Steve Ball

Mercury Man

A gift from my current catalog, and a favorite of Bill Campbell's: Mercury Man (3.6M mp3).

Track 13 from the CD Knotwork.

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Long Live BootlegTV

Interesting News Item:

NEW YORK--Already at the forefront of issuing authorized "live bootlegs" of its shows, Pearl Jam will on Sept. 1 launch its own digital download store via its official Web site.

Hours after their completion, full concerts from the group's fall tour will be available for $9.99 as 192K MP3s, whose bit rate is almost 50 percent higher than the standard.

Each show will feature special artwork, including a slide show with photos from the performance that will run while the files download. The initial plan is to make all of Pearl Jam's upcoming shows in Canada and the United States available to download, excluding an Aug. 29 concert in Missoula, Mont., that is doubling as a fund-raiser for U.S. Senate hopeful Jon Tester.

As with past incarnations of the bootlegs, which were initially available only on CD, the material will be mixed on the fly by longtime Pearl Jam engineer Brett Eliason. Eliason's company, Basecamp Productions, also developed the software to power the download store.

The idea to embark on such an endeavor has been floating around the Pearl Jam camp for several years. "The thing we were looking for was a really good way to manage the thing," Tim Bierman, manager of Pearl Jam's Ten Club fan organization, told Billboard.com. "That's where Basecamp came in. They developed a killer application I'm really confident the fans are going to love."

Wonder where they got that idea? And good for them for sticking with it. In the end, self-publishing is the key to autonomy and self-ownership. Rumor from recent communications is that Discipline is also finally about to launch their new site that enables similar features.

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Splashes

Very late evening reading:

"The year 1975 will end of both a good and bad note. Phil Sutcliffe will choose us as one of the bands likely to make it in the coming year. PICKED TO CLICK in 76 runs the headline, and there among a dozen other hopefuls is our name: Last Exit. The bad news is that John Hedeley, by boyhood hero and mentor, has left the band to take a job and Sunderland Empire. The fact that he’s playing in the pit band for Puss in Boots only adds absurdity to the bitterly disappointing development.

Here we are, picked out of untold thousands to succeed by and important national magazine and our lead guitarist had joined a pantomime.
…

I have played many memorable gigs in my career as a musician, but of the most memorable shows were performed in conditions that were less than perfect, or even worse, adverse, conditions where you felt you had to play for your life, or you had to improvise around some unexpected limitation.
…

By playing as a trio I would learn the value of space and clarity between musical frequencies, which larger bands can’t help but fill. "

- p. 179 from Broken Music, Sting

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SBRS rehearsal earlier this evening, chez Dan Moore: three new pieces flying around from improvisations tonight, as well as quick but powerful re-arrangements of I Want to Live Here and The Good Thing. The three and four part harmony vocals are getting stronger the more we apply ourselves (and the more we can actually hear ourselves.) And TravisM on electric guitar continues to add mouth-watering textures to our growing repertoire. What makes this work for me: for the first time, each player has a general standalone mastery of their instrument and their own (flexible) voice - and each knows and plays within the boundaries of our strengths and weaknesses. When our strengths line up, and we're each speaking with our own voice, synergistic magic happens.

* * *

Earlier in the day: a conference call to England and re-sync some old dear friends leads to a breakthough that will enable access to some short splashes to the consideration list for an exciting creative project at work. Literally and metaphorically, the stars seem to be aligning.

* * *

Wow - some super-sweet comments from pianist, media PM, and former MSN composer/project manager, Elizabeth Grigg in her blog:

I was thrilled (yeah, that's me, stunned and thrilled. Maybe tone it down a notch?) to see my old buddy Steve Ball get scobleized on Channel 9. Steve continues to be an inspiration of what an ordinary person can do without any blocking issues. He may have blocking issues, but they sure don't block him from his work. Steve has a more grand sense of what work is, more like Work as in Life's Work. His music is emotionally important, his work in technology is important especially in the entrepreneurial sense - he is most excited when there is an intersection. Steve has been the messenger for me of a life lesson that he is currently unaware of delivering - this having to do with karma and connectivity even as the world is going to h e double hockey sticks. More on that later. Steve was one of the first webloggers around before they started calling it that. I remember my dh telling me Steve had an online journal, oh maybe around 1995 or so. I asked "Why would anyone want to do that? EVERY DAY?" Joke's on me now. The most vivid memory I have of Steve is him practicing guitar in the Microsoft stairwells, in a desperate but effective reach toward work life balance. He has been an inspiration to me since the early days of MSN from when he "programmed everything himself" for a particular demo to a client. This rocked my world, this was my first inkling I was going to have to step my liberal-arts ass up to "make it" in this world. (Someone please get all these phrases from the 1970s out of my fingers. Thank you.)

Elizabeth, you are too too kind. And for the record, I have many blocking issues. And I still practice in the stairwells, which is a big part of where, why, and how unblocking occurs.

