Music – Page 29 – Allegra Sloman's blog

Big big big shout out to Mike

He picked up the massage table for me…. Me happy!!!!!! Kopper gets to get pummelled/try it out first, unless somebody sweet talks me into letting them cut ahead in line.

Life is sweet and gorgeous. I was SINGING TONIGHT. The teacher (Ms. Taylor, and a sweet little gal she is, too) ACTUALLY TAUGHT ME TO BREATHE better than anybody else who has ever instructed me. Either that or I actually have something like an attention span and some motivation for a change. Kopper says she has no rhythm but she was the only one in our section who could bring the last part of this Brazilian Samba Round in on time. Life is indeed sweet and gorgeous.

What is with the WIND? It is like blowing a berloody gale up here and the wind is so biting it’s alive.

Outing

I must admit it’s strange to be dating somebody who has zero tea, coffee or alcohol in his house. If I want to drink something it’s pretty much water, with fizz and without. As always a date with the Luddite is an adventure in a variety of ways. This date included two delicious meals and a snack, a poetry recitation (the dog grr el of Les Barker, the Brit Shel Silverstein), one full length movie (Mae West’s delirious She Done Him Wrong); a number of Youtube videos to do with the tramways of Lodz, Poland, including one that’s extremely funny, and others that make Lodz look like the ugliest, oldest and most dirty snow-covered portions of 1970’s Toronto; much in the way of music, mostly contradance bands including Seattle’s KGB (highly recommended) and the US band Notorious, which is so supremely awesome, I’m going to have to buy two copies of it because one is going to go to Dr. Filk, and also an entire best of Grieg album; and me tricking the Luddite into watching the first 20 minutes of the most recent Pride and Prejudice because I promised him it had English country dancing in it; and we almost watched a Joe E Brown movie but it was getting late.

At 1:38 this morning (when I was snoring, quite likely) Katie texted me with the cryptic “I am sacred for myself.” (read, scared) which of course I didn’t pick up until 11 this morning when I promptly panicked, burst into tears and called Paul. After about 90 minutes of agony I got hold of her live and calmed down.

Yesterday I spent an arseload of money at Metrotown, as I am SICK OF MY SHOES. Do you hear me? SICK OF THEM. I don’t usually care, but I wanted comfortable flats so I bought two pairs. Also I didn’t think I had any shoes suitable for contradancing, and I’m going (may Goddess give me strength) on Friday.

Now I’ve rented the Can car and I’m back home and I’m off to put stuff back in my fridge to go bad for Katie to clear out about the time I move out. Later….

Salmon Chanted Evening

Well, that was entirely a slice of life. I mean, how many women in Vancouver had a date last night that included:

a threat to be serenaded – on triangle? (He plays well; he even has an album credit!) He plays other percussion instruments <<<--- wOOt, Catherine! and pennywhistle too. I wants me some triangle loving from Ward's Music now. Actually today I'm buying a snare head and brushes but that's another story.
a listen to the album, which is lively English trad tunes? To preserve his privacy, no link alas.
a trip upstairs to view…to view not etchings, but Shuffle Demon videos? Like, more than one. I got to watch Out of my House, Roach! (more than once, I loved it so much) and Spadina Bus, and there were more yet. I countered with the Dudley Moore Beethoven Sonata version of the Colonel Bogey March, which is brilliant (I think rOn sent me that link). For the life of us we couldn’t find an audio of the Peter Cook Coal Miner/Judge skit but we found the text. He countered with the Shirt Sketch from early John Cleese Graham Chapman days. And there was some other stuff in there but it was jolly good fun, like his Morris dancing road trip picture.
Double Chocolate Stout beer? Quoth he, I don’t know why I got given this, I never touch beer. Well I did in a rather total war kind of way, and it was yummy…
Leftover Chinese food from a splendid meal at Angel on Fraser? (Except the soup, the soup bit sand). Quoth he, I don’t like leftovers. Hmmm.
A wonderful hour poking around books from the thirties about engineering marvels and archaeological digs?

I am now contemplating moving furniture some more and then Keith’s going to come over and we’re going to shop and try to find the Serenity DVD (director’s cut/special edition). Tomorrow, Kopper and I will hang out.

