Some photos and video tidbits from the performance last weekend at the Kirkland Performance Center. We're still searching around for more pictures and are itching to get our ears on the audio recordings.
This was a very rewarding show. Everyone I spoke to said they were taken by the diversity of the material, and yet it all held together quite well. For myself, the show was an 8 of 10 - which is damn high, and possibly one of the best TU shows ever.
The first half was Pat and I on our own. We worked out some new transitions between pieces and grouped things more compactly than we had in the past. Our version of Jacaranda closed the first set. Video for the first half came from animators Jiri Barta and Jan Swankmeyer.
The second half began with myself playing two short pieces with my instrument on my lap as I sat on the ground. This was two firsts for me: 1. playing horizontally while seated on the ground, and 2. playing solo -- and I mean solo, solo. no delays, no effects, no nothing, just fingers on strings. The first piece was from a series I have been writing that is played on just one string.
Then Lori joined us for a new piece of mine, that has a part Native American vibe and part Irish gig vibe. I stayed put on the ground. The first half of the piece has Lori playing these big shifting chords under my bouncy melody. The second half has her improvising a melody on one string while droning on a second. I love the cello and I love how Lori uses it.
Then we segued into an arrangement of a Radiohead piece that Lori and I have been working on for a few weeks. I think our delivery of it was fairly subtle, though for me I felt like I was holding up a giant sign that said "WE'RE PLAYING A RADIOHEAD TUNE NOW!!!!" But I'm sure that was only my experience, being so familar with the tune.
At that point I shifted back to playing standing up and we did a three piece version of the KTU track Optikus followed by a wonderful piece by Lori called "Walking Sideways." Lori uses a very unconventional approach to the cello on this one. She puts away the bow and strums across the strings like an acoustic guitar.
Then..... we did "21st Century Schizoid Man." The whole piece, with a full-on cello solo in the middle and all the twiddly bits.
And not to be outdone by Kimmo playing harmonica on Untamed Chicken -- the KTU version -- we did a TU version with Lori.
Video for the second half of the performance came from Kurasawa's "Dreams."
Lori with her super fuzz on
Lori going through here piece "Walking Sideways"
sound check photos:
