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Micky rocks broadway tonight, michael rocks the church
April 3, 2011 by raj
Filed under monkees alert
Exciting updated biography of Michael Nesmith of The Monkees with 75 new
photos and 2 new chapters, with details on the 1997 reunion, ABC special
and the only known photo of Michael with his father. Buy it online and get=
free gifts and free shipping!
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From: “robynapelt20002001”
MICKY DOLENZ WILL BE AT ROCKERS ON BROADWAY JERSEY STYLE JANUARY 29TH
2007 DOORS AT 7.30PM SHOW AT 8PM BB KING BLUES CLUB AND GRILL 237
WEST 42 STREET NY TICKETS $35-100 ON SALE NOW . FROM
ROBYNAPELT
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From: “robynapelt20002001”
micky dolenz will be at a expo sherwood oaks all acess weekend
beverly hills feb 8th to 11 2007 see www.sherwoodoakscollege.com
for more yes you will have to pay and book . from
robynapelt
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From: Roshina
Grinding the Organ
IT’S LATE WEDNESDAY MORNING, and First Church of Christ, Scientist in
Carmel, California, is empty. So, naturally, Michael Nesmith wants to fill=
it with music. He taps on a computer keyboard for a minute and notches up
the volume =AD not quite to 11, but loud enough to feel in your bones. The=
piece, Tomas Albinoni’s Adagio for Strings, is familiar =AD it was used as=
theme music in Gallipoli =AD but Nesmith and Calvin, the virtual pipe organ=
he designed, have transformed it into something spectacular.
Calvin =AD short for computer-aided live venue instrument =AD consists of a=
Dell computer, six powered JBL speakers, and an 18-inch subwoofer. Its
modest wooden cabinet sits a couple feet from the console of the church’s
regular organ, with its floor-to-ceiling pipes. But Calvin’s sonic range
dwarfs that of its neighbor. “It sounds like the organ, but it’s so much
better,” Nesmith says, as Albinoni’s piece, ethereal and startlingly crisp,=
swirls around us.
Traditional pipe organs are one-man orchestras, versatile instruments that=
can mimic the sounds of violins, cellos, woodwinds, and brass. But even the=
most dexterous organist, limited to 10 fingers and two feet, couldn’t take=
on a complex, layered piece like the Adagio. “The organ could play it, but=
the organist couldn’t,” Nesmith says.
Calvin, however, can play just about anything, and Nesmith has programmed
in church hymns, Mozart, and, for kicks, Sting’s “Fields of Gold.” Calvin’s=
secret is a database from NDB, a Hungarian company that recorded more than=
3,000 tones from two of the world’s finest organs, capturing every sound in=
their Budapest cathedrals, including the reverb of the music off the stone=
walls. Teaching Calvin a new piece means matching these organ samples to
the original instrumentation. Adagio for Strings is usually played by a
50-piece orchestra. To make it work on Calvin, Nesmith programmed a series=
of digital files that tell the system to select organ sounds that best
represent each of those instruments. Some files for individual instruments=
are available online, and all Nesmith has to do is rearrange and mix them.=
Other times, Nesmith “plays” the information in himself. The result is not=
quite the same as live music, but it’s far better than a CD. Closing my
eyes during Calvin’s performance of Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C
Minor, I’m briefly transported from this wood-paneled, teal-carpeted church=
in Carmel to a soaring cathedral in Budapest.
Nesmith =AD yes, we’re talking about the former member of the Monkees =AD i=
s a
bona fide digital media visionary. A pioneer of music television and an
author of early hypertext fiction, he also helped produce the films Repo
Man and Tapeheads and started the seminal home video company Pacific Arts.=
Not surprisingly, his current project has met some resistance. Most of the=
Carmel congregation seems to appreciate Calvin (Nesmith says some wept
during its first performance of the Adagio), but a few churchgoers have
grumbled. Machine-made music in their place of worship? No thanks. Plus,
the regular organist feels threatened. “I can’t play like that,” she told
Nesmith after Calvin’s inaugural show.
Nesmith doesn’t intend to put musicians out of work, but in his soft-spoken=
way he is on a mission. “Typically, church music hasn’t been at the top of=
my list of things that are inspiring,” he says, fiddling with Calvin’s
controls. “If I’m in a good environment where people can really sing and
play, that for me turns into church. That’s as high as I get.” Nesmith
leans back as the opening chords of Ravel’s exquisite Pavane pour une
infante d=E9funte spread through the sanctuary. “At least,” he says, “this =
is
played well.”
=AD Jason Silverman
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/posts.html?pg=3D3
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