Author: Zingblog 2

Summer Travel VI – Ohio

I just got back from the biggest trip yet this summer. I drove deep into the heart of flyover country, to Columbus, Ohio, for the Center Fold origami conference. My travelling companion was my twelve-year-old daughter Michelle. We both had a great time.

We lit out from NYC early Friday morning. Got over the GWB before rush hour really hit, and out on I-80 for a good 500 miles. Clear sailing, mountains and plains and woods and farms the whole way. Got into Columbus late afternoon, registered for the convention and started hanging out with origami people. Since this was a different convention it was a different crowd of usual suspects, some familiar faces, some new. John M. and Steve R. and Beth J. and Brian W. were there. Beth wasn’t in New York this year and had some new stuff, so it was good to see her. Brian was running the Origami Shop live, selling paper and books and stuff with his wife. I also met John Scully, the head of the Ohio Paperfolders group and main organizer of the convention.

The exhibit space was nice, with round tables and white tablecloths rather than rectangular and black like in NYC. I brought a bunch of stuff cuz I didn’t know what to expect, but it looked really great.

After dinner at a really good barbecue place we settled into folding for the evening. Brian taught Michelle the classic Hydrangea. Michelle got really into it, and suddenly she was off and running, folding model after model with every more recursions. Next day she took a course for a modular flower ball, taught by Meenakshi Mukerji, and suddenly was capable of folding complex modulars. She did a 12- and 30-unit version, and later on did some other modular flower things.

I taught several courses. The first was intermediate and complex spacecraft. I had diagrammed the bulk of my Radio Satellite and SpaceX Dragon since the June convention, although both diagrams only went up to the 3-D phase; the first 35 out of 50 steps or so. So I taught the ending part by demonstration and it went quite well. I didn’t have time to formally teach the Dragon, but a few people folded that too from the diagrams and I helped them finish it off.

The next class was animals from my book Origami Animal sculpture. This was a intermediate class, and there was a broad range of folding ability, but everyone got thru it alright. I had printed out five of the models from my book, although once they started folding it, I realized on of them was not the version I used in the book!

My third class was Sunday morning. I taught intermediate and complex airplanes, including my Jet Airliner and Biplane. People seem to really like my new models, so I’m quite happy about that.

Michelle took Erik Gjerde’s class on his Dragon Helix Tessellation. She did quite well at it and was really excited and proud to have mastered such and advanced model. Michelle really leveled up as a folder and is into some really good stuff now. She told me several times she had a really good time at the convention.

Meanwhile I was inspired by Meenakshi’s work, and began thinking of making a flower-ball out of a single sheet rather then a modular. I spent most of my free folding time on this. First I made a single flower, then a cluster of six that has the form of half a dodecahedron, and then bought some paper from Brian to begin a full dodecahedron. I got most of the prefolding done by the end of the convention.

The last night there was a pizza and beer party in the courtyard of the hotel. All in all it was a great time. Very laid back and relaxed. I hope to get back there again sometime soon.

Next day we drove down to Dayton to see the National Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Seeing this place has been on my bucket list for a long time, and it did not disappoint. It’s a huge collection of (mainly American military) historical aircraft, going all the way back to Wright flyers over a hundred years old. Lots of stuff from WWII and the Cold War, as well a whole hangar of experimental planes, including lots of early supersonic ones. The highlight for me was the XB-70 Valkyrie. This a giant and extremely weird-looking hypersonic plane from the 1960’s with a top speed of Mach 3, or over 2000 mph. Only two were ever built and one exploded, so this is the only one in existence. There was also a whole hangar of presidential aircraft including Air Force One, the 707 that severed Kennedy thru Clinton. Cool stuff!

Summer Travel III – V

Lots of travel this time of year. We just got back from a cruise with Jeannie’s family. It was her mother and father’s 50th wedding anniversary and they wanted to take all the kids and grandkids. We’re very happy for them and feel quite lucky both sets of our parents have made it this far.

Rewinding a bit, the weekend after Buffalo we went up to Albany to visit with Martin. He’s building a massive deck out back of his house, and it was about half done the day we were out there. We left Lizzy to stay a spell and help out Kathleen, but were all reuinted the following weekend. We went camping with Martin, Kathleen and their kids, Nick and Lisa and their kids, and a whole bunch of Nick’s extended family. I think we had eight campsites. I always feel like camping is a lot of work, especially the preparation, but then once we get there it’s always such great fun. Hiking, making fires, sleeping in tents, good food and drink, and all that. This year it rained both nights. Not enough to stop us from doing stuff and having fun, but everything was wet when packed up, so we had to roll it out to dry after we got home.

Of course camping isn’t for everyone. Some people are more cruise people. I’ll admit I’m not one of them. I had my doubts beforehand. I didn’t want to be stuck on a boat with nothing to do and/or seasick the whole time. But all was well and it was a great time.

