Steve Ball

Electric Gauchos on Public Radio International

Recap: many thanks to EG fan and excellent amp builder, Kevin Hilbiber who suggested that Public Radio International's 'The World' add Electric Gauchos to their list of Listener's Picks in the Global Hit section. 

I agree Kevin -- the music on this CD and from this group still brings me great joy and I consider it some of my finest work as a musician.  Thanks for making this recommendation, Kevin.

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Song of the Day

Mendoza, pt. 1 (3.9M mp3) - by Electric Gauchos

"Tonight, beginning to mine the hour+ studio improvisations by Electric Gauchos, recorded in Buenos Aires, almost exactly seven years ago, in October of 1997 featuring Christian de Santis, Fernando Kabusacki, Martin Schwutke, and myself on electric guitars, and Fernando Samalea on drums.

Part I articulates the primary themes of this piece."

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Picture of the Day

Sofie's First Car Ride - heading home on July 25th, one day old.

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Word of the Day

fil·i·bus·ter
noun

1a. the use of obstructionist tactics, especially prolonged speechmaking, for the purpose of delaying legislative action.

1b. an instance of the use of this delaying tactic.

2. an adventurer who engages in a private military action in a foreign country.

verb
fil·i·bus·tered, fil·i·bus·ter·ing, fil·i·bus·ters

verb, intransitive

1. to use obstructionist tactics in a legislative body.

2. to take part in a private military action in a foreign country.

verb, transitive

to use obstructionist tactics against
(a legislative measure, for example).

[Spanish filibustero, freebooter, from French flibustier, from Dutch vrijbuiter, pirate. See freebooter.]

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Back to Work

Recap: first day back at work. 

Not as hard as it seemed it might be the day before, and yet, also somehow harder than I thought it would be.  It feels great to be part of a trusted and trusting team.  They held the fort nicely while I was away.  

And I was strangely sad to be away from my new baby.

"The man frowned and went back to work."

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Song of the Day:  Two Years Ago, Night Wall - page 5 (2.9M mp3).

“The men from the construction company arrived early and set to work immediately. By the afternoon, the wall was almost finished.

Sarah brought some lemonade to the men. She liked how they called each other names such as Big Bear, Wolfman, and Wildcat. One of the men said to Sarah, ‘You need a wall like I need a bad toothache.’

‘I don’t want the wall’ said Sarah, ‘Julie does.’

The man frowned and went back to work.”

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Photo of the Day

  
Regina, Steve, and Sleepy Sofie: Day 2 

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Word of the Day

fi·du·ci·ar·y
adjective

1a.  Of or relating to a holding of something in trust for another: a fiduciary heir; a fiduciary contract.

1b. Of, relating to, or being a trustee or trusteeship.

1c. Held in trust.

2.Of, relating to, or consisting of fiat money.

3. Of, relating to, or being a system of marking in the field of view of an optical instrument that is used as a reference point or measuring scale.

noun, plural fi·du·ci·ar·ies

One, such as an agent of a principal or a company director, that stands in a special relation of trust, confidence, or responsibility in certain obligations to others.

[Latin fiduciarius, from fiducia, trust. See fiducial.]

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Solid as a Tree

Recap: Today is my last day at home for awhile after two weeks of Sofie-induced bliss.  Back to work tomorrow, and time to catch up on >1500+ emails and two weeks of absence in a world that does not slow down for even the most cutest babies.

And yet, my own tempo has settled into a nice waltz.  Feeling energized and as solid and directed as a tree beginning a hundred year mission to reach for the sun.  This even on top of the expected sleep-deprivation. 

That's blissed-out daddy-talk for: life is good.  

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Song of the Day: Backlog (4.9M mp3)

"back·log (noun)

1. a reserve supply or source
2. an accumulation, especially of unfinished work or unfilled orders
3. a large log at the back of a fire in a fireplace

* * *

Taking my the recent pull-off practice to a new extreme. I conceived this imagining a future 8-12 piece LCG or SGC with uniform speed, finger strength, and hammering homework under their belt.

