Travels in Japan

I've long had a fascination with Japan.  My very first tape recorder was from there, as was my first transistor radio.  So what?  No, for a boy in the early 1960's obsessed with music and sound, the fact that these amazing devices had "Made in Japan" stamped on them gave me the beginnings of a romantic notion that Japan must be a place of wonder.  My father (before I was born) had been stationed there as a member of the US Air Force, and 2 mementos he brought home were long a part of our household.  One was an elegant Geisha doll in a wooden box, with a selection of wigs each in it's own compartment.  The other was a satin bomber-style jacket embroidered with the words "Takusan Stinko" and images of fuzzy dice and martini glasses and such, which all of us kids donned as we each became teenagers.

My wonderful roommate in my first year in college was Japanese-American, and he taught me  Japanese songs (Sakura), some history (his parents were in internment camps), and some culture.  The novel "Shogun" came out, and Sondheim's "Pacific Overtures", and I was so inspired by their portrayal of Japan that I took classes in Japanese history at UC Berkeley.  I saw Kurosawa films at the Pacific Film Archive, my first girlfriend after college played the Shakuhaki and studied Aikido.  I was happily surrounded by Japanese influences.

But it wasn't until our son got on a Korean/Japanese TV craze this past year, and then started campaigning for us to travel East, that we made a family decision to cross the Pacific.  I finally got to see Japan.  Thanks to him, a longstanding dream came true.  And, it was dreamy...

Sunday, April 10 - Tokyo

Fresh off the plane, on the balcony of our Airbnb on the river at dusk.

Our apartment building as seen from the river...

We walked along the river in warm, beautiful shirtsleeves weather to the famous Tsukiji fish market, where trucks full of seafood bustled in and out.

Around the market are many small alleys, and some really really tiny alleys, all filled with various restaurants.

The door to this one, hobbit sized and down a hobbit-sized walkway, intrigued us mightily.  A very cool maitre'd with a Portland/Brooklyn/Oakland vibe (only Japanese) came out to greet us.  It was only $120/per person.  I was ready to go for it, but Marcella, knowing that we were jet lagged and knowing that my mind was not working at full capacity, wisely steered us to a more affordable yet still charming place for our evening meal.

We did indeed enjoy Japanese vending machine culture!  Vending machines are everywhere, including 2 or 3 in every quiet residential alley (apparently there is zero vandalism in Japan).  Most are for cold and hot drinks, but some have snacks and food as well.

Monday, April 11 

Our apartment building, the white one on the right, on a bend in the river...

There was a trio of spider-men scaling the building next door every day.  Not just window washers, they each had a pole, like a selfie stick, and they were tapping each and every one of the 2x6 inch tiles on the building, listening.  When they found one that didn't sound right, they took out their clipboards and noted where it was, apparently so they could come back and repair it.  Attention to detail!

The garbage trucks here are TINY.  And garbage/recycling is very intense.  The plastic caps to plastic bottles go in a different bin than the bottles themselves, and it goes on and on like that.  And, there are virtually NO trashcans on the streets of Tokyo.  After the Sarin gas terrorist attack back in the 90's, Tokyo got rid of all trash receptacles, leaving nowhere for terrorists to leave terrible things.  If you've got a wrapper or a bottle you want to get rid of, give it to someone at a store.  And, everyone does - Tokyo is amazingly clean and litter-free.  FYI - after a windy night, we woke to see some plastic bags and stuff in the river.  No problem.  The river trash boat comes along every morning, and guys with long poles clean up any trash that accumulated over night..

We did see a couple of major tourist sites, like the above temple.  They were crowded, kind of cool, but really we most enjoyed just wandering in neighborhoods and finding things on our own.

From the temple, we could see the SkyTree about a mile away, beckoning to us.  It's the tallest tower in the world, with the most expensive tickets in the world to ride the smoothest elevator in the world to see the most amazing city in the world.  We paid the money, enjoyed the view.  It was fun.

On the way to the SkyTree we passed this weird-ass building.  The Asahi building, designed by Philippe Starke.  Inside is a restaurant with a towering ceiling, and some offices hidden away on the upper floors.  Atop is what's called, locally, "the golden turd", but what was intended by Mr. Starke to be a golden flame. 

After an a-mazing meal of freshly made Udon noodles (the muscled guy at the front of the restaurant is constantly kneading and cutting them), where you order according to how thick you want the noodles (we chose super-thick, they were super-yummy), we went to bed.
  
Tuesday, April 12

We woke and dawdled in a neighborhood cafe, where a dog and her Japanese owner were dining as well.  She spoke excellent English (a rarity here) and filled us in on various things we'd been wondering about.  We loved petting her dog, too.   
 

Then we ventured to yet another fantastic restaurant, super hip and locavore and all that, meeting up with our good friend Mariko (above).  She used to work for Marcella at her store in San Francisco.

After lunch we headed to a bunny/hedgehog cafe.  For $10, you get to hold a bunny or hedgehog on your lap for 30 minutes.  They were supposed to serve tea or something, but they never did, we never cared.  Holding these animals was da bomb...

After the animal petting party, Mariko took us to Shibuya, where the humanity, the crushing humanity, was awe-inspiring.  Makes Times Square look like a village green.  So crowded, so bustling, it takes your breath away.  And, while things move fast here in Tokyo, nobody pushes or shoves, there's a gentleness that makes it all bearable. 

After a tour of Mariko's favorite store, Tokyu Hands (a cross between Ace Hardware, Office Depot, The Nature Company, Starbucks and Bed, Bath and Beyond) we headed off to see the Yakult Swallows take on the Yomuri Giants at Jingu Stadium.  The way they enjoy their baseball here tickled us no end!  We had some yakitori snacks at the game, but were still hungry by the time we got back to our home neighborhood, so we wandered into a smoky yakitori restaurant.  No menu in English, no pictures of the food, so we just nodded and indicated we needed food.  They brought so many things, only a few of which we had any idea what they were, but some of them were off-the-charts delicious.  Another fine meal in Japan!  Then to bed, for in the morning we were off to Kanazawa...


