tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457411005352662997.post2421668722366281234..comments2023-06-03T07:55:31.975-04:00Comments on The Subway Rambler (Online): ...Songs from the Film of the Same TitleDave Koppermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09292071349686573917noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457411005352662997.post-8552817188115673872008-08-19T10:16:00.000-04:002008-08-19T10:16:00.000-04:00Sorry - not Hitchcock - John Houseman.D.Sorry - not Hitchcock - John Houseman.<BR/><BR/>D.Dave Koppermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09292071349686573917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457411005352662997.post-36331009588525591712008-08-19T10:09:00.000-04:002008-08-19T10:09:00.000-04:00Even I didn't remember Stop Teaching. One of thos...Even I didn't remember <B><I>Stop Teaching</I></B>. One of those songs I'd purged from memory.<BR/><BR/>That is me at the top, but I'm probably channeling Bran, who was probably channeling Hitchcock.<BR/><BR/>This album actually pulls back a bit from the 'all guitar' vibe I'd had going with <I><B>Pretty Girl's Best Friend</B></I> - and the first album, with the Good Fall, which has almost zero keys. In fact, I've never been in a band of my own with the sheer amount of keys as PCMA. In Analogue and Copper Man, I played bass almost exclusively, and only overdubbed keys minimally.<BR/><BR/>I can't recall any of your guitar instrumentals, but I strongly doubt that if you seriously wrote one, that <I><B>MOJA</B></I> could touch it. But it's also a comment on our musical directions - correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't tend to think of you as being into extended instrumental passages.<BR/><BR/>It may also be something about writing on an instrument that's not your primary instrument. I think I mentioned the first time I posted <B><I>MOJA</I></B> that I've never written a piano instrumental that involved. In point of fact, my own piano instrumentals are pretty boring, and I rarely even attempt to write one.<BR/><BR/>One weird thing about being a keyboard player - I bitch when my keys are mixed down, live, but I also think of the keys (when I'm playing them) as being mostly a support instrument. I'd much rather listen to what the other instruments are doing.<BR/><BR/>D.Dave Koppermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09292071349686573917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457411005352662997.post-67488448584099196712008-08-19T09:57:00.000-04:002008-08-19T09:57:00.000-04:00Yeah I remember Moja... being annoyed that you cam...Yeah I remember Moja... being annoyed that you came up with a better guitar piece than I ever could.. when you weren't even really a guitar player.. <BR/><BR/>You and Bran both blew my doors off when it came to guitar pieces...<BR/><BR/>annoying..Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457411005352662997.post-37068648909929808672008-08-19T09:48:00.000-04:002008-08-19T09:48:00.000-04:00What the Fuck?? I don't remember any of these exc...What the Fuck?? I don't remember any of these except Moja and Stop Teaching...<BR/><BR/>I kind of do remember the recording... it was your foray into the 90s sound and way more guitar oriented.. <BR/><BR/>That's Bran at the beginning of Stop Teaching isn't it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457411005352662997.post-11004237018240356192008-08-18T23:23:00.000-04:002008-08-18T23:23:00.000-04:00- Yes, that is Edz with accordion and headphones, ...- Yes, that is Edz with accordion and headphones, in a period shot of the dining room.<BR/><BR/>- I never took Spanish, so it's definitely intended as a joke. And having periodically scheduled drunkards is no laughing matter.<BR/><BR/>- Instrumentals: I'd swear, up until that point I'd been all about the songs. And mocking the lyricist will get you nowhere. I'll write you a double-entendre so scorching that God hisself will personally wash your mouth with soap.<BR/><BR/>- I probably should have cautioned that <B><I>Prodigy</I></B> doesn't quite get to where I wanted it... but I have been meaning to give you a hard time for giving me a hard time for 'thinking' about 'art,' because I think you were just giving yourself a hard time about it. Right?<BR/><BR/>Anyway: it's okay to think about art. That's what it's there for, and whatever conclusion you draw is your own. This also holds true for your own art.