It was a 4 day cruise, which was enough for me, and we had a cabin with a balcony, which was nice. The ship itself was really neat. It’s the Carnival Splendor, which is the 46th largest cruise ship in the world today (it was in the top ten when it was new just 8 years ago) and about as big as can be and still fit thru the Panama Canal. It’s 950 feet long and 16 or 18 stories high above the waterline. Taking off from NY harbor it barely fit under the Verrazano Bridge. Less then 20 feet to spare! Everything inside the boat was a bit smaller than normal, but very efficiently designed so you didn’t mind. I had less than inch clearance under most doorways, and very little shoulder room.

Once we were away there wasn’t much to see other than the sea. We saw dolphins twice. Once was first thing in the morning, six or so of ’em playing in the ship’s wake, which was delightful, and later there were dozens of ’em, but not as close. We saw whales too, one evening watching the sun go down, and some lovely sunsets. But it was mostly overcast so not much in the way of stars. The port of call was St. John New Brunswick, a nothing-ish town that was a cross between St. Catherine and Seattle in tone. We took a hike and saw the local gorge, where the famous Bay of Fundy tides ran upriver and created interesting whirlpools. We had lobster rolls for lunch at a pub, saw a little whaling museum, and the kids got souvenirs. The terrain itself was interesting and weather was much colder in the bay of Fundy than near home. All in all quite charming.

On the boat there were lots of bars and restaurants, pools and hot tubs, movies and even a casino. Even though there were thousands of people it didn’t feel cramped. The food was really, really good, and there was lots of it in all varieties, from buffets to big dinner banquets. The whole thing really well run, very impressive. Lizzy got into playing the various trivia contests they had, and won a golden “ship on a stick” trophy. The main attraction, of course was just hanging out with the family. Alot like camping, but less forest, more ocean, and less work. It’s great to see all the nieces and nephews for an extended spell. They had a great time all together. All but two are now into middle school and high school, and becoming such interesting people. Of course Denis and Sylvia, who’ve have been on lots of cruises, had a great time too. This was the way they wanted to celebrate.

Next up: Ohio!

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.

Double Play

Last Saturday nite Left Hook played our second gig, at Dudley’s Bar and Marina. It was an excellent time. Some friends came out to see us (Hi Joyce and Lisa!), and at some very enthusiastic drunks at the bar. We played pretty much the same show as the first gig, with a few substitutions here and there. As with the first gig we only played about half our third set, but this time we decided to extend the second set rather then break and come back. Overall the band was both tighter and looser. More precise, more relaxed, more musical. According to our singer my sax playing was particularly smoking that night.

Audio and video coming soon. Meanwhile here’s some pictures from the show.

We don’t have any gigs lined up for the rest of the month, so now we’re gonna learn a bunch of new tunes, and get together some audio and video clips, put together a press kit and systematically pursue a higher level of gigs. The goal is to become a kick-ass bar band, and I think we have what it takes to do it.

Left Hook Web Update

I made some updates to the Left Hook website at http://lefthooknyc.com.

These include a link to follow us on Facebook, and some photos and video from our last gig. I’m in the process of making some medley montages of the show, but that’s a fussy and time consuming process cuz I’m learning new editing software on this one, so for now I’m just putting up one song, our cover of Can’t You Hear Me Knocking by the Stones. This was a highlight of the show and represents our sound as well as any number we do. I’m not sure if the video streams correctly on all devices, so if you click on the link I’d appreciate it if you drop me a line saying if it works for you, and if you’re on a computer or a phone, and what OS and what browser. Thanks and enjoy!

Meanwhile more video and pics coming soon, and another gig this Saturday.

It’s a Knockout!

The Left Hook debut show was last night, and it went great! I’m happy that all our planning and hard work is paying off. Everyone in the band is psyched too. It’s a great set, a great sound and a great group of musicians. I handpicked the lineup from the best musicians I know, all seasoned pros. It’s great that they all agreed to join, get along well, and are enthusiastic and onboard.

I’ve been with Gus, our drummer the longest. Really solid drummer, and loves old soul music in particular, just great with groves and pockets. It was just about a year ago The Relix broke up, and we’ve been trying to put together a new group ever since. Gus also has been handling the business side of things, for which I’m grateful, cuz I’ve been focusing on the music and sound side.

Meanwhile Ken came in just at the end of February and learned 40 songs in six weeks. Not too shabby. He was the bassist in the Day Trippers as well as 7 Jazz West, so it this point I’ve played quite a few gigs with him. Also known for his collection of vintage bases.

Mike Jefferson is our lead singer. He’s was in a band with Gus once before and joined us right after the Relix, and stayed on as we went thru a few bass and guitar players. A former heavyweight boxer, born and raised (partway) in England, he has a fondness for prog and folk rock, but can sing really well in a lot of styles. Very powerful voice. Just nails it on the Doors and James Brown, and all the soul stuff. He’s also a music journalist and beats us all hands-down in the music trivia walking encyclopedia department. And in true lead singer rockstar style, he was hitting on the ladies before the end of the first set.