Wednesday, April 13

Here are a couple of Japan's famed bullet trains, the Shinkansen.  They are fast, comfortable, and just plain wow.  Kanazawa is about 350 miles from Tokyo, and it took just 2.5 hours to get there, up through the snow-covered mountains of Nagano and back down to the West Coast of Japan.  Why, oh why, don't we have trains like these?  A trip to LA from San Francisco would take just a little over 2 hours, and would be comfortable, beautiful, even fun.  There's no TSA, you just go to the train station and get on the train and go.  Truly civilized.

We caught the train at  the world's largest train station, Tokyo Station.  We walked over a mile with our suitcases to get to our ticket counter.  It being another 1/2 mile to our train platform, we weren't going to be able to make the next train, and would have to wait an hour for the next one.  Meanwhile, we went to a line of tiny restaurants located under the train tracks, and had a decent lunch for a handful of change before going back to catch our train.

Keep your keyboard noises down, please.  Truly civilized!

On the train, I sat next to guy who was reading a baseball newspaper, while I had the A's game on my ipad.  We got to gesticulating and nodding, and he got me to understand that Oakland's former manager, Ken Macha, had played for his team, the Chunichi dragons, for 4 years.  I reminded him that Hideki Matsui had played for us, and that we'd signed Hiroyuki Nakajima from the Seibu Lions.  We smiled and nodded more throughout the trip.

 View from the train...

In Kanazawa we know what it feels like to be royalty...  It had started raining on the taxi ride from Kanazawa Station, and when we arrived at our hotel, the Sai No Niwa, they bowed, and then handed each of us an umbrella.  We walked the 20 paces to the front door, crossing a japanese garden with a bridge over the local creek.  At the front door, more bowing people took our umbrellas from us.  Before we could get to the registration desk, they asked us to please sit and relax, while they took our coats, and our luggage was whisked away.  They brought the check-in paperwork to our couch, and thanked us profusely for staying with them.  Then they graciously showed us up to our room, showed us where to store our shoes, where the pajamas and robes were for each of us, and how the room key goes in a slot by the door (which then turns on the power to the room - when you leave and take the key, all lights are automatically turned off, saving power).  We all bowed to each other as they left us to our room.  They did not wait with the palms extended, hoping to be greased.  No tipping is expected in Japan.  This is all just part of their job.

The Sai No Niwa hotel

As night came on, so did the rain, so we took a taxi to Iwashigumi, "Gang of Sardines".  Marcella had researched this place, which is famous for serving nothing but sardines.  Yes, I was skeptical - I mean, how long can you keep one simple fish interesting?  As it turns out, that fish can go all night long, baby.  We ordered a kind of prix-fixe menu of many courses, and added in a few extra things as we went along.  Soup with Sardine meatballs, Sardine spring rolls, I forget what it all was, but it was all so delicious.

Even Sardine Bones, deep-fried... So so good!

Thursday, April 14

Our hotel was unbelievably gracious, but it was affordable.  At affordable hotels, I'm used to "breakfast included" meaning cold cereal, danish and juice and coffee, so when they reminded us that breakfast was from 7-10, I merely nodded in thanks.  We were unsure if we were supposed to wear our pajamas and robes to breakfast, but luckily opted for normal clothing, and we fit in just fine.  Imagine the most elaborate buffet at the Ritz-Carlton or some such.  That's what we found on offer.  It was amazing in its scope and quality.  Granted, their 'western' items like omelettes and toast were a bit lacking to our western palettes, but everything that was local - the salads, the fish, the pork, the miso soups, the rice, the rice porridges, the jellies, it went on and on and on and it was spectacular.  Mmm-mm.

After breakfast we bought a 'loop' bus pass, and got off at the Contemporary Museum.  Really nice exhibits, including a wacky swimming pool...

And a beautiful sitting room

I stumbled climbing the concrete steps in the museum, gave me a little scare, but no real damage done (I thought)...

Outside the museum we found a lovely alleyway and stumbled into a tiny Tempura bar.  Yum!  Then tumbled up the hill to visit the 400 year old garden...

After the garden, we popped into one of the many many sweet shops we'd been seeing.  Basically like a very well-appointed cafe, with the selection of sweets including some western-style parfaits and cakes, but lots of red-bean and mochi unheard-of things.  We tried them all!

All sugared up, we meandered up the hill, past this temple which had a charming walkway hung with good-luck charms...

I was charmed yet again by the fencing around this construction site...

We walked the few blocks to the museum of the famed Buddhist writer/philosopher D.T. Suzuki.  Tucked away in a residential neighborhood, the building and grounds were modest yet stunning.

Beauty was just about everywhere you looked.  This was just a view of a creek as we walked along a typical street...

Little temples everywhere...

Nice graphics...

Getting hungry for dinner, we came across a place that looked good, so we put our shoes into the wooden lockers and were ushered into this ancient, bustling place...

It was like being on an old ship - the sushi bar was 2 steps down from a walkway, you felt all cozy by the time you'd tucked your legs in.  This was perhaps the wildest food we'd tried, and we tried some of the wildest things on the menu (pickled tiny squid, a squid-ink salty custard).  It wasn't all great, but it was still exciting.  Although Marcella said she was feeling a little queasy...

Friday, April 15

Marcella's birthday was not quite what she had planned.  She ended up making love to a fancy electronic Japanese toilet all night long.  By 8 am her body had finished torturing her and she went to sleep until noon.  I snuck out and enjoyed the bountiful breakfast again, then took one of the hotel bikes on a journey to get her some feel-good stuff at the pharmacy.  Again, the language barrier was tough, but thank heavens for smart phones and their smart translations... I was able to get her some Pedialyte-style drink for hydration and some instant rice porridge in the baby health section :)  I read the newspaper in the lounge and just hung out until Q woke and texted me, then took him to a local grocery for more adventures in negotiating buying food (the checkout clerks don't handle cash, you feed the cash into a machine).  Back at the hotel, M was awake, and after some bland yet apparently yummy rice porridge and a bit more rest, she said she wanted to get out into the world again.

We toured the famed old town (too crowded with tourists), grabbed a sandwich, western-style, at a chic hotel, and, because it was a block away, tried the phonograph museum for $2 each.

Phonograph museum?  Well, some guy spent his life collecting hundreds, maybe thousands of these machines, and, um, there they were.  And they are rather gorgeous and intriguing.  One machine in particular looked awesome, a tiny pipe organ and tambourine and bells packed into dresser-sized console, with an elaborate player-piano style cylinder on it.  The curator came over and cranked it up for us - big smiles all around!

Then up to the castle - 400 years in the making.  It covers many many acres, the stone work is beautiful.

The weather was growing cold and windy.  Marcella took us to the ancient-yet-still-active Geisha district by the river.  Very quiet and restrained, no sense of anything going on inside, but everything well-cared for an inviting.  We even saw 2 very finely dressed Geishas disappear into one of the buildings.

We walked along the chilly river to a noodle place.  The food was just okay, but the masks all over the room were exquisite...

The waiter was charming.  When the meal was over he helped us into our cab, and as we drove away he came to the wall and waved to us.  That just doesn't seem to happen in the USA :)

Saturday, April 16

Marcella got up early to enjoy the hotel's luxurious Onsen (baths).  I began my morning stretches, intending to join her shortly, when - Twang!  My lower back went out.  It had been slightly tender since tripping on the stairs 2 days before, but I'd hoped it would work itself out.  No.  I couldn't move.  By 11am I'd made it to a standing position, and they gave us an extra hour to check out.  The staff came out and bowed and waved to us as I spent 5 minutes getting into the cab :)  Bullet Train back to Tokyo, to our new AirBnb, in a rather splashy area near Ikebukuro station.  I was able to shuffle slowly at this point, and we went to...

Shinjuku!  Not the largest, but the busiest train station in the world.  Hectic, but energizing - Saturday night in the busiest place in the biggest city on Earth!

We waited in a long but fast-moving line for yet another great meal, this time at a ramen bar.  Yum!

 Quinn ordered extra green onions...

Sunday, April 17

Our last day.  My back was still excruciating, I was having trouble moving around the apartment, much less Tokyo, so Q and M went out for lunch with Mariko, exploring new areas.  By afternoon I wanted fresh air, so I went out and shuffled around the local alleys.  Watching my feet very carefully (any false step was painful) I noticed all these cool benchmarks and metalwork embedded in the streets and sidewalks...

Dinnertime, I took a long taxi ride to join Q and M for dinner - but the restaurant was closed!  After misadventures, we found a sweet little spot with 6 stools.  We were the only ones there.  We sat down, ordered, Q went to the restroom.  He came back, saying he felt queasy.  Soon poor Q was throwing up, and he couldn't leave the bathroom for nearly 2 hours.  Marcella was still feeling unsure in her stomach, so I ate as much as I could of the food we ordered - more sardines!

The owners were very kind and helpful throughout the meal and ordeal.  We packed ourselves into a taxi and rushed back to the apartment, and Quinn finally found sleep after a few hours.

Monday, April 18

We thought about postponing our flight home, yes we did.  Marcella called the airlines, but found it would cost the equivalent to 4 years of tuition at Stanford, so we made Quinn as comfortable as possible, and Marcella and Quinn wheeled the luggage while I shuffled slowly behind them :)  We made the plane, we made it home.  My back gets better day by day, and Q and M are back to full blooming health.  It was a marvelous, marvelous trip!

Shaggs Cast album released, Zombies Take over the World, and MORE!

Hi Friends,

According to Broadway lore, the average musical takes 10 years to write, and the average cast album takes 3 years to produce - Well, so far I'm right on schedule!  Ladies, Gentlemen, I am proud to announce the release of "The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World" Cast Album!  (I''m also proud to announce a bunch of other stuff... read on!)

1. CAST ALBUM FOR "The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World" - BUY NOW!
2. BIG PARTY FOR RELEASE OF CAST ALBUM IN NYC JUNE 23!
3. ZOMBIE GAME AT TOP OF STEAM GREENLIGHT PROJECTS!
4. 2 YEARS SINCE LAST GUNNAR NEWS?  WHADDUP?!
5. NEED MORE BEAUTY IN YOUR LIFE?  CHECK OUT THIS BLOG!
5. SHEET MUSIC CONTINUES TO SPREAD AROUND THE WORLD!
4. DID I MENTION THAT I WRITE MUSIC AND YOU CAN DOWNLOAD IT?!

1. Cast album release June 10!
Many of you generously contributed cash and good wishes so that we could muster this cast recording - It took a bit (okay, a lot) of extra time to get it done, but we recorded white-hot emotionally charged performances, and we've finally finished mixing the audio and perfecting the liner notes.  It's glorious!

We are bursting with pride, and hungry to share it with you - Click on the cover to fly hence to the Amazon page where you can sample it, buy a CD or download it lickety-split for instant gratification.  (It's also available on iTunes, Spotify and everywhere else you might think of).

Creating an album from a show is not a slam-dunk proposition.  Things that work onstage in the context of a story being told may not translate to a recording.  The raw energy that drove the singers onstage may get muted when they''re placed in front of a mic with a roomful of engineers and producers frowning and gesticulating from behind soundproof glass.  But you know what?  We defiantly defied the odds and created lightning in the studio.  This doesn't sound like a typical cast album - it sounds like a rock album!

