Recordings

Be Love at Sacred Grounds

ByGary October 2, 2013October 2, 2013

I love open mics. I have two favorites in San Francisco that I make every time I’m in town — Hotel Utah on Mondays, and Sacred Grounds on Thursdays.

It is in places like Sacred Grounds that the culture begins, where it wells up right from the ground, not manufactured or corporate or in service of any agenda but the beauty of human creativity.

Last week I sang Be Love at Sacred Grounds, and my dear friend Claudia took a video. Here it is. I hope you enjoy it. It really gets the flavor of the place.

Recordings

Bug Zapper

ByGary April 23, 2013April 23, 2013

More fun with the Q2HD. Bug Zapper is a co-write with my friend Scott Bryson. I’ve reworked it endlessly, and this is where it sits right now. For years, there’s been a major II chord in the chorus, clinging like the kitten in the “Hang in there, Baby” poster. I finally got over it and…

Just Intonation | The Lattice | The Notes

Mixolydian Mode

ByGary July 18, 2013August 25, 2017

I’ve been quiet lately because I’ve been working on an animation of my song Real Girl. It’s a complicated one, a dance of harmonic tension and resolution. The bass and melody chase each other around the lattice like courting butterflies. Meanwhile, there’s more to be extracted from the Be Love video. A mode is a…

Consonance | Recordings | The Lattice | Tonal Gravity

100 Girlfriends

ByGary August 22, 2013August 30, 2017

There is a passage, in my song Real Girl, that clearly showcases both kinds of dissonance — the kind that comes from harmonic distance, and the kind that comes from reverse polarity. This melodic passage occurs many times in the song, and it contains a rather dizzying series of tensions and resolutions. My friend Jody…

Recordings

A Performance Video

ByGary April 2, 2013April 2, 2013

Sacred Grounds Cafe in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood has had an open mic of some sort since the late 60’s. In its current incarnation, it’s hosted, every Thursday, by local music teacher and multi-instrumentalist Mr. Natural, who thoroughly looks the part! There’s a fun crowd of regulars and it’s a warm, accepting and inviting atmosphere….

Recordings

The Flying Dream CD

ByGary April 16, 2013April 16, 2013

In the late 90’s and early 00’s, I recorded a number of song demos for promotion to music publishers. Around ’02, I compiled the recordings into a CD, Flying Dream. I’ve burned, sold and given away hundreds of these CDs over the years. Last year, I decided it was time to give my poor CD…

The Lattice

Harmonic Space

ByGary November 14, 2012August 18, 2017

Now to relate all this to the lattice in the video. Listening to music is like going on a journey. Most tonal music starts by establishing a center, or basic note, and a basic harmonic framework for the song, such as a major or minor mode. A few melody notes, and a beginning chord, and…

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