Gary Bruce on guitar came in after sitting in with the jazz circle one day and before he got done with his first eight bars I knew he’d be great for this group. The kind of guitar player who loves Steely Dan and Rush! Right on.

Because this gig got rescheduled twice, we didn’t have alot of our own people come out. In fact it was just Jeannie, who was there to shoot video for us, and our friend Gary the trumpeter from the jazz group. But the place was half-full when we got there, and we had them by the time we finished the sound check.

It was a good test for a lot of things, including my new PA. I learned we need a good hour to set it up and soundcheck. I also learned it works really fucking amazingly. After the disaster Day Trippers gig last December I realized having control of the vocal sound is the most important thing for a club date.

The sound system has two 1000-watt main speakers. I optimized for lightness, since you gotta get ‘em in and out of the car and up onto poles. Then there’s a pair of 300 watt stage monitors. I didn’t know if this would provide enough coverage, especially for the drums in the back, but everyone could hear just fine. I was running the mixer from the stage, but once the soundcheck was over I literally didn’t have to do anything and could just relax and focus on performing. The mixer, BTW, I chose for it’s built-in compressors in the channel preamps, it’s onboard reverb/chorus/delay effects that saved us from having to schlep another piece of gear, and it’s separate monitor buss. All in all it worked great, and we got that fat live vocal sound I was really after.

Once we got underway it was pretty clear the people at the bar were really digging it. Must’ve been the right place for this kind of music. We opened with a couple funk numbers – Them Changes by Buddy Miles and I Got You by James Brown. Good horn tunes, right in our zone. Then it was some classic rock to show off our harmony singing – No Matter What by Badfinger and When I Saw Her Standing There. Next was the Blue Öyster Cult classic Burning for You, with yours truly on lead vocals. Then a couple of organ songs – Hush by Deep Purple and Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf, followed by Gary doing a little SRV Pride and Joy. Then it was back to soul music with Knock on Wood and Get Ready. We ended the set with Can You Hear Me Knocking by the Stones, which turned out to be a real highlight.

The second set opened with We’re An American Band, and on to (Ain’t Nothin’ But a) House Party, and switching to sax for Domino. I sang lead on You May Be Right, and then Drift Away with Gary on lead vocals, and some random chick from the bar who looked and sounded a lot like Katy Perry sitting on background vocals. I guess she’d been hitting on Mike or vice versa, but she really could sing. Then it was Love Me Two Times, which was a bit rough for structure, and Pretzel Logic which was a bit rough for tempo and feel. We closed the set strong with a string of soul numbers – Devil With a Blue Dress/Good Golly, Dance to the Music, Hold on I’m Coming and Soul Man.

The first two sets ran an hour each, so the last set was shortened a bit. Songs included Come Together, Long Train Running with me on lead vocals, Rikki Don’t Loose the Number with Gary on lead vocals, Miami 2017 with me on lead vocals again, then In the Midnight Hour, Mustang Sally, and closing with Roadhouse Blues.

They invited us back to play again, and possibly do a regular gig there. So ya, good feelings all around. And we got it on video so we can put together some material for the web site and to try and get new gigs. Meanwhile we have a show in two weeks at Dudley’s in New Rochelle. Gonna spend the next couple rehearsals tweaking and tightening. Come out and see us on May 9!

Rocket Science

The thing about simplicity in art (or anything else I suppose) is that it’s actually harder than complexity. My natural tendency as a folder is toward the complex. It’s effortless in a way to keep on going, adding more detail, until you have what you want. But I’ve learned a lot from doing my first book, and I want to have enough simple to intermediate models to open it up to a wider appeal. To get to simple, you have to remove and remove until you get to what’s truly essential. Sometimes this involves jettisoning things you think are really important only to find they don’t matter at all.

Today I spent my time experimenting with simple rocket designs. The major insight was to make avoid the puffing-out phase, that is to make an X rather than and O when seen from above. It’s funny cuz I was corresponding with a colleague, explaining my goals for the new book, when a new design approach hit me mid-sentance. Came up with two or three good models that can be folded in 10 minutes or less. Also past the halfway point in model count, so that means to me critical mass.

Buzzy Tonic Unplugged

I was going thru my archives and found some video from a gig Erik and I did at a Froyo place a few years back. This was the first live show I did for an audience in over ten years, and it’s the one the made me want to get back into playing live again. It’s not the best sound, or the best venue, or even the best performance, but it’s still interesting, if for nothing else than to see how things have progressed.

We did two set, each consisting of half covers and half originals. I must say I haven’t thought about Erik’s originals (part 2) in a long time but they’re great songs and it’s great to hear them again.

Part 1 . Part 2 . Part 3 . Part 4