Ian Schwartz and The Sour Candy Orchestra

This is pretty much awesome…

2009 (Blame It on the Pop)

So in my morning browsing on facebook, I came across an interesting link to a video in my news feed.

Gamer Uses Flute to Play Rock Band

(here’s the YouTube Version…, it’s amusing to read all the comments, esp. the crazy guy who thinks it’s a viral ad, lol)

I think to myself, wtf?  That’s pretty f’ing sweet…so I check it out.  To my surprise - I actually know the flutist…we were at SUNY Potsdam together.  I went back to check the source of the link on facebook, and it was actually not from Potsdam or from anyone who knew her (she’s on my friend list, so I could have easily come from a close source).  So, man, it looks like it’s actually getting around!

Anyway - basically, Danielle (the flutist), uses the vocal play option on Rock Band.  Since it doesn’t rely on actual words, just pitch and rhythm, apparently any instrument will do.  It’s awesome.

So, of course…I went and tried it myself.  I don’t have Rock Band, only Guitar Hero World Tour.  I pulled out my flute and brought up Misery Business (since I’m oh so familiar with it from covering it with the other band).  I felt like Guitar Hero was a bit more finicky with vocals than Rock Band…it wouldn’t register pitches I knew were correct.  And the mic kind of sucked, I had to be practically on top of it.  But, none-the-less, it was a lot more difficult than it looked, and made me appreciate the 98% she got on expert.  I received in the 70’s on expert.  Damn.

So…a new way to play Rock Band/Guitar Hero?

I know I get tired of playing “fake” bass all the time - this could turn out to be rather interesting…

So what do True Blood, Mean Girls, and a folk festival have in common…?

Behvin and I play in another group (essentially an instrumental chamber ensemble that plays pop rock covers and some originals) which I shall refer to as “the band formally known as Audix.” (or BFKA)  Though we currently go by the name of “Revamped” until we can come up with something better, I will refrain from using that as it will be painfully ironic in many ways in about two minutes.

Anyway, I compose and arranged for BFKA.  And this blog is about the sordid tale of one of our songs, “Glenn Coco”  (yes, I am terrible at naming things, and it is a far from subtle reference to Mean Girls, even thought the piece has nothing to do with the movie)

Here is the opening little snippet.

Let’s rewind back to July 2005.  I attended the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival for 4 days in the Berkshires on the NY/MA border.  I was stoked for the pretty big names there that year, including Ani DiFranco and Dar Williams.  But probably the group I remembered the most was a band called Crooked Still.  I didn’t know anything about them at the time, but I was blown away by their live performance that I left the festival with a copy of their CD.  I also bought a copy of their next release when it came out the following year…and I listened to them a bunch.  But, like my ADD self, I slowly drifted out of my folk music obsession and I didn’t listen to them for probably a couple of years.  Mainly because the CDs became lost in the mess in my room and I hadn’t imported it into my iTunes.

Fast forward to this past March.  I began churning out pieces for BFKA.  The second piece I finished was “Glenn Coco”.  We played it.  Recorded a crappy demo of it.  etc.  Then, months and months later, probably over the summer, I was going through my music library and listening to old stuff I haden’t listened to in awhile.  I found Crooked Still and listened to their second album, “Shaken by a Low Sound”.  I got to the mid part of the album and the song “Ain’t No Grave” came on…and I got all excited, I remembered this song…it was kind of awesome. 

Then, I realized…it sounded very familiar.  A little too familiar….  I went and listened to “Glenn Coco”.  No way.  No freakin’ way.  The similarities between the two were unreal.  Same “riff”.  Same key.  Same damn cello slaps!  

I had unconsciously ripped off the intro from “Ain’t No Grave” for “Glenn Coco”.  It was completely unintentional, but it was scary how exactly my mind must have remembered that song…then after years of not hearing it, it became completely divorced from its original source in my head, and then some how came out through my little musical fingers.  It kinda sorta blew my mind at the time.  I went back and forth between the two tracks just listening to the opening.  I showed Behvin the Crooked Still song, and, well, I guess she can speak for herself…but I think she was kinda shocked by it, too.

so.weird.

Let’s move to the present.  After not watching TV for 8 years, I’ve decided to finally catch up on shows I’ve missed.  So I got Netflix.  I received the first two discs of True Blood on Wednesday, and immediately watched all four episodes on those discs.  Now I can say I’m hooked on True Blood.  Anyway, Behvin texts me last night while I’m at work and she’s like “omg youll never guess what the closing credit song for last episode of [True Blood] season 1 is.”  Oh yes.  It was “Ain’t No Grave.”

Man.  Now I don’t think I can ever play “Glenn Coco” again.  It would’ve been a little less heinous if no one knew the song…but now!  arg.

