Melissa Dunphy

Here I am playing the theremin. This was taken the night I finished it, so I don't really have a technique yet. In the days since, I've started playing it in a manner vaguely similar to the way Lydia Kavina plays it. Here also is a picture of Matt demonstrating the controversial "angling" technique, which he figured out on his own in about five minutes.

Yes, making a theremin turns your house into a mess.

Over the weekend, I went to an Alarm Will Sound concert. They are amazing. Amazing. I want to shun all worldly concerns and devote my life to writing a piece of music good enough for them to play. They play arrangements of Aphex Twin and Autechre tracks. They make chaos sound tight. They perform - and you can't help but love every sound they make when you watch them.

Joining the ensemble for this and another concert on the 24th was a friend from high school, extraordinary clarinettist Eileen Mack. It has been twelve years since we were in high school together. Now we're in the same part of the United States, and she's playing with Alarm Will Sound, with whom I'm newly obsessed. Wacky. We got drunk together at an AWS house party afterwards. Well, I got drunk. Eileen held her liquor. I am a Cadbury.

I also smoked too many cigarettes, causing the high Bb I tried to hit for my choir audition (solo for upcoming concert) to sound ... interesting. Also, I lost the ability to trill. Nevermind; I didn't really expect or want to be given a solo - there is a soprano at West Chester who also auditioned with a voice so perfect it makes me want to believe in God again.

• I transcribed this Danny Elfman interview for Composing Thoughts. More to come sometime soon!


• New GTA IV Trailer has music from Koyaanisqatsi.


• As his blog proves, Matt and I finally met John Clare this past weekend. Scroll down for hilarious pictorial evidence.


• I saw a couple of brilliant instances of puppetry on the web yesterday: Star Wars Hands Battle and Funny sponge.


• Speaking of Star Wars, Cliff pointed out this gem of an apartment he found on Craigslist. Star Wars Duplex with fireplace, bar, theatre.

Labels: gadgets, music, photos