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Folks,

This is Hulu’s first live streaming broadcast. I hope they have the bandwidth capability to make this work! Anyway, figured I would be another portal for people to watch the concert if you are so inclined to do so. Should hear some new tunes off their new album, “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King” and hopefully some improvisation off some of those new tracks.

In the last 24 hours, I have become ecstatic. Phish released a single off of their new and upcoming album. My emotions are greater than my judgment at this time, so I will hand it over to someone who has listened to the song 10 times, where I have only listened to it four times. Needless to say, I am not disappointed to Phish’s return to the studio. Mr. Miner seems to do a good job of explaining the construction and composition of this new Phish jam.

Less than a week after the album release and second-ever performance of Trey’s orchestral opus “Time Turns Elastic,” Phish gave the community a significant pre-tour jolt by releasing the newly-completed Phish version as a single on iTunes yesterday morning. Utilizing another video announcement, this time of a studio montage while the song peaks as a soundtrack, Phish punctuated the arrival of their newest piece of music- and by the way it was presented, they seem damn proud of it. A thirteen-plus minute composition, “Time Turns Elastic” will be featured on Phish’s forthcoming album and will certainly jump into this summer’s rotation before too long.

What started out as an idea for a Phish song during Trey’s solo time in Whitehall, NY, transformed into an orchestral piece, with two movements, in collaboration with Don Hart of Orchestra Nashville. After debuting “Time Turns Elastic” at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium last September, Trey set out to record and release his one of a kind piece. Right around that time, an acoustic demo of Trey playing the song by himself in The Barn surfaced, giving everyone a better point from which to imagine the piece as a Phish song; but I’m not sure anyone imagined this. Rearranging the piece’s second movement for a four-piece band and recording it in New York City, Phish has morphed the symphonic composition into a musical suite that will transfix audiences this summer.

What jumps out about “Time Turns Elastic”- as compared to Phish’s older multi-part compositions- is its cohesiveness. As opposed to many of the band’s classic songs that often contrast different musical milieus with precise, and sometimes abrupt, Zappa-like transitions, “Time Turns Elastic,” flows naturally from one segment into the next, each connected with a melodic framework that provides a unifying thread throughout the piece. While moving between many different compositional textures, there is always a familiar element of the song’s melodic structure, holding it together coherently.
tte_200

After listening through the track about ten times yesterday, I figure there have to be at at least four or five distinct places where Phish could jump into different improvisational segments. Thus it will be interesting to see where the band stretches the song out when it’s performed live- not to mention there is a chance they will choose to play it as a straight composition- but they are Phish. Swimming between upbeat textures and darker segments, musical peaks and valleys, “Time Turns Elastic” has an incredibly dynamic quality. Some parts feel genuinely uplifting, while others are certainly somber and introspective, providing a sense of musical narrative.

The playing on the track sounds like Phish has been firing in the studio and the video can confirm the fun they are having. The most essential part on the track is played by Fishman, who is “doin’ work” the entire time, creating extraordinarily delicate beats and cradling the music with a tapestry of rhythms that guide the band through the many diverse sections. Also interesting about “Time Turns Elastic” is the “whole-band” focus- no one person plays lead- instead, Trey, Mike, and Page, collectively provide the musical filling. While Trey wrote this song by himself, it is certainly not a guitar-led piece, rather a more collaborative effort that may foreshadow a newer song model.

Beyond a strict musical opus, there is a five-piece lyrical montage of poetic imagery that narrates a story right alongside. A philosophical statement about the fluctuations of time and our lives, Trey shares a piece of his own with us through this song. With images like the following: “But I am a submarine / and the submarine sinks below the ground” to “These are the reasons / that we lay down on the / ground / Drawn through a funnel, all / the colors run together / Turning brown;” “Wait for the waves to come / and carry me away / Down on the ground the / sound of voices in the / echoes seem to say;” “And the carousel turns into / breath around me;” Trey has certainly responded to his post-hiatus pop song naysayers with his strongest and most personal lyrical effort in some time. Essentially, Time Turns Elastic is a musical reflection on Trey’s time of struggle and the celebration of the resiliency of the human spirit. (Cue haters vomiting.)

