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November 30, 2006
Katrina page (so far)
Hi, all. We're in Little Rock for the next three days. I finally sorted through the Katrina photos tonight and posted a small sampling of the shots on this gallery page. For now there are no comments accompanying the photos... they're self-explanatory to a large extent, and it's rather exhausting just editing pictures of such an overwhelming scene. We'll get to much more explanation and commentary on the pictures later -- and there are more to come. Heckuva job! --r.
Posted by Romy
10:15 PM PST
November 28, 2006
Finally, a New Orleans trip update
 Been too busy here in the Big Easy to post lately, but here's a shot of a typical house interior in the vast hurricane-flooded parts of the city. Until today we'd been strolling around the immediate neighborhood in the relatively unscathed French Quarter while eating, drinking and carousing in typical NO style. Finally, this afternoon we fired up the car and ventured into the devastated areas, which were much, MUCH worse off than imagination could conjure. More on that soon, along with many more pictures. Also, after a long absence from eBay we've scheduled a listing for a D-minor soprano flute which will become active on Wednesday evening. More on that too, soon. Tomorrow it's off to Little Rock, Arkansas to visit the Swamp Witch's original home turf. See ya, r.
Posted by Romy
07:01 PM PST
November 26, 2006
Lafayette, LA
Quick note this mo'nin: we's in a ho-tel room here in Lafayette, Louisiana, an' the Tabasco Sauce factory's right down the road! Reckon we ought to ease down there an' check out the tour, then dip through some deep Cajun country onna way to N'O'leans. We'll get back to y'all once we's set up in the French Quarter, either tonight or t'morrah mornin'. An' sorry 'bout this silly dialect; ah'll git ovah it befoe th' next entry, promise now. --r.
Posted by Romy
07:31 AM PST
November 22, 2006
Leaving town tomorrow
Well, tomorrow it's off to more southerly latitudes, and our three main urban anchors will be Dallas, Little Rock and New Orleans. We'll drive a big triangular route between those three burgs, and several of the flutes finished over the past couple of weeks will come along for the ride. So, if anyone in those three towns is in need of a fine bamboo flute, y'all give a holler, hear now? I just bought my first laptop and it'll be interesting to have that along for the trip. Wireless Internet service is becoming quite ubiquitous in urban areas, so watch for a bit of liveblogging along the route. The blog sure has been stagnant this month-- maybe we'll announce another ten-thousand word goal for December... but this time, there will have to be rules about content. No rum, bananas or other silly stuff allowed next time! Lotsa packing and preparation to do, so catch you again in a day or two. --r.
Posted by Romy
08:42 PM PST
November 17, 2006
Flute tuning
Been busy around the Complex lately, since we're trying to get some work done before heading south on Thanksgiving Day. Here in the blog it's been a far cry from last month's 12,000-word pace, but that's not so bad since most of last month's entries were frivolous and mission-peripheral anyway. Unfortunately we had a run of bad luck in the past few days, and I sort of messed up three flutes during the tuning process. That's very discouraging since it so rarely happens, and to have three flutes go wrong in as many days had me fuming and taking Pan's name in vain. It's not that those three flutes are irredeemably worthless, it's just that they're not nearly as good as they could have been. Next to bamboo selection, I'd say that the two most important factors in making a really good flute are the embouchure cut -- that is, the shape and angle of the blowhole -- and the bore profile. Most pieces of the multi-noded Asian bamboo I primarily work with need some adjustment to the bore in order to tune the overtones and bring out the rich resonance of the instrument, and this is a tricky procedure which many bamboo flutemakers don't attempt, or aren't even aware of. To some extent it's a proprietary process; a trade secret if you will... until the book gets written we won't go into detail about techniques of bore adjustment. However, the underlying acoustical principles are quite elementary and anyone curious about the subject can readily find more information *somewhere.* For the last few years I've had much better tools for bore adjustment than the crude devices of my first decade's flutemaking, and the task can be accomplished much more quickly and efficiently than in the past. Unfortunately, an inattentive moment can result in removal of too much material, and that's just what happened to the flutes in question. Once that's happened it's quite difficult to repair, and usually not worth the trouble to try. Again, it's not that the flutes are useless-- it's that they're not quite good enough to sell sight unseen or ear unheard. This has been pointed out before, but in the old days I'd take flutes of all quality levels to the art and craft fairs: good, mediocre and great. The prices would be set to reflect these standards, and it was pretty much up to the customer to pick the instrument. If he selected one which I regarded as merely "good" or even "mediocre," that was his... well, we don't want to say problem! Although it may be somewhat counterintuitive, selling flutes over the Internet has greatly increased their average quality level; I don't need to do so much volume -- that is, quantity -- and can take the time to make superior instruments. On the other hand, those that don't turn out quite as well tend to sit around for a long time, since the craft-fair outlet for less-than-stellar flutes no longer exists-- and I hate to knowingly send a mediocre flute to anyone who hasn't picked it out himself. I keep telling myself that one of these days we'll return to doing three or four shows a year... one of these days. Say, why do you suppose the majority of my bamboo-flute customers over the years have been men, while in the conventional flute world more players are female? That's one of the Great Mysteries of this business. A couple of days ago I was mildly lamenting the esoteric marginalization of my chosen career, and remarked to the Swamp Witch that "The problem with my flutes is that flute players don't play them." She laughed, but knew what I meant: it's funny but largely true. Most "serious" flutists don't have much interest or understanding of quirky non-mainstream instruments, although there are exceptions, of course-- and my customers over the years have been a motley gaggle of amateurs and/or beginners, with a few intrepid and adventurous pros thrown into the mix. More on this subject soon; gotta run for now and make up for those three botched bores... wish me luck! --r.
Posted by Romy
12:41 PM PST
November 16, 2006
Smaller chip butty photo
 As was promised in the original version of this entry, we won't mention chip buttys around here for a while... This bizarre sandwich is out. I did want to run a personal photo of our American Chip Butty as a parting shot, just to see what happens in search-engine land. Tomorrow it's back to serious reflections on flutes and music, sans chip butty. ================================================== Chips (French fries) by Jack in the Box; bread by Grand Central Baking. Butter by Land O' Lakes; ketchup and malt vinegar by Heinz Foods Inc. "Food" styling, photography and Photoshop production by Romero Bentonio. --r. [Update] Boy, have I made a mess in attempting to revise this entry with a smaller photo. Following are the five comments that were lost in the process: ============================================= Posted by nivek Wednesday, November 15th Morning R. Well it looks like you are up to page 7 in google's chip butty search this morning. You sure you don't want to keep going on this for a while? Knowing just how much you want to mindlessly pander to the borg. Did I notice something in the blog a few days back requiring some mindless prattle involving the words bamboo flute in each post to the blog now because frankly I don't think I'm up for it until I've had at least my 3rd cup -O- joe, and it might just take 4 or 5 cups of high test with heavy cream and "shudder" sugar to get the creative juices flowing this AM. Oh well Bamboo Flutes for industry! there. that's as close as I can get today. Always happy to help. NTY ================================= Posted by Romy Wednesday, November 15th Ah-- is that a confession? I really ought to get a smaller chip butty photo put up; this one is just too wide and messes up the site on some browsers. Here at the library, it takes up the entire monitor width, despite the fact that the image was only 700 pixels wide. ===================================== Posted by nivek Wednesday, November 15th the photo is making me hungry tho. You know butter makes great chip dip for potato chips don't you? ================================ Posted by nivek Thursday, November 16th You know if you search google for "Jiahu flute .pdf" you are on page 2. ======================= Posted by Romy Some day or another "Jiahu flute .pdf?" What kind of bizarre search is that-- for that matter, what on earth is a Jiahu flute? Oh, never mind.....
Posted by Romy
11:17 AM PST
November 14, 2006
"Hot" NY'er cartoon
FluteSlaves Thanks to TKBS and nivek for the stolen image in the popup above. I really love this cartoon, and hope to find a similar engagement soon... as a flutist, not an oarsman! More in a day or so on the upcoming New Orleans trip. I actually hope to get a laptop before we leave, in order to file dispatches from the hurricane-wreckage zone more efficiently. We'll see... --r.