The collaboration which brought forth this music has been wonderful.  Working alone (which is also wonderful), I sometimes end up doing only what's comfortable, and the artistic spark can sometimes feel muted.  Working with Joy Gregory (and John Langs) led me to exciting new areas of composition.  Revisiting and reworking and polishing the music over the course of so many years is an experience I've never had before, and that microscopic attention is...exhausting!  But if really pays off.  And while all my albums hitherto have featured myself as a performer, it''s so fresh to have no direct role in the sound, but to turn it over to musicians who find ways of expression I never dreamt of. 

(Truth be told, I did play a tiny bit of music on here.  The first one to guess what instruments and where I played will win a copy of this CD and any other CD from my catalog!)

The stars of this recording?  THE BAND - Leroy Bach (Wilco, Beth Orton), David Hilliard (David Byrne, Dan Zanes), Aaron Gandy (hot keyboards, music director), and cool bassist Steve Gilewski.  THE CAST:  Theatre Legends Peter Friedman, Annie Golden, Jamey Hood, Sarah Sokolovic, Emily Walton, Cory Michael Smith, Kevin Cahoon, and Steve Routman.

2. Party Hearty in New York June 23 - Get Shaggy!






Join the cast of "The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World" at the cool downtown hotspot THE BOWERY ELECTRIC for a rockin' record release party, featuring live performances of music from the show!  The ENTIRE cast will be there, all your favorite characters - I can''t guarantee they''ll have bobble-head dolls for the first 100 people in the door, but... you never know!

THE BOWERY ELECTRIC
327 Bowery at 2nd Street
New York, NY 10003

3. Undead Overlord Early Access on Steam 6/20!

Undead Whaaa?!  Okay, many of you know that I've worked in the Video Game industry as a composer and sound designer (at Atari, even!).  Over the years I continue to dabble, and a game that I've super-dabbled in is finally coming to almost-ripe fruition.  It's called "Undead Overlord".  It's where YOU get to control zombies and take over the world.  It's rather, um, gory (too gory for my tastes, but...most of the young team members are horror flick fans).  But it IS fun, really fun - I think it has all the elements to be a big hit.  And I'm not alone - we posted our nascent game on STEAM (the Amazon.com of gaming) and it shot to the top of the ratings - like #3 out of 70,000 or something.  Really.  So now, Steam wants us to release our Alpha (like Beta software, only more buggy) to the world, so that the Undead Virus can spread. Go check it out on STEAM - Brains are not only attractive; they're tasty!

4.  Where you been, Gunnar?!

The last couple of years family matters have kept me occupied and close to home.  There hasn't been a major project like "mounting an off-broadway show" or "recording a new album" that has needed a shout-out.  I  continue to write music towards a new album, I'm working on Undead Overlord, I did a residency at Berkeley Rep''s Ground Floor for a new musical project in '12, and I'm collaborating on yet another musical project with someone I met at Berkeley Rep.  Overall, I'd characterize my artistic fire as being on ''simmer'' right now :)  And, for those of you who keep asking when I'll perform next, the answer is...  I don't know!  While my artistic fire is still burning, my yen for performance seems to have disappeared.  Snuffed out.  No Spark.  I know, the guy who was once addicted to the spotlight doesn't want to perform?!  It puzzles me, too, but I just have no desire to be on a stage right now.  We''ll see if and when the spotlight catches me again...

5.  Rob Jenkins - Photographer and Thinker of Thoughts!
One of my favorite fellow-artistes is the sublime photographer Rob Jenkins (he who took the cover photo for Two Hands).  Based across the river from Manhattan in the Elysian Fields of Hoboken, he has lately begun a blog, where his thoughtful writing accompanies his photos.  If you need a bit of beauty in your day, click on over there, then bookmark it for those times when you need another shot o' beauty.



6.  Sheet Music All Over the World!

Orders for sheet music continue to come in from around the world.  You too can play selections from "Two Hands" and "Spinning World: 13 Ways of Looking at a Waltz".  Join the crowd of happy ivory ticklers - Click below to add truly interactive music to your life:



7.  Do You Still Listen to Music?!
We've all read the news stories about how no one listens to music anymore.  Is it true in your home?  Don''t let this happen!  Keep music listening alive and well, be a strong, independent and patriotic individual, proud to openly carry your listening devices into public venues and humming audibly while waiting in line for your latte.  It's your duty!

All my CDs are available at any record store on the web, but don't forget that you can gift downloads as well - songs and/or entire albums!
 

Berkeley Rep hosts work on New Musical

I recently spent a fruitful and exciting week at Berkeley Rep's "Ground Floor", their new summer development residency program, to begin work on a new music theatre project. I'm working with longtime collaborator Kathryn Keats and newfound buddy Michael Levalley in bringing Kathryn's life story to the stage.

Why Kathryn's life story and not mine? Well, while there's plenty of inner turgid emotional material to dig into in my life, in outward respects my story is a bit vanilla and drama-less. I'll tell you about it sometime when you need to get to sleep...

Whereas Kathryn's story is overflowing with drama. She had studied since age 5 to sing, dance and perform, arrived in New York at the age of 17, landed a role in a racy nude musical, and moved in with the music director, Ken, a talented guru 15 years older than herself. Their time together started out starry-eyed and lovely, but by the end he had turned psychotic and made her his prisoner. When she escaped, he swore to find her and kill her. She went into the victim witness protection program with a new name, cut off from all her former friends, and had to give up performing or anything else that might attract the attention of the still at-large Ken. Over the years life took on a semblance of normalcy, as she eventually fell in love, married, had children. Her family knew nothing about her former life, and she lived in constant fear that Ken might find her. When Ken died recently, she was finally free to tell her family, her story - but how do you tell your husband and children that you're not who they think you are?

Drama a-plenty, yes?