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"all footnotes aside, who are we"

Late evening reading:

"I've often thought that playing a musical instrument is an obsessive-compulsive disorder or a symptom of being socially inept, but I can't decide whether playing an instrument makes you socially inpet, or you're a sociopath to begin with and you play and instrument as some sort of consolation. Needless to say, with the guitar, I become even less communicative at home during this period and can readily escape into the hermetically sealed world of my own making."

- more from Broken Music, Sting

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Not unrelated: this just in from the always reliable and roving field musician, Travis Hartnett:

--------------------------------------------------------
From: Travis Hartnett
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2005 9:18 PM
To: Steve Ball
Cc: Walter Harley
Subject: Goeswifoutsayindunnit?

If I could form my perfect band right now it would be:

Reply to: [email protected]
Date: 2005-08-22, 8:39PM PDT

1) EDUCATED: musically informed by the rigor of theory. if it sucks, don't let it be because you didn't do your homework or were too afraid to lose a little sleep.

2) TRANSCENDENT / DRUGGY: sonically insulating like a warm blanket and reassuring / courage inducing like a flaming glass of alcohol. believe in the dream you insist on sleepwalking.

( ( ( >. which goes hand in hand with .< ) ) )

3) EXPERIMENTAL: disregarding all known styles as acceptable ends in themselves, and taking them first and foremost as cultural artifacts and then as potential capital for cultural production ...
... / ...
... no blues influences after ~1940, probably no jazz influences after ~1960, hardly any rock influences after ~1983 (esp. including nirvana et al., or any band ever referred to by its respective distribution method), etc. etc. etc. better yet, if you've ever listened to it more than once, or if elicits any kind of personal memory that took place more than a year ago, be extremely skeptical of it being an acceptable influence. THINK about why you are playing what you are playing.

4) HIGHLY AFFECTED YET SITUATED IN THIS TIME AND PLACE: seriously taking on the role of the song in terms of execution and performance: i.e. resist the temptation for urbanite tourism.

5) INHERENTLY HUMAN / GESTURAL HARMONICALLY AND RHYTHMICALLY: NO instruments (esp. electronic) that output more than one distinct temporal / spectral event (however complex) per analogous human action: NO sequencing and NO padding. trust in the minimalist power of suggestion and implication: less is more -- and besides: music is not quite real, so don't try to fool yourself.

.{wax}.
abandon all hope, wash up on a beach of infants, float back home on a raft of premature dreams, try to reconcile the world you left behind with what you've seen and felt. all footnotes aside, who are we? what is the nature of the time and place we live in? how does it square with everyone you've ever heard about? tell me your story and i'll tell you mine.
.{/wax}.
this is in or around Capitol Hill
no -- it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

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Bob Moog

News: "On Aug 21, 2005 Bob Moog passed away. He was a gentle and humble man with a wonderful sense of humor and a brilliance that inspired millions around the world."

Myself included.

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SB Roadshow: House Concert

Evening Work:

Photo by Pat Azzarello.

Travis Metcalf, Paul O'Rear, Dan Moore and about forty friends and neighbors filled my living room for a standing room only SB Roadshow House Concert. Another small step forward for this new configuration. From my corner of the stage, the show seemed very musical and much fun. There were some good comments and conversations after the show as well.

Perhaps some who were there would also care to share impressions in the comments section below.

Setlist
She's Not Coming Back
Lay My Love
Kneeling Down
I am (not?) in Love
Solisbury Hill
Walking in Your Footsteps
Dark
Naïve Melody
Just What I Needed
Gravity

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Night Wall - 07

Evening Work: Night Wall - page 7 (2.0M mp3).

“When Sarah passed the living room window, what caught her eyes made her yell in surprise,

LOOK! LOOK! LOOOOOK! "

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Can't Win

This just in from Travis Hartnett:

-----Original Message-----
From: Travis Hartnett
To: Steve Ball
Subject: On the nurturing nature of family, friends

"Can't Win" (Richard Thompson)

I started to cry, they put gin in my cup
I started to crawl, and they swaddled me up
I got up and run, they said
"Easy, son, Play up, play the game"

They told me to think
and forget what I'd heard
They told me to lie and they questioned my word
They told me to fail, better sink than sail,
Just play the game

Oh, towers will tumble and locusts will visit the land
Oh, a curse on your house and your children
and the fruit of your hand

They said "You can't win. You can't win.
You sweat blood. You give in.
You can't win. You can't win.
Turn the cheek.
Take it on the chin.
Don't you dare do this.
Don't you dare do that"
We shoot down dreams, we stiletto in the back
Oh the nerve of some people, the nerve of some people,
The nerve of some I don't know who you think you are, who you think you are

Oh what kind of mother would hamstring her sons?
Throw sand in their eyes and put ice on their tongues
Ah better to leave than stay here and grieve And play the game

Don't waken the dead as you sleepwalk around
If you have a dream, brother, hush, not a sound
Just stand there and rust, die if you must But play the game

Oh, if we can't have it, why should a wretch like you?
Oh, it was drilled in our heads, now we drill it into your head too.

