Kristallnacht Sonata

May 1 was Yom haShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and Nov 9 is the commemoration date of Kristallnacht, the 1938 pogrom in Germany orchestrated by the nazi high command. Kristallnacht is often thought of as "the start" of the Shoah.

I presented the following piece a number of years ago during a Kristallnacht commemoration, and have wanted to record it ever since. I just purchased Mixcraft, an inexpensive but rather powerful software package for mixing tracks (and apparently images and video, as well). My first experiment was to produce a version of this, my Kristallnacht Sonata.

Since blogspot doesn't allow uploads of mp3's, I'm embedding a link to the sound file on my website. Here it is, but I'm not sure how it will work for you.

http://www.shivvetee.com/resources/KnachtSonata_v3.mp3

 

If you have problems with it, the recording can also be accessed directly by going to the Audio Room of my website, Shivvetee.com. Here's the link:

http://www.shivvetee.com/audio_room/shivvetee_audio_rm.html

Let me know what you think.

On a scrap of paper in an old notebook

On a scrap of paper in an old notebook

Raw:

O fiery voice full of bitter song

    and loud rumble.

Crashing voice that fills our cells with silence.

Lonely howling of our wolf soul

    Seeking blood.

The perfection of my hands

    That lets knowledge slip away

    Like water into a well.

    Faint splashes echoing in the blindness.

Pure light is strumming a mistuned guitar.

    Pure sound. A taste of soft pear nectar.

Cooked:

...O fiery voice, full of twanging colors,

    Reverbing static.

Crashing voice

    And the faint trembling of a leaf.

Prophetic howling. O wolf voice.

    And within it,

    Gnawing on splintered bone.

The perfection of words,

    That lets knowledge drip

    Like water into a well.

Faint splashes echoing in blindness.

O pure light, strummed on a mistuned guitar.

Pure sound

    With the tang of raw sienna...

Tyler, please analyze and comment! – smb

Breakout Brick Wall, progress

Next layers of the wall:

Breakout Brick Wall

Working in the style of Conrad Malicoat, the brilliant Provincetown artist and bricklayer, I am building a low wall to set off a small garden in our back yard. Conrad named his technique "breakout brick work". Thus the title of this post. The wall will eventually be 4 to 6 layers high, and another 8 feet long.

Hey, Rad, you remain an inspiration to me! Love to Annie.