I met Kathryn years ago in acting class (I knew nothing of her hidden life story), and we became pals and co-wrote and shopped around a marvelous screenplay that bears an uncanny resemblance to the holiday film "Elf". We thought maybe we were ripped off, and attempted to sue the producers of "Elf", New Line Cinema, but their legal team convinced us that they came up with the exact same story by incredible coincidence. So, that's all water under the bridge, we're totally over that... I don't even know why I brought it up :) Now, a few years down the road, we're excited to be working together again. This time, on a story not quite so fanciful or funny, but every bit as amazing.

A thousand thanks to Berkeley Rep for hosting us, for providing so much support (including some very tasty dinners), and for the chance to hang out with so many great playwrights, composers and performers from around the U.S. It has been the highlight of my summer!

Shaggs Musical Nominated for Drama Desk/Lortel Awards!

Our musical, The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World, has recently been nominated for some shiny awards. The Drama Desk Award (nominations announced this morning), is one of the most prestigious in the Theatre World. It encompasses all of NY theatre - Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and even Off-putting Broadway. That's a mighty big pond, and I'm feeling like a mighty proud fish to have been noticed in it. Our show is nominated for Outstanding Lyrics, Outstanding Book of a Musical, and for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (hooray Sarah Sokolovic!).

But the Drama Desk ain't the only award in town. Another righteously respected award is the Lucille Lortel Award, restricted to the still-rather-impressively-sized pond of Off-Broadway. We have been hooked with a gleaming nomination for Outstanding Musical - Big hugs all around!

The awards ceremonies are coming up in May and June. If we snag one, the caviar is on me. If we don't, we'll still be able to crow about the one that got away. It's all good.

Peace, Gunnar

Father/Son Rock/Roll

I've been too busy to blog, people. Busy flying to NY to record the band tracks for the cast recording of The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World (due out later next year), busy helping my son step up to the world of 4th grade and homework, and busy collaborating with my son on a new rock album - "Slime" by Max Invasion - which is out NOW (free download for the first 200 customers).

Q came up with the whole shebang. He sings lead and is the lyricist. He composes many of the musical riffs, chooses the guitar tones and effects, and sets the tempo and mood. I play all the instruments (except claves) and come up with extra musical ideas that match his descriptions.

This isn't like anything I've done before. Firstly, Quinn wanted to really rock out (I tend to make music on the gentler side). 2nd, I usually to want to perfect things. Quinn's not like that, he wants to move on. So "Slime" is rough, we work fast (it's usually just one take for each track), but that gives the whole thing a sense of urgency and a true garage feel. 3rdly, as a singer I'm rather tuneful and sweet. Q comes more from the Lou Reed school of getting the words across. The result is the grittiest rock I've ever head from a 9 year old (and his ageless father). This ain't your papa's Donnie Osmond, man.

Check out songs 5, 6 and 7 ("Monster Truck", "Seed" and "Happy Life"). The cool beginning of "Monster Truck", where the music sounds small and tinny and then blossoms into full-on heaviness? The rockin' riff? That's all Quinn. On "Seed", I wrote and played to his specs - he chose the Fender Rhodes sound, and the Stephen Stills tone for the guitar leads. "Happy Life" was a not-quite-ready-for-primetime riff and mood. There was something good in it, but it wasn't working. Q came to it fresh a few days later and heard (and dictated) the verse sections, and built up the swirling noise and synths at the end, and Presto! We had ourselves a powerful bit of pop.

So, download "Slime" now (while it's still free)! Once the free downloads are gone, you'll have the chance to name your own price for this little hunk of rock n' roll history.

(FYI, you don't HAVE to download to enjoy - The Max Invasion "Slime" link allows you to listen to the entire album on any device. Downloading is allowed on all devices except iPhones or iPads (Apple only allows downloads from iTunes on iOS hardware).

Spotify - the New Radio?

Radio is not dead - you can still turn it on and listen to a baseball game or NPR or someone yelling at the top of their lungs about how unfair they think life is. But as a way to find new music, radio just ain't happening.

With the demise of radio as a way to find new music, various hopeful substitutes have come along:

In the 90's there was Hear Music, a store with dozens of listening stations all with soft cushy headphones. It was dreamy, just put on a pair of those headphones and enter a magical world of great music. Everything sounded good on those headphones. And, of course, standing there on a concrete floor you weren't going to listen to a whole album, or give a song 3-4 consecutive listens to see if it held up under scrutiny. You'd listen to maybe 30 seconds, skip ahead and try another 30 seconds here and there, and, lured by that wonderful headphone sound, make a snap judgment to purchase that CD for $16.98. Only upon getting it home and giving it an unhurried listen would you realize that the thing didn't have any musical legs, and that you didn't like Country Music after all (unless it's 30 seconds at at time on headphones). Nope, Hear Music got me to buy a lot of music I never grew to like.

In the past decade, the ability to hear 30 seconds of a tune on iTunes or Amazon or wherever has been a boon, opening my ears to much more music than Hear Music ever could. But those 30 seconds snippets are still misleading. Just about any music can sound good for 30 seconds. But 3-5 minutes is the true test of a song - does it have structure, melody - does it have Legs? Even when iTunes recently upped the snippets to 60 seconds, it's still not enough. I've downloaded a lot of albums that worked great as excerpts, but turn out to have very little substance when played in their entirety.

And there are the services (Flyfi, etc.) that allow you to download individual songs for free, so you can spend time with them. The great songs reveal themselves over repeated listenings, and that's truly fine. But I'm an album guy. And purchasing an entire album based on one good song just doesn't fly. It turns out there are an awful lot of albums that have only 1 or 2 good songs on them.

Which brings me to Spotify. It's fantastic. You can grab whole albums and listen to them. For free. There are commercials every few songs (just like in the golden days of FM radio). So what? Like in the days of great radio, I'm finally getting to spend time with an artists' work and see if it's something I want to spend money on. I hear the songs over and over, and either gain an appreciation for what's there, or move on.

