Quilted 23-ply Toilet Paper

Made with actual quilts!
(Click on the image to enlarge.)

Crazy People on the Bus

Boyfriend and I took the bus to and from a friends' house last night and every part of the trip had eventful commuters.
1. Guy on the bus who told someone that he tried lighting a cigarette while wearing an oxygen breathing tube, and lit his nose on fire.
2. Drunk men trying to walk to their car, but fighting (almost too scarily) the whole way, turning around, throwing their hands up, walking back to the bar in anger, and turning around again to walk back toward the car. Repeat 10 times.
3. Drunk girl on the way home shouting "I'm going to karate chop her in the nose! I'm going to karate chop her in the throat!"
Always a good time on mass transit.

Album

I'm pleased to announce that David Bernabo and I may be releasing an album sometime soon! I say may be as we don't know the release date, and don't have the CD's in our hands. So it's kind of tentative but more definite than anything I've ever attempted releasing in the past, for certain. The material is recorded and edited, and ready for mastering. The CD which you can possibly own yourself will have six tracks, five of them being based on through-composed pieces that I wrote over the last few years, and the talented Mr. Bernabo improvised on guitar over top of them. And one bonus improv! (Fancy.) Dave and I also edit the tracks together, and added some extra instrumental parts as well. All together there are appearances by piano, interior piano strings, guitar, vibraphone, bass drum, suspended cymbal, wurlitzer keyboard, and a deconstructed zither (natch). What a nice little company! I'm working now on designing some interior notes for the album, and the cover may be based on a collage I did of squares of paper from a slide library. Dave is also working on an illustration for the liner notes, and will be designing the exterior typography. How about that for total collaboration?
When I graduated from CMU my graduating bio stated that I hope to stay in Pittsburgh and collaborate with local artists and musicians, rather than be holed away without creative options or move away someplace else. I think I've begun to accomplish my "mission" without even realizing it. And it's fun. We like fun.

New Necklaces

I managed to acquire something magical: all the threads from an artist's work at Mattress Factory, which amounts to spools and spools of thin sewing thread. The installers were kind enough to try and bundle it up as best as they could when they took down the piece, rather than just wad everything up (which probably would be cool too, but this is more useful).
I'm looking to make a bunch of crazy nekkpieces with it, maybe keeping one really simple and just tying it off and the others can get really snarled and tangled. The first one I made is pink! I crocheted a wire background and stuffed a bunch of threads through, and then added a few crystal beads from a formerly tacky old-lady necklace. It's a little ticklish and not really meant for wearing to the grocery store, but I would be proud of whoever would wear it with their everyday clothes.
I also borrowed some Huge Ass Crochet Hooks from a friend (she says size Q, but I don't know what that means in crochet-world sizes), and made a much more normal necklace, which I might try to sell if I can make a couple of them. They also make good artsy eye-patches, for pirates who wish to see out of both eyes.

Shirt Dress

Thank heavens I don't work in clothing retail. I'm all for pushing the boundaries of fashion, but sometimes girls' spring fever can get a little ridiculous.

Braces, Carmina Burana

I got braces! I am strapped into these sexy babies for the next 10 months. I had been thinking about getting them for, oh, the last fifteen years. I guess there's no time like the present now that I can make my own decisions and do it for myself. I will also be better than my 13-year-old self at wearing a retainer so they don't go back to their old habits of some in front, some in back. As Sally said, "it's gonna be so great...when it's all over." Luckily I don't have to have them on as long as I anticipated, as my teeth aren't totally snaggly (yet); the price not as expensive (though the option for Les Invisilignes state-of-the-art transparent braces was completely out of the question due to exorbitant price); and the orthodontist made the top ones clear for the same price as the normal bottom row. The weirdest part is relearning how to eat without much use of my front teeth, and dealing with some temporary bumps put on my molars, which prevent some teeth from touching each other. It's a time-out for you, bicuspids.

Cuckolds ended up going very well, and I even got a shout-out in Pittsburgh's City Paper. And I quote: "...Cuckolds offers spectacle...Nathan Hall's original score keeps the tone peppy." They asked for peppy and that is what they got! And on the final night there was a standing ovation for everyone, which was awesome that the audience liked the production so much! My favorite music in the movements ended up being repeated a few times, which can be heard on my website here (simply click on the London Cuckolds for the audio sample and don't forget to adjust the volume). It's a short scene change for bassoon, pizz strings, and tambourine. Peppy, indeed.

