Xenharmonic happenings in Pasadena / L.A.

I'm going to L.A. next week for a 10-week internship at Caltech for
the LIGO project. (The soundbite I've been using is "searching for
ripples in the fabric of the space-time continuum"; email me off-list
if you're curious about it.)

The flights are already scheduled, so unfortunately I'm going to miss
Cat Lamb this Saturday, but I'll definitely be there for the Partch
concert July 20. Are there any other concerts I should know about?

Also, are there any landmarks that would especially interest a tuning
enthusiast? I saw Barstow on a map and I was like "I know that name!",
but I'm not sure it would be worth it to rent a car and drive out
there just to search for some graffiti that may have inspired Harry
Partch. If it were closer to Pasadena I'd definitely check it out.

Keenan

Oh, and if anyone who lives there would like to meet me in real life,
just say so and we'll have lunch or something.

Keenan

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Keenan Pepper"
<keenanpepper@...> wrote:
>
>...
> Also, are there any landmarks that would especially interest a tuning
> enthusiast? I saw Barstow on a map and I was like "I know that name!",
> but I'm not sure it would be worth it to rent a car and drive out
> there just to search for some graffiti that may have inspired Harry
> Partch. If it were closer to Pasadena I'd definitely check it out.
>
> Keenan
>

It would be interesting to hear what other people think, but I found
Barstow to be the absolute ugliest place I've ever visited in my life.
Makes Bakersfield look like Shangri-La.
I visited before I knew anything about Partch, too bad because
something good may have come of the trip. I say avoid at all costs.

I think its ugliest is what appealed to the subject matter HP wanted to look at

plopper6 wrote:
>
> --- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com > <mailto:MakeMicroMusic%40yahoogroups.com>, "Keenan Pepper"
> <keenanpepper@...> wrote:
> >
> >...
> > Also, are there any landmarks that would especially interest a tuning
> > enthusiast? I saw Barstow on a map and I was like "I know that name!",
> > but I'm not sure it would be worth it to rent a car and drive out
> > there just to search for some graffiti that may have inspired Harry
> > Partch. If it were closer to Pasadena I'd definitely check it out.
> >
> > Keenan
> >
>
> It would be interesting to hear what other people think, but I found
> Barstow to be the absolute ugliest place I've ever visited in my life.
> Makes Bakersfield look like Shangri-La.
> I visited before I knew anything about Partch, too bad because
> something good may have come of the trip. I say avoid at all costs.
>
> -- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/index.html>
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU <http://www.kxlu.com/main/index.asp> 88.9 FM Wed 8-9 pm Los Angeles

{Kraig, you wrote...}
>I think its ugliest is what appealed to the subject matter HP wanted to look at

"Pretty" was not the point. And while it isn't what it was when Harry picked up the inscriptions back in 1940, it is still, to a certain extent, a bit of a crossroads.

I don't hesitate to say that I don't stop when passing though. But if Keenan has some time to kill, a drive out to somewhere beyond Barstow and back, with an eye to removing about 75% of the visual and environmental clutter that is there now, wouldn't be a total loss. At least get out to a high desert area, pull off the road, and sit by a guardrail. In utter desolation, one might glean some insight.

Cheers,
Jon

Hmmm.. Sorry to be off-topic, but what the heck... as long as we're
comparing armpits... :-)

> I saw Barstow on a map

Personally, I'd skip Barstow... Drive on by to quaint little Lone Pine for
lunch. Look up at Mount Whitney. Go into the Alabama hills and look for
the painted face on the rocks near the side of the road. Visit Manzanar.
Swing past what once was Owens Lake, through Helendale and make a
pilgrimage to visit Dixie Evans, last of the great burlesque queens.

> It would be interesting to hear what other people think, but
> I found Barstow to be the absolute ugliest place I've ever
> visited in my life.

Well, I guess you've never been to Aberdeen, Washington. :-( The saddest
town I've ever had the misfortune to drive through, and I've been to
Barstow, too. Aberdeen is much worse.

