Countdown to 75

Gathering up his mittens and a venemous porridge unidentifiable by taxidermists anywhere, Mr. De Groot floats via umbrella through the forest (which he views as a plagueland) and proceeds to leave the porridge in strategic hearths so they may be stumbled upon by young children and rabbits. Upon partaking of the lumpy elixir the creatures obtain a random array of superpowers, useless as they are.

For instance, Jimmy Trim now drains pebbles through his eyesockets instead of tears, Veronica Rogers now understands the language of the teddy bears who are mostly insecure and desperate, pleading, "pleasedon'tleaveme. pleasedon'tleavemetodieinadumpsterwithmyfurallmattedandgrayandmystuffingstickingout,", and one lucky rabbit found that his pheremones have increased his attractiveness to women, except that it also increased his attractiveness to predators and he shortly became a satisfying snack for a python.

Mr. De Groot's activities did not go unnoticed by the police. However, since there is currently no law against wearing mittens and dropping porridge, they are powerless to do anything about it. Although they did utilize Jimmy Trim's power to make the other bowls of porridge too lumpy to consume. More news at 11.

Chris Opperman

Currently listening : Third By Portishead Release date: 2008-04-29

11:55 - 4 Comments - 9 Kudos - Add Comment

New Music! - Periwinkle/Jettiwinkle

Periwinkle Video <-- Click here to see the video.

So we take a break from out catch-up blog posts to bring you this tale of two improvs!  Way back on June 8th, I went into my friend Steve Leavitt's studio, Thud Studios, to work on some solo piano pieces for a demo, to try out his new program Ivory, and to record a couple songs including a vocal version of "Reminisce (When I Was a Baby Universe)" with Aria Curzon & Damone Williams singing as well as "I Choose Love" which was originally going to be my contribution to the Gasoline Hand project but will now be used for something else.

So I show up at the studio and Steve is working on getting Ivory up and running.  Do you want to know how great of a friend Steve is?  I was paying him x for the studio and Ivory cost much more than x but Steve bought it anyway because he was so excited about the quality of their piano samples and couldn't wait to hear me play them. 

So he's working on getting that going and I'm practicing the organ since we're going to use it on the Gasoline Hand session and since I don't play the organ with nearly as much grace as I play the piano (they're two similar, but much different, instruments).  I also played Steve "I Choose Love" for the first time and he was really moved by it.  Good, good. 

Aria & Damone show up and I start practicing their song with them, Ivory is up and running, Aria & Damone go to the bathroom, and then this is what happened next. 

I don't really remember Steve hitting record although I obviously figured out he was recording when he got the video camera out (Great job, Steve!). 

Whenever I sit down at a piano (or the trumpet since I've been practicing that again) to play or compose, my primary goal is always the same.  I am always aiming for transcendence.  Sometimes I am simply trying to transcend my own limitations as a musician and improve my overall technique/ability.  Other times I am trying to transcend technique altogether and take my music to a higher metaphysical plane, a place where my heart, my mind, and my fingers work together as one to attempt to express things that are unexpressable through language. 

Try as you might, this isn't something that can be turned on or off like your television (turn it off! turn it off!).  Like any moment in your life, it is something that is created both by the universe and by the product of your diligent practice and your life experience up to that point in time.  It's partially created by the universe because in order for it to work you have to let yourself go and trust that it will happen. 

Not that I was thinking about all of these things while I was playing.  While I was playing, I was only focused on shaping the piece into existence, although it could be argued that the piece willed itself into existence.  Does that mean that I'm still the composer of the piece?  Of course, as it was a combination of karma and practice put into action.

However, there were two strange things that happened.  The first one was that I played a wrong note towards the end, which caused me to wrap the improv up because I was afraid that I was running out of magic.  How can one play a wrong note in an improvisation?  My mind was working so quickly that I was composing the next part while playing the previous part, so I was actually it like it was something that I had already composed. 

The second was that there was some kind-of issue with the sample rate so when Steve played it back for me later, it played back at double-speed.  However, it sounded so totally cool that we decided to keep it.  It also struck up a funny conversation because Steve insisted that I had actually played it at that tempo.

I said, "Steve, I couldn't play something like that on the piano unless I wrote it first and then spent several weeks practicing and perfecting it."

Steve said, "I don't believe you."

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.  The slower, original version is called "Periwinkle" and the faster version (which you can hear on my MySpace player) is called "Jettiwinkle."  Let me know what you think!

Also, Steve, if you want to chime in here, by all means, go ahead. ^_^

Chris Opperman

P.S. The reason for the long black screen in the beginning of the video is because Steve wanted to get the whole improv in the video not just the portion that was actually videotaped.

P.S.2. The part of the video where I'm placing my hands on the keys but not actually playing anything is me thinking about the 1,000 different directions I could take the improv before I actually choose one.  I'm thinking "chord, no, chord, no, chord, no, chord, no, chord, no, chord, OK!"

09:11 - 5 Comments - 10 Kudos - Add Comment

The Final Lionheart Recording Session

So literally two days before I moved away from Los Angeles, we were at Universal Music Publishing Group finishing up "The Porpentine." 