I don't know how the revenue stream will work, but ASCAP, the society I belong to that collects airplay royalties, signed an agreement with Spotify, and they are the ones that sent me the invitation. I'll soon see what the royalties from Spotify are like. Who knows, maybe it'll be better than radio ever was (for me, at least). And meanwhile, I've finally got a way to explore new music that suits me. I'm loving it.

Can't quit Shaggin' 'round...

All Shaggs, all the time...



Here's a great little video for those of you who can't make it to NY for the show. Enjoy!

In case you missed it, the NYTimes wrote an article about what we're up to. Read it HERE.

Tickets? The show's at Playwrights Horizons on 42nd st. It's up and running, technically still in previews til June 7, but the show is locked and loaded. (Use this top secret code SHAGFLY when ordering tix for a special discount!)


love and blessings,
Gunnar

NYTimes profiles The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World Musical

Dear Friends,

We're now in our 2nd week of previews, and the show is coming together nicely. Spectacularly. We spend time every day writing new material to make it better, and the actors rehearse 4 hours every day to incorporate the changes, making a fresh, new experience every night. Last night the show was on fire - and we still have 2 more weeks of previews to make it yet better!

Also, a wonderful writer for the NYTimes wrote an article about what we're up to. Read it HERE.

Tickets? The show's at Playwrights Horizons on 42nd st. Come see the fresh previews now, or see the fully-flowered show during its run from June 7 to July 3. (Use this top secret code SHAGFLY when ordering tix for a special discount!)

I hope I see you at one of the shows!

love and blessings,
Gunnar

Dave Werry, Shaggs and Electric Guitars

(The Shaggs open May 12! Click for tix)

The first time I ever touched an electric guitar, I was awestruck. I tried plucking a note, tried to make it sing like the Beatles could, but it did not respond. I was at the house of my friend, Dave Werry. The electric guitar belonged to his mom. It was red, with a sunburst finish, and some kind of a hollow body. I had a slight tinge of disappointment, in that I somehow had the idea that a solid body electric was more modern and cool than a hollow body. But still. I had never been close to any electric guitar before. And even with the minor failing of it being hollowbody, and the fact that I couldn't make it sound like anything, I was totally stoked.

We had gotten his mom's permission to use it in a skit we were preparing for the school talent show. We were in 4th grade. I had memorized every word of the Beatle's 'Help", and had recruited 3 other guys to join me in doing a live version of the song for the talent show. I had a set of sparkly paper drums I'd gotten for Xmas when I was 4, and two black Beatle wigs. Dave had his mom's electric, and we borrowed a couple acoustic guitars. We practiced. We banged and strummed. We knew no notes, we knew no key, we were just singing the words at the top of our lungs and pretending to be the Beatles. On the stage of the cafeteria the day of the show, the only other "band" acts were lip-syncing. We were the real thing, making our own noise, and we were a big hit. 6th graders came up to us afterwards, telling us how cool we were. It was my first taste of the limelight. But it was my last moment with an electric guitar for a long time.

The memory of Dave Werry and his mom's guitar surfaced when I was asked what kind of guitars the girls in the Shaggs would be playing onstage in the upcoming production of "The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World". I'd grown up in a college town, in the suburbs of San Francisco, a fairly cosmopolitan place. Still, I'd never seen an electric guitar except on TV. While I knew there was a music store in town that carried electric guitars, I'd never been inside the store. I didn't think I had the right to open the door and approach an actual guitar. That'd be akin to riding my bike to the Pontiac dealership and asking to test-drive a GTO. If the reality of playing an electric guitar were so distant for a suburban-street-wise kid, how much more exotic might it have been for The Shaggs, who lived in a small town in New Hampshire? Where did their father, who knew nothing about music, find electric guitars? How far did he drive, what kind of store did he find, what was it like for him to talk to a long-haired guitar salesman? And when he brought them home as a surprise gift for his girls (along with a drum set), what was their reaction? Unlike me, they did not have an intense passion about music. They had never expressed any interest in music whatsoever. And if playing en electric guitar eluded a music aficionado like me, how much more hard and mysterious and frustrating would it have been for them?

Years later, when I was 16 and had been playing acoustic guitar for a year (self-taught) I bought a used Fender Mustang and rented a Sears Silvertone amp for 6 months. I still couldn't make it sound like I wanted it to. After 6 months I returned the amp and sold the Mustang. The magic of electric guitars would continue to elude me way into adulthood.

Shaggs Tix on sale Now!

Greetings from NYC,

Tickets are on sale for the upcoming production of The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World at Playwrights Horizons on 42nd st. Come see the smiling infant of a show during previews starting May 12, or see the fully-flowered gawky young adolescent of a show during its run from June 7 to July 3. (Use this top secret code SHAGFLY when ordering tix for a special discount!)

Do you like the graphic they made for us? I dig it deeply. The young hands pulling at the guitar strings, trying to break the guitar or escape or make some kind of sound (or all of the above).

The rehearsals are vibrating with an intensity that makes your head and heart buzz. The cast is thrilling - excellent actors and singers all. I've been spending long long days tightening up the story, the lyrics, the music, the orchestrations, the page turns for the band. I've never worked so long, with such intensity, on any other project in my life. Yeah, I know, that's no guarantee of a great outcome, but I'm telling you - I'm as excited about this project about any other endeavor I've done. It's on a par with The Bobs, or IsoBobs, or Svetlana Village, or...

Well, you get my drift. I hope I see you at one of the previews!

love and blessings,
Gunnar

Shaggs Time in NYC

Dear friends,

I've been meaning to write for the longest time, but I've been consumed with preparations for the Off-Broadway production of “The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World”. There's not only a ton of work to finish writing the play and the orchestrations, but being away from home so much means making sure there are people to fill in my job of stay-at-home-after-school dad. We've got a wonderful cadre of expert caregivers lined up, and my lovely and energetic wife will be doling out extra hugs and love, while I visit my family every evening via Skype. I'm going to miss them something horrible. But I have a feeling I'll be so deeply engrossed in my work in NY that the heartache and homesickness will only creep in at night.