At some point I have to figure out what the hell I’m doing for New Year’s Eve. I have six different prospects, but I want to do stannomancy at the Dalai Jarmo’s again, and the folks say they are up for having me…. it’s also the closest. Always a consideration.

Cross post from LJ

Spent the evening with Kopper and was in such an exalted state upon my return to my apartment that I couldn’t sleep. Do you suppose the exercise helped? Maybe it was the second dinner?

I composed a six minute comedy routine, recited it thrice through and spoke it into my digital recorder. All hail Lady Miss Banjola for reminding me I had one. Then I woke up with two bizarre things going on simultaneously in my cranium; I woke up dreaming that Mike was crossing from dream life into real life with me as I awoke (I was in full combat gear, and he was in civvies, carrying a package). I was point and as I came around I was going to let him have it with this extremely fine weapon I was carrying and he just grinned and said, “You won’t need that.”

At the same time a really pretty chorus was ringing in my head. In four part harmony. I mean ringing. I couldn’t get out of bed until I’d memorized it, and now I’m going to sing it into Garage Band, much to the disgust of my neighbours as I imagine.

That was a hell of a talk, girl.

Later…. This helped too.

I had no idea

… that Lady Miss Banjola took this picture. There are two awesome things and two awful things about the pic. The first two are that I am very happy I followed Janice’s example and quit dying my hair. I’m even happier I’ve let it grow out. The first awful thing is I LEFT THOSE JARS OF BLACKBERRY JELLY on the table. They were for me (the ones for Loki being already here) and they did not make it home with me. Arg of Argness! The second awful thing is that this picture makes my nose, already a decent size, look ENORMOUS. But at least I’m pictured working on the second verse of the song, which is now entitled “YOU try being Buffy’s Mom.” Considering I haven’t done anything creative in what feels like eons, that’s something.

Foodicles and Canticles

Dinner at Tom and Peggy’s. I am in a state of repletion to which I may apply words like total, explosive and entire. Bacon strips over chicken breasts. Zow.
The second part of my “three songs by January 25th challenge” is now complete. I have written a Buffy filk about Joyce. Ahoy, nautilus3, I am now recycling meh-ish songs into Buffy filks. Ramen! Joss Whedon and Fox own all the characters.
TTTO If I could write a song for you (by moi, couple of years back)

You think I haven’t got a clue –

I’m telling you it’s no small task

To be the Slayer’s single mom

Well how hard can it be? I’m glad you asked!

She’s constantly in trouble

And spoiling for a fight

But if my girl’s out kicking demon ass I know the world will be all right

Chorus.

I tell her “Get your homework in on time”

“Try hard to be home by nine”

“When I ask how you are, say, “Fine! I just saved the world… again!””

Every season brings a change, the Scoobies fight a new “Big Bad”

And rabid fans don’t think you’re strange if you won’t watch ‘the Body’ ’cause it’s sad!

You must admit I’m special – Buffy could have done much worse

And that I really am the bestest mother in the whole damned Whedonverse!

Chorus

Bridge

Sometimes I reminisce and sift through memories I like

I get all misty-eyed about the time I clobbered Spike

I’ve been assaulted and enchanted, I take Hellmouth stuff in stride

I’m telling you it’s parenthood that’s oftentimes a much more scary ride

It’s all about the teamwork – it’s all about fair play

But I’d appreciate if you don’t ask about my fling with Giles today

Chorus

Repeat “I just saved the world… again!”

Spoken: “That’s my girl!

Note to Lady Miss Banjola… big time lyric changes from tonight’s recording but the shape of the song has not changed. Suggestions for additional lyrics/verses gratefully accepted!

Your call cannot be completed as dialled

Ho lee crap! I can now, hopefully, include genuine telecom sounds in a recording of the song that I’ve tried to name so many times without success that I now refer to it mentally as ‘the telecom song’ (a song, Debbie, that’s so old that I actually lived in the same building with you when I wrote it!!). It’s also known as “Your call cannot be completed as dialled” and “Words Fail”.

Vera Johnson and Philip Pullman and coworkers….

I had never heard of Vera Johnson before, but I’m currently listening to her thanks to the magic of the Internet and the CBC and the tipoff of a gent whose non-ad I responded to on craigslist. I think if I ever get fired…. I wanna run away and turn into Vera Johnson. Dr. Filk, in particular, I refer you to this link.

