Well, I screwed up the modem on AEJ’s laptop (I think I need to reinstall the OS when I get home), so I’m left with no Internets unless I swing by Victrola, the coffee shop I (more than) frequent here in Seattle. Unfortunately, though, they’ve turned off the WiFi this weekend, they claim, to “encourage conversation.” Okay, let’s all sit around with complete strangers and converse about why they turned off the friggin’ Internets.

So I find myself at the “Online Cafe,” which is just what you’d think it is: a coffee shop with, yes, computers and WiFi. You can use a computer for free for 30 minutes with a coffee purchase, or, if you have a laptop with WiFi (as I do), you can sit around in the comfy sofas for as long as you wish, sipping iced chai. It’s a nice, fairly cozy place, but it’s a little further of a walk than Victrola, and this laptop gets heavy. (Sounds like I may have taken an extra PissyPill this morning. Sheesh. Whine, whine, whine.)

Speaking of computers — care to hear the continuation of my Computer/Monitor Saga? To catch you up, I bought a beautiful, enormous 30″ Apple Cinema Display about a month ago. After a few days, I started seeing tiny flickering bright green pixels, which would multiply over time. Apple exchanged that first monitor with no questions asked. I hooked up the new monitor and within a half-hour, the problem appeared on the new monitor.
So, Apple suggested that I replace the video card. So, I did. Put in the new card, and 10 minutes later, the problem was back. I took the computer itself down to the Apple Store in New York and dropped it off. It stayed there about week, and they told me that the problem was somehow still the video card — which I’d already replaced — and they told me to pick up the machine. I went and got it, exchanged the video card for yet another card — this time a completely different brand and model — and, you guessed it, the problem was still there.

So, now I had to take the computer BACK to the Apple Store, and this time, bring my monitor, too, because there was a chance that the problem was coming from my monitor (even though I’d exchanged it once before). Fortunately, I’ve been in Seattle for over a week, so I haven’t missed my tower machine while they worked on it.

Extremely long story only somewhat shorter, the techs worked on the machine for a week, determined they couldn’t fix it, contacted the engineers at Apple, and the engineers “captured” my machine. Yes, like a wild animal. What this means is that the engineers in Cupertino want to figure out what the hell is wrong with my system, and they want the whole thing in their hands. So, Apple is replacing everything. On the positive side, my G5 is no longer available, so they’re giving me a faster (dual 2.3 GHz) machine. They’re cloning my old hard drive over to the new machine, giving me back my RAM, giving me a new video card, a new Airport card, and a (third) brand new Cinema Display. So, this whole thing is costing Apple about $9,000 by the time it’s done.

I’m cautiously optimistic that the new system will “work.” I hope there’s not just a flaw in the whole line of 30″ displays. I also hope that at least the majority of my software still works. Because it’ll be running on a new system, I’ll have to re-register Finale, etc., and have my old machine de-authorized from the iTunes Music Store and transfer the authorization over. In other words, it’s a big ol’ pain, but if it all miraculously works, I suppose it’ll somehow be worth it.

I’m a little stunned. Tonight was the world premiere of “Endangered!” (Yes, the title includes an exclamation point, as a little inside joke.)

To catch everybody up to date… The Seattle Youth Symphony has a program called the “Endangered Instruments Program.” It’s a program to encourage middle school kids to play instruments that might not be the first instrument they consider — oboe, bassoon, French horn, etc. Every year, the kids in this program — all 100 of them or so — give a concert. It consists of Beatles songs arranged for bassoon quartet, the theme from Raiders of the Lost Arc played by a trombone quintet, the theme from Brahms First Symphony played by a French horn ensemble, and so on. In the past, the kids have never gotten a chance to play together as an ensemble — and there’s little reason to wonder why. I mean, how much rep is there for oboe, bassoon, French horn, trombone, and tuba — and nothing else? Not much. Maybe for good reason, you might think!

Being the orchestra’s Composer In Residence, I was asked to write a piece that all of these 100 kids from a dozen schools could all play together. They’d get the parts a week or so ahead of time, but the only chance they’d have to rehearse would be at the concert itself. So it had to be pretty simple.