So, have you bought your tickets yet? Previews start May 11 and run to June 6, opening night is June 7 and then it runs to July 3. This is a historic, first-ever co-production of Playwrights Horizons (Sunday in the Park With George, Assassins, Grey Gardens) and The New York Theatre Workshop (ever hear of “Rent”?). The cast is, whoa, so totally loaded with amazing talent. Tony Award nominee and Obie Award winner Peter Friedman (Ragtime and PH's Circle Mirror Transformation, After the Revolution and The Heidi Chronicles). Kevin Cahoon's credits include Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Roundabout's The Foreigner (for which he was Lortel Award-nominated). Annie Golden was featured in PH's Assassins and People Be Heard, and in Broadway's Xanadu and The Full Monty; she was Jeannie in the film "Hair." Steve Routman's resume includes Broadway's Broadway and Off-Broadway's The Fantasticks and Shmulnik's Waltz. The three Wiggin sisters are played by amazing young actresses - Jamey Hood, Sarah Sokolovic, and Emily Walton. And as Kyle, young up-and-comer Cory Michael Smith makes his PH debut.

And the band? Whoa, again - Aaron Gandy is playing piano, organ and Music Directing, Leroy Bach (Wilco, Beth Orton) will play guitars and small keyboards, Dave Hilliard (David Byrne, Dan Zanes) bangs drums, and, on bass, the fabulous Toobee Determined.

Hey, I don't blow smoke about the things I do. I mean, yeah, I talk things up and try to keep you all interested, but when I tell you I'm proud of something I'm doing, it's because I really think it's good. Of all the things I do and have done, this play is very close to my heart. It's powerful, it's deep, it's funny, it's sad. It rings bells that I didn't know could be rung. I am awestruck at how moving this has turned out to be. I was/am lifted by it all.

If you're near NY, you owe it to yourself to come see it. If you're thinking about coming from out of town, now's the time to buy a train or plane ticket and dig around for digs. And, while I may be insanely busy re-writing the overture or changing the keys of all the songs, chances are I'll be around, so don't fail to try and get in touch while you're in town.

Oh, and if you're around NY on April 17 and 18, come to the Guggenheim Museum, where I'll be on display along with my co-creators, being interviewed and offering bits and pieces of the musical performed by our cast. 7:30 pm.

Love and blessings to you all,

Gunnar

Favorite Recordings of 2010

The end of another year approaches. I generally don't have much time to listen to music, but this year, somehow (was it the ipod I bought and ended up jogging and walking to?) I've been able to return to one of my great pleasures.

A gift of music can be, for some of us, one of the best things to receive. An aunt of mine, who knew a lot about rock music, once gave me 3 LP's for Christmas. Music I never would have thought to buy, but that opened me to entirely new musical worlds. One of my favorite presents of all time!

So I'm sharing with you some of my favorite recordings that I've come across this year. Treat yourself or, if a recording seems right for someone you know, give them a treat.
Love, Gunnar.

Tatiana Nikolaeva Shostakovich: 24 Preludes & Fugues. This was a gift this year from a former college roommate and fellow music student of yore. I have never enjoyed Shostakovich - his music is too dense, thick and forbidding somehow. But these? Oh my god, they are lyrical, witty, full of a direct and simple beauty. I may end up searching out some more Shostakovich this coming year...

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs. I came to this unwillingly. Their earlier work was just not to my taste - too sweeping and needlessly grand. They can still tend to that, but this work is much more modulated. And they hit a lovely, vibrant lyric nerve in their exploration of the suburbs. For anyone who ever grew up in the suburbs, this just might speak to you. It did me.

The Band - The Band. "Music from Big Pink" was a tremendous and lovely album. The next record I bought of theirs way back when was "Stage Fright". It was a huge disappointment. So I gave up on exploring their music more, and missed out on this other masterpiece. I happened on it this year when I remembered an LP I'd loved back in high school, "Journey" by John Simon. It faded into obscurity, but I've always remembered itl. The guy could hardly sing in tune, his piano playing is a bit ragged, but he writes marvelous melodies and fantastic arrangements. His lack of perfection and chops gave me the courage to follow my dreams of being a musician, all my imperfections notwithstanding. So, wondering what became of him, I looked him up. Turns out he produced "Music from Big Pink" and "The Band". Well. I gave "The Band" a try this year, and it's great. His own music is still great (you can find it on the web, he put out 2 albums) and he produced 2 fantastic albums for the Band. For real.

Isabelle Faust - Bach: Sonatas & Partitas for solo violin. I have other recordings of solo Bach violin music. It's all very well done, but not LOVELY. This, my friends, is LOVELY. She makes her violin sound so sweet, she takes such time with every line of notes. I just love it.



Alexandre Tharaud - Rameau: "Nouvelles Suites". Baroque music on the piano is something I love. Here is some non-Bach that is very very beautiful, and exquisitely interpreted. Included is Ravel's " Hommage À Rameau [Images, Premier Livre, 1905]". If you like piano music, this is a great one.

Big Star - #1 Record/Radio City. This recording is legendary as being the unluckiest record of all time. Or something like that. Made in the early 70's, the record label just chucked in the wastebasket somehow, and it was forgotten. But it's legend bubbled on over the years, and with the death of one of its masterminds, Alex Chilton, this past year, and with the advent of easy and cheap distribution via the internet, it seems to have finally made its way into the world. If you're one of those people who dream that someone will uncover a hitherto unknown recording by The Beatles or some other majorly classic group, this is for you. It is a true classic. Song after song is fantastic.

