Art and Business Logs - 1687, Inc.

These books have made life better over the last few months

Writer: Marcel Proust - In The Shadow of Young Girls in Flower - Translation by James Grieve

Writer: Christopher H. Pyle - Getting Away With Torture

I want to distribute the TV show the Facts to TV public access stations across the US. The first stage of the project is to vet the list of stations in terms of shows they broadcast, submission and format guidelines/deadlines. A college intern and I are working on this – so far lots of work and not much fruit. More later.

Dear All,

The following is a link to Michelle Alexander’s website - Just saw her presentation at Demos presented on MNN. Her new book is about the mass incarceration of people of color and is entitled “The New Jim Crow”

I became aware of the startling statistics of this recent (past thirty years - the war on drugs) evolution of American racist policies/attitudes: the numbers of people harmed and some of the myriad forms this harm takes - when I worked at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem a couple of years ago.

Michelle’s book is called “The New Jim Crow” http://www.newjimcrow.com

I’m posting this because I think you might be interested and I’m haunted by the situation and because Michelle Alexander is such an eloquent, cogent thinker on the matter - she is an exciting voice in the mix.

Daniel Garriga and I used footage from Daniela’s Concrete film in credits of the episode we edited yesterday (not the one on the web).
It looked very good - albeit it’s a first draft but a lot gone done and it’s very exciting.

We used it moving and then stopped it at points - I want more still areas in the interplay between credits and film so we will continue to develop this in the next episode - These credit graphics will remain constant throughout episodes for the foreseeable future - so the series is starting to get a distinct, pertinent, beautiful look.

We spent a long time in the studio yesterday - in part, because compressing for the web took 2 hours and they have a strict policy that you can’t use two machines at the same time. So when we got to the episode we didn’t have much time left and Daniel was frustrated with how slowly MNN computers worked, e.g. the frames for the stills.

We did this while uploading the Quicktime compressed episode file to Blip Tv (about 45 minutes) - but at least we could do this and edit another episode on the same computer.

Back to Concrete film - we also played around with using slices of the Concrete film to border the whole episode. We used a sliver of it feathered as a border on the right had side of the frame (so skinny you couldn’t make out what it was - we also kept it moving at the rate of the film rather than isolating stills). On the left hand border we used a still column of the film about 4x a wide as the feather so you could see what it was but it was still quite slender.

Last, but definitely not least, we played around with wiping the screen from time to time with the concrete, while the music continued, either emanating from one of the the sides or from the top - it worked but would be used sparingly for transitions between shots (say, no more than three times in an episode if that).

I am also interested in experimenting with the following backdrop visual elements:

Behind the players:
1. A foot-wide column of a rich blue tone either a film still or silk scarf fabric, perhaps teal or a rich turquoise coming from the ceiling about 2/3 rds of the way to the ground between myself and the trio

2. A corresponding 2×4 roughed up piece of wood, like the side of a used theatrical flat, running from floor to ceiling between Beth and Bern. This piece of wood like the floor, the equipment, music stands, etc. would be stationary.

Repertoire of Wipes - (Adding to the concrete wipes):

1. An unfolding light-weight, wind-blown blue silk curtain (you might see the folds in the fabric during the progression of the practical, quick wipe) This curtain-wipe might emanate from the above described backdrop blue element and perhaps devolve back into it, gently, cautiously but again fast.

Questions:
1. Could we use a slice of the blue screen with studio curtains bordering to project a film of the blue curtain and/or 2×4 wood column - or would we risk electronic ugliness/blowback like we saw when we used the concrete film that way - (I think I know the answer to this) and/so do we need a real three dimensional slice of blue and a two x four piece of wood?

2. Does anyone have or are interested in making a blue curtain film(s)and/or piece of wood still(s) to use on the show?

Notes for next website changes:
1. The link on the Facts page to the arts and business log needs to updated to the current wordpress blog.

2. Set up a Facts page on Facebook which is linked to a 1687 page on Twitter - couldn’t figure out how to access the Twitter page but maybe it doesn’t matter since all Twitter length entries on Facebook Facts page will automatically be posted on Twitter.

3. Put links for the above mentioned Facebook page and My Space page- Lenore Von Stein music page (that was already set up)on the arts and business log and vice versa.

4. There is also a Lenore Von Stein My Space page - this is where the friends I have so far are clustered - mostly musicians and family. So in terms of marketing constituencies this page is a start for reaching other artists as well as the Net New Music page.

Spoke to MNN facilitator Roberto yesterday about continuing problems, e.g. mics too hot, ergo distorted sound recording. We also spoke about the sound difficulties particular to the music we are creating because of the sudden shifts in pitch and volume.

Roberto said:

1. He will be on duty the next time we tape. If he is not the assigned facilitator for the production - find him and he will consult on the sound set-up.
2. It isn’t possible to use any studio for a sound rehearsal - we must be taping a show to use a studio.
3. He suggested preparing two sound settings for the next taping and testing which one works best.
a. Use our standard set-up: Flute, Guitar and lead singer miked directly. Soprano picked up by ceiling boom mic.
b. Alternate set-up: The two large condenser Mics at either end of the studio.
4. If we go into the big open studio in the future there will be added sound difficulties because of the human traffic around the studio. He thought we might drown out that noise which is the most problematic for talk shows.

Addendum:
Cory Brice said he would let me know by Wednesday if we can use the Downtown space for our Tuesday evening tapings (not including the one coming up on January 19th) He cautioned that it will mean getting the crew re-trained to use that facility.

Excerpt from a discussion on Net new Music in response to the question: “To understand a piece fully, audiences must be willing to commit a significant part of their day to it” posed by composer Adam Kondor.

The whole discussion was on NetNewMusic - a now defunct social networking site for non-pop new music

Responses by Lenore Von Stein
December 22, 2009

I’m making movements out of composed and improvised music and text. Currently they are all 28 minutes long for a series of TV shows. An individual piece of my composed music has shapes (including harmonies and empty spaces) that are unusual, idiosyncratic. When there are lyrics these also are unusual, etc. These pieces of composed music are currently linked non-stop by short pieces of dialogue (easy to understand but I hope startling in clarity and every day-ness) and short, free, and earnestly punching at our own conventions (when our lights are lit anyway) improvised music.
People would have to attend to this construction- its not all that useful as background music.

There’s a big problem moving forward with a poorly educated audience mired in anxiety. They want to relax, be moved to another dimension but haven’t experienced, at least very often, the benefits of going on a ride with a smart, earnest craftsperson/artist. Let Bach and Webern talk and listen to them, relax your eyes and look at Velasquez, Picasso - let them change me, expand me, help me feel more. Rather than query the artists , what does this mean, what does that mean, rather than worry these artist people are making a fool out of me or more to the point I am making a fool out of myself.

Second Post:Lenore Von Stein
Later that same day December 22, 2009

Just in case I can clarify my last post. I’m speaking of a combo of cultural biases based on very limited perspectives and vocabulary compared to what a human being is capable of, and well-founded (although in this case, misplaced) worry about being shafted. These were aspects of the working class world I grew up in and still spend a part of most days in. There were/are of course within that group bold, thoughtful, creative people who’s intellect manages to survive maybe even thrive in the oppression of little being said, style over content – maybe I just don’t get the metaphors – I’ve been wondering about that lately.

There’s a famous education study called something like “The Million Word Gap.” It’s by Hart and Risley. They say there’s a big difference in the number of words and the way in which words are used to children growing up in poor households as opposed to children in professional homes (of course there are always exceptions to these families).

So educators can predict how many words a child will have in their vocabulary in the 3rd grade, something like that, by how many they had when they were two or three. Obviously the quantity of ways you have to express yourself, make it easier for you to satisfactorily express yourself/ communicate with other people.

Then there’s a big difference in the communications – much higher percent of negative communications in the poorer households – lots less time for praise. So communications, in this case words, have more of the connotation of weaponry.

For several years I taught art and music history in an aeronautics school. In was a standard 11th century and onward mostly European and American introductory course. Most of the students would be upset when we got to 20th century abstraction and modern music and then I learned to introduce it in the beginning of the semester and to keep referring to it throughout the course. Well then things calmed down and we could talk – maybe because reference points had been put down where there were none or not enough before.

In this modern day increasingly can’t trust you as far as I can throw you society that is concurrently more socially free and carefully introspective there are doors that are unusually ajar – more than I remember thirty years ago.

The sound wasn’t as good as it was at the last taping. Both singers had moments where they were recorded too hot, distorted. We’ll re-do this episode to improve sound quality as well as to make pictures more relevant. The shots were better in this episode than they had been. Need better flow to the performance, more connections between the parts.

Also need crew to utilize the reports, e.g. sound and mike settings.

Also need some visuals behind the band.