Month: June 2015

Origami USA Convention 2015

Rewinding a bit, the annual Origami USA convention was a week ago. It was another great convention this year, although a bit more low-key than some. In addition to being a week earlier than usual, we were at a new venue, so I’m sure that had something to so with it. The place was Manhattan College in The Bronx. It’s nice and close to my house, with free parking. The campus is pretty hilly, however, with a whole lotta of steps to climb between buildings.

First thing I noticed was the exhibit hall was very nice, much better then the sub-basement at FIT. It had good lighting and was central to everything so we got lots and lots of visitors. I arrived there first to help cut up paper for the giant folding contest Sunday nite. Saturday when I showed up the exhibit hall was packed.

I had a whole lotta new stuff in my exhibit, mainly airplanes and spaceships from a new book I’ve begun working on. I designed about ten or twelve new models, and diagrammed six of them. I’d been working pretty hard at diagramming right up until the start of the convention, so most of my new models for the exhibit were folded just a day or two before the start.

I discovered a great new paper from the lode I got from Brian back in the wintertime. It’s called Metallic Lotka. He also calls it tissue foil, but it’s not the same as the handmade tissue you commonly find. Much thinner and stronger, and shiny on one side with just a bit of sparkle. Perfect for airplanes and spaceships. Only thing is I only had 30cm sheets, but I found out it comes in 40cm and 60cm sheets as well. I ordered a bunch and expect I’ll make the bulk of models to photograph for my book out of it. In the near-term I’m gonna fold some of my completed designs out the stuff for Centerfold in Ohio next month.

I taught two classes to test my new diagrams. One was intermediate airplanes and spaceships, and the other was complex. For both I passed out diagrams and folded along, which worked well. In the complex class I led with the biplane. Everyone got thru it and did a nice job, and I got some good feedback as to how to refine it. In the other class I taught my Art Demo Rocket, Retro Rocket, Supersonic Transport, and Jet Airliner. All of them went over quite well, and again I got some ideas on how to refine them.

Lots hanging out with origami friends. One night I got involved in a fairly deep discussion of the finer points of diagramming with John Montroll and Jason Ku. John’s diagramming style is fairly definitive to me and I use the majority of his conventions. Meanwhile Jason diagrams in the Japanese style and spent a year working at Origami House, whose books are perhaps the most high-quality in the world. They certainly tackle some of the most advanced models ever diagrammed. So that was really fascinating. The next night John sat down and read thru my diagrams and gave me a bunch pointers and things to consider. This comes at a good time since I’m just undertaking my second book.

Coming soon: pictures!

RUSH in the Garden

I saw Rush at Madison Square Garden last night. I swear they just keep better and better. This is the first time I’ve seen them in the Garden and it might’ve been the best Rush show yet. And that’s saying a lot. First time I saw them was back in the Moving Pictures era, and they’re the only band I’ve seen more than the Dead (and its isotopes).

Rush played for over three hours in two sets. The opener was a 10-minute-plus suite of songs from Clockwork Angels. From there it was into some more of their recent songs. The first 45 minutes was all 21st century schizoid heavy metal. After a while it became clear that they were working their way backward thru their discography. By an hour they were up to Roll the Bones. They skipped a good deal of their late 80’s and early 90’s synth era stuff, but that’s okay cuz they covered a lot of it last tour with a string section, to great effect. They did a few songs off Grace Under Pressure and Signals, including Losing It, with a guest violinist (an alumni of the Clockwork Angels String ensemble). Closed the first set with Subdivisions.

That left the second set to focus on their Moving Pictures and earlier stuff. They played quite a few songs I’d never heard them do live before (in addition to One Little Victory and Losing It in the first set.) The first big surprise was Jacob’s Ladder off Permanent Waves. Then they did a good chunk of the 20-minute epic Hemispheres, segueing into Cygnus X-1 from A Farewell to Kings. (They skipped La Villa Strangiato but I guess that’s okay cuz they did that 2 tours ago.) Then came a complete version Xanadu, with Alex on the doubleneck Gibson 6- and 12-string, and Geddy on the doubleneck Rik combo bass and guitar. This was followed up by condensed version of 2112, beyond just the overture and Temples of Syrinx, but skipping some of the slow bits in the middle. Like the Hemispheres/Cygnus medley and the opener, it was more than just a highlight and it held together compositionally as a complete extended work.

Going back even further, the first encore was Lakeside Park, and then into Anthem. From there it was What You’re Doing of course and closing with Working Man. My only disappointment was they skipped By-Tor and the Snow Dog, which is perhaps my all-time fave.

Needless to say, the playing was first rate. All of them were on. Lots of amazing basswork by Geddy, and Alex just shined on guitar. I think Neil Peart has made up new parts, or at least or new interpretations of a lot of the old stuff. Or maybe he was just improvising and still that tight. Either way, he had a whole different kit for the second set, apparently a replica of his (or the original) kit from back in the day. Meanwhile Geddy has updated and streamlined his synth rig considerably over the years, and Alex is singing backup these days. Both Geddy and Alex changed their axes so often I doubt either of them used the same instrument for more than two songs the whole show. Seeing them trot out the ‘ol doublenecks, and Neil’s tubular bells, for Xanadu was particularly fun. (I guess Alex’s must be new; the story was his old one was stepped on by a circus elephant baskstage at Maple Leaf Gardens in the 80’s and they haven’t performed that number live since.)

Anyway, I was blown away by the whole thing, and Neil’s playing in particular. The light, laser, video and pyrotechnic show was amazing too. One number the whole stage was in flames. It was actually scary. My only criticism is the acoustics in the Garden smeared the upper treble so you couldn’t always here the guitar clearly.

The rumor is that this their last tour. I sure hope that turns out not to be the case.

Left Hook Videos, Part II

I created a bunch of videos for the Dudley’s gig, including some new medleys and some whole songs: Domino, Hold On I’m Coming/Soul Man, Knock on Wood/Get Ready, In the Midnight Hour/Mustang Sally, and Them Changes/I Got You. Looks like a heavy concentration on the soul side of the set. Have to balance it out with more rockers next time. Meanwhile here’s the link:

http://zingman.com/music/lefthook/vids/dudleys1505/

There’s a pretty good amount of overlap between these and the FN set, so the next step is decide which ones we want to link on the web site. Coming soon. Also I’ve started making a CD from the show so we can use it as a tool to book more gigs. Onwards and upwards!