Random Notes from LMS 7 Weekend.

This was an interesting weekend, to say the least.

Oddly enough, the opening ceremonies of my LMS 7 weekend took place in Los Angeles at an elaborate party called a "Quicenera." Essentially, a Quicenera is a really big party for a Mexican girl when she turns fifteen.

However, as I soon learned, describing a Quicenera as a "party" does not quite work, as it is much more than that. Frankly, I've seen few weddings that were as elaborate as the Quicenera I went to this weekend. To make the scene more surreal, the vast majority of the hundreds of people at this party spoke Spanish. The table but I was seated at was not speaking Spanish, however, as the people there were Japanese or Caucasian (although another bottle of wine or two into the festivities, and we might have been able to pull off a reasonable facsimile of Spanish). I met a lot interesting people at the party, including a guy who is working on Spiderman 3 and a surgeon who owns a Yakuza jacket.

The best part the evening (besides the food), was watching the young woman get on a microphone and tell her mother and her father how much she loved them in front of everyone, then her parents did the same, followed by the young woman dancing with her father. There was not a dry eye in the house. At the end of the evening, I had a deep respect for a Mexican tradition that I did not even know existed.

LMS 7

Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaast Forward, and I am back in the Bay Area for Loud Music Symposium 7. This was a fun day of rehearsal and soundchecks, and it ended with the concert that featured our best LMS musical line up ever, bar none. I saw most, but not all, of the performers. Following is a brief review.

Hookslide.Truth be told, I don't listen to jazz much, and I would rather listen to Franz Ferdinand than Pat Metheny any day. So it was some skepticism that I sat in the audience to watch Hookslide. However by the end of their set, I was a believer, and this amazing vocal group was easily one of the fan's favorites of LMS 7.

Item of note, I've heard many professional hip-hop artists do "beat-box" percussion sounds on the microphone, but I've never heard anyone as good as the dude in Hookslide (Jon Pilat). Quite simply, Jon is in another league, and I found it almost impossible to believe all of the percussion sounds were created simply by his voice.

Leigh High School Brass Ensemble. Next up was the five piece brass ensemble which played a piece written by their tuba player. The group played well, and I was very impressed that a kid in high school could write such an interesting piece. Bravo.

Maximum Indifference. Sunday night marked the return of Maximum Indifference to the LMS stage. This talented instrumental rock trio creates music that is incredibly visual. as always, they played great. In the future, I'd like to see MI add some video to their live show. But hey, that's just me.

Earl Brown. Former Renegades and current Kingsmen Alumni snare drummer Earl Brown took the stage to recreate his amazing snare drum solo that shocked the world at the 2005 DCA World Championships. Earl has chops and technical abilities, to be sure, but the one thing that sets him apart is his profound ability to connect with the fans. When asked to play a solo, most talented musicians can throw down a million notes. But a precious few can do their solo in such away that it impacts the audience. Earl is one of those few.

Leigh High School Jazz Band. A very solid performance that was much appreciated by the fans. They sounded more like a college group than a high school, and it's amazing to watch high school kids play so well. Cool beans.

Minicorps. The Renegades minicorps is back with a vengeance, and better than ever. In fact, I like their repertoire so much this year, we might want to steal it for the full corps next year, a-la what we did with Channel One Suite in 2004. Rock on.

p.s. Seeing Larrie Dastrup on mellophone was a trip.

[INTERMISSION]

Trip Device ... started their show with drummer Steve Slater hobbling across the stage with a giant cast on his foot, the result of a stage diving accident in San Diego a week ago. Steve looked more like a injured Norwegian skier then a drummer for a rock band, but luckily it was his "high-hat" foot, so his performance was not affected. Three minutes into the set, and it became apparent that nothing was going to hinder their show.

Trip Device was incredible, and they surprised all of with the world premier of their music video on a large screen behind the band. The amazing thing about the video, was that it was perfectly synched up with the band's performance via computer. So, for example, when the guitar player jumped off the riser, it simultaneously happened in the video. I have never seen anyone do this, and I thought it was Genius. Check out Trip Device at http://www.tripdevice.com

South Bay Trombone Choir. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see these guys perform, but it was amusing to see a bazillion guys milling around backstage with trombones. I heard they were quite good, however, and who can argue with a bazillion guys with trombones.

Reneguard. Our colorguard put together a small ensemble for LMS, and I was stunned speechless after watching their Spanish-themed performance in dress rehearsal. Quite simply, this was the best stage performance ever by a Renegades' colorguard ensemble, and it will appear in LMS LA as well on July 7th.

Eddie The Rat. Despite the great line up of LMS 7, much of the pre-show buzz of the evening was about Eddie The Rat, an avante garde experimental music ensemble from San Francisco. Eddie The Rat did not disappoint, as their performance was as bizarre as ever, including three of the performers wearing baseball catcher's masks, and one guy playing an instrument that looked more like a torture device than a musical instrument. To me, Eddie The Rat captures the musical essence of 1960's San Francisco perfectly, and I love the fact that they challenge the audience's expectations of what music is all about.

Speaking of San Francisco, you might be interested to learn that the concept of having an incredibly diverse line-up such as we have in the LMS concerts was not, in fact, actually invented by the San Francisco Renegades. Some of the first LMS type concerts were actually put on at the Fillmore (SF) and the Fillmore East in New York City, by concert promoter Bill Graham. It appears that our fans now get the concept that you don't go to an LMS concerts just to see drum corps-- you go to see some great drum corps and expand your musical horizons.

Speaking of drum corps ... LMS 7 marked the debut of the 2006 San Francisco Renegades production of Stairway to Heaven. Despite the massive echo, and lighting that made it nearly impossible to see the drum major, the corps sounded great on Sunday night, and our fighter-pilot sporano players were on fire! There were moments in the opener that I was simply shaking my head and laughing at how relentless, loud and absolutely berserk the music gets ... Nuclear drum corps. We had some phasing in Stairway, and a musical transition we need to fix, but the corps was solid, and I left with a smile on my face.

All in all, LMS 7 was a success, and we had more fans in the seats than last year, which is fantastic. We have a few things to address before LMS Los Angeles, including getting the flow of the acts to go more smoothly, but the LMS 7 team did a great job. Bonus points to Team Evil for not letting the last minute pull-out of Brandon Lloyd and a random drum corps impact the LMS concert.

Next up to bat for Renegades' concerts is LMS Los Angeles on July 7th, which will be the largest LMS concert in history.

Look out.


Tanks for readin this idiotic blog,



Lee