mm-cc 08.07.11

This mm-cc is long overdue.  Things have been absolutely crazy at work.  The past four weeks I have been working around the clock preparing pieces for this upcoming D23 convention.  D23 is like an epic convention for Disney nerds, where they can get a glimpses of all the upcoming film releases, park renovations and just about anything Disney.  People in all departments have been putting in some real hours to get ready for this.  I’m proud to say that I have three pieces showing in two of the main theaters.  I’ll probably write more about it in an upcoming update post because I have been working on some pretty cool stuff lately.  I mean, I need to be able to brag a little.

 

But more on this Morning Music & Coffee Consumption…

 

I have to say it was one of the most interesting mm-cc’s yet.  The reason being was because most of the people who participated in it had never met or played with one another.  Many of the usuals who come to these monthly events were not in attendance.  So, it began with a little trepidation and we all didn’t know quite what to do.  Never the less, the point of these things is to  make some noise and see where we end up.  By the end of it, we had all found our places and we actually made some very beautiful music together.  It was actually one of the most satisfying mm-cc’s because of that reason.  You have to throw your fears out the window to participate in these things and everybody who came was truly willing.

 

I must admit we had a bit of a ringer in the fact that Larry Salzman was there.  Larry is a true professional.  He’s a skilled percussionist that is sponsored by the drum company Meinl and whenever he comes by he always brings a bunch of goodies in his bag.  I’m always being boggled by the crazy interesting hand percussion Larry introduces us to.  Larry really helped to keep us all glued together.  Joshua Saddler, a fellow monome user, was back for his second time driving all the way up from San Diego!  He’s a good man.  This time he decided to use an application called Sooperlooper.  He recorded and looped much of what Larry was doing on the fly.  It worked out quite well.

 

Rene Cardona is an awesome local artist and an old friend.  This was his first mm-cc.  He told me afterward that he really let go and got really into making the music.  That was awesome.  You can see Rene’s Art at this upcoming Fullerton Art walk at The Violethour gallery.  Ryan Steele is an old friend as well and he made this mm-cc special by being the first person ever to add vocals to the music we were making.  The song that he sang to was the highlight of the afternoon and also the main track I chose for the video.  He also sampled quite a few of the instruments and I was surprised how good he was at the drums.

 

Finally, the last member of this serendipitous group was David Marks.  He is the producer of my friend Steve’s documentary film “The Reach of Resonance”.  It’s an amazing documentary film that I think everyone should see about free improvisor musicians.  (Not too unlike what we were doing at this mm-cc)  David and Steve have been friends since high school and David took a gamble and decided to help fund Steve’s travels around the globe to collect footage.  Not a surprise to me, the film has won much praise and has a string of screenings in some of the worlds greatest art museums, including the Louvre.  If you like documentaries and have a chance to see it then don’t let anything get in the way.  At the mm-cc David had fun experimenting with my soundlab and Larry’s kalimba but ultimately he added the guitar track that was the perfect compliment to our jam.

 

The video aspect to this mm-cc was shot just a day ago.  I have been so busy at work that I have had almost no time to get this video put together.  I decided to do a fluid shoot.  Once I got home from work I got out the record player from my harmonograph table and set it atop a stack of books.  I got my tripod in position and set a large softbox as my backlight.  I placed a small wine glass on the center of my record player and turned it slowly as I dropped food coloring into water.  I also played around with oil in water and food coloring bubbles dropped in.  It was a good shoot and reminded me quite a bit of that feeling I would get after doing one of my daily creative things.

 

For the video, I decided to play more with the mirror effect.  I have to say I have never produced such beautiful mirror effect shots until I put these rotating drops of color into the mirror effect.  I always think of Don Whitaker’s Totems video as a great example of the kind of beauty you can create with the mirror effect.  I think with these liquids I created something perhaps on par with his.

 

It’s funny because Jenny is always making cracks when she sees me on the computer with a mirror effect on the screen.  She says “Are you looking at your vaginas again?”  Well, the mirror effect in the middle of this video is actually quite…let’s say sensual.  I see much more than vaginas of course but that might just be me.  I’d love to hear what you saw in the mirror section.  Please leave a comment below if you wish to share.

 

Well, enough reading.  Please enjoy the video below!  To see other mm-cc’s please visit http://mm-cc.org