This is the second performance of the Performing Artist Series that I have attended. The first was an exceptional performance by the classical pianist Andrey Pisarev. The second held a particular place in my heart because of my affinity for the Beatles and their music.
I have heard various transformations of the Beatles--most recently being the film Across the Universe; it was more literal in its interpretation but powerful nonetheless. I wondered if the quartet could successfully merge jazz and the Beatles. To my delight, they provided an excellent show that pleased my ears and roused my emotions.
The solo piece played by the talented Rob Blumenau became my favorite of the night. In the middle of the first session, he requested that the crowd allow him to indulge in his desire to play a classical song. Why not?
As he began to play, the song was instantly recognizable as Moonlight Sonata by a rebellious Ludwig Von Beethoven. The piece was perfectly played, relaying the lament of Beethoven’s (rumored) love for one of his students.
Very subtly during the first movement, Rob reversed the music--essentially playing the chords backwards. It was a change that was unnoticed by half the audience according to a cursory poll taken afterwords.
Rob had morphed Moonlight Sonata into the magnificent song, Because. In a way they complement each other. Beethoven wrote Moonlight Sonata about his love. The Beatles wrote a song about how love just is. In the song, the Beatles sing, “Because the world is round.” There is no reasoning behind it. The is no explanation for it. It is part of the fabric of the universe. Take it and accept it. Love is something that just is.
The piano-only performance was very moving. I couldn’t help from being enchanted. Throughout the entire song I was smiling. I loved it.
The other members of the quartet were as follows: Jeff Cambell (bass), Gabe Condon (guitar), and Brad Paxton (drums). They all played deftly and presented the passion of their music with gusto.
The last song they performed was not on the program. It was Jude, Paul McCartney’s song of solace for John Lennon’s son. It was also the only song that was performed with vocals--provided by the young and talented Gabe Condon. They invited the audience to join in the refrain, which many did.
I hope to see another performance by the group in the future. I enjoyed the entire performance that night many thanks to the group for providing such beautiful music. Until next time…
What is the matrix? Is it some secretive program used to subjugate humanity while machines farm us for heat? Is it a nice little car manufactured by Toyota for sale in the United States? No, it is a useful device championed by none other than Dr. Neil Hair of the Rochester Institute of Technology which seems to have been inspired by the mathematical matrix.
Normally, I am reluctant to deviate from my normal methods. They have served me well time and time again. The compulsory usage of the matrix also served to give me pause because I tend to resist such impositions. I had to remind myself that I must be open to new ideas and assess them for their utility. Just because my methods been successful doesn’t mean that they are the best.
The explanation was relatively straightforward. Dr. Hair reminded the class to consider the relative weights of the various categories we created for the matrix. Each category does not carry equal importance and that must be reflected when building scores from the matrix. This helped to assuage my concerns about intra-rating the categories. We were left to our own devices with regards to assigned the weighted scores. Fair enough. Everyone has different ideas about what is important and it gave us the opportunity to mold our business into niches if necessary.
The team met in person at the end of the week–the information was too information intensive to be able to do over the internet efficiently (i.e. too media rich). We threw out some ideas ranging from fairly conventional to very interesting. An idea was brought up that initially had not received too much attention from the group in earlier meetings. We decided we were going to flesh out each idea and develop them a little so that the matrix could be used to gauge them.
It turns out after scoring the different business models, the idea that won was the one that we had been less attentive to earlier. In fact, we developed a supplementary business model which we scored and happened to equal the previously mentioned model. The team was able to combine the models. We are now on our way to fully fleshing out the model for a presentation when the break is over. Just a fair warning not to dismiss any idea until you really know it won’t work. We almost lost a gem here.
I tried to create something in Second Life today. I was inspired by the view next to my team’s store so I decided to create a telescope.
The solar system is floating off in the distance so I decided that placing a telescope would be appropriate. Note that I have no design experience and that the telescope itself is magically standing on two legs but I didn’t want to spend the time designed something that was inconsequential in Second Life. I have to figure out how to link the objects together so that they are one.
I’m mildly satisfied with what I’ve made, although I’m sure that the rest of you would scoff at it.