Anyway…I know this post is kind of random…but being reminded of that song kind of made me want to post this random story.  That, and I really want to actually blog on here quasi-regularly now.

SO.  To sum up my endless rambling.

1.) Check out Crooked Still if you don’t know them.  They are actually from Boston (the founding members were actually students at NEC and Berklee), and have been hailed as “the most important folk group to emerge from Boston since the early 60’s” by the Boston Globe.

2.) It’s kind of crazy how music sticks with you and you don’t even know it.  Like your favorite song from your childhood?  I bet you still know all the words…even if you haven’t heard it in ages.  (Like Ian so sheepishly admitted to in rehearsal while we worked on a rendition of the “Rainbow Connection”)  In my case, it somehow was able to even manifest itself in my writing, unknowingly.

3.) Vampires like good music.

- beth

Good news: We have a show!

Bad news: You can’t come! It’s a private event. Boohoo.

Good news: We are practicing again! We played together last night and it sounded awesome.

The band hasn’t practiced in a long time…. But I’m going to start posting some solo recordings soon. So hopefully somebody still reads this site…

I just can’t get motivated to post. And I’d be willing to bet nobody reads this anymore, but we’re going to get the band gigging and rolling again and the first step is posting…

So, I was listening to an old favorite tune of mine, Trickle Trickle. It’s an old doowop tune that the Manhattan Transfer covered and made popular. I can’t get it out of my head. And a quick search of youtube shows some awesome covers of this song which I thought I’d share with you, the huddled masses.

Crazy Japanese Rock N Roll Version

Spanish Speakers Who Could Not Be Bothered to Google the Lyrics

I have no words…

Bonus: The last group ruins 4 Beatles songs at once!

Double Bonus: The original recording of Trickle Trickle by the Videos

I’ve had a fascination with American Sign Language for several years now, ever since I took 2 semesters of it at Bergen Community College. In that class I made friends with several Deaf students who were, I assume, taking beginning ASL as an easy elective credit. I don’t know why I signed up for the class in the first place, but I fell in love with the language and the Deaf culture. My new Deaf friends and I got drinks on occasion and they even picked out a sign name for me, a quick way of saying a name without spelling it out, often descriptive of the person who is being referred to. Mine was a variation on the sign for “tall”.

And then I moved back to Boston and was gung ho and ready to continue my studies in the subject… But I didn’t. I don’t know why. And now I’ve forgotten most of it.

Anyway, I’ve got a real appreciation for the language still and on the rare occasions I see people signing on the street, I can still pick out fragments of what they’re saying. Just fragments though. When I was on my ASL kick, people used to comment how odd it was that somebody who loved to play music could also love Deaf culture. And it is a little weird. Until I saw the above video.

This guy is awesome. I’m pretty positive that he isn’t Deaf, but his signing is impeccable. Like all the best ASL story-tellers he relies on facial expressions and body language just as much as he relies on actual signing. I don’t know if everybody will think this is as awesome as I do, but I think it’s awesome.

Oh and the song is Blue Sunny Day by Jonathan Coulton. So that’s cool too!

When I busk I play a relatively small selection of songs. Actually I mostly only play two songs: The Weight by The Band and Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. This is not to say that I don’t know more songs than that. I know a lot of songs. Hundreds, actually, and I’ve got a good enough ear that I could figure out a lot more on the spot if I had to.

But I mostly play those two songs over and over again. If each song is about 4 minutes long, with a 1 minute break in between, and I play for 6 hours a day, two or three days a week…

Well, let’s just say that I play those songs a lot. But the advantage of this is that I can play those two songs very well. And it’s important to play them well because that’s how I make my money. I get about 10 people a day telling me that Hallelujah is their favorite song. Shouldn’t I at least do them the service of not making mistakes?

The other benefit is that you can experiment with interpretation. The songs might sound shaky the first few times, but eventually, you get to the point where you make the song your own. It doesn’t need to sound like the CD, and in fact it’s better if it doesn’t. People want to hear your voice in the music and there is only one way to do that: play it until you’re sick of it. So that’s what I do. Only I get paid while I practice.

I haven’t posted in a while. I promise this won’t happen again. But there’s a bunch of stuff to talk about.

First of all, the Cantab gig went splendidly. Well, relatively speaking. That’s a nice show because the venue has its own draw. About 10 people came out specifically to see us, which I think is pretty good considering that it was a rainy-ass Monday. We got some nice compliments and had a fun time.

From Sour Candy Orchestra

On a more personal note, some seeds that I’ve sewn have sprouted and I’m very excited. I’ll be honest that I’ve never really had much of an inclination towards gardening, but I do like to eat. And plants mean free food, eventually.

So without further ado, here are my babies:

Gypsy Sweet Peppers:

From Sour Candy Orchestra

Dill:

From Sour Candy Orchestra

Jelly Bean grape tomatoes:

From Sour Candy Orchestra