It's very industrial underneath Westpac Stadium - all concrete pillars and not much lighting to speak of.
Somehow, when I was imagining us playing at the All Blacks vs Springboks tri-nations match last week I was picturing it being quite dimly-lit on the field as well, so it was a bit of a shock as we walked around the corner and could see the far end of the player's tunnel in front of us, with the field and thousands of yellow seats beyond. I'd forgotten there'd be floodlights! It was brighter than a very bright thing out there! Crikey!
We gathered in formation on the edge of the field just in front of the tunnel, Tim gave the signal to begin, and we began our parade.
The next 30 minutes went by in a flash. I remember concentrating my entire focus on Tim and on my caixa. I was dimly aware of players warming up on the field next to us, but I barely looked at them - I was so engrossed in the music and making sure I was playing my patterns properly. I remember the slightly muddy grass beneath my feet (it had been raining all day), and trying not to trip over the myriad of TV cables spread across our path. I remember the crowd (not massive an hour before kick-off, but not too shabby) and how much they enjoyed our playing, and I remember the beat of our drums echoing around the stadium.
As we finished each piece with a flourish, the crowd near where we were playing cheered and clapped (and we cheered and clapped back at them), and then we'd be onto the next piece, marching in time to the music as we played.
At one point a commentator placed himself and his camera crew directly ahead of us, the big camera light was switched on, and he began to talk to camera. At the time I couldn't believe that his mike would be able to pick up his voice at all - we were only about 10 feet behind him, and boy, were we loud - but sure enough through the wonders of modern technology they were able to hear him loud and clear - and see us as we marched behind him, big grins on all our faces as we passed by.
OK so he called us Batucada Sound Machine (our director Darren's samba band) instead of Wellington Batucada, but never mind - at least he referred to us!
Here we are:
We continued on our merry way as a fine misty rain began to fall, and made it around half the field in half an hour, leaving by the tunnel opposite the one we'd come in on. A final flourish, played exclusively for the guys hanging out having a fag on the upper walkway, and we were done. It seemed like only 5 minutes since we'd begun playing.
As we were driven back out of the stadium in our bus we passed by the thousands of fans still arriving at the gates - and we were so energised that it was pretty hard to stop ourselves leaping out and playing an impromptu gig for them all.
What a great night!
When I got back home and watched the match build-up on MySky I was amazed how loud we were. The poor old commentators in their glass box up in the Gods seemed to be having a bit of difficuly concentrating on what they were saying half the time - I think we must have been marching directly beneath their commentary box - and I really hope we didn't put them off.
Maybe next time (crossing fingers that there's a next time!) they'll get us to march around the opposite side of the field so our drumbeats aren't carried quite so effectively into that little glass box. We shall see...
Oh - and of course the All Blacks played an absolute stormer of a game and hammered the Springboks by a pretty wide margin for the second time in a row - Phew! Glad we didn't hex 'em with our playing! Go the All Blacks!
Technorati tags: Wellington Batucada, Batucada, All Blacks, Springboks, tri-nations, rugby, Wellington, Westpac Stadium, samba, caixa, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Wellington Batucada at the All Blacks game
Monday, July 12, 2010
Glee flash mobs
I've had a bunch of episodes of Glee piling up on the MySky for ages, and this weekend I've finally gotten around to watching them. I'm almost caught up again. Yay!
I don't know how they do it, but I reckon Glee is pretty much the only show where I can be guaranteed to laugh out loud and shed a tear or two in every single episode. It is, simply, delightful.
And then I found Glee flash mobs on YouTube. Such fun!
Official Seattle Glee Flash Mob Video - Seattle, Westlake:
Glee Flash Mob - Grafton Street - Dublin, Ireland:
Flash Mob at the Ohio Union 5/3/2010 - The Ohio State University:
GLEE - Il FlashMob in Rome:
glee flash mob Tel Aviv:
All School Assembly Flash Mob (not all Glee, strictly speaking, but I love this cos it's the teachers flashmobbing the students):
Technorati tags: Glee, flash mobs, Seattle, Dublin, Ohio State University, Rome, Tel Aviv, All School Assembly, music, musicals, TV shows, YouTube, video, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Matt Smith & Orbital - Dr Who theme, Glastonbury 2010
I'm such a slacker.
I haven't written in my blog for a month - being self-employed really does reduce my life down to a single purpose if I let it. Must.do.better.
Anyway, having been to a total of nine Glastonburys in my time (those were the days!) I have a soft spot for anything related to the Worthy Farm Annual Shindig - so here's my vote for awesomest Glastonbury video evah - Matt Smith & Orbital doing the Dr Who theme, Glastonbury 2010.
Enjoy! It's friggin fantastic!
And if you want a bit more Glasto Goodness - check out these stunning photos from The Big Picture.
Technorati tags: Glastonbury, YouTube, Matt Smith, Orbital, Dr Who, Glasto, 2010, Dr Who theme, video, The Big Picture, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Saturday, June 05, 2010
Cuba Street Carnival
I remember discussing the Cuba Street Carnival with Chris Morley-Hall, back when it was but a twinkle in his eye.
Having been involved with The Gathering for a few years by that point I knew how much effort, blood, sweat and tears it took to create a "happening" out of nothing - how much it took out of you and how long it could take to turn that twinkle of an idea into something real and tangible and successful.
I just want to say how much I admire Chris for having taken up the challenge and making the Cuba Street Carnival into the 150,000-people success it had become by 2009.
I'm not going to speculate on exactly why the Carnival has hit this bump in the road - the stories and reports don't make sense at the moment - there are obviously some big pieces of info missing, and I hope we get the opportunity to find out more soon.
Wellington Batucada, for example, probably wouldn't exist if it weren't for Chris and the Cuba Street Carnival. We originally formed in November 2001 to perform in the Carnival, and we've been a part of it ever since - and in the process have become a part of Wellington's culture in the same way as the Carnival has.
Events like the Rugby Sevens, the Cuba Street Carnival, the Wellington Festival of the Arts and the Fringe Festival are some of what makes Wellington such a special place to live. All those wonderful events bring colour and a little bit of magic to our city, and make it a place to be proud of.
Each of these events also creates its own little set of ripples in the Wellington pond which further enrich our city. Just as The Gathering inspired a whole generation of DJs and makers of electronica to come out of their bedrooms and into the light of live performance, so events like the Cuba Street Carnival provide a huge number of creative people with a wonderful, joyous, fantabulous excuse to push their creativity and their showmanship to new levels every two years.
