Wrap it up, B!

Oh, man! It's been a while since I've posted- for this I apologize profusely. Things have been busy in the real world, and I'm afraid the blogosphere has suffered as a result. In any event, the last few days have been hectic, but, overall, spectacular. So, here's a wrap-up of what's been going on.

I have, as of last week, accepted an offer to attend NYU's Steinhardt School of Music, Culture, and The Arts to pursue graduate study in Music Technology. This is, of course, assuming that the costs to live in NYC are not so exorbitant as to leave your intrepid blogger penniless, destitute, and disheartened. So, we'll see. The Zappa concert went well, all things considered- the lion's roar, which I had just FINALLY gotten to speak vociferously during the dress rehearsal, broke during the performance. However, the thumbs up and enthusiastic applause from Gail Zappa, Joe Travers, and company, was enough to bolster the spirits of yours truly.

Travers, the drummer for Zappa Plays Zappa and the ZFT vaultmeister, also entreated that Varese's Ionisation was a "pretty bitchin' piece of music", and, despite the flu, found enough energy to instruct fellow percussionist and piano player Brian Archinal that "THERE'S NO ENO IN HERE" (in response to an abentmindedly noodled version of Music for Airports). A man of great humor, indeed (check out his dance for birthday boy Steve Vai- extremely funny if you're familiar with Vai's onstage histrionics).

Speaking of Vai, check out this cool article he wrote about polyrhythms- this is a great primer for a student who is ready to take the next leap in his or her rhythmic training, or a nice refresher for the musician who has let their skills with polyrhythms lapse.

We've started work on Part III of Drumming, as of Saturday. Stay tuned to find out if we can actually phase or not.

Sorry, there's no new thinkpiece this time around- I've been too busy stressing about my fiscal well-being, playing with some cool new software, and grooming my beard to engage in some deep thought, music-wise. But I DID get some rad new Hi-tops- that's gotta count for SOMETHING these days.