I also sang Carmina Burana with the Symphony and Mendelssohn Choir two weekends ago. It was the first time I ever did more than the "O Fortuna" movement. The piece really grew on me, especially after reading about the organization of the piece literally according to the Wheel of Fortune (not the Vanna kind). This which is why several movements suddenly go from violent percussion clangs and blaring brass to love songs and sweet dolce strings, and then back again, all within the same section. Or emotionally, from "joy to bitterness, hope to grief" (says wikipedia) and back again. Several of the movements that I hadn't paid much attention to in the past really grew on me, especially the songs with the baritone solos (and falsetto). But the best part was getting to sing great men's parts and shout "Hei!" and "Na Za Za!" and "Io!" a lot. Through my braces.

Picture right: Braces. Sexy, non? I'd make out with me.

Opening Scene to Cuckolds

Thanks to the joys of Youtube, we can now view the dress rehearsal of Cuckolds, which is a 2-minute overture I wrote and arranged, and was choreographed! The only thing I didn't write was the ass-slapping.

Go see Cuckolds before it's over! The last show is this Saturday at 8pm. I'm really pleased at how it turned out- they pumped up the bassoon jams in it too!

Cuckolds video promo

Promo video for the play, which opens in sneak preview tonight. I wrote this little musical ditty, and I'm playing harpsichord (somewhat badly) too!


CMU School of Drama Presents: The London Cuckolds! from The London Cuckolds on Vimeo.

London Cuckolds Opening

Tonight marks the premiere of the CMU Drama School performance run of The London Cuckolds, to which I've recorded the incidental music. It's been a while since I've handed over my work to the sound designers, and I just couldn't stand waiting for Saturday afternoon when I could get to see the show, so I snuck in late last night and peeked in on the dress rehearsal. I got to see the Grand Finale music and the curtain call, and I couldn't be happier! The sets are beautiful, the lighting is suptuous, and I think the performance is going to be hilarious. But I wasn't there for the acting, per se...I was spying on my music, which blossomed in just the right place and surrounded the theater with sound.

I know the music is incidental. They don't call it that for nothin'- you could take it out and you'd still have a play. Nevertheless, I worked closely with the faculty to create music that (I hope) has become the foundation from where the play can take off. It's a period piece, written in the 17th century, but certain liberties have been taken with language, costumes, humor, etc. to make it more accessible (and knowing Drama students, scantily-clad). Likewise, the music sounds Baroque, as it was taken from Scarlatti Sonatas, but every now and then it's "tarted up" a bit with modern harmonies, and a certain sense of humor that still sounds like I could have written it. There should also be a dance choreographed to the music at the very opening, and a tiny song in the middle faked on the harpsichord. It's about pussycats...sort of. I don't write the wordz, I just sets 'em.

If the music in the final scene is any indication of how the rest of the pieces will sound, I think this could be one of the best showcases of my work, ever! Writing the music wasn't too difficult once I understood what the drama department was looking for. I'm also guessing that if I ever do another theater production, other departments will not be as intuitive about what they want to receive-I think this was a very cooperative collaboration!

This is the first music I've written for a production, and the biggest ensemble I've led, and the biggest audience that will be listening to it (albeit inactively). Even better was the fact that it's the first music I've gotten compensated for writing. A little daunting, in hindsight.
Certainly I owe many thanks to everyone involved! But let's not thank everyone yet...at least not until I see the whole thing on Saturday. Fingers crossed.

Come see The London Cuckolds!
Feb 19-28
Shows Tuesday-Friday at 8pm, Saturdays at 2pm and 8pm.
Call the CMU Drama School box office for tickets 412-268-2407.
(CMU School of Music students get in for free, thanks to a generous offer by the School of Drama.)

Basic plot, cast, and info can be found here.

I hope you enjoy the show!