They said "You can't win. You can't win.
You sweat blood. You give in.
You can't win. You can't win.
Turn the cheek.
Take it on the chin.
Don't you dare do this.
Don't you dare do that"
We shoot down dreams, we stiletto in the back
Oh, the nerve of some people, the nerve of some people,
The nerve of some people I don't know who you think you are
The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people"

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The Power of Nurturing

More from recent reading:

"This will be my first introduction to the cult of the bass guitar. I have not really taken much interest in the instrument, regarding myself exclusively as a lead guitarist because I could now make passable attempts at Hendrix riffs, using this new skill to inveigle my way into the coterie of young musicians who gather in the music room most weeknights. I am the kid who can play "Purple Haze," and this becomes my calling card. From such small beginnings reputations are made. I probably teach that riff to half the kids in the YM. One of these kids is Keith Gallagher, who will be the best man at my wedding, as I will be at his. A lifelong friend and an early supporter, it is with his enthusiasm encouragement that I dare to imagine that I have something that sets me apart as a musician, that somehow the dream can be nurtured into reality.

Keith has a practical nature. He is apprenticed to an engineering firm in Newcastle and attends night school. He also had the ambition and tenacity to get a good degree and eventually become a leading consultant engineer. Although my convoluted route to success will be far less structured, we must have recognized in each other similar traits, similar desires to escape the confined world of our parents. We walk the beaches together, talking and fantasizing, sometimes until the early hours of the morning. Keith is the first person to hear my early songwriting efforts, and although they are probably awful, he shows just enough interest to encourage me to carry on.

He did remind me recently that one of my earliest efforts concerned a flower in the desert. I had long forgotten this before I came to write a song called “Desert Rose,” which would sell over a million copies -thirty--five years later. It still seems fantastic to me that something as private as a song can become public property, but maybe all it takes is just one person to believe in what you are doing to give you the confidence to keep trying."

- Broken Music, Sting

Amazing to me how little real nurturing there is in our families, friendships, and ultra modern and sophisticated lives. It seems we tend to reinforce the mistaken idea that certain people are blessed with 'talent' where others are not -- and therefore, it is our duty to leave music, art, and creative acts to "artists" while the rest of us observe and consume, rather than actually participate in creation or creative projects.

Granted, there may be a point where you just can't get something to grow in sand no matter how much water you pour into the desert. But it always amazes me how little real support there is in encouraging children or adults that they can do something like play an instrument, sing a song, write a song, paint a picture, or do something that has value.

I wonder if Gordon Sumner would have become Sting without the encouragement he received from his nurturing friend, Keith?

* * *

Earlier Evening: Tobin Buttram was guest at our semi-monthly Opal Poker night and walked away with around eighty dollars of my neighbors cash. Not sure my neighbors will be inviting him back next time - but they loved his all-silver-and-black motorcycle.

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Sunset Show

Evening: SB Roadshow at the Sunset with Marotta/Griesgraber and Erik Wollo.

SB, Travis Metcalf, Dan Moore (playing Jerry Marotta's drums - thanks Jerry!), and Paul O'Rear. Photo by Regina Kelley.

Quick take: the show was okay, no fireworks, but good work. Tom and Jerry are both sweethearts and played well. Even Jerry was joking on stage about the stick as an instrument of torture. But Tom is clearly a master - his tone is stunning, and he's at the top of his field.

Even with great tone, live instrumental music (for me) has to be like a magic show (how do they do it...?!) If I know all the tricks, my interest disappears. Otherwise, vocal music can draw me in because there are humans with contrasting accents and voices and personalities and stories and spoken interactions (that can make up for things like the same tone or mood or backing sounds in every piece.) Based on what I've heard of Jerry's voice, I would have liked to hear a couple of songs as part of their set.

The show also featured a nice set by Norwegian ambient guitarist/keyboardist/compser Erik Wøllo. Turns out Erik and I have some mutual musician friends back in Norway. Small musical world. Speaking of small world, Artie Traum also emailed me after hearing about the show and asked to say "hi" to his friends in the band(s.)

Horror story of the evening: Jerry helped me deal with a rude cabby who blocked me in while we are unloading gear in front of the club. Jerry's NY side came out in full force, and this was v. useful. Also, kind of surreal to introduce two pals from different universes: Bill Rieflin (REM drummer) to Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel drummer.)

The SBRS set was tight but a bit nervous, perhaps because we played "Solisbury Hill" using the drums of the guy actually played on the original.

It was a pretty happy but small turn out, only about 25 paying peeps, so the musicians made virtually nothing. Definitely a 'bogo tour' in terms of the classic Guitar Craft definition, but Tom is an amazing driving force as juggler: musician, booking agent, road manager, and merch inventory accountant. It was clear both during and after the show: we're all in this for love. After tearing down the stage, at around 12:30 I escorted the band over to Regina's place where the musicians slept before beginning a 24-hour straight drive to San Diego where they have a show on Thurs eve.

SBRS Setlist
- Walking in Your Footsteps
- She's Not Coming Back
- Kneeling Down
- Solisbury Hill
- I am (not?) in Love
- Dark

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