LAST EDITED ON Sep-05-09 AT 03:33 AM (EST)LAST EDITED ON Sep-05-09 AT 03:31 AM (EST)
I'm the son of an english teacher so bear with me while I get stupidly uptight (some might call it anal but I hate that word). I know what I'm about to say really doesn't matter especially the way the english language is butchered in blogs and texts, (I mean has anyone started laughing out loud after an LOL? I haven't) but I had meant to go back and edit my last post and I didn't realize there was a 60 minute limit. I wanted to change a few wrong words and commas but what I most wanted to change was when I said that I had played hundreds of better improvs than the one I played there. The fact is it wasn't that bad, John said so himself. But I was thinking way too much about it. The goal of improv is to lose yourself in the moment and let the music play you and I didn't do that. Although there were many good improvs, only about two or three were great and probably completely satisfid the person who played them. I just saw the first comment from my last post to talk about the workshops and I will later but one thing John said was to always reject your first and second instinct about how to start playing and go with your third instinct, and to be honest I did think about my ideas in advance although I had to scramble after he took two of them. It was amazing to play his piano though. It was the first he ever played and belonged to his first music teacher who left it to him when she passed. The night before I was called up, when no one was listening, I played something I was truly proud of on it.
You guys have probably already heard but there is a boxed set coming out in Nov. that will contain the three Radiolarians CD's (I think R3 is my new favorite MMW record) plus a live disc, a high quality two record "best of set" and most importantly, Billy's documentary of the band.
On the third night all the campers had the privelege of being the first to view his film about the band. Even Chris hadn't seen it, and everyone was unanimous in their view that they loved it. It's raw, honest, at times beautiful and at times funny. The editing, especially during the music montages is great and they even throw in a little slapstick using stop motion. You guys are definitely gonna want to see it, but not to bum you out, you might get a slightly edited version then the one we saw, then again you might not. We'll be the only ones who know. The one we saw ran about 90 minutes.
Alright, I'll talk a little about the ensembles and workshops. As I said, I was in Chris' ensemble and for the first few days we studied some of Billy's Riddims that Chris planned to use in the piece that he was composing with us. We clapped and banged bells and wood sticks and then later in the sessions, we applied them to our instruments. On the last day it all came together.
I went to all of Medeski's workshops. The first day he talked about and showed and played all his instruments, with us standing around him. He also did a workshop on understanding and hearing how to accent off beats like at the and of the four in a measure. 1and2and3and4clap. I don't think I'll tell more about them though. Some stuff has to be a mystery but although the workshops and ensembles were intensive, they weren't intense. Everything was very relaxed and in some ways it was like a hippie utopia for musicians, although no one wore tyedye. The guys in the band are fond of sandals though.
Last I'll talk about the Full Moon Resort. It's beautiful with the stream I told you about plus deer running around, and you're miles from nowhere. John did his workshop in the barn most days and it seemed like a deer or two was always drawn there. There was also a bear spotted who proably took a giant dump on one of the cabin porches.
This wasn't a problem for any of the cabins but I was in the main lodge and the shower was an adventure in itself going from hot to cold in a flash. There were also two jam rooms with all of Medeski's keyboards set up, one was in the barn and the other in the basement of the lodge. So there were many late night jam sessions (guess what band everyone seemed most influenced by?), although the playing only botherd me the one night they played till after 3 AM (the ensembles started at nine in the morning) and to be honest it didn't seem to bother anyone else, especially my room mate who was the only one from overseas and came all the way from Tazmania, Australia. He was a vocalist and songwriter who did a great section during Billy's ensemble piece that was one of the highlights. He was also a quiet sleeper which helped alot.
I think that about wraps it up. If you want to know more you'll have to experience it for yourself. Trust me when I say that it's worth every penny. I said it before and I'll say it again, it was magical experience.
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