Ethermusic 2005 - Day 1

Here's a quick report from EM2k5 about Day 1... it's late (1:30am), and I'm bushed. I got to meet most of the attendees today, and I'm sure I'll meet the rest tomorrow. There are SO many great & creative people here. Herbert Deutch sat down with me for drinks & apps this afternoon and told me the abridged version of how he helped convince Bob Moog to build synthesizers. I got a chance to catch up with Jon Bernhart of the Lothars too. Pamelia Kurstin just entertained us for an hour and a half in the bar with her stories of gigs all over the world, her philosophy on the myth of perfect pitch, and her ambidextrosity. I also got to hang out in the Green Room (which is actually Orange) with Wilco Botermans, Barbara Buchholz, and Lydia Kavina and her husband today.

In the morning, I'm moderating a panel discussion with Lydia, Pamelia, and Herbert about their life with the theremin. I'm going to be up a little while longer planning my questions, and I'm really looking forward to the chat, early as it may be.

I wish all our readers could be here. There is SO much theremin energy here! It's just amazing.

Oh, and if you ever get the chance to see Barbara Buchholz perform live, take it. She is an amazing performer, combining elements of pantomime, dance, and other visual/physical movement along with her steller theremin chops. She is truly an artist!

OK, I've procrastinated long enough now... on to preparations for the panel... and maybe, just maybe, a little sleep ;)

I can't believe I forgot to mention that I got to try out a theremin cello!! Floyd Engels brought one of his reproductions and after a great lecture detailing its creation, he set it up and let us all take a whirl. I must say, it's much more difficult than I could have imagined. Besides having to find the notes, you're balancing it between your knees, keeping it at the right angle, and working the volume lever.

Floyd built 10 of these instruments, and I didn't get far enough in my chat with him to know if any are still available. He is a superb craftsman, and his attention to detail shows in everything he does. He told me he built 17 diamond speaker replicas but gave up because it took 40 hours to weave the speaker cover for EACH one!

Very cool about the theremin cello. Would you believe the only theremins I've ever seen are my etherwave, someone else's, and the alesis airsynth? I'm only going to ethermusic on saturday so this should be very cool to encounter other enthusiasts and new instruments. Does anyone know if Peter Pringle is making a surprise appearance here?

Garrgh! I wish I was there!

waaaaa, it's Friday morning and I'm stuck in bed oh well maybe next year.