GCNE Meeting, 03-21-2010, "The Loft"

In attendance: Alex Lahoski, Rick McCarthy, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Glenn Hughes, David Kuznick, and Terry Tungjunyatham.

Rick, Brad, and Terry are in the space first; Brad is a little early, due to Glenn being gone, so the three of us head up to the loft to get set up. A little talking, and some circulation, and a little more talking, with everyone else showing up at roughly the same time.

Once everyone is plugged in and ready to go, some circulation to set levels. An interesting thing to note is that a lot of the circulation has been drifting to D natural minor, instead of the more common C Major (which is easily available due to NST). A bit of discussion, regarding what to wear for this gig (codpieces and chaps are turned down rather quickly), times to arrive, etc. Then some practice entering and exiting the space, and we sit down to run the set list for Wednesday.

Growing Circle first. Sounds good, so we move on to Intergalactic. This is hairy by nature, and we manage to put a little extra on it. Some spot work on finding the one in a couple of tough spots, and we run it a second time, due to a complaint from Brad about mix levels, and it runs a little better. Eye of the Needle next, which sounds very good. From here, it's a pretty straight run of the setlist, leading up to Askesis, and a bit of spotwork for the unison and tricky bits.

Here, there be breaks! Some talk about logistics and photography, while some of the circle runs lead parts from Flying Home.

Back in the circle, we circulate a bit, and find ourselves switching directions and casting notes in different directions. A lot of fun work. Moving on to Calliope, with attention to the transitions in the piece, as well as making sure that the cowboy sections don't sound like we just came out of the saloon.

Flying Home: generally, this sounds pretty good, though there's a bit of funky intonation going on in the basses. We try out a dynamic idea in the F section, which seems to work well, and then use this to go directly into Thrak out. Notes for this entry read: "Flying Home --> Thrak - Wow!"

Finalizing some bits about Asturias, as well as some explanation from Alex, who was taught all the parts by Bert Lams, the composer of the piece. A runthrough sounds very good.

With some final discussion of what the schedule will be like, after the gig, and after Victor and Dev get back to the States, there's a very clear feeling, which is articulated by several in the room, that the course in Italy is very present with us. Whatever happens, the momentum that we've built up will certainly be useful for us.

But for now, we end in silence, a little after 10 p.m. Next stop, Cambridge!