a cure for depression*

It was a low key but fun CD launch for Spiral Dance's latest CD Worts 'n' All. This is a live album from a set of gigs held last year whilst Dandelion Wine was in town (it does not, however, feature their music). This is the first CD where you get to hear the new sound of the band, with Ingy on violin replacing Kerryn on flute. I suppose I've heard the new line up enough times that it no longer sounds strange, but I really must compare the Pan on this album with the original (probably the most definitive flute piece shared by both, although Man from the Stars comes close). Other tracks that are really new are a set of three french tunes for squeezebox and violin (Derriere les Carreaux, Moninette, and The Man in the Brown Hat) and Adrienne's latest song Blackwater Deep (about why you should look gift horses in the mouth). There is also a multimedia component for PC that I haven't looked at yet. The gig was fun and ended with Burning Times. Sometimes I think I exert too much of an influence when we dance this locally. I do this mainly to ensure that the outer circle doesn't crash into surrounding stuff, but it also is to prevent someone attempting to hijack the energies of the dance and turn it to their own use (adding a touch of Chaos to the mix really makes doing so quite problematical). This time I added a staccato power-beat to the Goddess chant that had people literally vibrating to each down beat, since we seem to be increasingly raising the level of the chant earlier and earlier (and before the appropriate point is reached in the musical accompaniment). This irritated Adrienne immensely once, although this time she was bewitched herself at the effect the power beat had on the crowd and wanted to come down off the stage and join in. But everyone went away happy, well, except possibly for one person – who objects to the fact that the inner circle dances to the left (which she cannot do and thus cannot be a part of the inner circle – which is the place to be according to the cognesceti). ( On a personal level... ) * St John's Wort, or goatweed, is often used as a cure for depression or anxiety. The new Spiral Dance CD probably works just as well, but also probably shouldn't be orally administered.

snap, crackle, pop

Some of you know that I went to a special music school for high school. Some of you might even know of my comment that I passed Music I by being good with a soldering iron (which while quite true isn't the whole story). I've played a lot of different types of instruments, although not to any standard of competence, especially with regard to the woodwinds – too much brass. However I think I have finally found the instrument that I'd really like to play: The Zeusophone or Thoramin. Here is a video (YouTube) of a performance (the screams of the frying audience have been edited out).