Cubelog

Movieoke 3 was great - the best yet for me and Hog ( now official Movieoke Changist ), as we were on the side of the stage, rather than trying to work out what was going on from the soundproof projection room. This was thanks to Rod who came in early to set up . . .

Rod is, I guess, the almost invisible sixth member of the Movieoke team after Tom, Richie, Colin, Hog and me, (as) Max.

I’d actually come a bit too early and was waiting a while for a keyholder, with Lou (?) who was doing the sound . . .

The setup is complex, but worth it, I think - though there is a bit of a wear and tear issue with bits of both Rod’s and my kit playing up a bit under the stress, as well as us at points, but It was all good in the end . . .

There were some fantastic moments - a very good lounge music HAL scene ending with the Daisy Daisy sing-a-long - plus other Karaoke-Movieoke moments with two guys singing Big Bottom from Spinal Tap, and Colin perfect as Sam ( with Richie as the voice of Sam ) in Casablanca. Even what is usually the Changist’s worst nightmare . . .

. . . lack of subtitles . . . actually added to the best movieoke of the night, if not the season so far with a hilarious ( honestly ) Wickerman Finale with improvised dialouge and elements of Blue Peter, The Proclaimers and Life of Brian from Colin and Richie ( seen below celebrating in the office afterwards).

With a healthy crowd, getting healthier I think it’s safe to say the whole team are looking forward to the next one . . . Fri 26th of August, ink it in now to avoid future disappointment . . .

Greetings.
You know there’s been alot of chat recently amongst Orchestra members, and Cube High Brass, about where the Cube Orchestra is headed for and for all our chat we’re still not sure! Well not true, we’re going to be more pro-active. Lined up is something to do with The Here Gallery, a bi-monthly rescoring of a film and playing along to some improv/avant garde dancing.
Ale Our Chilean multi instrumentalist member has started the ball rolling on that one.
Did I mention we’re a great example of Multi Cultralism? This weeks meeting saw the introduction of Tomoko seen here helped by Hugh into his bass . She’s joined us from Kobe in Japan. Admirable bass work my friend from Nippon. A warning to Tomoko though, I’ll be practising my rudimentary Japanese at any opportunity, Typical Baka Gaijin.
For those who like sport, the Australians have taken it to a whole new level, well the Cube Orchestra’s resident True Blue has followed suit and taken improvisation into a new stratosphere, whilst we’re wasting our time playing Belinda read a book.

This weeks turn out featured the ‘Hardcore’ and I have to say it really was pretty good what we did. I was also struck by how cool we actually are too, as you can see Mark was also struck by that very fact
I felt the urge to bust a groove .
Marcus recorded the results, hopefully that’ll find its way onto the web sometime soon, The man has an unhealthy obsession with Angelo Badalamenti, its the vibes baby I guess.

With solid rythm work from Marcus,Hugh and Ale, and yours truely, the horns were left to go for it, which they did with an aplomb
, though Mark did at one stage, fall asleep but then, he is getting old and it was close to his cocoa time.

A great time was had by all, especially after Ale suggested we freak out towards the end, groovy daddio, groovy, we just didn’t want it to finish.

Here’s to next time, Comrade Richie Paradise

Musings from Blackout 2005 . . .

Mostly I saw this . . .

. . . the inside of Max Blackout’s booth. But I heard everything. After a shaky start behind the scenes - Jem got stranded for 5 hours after putting petrol in a diesel engine, and one of my CD decks and mixer got damaged - things settled into greatness.

My highlights were VI’s ( a.k.a. Hogge’s ) mesmerising analogue sounds and sights, not adequately described by the following photos . . .

Also analogue involvement in the wonderful wig out of Quadrobe ( featuring Adrian Utley, Tony Orrell, Will Gregory, Jim Barr and an obscene amount of equipment . . .

I also particularly dug Minotaur Shock accompanying himself on virtual video drums ( even if it was not meant to be in black and white, tho I didn’t know that at the time ), the slow build of Motorboy & VJ Anyone, the end of the Saturday party shenanigans of Dutty Girl . . .

. . . and the thinking outside the tent lunacy of Duracell . . .

Plus of course the beautifully attired Blackout Usherettes, or Blusherettes . . .

I was video compere in the form of Max Blackout ( shown here indulging in some analogue special effects ) . . .

I got the feeling Max wasn’t as successful as last year - mainly due to not having much of a new slant on it due to lack of time because of various other pressures. Still, I realise it is a festival with a shifting audience and that means it would still have been a novelty for many watching. There’s some new ideas for next year I’ve been talking to Morgan about that should make it fresher . . .

One word I heard a lot is relation to Max was “Scary”. That’s good thing I think - I didn’t get to see what the audience saw though - the closest I got was this photo . . .

. . . care of Phil Hall. It’s the repetition that does it, I think.

Meanwhile, “backstage” there were planning meetings . . .

Various styles, including the popular long shorts look . . .

People lying on the ground . . .

and interacting in pairs ( for the camera ) . . .

Perhaps the biggest personal highlight for me was when compereing duties were over at the end of Sunday and I got a chance to let loose to the Village Disco at the afterparty, things got messy with the last 4 standing, me, Ali, Rod & Zulieka . . .

After some sleep we found another strange multiple . . . 2 Cube cars!

. . . and home for more sleep.

Max Blackout will be appearing at the Cube Cinema for Movieoke on Friday the 29th of July.

David Hopkinson will be taking a bit of a break from intensive blogging as he goes into intensive video editing mode.

Please post here if you have anything Cube related . . . back sooner or later . . .

No full write up for now, but the Blackout pictures start here . . .

Or Feet;

To start with I am NOT a foot fetishist, I actually left a job as a stockman in a womans shoe shop as I was beginning to get tooo into womans shoes but that was an aesthetic thing. If I’m gonna have a fetish it’ll be something old skool (ok it IS something old skool)

Anyhow Croikey its hot, as our antipodean cousins might say, just like Belinda in fact
seen here with Hugh and Gary. An interesting Orchestra Cube this week. A much better turn out with two newbies (as Dr. Cox from Scrubs might put it)

Bethan on French Horn and (apologies if this is wrong) Izzie? on Flute, ladies you did yourselves, and your Brethrin, proud. Gamely joining in the occasional beauty (our second interpretation of E.T) and the occasional horror (our first interpretation).

Song titles were popular this week. I offered ‘Half way through I noticed my flies were undone’, which was based on a true story. And then we hit a purple patch

where we did ‘An ode to feet’, inspired as we all had our feet out au naturale or in jesus creepers.

The extended horn section were magnificent today, full of wind, especially during our duel piece. Belinda challenged me to start a piece and Mark suggested Peter wouldn’t allow me to use my hands so it was hi hat and bass drum for most of it. Everybody gave it some. Did I mention how good those horns were?
Mark is getting a reputation as a musician pimp seeing as he keeps turning up with random but welcome additions.
We ended with ‘An Ode to the Tour de France’ which developed into ‘An Ode to Twin Peaks’ via Marcus’ vibe like keys and my brush work.

It’s all about the Vibes baby, all about the vibes.

Remember how hot I said it was? See if you can spot the difference betwen these two photos.
CLUE the first one was taken before I had started drumming and the second taken at the end.

That’s right. In the second picture my shirt is RED.

Ciao, Richie Paradise

PS four of us groovy guys from The Orchestra are playing at The Croft this friday, it’s louder improv known as Sculpture. It’d be nice to see you. A Bien tot.