Yet while many of the lyrical themes are personally connected to Trey’s life, they are universally applicable to all of ours. We have all gone through periods where time has turned elastic- sped quickly or crawled- depending on our state of mind and activity, and we understand the fluctuations of emotion. We have all felt ourselves “in and out of focus” or the “world turning upside down;” and similarly, we have all felt “kissed by the water and held in [our] mother’s arms” and “paved with gold gleaming in daylight.” It is authentic human emotion that “Time Turns Elastic” draws on, both lyrically and musically, striking a chord somewhere inside us all. Maybe you don’t feel it yet after a listen or two, but wait until this summer is over- you will.

For me, its 24 days until Alpine Valley, which should serve as the most magical weekend of my life…

Hey Folks,

I’m on TV6 tonight for kayak rolling….check it out….

Not writing anymore, migraines and computer screens do not go hand in hand….

Outdoor Enthusiasts,

Now’s the time! Bring your gear into the OAP all this week!

We are (as you know) located in the MUB room G002, next to the Keweenaw Commons food mall. 

Remember, there is no cost to put something into the swap. If it sells, we’ll hand you an envelope full of money (you set the price), if it doesn’t sell then you can pick it up the week after. It’s the only risk free way to make money you’ll find in today‘s economy. 

If you have any questions at all, please contact us:

oap@mtu.edu
487-2290

See you Saturday!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=63471819600&ref=ts
www.oap.mtu.edu

www.oap.mtu.edu 

Today, I was looking to add Boxee back onto my AppleTV.   When Apple released their last update, it cleared my AppleTV of anything that I had installed on it.   This was frustrating enough, as you would think that Apple would be willing to let others make their product better.   Long story short, you have to use a flash drive to install any software onto an AppleTV.   This involves partitioning the flashdrive.  I think you can see where this is going.

Since I have have done this before, I was just flying through the process of getting the files assembled into a folder on my desktop.   I hit the installation button and the partioning begins.   I noticed this process was taking entirely too long.   Then, it hit me.   I partitioned my external hard drive.   No, not the one with all my Time Machine Backups.   I partitioned the one with all my media: photographs, 90 gigs of music, and a bunch of movies that I converted to MPEG4.    I was close to having a mental breakdown.   Technology did not fail me, I failed technology.

So now over the next few weeks, perhaps months, I have to regather everything.  Luckily, I had about a third of my music backed up on DVD-Rs, the other two thirds is on CD-Rs or CDs.   My work/school files I have regathered from the servers at work, saving me some valuable time.  I can only begin to imagine that after I regather everything, I’ll also find that I’ve lost something else.

This has quite literally been the most difficult year for my technological dependency.   I’ve had computers crash multiple times, and have been able to get back up and running in a short period of time.  Well, not this tiem.   I’ve had terrible luck, and its almost all been my fault, not the wonderful world of technology.   Looks like I might be purchasing a Time Capsule for my Time Machine, that way I can have two media hard drives, one as a backup.   This is ridiculous.

Moral of the story, if you’re going to install things onto a jailbroken device, make sure Karma is on your side, and take the extra time to pay attention to what you are doing.   Taking that extra time to go over the installation process could save you a lot more time in the end.

For my first post on my new blog, I’m going to talk about a class assignment.  I know…I’m a nerd.

So for my documentary class, we have to make a film of about 7 minutes in length. Our group decided to cover the student employees that work for Public Safety, Michigan Tech’s police department(yes, they are deputized state police).

Public safety

Usually you see these student employees with winter hats on, low profile jackets, looking to hide their profession from the general public. After all, if you see a person putting a 20 dollar ticket on your car(or a friends), you are probably going to associate them with a negative connotation, even though they are simply doing their job. It’s one of those jobs where people get pissed at you for what they did wrong.

We met with the good folks from Public Safety today. Thinking they were going to be hesitant in giving us any sort of information, we immediately pitched ourselves as looking at “The Ticket Guy” in a different light. It turned out that they were much more willing to talk with us about this matter, provide us statistics, so on and so forth. In fact, we will be meeting with them next week to interview them on camera and include them in our documentary.

I’ll post this short documentary (Vimeo/Youtube) once we complete the project. I think we have a good vision for where we want this to go.  I can honestly say I have never been this excited to do a class project.   In the same regard, spring is on its way and my ambition will decline.

Have a good one folks.

Engaged!

It is official, Stacy and I are engaged. Here are a few photos…

More about the trip coming later… until then, visit http://www.bryantandstacy.com for our wedding website.