The Hazel Project

Recently, a friend of mine asked if I’d post the fellini album because his copy is gone. Since he was the guitar player in the band I thought it’d be good to share it; let everyone have access to it if they feel so inclined. Someday I’ll put the artwork up there too.

This band existed over 10 years ago and made a CD and had a slow burn of a dismantling. Many things have changed since then; some of us moved, several of us divorced, some have kids, and the entire music business for that matter has shifted in sound and technology about 5 times since then.
My euphemism about Fellini’s is:

“the drama of Fleetwood mac without the Hits”.
We had drama down, boy. Whew. A lot of bands get misguided by the CD as the tangible product. Many bands lack the foresight, and the audience, to actually sell the CD to pay for its creation in the first place.

So, back then, live performance became the crucial chapters of establishing a band. Bands sold cd’s and other wares at gigs. That was how to build an audience. Many bands disenegrate upon completeion of the CD whether it be an indie or major label release. Anyway Fellini’s raincoat fell into that category. It was a text-book story really. A band with a lotta hope but fragmented goals prevented getting to the next chapter. We managed to stretch it out 5 years though.
Stephen A. Thomas

face of 20

gate 18

hard

what not

magnum opus

softer

broken

watches

i thought

bossa nova

Here’s today’s vibe. Today feels like a tug of war between rain and sun. We might get both. I’m listening to Sigur Ros’s ( ) album as I write this. I wanted to get something down before heading to the valley to do my home health gig.

Last night I watched the Grammy’s in FF on a friend’s Tivo. The Police reunion was the only thing I watched in real time (real recorded time that is.) Okay okay, that and Scarlett Johansen’s presentation.

WLECOME TO MY POLICE BACKSTORY. TANGENT #2
When I was 16 my friend Poetdoc and I had obtained tickets to The Police’s Synchronicity tour at the Gulfport, MS colliseum in 1984. Yep the same gulfport that was destroyed by Katrina. Tickets in hand, almost in disbelief they were stopping in Mississippi at all, we were ecstatic for the chance to get to see the Police at their height (however the band’s fracturing already in full swing). One glitch. It was a Friday night, during football season. We were obligated to play at a home football game and some sort of fall band festival the next day, I think. Poetdoc was Drum captain at the time and we were threatened to receive failing grades in BAND if we went to the concert. NOT algebra, or English Lit or heaven forbid even Spanish, but BAND. We might’ve been threatened to be dismissed from band for the semester. To me it was like having a hand lobbed off if you got caught to listening to Exit Stage Left in church. Both of us had hopes of college scholarships associated with music programs. So we bought the threat of a F on a transcript being the equivalent of sending raw sewage in lieu of a college application for music school.

So we sold the tickets to someone else. A guy named Patrick, A BD player in band who actually decided to take the F. He ended up quitting band and playing drums for the school show choir.

WELCOME TO POP MUISC HISTORY AS I REMEMBER IT.
AND of course shortly after the tour we heard the rumours that the band were having problems. Sting’s solo effort “the Dream of the Blue Turtles generated monstrous acclaim and hits. Andy was making New Age Jazz music. Stewart broke his leg which messed up recording the remake of “don’t stand so close to me” for the greatest hits album. Magazine articles described that the two argued over what drum machine to use for the track; Stewart’s Linn Drum or Sting’s Oberheim DMX. Pathetic and funny at the same time. When the video was released for the tune, poetdoc and I knew it was done. We had missed our chance. The video of DSSCTM said it all. Just Sting singing with the other two spinning around on these Star Trek teleporter hologram thingies.
What a shame.

THE R&R HALL OF FAME REUNION
Sting looked incensed that he had to be there. I forget what they played, “Msg in a bottle?” I just remember Stewart’s kit was a green sparkle, and he broke the snare head. With no Backup! I wonder if that drumtech is still alive?