For those of you keeping score at home, here is a list of all the instruments on "The Porpentine" that are now 100% real:

grand piano / drums / electric bass / electric guitars (several) / flutes (2) / oboe / clarinet / alto saxophone / tenor saxophone / baritone saxophone / french horn / trumpets (4) / trombones (6) / tuba / cello

Here are the instruments that Steve Leavitt Gigasampled:

pitched percussion (marimba, vibraphone, woodblocks, chimes, etc.) / timpani / some strings

I'm really proud.  I haven't heard Neil's final mix yet, but when Mike Fennel played it back for me (LOUD!) on UMPG's speaker system, it was a nice moment in my life.  I'll put it that way.

Mike Fennel @ UMPG Studios, Los Angeles, CA

So I showed up at UMPG with the hard drive and Mike started importing the data into Nuendo.  It was taking a long time and he asked me, "Is this a bunch of songs all on the same track?"

And I said, "No, it's just one song."

And he said, "Wait. We have the studio booked the ENTIRE DAY to just work on one REALLY LONG song?"

And I said, "Uh huh," and he said, "Well, that's the Oppy I've come to know and love!"

It was really sweet.

So first up was Jen Kuhn, who had a plane to catch that afternoon.  We got her in and rockin' in 6.39 seconds. 

Jen Kuhn @ Universal Music Publishing Group, W. Los Angeles, CA

Jen Kuhn tracking "The Porpentine."

Jen Kuhn & I after she finished tracking her parts. She's awesome.

When Jen was finished, I started cutting the piano parts while we waited for the others to arrive!  Next up was Michael Musick on tuba.  The tuba session was sponsored by Lou Lagonik (thanks, bro!).

Michael Musick tracking "The Porpentine" 6/19/08

Michael Musick gets it way down low!

After he was finished, the French Horn player arrived.  She declined to have her picture taken and she doesn't want credit on the album because of issues with the Musician's Union in Los Angeles.  I hope that she'll relent because I do believe in giving credit where it's due and because she did a very nice job, as did everyone who played that day, but I will obviously respect her wishes.  Here is a picture of her French horn, which she let me take:

French horn. In the background, you can see the Yamaha grand piano I used to cut the piano parts on (I forgot to take a picture of myself by the piano...oops!).

Last, but certainly not least, was Dustin McKinney on trumpet, who is a complete maniac.  Now, "The Porpentine" is NOT an easy piece of music by ANY means.  The trumpet parts were difficult enough that I didn't just take out my horn and play them myself, for example. 

I e-mailed Dustin the charts the day before the session and he shows up with two different trumpets, ready to go.  Now, EVERYONE did a great job and everyone got their parts finished at an acceptable pace (which would probably be manic to innocent bystanders), but this guy was like Super Mario going through the Warp Zone.  It was insane.  Fen & I could barely stop laughing the whole time Dustin was in the hot seat. 

He cut all four parts with ridiculous "ownage" in about 40 minutes.  For my part, all I did was say, "Okay, trumpet 2. Go," "Okay, trumpet 3. Go," and it was amazing.  When it was over, Fen got on the mic and said, "I'm guessing you DIDN'T charge Oppy by the hour...." 

As he was walking out, with nary a drop of sweat on his forehead, I said something about how I should have written him some harder shit and he just kind-of laughed and smiled and said, "No, no, that certainly was hard enough!"  It was really fun.  Kudos to him (and to everyone who played!).

Dustin McKinney owning it @ Universal Music Publishing Group.

Dustin McKinney

Shaking hands with Dustin McKinney

Since Dustin finished his parts so quickly, it bought me an extra hour to really work on the piano part for "The Porpentine."  Originally, I had cut the solo piano movement, "Morpheus Unmakes the Land," without a click, but I retracked it with a click and fixed a couple other parts.

There was one funny moment where I totally owned this really hard lick that shows up in the 9th movement, "Waiting for the Moon to Rise," where I play sextuplets in absolute precision with the drummer.  I nailed it on the first take and was so excited that I threw my fist in the air and yelled "WOOOO!" which obviously messed up the recording and I had to take it over.  Ha ha.

Anyway, once it was all finished I was very proud and very happy and I can't wait until it's out so that it can be played in CD players around the world.  Very cool!

And that's enough blogging for today!  Hope everyone is doing well. ^_^.  Music is the best!

Chris Opperman

11:16 - 3 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

GASOLINE HAND Photos

I just re-read the Gasoline Hand blog entry and it seriously cracked me up.  I don't know if I'm excited or afraid to see the footage that Johnny D. and Steve Leavitt got! 

A couple of people asked me how it came together, so I'll tell you part of the story.  I was at Matt Malley's ashram and we were having deep conversations about music.  Then we decided to go out for Rock & Roll Sushi and I mentioned that I absolutely needed to stop at the very nearest gas station.  Matt figured I'd have enough gas to make it to the sushi place which was, I dunno, five miles away or something.  Well, he thought wrong!  ^_^

So he doubled-back on the highway to bring me some gas and the two of us, who had just had all this genius music talk, couldn't figure out how to put the stupid red gas container together.  Maybe this isn't something I should admit in public.  ANYWAY, at one point, I thought I got it and I tried to put it in the gas tank only to pour a whole bunch of gasoline all over my left hand instead.  Yep. I'm a genius.  Eventually I figured out that there was a part of this thing that didn't need to be there at all, so I got gas in my car, we drove to the gas station and I washed my hands very, very carefully.