Stravinsky Box Set

Igor Stravinsky is all up in my grill like never before. Thanks to Alex Ross, who gave the heads-up, I now own almost the complete œuvre of Stravinsky in one 22-CD box set. And thanks to the British across the seas at amazon.co.uk, it was only $30.00!! If I did the math right, that's just over $1 per CD, and I can't even find that kind of a deal on classical music even in the bargain bins with all the vomitous "Mozart for Lovers" CD's. And despite a delay in shipping, I received the box set within 7 business days. The set contains all the recordings he did in the 1950's for Sony, plus additional recordings by his protege Robert Craft, and recordings of Stravinsky interviews. And the recordings are beautiful; you would never guess they were a half-century old or more. According to amazon, there are only a few small number of pieces missing from his complete works, including Stravinsky's version of the Star-Spangled Banner (oh, snap). I haven't checked my Eric Walter White book to cross-reference (file under: nerdy!), but I can't imagine there's much missing.
I obviously have only made the smallest dent in the collection. So far I've listened to his 3 symphonies, and his series of Miniature pieces, and I had to listen to Circus Polka, which was written for a real-live choreographed dancing elephant. It's not performed much, though I can't imagine why. I'm moving onto ballets/suites I have never heard, like Agon, Card Game, and The Fairy's Kiss.
This could be tremendously helpful as a musician- not only if I ever have to teach, but if I ever am curious about a particular work, I'll have the composer's preferred recording at my fingertips! I'm looking forward to playing the guessing game of "Which Stravinsky Period Did this Piece Come From?". "French-tastic folklore"? "Neoclassic refinement-slash-Fascism"? Or "religiously serialist/serialistly religious"? Try it at parties. It'll be a huge hit. Or you'll end up with more cake and wine for yourself later. Either way you win.
Here's hoping someone will pull an all-day Stravinsky marathon and listen to all of his recorded works in sequential order.

photo courtesy http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/stravinsky.html. unknown origin but a nice van gogh behind the composer. Stravinsky is saying, "I don't know about those brushstrokes, but I do like that hat."

New York City

I splurged early in 2009 and I made a weekend trip to New York City to see friends and concerts. Luckily the concerts and lodging were all free! I met up with my high school friend Ben, who now lives in Manhattan, and we saw the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic being conducted by Keith Lockhart. We heard Mahler Symphony No. 1, also known as one of the few pieces Mahler wrote that's not about hellfire, the depths of despair, or the deaths of children.
Ben has beautiful dishware including triangular plates!New York is full of exciting architecture. This building has a lovely Helvetica (or almost Helvetica, the 'e' looks a little funny, no?) sign on it letting me know that the building's sole job is to suck air.
Then Ben and I met my friend Nicole for brunch and had multiple orange juices (I got two accidentally not knowing my food already came with some.)
I went to the Guggenheim Museum for the first time! The exhibit inside was good, but the outside had a little installation of its own made with shadows from the buildings around it. Also, the Guggenheim has only single-occupancy bathrooms. They're on every floor, but only one tiny door lets you know it's there. It makes it seem as if people in the 1940's didn't have to pee as much.
As if the weekend wasn't busy enough, I then travelled by train up to Poughkeepsie and saw a performance of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians with my friend Kelly, and the composer was in attendance. He's the composer-in-residence at this year's Modfest at Vassar, and I got to meet him! I couldn't get a picture, but the performance was amazing, and I now know that you can use more than 18 musicians for the piece, 'cause some of them may need a break.

Now that I'm back in Pittsburgh, I had a bunch of rehearsals and music events yesterday, and seeing how it was unseasonably warm I decided to walk most everywhere. Then B and I went dancing in Lawrenceville, and walked most of the way there and all the way back. I clocked my mileage this morning and I walked 9.82 miles yesterday. My thighs hurt.

Lips as Umbrella, Cameldog on Volkswagon

An oldie but a weirdie: a collage comic that could only be explained with Surrealism or crack, and I've never done crack.

Fast Openings

I'm finishing up a piece for two French horns and piano for a friend/colleague Katie's recital in March. Chamber music for horn & piano abounds, but I don't know if there's much out there for two horns, which is a trial in middle-range tonal blurriness (I'm trying hard to avoid monotony). My piece is a mini-narrative of the hornist's coming-of-age of sorts, and also rewrites a couple of Radiohead melodies-- a bit unexpected in classical horn repertoire. Also, the second horn may or may not play a bag of silverware and broken glass shards.

I'm excited to premier this piece. I think it will be a great performance, but I've also come to realize that most of my music begins slowly, and this is the first work to break out of that habit. The spark of realization came from an interview at Indiana University, when one of the professors pointed out that to get accepted into Indiana I would have to write some "tonally aggressive, hard-edged music". Well, I didn't get accepted anyway, and that's their loss. But something positive came from that interview, in that I suddenly saw myself lacking works that began with a good kick in the pants. And perhaps they could go somewhere else during the piece, tempo-wise (the french horn piece is more like fast-slow-fast) but there's no reason why I can't try some crazy opening bars. In fact, almost every one of my works begins slowly, or at least sort of ambiently, except for some pop tunes.

I don't know if this is a result of my personality, or habits of composing. I'm certainly a pretty calm person, and for years now I'm drawn to slow-tempo classical music, that of John Luther Adams, Arvo Part, Takemitsu. And to minimalism, which isn't always that slow, but can often seem "out of time". Perhaps it's a refusal to give in to fast-paced living and take time out for a contemplative experience. Brandon and I were talking the other day about music which resonates in us: some people get all a-quiver for Stockhausen and some feel the vibes of Debussy, and perhaps that's one of the many reasons that music is so personal and subjective. In other words, why music=awesome. And despite listening to a lot of quiet slow music, I love dance parties, so why don't I try writing more dance party jams?

Working on this piece has been a big help in me thinking of other things besides slowly-shifting gauzy tonalities: I'm more curious in this piece about off-kilter rhythms, combined with sort-of-singable melodies and a hott left hand line in the piano. I'm less concerned about the chords lining up, or whether this random F-sharp will fit in with this horn line. I think my music could get really interesting if I could write intricate fast music and crazy rock and roll chamber music along with other Impressionistic passages; the combination of the two could be exciting. Also, on a less intelligent note, I read two different horoscopes for my sign this week and they both said essentially to Embrace the Raucous. I better do what they say.

Oh, and if you say I need some more tonally-challenging music, you might get arm clusters. Just so you know.

Jackson Pollock Nativity Scene

I made a nativity scene for Sally in the style of Jackson Pollock. That way you can have your Christmas miracle and your action painting too, without having to give up Clement Greenberg for the Magi. I also finally got a picture of my mid-century modern dentist's office, which was made only a few years ago. It was basically the main reason I went to that dentist (and it lived up to its expectations). The typography is so good. Also, who doesn't love addresses that are (number) and one-half?Also, I got to sing in the Pittsburgh debut of John Adams' On the Transmigration of Souls, featuring the Pittsburgh Symphony, a childrens' choir, Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, and electronic tape soundtrack. Then Sally and I met John Adams, and he was totally charming and genuine and happy! Especially for being, oh, you know, the preeminent living American composer of our time (sorry Carter, you're just so a hundred years old). Adams can also feel lucky: he now posesses a signed copy of a photo of me and Sally, which we gave to him in exchange for his autograph on our box sets of his work. My family and friends came to visit for the performance and it went really well!

BUS STP SCHDLS TXTS

I was waiting for a bus at the IKEA the other day and wondered when the heck it would arrive. I noticed a new sign was bolted to the bus stop sign which had a number you could text, and then you'd text the particular code of the bus stop you were waiting at to get arrival times of the next buses. Much to my suprise it worked, and gave me several options of buses that would arrive. And sho' nuff, the 28x arrived exactly when it said it would, and I didn't have to wait in the snow for longer than I had to. And doubly lucky that I was right next to the land of Swedish happiness, so I had nothing to fear.
Now if Pittsburgh could get the other 99% of buses to run on time, and then put up TXT signage, I would never have to fear I would be stranded somewhere for 45 minutes in the cold. Hooray.

2008 Wrap-Up, Happy New Year

2008 Highlights.

2008 was a pretty good year, all things considered (economic and otherwise). I happily told people that because artists never have any money to begin with, the shock of losing all the stocks we never had seemed less shocking. Here are some of my random moments, in no particular order, all to have happened in 2008.

-Premier of my orchestra piece, and reading by the Pittsburgh Symphony

-Getting my first paid commission for writing music

-Getting strep throat twice (maybe thrice by the end of the year, oh, to be so lucky)

-gay mansion

-Midnight Shoveler's performance with guests
-making music with Wungsten

-meeting composers John Corigliano and John Adams, and percussionist Evelyn Glennie

-Getting hired at Mattress Factory and getting health insurance (and dental!)