Another unfortunate little town is Ajo, Arizona... as I recall, it had
lots of teeny-tiny homes with sad little gardens and cyclone fences, but
the main "natural" feature is that it is completely surrounded by enormous
mining slag heaps that loom ten times taller than any building in town, and
it sits right on the edge of a vast USAF gunnery range -- on a narrow road
surrounded by some 50 miles of the ugliest hair-raising bomb-cratered
wasteland I've ever seen. Can you say Koyaanisqatsi? Definitely worth a
look on the way through if you ever get hoodwinked into making the long
drive to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. (Which is, by the way, worth
seeing.)

Alabama Hills Painted Face:
http://www.fotosearch.com/UNU130/u12221319/

Manzanar:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manzanar

Dixie Evans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEDVaLUj5Js

Aberdeen:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberdeen,_Washington

Ajo, Arizona
http://www.ajochamber.com/historical.htm

Madras, Oregon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madras,_Oregon

On 6/5/07, Rick McGowan <rick@...> wrote:
> Hmmm.. Sorry to be off-topic, but what the heck... as long as we're
> comparing armpits... :-)
>
> > I saw Barstow on a map

LOL, I should never have mentioned it. Really I'm more interested in
events like concerts, and things within walking distance (or reachable
by bus/subway) of Caltech.

Keenan

> > Hmmm.. Sorry to be off-topic, but what the heck... as
> > long as we're
> > comparing armpits... :-)
> >
> > > I saw Barstow on a map
>
> LOL, I should never have mentioned it. Really I'm more
> interested in events like concerts, and things within walking
> distance (or reachable by bus/subway) of Caltech.
>
> Keenan

I don't know much about the area, other than it's 27 miles
from Pomona, where Harvey Mudd college is. And they have
Bill Alves, and I think as well a Microzone/Uath/Wilson
keyboard. So if I were you, I'd make the trek to play it,
and then report back here.

I do have a friend at Caltech, who's interested in
DNA robots and such. I could give you her contact info
offlist if you like.

-Carl

Hi Keenan,

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Keenan Pepper"
<keenanpepper@...> wrote:
>
> I'm going to L.A. next week for a 10-week internship
> at Caltech for the LIGO project. (The soundbite I've
> been using is "searching for ripples in the fabric of
> the space-time continuum"; email me off-list if you're
> curious about it.)
>
> The flights are already scheduled, so unfortunately I'm
> going to miss Cat Lamb this Saturday, but I'll definitely
> be there for the Partch concert July 20. Are there any
> other concerts I should know about?
>
> Also, are there any landmarks that would especially
> interest a tuning enthusiast? I saw Barstow on a map
> and I was like "I know that name!", but I'm not sure
> it would be worth it to rent a car and drive out
> there just to search for some graffiti that may have
> inspired Harry Partch. If it were closer to Pasadena
> I'd definitely check it out.

Forget about that idea. Barstow is just a dusty little
town in the middle of the desert, and it will be unbearably
hot when you're here (it most likely is already). I doubt
very much if the highway railing which inspired Partch is
even still extant. I drove thru last year hoping to see
something, but pretty much the only value in stopping
there was to sit inside a Jack In The Box for lunch,
to suck up the air-conditioning ... and that was on May 5.

Much more worthwhile, at least from my point of view,
is to drive 2 hours south to San Diego, to meet me! ;-)

Also, i can introduce you to Jonathan Glasier and Brink McGoogy,
possibly MMM list-owner Jon Szanto, and maybe Danlee Mitchell.
You could hang out at the Sonic Arts Gallery and create some
microtonal music with the Sonic Arts gang (me, Jonathan,
and Brink). And i can show you where Partch and Ivor Darreg
lived the last years of their lives ... *and* give you a live
demo of Tonescape.

-monz
http://tonalsoft.com
Tonescape microtonal music software

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Keenan Pepper"
<keenanpepper@...> wrote:
>
> > > I saw Barstow on a map
>
> LOL, I should never have mentioned it. Really I'm more
> interested in events like concerts, and things within
> walking distance (or reachable by bus/subway) of Caltech.

BTW, it's easy to get to San Diego from LA on the train.
I could pick you up at the train station and drive you
around San Diego.

Do you like riding a motorcycle by any chance? ;-)
(if not, no biggie, i have a car too)

-monz
http://tonalsoft.com
Tonescape microtonal music software