THE GRAMMY”S
I read reviews where the Police looked old. Yeah, well, they’re in their 50’s. Gravity tends to wear on human form ya’know. I thought they looked like the Police. Period. And I thought they played more like a band than at the Hall of fame show. IT just goes to show ANYTHING can happen as long as gravity hasn’t pulled you into the grave.
I’m glad they finally recognized that.

Stewart Copeland is a MONSTROUS drummer, and displayed how much he loved playing with the band. He held back from overplaying and yet it was enough, and still sounded full. Andy looked like Andy. Sting looked happy, for once. Like he wanted to be there instead of being held at gunpoint. All of which played into a powerful reunion performance of “Roxanne”.

So if they actually tour I’ll be that cat who spends $85 on a ticket to see them play through the songs I missed live in 1984. I’ll send Garry Cook my ticket stub.

Stephen A. Thomas

Here’s the ‘end title’ song for “Who Killed the Electric Car.”

It’s called “forever” by a british band called meekyrosie.

meekyrosie

It’s a really cool song because the phrases of the verse feel like 6/8 but it’s an ILLUSION. It’s really 6 bars of 5; and 2 bars of 6 which pulls you into the bridge quite nicely.

I dig it. Although I’m too old for myspace!

Enjoy.

Stephen A. Thomas

Who killed the electric car?

It’s a great documentary if you’re into such things.

I always thought an electric car was still in the future and the hybrid was the missing link between the combustion engine and pure electric. But apparently GM had it figured out as far back as 1996. It’s a perfect example of coming up with something that is too good. That is to say for what it was. Because obviousle it would be a poor choice for families needing to take kids around town. But for a daily commute to work? As Ed Begley Jr. said, “It was only good for about 90% of the people.” I enjoyed the comment.

The film makers do a great job creating the murder and empathy for a vehicle that no longer exists and rests now as history. I guess time will judge the guilty parties as the game of “Get as Much as You Can” plays itself out. That’s a real game by the way. It brings out the fear of lack by amplifying separateness among groups of people.

Well that’s Friday.

Stephen A. Thomas

Stephen A. Thomas

SpaceLand is a club very similar to Cat’s Cradle in vibe but a little smaller. Surprisingly, unlike CC, Spaceland is the only club I’ve been to in L.A. that has an indoor smoking area. Which I thought was against state regulation but somehow they get away with it.

The room sounded decent but the engineers I think were constantly battling a big stage sound which makes their job harder. I guess I was under the impression that was the reason they had jos at spaceland; so they could address the more difficult mixing issues of certain bands instead of someone who mixes by the “Eleventy Principle”.

It’s the vicious catch22 of sound engineering.

One thing I noticed at this gig is Great Northern has become SO adept at what they do live, they can trascend monitorboard barriers; which plagued their Halloween show if I recall.

Great Northern’s live show has gotten even stronger since the last time I’ve seen them. They segued into songs more smoothly, and played through the set whether the sound on stage was perfect or not. They’re also fleshing out the look of their stage show with a couple of props and ‘icons’ centered around leafless trees. Very Autumnal.

In my humble opinion, they are THE band that could use a dedicated mellotron/ moog player in their personel lineup. Even if it were just for gigs instead of a regular member of the band.

As it is now they play those parts on an ipod. The good about that is that they’ve become excellent at selling medium tempo songs with an appropriate amount of energy. Meaning the energy is authentic instead of forced which give them A LOT of power on stage.

Musically, my draw to Great Northern are the vocalists. Rachael and Solan’s vocal parts blend beautifully. I asked Solan at one gig how much extra compression they used and about any tube pre-amp gear they had to process vocals. He said none. So their vocals really blend that nicely, in real time and space just hitting the board pre-amps and a touch of house compression. Last night the vocals were even tighter than the Halloween gig at Boardners.

The Drummer and Bass player have also gotten tighter. When I first saw Great Northern it was Ashley’s (bass player’s name I think) first gig with them. What’s so refreshing is to see a band take a situation that could be devastating, -(like-going from a 5 pc. to 4 pc. band; putting the original bass player on drumset; and hiring a new bass player)- instead of destroying the band, actually get better from the ground up! It’s been a pleasure to see this lineup grow in such a short period of time.

NEXT, my favorite subject. EAR CANDY! Great Northern uses percussion very effectively in the live show. Playing Percussion is so salient live because there’s so much action behind it. I remember being taught by Sherman Hong that the way one strikes a drum is just as important visually as it is musically. And he’s right. Watching Rachael pound a Floor Tom on stage is pretty visceral to watch. It’s the combination of elegance and tribal catharsis. This is also the only band I know of that uses sleigh bells in more than one song! An instrument that could easily get lost in the mix added a bit coolness instead. All in a good way.
And finally. some of the guitar efx sounded like sputnik burning into the atmosphere.
Controlled but uncontrolled as my friend Sam Ortallono would say.

It was a great gig at reasonable prices (free) and am very much looking forward to the one in March.
Currently Great Northern are on tour with Division Day and if they come anywhere close to your town it would be wise to see them now.

Stephen A. Thomas

Last night my friend Tim, aka Riles, and I went to see Pan’s Labrynth at the Vista Theatre. I love the Vista. it’s an old Art Decco theatre with a bunch of active neon lights outside, and an L.A. landmark. It’s probably the biggest screen I’ve seen too. So I thought “Pan’s Labyrinth” would be a good movie to see there.

Fantasy movies are hit & miss with me but this one was really good without being cheesy. In fact unless I missed something, it’s one of the saddest movies I’ve seen over the past 13 months. And I’ve seen some pretty heavy bleak stuff!

-WELCOME TO TANGENT #1
Take the movie called “Children of Men” for example. Children of men stars Clive Owen who is fast becoming one of my favorite actors and was THE bleakest and saddest movie I’d seen, but there was an underlying thread of collective hope in it.
Plus it featured “In the Court of the Crimson King” by King Crimson. In my book the music supervisor deserves an award for that alone! Essentially, “Children of Men” was about a newborn baby with the collective hope, that because of it’s existence, humanity could be preserved in a time of war, famine and destruction.

-WELCOME TO MY POINT:
The baby in “Pan’s Labrynth”, also represents the possibility of carrying on the human species. But the hope is unclear. Only a hint. I guess I wanted to see more undeniable hope.

Was it well done, though? Yes. And that’s all I know about film making.

I thought the the little girl was adorable. She did a great job with her character (I talk as if I know something about acting). I’ll say this. That little girl held my attention. And she got in trouble a lot, which made her character very believable. That’s all I know about acting.

The Soundtrack and sound design, however, was brilliant! Tim and I talked about those aspects a long time. I’d mention the composer’s name but would be unable to spell it. The music was so appropriate for this movie though. Most pointedly, it was dominated with woodwinds and strings, which I liked very much. Very little brass - that I remember, anyway. The music completely clarified what the woods were meant to sound like for me. It renewed my respect for “Peter and the Wolf.”

As far as Fantasy movies go this one set a high benchmark. My mistake was going into it with the thought:

“Oh how lovely, movie about a little girls imagination and fairy’s.”

It’s the muddiest, and squishiest fantasy movie I’ve ever seen. Did Del Toro study with Terry Gilliam? anyone?

The biggest surprise for me was that this movie was about War. I thought the war was supposed to be the backdrop; I found it to take more center stage. This is a departure from what critical reviews say about this movie.

Overall all though I thought it was a fantastic movie. But it made me squirm. And I became completely attached with hope to the little girl trying to save her mother, newborn brother, her friend and lastly herself.

I felt like I needed to watch something about penguins afterward.

Stephen A. Thomas

Ihave a myspace page and have been messing around with a blog there too. I’ll try to keep them synched them up. There’s also some photos on there as well.

http://www.myspace.com/sathomas

Well it’s official. The Police are rehearsing at the Staples center 5 miles from my place as I write this. I am VERY excited about this even though I’ll probably watch it on tivo sometime next week since tickets to the Grammy’s are kinda hard to come by around here.

MY MONEY however will be spent at Spaceland seeing one of my favorite groups in L.A. called Great Northern. I beleive they embark on a tour very soon so go see them.
I’d drive an hour to see these guys although I’ve been very lucky that their gigs have been close by. Even though they had a standing gig at the Echo, November of last year; it’s been Halloween since I’ve caught their show. I’m glad I get to see them now because they’ll be playing bigger venues pretty soon.

Stephen A. Thomas

Last night and this morning I’ve been watching King Crimson and Adrian Belew videos
and found this great pop song with a bridge very reminescent of John Lennon.
That’s being tactful. The bridge NAILS John Lennon, in vocal quality and George Martin production!

It’s called, “I see You” by Adrian Belew.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb_VUU7tDFw&mode=related&search=

(Sometimes my links work sometimes they just sit there. Looks like I’ll be downloading firefox really soon.)

I guess this video came out in the the late 80’s and it may have never made the airwaves but it’s a great song and it made me glad that you tube exists because I remember the time when the music seeking populous(sp) was beholden to choke holding gatekeepers, aka radio promoters. I digress.

I know that makes me sound like a 10th grader but hey if youtube works why knock it right? I guess my point is I’m glad to see this. It’s like sifting through a universal attic of archives we can share with each other.

All that said, I’m very interested in all things Crimson these days. Especially the history and concept behind the band. This is about as popular a hobby as building hover crafts out dyson vaccuum cleaners, but it’s what I’m into right now.

Really it makes perfect sense though because I’m such a huge Eno disciple; & Fripp and Eno are so inextricably linked pioneering Frippertronics together. At least expanding on it (see “evening star” & “no pussyfooting”). I’m just surprised this has come back around with the amount of intensity it has.

I’ve also become aware of the unspoken talent the guitar players have that I’ve  played drums with in the past. Ironically 95% of everyone I’ve played with are all big King Crimson/ Belew/ Fripp fans. I admitteldy took their talent for granted. But what I’ve come to understand now is that guitar players approach KC with a lot of respect and the prospects of  their hand lit on fire.

hmmm this might mean something. At least all the meaning I’m giving it right?

That was for the ACIM fans out there?

Stephen

Last night on C2C the guest talked about Nostradamos(sp) quatrains, and how important the years of 2007 and 2008 will be. Essentially, he believes what ever path we as individuals, and as the collective conciousness, put forth duriing the next 18-24 months will be set. He said those paths will stay in place until they are fully played out over the next several years. I guess through 2012. He talked a lot about everything else except 2012 now that I think about it.

I examined my own path and noticed tugs of downward energy, getting away from those spaces under the noise and chatter of my mind, & my ego.
Maybe it’s my current employment situation. Maybe I need to go on a long walk in Griffith Park. Hard to say.

What I notice is that it’s a combination of my days seeming to go MUCH faster, mixed in with a little entropy. Like molasses or something. Very similar to watching timelapse photography. You get the jist of it and it’s a powerful image but remains elusive to being tangible. It’s only an image.

So with these kinds of thoughts dominating my day to day gig you can see why it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. Have there been some surreal experiences? VERY! Beyond words surreal. It’s part of the diet of my existence at the moment.

Also, I’m starting to notice pieces of the movie, “The Secret”, showing up in my life which is TRULY amazing. All I can say is, so far, it’s been working in small ways. i.e.

A friend of mine e-mailed me regarding a person I’ve thought about several times over the past few weeks yet had no idea of how to contact. He has her e-mail turns out. The last time she & I spoke was 1988 over a long weekend we were both home from our respective colleges. You know how you promise to stay in touch but of course different things creep up and take precedent. But now, through internet technology, we can catch up, if willing.

more later.

Stephen A. Thomas