Control Geek

I'm in Quebec City to see The Image Mill, an amazing and massive son et lumiere by Robert Lepage celebrating Quebec's 400th Anniversary.  We saw it from a distance last night (we were running late due my bout with food poisoning in Vermont on the way up--I spent all night Sunday throwing up in the Brattleboro Econo Lodge and my fever just broke this morning), and are going over tonight to see it up close and talk to the people behind the scenes.  I hope to have a post up about it after I get home on Wednesday...

 I spent all weekend on the north fork of Long Island paddling, here's a picture (by Joan Byron) of me near Bug Light...

I'm off Thursday night to see the play Frequency Hopping.  I'll let their excellent poster speak for itself, but it looks very cool.  I think it features Eric Singer's LEMUR instruments, and also uses the Musion Eyeliner "Hologram" (Pepper's Ghost) technology. Oh, and I haven't listened to it yet, but apparently there was a piece on NPR Science Friday on the show.

In recent weeks I also saw Isaac Hayes and later Salif Keta at Celbrate Brooklyn, a venue that gives the audience a great experience and almost always has very good sound.  My only gripe about the sound for the Isaac Hayes show, in fact, was that one group of audience members decided to bring their own percussion instruments.  And play them.  Out of time.  (Even if in time, the delay across the venue ensured that they would be out of time by the time they reached my ears).  I was amazed that David Schnirman (head of audio for Celebrate Brooklyn) didn't go down and smack them.

I also saw the recent Loser's Lounge show at Joe's Pub.  Joe's is a small venue and has very uneven sound.  If you sit close to the stage, you get a lot of stage sound and monitors, and you are basically under the main PA so the vocals are muddy.  But this time, our group lucked into the sweet spot where we got full coverage.  I don't want to tell you where it is because I want to ask for it next time.  And, I will go see the Loser's anytime, they are phenomenal.  In fact, they are doing a disco night at Midsummer Night Swing at Lincoln center.

Finally, while out in Vegas (see other post in a day or so) I saw Yellow Brick Road with Jamie and Karen Anderson at the Green Valley Ranch Resort.  They are without a doubt the best cover band I've ever seen (I don't really consider the Loser's a cover band :-)   EAW used them to demo their PA at LDI last year, and now I see why...

I'm in the process of dubbing off the last of some cassettes I found in my mother's old room, and I was struck by the advancement in technology.  The little silver Zoom box at the bottom is a full on, solid state digital recorder with a USB port, built in microphones, etc etc etc.   And the cost?  Probably about 1/4 the price of the original cassette deck.

On Saturday night, I went to see Richard Cheese at Webster Hall and it was one of the most fun live shows I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot of live shows).  Who is Richard Cheese?  He does popular songs lounge style.  Popular songs like Snoop Dogg, Offspring, Slipknot, the Clorox II theme, etc.  It was one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen, and his comic timing is absolutely impeccable, and both he and the band are phenomenal musicians.  He's on his "farewell tour" now, but if you can, go see him! (p.s. The sound was really good--for once not too loud and a good mix).