Oh Noze!

It finally happened. I missed my deadline.

There exist words that describe the level of shame I feel for this failure... They are Japanese words, and they are uttered by only the truest warriors moments before they sully their brittle blades for the last time. On themselves.

Fortunately for you all, I do not know these words, and thus I cannot follow through on the honorable action that might redeem my soul in the omnipresent eyes of Mick Jagger. Come on, you know it to be true! Anywho, I'm alive and well and ready to write! So ready that I am, in fact. Hmm. Let's get this going.

First of all, I would like to assure you that there will never ever be another hurried and classless post like last week's (excepting my having a very bad day), and apologize for still leaving it there to be read. However, I wrote it, and I have issues with modifying what has already come to pass to save face or cheat causality. I could launch into a philosophical examination of what I mean by that, but... Perhaps another time. For now, I'm sticking by my promise that I will only edit to rectify, clarify, or emulsify. Yes, I know what word I'm using. Bonus points to whomever can realize how I'm using it.

Secondly, I would like to make an announcement, and you can't do anything about it. In previous posts I had indicated my interest in musiking, and that I eventually wanted to share my productions with all of you. That can soon be a reality! I discovered a wonderful web service called TubeYou or something like that that hosts admittedly painfully-compressed videos... For free! I'm excited to try this out with my music, but first I must have a video to upload and a decent internet connection with which to do so. While I could simply put my songs to kaleidoscopic visual effects or slideshows of inspired images I would much rather have something a bit more interesting, which brings me to

Sanban (another announcement), I am going to be performing my music for the first time next week! To make a short story long(-er), my music faculty's Chinese culture class (correct me if I'm wrong on any of these points, A, so that I may better know what I'm doing) is hosting an event at Evergreen to which I have been invited by said faculty. While there will be some other musical performances by both professionals and students, there will also be examples of Chinese opera, short plays, and other artistic endeavors with an East-Asian-feel.

For my part, I am taking three traditional Chinese songs, adding my own flavor to them, and then joining them into a medley of (logically) three parts. I have so far written two of those parts and am working on the third. Featured instruments: Native American Flute, Guitar, Cello, and a variety of small percussion such as jingle bells and woodblocks. I will be performing the Flute and the Cello (not at the same time, mind you... I've got mad skills but I'm not that mad), and am contracting other students for the other instrumental positions.

I'm hoping that a student media group I recently got involved with (we're totally not getting married, though, to put your minds at ease) or my friends in Evergreen's Mediaworks program will be able to film, record, or otherwise document the performances and produce acceptable results to publish for public benefit. You better hope it all works out... Cross your fingers. And the other ones. Wrap your arms together. Now your legs and toes. Twist your tongue over. Cross your eyes. Hop. Hop! Oh, that's right... You crossed your eyes first. Sorry.

Well, this tremendous post is disintegrating... Next week I will fo' sho' post on Wednesday, hopefully with the sheet music for what I will be performing over the weekend -glee-. For now, enjoy my excitement as I go off to write t3H_muz1k that will lead to my fame/demise on the fortuitous nights to come... Bum bum buuuuum...

- Piers


"...disillusion with the present and a certain nostalgia for the past could combine with a passionate hope for the future to bring the old order crashing down, opening the way for an uncertain passage to the new.”
- Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China