Requiem for a High Homicide Enclave (05-16-2008)
Requiem for a High Homicide Enclave (Live at REDCAT 05-16-08) from paul bailey on Vimeo.
Requiem for a High Homicide Enclave is a mashup based on excerpts from the from the LA Times Homicide Report which documents every murder that takes place in Los Angeles County using blog posts, comments, and Google Maps combined with a deconstruction
sorry its taken a while to get this one up, that’s what a busy fall will do for you. this performance was based only one the LA county homicide statistics through may 16 2008. right now i’m planning to update the piece and perform it a few times in 2009, but this is complicated with the fact that the LATimes suspended the homicide blog in november. i have a few ideas of how i’m going to update it. we are also planning to get together this spring and make a proper recording.
the audio is from the premier performance of the requiem at the REDCAT spring studio spring studio last may at the roy and edna disney cal arts theater at disney hall) featuring my co-conspirators sylvia desrochers (soprano) paul cummings (bass) bruce gallego (electric guitar) and myself playing the korg kaossillator, and a macbook pro running ableton live triggering a deconstructed looping continuo (henry purcell’s man that is born of a woman) with a fcb1000 midi pedal.
Music: Henry Purcell/Paul Bailey
Video: Paul Bailey
Libretto: LA Times Homicide Blog latimesblogs.latimes.com/homicidereport/2008/11/a-note-to-our-r.html
Requiem for a High Homicide Enclave
In spring 2008 i started writing Requiem for a High Homicide Enclave which is a deconstruction of Purcell’s Funeral Music for Queen Mary (1694) that is based on excerpts from the from the LA Times Homicide Report which documents every murder that takes place in Los Angeles County using blog posts, comments, and Google Maps.
we (sylvia desrochers (soprano) paul cummings (bass) bruce gallegos (electric guitar) and myself (laptop and kaossilator) premiered the piece at the REDCAT Spring Studio in may 2008.
i am planning to record the piece in spring 2009 and are scheduling performances for 2009-2010.
video is under construction and shall return soon. until then you can listen to the audio of the premier performance
zeitgeist (nov 2008)
personal zeitgeist, late fall 2008
- the economy is really bad right now. none of the schools i work at are willing to schedule spring classes until they know more about the CA state budget cuts. we usually know our classes by the 2nd week of september, and have already cut the spring schedule by about 25%. right now it looks like another 30% might be cut. everybody keeps saying if the money is not there, then its not there.
- another warning sign about the economy on last week’s left, right, and center podcast i heard very intelligent
mature adults sound scared for the first time in my life. when all three of them agree, it cannot be good. - Do we really know who the real Obama is? I get the feeling he has been gaming the system (in a positive way) to get himself elected and will hopefully be much more liberal and progressive then he has let on. my guess is that he has had the best poker face ever for the last two years.
- the la times discontinued its homicide blog. this is wrong for so many reasons, but it was probably one of the only things the LA times could do to help this city save its soul (and any other large homicide enclave) by bearing witness to the many minority homicides that happen every day and go unreported because they do not affect the middle or upper class. just as i was getting a handle on how many years that we have ignored this problem, the paper pulls the plug. of course this doesn’t change my plans, it only doubles my effort
- charter schools might be the only way to save public education. this semester has been less monkey business and more teaching than any secondary school i have taught. most of the success goes to the small school community, its small enough were everybody feels responsible for their actions. the obvious problem to this reform is that you cannot turn all schools into charters. also the la times highlights a report stating that charter schools are leading the pack in improving achievement scores in poor children.
- baby mozart was a scam! via new yorker “As children explore their environment by themselves—making decisions, taking chances, coping with any attendant anxiety or frustration—their neurological equipment becomes increasingly sophisticated, Marano says. “Dendrites sprout. Synapses form.” If, on the other hand, children are protected from such trial-and-error learning, their nervous systems “literally shrink.”
- meme for alex shapiro coming soon…
222
Since January 2008 there have been 222 homicides in LA county. I’m not sure what to do about it, but I can’t stop thinking about it. It started when I came across the LA times Homicide Report (blog). For over a year reporter Jill Leovy and Rueben Vives had a simple and horrendous task, to [...]