Once we got to sushi, I was only eating with my right hand.  Matt asked about it and I told him that I had GASOLINE HAND and we decided to make a record out of it.  Aren't you glad you know that now?  Rich Pike would always tell me that I shouldn't let people know what my songs are about...maybe he's right! ^_^

The irony of the situation is that Steve Leavitt really wanted to set my left hand on fire for the samurai photo shoot, but I wouldn't let him because I had visions of winding up in Blender Magazine's "25 Dumbest Moments of Rock & Roll" with a caption like, "The worst idea since Jeff Buckley said, 'Hey, I think I'll go in for a swim.'"

However, Steve's dad (and mom) are well-known stunt professionals (yep, Steve's parents are cooler than we'll ever be), and he's agreed to do the stunt for the album cover shoot, so there will be a left hand on fire...it just won't be mine! ^_^

Anyway, here are some photos:

Frank Macchia, Bill Stuhlly, me, Matt Malley

Matt Malley wants YOU. Yes, YOU.

Matt Malley & Johnny D.

Chris Opperman

Frank, Bill, Underappreciated Paul (played by Steven Leavitt), me, Matt Malley

Frank Macchia impersonating me with a Heart in the background. I think this picture is CREEPTASTIC!

Fighting worked for The Beatles...and it worked for us! ^_^. Just kidding, we all got along great.  Except for Paul.  But we let him hang out with us because he brings us sandwiches.

Anyway, there are lots more pictures in the Photos section of my MySpace...check them out if you like!

Next up, the final recording session for "The Porpentine."

Chris Opperman

P.S. What's next for GASOLINE HAND?  Well, I passed the hard drive that my mom bought us (Thanks, Mom!) to Alex Machacek who couldn't make the session due to his being sick.  He's going to work his magic on the tracks and then eventually Neil Citron will mix the whole album for a digital-only release which I hope will come out in early-to-mid, 2009. ^_^

With the Gasoline Hand hard drive @ Alex's apartment, June, 2008.

Alex & I.

I think there are better pictures of us somewhere, but I'm currently missing an entire roll of film which will eventually show up. ^_^

10:29 - 0 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

So I've been keeping a low profile for a little bit here since we finished the road trip and I've been settling back into New Jersey.  Between the trip itself, my sister's wedding, Tanya's wedding, Joey V's 7th Annual Yankee BBQ, playing Rock Band w/Lou & Martina until the wee hours of the morning, working remotely part-time, arguing over the rules of various RPGs with Kelvin, playing basketball (Horse specifically...no broken fingers for me, ha ha!), rioting in Manhattan w/C.J. DeAngelus, Kat Parsons & Ernie Halter, taking Gabrielle to the Met when it was closed (oops), helping out at Band Camp, making small meals without burning the house down, enrolling in graduate classes @ Montclair State University, meeting the latest Von Achen, composing during raging thunderstorms, and practicing, practicing, practicing, it's certainly been the best summer I've had since I got back from the Vai tour in '04 (although Summer '06 certainly deserves an honorable mention).

Currently I'm staying at my friend Lou's house in Voorhees but will be moving back up north to Clifton at the end of the month.  The fall will be brining lots of things including old friends, a new band, new music, new shows, new apartment, new furniture, and a few new seasons.  I suppose after eight and a half years of Summer I can deal with Winter. Maybe. ^_^

Re: The Lionheart, Mark Buckingham has promised to finish the artwork for the album in the first week of September now that Fables 75 is finally at the printers (woo hoo!). Obviously that is much later than I had hoped for, but I'm happy to be patient because the artwork will be AMAZING, because he is truly a genius and "some things take time" as Co de Kloet would put it.

Anyway, I have a lot of catching-up to do with this blog and I know how you all love blog entries with pictures, so let's get on with it, shall we?

Chris Opperman

Currently listening : Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots By The Flaming Lips Release date: 2002-07-16

09:54 - 3 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

From Sea to Shining Sea
Current mood: happy

Hello!  As some of you already know, I spent the last 10 days on the road with one of my best friends, Lou Lagonik, traveling from Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, CA to Atlantic City, NJ!  We made many amazing stops along the way having all kinds of adventures (and taking all kinds of pictures) which we will blog about together in the weeks to come.  However, we feel the need to immediately thank everyone who helped us along the way especially:

Jeff "Pesci" Gray & his friend Drew (Santa Monica, CA)

Kristin & Olivia (Santa Monica, CA)

Everyone at The Tattle Tale in Culver City, CA (esp. Jules & Kevin)

Major Kalliroi Landry (Colorado Springs, CO)

Major Frank Landry (Colorado Springs, CO)

The Girls of Rapid City, SD

Becky Meyer (Cedar Rapids, IA)

Michelle Ho (Chicago, IL)

Tony Akins (Chicago, IL)

Martina Campbell (Loveland, OH)

Becki Gallagher & her boyfriend Andrew (Pittsburgh, PA)

Now, some fun stats!

Miles traveled: 4,196

States visited:  15 (California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinios, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New Jersey

Number of rainy days: 0

Est. Number of Bottles of Mountain Dew consumed: 30

Est. Number of Beers Finished: Lou (All) - Chris (Not enough...)

Numer of songs we listened to twice in the car: 0

Number of times pulled over: 2

Number of tickets rec'd: 0

Most surprisingly fun place: Rapid City, SD

Best pizza: Chicago, IL

State Entirely Devoid of Cute Girls: Wyoming (Enter at your own peril!)

Longest U-Turn: Cedar Rapids, IA to DeWitt, IA to Cedar Rapids, IA (approx. 55 miles)

Host We Wish We Could Have Spent More Time With: Martina Campbell

Most Musically Talented Host: Becki Gallagher

Most Scenic State: Colorado

Most Oftenly Uttered Phrase by Chris: "That's what she said!"

Most Oftenly Uttered Phrase by Lou: "Hey, Chris, are you ever going to finish your beer?"

Silly statistics aside, it truly was a grand adventure, and I just want to say that I couldn't have picked a better person to make the trip with than my great friend Lou.  So thanks, bro.

Okay!  I'm off to bed now – now that I've moved to New Jersey, I have to go to New York City for a week for my sister's wedding!  Hooray, Sarah!  So, expect much blogging soon and yes, I know I still owe you pics from the Gasoline Hand sessions as well as the final session for "The Porpentine" which we did @ Universal Music Publishing Group literally a couple days before I left town!

Hope you are all doing well and music is the best!

Chris (with help from Lou)

22:33 - 4 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment

Gasoline Hand Session Recap

Saturday was the GASOLINE HAND session @ Clear Lake Audio in Burbank, CA.  Thursday night the drummer called Matt Malley and told him that he got offered a better gig and cancelled on us.  

Friday I scrambled to find a drummer and came up with Bill Stuhlly, who is a friend of Daren Burns, who got the gig because he was the first one to call me back and tell me he could do it.  He fit right in!

Friday night I get a call from guitarist Alex Machacek who came down with a nasty flu and wasn't sure if he was going to be able to come the next day.  The next day he was worse, so he didn't make it.  But we still love him and he's graciously offered to overdub all of his parts at his home studio.  So that's very cool.  The show went on!

Saturday @ 11:30 am I showed up @ Clear Lake and it felt like Christmas.  Neil Citron, who helped us get the studio pretty last minute, didn't mention that they had a Yamaha C7 grand piano.  I nearly fell over.  The recording engineer, G. Preston Boebel (who was cool as Hell) found the fact that I didn't know there was a piano in the studio hilarious.  Then I found out that No Doubt's "Tragic Kingdom" was recorded there and that made me more excited/hyper.  Matt showed up with his basses and couldn't believe how nice the room was.  It was really, really nice.  Bill showed up and set up his drums, Steve Leavitt came working as my keyboard tech and he brought his B3 orgam which was really sweet.  Johnny D. was there videotaping (Steve videotaped also) and I shot a bunch of pictures with my crappy camera that I won't have time to develop for a while!

We had Steve play the part of "Underappreciated Paul" (long story).  We made him wear a tux and a sombrero with a sign on his back that said "PAUL."  We muted all his tracks, though.  He was the Sid Vicious of the band.  Except infinitely less dangerous. 

We wrote and recorded twelve songs in twelve hours (including set-up and break-down time), which I produced.  We did EIGHT full band songs, each of us taking turns picking vibes/chords/etc. which were recorded in this order:

A Garden of Sound / Inexplicable / Don't You Worry / For the Ladies / Neptune's Rings / El Vez / Waiting for Nothing / Just Left of Heaven 

At that point we were all pretty burnt out, but in the interest of having a full album instead of an LP, we each recorded solo pieces which were recorded in this order:

Redemption (Frank Macchia, tenor sax) / Cybercosmic (Matt Malley, fretless and electric basses) /  Got a Dime? Dial! (Bill Stuhlly, drum set) / Gabrielle (me, grand piano)

While we were there, Steve Leavitt and some of the other guys started writing down funny things people were saying.  Check it out:

You know, democracy isn't bad.  It has its moments.  Let your freak flag fly! Sight-read a melody in four octaves and relax.  I'll get right on that.  We can transcribe the melody you played at the end and orchestrate it on the fly.  I can't believe I spent over ten years in a band with someone who didn't know that the Beatles sang "Oh Bla Di Oh Bla Da."  Hey, Bill, who sang "Oh Bla Di, Oh Bla Da?" Huh? I dunno! Can we get HER to come over? Can we turn Paul down in the mix please? I gotta break out my gold-encrusted music stand because I AM THE HITMAKER.  We're trying to show the world that he's underappreciated.  For your information, I'm in my mid-30's and yes, I like girls.  Do you realize that we're making this album because Matt didn't believe me when I said, "Hey, man, I GOTTA stop at the NEAREST gas station!" We're totally there. Old dudes on a corner. Don't forget to swell your organ. I NEED MORE SWELLED ORGAN IN MY CANS. Are we getting ready for the Oppy tune? Now that we have the Oppy-tunity? Can we sort-of like...cut that so it doesn't suck? What, you mean like this? [MUTE] That's hot. Even Paris Hilton approves.  Okay, next flute!  We've been a band for five hours and we have four songs written and recorded.  We're making a LOT of other bands look REALLY BAD right now.  Frank, you're a raging genius! Okay, just play in time for one beat. I'm gonna go write a song; I'll be right back. Why is this SHUFFLING? Well, at least it's bratty.... OPPY DOES THE BLUES! Help him purcolate his organ, Matt.  Yes, it feels good to be mean, Chris.  This is payback for the last song, biiiiiiitch! Brains...brraaaaaiiiinssssss...  Blackmail....blaaaaaackmaaaaaaaillll... Just left of Heaven. No, we're ALL snubbing you. That's it, I'm going home. You might want to PRACTICE on the way, bro. Hey, I thought we were going to eat like Kings...but it's been twelve hours and we haven't even had a break yet, you slavedriver! That was so disgustingly good that it wasn't even fair. (I'm actually angry).

And that's how I spent my last Saturday in LA.  Back to packing!  Tomorrow I'm going to Katy Perry's CD release party @ Capitol Records which is being hosted by Perez Hilton.  I'm so Hollywood...for a few more days, I guess!

Thursday we're going to Universal Music Publishing Group to finish recording "The Porpentine" once and for all.  Ahhhh.  And then Saturday morning Louis Lagonik and I are going to hit the road back to New Jersey.  Yee haw!

Music is the best.  And secretly, I do appreciate Paul.

Chris Opperman

06:32 - 1 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

New Paintings!
Current mood: artistic

So every once in a while when I feel like I need to ponder the relationships between notes better, I make paintings. It's kind-of like how you eat ginger in between your spicy tuna roll and your yellowtail sashimi.

I'm working on a giant one right now that's 30" x 40" but in the interim I have been doing some smaller pieces as well. I've learned that I prefer making tiny paintings (4" x 6") but I have bigger canvases so I'm using them.

This one is called "Transfigured Night." I was listening to Schoenberg's Verklate Nacht while I painted this as a present for my friend's birthday. It's acrylics and paint pen on canvas and is 9" x 12".



This one is called "Just Another Cookie Cutter Relationship." Acrylics and paint pen on canvas - 9" x 12". I was going to use the word "Relationshapes" but I figured most people would assume I didn't know how to spell and wouldn't get the pun.



This one is called "Transfigured Night II." Acrylics and paint pen on canvas - 9" x 12". I painted it for another friend who has the same birthday as the first girl, albeit a couple years prior. It was originally intended to look a lot more like the first one, but the colors came out so beautifully that I didn't want to mess with it, so I just wrote the title and date in the corner. I didn't mind that the vibe was entirely different, but I still consider it a sequel to the first one, although I listened to various pieces by Nobuo Uematsu when I painted it as opposed to Schoenberg.



This last one is called "Olfactory." I listened to the soundtrack to Steven Sondheim's Assassins as I painted it.

I hope you enjoyed my paintings. :)

Now back to packing and practicing....

Christopher

Currently listening : Assassins (2004 Broadway Revival Cast) By Stephen Sondheim Release date: 2004-08-03

16:30 - 3 Comments - 12 Kudos - Add Comment

Gasoline Hand
Current mood: artistic

So this is it!  My last month in Los Angeles!  My plans for the next couple weeks are to finish packing/shipping and to finish recording instruments for "The Porpentine."  On June 8th I'm going to finish recording the music for my sister's wedding.  Then on June 14th a small legion of us are going to former Counting Crows bassist Matt Malley's ashram in Moorpark to record an entire album in one day with our side project Gasoline Hand. 

The band is going to consist of myself on piano, keys, and trumpet.  You probably already know what I look like.

 Matt Malley (who is an Oscar, Grammy, and Golden Globe nominated songwriter from his time with the Crows) on bass and Indian slide guitar.

Frank Macchia (who, besides playing in Special Opps, is a Grammy-nominated arranger and performer) on flute, clarinet, and alto/tenor/baritone saxophone

Alex Machacek (a guitar player's guitar player) on electric/acoustic guitar

 Christo Pellani (from Chris Cargill's band Riddle the Sphinx) on drums and percussion.

The funny thing is that I didn't think I knew the drummer since Matt picked him, but it turns out that I do because apparently those people who make jokes about me knowing EVERYONE know what they're talking about.  So I'll be the only guy in the band who knows everyone else.  Hilarious!

I will be producing the session and the album will feature solo pieces from each of the members, somewhat composed jams, and total free-for-all jams. 

We will be recording a stupendous amount of music which will then be edited Teo Macero-style into an album.  Mostly because I heard some jazz guitarist say that he did his album without editing or a click track because it was more "pure" that way and I immediately thought that his record must be both boring and sloppy.  Obviously we intend to COMPLETELY ROCK OUT but there will be no wanking allowed in our session, thankyouverymuch.

The session will be engineered by Matt Malley and Steven Leavitt who have the unenviable task of figuring out how to minimize bleed with all of us blasting at once playing in the same room (the bass and keys can go direct but the horns, drums, and electric guitars are going to be bleed central).  Why do I love delegation?  All I have to say is: "Good luck with that, guys!," give them the thumbs-up sign, and continue on my merry way. ^_^

Johnny D. will be on hand to get video of the proceedings.

The sessions will eventually be mixed and mastered by Neil Citron who is the only person on my team to have actually WON a Grammy.  It's a good thing he doesn't mind hanging out with us non-winning losers! ^_^

And that's how I'll be spending my last Saturday in Southern California.  Oh!  And the title of the album (thought of by Matt) is going to be Play Like Men, Eat Like Kings.

LOTS more music coming soon!

Chris Opperman

P.S. I've taken up painting again and I finished two: "Transfigured Night" and "Just Another Cookie Cutter Relationship" both of which are 9" x 12", acrylics plus paint pens on canvas.  I'll let you see them when I get a chance to scan them!

P.P.S. Edi just won the prize as the fastest kudos giver ever.

Currently listening : Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht, Pelleas und Melisande / Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Release date: 1998-03-17

08:24 - 5 Comments - 18 Kudos - Add Comment

A Proper Update
Current mood: productive

As promised, here it is, a proper update, with which you can stop considering how your socks can get so dirty after spending just one day in your shoes and consider this instead:

Co de Kloet and I - Huntington Beach, CA - April, 2008

A couple weeks ago I caught up with NPS Radio 6 Holland's Co de Kloet, the "Creative Catalyst" as he's known throughout the world, at a nice terrace in Huntington Beach, where we drank some beer and discussed a variety of things.  One of which is that NPS Radio 6 is going to do a special one-hour radio documentary on the making of and release of The Lionheart this summer!  Co has a lot of ideas on how to make it a wonderful program and it will conclude with the world broadcast premiere of "The Porpentine."  Pretty exciting!

Cornelia Pesendorfer, Vienna, Austria

Speaking of which, we recently received the oboe part for "The Porpentine" from Vienna's own Cornelia Pesendorfer.  She was recommended to us by my dear friend Sumitra and she did a great job.  I wasn't there in the studio when she recorded it (obviously/unfortunately), but we got the parts and they sounded beautiful and they blended real well with Frank Macchia's flutes and clarinets. 

One thing that is interesting to note is that in Vienna they play a special kind of oboe that isn't played anywhere else in the world (everyone else plays French oboes).  It sounds slightly different and it has a couple less notes.  Anyway, it sounds very beautiful and I'm honored and delighted to have her Austrian magic on my piece!

Neil Citron and Mike Keneally - February, 2008 - Woodland Hills, CA

The other exciting bit of news is that we've started mixing the songs on The Lionheart (even though we are still working on recording the brass, string, and piano parts for "The Porpentine." Anyone know any good piano players? ^_^).  Neil and I started Friday night with "Miles Behind" and it sounds so, so beautiful.  Jen Kuhn's cello solo gets me every time, especially the second half of it.  It has a lot of great moments.

I'm tempted to just upload it to my MySpace player but...I'm going to make you wait!

Music is the best!  Lots more to come....

Chris Opperman

P.S. If you haven't yet, please consider placing your pre-order @ www.chrisopperman.net . 

21:07 - 11 Comments - 12 Kudos - Add Comment

Watermelon in Easter Hay
Current mood: contemplative

Well, I've been having fun with YouTube lately checking out all the Frank Zappa videos and I stumbled upon this one from the '88 band that honestly made me a little misty-eyed.  What a beautiful song!  What a great composer!  What an amazing band!

Check it out if you like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBQPkLuwy80&feature=related

An actual update will be coming soon. ^_^

I had a really awesome day today.  I sent my sister and mom an mp3 of the "sonataesque" piece I'm writing for her to walk down the aisle to and they both really loved it.  It is very pretty, I will admit.  Annnnnd everything else was cool too.

Shout-out to Hiroshi Ota who sent me some kanji characters for Mark Buckingham to use in the artwork for "The Lionheart" and who made a cool Japanese news page about the album:

http://www.mf.ccnw.ne.jp/openup/keneally.html

Chris

19:44 - 2 Comments - 10 Kudos - Add Comment

2008 So Cal Live Music Awards & More!
Current mood: productive

Lots of news!

First and foremost, THANK YOU to everyone who has preordered The Lionheart so far!  We’ve gotten pre-orders from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Japan, Brazil, and Denmark so far and it excites me beyond measure to think that people all over the world are interested in my compositions.  You will seriously not believe your ears!  Over the next few weeks I should have more sketches from Mark Buckingham to show you as well as a few audio teasers. 

However, I noticed that a lot of you blog subscribers haven’t pre-ordered yours yet!  For shame!  ^_^  Seriously, do it, you will love it (www.chrisopperman.net) and it would honestly help me a lot since I need the pre-orders to mix, master, and manufacture the album since I’ve been spending all my money on trying to finish recording "The Porpentine."  And it’s only $10 including domestic shipping!  Same price as iTunes but you get CD quality sound, killer artwork, and liner notes!

In other news, tomorrow (Thursday) night I will be hosting the 2nd Annual So Cal Live Acoustic Music Awards, which is being sponsored by Sam Ash, Fender Guitar, Daisy Rock Guitar, Minarik Guitars, and more.  They also raised a nice sum for the HeARTS Giving Hope charity which provides arts, crafts, and music lessons to underpriveleged and abused children which they will be presenting to Christiane Cargill-Kinney, the founder of the charity.  PLUS there will be 15 people performing. 

I won’t be playing personally, but there are a lot of talented people who will be performing including several Don’t Call Us Tori regulars.  So come check it out.  It’s at the Derby and there’s a $15 cover charge.

Last but certainly not least, I will be moving back to New Jersey this summer.  One of my best friends, Lou Lagonik, is flying out to LA in June and we’re going to do the cross-country trip together.  I know this decision will baffle a lot of you but trust me when I say it’s for the best.  All will be revealed in time!

OK! Music is the best! Time to go back to practicing.

Please pre-order The Lionheart if you haven’t already! www.chrisopperman.net

Chris Opperman

22:29 - 1 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

10 Reasons to Pre-order The Lionheart!
Current mood: cheerful

Pencil sketch of The Lionheart by Eisner-award winning comic book artist Mark Buckingham

Here is some big news!  After three years and countless recording sessions, my fifth album, The Lionheart, is finally coming out on Tuesday May 27th, 2008! And here are ten reasons why you need to have it in your CD collection and should pre-order your copy today:

1.      It features "The Porpentine," a 12-movement, 16-minute piece for full orchestra plus rhythm section that has been my primary compositional focus for nearly two years and is an encapsulation of everything I've learned over the last ten years about composing, arranging, and producing.

2.      It contains beautifully recorded, well-produced, and thoroughly arranged versions of road-tested compositions including "Beware of the Random Factor," "Miles Behind," "Gen-Ebulous," "Telepathy on Mars?," "White Willow," and "Johannah."

3.      It also contains two new solo piano pieces: "Haasis" and "Knight of Winter's Day."

4.      Mike Keneally's beastly double-guitar solo on "White Willow" will blow your mind.

5.      It features the awesome musicianship of Grammy-nominated saxophonist Frank Macchia, Chris Spilsbury, Jen Kuhn, Daren Burns, Craig Bunch, Alma Carlsen, Joe Verderese, Cornelia Pesendorfer, Elizabeth Dotson-Westphalen, Clark Freeman, Neil Citron, and many, many more.

6.      It features artwork by my favorite comic book artist, Mark Buckingham, renowned for his work on Fables, The Sandman, Miracleman, and more.

7.      It features award-winning singer/songwriter Kat Parsons' beautiful voice on "Idaho Potato," which is the only vocal piece on the album. In fact, it is the only love song (with words) that I have ever written.

8.      There is a special pre-ordering price of only $10 ($15 international) including shipping because I want so much for everyone to have one and because I believe that the artwork and liner notes are an essential part of the album.  Therefore, I'm charging the same price for the physical product that it would cost for you to get it on iTunes.

9.      After all the years of hard work I put into making this album, it would mean a lot to me personally to have a lot of pre-orders.

10.     If you buy five copies of the album (or one copy each of all 5 of my albums), I will send you a signed, bound copy of the full orchestra score for "The Porpentine" (nearly 70 11"x17" pages) FOR FREE.

So please consider visiting www.chrisopperman.net and pre-ordering your copy through PayPal today.  Thanks!

Chris Opperman

P.S. Thanks also to Scott Chatfield and Rich Pike who have been helping me get my website back up and running.

Currently listening : Double Fantasy By John Lennon Release date: 10 October, 2000

21:23 - 11 Comments - 17 Kudos - Add Comment

Sessions, Session, and more Sessions!

I spent the better part of last week having a total blast in recording studios working on a variety of things!

On President's Day I went to Tangier to see a performance by my friend Elizabeth Dotson-Westphalen (p/k/a Elizabeth!).  She was in from New York to promote her new trombone and vocal-based jazz album Hot & Silver and it was a nice show.

The Porpentine

Elizabeth Dotson-Westphalen tracking "The Porpentine"

The next night (Tuesday night) she came down to The Doghouse Studios to augment some of the brass tracks on "The Porpentine" and we had a lot of fun!  Neil Citron engineered the session (of course) and now the orchestra piece is sitting on a pretty solid wall of brass.  Only a few sessions left to wrap up the piece (including my piano overdub session) and I'm excited.

At the Doghouse with Elizabeth!

Warren Cuccurullo

Thursday I went down to Joe Ross's studio in Venice Beach to work on a piece former Duran Duran-guitarist Warren Cuccurullo is working on called "Freedom (Nein!) Blues" (although I think it has since been renamed).  I thought Warren was planning on having everyone record one at a time, but when I showed up there was a cast of thousands including Scheila Gonzalez on saxophones, Joe Travers on drums, Billy Hunting on vibraphone and marimba, Doug Lunn on bass, as well as half-a-dozen other musicians and people who were just hanging out. 

With Scheila Gonzalez

I had actually written out charts for the musicians previously, but then Warren wrote a bunch of impossible licks that very morning to record and thus the musicians were pretty stressed out transcribing, transposing, and learning these riffs (especially Billy).  In the end, I turned out to have it easy because all Warren wanted me to do was laugh in time and pitch along with the music.  He also had me shout out "Nein!" and "Eleven!" out at very random times and the whole proceeding was more like doing a voice-over session than anything else.  I earned my money a lot easier than Scheila & Billy did, that's for sure.  However, Warren wants me to be involved with post-production which is going to be something else, so my turn to stress out is coming!

Don't Call Us Tori

Jacob & Steven Leavitt setting up the live webast for IndieAirplay

Saturday was the first "Don't Call Us Tori" showcase @ Karma Coffeehouse for the year.  We hadn't been there in a few months since there wasn't a December show and the anniversary concert was at The Derby, so it was nice to be back.  Honestly, although all the artists were pretty mellow, it was one of the most fun DCUT shows in all the years I've been hosting it.  The show started with Amy Clarke who has the best T-shirt ever ("I'm with the band" with the word "with" crossed out), then Julianna Raye performed her new bossa nova music (which is not easy to pull off solo), then Katy Pearson (not to be confused with Katy Perry, Kat Parsons, or Katrina Parker…is there something about the initials K.P. that makes someone predisposed to become a singer/songwriter?), and then Ruthann Friedman.