The Batucada crew, for example, worked every day for two months on our float and our costumes for the 2009 event, and we start rehearsing our performance pieces months before the big day. It's always been a huge part of who we are and what we do.
Being a part of the Carnival (and winning the Supreme Award) has positive spin-offs for us too - our beginners' course that followed soon after the Carnival last year had more than three times as many participants as normal, and we've continued to get big numbers to our courses since then as well. We continue to grow and improve, and love what we do - and a lot of that is due to our ongoing participation in the Cuba Street Carnival.
Chris can be proud that he has made such a huge contribution to our performing arts culture over the past 10 years, just as we can be proud that our membership of Batucada brings colour to many events in and around the city throughout the year.
I'm completely gutted that there won't be another Carnival next year. I'm crossing my fingers and praying that this will be a temporary hiatus and that we'll all be back again with bells on in 2013 (if not sooner!)
Technorati tags: Cuba Street Carnival, Chris Morley-Hall, Wellington Batucada, Batucada, samba, carnival, Wellington, carnival cancelled, funding, street party, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Farewell Malcolm McLaren - and thank you
For me, a teenager living in England in 1976, punk was an entirely British phenomenon at the beginning. We weren't really aware of any American punk bands back then - it seemed to us as though it started in London with the Sex Pistols - and that Malcolm and Vivienne's Sex shop provided (in a massively important way) the "look" that went with the sound.
All the bands we loved and pogo'd to and spat at at innumerable gigs in those first two or three years of punk were either English, Irish or Scottish (our discovery of American punks such as The Ramones and Blondie came a couple of years later) - and for us, the clothes were almost as important as the music - and the attitude was equally important.
It was the classic teenage rebellion "fuck you if you're over 25" thing - but in addition (and this was something we'd certainly never come across in popular music before) - it was the DIY ethic. The idea that any one of us could pick up a guitar and form a punk band and that it would be good, and joyous, and wonderful, and angry, and rebellious, and political if we wanted it to be - this was an entirely new concept, and one which we all embraced with great enthusiasm.
I think Malcolm had a lot to do with fostering and developing this ethic, whether he did it deliberately or not.
He lit a fire in those of us at the perfect age to appreciate and adopt all the aspects of punk culture - and what a blaze it was! I'm so incredibly grateful to have had punk as my seminal musical influence. It was a wonderful time to be growing up, and a wonderful soundtrack to my teenage and University years.
I can see shadows of that same DIY ethic coming through at many other times of my life - like travelling to the far side of the world straight after University when no-one we had ever met had even considered doing such a thing; eventually coming to live in NZ even though I didn't know a soul when I arrived; forming a world music band in Welli in the 90s; organising dance parties and eventually getting involved in The Gathering; making our own documentary about TheG; even the freelance and contract web design/dev work I do these days - it's all about making things happen yourself and not relying on anyone else to do it for you.
I learned when I first went travelling that "you can make anything happen if you want it badly enough" - and although I thought I'd figured that one out for myself, in retrospect I think it was a concept that was already sitting in my brain, planted there by all the punk bands I ever saw, and ever loved.
Malcolm McLaren introduced me to the very first of those punk bands, and for that I am extremely grateful.
Technorati tags: Malcolm McLaren, punk, Vivienne Westwood, DIY ethic, rebellion, Sex Pistols, tribute, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Iran protests and MJ mashup
Technorati tags: Michael Jackson, Iran protests, They Don't Care About Us, mashup, video, YouTube, protest photos, Iran, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Michael Jackson
His death brought the internet to its knees.
For half an hour this morning, Google responded to what it believed was a denial of service attack - as millions of fans around the world Googled to find out if the rumours of the death of the King of Pop were true.
Twitter ground to a halt and went down as the rumours flew, and the gossip websites TMZ and Perez Hilton crashed under the weight of requests.
I wandered over to Amazon while writing this blog post, thinking I should get a Michael Jackson DVD to add to my collection, and it's pretty clear that rather a lot of other people have had the same idea. His DVDs currently hold the positions 1 to 7 in the Bestsellers in Movies & TV rankings.
From Wikipedia:
In the hours following Jackson's death, his record sales increased dramatically. His seminal album Thriller climbed to number one on the American iTunes music chart, while another eight have made it into the top 40. In the UK, where Jackson would have performed less than three weeks after his death, his albums occupied 14 of the top 20 places on the Amazon.co.uk sales chart with Off The Wall topping the chart. In the UK iTunes store on June 26th, 25 of Jackson's songs were in the Top 100 best selling songs list.
I was never what you'd call a massive Michael Jackson fan (although I do confess to having a bunch of Jackson 5 tracks on my iPod), but I've spent this evening watching his top 15 music videos on MTV, and I've developed a new-found respect for the man and his art. Perhaps it's having the rare opportunity to watch so many of his videos together that brings home just what an incredible talent he was.
I remember how awed I was when I first saw the video for Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody on Top of the Pops in 1975, and how that one video defined the music video genre for an entire generation. It was clear to me this evening as I watched one MJ video after another, that Michael's work redefined the genre in a whole new - and extraordinarily creative - direction.
There are so many common themes and emotions running through his videos, and I felt an enormous level of pent-up tension in all of them - it was like watching a tightly-wound spring ready to explode.
Bad is a perfect example...
It's not just the subject matter, it's the choreography, the sound effects, the snappiness of the moves... everything. Amazing.
Michael at his most beautiful (IMHO) - if only he'd stayed at that point and not continued his journey into self-parody under the surgeon's knife.
Here's the very wonderful Billy Jean performed live at Motown 25 - including the moment when MJ unveiled the moonwalk for the first time (listen to the screams!):
...and here it is again re-created (to the uncontrollable delight of the audience) in 2001 for Michael's 30th anniversary special. This one made me weepy, for some reason:
I found myself thinking back to Fred Astaire at his perfectionist best, or Gene Kelly dancing round the lampposts in Singing in the Rain. Perhaps it isn't until you see all the videos together - and particularly right at this moment - that you realise what an incredible body of work Michael created, and what a genius he really was.
The choreography is stunning - and I can only imagine how long it took and how hard the dancers worked to get every move exactly spot-on. The massed dance section that characterises so many of his videos just blows me away, every time.
There's a level of intensity and aggression in many of his later videos which goes beyond the simple subject-matter. The sexual moves are more overt, and in some, The Way You Make Me Feel, for example, there's almost an underlying sense of anger within the sexuality.
