Quick Update

The Dorothy Heralds played a few gigs last week. Thursday we were at the Blue Chalk Club in Middleton. It turned out to be one of the most fun gigs I've played with the band. We opened the show for the Thursday night house band, Avengers Assemble (sorry, no link). Afterwards a jam session ensued. By the end of the night the group was ploughing its way through '80's classics such as Journey's "Separate Ways", Night Ranger's "Sister Christian", Van Halen's "Jump" and Styx's opus "Come Sail Away". We were in stitches!

Friday night took us to The Klinic in Madison. Our friend and co-worker Marcus opened the show with his new group, The New Clear Solution. Very interesting band. The drummer used nothing but an electronic kit and the bass player did double duty on groove boxes and mixer. Next up were our friends Spin Spin Coupling who are no longer all about sensitive arena rock. They're all about the sloppy rock apparently. Great band. Loud. Very Loud. But a great bunch of guys that write good songs. We finished out the night with a great tight set. The band is really developing a new persona on stage and in our playing. We're becoming much more comfortable stretching out on songs. I'm getting this sneaking suspicion that the next album (yes, we're already planning the next one) will bring the rock in a way we've yet to do.

In other news, I went to the Sol LeWitt show at the MMoCA last Saturday. The show was great. I found the works displayed eye-opening. However, the best part of the show for me were the two hand-written Steve Reich scores on display. As my roommate Nick would say, "it's awesome because it's real, ya know?!". I guess it's strange to have something affect you so deeply and yet never feel connected on a certain level. I know that Steve Reich is a real person, but seeing the scores gave me a different sense of connection than I'd ever experienced. I suppose it's akin to seeing your favorite artist in concert for the first time. Not quite, but somewhere in the ballpark.

I'm starting to do some production and engineering at DNA now. It's a bit nerve-wracking running a session (even if it's just one other person aside from me), but enjoyable in the end.

So that's all for now. Look for part two and three of my rant about the Madison Area Music Awards soon!