Steve Ball

Jon Anderson: face to face

Evening Event: wonderful Jon Anderson solo show at Benaroya Hall this evening with Regina, Paul, and Tula. Some strong chills were flying up and down my spine, especially during the piano rendition of 'Close to the Edge' - yes, that's right. Hard to believe without hearing/seeing it, but it was stunning and opened a long and timeless moment for me that connected me directly back to 1978 and the first time I heard 'Close to the Edge.'

Then, a brief face to face "hello" after the show and acknowledgement that he had received Night Wall and Fly By package the week before. He's on a brief West Coast tour, then off to Japan in April and back to premier his symphony with the CGT in May.

Might be worth a road trip down for the premier? I hope a collaboration is possible later this year as we discussed last.

This evening was a sort of an extended 'present moment' that also brought me back to Herni's mother's 'piano room' in Buenos Aires, 1995 during the day that we (Possible Productions) hosted Steve Howe to kick off his tour of Argentina -- Steve had afternoon tea with Herni and I and at one point he sat down at the piano and gently banged out the "I get up, I get down" chords out on Herni's mother's piano. That was also an interesting moment of "intense awakeness" for me.

Thinking of Fernando Samalea in all of this as well, wishing he were here.

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Guitar Craft, the young adult

Happy 21st Anniversary Guitar Craft.

By human standards, you are now able to move out of your parents house, vote, and work as a young and independent 'adult' in the world.

By other standards, you are still just a very very young child with much to see and learn and a bright long future ahead.

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Best wishes to friends and family around the world on this quiet day of reflection on the past 21 years and contemplation of the next. Quiet prayers go out to RobertF, DebraK, TonyG, CurtG, MartinS, HernanN, BettinaN, FernandoK, PaulR, BertL, HideyoM, JohnS, PietroR, RalphG, AdamL, AndrewE, DaveM, JonD, MarkT, RoyC, JohnM, JohnN, RobR, PatriciaL, TobinB, BillR, BillVB, BillF, BillJ, DeanJ, BobW, JaxB, FrankS, IngridP, TreyG, VictorM, DionS, ClaudeG, NigelG, KarenT, UdoD, CathyS, SteveJ, PabloM, TomR, TravisM, TravisH, ChrisG, DerekD, PaulO, DavidLV, ChristiandS, GilleO, LucianoP, ClaudioL, MartindG, HoracioP, MarcosR, ValentinaF, MariaGE, SandraP, JoelP, JimG, TruusvE, BobG, AndyM, and many others.

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Must Have Waited All My Life...

Weekend Update: re-arranged the guitar parts for Night Wall on the piano; some tricky 2 over 3 over 4 patterns between the right and left hands. Not quite ready for performance, but I'm working on getting up to speed. After spending much of the past 20 years working as a performing guitarist, moving to the keyboard is a small but significant leap.

Plans also coming together for the next installment of 'Jewel Orchestrations' currently scheduled for early May. Hopefully, Eno has been also able to excavate his former studio/now storage room and locate the missing 1995 'jewel box.'

Spring is springing, as are my spring allergies.

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Put together a Night Wall and Fly By care package for Jon Anderson; hope he receives it before coming to town for his Benaroya solo show next week. I hear the current drafts of Night Wall and can't help wishing it were his voice replacing mine. A remote, but real possibility that I hope to actualize later this year.

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Nice multi-email exchange with LA Guitarist Peter Zaferes; we're going to do a 'plectrum exchange' and we may also engage in some Mandolin collaboration at a distance. Among other things, Peter's recently done some playing with Zappa orchestral arranger, Art Jarvinen.

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Night Wall - Spoken

Evening Work: Night Wall - Spoken (39.3M mp3).

This is a version that maps Regina's spoken reading of Duncan's book to the long-form instrumental verison of Night Wall. Also in the works: a shorter, more ambient spoken version.

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Many many activities this past week including an exciting prep brainstorm meeting with CraigC of WaggEd -- planning some fun and high-visibility summer 'launch' activities.

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Fly By - 10

(Previous) Evening Work: Fly By - 10 (2.80M mp3).

Part II, and an extension of Fly By 09, also played with David LaVallee's (1920-ish) Martin mandolin with some additional driving orchestration. Fitting that an airplane would also (coincidentally?) end up in this piece given David's recent work with the Airport Exercise.

This is Music for Flying.

Wishing safe travels to those headed to Mendoza for the 21st Anniversary of Guitar Craft coming up on the 25th. I cannot be there (in body) but I will be there via other means.

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Multichannel Vista Soundscapes

Quick Update: I've been sooo focused lately on 'foreground' work that my music diary has been a ghost town. But that does not mean that there has not been active activity happening. I have just not made it a priority to share details since much of it is still 'confidential' in nature.

That said, I met this morning with Johnny Bregar, Brian Ledford, Mike Wall, and Pat Azzarello to listen to some v1 multichannel Vista soundscapes from the recent Vista sessions last November. Good stuff brewing here. Looks like we'll also have a chance to review this in person with the Musician in early May when he comes back to Seattle for Vista Session V2.

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Last Week: we hosted a three day "Audio Summit" with many partners and guests from across the country at the W Hotel. What a great venue for this event, and great opportunity to spend so much time with industry movers like Gary Garritan.

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Up Early: practicing this morning in preparation for a rehearsal tomorrow evening. Beginning to think about practical next steps for the Roadshow given recent absence(s.)

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Fly By - 09

Evening Work: Fly By - 09 (3.90M mp3).

Played with David LaVallee's (1920?) Martin mandolin which I've been keeping warm for awhile. This is the second piece that has been graced with this instrument, first public piece.

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Earlier: a call from one semi-global very-mobile Fripp and one Hellboy from the road somewhere on the east coast. Plotting next steps in an ongoing Seattle project for early May. More collaboration on some 'Short Music' -- which serves a much different function than Slow Music. Also in the works: soundscape contributions for the Fly By project.

Spring is almost springing, and I'm sick of being sick.

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I've had a horrid cold for almost a week, and I spent most of it on my back in bed. Finally feeling up to getting up and plugging back into day to day life. Health is everything. Much catching up to do on all fronts after being (literally) down for an entire week.

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