-Using my dental insurance to fill cavities

-Boston, Washington DC, Bloomington IN, and Niagara Falls visits

-MIDI interface finally working on my keyboard

-Visiting Fallingwater for the first time

-selling jewelry

-Seeing the Pittsburgh 250th Anniversary fireworks from a rooftop
-um, Barack was elected president, and he uses great typography
-joined Mendelssohn choir and started teaching piano lessons
-concerts: Iron & Wine, Railroad Earth, Now Ensemble, my first professional opera (The Grapes of Wrath)

I'm sure I've forgotten to list plenty of other things, too. I hope those moments won't feel left out.

In 2009 I'd like to travel somewhere far away again. I have a friend in Germany and a friend in Montana, both places I've never been and would love to go (and I once made a vow that I would take shameless advantage of the exotic locations where I knew people). I would also like to get a date. I promise I won't slurp my spaghetti.






(Photos: Top: not me. source unknown. Second from top: me. indiana university museum of art. Second from bottom: a mustache that lasted for five seconds. Bottom: keep it real in, 2009, okay?)

God Child

If you could imagine God as humanoid-like figure (as if Joan Osbourne didn't already do that for us in the '90's) what would he say if he were a child? Not yet fully matured? And if he spoke to some other God–I'm picturing two God-Children in a galactic sandbox–what would be the response?
"You think you're sooo special."
"Well...yes".

Or perhaps:
"Give me back that planet!"
"No! Getcha own! Okay, you can have the Asteroid Belt."

"I'm bored."
"Let's go swimming in the sea I just invented."

Or better, as teenagers:
"I had a great time six billion years ago. Why haven't you called me?"
"I'm sorry, I was busy creating the Heavens. What was your name again?"

Playlist Shuffle, Resolutions

Five songs on shuffle mode from my iTunes...

Orbital, "Funny Break" (from Work 1989-2002)
Erlend Oye, "Like Gold" (from the album Unrest)
Laverne Baker, "Smoke and Drink and Dance the Hoochie Coo" (I don't even know if that's the real title, and the album is unknown too)
Peaches, "Diddle My Skiddle" (from the album Fatherf*cker)
Christopher O'Riley, "Thinking About You" (from the album True Love Waits- O'Riley Plays Radiohead")

Finnish composer Rautavaara's "Vigilia" came on next but it didn't make the first-five cut. Who doesn't love a little sex-electroclash up against lush piano improvisations next to modernist scandinavian choral music? With a little nordic dance break in there somewhere too. Shuffle features make me realize I have so much music I only know on the surface level, and that I should take away everything I currently listen to and replace it with oddities every once and a while just to freshen the ears.

I made three New Years' Resolutions of sorts for 2008, and they all have come true, with qualifiers. Well, they weren't absolute resolutions, more like goals.
1. sell something from having a website. This sort of came true as one of my old college friends emailed me and wanted a collage triptych for her new place in Arizona. It's happening right now!
2. get one paid commission. This sort of came true with the Drama School production for incidental music. Technically it was through Carnegie Mellon, but it was a hired gig nonetheless.
3. sell my jewelry or art at Handmade Arcade. This didn't happen, but I did sell my jewelry at another craft fair, Sweetwater Center for the Arts. So I count it anyway.

Next year my resolutions should include getting married. So when it doesn't happen exactly like that, at least I can qualify it by saying I went out on a good date or two...but we talked about other people's marriages, and how I would rather spend the money on a big party, and besides, it's illegal in most states right now anyway. It's good to qualify.

More jewelry

While I sold a couple pairs of earrings at Sweetwater Center for the Arts, I still have lots of pairs available should anyone want to snag up a pair for holiday gifts...you know your loved ones would look good in some chandelier crystals, or globular clusters, or lime green daggers. Just let me know if you're interested and we'll tawk.

King of Kings, Lord of Lords

I made this quick "poster" for the holiday season, just for grins. It's a total knockoff of Warhol, and I don't have the typeface Din which would look awesome on this, but it only took a few minutes and Jesus looks pretty awesome there in hot pink. If this was an ad for a holiday church service I'd be there with bells on. And by bells I mean bellbottoms. Click image to enlarge.