"Nothing is really like anything else."
- Benjamin Boretz - "3: (A Train of Thoughts)"
from "inside in . . . / . . . outside out" Open Space Publications, 2020
Texts
From Recent Arrivals
November 26, 2021
A Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow - Judy Garland [from Miss Show Business]
that goes all over the place
gracious!
Anything - Janet Jackson [from The Velvet Rope]
some anybody's fantasy
within a satin soft sound world
single-minded
not sure what the storm sounds are for
but they don't last long
Recorded
November 20, 2021
Passamezzo Pavan and Galliardas Passamezzo, Fvb 56 and 57 - William Byrd - Claudio Columbo (from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book)
Repetition,
as experienced,
is the process of remembering
while being reminded
- a comparing
with an ongoing
anticipation
of hearing again.
Immediate repetition
collapses
now into then
or
then
into now.
Sequence also:
repetition along a stepped path.
What can't be said
can't be said,
but can be held close,
nurtured.
Sonata in G Major, Kk. 145 - Domenico Scarlatti - Jan-Pieter Belder
Mindful
of each step taken
and the change
in the world
as seen.
Is there a parallax
among the motions of moments?
Kurze und Leichter Klavierstücke, "Alla polacca in D Major", Wq. 114/5 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi
dance movements were all the rage
- exotica then,
incipient
nationalism
Sonata in D minor, Op. 31 #2 "The Tempest" - Ludwig van Beethoven - HJ Lim
dramatically frantic tempo
for the fast parts
the motivic arpeggio
of the first movement
serves many functions
in that movement
and then
opens the door
on the 2nd
played poetically
but with a hard edge
a dark peril
exits stage left
quickly
for further trouble
Etude in E-flat Major, Op. 10 #11 - Frédéric Chopin - Alfred Cortot (1933)
an efficiently magic
household worker
helpful elves
Toot Toot Tootsie - Al Jolson [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]
song for dancing
never leaves the feet adrift
in any irrecoverable
confusion
Vetrate di chiesa - Ottorino Respighi - Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy
so where does this fit?
pop impressionism
pictorial
an
anticipation of big screen grandeur
travelogue
spawn of
Rimsky-Korsakov
what does one do in Italy
if one is not Puccini?
did these movements fit on the side of a 78?
were people
outside
of the pop industry
even thinking that way
back then?
probably not in this case
this is written for the opening slot on
a Symphony Concert
goes down easy
or perhaps for dessert
in
some cases
- actually -
should be last
big and splashy
sure to get an enthusiastic ovation
Symphony in E minor - Florence Price - The Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séquin
1
ok so Dvořák,
even some near quotes
really loves the
dramatic rhythmic crescendo
to the herotune
first movement
at least
is a pretty passable Dvořák symphony
and that ain't
hay
it sprawls grandly
2
interesting use of drums
very plain
careful
church
day
Sabbath
the kids in the back row
are not entirely well
behaved
the evenings are long
3
enjoying a brisk morning
of social commerce
the image
of what America
wanted to be
or
saw themselves
being
this town is about to break
into a full scale
production number
stand back
4
all in all
I was having a much better time
with this one
than I did with the C minor
from the same download
there is a path the guitar takes
down from that high point
down to
the bottom
the foot stones are precarious
this recording sounds better than others
pitched differently?
Born to Lose - Ted Daffan [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
easy living room dance song
accordion!
self-pity poem
Let's Say a Prayer - Peggy Lee [from The Complete Recordings 1941 - 1947]
what strange confluence
of money and people
created the
institution
of the 1940s nightclub
as seen in the movies
Have Mercy Baby - Billy Ward and His Dominos (Clyde McPhatter) [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
statement :: backup echo
(repeat)
a gambit
a pattern
a
ride
All Set - Milton Babbitt - Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose
the most twistiest
tracking
shot
anyone's path
through
choose your own
with drum solo no less
Mixed Up Confusion - Bob Dylan [from Biograph]
train song
tripping along
Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly - The Philadelphia Brass Ensemble [from Festival of Carols in Brass]
straight up
Obscured by Clouds - Pink Floyd [from Obscured by Clouds]
so it's the title tune
for a film
never intended to be a song
outside of that context
other than
hey guys
we can
sell the songs separately
for some extra cash
but it doesn't
really pretend
to be anything else
and Gilmore's solo
is
attractive
in an unobjectionable sort of way
Hard Enough to Show - The Rumour [from Max]
has that
isolated tracks scrubbedness
to it
rinky dink piano sound
Plainsong - Walt Wagner [from The Evening Muse]
Satie's ripped off head
it is true
that many of Satie's Gymnopodiesque harmonies
have a
punning similarity
to smooth jazz's ubiquitous 7th chords
but
they arise
out of different complexes of urgencies
and don't
really mix well
Gradus 8 (San Diego Series) - Neal Kosály-Meyer [January 18, 1987]
Is it expression?
an expression of focused thinking
without an
explicit message
Is it in a mode of social intercourse?
it was shared with me
Does it have an expressive value?
it is useful
to me
as a
relatively naked episode
of focused thinking
allowing
both a
window into another's
and
a mirror
or icon
of my own
such episodes*
Is it firmly embedded
in its personal social/intellectual culture?
unquesionably
How large is that culture?
where two or more are gathered
exploratory
exploring what it creates
in the immediate now
key strikes
are experiments
upon
that immediate now
variously subtle and blunt
*reflection
is an act of self criticism
and of self examination.
stripped down
to a van size of band
a tactical move
firmly of its type
Banned Rehearsal 457 - Isaac E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Neal Kosály-Meyer
drums and piano to start
some other light percussion
and a rumbly
thing
amplified somehow
the Funmaker
a tour of our sounds
led by
a dour guide
big fat Aaronsbundler
and baseball
too
the sound of this is quite good
for one of our cassette sessions
there is a big noise now and again
but it doesn't take over
massive swaths of time
plenty of room to be tiny in
we must have been doing one of our round robin routines
various of us
in and out
on a schedule
{from my journal entry of March 1, 2005:
great care is being taken here
moves are not bold
though richly
colored
and so
as much
by time placements
lovely
the reason for care
very loud amplification
Aaronsbundler
briefly baseball
radio space
taken up
by some glorious
percussion sounds
GETTING BIG : BIFURCATION :
piano chord joins
when sounds bend
ever so slightly
into the magnet zone
feedback happens
we flirt with the edge of this
becoming gentle again
aspects
of little forest critter music
wooden stick sounds
Isaac play
sounds
what this session lacks
in continuity
it makes up for
in
transparence
energy fails somewhat after 20 minutes or so}
text:
multiple strands thereof
circulating
word by word
affect specific
violently Eurocentric
: the various languages in play
are all
I believe
European in immediate origin
the percussion
instruments
are perhaps less so
but firmly within the European
modern stance
Consider the Birds - Keith Eisenbrey [February 3, 2007]
construct a rhythm
not quite algorithmically
but using digital
tools
or
a series of durations
then
feed it a sound
source
to fill in
the content
the shape
of the
original sound source
will be there
partly
in sampled
abstract form
but heard
as pulses only
laid out
on a
slide
for analysis
a core sample
something to statisticize
specifically
without regard
to whatever larger forms
our earbrain
may have used
to parse
the original sound
source
FIDL Trio (+1) - Elaine Barkin [from Open Space 34]
these instruments
synthesized though they be
are discussing
matters of dire importance
to them
and
one fears
to us
another St. Rage song
I must have done these
before we got Karen's
headset mic
November 24, 2021
The Carmans Whistle, Fvb 58 - William Byrd - Claudio Columbia [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
this
or a version thereof
is also in
Ladye Nevell's Booke
the ubiquitous use
of cantus firmus structure
with
prescribed ranges of elaboration
forces
a certain placid
uniformity
to the tempos used
in these musics
Die Wohltemperierte Clavier, Band 1, Prelude and Fugue in B Major - Johann Sebastian Bach - Sviatoslav Richter
prelude
takes aim at its cadence
the fugue
cadences
when the various potential tonalities
within the parts
happen to coincide
Sonata in D Major, Kk. 145 - Domenico Scarlatti - Jan-Pieter Belder
these cadences
cadence
when he gets around to it
playfully
deferred
Kurze und Leichter Klavierstücke, "Fantasia in D minor", Wq. 114/7 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi
with something like
the pacing
of a Beethoven
late sonata
recitative
believably proto-Romantic
as are Mozart's keyboard fantasias
Sonata in D Major, Op. 28 (Pastorale) - Ludwig van Beethoven - Stephen Kovacevich
thought
given room to breathe
takes time to wind down
in all
of its parts
the adventures
spiritual and spirited
of the
immediately repeated tone
with costumes and hats
following trains
of thoughts
to conclusions
he cadences
when he must
I tried to learn this in High School
I can't imagine it wasn't a disaster
certainly nowhere near this tempo
Birmingham Blues - Fats Waller [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]
happy dance
for two
playing with offsets of melody
It's A Good Thing - Frank Stokes [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
an early sex brag
Echoes of the Ozarks - Fiddlin' Dave Neal (Fiddlin' Sam Long) [from Evans 78s]
social dance music
from the old times
before bluegrass
Blues Trip Me This Morning - Tommy McLennan [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
a dialog
between
a statement
and
a music
a
synthesis
in which
the parts
remain relatively distinct
Good Morning Blues - Lead Belly [from Where Did You Sleep Last Night? - Lead Belly Legacy Volume 1]
again
a dialog
among parts
each of which
is formulaic
but capable
of copious inflection
Mean Old World - Little Walter and His Night Cats [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
lots of blues
this evening
now in Gospel
blues again
Christopher Robin - The Lake Washington Singers, Betty Eisenbrey, JoAnne Deacon
the early 20th Century
sentimental invention
of a type
of
childhood innocence
and behavior
Armenia City in The Sky - The Who [from The Who Sell Out]
song object
mostly chorus
with a tacked on intro and outro
full-on trippy psychedelia
Blind Melon Chitlin' - Cheech and Chong [from Cheech and Chong]
out of Stan Freburg's playbook
but with fart and dick jokes
Holidays in the Sun - The Sex Pistols [from Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols]
the rude has arrived
BAB KEE #1 - Benjamin Boretz, Keith Eisenbrey [October 9, 1982]
in my nervousness and insecurity
I barge right in
if you are going
to screw up
do it forthrightly
of course this session
for me
also brings up the conversations
that followed
or at least
what my take on those conversations
was
but
my first 45 minute tape side
I had lots to work out
still do
the birth of Banned Rehearsal
has not been easy
it started here
with me demonstrating chops
of a kind
and having that
be a significant problem
not the chops
themselves
which are no great shakes
but the necessity of them
gets better later on
where I don't play so many notes constantly
the phone rings
Sud (Section III: "Afternoon, Evening") - Jean-Claude Risset
water lapping sounds
replaced
by throbbing envelopes
wander
back through the space
possibly analyzed
into electronica
possibly birds
or frogs
so throbbed
troubled
processed sea shore
we love water sounds
because there are
no notes in them
Banned Rehearsal 301 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Holden K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [August 20, 1992]
toddler no no
Wurlitzer slow march rhythm
in the background
but only fitfully attended to
guitar scrubbing
violin
fill the tape
and allow nothing else in the room
air to
breathe is a problem
ushering in
the age of pounding din
a
toddler was prevented
there are tears
the Funmaker
is ceased
a drum beats at a low pitch
the adults became inscrutable
probably
indubitably
as a social experiment
a failure
we howl at the times
do we do it
to hyperstimulate ourselves
we blindly presume
that
the social stimulation tolerance
level
of another
is the same
as ours
even though
we had had 30 plus years
to aculturate
toddler's strong opinions
human need for undivided attention
at odds
with musical engagement
are they the same thing?
the object
of music
with which we engage
is what?
our sounds bomb
indiscriminately
at what point
in our lives
do we suddenly
hear
that there is a thing out there
that is music
that is
worthy of full engagement
are there triggers
an inclination to
music
may be
our response
to how yieldingly
music
engages with us
does it have
our best
or even
any
interests
at heart
sound bites
can instructive music
be enjoyed?
happy
and you know
itsy bitsy
we all
fall
a collision of wills
a collision of perceived environments
howling
wolves
surrounded
Insupportable Place}
Interlude: Twisted Elegance - Janet Jackson [from The Velvet Rope]
a short meditation
on prestige
In Session at the Tintinabulary
November 12, 2021
Two-Part Invention in B-flat Major - Gavin Borchert
November 19, 2021
Two-Part Invention in B Major - Gavin Borchert
November 22, 2021
Banned Telepath 78 Tintinabulary - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey
Neal had errands
and was unable to call in
so Karen and I soldiered
on
Banned Telepath 78 Toad Hall - Aaron Keyt
November 24, 2021
Two-Part Invention in B minor - Gavin Borchert
Novembery 25, 2021
Banned Telepath 78 Southern Reverb - Steve Kennedy
Banned Rehearsal 1039 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt
We do love a glorious noise
November 26, 2021
Two-Part Invention in C Major (et avec agréments) - Gavin Borchert
This one is quite short
and elegantly plain.
I recorded it
straight
and then
with some extras added in
just for fun
Special Mention
Much of my musical energy during the first year of the Pandemic went into producing this virtual recital of recent solo piano music by my long-time collaborator, Aaron Keyt, and by me. There are 9 reels total in the playlist, ranging from 10 to 20 minutes or so each, the whole stretching for just under 2 hours. I am quite pleased with the results, especially with how well I manage to illuminate the extraordinary "in-your-presence-alone" intimacy of Aaron's compositional voice.
Postscripts
::Consult the Oracle
cannot help him sink into fed can
compatible for the sway cannot help
letting him sink into such a state that
Reality Check::
oblique voice
circle voice
more than one
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