Archive for May, 2008

Homer preview: This Boy

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

No, it’s not the Beatles song, it’s a new one. O is bragging about his son, Telly. Here you just get to hear the accompaniment.

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“This Boy” (from HOMER IN CYBERSPACE)
Music by Roger Bourland
Lyrics by Mel Shapiro
(Accompaniment only)

HOMER IN CYBERSPACE adds my orchestrations

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

Last night we ran the whole show with my orchestrations. You’ll remember, the orchestra is all prerecorded by me using Apple’s LOGIC 8 software. I use a lot of electronic sounds because of the “cyberspace” aspect of the title. To balance that side of the sound, I use a huge array of stringed instruments — […]

The Odyssey gets a high-tech musical makeover

Saturday, May 17th, 2008

Innovative “Homer in Cyberspace” breathes new life into ancient heroes
by David Chute

Getting Aphrodite Off the Ground
In the surreal virtual universe of Mel Shapiro’s “Homer in Cyberspace,” the gods of ancient Greece have been deposed, “shrink-wrapped and imprisoned” by a new race of digital/electronic deities known as the iGods.
Struggling to return home to his loyal wife […]

Korla Pandit: Miserlou (1951)

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

And now for something completely different. I love how, in the first transition, he slaps the lower manual to emulate a drum. He keeps WATCHING me through the whole piece, feels almost creepy.
I wonder what the history of performers playing 2 keyboards at the same time is? People around in the 1970s remember Keith […]

Filipino mother’s day

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

On Sunday, Daniel invited his uncle and aunt, Tita [aunt] Eden and her husband Nelson, their sons and daughters and their children to our house for the afternoon. We had a dozen kids under the age of 13 here and I have to say they were the best behaved children I’ve seen in years When […]

Deep Purple: Smoke on the water (Japanese version)

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

This just in from Prof Waterman. Get down, but not too much.

Final Alice is back - you go girl

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

In 1976, America was all excited about being 200 years old and many of its major orchestras participated in consortium commissioned works. One of those works that I loved was called “Final Alice” by David Del Tredici. In fact it wasn’t only I that loved the work, the piece got standing ovations no matter […]

HOMER up on his feet

Sunday, May 11th, 2008

Yesterday Daniel and I got to see the first complete run-through of HOMER IN CYBERSPACE. I think we may have a hit on our hands. The pacing is excellent, the story is sexy, compelling and entertaining, everyone will like the music, the actors are terrific and everything will only get better as we still have […]

Roger Bourland: Portable Concerto for viola (1989)

Saturday, May 10th, 2008

Portable Concerto for viola and electronics was written through and NEA commission. Three composers (me, Gary Philo, and Wm Thomas McKinley) wrote pieces for three violists (Walter Trampler, Marcus Thompson, and James Dunham) who each were to play the all the pieces in different cities. It was Paul Reale who convinced me to not “write […]

Desert shadow

Saturday, May 10th, 2008

I lived with my family in Albuquerque, New Mexico from 1960 to 1963. One of the memories I have of that time is the SMELL of spring. Spring in the desert. And later, when I lived in Wisconsin or Boston, every spring I would smell the western desert calling me back.

On the bus today

Friday, May 9th, 2008

[I take the bus these days. Sick of paying so much at the tank, and you see a lot of stuff you don’t otherwise see. It seems a good source of blog stories, so here.]

On the way home today, the back of the bus was dominated by 5 boys, probably 14 to 15 years old. […]

Why I am not a wise man

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

The doorbell rang this morning. I wasn’t expecting anyone so I peaked through the side window and saw a creature that resembled Cousin It in the Addams Family. My heart thumped not being sure what it was. I went to the door, opened it and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi […]

Rufus’s BlackOutSabbath

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

Rufus wants us all to participate in a “turn your electricity off” on June 21. He has a webpage describing what is behind this effort, and it is laudable.
And while you’re at it, you can purchase a bust of Rufus for your piano, or your famous composer bust collection.

More on short concerts

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

Tonight I went to a concert, and after the second piece on the 2nd half, I was FULL. I had a hard time listening to more. The music went in my brain, but I didn’t aggressively take it in as I did when I was fresh. It wasn’t that the music was bad, it was […]