Posted by Romy
12:53 PM PST
November 13, 2006
Stormy Monday
Actually it isn't too bad today, just the normal Pacific Northwest winter drizzle. We did have some excitement last night, when high winds took out the power over a large area, including the Swamp Shack. After stumbling around in the dark finding flashlights and candles, it turned out to be a rather atmospheric evening. There's certainly something to be said for reading by lantern light as the wind howls and the rain pelts... (Revised and shortened on Tuesday, which is actually a rare dry day.) --r.
Posted by Romy
12:45 PM PST
November 12, 2006
430%
While working late at the flute studio tonight, I dragged the old 10" black-and-white television out of the closet for the first time in many, many months. It seemed relatively safe to do so, since we'd finally passed the crest of our recent wave of political madness. I'm proud to say that I didn't suffer a single infliction of mainstream political advertising during this last insane wave, thanks to a complete avoidance of television and commercial radio for the duration. The thought that any halfway-close political race would hinge on the votes of individuals so profoundly uninformed, clueless and impressionable that they might be swayed by last-minute paid political hatchet jobs is almost too depressing to contemplate... Well, welcome to reality-- and that's why I've worked so hard to avoid it lately. Not that television is all bad. Why, just this evening the friendly weatherman informed me that we've received 430% of the normal rainfall for November to date! In other words, more than four times the average precipitation has fallen for the month thus far. We expect abundant moisture at this time of year in the verdant Pacific Northwest, but this is ridiculous-- and that's why the last couple of blog entries have fixated on the wetness. Forecast is for still more, so there's no end in sight... *glurg* --r.
Posted by Romy
12:47 AM PST
November 10, 2006
First things first
Yesssss! We've moved up to hit #36 in a Yahoo search for "chip butty" as of this writing. On the other hand, the Google results have slipped back a couple of screens. As usual, on such vitally important matters concerning this site Yahoo surges while Google falters. Gotta get that chip butty photo posted soon, and it wouldn't surprise me if we crack Yahoo's top ten sometime after that's done. As for the bamboo flute/bamboo flutes world, momentum seems to be picking up after a slow late summer into autumn. There's lots of partially completed stuff in the production pipeline, but lately it's been a struggle to actually finish much of it. We're getting there, though-- and the recent rain is actually a boon in a way, since it keeps me indoors most of the time. Rain fell on Portland. It fell in sweeps and it fell in drones. It fell in unending cascades of cheap Zen jewelry. It fell on the dikes. it fell on the firs. It fell on the downcast necks of the mallards. The above is a somewhat altered excerpt from Tom Robbins's Another Roadside Attraction, in which the persistent rains of the Pacific Northwest are a recurring theme. In the original, the setting is the Skagit Valley north of Seattle, which has a climate similar to Portland's. When I located the above passage in the book and started retyping it, I assumed that it was the one containing the sentence "Mossy-haired lunatics roamed the dripping peninsulas," but that turned out not to be the case. Since I've been feeling like a mossy-haired lunatic lately, we'll find that other one soon. The book contains numerous fanciful evocations of endless rain, so we'll just have to dig around a bit more. Anyway, it's been WET here. The river at the Shack has gone up about six feet in the last five days, but so far it's not nearly as high as last year's peak, and the bamboo isn't submerged yet... although the 'boo did survive last year's flood, it was definitely weakened somewhat. I'm hoping that we won't have another flood this season, so that the grove has a stronger start next spring. Fingers crossed... But we digress, and believe me, there's precious little time for digression.* Off to the studio now; have a good weeked, all. --r. *In case you didn't catch it, that's an allusion to another passage in Roadside Attraction. ============================================================= (Later) OK, it's still getting wetter by the moment, so here's more Robbins on rain: And then the rains came. Off now for good! --r.
Posted by Romy
12:34 PM PST
November 8, 2006
You Fools!
Foolish Americans-- you have played right into our hands, and now we will CRUSH YOU! Not even a lizard will survive for a thousand years on your barren, scorched lands! We will drink the blood of every man, woman and child on your miserable landmass! Our war of terror is coming to your suburb soon! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA نوو ثت] ال [ز-تم] على الشغل ، نحن يستطيع توقّفت يعيّن [رنتس] عشوائيّة وركّزت على العمل [أت هند] ، نعم [إينديدي]. [جتشر] خيزرانيّ [ووودويند] أجهزة هنا! آخر شيء: يصبح التكرار مضجرة من قصدي أن يحصل أكثر محتوى موسيقيّة على هذا موقعة بنفسي فائضة. يكون هو يمكن لمماطلة أن يكون فائضة ؟ لا يرى لما لا ، [أت فيرست غلنس]… نحن أبعد سنحلّل أنّ سؤال فيما بعد فيما بعد فيما بعد فيما بعد. أيضا ، أكثر عينات موسيقيّة يأتي قريبا قريبا قريبا!!!!!!!
Posted by Romy
06:49 PM PST
November 7, 2006
'Round Midnight
All right, who's the wise guy? Someone's been posting little snippets of doggerel and dreck in the comments for a day or two, and all of these anonymous contributions feature monotonous iterations of the term "bamboo flute." Is this what a Googlebombing mission looks like from the ground? If I find out that someone from the Complex is responsible for this, heads are gonna roll! After all, we must maintain our Professional Dignity, and gratuitous Googlewhoring is deeply frowned on. Whaddya think this is, a political campaign or something? We may be cheap, but we ain't that sleazy. (Or is it the other way around?) It's just after midnight on Election Day, so we'll be back in the morning for more submissions in the November 7th slot. 'Night for now... r.
Posted by Romy
12:41 AM PST
November 6, 2006
Monday digestive blues
Last night I admitted that our experimental chip butty wasn't nearly as disgusting as imagined. Again, let's not get the impression that it was actually Good-- for heaven's sake, those eight or ten bites of the various test versions left a leaden lump in the gut for many hours. And my dreams last night... *shudder*... those dreams were almost as bad as the idiotic politically-charged reality that the USA's been stuck in for the past few weeks... make that years. Wednesday can't come soon enough for me, no matter what the outcome may be. Good old Google has this site rising like mad on searches for "chip butty." Just in the past three days, we've rocketed from screen 9 to screen 6! Isn't that exciting? --Well, no. As I've observed before, Google has an uncanny, laser-like focus on this site's most mission-irrelevant, frivolous aspects, and the Big G unerringly elevates those silly elements in its search results. Meanwhile, search terms relating to our site's actual purpose (bamboo flutes, remember?) get studiously ignored, buried deep in the Googleghetto for years on end. With Yahoo, it's just the opposite. We'll never figure out why, and will never stop complaining about it, either. Resistance-- fight the Power! (And don't forget to vote. Just ignore those robocalls.) Our own version of a chip butty photograph will be coming to the Gallery soon! After all, ya gotta take what you can get in the Googleghetto. You ain't seen nothin' yet, b-b-b-babeee... --r.
Posted by Romy
11:28 AM PST
November 5, 2006
Still More Chip Butty Fascination (updated)
I've been quite obsessed with chip buttys (butties?) lately, so guess what? Tonight we're going to make one and actually taste it! Here's a "recipe" from Wikipedia, calling for ketchup to be spread on one slice of bread, with butter on the other. However, as we've noted previously there are alternate preparations, and a classic CB consists of two slices of buttered white bread with chips (french fries) thickly layered in between. This basic atrocity is then "enhanced" with one's choice of condiments: typically ketchup, malt vinegar, curry sauce or gravy. (But re that Wikipedia recipe: what in the world is "batch loaf bread?" Those inscrutable British...) The plan is to drop by McDonalds on the way back to the Shack tonight -- there's a McD's only a couple of miles away -- pick up some fries, get 'em back still hot, and make that chip butty! There are two varieties of white bread on hand for this momentous occasion, a classic airy-crunchy French baguette and a basic chewy sourdough. I had briefly entertained the notion of preparing all four condiments as well, including a "fish and chip shop-style curry sauce," but have decided to temper the ambition a bit and just try the two simpler versions with ketchup and vinegar. If this first experiment yields surprising results, i.e. actual edibility beyond the first bite or two, we'll get more audacious and whip up a gravy and a curry sauce for the next trial. Well, it's about noon at this writing; we're heading into town soon and should return at about seven or eight. The plan is to fast until then, so as to be quite hungry-- and willing and able to take a bite of this scary concoction. Stay tuned for experimental data! [update] My, that was rather surprising: the thing wasn't nearly as bad as expected, and I managed eight or ten sizeable bites. We tried several variations, and I preferred the version made with lightly toasted, rather thinly sliced sourdough bread. Having said that, it certainly wasn't good enough to warrant repeating the experiment with curry sauce and gravy! (Hmmmm... but what if nice, zingy, freshly prepared garlic butter... oh, never mind.) ----r.
Posted by Romy
12:15 PM PST
November 3, 2006
Sorry about that (and this)
I take it all back: Google is an awesome, exemplary company run by brilliant humanitarian geniuses-- and we luuuuuuv you, Serge and Lawrence! Now please don't bomb us-- we surrender, humbly and totally. Google rocks-- and I'm a talentless hack! Now that that unpleasantness has been dealt with, let's move on. I intended to write something about bamboo flutes today, but can't think of much to say about bamboo flutes. Perhaps something inspiring and informative about bamboo flutes will come up later, after I've given the subject -- that is, bamboo flutes -- a little more thought. It wouldn't be a good idea to write just anything about bamboo flutes; this serious and weighty subject deserves much more thoughtful treatment. So, more on bamboo flutes after a bit of meditation and soul-searching... Now it's time to go play a bamboo flute for inspiration's sake. I've found that a simple bamboo flute is an excellent therapeutic tool; blowing meditatively on a bamboo flute has proven its worth in that capacity many times. So, we're off to grab a bamboo flute and meditate on bamboo flutes and their indispensible place in this loony world. Catch ya later! Yours in bamboo flutes, rb
Posted by Romy
02:18 PM PST
November 2, 2006
Rantlet
Google still hates this site, for unknown reasons. Well, it could be partly due to the fact that they suck? What a nest of overrated bozos; it's truly tragic that the subpar Google has become the reflexive engine of choice for millions of misguided searchers. We can't stress this enough: if you want to locate as much information as possible on a given subject, TRY YAHOO TOO! The difference in results is stark and revealing. Often, much relevant and useful information that appears on the very first Yahoo page or two is buried deep, deep, deep in Google's pile of redundant nonsense. RESIST THE HEGEMONY OF EVIL GOOGLE! I was wondering why one particular image in the gallery gets so many looks, and tried an experiment (search terms: portland, oregon sunset.) Here's the answer: Yahoo! Image Search results for portland, oregon sunset Naturally, under the same search terms that image is nowhere to be found in Google-- if it is in there somewhere, it's hidden so many screens back that I lost patience for the search. --r.
Posted by Romy
01:15 PM PST
November 1, 2006
Stale fare
Time for one of our periodic handwringing entries about this site's innumerable flaws and stale aspects. For one thing, I've really fallen down on the job as far as sound samples are concerned, so by the end of the year we plan to put up many sound bites of the most representative flute keys and styles, from soprano to bass. There have been a couple requests for just that in the past two days, so it must be time to DO it. But first, a bite of lunch. Crikey-- it's the dreaded chip butty! (Should have posted this one on Halloween; we're a day late.) Frightening though this abominable sandwich may be, there's a certain morbid fascination: what could possibly motivate anyone to concoct -- let alone actually eat -- such a thing? It's nothing but a bland, nutritionally bankrupt fat and carbohydrate sandwich! Although I think I can imagine what it would taste like, it's so utterly bizarre that we may actually have to make one of these, strictly for science's sake. Purgatives will be on hand as a safety measure, and we'll take full precautions in the lab. Full report next week... Back later today perhaps, rb
Posted by Romy
01:41 PM PST |