I wrote a 2-3 (depending on the final tempo) minute piece called “Endangered!” Here’s the program note:

“Endangered” was composed for the following odd instrumentation: oboes, bassoons, French horns, trombones, euphonium, and tuba. When I worked with the players, I asked them what they wanted to play. The French horns wanted to play trills, the tubas wanted to play the melody once in a while — things you don’t always hear them do. Since this was their piece, I did what they asked. The result? Well, to me it sounds a little like dinosaur music, with all of those low instruments bunched together on the bottom, and a lone high instrument (the oboe) on top. Thus, I give you “Endangered!” — partially because it’s for the Endangered Instruments Program, but partially because “Dinosaur!” was just too corny of a title.

So, the first and only group rehearsal was tonight (in front of the audience), followed immediately by the world premiere. I don’t know how they did it, but the kids pulled it off beautifully. Seriously, I was blown away. To be honest, I was scared that it would all crash and burn in a spectacular train wreck due to a lack of rehearsal, but I was totally wrong. They nailed it.

When it ended, the crowd — all parents, mind you — jumped to their feet, cheering. Part of it was the visual of seeing a huge ensemble of 100 kids — 20 of them bassoons! — but these parents were clearly proud, and for good reason. The parents were extremely nice, saying things like “that’s the best piece of music I’ve ever heard at a middle school band concert,” but really, the success is due to those kids.

Here are some photos…

What’s that in the distance? Is that a grove of aspen trees? No, it’s just two dozen bassoons.

You haven’t really heard “We All Live In A Yellow Submarine” until you’ve heard it played by a tuba trio.

One of the more diligent players looks over his part before the performance.

They’re taking the “stage.” (Okay, it’s a middle school gym.) Just about to give it a go…

Walter Cole, who runs the program, saying a few words before he conducts the Big Premiere!

And… there they go!!!

It’s over — and Walt looks as relieved as I was by how well it all went.

Proud parents. They should be!

And here’s a completely unrelated picture of two bunnies playing by Green Lake here in Seattle the other day.

Again, congrats to all of those kids on a great concert, and thanks to Walter Cole for putting the whole thing together! Next up: Sunday’s West Coast Premiere of “Antiphonal Dances…”

This Friday night, Stuart Sims is conducing two of my pieces on the same concert at California State University Stanislaus. He’s opening with “Damn,” and closing with “Redline Tango.” He’s also doing an awesome piece by my friend Jonathan Newman — “Chunk.” I think this is the first time I’ve shared a program with Newman since our Juilliard days.

As many people have heard me say in the past, I’m a big fan of the rock band Tool. The problem I often have, though, is articulating why I appreciate their music so much, both intellectually and viscerally. Stuart Sims has finally articulated it for me in his program note for Friday’s concert:

In the contemporary rock scene, the band Tool is widely acknowledged as recording some of the most interesting, substantive music in the sub-genre of alternative rock. Tool’s music is typified by a layered texture, where complexity is developed by adding ideas and intensifying the quality of sound as an idea repeats itself. The lines in their music are typically highly and asymmetrically rhythmic and drive forward with an unmistakable urgency. As composer John Mackey has discussed, their music is an influence in his writing, as can be found in Redline Tango, particularly in the repeated figure, scored in bass voices, that drives the outer sections of the piece.

Nicely put. About Damn, Stuart writes:
Opening with a piece for four percussion and amplified clarinet by a rising young star of American music, Damn, by John Mackey, is a five minute romp. Originally composed for a dance company, the kinetic nature of Damn really ignites mind and body, and Mackey’s affinity for the music of the rock band Tool is readily evident: the pounding rhythms, odd meters, and incessant drive can be found in much contemporary alternative rock today.

He makes the piece sound a whole lot hipper than I ever could! Elsewhere, Stuart writes:
Can works of music have substance and broad appeal? Can one say anything of lasting value in a vocabulary intended to thrill and divert? Can concert music sound more familiar to a contemporary audience and still have substance—in short, can art be cool, and still be art?
Tonight’s program offers an emphatic answer in the affirmative.

Is it any wonder why I like this guy?!

Man, I wish I could be there for the concert! It’s going to be a blast. I can’t wait to work with Stuart on “Sasparilla” next fall…