Anybody have an MP3 recording of Warren Benson’s “The Passing Bell?” If it’s a good recording, would you email it to me? Doesn’t seem to be a commercial recording available. I just bought the score, but it’s kind of a drag looking at it without being able to hear it.

And I think the new piece will actually have a waterphone in it. According to Mark Steighner, it’s not an impossible instrument to obtain, and wow — I just love the sound. So, this will likely be the “playable piece that never gets played because nobody has a waterphone” piece. Cursed samples…

(EDIT) As Montoya has pointed out, Ghost Train and UFO both use waterphone, and those certainly get played, so this should be fine. Woo hoo!

I was afraid this would happen.

I just installed the Vienna Symphonic Library “FX Percussion” sample set, and while playing with various instruments, I discovered one that I’ve only heard once before — a waterphone. Tan Dun begins his Concerto for Water Percussion with this instrument, but I had no idea what it was called. Now that I’ve heard it again — this time in sample format (that is, actual recordings of the instrument prepared for synth playback) — I wish I could use the sound in a piece. The problem is that waterphones are custom handmade by a guy named Richard Waters, and they’re very expensive — starting at $800. I can’t very well write a part for an instrument that nobody can afford to purchase. But wow, it’s a cool sound. AEJ heard it from the other room and yelled something to the effect of, “that’s scary.” It’s very… I don’t know. Haunted ship? Check out the inventor’s website. This is the danger of playing with great and interesting samples — you end up wanting to use these sounds for real, and often, it’s not realistic.

While you’re reading things, there’s a review of the Naxos “Redline Tango” CD in this week’s Time Out New York. Here’s the link. Has anybody seen this review in print? Newman? Would somebody mind picking up a copy for me?

AEJ and I had a celebrity sighting the other day. We were at our local grocery store, and there in the dairy section was John C. Reilly, he of Chicago, Magnolia, Boogie Nights, and the soon-to-be-released A Prairie Home Companion.

It’s pretty fun to us that he’s the sort of celebrity who lives in our hood and shops at our grocery store. We’ve also twice seen one of the actresses from “The Unit” (our favorite new show this season), Audrey Marie Anderson, who plays Scott Foley’s wife. (She’s the brunette with the short hair.) The second time we saw her at the grocery, I told her that we loved her show. It was the first time I’d ever spoken to an actor or actress whom I didn’t know — I said nothing to Harrison Ford at a party a few years ago, because really, what was I going to say? “Um, hey, you were awesome as Indiana Jones.” — but in this instance, I figured that her show was new enough that she probably hadn’t yet received an onslaught of public attention from strangers, so it seemed safe. She seemed appreciative. John C. Reilly, though, looked pretty engrossed in his yogurt selection. (He seems to prefer Horizon Organic.)

“24” this week was great until the last 10 minutes, when it decided it was time to suck again. The whole thing with the weasely guy, Miles, was retarded. I mean, come on. Here Chloe has the most important piece of evidence in the WORLD, and while she’s transferring it to clean it up (what?! seriously? it needed remastering? it ain’t on vinyl. what was up with that?), other people are allowed into the room to erase the data with a friggin’ magnet? Seriously? So stupid and irritating. You expect me to believe that they wouldn’t have Chloe working alone in a room with, like, 6 guys guarding the door? And why did the president take Miles’s call? He’d have known the call was about Bauer — and Miles even said as much — but the president would have assumed it was BAD, like they’d listened to the recording, and he was busted. But no, he answers the phone – what, just in case it’s somehow GOOD news? – and surprise! It IS good news! Hooray. What. Ever. And the episode was going along so well until the last 10 minutes. Then it became — as it so often has this season — unbelievable and irritating. I get it that they have to stretch it out for 3 more episodes, but that was awfully clumsy.

Kind of like American Idol. Elvis is no Queen, but I really am a fan of a lot of Elvis. (Didn’t you read my blog entry about my trip to Graceland?) As such, I wasn’t thrilled about the Elvis theme. Much of it was cartoonishly goofy, but I guess in the end, as Randy said, they worked it out, dawg. I still think Chris should win. I like Taylor, but AEJ finds him fantastically irritating. We both agree that we hate Elliot, and are endlessly baffled by the praise he receives week after week from the judges. And then there’s Catherine, who sings pretty, and looks pretty — and bugs me. Doesn’t she strike you as the biggest prude ever to appear on the show? It saddens me (well, not really), because it seems that she should be hot, but she actually has no sexual charisma at all. She’s all nice girl — and not the kind of nice girl who you know, deep down, is very, very bad. No, Catherine is all “let’s sit around and smile and talk about puppies while we drink caffeine-free diet iced tea and brush our hair.” And you’re all, “seriously? Are you really this nice?” And she’s like, “Look! A puppy! I love puppies!” Gag.

I’m off to lunch with Teddy and Bob at Alcove. And then, tonight — The Amazing Race! I love that show. I hope The Hippies win.