing back-to-back. Behind us was a large open lot, with a small hill in between our property and theirs. Mom used to imagine one of her children buying the lot and moving in behind her. It now has a very gaudy, too-large-for-the-lot grayish house covering most of the grass we would trample through to visit friends at the top of the hill. It doesn't belong to
any of us; we would have stayed with the neighborhood style - a more traditional ranch house, one story with a basement. Most of the houses on my street are ranches, though a few at the bottom of the hill added a second story.
Our ranch is the most traditional; white with black shutters. In recent years, my parents have replaced the cement walk leading from the inclined driveway to the front door with a wood deck, and the row of small pines that used to run all the way across to more delicate-looking flower beds. The small maples in the front, including the one my little brother used to jump over, have grown enough to shade the house and provide some privacy, blocking the large picture window from the road.
Directly across from us, another small hill leads from the edge of the road down to a garden. In the Spring, the dark brown earth is tilled carefully by our neighbor to bring several summer crops to full bloom. To the left of the garden, with plenty of wandering space between, is another two-story, slightly gaudy for its placement, house where one of my good friends used to dwell. Its occupants are related to the occupants of the house behind us. To the left of my friend's house is a more recent addition; a charming country-style home. I am not familiar with its occupants.
The "other side of the road" has been filling slowly in recent years. New, so-far unpaved roads lead into the flat area. The houses appearing are more updated than my parents' ranch, taking away from the rural charm of snob hill, but perhaps making the title more fitting.
Back to Top |