Ellen Fullman & Friends Perform

Another great concert -- first of the Just Intonation Network's 20th Anniversary series, with Ellen Fullman's "Long String Instrument" that I've been wanting to hear for so long. Absolutely amazing unamplified sounds from the 70-foot strings! Our Sardinian composer friend Luciano Chessa accompanied Ellen with musical saw and autoharp in two different sets, as well as assisting on the long strings along with composer Krystyna Bobrowski who also played her Gliss Glass instrument. Fascinating evening!

Concert at The LAB

A very interesting concert/demo at The Lab, a venue that reminds me a lot of our old San Francisco Tape Music Center.

http://www.thelab.org/index.htm

Here's the blurb and a few comments:

Michel Waisvisz and Robert van Heumen of STEIM will offer a free demonstration of LiSa X, STEIM's software that enables users to extensively control live-sampled and pre-recorded sounds, and junXion, which maps Human Interface Devices such as joysticks to midi. Both software packages are used by musicians, choreo-graphers, performers, installation artists and composers. There will be a Q&A following the demo for those with specific inquiries.

Pamela Z is a SF-based composer/performer who works primarily with voice, live electronic processing, sampling technology and video. In this performance she will use Max MSP patches to process her voice, and also use her live voice to trigger samples through a Max MSP pitch-to-MIDI controller and with gestures via the BodySynth. Michel Waisvisz, Joel Ryan and Robert van Heumen from STEIM/Amsterdam will team up with longtime STEIM collaborator Laetitia Sonami and SF resident Roddy Schrock to present an evening of electro-instrumental improvised music. Expect different duo/trio combinations of Michel's instrument The Hands, Laetitia's Lady's Glove, Robert's Sexy Controllers, and Roddy's SuperCollider wizardry all guided by Joel Ryan behind the mixing desk.

I was very impressed with the STEIM team's software and how it performed. The LiSa X is a user-friendly and flexible software sampler/looper/editor that I would not hesitate to purchase if I had needs in that direction. However at the moment my brain is preoccupied with the Expanded Instrument System patches from my dear friend Pauline Oliveros and her MAX/Msp wizard Stephan Moore. STEIM invites various artists to come to their lab and then helps them create their desired instruments. I was especially interested in Michel Waisvisz's performance with his two hand-held controllers that allowed him to perform/transform some very rich audio samples. I always enjoy Pamela Z's work, so it was great to catch up on her latest pieces.

The Half-Second NOW lag

I've been reading Amit Goswami's "The Self-Aware Universe" and was struck by something he said about the half-second time lag between our conscious experience of something and our secondary awareness arising (verbal thought) with which comes the arising of the ego-self/I-am-this type of introspection. Quoting:

"Our preoccupation with the secondary processes (indicated by the time lag) makes it difficult to be aware of our quantum self and to experience the pure mental states that are accessible at the quantum level of our operation. Many meditation practices are intended to eliminate the time lag and to put us directly in touch with these pure mental states in their suchness (tathagata in Sanskrit). Evidence (albeit tentative) shows that meditation reduces the time lag between the primary and the secondary processes."

Now I've been promoting a tiny time lag in breath awareness, because this glues my awareness to the breath -- i.e. the brain says, 'Uh-oh, something is happening with the breath. I'd better pay attention to it.' This attention to "from where breath arises" has worked quite well for me in the past, but now I thought, 'What if I try to place my awareness one-half second ahead of the breath?' It sounds sort of odd, but there does seem to be a easy way to do this -- and it brings me back to a surfing metaphor I have used before, where you situate yourself right on the front shoulder of the wave (breath). Anyway, that's the big deal from today.

Zero crowned and Pure Land mantra

FLASH! One of my alternate personas, Zero the Wunderweight clown, just got crowned King of Fools at the Occidental Fools Day parade, April 2.

photo by Michael Eschenbach/Salli Rasberry

With Occidental as Zero's 'realm,' he'll do his best until next year's crowning to make the village as silly as possible from 'safe exile' in San Francisco.

Zero K.O.F. (ahem!)

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I've become interested in Shin Buddhism's Nembutsu mantra, after reading D. T. Suzuki's comment that more people have achieved satori via the Pure Land (Shin) chanting approach than via Zen Buddish meditation. Aw right! That's for me!

Recent tip on keeping mindfulness - centeredness - going whilst out in the world:
I try to keep a silent mantra going in public by attaching it to whatever musical 'ear worm' is playing in my mind... Right now it's" 'Namo Amidha Butsu' set to "Easter Parade:"
E E G E D C G
Na-mo A-mi-dha Bu-tsu
It fits remarkably well with subsequent musical phrases also.