But there's also an innocence too. At the end of TWYMMF, when Michael gets the girl, they don't dive into a passionate embrace, tongues akimbo - instead she walks into his arms and he simply holds her.
The street fighting themes of Bad, Beat It, The Way You Make Me Feel or even Thriller to some extent, are so reminiscent of the dance sequences in West Side Story, and the contrast with the sheer joy and exuberance of the earlier Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough is quite striking:
It's hard to reconcile the many different facets of Michael's life. The obsessive perfectionist blessed with a beautiful singing voice and stunning dance and choreographic abilities doesn't jibe with the Peter Pan "Wacko Jacko" that many in the media and beyond preferred to focus on, and yet they are found within the same man.
This is a man who has given away millions of dollars over the years - and was listed in the book of Guinness World Records in 2000 for his support of 39 charities, more than any other entertainer or personality. He's also a man who can blow $6 million in one shopping spree in Vegas on tacky oversized pots, gewgaws and sparkly tat that no-one would ever actually need (and which, by the look of them, only he could ever like).
How do you get your head around understanding someone whose relationships with children, and young boys in particular, certainly raised many eyebrows, and may well have been inappropriate on occasion; and how does that relate to a man so obsessed with his appearance and so lacking in understanding of how others perceive him that he spent 20 years having bits of his face lopped off and re-sculpted in an attempt to - what? - become someone else?
Knowing what we now know about Michael's early life, and his abusive relationship with his father, helps to put his childlike behaviour as a man into perspective, even if it does not excuse it. Perhaps he was attempting as a grown-up to recreate the childhood he never had - and as a re-created child, he related most easily to other children.
Perhaps, as at least one psychologist who testified at his trial believes, the man was so damaged by his father as a child (and by 40 years of living in the intense spotlight of superstardom) that as an adult he regressed back to being a 10-year-old boy, complete with the emotional and developmental limitations of a child of that age.
Here's Michael with the Jackson 5 when he really was a child in 1969, with I Want You Back. I find it delightful and sad at the same time:
Here's another couple of variations on a theme. The first is the official "Brazilian" video for They Don't Care About Us, which I absolutely ADORE because it was filmed in a favela in Rio and features the completely awesome Brazilian group Olodum front and centre, accompanying the song with a strong samba reggae groove. - and you'll know if you read my blog on a regular basis that Batucada is something that's very dear to my heart.
I also love this video because it's obvious that Michael is having the time of his life making it, and again I think it gives us another glimpse into two contradictory aspects of Michael's personality. Look at how strong and self-confident and aggressive he is in this video - and then think about his shy retiring breathy press conferences where he looks like he'd fall over if you sneezed on him. I find it fascinating to compare the two:
And here's another version which also kind of sums up the dichotomy of Michael Jackson. It's a (much faster) remix of They Don't Care About Us, with a remixed video to go with it. The video is a mashup of both the controversial and violent "Prison" video and the exuberant and joyful "Brazilian" video - and it's completely awesome.
Let's close with something that again epitomises the weirdness that was MJ - or perhaps the weirdness he inspired in others - the famous Cebu Prisoners version of Thriller - where 1,500 plus CPDRC inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu, Philippines, do the complete dance routine from the video. 23,633,154 views on YouTube - and counting...
I would absolutely hate to be famous. I wouldn't last 5 minutes in the spotlight, and I'd no doubt end up becoming an eccentric recluse somewhere. Imagine what Michael's life has been like the past 40+ years. No wonder he ended up so divorced from reality.
Rest in peace, Michael. I think you deserve it. Thank you for everything you gave us. You'll be sadly missed.
Technorati tags: Michael Jackson, death, dead, King of Pop, music videos, YouTube, dichotomy, Bad, Billy Jean, moonwalk, Motown 25, The Way You Make Me Feel, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Singing in the Rain, Beat It, Thriller, West Side Story, Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough, They Don't Care About Us, Olodum, Cebu Prisoners, music, pop, WebWeaver's World, webweaver
Saturday, April 18, 2009
I just love Susan Boyle
Susan Boyle singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical "Les Miserables" on "Britain's Got Talent". 19,233,462 views in 5 days... and counting.
Amazing.
I cry every time I watch it. Completely fabulous.
Then have a listen to her singing "Cry Me A River". Woah. What a voice!
Susan, I think you're completely wonderful.
Technorati tags: Susan Boyle, Britain's Got Talent, I Dreamed a Dream, Les Miserables, Cry Me A River, YouTube, Scottish singer, voice, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Cuba Street Carnival - Wellington Batucada is the Supreme Winner!
Woohoo!
What a fantastic day! It was my first Cuba Street Carnival parade with Wellington Batucada - and we were awarded Supreme Winner of the Meridian Illuminated Night Parade, as well as Best Music. Awesome!
Edited 06/03/09: These two photos are by Murray Short - thanks for the heads-up, Alex!
There are loads more pictures on Snapstar - check out the Meridian Illuminated Night Parade collections parts 1 and 2 - we're on pages 22, 23, 24 and 25 of part 1 and pages 26, 27, 28, 32, 33 and 34 of part 2.
Here's video... the first view of us is at about 38 seconds in - although you can hear us right from the start.
I had the BEST time ever. Everyone worked so hard on the float and the costumes and all the other organising stuff - and our fantastic directors and all the volunteers from Batucada and beyond just completely rock! Hooray!
Technorati tags: Cuba Street Carnival, 2009, Wellington Batucada, Supreme Winner, Meridian Illuminated Night Parade, Best Music, Brazilian samba, YouTube, video, photos, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Friday, September 12, 2008
American Prayer
Technorati tags: Barack Obama, Barack, Obama, American Prayer, Dave Stewart, music video, YouTube, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Where the Hell is Matt? 2008
I last wrote about Matt Harding in December 2006, when I showed his first two videos.
Matt's been travelling as Where the Hell is Matt? (and dancing) again. Yaaay!
I'm not sure why, but this new video made me cry like a baby...
It's wonderful! Enjoy!
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
Technorati tags: Where the Hell is Matt, Matt Harding, travel, dance, 2008, Vimeo, YouTube, video, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Glastonbury memories - the Sugar Cube, Underworld, and not meeting Banco de Gaia
Here's my first Glastonbury memories post - The Cure, The Family Cat and Tom Jones.
The Sugar Cube
I remember when dance music first came to Glastonbury. I think it was before I'd really discovered dance music - although maybe I'd been to one of the first DIY raves in Nottingham by then - I'm not quite sure... anyway, before there was an official dance tent at Glasto there were a bunch of unofficial dance/rave things scattered throughout the camping areas, generally with a sound system set up by festival-goers from the back of a truck or van.
I was wandering back to my tent late one night when I stumbled upon one of these unofficial areas - and the organisers had really gone to town on it. I seem to recall a great big tent, decorated from top to bottom with glowing white sculptures, brightly (and glowingly) lit with black lights... and this crazy doof doof music incredibly loud filling up your soul... oh wow. Craaaazy! I hung around for a while but it was all a bit much for me back then. Was it called the Sugar Cube? Can anyone recall?
Underworld - 1998
My 9th and last Glastonbury was in 1998. My dad had just died, and I had to do the awful trek back across half a world from New Zealand to the UK to go to his funeral.
Seeing as I was in the UK for such a sad occasion I figured I'd do something fun while I was there - and the fun thing was Glastonbury with my favourite Glasto-buddies, Sandra and Sean (accompanied for the first time by their daughter Kerra, who was about 3 years old).
It was a very muddy Glasto, and it was pretty exhausting for all of us. Kerra needed to be carried a lot of the time, and it was too wet to sit down, so none of us saw quite the range of bands we usually aimed for.
One band I was absolutely determined to see was Underworld. I'd been idly thumbing through the programme soon after we arrived (I had no idea who was playing), thinking to myself "hmmm - who would I really really love to see at Glastonbury - yeah - Underworld!", turned the page - and there they were in the lineup! Kewl!
I think the others either went to bed early that night or went off to see someone else, because I experienced the wonder that is Underworld alone (albeit along with thousands of other people!) I made my way across the dark and muddy site and arrived with plenty of time to spare (I was an old Glasto hand - I knew how long it took to get across the site when it was muddy!)
I was very near the front - it was on one of the secondary stages (can't remember which one) - and while we were waiting for Underworld to come on stage the crowd was idly watching these three roadies setting up all their gear, testing the mikes and all the electronic stuff, doing all the things that roadies normally do.
After about half an hour of setup time the three "roadies" all turned around as one - and started playing! Eh? We'd been watching Underworld setting up their own gear for the past 30 minutes and no-one had realised...
My absolute all-time favourite Underworld track is, of course, Cowgirl, which I had first heard/seen on telly one day in NZ, accompanied by Tomato's ground-breaking video. I'd never seen (or heard) anything like it...
So Underworld are playing their set, doing their thing, and I'm thinking "Play Cowgirl! Please play Cowgirl!" and they move into a strange new song, which is incredibly sparse, and consists of more bits of silence than it does actual notes, and I'm thinking "this is cool - and strangely familiar..." and I suddenly realise that it's the intro to Cowgirl only with a whole bunch of notes taken out - and slowly everyone else realises it too, and as they add more and more of the melody into the spaces of silence we all go completely crazy and start leaping around in the mud, and I'm incredibly happy because it's the middle of the night, I'm up to my knees in mud in the middle of a field, and I'm watching Underworld doing Cowgirl...
Not meeting Banco de Gaia - 1998
In addition to catching Underworld, I was planning to catch up with Toby Marks, aka Banco de Gaia, somewhere behind the dance tent before his set on (I think) Saturday afternoon.
We'd "met" a year or so earlier, when I had almost booked him for Omnivore - one of my first dance parties in Wellington. Things had gone pear-shaped between me and my co-director a couple of weeks before the party (I fired him - he was a total nightmare) and I'd had to cancel Toby; so I was really excited about the possibility of meeting him for real, as well as seeing him play. Yaay!
It was quite a mission arranging to meet up with him. I still had his phone number from the Omnivore days, so getting hold of him was pretty easy, but the backstage pass for Glasto was something else... after much phoning of Glasto organisers I finally managed to swing the pass, which I had to pick up at the office once I was on-site. Got the pass, figured out where the backstage area for the dance tent was, wandered on over there at lunchtime on Saturday, planning to see if I could find Toby (no cell phone coverage in out-of-the-way places in those days so I had to just hope he'd be around) and then stick around to catch his set afterwards.
Except he wasn't there.
There was a bit of a drama going on in the dance tent that morning. The rain had got in in quite a major way the night before, so they decided to use the sewage truck to suck up the worst of the liquid mud before the first DJ of the day. Unfortunately someone pressed the "blow poo" button instead of the "suck poo (or mud)" button, and the floor of the dance tent rapidly filled with poos as well as liquid mud! Lovely!
Toby's set was cancelled (boo!) and he was nowhere to be found backstage, either.
I hung around for a while, feeling like a total dork. I had no idea who anyone was, so I randomly wandered about asking people if they had seen Toby/Banco de Gaia, but no-one seemed to know him. I found myself sitting with a bunch of people (DJs? Performers? Musicians? Famous people? Hangers-on? I have no idea) round a camp fire, hoping he'd show, and knowing in my heart he probably wouldn't. The guy sitting next to me pulled out a ziploc plastic bag filled with a white powder and started offering it round. I got freaked out and made a hasty exit.
I never did meet Banco de Gaia, and I never got to see him play, either. Wish I'd seen him in 1995, but there you go. You can't have everything. It was a great story about the poo, though...
Technorati tags: Glastonbury, Glastonbury festival, festival, music festival, music, Sugar Cube dance, Underworld, Banco de Gaia, Toby Marks, poo in the dance tent, 1998, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Glastonbury memories - The Cure, The Family Cat and Tom Jones
I was thinking about the Glastonbury Festival today - as you do when it's June and this year's event is only days away...
I've been to 9 Glastonburys in total. The first was in 1984 I think, and the last was 10 years ago this year, in 1998. I've got so many memories of Glasto - some good, some not so good, and some completely awesome.
Having started to write this, I realise there's much too much to include in just one post, so I'll do a bunch of these over the next few days. Here's part one...
The Cure in the rain - 1986 and/or 1990
I've loved The Cure ever since I first heard A Forest playing outside Rock City nightclub back when I was at university in 1980, and I'd pretty much worn out my vinyl copies of Three Imaginary Boys and Seventeen Seconds by the time I graduated.
To see The Cure at Glastonbury not once, but twice, was a HUGE thrill for me. I can't remember whether it was 1986 or 1990 when we had the thunderstorm and the laser beams, but anyway...
The Cure was headlining the Pyramid Stage on the Saturday night, and I was pretty near the front, standing on a bit of a hillock (which was great because I'm not exactly the tallest person in the world). It was getting dark, and just as the band was due to come on, a great big raincloud came floating over the fields and stopped right above us. As The Cure stepped onstage the thunder began rolling over the hills and across the festival site, and a gentle rain began to fall. Dramatic!
I remember the green lasers on the top of the Pyramid shining through the raindrops, causing them to appear to hover in mid-air for a second before continuing on their downward journey. It was quite magical.
Funny what stays in your mind. I don't remember any of the songs they played, I don't remember singing along, or dancing, or anything to do with the music, really. I just remember the raincloud, the thunder, and those bright green raindrops hanging in suspended animation in front of my face.
Afterwards, as we made our way back to our tents further up the hill overlooking the Pyramid Stage, they played the song of the humpback whale over the loudspeakers. It was the strangest (and most awesome) sound - 100+ decibels-worth of whale eerily calling us, surrounding us, guiding us home. Bloody brilliant.
The Family Cat and Tom Jones back to back - 1992
Sandra and Sean have known the entire Family Cat for years and years, having spent a good many of their teenage years getting up to mischief in Cornwall, where most of them are from. I met them some time in the late 80s, when we used to go to their gigs all around the country, leaping around at the front and singing along with all their songs at the tops of our voices.
In 1992 they got their big break, when the NME decided that they were flavour of the month/year, and wrote some very glowing articles about them. That year they were invited to play at Glastonbury and we were all thrilled to bits. We'd never had someone we actually knew play at Glasto before.
They were playing on the NME stage early on the Sunday afternoon, so we all headed over there nice and early so we could get a good spot. They were brilliant. Full of energy, did all their best songs, and the sizeable crowd seemed to really like them. I remember we got to talk to them afterwards (through a wire mesh fence) and they were all buzzing and very happy.
Immediately after the Family Cat had finished playing on the NME stage, the weekend's "special guest" was due on the Pyramid Stage. I don't remember there being a special guest in previous years, so maybe this was the first time. No-one knew who it was in advance - it hadn't been announced - but by the Saturday night the rumour was flying around the festival site that it was going to be Tom Jones.
Tom Jones? At Glastonbury?? You have got to be kidding me!!!
Sandra, Sean, some of The Family Cat and I all decided it might be good for a laugh, so we headed around the corner to the Pyramid Stage to join the 70,000 other crusty folk ranged all the way up the hill on that beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon. We approached the stage from behind the left-hand side, so we were able to push our way into the crowd right near the front, and gradually moved closer to the middle as time went on.
Imagine the scene. You've got 70,000 grubby hippies (for that was the Glasto crowd in those days) all standing there waiting to take the piss out of Tom Jones - a performer more used to entertaining our mothers - and we're all thinking how completely incongruous this is, and wondering what on earth was Michael Eavis was on when he chose Mr Jones...
And Tom comes on stage with his band, and starts up with the first song - and his band is so tight, and he's so bloody professional that they have the entire crowd in the palm of their hands before they've even finished the first verse.
It.was.amazing. Tom Jones was amazing!
He sang, he danced around the stage, he took the piss out of himself, he waved to his family watching from the backstage area, they played a whole heap of great covers, he did every one of his famous songs - and the crowd sang along with him for the entire set.
At one point early on he said something like "I gotta take my jacket off - it's so hot!", proceeded to take his jacket off with a wink and a smile and threw it aside with a flourish - and the whole crowd went completely nuts.
By the end of the gig there were crusty hippies sitting on each other's shoulders reaching towards the stage yelling "I love you, Tom!" and throwing their equally crusty knickers at him. It was completely insane. I'll never forget it.
I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that Tom Jones at Glastonbury is the best festival set I have ever seen anyone play. Ever.
Technorati tags: Glastonbury, Glastonbury Festival, Glasto, music festival, event, music, concert, The Cure, 1986, 1990, The Family Cat, Tom Jones, 1992, NME stage, pyramid stage, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Presidential nominee video death match
This year, more than ever before, YouTube is taking a front-and-centre role in the Presidential primaries. Some candidates are using it far more effectively than others - Barack Obama, for example, includes high-quality versions of all his speeches on his YouTube channel, and his A More Perfect Union speech has been viewed more than 4 million times - but they're all using the medium in one way or another.
Compare the YouTube channels for Barack Obama (863 videos, 42,875 subscribers), Hillary Clinton (321 videos, 12,431 subscribers), and John McCain (185 videos, 4,018 subscribers).
What I find particularly interesting is how each of the three remaining candidates' supporters are using YouTube to put forward their own promotional messages for their favoured candidate. We've all seen the Obama videos by will.i.am, which went viral within a matter of days, and which inspired the very funny parody for John McCain, john.he.is - so I thought it might be fun to take a look at some of the other stuff out there.
I bring you... the Presidential nominee video death match!!
Which video, in your opinion, kicks the ass of all the rest?
First up is Barack Obama. It was difficult to pick just a couple for him because he's inspired more music videos than all the other candidates put together, so I chose two that, to me anyway, are new - I hadn't seen either of them until today. Here's Obama Everywhere by Earl Pickens & The Band Named Thunder, based on the Geoff Mack song I've Been Everywhere:
...and The Rockabelles with We Got The Mo:
And from the sublime to the ridiculous - here are the McCain Girls with their two spectacular hits Raining McCain and Here Comes McCain Again. If you can watch either of these two videos all the way through without running screaming from the room, you're a better person than I!
They've also got a message for anyone who didn't appreciate their video genius:
OooooOOOOOoooo! How unladylike!
OK... pause while I go looking on YouTube for pro-Hillary music videos...
Ah! Here's one! Taryn Southern and Hott 4 Hill:
...hmmmm. In the blurb it describes itself as "a music video parody", and to be fair I need one that's been made by Hillary supporters in all seriousness... so hold on a sec..
Here we go - this one has a decent number of views - The Hillary Clinton Song, aka We Need A Woman by Dulce Maria Gonzalez:
So what do you reckon? Do The Rockabelles look like they can out-rock Dulce Maria Gonzalez? If Taryn Southern went head-to-head with Earl Pickens & The Band Named Thunder, who would come out on top? And do the McCain Girls kick the asses of everyone else in the room, simply by being so thoroughly awful?
I'll leave it up to you to decide - and feel free to send me suggestions of videos I haven't included here...
Technorati tags: YouTube, video, music video, Presidential primaries, President, Barack Obama, Barack, Obama, Hillary Clinton, Hillary, Clinton, John McCain, John, McCain, will.i.am, john.he.is, Earl Pickens, Band Named Thunder, I've Been Everywhere, Rockabelles, We Got The Mo, McCain Girls, Raining McCain, Here Comes McCain Again, You're Welcome, Taryn Southern, Hott 4 Hill, Hillary Clinton Song, We Need A Woman, Dulce Maria Gonzalez, American politics, promo video, politics, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Velvet Underground - Gymnasium
I remember clearly when I first got into the Velvet Underground. I was 15, and my best friend Donald (who was far cooler than I) gave me The Velvet Underground & Nico for my birthday, followed by Lou Reed's album Berlin. At first I found both albums hard going. They seemed so dark and somewhat depressing, especially Berlin. But I persevered (because I knew he had very good taste), and I soon came to love both albums, and listened to them constantly.
At the time I was majorly getting into the early punk scene in the UK (this was 1977), so a taste of the band considered by many to be the honorary grandfathers of the punk movement fitted in well with all the other stuff I was listening to, like The Jam, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, the Stranglers (my favourites), Tom Robinson Band, Stiff Little Fingers and The Boomtown Rats.
I soon became a huge Velvet Underground fan, and gradually collected on vinyl everything they'd ever made, including the two rare bootlegs The Velvet Underground - etc and The Velvet Underground (and so on). One of my most prized albums (or should I say, album collections) is still The Velvet Underground boxed set VUBOX1:
1986 UK limited edition 5 x vinyl LP box set, includes the albums The Velvet Underground & Nico, White Light/White Heat, The Velvet Underground, VU and the previously unreleased Another View. Housed in a 12" x 12" picture box complete with an 8-page booklet.Although by that time I already had most of those albums, I bought the boxed set anyway - as any good fan would. I think it's quite rare actually.
So it was with great delight that I stumbled upon news of a previously undiscovered live recording of the Velvets at The Gymnasium, New York City in 1967. Woah!
OK so this is old news now (by a couple of weeks!) and I have Russell Brown to thank for the heads-up, but after 40 years, who cares about a couple of weeks? My God... is it really 40 years? Christ!
Tracklisting as follows:
- I'm Not A Young Man Anymore (previously unheard VU song)
- Guess I'm Falling In Love
- I'm Waiting For The Man
- Run Run Run
- Sister Ray (debut live performance)
You can download all 5 tracks here. Apparently this all started with some guy selling 100 green vinyl copies on ebay a couple of weeks ago. Damn! Wish I'd known!
The new track I'm Not A Young Man Anymore is pretty cool and very Velvets, and the debut version of Sister Ray is awesome, and at almost 19 minutes long, it's not for the fainthearted or impatient :)
Run (run run), don't walk - and download this new bit of Velvets' history. You know you want to.
Technorati tags: Velvet Underground, Live at the Gymnasium, Velvet Underground & Nico, Lou Reed, Berlin, punk, VUBOX1, I'm Not A Young Man Anymore, Guess I'm Falling In Love, I'm Waiting For The Man, Run Run Run, Sister Ray, unreleased recording, bootleg, ebay, green vinyl, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Scottish Song
I'm not going to say much about this video - except that, if you were ever a Gatherer, and if you ever experienced the awesomeness of one of Murray's iconic "Last Trance" sets, this track will either send you screaming from the room - or it will fill you full of joy and huge smiles.
Thanks, Muz!
Technorati tags: The Gathering, Gatherer, dance party, Canaan Downs, Cobb Valley, G2000, rave, Murray Kingi, Muz, Flux, last trance, Scottish song, trance zone, New Zealand, dance music, Perplexer, Acid Folk, YouTube, music video, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Friday, February 01, 2008
On learning to walk before trying to run
I learnt a very important lesson on Saturday at Tatum Park. I learned that drumming with a Samba Group such as Batucada is very different from drumming with Many Hands. I learned that I'm not quite ready to do performances yet. I learned that I need to practise, practise, practise - and then practise again.
In Many Hands, much of what we played was at least somewhat improvised. We played together so often, and listened to each other's rhythms so carefully, that improvisation came naturally, and it pretty much always sounded good.
Brazilian Samba is very different. There are set patterns, and variations on those set patterns. There are signals to learn, and bridges and changes to understand. A good Samba group will sound as one, with each group of instruments playing so exactly, that together each beat should sound as though it comes from a single instrument. There's no room for improvisation (which I had already figured out!), but there is also no room for "figuring it out as you go along". That's just not good enough in Samba.
So I have stepped back from performances for a while, and I'm working hard to improve.
I've transcribed and learned 5 different rhythms since Saturday. I can now sing you (or play you) the basic pattern from each of those rhythms - on demand, and immediately. My stick technique has already shown massive improvement - practising for at least an hour a day really makes a difference. My drum teacher is pleased with my progress, and he wants to see as many transcribed patterns as possible so that we can try them out together.
Now I need to learn the variations for each rhythm, and then I need to learn all the signals, bridges and changes. That's going to be quite a challenge, because it's more difficult to transcribe these, but I can certainly try. Recording and videoing them in rehearsals certainly helps, and I've persuaded Nancy to let me video her on Sunday, when I'm going to ask her to play me all the Batucada caixa rhythms and variations.
I realise that I learn by ear - by listening to someone else playing a rhythm, and mimicking it in the way I did with the conga in Many Hands. But I remember by seeing - and especially by writing and reading. I need the transcriptions in order to really fix a pattern in my head - otherwise I find it hard to start it independently - as opposed to playing it alongside someone else who already knows it (when I can just play along and fudge it). I use a range of mnemonics to learn and retain the patterns, which is why having the transcriptions is important.
I'm super-motivated - having demonstrated to myself just how much I still need to learn - and I'm determined to get as good as I can be on the caixa. I want to make Tim and Batucada proud of me - and next time I ask to perform with the group, I want to make sure that I will do their awesomeness justice.
Today I took part in the Sevens Parade (Look! We're in the paper! And we were on telly!) - I pushed Jane's wheelchair while she played her surdo - and it was another hugely valuable lesson. I got to march with the band, be a part of the team, and listen in to (and watch at close quarters) the crew going through their paces. No pressure, all the fun! I think all newbies should volunteer to parade with Jane - it certainly allows you to compare your ability with that of the rest of the group, and shows you the areas in which you still need to improve.
I wanna play with the band (Mike says I remind him of Veruca Salt's "I want it NOWWWWWWWW!"), but I don't wanna play until I'm ready. And to get there, I will work as hard as I can, practising and learning - and - having truly learned my lesson - I won't try to run again before I can walk. Promise!
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Friday, January 25, 2008
My first Batucada gig!
Ever since I started learning to play the caixa with Batucada, I've been looking forward to performing with the group. Summer is absolutely full of Batucada gigs - including leading the Wellington Sevens parade next Thursday, and a gig at the Sevens itself next Saturday, and I was really hoping I would be good enough to be in the band before summer was over (and secretly aiming towards being ready in time for the Sevens). It seems as though my wish may be about to come true.
The Batucada directors and organisers have pulled out all the stops to enable the newbies to play at least some of the summer shows, and they've even said we can perform in our own white clothes until we get a chance to buy the official Batucada uniform.
So tomorrow Mike and I are heading up the coast to the Toots and Grooves Ska festival at Tatum Park, and I'm going to be playing! EEEEEEEEEEE! Or is that ohmygod!?
I'm a learner-by-doing kind of a person, and I figure that, for me, the way to get ready to perform with the group is actually to perform with the group. We did our 5 beginners' classes last year, and I stuck around for rehearsal after each one. For the final two, the newbies were invited to take part in the rehearsal, which was awesome. I think we had one more rehearsal before Christmas, and we've had one since New Year.
I think I've got the hang of all the rhythms we've played thus far - well, sort of, anyway. I still feel quite unsure about the changes and bridges - I don't think I've even heard all of them, let alone played them, but that's cool - I'll figure it out as I go along. The other caixa players are really good, and very easy to follow, so if by chance I get lost, I'll be able to watch them and get back into the groove.
The first time I was allowed to take part in the proper rehearsal, we played a bunch of stuff I'd not played before, and went through some bridges and changes that were new to me. I really enjoyed the challenge of keeping up with the experienced players, at full speed, and working out what was going on at the same time as playing it!
I think my Many Hands experience was really useful, actually. When I was playing at Full Moon drum circle, or just jamming with the band, the rhythms we played were all completely improvised. You listened with one ear to what was being played around you, and with the other ear to what you were playing, and you made sure that they matched in some way. It means I'm very quick at picking up a new rhythm, which I think will certainly be useful tomorrow!
I have no idea if we're playing on a stage tomorrow, or in a parade-type environment (I don't think so), or in a less formal environment, and I don't know if we get a chance to do a rehearsal before we play, either. I don't know how the director tells us what to play and when to do a change-up in a performance. I don't know if we'll have a set list of pieces so that we know what to expect. I haven't actually seen Batucada perform since I joined the group, so I haven't had a chance to observe how they do things, from the new perspective of someone who's going to be playing in the band.
I think I'm going to be experiencing quite a learning curve tomorrow afternoon! What fun!
I ordered my new caixa from Brazil-via-Germany yesterday, so hopefully it won't take too many days to arrive. I also picked up my new earplugs, which have been made especially to fit my (teeny little) ears. Hopefully they'll dampen down the volume while still allowing me to hear what I'm playing. It wasn't easy playing with cheap earplugs, because as well as blocking out much of the rest of the group, they also blocked out virtually all the sound coming from my own drum... and it ain't easy to tell whether you're in time if you can't actually hear yourself...
I had my first private lesson with Bill Brown on Tuesday - I want to improve my drumming technique, especially the traditional grip - and it was really helpful. I realise I was holding my sticks far too tightly, and that it's all about bounce and THE THUMB. I haven't got it well enough yet to do the bounce and the thumb at speed, but I'm getting there. I'm supposed to practice an hour a day. Crikey!
Today I went looking for white pants to wear at gigs until I get my official Batucada uniform, and I found a pair that are so nice, I think I may actually want to wear them in RL, instead of wearing them once or twice at shows and then never wearing them again. Hooray! It's all coming together!
And the best thing is... assuming I do OK tomorrow, I think I'll be able to take part in the Sevens parade, and maybe even the Sevens gig itself!
WOOHOO! Wish me luck!
Technorati tags: Batucada, Wellington Batucada, Toots and Grooves, ska festival, Tatum Park, performance, Brazil, Brazilian samba, drums, drumming, caixa, Wellington Sevens, Sevens, Rugby Sevens, parade, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
The Gathering on the radio again!
Radio New Zealand are re-broadcasting their documentary The Gatherers, which first hit the airwaves back in December. I know from the web stats that heaps of people listened in and got inspired to visit The Gathering Archives website and blog, but just in case you missed it the first time around, or want to hear it again, here’s the info…
The Gatherers
Friday 25 January at 7.30pm
National Radio 101FM
or listen live online at www.radionz.co.nz
You can also grab the podcast from the Radio New Zealand website at radionz.co.nz/popular/music/talk - search on “G”.
Yaay!
Oh - I'm in it, btw...
And here's a bit more info about it from The Gathering Archives blog, which I wrote when it was first broadcast.
Technorati tags: The Gathering, The Gathering Archives, New Zealand, dance party, radio, Radio New Zealand, The Gatherers, broadcast, National Radio, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Practising the traditional grip
A few months ago I did something I've been meaning to do for ages - I applied to join Wellington's samba percussion group, Batucada.
I first saw Batucada performing at the Petone Fair a few years ago. Giles and I had been wandering along the street catching a performance here and a performance there, when we came across a stage filled to bursting with about 50 percussionists who were playing with such joy, and such syncopated rhythms, we just had to stop. And then we just had to dance. We absolutely couldn't keep still to the sound of Brazilian samba! It was fantastic!
I plucked up the courage to ask one of the performers whether they were accepting new members, and how one could join, but then I never got around to doing anything about it. Every so often I'd see them performing in a carnival, or a festival, or a parade, and each time I'd think "Oh I would LOVE to be in that band!" And then I wouldn't do anything about it. Again.
A few months ago they were leading a march/parade which passed by our balcony at Shift, and I decided "Right! I'm finally gonna do something about joining." So I emailed them, and they replied with info about their upcoming beginner's class...
We've been doing the class for 4 weeks now - tomorrow is our last class. We learn for a couple of hours each Sunday, before the bateria members themselves come in for rehearsal. I've been sticking around for the real rehearsal, too, because I'm loving it so much. You'll find me standing near the back, off to one side, keeping time with my drumsticks playing in mid-air, wishing I could grab a caixa and play with the band for real.
I got my wish last week, because there were a few people missing at rehearsal - they'd had a full-on weekend playing at the Wellington Phoenix football league game on Friday, and then again at the Phoenix game against LA Galaxy (with David Beckham) on Saturday. I was sitting on the stage with a couple of the other beginners, and one of the directors pointed to us and mouthed "come and join in!" So we did. WOOHOO!
God it was fun. The group was learning a new piece, so the director was moving around all the different instruments, showing the players their new rhythms, while everyone else continued playing the basic beat. When I was in Many Hands, years ago, we did a great deal of improvisation (especially at Drum Circle), as well as developing and performing specific pieces. I got pretty good at picking up a new rhythm very quickly - generally after hearing the pattern only once or maybe twice - and it was great to see I've not lost that skill.
It's so loud - being in an enclosed space with about 50 other percussionists - that everyone wears earplugs to protect their ears. Hence much mouthing of instructions, and lip-reading. And hand signals. That's how the director tells the band when a change is coming up, and what the change is going to be. He whistles madly on his whistle, too, both to get everyone's attention, and also sometimes to demonstrate the "bridge" between rhythms, before we play it.
I loved the challenge of learning the new patterns at speed and then playing them alongside the "proper" members of Batucada. I was concentrating SO hard... trying to work out how the bridge worked (which of course everyone in the band already knew), while playing it, was especially fun. I only found myself doing an accidental "solo" once, which I thought was pretty good going. Tee hee! 
The instrument I'm drawn to is called the caixa (pronounced "kysha"), and it's the samba equivalent of the snare drum in marching bands. Batucada has two types of caixa on show - the not-so-authentic type, which is worn in front of your tummy and attached to your body by a waist strap; and the more-authentic type, which is worn more to the side with the head at an angle, and is attached to you by means of a diagonal strap over the opposite shoulder and across your chest.
The caixa is played using a pair of drumsticks, and its rolling, accented rhythms underpin the sound of the whole band. I guess you could say that the huge bass drums - the surdo - keep the time, and the caixa keep the groove. I like being an "underpinner' - that's where I felt most comfortable in my conga-playing days with Many Hands. I liked to be the "rock", holding it all together while the boys went off on their rhythmical adventures, and providing a strong place and a consistent rhythm to which they could return.
I find it interesting that I'm drawn to a stick drum, rather than the more familiar hand drum and conga equivalent, the timba. I think it's partly because learning to play with sticks is MUCH more of a challenge than just learning new rhythms on an instrument I already know how to play - and I'm all about the challenge. Plus I just love the sound of the caixa, and I love where it "sits" within the overall samba sound.
At last week's rehearsal, when the director was directing the caixa crew and watching how we were going with the new patterns, he noticed my completely out-of-control left hand. He made some comment like "twist your wrist!", to which I mouthed back "I know! It's hopeless!"
I've been having some major trouble getting my left hand to do what it's supposed to. With the caixa, you have to play using what drummers the world over know as the "traditional grip". And it's hard to do!
Kit drummers are able to choose between the "matched" grip - where you hold each stick with your hand over the stick, palm facing down - and the "traditional grip", where you do the downwards-facing grip with your right hand (or left if you're left-handed), and you flip the stick over in your other hand, so that your palm is facing upwards, fingers curled around the stick. The movement for the traditional grip is all sideways wrist-twisting, whereas for the matched grip it's more up-and-down-wrist twisting. It's not a particularly natural movement, especially when your other hand is doing something completely different.
You find jazz drummers especially using the traditional grip. And caixa players, and anyone else who plays a drum at an angle. This is because (try it out if you like!), using a matched grip on a drum which is slung at an angle at your side is NOT comfortable. Your elbow sticks up in the air and feels very awkward, and wouldn't be sustainable during a long march. This is why the original snare drummers in marching bands (who were generally marching at the head of a platoon setting off to war) developed the traditional grip. And how it got its name. Marching off to war with a jolly old band at the front being somewhat traditional...
So... watching me try to drum using the traditional grip has been somewhat like watching a hideously uncoordinated person trying to do - well, anything that required co-ordination, really. Not pretty. I knew I was hitting the skin at the right moment with my left stick, but you wouldn't really know it to look at me. As the rhythms got faster, you would see the small amount of wrist-twist I had managed to achieve getting less and less pronounced until eventually my arm would just be banging up and down with no twist in sight, like a five-year-old with her first drum (or upturned cooking pot and obligatory wooden spoon). Bleagh! Not cool.
I decided to get a new pair of sticks (Nancy, my caixa mentor, said the old ones I was using were too heavy), pull out my old practise pad (which I have hardly ever used) and - gasp! - practise. w00t! Breakthrough! The realisation that if one wants to get good at something, one has to practise. Haha!
I'd found my thumb getting very numb by the end of rehearsal last week, and I figured I must be holding the stick wrong and pressing on a nerve or something. I spent a while googling "traditional grip", and soon realised that YouTube was where I needed to be. Reading instructions on how to hold the drumstick properly, and how to move it in the right way, was not getting me anywhere.
I found this GREAT little lesson on YouTube by a guy called Derrick Pope, which was just brilliant, and helped me so much.
I sat on the sofa with the laptop in front of me, and the practise pad in front of that, and I watched and watched, and tried and tried, and learned and learned. What a great teacher!
It's all about muscle memory, really. Once you've got the proper grip sorted out, and you've started to to get the hang of the wrist-twist, you've just got to keep doing it over and over again. I started taking the sticks to work and practising in my lunch hour, or when I was reading something online, or trying to figure something out (as opposed to actually using the keyboard). I got my sticks out on the bus and started practising the wrist-twist there, too. I decided not to worry that my fellow passengers would think I was a bit of a nutter. "Hey!" I thought to myself in a self-justification kind of a way, "I'm learning how to be a samba player - I need to practise - even if I am on the bus!" Heh.
I'm getting much better, even after only a few days. I had a breakthrough moment on the bus the other day, when I realised that I'd reached a point where the thought of the beat had been translated simultaneously into the flick of the wrist and the sound of the beat. Aha! Brilliant!
I'm really looking forward to our beginner's session tomorrow. We'll see whether I can carry my improved technique onto the real drums, with the real rhythms. I know it's going to take a while to get proficient at this, but I really really want to get good at it. I want to be good enough to be in the band!
And to get there I know I have to keep on practising the traditional grip. I'll let you know how it goes!
Technorati tags: Batucada, Wellington, samba, drumming, caixa, traditional grip, drumming technique, drum, practise, practising, practicing, Brazil, Wellington Phoenix, David Beckham, Derrick Pope, YouTube, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
