In May of 1981 O and I drove up to New York City to see
a "new music festival" at Carnegie Hall. His girl friend
Nora, a dancer, was part of the last act: the Steve Reich
orchestra performing his "Octet" with their modern ballet
accompaniment. Phillip Glass opened the show, playing
solo on a large organ. The only other acts I recall
were Merideth Monk's vocal wailing; and David Van
Tieghem, who did amazing rhythmic things with a table
full of kitchenware, in duet with a tape (also his music,
presumeably) - he was kinda out of control at the end of
his performance. The minimalist, repetitive sounds
composed by Phillip Glass and Steve Reich are sometimes
called "trance music" - it drives some listeners crazy.
Reich's "Music For 18 Musicians" was the first I
knew, heard in the background of early works by
Joe Frank.
"Koyanisqaatsi (Life Out Of Balance)" is the most well-known
film by Godfrey Reggio. I call it a "World's Fair" movie
because it's the sort of experimental film one might see
at an Expo pavilion. No dialogue, no plot; just images
with strong music make a point. In his case he tampers
subtly with reality by modifying the film speeds; and the
soundtracks are provided by Phillip Glass. "Powaqqatsi
(Life in Transformation)" is the next film in a trilogy.
(The IMDB says the
third, "Noyaqqatsi (Life In A State Of War)", is to be finally
released next year.)
I'm still absorbing "Powaqqatsi" - last night I finished
watching this library videotape; I'll be studying it some
more since the due date's not for three weeks. I guess I'm
more receptive now than when I first saw the film in 1988.
Then I was only mildly impressed; Koy had an impact Pow
lacked. Koy has lots of sped-up imagery of modern
environments; Pow has lots of slowed-down views from the Third
and Fourth Worlds. Now I find the latter fascinating - but I wish
there was some method for identification <1>.
Like the unrelated but similar "Baraka", I want to know where
they're filming; who are these people dancing in their
dazzlingly colorful outfits; and what's going on? Why
is that immense crowd of people doing strip mining manually?
What's their motivation? Watching them toil in slow motion
really got painful in the cinema; I suppose that was the
point. Towards the end of the film the images are coming
fast & furious, mostly it's just people, people,
people - humanity in motion.
After the movie I felt giddy with possibility - I
actually could make like Phineas Fogg and take a
trip around the world. I could, I can, I should - with a
laptop in my backpack to record what happens, and the
occasional upload to this site to record my progress. Preparing for such
a trip in just two months may be unrealistic, but
stay tuned. (I could really use a stateside patron to
handle stuff like my taxes; perhaps I could persuade
my Uncle Happy to do this.) Acquiring a laptop by then, just
for the Europe trip as it now stands, is a goal I can
attain - and wouldn't you love to read dispatches
from the road? The real soul-searing ego question is,
do I want to go around the world, or do I just want to
tell people I've gone around the world? If so I
should just stay in Europe, the hassle's not worth it.
I'm enjoying my tape-harvest of the various different
arrangements of "Anthem" found in "Powaqqatsi". In "The Truman
Show", this is the music heard just after his radio acts
up, when he's starting to finally realize that something
enormous is going on, and, fantastically, he's
at the center of it! <2>
Later it's heard again when all of Sea Haven's out walking the streets, searching.
Y2K Spotlight
The Washington Post concludes a three-part
series about remediation today. The DC government, to nobody's
surprise, is way behind on the problem. Quotes from today's
article, by Eric Lipton:
The District's current plan involves replacing almost every major computer system in the next 17 months, while simultaneously repairing older systems in case the replacement computers are not ready in time... Last month, the District hired IBM to find and repair flaws in up to 30 million lines of software code. Complicating the task is enduring uncertainty over whether the District has saved copies of the original "source code" -- a recipe of sorts used to create the instructions that run various computer systems."Of sorts"? "Last month"? My brain reels.
Despite the work remaining, officials voice confidence that there will not be major breakdowns in city services come Jan. 1, 2000.What do you expect them to say, Eric? Lord, deliver us from naïve reporters. It's okay to be skeptical!
At work today we were informed that some more people will be
placed in our trailer soon - no more will it be the roomy refuge
we've grown accustomed to. As my coworker-supervisor said,
"There goes the neighborhood!" It's transient anyway; in a month
or two the project moves back into the real building from whence
it came. This building, which is directly across the street from
the military gym (the one I prefer) is being renovated.
With the treadmill (or what E calls the "Dreadmill") in such close
proximity, perhaps I can ratchet up my working-out attendance to
daily, rather than every other. Alternatively, it may become overrun
with my fellow workers, forcing my flight to a less
well-known venue.
I've decided to pay the low monthly fee to the company
which hosts this web-site. Certain benefits come with joining
GeoPlus, among which are an easy-to-remember URL
(www.geocities.com/~rasch) and no more ad banners - a
service enhancement for you, my loyal readers. Also I made a
slight adjustment to the Who's Who page
today - E (with whom I'm communicating almost daily) gets
her own, true letter, and my nephew gets the M, which was never
used as I originally intended.