an excellent night

I spent the night in the company of Brian Conklin, Dave Shaver, Leanne Merkadante, Teo Acosta, Zara Acosta, and Papa Acosta. (Sorry about the spelling, if I massacred any unfamiliar names.) We jammed a lot, and it was quite a lot of fun. Good people, playing music with love. Most exciting was that most of them have never really "jammed" very much. As we went, everyone got more and more comfortable, and some great stuff started to come out. It was good vibes all night. We also played cards, had pie, and generally just had fun. It was wonderful!

In the Nim department, first of all, we jammed out for quite a while on Vegetables You've Never Heard Of. Dave and Teo both did verses of Vegetables, and Zara did a cool clarinet solo. It was super-fun. Later, when we were sharing solo songs, I played some Nim stuff: You've Got Your Own Life, Deposit One Tangelo, Raisins. We jammed out on Will We Go Out Together.

The coolest was that I premiered a new song called Let Me In Your Hole, and everyone went ape-shit for it. It's kind of epic. I wasn't sure about it until I played it, and now it seems to be a winner. Yay!

Winter break will be upon us soon, and I'm quite sure I'll do some more jamming at the Acostas. What wonderful people to play music with! It was such a great time!

-A

Oh, and Dave and Teo and I are going to look for open mics in Albany to perform stuff at. It should be splendid!

a little Nim in Troy

I did a mini concert in my old bedroom here in Troy, NY for my friends Dave, Jess, Greg, and Tom, with an improvised set list.

Set List:

• Superman Has Friends -> Juiceman -> Science
• Telephone Box -> Will We Go Out Together
• Crash Tinkle Tinkle -> Lapse Into Memory
• Raisins -> Deposit One Tangelo -> Wow -> Vegetables You've Never Heard Of [with audience participation]

Happy Chestichestichest, ya'll!

5 new live xenharmonic recordings

http://www.soundclick.com/andrewheathwaite

They're all a month or two old, but they've just been sitting on my hard drive, so I decided to upload them. All performed live in Potsdam.

nimmed at hurley's

• Alan the Duck
• You've Got Your Own Life
• Supersane

Not the best set list or performance, but it was nice to play anyway.

tmol begun

Joel and I began writing a multi-movement something called "The Meaning of Life".

I also began writing a new Nodal Nim song tentatively called either "Strange Situation" or "Unusual Day". I don't know if I will continue/remember it, but I played and sang some stuff, and I put crayon to paper.

eComp piece close to finished

My second composition for the class is a setting of a poem by Allen Ginsberg: Nakasaki Days IV - Everybody's Fantasy, for voice and tape. Until tonight, I had only set the first stanza, but after doing some work this evening in the eComp lab, I brought it to a state of pseudo-completion. I'll probably go through it again later and spice up the texture, perhaps with some deep bass stuff. For now, it is quite demonstratable, which is good, because I haven't played anything in that class in a couple weeks.

Once I finish this for real, it is likely that I will place it on my xenharmonic improv site. I'll let you know when that happens.


dreams of buzzelling,

Andrew

Joel & Andrew

We played open mic at Hurley's tonight on guitar, mandolin, vocals, and vocals. It was fun. I think we did alright. More collaborations to come.

• Liquid Gravity [premiere]
• [jam]
• The Slippery Toad

new audio uploaded: October 21 Hurley's gig

It's insane how late it is on a Wesnesday night, but sometimes I have no control over myself. I uploaded all the decent Nim audio from my October 21 Hurley's gig to the SoundClick page. I omitted one song I played -- Magazine Chubbies -- because for some reason the mic cut out, and it sounded terrible as a result. The set list was as follows:

• Shirt Thane -> Frank
• Magazine Chubbies [no audio, due to technical problems]
• Sun Flies -> Juiceman
• Raisins [premiere]
• Javelin Head -> Crash Tinkle Tinkle [premiere] -> Lapse Into Memory
• E Blue Apparatus
• Wow [premiere] -> Science
• Nimland -> This Ladybug
• Vegetables You've Never Heard Of

Special thanks to Chris Roslund for engineering the gig and recording it. Also to Marina Potter for the use of her instrument (which I am continuing to use until my own mando returns from the shop) and the friends who came by that night to support me.