Seeing Ruthann was pretty cool because she did most of her performing around the time of Joni Mitchell in the late 60's/early 70's and she played songs that spanned her entire 30 year performing career.  She also played "Windy," which was her big hit, and that was exciting for me because we used to play that song all the time when I was in high school.  My friend Win Jow and I were dancing during it and Ruthann remarked that it was the first time she had seen "Windy" be used as a dance song.  It was a cool night.

Interviewing Julianna Raye before her set @ Karma Cofeehouse

After DCUT, a bunch of us went to Canter's on Fairfax and did some goal setting for the next few months.  There was a blues band playing in the Kibbitz room and so I went to check it out and it turned out to be Scott Colomby's band.  Scott was my acting teacher when I took acting classes during the summer of 2004 between the Vai and Shankar tours so it was cool to see him.  They also had Brad Watson on organ (who was also in my acting class) and Louis Metoyer on electric guitar and they were all really jamming. 

Then Rock 'N Roll Hall of Famer Willie Chambers came up and did a couple songs including Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" and that was a real treat.  It made me feel a little nostalgic (I do miss acting…and being 25!) and Scott was so proud of all the things I've done in music since he's seen me and it was nice.

Mike Keneally – "White Willow"

Sunday it was back in at the Doghouse again to record Mike Keneally's guitar solo for my song "White Willow."  Once we loaded all of MK's gear in and got sounds up, he took a pass right away which formed the bulk of solo one.  We fixed a couple spots and we both were finding everything to be hilarious, which is usually what happens when MK and I get together to work on music.  Usually anything that makes either of us giggle or crack up is kept and anything that makes us both crack up is definitely kept!

I really liked the look on his face when I told him that the last chord in the song is C (since the bulk of the piece is in Gb).  He was like, "C?! C…major?!"  It was damn funny. 

Then we did solo two so Neil and I would have stuff to play around with in mixing.  We also did a few tracks during the drum break in the middle which we tried to make the aural equivalent of what you get in action movies when someone does like a jump kick and time freezes while the cameras swirl around and then the action immediately continues.  It's pretty cool sounding!

Anyway, at the end of the session I made Neil play us the track back with both solos playing simultaneously (panned hard left and right) and MK and I cracked up practically the entire time it played back.  It sounded like we actually meant to do it that way from the very beginning!  I've been listening to the rough mix of it and I played it for some girls at the office who all thought it was awesome, and so did Mark Buckingham and my friend Matt Malley so I think we're going to keep it that way although in mixing I will probably bring out certain lines to make it sound clearer.

After that, I hung out in MK's car while he played me the current roughs from his album Scambot which is very, very strange.  It sounds somewhat like a cross between the atonal madrigal music of Carlo Gesualdo and Radiohead with a couple of Tom Waits-esque pieces thrown in there for good measure.  It's pretty different.  Okay, it's really different!

After that, I went to see my friend Ashley Platz (who played Helen in "The Trojan Women" at Pace last year and who recently moved to Lost Angeles) in a play and then we hung out at Café Formosa and drank whiskey like real East Coasters until well past midnight and it was a fun ending to a really fun week.

The end!  There are more photos to check out in the "Oh, Eight" section of my photo gallery if you are so inclined.  Music is the best!

Chris Opperman

Was it something I said? ^_^

Currently listening : Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) By Captain Beefheart Release date: 20 October, 1998

03:47 - 8 Comments - 23 Kudos - Add Comment

No Grammy This Year!
Current mood: productive

Well, unfortunately Steve Vai's "The Attitude Song" which I played piano on and which was nominated for Best Rock Instrumental Performance lost out to The Boss.  Special Opps saxophonist Frank Macchia lost out to Vince Mendoza's arrangement of "In a Silent Way."

However, Ann Marie Calhoun (from Vai's String Theories band) WON the play with the Foo Fighters contest which was pretty cool, especially since I was the one who e-mailed Mikey Mesker to e-mail her and alert her about the contest.

And if you hit one of three pitches...hey...it's still a hit.

Now I just have to cross my fingers and hope "The Porpentine" gets nominated for something next year.  Speaking of which, pre-ordering information for The Lionheart will be forthcoming next month for an end-of-May release.  Excited, aren't you?  ^_^

The next sessions we are doing will feature my friend Elizabeth Dotson-Westphalen from New York on trombone, Jen Kuhn (originally from New Jersey, but in LA now) on cello, and Cornelia Pesendorfer from Vienna on oboe (thanks to Sumitra).  Also, Mike Keneally is coming into the studio to play his guitar solo on "White Willow" which I am very, very excited about. 

Also, Mark Buckingham (whose artwork on the just-released Fables 69 is some of the best I've ever seen) is hard at work on a variety of projects, including the artwork for The Lionheart.  I can't wait!  If you told me I could have any artist in the world do my album artwork, I would have picked him, AND HE'S ACTUALLY THE ONE DOING IT! HOLY SHIT!

Sorry for that outburst!  ^_^

Anyway, it's hard for me to believe that after all this time my record is actually really going to be finished and is actually really going to be unleashed upon a mostly unsuspecting public.  Please buy it and don't pirate it, okay?

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day. ^_^

Mr. Oppy

Currently reading : The Studs Terkel Reader: My American Century By Studs Terkel Release date: 01 May, 2007

22:12 - 3 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment