A new year. Hope for good things to come.
Sunday, January 01, 2023
Saturday, July 30, 2022
Aerial photography reveals geometric patterns of farmlands
I dreamed of 747s over geometric farms dreams Amelia dreams and false alarms
- Joni Mitchell, Amelia, Hejira album
Aerial photography has given us access to imagery that was previously unseen to many of us, opening our eyes to unexpected art in the most unexpected places.
We recently shared some great examples that reveal the abstract beauty of otherworldly landscapes from this unique perspective. This time, we shifted our curiosity to scenes with a mix of natural and man-made elements.
In his “Farmland” series, Wyoming-based aerial photographer Mitchell Rouse reveals some surprisingly beautiful patterns that will tickle your fancy for all things neat and geometric.
Monday, November 22, 2021
Pat Metheny Side-Eye - Strathmore 11/13/2021
As the logjam of long delayed concerts breaks free, Pat Metheny and his current Side-Eye project played to an appreciative audience at Strathmore Hall in Bethesda, Maryland. My friend and I had front row seats to the proceedings as my pictures reveal.
Pat was joined by two young musicians, pianist James Francies and drummer Joe Dyson, that provided the forward propulsion for a range of songs from Metheny's catalog. Supplementing the proceedings were Pat's "mad scientist" rig known as the Orchestrion. Pat has downsized this MIDI controlled "player piano" from his original solo extravaganza he played at Strathmore many years ago.
Pat is the consummate artist and professional musician. It is such an honor to witness someone playing at the top of his game.
Monday, September 13, 2021
Return Of Prog Royalty - King Crimson @The Anthem 09-11-2021
On a historic day for Washington, DC, the progressive rock band King Crimson staged their 50 year career spanning music to a packed audience at The Anthem. Chief Crim, Robert Fripp, seemed in good cheer and proceeded to lead his bandmates through a sampling of Crimson's music from the very first album, In the Court of the Crimson King, through the Discipline era and beyond.
The three drum version of the band is unique to this incarnation and quite rare in most music settings.
Robert Fripp orchestrated from his perch surrounded by his custom electronic array driven by the searing guitar sounds he is famous for (e.g. David Bowie's Heroes).
This was the final performance of the North American tour. One wonders if this could also be their last concert on these shores (DGM Dave Singleton Diary)?
Long live King Crimson.
Wednesday, August 11, 2021
Concerts are back!
In what has to be the top double bill of the summer, Jackson Browne and James Taylor took the stage at Merriweather Post Pavilion last night.
It was a typical late summer night in the DC area featuring early evening thunderstorms and muggy atmosphere. But as the daylight faded and a rainbow appeared, Jackson Browne took the stage. He had a fantastic band that featured legendary slide/guitar player Greg Liesz and renowned Bassist Bob Glaub. Mr. Browne seemed truly moved to be back playing at Merriweather again. He recorded part of his hit album "Running on Empty" at the fabled pavilion.
James Taylor joined Jackson for a rousing rendition of the song "The Pretender".
James Taylor took the stage to an enthusiastic reaction after the strong Jackson Browne set. He literally has the best band in the business. It includes the The Steve Gadd Band. Drummer Steve Gadd has appeared on many legendary recording sessions including the ground breaking drums on Steely Dan's Aja. Appearing with the band was bassist Jimmy Johnson (Flim & the BB's, Alan Holdsworth), guitarist Michael Landau, and trumpeter Walt Fowler.
I attended separate concerts of Jackson Browne and James Taylor at Merriweather over 40 years ago. I took this photo of James at that 1976 concert.
Jackson joined James for an encore of the hit song "Take it Easy".
There is no doubt that attending concerts again is back in vogue.
Saturday, October 24, 2020
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Jodi Essex Interview
I just edited a video for my friends at The Vinyl Revivers. It's an interview with Christian Rock artist Jodi Essex. I was happy to help put this video together. Take a look and "smash the subscribe button" as they say. There should be more exciting music interviews to come.
Wednesday, May 06, 2020
Saturday, March 07, 2020
Bruce Hornsby & yMusic @ Strathmore 3/6/2020
Bruce Hornsby and yMusic played a fantastic concert of modern chamber music and Hornsby original compositions on Friday March 6, 2020 at the Strathmore Music Center.
yMusic played a 45 minute opening set of modern extended string quartet (i.e flue, clarinet, trumpet) music featuring music by several composers as well as yMusic's own self penned compositions. Other pieces played were from recent Grammy award winning composer Caroline Shaw featured on fellow New Amsterdam Records stablemates the Attacca Quartet.
Mr. Hornsby then took the stage and proceeded to play both new and crowd favorites on solo piano with subtle MIDI controlled synthesizer provided by an Apple MacBook. Hornsby is an incredibly versatile player easily mixing Rock, Folk. Classical and Jazz idioms in one composition. He also has an instantly recognizable sound that reminds me of James Taylor's comments he once called "Genetic Chords". Bruce played these recognizable "Genetic Chords" on the song The Way It Is to great effect.
After his solo set, he was joined by yMusic to help flesh out compositions from his latest album Absolute Zero which features yMusic's accompaniment. Despite the challenge of integrating Hornsby's freewheeling style and the need to provide charts to the quartet, yMusic proved more than capable of playing off script and improvising with the pianist. Clearly both Bruce and yMusic were in their element and having a very good time.
yMusic's accompaniment on such favorites as Mandolin Rain was particularly poignant.
Hornsby also referenced his recent surprise walk-on at a Bon Iver concert at DC's Anthem music club. Justin Vernon of Bon Iver is also featured on the album Absolute Zero.
The show ended with a fun song composed by yMusic which featured Hornsby singing along with Alex (from yMusic) without piano.
A truly musical and fun night for fans of Bruce Hornsby and adventurous music.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)