i've been busy the last few days, is it obvious? classes have not exactly been very nice to me.

Friday night i attended a concert by The Books, which was enjoyable and cheap (6$). The books were, of course, brilliant. The musicians used a very glassian approach of playing a video while the music was played, which served as much an aesthetic choice as a practical one(since being a electronic collage-based group, only about half of the music can actually be played at all). They showed some really wonderful and beautiful film (and some hilarious film as well) and they also demonstrated some cello virtuosity with rapid harmonics and glissandos. Good stuff, entertaining as well as solidly intellectual.

The Books were preceded by a group from Canada named Piano- and their name doesn’t lie; their music generally ranged from mp to pp. It was sweet stuff- not saccharine, not cheesy, but generally sweet, gentle and restrained. Great, wonderful music for children, and i dont mean that in any derogatory way (in the same way Bernstein is great for kids, in my opinion) And in fact, it was music that cant really offend anyone- it could be quite pretty and even a touch melancholy- but despite this, it still maintained an intellectual element and could hold my interest. The harmonies were simple, but they often used interesting interlocking rhythms as well as peculiar instrumentation (alto sax, i believe, ukulele, drums, accordion and various little percussion instruments.) it was great, but my only complaint (which is the complaint with most bands) is that they need to diversify- it could get a little dull.all and all it was a well spent evening- good music and good jokes.

I just recently got my tickets to see alex ross in lecture at On the Boards.Im excited to see it, and if he is as good a lecturer as writer... and this contemporary arts venue... didn’t know about it, so i'm interested in seeing what they're up to.