Listen to the end… there’s a Unitarian hymn….

Especially listen to the first bit if you want to hear the Minx from Pinsk. And a lovely song about censorship. And a funny song about the 1968 vagrancy laws in Vancouver.

Patricia, whose new hairstyle rises above, in all beautiful ways, the norms of sophistication of a company where the dress code regulations include the words, “Clothes…. please!” has announced that she will never deign to view the Golden Compass (which I intend to view with my son this evening at Metrotown). I would caution her that books and movies are actually two separate disciplines. Yes, the Pullman novels are masterpieces which will stand for the ages. Yes, it’s impossible to jam the sophistication and beautiful language into a two hour movie. Yes, they’ve drained the movie of any nasty references to the horrors of religion. But any fricking movie that has armoured bears in it I have to see!

Speaking of the dress code at the company which may not be named, it is entertaining in the extreme to think that it took six months for us to get Scary Clown to quit wearing tshirts with holes in them. I think my habit of sneaking up on him preparatory to giving him a neck rub and poking one of my fingers through the hole might have assisted in this regard.

I am very happy to report that I dined with Daughter Katie last night, who showed up with a pineapple in tow. The symbol of hospitality…

DRM letter to Mr. Prentice

Dear Sir:

I am not in favour of the Canadian government legislating what it cannot adequately and clearly explain, in the light of the powerful interests pushing for the DRM legislation. I am not in favour of how fast, given the other important matters facing Canadian legislators, the bill is going through.

I am a content producer. I hope to some day make my living using the internet as a songwriter and op-ed writer. I have a burning interest in copyright law and I’d be leery of supporting the incoming legislation without more explanation.

I have uploaded a song, currently on Youtube, which is protected under a creative commons licence. BUT what will happen under this new law if I make a video and this video is uploaded to a server that uses drm software? Can I remove that protection from my own video? As I understand the legislation, I can not modify or kludge any DRM that any legal entity attaches to my work even though I control the copyright. As the person who made the content in the first place, this is a real kick in the head, and not exactly a spur to my creativity, unless it’s to put more rants about DRM legislation on my site.

If I understand the legislation correctly I won’t be able to adopt new technologies for old content. Let me tell you something. I work with geeks and they are NOT sending you emails or begging you to reconsider the legislation. They will merely, because it’s what geeks DO,(small edit here) subvert and end-run EVERYTHING your government tries to enact with respect to this legislation, and they will laugh at your discomfiture and ignorance (and mine, frankly) while they are doing it. I have absolutely NO ability to circumvent DRM. But some of my friends, who are REFUSING TO COMPLAIN about this legislation because they don’t want to be singled out for special treatment later, sure as heck do.

Did you ever consider that the technology to support this DRM was made by human beings who may just have built a ‘back door’ into it which will make the legislation the laughing stock of the free world?

My rights as a content creator are going to be messed over by this legislation, from everything I see, and my friends and colleagues will work tirelessly to pull the teeth of the legislation as fast as you can enact amendments to it! Seems like a waste of time, and an attempt to wring the last little bit of lobbying money from buggy whip media industries.

Don’t do it Mr. Prentice. The flood of emails and letters you are getting is now the same weight as a tombstone for your political career; please let me know that you’re smarter than the rest of your government, and more far-sighted than the frightened media moguls who are trying to buy a few more years of profits on the back of your career.

Allegra Sloman

I am indebted to Douglas Green, who posted to a CBC website, for providing me with a template for this letter. If I had a way to contact him and ask his permission, I would have done it, but somehow I don’t think he’d mind. The link to his comment of November 29 is here

Odessa Havana

Just cleared the door from an amazing Afro-Cuban-Klesmer concert…. I just wish ta hell Peggy had been there, because in half a century on this planet I have NEVER heard the like of that bassist. He mopped the floor with every other bassist I have ever ever seen. Awe inspiring and marvellous.