While not necessarily an excellent 'composition' this is a sort of satisfying throw-away novelty texture that frantically visits some nice corners."

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Word of the Day

feck·less
adjective

1. Lacking purpose or vitality - feeble or ineffective
2. Careless and irresponsible

[Scots feck, effect (alteration of effect) + -less.]

— feck?less·ly adverb
— feck?less·ness noun

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Photo of the Day

Flowers for Sofie from Grandma on July 24th, 2007

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History: Five Years Ago Today

"SBRS at the Hopvine tonight.  A satisfying show, all the way around.  Good audience, pretty good sound (self-organized with our own gear this time!)  Nice to see many new and old faces in the crowd tonight.  We were (the proverbial) "on."

1000 words:

TravisM with special guest, Davide Rossi experience 'Cirque du Pelota" with front row seats.

TravisH miming the universal sign for "No 'Back in NYC' "

Host and soundman, Kurt

TravisH photographs the photographer

TobinB miming the universal hand signal for "my glass is way too empty for this music."

* * *

Rumor has it that Steve Turnidge was also in the audience taping (with 'help' in the classic GC definition from artsy-pants cameraman, TobinB) for BTV2002.

Hope to see this show on DVD sometime soon."

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Happy Birthday Mom!

Song of the Day

Birthday (4.2M mp3) -- today, my Mom's birthday! 

Birthday image from a photo by Guitar Craft brother, Pablo Mandel. 

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Photo of the Day: me, a day or so old.

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Excellent Discovery of the Day

Alan Watts Theatre, produced by Trey Parker and Matt Stone:

"In music, one does not make the end of the composition the point of the composition....   but, we miss the point the whole way along: it was a musical thing, and you were supposed to sing and to dance while the music was being played..."   - Alan Watts

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Word of the Day

fat·u·ous
adjective

1. Vacuously, smugly, and unconsciously foolish
    See synonyms at foolish. 

2. Delusive; unreal: fatuous hopes

From Latin fatuus

— fat?u·ous·ly adverb
— fat?u·ous·ness noun

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Sofie Rocks Too

Picture of the Day

Sofie Ball Rocks Out: nine days old today

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Song of the Day

Two Years Ago: Night Wall - page 4 (3.6M mp3).  

Two years ago, I spent summer evenings setting Duncan Weller's wonderful Night Wall to music.  I would generally tackle one page per evening, beginning with the word and the image, hitting the recording button and improvising music that tells the story. 

In the end, there were ~16 'songs' -- one for each page.  Page 4 was born on August 3rd, 2005 in about three hours:     

"Julie didn't like the woods at night. She roamed around the cabin nervously. When she looked out the windows, she saw moving shadows in the moonlight that shifted between the trees and imagined ghosts and leering monsters. Her sleep that night was uneasy.

Early the next morning, Julie called a contractor from the nearest town. She told him that she wanted a wall built around the cabin."

Over the last month, I've received a number of email updates and warm wishes from my favorite artist and collaborator, Duncan Weller. Some highlights of recent activities from Duncan:

"The Night Wall DVD will soon have some additions to it. Spacesnake is being added, along with an animated short for the local police department. I'm doing all the paintings for a short film that is part of a DVD package given to families who are suffering the painful emotions after a break-and-enter. The short is aimed specifically at children. It's a lot of fun to make, but an awful lot of work. I should have it completed in three weeks. I'm allowed to use it on the DVD. I get my first official "director's" credit as well, which could lead to other similar projects. I was hoping to make a living from my children's books, which I will always pursue, but there are some other interesting avenues to consider.

Night Wall is getting its premiere performance at a local film festival. Despite being a relative small affair with 45 films, the festival actually attracts film makers from across Canada, and gets a few interested parties from the United States. I'll let you know what the reaction is."

Best wishes, Duncan!  I look forward to sharing Night Wall with Sofie in a few years. 

* * *

Sofie's Mom Rocks

Recap: If I have not mentioned it here recently, I need to explicitly reemphasize the fact that I married an amazing woman. 

Here is Baby Sofie's birth story:

We had the most surprising and rapid labor.

Mild contractions began in the middle of the night on Sunday night (July 22nd) but they were fading so much that by Monday morning that we could not even really time them.   Thinking we had a few more days to wait, I went to work for a few hours to tie up some loose ends.   When I came home at about 4pm (with flowers and even more groceries) the contractions were back, but still fairly mild and still  ~ 10 to 12 minutes apart.  They grew a bit more intense by about 6pm, but we were timing them and we still seemed very far from “real labor.” 

At about 9pm, something changed,… we thought we were maybe beginning the next phase, ~7 minutes apart, turning the first corner in Penny Simpkin’s ‘Road Map of Labor’ -- perhaps we were at 2-3cm,…?   Somewhere in the top row of the map.

But it still did not seem like we were close compared to the videos we saw in Penny’s classes.  Then, at about 11pm, some interesting ‘fluids’ started to show up with stronger contractions, so we called the hospital thinking we still had hours (or days) to go. 

Our midwife gently suggested we come in to check it out, ‘just in case’ and we were at the hospital by about 11:30pm.   Our midwife later told us the nurses at the front desk were whispering something like: “oh they’ll be going home…” because Regina seemed so calm and peaceful.

At this time, the midwife checked Regina out and said she was already at 9cm and that we’d better get ready to push!  We did not even bring in our bags or clothes, or labor supplies because even we thought we’d be going home to wait.

Regina’s sister, Laura, arrived about 30 minutes later, we all counted and breathed and pushed for what seemed like a few short contractions (and only seven pushes), and our little girl arrived flawlessly and naturally at 1:28am on Tuesday July 24th.  The nurses were shocked at how fast and easy it seemed. 

Regina was a superstar.

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Photo of the Day

First Day Home

* * *

Song of the Day: Sundress Happiness (5.56M mp3) 

me and my girl, we want to have a baby
me and my girl, we want to have a child
our friends who have kids think we’re freak’en crazy
diapers and bills in huge gigantic piles

she’s my sundress happiness
I’m her love-bead centipede
I’m her goatee devotee
she’s my million dollar dandelion

so, I quit my job, and started mixing potions
she cut my hair and got a ‘ yes ’ tattoo
I crashed the car and shattered all my notions
she passed the bar and sued Lee Iococca

she’s my sundress happiness
I’m her love-bead centipede
I’m her goatee devotee
she’s my million dollar dandelion

look in her eyes, an amber laser loveshow
look at her shirt, we wear the same clothes
under her smile, one thousand rainy rainbows
permanent flowers grow under her nose

she’s my sundress happiness
I’m her love-bead centipede
I’m her goatee devotee
she’s my million dollar dandelion

sundress happiness
love-bead centipede
goatee devotee
million dollar dandelion

* * *

Word of the Day

fa·ce·tious 
adjective

Playfully jocular
Humorous:  facetious remarks

[French facétieux, from facétie, jest, from Latin facetia, from facetus, witty.]

— fa·ce?tious·ly adverb
— fa·ce?tious·ness noun

* * *

Sofie's Song

This Just In: a quick capture of the Guitar Sketch I've been playing for baby Sofie for about a month before as well as after she was born on July 24th.

Sofie's Song (3.6M mp3).

To my ears (and hands) this is a sister theme to the Breathing Field, perhaps it's the stable, fulfilled, and more-balanced cousin, moving to a 'regular' eight pulse rather than the energetically asymmetrical seven that haunts the original 1987 League Breathing Field that was part of another sort of birth in another era.

* * *

What an amazing month that was July. Where to begin?

It may be best to fill in the gaps slowly over the month of August as I get back into timely entries and a more regular posting schedule -- not that it will ever be very 'regular' from here out. And not that my life or schedule has ever been 'regular' on any level, whatever that means. Those who know me well already know the great joy that July delivered.

Those who know me less well, but who find this useful, amusing, disgusting, or worthy of a distanced pity may discover more by tuning in here again in August.

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