Utah Bound - Sundance Here I Come

Happy New Year everyone. I hope peace and contentment enfold you every day of the year. It’s been a busy start for me and my Blogging is slacking along with my belly from too much holiday Tamales, wine and general indulgence. But I’m doing something about it. I’m leaving today to play five shows at during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Brrrr. One of the venues is the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center Theater. Cool.

I was talking to the promoter who booked me and he was saying not to expect people to be to attentive when I play at the two Bars on Main street. He was saying people are there to schmooze and deal more than listen to the musicians. In fact, he said, he heard Riki Lee Jones at the same venue and she had to tell the crowd to please shut up. I thought well at list I’m being ignored by a higher class of people. Hey I’m moving on up. Truthfully it doesn’t bother me in the least. Last year 45,056 people attended Sundance film festival many of them the richest and most powerful people in the Biz. This year playing at the same time I am at the ASCAP Music Café (and why wasn’t I included in that?) is John Rzeznik and the Gin Blossoms. Damien Rice and Wynona are also performing. Woody Harrelson and Josh Brolin are doing a live panel/performance thing across the street and Robert Redford has his Sundance Resort just down the road.

I’m not one for celebrity watching and have met my share but promise to get photos if I can to post. The “cheapest” room I found in Park City was about $190.00 a night. Yikes! I’m staying in Salt Lake and driving back and forth. By all accounts there is NO parking in Park City…..ironic huh? You have to park at designated, cash only, lots and take the shuttle into the town. I’ll be lugging two Hang drums, a case of Flutes and a backpack full of CD’s around sloshing through the snow. Isn’t my life glamorous?

I look forward to bringing my style of Southwest Americana Peaceful music and touching that part of people that is the silent sentinel. Imagine my Hang ringing out into that snow filled air and flutes connecting with the ancient ancestors who once roamed that land. Yeah. I know something good always comes out of every performance so I’m not concerned at all. I’m gratefully at a place in my life where I’m actually content with who I am and what I do. I feel nothing need be enhanced or diminished. It has taken a lot of work to get here and I hope you can feel some of that contentment in whatever you do. The ambition, politicking and whispered lobbying I’ve seen musicians do is not for me. Making a living at making people happy or peaceful is enough for me and funny enough as soon as I relaxed into that, opportunities are presenting themselves without effort. Whew. Talk about the law of attraction eh?

The real goal for me is to; of course, get my music placed in films. I love love love independent film and have done some film work with my music but am excited and look forward to seeing my name on the credits of a film debuting at Sundance, or Cannes and more. One of my songs “Chaco Moon Meditation” is on a compilation CD that is being passed out to all the registered attendees so I’m happy about that. I’m grateful for these exotic instruments that help me to express something unique. Well it’s a 13 hour drive so I better get on the road. I’ve downloaded a bunch of free Podcasts on iTunes so I’m ready….

Be Well
Randy

How Loud Should Peace Be Played?

“Once Poets resounded over the battlefield; what voice can outshout the rattle of this metallic age that is struggling on towards its careening future? …. Let such a person go out to his daily work…where greatness is lying in ambush….” Rainer Maria Rilke [Fragment of an Eligy]

I’ve come back to this line by the poet Rilke time after time. I think what it means to me is when entropy, that is the rush towards more speed, volume, shock and consumption, is the order of the day it is the stillness and authentic feeling that is all that will remain when the battle is done. By battle I mean my own drive to succeed and be heard amidst the great clamor of musicians and media competing for attention—with more money and better skills at politicking their ways into gigs than I have. Earlier this month I played a gig with a band. For a solo artist like myself it means releasing any ideas of working my brand of Mojo on a crowd. Not that I don’t enjoy it—I do, immensely. Having been in bands, combos, orchestras and choirs all my musical life I love the shared breathing and energy. I remember in one of my bands several times people actually walked up to the stage and would say things like; “You guys need to play softer. We want to hear his voice not your damn drumming (or other instrument).” This never went over well with my band mates of course. But it points out that whatever gift given me is one of peacefulness and calm through my music and it is best heard in your CD player, solo or with really sensitive musicians. But that is only my opinion today.

Before this sounds like I’m a Prima Dona let me say that it has nothing to do with my ego and all to do with being that conduit of deep stillness that has been there from the start. I remember working in my dad’s construction company office as a boy and complete strangers commenting on how calm it seemed when I was there. When I worked at a drug treatment center the counselors and medical staff would hang out in my office referring to the contact high they felt around me. My 17 years as a massage therapist has really let me focus that peacefulness and it permeates my music I feel. So when I was recently with a loud group who like to bang the hell out of every drum in sight I felt a little lost. At one point I noticed about four different tempos in our combo. The dancers were following some internal tempo so that cool. Nonetheless, I knew people were there to dance to a banged away on my Hang drum and Cajon and Udu so much that my hands became red, swollen and very painful. When we took a break several people mentioned how they had come to hear my Hang but that they were leaving because they couldn’t hear me and obviously the sound system sucked. It was my system. Oh well. Then I remembered I use it for solo gigs. Hmmm must rethink this. Return to the Human Jukebox days or book more “sit down” venues?

Having paid my dues in countless bars, clubs, parties, conventions, conference and dinners where I was seriously just background music, and let me tell you: that is just about paying bills and getting the next gig—I’m in no hurry to do that again and regularly turn down private party, dinner and wedding gigs. Not that I think I’m too good for them; and if the economy keeps spiraling downward I may accept more. My current instruments like the Hang drum, Native American flute and guitar and vocals are really more intimate instruments. You can only get so much sound out of a Hang. After awhile it is like banging the hood of your car if people can’t hear it. Professional musicians know that more volume does not equal intensity but rather a more concentrated focus of intention with your playing. In fact things like changing the volume, or dynamics, creates amazing interest and can build energy into a frenzy and release. Enthusiasts think louder means energy. Ugh. It doesn’t any more than eating a beautiful meal as fast as possible increases its flavor. In my Hospice work I’ve learned that my Native American flute music created a space for healing as opposed to healing outright. When we hear music that is coming from that Soul place our beings recognize it which is why people say it is so peaceful and calming or soothing.

Being a solo artist is challenging in the sense that you are completely exposed and there are no other instruments to hide behind. You are ON the whole time and the commitment to be present and in the moment can be daunting. It is something I relish but know how much it will take out of me. Being a sideman in a group is fun for a while but then comes the real work of creating a space for people to join you so we can all transcend together through the music. It doesn’t always happen sure, but it stands more of a chance without the rattle of this metallic age. Many of you have heard me perform in various settings and I would really love to hear about your thoughts to this blog or on what your experience as an audience member was. I am constantly humbled on how articulate and insightful you all are.
Happiest memories for the New Year!

Randy

Music and Movement Collaboration. A Peaceful Piece.

Randy Granger, Composer; Debra Knapp, Choreographer

Music, rhythm, movement, peace and grace all in less than ten minutes. There is something so ephemeral about music and performance, yet eternal. Last weekend was the premiere of a dance piece “Peace Dance” set to music by me called “Ancestor’s Dance.” The music was commissioned by the NMSU Dance Program and choreographer Debra Knapp. We had worked together on a multi-media project last year so I was honored and very happy and excited though wondered exactly ‘when’ I would be able to get to it. I stopped by their dance studio on my way out of town to perform and watched what they had so far, took notes and filed in my creative storage room of my mind to let it stew. Debra said she had been to Hawaii recently and was struck by the peacefulness of their native culture and how it didn’t seem to have the violent history (I called it cultural baggage too) that our mainland tribes have. She wanted to dance to give a a sense of coming from the ancestors through the generations. I understood what she was saying and in my studies of Polynesian cultures I had sensed that strong self-identity and peaceful grace based around water that is reflected in their dances, music and art.

Randy Granger & Candance Williams, Dancer

I ran into Debra at the Renaissance Faire where we were both performing and she said she loved the song….but that it was just a tad too fast for the dancers. I laughed imagining them passing out during the performance. She said if I could slow it down a touch without offending my artistic vision it would be helpful. I’m not a purist by any means so agreed. When you watch the video below you see how athletic and physical the movement is. The premiere of our collaboration was December 6, 2008 as the finale of their Tis the Season program at the Rio Grande Theatre in Las Cruces, NM. I was really looking forward to the dance but was surprised when Debra introduced me in the audience to the packed house of over 400 and said that the dance would not have been possible without my music and was grateful to have such a talented composer living here. Needless to say I was pretty embarrassed but grateful. Before the number came on I hid in the back of the theatre to tape it and avoid the tomatoes if people hated it….

I needn’t have worried. The dancers were really amazing, sensitive and emotive. They were really beautiful and I was so so proud of them and truly happy as if my spirit was actually smiling and beaming. Debra’s choreography was brilliant and told a story of a people’s movement through time. It was wistful and emotional. I thought how beautiful is dance that you must be attentive to it as it happens because unlike a CD, movie or book once it is done only the ghosts of movement are left on that stage. Knowing that my music, my creation and assemblance of notes and instruments inspired dance movements was pretty fulfilling. I used the Ocean drum to simulate the sound of waves and water, the Native American flute to represent the voice and both the Ding and Gu sides of the Hang drum. I added harmonized vocals that fall off at the end of phrases like I’ve heard the Maori singers do. I look forward to working with all sorts of artists. So far I’ve worked with Poets, jewelry makers, sculptors and dancers. Hmmm what’s next?

I’d recommend listening to the dance video with headphones to fully hear the low Gu part. Sorry it is so dark but it was pitch black in the theater. I’d love to know what you think of it. - Randy