<BR/><BR/>- I've written happy. I'd write more happy if more happy were to come. I should point out that the lyrics and melodies come after the music in this band, and the music itself ain't exactly <B><I>76 Trombones.</I></B><BR/><BR/>- I'll pay you good money to NOT bring me those Javascript books. I'm trying to get through life knowing as little code as possible.<BR/><BR/>D.Dave Koppermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09292071349686573917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457411005352662997.post-78166644315601012332008-08-18T11:39:00.000-04:002008-08-18T11:39:00.000-04:00OK, this blog was so long and had so much that I w...OK, this blog was so long and had so much that I wanted to respond to that I had to copy it into a Word document and trim it down to said respondables. Then I had to trim my responses. (Yes, this is the trimmed version, why do you ask?)<BR/><BR/>First off, is that Edz wearing headphones and an accordion?!?!?! Priceless.<BR/><BR/>“Which serves as exhibit 'a' as to why I failed that Italian class.”<BR/> - I believe the Spanish I sang in “Baby I’m Your Man” translates to “The next time I have drunkards,” does it not?<BR/><BR/>“…there's a high ratio of instrumental numbers floating around from the period.”<BR/> - You’re kidding. You? Fond of instrumental numbers? ;)<BR/><BR/>OK, I haven’t even listened to “Prodigy” yet but HOLY CRAP do I get that description of high-expectation-overachiever burnout. I also blame the whole gifted thing as the reason I didn’t actually feel my own age until college. And one thing that always frustrated me in PROBE (though I gather not so much you, nor Cathy) was the assumption that because we were smart, we’d consider an independent academic project “fun” (I always found a way to twist some art or writing contest I was already entering anyway into my ‘project’, rather than the more academic-minded projects the other kids were doing – this worked well in college too – lots of “independent study” screenwriting credits...) <BR/>As for abandoning drawing for the decade after failing to meet your own expectations, I am crawling out of that specific hole as we speak, for similar reasons – I’ve told you of the disheartening experience of deciding I must not be a “real artist” because I couldn’t bullshit on the deep meaning of my pieces at portfolio reviews.<BR/><BR/>“A man who no longer is welcomed in the brighter world where he most wants to be, and is more than a little bitter about it.”<BR/> - That’s still how I’d describe your stuff, happier though you hopefully are. Sorry. That’s Dave-branded melancholy right there - said bitterness was angrier in the 90s perhaps, now it's softened to melancholy, but it's the same basic undercurrent. I know I give you too much crap about it ("I'm a sunny girl, give me something sunny to sing!") but honestly, back when I wrote, I couldn’t write happy either. Angst has so many twists and avenues to explore, many different levels of shadow; Happy pretty much just spills all over everything and turns it into trite cliché. <BR/><BR/>“A fellow 'Gifted and Talented' and 'Great Books' traveller, Cathy Ricardo, makes an appearance here, playing the Moog that drifts in and out of the mix.”<BR/> - I didn’t know that!!! Yay Cathy!!!<BR/><BR/>“This song... features future PCMA singer Christine Ricardo - Cathy's younger sister - on vocals. As Christine was seventeen at the time…”<BR/> - Sixteen, actually…<BR/>“…she had the perfect ingenue tone for the countermelody/come-on in the coda.”<BR/> - I still can’t believe you had a sixteen year old sing about how one could “make it wetter”. For shame! ;)<BR/>“Her voice now is deeper and fuller, of course, but still having an air of knowing innocence…”<BR/> - Oooh, put that in the liner notes! Me likey!<BR/>“…making it perfect for the tales of adult regret and melancholy that make up the bulk of the PCMA lyrics.”<BR/> - Ironic, given that I’m not prone to either – but I do what I can. :)<BR/><BR/>“I can't get it embedded in the blog unless I take a master's class in Javascript”<BR/> - I can swing by Knutsen Knoll and steal some Javascript books from my mom before our next rehearsal if you’d like…Christinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03700050344244008213noreply@blogger.com