Then in the car on the way home I worked up a tune

One time I was beautiful

There’s not much left to see

But the inside’s still as much fun

As it ever used to be

I’m not asking you to love me

I’m not asking you to lie

But you sure could make me happy

With one kiss before I die

I don’t think that I’m a cougar

I don’t spend much time in bars

I do not hail from Venus

We’re on Earth – you’re not from Mars

I’ve read some books, written some tunes

I’ve been around the block

But you sure are easy on the eyes

C’mon, let’s take a walk

I’m not asking you to love me

I’m not asking you to lie

But you sure could make me happy

With one kiss before I die…

And that’s why I like driving…… I get to work up tunes.

Many thanks to Katie K for the concert; I am very happy. And I actually had fun clearing a foot of snow off the car. When I got back, somebody had run the bobcat over the mess of snow and I had a real parking space…

OOOh forgot to mention

I am going to Conflikt in January, and and and… I have set myself the task of writing three songs before the con. The first one is substantially complete. It’s a filk based on that Dutch children’s song I posted here recently, and it’s about that ever loving bastard Nicholas Van Rijn. Next up; an Octavia Butler filk and an Eric Frank Russell filk. This should be interestin!

Academy Symphony Orchestra review

An amazing collection of talented strings and some possibly as talented but not so rehearsed woodwinds, brass, etc., played the Shostakovich Festival Overture, a chunk of Charles Wakefield Cadman’s American Suite, Peter Warlock’s Capriol Suite (the Tordion section had some pizzicato which sounded like a thousand fairies all popping their cheeks simultaneously), Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins and String Orchestra in B Minor, and Georges Enesco’s Rumanian Rhapsody No 2 and No 1. The Vivaldi was played with great feeling. The thing I liked the best about the orchestra is the volume control. They could go from very loud to very soft instantly. Sidney Harth (who looked like he was staggering offstage for oxygen between pieces),conducted, and very well. It was a good concert, but not particularly memorable…. except for the tone of the strings, which was divine, and the fairies popping their cheeks thing. You would hae had tae be there.

Thanks to Katie K for manifesting the tickets.

Power shop

Pic is of me and Patricia at the party. Hey nautilus3, recognize that jacket??? (honk, tweet, snicker).
So, between 12 and 2 today, I:

Booked the car and ran downstairs and threw a bag of to-be-recycled clothing in it; drove to Planet Bachelor (having phoned and ascertained that Paul wasn’t there and Keith was) and hung with Keith for about 20 minutes, also unloading two books of Paul’s that ended up over here, taking back Katie’s bag and cleaned clothes and Harry Potter VI and VII AND her volume 2 Strangers in Paradise and a couple of free movie tix for Keith AND Paul’s mickey of Ron Superior which I picked up for him in Santo Domingo; then went over to Highgate to the Liquor Store and picked up Saint Ambroise Apricot (I had no idea it was still available), Stella Artois and Lion Winter; dropped off the clothes at the Value Village on Edmonds and picked up a 20% off coupon; went into the store and picked out 4 dresses and bought 3 (all very frou frou, and one is Allegra brand, so that was a giggle – I had wanted to buy it in Costco 4 years ago and here it was for 6 bucks….), then drove like the hammers for the Bay where I ran up the escalator, located a coffee maker to replace the one I broke (set it on a stove burner and turned the wrong burner dial on, quelle morone), paid for it (and some unscented laundry detergent as an impulse buy at the checkout) and drove home. I really don’t think all that in two hours is too shabby.

Last night’s party continues to resonate. They said “eat first” but there were boatloads of food, all really nice substantial appies. Katie K and I wandered around the Georgia O’Keefe exhibit – the party was at the Vancouver Art Gallery. She was a remarkable artist, and a remarkable woman, and I think I’m going to look around for a decent bio of her. I think of all the stuff I saw last night that it was her cityscapes which I found most compelling. I have been trying to think of a word for her style, but I’ll have to use two words instead of one: recklessly beautiful.

Snide note. That fecking DJ couldn’t sync a beat worth beans.

The weather today is simply glorious. I was thinking of continuing cleaning, but I think I’ll go for a walk instead.

Tonight, orchestral music at the Orpheum. Katie K keeps exposing me to Kultur, and I trot meekly behind, trying like hell to look intelligent or keep up. Here she is at the party looking glamourous.

Metal mouth

My teeth ache from trying to play a Jaw Harp. In other news, I now have a guitar strap and can stand while playing. I practised Lady of Komarr, which I wrote this time last year. I think the last time I played it was at the disastrous Orycon 06.