Galactic - Ya-Ka-May. I got it for me, but my 8 year old son latched onto it and played it nonstop for months. And I never got tired of it. A way cool blend of hip hop w/New Orleans beats and horns. The drummer is other-worldly, the best groove ever. And the songs are all catchy and well-written and stand the test of time. Note: There are couple songs with naughty words, so if you're child wants to listen, you might want to edit :)

Listening for Grammys

It's the nominating season for the Grammy Awards. In the mailboxes of recording academy members like myself, CDs are arriving in droves, hungry to be considered worthy of nomination in their respective categories. (My own Two Hands is hoping for a New Age Album nod).

In most of the categories, it's a simple matter of popularity. Whoever is the most famous gets the most votes and gets nominated. But in a few categories, such as composing and arranging, the nominations are made by committees who actually listen to each of the entries. That's how the arrangement of "Helter Skelter" by Richard Greene and Yours Truly snagged a nomination. Groups of dedicated and knowledgeable Academy members across the country listen through hundreds of potential nominees, and present their chosen nominations. The Bobs were not a household name, but enough of a name to get a fair hearing - and a Grammy Nomination!

I'm too busy with fatherhood just now to serve on a listening committee, but back in the late 80's I did for a few years, and it was pure pleasure for a listening hound like myself. Not since high school had I had the chance to sit around with others who love music to just listen. Through STACKS of records .For hours and hours. And it was so exciting to hear, and honor with a vote, some little-known composer or arranger whose work, while not famed, shone with inspiration and originality.

Meanwhile, I'm having my own private listening party, checking out all the CDs that are flooding in, finding some nice gems, and happily casting my vote for the good stuff.

Bertolt Brecht and Me...

In 1976, at the beginning of my Junior year of college, I was working at a little desk in the basement of the music department, handing out keys to the practice rooms. A professor of mine, John Swackhamer, came by and plonked a 3-inch high stack of xeroxed music in front of me. He had a glint in his eye (he almost always did), and he explained how this score had been smuggled out of East Germany by a fellow professor. It was the piano/vocal music to the Hans Eisler/Bertolt Brecht play "The Measures Taken". He asked if I had any experience in music theatre. "Um... I was a dancer in my high school production of the Music Man...And I sang the little Nazi's song in Cabaret..." Not a stunning resume. But to him it was as if I'd just said I was Harold Prince. "Excellent! There's a director who's putting on this play, and you'd be perfect as the music director! Call him!"

I called the director, who likewise seemed to have no problem with my lack of experience. So I gathered together a ragtag yet spirited band who taught me how to write for their respective instruments, and a choir of 12 or so. I really had no idea what I was doing. But the play was a huge hit. Shortly after, RG Davis, founder of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, opened a new theatre company, Epic West, the Centre for the Study of Bertolt Brecht. He asked me to be the music director. Big names from East Germany came to collaborate and teach, the productions had lots of great Bay Area actors in the casts, and while I was excited to be in the middle of it, my understanding of it all was pretty limited. (It was amusing to have my parents, longtime conservatives, come to the productions which were noisily marxist and densely intellectual. My parents were wonderfully supportive - My mother found and gave me a rare LP of Lotte Lenya singing)

I began to get work with other theatre companies, but my reputation as a Brechtian expert had been solidified, and I kept getting approached to do Brecht and political theatre. Ina Wittich, a famous (in East Germany) East German interpreter of Brechtian songs, came to California for a tour and needed an accompanist. Eisler songs are technically easy, almost like rock or folk music. Ina croaked them in a Lotte Lenya kind of way. But, for her big concert at Mandeville Hall in UC San Diego, she wanted me to play Eisler's Sonata for Piano. I'm not a fast learner, and his sonata is technically difficult, atonal, and huge. And I only had 10 days to master it. I begged her to let me off the hook, but, and perhaps this was the East German in her, she would not change her mind. Onstage that night, in front of 1,000 or so people, I flailed my way through it, just making up whole sections of atonality when the notes on the page blurred before my eyes. Afterwards, at the wine & cheese function, a UC music professor buttonholed me. He wanted to talk to me about my playing of Eisler's Sonata. The cheese in my mouth went dry. He said "That was the most brilliant interpretation I've heard. It sounded so fresh, so new!" Well, yeah, half that music had never been played before, by me or anyone else.

Is there Brecht/Eisler/Weill in the music I write? I don't claim them as major influences, but years of study and immersion must have left some traces. My predilection for simplicity and directness is something I tend to attribute to my rock and roll roots, but it's a strong element in both Eisler's and Weill's music, and in Brecht's lyrics and drama. Maybe it's a combo of both Marx and Lennon - Yar yar yar.

Edward Albee and I Chat in NY

Edward Albee will moderate while I and all the other creators of dramatic works for Playwrights Horizons will chat. Onstage, with you in the audience tossing questions our way. And we'll enlighten you about the mysteries of the creative process (maybe). I'll probably just mumble occasionally and nod my head sagely. I will try hard not to embarrass myself, even. 7:30pm, Mon Sept 13 at the Tribeca 92nd St. Y.

What do I know of Edward Albee? Well, I knew he was famous as the writer of the huge hit film "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", but I was too young to see it (or understand it) when it came out in 1966. Ten years later, when I landed the job of music director for the unapologetically political "Epic West" (The Center for the Study of Bertolt Brecht), Edward Albee's name was often spat with contempt by the people in charge there. Heck, I was young and excited to be in this radical marxist environment (I'd grown up in a Goldwater/John Wayne household), but I didn't quite understand all the fine political distinctions being made. I didn't really understand Brecht. And I'd never even read Albee, so I always wondered what he'd done to get under their skin so much.

Ever since, whenever I hear Albee's name, I'm brought back to that time in my early 20's when I was trying to make sense of the world of Epic West. Their disdain of Albee was pretty silly - their strict Brechtian dogma did not result in very good theater after all (I could show you the reviews...). And the bits of Albee I've read in acting classes in the years since? I rather like them.

I've worked with the Brechtians. It was an interesting introduction to theater. Now it's time to chat with Mr. Albee.