There. Now I can go to sleep.

Joel and song

Joel and I finished our collaborative songie tonight. We also worked on The Slippery Toad and just jammed out. It was mega fun, and we are going to perform at Hurley's open mic tomorrow, 11/11/04. Yay!

Lyrics of yet unnamed song:


Friction makes us stick
or I would keep rolling by
rolling by
Friction makes us stick
or I'd just keep sliding by
sliding by

Rub my hands together
Slide my feet on the carpet
Slide two sticks together
It gets hot it gets hot

Penelope
The only one who need stars
In her oxygen

We forgot to tell you
What not to buy.
We didn't lie exactly.
We only forgot.

Friction makes us stick
or I would keep rolling by
rolling by
Friction makes us stick
or I'd just keep sliding by
sliding by

[Liquid Gravity Q & A]

Penelope
The only one who need stars
In her oxygen

stuff

I wrote a new song: You've Got Your Own Life. It's about the women I've been meeting lately and my inability to connect with them:

You've got your own life,
And I don't have a place in it.
But he reminds me of me.

The solitude you share
The symbols that you wear
Sprinkle down paper on the plain bare stage.

We're made of glass stars.
We don't know who we are.
Sprinkle down paper on the plain bare stage.

You've got your own life,
And I don't have a place in it.
But he reminds me of me.

Any way you cut this moment,
I won't be stoic at all.
I thought of you.
I will think of you again.

=

Sappy. Whatever.

=

Played open mic at the Fields:

• E Blue Apparatus
• You've Got Your Own Life [premiere] -> Crash Tinkle Tinkle -> Lapse Into Memory
• Princessdom -> Numbers Make More Numbers -> Present Tense

It was ok.

=

Jammed after with Dan, Chris & Scott. It was fun, but I was frustrated because my mandolin wasn't getting picked up by the mic and the only other thing I could play was a left-handed guitar. I was already in a not-so-good mood (see lyrics above), and I left there unhappy. Now I have some homework to do. I will do it, perhaps write in my journal, and go to bed. I don't sleep enough at night.

new relearns, Joel, Dan, and Scott

On Saturday, I relearned Princessdom, Nobody Knows, and Present Tense. Yesterday, I mostly relearned Alan the Duck, although I need to check the chords again in the prechorus.

Joel Franklin and I started writing a song together last night. We will probably attempt to finish it Wednesday. We each wrote little poems down separately, and then set each to music and connected them. We will be working on writing strong musical and lyrical transitions.

Dan Studnicky is interested in producing the Nim song Science. He told me he has lots of creative ideas for it, and he mentioned Brian Wilson as a stylistic influence here.

Scott Marshall has ordered a camera, and with it, he is interested in recording a Nim show. He and Joel may work together to get multiple camera angles for editing it. Audio will probably come straight from the sound board. However, for all this to happen, I'll need to get another gig, which I do not have yet.

some lyrics

I began adding links to lyrics on the songs page. It will be an ongoing process.

P.S.

I forgot to mention some stuff about the gig. It was the LONGEST gig I have yet played. It was one hour. The second longest was my gig at Hurley's two Thursdays ago. I started the show with xenharmonics for 15 minutes, so Nodal Nim was about 45 minutes. Prior to that, the longest Nim set I had done was probably a few summers ago at my brother Dave's place when I opened for him at his CD release party. I played 20 minutes that night.

Anyway, I left out a bunch of songs tonight that I could play but didn't have time for, suggesting I could fill at least 1.5 hours. My next goal will be two hours, which I think I will come to soon. Jen says I can do more Fields gigs and get 2 hours instead of 1. I will concentrate on bulking up my active song list with the suggested relearns below. I will continue writing new songs when I feel like it and performing at open mics on selected Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Wow!

Nim fun at the Fields!

I played Nim from 9 to 10 this evening at the Fields, and it was fun for all. Many friends came, and there were others. I don't know if they all liked it -- some of them probably didn't, that's how it goes -- but everyone seemed riveted. It was wondermagic.

My set list was as follows, juggled around to satisfy song requests:

• Superman Has Friends [premiere] -> Sun Flies -> Nimland -> Buzzelling
• Acrobasebombball
• Retro Helplessness -> Will We Go Out Together -> E Blue Apparatus
• Paperclip -> Rodeo Clock [premiere]
• Crescent Moon
• Crabnors -> The Slippery Toad
• Deposit One Tangelo [request] -> Javelin Head
• Shirt Thane
• This Ladybug [request]
• Send Me Up -> Numbers Make More Numbers -> Science
• Vegetables You've Never Heard Of [request]
• A Parade, Yes. -> Supersane
• Raisins
• Telephone Box [premiere]
• Song for Dan [totally improvised]
• Daisy Ran Train -> Wow -> Dripping Pilgrim
• Magazine Chubbies
• Maroon Dots [special guest: Jen Abounader on guitar and vocals!]

Special notes about the set list:

• I relearned both The Slippery Toad and Dripping Pilgrim today while assembling the list.
• I wrote Superman Has Friends today after Jen suggested that I fret two unison strings on different frets and really liked it.
• The lyrics that begin Superman Has Friends are: "Superman has friends, but you never hear about them." That is not true. Superman has friends, and you DO hear about them. There was a show called "Superfriends," and he was one of them, along with a bunch of his friends.
• I created a Wild Card list of songs to play in case I need to fill time. It includes: Rockin' Out, Magazine Chubbies (which I did play), Collarbone Pharoah, This Ladybug (which was requested, and I did indeed play), Juiceman, Frank, and Eat Lots of Apples.
• I skipped one medley that I played two weeks and a day ago at Hurley's to make sure I could fit everything: Crash Tinkle Tinkle ->Lapse Into Memory.
• Deposit One Tangelo->Javelin Head was going to be played a litte later, but a request moved Deposit One Tangelo ahead, and I brought Javelin Head up to join it.

Mike and Joel requested lots of songs that I didn't know how to play anymore. They helped me make a list of old songs to relearn. The list is as follows:

• Body Hex 1
• Boxing Day Feast
• Princessdom
• Docky Docky
• Present Tense
• Alan the Duck

I will begin relearning them, and also memorizing the new and newly relearned songs that I still use lyric sheets for. I am having super fun performing, and I plan to continue doing so. I also plan to continue updating the website, with pictures and lyrics, sometime this weekend or week.

Love!

-Andrew

nimland update

I updated Nimland. It will load better, and it is current and friendly. It is lacking pictures, but I will add them another day.

Come to the Fields!

Tomorrow is Friday, 11/5, and if you live near Potsdam and are available in the evening, it would be splendid if you would come and see my show! I'm playing Nim songs from 9 to 10, and after that, my friend and roommate Jen Abounader will take over. She's good, so you should stick around for that.

Expect two premieres, lots of improvisation, quirky medleys, and bizarre banter. Request a song and I'll play it, if I have any idea how it goes anymore!

Hurley's tonight

I did Nodal Nim at Hurley's this evening. I was fourth to play.

Set List:

• Supersane [premiere] -> Will We Go Out Together
• Vegetables You've Never Heard Of [requested]
• This Ladybug [requested] -> Daisy Ran Train

It was neat that some people requested songs. I was going to play Science instead of Veggies, but I was happy to substitute. Supersane I wrote yesterday, and Daisy Ran Train I relearned yesterday. Also written yesterday and not yet premiered: Telephone Box and Rodeo Clock.

I'm going to spend the next hour or two working on a new Nim website. If somebody reads this, it will probably not be until after the new website is up. Tell me what you think of it!

Beaks,
Andrew

genesis of a blog

Greetings. I am Andrew Heathwaite, and I enthusiastically make musics. I have websites for those musics. This blog will allow me to say things about it as well. It is separate from my "something or another," which I will continue using for non-music things.

Music means primarily Nodal Nim, which is a quirky mandolin and singing, and xenharmonic keyboard improvisations. I'll throw up words about those things, and any other projects that come up.