The Final Days

 A very fine performance at Bird & Beckett Books in San Francisco by Francis Wong's Special Quartet. We had a good turnout considering it was a holiday afternoon. The weather was grand. This is a new ensemble, though we have all played with each other in different situations. Francis Wong - sax, Karl Alfonso Defensor Evangelista - guitar, Deszon X. Claiborne - drums and yours truly on tuba. And special guest on vocals, Helen Palma. You can view the concert via Bird & Beckett's youtube channel. 

Francis and I went to H Mart for a repast of oxtail soup, Korean style. 

I left early the next morning because I wanted to stop in Taft again for lunch. This time at Roots, a BBQ house. The fare was quite fine. 

 

Francis

  Karl
                                            

Helen

   
Deszon

                                                                        

Eric Whittington

                                                                               

                                                                                  

Oxtail at H Mart.

Another stop in Taft on the way home.

                                                                                               

Thi Ca Sử Việt 9

 Today was the performance for Thi Ca Sử Việt 9. This is the second time I've done it. It has been great fun both times. It is a variety show really. Music acts from a wide range of genres with performers representing all the generations from very young to bordering on the elderly. 

Here are some shots from yesterday and today...

Yesterday

I brought up an Eb alto horn with a large mouthpiece to practice on. 

I can only suppose a (not very respectful) young person did this.

Francis and I had dinner at Mazra in San Bruno. No food 
shots because they were about to close when we ordered, 
it was all in to-go containers. 

Today


A view from the hill.


The performance took place in the auditorium at 
the Legion of Honor.

Backstage.

Soundcheck. This is some of the band and one of 

the vocalists. 

Afterwards I got take out from Curry Corner in 

South San Francisco.

It was good.

Trip to the Bay Area for...

performances at Thi Ca Sử Việt 9 and Bird & Beckett Bookstore with the Francis Wong's new quartet.

Here are some shots from the trip up today. I usually take some combination of the small roads between the Highway 101 and Interstate 5 on my way up to the Bay Area. It takes a lot longer, but is a more satisfying drive. I've never stopped in the oil town of Taft before, so decided this was the time. There are a few eateries there I want to try. Today it was Jo's Diner. I may go through Taft on the way back, though lately I've been taking the small roads east of Interstate 5. There is a BBQ place I'd like to try. Time will tell. 

There are also some shots here of the preparations for Coalinga's Horned Toad Derby Festival, which starts tonight. I'll miss it on this trip. It is definitely a small town affair, but more fun than you might think. 

Finally sone shots from a walk around Oyster Point Park, since I got into South San Francisco too early to check into the motel. 

A Couple of Sessions in the Time of COVID

 There is occasionally some music work that happens in the ongoing crisis. Actually, in reality some people have been continuously working, but they are they anointed few with home studios and big time hookups. For the rest of us, gigs are extremely rare. I did manage to do two recording projects at the end of January. One for a project of  Woody Aplanalp's and one for  Vinny Golia. Woody's was stacking a few passes for a pop song. A really good song. I think people will like it, if they manage to get the project out into the world. That is always the challenge, getting it out into the world. Vinny's is a large project. He has realized the large ensemble portion of the piece on with samples and synthesizer, then sent some of those files out to various folks and asked us to improvise over them. Then he is going to select and mix those in for the final composition. I will be interested to hear how this turns out. The ensemble parts are very dense. It was a challenge to figure out how to place any improvisation into it. But I managed. Who knows what he will actually use? I decided to go over to Wayne Peet's to record my contributions. It was just easier that way. 

The other news from the end of the month is that I assembled the electric bike and have had a few rides on it. I like it. It will take a while to get used to it. I have to get used to just riding a bike again and then there is the added aspect of the power provided by the electric motor. Riding it is not intuitive, I can tell you that. 

Woody sets the mics.

Doing a vocal for Vinny's project from Wayne's remote studio.

The e-bike. 

Elephants in the Room - Divoc Lockdown! Divoc!

 Karl Evangelista of Grex has been curating online music festivals during the reduced live activity necessitated by the COVID crisis. He asked me to contribute something for Lockdown Festival IV. 20 - 30 minutes was the requested length. You could live-stream or send in something pre-recorded. I opted for the latter. It took a lot of work and despite the many steps involved in creating a video piece, it was largely improvised, even in the editing. Especially in the editing. Other than the final portion that I play on cimbasso, it was all editing. That final piece on cimbasso btw, is Fanfare COVID-19, which I wrote on commission to be part of a project by Mia Kuwada. It is for any single instrument and is available if you want it. Just drop me a line. The festival was streamed on New Year's Day, January 1, 2021.

To get background shots for the video, I took a trip to Joshua Tree and the Salton Sea. By the time I got to Joshua Tree, I was pretty clear in my mind that its particular style of desert had too much life going on for what I wanted. I really wanted those shores of dead fish, images that are burned in our minds of the Salton Sea. But I was at the monument so figured I should take a least some shots. Good decision. On walking to "my spot," (I have a spot I always go to in Joshua Tree) I came upon a recently dead cottontail rabbit. I have no idea what killed it. There were no bite marks, no sign of a struggle, so it wasn't some other animal's dinner. Maybe just old age or a heart attack. Who knows. But it was perfect. Definitely made the trip to Joshua Tree worthwhile. 

Then I headed south to Mecca. You have to go through Mecca to get to the Salton Sea. There were not hundreds of dead fish on the shores of the sea. That only happens in die-off events. But I did have some excitement. I stepped into what can only be called quicksand. It was up to my middle thigh. Both legs. I was alone. Just like in the old jungle movies and westerns. And I did what they did to get out. Laid the upper part of my body flat. I was able to work my way out. It was not fun. It is a good story now, but I am not a believer in dying for my art. At least not by that method. Click here for a YouTube video on how to get out of it. 

Here is the link for my piece Elephants in the Room - Divoc Lockdown! Divoc!:

https://vimeo.com/494889617

Some screenshots from the video: