late to the beautiful music party

I've been grumpy for years about OH's state motto (possibly in the very pages of this blog) "So Much to Discover!" I much preferred the former motto, "The Heart of it All." Just say them both out loud and you'll hear what I mean. One is full of tenderness, sincerity, and hope. The other is full of...nothing. It's totally empty. Generic. Meaningless.

But after this past trip home to Akron for Passover, I have to admit - there was so much to discover. Not only did I find a wad of cash (14 single dollar bills!) in the pocket of a raincoat at the Village Discount Outlet in Cuyahoga Falls...I discovered a most amazing experimental music label/distributor/designer at Square Records, where I stop in every time I'm back for some or other holiday, birthday celebration, family gathering.

At the far end of the cds were two bins of beautifully packaged, delicately designed objects, and a small handwritten (important!) cardboard sign explaining the label responsible for them - Experimedia - is OH-based, and specializes in ambient, minimalist, noise, folk, americana, phonography...you get the idea. All the good stuff. After I was done barely believing my eyes, I bought a couple cds (Small Color / Minamo (the cover's up there on the left) - both on the 12k label) that I enjoyed all the way back to Chicago (and still do) and will be exploring much more of Experimedia's site/catalog in due time.

So Experimedia is full of radiant, striking, independent music - reason enough to be thrilled with the project. But it's also from Akron, which seems nearly impossible and makes this discovery nothing short of a miracle. Experimedia has been around for nearly ten years and while I'm a little perplexed / disappointed I'd never heard of it until now, it was a perfect universe to stumble into almost by accident, while actually in Akron. For Passover, no less. Perfect.

So now I'll think twice about rolling my eyes every time I cross the border from Indiana into my home state, and read that silly phrase (with much underlined, and a weak exclamation point at the end.) But I'm also more convinced, than ever, that Ohio IS the heart of it all.

The Words of Sounds (3) - Wroblewski

Apparently there's been a lot of controversy over The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, David Wroblewski's first novel, published in 2008. I had no idea about that when mom and I picked it to read together (we do this, regularly) - it just seemed to promise a good story, and I was drawn to the distant red barn on the cover. And while I'm not about to review the book here - you can read plenty about it elsewhere - I did like it (though didn't expect so much darkness) and especially liked this passage on page 404.

The set up: Edgar, a runaway at this point - mute and fleeing his family's farm with three dogs - is befriended by a lonely man in a small town in northern Wisconsin who is trying to show the world (and a certain woman) he's not 'ordinary.' The two slowly form a friendship, as a silent trust builds between them.

"That night it was a workingman's dinner. Henry sat at the kitchen table and read the newspaper and ate reheated brats and potato salad. He motioned for Edgar to help himself and eyed the dogs as though expecting them to lunge for the food. He started to ask Edgar to put them outside, then seemed to reconsider. Instead, he folded the paper into quarters and pored over the crossword, tapping his pencil on the table and picking off the easy clues. Then he said, "Oh!" and walked into the living room. There was a warm pop from the phonograph speakers. Piano music began to drift through the house.

"They call this one The Goldberg Variation," he said when he returned. He was holding a battered album cover in one hand. He looked at it again and, with self-conscious precision, corrected himself: "Variations." He took up the crossword puzzle again, shifting and fidgeting and touching his forehead as if perturbed by the sound of the piano. He emptied his glass of beer and leaned over to the refrigerator and extracted another, pouring it down the inside curve of the glass while streamers of bubbles upward.

It's nothing earth-shattering, just unexpected to find a vinyl copy of The Goldberg Variations in this story. Stuck with me.

P.S. Of course this is the version of TGV I know and love.

remiss!

That's me. Because i've been pointing, inviting, linking, insisting, reminding, introducing and yes, obssessing, everywhere/when/how else except here.

But hey! No time like the present to make amends. The Third Coast f launched a new website last weekend. Have a look, will ya? But keep in mind we're in beta mode - still working on several many things. So feel free to offer some feedback. And be sure to release the pigeons...

one groove

Take a guess at what you're looking at.

No, it's not the moon and no, it's not some 4th grader's attempt to recreate the Grand Canyon, in miniature, via elaborate sand sculpture. Here we have a photograph of one single groove of a vinyl record (remember those?) magnified 1000 times. Beautiful, no? Feast your eyes on a few other close-up shots of records, at various magnification, including one in 3-D. (if you have some glasses laying around.)

megapolis seeks new blood

Have an audio-y performance, presentation, installation, workshop or spectacle up your sleeve that's ready for the world? You're in luck. The fine folks over at Megapolis are accepting proposals until Feburary 14th (very romantic!) for the 2010 MegapoHappening, scheduled for May 14-16 in Baltimore. Extra points for all ideas that jive with this year's theme of transport.

[Maybe it's finally time for me to resurrect the Pony Express and stash a recorder in my mail pouch. I'd hit these guys up for sponsorship, straightaway.]