Artist Trust Paul Goode Fellowship in Ireland

Here's an excerpt from my diary.

February 11, 2008

Today dawned into another beautiful day, and I looked at Croagh Patrick (most holy mt. in Ireland) to the south - no fluffy cloud hat today!  I spent some time figuring out whether or not to go up, and looked at some of the tourist books here in the house.  I learned that the pilgrims' trek to Croagh Patrick, long version, starts at the Abbey of Ballintubber, and then wends its way through the fields & hedgerows, so I had a romantic notion that I could do a bit of the trek through the hedgerows first, and then maybe some other day actually ascend Croagh Patrick. 

As I went inland, it got all foggy & grey, but I went to the Abbey anyway.  Typical cemetery (beautiful Irish crosses over the graves), typical freezing somewhat grim church, but nice to drive on all the little roads & wave at the passing motorists who all lifted their fingers back at me. 

On the way out of the cemetery, I noticed a grave of a man who had died at age 50 about 5 years ago, and at the bottom it was written 'there are so many songs to sing' with RIP right below that, and 'always loved' at the bottom, which I found incredibly touching.  At first I thought 'that's what I want on my gravestone...' But seeing that triggered some weird deep sadness about a musician dying young, I could almost see the fellow singing joyously, friends all around.  In fact, as I started driving away, I found myself racked with sobs.  It really touched a nerve, seeing 'there are so many songs to sing' on a gravestone.  I'm almost finished writing a song with that title.  It was a very strong experience.

Since it was so yucky, I decided not to walk through the fields, but to drive to the village at the halfway point of the Pilgrimage, a tiny place called Aghagower.  Found a gravestone at the church there with the name John Cusack on it!  It felt strange, but I took a picture of it anyway.  Then, leaving town, I came across a huge funeral procession just about to start, so I had to take an alternative route. 

After that, I decided, on a whim, to go to Murrisk, at the foot of Croagh Patrick.  Parked, and thought - well it's already late for a hike to the top - clock read 1:11.  But I set out - and with a combination of dogged determination and re-setting elevation goals by the minute (oh, maybe there's a view on the other side of the saddleback up ahead), and encouragement from people coming back down (just take tiny steps, you'll make it!), I huffed and puffed it up the 45 degree grade, by the end stopping every 5 steps… all the way to the little church at the top.  763 meters (maybe 2,250 feet?), from sea level.  Brutal hike, all rocks & loose scree & windy - but stunning views the whole way.  I'd worn the wrong socks, so I developed some good blisters on my feet. 

On the way down, a very cute guy was mountain goating his way past me, and eventually slowed down, so I caught up.  We walked together the last few kilometers, and turns out Sasha was from the Ukraine.  Had fought for the Russians in Afghanistan, went to university in Odessa.  We had a very interesting conversation, and then when we got the parking lot, he suddenly said 'ok, see you later' and we parted ways, but not before he informed me that drinking beer is the best thing after a long hike, because the ph of beer evens out the ph of the lactic acid building up in the body after extreme exercise.  So I'm drinking Guinness tonight, and hoping it'll work.  I can't really move without groaning right now.

February 12, 2008

The beer worked!  I can walk!  It's a miracle!

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Try Harder To Be The Winner

The performers are 11 drummers & 15 singers, kids from the Camphor Tree School, a middle school in Shijr City, Taipei County, Taiwan.  They're all from the Amis Tribe, ages ranging from 12-15 years old.

I was commissioned by Mr. Gordon Tsai of the Dream Community in Shijr City, Taipei County to arrange traditional & popular Taiwanese songs with samba beats.  Mr. Tsai loves samba, and has been working hard to bring it to the children of Taiwan.  To be honest, I knew very little about Brazilian music, and nothing about Taiwanese music, but said yes to this incredible opportunity.  I stayed in Taiwan for February, 2007 and again for 5 weeks in May/June 2007.  It was a life-changing experience.

Try Harder to be the Winner is one of the Taiwanese pop songs I arranged with a Brazilian Baião beat. The original song is very syrupy, with lots of vibrato in the guy's encouraging voice.  I chose it because the message is nice for kids.  I transcribed the words (they're Taiwanese, not Chinese), and turned it into something like a rap song.  Luckily, I chose well for the chorus, people there told me the song actually makes sense. 

It was the last song the kids sang at the recording session.  Turns out they only spoke Amis & Mandarin, not Taiwanese, so they basically learned the syllables phonetically & sang it.  But I guess it's understandable, even with their adorable tribal accents.

Last night I finished editing the field recordings I made during my 2 months in Taiwan last year, and integrated them with the 9 songs I produced with the kids.  The field recordings include deafening cicadas in the jungle, roaring rainstorms, Long Shan Temple in Taipei on Chinese New Year's Eve, night markets, morning markets, the sounds of the night in Tong Men, Hualien, rehearsals with the kids, and more. 

The CD-R will be available in March, 2008, and I think it sounds incredible. 

Tentative title: Taiwan Dream Project.

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A week in South Taiwan

Things here are going pretty darned well, I love this amazing country.  Some people (well, let's say some westerners) really can't find a way to appreciate the loud, intimate, colourful, food-loving culture.  Depends on your susceptibility to culture shock, on getting introduced to people, and most importantly, how you approach other people...me, I like talking with strangers, which people really appreciate here - even though I speak about 7 phrases in Chinese altogether, and am always mixing up the 4 tones...  I've been learning about 'face' - saving face - showing one's respect and demonstrating one's social position is very very important here, and a very delicate thing to consider in one's interactions.  It's a great cultural key to have discovered...

I just got back from an unbelievable week in southern Taiwan, first staying in the women teachers' dormitory at an elementary school in a little aboriginal village called Tong Men in the mountains of Hualien, helping my Brazilian friend Jonathan Gregory to teach samba bateria.  The kids have already had 2 visits from other teachers & were well disciplined.  Really sweet, loving kids.  They met us at the train station with garlands of flowers to give us...and each child hugged us at the end and said 'wo ai ni' (I love you) at the end.

Then I stayed in an incredibly beautiful aboriginal village called Wu Tan, near Chao Zhou, Pingtong Country, in the foothills to other gorgeous mountains.  It full of amazing wood work & stone floors & drying plants & people hanging out in the humid evenings on their front porch, an old lady weaving a rush rug, eating with the good-humoured village leader... I worked with several other samba teachers at a sweet tiny elementary school.  I became good friends with Wu Rei, one of the teachers at the school, a beautiful, open-hearted guy.  He told me he loves to ski, something I would have never expected to hear on a tropical isle...

Eduardo Campos (Adu), Lai Yuen and I helped guide the children in a very spirited samba parade in the village on Friday night, and the villagers actually joined us - older ladies and teenagers, people whooping and hollering, everyone smiling and laughing.  We finished the parade in the village center meeting place, and the village leader led us in a spellbinding circle dance.  Then they asked me to sing an aboriginal song, so I sang an Ami tribe song, Mi Yo Mei, a song to console the spirits of the ancestors.  People began to clap slowly in rhythm, so I sang it several times, to relish the moment.  It was deeply touching to be part of a community ritual like that. 

I stayed with Lai Yuen's uncle on Saturday and Sunday.  He's a very talented painter, teacher, and devout Buddhist, and he & his wife live in a beautiful house in Chao Zhao, filled with all kinds of ancestral artifacts and beautiful Asian Art (and an original Chagall).  On Sunday, he took us to all sorts of Buddhist places all day long, and to a Portuguese church as well, and to the house where he was born, where his sister was praying silently, beautiful paintings of Hakka ancestors all around. 

We also went to a Buddhist fair in a park, praying to the baby Buddha & bathing his right shoulder, left shoulder and back with ladles of water.  There was also free healthcare area - free hair cuts, free eye exams, and basic health measurements.  Lai Yuen brought us to the Bone Density Measuring Machine.  It measures systemic health, and can even indicate if you have a serious illness.  You put your right foot into a little cavity, then these rubbery plugs start poking out, pressing against your foot, just behind the ankle bone.  I figured I'd get bad marks, not knowing what to expect, but turns out I'm fine...

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Kultur Shock videos added!

An incredible band featuring the incomparable Gino Banana a.k.a. Srdjan Jevdjevic.  The members are from Bosnia, Bulgaria, Japan & US, and are based in Seattle.  I had the honour to play & tour with them for 5 years. 

I played accordion, sax & sang on Seamstress & The Officers (filmed in Seattle by Krk Nordenstrom), and same on Tutti Frutti (though that video was made after my retirement). 

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First Week in Taiwan

ITALIANO (english below)

Saluti da Taipei, vanno bene le cose... Guardate le foto nuove!  Sto qui al Dream Community per 5 settimane sta volta, e sto benone. 

I ragazzi di Camphor Tree school stanno suonando bene gli miei arrangiamenti delle canzoni aboriginali e populari coi ritmi brasiliani, e fra poco andiamo allo studio da registrarli.  Poi loro vanno in giro in Taiwan - e magari nel mondo - da suonare questa musica bellissima e pazzescha.

Il capo del questo posto, Gordon, sta realizzando il suo sogno - da fare le parade della samba dappertutto in Taiwan, ai villaggi aborigionali. 

Sono andata al sud Taiwan l'altro giorno, ai villagi aboriginali da participare nelle parade di samba - e ho ballato coi vecchietti sconosciuti sotto gli alberi di banana... E' stato un sogno da vedere le montagne ripide coperte delle nuvole davanti il mare splendente (pieno dei peschi volanti), e da incontrare una gente bellissima, tutti ridendo ai miei giochi delle mani... Non fregava che non potevamo capire le nostre lingue diverse, perche' abbiamo diviso le nostre anime. Strepitoso!

ENGLISH

I'm once again staying at the Dream Community, 5 weeks this time, and I'm really happy.
I posted some new photos.... 

The kids at Camphor Tree school are playing my arrangements of aboriginal & popular Taiwanese music put to Brazilian beats - and they're doing it well.  I'll be producing the songs in a studio here in Taipei pretty soon.  Then the kids will be performing this wacky new repertoire all around Taiwan this summer - and hopefully offshore as well.

I'm once again staying at the Dream Community, 5 weeks this time, and I'm really happy.  The head of this organization, Gordon, is realizing his dream - to make samba parades performed by aboriginal children, in aboriginal villages all over Taiwan.

The other day I went to a couple of aboriginal villages in South Taiwan for the first time, to take part in samba parades (performed by children) - and I found myself dancing with village elders under banana trees.  It was truly a dream (and just like classical painting from these parts), seeing steep craggy mountains covered with clouds in front of the resplendent sea full of flying fish, and to meet absolutely beautiful, open hearted people, laughing at my funny hand & finger games.  No one cared that we shared little common spoken language, because we were sharing our souls.  Stunningly beautiful!

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What's happening here in Spootlandia...
Category: Music

I. Tiptons Sax Quartet
We had a hilarious & successful European tour in March, playing in 25 cities, and teaching music workshops in Slovenia, Austria and Germany.  We will return to Europe in September, to play a few festivals in Germany.  The band now features Tina Richerson on baritone and Sue Orfield on tenor sax.  We're singing our asses off, and it's a real hoot with this, the finest formation of Tiptons ever!

BOOKING US FALL TOUR:  Our next US tour will be in October, 2007, and we are currently booking concerts in Northwest US and California.  Please contact us if you are interested in presenting a concert or workshop.  We will record our 9th CD at the end of the tour. 

BOOKING EUROPEAN SPRING TOUR: Our Spring European Tour will occur next April &
May, 2008.
http://www.myspace.com/tiptons
http://www.tiptonssaxquartet.com

II. Die Resonanz Stanonczi
This wonderful Austrian ensemble was born in Spring, 2006, and we toured Europe again in October 2006 and in late April 2007 finished a fantastic series of concerts in Germany and Austria.  It features award-winning accordionist Johannes Steiner, Robert Kainer, myself, with clarinettist Norbert Asen often participating.  Our  CD is released by NoMansLand in Berlin, Germany. 
Booking November 2007 Europe tour now...
http://www.myspace.com/dieresonanzstanonczi
http://www.dieresonanz.at

III. Taiwan - Dream Community
In May & June, 2007, I am producing a CD in Taipei, Taiwan.  This incredible
project features the talents of 25 children from the Ami tribe in Taiwan, who havebeen studying Brazilian percussion for the last year.  Gordon Tsai, the director of The Dream Community in Taiwan hired me to arrange Taiwanese traditional and popular songs with Brazilian rhythms, and produce the CD.  I was in Taiwan for February  2007 to create and record the demo, and I will return for May and June to finish rehearsals, and produce this recording.  These children are between 12-15 years  old, and being aboriginal, have less chance to succeed in Taiwanese culture.  Making this CD is quite exciting for them!
http://www.dreamcommunity.org.tw/dreamfoundation/en/b01_01.php

IV. Solo Projects
I composed a soundtrack for Ecuadoran choreographer Carla Barragan in January, 2007, and the piece was premiered in Quito, Ecuador.  The US premiere will be in Seattle in Fall, 2007.  The music features voice, percussion, clarinet, and saxophone, and sounds.

I am composing a soundtrack for choreographer Cheronne Wong, inspired by espionage, surveillance, and deciphering codes.  The Conet Project is a big inspiration for this piece.  It will premiere in Seattle in September.

I am also composing songs for a musical regarding the industrial prison system in America. The piece is directed by Holly Eckert in Seattle, and will premiere at the Broadway Performance Hall in Seattle in November.

V. New CD Recordings
RONIN: Il Galeone
Ronin is an Italian group based in Milano.  I have been their guest accordionist
from time to time, and they asked me to sing Il Galone, an anarchist song from the 60´s, on their newest CD entitled ´Lemming´.  The CD is produced by Ghost Records, Italy.  There is also a stunningly beautiful animated video of Il Galone, produced by Ericailcane (sic), a very talented young filmmaker from Bologna.   Il Galone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d69CFiWsBAY
Ronin: http://www.barlamuerte.com

KMFDM: Superstar
My friends in KMFDM asked me to play alto saxophone for a song entitled ´Superstar´, on their forthcoming CD.
http://www.myspace.com/officialkmfdm
http://www.kmfdm.net

FRANCESCO FORNI: Nick Drake
I accompanied Napolitano singer/composer Francesco Forni on a beautiful arrangement of Joey, a song by Nick Drake.  It will be published in Mucchio della Musica magazine sometime later this summer.

MAISIE: Festa in Casa/Balera Metropolitana
This double CD is coming out soon on Snowdonia, an excellent independent record  label from Sicily.  The songs are festive and wonderful, and I sang & played various instruments, along with about 20 other musicians.  It will be a co-production of my label Spoot Music and Snowdonia.  Keep your eyes peeled!
Snowdonia: http://www.snowdonia.it/



peace!
Amy Denio
http://www.myspace.com/deniomusic
http://www.amydenio.com

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New Videos!

Go to the Video portion of this site!

Check out the Tiptons live in Innsbruck in March 2007, and the exceptionally beautiful video ´Il Galeone´ - music performed by Ronin (sung by Denio in italiano storto un paio degli anni passati), video by Ericailcane, un ragazzo eccezionale da Bologna.

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Capodanno a Napoli
Category: Music

1 December, 2005

Adrenaline therapy started today, with an an email from the Italian circus producer Anna Antina La Valle. I met her last summer through my landlord Paul Magid (actor, writer, director, juggler), when he invited me to play for a big circus spettacolo in Modena. I played music segueing the various acts, and it went pretty well, considering there was no real rehearsal. This time she asked if I was free on New Year's Eve, to accompany a French circus with with my Italian band in the biggest piazza in Naples, Italy. I screamed when I read that email. Dang, I guess I'll have to forego that door gig at the local cafe, and play for a gigantic crowd in one of my favorite cities on earth!

Paul's script was lovely - Man and Woman dance, then fight, then Woman ties him to a cable & he flies offstage, she goes to her vanity & weeps, Venus & Cupid enter and it starts to snow. Cupid, ever the prankster, says - go forth, leave your partner! Venus, the mamma, says - no, work it out, stay! Enter Orfeo with his fiery act (actually a young German medical student), who seduces Woman. Enter Francesca, dangling from a rope and doing dangerous falls, who seduces Man. Enter Viperia, and the Mutant Contortionist in a big bubble partially filled with water. Video screens with cameras behind at Woman's vanity & Man's desk, projecting their faces. Various phone calls, hang ups, arguments between them. In the end Man and Woman come together, Rachel sings from a globe high in the heavens, while a field of flowers (carpet with wire flowers sticking up) is rolled out, and love abounds, with flower petals falling.

Once I bought my plane ticket, I began to believe that this all was happening. I prepared a demo of my Italian band's music & new stuff, and sent it to Paul to bring to Paris for rehearsals with Les Farfadais, the Circus folks. The music went over pretty well, and Paul came back from Paris with notes. I had one day to re-arrange all 15 pieces, which took a day and a night - after which I took a shower and went directly to the airport, to fly to Rome.

21 December, 2005

Of course, our plane's windshield was cracked, so we waited 6 hours to depart SEA-TAC airport, thus missing my Philadelphia-Rome connection. I was sent to British Air in Philadelphia, who put me on standby. Luckily I got the very last seat in the back of the plane (naturally the kind that doesn't tilt back), and flew to London, arriving in Rome after 26 hours of travel.

Saw various friends in Rome, and passed Christmas in Umbria with my friends Gianpaolo & Ale Raichi & her family. Gianpaolo and I did our best to open the video files from the Paris rehearsals - to no avail. Every day it seemed more impossible, the spectre of making a circus spettacolo in front of tens of thousands of people (they predicted 50,000) with one day to put all the elements together. We are both used to rehearsing something for a good month, before putting it on stage. This would be different.

29 December, 2005

Rehearsals went well in Trieste - we laughed a lot, ate very well, and stayed fairly relaxed. We left on a snowy day, driving 10 hours to Napoli. We passed Civitella Ranieri, my castle in Umbria (I lived there for 5 weeks last year), all dank and dark in the wintry night. It was freezing! Near Rome, we encountered a huge traffic jam, as the police were checking that all vehicles had chains on board. We did. Of course, there wasn't an iota of snow on the highway the whole way down.

Though the dashboard clock was wrong, it said 5:55, and that it was 5 degrees outside, the very moment we arrived at the toll booth exit for Napoli. A good sign! But from there on, the incessant chaos doubled.

Around 11pm that night, we ate a fine dinner with lots of local specialties, strong beans, empowering Christmas salad, beautiful grilled vegetables, spaghetti with fresh tomatoes, beautiful olives, half a wood fire roasted chicken per person, and good local wine. Gianpaolo & Ale stayed there at that bed & breakfast, the whole family hung out with us, hilarious people, very warm. Then we spent almost 2 hours driving in a fairly dangerous quarter, trying to find the hotel, a typical Bert & I 'you can't get there from here' situation. We were within blocks of the street - but would find the road ending in stairs, or a blocked pedestrian zone...Finally checked in around 3am, exhausted.

30 December, 2005

The artists arrived around midday (very warm, nice folks; excellent physical artists - from France, Canada, Germany, and Italy), and the hotel staff showed us our rehearsal room. Tiny unheated marble and glass room in a building with no electricity. They sent up a power cable so at least we could have light, and plug in a small heater and the amplifiers. Someone brought up a big roll of carpet & cut 3 long strips so at least the dancers' feet wouldn't ice up. We had a general run-through, with artists randomly coming in and out of the room, total chaos. Paul had arrived from Seattle that morning, so occasionally his eyes would simply close, and we'd nudge him awake. Since there was no rigging, the aerialists couldn't show us their acts. And it seemed no one was interested to follow the storyline that Paul had written, though I'd written lots of specific music cues for them. After rehearsal, I noticed people cutting up funny shaped pieces of that blue carpet, but didn't know what was going on. After the circus folks had left, and we were packing up, a gigantic sheet of glass attached to a glass door shattered spontaneously.  What kind of sign was that?!? Crazy!

31 December, 2005

Piazza del Plebiscito, the biggest piazza in Napoli. Gigantic stage, from which we could see snow-capped Vesuvio, glowering over the bay. The clouds were low, but at least the temperature had risen to somewhere around 50. There'd been a smattering of sun that morning, which made the tropical city deliriously beautiful - 18th century spanish architecture, untouched; palm trees & vegetation all around.

We did a soundcheck that afternoon, but didn't have enough time to run the whole show. The aerial artists checked their rigging, and that was about it. Meanwhile, fireworks were exploding everywhere, all day long. The little firecrackers are called cipollini (little onions); the medium sized are called Tsunami, and the really big ones that made me scream every time are called Ratzinger, named after the new German pope.

We learned that the French artists had forgotten our European Space Agency costumes - what a relief! We were happy all day long, until we discovered that Anna had bought white flannel pyjamas, and crazy blue Martian hats appeared, made out of those carpet fragments from the night before. General revolt! NO! We can not and will not don these togs! Paul the director put on a costume, to encourage us. C'mon! See? It's not so bad. Reluctantly, we donned our costumes, but then laughed uproariously at the effect. The fanciful blue hats were designed to sit low on the brow, obscuring our hair and foreheads completely. We had transformed into a little elfin band.

It started lightly raining around 10:45, as the piazza filled with people and their umbrellas. The electric guitar, accordion, and our parts & show order were still on stage, getting soaked. When it was time to start the show, Gianpaolo was dubious if he would survive if he touched his drenched electric guitar. People get electrocuted on big open air stages, even when it's not raining. Meanwhile, Lukino & Vjeko had left their parts & notes on a little wire stand, and the wind had blown everything off. We took the stage in the dark; they groped around trying to find their sodden parts, while Gianpaolo & I wiped off the guitar and accordion, desperately praying.

Then whooosh! Lights up! We began the first song. All was good, we could hear each other. The dancers entered at the right moment. After the man and woman danced and then fought and then the man was whisked up in the air with a rope (well, he disappeared anyway - we couldn't see what was going on becaus a scrim was blocking the view), the woman sat at her vanity and wept. Meanwhile, the second act was not prepared, so suddenly from the back, they were shouting saying 'keep playing! keep playing!' while Boule (Cupid) inflated his huge plastic bubble, and eventually toddled out on stage. Then the artificial snow started. Very real looking, but made of gigantic ashes, one of which caught in the throat of Anja (Venus), who was unable to sing for the rest of the show, so I took up her parts.

Then God pointed his finger at Napoli, and the sprinkle of rain turned into sheets of water. Luckily, it let up after 5 minutes, so the sea of umbrellas changed back into thousands of people.

Meanwhile, the acoustic guitar immediately went flat after one minute in the pouring rain, while the bass slowly went sharp, thus creating a real circus band sound - the accordion was the only stable voice admist the mess...

At a certain point Rachel was to descend in a ball from the top of the rigging, singing one of our songs, while a field of flowers is unrolled below. The song started, and she seemed stuck up there - the winch for that cable moves very slowly - nor was there a special light on her. Since she was obviously invisible, I decided to mouth the words, so at least something would be going on for the television cameras. The spettacolo was broadcast throughout Europe... Never did I imagine my first Karaoke moment would be in front of a huge crowd in Napoli, while wearing white pyjamas and a martian hat... Finally when Rachel was visible, she was facing the back of the stage, which didn't help in the drama department. Meanwhile, 11 stagehands rolled out the gigantic, heavy astroturf carpet with springy flowers, but it went askew, so they were struggling with it for a good while. Neither had we noticed the 2 gigantic air cannons, which suddenly exploded in front of us, blasting rose petals at all over the stage for the finale.

All I can say is all of us - musicians and artists - did our best to improvise through the parts we didn't understand, and it went as well as it possibly could have.

After it was over, I asked Vjeko the classical guitarist: 'When you entered music conservatory in Trieste, did you ever think you'd find yourself in white pyjamas playing for a French circus, without any rehearsal, in front of thousands of people in Napoli for New Year's Eve?'

'With a carpet on my head?' he said; 'No, I never imagined it.' We laughed uproariously, again.

27 hours later, I landed back at SEA-TAC airport, pondering this most surreal dream.

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