#Conrad Uno
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Kurt Bloch: An Awesome Guy Who Awesome People Like
Rocking with the Fastbacks and recording all your favorite bands since 1979
Fastbacks, 1988; Kurt Bloch far left, Gumby t-shirt
“There truly is something about inspiration and enthusiasm that really is inspiring and enthusiastic!” - Kurt Bloch
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By: Eric Davidson
I’ve been thinking a lot about joy of late. Like pure, eyes-to-the-sky, skipping down the street joy. There is a paucity of it around right now.
We could follow a zillion trails to and from how we got here, but this is ostensibly a music blog, so I’m going to make a quick stab at the roots of this unenviably joyless position we’re sitting in, rock-wise.
The Fastbacks were joyful. Starting out in 1979 in the dawning days of Seattle’s punk scene, they became a local fave on the basis of action-packed shows stuffed with careening pop hooks, irked energy, and a friendly, guffaw around onstage demeanor that didn’t exactly scream “pre-hardcore era.”
Fastbacks retreated for a few years, circa 1988, and when kicked back into gear a couple years later, found themselves being a preferred opener for a load of grumpy grunge bands who I’m guessing hoped to absorb some of the Fastbacks positive energy to counteract their mope – which the Fastbacks were more than ready to supply.
A mélange of metal volume, fleeting bouts of prog whimsy, Ramones tempos, and BubbleYum stickiness, the Fastbacks created a singular sound. Like most great bands, they never fit into any particular zeitgeist – too raggedy for the pop punk contingent, too peppy for the grunge trend, they nonetheless retained a respected status among bands who appreciated their consistently grabby tunes and fun live show.
Despite any remaining expectations of what “success” was supposed to be, by the turn of the millennium the Fastbacks became that precious thing – one of those awesome bands that awesome bands like.
It should be noted that, while grunge soon gained a definition as a downer genre (that has taken root since), Bloch and company palled around with that Seattle scene from the get-go, and knew many of them as fun rocker kids just trying their best to get through seven months of rain by rocking.
The Fastbacks kept careening forward right through the ‘Alternative Rock” era that ignored all the fun underground garage punk and instead painted rock as increasingly dreary and grievance-based. The early 2000s came, and the Fastbacks took their leave.
They’ve recently gotten back together for occasional reunion shows. Always holding them together throughout their stop/start whirlwind of a career was ace guitarist/producer and philosophical center of the band, Kurt Bloch.
Bloch, who began his career as a recording studio whizz with Fastbacks, never stopped twiddling the knobs for lots of your favorite bands and/or underrated acts. We checked in with him on his ongoing mission to bring fun to the fringes despite the mainstream consistently choosing incorrectly.
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Kurt Bloch, rockin', 1990 (Fuck the NRA. I will assume Kurt's t-shirt here was de rigueur '90s irony.)
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What was the first album you loved; and what was the first album you loved because of its production?
Good question, hard to answer. I think it was 45s and AM radio that got me going on recording qualities, how loud some of the great hits of the early-’70s sounded. How some records sounded like they were a band playing inside your head. I think I was aware of EQ and compression sounds early on, how the drum fills would sort of obliterate everything behind it on some songs. How the guitar would be so loud in the breaks. How, if the record didn’t have enough treble, it would be unexciting; if there was too much then it’d sound wimpy.
Then getting into albums, and FM radio, you’d listen to Larks’ Tongues In Aspic or Dark Side Of The Moon, and they had this spacious quality that was rad; the Scorpions’ Fly To The Rainbow was right in your face, really up-front and close. Then, going to see bands live, we’d see the coliseum style shows – that was so cool, but then getting to see bands in smaller spaces where you could hear the amps on stage, and feel the sound pressure in the room –now that was a mind-opener. You could feel the Marshalls and the actual sound coming off of the stage.
Then when punk bands started playing, that’s when it started getting interesting. You know, like I just saw this killer band that sounded so great at the show, and their record sounds like a bowlful of shit. Why?! That leads to one-track, two-track, four-track tape recorders, and each time you record something, you have a whole book of revelations of what to do and what not to do. So many great recordings from that early punk era without a bunch of reverb. It was another revelation. A lot of those early digital reverbs that everyone had, I just hated that fake trebly, scritchy sound. Rather just not use any reverb than that icky sound.
How did the Fastbacks form?
Kim and Lulu were high school friends of ours, The Cheaters was our neighborhood band; only lasted a couple years but they were good ones! When that band disintegrated on-stage, there was still band gear in my parents’ basement. Kim (Warnick, bass/vocals) had been in a band, The Radios, and Lulu (Gargiulo) wanted to play guitar and sing. Somehow my parents didn’t put a stop to it all, so we started playing a couple times a week. Not saying we got good, but we got better.
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How long before you felt you had locked into the Fastbacks’ sound?
I reckon whatever “sound” we had was pretty well established early on; it was just whatever we wanted to do. Of course we loved the punk bands of the era first and foremost, but also the ’60s and ’70s pop music we grew up with; and the hard rock bands of the ’70s too! And I always was a fan of the wonderful arrangements and sound of the ’70s prog bands, once I started writing most of the songs, these things would creep in.
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Live, 1986
I have this romantic vision of Kim Warnick as a long-haired rocker teen crashing parties and such. Is that correct?
Ha ha ha!! We were all pretty good (bad?) at crashing parties, some of the shit we did makes me wince thinking of it all. But it was 1977, ‘78; things were different back then, a different kind of boredom ran rampant through kids’ minds back then. There was a real disdain for society, maybe not to the degree of the UK bands at the time, but still there nonetheless. Often there was nothing to do other than the proverbial let’s go fuck shit up. And the music was such a part of all that.
So you got a story about something back then that would make you wince now?
Back when we were teenagers in The Cheaters, we would go to pretty desperate lengths to create excitement. The Cheaters singer, Scott Dittman, was maybe the funniest person I’ve ever known, and often in our search for something to do, he would drive a car full of us down to the frats at the University Of Washington. We’d go crash frat parties, rarely did we fit in unnoticed. You’d grab some keg cups and try to hang out, usually immediately, “Would you please leave.” And that didn’t often sit well with Scott. If we were going to “please leave” then we would not leave without exacting some sort of a toll. I guess we could run pretty fast, or we would’ve got our asses kicked pretty well back then. Somehow a few weeks later we’d go back to the same frat house that had a bookcase upended or a row of bikes knocked over, and lo and behold, the same thing would happen again. Of course we were never hired to play any frat parties.
Scott also loved to fight. He took boxing lessons and was always trying to teach us how to fight too. You knew when the gloves came out it was time to find something else to do. “Come on, you just gotta keep your guard up.” (smash smash smash) “You said you weren’t gonna hit us in the face.” Yeah right.
The Cheaters and The Accident (another erstwhile punk outfit) set up a show at a non-punk bar, somewhere down by Olympia. This would’ve been 1979 maybe. There were no roadmaps for like-minded or “friendly” places to play, outside of the major cities. But we were trying to do something, anything, and our double bill got the booking. This bar had a dance floor that also was used for bar fighting. There must have been some sort of organization to the fights, but it was sanctioned bar fighting. No-one was on the dance floor or anywhere near it when we started, so Scott tried to solicit a fight or two during our set. This was unfriendly territory, we were all, “Stop this nonsense!” But once you told Scott not to do something, well he was going to double down of course. Fortunately no one took him up on his offers, and we got out unscathed, but the bar owner took me into his office at the end of the night and gave me a rundown on what we needed to do to become successful in the music business, and the first thing was to get rid of that singer.
1978
First Fastbacks show, February, 1980 – any memories of it?
Oh, totally! The first Fastbacks show, it was at a rec center in a quiet neighborhood, it was three bands: The Vains, Psychopop, and The Fastbacks. We were all friends, and it was all three bands’ first shows. Very ramshackle, but we cobbled together a sound system, someone had a few lights, everyone brought what they had, and the show went on. A little rough around the edges, but the power didn’t go out, no cops were called, nothing was ruined – an early triumph for sure.
Was the power pop zeitgeist of that time a thing for Fastbacks? Did you feel a part of it?
No! For sure the New Wave was hitting strong at that point, but we were certainly not embraced by the new wavers at all. I suppose for that first year, we were pretty terrible, but we had some friends and people who wanted to give us a chance. Getting Duff (McKagan – yes, that one from Guns ‘N Roses) to play drums was the first step into making the band more listenable, but we were still a long ways off of what the general public would consider valuable music. We got kicked off of a show after our first set (of two). “That’s okay, you guys don’t have to play another set.” And I was all, “What do you mean we don’t have to?!” Oh, I get it.
Then when the hardcore bands cropped up, we were pals with some of them, but we weren’t furious enough for them really. I recall some sort of fury at a DOA/The Fartz/Fastbacks show. It required some foresight, which many didn’t possess, to support any kind of music that wasn’t 100% punk. Conversely, the proper power pop bands, well, we were a little too power and not enough pop, I reckon. We wanted to be that, but it’d take a bit still to hone those chops.
Had Duff McKagen played in any band before that?
Duff was the bass player in The Vains, who played that Laurelhurst Rec Center show. That was his first show. He must’ve been 15, barely 16?
Did he exhibit behaviors that would later align with Guns ‘N Roses’ infamous lifestyle?
We were still pretty reeled-in at that point, no one really even got plastered, no one started doing drugs yet. Might’ve been some Budweisers around, but nothing stronger yet.
Guns 'N Roses 2nd show, 1985
Got any Vains stories, recollections of a show, or the general scene from whence they came/played? Was there a good raw, original punk scene in Seattle in late '70s? I'm aware of Soldier and some other bands, but I wanna get it from the horse’s mouth.
The Vains only played three, maybe four shows total. In the late ’70s into early ’80s it was pretty hard to keep something going if you were any sort of impatient. Most bands never got the chance to play enough to iron out any difficulties, or taste any sort of real success. Lots of arguing over what direction to take, stick to your punk rock guns, and play to a rental hall of your friends; or try to get “jobs” in the bars, which would mean being stricken with the “cover band” tag, which was NOT punk.
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1978
The Enemy worked the hardest, yet still couldn’t crack the code in 1979. The Telepaths, The Blackouts, The Lewd – everyone broke up, or moved away and then broke up. The Fartz made a pretty good go of it, but even they sorta morphed into Ten Minute Warning, and then morphed into an art band… The Silly Killers stayed pretty punk. The Living ripped it up for their short lifespan. But they were all in that 1982 dilemma, you can almost see a line in the sand, drawn in the summer of 1982. Not a lot of bands made it across that line that summer.
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The Enemy live, 1980
If I remember it was some sort of divine intervention that The Fastbacks reconvened in 1983 to fire it up again, it was nearly the end of the line. But it was also clearly a new beginning, a new lease on life, a new crop of kids started bands in those Metropolis years; the Metropolis was a new all-ages venue that I would consider the petri dish of the next bundle of bands.
As the ‘80s took hold and punk rock hall shows were sort of the only stage for many of our bands, after a couple years of not getting to any sort of next level, it was clear that there needed to be a re-grouping of some sort. We’d see our friends’ bands get actual paying gigs in bars – if they were non-punk sounding. Of course many of the punk bands went to the dark side of ’80s metal. Everyone was looking to do something that could “go somewhere.”
Somewhere right in that 1982 corridor, drugs started flourishing, stupidity set in. Duff came with us Fastbacks as a “roadie” in 1984 down to L.A., and when we came back I reckon he moved to L.A. to escape that whole rigamarole. No one was getting anywhere here anyway. A bold move at that time, at the advanced age of 20!
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1987
Word is Fastbacks have had between 12 and 20 drummers. Short of naming every single drummer, are there a few you’d like to point to as having had a particularly interesting stint; or who went on to other bands?
Gosh, all the Fastbacks drummers had something great about them. There were a few who only did one show. I publicly apologize to those who didn’t last. Those were strange times. I don’t think there are any unsolved mysteries in the Fastbacks drummer world, Dan Peters, who recorded a couple songs with us but no shows, Tad Hutchison, and Tom Hendrikson, who each did one show…. Some convoluted moments for sure, and all killer drummers!
Do you think if you would have remained drummer for Fastbacks that you would have still gotten into production?
Yeah, I think the fascination with recording was parallel to the live playing side of things, it was always there in my constitution. Wanting to learn, wanting to figure out how to make records that captured how killer bands sounded. It was such a tall order back then. Seemed like the old guard [engineers] didn’t “get it,” or were prohibitively expensive; and so many of the others didn’t sound kickass like we wanted. Of course this comes from the actual band, first and foremost; that is learned the hard way! But if the band blazes at their show, it seemed that their records should sound blazing too, but that wasn’t often the case.
1988
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1989
From what I remember, the Fastbacks rep was that of the favorite local band of all the Seattle bands, and hence got on as openers for bands who would soon get huge during that whole grunge thing…
Pretty hard to say from the inside view. We had the unfortunate hurdle of being broken up from late-1988 till mid-1990. A lot of opportunity probably squandered during those times. But, unlike anyone else I can think of, we did get a second chance via Sub Pop, and another decade of rock. I know we were quite lucky in that department. We never did gigs large or small with Nirvana, Soundgarden, sort of the class of ’89. We did share a slightly miserable practice space with Green River and later Mother Love Bone. Always pals with those cats, so we did do opening stints with Pearl Jam in 1996, all around the world.
What was miserableness about it?
Oh man, that place… It was in a basement in Pioneer Square, the old, original downtown Seattle. The Great Seattle Fire devastated downtown in like 1889, and they rebuilt the city on top of the old city, one floor higher. So our basement was on the level with the old, original city; some rooting around could be done. There was no bathroom or running water down there, so you had to go to the bar a block away to use the facilities, but often you just couldn’t be bothered. In the space next to ours, it was a smashed up, decrepit old room that we moved all the garbage from our side into. No lighting of any sort, so it was all flashlights if you had them, and filling up bottles of pee and putting them where ever we could find room.
But of course we raged supreme down there, some epic parties, bands playing, and whatnot; of course no water or facilities, but grand times in the ’80s. Somehow, I ended up being in charge of paying rent, not the best job for me to take on. It meant tracking down Andrew Wood once a month and trying to get him to pay his share of their rent. First it was Malfunkshun, and Green River was there too. We might’ve blown up before Mother Love Bone started? I think I remember Green River blowing up too, after their California trek; it would’ve been not too long after that that The Fastbacks unceremoniously imploded. But for a while it was definitely a rager.
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Nifty, random link I stumbled on with some cool early Fastbacks fliers, stories, and live stuff.
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1992
While you didn't play with the "biggies" of the scene as much as I thought, got any early Nirvana or Soundgarden tale of any sort you'd like to share?
Our fabled practice basement was just a couple blocks from The Central, a venue that was sort of home base for a lot of stuff. The Vogue as well, it was on the north end of downtown, we were on the south end. Many people had keys to the place, so it was not surprising to duck in between sets at The Central, to have cheap beers or whatnot. I first saw Soundgarden at The Central, and they were certainly mind-blowing. Would’ve been ’87? Quickly became a favorite Seattle band, and when their first 7” came out, my roommates hated me. I had a tendency to play those 45’s over and over and over again. But they played The Central a lot, and just got better and better, heavier and heavier. I remember the first time they played “Beyond The Wheel”, it was at the Vogue. I was standing next to Mark Arm and we looked at each other and just said FUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHH…
The first Nirvana show I saw was also at the Vogue, it was maybe not the greatest Nirvana show, but man I thought that singer was amazing. Shortly after, Jon Poneman (Sub Pop co-founder) was at the bar there and said, “If you buy me a coffee now, I’ll give you a 45 tomorrow that will change your life.” An easy proposition. Sub Pop HQ was half a block away, he gave me a “Love Buzz” 45, and once again, the roommates had a reason to hate. I must’ve played that record 100 times in a row. Might’ve taken them a bit to find their pummeling style, but man they sure did. Then after Bleach had been out a while, all the rumors of major label this and major label that… So exciting and weird.
Who is a favorite Seattle “grunge era” band you really dug and maybe didn’t get the recognition you think it deserved? Mine are the Derelicts and Zipgun.
Of course! Pure Joy, Flop, H-Hour, the Meices – wait they were actually from SF… Huge Spacebird, Once For Kicks…. Have you got an hour or so?!
I know you are no doubt tired of this question, but do you have a late ‘80s/early ‘90s story or show that happened where you thought, “Damn, this Seattle scene thing is getting some real attention? This is fucking weird.”
After the Fastbacks blew up in 1988, I started playing with the Young Fresh Fellows, and we were off and running pretty hard right away. Certainly a parallel path from the Seattle Grunge Explosion, but a decent path it was! I was pals with Jon and Bruce (Pavitt) at Sub Pop when they started, so I’d go hang out at their early HQ/distributor place downtown. It was amazing to see some of these bands blow up when they did.
Young Fresh Fellows, 1989; Kurt Bloch far right
I suppose the thing that sealed it for me was listening to the advance cassette of Nevermind on a Young Fresh Fellows trip. Scott McCaughey had been assigned to review it for local music rag, The Rocket, and I nabbed it from him on a trip out East. It totally blew my doors wide open. Already having been a superfan since that “Love Buzz” 45, and seeing a couple of the shows they did here before going out to record that album, then hearing it for the first time on headphones; then as our tour progressed, seeing the record just going ballistic at every record store, it was just crazy. It never stopped getting bigger and bigger. This is so fucking weird!
Strange feeling of seeing a local band you saw shlubbing around town or peeing next to them at a dive, to hearing them play in a grocery store in Nevada, or whatever....
Soundgarden was the first one I remember blowing up. They went from Sub Pop to SST to A&M – they sorta seemed to have their shit together pretty well. Alice In Chains were kinda off our radar, they were only on the Rock radio stations; it wasn’t until their second album that I noticed that they actually were killer. But Nirvana, they were crazy cool from the get-go, not in the FM Rock station sort of way, but the punk underground sort of way. Plus I didn’t really know them at the beginning, so there was way more mystery about them. A couple legendary Seattle club shows before they went off to start Nevermind; the OK Hotel first playing of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” we were just transfixed – What the fuck is this?! Then the Off Ramp show, they went on really late, and got cut off right before 2am. Somehow the club picked up the empties and let the band play on into the night, and what a show it was. Then… nothing.
Didn’t really hear anything from Nirvana ‘til the advance cassette of Nevermind went out, and of course thinking, if I like this so much, it’s probably never gonna go anywhere. Wrong. It was like a slow ball of fire, radio then record stores, like every record store playing it, every magazine… It would’ve made you hate a lesser band, but it really was great so there was a sense of pride attached to it all. Finally something we loved is big. But then how big? There seemed to be no end to it. It was everywhere. And so weird to think that kids dug something that was blazing and amazing.
Were you defacto producer of Fastbacks from the get-go of recording?
Oh for sure. Not by strong-arming anyone, but just because there was no money, and no one else could be bothered! Our first 45 was with Neil Hubbard and Jack Weaver, as we were doing a song for a Seattle comp LP, and as per the usual, just recorded some extra songs in our allotted time. The first EP was Peter Barnes, drummer for The Enemy, killer Seattle band and very much an inspiration to all the bands in the late-’70s in Seattle. Then after that, it was trial by fire.
Can you tell me more about The Enemy, and their local import?
The Enemy pretty much initiated the punk “scene” in Seattle. There were a few bands, but they started a club, it was all ages, March, 1978. Otherwise it would’ve been hall shows, but The Bird brought everyone together. Originally only open for a few months, but there were shows there every Friday and Saturday, it really did give us something to do.
My first band, The Cheaters, might not have actually played anywhere if not for them. We could have languished in my parents’ basement forever if not for being stopped by The Enemy members at a Ramones show: “Hey! Are you guys in a band? Would you want to play at our club we’re opening up in a few months?” Of course we said yes, we didn’t tell them that we were just barely a band, we’d never actually played a show, nor would we maybe ever had if not for their offer. We were just teenagers, my brother Al was still in High School. But they took us in and let us play shows. The drummer, Peter Barnes, filled in for a night our real drummer couldn’t play.
Everyone knew each other, when it was time to record what was to be The Fastbacks’ first EP, Peter volunteered to be our producer. He figured out how to get cool, kickass sounds and make things happen. No one had any money or experience so it had to be on a budget, but he made it happen. The record turned out great. “In America” was on the commercial new wave station, we thought we had it made!
I thought I knew what to do, to various degrees of success. Conrad Uno at Egg Studio did much of our first album. He was wise beyond words and also a great teacher. After that LP was finished he was all, “You can do all this, I think, I’ll be back at the end of the night to close up!” Then it seemed like the right avenue. So many producers seemed like they just wanted to add stuff in order to have their presence be felt. I always felt, like – what is the least amount of stuff we can have on here to make it happen? Less stuff, but louder. Certainly not against adding things, but also happy to leave things out as much as possible. Always loved the one-guitar bands that didn’t double everything all the time. Makes you think a little harder about what you’re doing.
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1994
Okay, I will name a band, and you give me the first thing that comes to mind when you think of your production gigs with them:
Presidents of the U.S.A.
We’d do several takes of any given song, as the band was learning them, Chris (Ballew, singer) would play his two-string bass flawlessly every take, and sing a scratch vocal that could’ve been used as the keeper. Never a mistake, never less than killer every time.
Robyn Hitchcock
Also just an amazing music machine. Put him in an iso booth with a mic for vocal and one for acoustic guitar. He’d show the band a new song and go into the booth, sometimes it would just be one take and they’d nail it, with the lead vocal included. Never a lyric sheet in sight. A brain that truly works overtime. Peter Buck playing his 12-string on a song that he had just heard, and plays flawlessly the first time. Great Peter quote: “I like to get things right.” Indeed!
Fastbacks
Ha!! Some of the recording we’ve done astounds me to this day. It’s like any idea we had, we’d just do it. I swear, no one ever said, “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Listening back to the early ’90s recordings, there truly is something about inspiration and enthusiasm that really is inspiring and enthusiastic! Some of that music is pretty weird, even some songs that I wrote, I can’t imagine where they came from. I know we did them and all, but what was the impetus, where did they come from?!
Nashville Pussy
Another tale of just trying not to ruin a band that sounded killer. Amazing to think that they all fit in the tiny live room at Egg for that first album. The sheer volume of air pressure in there was unbelievable. A perfect example of what we’d set out to do, just try to not let the recording process get in the way of the recording. And nominated for a Grammy! I went with them to the Awards show – limo, booze, and afterparties. We were scheming all the horrible things that we’d say when we won the award, who we were gonna thank, who we were gonna blame. Of course there’s no way we’d win, they barely could say the name of the band when reading off the nominees! But what an experience. So many laughs.
Mudhoney
Five Dollar Bob’s Mock Cooter Stew (Reprise, 1993) doesn’t get enough props. I think it’s a great record. I really tried to make each song sound different and killer in its own way. Dan Peters (drummer) is always dishing out the quality.
Young Fresh Fellows
It’s easy to work quickly with a band you’re in. You kind of already know what’s going to happen, you know how to set up since you’ve already seen what works and what doesn’t over the last decade or two. We had intended to record maybe four or five songs for Tiempo De Lujo. Somehow we’d crammed all four of us in the basement here; after the two days we’d recorded twelve band tracks – so an album it was! Toxic Youth as well. We’d gone over to Jim Sangster’s living room to learn a few songs before starting recording the next day, and once we got going, they just kept coming and coming. When inspiration strikes, keep the tape rolling!
Can you describe Conrad Uno's Egg Studios; the kind of size or situation you were dealing with? Was there like a famous recording board there you worked with?
Egg Studio, where I and others honed their chops, was a welcome alternative to the “normal” studios of the time. It was truly a basement studio, the performance room was smaller than an ordinary living room. Many bands’ rehearsal spaces were larger than this. But it really did have a relaxed feel to it, and loud bands could all set up in the room and play live and get a good sound. Mudhoney, Nashville Pussy, Supersnazz, Devil Dogs, Supersuckers, Zeke – it was home base for so many great albums.
Conrad Uno moved into the house in maybe 1987, I reckon we finished Fastbacks …And His Orchestra there; and by early 1988, we began Very Very Powerful Motor, then the Sub Pop 7” and Zücker sessions. It began as an 8-track studio. Conrad brought in the Spectrasonics console that was formerly at Stax/Volt studio – rumored to once be owned by Paul McCartney, under whose purview a varispeed knob was installed. The knob remains, it’s Paul’s Knob. The console is now at Crackle And Pop studio here in Seattle, and is working better than ever.
Before Mudhoney began their third album, Piece of Cake, their second at Egg, they bought a 16-track machine for the studio, and that was the classic setup for so many records there in the ‘90s.
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1996
I personally would love to hear about making the classic Devil Dogs album, Saturday Night Fever (Crypt/Sympathy for the Record Industry, 1994). Whose idea was it to make it kind of like a party, with friends and fans whopping it up in the studio between songs?
It was their idea from the beginning to make it a party album, “You have been invited… to a party!” Another band that didn’t need any fancy fussing about, they already sounded like a house on fire. Just tried to record them and not get in the way, make sure that the playback sounded like it did in the room with them.
Definitely the last night of the session, they invited all their Seattle friends over for a party, and we played the songs from the album through twice, if I remember, and just had a mic in the room while they were going. All the bottles clinking and all the blabbering was totally what happened. There was so little time to get everything done while we were there. They had booked two gigs on recording days – one out of town in Bellingham! Basically it was like wrangling the Three Stooges to record and mix a full album and an EP in like five days. Let’s just say that the morning hours were not particularly productive. But fortunately, when they were on, they were unstoppable. And so fuckin’ funny! What a fucking great record!
Oh yeah, definitely the most hilarious band to tour with too! We did a month with them once in Europe, traveling in the same packed little van. And even the bad hungover mornings in the van drives would lead to so much cracking up. Singer Andy G. sometimes stood up and imitated Tom Jones live. Anyway, can you recall who all was in the “crowd” on that record?
Honestly, I don’t! The studio was in a neighborhood, so all sessions had to be finished by 10pm. I loved the idea of recording a loud listening party and then mixing that in with the album, but it was so precarious to cram a bunch of drunks in the tiny studio and try to not let any gear get ruined, while still egging on loud misbehavior. Then getting all the cats out of there by 10 and not annoying Conrad or his neighbors in the process.
You must have some fun Andy G. stories too.
All three of those guys had their moments! Andy, Steve, Mighty Joe. Someone should’ve given them their own TV series. It might not have lasted very long, but what a show it would’ve been. I’ve never seen a group rile each other up the way they did. Should’ve had a room mic going constantly while they tried to make a group decision. There was way more work than we had time for. Somehow we got it all done, but just barely.
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Crypt Records, 1993
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And here’s where I decided to check in with Devil Dogs drummer, Mighty Joe Vincent, to get some more details on their Bloch party:
"So, in the friends crowd [on the Saturday Night Fever album] was Eddie and Dan Bolton from the Supersuckers, James Burdyshaw and the rest of the Sinister Six, and a bunch of really cool women whose names have escaped my memory banks.
We def recorded on the Stax board. I remember because we had hopes that there was some soul residue left in the cables that might coat our tracks.
We totally loved Kurt. What’s not to love? I do remember that it was a Crypt budget recording so we had to make every minute count, so we were mixing until we were all so tired we were delirious. I’m pretty sure we went ‘til 2a.m. or something like that, but that was mixing. We did that in the middle of a tour, so we did about two weeks of gigs from NYC across this great nation of ours as well as that other great nation to our north, then out to Seattle. While we were doing it , we had a gig up in Bellingham, so we took a day off to drive up there.
I remember Scott Mccaughy was working there at Egg. I was talking to him one day and he told me his days of playing out on the road were over as his wife just had a kid and he had to be a good dad and provide a steady paycheck. I really felt bad for him. And then of course, a short time after that, Pete Buck asked him to come on the road with R.E.M. and said he would pay him a million dollars. Like an actual million dollars. That always made me happy to hear."
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And now, back to Kurt Bloch!
Who were bands you liked to tour with? And/or, a classic Fastbacks tour story?
We had some great west coast tours with DOA in the early-to-mid ’80s, they were definitely an early inspiration to go head-on and charge through best you can. They certainly blazed a trail for the rest of us to follow, doing everything themselves, like Black Flag did from Southern California. The ’80s were a rocky road for the Fastbacks. We played a lot of shows in Vancouver, BC, as well as Seattle, but it was a lot of problems and fighting, ha, and it wasn’t until the ’90s that we actually went out for any length of time – certainly getting into occasional serious trouble with The Meices, Motocaster, Gaunt, and even the New Bomb Turks!
Pearl Jam asked you to do some stadium shows in 1995, arguably the peak grunge year. How did you relate to the whole fame/stadium situation surrounding those shows?
It was January ’95, Pearl Jam asked us to play a radio show from their rehearsal space. I kinda didn’t know what they were talking about, and maybe sort of blew it off. I was trying to finish a Sicko record that night, couldn’t be bothered. I did like their Vitalogy record, “Not For You,” “Spin The Black Circle.” The rest of the Fastbacks were all, “C’mon, we’re doing this!” And I grudgingly told Sicko I was going to have to leave early. I didn’t even bring a guitar, I knew that Stone had a cool ‘50s Gold Top, maybe I could use that.
Then of course we get there and it’s really fun, just a big party scene, tons of buddies and band cats. We played three songs on the Pearl Jam gear setup, maybe Kim talked on the radio, drank some beers, great time! That was cool enough, but then they asked us to open a few shows at the end of the year, Salt Lake City and San Jose I think, and we’re all like, “Hell yeah!” And everything went well, then, “Would you want to go do a U.S. tour, oh and maybe a Europe tour following that…?” And we were all, “Hellz yeah!” And that all went great, clearly we would be the next big thing, the world is gonna love us, nothing holding us back now! We had a great record out, New Mansions In Sound (Sub Pop, 1996). Man, that was it – lots and lots of fun, great shows. We invented an auxiliary opening band for some of the shows, The What. We played Who tunes with Eddie Vedder incognito with a wrestling mask. We drag Mike McCready out for jams, Stone Gossard to sing one of his PJ songs, Eddie did “Leaving Here” with us a couple times, just great rock times in the giant venues. Somehow it didn’t lead to us being the Next Big Thing, but it was fun to pretend for a few months.
1994
Any good backstage shenanigans stories?
There weren’t a whole lot of super shenanigans. They had an espresso machine onstage every night, so we’d all slug down coffees, blast through our tunes, and then get drunk and watch Pearl Jam. Sometimes we would annoy their wonderful crew by being loud and boisterous aside of the stage, spilling bottles of wine or whatnot, but not much more than that. Everyone got along really well, and it was well-protected against after show bullies or negativity. We’d just keep on our course, often ‘til the huge sports arena closed down and they’d kick us out after everything had been loaded out – and we’d still be back there cranking tunes and running around.
It was totally like an arena-sized version of a living room party most every night. Their crew moved all the gear, we barely had to do anything except play every night.
I know you knew some of their members from earlier in the scene, but did you know Eddie Vedder before he got asked to join Pearl Jam?
I might not have met Eddie until the live radio show we did? He came up from San Diego. Didn’t know him before then at all, but we were fast friends. We would spend hours talking about the Who and riding around on the catering carts and smashing into the walls of the arenas. Come to think of it, we were probably very annoying. But no one, like, smashed up their hotel rooms or anything. It was probably comparatively tame.
Might sound weird, but while playing in the Seattle scene -- which is generally described as kind of serious, or dark, or junkies, or you know, “grungy” – did you and the Fastbacks feel kind of out-of-place; or are those kind of definitions of grunge and that town/time not correct?
The Seattle “thing” certainly was a dark, serious sound. That isn’t to say that every musician was dark and serious, but that darkness prevailed. To say The Fastbacks felt a little out of place at that point would be correct; but I always thought we were here first. It’s not like we didn’t dig lots of the bands, but it also wasn’t like we would try to take them on at their own game. It just wouldn’t’ve happened. We did do a version of “Swallow My Pride” – Green River’s, not The Ramones – on Sub Pop 200 [compilation], after a Soundgarden version too; but it ended up being menacing only in a Blue Öyster Cult sort of way, rather than ala either previous version. Slow and heavy just wasn’t in our DNA.
Columbus, OH, 1993 (Courtesy of Bela Koe-Krompecher)
I remember when Fastbacks stayed with New Bomb Turks while on tour in 1993, you guys, well I think specifically Lulu, made an amazing Thai meal for us. Did you always cook for bands you crashed with, or just for us ‘cuz we’re so awesome and nice?
Ha. I think the wonderful cooking was a bit of a rarity. We weren’t much of a crash on people’s floor kind of band by the ’90s, but sometimes it was great to have a day off and some good ideas! Remember that Metallica VHS box set had just come out, and we watched it ‘til the end because Lulu and I both worked on the film crew for the shows they filmed in Seattle, and we wanted to see if we, several years after the actual shows, got any credits at the end… and sure enough we did. Reason to celebrate!
Columbus seemed to love you. What were some other fave towns you played?
Always a great time in Columbus. Not necessarily Cleveland though. We weren’t the hard-touring road warriors that a lot of the other (more successful) bands were. It was whatever city we had friends in that were the best. Vancouver BC, San Francisco, L.A., NYC, maybe Albany, Columbus, Istanbul…
Contract and ticket for 1993 Columbus, OH show. (Courtesy of Bela Koe-Krompecher)
Highly technical and professional stage diagram implorations, Columbus, OH, 1993 show (Courtesy of Bela Koe-Krompecher)
I could be wrong, but you didn’t go over to Europe a lot, did you? Were you able to procure any production work from Euro bands you met whilst on tour there?
Oddly, not a lot of Euro tours… Seems like we should’ve done more, but there was always something. Young Fresh Fellows did some great trips, especially in Spain. Fastbacks Spanish tour was a bit of a dog’s breakfast. Not because of the people in Spain, no sir. We certainly lit it up in Japan once, though!
I did a couple albums for Les Thugs, the French band. One of them in Seattle and one in Angers. May have been bookended with some music travel. It’s amazing to look back at the old calendars and see that between tours with the Fastbacks and Young Fresh Fellows, recording with those two bands and recording other bands. Man, there were times when there was nary a day off, those ‘90s months were packed! Gotta consider myself pretty lucky. And so many killer records I got to be part of.
As a producer, do you feel you are mainly bringing an “ear” to finding the sounds the band wants, or do you try to gently impose a certain style and sensibility over the whole production?
Always try to keep the kickass factor high. I would never try to impose anything other than to try to keep everyone happy so they could do their best work, and not do the same bit over and over and over. Work hard and play hard, but not to overanalyze every little thing. Not under-analyze either, but if it’s killer, it doesn’t matter if everything “lines up” perfectly, or if the choruses speed up a little bit. Try to capture what is great about a band live in concert, and not dilute that if you can help it. Don’t add a bunch of crap just to put your mark on a project.
It's interesting how you professed a love for prog, but you had an innate sense of not always overdubbing too much – note your comment about loving bands that only had one guitar, etc.
The true exciting prog bands started coming out around 1968 and ’69, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Van Der Graaf Generator; Pink Floyd and Moody Blues had already been around but maybe weren’t quite included. Recording technique at the time was still fairly straightforward for the most part, there was of course room for overdubbing on an eight-track machine, but most of the first-wave prog bands’ recordings were not overloaded with overdubs. The magic was what they did with their four or five musicians, the arrangements you hear on the record were the same instrumentation as they played live. Some of the songs would have been concocted in a studio, but it wasn’t until later that walls of overdubs became commonplace.
That’s where the greatness of the original bands lies – cool vocal arranging and melding several songs’ worth of ideas into one track. Not a lot of room for squirminess either, it wasn’t so easy punching in on a giant eight-track tape machine in 1968. You made one mistake on that verse? You do the whole thing again!
Okay, gotta ask, with as much exposition as you’d like – what was your favorite recording session(s); and worst recording session(s)?
Pretty much always subverted the disasters. A time or two I told a band, after seeing a live show, that they weren’t quite ready to record yet; play a few more shows and practice a lot, record your practices and actually listen to them constructively. Studio time is expensive, practice time is (or at least was) cheap. You don’t have to have every bit of every song nailed down exactly, but do have most everything pretty well figured out, and be ready for criticism during the recording. If the rhythm isn’t working, be prepared to fine-tune your part so it is; if your harmony vocal is a half-step off, go ahead and adjust!
Some of the great sessions are those where I feel that I learned things, a new piece of gear, a new way of looking at things. Overwhelming Colorfast, Supersuckers, Les Thugs in France, The Meices in Florida… Or the records that just slammed out of nowhere. Devil Dogs, Flop, Supersnazz, Nashville Pussy. So many first albums by bands where they have been playing the songs at shows for a year or two, the tempos are up, the blood is pumping, get rid of the headphones and make it like you’re playing a gig. Play the song three times without stopping. Play three different songs in a row without stopping.
1999 (Courtesy of your's truly)
You’re still actively producing. What have you worked on recently you’d like to highlight? And what’s coming up?
There’s always some great Seattle band records going on – Bürien, 38 Coffin, Once For Kicks, Insect Man, The Drolls, Zack Static. These days, some records take a while to finish, I suppose it’s the nature of the business now. Trying now to clean the slate and get these out the door before starting new ones!
And there’s maybe a new Fastbacks coming, no?
There was no plan of any sort. We were having lunch as we sometimes do, and started talking about a couple songs it would be fun to learn and maybe record. Our pal Joe “Meice” Reineke had recently finished an ambitious and fantastic recording building in his back yard; wouldn’t it be fun to check that out….? Well let’s call him and see what his schedule is. Oh! he’s got a day open, whaddayasay, let’s take it. Well there’s a few other songs we could learn, let’s make it two days… I guess we’d better practice… What if we did enough songs for an album? Maybe we did! Got some band tracks, everyone played their butts off! Now we gotta make more magic. No target completion date nor avenue to release, but everyone is excited to finish it!
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Post Script: This article sprung from an editor at a national mag asking if I wanted to do a story on Kurt Bloch, which of course I said yes to cuz Kurt's a great guy and I've been a Fastbacks fan for a goodly spell. But some months passed and plans changed, and so here it is! Also, I would've put more videos in this piece because the Fastbacks have a ton of great songs, but I guess I just learned there is a 10-video limit for a tumblr post. Who knew?
All images courtesy of Kurt Bloch, except where noted.
#punk#fastbacks#Seattle rock#seattle scene#grunge#1990s punk#1990s rock#1990s#sub pop#nirvana#soundgarden#Kurt Bloch#garage punk#devil dogs#Mighty Joe Vincent#crypt records#Seattle punk#Conrad Uno#Egg Studio#mudhoney#nashville pussy#Presidents of the United States of America#robyn hitchcock#guns n roses#new bomb turks#gaunt#columbus ohio#Youtube
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We are yet again CANCELING the men’s long program, but we are also adding a special fourth place medal for being an awesome person in fourth.
So here are the results!
#If US nationals can have a fourth place medal than there’s no reason worlds can’t too!#So sad conrad and kyrylo didn’t even make the free#but shoma and ilia broke 100#and jun might’ve too but the judges are cowards#shoma uno#ilia malinin#junhwan cha#keegan messing#heres how keegan messing can podium at worlds: a delusional dream of mine
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sci men: i am emotionally drained
#oh keegan this one was for YOU#sobbing it will never be the same without him#not over the save either bc guy was two inches from the boards and swerved and hopped on the pick and still kept the fucking leg in the air.#matteo staring camp directly in the eye. i love this program it’s hilarious i don’t care what anyone says#and the two ends of the champery spectrum. sobbing over deniss nightmare comp and stephane hugging him saying what happened what happened#vs sobbing over miracle boy uno and stephanes rinkside bODY LANGUAGE#deniss……. i’m heartbroken… it’s been a while since he’s looked like that in the k&c#and the rest: i feel like the average human being would spontaneously combust upon staring directly into conrad’s eyes#gogogogolev redemption 🙏 this program looks a lot better on him than the short#the selevbros take up unreasonable real estate in my mind i love their style and their graceful beautiful hands#estonian fs world domination#also im so sold on britschgi lol i will not be elaborating#skate canada 2022
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please write some conrad fics, the tag has been DRY
Is there a Aaron Dessner that has produced that is not heartbreaking? The Great war, Tolerate it, Right where you left me, You’re losing me, Would’ve could’ve should’ve. I have nothing against Jack, but when Aaron is involved, things…hit different.
The acronym switching from love of my life to loss of my life *UGLY CRYING*
Warnings: heartbreak
my taglists are here + you can send requests here at any time
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When coming to Cousins for Belly and Jeremiah’s wedding, you knew it would be impossible to go through a whole weekend of wedding festivities without speaking to Conrad. You tried to avoid him, but he was always right there. In the kitchen talking with Laurel. In the living room with Jeremiah and Belly. In the backyard with Steven helping set up the chairs and tables under Taylor’s instructions.
At least he didn’t come to the wedding with a girl. It would have hurt too much.
‘’I can’t believe our Belly is getting married,’’ you said as you all sat in the living room for the smallest bachelorette party.
There was no male stripper dancing or crazy alcohol consumption like you see in movies. Just matching pajamas, a plastic ‘bride’ crown Anika got online, and sparkling mocktails. Laurel felt out of place among the younger girls, but it was her daughter’s bachelorette. She couldn’t not be there.
Taylor took a cupcake from the table, all decorated to perfection by you. ‘’I would have never guessed she would be the first of us to marry. We all thought it would be you and Con—’’ She stopped herself when she saw Belly looking at you, realizing that if she finished her sentence it would hurt you.
A silence fell and a lump settled in your throat. You brought your drink to your lips, wishing there was alcohol in it. Drowning your sorrows in alcohol is not the solution, but it’s good at temporarily numbing the pain.
I thought that too.
Your parents bought their holiday house in Cousins where you were ten and you had known the Fishers and the Conklins since. Susannah had invited you over to play with her kids — to make friends. Although you were closer to Jeremiah and Belly in age, it was Conrad who got along with you the best. He taught you how to play Uno, came to get you when you swam too far at the beach and helped you clean your dress when stained it eating a blue popsicle. He was always nice to you. Patient and caring. As you got older, he was only looking at you. Everyone noticed, but no one said anything. He’s just always been yours.
Until he wasn’t.
You didn’t want to sour the ambiance or steal the attention from the bride-to-be, so you got up and excused yourself to the bathroom. You closed the door, feeling the quiet sanctuary of solitude envelop you. Memories of you and Conrad flooded your mind, each more painful than its predecessor. Nothing would ever compare to the pain this breakup felt.
Leaning against the sink, you stared at your reflection in the mirror, tears welling up and blurring your vision. You tried to make them go away by fanning your eyes, but they overflowed, carrying with them the weight of five years of heartache.
How could it still hurt after all this time?
With trembling hands, you reached for a tissue, dabbing at your eyes, but the tears kept coming. ‘’Please, stop.’’
In the morning, you woke up on a blow-up mattress in Belly’s room. Your eyes were sensitive from crying and red. You tried to cover it with eye-drops and makeup, but when you came down for breakfast and Belly pulled you in a tight hug, you knew you didn’t do a great job.
Jeremiah eyed the two of you, raising an eyebrow and silently asking what was up, but Belly shook her head.
The rest of the day went without any downpour of tears. A part of the afternoon was spent tanning under the sun and drinking lemonades, relishing in the last moments of tranquility before the evening's rehearsal dinner. The place was going to get filled with family members and other guests soon and it’ll get very crowded.
Steven joined you in Belly’s bedroom as you were getting ready for dinner, still wet from being at the beach with the boys. He tried to get a kiss from Taylor, but she pushed him off as he was dripping water all over her makeup bag. Jeremiah laughed in the doorway, blowing a kiss to Belly before parting to his own bedroom to change.
Although you weren’t the only single person in the room, you never felt more alone.
At the dinner, you sat listening to the speeches about Belly and Jeremiah’s love. Without surprise, Steve made sure to embarrass the couple and Laurel was unable to hold back her tears when her turn came. Childhood stories and teenage anecdotes about their early moments of relationship made the guests laugh and smile.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly until Adam inadvertently attributed a story to Belly and Jeremiah, when in fact it was about you and Conrad. The frown on Jeremiah’s forehead as his father continued to speak matched Belly, both of them not knowing what he was talking about.
‘’Eh, Dad, Belly didn’t come to my prom…’’ Jeremiah whispered to his father. ‘’I went to hers and she was wearing a purple dress, not green.’’
Adam paused, his realization dawning slowly. ‘’Oh. You’re right. That was Conrad. I caught him and his girl making out outside the house when they came back. Susannah was out of her mind for allowing her to sleep over…’’
The revelation hung in the air, accompanied by an uncomfortable silence. Your grip on the glass of wine tightened involuntarily, the pressure causing it to shatter in your hand. Shards of glass cut into your skin as crimson droplets mixed with the spilled wine.
Beside you, Taylor gasped in concern, her eyes widening at the sight. ‘’Oh my god, are you—’’
Ignoring the sting of pain and Taylor’s voice, you excused yourself and hurried inside to tend to your injury. You grabbed some paper towels and pressed them over your cuts.
Unbeknownst to you, Conrad followed after you. As you stood there, watching the white soak and turn red, you felt his presence behind you. ‘’Don’t do that.’’ His touch was gentle as he took your hand and removed the soiled paper towels, placing them on the counter. ‘’Never apply pressure to an injury that’s not clean of debris. You’ll push them further in,’’ he advised, the doctor in him speaking. ‘’Let me see.’’
‘’I’m fine. Don’t worry about me,’’ you insisted, attempting to brush off his concern. ‘’Go back to everyone else, it’s almost time for the best man’s speech.’’
But Conrad didn’t budge. ‘’Sit here. I need to check if there’s glass in it.’’ he urged, his tone firm yet caring.
Knowing there was no way out of this, you sat on one of the kitchen stools and let Conrad check your injury. He turned on the kitchen tap and you hissed as the water hit your freshly cut skin, the cool liquid soothing the sharp ache.
You sat there as Conrad tended to your wound in silence, his fingers gentle as he inspected your hand for any embedded glass fragments. You couldn't help but notice the warmth of his touch and the upgraded woodsy cologne, their familiarity causing your heart to flutter despite the pain.
His focus was entirely on your hand, his brow furrowed in concentration. It reminded you of that one time you fell from your bike and he patched up your knee and elbow. Once he made sure there was no glass in it, he went to fetch an antiseptic and gauze from the bathroom.
As he was wrapping it up, you thanked him. A simple ‘thanks’.
‘’Be careful drinking wine, next time.’’ Conrad meant it as a light teasing, but you weren’t in a mood to laugh.
‘’Don’t say anything. Please,’’ you pleaded, your voice barely above a whisper. ‘’It hurts seeing you — it really hurts. So much that I didn’t want to come to the wedding, but I couldn’t miss Belly’s big day. I couldn’t do that to her. What type of friend would I be?’’ The weight of your words hung heavy in the air between you, the truth of them echoing in the silence of the room. ‘’But being here, watching her and Jeremiah getting married is killing me because that should have been us,’’ you continued, your voice trembling with emotion. ‘’This house is where we met; every corner holds tons of memories of us and it’s haunting me, torturing me since I got here.’’
‘’I never wanted to hurt you. I’m sorry—’’
‘’You’re sorry? No sorry will be enough,’’ you said. ‘’You told me I'm the love of your life about a million times. You said you would never leave. But you did. I loved you so much— You were it for me, Conrad. It was always you. But now you’re the loss of my life.’’
He said your name, but once again, you didn’t let him speak.
You got down from the stool, the stinging pain in your hand still present. ‘’I should get back outside. Hopefully Laurel knows a way to get blood out of my dress.’’
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#conrad fisher imagine#conrad fisher#conrad fisher fanfic#conrad fisher x reader#the summer i turned pretty imagine#the summer i turned pretty
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Storia Di Musica #300 - Miles Davis, Live-Evil, 1971
Quando si ascoltò questo disco per la prima volta, i critici ebbero un profondo senso di smarrimento: Come bisogna definirlo? Cosa è? È jazz? È rock? È qualcosa di altro? In parte era lo scopo del suo creatore, in parte perfino a lui, genio incontrastato delle rivoluzioni musicali, qualcosa "sfuggì di mano", divenendo addirittura qualcosa di altro dalla sua idea primigenia. Questo è un disco che parte da un percorso iniziato qualche anno prima, quando Miles Davis e il suo storico secondo quintetto iniziano ad esplorare le possibilità che gli strumenti elettrici e le strutture della musica rock possono dare al jazz. I primi esperimenti con Miles In The Sky (1968), poi con quel capolavoro magnetico che è In A Silent Way (1969), il primo con la nuova formazione elettrica, la quale sviluppa a pieno quella rivoluzione che va sotto il nome di jazz fusion con il fragoroso, e irripetibile, carisma musicale rivoluzionario che fu Bitches Brew (1970, ma registrato qualche giorno dopo il Festival di Woodstock, nell'Agosto del 1969). Davis è sempre stato curioso e non ha mai avuto paura di guardarsi intorno dal punto di vista musicale, ne è testimone la sua discografia. E nell'idea che il jazz stesse morendo, era sua intenzione innestarlo di nuova vitalità contaminandolo con altri generi, non solo il rock, ma anche il funk, il soul, la musica sperimentale europea. A tutto ciò, per la prima volta nel jazz (e questa fu l'accusa più viva di eresia), il ruolo del produttore, del suo fido e sodale Teo Macero, è proprio quello di cercare tra le sessioni di prove le parti migliori, o come amava dire Davis "le più significative", e metterle insieme in un lavoro sorprendente e meticoloso di collage musicale, che in teoria elimina la componente espositiva solista del musicista jazz, ma che allo stesso tempo regala una nuova filosofia musicale ai brani, del tutto inaspettata. Decisivo fu, nel 1970, il compito che fu affidato a Davis di curare la colonna sonora del film documentario A Tribute To Jack Johnson, di Bill Cayton, sulla vita del pugile che nel 1908 divenne il primo pugile di colore e il primo texano a vincere il titolo del mondo di boxe dei pesi massimi, quando sconfisse il campione in carica Tommy Burns. Per questa ragione fu considerato una sorta di simbolo dell'orgoglio razziale della gente di colore all'inizio del ventesimo secolo, soprattutto poiché nel periodo erano ancora in vigore le leggi Jim Crow, leggi che di fatto perpetuarono la segregazione razziale in tutti i servizi pubblici, istituendo uno status definito di "separati ma uguali" per i neri americani e per gli appartenenti a gruppi razziali diversi dai bianchi, attive dal 1875 al 1965.
Il disco di oggi somma tutte queste istanze, in maniera unica e per certi versi selvaggia, divenendo di fatto una sorta di manifesto che Il Signore Delle Tenebre ostenta alla sua maniera, cioè nel modo più sfavillante possibile. Live-Evil esce nel Novembre del 1971, ma è frutto di storiche serate live al The Cellar Dome di Washington DC, dove la band di Davis si esibì per diverse serate nel Dicembre del 1970, e una parte di registrazioni in studio sotto lo sguardo attento di Teo Macero, presso gli studi della Columbia di New York. Con Davis, nelle esibizioni al Cellar Dome, che come prima pietra dello scandalo usa la tromba elettrica, infarcita di pedali di effetti e di wah wah (amore trasmessogli da Jimi Hendrix) c'erano Gary Bartz (sassofono), John McLaughlin (chitarra elettrica), Keith Jarrett (piano elettrico), Michael Henderson (basso elettrico), Jack DeJohnette (batteria) e Airto Moreira (percussioni) e in un brano solo, come voce narrante, l'attore Conrad Roberts. Nelle sessioni in studio di aggiungono altre leggende, tra cui Herbie Hancock e Chick Corea (con lui nei precedenti dischi citati), Billy Cobham, Joe Zawinul e il fenomenale musicista brasiliano Hermeto Pascoal, la cui musica e i cui brani saranno centrali in questo lavoro. Tutto il magma creativo di queste idee sfocia in un doppio disco dalla forza musicale devastante, tanto che oggi alcuni critici lo definiscono un heavy metal jazz, che parte dalle origini più profonde ma sfocia in una musica caotica e sfacciatamente meravigliosa, trascinante e indefinibile, che gioca tutto sulle dissonanze, sugli ossimori, sui palindromi simbolici e musicali. E manifestazione più chiara ne è la copertina, bellissima, di Mati Klarwein, artista francese autore di alcune delle più belle copertine musicali, tra cui quella di Bitches Brew: lasciato libero di creare da Davis, pensò alla copertina con la donna africana incinta, come simbolo di creazione "primordiale", ma fu lo stesso Davis, a pochi giorni dalla pubblicazione, una volta deciso il titolo, che gli chiese un nuovo disegno, che accostasse il "bene" al "male" attraverso una rana. Klarwein in quel momento aveva una copertina della rivista Time che raffigurava il presidente Hoover, che fu presa come spunto per la rana del male, che campeggiò sul retro della copertina, e che vi faccio vedere:
Musicalmente il disco si divide in brani autografi di Davis, che diventano lunghissime jam session di sperimentazione, di assoli di chitarra, sfoghi di batteria, con la sua tromba elettrica che giganteggia qua e la, che raccolgono quel senso di rivoluzione, anche giocata sulla sua storica abilità di comunicazione (Sivad e Selim, che sono il contrario di Davis e Miles, la seconda scritta per lui da Pascoal, languida e dolcissima), il medley Gemini/Double Image, scritta con Zawinul, e le lunghissime e potentissime What I Say, quasi una dichiarazione di intenti, Funky Tonk, rivoluzionaria e la chiusura con Inamorata And Narration by Conrad Roberts, che è quasi teatro sperimentale, e le altre composizioni di Pascoal, Little Church e Nem Um Talvez, musica che stupì tantissimo lo stesso Davis, che considerava Pascoal uno dei più grandi musicisti del mondo: il brasiliano, polistrumentista, arrangiatore, produttore, è una delle figure centrali della musica sudamericana, e essendo albino è da sempre soprannominato o bruxo, lo stregone. Tutti brani vennero "perfezionati" da Macero, e addirittura nelle ristampe recenti è possibile leggere nelle note del libretto l'esatta costruzione dei brani, ripresi dalle sessioni live e dalle registrazioni in studio. Di quelle leggendarie serate al The Cellar Dome, nel 2005 la Columbia pubblicò un inestimabile cofanetto, di 5 cd, The Cellar Door Sessions 1970 con le intere esibizioni del Dicembre 1970: le parti usate in Live-Evil sono nel quinto e sesto disco, nei precedenti ulteriori esplorazioni musicali da brividi, per una delle serie di concerti storicamente più importanti del jazz.
Il disco verrà considerato il capolavoro che è solo dopo anni, in un periodo, quello degli anni '70, dove Davis accettò apertamente di sfidare la critica con la sua musica. Da allora però, per quanto in parte ancora enigmatico e "difficile", è considerato l'ennesimo pilastro della leggenda Davis, in uno dei suoi capitoli musicali che ebbe più fortuna, poichè buona parte dei fenomenali musicisti che contribuirono a questo disco erano in procinto, o già alle prese, con esperienze musicali che partendo dalla lezione del Maestro, ne approfondiranno i contenuti, e ne esploreranno i limiti: sarà quest'ambito che legherà le altre scelte di Novembre e questo omaggio, che come i precedenti numeri miliari (1,50,100,150,200,250) è dedicato al formidabile uomo con la tromba.
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El mar sólo es un conjunto de olas sucesivas, igual que la vida se compone de días y horas, que fluyen una detrás de otra. Parece una división muy sencilla, pero esta operación, incorporada a la mente, ha salvado del naufragio a innumerables marineros y ha ayudado a superar en tierra muchas tragedias humanas. Recuerdo haberlo leído, tal vez, en alguna novela de Conrad. Si en medio de un gran temporal el navegante piensa que el mar encrespado forma un todo absoluto, el ánimo sobrecogido por la grandeza de la adversidad entregará muy pronto sus fuerzas al abismo; en cambio, si olvida que el mar es un monstruo insondable y concentra su pensamiento en la ola concreta que se acerca y dedica todo el esfuerzo a esquivar su zarpazo y realiza sobre él una victoria singular, llegará el momento en que el mar se calme y el barco volverá a navegar de modo placentero. Como las olas del mar, los días y las horas baten nuestro espíritu llevando en su seno un dolor o un placer determinado que siempre acaba por pasar de largo. Cuando éramos niños desnudos en la playa no teníamos conciencia del mar abstracto, sino del oleaje que invadía la arena y contra él se establecía el desafío. Cada ola era un combate. Había olas muy tendidas que apenas mojaban nuestros pies y otras más alzadas que hacían flotar nuestro cuerpo; algunas llegaban a inundarnos por completo con cierto amor apacible, pero, de pronto, a media distancia de nuestro pequeño horizonte marino aparecía una gran ola muy cóncava adornada con una furiosa cresta de espuma que era recibida con gritos sumamente excitados. Los niños nos preparábamos para afrontarla: los más audaces preferían atravesarla clavándose en ella de cabeza, otros conseguían coronarla acomodando el ritmo corporal a su embestida y quienes no veían en ella una lucha concreta, sino un peligro insalvable, quedaban abatidos y arrollados. Con cuánto placer dormía uno esa noche con los labios salados y el cuerpo cansado, abrasado de sol, pero no vencido. La práctica de aquellos baños inocentes en la orilla del mar es la mejor filosofía para sobrevivir a las adversidades. El infinito no existe, el abismo sólo es un concepto. Las pequeñas tragedias de cada día se componen de olas que baten el costado de nuestro navío. La única sabiduría consiste en dividir la vida en días y horas para extraer de cada una de ellas una victoria concreta sobre el dolor y una culminación del placer que te regale. Una sola ola es la que te hace naufragar. De ésa hay que salvarse.
Las olas, Virginia Woolf
Vija Celmins, Untitled (Ocean), 1972
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“ Era il 1973, c'era la guerra, la gente faceva capannello attorno alla radio. Ascoltavano Radio Cairo, ancora increduli che l'esercito egiziano potesse attraversare il canale di Suez, che gli arabi potessero vincere contro Israele.
Stava in piedi assieme ad altre persone, Zayn 'Alúl, davanti alla bottega di Abu Khalíl, sorseggiando tè e facendo quattro chiacchiére. A un certo punto le chiacchiere avevano preso un'altra piega, si erano trasformate in una discussione a proposito dei fatti della Bank of America. Era successo che alcuni elementi della polizia libanese avevano fatto irruzione nella banca, ucciso due degli uomini che l'avevano occupata, arrestato gli altri due e liberato gli ostaggi. Con il risultato che la banca non aveva scucito un petacchino per lo sforzo bellico arabo, scopo ultimo dell'operazione, stando alle condizioni dettate dal capo del commando, poi abbattuto.
- È stato un errore, - diceva Abu Khalíl, - la guerra è in Israele, a che pro occupare una banca qui?
- La banca è americana, gli americani sono Israele. Sí insomma, lí e qui è la stessa identica guerra, - aveva ribattuto uno dei ragazzi che facevano ressa attorno alla bottega.
Abu Khalíl aveva preso in mano il giornale e si era avvicinato alla luce che usciva da dentro il negozio.
- Date retta a me, ragazzi, è stato un errore. 'Ali Shu'ayb ha preso in ostaggio e poi ammazzato un americano che non c'entrava niente.
Leggeva, Abu Khalíl:
- «L'americano John Conrad Maxwell è stato assassinato da 'Ali Shu'ayb. Quest'ultimo, ricorrendo a uno degli ostaggi perché non in grado di esprimersi in inglese, ha comunicato a Maxwell di aver deciso di ucciderlo poiché la dilazione concessa alle autorità era scaduta. L'americano ha implorato per la propria vita, ma 'Ali Shu'ayb gli ha sparato alla schiena. L'americano, supino al suolo, ha urlato e supplicato, ma 'Ali Shu'ayb, coadiuvato da un altro componente del commando, presumibilmente Jihàd As'ad, lo ha preso a calci e ha nuovamente fatto fuoco, colpendolo al ventre e togliendogli la vita».
- Ma vi sembra possibile, ragazzi? Non son cose che si fanno, - aveva concluso Abu Khalíl: - E poi il problema è con Israele, la guerra è li. È stato un errore.
- Tutte balle, - aveva esclamato Zayn 'Alúl, - sono tutte balle. “
Elias Khuri, Facce bianche, traduzione dall'arabo di Elisabetta Bartuli, Einaudi (collana L'Arcipelago n° 126), 2007¹; pp. 133-134.
[1ª Edizione originale: الوجوه البيضاء, (Wujuh al-bayda), editore Dar Al Adab, Beirut, 1981]
#Elias Khuri#Facce bianche#letture#leggere#libri#narrativa#guerra civile libanese#Libano#Levante#Beirut#Medioriente#citazioni letterarie#conflitti#letteratura araba#società libanese#letteratura libanese#società arabe#Vicino Oriente#settarismo#Elisabetta Bartuli#romanzo#romanzi#Medio Oriente#Israele#confessionalismo#Siria#Palestina#questione palestinese#guerra dello Yom Kippur#guerra del Ramadan
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Del cuaderno... (VIII)
OFICIO DE POESÍA
Particular observación
Yo en los años 80, en Alicante, tenía un amigo poeta que siempre decía que la poesía era «el resultado de una particular observación». No sé si esa frase la habría tomado él de algún otro autor —es posible—, pero en cualquier caso el dictum encierra una indudable verdad. Por mi parte, yo he dejado escrito en uno de mis libros de ensayo-ficción el siguiente aforismo: «No existe gente con buena memoria y gente con mala memoria; existe gente que se fija en lo que hace y gente que no se fija». En efecto: en el ojo está la clave; tenerlo o no tenerlo, esa es la cuestión. O mejor: cultivar o no cultivar la mirada. Amar —en definitiva— el mundo o despreciarlo; pues hemos de recordar que, como reza el refrán, no existe mayor desprecio que la falta de aprecio.
Dijo Joseph Conrad, en celebrada y muy repetida cita, que la labor del escritor —del artista— era ayudar al prójimo a ver. El poeta es aquel que ve, y ayuda a ver. Y el que a través de la empatía —creo que fue Goethe quien en uno de estos sentidos habló de la «educación por el dolor»— ayuda a sus lectores, mediante un proceso de identificación catalizado por la «alquimia del verbo», a entender.
El poeta es alguien que, en palabras de Cioran, «ha entendido»; y la poesía es el medio del que se vale para transmitir sus epifanías y hacer extensiva su percepción.
Tarea del zahorí
Dice Ortega que el amor es «zahorí, sutil descubridor de tesoros recatados», y que no es que no vea (vendados se le han supuesto tradicionalmente los ojos), sino que su función no es mirar, pues el amor es «luz, claridad meridiana que recogemos para enfocarla sobre una persona o una cosa», comportando por lo tanto «un grado superior de atención». Ese mismo fenómeno es el que se da en relación con la visión de mundo del poeta; de ahí que de este podamos afirmar que es, de alguna manera, un ser enamorado: su paisaje (por seguir con Ortega, parafraseándolo) es tan real como el del resto de la humanidad, pero mejor.
Potencia y hechos consumados
Según Balzac, el poeta ha de traducir sus percepciones en sensaciones de forma inmediata, pues —a causa de su temperamento— solo así puede aspirar a entenderlas; y es esa impulsividad la que lo convierte en un ser tan a menudo imprudente y temerario. El hombre de acción, por el contrario, mide y calibra sus actos antes de ejecutarlos (en otras palabras: «estudia sus jugadas»).
Es ciertamente una extraña paradoja: el poeta, que no hace nada, es un osado; el hombre de acción, que lo hace todo, examina con cuidado el terreno que se dispone a pisar. La aparente contradicción tiene, sin embargo, perfecto sentido: el arte solo puede ser aposteriorístico; las gestas en tiempo real —incluso aquellas, más modestas, de la vida cotidiana— han de triunfar o fracasar en el ínterin de su propio transcurso. Otra manera de expresarlo sería decir que el poeta vive en el ámbito de lo que en filosofía se denomina la pura potencia, mientras que el hombre de acción reside en la esfera de los hechos consumados.
Riesgos de lo inefable
Poesía es estar, a la vez, en todos los planos de la realidad y la irrealidad; barajar la lengua en que dialogan entre sí las dimensiones. Poesía es amor, es miedo, es angustia, es cólera y júbilo, es Dios. Claro que hablar de lo inefable lleva consigo sus riesgos; y el menor de ellos no es precisamente la posibilidad de proferir necedades.
Vocación en marcha
Poesía es también tremulante vocación en marcha: un perpetuo ejercicio de nietzscheana «voluntad de poder»; un buscarse y alcanzarse y trascenderse, para luego buscarse otra vez; un eterno retorno al ser desde el ser. Dicho de otro modo: puro gozo —ecos hay aquí de San Juan de la Cruz— en permanente proceso de autoverificación.
Poesía eres tú
Y finalmente, poesía —Bécquer dixit— «eres tú». En los versos que siguen enfoco yo el asunto desde una perspectiva parecida, haciéndome consciente o inconsciente eco de la cándida boutade del romántico sevillano para definir a mi vez lo inenarrable y rematar con ello estos fragmentos:
«¿Qué es poesía?», me pregunta.
Poesía, le respondo, es un rebaño
de vacas cruzando mansamente un puente
por encima de una autopista de montaña.
Y me mira, y me sonríe, y eso
(lo lleva puesto y no lo sabe)
es también poesía. Y de la buena.
[07-10/02/24]
ROGER WOLFE
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Personal recap Skate Canada 2022 - Men FS
I didn't write a personal recap for the SP because tbh I just watched a few skaters and looking at the protocol of the SP I didn't want to watch much more 😅 what a horrible men SP...ofc Shoma was still great and Kao Miura well done and deserved 1st place after the SP!
Now let's go to the Men FS in starting order:
Stephen Gogolev - he is the typical hyped junior skater who just has a rough time in seniors, too much hype, too much pressure, too much difficulty at a very young age imo. I think with better pacing he could have had a smoother start in seniors. Anyway a very good skate from Gogolev! Just like in juniors I think he lacks artistry, he still skates quite juniorish.
Aleksandr Selevko - quite the opposite from Gogolev. Jumps that worked smoothly landed and with wonderful body language and skating flow. But he lacks the difficulty to really make up for the bad SP. It wasn't error free either. I do like his skating style a lot! ❤️
Jimmy Ma - I wish we would have seen more of what he showed the last 30 seconds in his choreo sequence. I usually think Jimmy's programs are unique and interesting but this one is quite bland except for the ending seconds. Not that bad of a skate but without interesting programs you can see that he lacks flow and that his basic skating is not that strong.
Lukas Britschgi - I like the concept and music cut of the program. Good choreographic elements throughout. Not perfectly skated but well enough keeping that SP score in mind.
Deniss Vasiljews - I love his skating. ❤️ A classical piece like Dvorak suits him very well. Wonderful spins, wonderful choreography just none of that helps if the jumps don't work at all. The already low TES plummeted rightfully tbh...sad to say but the last place would have been fair too. 😥 So sad to see him be so down 😭😭😭
Conrad Orzel - weird landings all over the place, not sure what to think of this program...he is rather slow and not very expressive, he only came a bit more alive in the step sequence...
Camden Pulkinen - I always rooted for him since juniors. Such beautiful skating. It was a typical Camden like program, some stuff worked, some not at all. I still think he can be quite happy with his performance despite the mistake. Good fight! ❤️
Keegan Messing - if you see Keegan you just get a smile on your face, always such positive mood around him. 🥰 This program is such an amazing fit! How did he save that first 3A? 😲 Not perfect but boy this was a great skate! ❤️
Matteo Rizzo - Great skate! Program fits him well! I have never seen his 4Lo be so good. It was a close call between Keegan and Matteo, both very similar level of skates of the day, both good PCS skaters too. I dunno who I would have placed where tbh
SHOMA ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Baroque king! 👑
Shoma Uno - Love love love this program! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Love love love his skating! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Love love love the costume! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️League of his own! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Not getting irritated by the less than perfect landings in the first two jumps, who cares for that last 4T going awry. We don't need perfect Shoma now...the K&C was cute...the girl screaming his name 🥰🥰🥰 (btw I do think it was ok for his TES to drop just not sure that much is ok, but anyway...let's wait and see the protocol) Congrats to your first GP victory! 🥇
Kao Miura - what was up with him having to adjust his boots in the warmup? So glad he managed well afterwards. I said before I cannot really judge Beauty and the Biest programs as I love the musical very much, but I do think with each performance Kao gets more into character. He took out the 4Lo. That 4S fall looked really hard. I really admire how much time he has to spot his landing in the jumps. Great talent! Totally lived up to the expectations from Skate America! Bravo👏👏👏👏And again an 8 point gap to the winner! 😅 Congrats on 2nd place! 🎉🥈 Welcome to the GPF! 🎉🎉🎉
This was a pleasantly good free skate from most men! Let's not forget it's still quite early in the season!
#figure skating#skate canada 2022#shoma uno#kao miura#camden pulkinen#personal recap#matteo rizzo#keegan messing
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IMAGENES Y DATOS INTERESANTES DEL DIA 8 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2023
Día Mundial del Urbanismo, Día Mundial de la Radiología, Día de la Solidaridad Intersexual, Día Mundial sin Wi-Fi, Semana Mundial de la Calidad, Año Internacional del Mijo y Año Internacional del Diálogo como Garantía de Paz.
Santos: Segundo, Severiano, Carpóforo, Victorino, Primo, Macario, Justo, Amaranto, los cuatro Santos Coronados, mártires; Matrona, abadesa; Mauro, Godofredo, Wilchado, obispos; Eufrosina, Hugo, confesores; Gregorio, Tisilo.
Tal día como hoy en el año 2016 - En la elecciones presidenciales celebradas en Estados Unidos, el empresario y multimillonario republicano Donald Trump, un populista con un discurso xenófobo de ultraderecha, derrota a la demócrata Hillary Clinton, destrozando todos los pronósticos, lo que conmociona al mundo. Aunque Clinton gana en votos populares por estrecho margen (60.966.953 frente a 60.328.203), en votos electorales gana Trump (290 vs. 228). Esta victoria sorprendente dirige a su país a un futuro desconocido. (Hace 7 años)
En 1960 - Por estrecho margen respecto al republicano Richard Nixon, el candidato demócrata John Fitzgerald Kennedy vence en las elecciones presidenciales estadounidenses. (Hace 63 años)
1932 - Es elegido presidente de los EE.UU. por primera vez Franklin D. Roosevelt. Será reelegido en otras tres ocasiones más. (Hace 91 años)
1904 - En Estados Unidos, el presidente Theodore Roosevelt renueva su mandato presidencial en las urnas. (Hace 119 años)
1895 - En Alemania, el físico Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, mientras realiza experimentos con los tubos de rayos catódicos, hace un descubrimiento trascendental que revolucionará el mundo de la medicina. Mientras experimenta en su laboratorio, se da cuenta de que por medio de un tipo de radiación es capaz de ver a través de materiales, incluyendo su propio cuerpo. Denomina este fenómeno "Rayos X", por la naturaleza desconocida de la radiación. Gracias a ello se le concederá el primer Premio Nobel de Física en el año 1901. (Hace 128 años)
1843 - En España, Isabel II es declarada mayor de edad con apenas 14 años, convirtiéndose así en reina de España. Esta medida se toma para evitar un nuevo periodo de regencias. (Hace 180 años)
1793 - En París (Francia), en un antiguo palacio real, abre sus puertas el museo de El Louvre. Su primera ampliación tendrá lugar en el siglo XIX con la adición de dos grandes alas. (Hace 230 años)
1687 - Los jenízaros, la elite del ejército otomano, con un poder cada vez más independiente e influyente, derrocan a Mehmet IV, y eligen a Solimán III sultán del imperio otomano. (Hace 336 años)
1557 - En Chile, en la zona pantanosa de la laguna de San Pedro y el río Biobio, tiene lugar la batalla de Lagunillas. En ella, las tropas españolas del gobernador García Hurtado de Mendoza, formadas por unos 600 hombres, se enfrentan por primera vez y vencen a los araucanos del cacique Caupolicán. (Hace 466 años)
1519 - Hernán Cortés llega a Tenochtitlán, la espléndida capital del imperio azteca. El emperador Moctezuma sale a recibirlo con gran pompa y boato al pensar que es un enviado del dios Quetzalcóalt. Los españoles son alojados en el palacio de Axayácatl. (Hace 504 años)
392 - El Emperador romano Teodosio el Grande, que el 27 de febrero de 380 instituyó el Cristianismo como religión oficial del Imperio, publica un edicto en virtud del cual se da un golpe casi definitivo al paganismo al prohibir todos los rituales que no sean cristianos denominándolos "supersticiones de los Gentiles", lo que dará pie a nuevas persecuciones a gran escala contra los paganos. Se prohibirán los misterios de Samotracia y se asesinará a sus sacerdotes. En Chipre, los obispos locales Epifanio y Tychon destruirán casi todos los templos de la isla y exterminarán a miles de paganos. Los misterios locales de la diosa Afrodita serán también proscritos. El edicto de Teodosio declara que "aquellos que no obedezcan al padre Epifanio, no tienen derecho a seguir viviendo en la isla" de Chipre. (Hace 1631 años)
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Babylon: No todo lo que brilla es oro
El día de hoy vi por primera vez Babylon, dirigida por Damien Chazelle. Este director ha demostrado tener una perspectiva visual y narrativa unica, pues al momento de tener que poner una escena cruda, lo pone con todo y la iluminación adecuada. Los personajes que protagonizan esta pelicula pasan por un cambio drástico, ascienden a la fama junto con la evolución del cine mudo al sonido. Sin embargo, como una serpiente mudando de piel, el cambio es doloroso, la adaptación es incómoda y pesada, pero el amor al arte y la ambición hace que todo sea posible. Claro que... el ascenso a la fama tiene su precio, principalmente al tomar malas decisiones, pues consecuencias son fatales.
Tengo tres personajes favoritos en esta pelicual de los cuales uno permanecerá siempre en mi corazón y ese es Jack Conrad. Los otros dos fueron Sydney Palmer y Elinor St. John, pero de ellos hablaré más adelante.
Conrad es mi personaje favorito y es su transición en ascenso y descenso me hicieron sentir la soledad que este personaje presentaba. Nunca es suficiente, nunca es demasiado y al momento de creer estar en la cima y querer evolucionar con el resto, el mundo te dijo que tu tiempo ya pasó. La despedida de este personaje es melancolica junto con la musica y la iluminación. El dialogo de Conrad suena como una despedida y junto con la camara lo acompañas a su última escena.
Por otro lado considero a Sydney Palmer y Elinor St. John como los personajes más sensatos, con los pies en la tierra, que lograron darse cuenta a tiempo de lo que trataba la industria del cine. Ambos tenian la opción de quedarse o retirarse. Por un lado Sydney al verse en un mundo lleno de pobreza donde la musica no era apreciada de la misma manera que él lo veía, decide aprovechar la oportunidad de convertirse en un actor al ser parte del elenco de la música. Prueba por un momento la dulzura de la fama y la riqueza, pudo ser importante por un momento y eso le gustaba, pero al momento de tener que cambiar o adaptarse a lo que los demás le pedían para poder quedarse en ese mundo, decidió abandonar la industria. Él amaba la música y no iba a terminar hechandolo a perder solo para convertirse en parte de un circo y perder su escencia.
Elinor es el personaje que supo como manejarse en el mundo del entretenimiento siguiendo sus propios principios. Mantenía su perfil neutral cuando se presentaba en eventos y manejaba con mano dura sus palabras escritas en sus artículos. Ella fue testigo de la evolucion del cine y la decadencia de grandes figuras del cine mudo. Estaba consciente de que los cambios muchas veces no permiten a los que estaban en la cima seguir adelante. El publico era cruel al igual que la critica y la industria del cine. La última platica que le da a Conrad es lo que me hizo ver lo muy inteligente que ers esta mujer. Definitivamente una mujer poderosa, que al igual que un escritor omnisciente, solo observa.
La musica y la iluminación son el fuerte de este maravilloso director, ya que sabe como y cuando posicionar los colores y la musica en el momento ideal. La melancolia, los excesos, la frustración, la victoria entre otras emociones se sienten con tan solo visualizar y escuchar la escena.
Aunque el final no lo sentí conectado con el ritmo del tercer acto, compredí que era una carta de amor al cine. Su evolución, el proceso y los sacrificios que permitieron esa historia llegar a millones de personas. Nadie sabe lo que ocurre tras bambalinas, nadie sufre ni siente lo que el director o los actores, el elenco en general tuvo que pasar para que una sola escena saliera. Sentir esa satisfacción de logro y victoria por el éxito es algo que se experimenta en cabeza propia. Es por eso que como consumidores debemos valorar el trabajo que se hace para que nosotros podamos disfrutar de algo que fue hecho para el mundo.
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Now that Sheffield is over, i can rant about NHK. Deniss silver and Daniel gold!! I feel so bad for Roman tho, he really Canadian Man’d that one.
NHK is going to be a fucking bloodbath. In no particular order, we have:
Adam Saio Him Fa - IDF gold
Matteo Rizzo - SCI bronze
Kazuki Tomono - 4CC silver, IDF bronze
Shoma Uno - Word Champion, SCI gold, two olympic medals, exc exc
Jun-hwan Cha - SKAM bronze, 4CC gold
Sota Yamamoto - IDF silver
Stephen Gogolev - Canadian. Is backed by the support of Canadians. Support of Canadians usually makes you fail in men’s singles figure skating, however as a Canadian I feel obligated to put at least one on this list
Any one of these people could medal. (Except Stephen if he Canadian Mans this) They could also all fail and none of them medal. Whatever way this goes = bloodbath. lots of death. and crying. and Yuma’s not even competing.
I just realized that we could have a repeat of the IDF podium, and I really want that to happen because it would be fucking hilarious.
Kazuki and Jun 4CC rematch.
Shoma dramatic disaster or clean?
Or actually will Conrad Orzel pull a Euros 2022? for that to happen he’d need to be in a position where he might make the podium with a clean skate, and then everyone else fails. Is this happening? no. but he’s also canadian and therefore must also be included in this list.
FUCK THERES NO WAY TO BE HAPPY I WANT EVERYONE TO WIN
Skate, they said. It’ll be fun, they said. Watch this thing. WELL THE THING BECAME MY PERSONALITY. AND CAUSED TOO MUCH CRYING TO BE HEALTHY.
#Shoma Uno#kazuki tomono#sota yamamoto#junhwan cha#adam siao him fa#stephen gogolev#matteo rizzo#deniss vasiljevs#roman sadovsky#daniel grassl#canadian men are disasters#figure skating#NHK#sheffield
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redes sociales: beneficios y riesgos.
¡ hola !
en mis publicación hablare sobre las redes sociales los beneficios y riesgos y los tipos de redes sociales que existen en la actualidad.
¿ que son las redes sociales ?
Las redes sociales son plataformas digitales formadas por comunidades de individuos con intereses, actividades o relaciones en común (como amistad, parentesco, trabajo). Las redes sociales permiten el contacto entre personas y funcionan como un medio para comunicarse e intercambiar información.Pause
Los individuos no necesariamente se tienen que conocer antes de entrar en contacto a través de una red social, sino que pueden hacerlo a través de ella, y ese es uno de los mayores beneficios de las comunidades virtuales
Tipo de redes sociales.
redes sociales horizontales y genéricas. Son aquellas redes sociales que no poseen una temática determinada, sino que apuntan a todo tipo de usuarios. Estas redes funcionan como medios de comunicación, información o entretenimiento. Son muy numerosas y populares, por ejemplo: Facebook o Twitter.
redes sociales verticales. Son aquellas redes sociales que relacionan personas con intereses específicos en común, como música, hobbies, deportes. Por ejemplo: Flickr, red social cuya temática es la fotografía. Dentro de estas redes se encuentran las redes verticales profesionales, como LinkedIn, que involucra individuos que comparten el ámbito laboral o que buscan ampliar sus fronteras laborales.
origen y evolución de redes sociales
La década del noventa se caracterizó por la aparición de la web (www), tecnología que facilitó el acceso de un gran número de personas a Internet. Las redes sociales tienen su origen en la segunda mitad de los noventa y se fueron desarrollando desde ese entonces hasta la actualidad.
Classmates es considerada la primera red social. Fue creada en 1995 por el estadounidense Randy Conrads. Esta red social buscaba conectar de manera virtual a ex compañeros de colegio y universidad. Como el proyecto fue exitoso, comenzaron a aparecer nuevas redes cuyo fin era reunir amigos y conocidos.
En 1997 se creó SixDegrees, una red que permitía contactar a otros miembros de la red, crear un perfil, armar listas de amigos. SixDegrees se basó en la teoría de “seis grados de separación”, que afirma que todas las personas se encuentran a seis personas de distancia de cualquier otra persona del planeta. Esta red social estuvo activa hasta 2001.
En 2003 surgió Friendster, una red que permitía contactar a otros miembros y compartir contenido online con ellos (fotos, videos, links). Estuvo activa con gran presencia de usuarios hasta 2015. En 2003 también se creó LinkedIn, red social laboral para buscar, recomendar u ofrecer un trabajo.
Como respuesta ante la popularidad de Friendster surgió en 2003, MySpace. Creada por una agencia de marketing, esta red se dedicaba especialmente a la música y a la tecnología. Para 2009, MySpace era la red social con mayor tráfico de usuarios.
¿ para que sirven las redes sociales ?
comunicar y compartir. Las redes sociales funcionan como plataformas para el intercambio de información u opinión. Según el tipo de red, varían las funcionalidades y el tipo de comunicación que se establece entre los usuarios. En muchas de ellas, los usuarios pueden compartir imágenes, videos, documentos, opiniones e información.
¿ cuantos usuarios pueden ocupar las redes sociales ?
De acuerdo con The Global State of Digital, elaborado por Hootsuite y We Are Social, se estima que 3.484 billones de personas utilizan las redes sociales, esto representa 45 por ciento de la población mundial.
En cuanto a España, 29 millones de españoles ya usan de forma activa las redes sociales y pasan casi 2 horas al día conectados a ellas, como recoge Hootsuite.
También ha cambiado nuestra forma de consumir los social media. El móvil gana por goleada a la hora de preguntar por qué medio se conectan a sus perfiles sociales, un 95%, frente al 91% que alcanza el ordenador y el 48% de las tablets. Whatsapp, Instagram y Twitter son las que más se consumen a través de smartphone, mientras que Facebook y Youtube ganan la batalla en la pantalla del monitor.
Fuente: https://concepto.de/redes-sociales/#ixzz7ufCDHSIX
comentario.
En mi opinión las redes sociales tienen culpa y en otros casos no, los riesgos no se vana acabar pero hay que fijarnos mas en los beneficios que nos dejan están redes y tendría que haber un cuidado que publicas y que es los comentarios.
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Carta de Conrad a Belly proveniente de el último libro de la trilogía « Verano » de Jenny Han. “Siempre nos quedará el verano”
The Summer I Turned Pretty
Querida Belly:
En primer lugar, ni siquiera sé si debería escribirte si es que está permitido. Espero que esté permitido. Espero que no tires esto sin siquiera abrir la caja porque si lo haces, te perderás algo muy importante.
Bueno está bien, algo que alguna vez fue muy importante para ti.
Fui a tu casa a arreglar la computadora de tu madre. Entré en tu habitación para usar la impresora y vi a Junior Mint sentado en el librero, con un aspecto increíblemente patético.
¿Te acuerdas de él? ¿Oso polar? ¿Lleva gafas y una bufanda muy elegante? ¿Qué gané para tí en el lanzamiento de anillos?
¿Recuerdas cómo solías ir al lanzamiento de anillos sólo para quedarte mirando los osos polares porque querías uno con todas tus fuerzas? Probablemente gasté treinta o cuarenta dólares en intentar ganar ese maldito oso para tí.
Aparentemente, te echa de menos. Independientemente de el hecho de que lo hayas dejado atrás, se siente perdido sin ti.
Lo digo en serio, eso es lo que me dijo. Patético, ¿verdad?
Así que aquí está. Sé amable con él, ¿quieres?
Conrad.
#the summer i turned pretty#belly conklin#conradbelly#conrad fisher#El verano en el que me volví bonita#jenny han#El verano en que me enamoré#No hay verano sin ti#Siempre nos quedará el verano
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Storia Di Musica #238 - Tangerine Dream, Alpha Centauri, 1971
Le storie di musica sulle copertine cosmiche mi hanno spinto a creare una appendice, poiché uno dei più importanti movimenti musicali europei aveva a che fare con una dimensione cosmica. Dirò di più: quello che da fine anni ‘60 a fine anni ‘70 (per i filologi della storia rock, 1967-1977) movimento la musica rock tedesca è stato il più grandioso e interessante movimento musicale non anglofono, sia per la nazionalità sia per i riferimenti concettuali e culturali, della musica occidentale. Tanto che il Melody Maker nel 1972, nell’anno successivo alla sua “esplosione”, lo definì in maniera alquanto denigratoria krautrock. In verità, è con l'espressione tedesca Kosmische Musik che il produttore musicale e scrittore tedesco Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser nella sua Das buch der neuen Pop-Musik, del 1969, prima enciclopedia della musica pop mai scritta (pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1971 dalla Arnoldo Mondadori Editore con il titolo Guida alla Musica Pop) definì il fermento musico-culturale di quegli anni. Perchè cosmica? In fondo, perchè affascinati dalle spedizioni spaziali, dalla fantascienza scritta e cinematografica, gli artisti e i gruppi del kosmic rock immaginarono degli spazi musicali dilatati e infinti, alternando, o a volte del tutto eliminando, i classici strumenti del rock, per un uso intensivo e suggestivo delle prime apparecchiature elettroniche, ispirandosi alla musica concreta e agli insegnamenti che Karlheinz Stockhausen aveva dato sulle avanguardie, la musica aleatoria e quella elettronica. Nella definizione entrano gruppi leggendari: i Faust, probabilmente il gruppo più sperimentatore di tutti, la magnificenza del suono dei Can, dei Neu! o dei Kraftwerk, che ebbero influenze fondamentali sulle musiche future (cito solo Bowie che va a Berlino per la sua leggendaria Trilogia di metà anni ‘70 e la New Wave), i Cluster, le contaminazioni mistiche dei meravigliosi lavori degli Ash Ra Tempel e dei Popol Vuh, il rock apocalittico degli Amon Düül I e II, fino alle improvvisazioni freak dei Cosmic Jokers. Iniziamo però da uno dei dischi che apre la stagione della kosmik music, di uno dei gruppi pilastro dell’intero movimento. Tutto inizia nel 1967. quando Edgar Froese, fondatore della band e uno dei più profilici musicisti di sempre (all’attivo nella sua quarantennale carriera oltre 100 dischi pubblicati) mette insieme un primo trio, con Conrad Schnitzler e Klaus Schulze, due che poco fonderanno rispettivamente i Cluster e il Ash Ra Tempel con Manuel Göttsching. Mandano dei demo alla Ohr grazie all’interessamento dello stesso Kaiser, e vengono scritturati: il trio mette insieme le prime idee in Electronic Meditation (1970), che in una pregnante definizione dell’epoca era “una sorta di spettacolo alla Jimi Hendrix in versione elettro-lisergico-tronica”. Il trio regge solo un disco, e Froese lo ricompone con il tastierista Steve Schroyder, che suonava con Froese nei The Ones agli inizi della sua carriera e il batterista Christopher Franke, ex membro degli Agitation Free: Franke era rampollo di una ricca famiglia industriale, e disponeva di uno studio di registrazione privato casalingo per sperimentare con l'elettronica; era soprattutto incentrato ad adoperare i sintetizzatori e i sequencer per la creazione di linee portanti di percussioni e bassi sintetico-elettronici ed era il felice possessore di un sintetizzatore personale, un EMS VCS3 di fabbricazione inglese, che gli permetteva di sperimentare, partendo dalla sua formazione jazz, i limiti del suono. È la svolta. Le nuove registrazioni si portano ai confini del suono. Fu Kaiser a suggerire loro un concept sull’esplorazione spaziale, e da lì nacque Alpha Centauri (1971): in scaletta 3 brani, mixati tra l’altro l’uno all’altro, per un tappeto sonoro infinito e misterioso. Sunrise In The Third System abbina gli strumenti elettronici a quello di un un organo e di una chitarra psichedelica, e si lega ai 19, imponenti, minuti di Fly And Collision Of Comas Sola dove nasce la musica dei sintetizzatori, spiegando come meglio non si potrebbe l’idea di musica cosmica, in lunghi e intensi minuti stellari, dove non manca un’intermezzo furioso di batteria di Chris Franke prima della supernova finale. In Alpha Centauri la predominanza dell'organo, con effetti di riverbero, è clamorosa, e davvero sembra di essere in 2001: Odissea Nello Spazio, nella lunga sequenza del viaggio interstellare per galassie al di là del tempo e dello spazio: si aggiungono ai tre il flauto e il VCS3 degli ospiti Udo Dennebourg e Roland Paulick. Il finale, con il recitato di Dennebourg quasi in tono marziale, rende ancora più forte l’idea dell’ispirazione cinematografica, regalando allo stesso tempo una inquietudine quasi da Apocalisse imminente. Nelle edizioni ristampate si aggiungono dei brani registrati in contemporanea con il successivo, e ancora più estremo, Zeit (1972). Segnalo la meravigliosa Ultima Thule (Part 1) che è molto più rock di tutto il resto, con fenonamel assolo di Froese alla chitarra elettrica, prima che la musica diventi più liquida e sognante grazie al nuovo arrivo Peter Baumann, che prenderà il posto di Schroyder. La loro avventura musicale continuerà per decenni, con picchi assoluti di bellezza in Phaedra (1974), di successo in Rubycon (1975, primo nelle classifiche di mezzo mondo), di maturità in Force Majeure (1979, che in piena iconoclastia punk dà nuovo slancio alla musica ambient che dà loro ebbe inizio). Un disco da ascoltare in meditazione, liberando la mente per un grandioso viaggio spazio-temporale.
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Cumpleaños 🎂
Parece casi increíble, pero este 18 de diciembre Brad Pitt cumple 59 años. A punto de ingresar en el club de los sexagenarios, sigue siendo uno de los hombres más guapos que pueblan la Tierra.
La prueba está en "Babylon", la película que promociona actualmente y que llega en breve a la cartelera, donde reedita su estela de galán del Hollywood dorado.
Junto a sus ilusionantes proyectos profesionales, su corazón está dividido entre la dura batalla legal contra Angelina Jolie y una nueva ilusión.
Brad, que ya lo ha ganado todo (tiene dos Oscar en su haber, uno de ellos al mejor actor de reparto y otro como productor), cada vez está más centrado en sus labores de producción ejecutiva y menos en la actuación. O más bien deberíamos decir que escoge con bisturí los papeles que interpreta.
En "Babylon", película cuyo estreno está previsto para el 20 de enero, da vida a Jack Conrad, un personaje inspirado en el Hollywood de los años 20 que se parece sospechosamente a Clark Gable.
Mientras que como actor tiene un proyecto relacionado con la Fórmula 1 y en principio es el único a corto plazo, acumula nada menos que seis pendientes de estreno como productor ejecutivo. Esta parece ser la gran aventura profesional de Pitt en la actualidad, que recientemente presentó "Blonde" en Venecia junto a Ana de Armas. Precisamente Blonde la produjo bajo la marca Plan B, la compañía que fundó cuando aún estaba unido a Jennifer Aniston y de la que ha vendido el 60 por ciento.
Entre las películas que está produciendo se encuentra la adaptación al cine de la exitosa novela de Mark Haddon "El curioso incidente del perro a medianoche" y, sobre todo, una serie que promete ser un bombazo: "The Three-Body Problem", una historia que aúna ciencia ficción y fantasía.
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