Sander Roscoe Wolff

Artists, cultural leaders, musicians, business owners, and others talk with me about arts and culture in Long Beach.

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While waiting for an appointment at the County Animal Shelter on Friday, Feb 20 2009, I decided to use the time for some exercise. I walked on the sidewalk, North on Pangborn, then East on Washburn, then North again on Regentview. I then turned East on Downey Norwalk Road. About half way down the street I stepped on a fiberglass cover to an inset hole. The fiberglass cover had, from environmental forces, degraded to the point where my foot went straight through it and down into the hole. My leg was torn up, both in the front and back.

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I volunteered to do some sound design work for a fledgling theater group’s 2nd annual 6 play festival. One of the plays took place in Heaven, Earth, and Hell. I created a soundscape for Heaven using trombone and voice, and one for

using audio from a live performance by sound artists SMGSAP. The director decided not to use the tracks I produced, but I rather liked the piece I created, so I thought I’d share it here:

I’ve received quite a few mixed reactions from folks who have listened to it. Most find it pleasing, but decidedly unheavenly. That’s ok. It feels reverential, peaceful, and heavenly to me.

Please feel free to leave comments.

I was unhappy with the photos I took a while back of the completed Sandblaster guitar, so I gave it another go:

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Lauren and several of her friends went out trick-or-treating last Friday, and they came up with some great costumes. First is a group shot, taken some hours after they’d been pounding the pavement in search of terror and/or candy:

From left to right: October, Angel, Lauren, Sierra, and Ashley

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Some time ago my dear friend Mike gave me a non-functional Kalamazoo Series 2 Amp. It is a small thing, just 8 watts, made by Gibson in 1965. It was a low-end, entry level, guitar amp that used a British style tube design, and was made with the cheapest materials available. The box was particle board, the covering was a paper thin tolex-like material, and the speaker was probably made by CMI.

I handed it off to Mark Cox of Anything Audio and he rebuilt it, making a number of modifications I requested along the way.

After I got it back, and began to realize just how much of a wee screamer it was, I decided that living in it’s cheap and disintegrating particle-board home was just too sad. I knew a fellow, Larry Bott, whose artistic wood creations I’d greatly admired. I asked him if he’d be willing to fabricate a cabinet from scratch, and he said yes!

It’s not quite done yet, but it’s very close. He used beautiful African Mahogany, and is finishing it with a classic French shellac. I took a few pictures just so I could show it off, and here they are:

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Steven Glaudini speaks about the upcoming 08/09 season, and shares his insight into the challenges and opportunities of presenting world class musical theater.

Ain Soph Aur will be performing at the Center for Inquiry‘s Steve Allen Theater as part of their monthly ResBox concert series, which is curated by famed musician and film director Hans Fjellestad. Also performing is Rent Romus‘ Lords of Outland, and Peter Kolovos. Live visuals will be provided by resident video artist VJ FADER.

Performances begin at 8 PM.

ResBox @ Steve Allen Theater
The Center for Inquiry
4773 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90027

info: (323) 666-4268
tix: (800) 595-4849
(all ages + free parking in lot + BYOB)

http://www.steveallentheater.com/resbox
http://www.myspace.com/resboxmusic

A few weeks ago Carl, my collaborator in Ain Soph Aur, emailed me a short audio snippet with the request that I come up with some parts that might sit well with it. The part was strange, with an unusual meter and a chorused bass part that felt elusive. I immediately recorded several guitar tracks, burned them to a CD, and gave them to Carl within the next few days.

Several weeks passed and, to be honest, I’d pretty much forgotten about it entirely. In my email in-box came an MP3, where Carl had taken his original loop, my guitar parts, and added several more tracks as well. I began to get really excited. He then gave me 14 stereo WAV tracks that made up his mix of the tune, and I began playing with those, adding more tracks, processing existing ones, and generally going crazy.

The result is a 33 minute epic of sonic goodness. Now, Carl hasn’t heard this long-form version yet, and it really isn’t complete. I have no doubt that, when he hears it, he’ll be inspired to respond in some way. I can’t wait!!!

Still, he’s away right now, and won’t be back for a while, so I felt moved to share this as it is, knowing that, down the road, it may change significantly.

So, without further ado, behold “Dancing Upon A Foaming Sea.”

[note: this is a very large, 31 MB, file. People with small hard drives or dial-up connections should wait for the CD release]

The title, which comes from Alister Crowley’s description of the Princess of Cups in his Egyptian Tarot book, The Book of Thoth, may change too, btw.

I’ve also posted a screen shot of the project in my Cubase SX3 audio software.

To the best of my knowledge, the track contains the following: Bass, organ, guitar, cornet, recorder, tin flute, bells, voices, plastic tubes, shakers, metal bowls, dog collars, field recordings of seals and birds, a live performance snippet, kalimba, hand drum, synth drums, and a few other things. See if you can find them all!